step one: stop fighting robots

[wreckers]

Who: Verity and OPENish
Where: Autobot Clinic
When: Noooow??
What: The fallout of this
Warnings: Injuries, TBD.


[ Once she shook loose from Arcee, Verity bagged out. She was not inclined to trust anyone let alone someone closely associated with Prowl, on good terms or not, but she trusted Arcee to run interference long enough for her to clear out of there. Running away happened to be one of Verity's talents and one she took immediate advantage of when the opportunity presented itself. ]

Shit - shit.

[ Burning rubber screeched on the metal floor of the clinic followed by a loud crash when a disoriented Verity slammed into a nearby steel utility table; spilling all kinds of equipment onto the floor. The clinic was dark - of course it was, everyone was off getting stupid at that party at the forum. Verity swore louder as she staggered up and waved her arm wildly in front of a motion sensor near the doorframe that brought the lights back on.

I fucked up, was all Verity could think while stumbling through the clinic wildly searching for anything that looked human friendly. ]

Enough people on this rock they should have painkillers or someth- hnng.

[ Verity stopped near a minicon sized gurney. She pulled herself up and once she was sitting felt the full force of what a little scuffle with something rip snorting pissed off and over thirty feet tall did. The plates of her armor retracted back until she was down to her clothes. Stomach rolling as she took rapid shallow breaths close to hyperventilating, pulling her shirt up to find angry red and purple bruising covering her entire right side. She cringed, looking down to see the inflamed mess that was her foot that twisted awkwardly at the ankle.

Winded, Verity collapsed on her back. Leaving her armor in pieces around her on the ground as she tried to steady her breathing. ]

Comments

(A few days lateur)

[aminerproblem]

[Verity was the first human they'd had as a patient at the clinic, and as unfortunate as the circumstances were that put her on the medical berth to begin with, he still found himself curious about them. Talking with June didn't really cover the whole scope of an entire species, did it?]

[So, some time later, he kneels down to the small berth and the even smaller patient, he does his best to hide his own intrigue. He was here to tend to her first and foremost.]

How are you feeling?

[wreckers]

[ Blankets were definitely an improvement; she owed whoever bankrolled textiles now that she could be laid up on the medical berth without worrying about aggravating the fact her ribs were sticking together out of determined spite. Waking up at the sound of someone talking, she stirred in the cocoon she made for herself.

Only what needed to change was how they kept running lights on in the clinic. Humans had these inconvenient things called retinas. Verity blinked against the harsh fluorescent light and tilted her head into the shade of the massive figure looming over her. Squinting, she started to say 'Impactor' until her eyes adjusted to the light. ]

You look a little big for a nurse.

[ She didn't sound ungrateful, just amused if exhausted as she eased up into a sitting position. Blankets down around her waist she was nothing but bandages from the neck down. She pointed to a stack of clothes on a near by table. ]

In one piece. Pass me my bra?

[ beat. ]

It's the chestpiece with the hooks.

[aminerproblem]

[Megatron seems concerned as she sits up, still unfamiliar with the thresholds of human hardiness. But she didn't wince in pain, so he assumes she wasn't straining herself too badly.]

[Unbothered at all with the task, he prods through the lump of cleaned clothing to pull out a bra by the strap between two massive fingers.]

[With the piece half dangling out of the pile, he looks back at her.]

This? Are you sure? It isn't much of an armor plate.

[wreckers]

It functions for support not protection.

[ Verity pulls a face but otherwise has no other reaction as she snatches the bra out from between fingers that look better suits to crushing boulders than suturing. ]

You know Impactor? Hazard tapes' not that popular for anyone under the age of fifteen with a bedroom door and issues.

[Yanking the blankets aside she slips her arms between the straps; mindful of bandages but unconcerned with the giant robot leaning over her. After the Wreckers she had gotten most of the awkward conversations out of the way, and this was supposed to be a medical check-in. ]

[aminerproblem]

Yes.

[A hand thoughtlessly goes to cover the caution stripes on one of his forearms. It's been a long time since he's been accustomed to what they signified to every other Cybertronian in the room, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little eager to get rid of them.]

[Realizing he'd let the pause drag on, he moves again, reaching for a pair of forceps better suited to handling human-sized objects. Ratchet may have been able to treat her completely bare-handed, but he wanted to be careful before moving forward.]

He's a good friend of mine. We worked together on Nova Peak. Any more pain in the chest? The head?

[Verity will soon find herself being offered some water on a plate held gently between the thinner metal tips.]

[wreckers]

We got a friend and common - thanks.

[ Verity played fast and loose with a word like friend, sure, and especially with the likes of Impactor. She smiled all the same in gratitude as she took the glass of water off the platter after she got the last eye hook in her bra. Slapping down the glass on a nearby table when she polished it off and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, and doing so all without wincing. Even had more color to face. ]

I hobbled all the way to the bathroom last night without incident and all by myself, too; the headaches and nausea don't come and go as often. Breathing isn't so hard on painkillers. Small victories.

[ Without needing a cue Verity pulled the tape on the bandage on her ribs for Megatron to inspect. The blood was minimal and still bright red with the bruising a duller, yellowish brown. ]

So, Ratchet take you under his wing?

[aminerproblem]

I'm surprised to hear you befriended him so quickly. Impactor can be a bit rough around the edges.

[When Megatron first pushed Ratchet to begin training him, tending to something as peculiar as a human being never came to mind. He goes through the mental checklist he'd memorized previously as she unwraps the bandages, pinching a disinfectant cloth between the edges of the forceps. It was so absurdly small to him it was something of a small miracle he could use it properly it at all.]

[With it his optics focus on his target, his other hand reaching around with another tool to begin the business of changing her bloodied bandage, cleaning her lacerations, and soothing the bruising with a cool cloth. There was a rough twitch here or there - he still had to practice to steady his hands a little, but otherwise seemed to have at least been instructed well.]

After some persistent pestering, yes. It's not something most doctors would even consider.

[wreckers]

'Quickly' would be generous.

[ A smile tugs at the corner of her dry and cracking lips, 'rough around the edges' was how Optimus cautiously described Prowl and in a way she could see the similarities. In an objective, I'm-not-bitter sort of way. ]

Ratchet isn't most doctors.

[ Arms raised above her head she watches through the bend of her elbow the delicate if a bit nervous touch to Megatron cleaning her wounds. Doing her level best not to jolt against the sudden freeze of the cold cloth or sting of disinfectant. ]

And hey, I get that. Even with ratioism dead and buried the lot of you are pretty reticent to jump ship to another profession even when you really want to. [ During a lull, Verity shrugs. ] I've kept up with the oeuvre of Cybertronian political writers.

[aminerproblem]

[Listening to her speak, he quickly makes the conclusion she must have met him in the future - their future, anyway. There's a slight relief to hear that his friend survived the ensueing chaos he was center at causing.]

The lingering poison of the Functionist regime will take time to cleanse. It may never be gone completely without persistent vigilance.

[His eyes brighten a little at the sudden change in topic. Who knew that aliens would be well-versed in their isolated politics? After cleaning up her side, he sets the previous cloth aside and gets a new bandage to apply.]

[wreckers]

[ Verity chewed on her lower lip as she straightened out her back, and took in a lungful of air as the bandages were set firmly around her ribs. The pain was still there as a constant thrum that took some of the color out of her face. Good thing the hands setting her wounds were surprisingly gentle and the conversation kept her mind off the pain. ]

"Utility as the organizing principle. The Functionist regime made the lock and the Senate holds the key."

[ Quoting directly from Towards Peace - which she nearly cited but immediately decided she didn't want to sound like she was trying to upstage the people it actually affected. She look back up at her nurse and caught that excited light in his eyes and knew it right away for what it was. ]

Burgeoning pundit, huh? If this is your thing I can forward you my copies of Megatron's collected works. Really, and hear me out on this because believe me I know, but the guy didn't go completely off the rails without leaving some real solid stuff readily available.

[ Verity doesn't wait for a reaction as she keeps going. ]

I'm serious. I'd skip over the racially charged polemics but even they're not undisciplined and still touch on the anti-mechanical issues brought up in Towards Peace. The neologisms in his pre-war poetic work could even be called inspired.

-Hey, can you pass me the ibuprofen and another glass of water?

[aminerproblem]

[Megatron can't help but find a laugh get teased out of him. A genuine, youthful, jovial sound. Terminus really got his works distributed quite far, didn't he?]

I suppose offworld copies wouldn't keep my picture in case of this rare occasion, would they? I'm humbled to hear that you enjoyed reading my work.

[The requested items are placed within her reach on the same plate as earlier. Water and a dose of painkillers.]

[wreckers]

[ Verity's hand stills over the rim of the glass, eyes glued - frozen to the water that sloshed near the lip. Like that scene in Jurassic Park where time stops in that heart clenching scene where a glass of water adds to the tense feeling unreality of when the other, literal, foot drops. ]

Bullshit.

[ She takes her pills quick as if she were doing a line of shots. Laughing off the idea of having just had Megatron the Megatron fumbling with handing over her bra and changing her bandages. It just didn't happen. This guy's voice alone told her he was, what? Robot twelve - at least. ]

I'm all for dreaming big but whittle it down, kiddo.

[ Only her stomach just flipped over and she was sweating again. Was it a nausea? She did mental gymnastics over when she last ate. ]

[aminerproblem]

I have no desire to start a war here, if that's what you're concerned about. I've been well informed of how deeply misguided it becomes.

[Not that he's saying he'd never push for violently removing the Senate, but that issue isn't relevant here where their commune was small and far kinder to its people.]

Verity? Are you alright?

[He notices her uncomfortable expression and wonders if she might have swallowed something incorrectly.]

[wreckers]

You get off because time is weird.

[ Criticism was ineffectual when you were condemning someone for something that hadn't even happened - yet. Verity is dimly aware she is being disproportionately calm about the minor detail of being alone and helpless in a room with an autocrat in their adolescence.

Mostly she's concerned with why the air in the room feels dense all of a sudden, and why her stomach is suddenly lurching like she ate something disagreeable. Did she eat? When? ]

Weird.

[ Verity puts her hand on the edge of the gurney with her feet touching the ground as though she means to stand. Only her arms bend forward then everything goes black - her chest tightens and she chokes out a strangled, high-pitched sound before before she collapses in a heap.

The ensuing chain reaction is immediate and violent in her her arms cross at the wrists tight down the front of her chest with the muscles in her limbs uncomfortably taut as a ragged groan shakes in her throat with spittle rolling down her chin. It gets worse before it shows any sides of subsiding. Exaggerated convulsions start to wrack through her body in a terrible rhythm that picks up before it slows to a with her arms stretched out and her knees kicking out weakly. ]

[aminerproblem]

[Megatron feels his spark sink as she goes from speaking normally to collapsing on the floor in a convulsing heap in a few seconds. There's a moment of panic where he drops the tools in his hands to hover over her - uncertain what to do.]

[After putting himself together, he pushes the gurney away to avoid having her limbs get entangled in it, and seizes his communicator, voice forceful through the link.]

Ratchet, Verity needs you here now! And bring June if she's with you!

[But nearly as soon as the seizure started, it slows to a stop, and he sits there with comm open and a look of poorly contained dismay.]

[wreckers]

-'m ff.

[ It was a little over a few minutes later when she started coming around. That I'm fine was both a blatant lie in the face of surmounting evidence to the contrary but also poorly executed. Verity was barely string together two consonants together that vowels would just be an act of hubris at this stage.

Sprawled out on the floor with no recollection of how she got there, all Verity could figure was that the floor was both cold and uncomfortable. And that coming too with bright fluorescents burning through eyelids squeezed shut and Megatron shouting over her was also deeply unpleasant. ]

Belay that.

[ Apparently Star Trek lingo was where her vernacular cleaved to after a seizure as she waved him off and started trying to fruitlessly reach for the edge of the gurney. ]

[asafepairofhands]

[Ratchet explodes into the room, moving faster on his crutches than he looks like he should be able to, his optics flicking wildly to Megatron's face, then following his gaze to the floor near the gurney without pausing. He stops at Megatron's side, slamming one crutch down onto the nearest bare, flat surface and slipping the other one out from under his arm so he can grip the handle and bend down swiftly, scooping Verity up one-handed. He draws her in against him, hand under her thighs and against her back as he presses her to his chest and straightens until her head is lolling onto his shoulder and just holds her there for a long, frozen moment before he can feel her breathe against his plating.]

You have an incredibly misguided definition of the word 'fine.' [The words are scathing but his tone is low and almost soft as he manages to limp very unsteadily towards the gurney again, ready to put her back down if necessary. He keeps her close for a moment, though, as he looks up at Megatron. His tone is sharp but without accusation.]

What the hell happened?

[aminerproblem]

She just started - glitching.

[For lack of a better word in the robot vernacular.]

[Megatron looks over Ratchet's shoulder, concerned, but careful not to get in the way.]

She'd drank some water a few moments prior - but this is the first time it resulted in this.

[wreckers]

I fainted.

[ Her throat was tight, she felt like she was trying to talk while someone was half-heartedly attempting to strangle her.

Then she looks down and notices there is a significant distance between her feet and ground, and begins to pieces together those dizzying moments where Ratchet plucked her off the ground. Something about Megatron clicked. Eyes narrowing to take in the bewildering sight of Megatron who, if human, would be looking pale and fit to pass out himself. ]

I fainted right?

[asafepairofhands]

No, you had a seizure and then you fainted.

[Ratchet's voice is sharp, but he still holds Verity carefully as he balances on one crutch, his remaining keg aching and a delayed wash of fear dragging through him as he cradles her.]

The water didn't cause it, it was the head trauma. She'll need to be monitored more closely in case it happens again--I'll let June know what happened.