Invitations and Cautions

When people talk about Nyon's bustling nightlife, they are usually being ironic about the crime rate. So this bar isn't exactly a high-style Iacon club, here. It's a place where weary workers can roll in to refuel and then get on with things. There are a hundred of them in the city. Each neighborhood has their own, and each neighborhood waters down their engex in their own special way with their own special flavors.
This particular bar is close to the old core of the city, not far from the Acropolex. Hot Rod has claimed a corner table of no particular distinction other than that it has a good view of the rest of the establishment. After putting his heads together with team trouble's team nerds, he's sent a message to Exodus, and now he waits. With weak, watered-down engex.
It's purely coincidence that Panacea walks into /this/ bar. Leaving Kaon behind, she doesn't want to go to the Jump Joint as it just serves as a reminder of things she doesn't want to think about right now. But she hasn't started her new job yet either, so she doesn't have the funds to go hobnobbing at the nicer bars. This place seems to be a nice compromise in the middle.
Upon entering she looks around as a habit. Spotting the rather distinctive figure of Hot Rod, she offers him a weary smile and a wave.
Of course, it takes some time for Exodus to arrive, the big mech isn't exactly the fastest on the planet. But he gets there eventually. Hot Rod isn't exactly hard to find in a crowd, consequently, the miner arrives at the table Hot Rod has picked out and seats himself across from the Nyonian rebel. 
"Hey, good to see you," he says warmly, "So... have you given any thought to your upcoming formal appearance?" 
Oh look, Panacea is here. The miner looks pleased but also slightly embarrassed. But he waves her over anyway.
The noise and bustle of the bar and on the street is suddenly over powered by the crack of air exploding in sound. And as the noise fades away, the sputter of a fliers turbo engine can be heard in its place. Another motor thrums with it but its obvious one of the pair of flight engines is malfunctioning. The engines both cut off abruptly and several short seconds later a very annoyed blue citizen of VOS sort of stumbles in as he flings the door open.
There is the distinct smell of burnt metal and bits of metal piece of something are half hanging out of the knee vent on the right leg of the Seeker. Smoke wafts our of the vents and the smell of burnt oil accompanies the smell of burnt metal.
Thundercracker is not a happy mech. Its evident he sucked something up as he was flying over Nyon and its obvious as he limps to the bar that he'd rather have just kept going but something brought him down. "Best Energex you have." he growls as he sits down and looks at the metal offal sticking out of his knee turbo vents.
"I should've known you'd ask." Hot Rod sits back in his seat with a welcoming smile as Exodus joins him, and follows the direction of his wave to send Panacea a wave and a smile of his own. Sitting back, it's clear he's spotting fresh welds along his side: very /recently/ shot, recently repaired, but none of it bad enough to keep him off his feet, it seems. His paint on his side is all a mess. It's a tragedy. "But yeah, I /have/ thought about it. And I'm ready whenever you are. But I wanted to ask you--" The sharp crack and the sputter that follows briefly drowns out his words. "--Wanted to ask you," he tries again, "about getting you, anyone you know in on a communication network. Underground." He glances over at Thundercracker as he limps in with a hint of a grounder's amusement to see a flier brought low. Ha ha, loser.
Thundercracker is going to be so disappointed to find that the best they have is watered down, and low quality even at pure strength. WELCOME TO NYON, BUDDY.
Spotting Exodus sitting beside Hot Rod makes Panacea smile and she inclines her head to the large miner. Picking up her step she moves towards the table since she's being waved over. When Hot Rod gives her a wave and smile as well, she looks pleased.
Then there's a loud sound that makes her pause. What was that? Moments later the door opens and Thundercracker makes his rather dramatic entrance. The smell that comes with him isn't unknown to the medic and she veers away from the table to approach the blue seeker. "What happened to you?" she asks, looking at that knee to assess if it's an injury or not. Unfortunately, possible medical issue trumps friends, at least briefly.
Exodus glances briefly over at Panacea and Thundercracker before turning back to Hot Rod. When Hot Rod says he's ready whenever he is, he beams at the flameo boy. "Good, I'm glad to hear that." He frowns at his injuries and botched paint job. "Mech, are you okay?" he asks with concern. 
"Yeah?" he asks in response to Hot Rod, "who's working on it?" he says, lowering his voice.
Thundercracker gets a glass of dirty weak looking energon slammed on the bar counter in front of him and he flicks a wing. "What did I get myself into." he mutters and thinks better of tasting that just yet. He looks back at his knee and gingerly grabs what looks like a large metal 'feather' plate. it is then that a femme walks up and asks what happened. He looks at her. "Some bird -- didn't think there would be any around here, wasn't paying attention. I think it was a rapticon." he looks at her as if to ask 'do you want to help me?'
"I'm fine," says Hot Rod with a dismissive wave. He watches as Panacea heads over to Thundercracker, somewhat distracted by watching them, but his answer is to Exodus, and lower-pitched: "I'm going to get Nautica and Rewind in on it, but the important thing is going to be getting the rest of the city in on it. I know you've got friends. I've got friends. If we set a system that's distributed across the whole, then there's no one place that the Senate can shut down, and we'll be able to communicate regularly, get the /truth/ out, since the Senate controls the mainstream media outlets."
"Do you want me to take a look at that?" Panacea asks the Seeker. "Though I think the bird got the worst of the two of you I can't imagine that you'd want to keep walking, or flying, around with bird bits stuck there." If he says no, she won't press the case.
She hasn't forgotten Exodus and Hot Rod, but her job comes first. Even in small matters like a mishap with a bird.
Exodus raises a brow ridge at Hot Rod. "Uh.. alright, if you say so," he says, rubbing his helm. "Right.. be careful though. If they infiltrated the network, we'd be in hot slag," the miner comments. "Glad to see you're making progress with the whole rebel movement, though," he says.
Thundercracker nods. "Yea its a bit uncomfortable to be honest." he looks at her and then finally glances around the place. Typical lower caste riff raff but there is one rather brightly colored mech at a corner table with a couple others around him. They don't look lower caste either for that matter. He gives a slight nod in a faint greeting and then focuses back on the femme before him. "And yea that bird got the worst end of it for sure." though as uneasy as he is o the ground right now, particularly here that might be debatable. "What you need me to do?" he asks ans shifts on the bar stool a bit to give her better access to his cluttered air induction system for that engine.
"No, I'm kind of taking it for granted that they will infiltrate," Hot Rod says with a quick grimace and a shake of his head. "You never know who's going to turn. Senate's got a lot of shanix to throw around, especially compared to the wages people get around here. Anonymity will probably need to be built in from the ground up." He looks a little startled by the nod toward his corner, but takes it in stride. Of course people recognize how great he is. He returns it. "But we'll be able to get information out in ways they can't stop."
Panacea is middle caste herself, but she's definitely possessed of a grounded alternate mode. That might make her 'riff raff' to Thundercracker, but at least she's offering to help him, yes? Deftly she takes out some tools and examines the air induction system more carefully. "I could pick it all out as is, but it would take some time. If you allow me to temporarily move the panel above it I can work much quicker," she says, making an assessment. "All you'll have to do is sit there and try not to move too much."
"I'm just concerned for you, mech," Exodus says, placing a heavy and large hand on his shoulder. "You're right, at some point they probably will. It will be good that the truth got out. But how are you going to guarantee that they won't be able to stop it? I know careful isn't a word in your vocabulary, but try to do some planning, okay? For your own sake." He stands up. "I have to run, I'm on call for work. But it was nice talking to you." He smiles and waves at Panacea in farewell before leaving the joint.
Thundercracker glances back around the bar again. Again his optics rest on the table in the corner with the bright colored mech and the miner sitting with them. They seem to be in a pretty intense conversation. The Seeker is out of his element for sure and now the offer to assist him means he has to have an access panel open. That makes him feel even more uneasy but hes not flying out of here like this that for sure. But suddenly the minor gets up and walks out. That relaxes him a bit but not much. "Alright." he says finally and cautiously.
Hot Rod lingers a moment as his table as Exodus leaves, but rather than look thoughtful or anything -- careful, feh! -- he just looks impatient. Emptying his glass, he gets to his feet to join Panacea and her friend at the bar. While he's certainly bright colored and he has a racer's build, assumptions about his caste might be hastily made. He looks quite at home with the riff-raff. "Hey," he greets her as he brings his empty cube to the bar for another. "That looks rough, mech," he tells Thundercracker.
Panacea is a good worker, and quite gentle. Not that such a thing would really matter to a Decepticon most likely, but there you have it. Calmly she tells him exactly what she's doing as she's doing it, from opening the panel to starting to take out the largest bits of the unfortunate bird (which end up on the bar top temporarily), to examining what is left of the systems once they are cleaned out. Her tone is calm, but still somewhat cheerful, though not to the extent of being sugary.
She spares Hot Rod a glance, not because she doesn't feel he is worth attention but because she's already occupied. But that brief glance has a smile, so that's a good thing, right? "How are you?" she asks Hot Rod, even though she's turned back to the task at hand.
Thundercracker watches as the ground mech come up and comment. "Yea doesn't feel so hot I can tell you that. Rougher on the bird though." he listens to the blow by blow from the medic and glances at the bits shes pulling out and putting on the counter. He doesn't like the fact that was inside him. It's evident by his appearance in lou of this damage that he keeps himself pristine, he has the shanix too but hes not exactly as high caste as some might think. Today seems to be a day for atypical appearances perhaps.
Thundercracker watches her and then suddenly with a move she made he grabs the energex and takes a bit swallow. Instantly the taste of it makes him forget the sensor she fired off as she works. "What..*gag* the (wheeze) slag is (kaff) this?!"
"Uhm." Hot Rod pauses at her question. It seems like an easy one. How are you. But he shakes his head and manages an at-best bemused smile before saying, "Eh, you know. So did you ever get things set up at that clinic?" he asks, taking a seat nearby and watching with unabashed curiosity as she pulls bits and pieces out of Thundercracker. He glances up at the reaction the Seeker has to the drink and pulls up a very good offended look. "What? It's a local brew! There are some things you don't insult, mech."
Thundercracker says hoarsly, "Well I just insulted this..."
Panacea is startled, but recovers quickly. "You'd have to ask the bar tender about that; I'm just a medic. Although," and she smiles slightly, "I could always take it home for analysis." When the mech settles a bit more, she finishes up the last little bit and then puts the panel back in proper place with a pat. "Hopefully that feels a lot better."
She looks over at Hot Rod and raises her optic ridges as he calls down Thundercracker for insulting the 'local brew'. But she doesn't get into that. Instead she answers his question, "I had it set up, but I'm moving locations again."
Thundercracker looks at the bits on the counter and then at his leg. He fires up the turbo fan and some little bits and a few drops of bird fluid fling out. It sounds better than it did in his near crash landing into the bar. "That will get me back in the air and to a proper repair. Thank you." he says and in no way meant to insult the work she did. She could tell by the tone of his voice.
"Yeah? Where you moving?" Hot Rod asks, all friendly, eager curiosity. "Don't tell me you're hitting Nyon. Are you? That'd be awesome." He pushes his empty drink closer to the bartender, who continues to ignore him. There can only be one reason, obviously: Thundercracker.
"He doesn't mean it," Hot Rod reassures the bartender, who is scarcely paying attention to them except to be annoyed at the mess appearing on the bar's surface. "Look, you're probably used to -- I don't know. Vos ... things," he says very vaguely, "but this is Nyon. Just in case you missed that." He gestures around the bar, which is about as far from Vos's glittering heights as it is possible to get. "And we've got Nyon things here. Nyon drinks. Maybe it's not fancy, but it's /good/. You want /fancy/, you go to /Iacon/, Senators and all their engex fountains." That sounds cool, right? NO. THAT SOUNDS AWFUL. Hot Rod's voice drips with scorn.
Thundercracker takes in what the bright colored racer says and takes another sip of his energex. A nice slow one this time. Its not that bad but yea its not what hes used to for sure. "Alright, its ok. That first swig though is a shocker -- and slag the senate." Yes he said that out loud. Thundercracker sometimes isn't the brightest flier out there.
"I would have been much more thorough in an actual medical facility," Panacea says with a little shrug. "As it is, I just had my most basic tools that I always carry with me." She's not offended; she knows what her level of skill is. Doing a quick repair in a bar isn't really her strong suit.
"Sorry for using your counter space," she says to the 'tender, leaving an extra tip there amongst the junk. "If I ask nicely can you dispose of this please?" Then she turns to Hot Rod. "I'm afraid not. I'm actually going to go work for Blurr." She doesn't know about what happened between the two mechs, so she doesn't realize she's broaching a potential sore spot. "Things got a bit complicated," she adds, half apologetically, as an afterthought.
Hot Rod's face falls. His shoulders fall. His everything falls. (It's a good thing he already set his drink down in hopes of a refill.) He says, "You're /what/."
The bartender glares at the femme. "Oh flash those pretty optics and toss a shanix and that makes this ok?" he motions to the dead birdbot bits all over his counter. Then he snatches Hot Rod's glass and refills it. As he sets the glass down to the mech he glares at the Seeker. "Good you come around to the energex." his tone is a bit threatening but he says nothing more as he starts shoving the dead birdbot into a container.
Panacea sighs. "As I said, things got complicated," she reiterates. "I'm not entirely sure I had a choice, but I didn't want to press the point," she says, leaning towards Hot Rod and lowering her voice. Then she peers at the bartender and sighs. "It was the most handy surface and I didn't do it to inconvenience you. Still, that's exactly what I did, and I'm sorry." She doesn't have a lot of money, no, but she also thinks words are cheap, so it's easy enough to apologize without really meaning it if you don't back it up with some sort of action.
"That means you're working for the Senate. That means you are working for some of the /worst people/ in the /system/," Hot Rod says, full of fire and heat. "Blurr did this." He gestures at his side where paint has peeled away from half-healed welds. "He shot me because I was trying to find out what was going on in the tunnels under Nyon. Someone put bombs down there, bombs that /anyone/ could run into, and he didn't want me finding out about it. And you're working for that? Why!" He is too busy being outraged to care about his drink.
Thundercracker forgets the slight snub from the bartender as he gets a sudden front row seat to a complicated situation that has just gotten worse. He isn't sure what to say so he says nothing. He just looks from one to the other and then glances around to see if anyone else in the bar is taking note of this conversation.
"One, I certainly didn't know about any of that," Panacea says, holding up one fingers. "Two, as far as I can tell, the races are not part of the government." A second finger is added. "Third, I have been given an offer to increase my medical horizons, which means I will be able to help even more people. I'll be able to save up my money from the bigger pay scale and be able to get more parts that people need." Then she sighs. "Blurr has some serious issues; he passed out right in my home when he came to deliver some news." Flicker of pain in her optics. "So I had to fix him up, even though he told me I should never do that."
"Well. Now you do." Hot Rod leans back and glances across the bar as well. They don't draw as much attention as they might. People generally keep their heads down. They live longer that way. To think that no one is paying attention, however, would be a mistake. "Blurr works for the Senate. And the IAA. It's some fragged up mess, and there are scrapheads in the IAA who've made a /ruin/ of his memories and processor. I'm not surprised he passed out. But to think you're not getting involved in that would be naive at best."
Thundercracker takes a chance an comments, "I gather neither of you care for the path this plants slag bent on destroying itself with. And I gather there are those of you aiming to do something about it?"
Panacea tilts her head to the side. "Maybe now isn't the /best/ time to talk about this," she says. They're in a bar after all, populated by, you know, people.
The medic turns towards Thundercracker. "What I care about is fixing people. It's my job and I take it very seriously. Beyond that I don't have many aspirations." She shrugs her shoulders. "Though I do agree that the system needs to be fixed, but I fix bodies, not governments."
The bar is populated by the people of NYON. Hot Rod looks stubborn. His people. Totally fine. "Now's a great time," he disagrees. "What all are you doing for a /bigger pay scale/?" He glances over at Thundercracker and fiercely insists, "I'm not /aiming/ to do something about it. I /am/ doing something. The people of this city have been ground down and bled dry by the Senate. We're helping people get on their feet and stay on their feet, no matter how hard the Senate wants to knock them over."
Thundercracker listens to both of them and says, "There are more and more people tired of what the Senate has done, and is doing, to all of us and there is a growing movement in Kaon regarding it. Have either of you heard of this movement? Have either of you seen the underground disks of this group of mechs?"
"As far as I can tell, I'm just considered 'trustworthy' enough to work on Blurr as well as being in a position to learn more techniques," Panacea says to Hot Rod. As for the bar being full of HIS people, well, unless Panacea knows them all by name, she'd much rather err on the side of prudence.
She gives Thundercracker a long look. "I worked briefly in Kaon so I'd heard a few things." She shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not a fighter and I'm not keen on watching people fight for sport," she adds, referring to the disks.
Hot Rod nods, with a sense of, if not /approval/ for, then at least interest in this pointedly unnamed Kaon movement. "I've heard a lot about what they want to tear down, but not a whole lot about what they want to build up. I don't know." He gives Panacea a skeptical glance. "You're getting yourself involved with some bad stuff. Just be careful. Remember what I said about people messing with Blurr's processor though, would you? If you can help him -- I'm not sure he's ever really had the chance to do /anything/ without someone pushing him one way or pulling another."
"The plan to build it back up is simply to abolish the caste society and the functionism as well. Where everyone is equal under one single ruling body." Thundercracker explains to the racer with a bit of enthusiasm to his voice.
Expression softening, Panacea moves to put a hand on Hot Rod's shoulder if he'll allow it. "Listen, Hot Rod, you're a good mech, and not everyone's spark can burn so brightly," she says sincerely. "Some of us just don't have the strength or means to take the high road." She smiles faintly. "I already suspected something wasn't quite right," she adds, lowering her voice again. She's not a mind reader, she doesn't know of the implicit faith Hot Rod has in his town mates. "But I had already learned something that put me at risk by merely fixing Blurr. And now I have to deal with those consequences."
"Well, good luck with that," Panacea says to Thundercracker. No, she's not being sarcastic. Her face grows sad. "The mechs I worked with, well, they would be cheering the dissidents on. Most likely a lot of them would have joined." Yes, she's deliberately speaking in the past tense.
"Well, /that's/ a start." Hot Rod's approval of caste- and function-free society can't be feigned. Panacea draws his attention with the touch on his shoulder, and he regards with a faint smile. "Yeah, well -- I did /mostly/ stop arguing with you and told you to be careful. From what I've seen, you don't seem like the type to be won over just by the shanix, but. There's still a lot going on. You might not like what you find." His gaze narrows a moment, speculative. "If you do ever run across something -- something bad. Something that needs to be put to an end. People in trouble. Let me know. We'll help. Or if you get too deep, need help getting out -- you'll have that, too. A friend of mine ended up getting pulled into the Institute that was all over the news a while back. She had big ideas, wanted to help. She ended up getting held captive. It could happen to you."
Thundercracker can tell these two have been through a lot in this building rebellion. He just nods at the femmes wish of luck and then looks at Hot Rod when hes is done. "Sounds like all the more reason for Megatron to band us all together and destroy the senate.
"The shanix are just something I can use later; it wasn't the primary motivator. I didn't move to Kaon for that brief time because I thought it was a path to wealth," Panacea says with a snort. "I did it because I thought that's where people needed help and because it was a mining community." She sighs deeply. "Thank you for the offer; I will keep it in mind. But if I can learn something useful, something that will help me save lives, I will consider it worth the risk." No, she didn't really WANT to join with the IAA, but she also didn't want to end up dead in an alley way either.
She hasn't had any personal involvement with the rebellion. She just fixes people and occasionally airs her opinions. Just the other cycle she was telling Blurr how stupid the government is about some things, so maybe her spark is in the right place after all, even if her head is not.
"I know a couple of others in Nyon who've already left for Kaon because of what they've heard," Hot Rod tells Thundercracker. He tips his thumb over his shoulder and past his spoiler to the milling of workers in the bar. "But there's a lot of people here who just can't afford to drop everything, you know? Where are you guys even getting your energon? The logistics of it all has been a real pain in my processor -- or, well, probably Nautica's processor," he admits, "since I'm always asking her about it. But you know. It's /complicated/." No one ever told him it was going to be hard. He gives Panacea a brief nod, reaffirming his over, but doesn't push the subject.
Thundercracker shrugs, "I dont deal with energon gathering to be honest. Well I havent yet at least so I really dont know." And he doesnt either. He looks back out around the bar. "I hope more decide to go to Kaon and at least listen to what Megatron has to say."
"There's something to be said about staying in the various towns. If they all became empty at once, I doubt Kaon could hold and support them all," muses Panacea. "But energon does make the world go 'round, so I'm guessing it has to come from somewhere." She smiles faintly. "Megatron was a miner, wasn't he? Surely he'd know about such things then. Probably more than any Senator does personally."
"/I/ hope enough stay to help Nyon." Hot Rod gives Thundercracker an easy grin. "No offense to Kaon. I don't want to see Nyon left hollow, though, you know? This used to be a great place. There's history here that goes back all the way to the Knights of Cybertron." He speaks with boyish enthusiasm, which is appropriate, given that he speaks of legend and myth. Bedtime stories. AWESOME STORIES. He makes a noise of vague disagreement to Panacea's last. "Senate knows plenty about energon, and about extracting it and all the shanix they can from the people working for them."
"What do you know about the knights of cybertron?" Thunercracker asks curious about the legend.
"I meant personally, as in, they've never had to do anything with their own hands or machinery to get that energon," Panacea says, clarifying her statement. "Not like a miner would. Have you ever been IN a mine, Hot Rod?" she asks. As for old legends, well, she doesn't have much to say on that matter.
"Oh, mech, let me /tell/ you--" Hot Rod warms to the topic of the knights fairly predictably, but before he can really get started, Panacea interrupts the thought. "What? Yeah, sure. I used to work a circuit between the mines and the docks before the Clampdown. I'm sure you're right, that he knows more about how it actually happens. More than me, I'll admit. Area around Nyon is pretty tapped out, though. Like I said: there's history here, which means the mines have been, uh, mined."
Thundercracker flicks a wing."The knights?" he urges trying to get the mech back on topic.
Panacea looks like she's about to say more, but Thundercracker really seems intent on hearing the old tales, so she hushes up for now. Turning to the bar she orders a couple of drinks, one for each mech. Might as well be comfy while having a conversation, yes?
The bartender puts down the ordered drinks. Finally its gone from loitering to spending some shanix.
"/Well/," says Hot Rod, and then pauses a moment to savor the sensation of being the center of attention. He straightens. He rolls back his shoulders, spoiler perky. Yes, everyone listen to him. "The Knights of Cybertron left long ago with their ships, living cities called Metrotitans. They existed during a golden age--." Blah, blah, cyberutopias, blah blah. Hot Rod describes a Cybertron that is far removed from their own, a paradise filled with immortal, wise beings who left only to spread enlightenment through space. "--and there's totally places just like you hear about in the stories in Nyon!" he finishes in a warm glow of enthusiasm.
Thundercracker listens completely engrossed in everything Hot Rod describe about the knights, "Wow, Ive never heard of them." he says finally. "Does anyone know if they are coming back?"
"If these beings were so wise, how did we end up the way we are now?" Panacea wants to know. "They should have left some of them behind because we could sure use some wisdom, or even some common sense, around here." She folds her arms across her chest. She doesn't fully believe, but she won't discount it as pure fantasy either.
Thundercracker looks at Panacea and vents some air out of his chest fans, "WE ended up this way because they all left, thats why." he looks back at Hot Rod waiting for his him to answer his question.
"Well, they left." Hot Rod twists his glass, which he's totally been sipping from this whole time, because he is way too poor to pass down a drink. "We ended up this way because we're -- us. And this isn't the first time we've gone through something like this, either, I guess. We've done it before. Had an uprising. Only nothing really got all that changed in the end. I've never really heard anything about when they'll come back. But I don't think they'd be very pleased if they did."
"That's just what I mean. If they were so wise why didn't they KNOW that we'd need them here all along?" Panacea persists.
Thundercracker gives the femme a deadpan look. "What? That doesnt make sense. What does wisdom have to do with being able to see into the future?" Thundercracker pauses a beat and adds, "No one can accurately predict the future and Im willing to bet not even these Knights of Cybertron could either."
"Maybe they thought we were better," Hot Rod says, looking a little annoyed. omg how dare panacea question the ~super great~ knights of cybertron~~ "Maybe they made a mistake. I don't know." He looks down at his glass, now empty, and then back up at her with a quick smile that he turns on Thundercracker as well. "I guess what I get out of it is that things used to be better. And we can make them better again, if we try."
"You don't have to /see/ into the future to make an educated guess that people with built in weapons are going to cause trouble for each other," Panacea retorts to Thundercracker. "Someone loses a temper and suddenly," she slaps a hand on the counter, "BAM! Someone has a hole in them and I have to patch it up."
"Fair enough," she says to Hot Rod. Flicking a glance at his empty drink, she wonders how safe it is to get him another. "Whether they're real or just a story, if it gives you something to believe in, that's good enough for me. Either way, I'm sure it's very true that things were once much better, and that does give people hope."
Thundercracker's optics flare a bot as she slams the bar top. "You cant control these things. And if it annoys you so much why did you become a repar tech?" he looks at Hot Rod, "So we have no idea if this legend is true or not? That sucks lead. Now I want to research and find out if its true or not."
Well, racers do burn through fuel, and Hot Rod definitely has a racer's frame, but look at what he usually drinks: watered down, poor quality, and scarce. That just says lightweight all over. "I didn't used to have weapons," he says, looking grieved as she slaps her hand on the counter. "I didn't used to need it. Maybe we'll come to a point again when no one needs it. Now /that'd/ be a golden age." Giving Thundercracker a serious look, he says, "There's stuff there. Legends going back to when Nyon was still thriving. You'll see." Because legends are proof, right?
"It annoys me because there's a difference between repairing someone who has been in a mining accident and repairing someone because another mech can't hold his temper," Panacea states. She didn't slam the counter in anger; she just wanted the sound effect to make a point. "I have no problems fixing people; I like to do it. But sometimes the reasons why they get hurt are irritating."
Panacea shrugs and orders Hot Rod a second drink. He doesn't seem to be at the slurred speech, wobbly legs stage yet. Then again, he's not standing. "At what point did you decide you needed weapons?" she asks, curiously.
Thundercracker takes another sip of his energex, still the first one, and listens.
"That goes back to Blurr, actually." Hot Rod watches the second order go in and looks at Panacea with an expression of muted surprise before giving her a quick smile. "Hey, thanks. Shanix has to be good for something, right?"
Hot Rod hesitates before diving in to this story, then says, "He's been messed up for a long, long -- /long/ time. Feint and I actually took him to Kaon, pretty early on, not long after I met him, hoping that Senator Shockwave could help him. But he wouldn't, not without making -- well, making a deal none of us wanted to make. And some of Blurr's handlers came and found us and demanded he come back with them. I almost lost my arm, nearly bled out because I wanted Blurr to have the chance to make his own choices. Couldn't really defend myself. Couldn't defend Blurr. Couldn't do anything. If I want to help people -- I have to be able to help myself."
Panacea nods her head. "You seemed to be pretty upset earlier," is all she says about the extra drink. She listens to the rest of the tale with a somber expression. "That must have been really hard for you," she says. "And sometimes part of helping yourself is making sure you're safe between times of helping others, yes?" She leans back a little in her seat and gives Hot Rod a long look over, her optics eventually settling on the part of him that was most recently patched up, which she examines with a critical medic's eye.
Thundercracker finishes his drink and promises himself hes never going to drink anything like that again. Though it wasn't that bad once he got used to it, but still. He sets his glass down and stands from his barstool. "Why don't you come down to Kaon and talk to Megatron. Maybe he can help you help here and you help him and everyone's happy." he takes a ginger step on his right leg. It feels better then it did when he first came in and will get him back to VOS for more repairs.
For all that the work was done with a skilled hand, it's pretty obvious that whoever it was worked with the kind of minimal supplies you might expect from a clinic in Nyon. They did their best, but -- well, it'll heal pretty /eventually/. And the paint will be touched up even /more eventually/.
Hot Rod watches as Thundercracker stands. Oblivious to just how /bad/ the drinks are compared to anything good, he asks with obvious local pride, "Pretty good, right, after that first kick?" with a nod at the empty glass. (No, Hot Rod. It's not good. Poor kid.) "I'll think about it," he promises.
Rueful when he glances to Panacea, Hot Rod nods. "That's what I learned, yeah. It was rough, but -- hey, anything you walk away from, right?"
Panacea might not win any awards for it, but she's a good medic, and not lazy. "Is everything satisfactory, all things considered?" she asks as Thundercracker stands on his leg. Then she looks over to Hot Rod to see what he has to say about Thundercracker's invitation.
"Only makes you stronger," finishes Panacea. "That might work for a person's convictions, but as a medic, I can tell you it's not the same for the body," she says. "If that doesn't heal up properly, or fast enough for you, come see me and I'll see what I can do," she offers, referring to his patched up side of course. She gives him a half conspiratorial look, "If I'm getting so much more money being paid to treat pampered racers, then I'm in a much better position to fix others too at far less."
Thundercracker cant really deny that it wasn't /that/ bad after the frist drink. "It wasn't bad." he smiles a bit and then nods. "Well hopefully I will see you --" he looks at the femme, "And you too, in Kaon soon." he turns and walks out of the place and the shortly after the door shuts twin turbine jet motors fire up and in a burst of sound, the blue Seeker is gone.
"You're wasted on the racers," Hot Rod tells Panacea with warm approval. He's getting a little slouchy in his seat, losing the edges and relaxing under the influence of his drink...s. "There are a lot of people in need, though, especially if you're going to be offering help to anyone who crashes into a -- whatever." He points out the door after Thundercracker, then gives her a smile again. "Not that I'm telling you to stop. Just be careful. The IAA is no joke."
"It's not," Panacea says. That's the last one for now, but surely if she's this generous there will be other free drinks, yes? "I'm not a medic for the money; I take money because I need some of it to support myself. Parts and energon aren't free. But I'm also not going to turn someone away who really needs it, whether they're a rich fancy racer or just some poor mech or femme who got into a bad scrape," she explains. "Whatever the IAA is, or is not, they're not poor. If I can live as minimally as I did before that means I have more resources to help people with."
"Do you know Ratchet?" asks Hot Rod, because /obviously/ all medics know each other. "He's got kind of the same attitude, I guess. He works for the Senate, too. And he has a clinic in the Dead End. He's a good mech. So what you're doing -- I know it can be done. I know it has to be done," he says with a grimace. "Without that kind of generosity ... well, we'd have a lot more people dying every day in Nyon."
Panacea shakes her head. "I heard him mentioned before, but I've never met him personally," she says. "Before the mine shut down, I didn't get out much. Maybe I should speak to him some time. Perhaps we could work out a better way of getting people the help they need when they need it without taking an arm or a leg in payment." Sometimes literally; it's the risk of being a mechanical race. "From the sounds of things there is going to be a lot more injured before things settle again. Everywhere you go people are saying war is coming."
Hot Rod looks briefly -- extremely briefly -- thoughtful. "Something has to change. And as long as the people in power won't change through anything less than war--." He breaks off and leans back. "I don't want it to have to come to that. I mean -- that guy," he says, pointing over his shoulder after Thundercracker. "The Decepticons. They've got some good ideas, don't get me wrong. But I just don't know. What do you think? You say everyone else is saying war is coming. What do you think?"
"Oh, I think it's coming because people won't listen to reason. If the people in charge weren't so greedy then the rest of the people wouldn't feel like sticking a blaster in their collective faces," Panacea states. "As far as I'm concerned we're trying to fix a flawed system with a flawed method, so Primus knows how that is going to turn out." She sits on that for a few moments. "Still, something /does/ have to be done. If only someone had the skill and power to make them see reason without force." She sighs; it's a dream that will not come true.
"Ha." Hot Rod's first, harsh burst of laughter gentles into easier disbelief. "Yeah, that's not going to happen, is it." He glances back across the bar with a quick flick of his fingers and says, "How many of these people do you think are ready for it? Not enough. Under-fueled, under-trained. The Senate's not going down without a lot more good people going down first, is it."
Panacea isn't offended by the laughter. "Do you ever wonder if, we'd been born a few million years earlier we might have been in a better position to do something before it got this bad? Or do you think it was inevitable?" she asks the idealistic mech with the spark as bright as the flames painted across his chest.
"Saying it was inevitable is like saying we can't do any better. Or that we couldn't make a difference. No, no way." Hot Rod's answer /is/ inevitable, on the other hand. His words are fierce and vibrant with conviction. "We weren't there then, but we're here, now. This time, it /will/ be different. Maybe they tear everything down, maybe it all ends up in war -- but we rebuild something better, where people are actually free."
Panacea smiles faintly; the mech's hot idealism is rather refreshing. She only hopes that this fire of spirit will last, though she's afraid it won't. "We'll just have to see, now won't we?" she muses. "I'm going to do my best to make sure as many people live through this as possible."
Hot Rod's idealism will last forever. It's already survived being shot by a friend, having another friend turn on him, a /different/ friend kidnapped and wiped -- let's be real, how much worse can it get?
(The answer is so, so much worse.)
"Good. As long as you make sure you're one of them. You can't help anyone if anything happens," Hot Rod points out. He gives her a measuring look and asks, "If it comes down to trouble, can you take care of yourself? If the stuff at the IAA turned -- /could/ you get away?"
Panacea considers this. "Well, I've never really had to run for my life, so to speak, so I don't know." She shrugs her shoulders. "But I don't really believe that people threaten each other for kicks; usually there's a reason. I'll just have to not give anyone a reason." She smiles faintly. She's probably got a steadier head than Hot Rod, but that isn't hard.
Hot Rod slaps his hand on the counter to emphasize his point as he says, "Nope! Not good enough. You need to learn. What was it you said just earlier? You've got to make sure you're safe between taking care of others. /Especially/ there. And -- you know, Nyon's got a lot going for it, but it's not exactly the safest place," he admits with some regret. "Anywhere you're going to help the desperate, you're going to run into the /desperate/."
Panacea isn't too terribly startled; after all, she did the same thing not too long ago. "I suppose there's a point to that," she muses. "On the other hand, there are ways of taking care of people that don't involve burning them or shooting a hole through them," she says. And she says it with such assurance too.
"Sure," Hot Rod agrees. "Chromia fights with this big stick--" He gestures, waving vaguely down at the ground and then stretching his other hand up over his head. "--and /whacks/. I'm pretty sure she thinks it's funny. Dent in the helm will slow anyone down. Maybe something like that?"
Panacea is thinking of something else ENTIRELY but doesn't say too much about it. "Maybe. Or something that could stun people without tearing holes into them. I don't need to hammer the pain into people until they're a pile of slag; I just need enough to get away," she says patiently. She doesn't know much about weapons, but something like that should exist, right?
Well, Hot Rod's got some recent, /first hand experience/ with such weapons thanks to his BUDDY out there. "Well," he says, pausing a moment. "Actually, if you're working with Blurr -- /he/ had something like that. After he shot me the first time, he shot me again with something else that just put me straight into stasis lock. You could probably ask for one for self-defense or something. Maybe."
Panacea winces slightly, not wanting to have brought up that incident. Especially since having to work with Blurr she'll have to make sure she doesn't give into the impulse to have a long CHAT with him. "Maybe," she agrees softly. "I'll have to feel my way through that."
It's hard to avoid. In addition to the scars freshly welded on his side, it's awful fresh in Hot Rod's thoughts. "Good." He goes silent a moment, then pushes back from the bar. "Remember what I said though, okay? And make sure to practice, if you do get one, so that you hit what you need to if it comes to it. I better get going, though. Stay safe."
"You too Hot Rod, you too," Panacea says. "And I hope you have some better cycles coming your way."
"Me too." Hot Rod smiles despite himself, a little rueful. "But then, I could say that for all of us, huh?" With a last wave, he heads for the door. Despite the drinks, his step is steady. More or less.