[ti]Ep 2[/ti]Basement Blues

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Set Day 3, week 2 around 4pm

Then:
Twenty hours prior and four levels deep in the Omega base.

"Huh, well that needs some fixing. And that. And that. And probably with a set of hands smaller than my own. Slag."

Now:

Zoom-Zoom had managed to have minimal contact with the humans that frequented the Omega base. Presumably because no one really trusted him around them. And Zoom-Zoom was fine with that. He didn't particularly care for organic species and his feelings on humans were no different.

That is not to say Zoom-Zoom ignored or underestimated them. Like any good spook, he was continually educating himself about the inhabitants of the planet he was stuck on. They'd already proven dangerous to Autobots, so of course the minibot had every bit of respect for what they were capable of. But for Zoom-Zoom, who already had trouble valuing the lives of his fellow Cybertronians anywhere near his own life, organics were so far off his scale on how much he personally cared that they didn't even register.

And now he needed to lead one down into the depths of the base, where few other mecha wandered, into a space he was almost beginning to think as his (dangerous thinking by the minibot's standards) in order to fix some of the wiring and a few broken bulbs. And while they were down there, sure there were a few air filters that needed replacing. Not that the minibot cared for the air quality or the lighting, he came with his own headlights and something had to go extremely catastrophically wrong for the air to be a worry for a Cybertronian. But he also didn't like the idea of part of the base, even unused at it was, to be slipping into disrepair. Allowing one problem to persist could lead to another and then suddenly you could be wondering why half the base doesn't have power.

And of course, it had to be Zoom-Zoom because a) he'd found the faults and b) few other mecha could fit down there. So while the minibot was displeased to be assigned to repair work, that was where his feelings on the matter ended. The only interest he had for the human assigned to work with him was whether she could do the job or not.

Zoom-Zoom stood still by the service elevator and waited for Nell to join him. The light in his visor was dim but that didn't mean that he wasn't keeping an alert optic on his surroundings. His arms were folded across his chassis and a slight frown marred his features. The cause for his expression could be any number of factors, working with a human, doing more repair work in general, living in Omega base, living on Earth, being an Autobot...it went on and on.

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Part of her day, had been spent in soaking wet clothes and water logged boots thanks to a burst pipe earlier in the day. While she was glad she had a little help getting things cleaned up, and even more glad she was able to go home to change into dry clothes, she wasn't the happiest about not finding her other pair of boots. Granted, it didn't help that she was still unpacking, and those other pair of boots had gotten buried somewhere.

So here she was, walking around with a soft squish-squash sound coming from her feet. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier, when she had to actually pour water from her boots, but it was annoying enough that she really just wanted to call it for a day.

If only there hadn't been a laundry list of stuff to do and if only she hadn't been told she needed to give Zoom-Zoom a hand at the last minute. Hopefully, the Autobot wouldn't think the annoyed look on her face had anything to do with him. Because her mood was more to do with how she just wanted to go home for the day and get out of these damn wet boots.

Her nose wrinkled as she turned down the hallway that the elevator was at, her eyes glancing down to the ground below for a brief moment. She was glad she didn't have anything small on her, because that would make a bad day even worse if it dropped between the catwalks grating. A heavy sigh left her as she started to walk down the stairs that sloped downwards close to the modified elevator. Her eyes drifted towards the Autobot standing near it. “You gotta be Zoom-Zoom.” She mentioned, glad for now they were at least a little on 'eye level' at the moment.

“Name's Nell Collins, I heard that there were some wiring that needed to be fixed?” She wanted to touch base on that, to make sure that was one of the major things the needed to be doing – because she didn't considered fixing broken bulbs or checking the air filters as things incredibly major. Sure she liked to breathe, but those fixes were typically quick, simple, and wiring took precedent.

Shifting her backpack on her shoulder as she continued to walk down the stairs, she was quietly glad she snagged the hard hat and light that was dangling from the backpack. It would probably end up helping out a lot, and keep her just a little more visible with how bright white it was.

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Zoom-Zoom heard the human coming long before she actually came into view. The distinctly wet footprints were far too light to come from a Bot nor did much traffic come this way usually, so it was probably the human that was meant to be down here. Zoom-Zoom was proven right when Nell came into sight soon after.

The minibot did not react as the human drew closer, other than a slight tilt of his head when she spoke.

“You gotta be Zoom-Zoom.”

Zoom-Zoom ran a look down the hallway then back to her. "You see any other Bot here?" he asked dryly.

"I heard that there were some wiring that needed to be fixed?”

"We're heading down to the old levels, to the tunnels that run from the missile silo to the other parts of the base," he informed the human. In fact, the location wasn't far from where the minibot had encountered Fortress Maximus that one time. The big mech used to patrol the tunnels to keep an optic out for corrosion and damage. But now he was gone and, to the best of Zoom-Zoom's knowledge, no one else had taken up Max's self appointed task. Whilst Zoom-Zoom certainly held no love for the big mech, what with his several attempts to inflict severe bodily harm/kill the minibot, he did agree with Maximus when it came to the Omega base's security.

"Most of the stuff down there dates back to when this place got built," the minibot added. "Bulbs are pretty old and a few blew out recently. Corrosion's another problem too, a lot of the wiring's in bad shape. And since we'll be down there, might as well replace some long overdue air filters."

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Nell raised a brow at him as he dryly asked if she seen any other bot there. Well then, it looks like today was simply going to be labeled as 'interesting' – or rather a frustrating day, what with her still squishing around in wet shoes and from working with a (likely) grouchy sort.

Welp, if it boiled down to it? Two can play the game of snark.

For now though, she listened to where they were headed, and what they would be doing. A hum left her throat, and she gave a small nod. “Okay, playin' maintenance – not that hard.” The mechanic commented as she moved towards the elevator. “The wiring might prove a bit difficult, but only because of how those things tend to tangle up and make it just a touch harder to get the work done in a timely manner.” Her shoulders shrug a bit as she reached out to hit the button next to the service elevator.

“Honestly, from that brief run through...It doesn't sound like anything I need to worry about.” Nell commented with a shrug of her shoulders. “Unless there is something I should be aware of?” Her lips curled into a slight smile for a brief moment as the elevator doors slid open and she moved to step inside what will likely to become a cramp space given ZZ's size. “And considering the plumbing in this place sucks, I probably should be worry about getting my sorry ass electrocuted – hope you know CPR, 'Sug.” She joked, though really? She was mildly worry about the wiring being completely haywire and wanting to be a bit zappy. Good thing she had electrician gloves in that bag of hers.

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Zoom-Zoom began to zone out a bit the moment the human said that maintenance wouldn't be that hard. Good. She knew then what she should be doing, that's all that really matter to him.

He watched as she wandered over and hit the elevator button. The service elevator was not how he normally accessed the lower levels, the minibot had his own shortcuts to get down there. But he would not take another person, especially a human, along those routes unless he really, really had to. Life and death circumstances kinda thing. Zoom-Zoom preferred to keep his hiding places to himself as much as possible.

"Unless there is something I should be aware of?”

Zoom-Zoom cast a glance down at Nell. His gaze turned unfocused as he ran over what he knew about the floors beneath them and, this required him to stretch himself since he was unused to thinking on human terms, whether there was anything hazardous to human life.

"Shouldn't really be anything that's a problem," he answered slowly. "Infrastructure's old but most of it in stable condition. There's...hmm...some small organics...insects, right? Yeah a few different species of your insects down there. Mostly of the eight legged variety but they shouldn't be a concern?" The minibot's voice was guileless, blissfully unaware of humans and their spider phobias.

The door to the service elevator opened and the minibot squeezed himself inside. Nell had thankfully moved to the side and he tried to give her as much space as possible. Not because he cared about her particularly but because he had no desire to attract the Omega base's ire should he accidentally injure the human.

"And considering the plumbing in this place sucks, I probably should be worry about getting my sorry ass electrocuted – hope you know CPR, 'Sug."

Zoom-Zoom blinked at her, not really comprehending what Nell meant. A quick glance to the internet helped clear up what CPR was for. It also left him aghast at human fragility, that they could just break without no warning whatsoever.

"Think you're on your own if you malfunction that badly," Zoom-Zoom remarked blandly. He narrowed his optics at her, running some quick scans. Ugh, why'd they saddle him with a potentially defective human?

"Hey, if you spontaneously break yourself, I better not be responsible for you," the minibot decided to verify whether this was something to look out for.

The service elevator would deposit them in a old concrete hallway. If the colour of the hallway had originally been grey when first built, then the passing of time had added dirt and, in some places, mould, staining the concrete black in patches.

They were about 3 corridors away from where they needed to be. There was nothing particularly interesting about the tunnels, they were pretty much identical to each other, concrete, with the occasional flicker from the aging lights overhead. Then, suddenly, darkness where the bulbs had blown out.

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In all honesty, Nell wouldn't hold it against the mini-bot for not taking her his usual routes. It made sense, wanting to keep one's hiding places secret. Everyone needed a place to go off on their own, without worries they would be interrupted from needed solitude. But most of all, she would be glad they were going down this route for the simple fact she would be cursing all the way down to the sub-level.

Sure, it would be a little tight squeeze in here – but she wasn't going to complaint, besides...at least Zoom-Zoom was giving her a little bit of space in the tight elevator. Though, she was going to quietly ignore that mention of spiders, she hated insects and the mechanic hoped that there weren't any cockroaches down there.

As far as the CPR remark, Nell let out a hearty laugh at his remarks. “I'm just kiddin' around, but I'm not that fucked up that I'll just go and 'malfunction' on you.” She remarked as she reached for her helmet as they neared their destination. When the door opened up, she waited for him to leave as she got the helmet on. She squinted slightly as she cautiously left the elevator, and the light was switched on. She noted her surroundings, a small frown was on her lips when she caught sight (and really? The smell too) of the mold.. Well, that was something to avoid, and something to note to be taken care of at some point – once she read up how to deal with mold.

“This is goin' to be fun.” Came the sarcastic words. “We might as well replace some of the bulbs on the way to where we need to be, thinking just every couple or so?” She remarked. “Could replace some on the way back down the tunnel too, they all will have to be replace at some point...” And really, if she ends up helping ZZ out again sooner rather than later? It meant they could see just a little bit better, or rather her, considering he likely could see in the dark better than she could.

“Anyways, lead the way Zoom-Zoom – you know your way around here, just point out what you need me to do and I'll do it.” In other words, he was the boss down here and she wasn't going to argue with it.

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Zoom-Zoom was not reassured the slightest. Humans had no internal self diagnostics to monitor each and every aspect of their condition. Not that he was one to talk, given the sad and shoddy state his own internal sensors were in. But still, at least he had them. Nell had no such thing. Nell had no way of knowing if her main fuel pump was about to give up on her. Which it could. Any second.

Knowing his luck, this would happen to Nell on his watch.

Ugh.

The minibot squeezed himself out of the elevator first. Well, at least he'd gotten the human down here in one piece. Here's to pointless hoping that she'd get out of here in the same condition that she'd arrived in.

"If that's what you need to work, sure," the minibot shrugged. "The dark's not really a problem for me."

It would have distressed Zoom-Zoom to learn that Nell regarded him as the boss in this operation. As far as he was concerned, he was going to guide her where she needed to be and was responsible not a bit further. Being in charge meant being responsible and Zoom-Zoom hated having someone else's life placed in his care.

He set off without further ado, once Nell indicated she was ready to move on. He was following the mental map he'd built of the level, not the one that was actually on file. Zoom-Zoom was content not to talk to his partner for this venture. Their footsteps echoed down the hallways, the minibot making no attempt to move with a spook's gracelike he would have had he been on his own.

The lights flickered overhead as they moved. Eventually they would turn a corner where the yellow faded in black and only dark gloom was ahead of them. It was here that Zoom-Zoom would flick on his headlights, both his and Nell's torch would penetrate the darkness, illuminating the corridor ahead. It wasn't all that different from the one they'd just left, except that on the ceiling was the first broken bulb.

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It wasn't likely she was going to have some catastrophic failure now or in the near future, but hey, no one planned for a heart attack!

Still, there weren't any worries when it came to her vascular health. She was as healthy as an ox, and it wasn't like she was so scared of spiders – that she would drop dead seeing them! Okay, so maybe she would have a heart attack if a bunch of spiders and cockroaches dropped on her head, but it wasn’t likely…And even if it was? Like hell she was going to warn him about that one.

As far as seeing him as ‘the boss’, Nell just thought it was appropriate given how he knew his way down here first and compared to how she only knew the place by maps and the like. “Just rememberin’ how lights were on the list of repairs, and that’s just one quick way to repair them and all…” Nell mentioned as she followed behind him, course the first turn of the corner? She reached up to flick on her light, her head twisting to look at the ceiling. She shifted her bag, reaching in to get a new lightbulb. “I’ll need a lift up..” She mentioned, unless there was a ladder somewhere hidden in a long forgotten broom closet.

“And as long as we get at least a few new bulbs in, it’ll be a lot better than pitch black.” A sigh left her. “Then we can get onto the important things, and lets hope it’ll be a lot more up to par.”

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"I'll need a lift up..."

Five simple words and Zoom-Zoom's world filled with dread. An unhappy squawk actually escaped from his vocaliser.

Pick up the human? Ugh, no. He'd break it somehow, he knew he would. Or drop it. Or it would walk off his hand and fall to the ground and somehow it'd be his fault.

"Are you sure?" he whined, his vocaliser, as usual getting ahead of him. "Things have the...unfortunate habit of breaking around me. Or bursting into flames. And I'm pretty sure Prime would kill me if you came to any sort of harm because of me."

"Don't you have extra equipment hidden away in subspace? Just why are you humans so uselessly small, anyway?"

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Her brows raised at him when the squawk left him. She didn’t think it was a big deal, it was just a leg up more or less – not hurling her across a football field.

Of course, the whined ‘are you sure’ made her laugh. His remark of things breaking or bursting into flames around him also made her laugh. The woman was shaking her head by the point he asked if there was extra equipment hidden away in subspace. “Sug, relax.” Probably easier said than done when it came to him. “I’m not goin’ to burst into flames, and if you give me a leg up – it wouldn’t be enough fall to seriously injure me.” She pointed out, she had fallen from such heights before, and made it out without injury.

As for that subspace remark…

“Our size is just how we evolved and I hate to break it to you, but we don’t have subspace like you Cybertronians do. What’s on me is on me – and I couldn’t find a ladder.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Besides, if I had it’d meant two trips down here – and I want to get this done as soon as possible, like I’m sure you do too.” Her brows raised again as she looked up at him.

“Now, how about that lift up?”

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Zoom-Zoom did not see what was so funny. As far as he was concerned, he had raised extremely valid points. He knew what happened to things in his nearby vicinity. Hell, he had several millennia of experience in this. Nell had no idea what she was getting into.

I hate to break it to you, but we don't have subspace like you Cybertronians do.

"Ain't like I've been paying attention to what sort of equipment has been given to the humans that work with us," he replied with a shrug. "I mean some of you guys get full time bodyguards, is it really such a stretch to think that some of you might have ended up with some of our technology?"

Zoom-Zoom had been extremely relieved that his work thus far had avoided dealing with them directly. They were just such stressful little things. No matter how much Nell tried to assure him otherwise, he was convinced that she was two seconds away from a messy end.

Well, he'd tried to dissuade her.

"I've tried to warn you," he warned her with a tone of long suffering. At long last, he crouched down and offered out a hand for her to climb on.

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Nell found it funny because, well? It was funny that he was getting so stressed out over this!

It was also funny that he really didn’t know about how humans ran. Sure he had a point about it wasn’t much of a stretch that some of their technology ended up with them but she shrugged a shoulder. “Pretty sure Optimus would frown on that, giving advance tech to the not so advanced locals.” She pointed out to him.

“But really, it’d be nice cause I would certainly use such a thing for just about everything.” Nell remarked. All in all, he did a poor job in dissuading her, and his comment made her roll her eyes before he did offer her the hand for her to climb on. She flashed him a smile, and up she went. The leg up was really all she needed and the little two feet off the ground allowed her to reach up, carefully pulling out the old bulb.

“Hey, at least there’s no spiders?” Though the comment was more a simple out loud remark than to him.

With the bulb out, and her stepping off his foot to put the long bulb into the box after taking a new one out. Back up she went – the bulb was inserted in, and she squinted up as the light flickered overhead.

“See? Not that bad, huh?” Nell asked as she stepped down. “Safe and sound. Told you I wouldn’t self destruct.”

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“Pretty sure Optimus would frown on that, giving advance tech to the not so advanced locals.”

Zoom-Zoom frown down at Nell. "Prime makes a great deal of baffling choices when it comes to humans," he muttered sullenly, more to himself than to her.

The minibot kept absolutely still as Nell climbed into his hands. She went about her business as Zoom-Zoom eyed her, then her tiny little feet, then the joints in his digits. Countless moving parts made up his fingers in order to give him the range of dexterity that he had. She seemed utterly oblivious how easy it was to get a foot caught in one of those parts and then he'd have organic grossness pulped into his fingers.

“Hey, at least there’s no spiders?”

"Spiders…" the minibot blinked as he tried to place what that meant. "Those are your eight legged insects, right? Oh, there are plenty of them down here."

It was with a sense of profound relief when Nell finally stepped down from his hands and they were empty at last. Zoom-Zoom gazed sceptically at her when she assured him that she was fine.

"One down, only five million more to go," he said glumly. "Plenty of time for an accident."

With that, he set off down the passageway. The light that now illuminated their corridor only reached as far down to the corner. Beyond that lay more darkness. Yet another bulb to be fixed sat in the ceiling.

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Her brows raised at him for a brief moment, before shrugging her shoulders and getting down to work. Sure, he had so many damn joints in his hands – but she was being very mindful of where her feet were at. She was being as careful as possible, even if appeared to be oblivious to the easiness of a foot getting caught into those moving parts.

Her remark of there not being any spiders in this particular light fixture, was met with a remark that made her visibly shuddered as she stepped down onto the ground. “Great.” She muttered, she had a new game plan in mind now. She was going to try and see if there were spider webs before she pulled the old spent bulbs down. If there was? Next light fixture thank you very much.

Why? Because Nell Collins hated insects with a fiery passion and like hell was she going to have a bunch of damn spiders crawling over her.

As for five million and one to go, and plenty of time for an accident? A snorty laugh left her and she rolled her eyes a bit at him. “Such the optimist, huh?” She remarked as she looked upwards at the next light that looked burnt out. The light shining to catch a view of webs that made her visibly shuddered – or rather made the light on top of her head shudder.

“Next one.” She said it in a matter of fact tone before she started walking down the dark hallway some more. A glance up at this one, careful consideration before she motioned for Zoom-Zoom over. “Yep, this one.” Though those words were spoken more to herself than to him.

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Zoom-Zoom didn't understand why Nell was so unenthused at news of spiders. But he also didn't care about the human's discomfort so he didn't investigate further.

"Expecting the worst is why I'm still alive," he muttered. "Optimism is a great shortcut to immediate danger and possible death."

He'd halted under the next bulb, waiting for the human to catch up. To the minibot's confusion, Nell decided to skip it almost as soon as she got a good look at it.

Zoom-Zoom raised an optic ridge at her. "So wait, what's wrong with that one?" he asked, trailing after Nell. He crouched and lowered his hands to the human. "I mean, I don't mind not doing it, if anything I thought it'd be me that would be vetoing stuff because screw working. I thought fixing stuff was what you did."