[Closed] Down the Tubes: Breakdown

[fwips]

WHO: Breakdown crew
WHERE: The Bunker
WHEN: August 28
OPEN TO: Peter, Fang, Sam, Lyanna, Owen, Danny R
WARNINGS: Nothing yet

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There's no real rhyme or reason to the six of them that end up in the pod, and Peter figures if that's not a metaphor for life, he doesn't know what is — Most things are determined by the people who just happen to be around at the time. A little curiosity and the ability to swim is all it takes. One push of a button and they make a team, zooming off into the dark as they drip onto the pod's corrugated metal floor.

[Continued in the comments]

Comments

For Peter, fixing the pod (if anyone else wants to tag a bit go for it)

[twistedjudge]

The motley collection of people that has assembled for this task is one that Fang can't really fathom, but it's also something she has experienced before. She only really knows one of them, and that only casually, but everyone in the group at least seems intent on getting to the bottom of whatever is going on here. A haunting call, one dead already... the possibility that this is a suicide mission has probably occurred to all of them. Might as well send someone that's already done her fair share of crazy things.

And when they reach the end of the journey, at least some of Fang's concerns prove true, as the pod docks with a hiss, a screech, and finally a series of scraping mechanical chun-CHUNKS that doesn't sound good at all. Jumping out of the machine before the noises die, Fang kneels to inspect the area around the pod, cursing under her breath as she spots a little smoke rising from the track and something that looks like it's been knocked out of alignment. "Anybody in there any good at machines? Looks like this one's broken. Probably hasn't been maintained in awhile by the look of this place." And, at this time, it's the only way they have to leave.

Not much is visible in the immediate area, though the lights being on is an unexpected bonus. The place looks worn and run down, though at the moment there's not much to see: a decently large room, a lot of concrete, a few doors that lead elsewhere that are closed, and at least at the moment nothing wanting to attack and kill them. Still, Fang's positioning herself to keep an eye on the doors around them, just in case that last part changes.

[fwips]

So, this is pretty damn creepy. Maybe not trapped in a giant donut ship with potential alien chest-bursters creepy, but it's definitely got a Fallout, we came here to escape the bomb and/or do horrible experiments on people vibe.

Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little excited about it.

Not that he's happy, because everything leading up to this has been really, really terrible and upsetting, and a girl died and apparently everybody nearby was in some kind of awful trance that made it impossible to stop from happening. Peter hadn't been there; he'd been up in his room working on systhesizing chemical compounds from the local plantlife, oblivious to there even being a problem until it was all over. He'd felt pretty bad — Still feels pretty bad — but he's been thinking about the conversation he had with Kamala that day with the werewolf, and he knows what she'd tell him (because she's way more sensible than he is): If Cap and Black Widow couldn't stop it, you probably couldn't, either.

But he's here now because he's desperate to do something, and curious, too, and when the pod screeches to a halt rather than rocking them gently to a stop, he's not really worried — One, they can climb back out the way they came even if it's dark and really far, and two, why yes, someone here is good at machines.

It's him. He's good at machines.

"Yeah," he replies, jumping quickly down from the pod out onto the track. Crouching, he waves away the curl of smoke slipping from beneath the carriage. "It doesn't smell electrical, so that's good news. It might just need a tune up, like you said."

[twistedjudge]

"This better not be a tune up like the last one I saw." Because the last one she saw involved fighting a giant flying horror monster to fix an inert elevator. And a few not quite as giant walking horror monsters. Given she's without her power set and proper weapon, even if she's still very physically capable, Fang would rather avoid that when all's said and done.

As the other four remove themselves from the pod, Fang sets down the makeshift spear she brought with her, made from a sturdy sapling and whittled and fire-hardened to a sharp point, then makes sure that the long knife she borrowed from the storage room isn't going to jam itself into her thigh as she shifts once again to try and get a closer look at the problem. She knows a decent amount about machines, but if she's being honest she'll admit that her expertise is more about how to break them on purpose than to get them running again. But this also appears fairly far below the level of tech she knows from Gan Pulse, not to mention Cocoon, so she probably can't mess this up too much. "If you've got some idea what you're doing, let's get to work.

"Everyone else," and she only raises her voice a little, but she puts more force behind the words to project them further so those that have started to wander off can hear, "we're all wearing those watches. If you're gonna wander around, check in every twenty minutes so everyone knows you're not dead. Send a message or activate the distress beacon if something goes wrong and you get trapped somewhere. We don't need anyone else dying from this if we can help it."

[fwips]

It's good, solid advice she's giving, but Peter isn't listening — He's already set the brake and jammed himself up under the pod along the track. His wrist device emits a little bit of light, but it's not nearly enough to get a decent read on what they're looking at, and he scoots his way back out, grease already smeared across his chin and dingy white scrubs.

"We need more light," he says, stepping past the track and into the glow of the room beyond. There are shelves, and lined up on them are old-style lanterns — The kind with a crank you keep in case the power goes out.

"Perfect," he says, grinning as he pulls one down.

[twistedjudge]

"Take a lantern before you go!" she calls after the retreating backs. Peter's not the one she's worried about, since he's staying there where she can keep an eye on him and he seems pretty intent on the work that needs to be done. Hopefully the rest of the group is willing to follow those guidelines; she's gonna be rolling her eyes if people don't want to follow basic safety protocols.

"Here, let me have that," Fang says, moving to grab another lantern in case it's needed and holding out her hand for the one Peter grabbed. "I'll take care of all this sort of stuff so you can work on that. Just tell me if you need me to hit anything." Because, as they all know, thirty percent of fixing a broken piece of equipment is knowing exactly where, when, and how hard to hit it to get it working again.

Moving back to the pod, Fang sets down the two lanterns about ten feet apart to give them something resembling even coverage of light, then starts cranking the one closer to the pod after a moment of studying it. The filament flickers and then shoots into much brighter light the longer she cranks; when it looks like it's at full power and will stay there for awhile, then she moves onto the second one, repeating the process. "Any idea what's going to need to happen here, or do you need to look a little closer first?"

[fwips]

So this girl is cute but kinda pushy, Peter thinks as he obediently holds out the lantern. Not that he's saying it's a bad thing, it's just— well. Apparently she's in charge. Having had Tony Stark as a mentor, he just goes with it.

"It's mechanical, not electrical, like I said," Peter replies and drops to the ground again so that he can scoot back up under the pod's carriage. "If we're lucky, it's something simple that won't require a major repair, but we might have to look around for spare parts— Could you angle that more to the left?" He squints against the light as it shifts. "Thanks."

It doesn't take long to pinpoint the problem, and he frowns. "It's a bearing," he calls out. "It looks like it was sitting unused for so long, the lubricant got too viscous. It should be an easy fix, but—" He sighs, hefting himself back out from under the pod. "Only if we can find a replacement and a decent lubricant."

[twistedjudge]

Angling the light to Peter's specifications only takes a second, Fang nudging the lantern with her foot into a better position and then settling back to wait for whatever pronouncement he gives. She's at least used to people younger than her being good with machines (just look at Hope), and so she has no problem with waiting for Peter to complete an initial inspection and figure out what's gone wrong.

Still, when he crawls out with a pronouncement, she can't help but frown. Electrical would almost be better, because she's willing to bet there's still power down here in some shape or form. Finding a spare part... well, that's going to take some luck. Also knowledge of this bunker, which they don't have. "You're sure?" She doesn't sound like she really doubts him, more like she just wants confirmation. And then there's a sigh and she's shaking her head, looking around the room they're stuck in. "Can we even fix something like that without getting the entire thing off the track? We didn't bring any tools to take apart a machine, and I doubt they've left a set of whatever they used to build this place just lying around."

Still, there's no use in not trying to get the thing done. Expressing doubts and planning for the worst is reasonable; sitting around complaining and waiting for the bad to come is worthless. Moving back over to the shelves with the lanterns, Fang takes down one of the last ones there and cranks it, looking back at Peter again. "I'm followin' your lead - if you had to put this stuff somewhere, where would you put it?"

[fwips]

"I can fix it," Peter insists, holding a splayed hand her way — Just slow your roll, there, lady. It's under control. "It'll be harder to fix if we can't find supplies, but I'll be able to do it."

They have the pod here, the rows of lanterns... If nothing else, there might be something in the complex he can dismantle, improvise. He didn't get to where he was back home by not being able to make the most out of what was on hand. If Mr. Stark could build an actual Iron Man suit in a cave from spare parts, Peter can fix a bearing in a creepy bunker.

"In a closet, maybe?" he answers as he picks up one of the lanterns and hops over the end of the tracks and into the bunker beyond. "I might have to take something else apart to get what we need, but maybe we'll get lucky."