[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]All Mine (Closed/Sparkplug))

[Sparkplug]

Sparkplug's situational awareness was... not fantastic. She was often too busy chasing a train of thought to actually stop and consider what it looked like from outside, and at times, it seemed as though her core CPU output was wired directly to her vocoder. Still, on this occasion, she was aware that she was totally babbling.

All the same, it wasn't like it was unwarranted. Sure, she'd found Vega to be a sexy piece of shaped metal when they first met, and had flirted at her a bit - that wasn't unusual, there were a lot of pretty mecha around and flirting was fun. Persuading the big flier to let her give her a full buff and polish job, that was another step in the right direction, and Primus knew that Sparkplug had enjoyed getting her hands all over that imposing chassis, but that was where it was probably going to stop. Getting assigned together... well, Sparkplug had had a hand in that, but mostly because she thought Vega was going to be good company, not as part of a nefarious plan.

And then, all of a sudden, Vega had been the one to suggest they cohabit. That was Alert Level Two in the lexicon of flirting. The fact that she, Sparkplug, had then suggested they'd be sharing a recharge rack and wash rack, and instead of protesting, Vega was smiling in a way that the smaller grounder hadn't seen before - that was Alert Level One.

"...that doesn't sound like enough recharging," Sparkplug murmured in a lower tone, gazing up at Vega. "I think you need to get more rack time. In fact, I should make sure of it. It's my duty as your new partner."

She'd almost forgotten the business of the keypad, her attention focused on entirely different matters all of a sudden, but at Vega's little verbal nudge, Sparkplug reluctantly shifted her gaze back to the recalcitrant lump of old metal. "Faceplate. Right." Her left arm blurred as it shifted into a powered socket wrench, adjusting to fit the hex bolts locking the keypad plate down, and whirring to unscrew them.

The bolts came loose with surprising ease. Sparkplug blinked, mildly confused, then swung the panel open. "...oh. Right. Well, that explains a lot."

Within the panel box, there was a simplistic circuit board with a broken connector, one of the wires that fed the box having pulled loose when someone yanked on the external cable. But there was also a set of jumper cables, hanging disconnected, and a little scratched note that read, 'Don't tell OFF-753'.

"Garbage security, meant to keep miners out. No bombs, then. Looks like at least one of them cracked how to bypass the lock, and left this little plea not to tell the supervisor if any of the others figured it out. Have this open in a nano-klik." With a flick of her left arm, the socket wrench reconfigured into a soldering iron, and she gently pressed the severed power wire back onto the circuit board, re-heating the solder until it melted and ran. Immediately, the hinged-open panel lit up with a cool blue glow between the keys.

"There y'go. But, but, but, because this was designed by a CPU-throttled sparkling, all I have to do is clip this bypass wire here and here, and then..." The panel beeped once, and the heavy blast door shuddered, quivering in its tracks. Stone dust drifted down, then, with a grinding of metal of metal, it reluctantly disengaged from the frame and scraped fully open, revealing a compact storehouse of bare metal shelves within.

Sparkplug rose up onto the tips of her pedes, shading her optics with her right hand. "You know, I think there might be a little energon back there. Isn't that a half-empty cube?" She glanced up at Vega and grinned conspiratorially. "Victory drink?"

[Deleted]

For the short time that Vega had been familiar with the grounder she knew one thing for absolute certain: she could talk someone's audial off and still have far more to say. It was undoubtedly a trait that some would find tiresome, annoying even if they stuck around long enough without having the courage to tell her any different. Vega at first had been overwhelmed by just how much the small femme could talk. Yet...oddly enough...it'd not made the transition from overwhelming to annoying....rather she now found it oddly charming. If asked to explain this? Vega would be hard pressed to. The only thing she could really say for certain was...

..it felt familiar, in a way.

Letting Sparkplug wax her armor had been a fleeting moment of indulgence (for herself AND Sparkplug) it'd proven to be quite enjoyable - even with the grounder being enthusiastic. It was near impossible to explain really, but then again maybe it didn't need an explanation. All Vega knew was that seeing Spark babble uncontrollably in an incredulous stupor was both amusing and adorable. There were definitely worse people to share personal space with.

Sparkplug noted quietly how that didn't sound like the flier was recharging enough and then verbally wagged a finger at the flier, putting her pede down on making sure as her new partner that she rested more from then on. Rest was never something Vega really sought after, she had gotten by perfectly fine up until this point with what little she did let herself have. At the same time, Sparkplug was the 'immovable object' in most situations.

"I doubt I could stop you even if I wanted to." Vega huffed a little laugh out of her vents as she spoke.

The smaller returned to the keypad, focused again on things not centered around the lexicon of flirtation. With little struggle she pried it open, finding the root of the problem in a damaged wire inside the housing of the keypad. Fortunately they had not lined the door with explosives providing just enough security to keep the workers out of the storage room. Seemingly to no avail judging by the jumper cables and scrawled note to keep it secret from the team head. Re-affixing the wire was a small task for Sparkplug, the keypad glowing to life in the familiar shade of blue. She then attached the bypass cables and with a small beep the heavy metal doors shuddered open. Vega winced slightly at the grating noise, her finials flicking reflexively as dust and small rocks shook from the wall and brushed against them.

The store room was - expectantly - empty. Left with nothing but the heavy metal shelving units drilled into the sedimentary rock. Well...it wasn't entirely empty. Vega saw it too, towards the back of the room was the familiar soft blue glow of energon. Sparkplug suggested a 'victory drink' and with a small nod Vega took a step into the store room. "I certainly don't see why not, be a shame to let it waste away down here anyway."

The store room was only marginally smaller than the main tunnel opening, stripped barren- near barren of anything that could even remotely be labeled as 'valuable'. Vega walked over to the shelving on her right hand side small traces of dust settling over the flat surfaces. "Fortuitous as this is I do wonder how they missed this." She mused picking the half empty cube up off the shelf, it wobbling with the familiar viscous feeling of the fuel inside. With how thoroughly the rest of the room had been picked clean it seemed almost suspicious. Maybe she was reading too far into it, it was most likely just over looked as opposed to the other more important things to take. Maybe they were simply told to move quickly to a new location to begin a new operation?

She handed it to Sparkplug a one sided smile on her face. "After you."

[Sparkplug]

Taking the energon cube from Vega with a flash of a smile, Sparkplug turned it around in her hands, intrigued. "What are you doing here? There's a batch code on it. Doesn't look like any mecha should've been drinking from it before shipping. Could be whoever was in here, packing the last shipment, decided to have one for the road."

Looking into the deserted storage locker, Sparkplug frowned thoughtfully at the ranks of steel shelves. "Hm. Wonder what we could repurpose this for. Could keep it as an energon store, but that's overkill; we'll have rations, not industrial quantities. Could keep the volatiles in here, if I get to messing around with chemical explosives... the whole racks and racks of shelves lends itself pretty well to being a parts store."

Shrugging her shoulders, she added, "Y'know, the funny thing is, now that I've got more of a sense of the layout, this place feels more homely. Gonna take a lot of work to bring it up to scratch, but we've got the time and I've got the tools. Still hacked off that my nice new lab is upside down at the bottom of the damn sea, but if I had to start over, this is a good place to do it."

And really good company to do it with. Was this really happening? Was this big, solemn, black-plated flier actually flirting back at her? It certainly seemed like it! Relaxing, she grinned up at the other femme, and added, "Recharge rack comes first, but after that? A table. Literally any furniture. Right now, the only thing to sit on around here is you." She flashed an impish grin, her field vibrant with life. "Guess we'll see if it's still good the hard way! Afts up!"

Breaking the seal, she brought the cube to her lips and took a long sip. It didn't taste quite the way it did from the dispensary at Blackridge, but not bad. In fact, rinsing the subtle tang of rock dust from her tongue was quite pleasant. Sighing a happy little sound, she lowered the container. "If there's a problem with it, I can't tell. Here - for you."

Turning the cube, she offered it back to Vega, optics gleaming playfully. There was a certain intimacy to drinking from the same container; soldiers in the field wouldn't think twice about it, but in this charged atmosphere, it took on shades of more significant meaning.

[Deleted]

Sparkplug's theory of whomever had been left to pack the last load sneaking a quick half made a lot of sense. One cube missing was a little suspicious but it was also easy enough to claim it as a miss count. As meticulous as they were some things were undoubtedly still overlooked. If it had been more than one cube it would have been far too suspect and be investigated, but just a single cube was not worth the time and effort the investigation would have taken. Certainly not with how well off the Decepticons were when it came to fuel.

Vega too glanced all around the room as Spark mused on just how many ways she could potentially utilize the space. The smaller bounced several ideas around from energon store (which Vega agreed would be too much), to volatile components, to simply a store room for whatever parts they weren't using at the time. "Suppose we will have to wait and see what use suits us the most." Vega shrugged once as she spoke. Vega couldn't help but agree with Sparkplug's next words. While this place had lost all sense of usefulness to the never ending search for fuel it truly felt like something they could call their own. A space to do just about anything - within reason - with.

It was a great shame that Sparkplug had to do this entire process all over again, what remained of her previous labor left to collect muck at the bottom of the sea. Vega hadn't even gotten an opportunity to see it before the ship went down. But yes, if anywhere was a good place to start again, this was indeed it. The boundless potential of this place was incredible.

"Recharge rack comes first, but after that? A table. Literally any furniture. Right now, the only thing to sit on around here is you." Vega laughed softly as Sparkplug deemed her a comfortable resting spot, the flier motioning toward herself before she spoke. "Remind me to have that added to my list of qualifications. Navigation officer, weapon repair specialist, chair." She chortled again at her own words. With no further delay the grounder broke the cube's seal and lifted it to her lips. She paused once she was done drinking...then claimed that she couldn't find anything wrong with it herself. She turned it once then handed it back to the flier.

With a soft smile Vega accepted the cube once more, turning it around once again before she too drank from it. It indeed had a different taste then what the dispensary at Blackridge- or even the Nemesis had to it...but nothing that raised any alarm. The cube empty Vega turned around and placed it neatly back onto the shelf behind her. "Well, that was pleasant. Thank you, Spark."

[Sparkplug]

Sparkplug's expressive optic ridges rose as Vega turned the cube around to drink from the same spot she had, and the small grounder's lips curved into a delighted smile. She could be reading too much into it, but coupled with everything else Vega had said... flirtation hung in the air, in a way that didn't just rely on EM fields to express.

"Oh yeah? Well, if you go adding being furniture to your formal qualifications like that, maybe I won't try too hard to build something to do the job. Wouldn't want to deny you the chance to exercise your expertise!"

"Well, that was pleasant. Thank you, Spark."

Half-way through turning away, Sparkplug paused, playful delight blossoming in her field at the affectionate nickname. "You're welcome! You're welcome-" -you giant walking slab of sexy metal. No, too long- "-Vee," she concluded with a bright smile.

Practically skipping across the smoothed floor of the main cavern, her fuel pump thrumming happily within her chest, Sparkplug put her back to the entry hatch and spread her arms. "Okay, quick review of what we've found: starting from my left, we've got the used-to-be office - soon to be our private quarters, then there's the fortified energon store with the garbage locking mechanism and the inset rails, then the main excavation shaft straight ahead, then the big repair bay for the drillers to my right. Right here in front of me, there's the rest of the rail terminals, some unpowered spoil carts, and that gorgeous yet completely trashed driller. What are we missing? What haven't we found yet?"

Her odd double elbows shifting smoothly, Sparkplug held up her left hand and began ticking off points on her fingers. "Generator room, nowhere to be found. Probably deeper in, some distance from the energon stores. Don't want an explosion in either to get to the other. Should be a chunky barracks for the miners someplace, probably with a dispensary and wash racks all wedged up together. Might be equipment lockers somewhere, but I think they were in the repair bay; there's plenty of bolt scars on the walls where a bunch of stuff was ripped out when this place got shut down. Think that covers it, unless you can think of anything else obvious to look out for that I'm missing? Not exactly a miner here."

Nodding towards the wide shaft leading deeper and lower into the mountain's depths, Sparkplug looked up at Vega, eyes wide and innocent. "We'd better stay close as we explore the mine. Really close. Y'know. For safety."

[Deleted]

"Oh yeah? Well, if you go adding being furniture to your formal qualifications like that, maybe I won't try too hard to build something to do the job. Wouldn't want to deny you the chance to exercise your expertise!"

Another chuckle followed with a curt smile. "I will not let you down." She assured watching as the smaller femme began to turn- only to still at the sudden use of the affectionate nickname. With a bloom of delight in her EMF she quickly replied, floundering a moment as she thought of her own unique way to address the large flier.

Then: "Vee!"

If Sparkplug were to blink she would miss it. The flier's optics cycled wider, there was a slow dip in her finials, and her field flickered briefly with melancholic static. In this moment - and this moment alone - Vega saw Sparkplug replaced with a much larger flight capable frame. Stark white and green replaced with darkened blues and blacks. Her mouth nearly opened to speak his name-

"No." Blinking once she watched the returned form of Sparkplug make her merry return to the central cavern, following after her she left the memory behind. Vega always kept her field close to her, involuntarily in truth. She never truly was one to express herself as freely and unabashedly as the grounder or other mecha were. But in this moment she kept it close consciously keeping the sudden and intense wave of emotion to herself until it flickered away. It wasn't the time.

She stood behind Sparkplug as the grounder tallied on her fingers the potential findings they would have upon venturing further into the actual mine shaft. A one sided smirk cut across the flier's face as Sparkplug asked if she was missing anything and claimed she 'wasn't exactly a miner here'. "Afraid I'm not much wiser in the matter, though I am sure that indeed 'covers it'" Vega met Sparkplug's wide gaze, smirking slightly as the smaller suggested they stay close for their own safety. A hand lifted and she placed it over the other femme's shoulder, her hand covering the cuff and part of the upper arm.

"I have to agree, for safety reasons of course." Her hand rolled slowly away from the touch before motioning forward. "After you."

[Sparkplug]

Sparkplug had many qualifications. Frame designer. Weapons engineer. Living toolbox. Walking weapons battery. The Galactic Repository of Aggravated Expletives. Among those descriptors, however, 'sensitive to the moods of others' definitely did not appear. Already projecting her imagination further down the mine shaft as she sought to tabulate what they'd found and what might come next, Vega's flinch of emotion simply didn't register with the short grounder, nor the fact that her impromptu shortening of her partner's name might not have been wisely chosen.

Perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps not. Relationship counsellor didn't appear in Sparkplug's list of qualifications either.

She simply beamed up at Vega as the big flier approached, and a happy, shivery pulse of delight flashed through her field at the other femme's touch on her arm. "Alright then! Let's go get stuck into this twisty, tangled streak of rusty neglect, and see if we can't make something better out of it!"

Setting off down the tunnel, following beside the rails, Sparkplug couldn't help but try to look in every direction at once. There were signs that the tunnel had intercepted existing fragments of cave systems - a water-smoothed wall here, some surviving stalactites there - but the majority of it was clad in a smooth sheet of fused rock, left by the passage of several energon drills operating side by side.

"Looks like it breaks up into a bunch of littler tunnels down there," Sparkplug remarked, rising onto her tiptoes and peering downslope. The overall shaft sank downwards into the earth at a gentle angle, beginning to curve to the right as they descended. "Bet it's a proper labyrinth further in. I wonder if we- oooh."

Half-hidden by a fold of rock, a reinforced door was set into the tunnel wall, hatched with warning stripes and dire warnings to keep out. The stencilled glyphs were a little scuffed, but they still clearly read-

"-Reactor Chamber! Yes!" Dashing over to the door and utterly ignoring the warning sigils, Sparkplug yanked off a panel from the frame to expose the manual controls, and began cranking the slab of metal open with two-handed heaves on the exposed hatch wheel. "Way too small to get a reactor in this way. Must have dug this far to check the mine was worth it, then bridged in the necessary tech straight into the room. Efficient! If I can get that up and running again, we'll have all - the power - we need!"

With the discordant screech of a mechanical pterodactyl being forced out of bed, the door locks disengaged. Pulling hard, Sparkplug yanked it open, venting heavily from exertion, field bright with excitement.

Then she looked inside.

There was a heavy metal cradle bolted to the wall, that was true. And some thick power lines emerging from smaller channels bored into the rock, they were there too. But where the magnificently advanced, compact miracle of power generation technology should have been, there was simply a long, rounded hole. A sheet of water coated one wall of the chamber in glistening wetness, flowing into a mirror-smooth pool at the centre of the reactor pit.

"Oh, you Primus-cursed rust-licking strut-sheared tin glitches! Don't take the reactor with you! Leave it here for me," she protested. Rubbing her forehead with her knuckles, she added in a lower tone, "Argh. Probably at the bottom of that festering organic filth puddle with the rest of the Nemesis, locked up in some drowned storeroom. Good job. I mean, it was a properly done job, but... argh."

[Deleted]

Thankfully it seemed Sparkplug was far too preoccupied in her own mind to pick up the brief flicker of depression from the flier. Vega in her own mind left the moment on the same shelf as the now emptied cube, hoping to move away from it for an undisclosed amount of time. It would be given attention again - she was sure of it - but now was not an appropriate time. For now she trained her focus on the beaming look Sparkplug gave her as the larger femme touched her arm. The resulting shimmer of delight and exuberant suggestion of getting lost in the labyrinth that no doubt made up the mine shaft itself with aim to better it bringing a soft smile - and a sense of ease - to Vega.

"I quite like that idea, let's!"

Vega stepped over the inset rails along the ground following closely behind her energetic partner. She watched the smaller femme flick her head in every direction trying her absolute hardest to take everything around them in. Vega too glanced around at the walls noting herself the disparity some of them had to the uniformly carved away hole. Vega lifted her head to peer down into the cavern as the smaller femme rolled forward onto the tips of her pedes for a better view herself. There was not much to be seen as the dug out cave was obscured by heavy shadow-

Sparkplug's sudden divert from the mouth of the mine made Vega turn her head as the smaller darted toward a half hidden door in the rock. Faded but still vibrantly colored warnings smattered the dark metal warning any who would stop to read them to mind themselves around it. Without hesitation - of course - Sparkplug tore her way to the controls. Vega flinched, her finials dipping down and pressing against one another as the door angrily opened.

Only to reveal nothing but an empty metal frame and a water filled basin where the generator once sat.

Vega stepped closer as Sparkplug spat expletives, rubbed at her forehead, and vented her general frustration - with a mutter of approval for a well done removal - at how they had neglected to leave the generator for her. The flier once again placed a hand on the grounder's shoulder hoping to draw her attention again. "Very inconsiderate yes, mayhaps we'll find a way to lodge a formal complaint about it sometime later?." She said in a joking tone.

She motioned back behind her toward the mouth of the mine shaft with a flick of her head. "It's best we move on I say, much more to see."

[Sparkplug]

Sparkplug snorted, her brief fit of pique eased by the touch of the big flier. Her hand moved up to briefly cover Vega's, then she turned to face the other femme, shaking her head with a rueful grin. The roundels either side of her helm glowed with a soft green light in the dimness that echoed the brightness of her optics.

"Now that's mean," she responded playfully. "Vehicon technician in here, he isn't going to screw up, he does the job proper, competently, off he goes with the satisfaction that he's done it right. And then some uppity little asymmetrical pain-in-the-aft goes and complains about how he did that job, and he gets half-rations for a week. Or something. Wish we had whoever did the job to help out around here, it's neat work."

Or... actually, no, just the two of us will do just fine.

The short grounder flashed a grin. "Guess you and me will just have to take care of it ourselves, far away from Blackridge. Shame. Shame and a half."

Navigating past Vega's bulk, Sparkplug emerged into the tunnel once more. The striplights stretched out ahead of them, several dead and those that remained casting harsh, actinic spotlights on the half-melted rock of the bore hole. Looking back and up at her, Sparkplug added, "You're right, obviously. Let's go see if there's anything else salvageable in this old mine hole. Try not to bang your helm!"

Even if there wasn't anything else to be found in the winding tunnels, it didn't matter. The air was cool, the company was pleasant, and Sparkplug really couldn't have been happier.

~End Thread~