[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Impromptu Evacuation - [Breakdown]

[Ravage]

Ravage's angular red optics glanced over at Breakdown. The cat's ears did a soft flatten, then picked back up. He picked his way around a long spar of driftwood. A little flight of shore birds flitted back and forth, dashing into the edge of the waves and then frittering back up the beach back towards the tree line.

"I do not want a level playing field," the animal rumbled from deep in his chest. "I want this war to end once and for all. Prime does not understand what it takes to bring Cybertron back to the world it once was. Lord Megatron does."

His tail swished as he rolled Breakdown's words around, thinking quietly over each of them. The mech was right on one thing, it was the comradery of the Autobots that had caused them to last this long. It would also be their downfall in the end. It was why they stayed on this world, even after they were given opportunity after opportunity to leave it behind them.

The beach rocks rolled under Breakdown's feet. Water and seaweed made them slippery, but the weight of the mech drove them into the ground and gave him easy purchase. Sunlight flickered against the water, turning the whitecaps a pale shade of gold here and there.

Nose tipped into the wind rolling off the ocean, the cat continued to search. He was methodically quartering the sections of beach with his olfactory sensors. It surprised him that so far, only Breakdown had ended up here. It was possible that the swift ocean currents had carried others other places... or simply that they were on the bottom of the ocean and it would take them a bit to drag themselves back on shore.

He eyed the water with distaste and decided it was a good thing that he had been doing his work off ship when this happened. The thought of paddling for any length or time, bobbing around in that saltwater? No, not anything he cared to have to do even once. He barely tolerated the sheer amount of rain that this planet poured down from the heavens; finding himself submerged in it would have been utterly disheartening.

A quick glance up once more.

"MECH has been lying low," he said thoughtfully. "I have been down here for weeks, sniffing after the last mess they left behind them. I have found a few clusters, a few faculties, but none of them are of the extent that the one you were at was. Which concerns me. It does not mean they are gone. It means they are regrouping with what they have stolen from Cybertronians and have started to find better methods of hiding their work."

If a cat could frown, he did. His muzzle lowered slightly as he padded across though the wave-rounded stones.

"The truce only bought a small amount of time for us to try and search out MECH without engaging in combat," he said finally. "There has been no concerted effort between the factions to strike MECH deliberately, and there will never be one with the Autobots. They find too many moments to discuss."

"As you have no doubt seen, the universe is hostile."

His tail flicked restlessly. "Either you hold the top position, or you crawl under the weight of the rest of it."

[Knock Out]

There was some much welcome quiet as the shuttle door closed behind Knock Out. A brief moment of peace from the chaotic and almost deafening madness behind him.

The ships alarms, and frustrated yells of protest from the Vehicons that he'd shoved aside were quickly muffled as the seals of the door moved into place, and there was a small hiss and a click as the door locked fully. The chaos of the scene behind him now barely audible as Knock Out quickly moved into the small seat at the driver controls. Did he feel bad for his selfish actions? Not really... He was by far the most important person on the ship – given that he would be the one saving lives once everything had finally settled and the inevitable happened and everyone had made their way to the rendezvous point – wherever that was. Without Knock Out alive and functioning to assist with getting the wounded back on their feet? Things were about to get a whole lot worse for the Decepticons – which seemed almost impossible, given everything that'd happened so far.

Not that he could really do much with the equipment he'd grabbed, and he'd glance down to the case which contained his buffer and waxes, smiling to himself. Still, it'd keep his own morale up in these awfully trying times. That was the main thing!

He'd work it out, somehow. He would have to. He'd gotten through worse, and with less.

He'd deal with that when the time came. For now, he had to get away from the Nemesis before it sank fully. Powering up the main controls of the escape shuttle, he'd glance to a small inbuilt screen. There was no rendezvous point inputted, no higher ups had overridden the shuttles Autopilot with commands on where to go. No organization. No nothing. He bristled to himself as he inputted various glyphs into the screen, wondering just what Starscream had been up to when he all but abandoned him in the Control Room. Was he already off the ship? Probably.

Knock Out didn't care too much for meeting points or joining with the others at this moment. He just wanted to escape before the ship sank, or before the Vehicons outside managed to work together in prying the door open to the shuttle and threw him back on-board the doomed vessel. A button press here, a lever pull there... And he was on his way to safety. Or at least, where the shuttle deemed it safe. As long as it was land and not ocean? He did not care. The thought of having to swim in salt water was less than appealing.

The shuttle launched high into the sky, and from the safety of up here – he could watch below as more shuttles made their way from the ship. Some spiraled down into the ocean, skimming across the surface before sinking, others blasted way into the distance. Others seemed to be heading toward the far side of some land that was not too far from where the ship had crashed.

That would have to do. He didn't want to go too far from everyone else – as he would have no way of getting back to anyone. He wasn't a flier, and it wasn't like they had the luxury of a ground bridge at their disposal.

All he had to do was steer the shuttle and land it down onto the far side of the island, or whatever that landmass was that he could see.

It was a good plan on paper. Sadly for Knock Out, he hadn't actually been in a shuttle since he and Breakdown had originally made their way to Earth – and even then, Breakdown had been the one to do the flying (with some amazing backseat driving and commentary from Knock Out, of course)... And even then, they'd landed rather roughly in the middle of nowhere.

How hard could it be? You just angle the ship down and straighten out a little bit! Surely the autopilot would kick in and help.

He'd push the steering wheel forwards so the ship would begin angling down – only he had pushed too hard and too fast, the ship angling down dramatically as it made its way down toward the landmass. With a shriek, he'd begin pulling back – hoping to right the wrongs and straighten out the ship so he could recover. Alarms began sounding as he stalled, and the ship would continue on its steep descent.

Then there would be a sickening crash.

He hadn't quite made it to the far side of the isle, instead crash landing on a beach filled with pebbles, driftwood, and rocks. The shuttle impacted the ground hard, before sliding to a complete stop.

Some good came from this rather abrupt landing though, it was a good 350 or so feet away from where two others of his kind were walking – one of them being Breakdown. Not that he had seen them on his way down, not that he cared that anyone was around – as he sat in the now eerie stillness of the crashed shuttle.

After a frantic pat down to ensure he was all in one piece? Knock Out would slam his fist on the control panel to stop the annoying alarm that was now sounding, before gathering up the case with his buffer and making his way back toward the door. A quick twist of the handle revealed that it wasn't going to open, and so some brute force would be needed.

No problem.

Ravage and Breakdown, if they were watching up ahead, would have front row seats to the cherry-red Chief Medical Officer tumbling out of his crashed shuttle and landing in a rather ungraceful heap. He lay still a moment before scrambling up and doubling back – marching over to give the side of the shuttle a heavy kick, paired with some rather choice expletives as he hopped on his free pede because that actually kinda hurt.

Eh, at least he was alive.

[Breakdown]

     If he hadn’t just faced near death from their crashing ship, Breakdown probably would have found the scenery around them rather calming. The ocean made a sound that was rather soothing to his audials, much unlike the chaotic noises around him back when he was on Cybertron- heck, even when he was on the Nemesis the only place to escape from it was he and Knock Out’s quarters…

     Knock Out.

     He needed to find the medic. Breakdown’s old programming was kicking in again, and the more that he found himself worrying about Knock Out, the more driven he was to locate him. A long time ago ( in the sense of ‘way early on when he wanted to offline him’ ) he had set himself up with a safety measure that would keep him on track with ‘protecting Knock Out’ since most of the time he to consciously keep himself from lashing out and smashing the smaller mech’s faceplate in. Breakdown hadn’t needed such programming once the two had been on much more civil terms, but now? It seemed like a good idea since it put a drive in him that he may have not otherwise had.

     Well, no, he would have. Ever since that day before the two had left Cybertron Breakdown had sworn to keep him safe. Now he felt that he had failed in that, even though the poofing act hadn’t been his fault.

     “Soundwave.” Just saying that designation had Breakdown grumbling, but he quickly had to check himself. Ravage and Soundwave were… well… whatever that weird relationship was that the two had. He didn’t understand symbiotic relations so he just left it alone. He also didn’t know where the two currently stood so he didn’t want to rile up things and cause trouble that he didn’t need. Not while they were busy.

     A loud crashing sound caught Breakdown’s attention and he looked off in the direction where it had resonated from. Ravage was the best partner to have in the means of tracking, but it hadn’t landed that far from them so he was able to pick it up. He hoped that maybe it was one of the escape pods from the Nemesis so he quickly started that way, nothing really able to be in his way since he was heavy and bulky enough to just knock it right on out of his path. If it was a shuttle it could have been a Vehicon or one of their other Decepticons. Or Knock Out. Primus, he hoped it was Knock Out.

     Only not in the way he had seen. By the time he cleared the location he was watching Knock Out as he started up from his tumble then kicked the shuttle. The sound made Breakdown flinch some, knowing what was coming… and there it was. He scoffed some as he listened to his partner’s string of ranting curses, letting it go on for only a short while before he dared to make his presence known. “Knock Out!” he called out to the medic as he started to walk towards him.

[Ravage]

At that one word, that one name, Ravage turned slightly to glance over at Breakdown his paws whispering on the wet stones. For a cat made of metal, he was almost completely silent. In mid-stride, he paused, one paw lifted off the ground as if he had caught a far off touch of scent.

For a moment, he completely dismissed everything but that one thread, tying him to one other being.

Not dead, no. He would have known that in an instant, had that connection been severed between him and Soundwave. He knew his partner was still alive, that he was functional. Yet he had felt that dire warning thrum through every relay, a silent order to stay away from the ship, and it had raised the plating between his shoulders into sharp, dark hackles. Something was very, very wrong, and it was not just the ship itself, now somewhere likely halfway buried in silt and dark, oozing sediment. It was something that he understood on that base, feral level, those places he went when he hunted.

The times when he left words behind, where he shook off eons of discussion and thought and fell back into the place that was governed by fang and claw.

That was what had snarled over the space between him and Soundwave. It was something he was used to from himself. Even sometimes from that tiny glimmer of something that was Laserbeak. Yet he had never heard it from the mech himself, ever, not in all this time.

So lost in his own thoughts, he only registered that the shuttle was roaring overhead a mere instant before it slammed into the beach. A plume of stone and beach sand roared into the morning air as it dug a deep, heavy trench into the beach. There was the noxious smell of burning seaweed (and probably more than a few unfortunate little crabs who went on to meet their crab maker) as the emergency craft came to a half-buried stop on the deserted beach.

Ravage slowly settled his paw back onto the ground as if he'd been expecting this impact the whole time. He quietly pushed off to lope after Breakdown's scramble towards the shuttle. Which meant he soon had a front row seat to the spectacle of the glossy red mech spilling out of the side of the crashed craft, and promptly heaving himself to his feet to take out his frustrations of his less than stellar landing on the side of the poor innocent emergency equipment.

The cat's ears came up in silent amusement as Knock Out yowled and hopped a few meters sideways.

Ravage slowed to a gentle trot and then sprang up on a rather good sized chunk of driftwood. His long tail curled around his paws as he lowered his haunches and watching the interaction that would no doubt soon be happening in front of him. Breakdown's concern about the medic had been obvious, but that was a pattern the cat had deduced a long time ago. Even a blind Turbohound could not have noticed, and Ravage certainly had no love lost for anything canine.

Also, he had come to the conclusion once again that grounders were not the most proficient of pilots.

[Knock Out]

Knock Out moved in closer for another kick at the piece of scrap called an 'escape shuttle' once the pain had subsided from the first attempt. Just like before, it seemed he had not learned that kicking things much bigger and heavier than oneself got you nowhere in the grand scheme of things.

Even so - it got it out of his system at least, even if it hurt just as much the second time as well. He'd scoff loudly, standing up a little straighter as if showing the downed shuttle just who was boss – when he heard a voice. Or at least, he thought he heard a voice.

Breakdown?

Immediately he'd swivel on his pede to look down the beach in the direction that the voice came from – and sure enough, there was the big blue lug, and he was heading this way! He wasn't alone, and Knock Out could only hum in thought as he narrowed his optics slightly at the sight of Ravage.

“Breakdown!” He called back, and he'd wave one servo above his head. Now that he'd indicated that he was aware of his partner's presence, he'd quickly limp back to the shuttle to retrieve the case containing the buffer and all his expensive waxes – because he'd gone to all the trouble of retrieving it from the sinking ship and wasn't about to leave it behind now!

Then, he would begin to make his way over toward Breakdown. He was relieved to see his partner – and glad to see that he appeared to be alright. Back during the confrontation with Soundwave and the sinking of the ship shortly after, he hadn't even had time to even think of what'd happened to make Breakdown disappear so suddenly, nor begin to wonder where he'd even gone – but luckily it seemed that he hadn't been taken far at all.

With Ravage lurking close by, Knock Out would keep his immense relief subdued in both his actions and his field – but there was no hiding the smile on his face – even though it hurt to do so. The smile could've easily been played off as relief at finding others from the ship, though, and not necessarily a smile at seeing Breakdown himself.

But he really was happy at seeing his partner was alright.

Now with only a short distance between he and Breakdown, he'd come to a stop and vent out a heavy sigh.

“I'm glad to see you're alright, Breakdown.” He'd not so subtlety hide the case behind his back – although he knew for sure it would've already been spotted, making this a moot point. “What even happened to you? I needed you back there! You left me!”

...Sure was a funny way of showing that he was happy to see him.

Another scoff left him.

“It doesn't matter. You're here now – is there sign of anyone else?”

[Breakdown]

     Breakdown would have rather that Ravage wasn't there, especially considering how relieved he was that Knock Out was safe and sound- busted pede cause of the kick to the pod aside- as the interaction between the two of them probably would have been quite different. At least the tinge of hurt at Knock Out's words may have not been there since there wouldn't have been the need to have a front. Though he figured that Ravage probably already knew something was up between the two with the way he just seemed to stare right on through them with an air of knowledge. Breakdown knew the feline wasn't foolish in even the slightest.

     "Um... yeah. Sorry 'bout that. If I'd had the chance to stay behind I would have."

     He tried to hide the hurt but it was so very hard. This was just something the two had to do. He cleared his throat and moved onto the other matter. "We haven't found anyone else so far, but we haven't been traveling for that long either. I'm hoping that we do. I know I saw several escape pods launching when the Nemesis was going down so they outta be around here somewhere." Breakdown's optic glanced down for a split moment then back up.
     
     "I can carry that case for you."

    That case he was hiding off? Yeah, Breakdown had spotted it. He knew what was in it, considering he opened that thing so many times he would have probably been able to identify it in the dark. His optic focused on it briefly before he held his servo out towards it in offering to lighten Knock Out's load ( since he was carrying SO much ). Knock Out just never had to carry anything when Breakdown was around, so taking things from the smaller medic was another habit.

     "I'm glad that you're alright, sir," he said with a nod. "I was afraid that you had been lost with the Nemesis. It's a good thing you managed to get into an escape pod." He hated having to address Knock Out in such a a way, but in the company of others he had to hold at least some level of subordinate since he really had no business even calling Knock Out by his designation. Apparently the others just figured the two had worked together long enough to be on such speaking terms since it was rarely made mention.

[Ravage]

Froth and foam curled up on the beach. It licked towards the crumpled escape pod, reaching out to grab a small trickle of fluid that was escaping from the ruined craft. The greenish sheen rippled along the tops of the retreating wave before it dispersed into the water.

Ravage leapt down off the log and back onto the slick stones. He padded his way towards the other two mechs and then stopped once more, lifting his muzzle into the air and sniffing the breeze floating off the ocean. His ears cupped the wind, and his optics narrowed slightly in the bright flickers of sunlight touching the tops of the waves.

He was never fond of broad daylight. Even less fond of it when they were standing all exposed on this stretch of land. The cat's tail swished once, indicating his silent displeasure, but it quickly stilled as he turned to look over at the other two mechs.

"No," he said quietly. The case that Knock Out held in his hands hadn't surprised him, and in some way the spy was amused. During a crisis, you saved what was most valuable to you, and the scent of polish that wafted from that case seemed perfectly in line with the medic's way of thinking.

It also told Ravage that there had been at least a little bit of time for those involved to escape. It added up to what he was understanding; that those on board had been given a chance to get themselves free of the falling craft.

Yet something was bothering him more and more.

Lord Megatron's silence.

He had expected a broadcast that had not come. The call to regroup. There was nothing over the channels. Which of course could have been that Soundwave was incapacitated - that much he knew. Yet, that should not have mattered; the Decepticon leader would not have taken the falling of his flagship with silence.

"You are the first we have found," he murmured. "No signs of anyone else yet."

Then he lifted a dark paw and gestured towards the craft. "We need to hide that," he intoned. The tip of his tail flicked restlessly. "MECH has a nest close by. No doubt, it will not be long before the humans scout the beaches."

His gaze lifted to Breakdown's face, and he shook his head, his ears pressing back against his helm. A soft rumble escaped his throat. "I do not think we are in any position to deal with them at the moment if they do come looking. We need to make sure we are not tracked down."

[Knock Out]

Knock Out shifted his weight just slightly, favoring the pede he hadn't used to kick the daylights out of his escape shuttle with.

“What even happened to you? Was it Soundwave?” That was a rhetorical question, really. Of course it had been Soundwave. While both Soundwave and Skywarp had the ability to open up a bridge, Soundwave was the one who was in the process of crashing the damn ship, and therefore had reason to get the probably more dangerous of the three out of the way. At least Breakdown had the luck of not being teleported too far away – although Knock Out could tell at a glance that his partner had been for a bit of a swim. “Everything happened so fast I couldn't tell what was going on.” He murmured, his gaze shifting past Breakdown to watch as Ravage began to make his way over to the pair.

“Mm, there were Vehicons scrambling for the escape shuttles – so they're out there somewhere, at least. I recall seeing some of the shuttles in the distance moments before that useless piece of junk slammed me into the beach. I'm sure it won't take long for them to start chattering away over the comms, and some sort of regrouping effort can be made.”

Since neither of them had made a judging comment on his choice of possessions, Knock Out would hold out the case for Breakdown as he spoke, thinking absolutely nothing of it. It was basically second nature, plus it hopefully upheld the 'professional' relationship that the pair had – with the Chief Medical Officer making his assistant do the mundane task of carrying things. As it was handed over, he'd shift his servos to his hips.

He'd ignore Breakdown's well wishes for right now, instead turning to face the feline fully. As Ravage lifted his paw, Knock Out would follow where he was pointing with a quick glance over his shoulder. However, as the cat continued speaking? He'd quickly turn his attention back, his optics wide.

“MECH?!” He squawked, almost as if in disbelief that they'd be here of all places. Of course. This day had barely even begun and already it was beyond terrible, but of course those fleshbag pests were close by to top it all off. “All the more reason to hide the escape shuttle and get in contact with the others, then. Any word from Megatron? Starscream, even? I saw him moments before the ship went down – not sure if he made it off.”

He'd cast a wary glance out into the ocean, almost as if expecting to see something – before looking back at the feline.

“So how do you suppose we hide the shuttle?”

He didn't really want to do any sort of heavy lifting, and so hoped that whatever plan it was? Didn't involve him.

[Breakdown]

     "I'm assuming so. Soundwave had some little image pop up on his face screen thing before the bridge formed and I found myself... well... not in my choice of location given the weight I pack." He was rather disgusted at the thought of having been in the ocean. He could still feel water moving around in different places that made him uncomfortable when he walked. Everywhere he stepped he left wet pedeprints behind, like he had sprung a leak or something. And that wasn't even the worse part! The sloshing around in his frame would have driven him up a wall if he wasn't so focused on other things.

     Which that focus now was on carrying Knock Out's case. He stood there like a useless lug, holding it as the two bounced information off of one another. Breakdown just listened to the conversation, seeing his way out of it since it didn't involve him. When they brought up MECH that did make Breakdown tense some, portions of metal plating sliding against one another loudly as he gripped the case. He could feel himself scowling at the name- the mere mentioning of it bringing back the memories of what had been done to him- but it quickly tapered off when he spotted Ravage looking up at him. He shot a snarl to the feline and turned his attention elsewhere while they continued.

     He stepped over to the shuttle and inspected it, figuring that the thing wouldn't be flying anytime soon. Surely some fleshling would have seen the Nemesis going down. If not? Flying projectiles through the atmosphere definitely wouldn't have gone unnoticed. The fact that there was a MECH nest nearby? Oh, Breakdown would have loved to drop in on them for a little payback...

     But there were problems to be tended to first.

     "If we don't plan to use it anymore I could always hammer it down smaller in a hurry then hurl the pieces into the ocean or somethin'."

     Whether they went with that was up to them, really. Breakdown was just the brawn of the little trio so he'd just go with whatever they came up with.

[Ravage]

"I would recommend pushing it back into the ocean for now," Ravage rumbled softly. "Unless that case Breakdown is carrying now happens to contain a shovel...?"

Ravage's ears pricked forward as he glanced between the two of them.

He knew perfectly well it didn't, but the thought of Knock Out actually hauling around a shovel with him was rather amusing.

"Yes, MECH. Also, no, there has been no contact from either Lord Megatron or Starscream," the cat explained. "Which is worrisome."

It was. In a situation like this, Megatron should have been already attempting to make contact and get the situation under order and control... and Starscream?

A silent Starscream was not something to be taken lightly. If nothing else, the Air Commander should have been offering a few seriously heated suggestions to make it perfectly clear that he'd seen this situation coming, and once again no one had listened to him.

Ah, there, at least Knock Out had sighted Starscream. The Decepticon second had more lives than a cat, and Ravage personally knew he was an excellent judge of that.

At Breakdown's snarl, the cat merely rolled his shoulder as if in a feline shrug.

Ravage had explored that ruined base soon after Breakdown had been freed. The scents there were part of the puzzle he was working on solving. It was difficult and rather nasty work; humans reeked. Their scurf and skin oils were everywhere, little flakes and flecks of humanity that drifted into his olfactory sensors. He had never much liked the stink or organics, their food, their bodily fluids, all of it smelled like rotting offal to him. Yet he had explored that cave, methodically sweeping every meter of space, right down to the used Kleenex and sandwich wrappers.

One thin thread of scent at a time, he had committed the humans there to his memory banks. Since then, he'd been tracking those that had been there across the States, nosing them out one cluster at a time. There had been one or two of he'd found along the way, but none of them unfortunately had the answers he'd needed or wanted from them...

Much to their disappointment.

The cat's slanted optics eyed the craft on the beach. He padded another step over the barnacle encrusted stones, his optics half-lidding with the bronze glint of the sunshine blossoming through the clouds. A flick of his tail as he squinted and turned his head to look back at the ruined craft; he was a creature that far preferred the dark.

"As for Soundwave..." he murmured. "I believe he was attempting to send the ship somewhere safe before he became corrupted."

The cat shook his head, remembering the surge that had torn across their connection. An inner struggle, the mech's frustration snapping across their connection. It had swept like the ocean, tossing and rising until it spiked into roiling anger before going distant and flat.

[Knock Out]

“Ugh. I was afraid you'd say that.” He grumbled to Breakdown. He knew it was Soundwave, but to hear it basically confirmed was... Well, unnerving. For him to have gotten rid of Breakdown and then gone on to crash the ship without warning? Something was seriously wrong. Although that was the biggest understatement of the year. “Still, at least you're alright. I'll give you a look over once we find somewhere suitable – the thought of MECH being around means we should probably get a move on and find the others... Once we dispose of the shuttle.”

He'd swivel on his heel to watch as his partner moved over toward the crashed hunk of metal. He'd been on the same thought process as Ravage – simply pushing it out into the ocean was probably for the best. The noise of Breakdown dismantling the thing with his hammers would draw unnecessary attention to the trio, and that was something that Knock Out would rather avoid.

“I agree, pushing it back into the ocean is probably for the best.”

He'd scoff at the mention of a shovel being in the case, turning to give Ravage a 'really?' glance, with the most subtle of optic rolls. Even if he had thought ahead to this point in his mad dash to escape the sinking Nemesis, there weren't any shovels on the Nemesis to begin with!

It really was worrisome that neither Megatron or Starscream had made contact with anyone. It just meant that those that'd managed to escape should take the initiative and do what they thought was best. They'd have to dispose of the shuttle and then regroup with the others – wherever the others may be. He'd seen Starscream in the moments before the Nemesis crashed, but the second in command had made no comment to him, and given the silence? Had made no comment since.

It was all so very wrong.

Ravage's murmured words pulled Knock Out's attention from watching Breakdown and the shuttle, and he'd do a double take at what he heard.

“Safe?!” He squawked. “He thinks crashing the Nemesis into the ocean is somewhere safe?!” He scoffed, folding his arms across his chassis. “And what do you mean corrupted? Like F-Flatline?” He stammered slightly – the thought of Soundwave going completely feral was terrifying, but then again so was the fact that he'd done this as a preventative measure. Why crash the entire ship and doom them all, when he could've gotten himself somewhere far away first? Or sought help?

Not that it'd done much for Flatline... But that was beside the point. He cast another wary glance toward the ocean. The two of them were still down there. Or at least, he assumed so.

He ignored the fact that he had attacked Soundwave while he was at the control panel of the ship which might've made things worse, but this was by certainly no means his fault! Soundwave had had ample time to explain things, and by then they had already begun hurtling down toward the ocean!

[Breakdown]

     'Push into the ocean' was about the gist that Breakdown got out of the conversation; that was all he needed so the rest was tuned out. While the adults were busying themselves with their chit-chat and fussing over who knew what, Breakdown just rolled his optic and shook his helm then went to work. He put Knock Out's case down safely to the side where it was out of his way of what he was going to be doing. He checked over the shuttle, walking around it to see where the most of it was in the sand. Seemed the front had done most of the diving, which he had expected. Knock Out wasn't very good at flying things- usually Breakdown had to be at the controls when it came to anything like that- but at least he had done this much.

     Then again, it probably had a lot to do with just the autopilot... or just the shuttle's natural way of falling in the direction of where the heaviest point was, which was the front end. At least he tried to give Knock Out some points, though!

     At any rate, the adults were still chatting and not really paying him attention so he crouched down and started to feel around. It was wedged in pretty good but it wasn't impossible to get moving. He took a glance to Knock Out, thinking that the mech would have noticed he was about to get started but... not really. So he figured he was just on his own with this for now. So he attempted to grab what portion of it he could from the front and with a hefty grunt he planted his pedes and started to pull. It didn't come up right away and a groan from the shuttle gave hint to its protest, but he just ignored it and instead repeated the action. This time it started to slide, starting to separate itself from the sand it was embedded into. His own pedes were sinking down which caused him to stop and shift every few kliks but at least he was making headway. 

     Not like the other two were going to help any...

[Ravage]

The cat flipped one ear forward at the optic roll. He'd been expecting it, but wasn't about to pass up a bit of dry humor in this particular moment. He had no expectations that Knock Out would have brought a shovel, of course, and the idea of the red mech using one would be like expecting Laserbeak to be able to solve higher math equations.

Luckily, his companion had some brute force and wasn't afraid to dirty his hands. Breakdown settled the case down on the wet beach and made his way to the shuttle. Ravage watched as the mech settled his hands onto the small craft and began to test how hard it would be to drag.

Underneath the escape craft's weight, the ground shifted. It had been so heavy it went through the layer of rocks and down to muddy, slippery sand. For a moment, it almost seemed as if it was stuck; Breakdown would have to heave and shove but once he'd got the angle, the crumpled mess actually began to slide backwards towards where the ocean licked and lapped at the shore in frothy, foaming spins. It would prove far easier to shove back into the water than even Breakdown might have expected.

Ravage merely looked down the beach, and then back to Knock Out.

"Flatline as well?" he queried. "Unfortunately, one is an anomaly. Two is strange, but this sounds more like a pattern, and based on the limited amounts of communications this situation is graver by the moment. I am hoping it is not latent."

"As for the ship? It is safer than the other options," he intoned, his tail flicking back and forth. "If the Nemesis had fallen onto land, it would be discovered quickly and no doubt be damaged even more. Hopefully, what has happened is confined and repairable."

"If it is not, things may get far, far worse," he told the medic. 

[Knock Out]

Knock Out wasn't going to help even a little bit. Okay, that was a lie. He'd stand here and bark out orders at Breakdown if he had to, like 'Try lifting it from the other side, you big lug!' - but thankfully he didn't seem to have to do much of anything rather than watch, as Breakdown seemed to have the entire thing handled by himself.

At least he had the common sense to put the case down onto the beach out the way before he did anything – Knock Out would've never forgiven him if that got water inside the case, or even worse still? Got crushed beneath the ship. Thankfully neither of those happened, and so he could breathe easy – watching Breakdown heave the ship slowly back toward water, until Ravage's voice caught his attention once more.

“Mhm. I assumed Flatline was the only one with an issue.” He frowned. “He came to me saying he felt unwell and then just... Well, he went feral. That's the best way to describe it.” He motioned with one servo to the deep scratches in his faceplate. “He attacked me!” He almost wailed this, like it was only now just sinking in that his perfect faceplate had been ruined. He hadn't even had a chance to look at the damage, and so could only assume the worst.

“The lack of communication is worrying. As is the fact that Flatline and Soundwave are both still down there. Still, I'd rather they be down there than up here.” He chuckled nervously at that. A feral Flatline was bad enough, but Soundwave, too? That was something he didn't really want to think about.

He couldn't help but scoff at Ravage's comment, side-eyeing him some. “If Soundwave was thinking clearly enough to get the ship somewhere 'safe' – surely he could've used that thought process to get himself far away rather than do this!”

Ravage had got him thinking, though. Just what could it have been to affect someone like Soundwave as well? And whatever it was, had crashing the ship stopped it spreading?

“Once Breakdown is done with that, what's next? Finding the others, I assume?” He murmured. That'd be hard, given the lack of contact. Then again who even knew who was still alive at this point.

[Breakdown]

     The two were busying themselves with their conversation so Breakdown focused his attention on the matters at hand, and those involved getting this shuttle out of the sight of onlookers that may come their way. The craft was a little annoying to push around and he did struggle with it some as far as lifting it out of the sand, but soon enough it gave into the tugs and he was able to pull it from its embedded spot. Once he had the thing actually moving across the rocks and sand it was much easier than he assumed it would have been, not that he was really going to complain about that. He pushed and shoved at it until he reached the water’s edge and then he paused, staring down at the liquid as it came back around from being brushed aside from the force of the broad vessel then swirled back around to lap at his pedes.

     He had already been in the ocean one time too many for his liking, but it wasn’t as though he could really do about it right now, as right now most of the shuttle was still sticking out of the surface of the water. He vented, pushed his servos against the nose of the shuttle, then once again started to shove again. Whatever he was stepping on sunk and shifted under his steps, but his weight prevented him from slipping on it. Instead his pedes would sink into the give and would then fall away when he lifted them to take his steps. The further he went the more difficult walking became as he was shoved at this way and that by the water. It wasn’t until the surface of it reached his back tire that he was able to give one final push that sent the vessel back. It apparently got caught in a bit of an undercurrent and dropped off the slope to whatever depth below and sunk well out of sight.

     Breakdown turned and started back to shore, not saying anything as he went along. It wasn’t until he was finally out of the water that he felt comfortable again, even if he was caught up in the embarrassing moment of having to deal with the water that had found its way into his frame draining out around him. He scoffed some and returned to the case he had previously set aside to pick back up as he waited for his weight to return to normal. He was just catching the tail end of the two’s conversation, getting within audial range as Knock Out mentioned Soundwave and Flatline being both still on the ship. Yes, their situation may have not been the best, but at least keeping two that seemed to have mysteriously gone off the deep end separated from the rest of them while they regrouped and figured out where to go from here seemed a lot better than all of them trapped on a ship with them- airborne or otherwise.

     Then there was another he was thinking on and, though he hated to bring that mech into it as he didn’t seem to put himself in the group dealings anyway, but he did sort of wonder where that one had gone off to.

     “Did Shockwave stay behind too?” To Breakdown, it was for the best he was down there and not around them. He sort of freaked Breakdown out- and on the same level that he did the first day he’d met him. It was hard to hide the discomfort he felt when one-eye was around… all things considered. Not like anyone else didn’t feel uneasy around him. “I mean, not like it matters to me if he comes or goes, but if he’s there maybe he can figure out what happened to Soundwave and Flatline?”

     That was all he said before his attention went elsewhere again. He went forward a couple steps then started to look up and down the coast with his single optic, taking the moment to look out for anyone who may be wandering their way.

     “We should move. Been here too long. Longer we’re out in the open, the higher chance we got of being spotted.” And there was that field control kicking in, reminding him of the warning that had been given by Ravage before regarding MECH. Well, that and a certain chatterbox was making itself present again and the longer they stood still the more it distracted him. As much as he wanted to let Knock Out know about it, he knew better than to bring it up now. Not only was Ravage around, but they had much more important things to tend to. "Which way?"