| abstract
| - Iacon General Hospital - Iacon There are many hospitals in Iacon, but none as prestigious and well equipped as Iacon General Hospital. The numerous state of the art facilities housed within the hospital offers around the clock emergency repairs, upgrades, and mundane upkeeps. Iacon General Hospital is staffed by many of the Autobots' brightest minds where the non-combatants can do their part in contributing to the war effort. Arcee is in one of the ICU Pods. It's probably a good sign that she isn't in a stasis pod, but she's still horrifically injured from the previous night's bout. Even so, she's sitting upright, working on her tablet coordinating backup troops to Nova Cronum. Afterburner is mostly patched up but still on a bed while technicians are finishing up machining a new transmission for him. He does not look happy of being laid out like that. Chromia can't go in. She's lurked about the doorway for several cycles now, leaning against it. Ever since that broakcast, she's been... jumpy. She practically raced here all the way from Tarn and now... she can't go in there. Chromia paces, musters up some courage... but turns away before she can cross the threshold. That's where Trailbreaker comes in. Usually it's the Femme dragging him by his arm to where they need to be, this time.. it's the opposite. Trying to get a good grip on her forearm, the Autobot Defensive Specialist pulls as hard he can manage to make their way into the ICU unit. "Chromes, why are you acting like this?" he gruffs, grunting as he wrestles with his grip around her arm. "She's not deader than a turbofox, but if you keep waitin' out here she just might!" Combat: Trailbreaker compares his Strength to Chromia's Strength: Success! Arcee hears the sudden commotion, and she looks over as Trailbreaker and Chromia show up. She grins cheerfully. "Thanks for stopping by," she says, her voice modulating weirdly. It's something the technicians set up for her so she could speak while they fashion a new vocoder for her...it's probably the Cybertronian equivalent of extreme hoarseness. Afterburner stirs a little on his bed but grumbles and just stares at the ceiling as if wanting it to combust. Trailbreaker doesn't understand. For so long all Chromia had was her teamates, her sisters. First Elita One and now... the best of them, torn apart. "Wait, no... don't..." She struggles but to no avail. Instinctly she looks over to where Elita is and then draws her gaze over to... "Primus," she whisper-curses as she has to look away. It's too much. She comes to stand next to Trailbreaker and reduced to answering without looking. "How could we not come," Chromia says, trying to sound upbeat. Is she succeeding? She looks on Afterburner as someone to focus on. "Don't suppose there is anything we can get you? Either of you." "See, now how hard was.." Trailbreaker starts, before he sees the terrible condition Arcee is actually in. The reports didn't do her justice, looks like Buzzsaw and company had a grand ole time picking her apart. Just how all her pieces made it back to Iacon General Hospital is anyone's best guess.. there's likely a 'bread crumb trail' leading all the way back to Tyrest. "..that." Shifting uneasily, the Autobot puts his game face on. "See, told you it'd take more than a handful of Starscream knock-offs and a Laserbeak wannabe to down our gal!" he cheers, bristling over to Arcee and taking a seat. "So, you wanted to see us?" he asks, his gaze falling on Afterburner as well. "Hey, dig-man.. what brings you here??" "...That bad?" Arcee asks uneasily when she sees Trailbreaker's and Chromia's horrified reactions. "My apologies for the horror show, then, I assure you I'm still functioning well enough to handle things." She looks over at Afterburner sympathetically. "I think he was checked in when I arrived," she muses. "Still functioning," Chromia repeats for emphasis because, to her, that clearly is the most important fact. Of all of them, it's the hardest to see - or to know - that Arcee is like this. Elita, it is to be expected almost, and the others have their flaws... but for Chromia, Arcee is the best of them. Untouchable. Perfect. It's hard to process... so much so in fact that she lingers a lot closer to Trailbreaker than she would normally. She even reaches out to hold onto his arm, not to drag him around this time but more to keep on her feet. "That's what matters." ALL that matters, really. Still without looking to Arcee, Chromia grins. "Torn apart and you're still moving forward full speed," she says, not sounding surprised. "I'll send a message to the others, to let them know you're alright. That's one less thing you have to worry about." "Just say the word and I'll have Grimlock chompin' down on their afts so fast, their empty heads'll spin." Trailbreaker tells Arcee, leaning forward in the chair, "He owes me for some PR work I did over in Radulon-4. Man, that was a blast." Instinctively his hand moves to Chromia's, the sight of her commanding officer much more than she can bear it appears. And so, he attempts to shift her mind from what happened to what is going to happen. "What's our play, boss?" Trailbreaker asks, reclining in the chair again. His hand is back on the rest, his optics locked on Arcee. nom mia "Alright, well...Fireflight's done a great initial job of discovering a little bit more about this scientist from Tyrest who was abducted. He doesn't seem to have any particular allegience to them -- at least not as far as I could tell," Arcee speaks slowly. "Because while Fireflight and I were trying to protect him, he was criticizing us for propagating the violence just as much as he was denouncing the Decepticons. So I think we can rule out recruitment or a revenge-style abduction. They wanted him for something else. And they were willing to go to great lengths to get him. Trailbreaker...I'd like you to see if you can find out more, and...Chromia, I know you're very busy with the Tarn investigations, but if you could lend any assistance, that would be great." Chromia blinks as she looks down to see Trailbreaker's hand on her own, which causes her enough shock to quickly draw her hand away out form under his. It's not that his geasture is offensive it's more the realization that she unwittingly expressed a weakness to him. Her brow knits as she listens. "We'll need to check with Prowl," to make sure he's okay with it. Why wouldn't Prowl be though? There are others that can watch Lightsinger until they can get back to him, if this is indeed deemed more pressing. "Do we have any idea waht this scientist was... well, sciencing? Why would the Cons potentially want him? What could they be using him for," she muses aloud. Still, Chromia doesn't look to Arcee again but she does turn to settle her gaze on Trailbreaker. She really is saddled with him for the time being and why does that seem... "Of course. I'll go where I'm needed. Absolutely." "You can count on us Arcee, no stone left unturned and all that." Trailbreaker flicks one of his trademarked grins and leans forward in the seat again. "Tarn has hit a stand-still, we're still waiting for the Decepticons to make their move.. if any. Primus knows we could use the leg-room over in Tyrest, that old city was givin' us cabin fever." he grins, looking up to Chromia with a nod. "I'll see if Nightbeat or Streetwise can't help us with the crime scene, Chromes and I can manage the leg-work over in Tyrest. You just need to get your rest." he places a comforting hand on Arcee's shoulder. "Cause if you don't watch out, Chromes might have your job if you lay around too long." he smiles. "Ha! Chromia doesn't want my job...she doesn't even want the promotion I gave her," Arcee laughs, with a genuine grin. "Right, Chromia? ...I'm not taking that back, by the way. Rank 2, no take-backs. You're stuck with it." She really loved how Chromia wanted absolutely zero recognition for any of the work she was doing. It was one of her favorite things about the grumpy femme. How can she alternate between wanting to drag him everywhere and punching him? Chromia has to toggle that switch nearly constantly as she glars at Trailbreaker for the last line. "Never," she scoffs, backpedling as she's unable to even cope with the thought of *that*. A 'desk job' and one that Arcee was meant for?! There's no possible way. "Arcee gets to keep that until the end of time," she decides rather firmly. How could Trailbreaker even suggest that Arcee would... might... ! She slugs him in the shoulder for good measure. "I know someone that might be able to help with Lightsinger too, if we're out of Tarn for a bit. I understand she's also pretty handy with a forcefield," Chromia half-jests, as a subtle threat that maybe she needs to swap partners. "If Imager's not claimed for something else, that is. We," she looks to and nudges Trailbreaker frmo behind, since she still stands at his side, "Can be there later today, no problem." Assuming Prowl doesn't object. For the talk about promotions... well, she was schooled by Rodimus about that as well as a human. It's something she can't run from and she very literally grumbles about it now. "Right," she relents. It's something she's going to have to learn to function with. "It's still not right though," she fusses. "Trailbreaker's done more than me, if I'm getting it for Tarn so, well. He should too." "His own achievements haven't been overlooked," Arcee assures Chromia. "I appreciate you helping with this...Prowl is very likely not going to have a problem with it because it isn't going to be a major distraction from the Tarn investigation, yet it's still something that needs looking into. I still feel terrible that I wasn't able to keep the Decepticons from getting away with that mech." "I kid, I kid!" Trailbreaker declares in protest, her slug sends him to his feet. How she's quicker than his forcefield is anyone's guess. He is definitely the abused in this relationship, he can see it now.. Streetwise sits him down, assures him he's in a safe place, starts asking questions about his injuries, Trailbreaker assures him he fell.. it was an accident. Snapping back to reality, he grows terribly defensive when another forcefield user is brought up. "Hey now, don't make it personal.. I was only joking! It was just -one- comment, no need to start drafting up a new partner." he exclaims, "Sides, you know I'm the best at what I do." Trailbreaker boasts, believing it less than others. "Don't be so hard on yourself Arcee, you were outnumbered and outgunned.. sides, from what I heard he went along of his own accord." he replies to the Military CO, fixing her with a sympathetic smile. Not a goofy over exaggerated grin like he's wont to use, but a genuine warm half-smile. "You can't really kidnap the willing." "That's very true," Arcee tells Trailbreaker, "Although the way things were going at the time, I wasn't sure whether Farsight was cooperating out of agreement, or out of fear. They might even have something on him -- a debt owed, perhaps. I just think it's important that we know why they went to all the trouble of a public mech-napping to get this guy." "You did what you could. You gave more than you should have," Chromia fusses as she shifts around from behind Trailbreaker. "You..." She falls silent as she looks to Arcee again. It's fleting, quick, as she can't really bear to look for long. Chromia's brow tightens as she reaches out for Arcee's hand to give a gentle, brief but hopefully reassuring squeeze. "Stay strong," she encourages before she has to look away again. It's part request and also a part command. The day will come when... well, this got close, too close. Arcee shouldn't be like this. "We're on it," she nods. "Breaker here had a great idea, as someone like Nightbeat would be best to look into something like that. Rust digging and all," Chromia nods as she thinks it over. "If we can get him back, we'll get him out. Functional," she vows. Snapping a salute up to his forehead, Trailbreaker gives Arcee her respective due. "You can count on us, sir." he smarts, dropping the gesture with another warm smile. "Chromia...it's going to be okay," Arcee promises. "In fact, things didn't get particularly bad until Buzzsaw showed up, and he's been targeting me on a personal vendetta for quite some time, because I think he still believes I'm his 'rival' -- in 'his' realm, Intel. The short version is, he showed up after I was already weakened to see if he could drop me permanently. Came pretty damned close, and it was a great try on his part, but I've got way too much going on right now to have it all end like that," she says. "Wounds are wounds, they heal and we carry on." Trailbreaker's salute makes her smirk a bit. "Please. Just Arcee. Please. Otherwise you remind me of Crusade when you do that. He's a nice mech, don't get me wrong..." Chromia sure hopes it is all going to be. Some cycle, right? They just have to get there, to hold out long enough... Chromia looks over to the prone Elita One who helped, or cursed, her to believe in that. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts. Buzzsaw... a bott hat will have to go on the list, though under Shockwave. "Until we run out of road, we keep moving," she nods. That's something else her sisters taught her. "Ours," she grabs for Trailbreaker's arm, "Leads us to Tyrest." They should like get to it. "Can't help it si..Arcee!" Trailbreaker replies, bringing up some information on Tyrest and the incident last night on his data-pad. "Have you tried being -less- inspiring?" he quips playfully, saving the files for later use offline. Sometimes the best work he does is when he's not.. connected to the grid, to coin a phrase. This is also when his subconcious likes to torture him, as well. Annnnnnnnnnnnd away they go. "Hey, you could just come up with a snappy catch phrase instead of mech-handling me all the time. Something like 'Team: Chrometrail GO!' or 'Chrailbreakia is on the case!'!!" Trailbreaker shouts out on their way to the exit for comedic value. The doors slide open into the hospital wing, revealing a most-concerned Rodimus Prime. Noting the Autobots already engaging Arcee, it rapidly becomes s one of those moments where he wished he was a little less visible. Rodimus hesitates, having hoped for a more private check up on a special someone. The Prime puts on a braver face than he probably needed, quietly stepping up towards the scene, not butting into the conversation just yet. He does make eye contact with Arcee, giving her a soft nod, with a weak smile that doesn't reach his optics. Did someone say Nightbeat? Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Perhaps there is truth in that old adage, because the doors to Arcee's room at the hospital slide open abruptly only moments later to reveal the very person they had just been talking about. His optics are focused on a datapad for an astrosecond, but then he looks over at the injured femme. "Well you're looking better." he comments, sitting down nearby. "So what do we know about this 'Farsight' character? He's an intellectual, staunch anti-Functionist. Do we have a personnel file from the Institute?" After Chromia and Trailbreaker depart for Tyrest, Arcee feels kind of like she's being...watched. She glances around and sees Rod kind of loitering nearby, and she can't help but chuckle, waving him over with some encouragement. Right about that time, Nightbeat enters. "Hi, actually, I'm glad you showed up, I was hoping you'd have some interest in getting to the bottom of this situation," she says, her voice modulating very weirdly. Doesn't much sound like her at all. Then, it becomes fairly obvious as to why -- Arcee's vocoder was torn out in the fight, and the medics are fashioning her a new one. They've set her up with a temporary one in the meantime, and it's the Cybertronian equivalent of sounding extremely hoarse. "We aren't sure why they picked this mech for abduction, but I think we'd better find out, because it was certainly important to *them*." Perhaps Chromia and Trailbreaker saw him coming, and noted a bit of hesitance, giving him a moment alone with Arcee. Nightbeat's approach, for what it was, wasn't too jarring. He could talk business for a bit, and Arcee seemed eager to press the mission. Rodimus steps up to the rehab slab, then sits in one of the chairs next to her wordlessly. Prime responds, mostly to Nightbeat. "We're looking into it. Everything's sketchy at this point, but Intel has field agents on the case already, of course." He motions to Nightbeat as if pointing out the obvious, "I'm not sold on this whole mystery Institute, Nightbeat." He shakes his head dismissively, "Maybe pre-war, but now? It just doesn't seem like anyone can devote resources to something so underground." He looks towards Arcee, keeping his countenance in check, aside from a clenched fist out of her line of view. It was always so disturbing when someone he was close to, had ended up damaged...especially when he wasn't around. "We're going to find Farsight, and put the Seekers responsible in a very bad position. Right now, we're relying solely on witnesses. Is it possible they said anything that could help lead us to the 'why' of it all?" "So the 'Institute' won't turn over any personnel files?" Nightbeat rubs his head. "That doesn't bode well. What else do we know about this organization, facility, whatever? Anything? What's their mission in life? Maybe we can capture one of those seekers and grill them for information." "I do not think they've responded to any requests, sir." a meager voice comes from back of the room to correct Nightbeat. Stepping forward, it's Greenhorn.. everyone's favorite rookie-Autobot BEFORE Crusade showed up to steal the show. He's essentially just a green version of Bumblebee. "Ultra Magnus sent me, sorry for 'spying'." he comments with finger quotes, "Just trying to correlate all the data." "Fireflight reported on what he was able to recover from his footage...we were both in the general vicinity, but of course he's a flier, he got there a bit quicker," Arcee notes. "The presentation itself seemed to be something both scientific and philisophical in nature. I...really don't know at this point if the presentation had anything to do with the Decepticons' involvement. Which makes me think we'll have to dig deeper to find out what else Farsight's into in order to nail down a reason for all of this." Rodimus Prime nods, folding his hands together in thought. "There very well may be no skill-based motive here though. It could simply be a message to Tyrest itself. Perhaps the city-state rebuked a Decepticon demand and this is how they chose to punish them." He draws out a datapad, punching in a few buttons. "You identified Backfire and Polarity, hmmm. Neither of them are command-material, more of step-and-fetch sorts, though Backfire is rather dedicated to his own cause. If he were actually dangerous, he could probably be their next Starscream." Rodimus puts a hand to his chin, "So perhaps this was done off the books. Maybe the Cons didn't authorize this in general." His gaze shifts towards Nightbeat, "If we assume the Cons didn't order this, they may not know what he's up to. If that is the case, it gives us a window to figure out what the motive is." "Hm." Nightbeat shakes his head. "So they've shut the doors to us. Maybe we need to go ahead and help ourselves, then. Arcee, I suggest you send an undercover operation there to see if we can't hack into their personnel roster and dig up Farsight's file, or any other information that might be relevant to us. Such as what do they do? Scientific research? Are they like Kimia? Do they have any prototypes or is it all theoretical? And, most importantly, is there any data there that might give the Decepticons reason to go to the lengths they went to in order to get their hands on Farsight." After Rodimus mentions a 'warning' to Tyrest, Arcee notes, "There wasn't a lot of Tyrest-taunting involved, though, you know how those Seekers love to do that. Seemed like they were primarily there to get in, get Farsight, and get out. As I was telling Chromia earlier, the *only* reason I got slashed up this badly is that Buzzsaw showed up to make things worse, and he just happens to have a personal vendetta against me, so he waited until the Seekers were nearly finished before slicing me up like a cake. And...Nightbeat, those are ALL good speculations, and I have no answers for you, unfortunately. We'll just need to find out. I was thinking that those who attended the presentation itself, if we can locate them, might know Farsight better. His colleagues." "We'll approach them on the level. There's no need to do intel extraction unless there's just cause. Tyrest wants their mech back as much as we want to know why he's been captured." He meets Nightbeat's optics for a moment as he answers. "Something just occured to me. Nova Cronum was, before occupation, a city of the mind as well as Tyrest. A good deal of the theoreticians were brought in as refugees into Retoris, but not all. The Cons could be simply capturing noted experts in their field." "Which is exactly why we need to find out." Nightbeat points out when Arcee doesn't have answers to those questions. He gives Prime and Arcee a slightly confused look. "Wait, someone else just told me that they've been ignoring all our requests for information on their projects and personnel. What makes you think they'll tell us anything more than what they've already told us, which is nothing?" "If they want their guy back, they'll cooperate," Arcee says simply. "So why haven't they cooperated thus far?" Nightbeat folds his arms, looking cynical. "What's the point in hesitating, withholding information from us?" page I think email might work best? Just so it isn't eaten up by code, need to attach some images as well. Rodimus Prime raises an optical brow, "They're being secretive despite the issue at hand?" Rodimus groans, a frustrated look on his face. He manages a grimace, "Primus save us from the whims of the Neutrals. I'll go talk to them myself if I must. It's possible they just don't want to get factionally aligned, they come to us for help, suddenly they are a bigger target to the Cons." "We're not sure -why- they haven't responded." Greenhorn points out, "Just that they haven't." "Arcee?" One of the medtechs comes over. "Your vocoder's ready, it will just take a moment to install..." "Okay," Arcee says, reclining so the medtech can get her throat area repaired properly. Nightbeat nods. "Apparently so. Which is why I suggested we send a covert operation there. If they won't give us the information we need, then we'll just have to take it ourselves. It's all for their own benefit, anyway. It's possible they'd rather us break in so that they don't have to look like they're aligning themselves with us, if being a Decepticon target is a concern for them." Rodimus Prime suggests, "They could be on security lockdown, scrubbing data to deny responsibility." He stands up, "I'm going to go get some answers posthaste, and if they block me, I'm heading straight there." He pauses, this was as good a time as any to depart for now, as surgery begins. He coughs uncomfortably, then removes a holodisk, which is slyly added to Arcee's table. It's just a holorecording of a peaceful spot in Sonic Canyon, much akin to leaving flowers for someone in the hospital. He raises a hand to Nightbeat, "Let's try to keep this above board, Nightbeat. The moment we start stealing data is the moment we lose whatever support we have. If they're genuinely suspicious, then perhaps that's the option at hand. We can't be heavy handed with the Neutrals, end of discussion." He takes another step out of the room, stopping again, "You'll get clearance to anything I get from them, of course, to ensure they ARE above board as well." Nightbeat gives Prime a look. "Even if they'd rather us be heavy-handed as opposed to looking like an ally?" He shrugs. "Sure, whatever you say, Prime, sir." The detective smirks, his voice riddled with just a bit of sarcasm as he glances down at the holodisk. It seems that despite his position, there's still a small bit of 'Hot Rod' left in Rodimus' spark. "Well I'd better get back to work. We'll get this figured out, Arcee. Don't you worry." Afterburner starts stirring on his bed. The technicians have finished replacing his transmission but it will take a while before it is properly calibrated. The Technobot sits on the edge of bed and starts walking a bit but it seems difficult. He mutters a few curses directed at some feline. Once the medtech is finished, Arcee gets propped back up to a seated position, and she tests out the new voice modulator, her fingers resting gently on her throat area. "Testing...oh, very good! Thank you." She sounds much more normal, now, and she turns her attention back to Nightbeat. "Alright, let me know if you need mechs. I've got heavies, weapons experts, fighting experts...ask and you shall receive." Nightbeat nods as he moves toward the door. But he pauses for a moment to give Arcee a slightly conspirational grin, lowering his voice as he gestures toward the holodisk Rodimus left. "That was sweet of him, wasn't it? You'd almnost think he's still at least 25% Hot Rod in that spark casing of his." Then his voice goes back to a normal level. "I will be sure to do that, once we get clearance for this operation that'll probably end up being necessary. We just have to let Rodimus exhaust all his other options first, I guess." He grins at her, and disappears through the doors. "Oh, he's still Rod, 100%, but he's a little bit more than that, now, too..." Arcee muses, smiling at the little gift left at her bedside. "Just...have some patience with him, it's a process he has to master." She waves as Nightbeat heads off.
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