| abstract | - 9/13/2011 09:20 PM (Repair Campus, Polyhex/Intelligence Compound, Polyhex) --- Robustus had not been able to recharge at all, in fact he had been pacing the floor of the medical bay as he waited for Lifeline to come off duty. He had commed her after his first hour of pacing, telling he it was extremely important he speak with her in person and to meet him here. More pacing, processor going over what he's going to have to do now... and what he may have to do. Lifeline emerges from one of the less-used storage rooms carrying an armful of cleaning supplies, pausing to make sure the door closes and locks properly behind her. She enters the area where Robustus is pacing and pauses, slightly confused. "My duty shift is about to end...what's going on?" She carries the cleaning supplies to their proper storage place. Robustus waits for Lifeline to put the supplies down and tells her with all due serious, "You need to come with me, now, to see a prisoner." then his voice lowering, "He's been begging to see you. I cannot in good conscious deny him any longer. But you should be warned Lifeline, what you are about to see will shock you and you need to be strong for him. Do you understand?" Lifeline frowns slightly as she sets the supplies in their places. "A prisoner? The same one as last time, or a different one?" She steps toward Robustus, wiping her hands off on a piece of cloth that then gets stowed in a hip compartment. "I'm prepared." Maybe. Robustus intones as he turns to lead the way out of the repair bay, "A different one. One you know... personally. As I said, you need to be prepared." he states softly, "It's already torn at my spark to see him like this... I can only imagine how bad it may be for you. But for his sake, that is why I tell you to be strong. He can draw from it knowing you are okay." Lifeline follows Robustus, frowning at his intentionally cryptic phrasing, clearly wondering what's going on and not liking being given insufficient information. "All right. Let's go then." Robustus led Lifeline in silence to the compound and nodded to the guard on duty, he uses the code and opens the door, stepping inside and waiting for Lifeline to enter before he closes the door. Luckily for them both there is no one here with the prisoner. The medic dreads though the condition that they both may behold. First Aid is in much the same shape as when Robustus was last present, although someone has put the chair back upright, and re-secured his left arm to the chair with a strap around his upper arm, not allowing it to be slipped free even with the hand missing. His head is lolled to one side, remaining optic shuttered and faceplates set in a pained expression even while apparently offline. Lifeline keeps giving Robustus suspicious looks the entire way to the compound, but upon stepping into the small room her optics widen and she rushes over to First Aid's side. "What in the Pit?" She starts hastily pulling her med kit out of the storage compartment in her leg. Robustus's silver optics look over the chair bound form, noting any difference at all as he moves toward the still younger medic. He puts his hand on First Aid's shoulder by his neck and uses a finger to check his energon pump pulse. He whispers into his audio. "I brought her for you First Aid. Lifeline is here." First Aid comes online with a shiver, optic flickering on dimly and blinking a few times. "Robustus? Li-Lifeline?" He jerks his head up, looking around. "Lifeline!" Lifeline says, "Shh, 'Aid. It's okay. What the frag has happened?" She tosses a brief glance at Robustus, then starts pulling out her tools to do what she can to patch First Aid's systems. "How did you get here?" Robustus gives the young medic a gentle shoulder squeeze. "How you holding up First Aid?" he asks, then furthering, "No more expected visitors besides us I do hope?" he meets Lifeline's gaze and states carefully, "I'm afraid your work on him will have to be limited for now Lifeline. I gave him injections of medical grade energon and coolant to help him stabilize a bit. Unfortunately what more can be medically done is difficult to determine considering what I was told last cycle. Stabilization only. No more. Trust me you do not want to have to deal with Megatron when he is displeased. You have seen for yourself how ugly he can be when Starscream got injured." First Aid shakes his head minutely. His voice is quiet and a little staticky. "Bout the same. No... no Vortex. No Starscream. Just one. Don't know his name. Messed with my arm." He huffs air, watching Lifeline tiredly. "Why're you here?" Lifeline huffs air through her vents in annoyance, but nods to Robustus. Even more is riding on her being here now and NOT messing this up. "Don't worry about that, First Aid. It's not important right now." She gets out her tools and starts patching any leaking energon and coolant lines she can easily reach. Hopefully that won't be considered too much. Robustus shifts away from the two, giving them both some space. He does give Lifeline an apologetic expression, "I'll watch the door," he offers softly, "to give you enough time together." First Aid 's remaining optic whirs as he tries to focus on lifeline in front of him, and he flinches as she reached for his face. "Sorry..sorry. didn't mean to-" he shakes his head. "You’re okay?" Lifeline starts doing what she can to at least keep the optic damage from sending too many error messages. "I'm fine, 'Aid. I promise. I'm not the one that looks like a hungry opter was snacking on him." She hopes her attempt at a joke doesn't fall flat. Robustus turns his gaze to the world outside the cell, his audios attuned to the hallway. Someone would have to have soft paws and cleverness to get past an overly observant medic. First Aid manages a small smile but it sort of goes chill after a second. "Wasn't really hungry.. just mad." He shivers and shakes his head again. "He had- had an optic. Said it was yours. Said- lots of things." Lifeline says, "Well, none of it was true. Look at me. I'm fine. Really." Robustus shakes his head a bit at that information, keeping his gaze away from the two. The less he sees Lifeline doing, the better. Plausible deniability may just equal survival. "I told him you were." is offered softly, "But he needed to see you to believe me. The curse of the sigil I wear I suppose, we are all supposed to be bold faced liars." First Aid nods slowly, venting air slowly. "St- He said you fought with Ratchet, wouldn't tell me why, and no one could find you. I wanted to go look, but Dually wasn't right and .. Vortex waiting. In the tunnels to Cubicron." Lifeline frowns slightly at that. "Dually wasn't 'right'? Hm. Well, I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, you WON'T stay here. Got that? Don't forget, okay?" Robustus vented to that declaration softly, "Difficult. Dangerous. Suicidal." he murmured in caution. "Tried it once with Chimera. I came so close to feeling the full fury of that cannon..." there is a momentary shiver that passes through the mech. "More clever. Cunning. Sneaky." is offered now. "Just between us. Suspicion may lead to termination." First Aid nods carefully. "Okay." His voice is tired. "Just want to go home, want it to st-stop hurting. Won't tell him, though." Lifeline says, "I know, I know. And I'd do more for the pain, but they might punish you for it." She looks at Robustus to see if she's out of time yet. "You've not told them anything, you're doing great. Keep me in mind, okay?" Robustus looks back to Lifeline, "Talk further. In private." he notes in a whisper. Then opens the door to step out and await her final goodbye to the younger medic. First Aid lets his optic offline and clears his vocalizer with a click, head slumping forward again. "'ll try. Protected /them/, at least. Said.. said stuff I shouldn't." Lifeline says, "You've done fine. Don't worry. Stay strong." She puts one hand on the side of the younger mech's face for a moment, then quickly packs up her tools and moves toward the door. "All right." Robustus opens the door to allow Lifeline out, "We'll talk later. I'm in need of a decent recharge." he intones. First Aid leans briefly into Lifeline's hand with a soft sigh and brings his optic back online to watch her leave. "Be safe." He whispers. Lifeline takes one last look at First Aid before stepping through the door out of the tiny room. She looks like she's NOW having trouble maintaining her composure. Robustus puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Take some time for yourself Lifeline. But I assure you that we share this one thing in common," his voice pitches very low now, "he does not belong here." then he withdraws his hand and walks away from her. Lifeline nods shortly to Robustus, following him out of the area. Two things are certain: First Aid does not belong here, and whomever did this to him will PAY.
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