[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Hook, Line, and Sinker [Closed]

[Prowl]

Week 3 l Day 7 l Evening

Follow up of Fly Me To The Moon and One Stone

Something was wrong.

Not just in the sense that the acting chief medical officer had been allowed to waltz out of Omega Base without any sort of escort after the last chief medical officer had been apparently crippled for the rest of his life doing the exact same thing.

No, this time they were unable to raise Patch or Windshield on the comms. The instant that they determined that it wasn’t a problem on Omega’s end, Prowl had assembled a Quick Response Force made up of whoever he could get his servos onto at such short notice.

While the fact that it was short notice meant that he couldn’t have gathered everyone he wanted as time was critical, Prowl figured that the odds would be good enough based on who he had. Petrichor, Sunstreaker, and Starfall. Two of them he could count on, one probable, one maybe, and one wildcard. Well, he’d have to make do.

As the ground bridge sprang to life and Prowl stepped out onto the cooling desert sand as the sun was beginning to drop beyond the horizon, he could tell something was wrong. Old instincts, the kind that told you when a mech hopped up on circuit breakers was trying to eye you up and making the calculations as to whether trying to offline you for your fuel pump would be profitable.

“Patch?!”

Silence.

“Windshield?!”

His interrogatives were met with further silence as he stepped away from the groundbridge to clear the way for the rest of his team, right arm up and in blaster mode as he scanned ahead of himself while walking towards the hanger.

“Something’s wrong...” he muttered.

[Sunstreaker]

As if Prowl had unceremoniously cut the line to see the day's comedy of errors, Sunstreaker was not far behind him. Barely giving the tactical officer enough time to clear a path for her, she rocketed out from the bridge and onto the sizzling Arizona sands, her engine roaring menacingly. As soon as Sunny actually hit the sand however, the experience was unpleasant enough for her to cancel the little flip she had planned. The frontliner promptly shifted modes, emerging from her four-wheeled form with one blaster shifted out and raised.

Sunny had adopted a ready stance, legs bent, weapon up, optics scanning the horizon for threats. After a cursory evaluation, the only item so glaringly out of place was Prowl's aft on an away mission. That, and the absence of any other hostiles or friendlies. After expertly determining that she wasn't presently being shot, Sunstreaker straightened her posture and relaxed a bit. Her blaster remained in play, however.

"Kinda was hoping we'd just walk into a battle, or something..." she was quick to admit aloud.

Battles equated to shooting on her part, which was something she'd done starkly little of over the past week. Plus, gunfights were generally more open and shut than having to waddle around and piece evidence together.

"Least that way we'd find out what went wrong, real fast."

[Deleted]

Emerging from the groundbridge in a mighty leap, Starfall’s pedes hit the desert sands with a thud, kicking up clouds of the grainy particulate around where she had landed. The size of her frame and her athletic abilities meant that the end of her arc put her just ahead of Prowl and Sunstreaker who had departed before her, but at the head of the pack was where the larger yellow femme felt she belonged. This was Prowl’s mission and he could take point, sure, but given Starfall’s frame and armour at least if she was in front she could take a few hits for her relatively squishier allies.

If any hits were coming in, that was.

Swinging her right arm out to the side, Starfall extended the handle of her hammer into its two-handed form, her purple optics darting about behind the obscuring black glass of her battlemask. After the same cursory assessment of the situation that both Prowl and Sunstreaker had made, Starfall relaxed some, but remained on alert. Whereas the others could just open fire if things went south, Starfall needed to remain on her toes so that she could close the gap on any assailant.

“I’m with Sunstreaker on this one. A fight would’ve been more straightforward.” The femme added. Star had only arrived on Earth two days ago, but since then her blood had been boiling for a fight. Even if she didn’t admit it aloud as readily as Sunstreaker had, Star had been looking for some heads to crack. Now it seemed that this mission would be more of an investigation, something to which the femme’s skillset wasn’t quite suited. Even in her youth as a vigilante she’d left piecing together clues to her allies.

“Unless this is an ambush.” Starfall continued, hoping just a little that maybe it was. At least she could fight her way out of one of those.

[Petrichor]

Making an entrance - at least an impressive one - was not Petrichor’s style; especially when it came to the line of duty. No, her forte had always been sticking to more of the background than the foreground. Some of her best work was when she wasn’t seen. Being spotted by an enemy usually meant that she failed whatever she was attempting to accomplish. Came with the territory of being a scout she supposed.

All she knew before stepping into the ground bridge was that Patch and Windshield had been radio silent for too long and that she, Starfall, Sunstreaker and Prowl were going to check what the blazes was going on. Best case scenario: the medic and ex-con were both having technical difficulties - a highly unlikely scenario. Nothing ever good came out of radio silence in Petra's experience. It was with this mindset that she emerged from the ground bridge last with a cautious, light tread. Optics scanning the immediate area from behind her rifle which was hugged snugly into her shoulder. She turned in place to watch their backs as the bridge closed with a whoosh behind them.

Unlike the other two, brightly colored femmes, Petrichor was glad to not have walked out into the middle of a firefight, but she kept her thoughts to herself. The lack of current visible enemies did not however make her feel any better. She continued to keep her gaze on the move, using the scope attached to her weapon to scan the horizon even further for threats. Starfall’s comment of a potential ambush was definitely within the realm of possibilities, one that lingered in the forefront of Petra's processor.

There were a few odd, dark shapes that she picked up on through the scope, scattered about on the ground not too far off, but nothing that appeared distinctly ‘Con or human shaped in the growing shadows of dusk. Nothing but them stirred in the empty space.

Her tanks churned nervously even as she spoke up.

“Not picking up any hostiles in the wings.”

She kept her original steady pace as she tailed Prowl and moved towards the hangar, helm still on a swivel.

[Prowl]

“It’s rarely ever that easy.” Prowl muttered to Sunstreaker as he awaited the rest of the team. Once Petrichor was out of the groundbridge and the portal closed itself up, Prowl took another look around with his blaster raised. “Anything is possible though...” he continued as his gaze settled upon the hanger that stood by its lonesome.

“Keep alert. Windshield’s security should have picked us up by now. We’ll head into the hangar and check out the terminal, see if we can get an idea of what has happened here since Patch groundbridged here. Once we have some recent intelligence we can plan out our next move...” he growled out before motioning the three femmes to follow him as he strode towards the hanger with his blaster still activated.

He wasn’t happy about this, given what happened to Ratchet recently. Patch should have been accompanied by an armed guard or something given that she was the only real competent medical authority.

Well, they still had Skirmisher, but his primary programming was as a riot cop with his medical programming being a secondary issue. It was better than not having anything...but still...Did nobody at this base understand there was still a war going on? Two wars actually if you counted the issues with MECH. Their time on this planet and their associations with the human children was beginning to turn everyone complacent.

Prowl kept these thoughts to himself as he stepped up to the door of the hanger, seeing it was opened he stacked up on one side of the door, motioning for the rest of the squad to join him.

[Sunstreaker]

Sunny huffed indignantly, aiming a frown into the back of Prowl's neck. "Lot simpler when it is. Exit bridge... get shot at... pick targets, shoot. Done." Primus she missed her team. Granted, the vast majority of them were likely dead, but still. However, her lamentations aside, Sunstreaker lightened up as Starfall generously opted to back her up. She grinned devilishly, mentally claiming that numerical advantage over Prowl. "See? Starry gets it..." Petra was still an unknown, but Sunny decided to count her on team Sunstreaker for this one. Or... maybe she was on their team? She wasn't quite sure, yet. The three femmes were road trip friends now, after all.

At Prowl's command however, she went back into full business mode. Sunny dropped back into a more reactive stance, weapon raised, laser sight active. With practiced elegance she swept up to the side and back of the chief tactical officer, optics and weapon still scanning cautiously despite the apparent lack of obvious hostiles.

She had no clue what exactly they'd be looking for yet, so Sunstreaker kept watch for just about everything. Sand, rock... sand... sand. Nothing would stop her, in spite of how much she started to feel like Perceptor. 

Hey, but that hangar looked interesting at least...

Seeing Prowl dash off toward one of the sides of the door however, Sunny quickly followed after him, her reflexes telling her what was about to happen before anyone else could. She snapped into position right behind him, left hand giving him a quick pat on the shoulder, her right 'arm' raised and at the ready. Sunstreaker wondered how exactly Starfall was going to factor into this. Petra at least had a rifle, after all.

[Deleted]

Whatever was going on between Prowl and Sunstreaker, it was becoming clear to Starfall that the two had some history. She’d heard of Prowl, the apathetic police officer who’d sacrifice a bot in a heartbeat if it meant winning a fight. Though the yellow femme wasn’t sure if they’d ever crossed paths before, even during her time as a vigilante before the war, it was already hard for her to like him. Star had no respect for former cops, and the way that Prowl acted, she wasn’t even sure if former was the right word for him.

Optics still scanning for any hostiles, Starfall briefly looked to Sunstreaker as she called her name. Starry wasn’t her preferred nickname, but it was also one that didn’t bother her. Right now, Star didn’t have much to add to the conversation, and instead opted to continue keeping an eye out as they approached the hangar. It was quiet, and she hated that. Large, heavily armoured and bright yellow, Starfall was hardly built for stealth. It made her wonder how desperate Prowl had been for muscle, but at least muscle was something she could provide.

Seeing Prowl and Sunstreaker stack up against one side of the door, Starfall hurried herself into position on the other. She wasn’t sure if Prowl had motioned for her to stack up on the side that he’d chosen, but it was too late to move over there now. With hammer in hand, the yellow femme pressed up against the wall, waiting for the signal to move in.

Every part of Starfall was screaming at her to rush headlong through the doors, and it was taking the femme a lot of strength not to do just that. All of her systems were practically growling as they readied for combat, pistons and servos preparing for things to finally hit the fan so that Star could hit the ground running when it did.

[Petrichor]

Senses on alert, Petrichor was quick to pick up on Prowl’s cue and stealthily moved to take up a position behind Sunstreaker. But then Starfall kept going; crossing in front of the open door. Scrap. Should she back up Star and help her cover the other side or hold where she was? It was certainly safer to not pass in front of the open entryway, especially if anyone waiting inside had seen Starfall and then had a moment to prepare.

Petra decided to stay put. Ideally, they would still be able to cover both angles upon entry with Petra determining that she’d most likely be taking up the rear position again with her slower rate-of-fire, longer-ranged weapon. She’d cover Starfall and the rest of the group, but if it came to too-close quarters combat she’d ditch the rifle in favor of her rock picks. Petra would be damned if she was the source of friendly-fire from a stray energy round during a struggle over weapon control. For now though, Petra kept her rifle at the ready with barrel pointed downward and away from her comrades but ready to bring up and provide cover fire if need be.

Stars she was tense. It felt like it had been ages since she’d done anything this close-range, not to mention she hadn’t done it that much to begin with. Most of her training and previous missions had been more long-range. There was a modicum of safety and comfort in the distance and even maybe a bit of a disconnect that came from looking at things through a scope…from…from shooting at other living beings through a scope. Primus, she was not built for war. But she wasn’t going to be left behind again or let her team members down. They needed her. Otherwise Prowl would not have requested her to come…right?

You’re here now. That’s all that matters, so focus.

A slow intake of air to soothe her firing nerves was all she needed to regain a steady grip on her weapon and invoke that old, familiar, steely calm that came with shutting out everything non-essential.

Looking past Sunstreaker and Prowl, blue optics protected behind lightly tinted, heavy glass met with Starfall’s covered faceplate. Taking in the femme’s ready stance, Petra gave a nod to indicate she was ready as well. There was a soft click as she opened up a private comm, addressing Prowl but ensuring the other two femmes were connected and could hear as well.

:: “Ready to breach on your mark, sir.” ::

[Prowl]

Well the fact that his team had managed to stack on the door without tripping over each other was a positive sign for something he had scraped together on short notice. Prowl would have preferred that Starfall had stacked on his side of the door behind Sunstreaker given that the door was open, but he had to admit that she had good instincts. If the door wasn’t open, he probably would have had her breach the door with that hammer of hers.

“Windshield! Patch! This is Prowl! Sound off!” He called inside after getting the tap on his shoulder and hearing Petrichor on a closed line between him and the rest of the team. If one of them was alive and holed up inside, Prowl wanted to avoid a potential friendly fire incident even if it meant giving up the element of surprise. And if someone unfriendly was inside there, well, then he’d just have to risk it. However, after a few moments passed in silence and there was no reply, Prowl let out an audible sigh as he readied his blaster. Turns out they’d have to go in on the assumption of possible hostile activity. Since he was sure that only Sunstreaker had real close quarters battle experience that he could rely on, he’d form his first plan around that.

:Sunstreaker, you’re with me. I’ll go left, you go right:

Cover both sides of the room so they could have a crossfire on any hostiles while at the same time maintaining proper muzzle discipline and avoiding the possibility of shooting each other.

:Starfall and Petrichor, you two stay out here and watch our backs for the moment. Do not enter unless I give the order:

Starfall was an unknown variable, but Petrichor was best suited for long range engagement meaning that if someone tried to get the drop on him and Sunstreaker while they were inside, that meant that Petrichor should be able to see them and get out a warning, maybe some shots off as well.

[Sunstreaker]

Been a while since Sunny had the pleasure of partaking in a breaching formation. A long while. Used to stack up all the time back during her SRT days, she did. Back during the war it'd been all 'Knock the fragging building over then breach it', and usually with heavy artillery. She silently wished the Autobots had the bearings to operate that way here on Earth. At least in that case, nobody from the Decepticons to whatever the hell MECH was could try to frag with them. Tonight, she would dream of electric artillery pieces.

She waited patiently behind Prowl as he called out, expecting silence but hoping for at least a death gurgle.

...

... ...

Nothing.

Sunstreaker gave a quick two pats to Prowl's shoulder. Two for yes, obviously. She ran through a quick weapons check on her rifle, which came up with a result of 'Yep, still attached'. Several blue, gray, and gold plates slipped out from the sides of the enforcer's face, locking her mask into place as taking a headshot raw was the last thing she wanted today.

She was as ready as she'd ever be, now. Whoever, or whatever the culprit was, Sunny hoped they'd both be long gone, and lying in wait. Option 1, they swept in and didn't run into contact. Win. Option 2, contact and a subsequent firefight. Also win.

Looking over Prowl's shoulder, she shot a small two-fingered salute across the way to Starfall. A damn shame Windshield didn't keep his doors locked; she would've loved to see what that hammer could do to a sealed door.

[Petrichor]

Prowl called out for Windshield and Patch, but…nothing. No response from inside was heard. Petrichor shifted uneasily from behind Sunstreaker, once again glancing at the surrounding desert to ensure know one was sneaking up on them. She could have sworn one of the rocks in the distance looked like a head, what with the quickly fading light and it’s oval-ish shape. However, a rock - much less a head - was not going to be shooting at them anytime soon, so Petra’s gaze passed over it until she had completed another full circuit of the horizon before bringing her optics back to the team.

Prowl’s crisp, clear voice spoke over the comm and Petra watched as Sunny made a final weapons check.

She touched an audial. “Copy that.”

In all honesty, Petrichor wasn’t sure if she felt relieved or more nervous in being ordered to wait at the entrance with just her and Starfall to watch the rear. Yes, she wouldn’t have to risk close-quarters unless the situation called for it, but what if the situation did call for it? Then it’d be just her and Star coming to the aid of two highly trained professionals who couldn’t handle whatever was going on inside on their own. Petra wasn’t sure she would be the kind of help that’d make all that much of a difference in that scenario; other than taking a bullet for someone or simply being a distraction for the enemy. Although those were valid strategies she supposed, just not ones she really liked.

Or what if it’s just an empty hangar? What if no one is here at all except us? What then?
We’ll deal with it if it comes to that. One thing at a time, Petra.

She checked the full, secondary magazine at her waist and made sure that the current one loaded into her rifle was secured and the first energy round was slid into the chamber with the bolt. There was a soft click and a low, quiet hum with the action, but that was all.

[Prowl]

(Puppeting of Sunstreaker allowed by Kavac)

Once he got the affirmative from everyone, Prowl took a quick intake to steady himself then went through the door, switching on his high beams to illuminate the place while his blaster swept the room. He went left as soon as he went in the door, trusting that Sunstreaker would go to the right just like he had ordered her to, the idea being that they would split any incoming fire and be able to get their adversary in the crossfire...

If there was an adversary here...

Which there wasn’t...

As soon as he got to the left side front corner and Sunstreaker got to her corner, he would motion for her to move up with him as he looked around, making sure not to flag Sunstreaker with the muzzle of his blaster.

“Clear!”

Despite saying it, he frowned as he deactivated his blaster and looked around the place. Nothing to indicate anyone was here, nor had been here for a good while.

He didn’t like this.

::Petrichor, Starfall, close ranks and join us inside::

As he spoke into his commlink his optics came across a terminal against the wall, then remembered Windshield had cameras installed all over the place. Smart, maybe it would get them a lead and help them figure out what had gone on.

"Sunstreaker, take Starfall and clear the rest of the building."

[Sunstreaker]

Breach.

Kinda. Place was already breached, so Sunstreaker went ahead and re-breached the breached door. Behind Prowl, that is. She advanced just a hair's width behind the tactical officer as he broke for the left side of the room, heading right herself. Considering how she hadn't been lit up immediately upon crossing right in front of the open door, it was either a very patient team of ambushers, or nobody at all. In that case, it was a very, very patient team of ambushers.

Sunny's optics snapped to the back right corner of Windshield's little palace; empty. Upon determining that empty was good enough, the frontliner snapped her attention to the left as she continued to hurriedly trot over to the corner. Her blaster's muzzle fanned the room just as she made it to her position; empty, aside from a crotchety tactical officer.

She gave the place another once-over once she was stationary, still anticipating some kind of deep strategy here and- no, nope; place was empty. A quick huff of air shifted through Sunstreaker's vents, her posture naturally relaxing as Prowl sounded the all clear.

"Clear..." Sunny dejectedly repeated. She followed suit with Prowl and shuttered her blaster for the moment, her visor sliding back to give her an unfiltered view of the room once more. With any luck, there was some poor, terrified Vehicon clutching a grenade around here somewhere...


And now, Sunstreaker had a chance to go hunt down that poor son of a glitch.

"Copy."

Her right arm shifting back into a rifle, Sunny jutted her left index finger up in the air, drawing a little circle on the ceiling.

"C'mon, Starry..." She called, starting on her way further into the compound. "Let's see if anyone's home..."

[Deleted]

Watch the door. Great. Starfall understood well enough that she was the new kid on the block, the unknown variable, but she’d hoped that at the least she would’ve gotten to see some action. Rearguard duty was just about a death sentence for any slim chance of a fight, given that they’d already moved in. Then again, there was always the opportunity of an ambush from behind, and if that did happen, well, Star would be ready. But it didn’t make her want to be inside any less, clearing out the hangar with Prowl and Sunstreaker. Oh well. This was her chance to prove herself, and no matter how much she might’ve wanted to, she wasn’t going to throw away her first opportunity to show everyone that she could be trusted on a field mission.

The femme peered over at Petra as she double-checked her weapon. That was the thing with rifles and guns. They might be fancy, they might let you blow the head off a Vehicon at range, but they were nowhere near as reliable as a good hammer. And that just so happened to be what Starfall had in her hands. Plus, when all you have is a hammer… well, everything else looks like a nail.

As Prowl finally gave the order to move in over the comm, Starfall couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Touching a digit to one of the grey pads on the side of her helm, she gave a quick “Copy.” in reply, nodding to Petra as she peeled away from the wall and made her way hastily through the door, loud footfalls thudding against the ground as she moved towards Sunstreaker. Given the tight quarters of the hangar, she retracted the handle of her hammer into its more compact state, enabling her to wield it with only a single servo instead of both. Though it felt wrong not to take point, Starfall was confident in Sunstreaker’s ability to handle herself if things went awry. “If they are home, I’ll be happy to knock.” The femme replied with a smirk behind her visor, tapping her hammer against the back of her knuckles.

[Petrichor]

It was silent for several spark-wrenching moments. Petrichor hated it. She didn’t like not knowing things. It made her feel unprepared. Inept. Weak.

The call for ‘all clear’ was given and Petra eased out of her tense stance and moved into the warehouse behind the massive frame that was Starfall, her rifle in a neutral position. Quietly, Petrichor moved up beside Prowl as the other two femmes went to check the rest of the structure. Honestly, she hoped those two didn’t find anybody inside. Primus save anyone they did come across. Alone they were already a lot, but together? Together, Sunstreaker and Starfall were a menace.

“Still no movement from outside. Looks about the same in here, but it’s pretty dark. Should I…?” She indicated towards the additional lighting equipment attached to her own rigging. It had certainly come in handy in far less officious scenarios. No reason why now should be any different. It was darker inside than out without what little light the dusky horizon and few stars provided; aside from their own headlights anyway. Even then, the black sections of Prowl’s paint looked practically invisible in the gloom except for the occasional gleam of a reflection or when her own lights were directed towards him.

The white stood out much more, giving his frame a disjointed and confusing appearance - highly desirable when trying to draw an enemy’s fire away from one’s own vitals. Petra’s own paint job, she was pleased to notice, didn’t stand out quite as much as Sunny’s or Star’s but neither was it as effective as Prowl’s. Unfortunately. Maybe she should have chosen black… But that could be such a dark and depressing color, not to mention it would have made her stick out like a sore thumb amidst most landscapes during the day. And it showed dirt like nobody's business which was less than ideal for someone like her. No, the muted blue was the right call.

Petra blinked, realizing she had gone down a very strange and irrelevant tangent in the time it took one to sneeze and quickly switched her attention from Prowl himself to where he was looking, which appeared to be a deactivated terminal.

“Cameras? You think maybe they got something?”