[Ep. 2] Ain't That a Kick in the Head- (CLOSED)

[Deleted]

(set week 2, day three)


Finally.




They were finally letting him do something. They balked and chafed but finally Tailgate was going to be able contribute. The higher ups decided that due to his small frame and basically nonexistent military experience, he'd be accompanying two others on a scouting mission in some mountainous country. Tailgate hadn't really listened to the briefing as he was too thrilled to be actually able to do something besides laze about that he did not really remember why they were going there. Probably something important and real hush-hush if it was a super-duper secret scouting mission. Either way, Tailgate was finally off of his aft and doing something. Tailgate simply needed to be working, contributing, or helping out in anyway. Even if he got in the way or it was detrimental to himself. The urge was most likely attributed to his basic programming. Disposable class mechs in his era where made to be willing to work on a psychological level, if they liked it or not. The Minibot would feel worthless and empty if he didn't pull his weight around somehow.

The dossier data packet he'd received said to be be by the GroundBridge portal by 10am. Tailgate had been up for hours. Nervously pacing back and forth his small quarters trying to make sure he was ready to go.

Systems check? Done.

Gun cleaned and ready? Done.

Malware check? Done. After a certain incident, he'd begun to always check his antivirus programs regularly.

Chassis check? Yup. Everything seemed to be in working condition.



Tailgate checked and rechecked, and then checked some more. No way some minor unseen fluke was gonna get him to mess up. And he still had some time to spare! In fact, if he left now he could be the first one there ready to go. A splendid way to start off his first assignment. Showing up early would surely show everyone he was committed and dutiful.

The Minibot hurried down the hallway with a gait that radiated confidence. This was his day! His time to shine. Nothing was going to break his stride or slow him down...


...except that someone had gotten there before him. A tall, black plated mech with yellow and white accents. Casually loafing about at the designated meeting spot. Nonchalantly leaned up against the wall. Tailgate was crestfallen. He hadn't been the only one to think of showing up early, and this mech had beaten it to him. Pity.

Still, Tailgate was still in a good enough mood. He wasn't going to allow such a minor digression ruin the excitement.

"Hello!" He said in an almost too chipper mood. Tailgate couldn't be acting all willy nilly on a serious mission. He coughed, readjusted his tone to more neutral.

"You're here for the mission, right? I'm Tailgate."

[Carbine]

If there was one thing Carbine was good at, it was arriving on time somewhere. He could be a roughian, he could be a troublemaker, and he more often than not was a crass pain in the aft. One thing he wasn't? Was late. At least when he had control over it... sometimes Thunder could be the absolute worst.

A big part of this was ingrained in him from his days as a police officer, where punctuation meant the day went smoothly and without fault. The other was from Garrus-1, where you showed up when you needed to in order to get your rations, or you were simply not going to get any for that chunk of the day. It is because of this, Carbine found himself leaning up against a side wall of the main control room, idly waiting for when they were going to depart.

He didn't really know who was going to go with them today, he just knew it was scouting, and that he was being brought along. He assumed it would be Energon hunting again, using Bolo for what he was meant to be used for effectively. Either way, whatever idle trails of thought that was skittering through the ex-cop's processor skidded to an abrupt halt when a chip almost childish voice popped out a quick happy 'hello'.

A helm sporting a near opaque black visor spun around to search for the source, yellow optics wider in an attentive look, only for the briefest moment of confusion to play forth when no one was immediately seen. A spilt moment later, his gaze dropped down onto the tiny little white and blue car mech that seemed to be trying to real back the 'child' mode and be more serious.

Carbine nearly lost his shit.

The helicopter let out a snorted ex-vent of a noise, as if trying to hold back a laugh that was really persistent on wanting to come out. This hiccupped pop occurred a couple times while he eased away from the wall, turning about face to square off with the small little marshmallow. His stance wide and confident with an overbearing aura of smug amusement. Before his ped even fully settled against the ground, Carbine knelt forward a bit, hands planting upon the top of his knees while spine arched enough to lower his helm, as if trying to slightly get on the little mech's level. He did not actually strain himself to truly bend so low, still looming overhead, but the belittling motion was visible.

"Baww, I haven't seen you around here little guy! You los-lo-s?-?s?-?misplaced?"

He teased, intentionally ignoring the fact that this was probably someone who was going to go on the mission with him.

[Deleted]

There was a brief moment of awkward silence. Tailgate narrowed his optics. The action was only visible through the dimming of optical plate as his actual optics were hidden from view. He could handle smugness. He could tolerate the laughing, the disbelief, the ridicule. He'd been through it all before.


The oh-so-slightly crouching? Not so much.


Yes, he was tiny. Compact. Minuscule. A lightweight, what have you. Tailgate came to terms with his vertically challenged life rather quickly. In a society dominated by the ideal that a bot's chassis was their life's role, what else was there to do but accept what you were sparked with? Not like Tailgate had the money, or permission really, to afford an upgrade or even chassis transfer.

The brief time he lived on Cybertron was mostly spent in underground sewage facility. Most bots he met were either co-workers with similar mold types and when he did meet the odd outsider, they didn't make a remark about his stature. Tailgate thought it rather ironic. The bot before him spoke rather oddly. Glitched and stuttered as if something was wrong with his vocalizer. Yet the Minibot in the room was more of a spectacle.

Tailgate gave an indignant sigh as if he'd heard the same remark a dozen times that day.

"You can straighten up," He said bitterly. "I'm short, not blind."

He stared back into the mech's helm. Two faint orbs of yellow light were visible behind the semi-opaque visor. Tailgate's own optical visor was back to its normal intensity. He wanted nothing more than to return an equally unkind comment but there was no point in making his new teammate hate him. Tailgate swallowed what little pride he had and pressed on.

"Well? Is this the place? For the scouting mission?"

[Carbine]

Awkward silence?

More like awkward greatness.

Carbine's unseen features twisted back a bit further at every given moment that passed, to a point that the corner of his mouth that was still attached to his face was pulled back so far it nearly matched the gaping hole on the other. He liked to imagine he could hear the little metaphorical gears clicking away in the small mech's mind, trying to churn and struggle dialing up a reply to his words, or maybe just looking for a means to control an upset reaction.

Or maybe they'd be boring.

He really hoped the white mech wouldn't just brush off his words, or cast them aside. He'd be super disappointed if they ended up like Optimus, rather boring and bland with no emotions to prod at (Not that he'd want to verbally stab at their Prime too much). Lucky for the ex-cop? Such a concern wasn't left for long, as Tailgate replied with a little quip that was about as well thought out as trying to poke molten metal to check how hot it was.

There was a straining sound that came out of Carbine's systems, a low whirring clicking along, followed by a static overlay that crackled during the higher points of the whirring. His voice was strained, restraining as best he could.

"Well cong?rat?ul?at?ions on your ability to see-?e?-e! That doesn't really help me ?s?ee? ?yo?u? better though!"

He strained these words out with a shudder of his frame that was accented by the panels of metal on his back that would make his wings. The rotors clicked and rattled slightly, even more evidence of the laugh he was trying to hold back. Carbine couldn't really explain why he found this so funny. If asked, he would simply put on a dumb look and be at a loss for a bit. True, to save face he would come up with a lie to why it was so hilarious, but honestly he wasn't sure.

Perhaps it was the fact it was a grounder with four wheels that somehow was so small they may as well been a two wheeler, but he had not laughed at Zoom-Zoom like this. Maybe it was the rounded bubbly shape of the other mech paired with an older frame style he didn't recognize instantly. Possibly it was their voice, something about its tone coming from a frame type such as what was before him. Could be it was the pure and simple concept that THIS was his help for scouting, and how their legs would have to scamper along to keep up with his significantly longer stride. The little blur of white and blu-

He laughed.

"AhHH?A?H?ak???z???z??t??hahh...yeah... yeah... no... yes... this is the meeting place, but you sure you are tall e?n?o?ugh? ?fo?r? ?t?hi?s ?ride?? We may need to climb over so?m?e? pretty big rocks!"

[Deleted]

Typically, Mirage did not work with others very often, though not for any lack of willingness on his part. His particular skillsets simply made him better suited for solitary tasks, rather than those which required him to work with a team. If he were to be perfectly honest with himself, he would have to admit that he did have a slight preference for solo-work, if only because company could sometimes be...unreliable. Or outright unhelpful.

That being said, he had his reservations about working with Tailgate and Carbine. Not because he disliked either of them, or disliked the idea of working with them, but because he simply had no idea what particular skills either mech possessed, or how they might be useful. He did not know how they might respond, should something go amiss, or how successfully they would play off one another’s strengths and make up for each other’s weaknesses.

Frankly, he didn’t even know if the two would even get along. Given what he knew of them both, which was admittedly not much...well, he did not hold high hopes that the two would get along swimmingly.

Carbine was loud, abrasive, eccentric, and willful. Against a personality as soft as Tailgate’s, it seemed unlikely that the two would balance one another out, as opposed to clashing. Though, he supposed it was unfair to make assumptions of the two so early. After all, he had yet to see them interact, so it was quite possible that they--

--Oh, no, never-mind. It looked like they were already quarreling after all.

Mirage paused in the doorway, taking a moment to observe the two mecha as they spoke to one another at the other end of the room. By the looks of things, Carbine either seemed to think Tailgate was a particularly adorable puppy, judging by the way he stood with his hands on his knees as if he were gushing over the smaller mech, or he was simply being condescending.

The laugh that burst forth from the mech a few moments later only proved Mirage’s suspicions that it was, indeed, the latter.

The spy took that as his cue to finally step in, before things had the chance to get out of hand.

“Good evening, my friends.” He called, his voice just loud enough to carry across the room.

In a few polished strides he made his way across the room, stopping just a few feet adjacent from both mechs.

“Are you both prepared to leave?” He asked, looking to Carbine then Tailgate in turn.

[Deleted]

Oh, that gear brained piece of...!


If Cybertronians were built with the capacity to blush then Tailgate would have been absolutely scarlet faced at this point. He gave the bot a chance to be nice. Tailgate had refrained from a rude remark and still this undeservedly rude bot had another go at him. The Minibot's field was still mainly focused around him but now it bristled with agitation, prodding like little needles at anyone who came too close.


He kept his mouth clamped shut. The mech was a jerk but Tailgate wasn't about to incite more insults. That is, until the bot shuddered with poorly concealed laughter until it erupted out in raucous guffawing.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be able to see just fine. I'm a little concerned for you though, must be hard to see with your head so far up your-"

Tailgate's tirade was interrupted by another bot entering the room. He did not curse lightly and wasn't about to let loose with profanity within audio sensor range of another bot. He kept quiet as the other bot strode towards the duo with an air of elegance.

“Are you both prepared to leave?”

"Ready whenever." He grumbled, head lowered to avoid eye contact.

[Carbine]

Carbine was not completely blind to the little runt's bubbling agitation, and while there was a chance that the individuals mood could still be a miss-read on his part, the cop felt confident in his assumptions. He had pissed off the little Mech it seemed, if body posture had anything to show for it. It was a bit frustrating not being able to see an actual face to read, but hey, karma was a bit of a bitch in that regard considering he himself had no visible faceplate. Though... he had optic shape to convey some things...

The little opponent in this verbal quarrel, started to throw back a reply, a reply in which Carbine was already starting to compile a response to even before Tailgate had finished. He would not get a chance to act on it though, as a familiar voice caught his attention, interrupting the little white mech and the half compiled retort that was being cobbled together in his processor.

Instantly, Carbine wrenched upright as if someone had sent an electrical charge through his spinal strut, taking on a far more proper posture instead of hunching over. The belittling stance was gone, and long arms found themselves loosely hanging at his side for a moment as he was unsure what to do with them exactly. His stance shifted a bit, before a sort of grin could be felt on his field, aided by a gentle curve of the underside of his optics.

"Good evenin' yourself b?ea?utif?ul!"

He replied, his implied grin growing even brighter, optics now almost crescent shaped in a way, becoming thin slits of yellow that peered across the way as Mirage approached. Carbine was effectively a lecherous individual. When he saw something he liked, he latched down onto it and would basically consider it 'his' to be taken at his convenience. Sad thing was, he was horrendously misguided at the moment, viewing Mirage not only as a potential target to be wooed, but thinking the lithe elegant mech was actually a femme.

Double Whoops.

"Just having a bit of verb?al spar? before heading out i?s? a?l?l. I am ready to go whenever!"

His right hand lifted, placing to the top of his helm which had tilted to the side, giving a sort of short salute of amusement. It wasn't so much a 'I am under your command, officer' sort of salute, but was far more along the lines of 'I will follow you, baby', complete with the flickering implications of his grin though his field.

Tailgate was dead to him now. He didn't want to taunt and belittle the possibly new mech on the team, when he wanted to make a good impression for the elegant femme that he was pining over.

[Optimus Prime]

A moment after, there was a distant sound of another mech approaching, the impacts of each footfall well heard before the individual could come into line of sight. They were in no particular rush, approaching at their own careful stride, before eventually coming around the corner hallway into the main control room.

Optimus stood momentarily in the doorway, his helm held high, peering down at those who had gathered. He had anticipated possibly Tailgate or Carbine being late, but was pleasantly surprised that not only were none of the trio absent, but that they had managed to congregate earlier than they needed to, effectively beating Optimus himself to the location.

He had picked up on some of the tail end of the conversation, namely the inquiry if the others were ready, and the replies that correlated with it. He assumed then there was no need to waste time, in return simply cutting straight to the point. The sooner they were dispatched, the sooner they could come home and deliver what they have found, and the sooner that they would be able to rest after the work or look into extracting the Energon. Optimus simply dipped his helm a bit as a greeting upon his arrival, before he flowed directly into business.

"Today you will be scouting along a strip of Steens Mountain in the north west of the United States."

Walking forth once more, it did not take the Prime long to reach the front of the Ground Bridge control where he started to type in a few commands. One never forgets their roots so to speak, and Optimus' showed his by the speed and dexterity he typed across the console, skillfully pulling up the intended map only a few seconds later. The imagery shone on the display brightly, some glyphs marking out the location.

"We have reason to believe an Energon deposit is near. This is a scouting mission only-"

He glanced over at the trio as he said this.

"-I do not want any confrontations if it can be helped. If the Decepticons have seized the location, than observe, do not engage."

Optimus may have been looking at Carbine a bit more pointedly as he said this than he did to the other two. Fact was, the ex-convict had turned a similar situation sometime prior into a fiasco with his counterpart Thundercloud. They don't have the resources to comfortably put someone back together (again) unless they got some more Energon soon.

"Mirage will be leading this excursion."

[Deleted]

If Carbine thought Mirage did not notice the way he perked up the very moment he realized he was in the room, then he was blind.

If he thought Mirage was at all taken with such tactless attempts to compliment his appearance and get into his good graces, then he was a fool.

Mirage was a Tower mech through and through, and though he understood the sentiment behind Carbine’s words, he was far impressed with its less-than-classy delivery. However, where Carbine lacked tact, Mirage possessed it in spades, and so the only outward indication he gave that the ex-cop’s line had fallen flat was his complete lack of response to it. He simply side-stepped it as if it were something unpleasant on the sidewalk, pretending it never crossed his path, for the sake of both his and Carbine’s dignity.

Thankfully, before the mech could do much more to embarrass them both, aside from his flirtatious salute, Optimus arrived on the scene.

Mirage was quick to shift his attention to the other mech, grateful to have an excuse to not respond to Carbine’s painful attempt to be charming.

“Understood, Optimus.” He replied, once the Prime finished outlining the details of their task.

He noticed the way Optimus’ optics had lingered on Carbine while asserting that they were not to engage any potential threats unless it was absolutely unavoidable, and made a mental note to keep an optic on the mech. The Prime seemed to have reason to believe that might be a troublesome issue for him, which in turn would become a troublesome problem for the rest of their scouting party if the ex-cop fell prey to his baser urges.

“I will be sure to check in with Red Alert sometime within the next hour, to inform him of our progress.”

...And to let him know that they were all still alive so he wouldn’t spam their comms or try to ready a rescue team to find them.

[Deleted]

Oh, so now he wanted to play nice?


So he wasn't a lumbering jerk to everyone. Only bots like Tailgate apparently. Splendid.


The arrival of Optimus Prime was a surprise. Tailgate had heard many an epic story of Autobot leader. The bot was a living legend. He had not expected him to christen their little mission at all. It seemed like a pretty average scouting trip anyway. The Minibot couldn't help but stare a little at the titanic mech. It was like Primus himself had decided to grace them with his presence.


Tailgate noticed the look Optimus gave Carbine. It seemed to indicate, in relation to what Prime had stated, that this mech in particular had a habit of either disobeying orders or being a loose cannon. Either way, it made Tailgate feel a little better. Seems he wasn't the only one who saw what a gear head this mech was.

The Minibot nodded understandingly to Optimus as he instructed the trio on the particulars of their mission. Sounded easy enough, but what did Tailgate know anything of what an "easy" mission was? His idea of an easy work day was only one or two pipes leaking Cybertronian sewage. He'd never fought, never encountered another mech who wished him dead. Hopefully, an "easy" mission was a mission where no enemies where encountered. Tailgate could see himself as an easy target for an enemy gun. Not a pleasant thought. He couldn't picture the black and white mech stepping in to save his backside at all. And the blue mech, Mirage, had an air of superiority. Mirage seemed like the kind of bot to only help if it didn't involve him dirtying himself. Tailgate didn't have much in the gun department himself but did prepare for the mission by grabbing a handful of grenades from the arsenal (with permission, of course). He had relatively strong arms and was confident in his ability to toss the grenades quite far.

The Ground Bridge hummed with energy. The air itself seemed to vibrate with intensity. The room was engulfed in neon green as the portal ripped into space-time. The signal was given. Tailgate walked into the shimmering green and out of the base as he was warped to a lovely mountain glade.

[Carbine]

Oh, oh it happened ONCE

Carbine's jaw shifted forward a bit in displeasure when he noted the way that Optimus had lingered on him longer than the others. He knew damn well what situation the Prime was referring to, and he still had a few faded marks that were testament to being cobbled back together from the brink of death. A grenade would definitely do that to any individual. But either way, he couldn't help it, it was a ragtag mining operation they stumbled across with a couple of lucky fools that should have been easy for himself and Thunder ((Because of course Thunder is listed second)) to slaughter. It was only by some twisted graces of luck or Primus that they failed in outright slaughtering them both.

But hey, least they TRASHED that one big'un...

Rounded arms lifted and folded over one another, to aid in keeping his mouth shut and not saying something that would end up poorly for him. He respected the leadership, he truly did, and he would do what was instructed of him, but he would try to read between the lines and find loopholes if it would suit his needs better. Alas, that was just how the ex-cop worked, and that was the sort of thinking that got him landed in Garrus-1 to begin with.

Optimus nodded in reply to Mirage's words, before turning and typing a few more coordinates into the console before him. It was only a moment longer before he reached over and clutched the lever, pushing it down with a clank to start the Ground Bridge. The complex piece of machinery revved into gear with a roar of its internals, the vortex spiraling into shape with a flurry of blue and green lighting that illuminated the control room with an additional light source.

The Prime didn't say anything more, Carbine instead moving into action.

The Ex-cop's slender legs cut forward a few strides, halting just to the side of the entrance to the tunnel like passageway of the Ground Bridge. His frame dipped a bit after getting in position, arms swinging in a loping motion to gesture towards the pathway as if he were being polite and holding the door open for the others. It would be kind to just ignore the fact there was absolutely nothing he could do to actually affect the entryway itself.

Yellow optics cut down and watched Mirage carefully, wondering just what he she would do. If she would snub him and make him go first, or if she would take the mock courteous offer and precede so Carbine could get a bit of a show. As the saying was... 'it is a pity to see them go, but love to watch them leave'. However this scenario landed him an opportunity to FOLLOW said eye-candy along.

What?... No one ever said he was a good mech...

There was a delay, a pause, and luckily, it seemed his patience in awkward situations landed him a victory as Mirage passed by. Carbine' didn't really pay heed to Tailgate passing through, since his optics were occupied with other things. He turned and followed the lithe femme soon after with an unseen smirk of victory.

Optimus back in the base simply frowned in disapproval, snapping the power to the bridge off once the odd trio had passed through.



A partly obscured sun shone above the new environment, casting speckled blotches of illumination through splattered clouds. The grey wisps smothered out a majority of the sky, attempting to choke out the sun into a grey overcast but was not quite successful enough to accomplish such a task. It left everything a bit muted and subdued, the areas the light above directly shined upon popping with vibrant greens and bronze.

The environment itself was scrawling with a lot of rises and falls that were smoothed over as if a blanket of dirt was cast over an otherwise rocky terrain. It gave an illusion of things being very simple to traverse, only to reveal it was pitted with grooves and falls that were frosted over by shrubbery and other foliage. Trees splattered across in smears, compiled together in long strips while barren shrubbery graced the next. It gave an appearance of the mountain being painted in thin streaks of forest.

Carbine was the last to go through the portal, stepping out into the cooler air as his helm lifted from Mirage to actually see where they had found themselves. He scanned the environment before him with a slow head turn, looking for any indicator or concept of where Energon may be stored. It tended, as far as he knew, to be placed in particularly rocky areas, evidence of how the earth was ripped asunder in order to stash the fuel, but here? There was nothing... It all just looked the same.

"We get sent to the righ?t sp?ot?... because this doesn't lo-l-appear right."

[Deleted]

Something had disturbed the antelope.

He looked up, watching as the sensitive beasts galloped down the nearby hill. Perfectly calm and grass-nibbling moments before, they were speeding away like fire was on their heels. The giant garbage mech rose to his feet, unfolding from crossed legs and using a hand to shove himself up. His fiery eyes narrowed, one arm shielding them as he squinted at the horizon.

The telltale warble of spacetime warping was his first clue. The next was a flicker of green light, licking over the lip of the hill and reflecting off the sandstone rocks. It winked away as soon as it came, and the burly mech was off and headed towards a large, towering pile of boulders. His engines would rev too loudly if he drove away, and he was too slow compared to the other grounders under Megatron.

Primus on a fraggin’ piston. It was bad enough that he had gone off-road on patrol (again), but a groundbridge meant only one of two things: either Pyrotech was back early and checking something out, or they were Autobranders. He had neither the want nor the means to deal with either at the moment, and if it was the latter, he wasn’t far from the borders of the architect’s little outpost.

Pulling his field tightly around him, Buffalo Dump slunk behind the boulders more, keeping one audial on the horizon. The wind was blowing in his direction, carrying sounds down and to his waiting sensors. Hopefully the bastards would be heading in the other direction, and he could haul aft out of there before they spotted him….

[Deleted]

As Carbine bowed and gestured towards the ground bridge, as if to politely offer the to go before him, Mirage found himself resisting the painfully strong urge to roll his optics. Such a meaningless show of propriety was not going to earn Carbine any favors - common courtesy was to be expected, not praised. It was the very least that a civil being was supposed to do. That Carbine was not being polite for its own sake, but rather, to fulfill an ulterior motive, only cheapened the act.

So, no. He was not impressed. In the slightest.

However, he was not so displeased with Carbine’s transparent attempts at appealing to his sensibilities that he would actually call the mech out on it. That would just be tasteless. To be upset over something so trivial would be embarrassingly petty, and while Mirage admittedly did indulge in a few petty upsets very now and again, he staunchly avoided making a habit out of it.

With that said, he did little more than pause reluctantly before the ground bridge, not wanting to call Carbine out on his behavior, but at the same time, not wanting to encourage it by indulging him. In the end, he simply hesitated a moment or two before stepping through the bridge, stifling the urge to sigh all the while.

He did not need optics in the back of his head to know where Carbine’s own optics were pointed.

The ex-cop followed behind him shortly after, and as the bridge closed behind them, Mirage took his time examining their surroundings. He planted a hand on his hip, allowing it to rest there as he slowly turned his head, his gaze panning across the vast wilderness before them. The terrain wouldn’t be the easiest to transverse, but he didn’t think it would be very challenging for anyone in their group. At least, he certainly hoped it wouldn’t be. Truth be told, he was a tad worried about Tailgate - not only was the mech small, but he didn’t seem particularly experienced in...anything, really.

He could only hope the minibot was more competent than he first appeared.

“I believe it’s safe to assume Optimus knows how to properly input coordinates into a ground bridge.” Mirage replied dryly, sparing Carbine a brief glance out of the corner of his optic before shifting his attention forward once again.

He took a few strides forward, placing himself in front of both Tailgate and Carbine, before turning slightly on his heel and addressing the two over his shoulder.

“Come along, you two. There will be time to admire the scenery later on.”

And with that, he turned forward once more and continued onward, not bothering to check to make sure he was being followed.

[Deleted]

Mirage wandered off with his elegant stride to nowhere in particular. Presumably to begin their mission. Dutifully, the Minibot followed him. All the while consciously ignoring Carbine who stayed within his peripheral.

It was a nice enough day. Sun was shining in a cloudless sky. Temperature was nice. Tailgate would have enjoyed going for a leisurely stroll here had there not been a mission at hand. Nevada was nice and all but there was simply too much dry desert. Like a tamed version of the Sea of Rust. Uneventful and nasty. Sand got everywhere in the chassis and in between all the plating. It chafed like nothing else.


The Minibots mind began to wander as they traveled. If there was a conversation going on, he wasn't actively listening. Not that any topics that Mirage and Carbine could be discussing were of any interest or relevance to Tailgate. Even if he tried to pip in they'd probably disregard it or tell him to focus. Yet, even now in his silence, he was not focused at all. The new environment just flooded his mind with questions. Why was that flower blue and not pink like the others? How come only these needley trees grew here? There was still so much about organic life he did not understand. At this point he he was just blindly following Mirage, making sure he was within an acceptable distance. Which was harder than it looked. Tailgate had very short legs while Mirage glided effortlessly on his tall legs. After a while, Tailgate found himself having to pick up the pace just to keep up. The others were at a comfortable walking pace while the Minibot was on the border of speed walking and jogging. But he didn't make a peep about it, his mind was still too engrossed in his surroundings.

Speaking of which...

There was a clump of bushes just off to the side. They looked as if they'd been trampled by a monstrous beast. The trail of destruction continued, as if the beast walked through the glade. As far as Tailgate knew, there were no organic animals this large on the continent. His curiosity was piqued.

"Hey guys...it looks like something big came through here." He mumbled to his teammates. Tailgate slowed himself so he could inspect the odd sight. His optics focused in the distance, following the crumpled flora. He placed a flattened hand across his optical ridge to keep the bearing sun out his vision.

"I think...I see something?" Tailgate intoned as he spied a mass in the distance. Friend? Foe? Neither? Tailgate hadn't decided how to act. In an attempt not to spectacularly mess up the mission, he waited for Mirage and Carbine to make due of the situation.

[Carbine]

"Oh... sorrrryyyy for mak?ing? ?an? observational c?o?mm?en?t? and unintentionally questioning our le?a?der?s ty?p?i?n?g? capabilities..."

Carbine droned this out with biting sarcasm, before realizing who he was sassing back, instantly going notably quiet a moment after. It seemed his mood changed sharply then, going a bit more meek and passive as a sort of silent apology while complying with Mirage's words by starting to walk without further protest. He really didn't want to cause issues with Mirage just yet, or really at all. He was far too fascinated with the femme to risk pissing her off, and because of this he wasn't going to push his luck.

Long proportionally slender legs cut through the terrain with ease, Carbine's structure permitting him to have no issues. While Mirage was likely walking at a casual pace, and Tailgate was near jogging, Carbine's steps were far more leisurely, reducing even more whenever he would catch up too far and need to put some kind of slightly reasonable distance between himself and one of the others.

He was going to inquire exactly where they should start the scouting seriously, such as when he should eject Bolo and send the hound on the scent for anything of value, when Tailgate seemed to notice something worthwhile of their attentions. It is this that caused Carbine to stop in his walking, and lift his helm, peering over across the rough terrain to try to pinpoint just what the smaller mech was referring to. At first glance it looked like just a bunch of shrubbery and earth organics, but then some color caught his eye.

Carbine thought he may have seen whatever it was Tailgate was referring to, but he was unsure exactly, taking a single step forward while his frame eased in the same direction. He squinted at it, as if that single step and small amount could suddenly zoom in his vision even further than it was already in order to focus. Nonetheless, he spotted what it was finally that seemed out of place, and the fact it was definitely a tiny bit of metal exposed from behind some rocks that didn't really 'go' with the environment.

Gently curved shoulder plates pushed forward sharply, while Carbine's hunched back arched further up at the same time. There was a hissing crack as the backpack like mound of armor and gears split in half down its center, before a larger transformation sequence rolled into motion. Limbs pulled up out from the surface, a head folded forward from the central split, white rings on either side fanning out before latching onto the sides of the 'backpack', only for the forelegs to snap into place.

A few seconds later and a large canine cassette was perched upon Carbine's back, hind paws standing on the posts that protruded from his hips, and forelegs settled down onto his shoulders, holding on. The expressionless face of the dog pivoted to look around, conveying a sort of curiosity as ears rotated about. After a moment, Bolo hopped backwards, and landed on the ground, where Carbine grasped onto the dog's harness casually to keep him from running off.

Carbine eased down onto one knee beside the hound, Bolo's attention flicking from looking at the other two individuals present, to looking at his Master. The ex-cop leveled his helm down even with the cassettes, and motioned down the ravine towards the thing he saw. A flick of white tipped fingers, and an unheard command between Carrier and Cassette, and Bolo was off.

The dog was not charging, there was no need for alarm at this point, no. Instead he simply was trotting along at a leisurely gate, starting to make his way over to the abnormality to report on what it was. Carbine meanwhile, eased back upright, bits of dirt and torn grasses falling off of his knee that had left a dent down in the soil.

"Well let's just s-?s?-s-observe if you foun?d? ?some?t?hi?n?g valuable there"