Grumpystruts

++ Rodion ++

        The Deltaran Medical Facility is always bustling with activity, especially given its location near the Dead End, and with tensions rising everywhere. Someone somewhere is always getting beaten up, especially in the Dead End, and of course you can't forget the riots going on in Kaon. Drones hover through the corridors, doing most of the grunt work, while technicians and doctors handle surgey and other more delicate tasks.

        And it's not looking as if the workload is going to be letting up any time soon, if the Autobot forces that have been amassing outside of Kaon recently are any indication.

        Among Deltaran's finest is Pharma. As a medic and surgeon he is rather well known for his skills. Skills such as four-way fuel pump tranplants. He's yet to attempt a six-way. At the moment he's just returning from some other business outside the medical facility, his face absorbed in a datapad full of new research. He looks quite excited about ...something.

        Kup makes his way through Rodion, muttering darkly about Femmes sticking their nose into business they shouldn't. He finally enters the medical facility, and glares around, "Slaggit, Elita.. ordering me to.."" He growls as he looks around to find who he should talk to about getting his shoulder rotater examined.

         In his long stellar cycles before the recent rioting by a troublesome group known only as the Decepticons, Ratchet had never been this busy. Every klik it seemed as if he had a new patient that needed repairing. In and out, in and out, it was always the same thing. But he loved it and he loved his job at the Deltaran Medical Facility. Though it wasn't as structured as his training days in the Iacon Science Academy with Orion Pax, he enjoyed how much of an impact he had on mechs' lives.

         This solar cycle was like any other, though they had reached the slow period where not many patients passed through. In this lull, the medic decided to enjoy a cube of energon as he walked through the halls reading his own datapad. He waved to Pharma on the way and nearly crashed into Kup who had just entered the facility. Energon splashed onto the old mech's face and Ratchet gaped at him.

         "Uh ... welcome to Deltaran. You ... need a fixup?" He paused. "We'll throw in a wash for free."

Inside the facility stands a rather large, blue, boxy mech with a faceplate and an almost inscrutable visor. He just stands there, silently, clutching an arm. Soundwave is injured. It's not a large cut, but he spends a lot of time on the streets... and it appears he's found himself on the wrong end of some of those tensions ...or maybe even a riot? If he has, he doesn't seem too upset about it. In fact he's a bit hard to read at all. There is no badge on him... he seems to simply be some poor neutral caught up in the tensions.

 The silent mech's gaze takes everything in... he seems to notice every cry, every rustling of bandages, every footstep. He turns to watch as Kup enters the building, then glances towards the door just as Pharma draws near... but that's probably coincidence, right? His gaze turns to observe the near-crash of Ratchet and Kup, but again... nothing said. Not much reaction.

        Kup reaches up with one hand to remove his cy-gar, and uses the other to wipe the energon that splashed on him off then taps the cy-gar at Ratchet, knocking off.. something.. from it towards the medic, "Would I be /here/ if I did not need something checked, kid?" He glares at Ratchet for a long moment then puts the cy-gar back in his mouth and huffs on it, "I was ordered to come here to get my shoulder rotater looked at."

        Pharma waves back to his colleague, grinning. "Hey, soon as you get a breem, I want to show you something, alright?" He waves the datapad he's holding. Then Kup walks in and grouses. "Oh, uh...yeah could you take care of him, Ratchet?" He glances at the quiet one with a cut. "I'll see to the other guy."

        He strides over to Soundwave. "Welcome to Deltaran. Got yourself into a tussle, eh?" he comments casually.

         Ratchet watched as what he presumed to be metal ashes fall towards the floor but land on his foot instead. He shook it off before meeting Kup's gaze again. Why did he have to get all of the grouchy patients? First it was that crazed booster addict, /Drift/ and now another addict with some shoulder trouble. He loved helping bots, but they never seemed to appreciate it. Hmph, ungrateful mechs.

         "... No, I guess you wouldn't," he replied with a little frown. Did Kup just call him /kid/? "Right this way," he added before starting down the hallway to an open room. "What's bothering you about it? Is it seizing up? Does it just hurt? Is it acting on its own...?" He could go on and on about the potential problems with a simple rotator cuff.

Soundwave watches as Pharma approaches him. "Correction. I was hit by a rioter's stray gunshot. They ran off shortly after." He looks down to his wound, then back to the 'Bot. "I was told that there are some highly skilled medics here." His demeanor remains fairly quiet and impassive, though he seems attuned his environment. Any time someone shows strong emotion... a crying patient, Kup's (and Ratchet's) grumpiness, he glances over briefly.

        "You've got that right." Pharma smirks, then shrugs at Soundwave. "Stray gunshot, tussle, whatever. You're in the right place. You got any ID on you, while I check for an empty circuit slab?" The doctor asks, as he begins some diagnostic scans to assess the damage first.

        "So, you from Kaon then?" It was the obvious assumption, with the mention of rioting.

        Kup follows along, glancing briefly in Pharma's direction before he looks back towards Ratchet, "At least if I am required to get it checked out, I at least got the medic who looks like he at least seems competent.." Another flick of ash, as he pulls the cy-gar away, "Right shoulder, has a kink in it, and locks up at random times, then just lose any strength to it at others.... Pain? Don't know, I just ignore pains and pains in the afts."

         Ratchet whistled lowly at Kup's insult towards Pharma. That was rude, though he was glad the old mech didn't think of /him/ that way. It made him feel proud. Still, he brought up a defense in Pharma's name.

         "Pharma is one of the most decorated medics in the Deltaran Medical Facility," he assured the old mech. "As am I."

         They arrived at the room and Ratchet opened the door for Kup before stepping in himself. "It sounds like you may have something stuck in the gears or a frayed wire," he commented and took out his scanner to run a diagnostic. "Yep, frayed wire and damaged circuit, it looks like. You could ... also use a lubricant."

         How old was this mech? He was such a /rustbucket/. Ratchet would need an entire can of oil to get those gears functioning again...

Soundwave nods. "Unfortunately." He brings an ID out of subspace, and it seems he is an office clerk for a government branch inside the troubled polity. He complies with Pharma's scans, lifting his arm to assist while watching the medic do his job. "Kaon is very... chaotic right now. People suffer. Emotions are... high. Strident. It is difficult sometimes to work and function, but we all have our jobs to do."

        A frown on Kup's face.. well.. a more serious one then the typical one he uses, "Hmm... guess that raider did get a hit in.. huh, didn't feel it though." He turns his head to watch as best as he can after he sits down to let him work, "Hmm.. didn't do him any good.. fought tougher opponents on Lerian IV.. THOSE raiders knew how to fight, they still lost, but they knew how to thrown down."

Kup /starts/ to go into details.. but bites it off quickly as he remembers that part of his orders from Elita was to get examined.. and /BE QUIET/.

Pharma nods, filing away the data from the damage assessment. "Mm. Not too bad, mostly a surface wound. Good thing it missed your strut, could've caused some serious pain with that if it hadn't."

        He takes a quick glance at the ID, then motions for Soundwave to follow him to one of the minor repair areas, and moves into the same one Kup and Ratchet are in, since there happened to be an open circuit slab there. "Right then, if you would take a seat on that slab there."

        He moves over to a cabinet and opens it to search for the appropriate tools, glancing over at Kup and Ratchet as he does so. "So how's it going with Mr. Grumpystruts?" Yeah, he'd -heard- the jab earlier, Kup.

        Kup doesnt flinch as the wire gts mildly tugged, "Grumpystruts? That the best you got, lad? Heard worse, said worse, BEEN worse. Try agian in a few million years, ya might get promoted out of the minors... with /alot/ of work. " He shakes his head in disappointment, but his focus doent waver from watch Rachet work, "Aren't you suppoes to be working on that damage, kid, not worrying about what quack thinks of me? Ya look like you know what your doing, why don't you just prove it?"

Soundwave does as told, following Pharma and taking a place where indicated. "Affirmative. The pain has not been too harsh, but I am experiencing some unresponsiveness when I try flexing my fingers on this arm." He demonstrates, and there is indeed a certain amount of stiffness to the digits. The big blue mech looks at Ratchet and Kup as well, asking of Kup, "Inquiry. Where did you pick up those speech patterns? They are... unusual. Colorful."

         Okay, Ratchet had to admit that this old mech had a lot of sass and it was amusing. Colorful, Soundwave had said. That was a good way to describe Kup. He hid a smile that was beginning to form on his face. But when Kup started to mock his repair job, he immediately frowned. "I do know what I'm doing!" he defended fiercely. As if to prove that fact, he blocked everyone else in the room out of his mind and focused /just/ on Kup's rotating cuff. His servos and optics moved so fast, so rhythmically that it was mesmerizing, to say the least. He was almost muttering to himself, too, about what needed to be done to get the circuit back in line. He completely replaced the wiring with a new one.

        Pharma smirks at Ratchet. "Oh Ratchet, you're just too nice you know that?" He laughs. "Who says I was going for the worst, anyway?" is the reply Kup gets. The doctor picks up a welder, some needles, tubes, and another smaller welder, as well as some new wiring before moving back over to Soundwave.

        "Yeah," he answers when Soundwave describes the stiffness in his digits. "Sounds like you might have damaged some motor circuitry. But not to worry, it's an easy fix. I'm going to apply some mild anesthetic to the damaged area, all right?" He fills one of the tubes with a clear liquid, placing it in a cartridge of sorts, then inserts it into the arm near the wound where it auto-injects the drug.

        Kup grins a bit, and takes the cy-gar out for a moment, his attention moving from Ratchet, since he got the result he waned.. the medic focused on getting the wound fixed first and foremost, "Seen so many worlds, so many races, and so many cultures, Blue, as I have, you tend to pick up bits and pieces. One thing those colonists have for 'em, many of them are rugged and nasty bastards."

Soundwave nods. "I see. Continue as you see fit." He keeps assisting the medic as he can, moving his arm so Pharma can reach it and watching as he gets to work. "You are proud of your work," he says, seeming to note the medic's dedication. Must simply be an educated guess.

 Looking to Kup, "Blue" listens with interest, responding, "It is an interesting amalgamation of words. And experiences."

        "Heh, if you were me you would be too." Pharma comments, working as quickly as Ratchet is. There's a reason they're the best. It's not long before the cut has been patched up, and any damaged internal circuitry has been replaced with delicate expertise. He finishes welding the outer armor back together and nods, satisfied. "Try to keep it safe for a while until your self-repairs get through the rest of the recovery process, and you should be back in full working order. Of course, if you have any problems you'll know where to find me."

        With that, he turns to leave and head back to his office, where he'll probably finish the analysis on that new data he's got on that datapad. Maybe show Ratchet some of it, later.

         Ratchet tuned back in to what Kup was saying about all of the different worlds he explored and whatnot. It must have been exciting to go on so many adventures. The medic had only ever been on Cybertron, though he secretly dreamed of serving as a medic on a ship. Traveling through the galaxy and seeing so many places and species ... But what was he thinking? He wouldn't go out of his comfort zone for /that/. Cybertron was where he belonged and where he was the most useful.

         In a matter of minutes since he put his whole being into repairing Kup's rotating cuff, he was finished with the repairs and closed the panel on Kup's shoulder. He clapped his servos together as if rubbing off dust. "/There/," he said. "That should last you a good bit. Keep it lubricated and the gears won't freeze up." He went to the cabinets to set his tools aside and felt the ashes crunch beneath his feet. "... And next time, put that thing out before you come in here. Smoking's bad for you, you know." Hmph.

        Kup simply pulls the cy-gar out, and buffs a wall of smoke at Ratchet, then puts it back, as he rotates the shoulder slowly, "Not bad, Kid.. bit slow.. but good work." He stands up, starts to tap a bit mroe ash out but stops, "But like I told HER, you'll get me to stop smoking the day my body is cold and dead." He turns and heads for the exit, looking over his shoulder, "Send the paperwork to Elita One at the Senate! She wanted this done, SHE can deal with the work." And with that.. he leaves the building.. with one last flick of the cy-gar to leave a going away present for the nosy medic.

Soundwave nods to Pharma. "Understood." He lifts his arm, flexing it, and indeed the medic's skill is quite apparent. "You are skilled. I heard correctly about this clinic. Thank you."

 However, he hasn't come here only for the medical help... but no one else needs to know that. He simply continues to listen as he rises from the table, and take note of not only the words, but also certain feelings... even thoughts that he picks up from the others. It's all potentially useful. The big blue mech heads out the door.