Valvolux: Another Problem for the Pile

Log Title: Valvolux: Another Problem for the Pile Characters:Discretion, Delusion, Imager, Backblast Location:Valvolux Date:6-6-18 TP:Move West TP Summary:The Dominicons report in with something worth knowing. As logged by Imager

What goes for the Autobot planning/staging area is also the repair bay, and on occasion, the bar, rec room, and barracks. With the Decepticon advance as fast as it was, there was little time to really set up a base here...which was probably WHY they came in so fast. Several hab slabs in the area are filled with the wounded, though a few are freed up only with the exhausted. Imager's in among the wounded, offering eighth-portion energon cubelets for the wounded. Her tone is low as she speaks to them, "Here, keep your strength up...not too fast. Yeah, there ya go. Here, I got a few more for you too...just take it easy for now." The Femme's been up and in constant use for about eleven sweeps now, being pulled in eight different directions. GAME: Discretion PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of High difficulty.

A now familiar pair of aircraft, one white and one black, fly in from the skies and dodge past incoming fire and Decepticon patrols. They fly over the Autobot's encampment once before banking and dropping low to the buildinggs; once close enough they transform and land not too far away from there.

The smaller of the pair steps forward to show the guards she's not armed and says, "I've got some information fo pass along to Encore, Imager, and whoever else is here." Delusion folds her arms, keeping her hands away from her blaster and whip for now. She keeps her mouth shut and her optics open, ready to move if it's called for. Backblast has connected.

The guards lower weapons after they ID the Dominicons. Imager...yet again, would roll her optics if she could, inside the building when she gets informed. With a sigh, she sets down the remaining cubelets, and motions to the rest to 'take care of them'. She turns back to the entrance, her posture is a bit wary when she spots the ole Decepticon brand, but relaxes just a hair before she speaks, "Oh hey...uh...Dominicons. Okay. so Encore's finally getting some slab time, Grimlock's out too, so..." She shrugs, those massive pauldrons of hers making the motion somewhat exaggerated. "So yeah, its sorta me right now. Go figure. What's up?" With the classic transformation cog noise, Backblast unfolds into a robot.

"Mind if we come in?" Discretion asks. "I have something to share and I'd prefer it not be that easy for the Decepticons to just pick it up from a distance just by watching us."

Backblast suddenly looms out of the shadows, seeming to appear out of nowhere. "Don't worry." He says, resting his huge rifle up on one shoulder. "I've been looking around through Kingslayer. Any Cons within visual range know better than to look too closely."

Delusion arches an optic ridge. "Still, unless you'd like to interrupted, perhaps under cover might be better. I don't imagine the sweeps to have the brains to keep a respectful distance. They never did before."

Imager wouldn't /admit/ to being glad Backblast was around, but the mech was exceptional with his firearm...and he was sneaky. Dangerous combo, she figured, but so was being nigh-invincible and punching like a freight train. She jerks her head back inside, "Ah, yeah, its that sort of talk. Kay, come on in then, its about as safe as it gets around here..." Imager steps back from the door to allow the two in, then makes the same motion to Backblast, "You too then. I ain't Military."

Discretion steps past the guards and inside, far enough to be blocked from line of sight. "I'm guessing you've been hearing and seeing things about someone called the 'Founder' lately?" She questions.

Backblast inclines his head to Discretion's point, stepping back to follow Imager and Discretion into the makeshift facility itself. "Li'l bit. Lots of 'The Founder Lives' and 'The Wall Still Stands' graff dotted around." Figured him as some local Primus analogue." He shrugs a little. "Hadn't paid that much attention."

He looks at Discretion a moment. "You got sharp eyes." Delusion waits until everybody else is inside before stepping in, one hand drifting toward her whip out of habit before she folds her arms again. Imager nods once, "Typhoon mentioned seeing some graffiti about that, heard some of the locals reference it too, claiming all sorts of Primus-like deeds bout the Founder." She jerks a thumb to Backblast, "yeah, I mean, some local hero, but I can't say I can put a name to the title."

Discretion nods to Backblast and Imager, "Yeah, that's what I've been hearing when I'm monitoring message traffic. I mean, I've heard the name here and there when flying over before, but now it's a flood of mentions."

She looks around the room moentarily before focusing back in to the group. "At first I figured it was just some kind of tall tale like on Earth; just some folk hero. The thing is though, even those have some kernel of truth to them, so I went digging into the archives for Valvolux, such as they are, and I didn't find any significant references to him in anything recent, but the further back I went, the more there were..."

Backblast listens, nodding quietly. "Interesting. So, he's a real figure?" He sets his rifle butt-first against the ground and casually leans against it. The muzzle brake sits slightly above his head. "Keep goin'."

Delusion looks off down the tunnel, keeping Backblast in the corner of her vision while she watches for others. Imager folds her arms, skeptical of the entire situation. She slowly leans back onto a repair table, which creaks under her weight. She then, perhaps a little comically, tries to shift off of the table casually. "Okay so what's that got to do with the here and now?" Discretion glances at Backblast, "Well, I can't be certain the figure as depicted is real, but it's liely based on someone, and the last thing I've seen for his activity is that he left the city and said he'd come back when it was in danger."

The smallish femme looks over at Imager, "On a hunch I did some looking into the power draws around, and under the city, and I found a signal of some kind leading to something using power where it shouldn't be. By all accounts and records it's not there."

Backblast listens to the others, looking back and forth between them. "I see." he sniffs, leaning casually on his huge rifle. The caps over the scope appear to be his turret hatches, and both the covers are currently down. He is... as non-threatening as a sociopath like him is ever likely to be without trying. "A hidden chamber? Didn't I 'ear Ty mention something about them too?" Delusion tilts her head slightly. "Also, there is rumor of something down through the sewers. Of course, said sewers are apparently full of corrosive fluids and therefore inhospitable, but presumably anyone who could create buildings with a wave of a hand could work around that, too." Discretion's words give Imager a blink. "A power draw? Huh." She puts a hand to her chin in thought, "I never would'a thought about bothering lookin that up. Been too much goin on as it is. Okay, so...I mean, that's interesting and all, but what about it? How much of a power draw are we talking here?" Discretion thinks for a bit, "Well, that's the thing, I wouldn't have seen it if I weren't specifically looking for it, at least at first. The more I monitored it the more power it's been drawing, like something is coming back online from standby."

Delusion goes back to watching the bots in the repair bay.

Imager moves that hand up to cover her face as she facepalms, "So we're looking at either some damn superweapon being powered up, or a Con forward base or something. Which means that we gotta get a team together to root it out whatever it is. Great." She slowly draws her hand down her face as she looks around the room, "Ugh. I'd kill for a good drilltank or three right now." She looks back to Discretion, "corrosive liquids you say?" She visibly shudders a little at the sight, "so a submersible'd be good too." After a beat, she adds, "This is going to suck, isn't it?" Discretion motions a thumb to Delusion. "Well she actually mentioned the corrosives, but that's what we heard." She shrugs, "I don't know that it isn't a superweapon, but I'm doubtful that's what it is. The 'Cons didn't have a very large presence here, and it's positioned fairly centrally to being underneath some of the major factories. I don't see how they would have goten under there without being noticed."

Backblast listens carefully, looking at the others. "Or it could be someone bein' brought back online. D'ya have /any/ idea the kinda juice it takes to power us up from full cold stasis? Especially the bigger buggers?" He listens carefully, shrugging. "Maybe it's this Founder?" Discretion adds a bit more, "And most likely, yes, especially given the various undergound inhabitants that could be there." Delusion smirks, "Not that -we'd- be going, you understand. We're fliers. Dogfighting sweeps and shooting down arrogant Combaticons? That we do. Though analyzing the corrosive fluids that are supposedly so dangerous sounds interesting." She gets a musing look. A sudden thought goes through her head, Imager looks about the repair bay/tent and steps back up closer to the others, eyeing the Dominicons and Backblast in turn. "This could either be nothin, or bad. I mean...if it turns out that there's a...." She lowers her voice to a whisper, animated, ".....cityformer....a Titan...down there. Then that's going to turn out /real/ bad for us. and we're barely holding tight as it is."

Discretion taps a few fingers on a thigh. "Well, I guess that's possible, but if it's this Founder mech, or one of... those things," she motions to Imager, "and they're invested in the city wouldn't it be as bad, if not worse for the Decepticons? I mean they're the ones tearing it apart."

Backblast shakes his head "I don't mean just a cityformer. Even someone Encore's size or Prime's size would take some major wattage to power up. For a cityformer? No expert here but I'd guess we'd be seeing brownouts and rolling blackouts, to bring a titan-class online in any reasonable amount of time."

A glance at Delusion. "Might 'ave need of those skills soon." "I do find it interesting that you automatically assume a large transformer must be an opponent," she notes drily. She gives Backblast a sharp smile. "Shooting down Blast Off is always worthwhile. And sweeps keep my skills sharp."

Backblast shakes her head "I didn't mean for that, miss Delusion." He smirks. "I didn't, I thought it might be this Founder." He smirks. "I thought I was supposed to be th' sociopath here." Imager just shoots the entire group a flat look. "First off, I /am/ certified in logistics. Backblast, this is a manufactorum city, the power generated here could easily wake up onea those. The thing is I don't know the amount of drain, or if its going to gear up at any point. Second, Valvolux' citizens have been fiercely against us the moment we ended up in here." She firmly adds, pointing down for emphasis, "I know that because I was the one dealin with the groups riotin, and the sabotage that put us in this mess." Her voice carries, and for a moment lets the heat pass, "And thirdly, because it ain't ever that easy that just somethin good's lurking around. Its all superweapons and baddies getting repackaged into stuff even worse." Why yes, she is bitter about how it goes. "Either way, it still needs to be checked out."

Discretion floats up to look Imager in the eye. "So, if it's bad, would you rather leave it down there for the 'Cons to find first and utilize it to our collective detriment, or would you rather go down and deal with it while it'spowering back on? Or, in your opinion, slim chance that it would be helpful risk letting your opponents getting their hands on it and putting it to use for their goals and aims, or would you rather have it to bolster the Autobots and citizens here?"

With that being said the smaller femme floats back down the the ground, arms folded across her chest. Delusion gives Imager a very direct stare. "If you want to keep something from turning into a monster or a tool, you have to put in the work to protect them," she says sharply.

Imager looks offended by the two-on-one from the Dominicons, "I /just/ said that it needs to be checked out, regardless. Primus almighty, suddenly everyone's gotta go 'more Prime-than-thou' on me. Don't you slaggin dare play that card on me." She jerks a thumb at herself, "I know what the score is as good as anyone, and I get what we gotta do. If its something bad, we put the ki-bosh on it, and if its benign, well, it'd probably be a good idea to let em know what's up, and if they decide to do somethin about it that coincides with us survivin, we count our blessings." She shakes her head in frustration.

Backblast looks at Imager. "No they ain't. Not all of them, anyway. It's about a 50-50 split." He sniffs, shrugging a alittle at Imager. "We got a lot more support than you think, Imager. Yeah I know that Drill Bit fella was a tosspot and a traitor, but... there's more support than you'd think. Especially now we're saving folks. I think the big ugly brewmaster mighta done some good with his piping, for a change."

Discretion nods and smiles up at Imager. "Well, we can offer some air support to help you clear the civilians out of here; that way you aren't using more of your resources for that instead. Should free up resources so you can put some sort of team together to go look into this mystery." Delusion tilts her head again. "This Drill Bit, would he be somebody -we- should find, then? I could use some practice with my -other- skills, as well."

Imager did NOT want to get into this. She lowers her head, and splays her digits as she calms herself down a bit. "Look, he just now dealt with the Cons, I don't even think they know what he did, and I don't think they care. He did something damn stupid, and he's got no intel to work with, just some mech that hated us occupying his city and would rather that we die. kay?"

She points two fingers at Discretion, "That'll...that'll be some big help, but most of us are figurin that its going to be city fightin, which...is less good for fliers, and I'm sure Big Yellow'll say that he can do it all himself, but I'm tickled to have any team take to the sky for us. Which means...that its probably going to be me heading downstairs and all...Encore's altmode won't have much use there." She looks over to Backblast, "I reckon you'll have less chance to use the range of that rifle there, but I kinda need you or someone you can recommend on this lil' expedition."

Delusion looks over at Discretion. "Shame Takedown's busy. She'd love hand-to-hand fighting in the streets. Nostalgic."

Backblast looks at Delusion, with a smirk. "Five hundred shanix bet on which one of us puts a bullet through that traitorous fuckhead?" He looks to Imager, all business. He shrugs a little. "I still got my co-ax and my gimpy." He says, motioning to the light machine gun on his shoulder. "Plus, there's such a thing as canister shot. Nasty stuff, canister."

He smirks, lighting a hand-rolled cobalt-copper cigarette. From the smell, his smoking mixture of choice isn't a high-quality one... and he's using /tin/ as a wrapper. A high-class mech he is not. "I can also swim, at least in my altmode. Swim like a church in this mode... I might come close, but nobody's perfect." He smirks. Grimlock has connected.

Discretion raises a finger to Backblast, "I think you're misunderstanding my sister. She doesn't want to kill this Drillbit; she wants to capture him and find out what he knows. She's pretty good at that." Imager 's look goes cold to Backblast. "All this going on, and you want to make a bet about who gets to cap a neutral. Someone not even a threat, just for petty vengeance." She shakes her head, and takes the opportunity to just storm out. "And people wonder why we get neutral uprisings and saboteurs. We're not much better than they are."

Backblast looks to Imager. "You want to see the best of the bots, look in the mirror, Imager. Look around, there's Grims, there's Prime, there's you, there's Inferno, and that's just off the top of my 'ead." He sniffs. "Me? I'm not a nice 'bot. Never have been... used to be a hitman, before the war. But..." An angry puff of his smoke. "I'm working on it. People like /me/ are who we send after the saboteurs and traitors. People like me exist so that people like you can do your damn job, and keep on making the universe better, one life at a time!" Backblast is the closest to angry he's been seen in a very long time. Gone is his cold, sniper's compassion. That one struck a nerve with him, for sure.

Delusion shrugs. "I don't kill traitors. I interrogate them. That's -my- job, to get some use out of them. Then, sometimes, they get forgiven. Or not. After I've done my job, it's no longer my problem."

Discretion looks after Imager then to Backblast and finally her sister. This wasn't exactly how she saw the whole metting playing out, but at least there's a good chance the 'Bots are going to go investigate. "Maybe we should go look for this Drillbit now, Delusion?" Backblast sniffs, shrugging to Delusion. "Maybe. Either way, I'm gonna be going with the team to check it out."

TROMP. TROMP. TROMP. TROMP.

Did someone order a Dinoburger? Extra spicy? No?

TOO BAD. Grimlock stomps into view, looking around at the gathering. He starts to ask what is going on, but upon spotting Discretion and Delusion, he pieces it together soon enough. "Me Grimlock see you Dominicons already here," he rumbles, "Good. Grimlock busy, or Grimlock be here sooner." He drops an arm. There's no telling what hapless Decepticon it once belonged to.

Backblast blinks up at Grimlock a moment, giving the big guy a cheerful smile. "Evening, Grims." It's like a switch has been thrown. He's gone from glowering angrily after Imager to friendly and cheerful in an instant. Delusion blinks at Grimlock, one hand fingering the handle of her whip. Temporarily allies or not, there's no such thing as too much caution around a Dinobot. Especially this one. She gives him a slow nod.

Discretion steps closer to her sister and a bit further away from Grimlock, just so she can keep an optic on all of him.

Anyway about time to leave, I have both yesterday's log and today's so far, I'll see what I can edit tomorrow. Later all" Grimlock stares at the pair and then looks down at Backblast. There's some major contrasting moods here. The large robot shrugs his shoulders. "Hm, you Backblast. Me Grimlock say hello. Me hear you be good for knocking Decepticons out of the air. Me Grimlock interested in such talent. Good you here." Now he focuses on the sisters again. He even stomps closer. "So, me sure me miss big important chat. You help Autobots give Decepticons bloody nose?" His optic shield glimmers faintly as he leeeeeans down, his face getting uncomfortably close as he waits for a response.

Dinobot. Diplomat. They seem close enough to confuse.