randomplaces | Nexus. Safe house behind Blue's. Needing a boost.

At this rate, she's going to wear me out... Ratchet's thought process is cut short as he hears someone come in through the main door.

"Who's out there?" Sari whispers nervously.

Listening a moment, Ratchet frowns. "One of my alternates and his daughter. From the sounds of it, they don't know what went on here any more than we do."

"You guys don't have kids!" comes the surprised, low response from the little girl.

"In other realities, some Cybertroians do, just not the way organics do. We'll discuss it later, Sari."

"Ratchet?" The Hummer-bot pauses in front of the partially open door, frowning as he sees what's going on. "I should have come sooner. Rap told me she wasn't feeling well."

Arcee frowns, but then her faceplate smooths as she slips into recharge.

Ratchet looks to his alternate, mirroring his concern. "Kia caught Sari and I out by the sign and told us she was 'broken'... I've just installed a custom built spark booster and given her an infusion, but her vitals are still low."

"Even my key didn't seem to help much," Sari adds, disappointed that her usual fix-all didn't quite work.

"No idea at all why this place is so empty?" Ratchet asks. "Arcee was running a scrambler in here and I have no clue as to why."

"..Spark booster?" Ratchet's voice is low as he scans the ailing femme. "I see... why didn't I think of that for Elita?"

Then he glances at the little human girl and goes automatically to a knee so as to not tower so much. "There usually aren't too many people here. Another Ratchet and his crew use it as one of their temporary bases, and then Arcee moved in a little while ago...." He turns his head, noticing the little femme under the berth and realizes that this must be Kia. "I don't know why she'd be using the scrambler. But we haven't been able to keep up with things as well as usual, because Bumblebee's been LOL'd human and subsequently injured."

And then he registers the energy from the key and blinks. "That's Allspark energy."

"Arcee's old one was starting to fail," Ratchet explains. "With her in her current state, however, I'm a little worried about leaving her here unattended. She's been sending me secure comm messages about contact with an All Spark and somehow, she's regained a good chunk of her lost memories."

The alternate's attention to the present All Spark energy causes Sari to automatically reach up with one hand and grab at her key, holding it close to her chest. "Yeah...it's my key. Our All Spark gave it to me."

"Forged it for her out of a regular security key card for reasons we still don't quite get, but it's been useful." The red and white offers his human friend a small smile of reassurance.

"But neither Allspark healed her spark." Ratchet also offers Sari a reassuring smile, but then frowns as he turns back to his alt. "How soon do you have to be back?"

Behind him Columbia begins to busily tidy up, a quiet little bustle without comment.

Edited 2008-07-07 03:55 (UTC)

Ratchet consults his internal chronometer. "Within the hour. My time here is almost up and I have a femme in stasis lock in my own med bay, currently. Prowl has been monitoring her until I return."

Still fingering her key, Sari decides to elaborate. "An escape shuttle crashed into the river a few days ago. There were two Autobots on board, but that one was the only survivor."

"I don't understand how any All Spark could fail to heal Arcee. I realize Sari's key may not be as strong here in the Nexus, but still... If Arcee had direct contact with a different All Spark, it should have done more for her. Her condition may be chronic, but she should at least be in far better shape." Ratchet places one hand on Arcee's helm, frustrated with the situation on the whole.

"My key didn't bring Communiqué out of her coma, Ratchet," Sari reminds her companion, tone one of sudden anxiety. "You don't think it's starting to run out of power or something, do you?"

"We'll test your key when we get home, Sari, but I doubt it." It's not much reassurance, but it's about all he can offer the young human at the moment.

"Why should being in the Nexus affect it?" asks Ratchet. "Is bringing Arcee to your med bay unfeasible?" He thinks. "How does the key work? Maybe if you tried a different angle with it?"

"This is the first time she's used her key outside of our reality, so we don't know if that kind of gap affects its power or not. I assume the key is independent of our All Spark, but I can't be completely sure of that," the red and white explains as he takes his hand from Arcee's helm. "As for my medbay... I've already been worried about having just one stasis locked Autobot in there around the clock, which is why she's never left unattended for longer than a few minutes at a time. Decepticons have been showing up in Detroit and causing problems, destroying property and making attempts to steal our All Spark. Things aren't as safe as they used to be."

Sari glances from the femme on the berth to her own Ratchet. "Is Arcee's condition the reason Optimus didn't let her stay before?"

Ratchet nods and frowns. "That would be the other problem... Prime didn't want Arcee in our reality because of her chronic condition and because of the danger the Decepticons present. The rest of us are able-bodied and he didn't want to place a weakened Autobot in the line of fire. He's not that pleased we're saddled with Communiqué right now, as is, but we currently have no where else to keep her. I'll have to contact Prime when I get back to let him know what's happened here."

The hummer-bot listens, his frown deepening, then tilts his head and communicates with his own Prime and his mate before focusing again on his alternate. "I could take them both to my medbay."

"If you can keep Arcee safe...I would appreciate it. I failed her once, I will not fail her again if I can help it by placing her life in jeopardy. Our group is only five, six counting Sari... If something happens, we cannot afford the bot power to guard Arcee and keep Kia out of trouble," Ratchet admits, dropping his gaze to the ground. Frowning, he shutters his optics a moment. No matter how he phrases the truth to himself, there's no real way to make the long and short of it sound any better. "We... We're not botsitters. We're the All Spark and Detroit's protectors. If...if the needs of one Autobot continue to..."

He trails off. Shaking his head, he forces himself to finish. "If Prime finds out that the needs of one Autobot are keeping me from my sworn duty and endangering the crew, the All Spark and the city, he will likely order me to start distancing myself from Arcee unless her situation is dire. He'll take the guilt onto his own shoulders. ...and I can't let him do that."

Down on the berth, Sari places one hand on Ratchet's where it rests on the edge. She wonders if this is right...but she knows better than to speak up right now. Ratchet has faced enough spark ache recently.

Ratchet absently notes that there's no mention of the other femme being transfered as he turns his attention back to the one on the berth. "In time of war sacrifices are sometimes necessary. But the war seems to finally be over for the Autobots of my reality." He frowns as he thinks. "How did you try applying the key? Do you think if you tried it another way it would work any differently?"

"It was supposed to be over in my reality as well. Didn't turn out that way." Ratchet's optics narrow in frustration. His focus remains largely on Arcee, but in his mind, "not botsitters" covers Kia as well. It would difficult enough to have Communiqué unable to defend themselves inside headquarters, but to have an active femme running about who really only seems to have the current mental capacities of a child? ...at least Sari can be sent home to her father if things with the Decepticons get too heated.

Sari shrugs, not sure exactly what the Ratchet alternate means. "It's a key. I just, you know, plug it into whatever port opens up on an Autobot when I hold the key out out to them."

"The only other time it's failed to work was on a former Autobot who had taken on organic aspects," Ratchet adds. "Always seemed to me the All Spark has some will of its own. Wouldn't surprise me too much if the key was somehow the same."

Ratchet listens to them both, still contemplating the pink and white femme's condition. He's absently aware of Kia creeping over to the door and peeking around him, and lifts one brow ridge slightly as she tells Columbia in her simple English that Arcee made the mess because she lost something. Ignoring the two young femme's ensuing conversation he looks from Sari to Ratchet. "Will you try it again? I'm curious to see what happens."

"Sure. I guess it can't hurt, right?" Sari asks her own Ratchet, making sure trying again is not against his will.

He nods once. "Go ahead, kiddo. Another jolt may or may not make a difference, but I don't think it'll hurt either way."

Climbing back up onto Arcee, Sari holds her key out and the port on the front of the femme's chest plate re-opens. The little girl plugs it in and gives it a turn, as though trying to start a vehicle with a key in the ignition.

"Wait. Look." Ratchet moves closer and points to a second port on Arcee's helm.

Sari withdraws the key and glares at it accusingly. "You're supposed to know where you go... Right? Jeez."

Crawling up by Arcee's helm, Sari tries the key there, instead...

The pink and white femme shivers slightly, her vitals coming online as her chestplate pops open and a third port near her spark shows itself.

"Oh?" Kia's back, staying out of the way as she watches with enormous optics.

Sari takes on what appears to be a very Ratchet-like look of irritation as she switches her key to the third one. No doubt where she learned that... "What is this, musical ports?"

Ratchet grins at the little girl's expression, but then starts and grabs Columbia and Kia as Arcee's spark flairs up, filling the room with light.

Ratchet instinctively takes half a step back, optics narrowed against the brilliant light. Sari holds her ground a moment longer, shielded by the key, then withdraws it quickly when it sends her an unspoken prompt...

Ratchet hesitates, looking over his shoulder from where he's shielding the two little femmes with his body, then blinks as the light winks out and Arcee groans.

"What.... Did someone get the number of that drunk driver?" She sits up, blinks, and closes her chest panel.

"I guess third time's a charm?" Sari hops into Ratchet's hand as he offers it and clambers back up onto his right shoulder. "I've never had to use my key so many times on one Autobot. Or even on any machine, period!"

"At least it worked." Turning his attention back to Arcee, he's not sure whether to frown or smile. He's glad her vitals are back up to speed, but he's not pleased that they were so shot to begin with. "One of these days, you're going to give me a spark attack."

She looks back at him soberly, her hand still on her chest. "Don't even joke about that."

Then she looks around, starting a self diagnosis as she does. "And I'm sorry, Sari. I didn't do it on purpose."

Her expression lightens as yellowRatchet turns and sets Kia free, and she gives the young femme a smile and looks to her own Ratchet to see if it's alright for Kia to come over. She herself feels fine, but he's the doc and right now he's in charge.

"Well, at least from where I stand, it seems you're back up to speed again. I'm not sure what all that many jolts from Sari's key did, but I gave you an energon infusion and installed that custom spark booster," Ratchet says with something of a sigh. "Kia found us out by the sign and told us you were broken. A good thing it was my turn on watch here in Nexus, and that Ratchet and his daughter were also around."

"I feel fine." She looks down at herself, but then sighs and holds out a hand to Kia. "My processor... I was trying to find my communicator so that I could call you, but I was so confused that I kept forgetting what I was looking for, or even who I was. I finally became convinced that I'd come to the end, but I tried to hold on so that Kia wouldn't be left alone."

Her voice is embarrassed and apologetic as she speaks.

"Why were you trying to call Ratchet?" Sari can't manage to keep herself out of the conversation, but at least it's a question that needed to be asked. And her own curiosity has her asking it more readily than the medic himself.

"Seems that, in a way, Kia's sort of repaid you for taking her in." It bothers Ratchet that Kia is Arcee's only named reason at the moment for wanting to hang on, but he maintains his silence on that part. Before he can continue, however, his own comm beeps and he reaches up to the side of his helm to put the call through. "Ratchet here."

"Ratchet? Prowl. My shift on patrol is coming up shortly. Will you be returning on time?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a few. Just taking care of some business at the safe house. How is our guest?"

"No change, but I suppose that is better than a change for the worse. I will see you when you report back. Prowl out."

Ratchet takes his hand from his helm as the transmission cuts out. "And life goes on. Tch."

"Because he's my medic," Arcee says softly to Sari, smiling slightly as she does. "And a friend who's pulled me out of most of the mishaps of my old age."

The smile grows a little, though it's uncertain, as she looks up at the end of Ratchet's conversation with Prowl. Still her hand goes toward him to touch his arm comfortingly. "Someone's hurt back at base?"

"I have to go," says Ratchet, rubbing Columbia's back. "But here's my frequency if I'm needed."

"Bye," says Kia, putting a hand on redRatchet's back and peeking up at Sari.

While Sari peers back down at Kia, finally taking a moment to get a good look at the little femme, Ratchet nods to his counterpart. "Take care, the two of you. And thanks for the help."

He then turns his attention to answering Arcee's question. "An escape shuttle crashed into the river a few days ago. We don't know where it came from or what happened to it just yet, as we haven't sorted through the recovered ship databases completely. Prime's been working on that a bit, but things have been hectic. There were two femmes on board, both Autobot, but one of them died when her life support system malfunctioned; water got into the lines and caused a surge. The other has been in stasis lock since we pulled her out. She's stable and fully repaired, but we can't get her to come to."

"It's no problem." Ratchet nods and goes.

"Kia know you!" proclaims the silver youngster, her big optics widening with delight. "Sari!"

"Do you need any help with the data retrieval?" Arcee swings her legs over the side of the berth, but keeps her hand on his arm and her optics on his face as she frowns slightly with concern. "And do you know either of the femmes?"

"We were actually hoping the survivor would come to and get us up to speed with what happened, but we're not sure she'll be fully online again anytime soon. We don't know the name of the one who died, but I know the other..." Ratchet casts his gaze aside a moment, frowning. "Her name is Communiqué. She was a wartime dispatch and communications officer. I lost track of her just before war's end and hadn't heard from her since running my last mission under her direction. She had close ties with some of the medical units and local authorities in Iacon. Don't know what she would be doing away from Cybertron..."

"Hey, maybe we should go back and play musical ports on her, too," Sari suggests suddenly. "It worked on Arcee."

"Kay's not damaged, Sari." The medic's ridges lower a little. "All her vitals read fine. What I didn't fix manually, your key repaired. Sometimes when a bot goes into stasis lock and won't come out of it, it's because there's something wrong on a level we can't effect. Something mental, a psychological issue... If we force her too much, we could do serious damage to her base level programming and even her spark."

Arcee looks away guiltily, the hand on Ratchet's arm curling slightly as she remembers the overriding sense she'd been working under as she'd had the spark attack.

"Like being convinced that your time has come, and that being online just isn't worth the effort anymore?" she asks quietly.

"Sari, look. Bumblebee." Kia holds the doll up, and then points to the desk. "And Ratchet, too." She grins with innocent delight.

"Possibly..." Uncertain as to what else can be said, he sighs heavily. Suddenly, he himself feels incredibly worn out, more so than he has in a long time. He supposes a general thought on the matter is probably the best he can manage. "We all have a purpose or a function. If that one runs out on us or is fulfilled, we just need to find another. You could say it's a difference between what we were built for...and what we're meant for."

Sari is a little started and even amused to see the dolls. And she finds she really wants one, too. But it seems the older bots are currently engaged in a conversation that doesn't need to be interrupted, so she nods at Kia and smiles, hoping that's enough.

Edited 2008-07-09 20:48 (UTC)

The little silver femme glances between the older bots, then reaches up her hands toward Sari and whispers, "Go watch TV. We be quiet."

Arcee looks up again at the weary note in his voice, her faceplate creasing slightly as she berates herself for causing him unnecessary stress.

"You're right." She forces her voice to be lighter and shoves away her uncertainty as she sits up straighter.

Ratchet finds there's more he wants to say, but there likely isn't time. And both of them are stressed and worn down, mentally and emotionally. It's just not the time or the place.

"I probably have to go soon, Kia," Sari says as she looks down at the little femme.

"Sari's right. Prowl will probably contact me again if we don't return shortly," Ratchet sighs.

Arcee pushes herself to her feet, then nods and gives Ratchet a gentle nudge toward the door. "I'll see you later."

She wants to hug him, but she's not sure of doing it with Sari on his shoulder. And she's still feeling guilty for stressing him.

"Oh." It's Kia's turn to sigh. "Sparks. Okay."

A hug would be a bit difficult with the little girl balanced on him, but Ratchet does reach out and place his own hand on Arcee's near shoulder for a second or two. "Just don't overwork yourself. You've seen enough excitement in your life, so try and take it easy a while."

Sari blinks at Kia. "Where'd she learn to talk like that?" She then glances at Ratchet automatically. "Wait, I probably shouldn't ask."

Ratchet merely grimaces at the accusation.

She successfully keeps the sadness out of her smile, instead making it warm. The same to you doesn't fit, so she puts a hand over his and says, "I'm working on it. Be careful, alright?"

"Ratchet and Arcee," Kia tattles innocently.

Edited 2008-07-09 22:42 (UTC)

"Careful as I can be," Ratchet replies, managing a small smile before removing his hand.

"You just don't have any shame, do you?" Sari accuses as they turn back towards the door. "You probably curse in front of Kia like you did in front of me and Eleven that one time."

"Don't believe in that kinda censorship, kiddo. Now c'mon. Let's get back before Prowl actually feels the need to hunt us down..."

Nexus. Safe house behind Blue's. Needing a boost.

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