[ti]Ep 2[/ti]Here Be Inventory (closed)

[Deleted]

(set day 1 week 3, about lunch time)

They had run out of the Zenith 17 screws again.

Not that Zoom-Zoom was worrying over that at this very moment. The minibot was curled behind one of the back shelves in the Omega base's store room, obscured by a large box that was open beside him. His back was propped against the wall and his face was tilted towards the ceiling. Both his optics and visor were powered down.

The minibot wasn't in recharge, though one could easily get the impression if they'd glanced at him. He was just taking a break and had gone still as a statue. Old instinct and spook training really, the storeroom's cramped quarters of shelf upon shelf reminded him of the conditions he was used to dealing with on missions and during the Exodus. Close quarters, his preferred conditions, really. The nervous, highly strung energy that usually accompanied Zoom-Zoom was gone for the moment.

As much as the minibot hated to admit it, Prime had actually gotten something right for once. Even if it had taken a couple of tries and involved prodding Zoom-Zoom's damage psyche with a rather sharp stick. It hadn't fixed his late night wanderings (he avoided the vent system like the plague now and grumpily ventured down hallways in plain sight instead) or made a dint on Zoom-Zoom's many, many emotional issues. But it had given him something to focus on, divert his energy into and it kept him indoors.

Plus the general "Not dealing a lot with other people" thing was also a relief.

As for the store-room itself right now…

What had once been empty shelves weeks ago were now occupied with containers and boxes, each filled a different component. There was still more boxes to get sorted, Zoom-Zoom had quickly discovered that in some cases, particular supplies went out the door almost as soon as he got them unpacked, due to demand. A casual glance would reveal something a tad curious, that most of the higher shelves were emptier than the lower ones. In fact, the fullest shelves were suspiciously at the height of a minibot and the average Cybertronian might find that fetching items would be a tad annoying.

Well, it was to be expected really. It wasn't like Zoom-Zoom had a step ladder to reach the higher shelves. And the last time he'd stood on something for a leg-up, well, that had ended in absolute disaster and ripping out half of Prime's ceiling.

Yeah, one could say that the minibot wasn't keen on that up high thing anymore. He'd learnt his lesson.

There wasn't any work that was in pressing need to be done at the moment and couldn't be put off to tomorrow. Zoom-Zoom had finished up but hadn't felt like leaving just yet. And so he sat, in absolute silence. Everything, his mind, body, environment, blissfully still.

[Deleted]

But it wouldn't stay that way for much longer...

Driving lessons were so boring on this dirt ball. All the regulations and intricacies these humans had on their roads were ridiculous. She knew that they were there to keep people safe and she needed to follow them to keep her cover but... It was so irritating. It was during one such lesson last week - specifically while she was stuck at a red light - that she had begun fiddling with some of the accessories of her alt mode. Namely the radio.

And the rest was history.

With lyrical accompaniment by the wonderful Joan Jett on her speakers Shale stepped into the store room. So absorbed in the melody of the song she didn't realize just how loud it was actually playing. All she knew was that this guy was putting a lot of currency into this 'jukebox' at the request of Ms. Jett. Bobbing her head slowly to the rhythm she walked slowly through the shelves searching for the supplies she needed.

Reaching for a box settled on a hip high shelf Shale rooted through it as she hummed to the guitar riff that began to play. Nothing in this box. She pushed it back into place before moving back down the row. They had to be in here somewhere. She'd gone down the entire row and the song had ended before rolling into another one. This time Led Zeppelin broke the silence with their story of a woman trying to buy a stairway of sorts.

This music the humans made was odd but she certainly enjoyed this particular genre. And thankfully our here they're was a station that played nothing but this sort of music. The second song faded out and she'd searched her third box by now. She'd have no luck finding those screws it seemed.

"Ah hell..."

She muttered as a commercial began to play on her radio for the local lottery. Just get back to the tunes she thought before turning another corner. Those screws had to be here somewhere.

[Deleted]

Zoom-Zoom had heard Shale coming from a mile away. Or rather, since she got about two hallways away from the stores. It would have been more difficult to not notice her. There was little foot traffic that came this way, not to mention that Shale was putting her sound system through its paces and then some.

The minibot's head had lifted when the first sounds of someone approaching had reached him. A thread of annoyance had worked its way through Zoom-Zoom. He wasn't certain who it was but whoever it was, they were loud and annoying him already.

His first instinct was to go away and vacate the room entirely. But such a thing was not possible, there was only one exit to the room and his unwanted guest was heading straight for it.

Zoom-Zoom shrugged to himself, dropped his head to his knees and curled his arms around his head. There was no escape but that didn't mean he had to hasten the inevitable, he could remain right where he was and hope that whoever it was just never noticed him. He even idly contemplated kicking his nannite reconfiguration system into gear to recolour his paint job to match the dreary walls and rock. Maybe a dully grey or something instead of his usual red.

In the end, he decided against it. He listened as those footsteps got closer, finally entering the room. The minibot didn't recognize them, though that either could just be the music making them difficult to make out or because the person was new and Zoom-Zoom hadn't had a chance to become familiar with the way they walked.

His intruder rummaged through a box then wandered further down a row and pulled out another. Zoom-Zoom did not react, didn't twitch. Another person might have made a noise or called out, given some sign that they were there so as not to alarm the other person. The minibot did no such thing. He had no desire for company, there was nowhere he could go without alerting the stranger to his presence so remaining in place like a statue until he was discovered or the person went away was the course of action he'd ended up.

[Deleted]

Five more boxes and two rows later and she still couldn't find those screws. Each failed search caused her agitation to swell, where were they?! Shale kept herself composed and turned the next corner to keep up her storage room expedition. Another song rolled in on her radio as she grabbed another box to dig through it. She twisted a few interesting finds in her fingers as Pink Floyd provided ambience. She liked them, She'd heard a few of their songs when this station was playing a marathon of the classics. Shale huffed as she shoved the box back into place.

Nothing.

AGAIN.

Calm down she thought turning to try the next row. No use getting angry about it. Shale had just made a wide turn at the corner when she finally spotted him. That grumpy little minibot that had told her and Bee to leave and not come back just a few days ago. Swell. As luck would have it he looked like he was in recharge right then, or he hadn't noticed her. Either way she quickly turned off her radio before moving on. The tunes could wait until she didn't run the risk of angering the storage room troll.

Removing another box from a shelf she once again dug through it hoping that this was the one. At a glance it seemed to be with plenty of other screws lying inside. She kept digging and digging until she scraped three bottom of the box. Shale made an low angry noise before shoving the box back. She'd had just about enough of this. Standing straight she suddenly turned before giving herself enough room to move away from the shelf. Usually Shale was much more mindful of herself, having had way too many incidents bumping into things and having them fall on her or others around her. She knew she was big and normally took a lot of care in keeping herself small for the sake of herself and those around her.

But not today it seemed.

Her shoulder clipped the edge of the row and for a moment it was caught against her armor. She stumbled as she was freed only then realizing that the entire row was slowly tipping backwards. In an instant Shale whirled around gripping tightly onto the corner in an attempt to pull it back before it could topple over. Gravity had other things in mind. Instead of bringing it back she was bright along with the heavy piece of wood. And with a thundering crash the entire row came falling down and Shale came with it. Did she hear something crack under her?

Shale cautiously looked over at Zoom Zoom. There was no way he could have slept through that. She lie completely still on the shelf. What did she do now?

"... I can fix that..."

Panic. Panic sounded good right now.

[Deleted]

The light to Zoom-Zoom's visor was off but he'd finally powered up his optics once Shale had entered the store room. If one looked closely at him, perhaps the dim light from his optics could have been visible. It allowed the minibot to see what was going on, while giving off the appearance that he wasn't aware of the world. A convenient byproduct of his choice in fashion.

The minibot had chosen to do so in order to identify who it was that had decided to stroll into the store room and ruin his peace and quiet. The culprit was that Bot Bumblebee had brought in late one night. What was her name -Bee had mentioned it a couple of times…ah. Shale. That was it.

Zoom-Zoom had asked them both to leave. In fact, he'd asked them to leave and never return. Not that he'd had any actual expectations of that happening (case in point: current situation) but because Zoom-Zoom sometimes figured that if he asked for something so outlandishly big, maybe he'd get some small amount of it granted. No such luck here however.

Once the minibot has identified who he was dealing with and what they were up to, Zoom-Zoom had powered his optics back off. He didn't care what Shale was up to, so long as it didn't involve him. Thankfully, she seemed to have twigged onto his presence, judging by the sudden muting of her radio. Not only that but she was ignoring him as well, something Zoom-Zoom was fully on board with. It had seemed like Shale was looking for something but Zoom-Zoom didn't even consider offering help.

The king of helpfulness, Zoom-Zoom was not.

While the minibot wasn't watching what Shale was up to, he was still aware of her movements. Without the radio, she was much easier to track, Zoom-Zoom could hear her rummaging through yet another box.

His attention began to waver. It was immensely boring, sitting there, pretending to not be awake. Zoom-Zoom was also unable to fully relax with someone else around and go back to that state he'd been in before Shale had gotten anywhere near the store room.

Still, his attention was drawn by the sound of an off-step, as if Shale had lost her balance. Deciding that that could be potentially entertaining, Zoom-Zoom powered his optics back on, only to witness the entire shelf coming down on top of Shale.

With a loud crash, down went the whole structure. All of Zoom-Zoom's hard work in arranging the contents was erased in an instant. And no doubt the majority of those items were now damaged and broken.

Not that it mattered.

Zoom-Zoom had been right.

That was entertaining.

At last, light returned to his visor. Zoom-Zoom lifted his head from his knees and he clapped slowly. Mockingly. For once, it was not him who'd utterly wrecked something and he took some twisted glee out of this.

"Yeah," Zoom-Zoom drawled in response to Shale's panicked words. He rested his chin in his palm as he surveyed the damage. "I sure hope so."

It was clear from the minibot's tone that he regarded the mess as Not His Problem. Not only that but he was going to stick around to watch, to ensure said repairs got done. Shale…was probably going to be on her own for this one.

[Deleted]

Zoom Zoom hadn't quite provided a reaction she'd been expecting. Was this level of sass really necessary? With a huff she clambered her way off the toppled shelf and back onto her own two pedes. After making triple certain she wasn't about to bump into any other shelves she accessed the damage she'd caused. A couple of the shelves had cracked under her, but that seemed to be the worst of it. The housing for the shelves seemed to be in tact fortunately.

Now for the fact quite a few boxes had dumped their contents everywhere. Shale wasn't sure just how Zoom Zoom organized everything and didn't want to risk irritating the little red glitch. But she could at least clear the area before leaving the organizing up to him. As carefully as she could Shale began picking up the mess, setting little bits in boxes and setting the boxes off to the side. She really hoped not to break any of the smaller pieces. Resources were scarce as it was and she didn't need to go smashing what little they did have. It took longer than it should have, having taken the time to double check she had gotten everything out off the way then once more for good measure, but with that it of the way the real work could begin.

Approaching from the back Shale cautiously pushed the row of shelves back upright waiting a moment to see if it was level and straight with the others. Once she was certain it wasn't about to collapse on itself she looked at Zoom Zoom as she walked around to the front.

"Figured I'd leave organizing to you, since you know where everything goes."

On the tour of the base a few days ago Bee had mentioned that he'd ' assembled' some of the shelves down here. She still believed that he wasn't telling the whole story with just how many materials were left behind. But that meant she had more than enough to fix this little disaster. Now she just needed to find where they'd been put.

[Deleted]

Zoom-Zoom leant back against the wall as he watched Shale pick herself up and then began to clear away at the mess she'd caused. He wasn't angry with her, a little bit annoyed yes but even that was a bit of a mix-bag. On the one hand-more work to do. On the other - more work indoors meant less work outdoors. So there were pros and cons to this little accident and the minibot hadn't quite decided which one outweighed the other.

One would think that Shale would be glad that the minibot had settled on sassing her out, as opposed to getting angry or yelling at her. Apparently there was no pleasing some people, even when said people were at fault.

"Figured I'd leave organizing to you, since you know where everything goes."

"Oh yay, just what I always wanted," Zoom-Zoom deadpanned. "How very kind of you."

He cocked an optic ridge at Shale as he realized she wasn't leaving but seemed to looking around. For what though, the minibot was not certain. Maybe more shelves to break.

"So," Zoom-Zoom said, folding his hands in front of him like he was going to award Shale with his utmost attention but was in reality utterly bored. "Out of curiosity -and for whatever report I may end up having to fill in to explain why some of our supplies are broken and I'm asking for replacements- what were you looking for that made you decide to trash a shelf?"

[Deleted]

Shale was really beginning to see just what Bumblebee meant. Zoom Zoom was really... "eh", and then some. She tried her best to ignore him for the moment not allowing his sass to distract her. She had a mess to clean up. If she recalled correctly the rest of the shelves should be right around...

There!

Stacked neatly - kind of - in a pile were the remnants of the shelving Bumblebee had pointed out a few nights ago. Shale carefully plucked four planks from the cluster, having to separate the damaged from the intact in the process. Fortunately the little annoyance had kept them instead of tossing them out - wether for situations such as this or because he couldn't let things go she couldn't care less - so repairs wouldn't be a long time coming.

Replacement shelves resting across her shoulders Shale just caught ZZ's question as she set the planks gingerly on the floor beside her. She could at least give that information just for the sake of any reports of this incident if nothing more.

"Screws, Zenith 17's. I noticed quite a few around that were badly stripped and needed to be replaced."

She began removing the broken shelves as she spoke, placing them on her opposite side as she went. With all the broken pieces on the floor beside her she started to gently set the replacements. She knew there would be a report about this incident and if she was honest she was a little embarrassed about that. She'd let her usually cautious view of her size go and she'd broken something. She HATED broken things. Breaking something that wasn't meant to be broken wasn't exactly a proud moment she'd be taking about in the rec room anytime soon. At least she'd taken responsibility for it and not try and pass the blame.

Still... She wasn't too proud of herself right now.

[Deleted]

Apparently the answer to what Shale was going to do was not 'break more shelves' but actually, putting one together to replace the one she'd just destroyed. Zoom-Zoom raised an optic ridge at this but otherwise didn't comment. These were the leftovers from Carbine and Bumblebee's shelf making...exercise. Zoom-Zoom hadn't thrown them away when he'd take on managing the storage room as it seemed wasteful to him.

Shale had come in here looking for Zenith 17 screws. Zoom-Zoom's mouth pursed at this. They were out, unfortunately. They were out on a number of things, in fact, and the minibot was willing to bet that now they were out on even more than before with this mess.

"Well, that's too bad," he said, not at all sounding like he was sorry about this. Which he wasn't, the situation was what it was and Zoom-Zoom did not have an iota of power to change it. Actually, even if he could, he probably would have sounded the same. Shale had come in and ruined the peace and quiet that he'd been enjoying, after all. "We don't have any left."

"Guess that means you came in and broke a shelf for nothing."

[Deleted]

They were out of Zenith 17 screws. Of course they were out. Supplies were so low, this planet really didn't have much to offer in the long run. Shale briefly wondered how long they'd be able to last around here. Would one side come to their fall or would the supplies run dry first?

Don't think about that, she reprimanded herself. It wouldn't do any good.

"When do you think we'll be getting more?" She asked shoving the replacement shelf into place. "Who knows how much longer those old ones will last?"

Stripped screws and bolts were one of her biggest irritants. They were so difficult to remove and they had no use afterward. Maybe they could be melted for the metal but there wouldn't be much of that. Replacing them could wait until the next shipment, but it bothered Shale that they were there to begin with.

"Where do you want these?"

She poked at one of the broken planks with a foot as she reached for a new one. Who knew how Zoom Zoom organized anything around here? Besides Zoom Zoom anyway. She didn't know if he wanted them tossed to be recycled into something else or just put somewhere to gather dust. The sooner she found out the sooner she could leave. If she didn't need to be here she would have easily taken the minibots advice and never come back. Anything to be away from the little red sass machine.

She'd happily just leave him to his work and tend to her own. But she knew she'd have to come back, maybe she'd wait until ZZ was gone or in recharge. Sans the music next time too. For as much as she enjoyed it she didn't want to alert ZZ of her presence again if she could avoid it.

[Deleted]

Zoom-Zoom shrugged. He honestly wasn't sure about the answer to Shale's question. While he'd been put in charge of managing the contents of the store-room, he hadn't much sway in controlling what did come in. "We'll get more whenever the deity that manages requisitions feels charitable," was his short answer. "Who knows, maybe the dying cries of all things you just broke might reach them and they'll listen now."

After a moment's pause, the minibot added, "Would probably need to take it up with Agent Fowler and Prime to arrange some more. I'm sure they'd love to talk about screws and not other, more important things." He did not specify who as Zoom-Zoom was not about to even suggest he'd possibly do something useful, even though he really needed to get onto this. Especially if it involved talking with Prime. That was something he was going to try and put off for as long as possible.

He leant forward to peer down at the broken pieces that Shale was nudging with her foot. "Just put it in a pile over there," Zoom-Zoom jerked his head towards a clear patch of space. "I'll figure something out." The dourness in his tone suggested that he really wished he didn't need to.

He eyed the other Autobot as she worked to put together a new shelf. The minibot, in general, was not interested in getting to know other people personally. Still, it was useful to know a little about his comrades, in case he had need of them.

"So aside from breaking things, what else do you do?"

Of course, Zoom-Zoom was woefully out of practice with small talk. Especially polite small talk.

He was also really shouldn't be one to talk given his own track record of destruction. But so long as he wasn't the one in trouble at that very moment, the minibot had no problem with being an absolute hypocrite.

[Deleted]

Filtering through the incredible amount of unneeded mention of the long dead topic of breaking things Shale made note of just how they would procure more Zenith screws. She sneered at the comment of just how unimportant it seemed, and as much as she hated it he was right. In the grand scheme of things it really was a very insignificant thing to ask about. But she couldn't just let them go unmentioned, they did need replacing. She'd figure a way to do it. For now she needed to survive this little venture.

"Well," she said with a grunt as she gave the last shelf a shove and felt it snap into place, "I fix things, and lift heavy stuff others can't. Manual labor and the such." For once she didn't want to go into too much detail, and her... "company" probably didn't want her to. The faster she could leave and forget the little slag existed the better. She stepped away from the shelf, admiring and double checking her work. All the replacements seemed level and firmly in place, good. With a much more cautious turn she picked up the broken shelves and placed them against her shoulder.

"And you? Well, other than stock and putting holes in people's ceilings."

Two could play at this game. Shale moved to where the minibot had indicated and set the broken planks on the floor. At least now this whole fiasco was dealt with accordingly, now she could just leave ZZ to do whatever it did when he was down here. She wouldn't be making a point to appreciate good music in his presence again any time soon. Or just be in his presence in general after today. Shale rolled her shoulder before making her slow way back.

"There, good as new."

Can I leave now? Please? She kept the last bit too herself, even if he was like sandpaper on skin she still didn't want to make anymore waves then she already had. Shale just wanted to go back to her room and forget this ever happened. Whether ZZ would as well was entirely up to him, but she felt like he might not. She could always hope.

[Deleted]

Zoom-Zoom laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back against the wall. Shale fixed stuff, and this was evident in the job she was already doing in front of him. And she hauled stuff. The end. There was probably more - no one just did so little in the war and they all took on other jobs that lay beyond their original skillset. Still, he didn't care to dig deeper, the minibot simply filed the information away in case it'd turn out to be useful later.

Her question caught him by surprise - not in the sense that Shale had thought to ask because a reciprocal question was to be expected really but that she'd brought up the...incident with Prime's ceiling. It was hardly a secret, base scuttlebutt meant that nothing stayed under wraps for long. Still, it had yet to been thrown in the minibot's face like this.

So, was Zoom-Zoom embarrassed to have that mistake brought up?

"What can I say, human infrastructure is appalling," he replied unfazed. "That's the real culprit. As for me, I'm a person of no importance at all, who'd rather be anywhere be but here. No, wait, correction. I'd rather be anywhere but this planet but as things stand, that's not changing anytime soon and this store room is lousy but you know what, it's better than the alternatives. Hopefully stock is all I do in the foreseeable future."

The minibot craned his head lazily to evaluate Shale's handiwork. She'd put together the new shelf fast and it looked to be in good shape. In truth, there was no way it could be worse because Carbine and Bumblebee? They should probably abstain for building shelves.

Forever.

Zoom-Zoom grunted, unhooked a hand from behind his head and mockingly gave a thumbs up. "Looks good to me. May we never go through this again."