Ep. 1.5 - Cat and Dog - [Closed]

[Deleted]

“Pfft, tall slim Cop does not an endura make.” Kit announced, her shoulders and hands rising in a shrug. “So far, all brag, no backup, cant help but think you’ve never had a femme, and that would be saaadd. No loss to the femmes of Cyber..” She was full into her teasing when Carbine hit the siren.

Kit shrunk in on her self, crouching ready for fight or flight, hands instinctively forming buzz saws. She nervously scanned her environment for enemies and other assorted dangers. When it became apparent that the only danger was the one posed by Carbine to her audio sensors, she slowly and deliberately stood to her full height.

She pointed one buzz saw hand at Carbine, and coming up lost for words, threw both arms wide in exasperation. Kit planted one foot, spun in Bolo’s direction and followed after the cassette. “I don’t even want to know!” Offended mixed with apathetic. “C’mon Bolo, clearly you are the partly leader here”.

A dozen strides and Kit spun once more to face her adversary, her grin and cheek back in place ready to play her hand. “Actually, you get minus two points for that outburst, while I get one point for getting a reaction out of you, however…” Kit let the word hang, just for the drama, “coz I’m so nice, I give you one point for making me feel like I’m the normal one”.

In the back of her mind, Kit was pondering how the Decepticons detected raw energon deposits, because all she could get was rock, plain ol’ boring rock. Kit could effectively see ten colours, but that was proving no use at all.

[Carbine]

Carbine seemed a bit stunned overall from the shrill of the siren, its echoes fading through the vast array of tunnels until it was just a low haunt of a hum imprinted in audios. He looked down to see that the little tiny femme had produced circular saws, or... can openers? For how small they were? Really they weren’t threatening at all, and the motion was made even more cute and pathetic by her huffy display that followed.

The helicopter's surprise though hadn't all been on account of the siren, as he was still trying to chew over what she had said previously. The term Endura? Had perhaps played a role in triggering more than just the bio-lights in a sort of wrenched lurch of a reaction. That word had made him reel internally as if he had swallowed something disagreeable to his systems.

He was NOT looking for some life partner, he was NOT looking for someone to be intimately involved in his day to day experiences. Intimate in a different definition for sure, but not an Endura! He already had one little turd of an individual to babysit, (aka Thunder) and they most definitely WEREN'T 'Endura's. If anyone tried to suggest such? Tried to imply they were more than just friends that had to spend way too much time around one another? And he would probably purge his tanks in wretched disgust.

Unintentionally, Carbine may have given her a look as if her prior words had been pure blasphemy spat out from Unicron's own mouth. Luckily though his visor hid his features, so to her? All she would see is widened optics that created the general outline of his eyes.

"Good thing I wasn't looking an be k?z??z??t? to Endura then!"

He laughed this out, playing off the word to not reveal how it had weirded him out. He took those coiled emotions and shoved them down and to the side as he strode in a leisurely pace. For every step he took, he knew the tiny thing ahead of him had to take a few to cross the same amount of distance. It was somewhat odd to him, he always got to walk at a normal pace and it was THUNDER who had to slow his stride.

"Besides... Nor?m?al? is ?bor?i?ng?, who actuary WANTS normal?"

One optic widened a bit, the other squinting in his attempt to convey a raised brow line. It worked out pretty well considering, displaying the proper emotion through the limited facial features. Bolo had heard his name, and looked to Kit curiously. He didn't know what was happening, but he got a command then wordlessly through the link with master, and as such he returned back to work eagerly. The red flickers in the dog's bio lights, dropped back to a blue array. Carbine's own lights had stopped flickering earlier, and now were settled on a mix of the colors, the shoulder caps red while the rest were the lighter blue.

"New. Different. Quirky. Unexpected. Who wouldn't p-?p?i-?p?-?choose that over a factory preset anyway?"

He flicked a hand in the air dismissively.

"Besides, you ar?e? ?ab?out? ?as far from default visually as I have seen since my arrival."

It was true; and was not an insult. She was the oddest looking Cybertronian he has seen on earth yet. Most tended to be rather humanoid and standard in outline and structure. Maybe a bit longer legs here, some broad shoulders there, a lanky frame here, heavy armor there. But she had some distinguishing features that threw her off to the side of abnormality.

"Though my may frame k??z?z???t??? be fabulously default f?or p?ur?s?ui?t? mec?h?s? ?of my past squad, I can be pleennnttyy creative with what I do with it. Perhaps I can show you sometime?"

The end words had a raised inflection, hinting at things. He did not expect her to agree, and was mostly aiming to fluster her, perhaps make her uncomfortable or try to back down. If she agreed? Oh boy that was all kinds of other doors opened, but for now he wasn't anticipating it.

[Deleted]

Can openers? CAN OPENERS?!

Oh, oh ohhhhh!!! It was soo on!

Kit was going to open a can of whoop-ass for that insult.

Except…she didn’t. Kitandcaboodle was no mind reader and had zero idea that the thought had passed through Carbine’s processor, which was just as well. In this case ignorance was bliss.


Kit chuckled lightly at Carbine’s claim that he did not want to be or have an Endura. She also saw two possibilities why, either Carbine was merely egocentric and unwilling to commit, or he had committed before and still felt the pain of it, covering it up with bravado. It was even money either way and Kit wasn’t curious enough to discern the truth of it.

“I want to be normal” Admitted the tiny femme unintentionally, in a voice only just audible. She hadn’t meant to say it, but the words had slipped past her too quick. For a long moment, there was tiredness in her EMF, the weariness of a spark that was still hunting for a direction in life after millennia of searching.

Not willing to leave that hanging in the air as long as it had already, Kit powered through her awkwardness. “Normal on the inside, and the factory preset on this chassis is one hundred percent bona fide pure quirk.” Kit made a brief pose to highlight her point, arms flung wide, one high, one low, and a wiggle of hips and tail.

She didn’t answer Carbine’s offer immediately. She made a show of examining the tunnel a bit, occasionally looking back at Carbine and giving an appraising glance. It wasn’t that she was flustered by the offer or even surprised, she just wasn’t exactly sure how she wanted to capitalise on it. Eventually though she stopped completely in her tracks and faced Carbine squarely with a sly look on her face and one hand on hip.

“You can show off your Fabulous frame anytime, I ain’t judgemental. No wait, scratch that. I will judge, give ya marks out of ten.” Kit made an exaggerated show of peering carbine up and down, from peds to crest, “most likely negative.” She stood like that holding herself with a feigned expectation of a dull show. The ball was firmly now in Carbine’s court.

[Carbine]

Oh no... why did things have to get serious? Why did she have to go and take it from laugh worthy awkward jokes and flirts, to a subject matter that most definitely was not? When she stated she wanted to be normal in that small little murmur of a voice, Carbine's expression dimmed because of it. His unseen grin faltered, features and field falling down to a neutral state where he was not exactly sure what he should be radiating.

Did he pity? Did he try to comfort? Did he just brush it off and move on like nothing had happened? Or laugh at it to derail the tension? He had no idea what to do, and somewhat locked up because of it. Oh no, he was still following, he hadn't frozen in place, but he did not speak, letting her continue on her own to recover the situation. He just hoped she didn’t make it worse by pouring all of her grievances in some spark to spark therapy session or other nonsense.

He didn't want to get caught in one of THOSE chats.

Though she tried to smooth it over? Which was good. As such Carbine's head dipped to look her way at an angle, as if judgmentally peering upon her. He wanted to make a comment about how boring 'normal' people were still boring normal people even if they looked weird, but he held his tongue. It wasn't that he was scared of hurting feelings, or that he didn’t have a snappy reply formulated, it was more that he didn’t WANT the serious conversation. He was not in the mood and waned to brush it aside quickly and kick it to the ground.

Luckily she managed to drag the conversation out from the 'emotional' pit she had shoved it down within, and he rolled his shoulders back in a flexing motion to shake off the disruption, mentally casting it aside. He then moved, taking a long stride to get in front of her, before dipping down with a hissing of hydraulics in his knees. He lowered into a squatting position, where the mass of his weight was settled on the two small ped points that comprised of his feet, while the angle forced the heel wheel to lift off of the ground.

Carbine still was plenty big compared to her however, spine arching forward some to even them out a bit more, the rotors on his back clinking. They actually stabbed into the ground a bit when he dipped down, but he flexed them and raised them backwards some to angle them so they didn’t get bent or broken from the motion, making the flat panels of metal click. While he did so, his left hand raised and looped forward to gingerly plant along her jaw line.

His touch was cautious, careful, she WAS a tiny little femme after all, and he'd be damned if he'd unintentionally bash her head off or something else that Thunder would do because of his strength and inability to judge impact/pressure. Carbine had some skills however tinkering with tiny things, when he had to repair and tend to Bolo. While Bolo WAS bigger than her? It had taught him how to be careful.

Go down to her level? Check.

Get close and radiate calm poise? Check.

Careful touch to initiate optic contact? Check.

Pause to let the 'moment' settle? Check.

Speak in a low rumble of a voice? In progress.

Carbine eased forward some, so that the black slate of his visor was rather close within Kit's personal bubble. Enough so to challenge, but not suffocating close, and definitely not close enough to permit her to peer through it. He actually focused this time upon his words, able to strangle back his glitch when he slowed down enough to think over his intent more. It required conscious thought to accomplish, which is why he didn't do it often unless he felt he had to. Nonetheless? With this clarity of voice? His words came out at a low almost whisper of a tone. The volume light and yet bold, confidence abounding through each word, almost purred in a way to cause a faint rumble.

Primus he loved this game.

"That is under the impression you'd be coherent enough TO assign points..."

BARK!

...Nooo

BARK!

Carbine's helm snapped to the side abruptly.

BARK!

Why Bolo!? WHY!?

BARK!

Bolo was standing up the tunnel a good distance, having gotten quite a head start because of the others goofing around. He wiggled a bit, the Bio-Lights on his frame pulsing slightly as the shoulder caps spiraled, akin to human police officers rotating lights. It cast long shadows in the darkened mine, and was visually screaming for attention.

The canine wiggled in excitement, letting out another notification bark. The sound was higher than normal, almost a chirp in a way, before he smashed his face down into a crevice in the rock. He pawed at it a bit, before looking back at the other two and chirping again! 'FOUND!' 'COME LOOK' 'REWARD!' 'YAY!' His toddler like brain was ecstatic, even though he could feel frustration from his master, his paws lifting and planting down in a little bit of a dance.

[Deleted]

Kit held her pose and held her ground as Carbine approached her. She took the time to study his features and build, rather than simply pretending to. Kit studied how he moved, the admittedly sleek lines of his build, that almost faceless visor – what was under there? Was there an under there? Initially she had meant for Carbine to show her some moves or something, not actually demonstrate on her, but it was too late to stop him now, she had opened that door completely.

Carbine actually impressed her is he was to be wholly honest to herself, the way he calmly knelt before her, his poise and control. She felt reassured almost, as though she believed him to be the good cop she was sure he wasn’t. And then he brought his hand to her jawline, it sent a tiny shiver up and down her backstrut. Despite the comparatively huge size of his hands, his touch was gentle. No, it was more than gentle, it was tender.

Kit’s optics widened at that touch, but after a long few moments, she relaxed. Her optics closed a little and she leant into that reassuring touch more than a little. It was before the fall of the city of Vos that Kit had last felt a mech’s tender touch. It was like a lifetime ago, and she hadn’t realised how much she missed that physical intimacy.

Worse, Kit did not fence with Carbine’s jab for it rang of truth. Carbine was so much bigger than Kit, that his power systems would likely leave her shattered for days. Would the resistance of her small body to that power drain him equally?

And suddenly the game was something greater than a game, and Carbine emerged the victor anyway. Not that Kit was quite ready to surrender. She loved to fight too much.

Such a thing was not destined to go far. Bolo utterly annihilated the peace, his barks echoing through the rock tunnels drawing attention like a super magnet. She instantly broke contact and glared at the canine cassette, frustration and relief mixed in her field. Kit stomped in a petty huff to see what bolo had found, each step though lighter than the last. She paused before she quite reached Bolo, this was Carbine’s place not hers.

A quick glance showed that an intersection was not far ahead at all. “So erm...am I or you supposed to be running the cartography app Sir Smooth?” It was anyone guess as to whether the question was directed at Carbine or Bolo. Kit was facing Bolo, but was the question rheotorical, or was it for Carbine and she was too embarrassed to look him in the optics?

[Carbine]

((Oh boy. I am going to start the dice roll idea. I got a marked dice, and I am going to roll it to make Carbine's glitches truly RANDOM. He will either speak fluently? Or there's a slim chance for issues, and another for catastrophic failure. YAY))

Bolo was one hundred percent ignorant of everything that was happening down the way. He had a connection with Carbine, they did share emotions and sometimes the feelings were synchronized, but that didn't mean the canine understood the game that was happening, and what he had interrupted. To him? They were just chatting, maybe joking; laughing whatever... it didn’t matter to him, as he had found what he was told to, and wanted to be rewarded for it!

With a twist and squirm, Bolo turned back and began digging furiously at the crevice in the ground. It was much like the one that he had explored earlier for the false find, but was lower along the ground rather than on the wall. His tiny white paw pads scraped and dug down furiously into this material, starting to try to claw away the dirt and stone to widen the hole a bit.

Carbine let out a frustrated exhale through his vents that almost popped like a backfire as Kit moved away to stomp towards Bolo. He was not worried shed harm him, and so her aggressive stride didn’t trigger any warnings in his processor. Nonetheless, he eased up to his full height, systems churning as he once more went from a kneeling stance up to his peds. It didn’t hurt, but his frame was not too happy from all the up down up down motions his knees were being pushed through.

"Yeah, Bolo does?n'?t? u?n?dersta?nd any of what you said... except running... and I am? ?i?nc?a?p?ab?l?e of doing that OR writing the reports."

How swiftly their game disengaged, it was almost mood whiplash as he was forced to push himself back to business. Gradually he started to walk to close the distance she had traveled, taking his leisurely time, not worried Bolo would get to the raw Energon before they could. If anything? Bolo was just making it easier for them to dig up themselves. Either way, his left hand raised, and tapped the corresponding side of his helm lightly with a few 'tink's.

"I got da-d-d?K?Z?ZT? a-a-m-ama-d?d?-???k??z?zt?t?tk ??k??a?k???ch?"

Of for frags sake. If there was ever a time for his glitch to hard-line and be obnoxious it was right then. It was painfully ironic and he was NOT ok with this in any way shape or form. It almost made it look like the taps on his helm triggered it, which that was not possible, his helm protected him from impact induced glitching. He wasn't so fragile! He wasn't made of glass!

His systems whirred as the sound of electrical static skittered in his helm audibly. It was a crackling, paired with some struggled stuttering as his hands flexed and clenched a moment in frustration. It physically didn’t impair him, he wasn't convulsing or anything, nor was he in any pain, but he was struggling to find his voice.

"a?-??a???-???a???u???um???a?g??e??-e?-k??zz??t?? I??n?j?u??-?i??n-??j??ur-??j??u??r?-??k??z??t??t???k??k?t?? ???P?O?P"

His head pulled back a bit, before wrenching forward as he slammed his teeth together a moment, forcibly resetting everything to the best of his abilities. Just as soon as the errors had started? And the static crackle had been heard? It ceased, leaving him dragging in ventilation and continuing as if nothing had happened.

"I got d?a?m?a?ge ?to? my language center, can't run programs on my HUD or wr?i?t?e repo?r?ts. Sooo... One of us can't... one of us ?i?s ?a d?og?... and the otherrrr"

He motioned towards her in an 'ehh'.

Carbine was playing like nothing had happened with his glitch, praying she didn’t rub his face in it. He wasn't... ashamed of his glitch, as if he was? He'd just not talk at all or very minimally to hide from it, but he hated pity... he hated to be looked at all... 'Poor Carbine can't do basic things like reading and writing, or even SPEAKING' it drove him mad. If she did anything more than a sympathetic look? He would likely not be terribly happy.

Carbine moved up beside Bolo, and reached down to grab onto the metal harness secured to his spine and shoulders. With a tug? The canine was lifted off of the ground cleanly, held to dangle from the support. Bolo's legs flared out, and he scrambled through the air a moment in a futile motion, before looking up at his master happily. 'YAY!' 'GOOD!' 'FOUND!' 'REWARD!' 'YAY!' In reply? Carbine swung the canine up to clap his left arm under Bolos spine, to struggle to hold the large dog almost like an infant on its back.

Bolo flared his legs out happily, gleefully slapping them on Carbine's helmet with loud tinks of metal against glass, as the canine's tongue lulled out to the side in the equivalent of an excited laugh. Carbine knew he had to lavish Bolo with praise and attention when he accomplished something, less the dog's pride corrupt the animal and make him hostile. It was this? That kept Bolo the happy joyful puppy most saw him, not... seeing what he could be. Because of this? Carbine sent praise through their bond as he held Bolo, dipping his helm down to clunk his forehead against the canine's own who squirmed and poked his tongue out between the hooked clamps of his maw.

"Do you see anyt?hing? ?i?n? the ?are?a? where he was digging? Or do we? ?ha?v?e? our work cut out for us?"

((...figures first time I do this idea I hit the one red side... I may need to use different dice so the big failures are rarer if this becomes too prominent...))

[Deleted]

“and the other is me, yeah ok, I guess I can handle the slagging responsibility” Kit cheekily replied. She made a mental note of the confirmation that Carbine was indeed damaged, but said nothing about it. It was one to thing to tease him about his ability to pick up lovely femmes, but it was another to draw attention to actual flaws. Kit knew some of the lines that were not supposed to be crossed.

“I presume you can at least tell me what to write up in a report. Prior to the war, I never really had much call for them.” That was her supervisor’s function, a role she never envied. Truthfully, she would hate to be the supervisor of a glitch like herself. Kit’s work ethic was not something to be proud of.

Kit did watch with interest as Carbine handle Bolo. Carbine may have been capable of some very skilled acting, which had fooled her – and still was, but Bolo was a simple creature Kit reasoned and was utterly open with his emotions. The tiny femme couldn’t help but grin at Bolo’s utter lack of humility and stupidly happy joy.

“Gimme a nano.” Kit cleared minor debrii from the hole Bolo had started. “Looks like something is here, something like that energon rock you had before.” Kit crouched down, placing her hands easily on the floor with her long arms. Kit was built for hands on work, and thus her joints were easily strong and supple enough that crouching on the ground was as easy as lying on a berth. Her right hand transformed once more into the buzz-saw form. Her fingers folded into her palm become spokes while the palm expanded into a wheel. The wheel flattened as the rim bulged upwards and took shape as a big many toothed circular saw blade. The tire of the wheel segmented and expanded forming a depth cutting guide for the saw. Then the buzz-saw spun up to ultra sonic speeds.

“I’m going to dig a little, this is going to get incredibly fragging noisy, do what ya must and talk via radio.” Kit for her part had dampeners in her ears that stopped the audio drum from vibrating and getting damaged.

Slowly, she touched saw blade to rock calibrating for cutting speed and depth. Soon enough, rock dust was billowing as Kit cut tracks into the rock, flipping out long triangular bars of the material. As the underlying Energon crystals took shape, Kit started in with her other hand and got to serious carving. What Kit lacked in raw strength, she compensated with speed and finesse. Her skill was such that all the cuts she made had the dust flowing down the tunnel, away from her, Carbine and Bolo.


OOC: Yay for Dice rolls. Are you using a D6, D8, D10, D12, D20, D30 or D100?

[Carbine]

((It’s a D6 with two sides green, two sides white, one side yellow, and one red))


"Yeah, walk I k??z???z??t?? can you t?h?r?o?u?g?h i?t? verbally."

He used to write reports all the time, as a cop? Anything you did had to be recorded so that legally they weren't wound up in snares and put on trial for some unjust act fabricated in the minds of the accused trying to get free. It happened rather often, criminals trying to turn the tables on them, so they had retaliated accordingly. Granted, if he led her down the report path? It would likely have a lot of police terminology and codes slapped in out of instinct more so than a conscious decision. Still in battle he would roar them out to get accurate tactics conveyed swiftly, even if it may confuse others.

Carbine shamelessly looked over her as she knelt down to look into the fissure in the stone. What could he say? He was lewd at times, and he didn’t even try to hide it. Alas, she had produced the little can opener again, intending to chop the stone out? The thought made him scoff. Did she really think such a tiny saw would be able to dig that far? Would it even be efficient given that it was probably just a tiny amount?

Any Energon left behind, would likely just be the smallest of scraps, otherwise the Mining Drones would have scrambled to get it themselves for the Decepticons. But alas, it seemed she was going to use that pitiful blade to retrieve the object, and warned him it was going to be loud. In response to this? Carbine huffed, still holding onto Bolo. He didn't think it would be THAT loud.

The canine was happily reclining in his master's arms, exceptionally pleased to have done a job right. He patted his paw up at Carbine's face again, not too pleased that Master had looked away and was giving the female attention. 'Hey!' 'I'm Here!' 'MEEEeee!' He patted the paw into the reinforced glass like material with a couple clunks, before the whirring scream of the saw rang out.

The sound alarmed Bolo, and he pinned his ears back and wailed out a yowling cry of distress and partial rage. The yowl turned to an angry growl, that contorted then into barks of aggression. His frame twisted in Carbine's hands, squirming and thrashing until he was down on the ground once more. Before he could charge at the offending noise, or retreat from it, Carbine grasped onto his harness which rooted him in place like a tether.

Carbine was... surprised at just HOW loud the sound was. Bouncing within the confines of stone? It amplified it in the worst ways imaginable. In reply? He cringed and started to back off, holding onto Bolo. It didn’t take much pulling to get Bolo to turn and start to walk away, though the canine still wrenched and snarled a bit, upset by the calamity.

'LOUD!' 'PAIN' 'NOISE!'

Carbine pushed comfort through the bond, wishing he could just... disable Bolo's audio receptors temporarily. Alas, he could not, and started to walk back down the tunnel from which they came. Despite his retreat, the noise didn’t seem to subside, and as such he kept going, almost dragging Bolo by his harness. He hissed through the comm line, sounding annoyed... but not angry with what was going on. He understood it was a necessity, but Primus...

::DA?Y?U?M that s?l?ag is LO?U?D?::

[Deleted]

While Kit knew her Ginsu buzz-saws to be loud when cutting stone, she was not expecting them to be so murderously loud. She carefully un-dampened one ear drum to judge Carbine’s complaint.
::Unholly Fragging spawn of Unicron! This is slagging loud. Um yeah, sorry ‘bout that, gimme me another minute.::

And because she was who she was, Kit had to add ::Frag, its even louder than my last femme friend, and she was one hellova screamer.::

Kit adjusted her position and started to cut around and behind the energon crystal. She was unable to get completely around the crystal without removing a huge mass of stone. Instead she settled for carving just enough to get her hands in. And then proceeded to just that. Buzz saws flipped back into digits, she grabbed the crystal and pulled with all her midget might. A tiny crack in the stone spread into a full fracture and suddenly Kit was sliding on her aft with an energon crystal in her arms.

::I win!::

Kit stood up and admired her loot. It was about the size of her torso, and once refined, was probably only just worth the effort. It was only a big crystal when compared to tiny femmes, to any other cybertronian, it was a sugar cube. Singular.

“Y’know, I think I can see why the ‘Cons ignored a speck like this, it would not be efficient for their operation to mine every last mote. We need to find a better patch they missed in the rush.”

Still carrying her prize, Kit inspected the hole from which she pulled it. She dug a little with her toes and judged she had the majority of crystal already in her arms. Kit began walking further down the tunnel expecting Bolo to one again take the lead. Her tail scanned around playing infra-red light everywhere. While the radiated heat totally ignored colour, it highlighted for Kit different substances in the rock and various features the eyes would otherwise miss. After only a dozen steps that Kit noticed a crack running the length of the tunnel ceiling. She pointed it out to Carbine.

“There’s a crack in the ceiling, might even run into a fissure big enough for little me. Can Bolo smell anything at that height or only ground nose level?”

[Carbine]

Carbine continued to walk down the hall some, dragging Bolo in his wake. The dog was split, half of him wanting to run away from the noise, the other half? Wanted to chew Kit's saws clean off. He wanted the noise gone like none other, and as such? He was trying to judge in his little toddler processor of a mind what would be better. It wasn't like he could ACT on his decision though, run or attack? Master was grabbing his harness.

Bolo bucked a bit against the hold, bowing his head down and spatting odd noises out in anger. Carbine, tried to comfort but he knew there was nothing he could do, and that it would be over soon anyway. Or so he hoped. Nonetheless, when Kit commented on the sound? The thing with the femme? He let out a snorting scoff while rolling his optics. He could see through that ploy to start back up the game again! It was so obvious! Pfft!

When the sound of the saw stopped, Carbine halted his retreat, wondering if she was getting a new angle to cut? Or if it was actually pulled free. Once he could see her pulling at something, he started to come over. He knew he could probably grab it and wrench it clean out if she had loosened it, and as such? That was what he was planning to do. This goal was set aside though, for before he got near enough, the tiny femme had managed to pop the Energon out, sliding back and away from the force behind it.

"Yeah, know I k?z?z?t don't if we WILL find an?y?t?hin?g? ?b?e?tter?."

He grumbled this out in dismay, being a bit realistic. If there was any amount that was worthwhile, all patched together? The Con's scanners would have picked up on it and they would have gotten to it. He seriously didn’t think they would find anything bigger than what she had gotten already. In a way this mission was almost worthless, but if they conserved energy and weren't stupid and running around using guns to blast the stone free? It should have at least some slight gain.

Once Bolo had calmed down, Carbine let go of him, motioning to the hole once more. The helicopter mech made a light clicking sound, pointing to the opening with a few taps of his finger. Bolo went back to look at it, sniffing around the opening, and the stone that had been warmed from the cutting. He sniffed and huffed a bit, before starting to move down the hall, a sign Kit had gotten it all. Bolo didn't get very far however, as Kit had spoken, and Carbine? Grabbed onto the dog's harness once more in reply.

"Well, l?e?t's? find out."

Grabbing the harness in one hand, and Bolo's hip with the other, the mech raised him up and off of the ground to hold him upside down over his head with a heave. The length of the ridged harness, pushed Bolo's upper torso higher off of the ground so his body was at an angle aimed up to the rocks above. The dog was confused a moment, tucking his legs up to his chest, looking down at the others while making a soft whine. Carbine? Simply chuckled at this.

"Search and f-f?-f?k?z?zt-l?o?c?a?t?e. La?s-?la-?l?-k?z?zt-?l?-?previous Parameter."

He said this behind a grin, as Bolo looked around before lifting his paws to scratch at the ceiling? When this didn’t get praise, he tried sniffing at the ceiling? The dog was looking for confirmation, that this was what was wanted of him, and once Carbine sent praise through the bond? He understood what was happening, starting to sniff and huff at the stone wherever Carbine 'ran' him. The ex-cop started to walk forward along the tunnel once more, holding Bolo up near the fracture in the stone like some kind of weird vacuum cleaner.

"His sense of smell never ceases to am?a?z?e? ?me?, so if something is up there? H?e s?ho?u?l?d? le?t me know. Aint t?h?at? right Bolo!?"

The Dog squirmed and wiggled a bit at the excitement in Master's voice, letting out a confirming yip of glee before sniffing again. He didn’t really know what was said, just that it was happy and directed at him? So he translated it as praise! Yay!

[Deleted]

With hands on hips and amusement in her field, Kitandcaboodle watched at Carbine hefted Bolo up, and turned him into a sort of Spider dog. “Well I guess that answers that”. It wasn’t the manner in which Kit expected her question to be answered but it got the point across.

She played her tail tipped torch against the ceiling more, tracking the occasionally elusive crack. The infrared light from the torch made the rock glow with additional heat. As with visible light, the crack was a dark line, the difference being that Kit could spot a much finer crack this way. She was playing a hunch that the Decepticons were not as thorough as they made their efforts seem. But it was only a hunch and nothing more.

The crack wormed it way along the ceiling until it finally finished at a dead end tunnel. To Kit’s reckoning, the crack must have been the result of the removed rock no longer supporting the weight of the rock as yet still there. It didn’t lead to a wider crack where she could explore; it certainly wasn’t lined with energon goodies just waiting for her to pluck them from their stony prison. It was merely some fracture in the rock because the rock was weak.

“What the frag am I slagging doing?! I am literally looking at cracks in the ceiling. I admit it, I am getting slagging bored and we’ve only been here...not fragging long at all. This is even worse than performing my function.” Kit spun in place on her toes, mock exasperation heavy in her field. She needed to change things up, quick.

Kit asked the first question that came to mind. “So what’s your alt?”

She was still new to Earth forms, and she didn’t know an aardvark from a zamboni.

[Carbine]

Carbine walked slowly along, keeping Bolo suspended in the air to sniff along the ceiling. Every few strides, he would roll a shoulder joint or adjust himself slightly to try to put the weight on his limbs properly. Bolo was not immensely heavy, but it was still lifting his arms above his head for an extended period of time. While he himself was not comfortable? Bolo loved every moment of it.

The canine's paws would remain folded up against his chest, before occasionally reaching out to 'walk' along the ceiling like a child playing a game. He was delighted from this new experience, having never gotten to track something like this before. The only issue was that if he wanted an extra whiff at something? Master had already taken him away from it.

A stretch of the neck, and a mild whine, would get Carbine to drag him back to that point however, so it wasn't a total loss. As such? Bolo continued his hunt until the edge of the crevice was reached. The moment this happened? The disgraced cop lowered the dog to plunk him back down into the ground upon all fours, Bolo seemingly disappointed that the game was over.

After this? Out of seemingly nowhere? The little femme had an outburst, and Carbine's stance straightened up in surprise while some of his bio-lights flickered momentarily. He did not expect her to chain into a small rant like that, especially since they truly hadn't been at the job very long, and had already had one bout of success! Granted, he himself may have gone whiney if Thunder was there, but that would be half boredom and half just trying to annoy the slag out of his friend.

"O?h?hhk?a?y?y?y?y?y"

He stated this warily, as if unsure how to respond to this. Luckily? She provided an out, and he latched onto the following question with full zeal. However? It also reminded him of what he lost out on. He wasn't a rotor mech back on Cybertron.

"I was a hover car, fast, fraggin m?a?g?nifi?cen?t! But the humans are too p-?p?r?i?m-?p?-simple, the closest thing they had was this thing. A K???Z???Z??T??po?p?? h-h?-h?el?i?c-eggbeater."

...what?

He tried to recover.

"Autogiro, Whirlybird, Chopper k???z??z??t?t??"

Com'on glitch pull it back...

"Helicopter! ... k?r?ac??kl??e? ... N?o?t ?reall?y so?l?d ?o?n i?t? ?y?et, want my old alt-mode back, Can though k??z??z???t?? I legit fly now so that’s a boon! I guess... Or a nightmare."

He clicked his teeth, motioning to Bolo who began to hunt down the tunnel again.

"How a?bo?u?t? y?o?u?? A Vespa?"

He laughed aloud at his own bad joke.

[Deleted]

“Was magnificent, past tense. Whatever happened to you? No wait, don’t answer that, I want to imagine your fall from grace.” Kit was pure cheek. Carbine left the door open, she was driving through hard and fast.

Kit considered Carbine a rotor wing aircraft. Normally she held a prejudice against fliers. She knew this and even embraced it times, but for some reason, she couldn’t hold it against Carbine. It was the way he’d said Nightmare, like he was not really a flier, just somebody with a flying alt by pure chance. Possibly it was her partial respect for the law enforcement mechs. She had run into their path more than once, and mostly they had been decent with her.

“Vespa, Ha!” Kit’s tone was mixed with amusement and irritation, evidenced by the mild swishing of her tail. “That’s actually a bit fragging close to home, slaggin primitive meatbags. I’ll show you.”

Kit did not care too much for her earth alt, she cared even less for her factory default however. She’d actually yet to find an alt of appropriate size/mass that she did liked. That transformation cog of hers was barely worn for a reason. However none of this stopped her from showing off when she was in the light, like now.

With her back to Carbine, she swung her self back in to a rolling handstand, like last time. Except she continued to somersault. Even as her feet hit the floor, they were transforming, her shins curving and combing to create wheels, the front ones of her alt. Her chest rotated, breast-plating into a fuel tank and her head tucked forward and in. The plating of her lower back and skirt formed a seat and her arms and hands now formed the wheels and skirt of her alt mode.

Where once was a biped, was now a street legal racing quad. Seemingly from nowhere, a holo-matter avatar formed, a rider for Kit’s alt-mode completing the disguise. Kit circled around Carbine once and then in front of him so he could see all the angles.

Satisfied that she been in her alt mode long enough, Kit transformed back into her primary. With as much flare as she could muster, a good degree more enthusiasm than she actually felt, she flicked herself into another springing somersault and was walking alongside Bolo once more.

“So what’s your take on the humans? You’ve been on this slagging dirtball longer than me.”

[Carbine]

"Pa?s?t ?t?ense?!?"

He squawked out, before he struck a bit of a pose. Slender peds planted down forcibly on either side, taking on a broader stance, while his hands clapped down atop the protruding struts of his hips. His frame filled up with a deep ventilation that he didn't permit to filter out, while his chest pushed out some in a proper 'heroic pose' as if he was something spectacular to behold and be worshiped.

"I am still m?a?gn?if?ic?en?t! Just not a hover c?ar 'ne longer!"

After he had said this, his helm tilted down to peer at her with a hooked brow-line. This was only truly evident by the way one optic ridge was higher in the upper lid than the other, trying to convey the emotion without having... visible brow lines in which to do so.

Carbine didn't hold this pose for long, going back into a walk to keep pace with Bolo to a reasonable degree. It wasn't hard, the canine taking his time because he really did want to find another piece of Energon. In the animal's brain? If he found another rock? Than Master would carry him around like a flyer again, which absolutely delighted the canine. But work aside? What happened next even caught the animal's attention.

Both Bolo and Carbine watched curiously as Kit transformed, taking in the sight of what was happening to try to guess what it would be. Carbine thought it was going to be a motorcycle, but it was a bit bigger than that and had four wheels. However? The top was exposed unlike a tiny human car, yet the transformation was finishing up with no sign of filling that void. After a moment it was done, and she began driving about him.

Bolo's ears flicked around, watching, for a moment wanting to chase, but... he had a job to do, and he turned back to do so now that he had seen things. Carbine? Merely let out a squawking pop of a laugh, having no idea what on this planet he was even looking at! It was like a car with its frame ripped off, fused with a motorcycle? He let out a line of static for a bit, a chopping attempt to speak, before he finally stabilized enough to get words.

"I h?ave ?no i?dea? ?what that slag ev?e-e?-?e-?regular is!"

It was good humored in tone, not teasing HER for her alt mode, just, not understanding the humans and the little concoction they put together. Maybe it was a motorcycle for people that had no balance capabilities? He was all grins by the time she turned back and asked her next question, some of the mirth transferring into his words.

"Well, evident by that half co?n?-?c?-c?-?formed car thing y?o?u s?c?a?n?n?e?d, I'd say they are an od?-?o?d-crazy batch of organics!"

He flicked his hand in her direction, going back into a walk to keep pace with the hunting hound. He thought for a moment, pushing his jaw forward slightly which twisted his helm a small bit. He didn’t mind though, stretching the joint that was locked down because of his riot helm.

"On more s?er?i?o?u?s n?ot?es?... I haven't really been 'round 'em much. Tal-?ta-t?-?spoke to one, think they called him 'flower' or something, wasn't paying much attention. He one the k???zz?t? is that provided my and Thunder's alt modes."

Putting himself before Thunder in that statement was grammatically incorrect, but damn if Carbine was going second to THUNDER in any way.

"I am a flyer, I don't r?eal?ly int?er?a?c?t with the little fleshy things. Ha?ve?n?'?t? ev?en? seen the human children that frequent the base really..."

Carbine rolled a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't know if the human children were being hidden from him and Thunder? Or if times just never lined up right to introduce them properly. Either way, he motioned back to her with a free hand.

"Because you had out to k?z???z?t?? go I assume to get that al?t mod?e? You’ve probably seen and interacted w?it?h? 'e?m? m?ore than I."