Checkup for Two

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Slipstream Goa Shred
Slipstream finally tracked down Goa, whether he wanted to or not he was coming to repair with her. She had made this abundantly clear. "Shred?" she calls out for the medic as she steps into the med bay.
Goa's antennae are folded tightly back, leaving only dark grooves, and he has quite the scowl on as he follows Slipstream in, arms crossed, looking warily around. He just might be unhappy about being here.
You paged Goa with '<You know I had to tell her.> reasons the femme via the link, <One scan on either of us, she'd know we were spark merged. You cannot trick a medic.> As well she knew from her medic sister who had a few try to pull fast ones on her... you just cannot fool a medic.. any good medic catches things.. even merged sparks.
From afar, Goa (gooey) seems to twinge. <For what?> He complains, unable to grasp the point. Just because he counts himself as having saved Shred's chassis, doesn't mean he's any more comfortable around her.
Long distance to Goa: Slipstream patiently sighs over the link, <She wants to be sure we haven't suffered any ill effects from the spark merge. Especially me. She's worried you may have somehow corrupted me with what remains of the crystals. I assured her if you thought at all I was in danger, you would have refused the merge at all. But I feel it prudent to know for sure and give her a sense of peace. Besides, we are her friends.. only friends.>
From afar, Goa (gooey)'s resolve chips and warms a little. <... alright.> He doesn't look or feel any less tense about it, but the nature of the predicament, the mention of having no one else, seems to have gotten to him.
Shred is sitting in the med lab, and she looks up as Slipstream calls her name, "Oh, hey Slipstream. Goa, come on in, and let's get you both checked over shall we? Don't worry, the files on the scans won't be going on the mainframe. No way in the pit I am gonna pull that shit on you."
Slipstream glances at Goa, then nods. She smiles to Shred, "Maybe you shouldn't even file them, just to make sure no one finds it some vorns later." she states, taking a table to sit on. Patting the spot next to her and looking at Goa, "C'mon you. Sooner we get this over with the better, I know you don't like being here."
Shred looks at Slipstream, "They are going to be filed.. in my own neural net Slip. Where safer? Ok Goa, you first.
"Shred." The mech smiles curtly as he passes by Slipstream and takes a seat. A gesture somewhat cooler than the last time they'd met, perhaps, but in his head, he's just leery about being in the repair bay. It always seems to be the catalyst of things going horribly wrong for him. Goa's ankle tires dangle, just a bit too short to hit the floor next to this table. "What did you want to do?"
Shred smiles to Goa, "I just want to run some tests on you both, make sure there are no problems. And only come to me to get repairs, ok? we do NOT want Psykeout to look at the drone's records and find out about this."
Slipstream shivers at the very thought of Psykeout /ever/ touching her. "Ugh... don't even Shred.. don't mention that name." she hisses, that mech scared her badly.. what he was going to do to them. It’s still to fresh in her memory. "As for your neural net.. Shred.. I seem to recall you erased them once already to protect what secrets you had there... are you that willing to go through /that/ again?"
Goa keeps a weak smile on as the medic goes about whatever she's going about. In a departure from smugness, he says nothing, just holds his lips thin. As Slipstream gets spooked, though, he dims his optics a couple of shades. Suddenly, he blinks them back to full strength, and inquires, "Cubicron treat you alright?"
Shred nods, "If it comes to it." there’s no hesitation in her words, "But for now we may need the results of these scans to have a new baseline for your systems."
Shred looks to Goa, and nods, "Mostly, though last time I was there, my energon got spiked."
From afar, Goa (gooey) tries to sound comforting, as he knows that feeling too well. <You saw what I'd do to him.>
Slipstream relaxes visibly, nodding to Goa. Then a accepting nod to Shred, "That was all our faults for not keeping a closer optic on your drink Shred."
Goa sits up straight, resting his hands across his legs. His antennae fold forward ever-so-slightly. Apparently he missed something. (Or was too conveniently overcharged to remember.)
Slipstream glances at the confusion, "It was a ladies night out, Gooey. Took Firestorm and Shred out for drinks in Cubicron. She left her drink alone long enough to spike it with something. I had to take her home because she passed out."
Shred nods, and she looks at Goa, "It was a time you weren't there, goa. We went for a few drinks, with firestorm and Starscream.. " she sets the scanners going to take clear readings of all of Goa's systems, not really expecting much to have changed.
Goa finally breaks his composure and smirks, then snorts, then smiles. "Alright, I get it," he chuckles, "Can't take me anywhere." He'd started to shift -- make sure that none of the equipment was going to explode if he moved -- but after that outburst, he seemed to have forgotten about it. Shred had no reason to pull anything.
Shred chuckles, "Actually, I’d have been happier with you there than Screamer.. I just don't trust that Mech."
Goa quirks one antennae all the way out. "... wait one." He looks over at Slipstream briefly. "Ladies' night out. Starscream is a femme?"
Slipstream understands Shred's misgivings. "That time Gooey no I couldn't take you. And telling Starscream no is pure insubordination." she points out. "He just decided to come with us... on his own. He didn't /have/ to.. but he did."
Shred smiles, ooking at the scan results, and she brings them up on screen, "Well, Gooey, I can give you a clean bill of health, so to speak. You're up next Slippy."
Goa is snickering about something, or nothing in particular. But he manages to sober up pretty quickly. "Clean? Nominal? Still residual radiation like before?"
Slipstream looks relieved, very much so. She had been a little nervous, going so far as to block that from Goa took a bit of an effort. She didn't like hiding things from him. Even something like nerves. She nods to Shred, holding perfectly still. If Goa was clean, she would be too. No doubt in her mind about that. A quizzical look given to the grounder at his snicker.
Shred nods, "As clean a bill of health as I have ever been able to give you Goa. There's still some residual radiation, but I expected no less.. to be honest, I am more concerned about Slip." Shred looks very carefully at the results, and after a few moments, "No contamination Slip. you're both fine." Shred then taps a few keys, deleting the files. "As there is no significant alteration, your standard files will do. This scan never happened."
Goa relaxes, slouching again. He has nothing to hide; he's possessive about that stuff. Especially if he could've hurt Slip with it... but right now, he's trusting of Shred's eye. (Whatever he was laughing at is too far-gone now for Slipstream to retrieve; not hidden.) "How much did Slip tell you about us?"
Slipstream smiles to that, "See, told you that you had nothing to worry about Shred." the femme states matter of factly, "And neither did you Goa." then a smile, "All she needed to know was we were together and spark merged."
Shred smiles, "As Slip said, that you are together and spark merged. Oh, slip, did you give goa what I asked you to? " sighing, she looks to Goa, something of a guilty look on her face, "I'm really sorry about my glaive, Goa. I had put one of the crystal samples in to power it.. "
Slipstream shakes her head, retrieving the item from her subspace. "I haven't had the chance.. our patrols have been rather unkind to us both as of late." she gets off her table to hand the crystal encased in some sort of shielding over to the grounder.
Goa is distracted scanning the medical facilities with his eyes, comparing it to his last record, particularly mindful of any changes Shred may have made. As such, it takes him a moment to process his audio buffer. The mech slowly turns his head toward the medic... and stares. His jaw clenches as he takes the crystal in his hand, not saying anything yet, but tensely holding himself back from something.
Shred turns away, "I'm sorry Goa. But if you look at the power unit, you'll also see how extreme I went with the shielding on it."
You paged Goa with '<Gooey, don't you try to hold back.. you better let that out or she'll never know she crossed a line.>
Slipstream levels this look at Goa, hands on his shoulders.
Goa (gooey) pages: <You said we're all she has.> He seems waiting. Reining. Needing some confirmation for or against that.
Goa scoots out from under Slipstream's hands, standing up, and indeed looking over the device. Not that he really knows what it all does. But he knows a shield when he sees one.
Shred sighs, the device has shielding above and beyond what is strictly necessary, it's clear that when she made it, Shred didn't take any risks.
Slipstream sighs softly, "He's mad at you." stated simply, "He's holding back because you are our only friend.. outside of Firestorm."
Shred nods, "Goa, I am sorry. I swear by my spark, that is the only fragment I had. It will not happen again. "
Goa turns about on a heel, affording Slipstream no glance or reply. His optics are slits of blazing red, staring down at the shorter seeker. "Why did you build it?"
Slipstream lays a hand on Goa's shoulder, trying to be a comforting presence but not reigning in anything he may be feeling. That stuff was dangerous, she knew that all too well.
Shred sighs, "I built it as a weapon for self defense Goa. So that I would be better able to stay alive in a combat situation. That power unit was the one for my glaive."
Goa opens his optics a smidge wider, staring into space now, fidgeting the power core between his hands. It added up. Shred seemed pretty spooked in the underground, and -- it replayed in his processor. The energy field she'd stabbed at Depth. He was a fool for not recognizing it. A fool for allowing it to happen...
Goa shuts his optics off completely, just red sheets reflecting the ambient light. "How many, Shred?" As if she knew what he was talking about.
Slipstream keeps a neutral face going, she just listens quietly. Stepping to stand beside Goa, then crouching down to be on the other femmes level, she pulls a glaive from out of her subspace, "This should replace it Shred, you won't have to worry about being weaponless in battle." It's a sturdy glaive, yet light weight, obviously new as it bears no sign of use. A press to a section of the shaft brings the ener-glaive to life with an nearly audible hum of power. "Lucky for you my academy teacher had one I could buy off of him." then a glance up at Goa, "She just said just the one."
Shred looks to Goa, and she sighs, "Four, Goa. Four attacked me. "
Shred shakes her head, "I had to defend myself.. But I couldn't just leave them in agony either. I.. " she turns away, ashamed, she actually went so far as to extinguish their sparks.
Slipstream then realizes where Goa was going, "Oh.. Shred." she sighs, shaking her head as she rises up.
Goa seems to come back to, flipping his optic shutters three or four times, and observes this transaction. Better for his patience, Shred figured out what he was referring to. He tosses the crystal up and down in his hand. Then he smiles to himself, softly. "So you know, then. Why it can't be a weapon." Whirring, almost blasting from his lateral vents, he sits down on the floor. "You didn't have a choice," The mech looks up at Shred in a slow, drained way, "Let's just say you owe me twice."
Shred sighs, "Slip.. Goa.. I extinguished their sparks.. Did.. did I do the right thing?" but how many levels are there to that question? She is a Decepticon, a warrior as well as a medic..
Slipstream glances at Goa, "You did the right thing... if the crystal made any contact with them and polluted their systems... it was pure mercy you showed."
Shred 's optics flare, "Mercy? Why would I want to show /mercy/? Slag it, I'm no weak Autobot!"
Goa glares venomously at Shred trailing that sentiment. "Turning them into empties doesn't help anything." He squeezes the crystal and field in his fist slightly, no apparent fear of its qualities -- "Did what you had to."
Slipstream gets this tone that begs Shred to even challenge her logic or conviction, "So it is weak to take them out quickly rather than let them suffer slowly. Goa saw what that stuff did to his mission mates, he was the only one to live through it.. if you can even call it living. He's a shattered mess Shred. As much as he tries to shield me from it, I know full well what he went through, what he saw, felt.. all of it. What you did was merciful."
Shred winces at their words, and she nods, "Yes.. I guess that you're right.. But.. I don't know why, I feel so wrong inside for having killed.. " shaking her head, she looks at Goa and slipstream "It may have been the right thing to do.. but why does it feel so wrong? What is wrong with me?"
You paged Goa with '<Must be the medic in her.. to kill someone you could possibly save.. must have been hard on her to even do that.>'
Goa (gooey) pages: <Or the Cybertronian.>
Goa sits up on his heels, crouching now instead of sitting, and launches an arm out at Shred -- perhaps fast enough to make either of them flinch, since he's been teetering on the edge of violent breakdown. But he only gently takes the mini jet's shoulder and pulls her close up, looking straight into her optics. "Always will." He tilts his head back and away slightly. "I forgive you, if that's what you're worried 'bout."
Slipstream spares Goa a glance. She didn't see that movement coming.. but it’s no surprise to her either. Goa is a mess, like she said. "It felt wrong because of that medical oath.. " she offers in suggestion, ".. do no harm to others."
Shred doesn't even flinch as Goa moves, but she listens as Goa speaks, and Slipstream, then she nods, sighing, "Thanks you guys.. And you may be right, Slipstream.. "
Goa lets go and sits back down on his haunches, silent save the mechanical motion of stashing the crystal power core in his cab.
Slipstream reaffirms her earlier statement. "You couldn't have saved them Shred. If what I saw from Goa's memories is any indication.. we were gambling with our very lives even using those crystals to stave off those things that were trying to take over our bodies."
"You didn't name those?" Goa tilts his helmet, not looking at anyone in particular.
Shred blinks her optics, "We were?" she shudders, still looking quite afraid, "Slip, I looked at the schematics for my body, there's significantly less shielding in it than in most Cybertronians bodies."
Slipstream looks confused, then states calmly, "Like I want to give a name to what was trying to take me over. I'm still surprised you didn't go back down there and tear that place apart looking for where they came from." then to Shred, "We were putting them in our mouths to shield our neural net from those things. You were out of much of that time.. maybe there's a security tape of the incident if you want to look at it.. but trust me I had to look out for us both, make sure we limited our exposure."
Shred nods, "I know you did, Slip, and I know I was out of it for much of that time.. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I looked at the security tapes already, before then it looked like it had taken me over, no question."
Goa shudders. "They're right under Iahex. Autobots can deal. Their Prime would probably start trying to give me orders again if I showed up." He chuckles, but still seems shudderingly nervous about something.
Shred nods, and she has noticed Goa shuddering, "Goa. I may not be connected to you, but I can tell you are nervous. Spit it out."
Slipstream narrows her optics a hint, "If you think for one moment you would have been allowed to live with that thing running your body Shred, then you have no idea to what lengths I would have gone to make sure my friend didn't hurt anyone with that thing running her body." then a glance at Goa, "Oh right. Prime. That was interesting. You shouldn't have been sneaking around there."
Goa freezes and flips his antennae out. "I hadn't thought about going back down there." He tilts his helmet up to look at Slipstream. "Sneaking?"
Shred sighs, "Slip, I know damn well you wouldn't have allowed it to hurt anyone using my body. Anyway, You know how to run this equipment, right?"
Slipstream smirks at Goa, "You know what I mean." then she looks to Shred, "Your controls in your arm, which you removed. So you have to do it manual now right?"
Shred nods, and she walks over to a neural scanner, hooking it up. "I want you to run a full scan on my neural circuitry. Maybe I am paranoid, but Paranoia keeps you alive."
Goa shifts and looks no more comfortable. He hoped that he /didn't/ know what she meant. But he was pretty sure she did. After a few more clicks of uncomfortable silence from the grounder, he stands up to watch what's going on -- it's over his head, but still ...
Slipstream has done this before, so moves to start up the scanner. "Spoken like an Empty, Shred." knowing that comment will strike her to the very core.
Shred winces, yes it does strike her to her core, and the results of the test, well, it's hard to tell really if the only circuit damage was from her wiping the memories. The physical damage is however thankfully minimal, no way to tell if it should have any effect on her core program. (It doesn't have)
Goa leans his elbows on the nearest table, steepling, then straight up wringing his hands.
Slipstream frowns at the scan, she can at least understand it. "I think perhaps we should take her to Torque, Goa.. I'm no expert but I don't like these readings."
Shred blinks, sitting up carefully, "Who's Torque, and what is wrong with the readings?"
Goa raises his optic ridges. "Is it an emergency?"
Slipstream shakes her head to the emergency question, "She's a medic. A neutral. As for the readings, see for yourself."
Shred looks at the readings, and she frowns darkly, "Those readings are bad. Very bad. there is definitely some physical damage to the circuitry.. "
"Torque installed my--" Goa's jaw hangs open mid-sentence as he recalls what Shred may remember, "... repaired these sensors. Knows lots." He taps two spread fingers on his forehead where his orange antenna-horns are, then turns away, keying his comm.
Slipstream smiles a bit at how Goa stops himself, the grounder has respect for the neutral. Antennae notwithstanding, she knew where Goa had been on those few times he claimed he was in Cubicron. "Unless you want to trust yourself to the Cubicron medic, Torque is the better option. Or we could see what the medical academy has in the way of recent graduates.. or we could investigate into other neutrals with medical skills."
Shred hmms, "Since you two trust him, I'm willing to. "
Goa mumbles over his shoulder. "Torque's a her," he chuckles.
Shred smirks, "Ok. "
Slipstream states, "I have no issues with her, she seems competent enough."
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