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| - Metro-X awakes on the med table he had gone offline upon, checking his systems for his ready status, as well as his armor, sitting up to look around Shark is laying on another med table, finally not hooked up to the life support systems as the docs have been busy fixing him up. Bundle is ... pleased with Shark's progress. After a shaky start, the damage is finally almost entirely repaired, with only a few fine tunings left to do ... like that transformation cog. He checks the other patients, including Metro, patting the bigger mech's arm. "How're you feeling?" He asks. Metro-X nods slightly, swinging his big legs around to plant them on the floor. "Well enough, actually. It would appear Lifeline and yourself did excellent work per usual." looking then to Shark, silently inquiring. Shark comes out of sleep cycle and lifts his head, peering down at his torso. "Woah, someone has been a busy mech." he notes, sounding a bit surprised actually. He nods to Metro-X, "Some slagging fine fighting you did out there." Bundle grins. "I will be the judge of that." He seems to have regained his sense of humor after last night, and double checks Metro's diagnostics. "Oh, by the way ... Lifeline was wanting to know where you got your armor from." He tells him, then glances over at Shark when Metro does. "He's almost entirely fixed now." He says, then. "Which doesn't mean he's out of my clutches yet." Metro-X nods, and then blinks. "She wanted to know where I got my armor? Why is that? Is there something special about it?" Shark lays his head back. "Joy." he notes sarcastically.’ "It's a bit stronger than standard, yes." Bundle says. "Not Prime's strength, but better than most mech's. I think she's got an eye towards having a supply of your stuff in so she can fix your sorry, dented posterior whenever you show up at her door." Metro-X mrmmms "It is the standard hardened tungsten titantium alloy afforded to all forward combat members of the Tetrahex guard... Actually... It should be available to find, maybe even purchase or scavenge." Shark starts to go through the data chips since the two mechs are chatting at each other. Hmm, force field theory that should be a interesting read. Bundle nods. "All right. I'll let her know." Then he heads over to Shark. "Just a few tweaks, and you won't be stuck in bed anymore. Though you will /not/, I repeat, NOT be cleared for combat for at least two more days, barring a full-on Decepticon assault." He gets out a few tools to deal with that transformer cog. Shark mmm hmms, "Okay doc." is the reply Bundle gets. His optics scanning through the data chip, "Oh so that's how it works.. cool." he mutters. Metro-X smirks a little bit, staying where he is seated and watching from his perch, observing the work being done on Shark. Bundle goes quiet as he begins the finicky work on the cog. For such a big mech, he manages those fine, ultra small tools and movements without trouble. A few minutes later, he nods and steps back. "All right. That should do it." Shark blinks as something feels weird about how he fiddles with the cog. "Huh..." then he shakes it off as his imagination. Though maybe what Bundle just did to it will make it a bit more receptive to .. say.. changing into a third mode.. dun dun dunnnnn Metro-X watches still, looking over Shark's form and leaning his weight onto one leg. "I had a similar situation with my own cog, so who knows eh?" Bundle glances over at Metro and shrugs. He's got a fair idea what just happened ... but the end results? Who the hell knew. "Well, just take it easy for a day or two, Shark, and everything will be fine. As for you, Metro, you're all patched up, so you're also free to go." Metro-X bobs his head "Acknowledged." looking around, "I would linger here, if possible." Shark glances over at Metro as he watches what is going on with the last of the repairs. Then looks back to Bundle. "Yeah, I know. No fighting and no strenuous activities. Guess I can skip patrol duties for a couple days, rest up." "Sure." Bundle says. "Just letting you know I won't tackle you if you make a move for the door." Bundle shoots Metro an amused look ... because he had to do that once, WAY back in the first year they'd all been on the force together. Metro-X gyahs and shakes his head. "And you'd have to drag me back, just like before." remembering the particular instance. Shark hmms softly and decides to file that under the 'interesting' file in his cybernetic brain. "So I can sit up now, doc?" he asks. "Yep." Bundle says, then nods to Shark. "Yeah, you can." Then, to explain the byplay. "Metro got banged up in a bust gone wrong ... and decided that getting back on the street /now/ and apprehending the perp was more important than the fact his armor plating was buckled and would have failed completely if he took another hit." Ok, so it wasn't quite as bad as all that, but tales DO grow with the telling ... and Bundle's a worrywart and a fusser by nature. Metro-X phas at that "It was more the refuse dumpster he dropped on me, that injured me, more than any weapons he had on him, and you know that." shaking his head. Shark props up on his elbows first, checking out what used to be a big hole in his torso. Then he slowly sits up without any issues. "Thanks for the data chips, passed some time." he notes to Bundle then a soft mmm, "I see." "Says you." is Bundle's rejoinder to that, tone amused. "You're welcome, Shark." Metro-X mrmmms at Bundle and shakes his head again, leaning back slightly where he sits, becoming lost in his thoughts. Shark tests his rifle, seeing that it rotates and gives a nod. Then he smoothes his hands over the replaced armor. "Not been this clean in awhile." he notes with a toothy grin. Never mind the rest of him is still grimy. "Which rather neatly brings up the subject. Overhauls. Learn to love them. They clean out the crap that accumulates." Bundle says. "And impedes proper function." Metro's probably mouthing the words along with him, seeing as how Metro's heard that lecture a few thousand times. Metro-X is lucky he has no mouth. Just that face plate. But with Bundle's back turned he uses his hand like a puppet to do similar. Shark waves a hand at Bundle. "Don't want to disappoint you, doc, but I do use the showers now and again. Mmm love that sonic shower, just jostles that accumulation loose." he gets a wistful look on his features, "Among other things..." a chuckle to that. "Anyway, hope not to get a overhaul any time soon." "I recommend an overhaul at least once a year." Bundle says. "Cleans out stuff the sonics miss, and ensures no problems develop with your systems." Metro-X hehs "Wouldn't need overhauls if medics like you could perfect implant systems for more efficient internal cleaning systems." Shark considers that a moment, "Seriously? Then I'd be way overdue.. unless you cleaned me out while fixing me up doc." Bundle mock-glowers at Metro. "There's a /reason/ such a system hasn't been perfected." Namely ... no mere program could do what a trained medic could ... and even if they found a way ... it was hard enough getting most mechs in for the checks necessary for proper function as it was! Then, to Shark. "I did, Shark. It's standard procedure when a mech is that badly injured ... mostly because there's a need to check everything for damage anyway." Metro-X hehs "And he's an incessant clean freak who cannot stand so much as a grease smudge on a servo motor, even if it's supposed to be there." "And you, Metro, would be content to live in squalor, rolling in your own putrescence." Bundle shoots back. "Besides ... if a part is leaking grease, something is wrong." Shark nods his head, "I'll keep that in mind then, doc." he assures. "So are you completely done with the work on me then? I don't want to get off this table til you give me the okay." he notes. Bundle grinned at Shark. "Yeah, I'm done. You're good to go." Metro-X's visor snaps on briefly, looking to Shark. "You still register mild damages, I would suggest remaining, lest you be put on Bundle's wanted list for follow up." Shark glances over at Metro just as he swings his legs to the side of the table. "Huh?" "Pay no mind to him. He likes to think he's got medical training ... and he doesn't." Bundle said. "What he thinks is damage ... isn't. It's just the welds and whatnot from putting you back together. They take a while to fully integrate ... which is why I insist on a bit of downtime." Metro-X phhhfs at that, and flicks a bit of scrap at Bundle's head. "And he likes to try and convince others he's not a worry wart old grandmech." Shark slides off the table, finally on his own two feet in at least double that in solar cycles. "Plan on it Bundle, worry not." he assures the doc. Bundle huffs at Metro. "WHY was I so insistent on trying to find you again?" He wonders aloud, but it's with fond exasperation and not a trace of regret. "Impertinent cogling." Shark realizes, "Oh slag.. gotta feed Sparky. You got stuff that came off me that isn't usable there Bundle?" Metro-X's optics blink at that. "You only exceed my existence by all of six solar cycles, Bundle. You know that." "Like I said. Cogling." Bundle says with a grin, then nods to Shark. "Quite a bit, actually. Most of your armor got scrapped." Metro-X flicks another bit of scrap at Bundle's noggin. Shark looks and spots it, "Perfect. Uhm.. this may freak you guys out.. just to warn you now." he notes, a toothy grin given. Then he reaches into his subspace and pulls out .. a big fricking eel. It's so huge it wraps around his torso, twice. He holds it gently by the head, "How's my Sparky? Hungry hmm my girl?" he talks to it.. yeah.. talking to it like it would reply. Rubbing under her jowls. Metro-X blinks at that, optic ridges going up as he studies the eel, head tilting to one side. "What the ... " Bundle starts, eyeing the eel. "So Lockpick /wasn't/ hallucinating after all." The eel is oily black, cybernetic for sure, with glowing green eyes, sharp pointy teeth, oh and her body length sparks with electricity.. which Shark seems to be immune to.. go figure! "Hmm?" he remarks as he wiggles a bit of armor in front of Sparky, who eyes it then snap! It's chewed hungrily. Metro-X tilts his head to the other side. "What area of the lower levels did you find that in?" "It is a most intriguing creature." Rut Roh. Bundle's got over his surprise and is headed straight into 'must collect data' mode. Shark wiggles another bit in front of Sparky, she grabs and chews. Her body wiggling against Shark, sparks moving differently along her length. "Lower levels? Nah. Found her over by the river banks. Some gatorcons had hurt her. See the tooth holes here that are healing?" he points them out. "Couldn't just leave her there suffering." Metro-X ahhhs and nods his head slightly. "I'm more used to spotting those in the deeper levels of Cybertron, near Cubicron actually." "I /might/ be able to help that along." Bundle says, eyeing the creature. "Not sure ... creatures aren't my specialty." Shark gets another bit of armor, this time Sparky takes it more gently. The mech strokes her jowls, "Maybe she swam up from there." he states. Then he looks over to Bundle, "If you want doc, I've just been keeping her in my subspace in some sterilized water and letting her own body heal itself." Metro-X mrmmmms and goes quiet now, considering and trying to place exactly where he's seen those... There -was- that mafioso he busted up in The Buffer Zone, in the early days, who had used similar eels for less pleasant purposes. Lifeline returns to the med bay from having gone to recharge...wherever Bundle said she could. Guest quarters or something like that. Shark feeds another bit of armor to Sparky, who is positively pulsing patterns of sparks along her form now. It's actually pretty in an odd sort of way. She wiggles against the mechs form again, tail sliding along a leg, head raising up to rub against his chin. Sparky sure acts like a domesticated pet. "Aww I like you too Sparky." then he looks over, "Hey doc." to Lifeline. Metro-X is seated on one of the med bays, in full health, and apparently lost in thought, while talking to the others. After careful consideration, Bundle grabs some of the insulated 'gloves' he uses to deal with high-voltage areas in damaged mechs, then approaches Shark and the creature. "Let's see if it'll let me near." Shark moves his hands to bring Sparky's head into control, "Slow and easy doc. You don't want to end up like the roboraptor that ended up in my barracks room." he warns quite seriously. Sparky eyes Bundle, those sparks changing into quite a show that evidently is meant to scare off less serious predators. You can actually hear them going off as the crackle along her length. "Easy, easy now... *snicker*.. that tickles." Metro-X mrmmms, watching still, optic ridge still up. "How long have you had that, again?" Lifeline walks in, then stops at the crackling sounds. "Do I want to know what's going on?" Shark doesn't take his optics off of Sparky, "Not long after I went into that Cubricon sludge some cycles back." then to Lifeline, "Bundle here wants to get to know Sparky here." "Shark has a ... pet." Bundle says. His voice is even and gentle ... the voice he uses on strung-out, drugged up mechs, hoping to keep them calm. "Hello there, Sparky. Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." He doesn't rush it, taking a step or two at a time but not reaching for the creature. Metro-X watches intently now, offering a polite wave to Lifeline as well. Shark keeps Sparky steady in his hands, not gripping her too hard. She's definitely wiggling a bit as the sparks slow down along her body. "Easy Bundle, easy." the mech warns. Sparky is staring Bundle down now, like she's giving him a good thrice over. Bundle nods at Shark, still not trying to grab the creature. "It's all right, Sparky. I'm not going to hurt you." He says again. He slowly extends a hand towards Sparky, not touching, but letting it get a better look/sniff/whatever at him. Metro-X speaks up again, finally "So, do you intend to collect more of these? Or just the one, Shark?" Sparky moves in Shark's grip, wiggling a bit as her mouth opens a few times then closes before she sniffs at the incoming 'hot padded' hand. She turns at looks at Shark a moment. "It's okay girl." he assures with a toothy smile. That seems to decide it as Sparky sets her head into Bundles' hand. Shark replies to Metro, "Just the one, she's plenty to handle. Why do you ask?" Metro-X chuckles "Like I said, I know where there are more like that one, in Cubicron." Bundle takes a few minutes to rub Sparky's chops the way he'd seen Shark do, letting the creature get used to him. "Think you'd be willing to let me get a look at those chomp-holes?" He asks the beast, still in that gentle, sweet tone, as if he expects the thing to answer him. Shark chuckles at Bundle, the quips, "She doesn't talk you know, but she seems to understand." Then a glance is spared to Metro, "Maybe if I keep her, might go looking for a male for her to have her way with." Big toothy grin. "That'll be a light show I tell you." Sparky turns and peers at Shark and strobes a interesting array of sparks then slides through his hands as if he weren't even gripping them. Soon the holes that are still healing in her body are at optic view of the medic. This leaves Sparky wrapped around Sharks' shoulders and her head hugged around his neck. Lifeline busies herself with mindless stuff for a while as Bundle gets introduced to Sparky the...eel? Finally she steps over, but not too close. Don't want to startle the creature. Bundle chuckles. "I figured she couldn't talk, but it doesn't hurt to treat it as if it's an intelligent organism." He lets his hand trail down Sparky's side, not getting too close to the teeth-marks yet. Shark moves his hands to support Sparky's body as Bundle examines the tooth marks in her. "She's a smart one all right." he agrees. He glances at Lifeline, "Hey doc, Bundle here has given me a clean bill of health. I could check on those parts you need in a cycle that is if you still need them?" Lifeline watches Sparky with a hint of curiosity. "No, I think Bundle's taken care of everything I'm needing at the moment." Sparky turns and focuses those glowing green eyes on Lifeline, sparks making another pattern along her length. Shark nods just a hint, which makes the eel shift a little against his neck, "Good then." he says. Bundle takes a good look at the teeth marks, not touching them. "Hmmm ... they do seem to be healing well on their own, but I could do something about the pain they're doubtlessly causing her." Lifeline frowns slightly and leans a little closer. "Bite marks? Where'd I...she get those?" Shark looks toward Bundle, "She's still eating, so maybe something on what I feed her would work." he states, then to Lifeline. "Gatorcons. See the pattern here?" he points out the tooth marks, "Looks like their work to me, and where I found her there was some hanging out. Like they were waiting for her to come back in the water." "That might work. Any particular thing she /really/ likes to eat, to sweeten the deal?" Bundle wants to know as he ... slowly ... gets to his feet to get what's needed. Shark thinks on that a few moments, then replies, "So far she's just been eating any metal that I've put in front of her. Doesn't seem really picky as of yet. So long as it's small enough for her to eat." Bundle nods, then grabs a few bits of scrap metal ... one of which has a bit of a pocket. He tucks the painkiller into the 'pocket', then comes back over with the bits of metal, offering one of the non-medicated ones to Sparky. Sparky moves her head around the other side of Shark's neck, releasing it from her half grip, then takes the metal offered. She chomps on it a couple times, then swallows it. A series of flashes moves along her form. Lifeline ohs, frowning more. "Well, it's a good thing you found her then." Bundle continues to feed her, sneaking the metal with the painkiller in somewhere in the middle of the bunch, so it's not the first nor the last ... and just hopes she actually takes it. Lifeline watches the feeding interestedly. "Have you watched which metals she seems to prefer?" Sparky is still hungry so takes anything offered to her. Shark just smiles at Lifeline, "I'm no metallurgist, so I honestly don't know." Bundle's pleased when she takes all the metal. "There, that ought to help with the pain." He says, then waves a hand. "Go ahead and finish feeding her. More she eats right now, the better." Lifeline considers, then pulls a slip of metal from a storage compartment. It's much shinier silver than the bits of scrap metal Bundle is offering, and offers it to Shark to give to Sparky. Shark nods, "All right doc." he moves to where the pile of his damaged armor is and gives Sparky a piece. "I kind of wonder how long she can stay out of the water. She seems to be fine so far." he notes. When Lifeline shows that sliver bit, that catches Sparkys' notice and she slithers her body against Shark to sniff at it. Then she looks back at Shark as to seek his approval. "Lifeline, just hold still." then he nods to Sparky with a toothy grin. The eel turns her head and snatches the metal bit, retreating back to the safety of Shark. Lifeline doesn't move as Sparky shows interest in the morsel, not even flinching when the eel 'snaps' it up. Striding into the med bay comes Crackshot - a deep, brown-orange in coloration he whistles a little to himself, pausing to tips his head to the lady present. "Don’t mind me. Just dropping off a few supplies "the young soldier notes brightly, then he blinks, pausing and his optics go utterly round at Sparky, the mech going still. Shark nods to the newcomer, just feeding Sparky bits of his damaged armor to keep her occupied and happy. "Hello there." Bundle says, nodding to Crackshot. "Thank you for that. Put them over there, if you please." He points to a countertop that has empty space. "Unless it's something big, in which case, put it over in the corner." "No, not really. Well, its... it’s a box..." The mech was still staring at the eel, not in surprise but in fear now. He fidget a few times and moves quickly for the spot and sets the crate down. Shark notes that Sparky seems uninterested in food now. "Back into subspace with you girl." he murmurs, moving his hands to support her weight and encourage her to free herself. AS she loosens her grip against his body, he moves a hand to guide her head into his subspace. With a few wiggles she slips into it fully and disappears. "Enough excitement for one day I think." Crackshot puts the crate down, ensuring it was fully on the table before turning. He sighs, seeing the Eel had gone and dips his head "how are you doing today?" he asked Shark. Bundle glances at Crackshot. "It's all right. The creature's ... well, I won't say harmless, but it doesn't attack randomly." Lifeline just nods and goes to check on the recharging Metro-X. Shark cocks his head to the question, "Better." then he looks to Bundle. "I'm going to catch a sleep cycle and read up on some stuff I've been meaning to read." He nods toward Lifeline, "Doc." Then he heads out of med bay. Woo hoo!! "Good to hear! Take care!" Crackshot replies, waving to Shark as he goes. He pauses, glancing up and down at Lifeline before focusing once more on Bundle "That's good to know. It was still a little surprising."
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