Nexus; Arcee's apartment. Bearing the weight of bad news.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

((The SP-X Nexus thread may go another tag or two. Starting this here as the inevitable in the meantime.))


Seeking shelter from all the noise and hustle of the Nexus, Prowl finally finds his way to what he believes is the entrance to Arcee's apartment. Taking the key Ratchet gave him from a hidden compartment, he crouches on the ramp in front of the garage-style door for a moment, wondering if there's anyone home or not and if he'll be intruding. Still...he's not ready to return to Detroit. His thoughts are jumbled and the noise closer to the sign is making it harder for him to regain his composure. Keeping his wounded right hand closer to his chassis, Prowl uses the key to get the door unlocked before opening it, putting the key away after. He slips inside without even raising the door all the way, silent as a shadow before pulling the door shut after.

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[random_xtras]

There is someone there, though the apartment is dark and silent. Arcee powers up her optics and turns her head, alarmed that Ratchet would find her laying down during the day, but then relaxes when she sees that it isn't him. She watches the stranger in silence, wondering why he's here, then winces as her engine coughs softly.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

The sound of something in motion causes Prowl to press himself to the wall by the door, his visor glowing as his scanners run to determine what's in the apartment with him. The silence continues to hang between them for several seconds before Prowl allows his guard to drop a little. Slowly, he comes up out of the crouch.

"...Arcee, I presume?" His tone is even, but still a little cautious. "My name is Prowl. Apologies if I am intruding. I... I was just looking for someplace quiet to hide for a short while. Ratchet loaned me the key to this place along with his PINpoint before I left Detroit." A pause as he registers the cough. "...are you alright?"

[random_xtras]

"That's me," she says quietly, waving one hand slightly. "And hide away. There's energon in the cupboard." A frown, and a slightly firmer tone of voice. "I'm fine. I just worked three people's shifts last night."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

"Thank you. I may be tempted to indulge before taking my leave."

The shift in her tone strikes Prowl as being familiar...not unlike a certain medic when something may or not be wrong, but when said medic is determined not to let anyone know either way. He continues to keep his damaged hand close to his chest involuntarily, his own wound forgotten for the moment while he tries to determine whether or not the femme is being truthful. He steps closer, deciding he is not content with merely brushing the matter aside. "While I can understand exhaustion from difficult work and though I am no certified repair technician, you sound more than simply fatigued. Forgive me, I'm merely concerned. I have always been sensitive to the ebb and flow of life around me."

[random_xtras]

"What're you hiding from?" She sits up, stifling another cough as she leans back against the wall. "You don't hit me as the sort to get fazed by much."

At least if the stuff she watches on the screens is any indicator.

Yes, she's trying to change the subject. Yes, he probably has seen that tactic before too.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Prowl frowns, arching a ridge behind his visor. He can't help but wonder if Arcee has met an alternate of his, previously. For the moment, however, he allows the exchange about her current condition rest. He is, after all, in her home... An explanation of why he is there should be provided.

"On the short end of things, the noise," he responds. "I am not a fan of crowded places and commotion, and right now all of it is making it difficult for me to think. As to the long end of it? Ratchet and the others. I've bad news to take home and after losing my temper earlier, a malfunctioning hand. I ran it into the anti-violence field, trying to strike someone." Prowl holds up his right hand, his fingers dented, twitching and sparking a little. He lowers his head a bit, ashamed. "I do not know the dynamics between you and Ratchet, nor if he has ever gone into detail about our group structure but... We lost one of ours. I came into the Nexus looking for them and it seems I am too late."

[random_xtras]

"We're friends," she says absently as a thrill of alarm and concern makes her stiffen even as she's getting off her berth to go to the cupboard for her tool kit. She looks at him for a moment, her processor going over those animated episodes that she's watched so faithfully, then steps toward him and asks in a low voice, "Who is it?"

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

"You were the first he mentioned when I inquired about possible allies in this place." Prowl watches as she gets up, noting her movements with a practiced optic. Exhaling heavily through his intakes, he glances back at his hand. "...Eleven. The facility she came from has taken her somehow. She had been missing two days and Optimus Prime would not allow Ratchet to search the Nexus for her as he is exhausted and recharge deprived, so I volunteered. I lurked about until two of who I assume to be Eleven's fellow prototypes appeared, one of them gloating about her recapture. He goaded me into a rage, telling me what they were going to do to her..."

[random_xtras]

"Primus...." Arcee puts a hand over her mouth, then has to steady herself against the wall as she thinks about how this must be affecting her friend. She'd been given only hints of how Ratchet feels about the human girl, but she knows him, and she knows especially how he takes people to spark. "Slagging $%#$% ^T$#@ *#$%@#$ %E$@#@...."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

A bit taken aback by the sudden outpouring of profanity, Prowl blinks at Arcee from behind his visor, but he quickly settles into a funk again, if just out of frustration. "If what they told me is true, Eleven will be deprived of sleep, starved and tortured until all we have taught her is wiped from her memory. She will not remember us. She will not remember what it was like to have freedom. It's hard for me to know this...and it will be harder for me to tell the others. Ratchet was closer to her than any of us. She roomed with him. She was like his shadow. ...he will not take it well and I cannot blame him in the least."

[random_xtras]

She hides her optics for a moment, but then steels herself and continues to the cupboard, where she grabs the tool kit before going to him. Her voice is terse and clipped when she speaks. "Let's see that hand."

Inwardly, she's a muddle of feelings and wondering and half formed plots. There has to be some way to rescue the little femme, surely?

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Prowl hesitates; it's been a long time since anyone besides Ratchet or Sari have done repair work on him. But he does allow her to see after a moment.

[random_xtras]

"You have the key?" She takes it and turns it over gently, then takes out a pain relief over ride and applies it.

Finally, she manages to push away thoughts and worries of Ratchet and applies her mind to Eleven. "Are the other two still there?"

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

"Your key? Yes. I will return it if you wish to have it back." The corner of his mouth twitches as she examines his hand, but as the override does its job, he relaxes a bit. "As for the two prototypes, they may still be there. I can't really be sure, seeing as how I finally fled the area before they could goad me into a second attempt to breach the anti-violence field. One of them, the male, is called 'Seven.' I did not catch a designation for the female."

[random_xtras]

"No. Sari's key. Ratchet's got more important things to think about than fixing this," she says absently as she tinkers a bit to stop the sparking.

Then she straightens and sets the toolbox aside. "I'm going to go check. If they are I'll scan the coordinates for their reality."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

"How do you--" Prowl cuts himself off before he can finish the rather defensive question. It has simply become second nature for all the Autobots to be rather defensive of both Sari and her key, even more so now since their other human companion has been kidnapped. Simply "hrming" a little, he decides Arcee knows because Ratchet must have told her. "Yes, Sari still has the key. And if those two are still there, be cautious. That Seven is a filthy little glitch who really knows how to get under your plating."


((May be best to consider them gone when she goes to look. The Facility needs to remain out of reach until the timing is right.))

[random_xtras]

"You hear things around here. And if I don't engage him he can't annoy me," she says in her usual crisp manner as she heads for the door.

She's gone for quite some time, and when she returns she's limping heavily on the leg she lost sometime back in her first life and looking worn. The door nearly feels too heavy for her, but she gets it up and then down again and makes her way silently to her berth, where she sits with a clunk and leans back.


((kk))

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Prowl waits as patiently as he's able while Arcee is away, seating himself on the floor as though he's about to enter a meditative state, though he's far from calm enough on the inside to manage it. When she does return, he notes with rising anxiety that she is limping, her body practically radiating warning signs of exhaustion. As Arcee sits, he gets up and moves to her side. Momentarily, the two prototypes are forgotten... Prowl has not let Eleven herself slip his mind, but she is out of his reach. Arcee is not.

"Your excuses of long work shifts aside, you are not well. You need help. I may just be a friend of a friend, but I cannot sit by and watch you deal with this on your own!"

[random_xtras]

She looks up at him with an absent scowl, too busy battling the urge to recharge to really be able to focus. "They weren't there. I'll try to keep an eye out when I'm off work."

Then his words register and she scowls more deeply. "Don't you dare bother Ratchet. He's got enough to process without your making him think there's something the matter with me."

Arcee knows her friend. He'll be half frantic about Eleven. She doesn't want to add to his stress level.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Undaunted by her scowling, Prowl stubbornly digs in and sticks to his guns. "And what if something should happen to you as a result of your condition, whether directly or indirectly? Ratchet - all of us - are already at a loss to help Eleven. You can still be seen to and if I simply sit by and do nothing, he WILL be furious with me. I appreciate your willingness to help watch for those two prototypes, but it is either I fetch Ratchet or Sari, or I locate someone else in the Nexus who can help you."

[random_xtras]

She doesn't flinch or look away, but her voice holds calm flat finality as she says, "I've been seen to. There's nothing anyone can do."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

At this point, Prowl is starting to go from anxious frustration to anger. Forcing himself to control the tone and volume of his voice, he looks her straight in the optics. "By who? And with what diagnosis?"

[random_xtras]

"Some of the best medics on Cybertron. And it's chronic spark failure. I've got a booster; if I keep away from any more all night marathons I'll be fine."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Prowl's vents release a long, weary sigh before he finally backs off a little and sits down on the floor again. Tired of being outside his center of calm, he draws several more circuit-cooling "breaths", each one more controlled than the last before he speaks with a more even tone. "...I do hope you realize you cannot hide this from Ratchet forever. I will do you the favor of not telling him right off in thanks for your help and offer of temporary shelter, but sooner or later he will find out."

[random_xtras]

She draws her good leg up and leans wearily against her knee. "It's not a favor to me. Like I said, Ratchet's got enough to process right now. And... he has enough issues in regards to me. This isn't his fault, but I'd bet my hubcaps he'd manage to find some way to think it was."

Then she growls softly at the error messages scrolling across the bottom of her feild of vision. "Shut up, I know how I feel."

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Not sure he can argue with that, Prowl remains silent. He feels he does not know Ratchet quite as well as he should just yet, but he is well aware that the medic is far more compassionate than he tends to let on. And given Ratchet does not like to talk specifics about the war, it's possible that he's more easily hurt by things than he lets on, as well. There's no telling how much he may or may not blame himself for where he failed in his job during that period of his life.

"You may be correct," he finally admits. "Time will tell how the energon chips will fall, however. In the meantime, I will have to take him what news I have of Eleven's status. That much cannot be helped."

A slight waver in Prowl's voice is the only indicator of his inner turmoil. He fears for Eleven more than even he cares to admit out loud, but all he can do is lock down his emotions and prepare to go home.

[random_xtras]

She winces and clenches her jaw for a moment, hating the weakness that's holding her down. "Wish I could go with you. He'll... he'll need someone to keep him...."

Her forehead sinks down to settle on her knee as her systems finally cease arguing with her processor and just shut down.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Prowl is tempted to gather Arcee in his arms and take her right along with him...but he doesn't see the move as an all around wise one for the time being. Instead, he sighs and takes a few more minutes to center himself before taking his leave, slipping back outside again with as little sound as possible.

He'll PINpoint home once he finishes up one more bit of business in the Nexus. Ratchet will want his own device back and given the current circumstances, it might not be a bad idea for Prowl to find and take a few pare devices for himself and the other three Autobots without.