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

[Ravage]

"Apparently he was not the only one," Ravage agreed. The dark feline squinted slightly against the sunshine on the waves as Breakdown heaved the ship the rest of the way into the water. The ship bobbed and fought for a moment against the pull of the ocean, as if it didn't want to go in the cold, wet depths. Then it slid beneath the waves and vanished from sight, twisting downwards towards the ocean floor.

Ravage watched it until he was satisfied that it would not resurface. Then with a brief shutter of his optics, he turned his head back towards the Medic. At focused on the gouges in the red mech's cheek. It had been a deep scratch, and certainly wouldn't buff out, even with the contents of his entire suitcase involved. Knock Out had been lucky it had missed his optic, or he would have been matching the gruff Breakdown perfectly.

Although, Ravage would trust Knock Out to have a much more elegant patch.

Perhaps something that glittered.

"I believe his thought processes were down to merely bare instinct," the cat calmly replied. His jaws cracked open, exposing a gleam of sharp silver fang before he closed his muzzle once more. The tip of his tail whisked back and forth and then stilled.

"For now, it is as safe as it can be, and we are safer with what is going on contained."

"Yes," the cat replied after a moment. "Finding the others. One moment here. I hate to perhaps give away our presence, but there is no choice in this matter."

Lifting his ears, Ravage swished his long tail, eyeing the horizon. Then, there was a quick ping, a query on one of their coded distress channels, an open call to anyone who might have their comm open and in working condition, asking for a reply, a location, anything. No doubt both Breakdown and Knock Out would hear it, and were welcome to add their own signals as well.

"I do not know about Shockwave," Ravage then said, shaking his head. "It is feasible that he may be with the Nemesis, but it is also possible he was out working on one of his experiments. If that is the case, then we may have him available to sort through some of this situation."

The cat's shoulder rolled in a gentle, feline shrug, as if at the moment he didn't expect the world to be handing them much in the way of favors.

"Agreed though, we have been here too long. Come. This way. We can scout the remainder of the inlet and then we will have to go. It is possible that communications relays were cut off or are damaged for many."

He started to pad down the beach again, black frame low to the ground as quickly picked his way across the wet stones. Water flicked from the tips of his paws, and the cat's ears slipped back in restrained distaste. He didn't like to be wet. It was a blessing that he had not been on board, the idea of swimming his way out of that wreck was one he was thankful to have completely avoided. The barnacles crunched under his weight; minuscule crabs skittered and scattered away from him, their tiny eyestalks gawking at the massive frames towering above them before they hid back under the rocks.

"If we do not find anyone within the next hour or so," Ravage murmured, "I do have a contact we can fall back on."

"One that I know for absolute certain was not aboard the ship."

[Knock Out]

Knock Out vented out a heavy sigh as he listened to Ravage, while keeping his gaze forward and on what Breakdown was doing. While he didn't want to go help or do any form of physical work, should his partner need assistance? He'd have no choice but to go over – it wasn't like Ravage could really do much of anything, being a feline and all.

“Hopefully it's just the two of them that are affected by whatever it was.” He finally commented, side-eyeing Ravage as he spoke. “I'd hate for something like that to get out amongst the rest of the crew.” He shuddered at the mere thought of the Vehicons going feral. He wasn't sure what Flatline and Soundwave had been getting up to, but hopefully it was an isolated event, and now contained on the ship.

He was still curious as to what it was that'd happened. He did always love a puzzle, and this was proving to be a complicated one. One which had been made rather unfairly harder by the fact he was now without his Medical Bay, or any real kind of equipment to help diagnose – and possibly treat – whatever this was. All he had to go on was the information Flatline had given him in those moments before he'd turned savage and attacked, and what he'd seen in the moments after that.

“Soundwave and I clearly have differing definitions of the word 'safe', but there isn't a lot we can do about it now.” He huffed, using the back of one hand to brush his chassis as he frowned.

As Ravage sent out the ping onto the channel, Knock Out would add his own signal to it. He was the only Medic, after all – and if people knew that he was alright and had survived the crash, it may encourage them to speak up as to their location and status so that they could get medical aid. Not that he could do much with the contents of his case, but he could easily do basic soldering work on anything that was needed until they either retrieved equipment off the ship or found assistance through other means.

He watched as Breakdown made his way back to the pair, quietly thankful that he hadn't been needed to help push the shuttle back into the ocean. He wasn't going to go anywhere near the water, if he could help it – and if worst came to worst? He wasn't above asking Breakdown to carry him around.

“Like Ravage, I am not sure about Shockwave. Didn't see him. Can't really say the thought of him even crossed my processor as I was trying to get off the ship.” He shrugged gently, shifting his weight to stop himself from sinking into the sand even further. “A shame, really. He could probably help me begin working out what this is. Or at least have some idea on how to start working it out.”

He would begin to follow Ravage, his footfalls dainty and hesitant. He didn't want to slip on the wet rocks and scratch himself any more than he already had. He only had so much wax in the case he'd managed to rescue from the ship, and didn't want to use it all on the first day of being without a ship!

“Mm? Who?” He asked curiously, keeping an eye on where he was walking, rather than at Ravage.

Sadly, though, it seemed they would not need this contact just yet, however, as pings began to relay back to those on the open channel. Vehicon designations rang out, some providing information as to where they were. Most were lucky to be nearby and on solid ground, a few unfortunate souls seemed to be stuck under the ocean in the escape shuttles that'd gone haywire. Some of those that were on beaches and land had started to regroup, by the sounds. Injuries were mostly minimal, nothing severe was being reported as of yet.

What was strange, and so very concerning, though, was the continued silence from anyone noteworthy of rank.

[Breakdown]

     Breakdown was busying himself with being Knock Out's baggage holder, carrying the case at his side as the trio walked along the beach. With how the weather was holding up and the otherwise silence around them? It would have been a rather nice leisurely walk ( save for the crabs scuttling around under them as they tried to escape being crushed, and who probably was screaming profanities at them with claw sign language ). Alas, the situation they were in made it so that peaceful was not in the cards. Their ship- their HOME- was at the bottom of the ocean, everyone was scattered about, and communications were yielding no results.

     Everything was just fan-fragging-tastic.

     But hey, Knock Out had managed to save his prized wax so at least he wouldn't need to hear his partner venting his frustrations at the loss of it on top of everything else that was happened. That end was good as long as he didn't lose the case... or conveniently drop it off somewhere and forget about it. No, he wouldn't do that, but being reminded that sometimes he was just baggage claim did make him think about it waaaaay off in the back of his processor on that side where the voice in his head reminded him of just how low on the totem pole he was.

     A voice which was slowly getting louder. A voice he had to keep from arguing with since Ravage was about, and who knew who else the feline had at the other end of his communication line. So for the moment he would just trudge along, being as silent as a glitchmouse, listening in on their conversation as much as he needed to just pick up the basics. Otherwise? He was busying himself with his own.

[Ravage]

Ravage turned his gaze back on the mech and his current porter trudging up the stony beach. The cat's optics were half-lidded against the bright dazzle of light that reflected off some of the waves.

"We have small outposts scattered," he said thoughtfully to Knock Out. "Several are mining facilities that don't have constant contact with the ship's crew. Yet there is some contact, and who knows if those places are now having issues of their own."

"I do know of an outpost that has absolutely no contact or set foot on the ship for months, though. Surprisingly, it is the closest to where we are now."

Which was the truth. He had run across the architect and the courier scavenging up materials during his own wanderings within Portland. The architect had been pleasant, but he always was to Ravage, and they had exchanged some information back and forth. He'd even been to the base, sent there to drop off a bit of equipment that was needed. It was certainly not a place that would be up to Knock Out's standard by any sense of the word, but the architect was good at his job in creating functional, hidden areas out of the bleakest of places. 

"One hopes," he agreed, in response to Knock Out's comment. "Unfortunately, I would think that it probably will not stop there, if there are two that are reacting so far. One would be a fluke. Two is not so much a fluke as it is likely an issue. The correlation between them I do not know though. That is a pattern that has not shown itself."

His shoulders rolled in a gentle shrug and he lifted his nose as if he was sniffing at something. "Yet," he said.

Which was the truth. Patterns always appeared. You just needed to look for them in the right places.

A faint chuckle drifted out of his sleek chest. "Very different mechs," he admitted. Knock Out, with his flamboyance and grand gestures; constantly smelling of wax and polish? Yes, utterly different than the quiet Soundwave; who was content to stand in the background, to watch and observe everything. They both served a good deal for the cause, just each in their own individual way.

"Perhaps Shockwave will appear," Ravage offered. "Not much time has passed. The only reason I was here- well, I was working on something off the ship."

The cat lifted a paw in thought. "Although I would certainly prefer it if he appeared unaffected by whatever this issue is."

Which was true. Shockwave's arsenal was dangerous, nearly as dangerous as Megatron's. It was one thing to have Flatline running around and apparently trying to bite people's legs like an uncouth heathen, but another to have someone with Shockwave's or even Lord Megatron's power with no intelligence to guide it.

"For several reasons. It is not just us I am concerned about, and certainly not the Autobots. If there is a problem that affects multiple mechs, and they are that far sunk into some sort of primitive response? I worry that if they do make it out of the ship and come on land, there is a very good chance that either they will alert the humans to our presence."

He shook his head. "Which could cause very serious issues," he admitted. "Either it ends up that our stealth and silence here is for naught, or they end up in the hands of MECH or even the human government. None of those are good options."

As the pings began to filter back though, the cat returned to silence, his ears pricked up. Vehicons would be useful, certainly those that had got to shore. Hopefully none of them had fallen under what the situation was back on the ship. If it was something that didn't quite show itself for a few days, it was very possible that more than a few of the remaining could be harboring the issue. Including Knock Out and Breakdown themselves.

"Vehicons," he said thoughtfully and glanced between the other two Decepticons as he broke into a light trot. His paws scraped softly along the rocks. "Come, we will go see if we can gather them together."

"I do not like that we have had no answer from command, though," he murmured.

[Knock Out]

Knock Out quirked a brow at Ravage's words. While he was aware of the small mining outposts, as unfortunately accidents did happen and he'd have to bridge in to assist with medical aid – he was not aware of the outpost with no contact that was supposedly close by. Then again, there was probably a good reason for that, and he could only wonder as to who even ran the place. Still, of all the places to crash? At least they'd crashed somewhere close to one of their own outposts – which was probably the only silver lining in this whole situation.

“Mm. It's the 'Yet' that scares me. Especially as we are now without a Medical Bay or any real means of safely observing those affected,” He murmured as he kept his gaze downwards, watching where he stepped as to avoid standing in any unnecessary puddles. The wet sand was already bad enough, he didn't want to make it worse for himself. “Still, we could be lucky and it somehow remains isolated.” That was very much wishful thinking indeed, and he scoffed quietly at his own words as he daintily hop-skipped over a small pooling of water that'd collected on the sand.

“The last thing we need is Shockwave being affected by whatever this thing is – it's bad enough that Soundwave has been.” He'd cast a wary glance to Ravage as he spoke. “If someone like Soundwave goes to the extreme measures of crashing the flagship while affected, Primus only knows what that madman would do.” He grimaced at the thought.

“I suppose we can only hope that Shockwave was working elsewhere, or the fact he keeps himself squirreled away in his lab has prevented him from coming into contact with it.”

Whatever 'it' may be. 

Ravage's words made him pause for a moment, turning his attention back out to the ocean and frowning, optics peering at the surface of the water – and he felt some relief at seeing nothing but the gentle lapping of the waves. Flatline and Soundwave may be confined to the sunken ship for now, but there really was nothing really stopping them from leaving the ship – which was worrisome given Flatline seemed to be out for blood. Sure, Flatline had been badly injured – but that hadn't stopped him in attempting another attack on Knock Out in the moments before the ship made impact with the ocean.

...Things to think about later. For now, Knock Out tried to push the thoughts to the back of his processor. They had to get off this beach before MECH was made aware of their presence. He'd already pushed his luck in surviving the attack from Flatline and the subsequent crashing of the ship – and bad luck did seem to come in threes, so he wasn't about to wait around for something else to happen. If Flatline or Soundwave did manage to haul themselves from the depths, it'd hopefully be hours from now, when any MECH activity had gone – if there was any to begin with at all.

Knock Out raised his helm gently as the pings began to sound over the channel. At least there were others. Still no word from Megatron, Starscream or Shockwave but... There were others. It was a start. Ravage had the same idea he did, and he too would break into a jog as he followed the feline. He continued to be overly careful with his footing, but he still managed to quicken his pace.

“Surely there's good reason for that. Time will tell, I'm sure.” He added, although he sounded unsure.

[Breakdown]

     Breakdown didn't even want to think of what it would be like to deal with Shockwave if he went feral like Flatline had. With Flatline he only really had to worry about how slippery he was with being able to dart from here to there before Breakdown could turn around, but when it came to brute strength? He had him beat. Shockwave was a different story. Breakdown could move faster than the scientist, sure, but he was one of those few who could take one of Breakdown's hits and probably only be budged a foot or two. That was one solid machine. If he had any real ability to fight they would be in trouble. Feral? They would just have to hope they were able to move fast enough to stay out of the way.

     The pings over the channel got his attention. Vehicons? Perhaps. Or maybe it was someone else trying to get their attention and their comms just weren't working. If they had a crash landing in an escape pod or had to swim to safety it wouldn't be that far-fetched to assume so. Breakdown didn't know if his had been damaged or not, but then again he hadn't run that in depth of an diagnostics on himself. He didn't really have the time to sit down and let things run that much of a course, especially considering the little flukes he had that would shut this or that system down in order to check over everything. So he'd just wait until they had time to sit down so he could do so. Which wasn't now. 

     He walked behind the two and found the distance slowly increasing. His strides were longer but they were also much slower and with the added weight of the water that hadn't drained from his frame he found himself sinking more than usual with each step he took. So while those two were able to keep a normal pace he was a little more hitched in his steps. Instead of making a big deal of it or asking them to slow down he just sped up some from time to time to keep himself more in pace with them. Time was of the essence and he wasn't about to be the one keeping them from finding others as quickly as possible.

     Though he did wonder why they didn't just switch into their vehicle modes so they could travel faster...

[Ravage]

"Time will," the cat agreed, before his low, soft voice drifted into silence once more.

The only sound was the crunch of their strides on the stones, and the lapping hush of the waves on the shore. It smelled like brine and decaying seaweed. No matter how carefully Knock Out stepped, he kicked up sand and worse against his finish. It was an organic, sopping mess that never seemed to end, not even close to the dry, metal corridors of the Nemesis.

Well the previously dry corridors.

One could only picture what state the repair bay was in now. All the cleaning he'd have to do. Their nice rooms infiltrated by water and worse.

It did not take them long to find the Vehicons.

Scattered groups of dark mechs, clustered here and there on the stretch of shoreline. They all seemed a bit shellshocked, and glad to see anyone that they considered higher ranking then themselves. At Knock Out and Breakdown's approach, they huddled in relief round the two ranked Decepticons, their sleek frames covered in dirt and sand and worse their voices lifted in panic and worry. What happened? Was the ship down for good? Had it been an invisible Autobot infiltrator, with a jet pack and a bomb? What were they going to do? Where was Lord Megatron?

Should they go back?

Could they go back?

More than one Vehicon had a hint of fear to that statement, as if they were simply afraid to admit that there may not be a way to go back. Nothing like this had ever happened to them since they'd been created; they did not have the millions of years under them. They had never had to deal with the sudden loss of a safe base, that everything that they had to support them was now gone; the medbays, recharge berths, even something as simple as their recreational rooms and energon when they needed it... gone.

Utterly gone, and they had no idea how to process the development. Or what to do now.

So they rallied around Knock Out and Breakdown as if they could solve this whole debacle.

During each new fracas as more and more mechs were found, Ravage merely sat down to one side, out of the way and silent. He did not spend his words among the Vehicons often. Most of them considered him Soundwave's perfectly trained pet and gave him wide berth because of that.

The cat's tail curled around his hip each time, his paws set just so, as if he was a ebon statue. His gaze focused over and over on a distant point in the ocean, red optics half-lidded against the bright onslaught of the morning sunrise on the waves.

[Knock Out]

Every time the sand was kicked up against his legs - which was sadly often, given the location - Knock Out would grumble and mutter under his breath. This was worse than the initial crash! The sand would wreak havoc on his paintjob and be almost impossible to get out of all the tiny, frustrating internal parts and joints. Not to mention the damage the fine, annoyingly itchy grains were no doubt doing to all of them. Sand and Cybertronians did not mix, and he was sadly without a Medical Bay or equipment now, which did not help matters any.

He should've asked Breakdown to carry him, that much he was realizing. Speaking of that big lug, Knock Out would cast the occasional - if almost unimpressed - glance over his shoulder to make sure that Breakdown was keeping up. At times he was trailing behind, then the next time Knock Out looked, he'd all but caught up again. He wouldn't speak to the big blue mech, not wanting to call out to him over his shoulder, but at least he was checking up on him.

The sight of the Vehicons in the distance was a welcome one; survivors were always good, and it wasn't like they had to travel too far to find them. The relief that Knock Out felt at finding them quickly diminished however as they began huddling around Knock Out and Breakdown, some getting a little too close for comfort.

“Whoa, now.” He frowned, holding up his servos and inching backward toward Breakdown – not wanting to touch, or be touched, by any of the filthy Vehicons; he was already covered in way more sand than he'd of liked, and some these guys looked like they'd been rolling in it. He'd try to listen to each question in turn, but there were so many voices at once that it was hard to address them all one by one.

It didn't take him long to realize that he was the only one of rank here. No wonder he'd been swarmed, they were looking to him to guide them in what to do next!

Frag if he knew!

“Alright first of all - you all need to calm down, and stop crowding me.” He started, sounding a little annoyed. His gaze shifting from Vehicon to Vehicon – as he wasn't sure which ones had asked which questions. “The ah, ship appears to be down for good, yes. No, it wasn't an Autobot infiltrator...” He hesitated at the end there and trailed off; he wanted to add that it was Soundwave that'd done this, but that'd just add to the panic and the confusion that one of their own – especially someone like Soundwave could've done this, and that was something that he didn't really want to deal with – especially not here.

At least Breakdown would be able to calm some of them down, he seemed to have a way with the Vehicons and was buddy-buddy with a lot of them.

“I do not know where Lord Megatron is, but I am sure he cannot be too far away!” Despite the uncertainty and questionable validity of that answer, he sounded confident enough. “Until then, we have to make do. We are unable to linger long here on the beach for reasons I won't go into right now,” again, he hid details – not wanting them to panic further or riot due to MECH being nearby. “But Ravage knows somewhere we can possibly go for now – just until Megatron gets in contact and instructs us further.”

He'd cast a glance around, as if to get further clarification from Ravage. Where did the feline even-- His optics would narrow some as he spotted Ravage out the way and to the side.

Knock Out was honestly a little jealous that the feline had been given space. Normally he thrived on attention – but only when it was directed at him and how fantastic he looked. This wasn't.

He'd turn his attention back to the Vehicons, eyeing them up as his gaze drifted over them.

"Do any of you need medical aid? Urgent, I mean. If you have a boo-boo you'll have to deal with it for the time being." He hummed. Might as well ask, even though at a glance they all looked okay, just filthy. Even with the lack of equipment, he had the basic built-in tools needed to do any patch up work before they moved on. 

[Breakdown]

     “It’s good to see you as well.”
     “Yes, we’re fine.”
     “No, I have not heard from Lord Megatron.”
     “... Don’t ask me what happened to the ship.”

     Breakdown could handle the Q&A session, understanding why all of the Vehicons were as frantic as they were. They all were on some sort of edge and it only took a little push to send someone over. To him, it looked like Knock Out was getting close to that point and honestly he didn’t feel like dealing with the medic blowing a gasket from yelling at the startled troops. It was all understandable but there had to be a time to take things slow. They all needed time to recuperate and figure things out.

     “Alright, alright. Back it up. Enough now.” Breakdown was like a battering ram when he wanted to be, which was exactly what he was at that moment. He pushed his way infront of Knock Out to physically separate him from the crowding behavior of the Vehicons, while he verbally put a stop to their millions of questions. “I understand there are questions you want answers to, but take it slow. We’re all at a loss at the moment and bombarding our superior with so many things at once will only prove to slow us down further. We need to keep making headway and try to separate ourselves from the sight of the crash. We do not want to be here when company arrives.” He motioned for the Vehicons to take some steps back and reorganize themselves.

     “As stated, those with crippling medical emergencies, ask for Knock Out’s assistance. He is our senior officer at the moment and I expect all of you to behave accordingly.”

     Breakdown slightly outranked the Vehicons, though only from his association as Knock Out’s gopher. Otherwise he was on the same level as them, but usually his friendship with them allowed him to assume command of their numbers when it was needed. At least reasserting where their orders were to come from would remind them that there was still a chain of command to follow and to get themselves together.

     … Hopefully.

[Ravage]

At Knock Out's indication that he knew somewhere they could go, the cat looked behind him again at the sand and seaweed splattered kerfluffle of worried Vehicons. His ears rotated back ever so slightly, and Ravage's muzzle opened, exposing a sharp set of fangs before he dropped his chin once in a nod.

:: I am contacting them now,:: the cat murmured over Knock Out and Breakdown's private comms. :: Allow me a moment. ::

Vehicons never really bothered Ravage. They were just there, like... hmm, like the floors and the walls and the energon dispensers on the ship. They were excellent for learning all the gossip you ever needed. Right now, they simply sounded like a gaggle of robo-chickens looking for a place to roost.

One of the sleek black and purple mechs stared up wildly at the heavens as if he expected the ship to pop up out of the sky. "Down for good?" he moaned, fell to his knees and looked up at the sun-streaked morning sky. Water sluiced up along his glossy finish as he stared at the organic world around him. The very idea that they were stuck here, that their home was down for good seemed to have shattered the poor Vehicon into a quivering heap.

Poor Larry just couldn't handle the news, it seemed.

Immediately this set them all off again. A few of them tried to haul Larry up. Larry just sat there as a rather pathetic pile on the beach and bemoaned his existence. At least this kept any of them from attempting to touch Knock Out and get their grubby muddy hands on him.

"Wasn't an Autobot infiltrator for sure?" one of fliers echoed as he cuffed Larry by the back of his neck and attempted to make him stand. Larry hung there, dangling like an unstrung puppet and moaning that it was the end of the world.

"Was it a shipboard accident? Did something in munitions blow up? Chain reaction?" another said in a flatly logical tone.

"Wait, was it... was it, sabotage?"

"Invisible enemy spy!" one of them shouted.

"There's no such thing," someone else grumped.

"Sure there is!" came the immediate reply. "Saw it on TV!"

"Besides, Autobots are sneaky."

"Totally sneaky. We're invisible. Well, we were. We're not now, this is really freaking me out."

"I hurt my finger," one of the Vehicons whined, holding out his hand towards Knock Out. This revelation was accompanied by a sad little beep.

This immediately led to a rather heated discussion of what consisted to be a boo-boo. After a final flurry, everyone agreed that yes, this was indeed considered one, since the finger was still attached to his hand (mostly) and the rest of his fingers still worked. (Again, mostly.) No one had a crippling medical emergency, which was nice, because then Knock Out wouldn't have to touch anyone until they were scrubbed off and clean of sand, debris, and probably a few sad fish that regretted diving into hiding spots in their plating. 

Ravage sighed, and then halfheartedly wondered why anyone let the Vehicons watch Earth Television in the first place, or allow them access to the internet. Although, yes, the tap dancing monkey did show up in the oddest situations lately, didn't it. Knock Out running interference right now as the ranking officer was helpful though. It kept anyone from trying to bother him.

Fortunately for the red medic, his gloss would remain mostly fingerprint free as Breakdown waded patiently into their midst. The blue mech did seem to be able to be comfortable with them on some level; they respected a straightforward soldier in the way that grunts did.

"Glad to see you're okay, sir," one of them said, and helped him back the others up a bit away from them. The waves lapped up on the shore; out in the water, there were spreading colors in some spots in the bay. Rainbow sheens of oil and other fluids, pooling in the rising sun.

"All right everyone. Keep moving, keep moving," another urged, and once they were all together, they began to walk down the beach once more. Well, everyone except Larry. He was being carried and whimpering now about how the end of the world was near. "You heard him, medic's our senior officer!"

"How are you sure there's no way to regain the ship?" one of them finally asked Knock Out and Breakdown.

"Company?" another echoed, and glanced up at the heavy-set blue mech. "Autobots, you mean...?"

Ravage shook himself off and then padded to catch up to the other two. Well, he'd done what he could, put in the message. It wasn't surprising that it wasn't answered immediately. Chances were that the architect was working underground on some project, and that it might take a bit for them to get into an area where they would receive the transmission. Without the constant communications boost from the ship, this might prove to be an interesting problem up the line.

[Knock Out]

Knock Out really was thankful for Breakdown sometimes. He had an amazing way with a buffer, and he also had the patience for Vehicons. Course, a lot of it was just Breakdown being a decent person – he took time out of his day to ask the Vehicons how they were, and would go out of his way to track them down after maintenance to see that they were doing alright. He kept tabs on them, and knew most of them by their designation. He actually cared.

Knock Out? Not so much. Everything was so very routine with him. There was a distinction between work and pleasure, and he didn't see chatting to Vehicons outside of the Medical Bay as a fun recreational activity – and so didn't go out of his way to do so. He'd chat with them a little and feign interest in what they had to say while they were under his care, sure, but only if they had things worthy of him to listen to – aka, gossip.

While he wasn't about to yell at them – not here on the beach, anyway, he didn't want any of them touching him and may have unashamedly swatted a few of them away if they got too close for comfort. He was filthy enough as it was without them adding to it.

Breakdown seemed to have the first round of questions handled, thankfully – and they seemed to listen to him. It was probably something to do with him being tall. The Vehicons looked up to him in more ways than one. It was in this moment of brief downtime that Knock Out received the ping over his private comm from Ravage.

::Much appreciated, thank you.::

His attention was sadly drawn back to the Vehicons, as one seemed to be having a breakdown over this entire thing and had collapsed to his knees. Rude. If anyone here should be allowed to do that, it should be Knock Out! He was the one who had to endure this whole thing from the start, a huge scratch to his faceplate – and no medical equipment to fix himself up!

This little freakout seemed to set them off again, and Knock Out would vent out a sigh – raising one servo as if he was pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It wasn't an infiltrator, I assure you.” His tone a little more firm as he responded. “Nor was it an invisible enemy spy!” He squawked some, obviously getting a little flustered - although it seemed the Vehicons had begun entertaining themselves with the fact they'd seen something like that on TV, so clearly it could totally be a thing. At least none of them asked for further clarification as to who it actually was. Part of Knock Out wanted to just tell them just so they could shut up on the topic, although he knew for sure that there would be many more a Vehicon falling to their knees in distress when the truth was revealed – which was something he didn't really want to deal with.

Thankfully Breakdown could probably tell that Knock Out wasn't having any of this, and so he finally stepped forwards and put himself between the cherry red medic and the gaggle of Vehicons.

At least one of them seemed to have the sense to start walking, and the others, like little sheep, would begin to follow. This didn't stop the questions, though – but at least these were new questions. Knock Out would move with them, shifting to walk beside Breakdown rather than behind – but he stuck closer to the big blue mech than the Vehicons – even if Breakdown was just as dirty.

“Because it's at the bottom of the ocean, for one.” He replied dryly. “That, and the control room completely collapsed. I was lucky to get out of there alive.” He pursed his lips some, frowning as he thought back on it.

The second question made him pause, and he, too, glanced up at Breakdown. It technically hadn't been directed at him, but he felt the need to answer regardless – Breakdown could elaborate further, maybe hearing the fact that MECH were nearby from the big blue mech would soften the blow, or something.

“No.”

[Breakdown]

    The Vehicons were full of questions and he couldn't really blame them. He had questions of his own that he wanted to ask but there were just no answers to be given. Knock Out hadn't divulged anything new to him ( and what he wasn't verbally told him he could more or less figure out by the condition of his partner's faceplate ) and he couldn't really do much in the way of hiding things from him... then there was Ravage. Breakdown didn't really have anything against the cassette- not really needing to- but he hadn't spent that much time with him so he didn't know much about him. That did cause Breakdown to want to keep him at arm's length just because of the nature of his paranoia. The link to Soundwave was the reminder that he had to keep in check.

     Tight check and that was becoming more and more difficult to do. Why was his paranoia so loud lately? He didn't let his guard down as far as he knew and he'd been pretty in control... so why was it so loud now?

     He was pulled from his thoughts and looked to the Vehicon who had addressed he and Knock Out. While his partner's answer was simple and to the point, the fact that he looked at him hinted that there needed to be a bit more explanation.

     'Great. Thanks Knock Out. Let me be the bearer of bad news...'

     "Autobots think too highly of their temporary cease fire to chance anything that would risk it. They wouldn't dare to send anyone in to harm us at risk of losing that. It's not Autobots that we have to worry about." He looked at the one who had addressed him and tapped on the optic patch. "The ones who did this to me are who we gotta worry about." He dropped his servo. "Can't let your guard down around them. MECH are sneaky fools who would stoop to whatever ground level they could to get their way. Autobots have standards.. these guys do not. So we have to keep moving and stay ahead of them."

     Was that enough? Breakdown hoped it was enough. He really didn't want to get into it further and instead just kept staring ahead again as he walked, trying to keep track of where they were walking.

[Ravage]

Ravage rose to his feet from where he was sitting and then quietly padded close to Knock Out. The tip of his tail swished back and forth as he ambled close to where the medic was walking back down the beach again. His ears twitched a few times before settling straight forward, as if he was waiting for a return to his query.

::I would think he will answer soon,:: Ravage mused, his optics half lidded as he concentrated on something.

Ravage had never thought he would use this. It had been passed to him by Soundwave long ago, but the cat had never had a need for them. In all of the patterns around him that he deciphered, the cat would never have foreseen that Soundwave  would crash the Nemesis into the ocean. That his partner would be incapacitated and unable to open the ground bridge.

Ravage had the codes. He had access capabilities. It had been given to him long ago.

Their weight sunk into the gritty, sandy spaces between the stones. As they moved down the shore, water oozed up and filled up their footprints and washed them away. In a few minutes, it certainly would be hard to tell that the group of mechs had moved through here.

"You were in the control room?" the Vehicon dragging Larry along with them asked Knock Out.

Larry was still mumbling something about Primus and Judgment Day as he hung limply, scruffed by his friend. Helpfully, a couple of the other Vehicons had each grabbed one of the car-mech's legs and heaved them up so that he wasn't leaving a long furrow behind them on the beach. "No one tried to stop the ship from going down, sir?"

"It collapsed," one of the other Vehicons piped up. "Can't stop the control room from collapsing if it's at the bottom of the ocean."

"I think it collapsed beforehand," someone offered.

"Nah, I think it collapsed after," another mentioned. "He said it was after. Pretty sure he said it was after."

"How did you get out of there?" the first one asked, curious. He scratched his head with a soft scritch of metal on metal as he glanced over at Knock Out. "Couple of us were able to find an escape pod that wasn't activated but most of them were gone by the time we got down to the platforms."

::They are very full of questions today,:: Ravage murmured to Knock Out in the background and then was silent again. Helpful cat. Very helpful cat.

Meanwhile, the others were listening to Breakdown's explanation.

"Makes sense," one of them echoed. "Guess that's one good thing about the truce. They can't shoot us on the beach today, haha."

As Breakdown touched his finger to his optic patch, most of them winced. Stories of what had happened to Breakdown had been passed around the ship. After the last encounter with MECH, where they'd captured several of the other Decepticons, the truce had quickly occurred.

An enemy so dangerous that even the Warlord himself had gone and agreed with their enemy to hold fire until MECH had been dealt with. It was amazing that after all this time, it was humans that had become the one thing that drove the war to a temporary halt. Not all their other encounters with other species across the multitude of the universe. 

Like that movie the Vehicons had watched and made an awful lot of fun of. Where the tiny Ewoks smacked around the Empire and won the war. That stuff just didn't happen in real life. 

"You really think MECH is coming here?" one of the Vehicons asked Breakdown, even as they stared up at the sky.

"Got it sir," the one mech manhandling the still floppy Larry said. "We'll move and stay ahead. Do you think we should move under the tree cover for now?"

He gestured with his free hand to the hillside. The pines were thick and dark. "No idea how many more of us are going to wash up on the shore, but we're sure in the open, aren't we? If they did a fly over, they'd notice us."

"MECH? Here? Primus has forsaken us!" Larry wailed.

"Not now, Larry," the big vehicon scruffing him sighed.

"Shut up Larry!"

"Yeah, shut up, Larry!"

This was followed by a cuff to the back of Larry's head. It echoed over the beach with a sound like a hollow gong.

[Knock Out]

Knock Out seemed satisfied enough with Breakdown's answer to the Vehicons, as he kept quiet and didn't give his own thoughts or additions. It wasn't technically the Autobot's ceasefire, given that it was their own Warlord who had initiated the truce, but Breakdown did have a point – the Autobots wouldn't attack and risk breaking it. Not after what'd happened; hell, the Autobots would probably be arriving with gift baskets and offers to help out any moment now.

Maybe they had extra wax to spare... That'd be nice. Not that it'd be anything close to the quality and standard that he was used to, but beggars could not be choosers, and at this point he'd take anything. Maybe if they somehow found out about the Nemesis, which wouldn't take long, no doubt, given the cloaking shield that made it untraceable had probably been damaged, he could inquire about getting some necessities brought to him.

Ravage's voice pulled him from his thoughts, and while he didn't turn to look at the feline as he replied, he did narrow his optics some.

::Not soon enough...:: He grumbled. They'd already been out here for far too long, and every second that passed was one second closer to MECH finding them, not to mention the sand was making Knock Out dirtier by the second!

“Mm?” He turned to the inquiring Vehicon as he spoke. “Oh, yes – I was in the control room,”

He paused then as they chattered amongst themselves. There were many holes in this story, he realized. Many questions still to be asked, and more to answered. Why was Knock Out, the Chief Medical Officer, in the control room of the ship, for one? He was choosing to withhold the information about Soundwave being at the controls as not to induce more panic, but he knew if he was in the place of the Vehicons? He'd be concerned about things not really adding up.

Then again, Vehicons weren't really known for their smarts – and so hopefully the information he was giving would be enough to sate their curiosity into what'd happened. Once they were somewhere safe he'd divulge the truth, but at this point did it even matter? It wasn't like they could get the ship back. Still, there was already panic - and he didn't want to add to it by letting slip it was the Third in Command. 

“It collapsed after we made impact with the ocean. Granted I only made it in there a short moment before the crash itself, by which time it was far too late to reverse what was happening. I escaped by climbing over the collapsed bridge – no easy feat, believe me! Then, I took one of the escape pods.” He did feel a little bad for taking one all to himself, but he was important and didn't want to risk waiting around for Vehicons to pile into the thing like a damn clown car. He didn't want to be crushed, or to have the pod become too heavy to even fly.

Okay, no, maybe he didn't feel bad at all.

::Too many questions. Thankfully they aren't asking the right questions. Not that I'd answer if they did... Mm. Any word yet from your contact?:: He replied to Ravage tiredly. Sure it'd only been mere moments since Ravage had reached out to whoever it was, but still... This was an emergency!

As Larry wailed, Knock Out would narrow his optics into a scowl, turning to glare at the small group. At least the other Vehicons seemed to be of the same mindset as the CMO, and quickly shut him up before he was forced to step in. A good thing too, their voices no doubt carried enough as it was over the beach, the last thing they needed was one being louder than necessary and drawing too much attention to the area. Still, Knock Out did sympathize with Larry somewhat – he didn't want to be here either.

Then again, none of them did.

[Breakdown]

     Breakdown had been following behind the pair, as he normally did when in the company of higher ranked officials for the formality purposes, though this time it was to ensure his partner wasn't injured. Any slight hitch in his step or angle of a panel would have indicated so... but Breakdown realized more than probably what he should be been probing into. 

     For most of the time they were moving ( save for the Vehicon's chatter and the questions of their that were being answered ), it may have looked like there were spans of time where they were walking in silence, but the little telling signs that Breakdown had come to notice from his partner in all this time they'd spent together told him that it wasn't was quiet as it would have appeared. Ravage and Knock Out seemed to have their own thing going on between their verbal responses, leaving him pretty much out of certain bits of their conversation. That left him to deal with the Vehicons... a task that many did not enjoy to do, but Breakdown didn't mind it as much. 

     "In case you haven't noticed, we are without any type of cover at the moment. Unless you have some secret way of turning into glitchmice and scurrying under rocks to hide in the case we're spotted, I suggest that you all quiet down. The louder you are, the more our sound will carry and that may contribute to us being located faster- and not by those of our own species." He looked at Larry and shook his helm then focused his attention ahead again. "Now we have to be quiet so we can focus our energy on finding allies... or safety."

     He glanced briefly at the case he was carrying for Knock Out and grumbled some, the sound rolling in his chest cavity. Sometimes being at the bottom of the food chain was not the best place to be. At least Knock Out would fill him in later if there was anything of importance he needed to know.