Hello, Goodbye

Shiftlock didn't get any better.

Returning to Nyon after having time to grieve over Drift's turning to the dark side, she was only able to get out a few words to him before collapsing. Her exterior lights are dull and she has little strength, finding it difficult to move. She can't transform at all.

On the run from the Senate, there is no hospital she can go to without being recaptured and forced back into Ratbat's service - or worse. This leaves her only one option of hope for coming out of this alive.

Hot Rod is not taking this well.

His freakout is largely internal. Hot Rod is too focused on putting on the appearance of being confident and in control of things to let it far past the surface. He probably even tells himself that he is doing that for her sake: can't make things worse for her by seeming too worried! Have to be reassuring! But it takes only a little insight to correctly read the flat tension of his voice or the anxious energy that tries to pass itself as determined confidence.

There's really only one place with a reputation of maybe having an answer. So they have to get to the Dead End's clinic. No problem. Except that she finds it difficult to move and she can't transform. WHATEVER. He'll make it happen. He helps her walk as far as she can, then carries her the rest of the way, spending from limited funds to help get them both there. He helps her in, just one more pair in need in the Dead End.

At the moment, Ratchet was the only medic volunteering at the clinic. He needed to get away from the house now that he had two annoying roommates that /stole his berth/ and wrecked his basement. For the past few nights, he hadn't had any good recharge whatsoever. Most of his time at the clinic that wasn't spent on helping patients was spent napping. In fact, that's what he was doing at the current moment ... until the couple stepped in.

The door to the clinic rang and Ratchet popped out of his seat before jogging out to the entrance. His jaw nearly dropped seeing /Hot Rod/ of all mechs standing there. There were a few choice words that came to mind, but the look on the young mech's face and the limp form in his arms shut him up. He had to be professional now and he was worried for this new patient's fate. "What happened?" he asked, stepping up to Shiftlock and pulling out his scanner.

"It's complicated," Shiftlock says weakly. "You wouldn't happen to have any element zero injections just lying around, would you?" She asks.

The scanner shows that her -molecular structure itself- is in a state of flux; this goes beyond just mass shifting or the mechanics of a t-cog. Her internal systems have components that aren't normally found in Cybertronian biology, and some of them don't show up in standard medical texts at all. Ratchet might need to do some digging into the esoteric medical journals to have a clue what he's looking at.

The 'cockpit' spot found inside the average Cybertronian is, in Shiftlock, completely full of a liquid metal substance. Some of this liquid metal is beginning to seep out of transformation plate seams.

Despite the tension, Hot Rod looks spectacularly well-rested. No doubt it has helped him heal. Other than the paint he is totally going to get fixed any day now, really, he looks ... well, better. Not 100%, but 95%. This miraculous restoration gives him reason to greet Ratchet's appearance with open relief, despite personality clashes: "Oh, thank Primus." He glances around, then back at Ratchet. "She's kind of unique." Like that wasn't obvious.

Ratchet flashed Hot Rod a pointed look. "Oh, really? This is news to me, I mean I couldn't tell from her physical makeup, molecular fluctuation, and strange liquid in her subspace, /thank you/," he replied sarcastically. "Follow me." He lead Hot Rod to one of the rooms. "Set her down on the berth. I need to do some research." He left for a brief moment, running to the back where the mini-library was and grabbing a few datapads off of the shelf. He glanced through them quickly on his way back to the room, searching for keywords that matched the femme's medical description. "Your friend, she's a shapeshifter?" The medic turned to Shiftlock then. "Eezo? We don't have injections, but we may have some raw in the storage room. Is that what you need?"

"Mutacon, yes," Shiftlock explains as she is helped to berth. "I'm... I'm technically the property of Senator Ratbat. It was explained to me that I needed injections of element zero after I change form; I've been on the run with no medication, and I had to do a lot of morphing." Shiftlock coughs, oozing more mercury-like liquid from every seam and joint. The edges of this liquid aren't just pouring like energon. They're /moving/ and /prehensile.

"You're welcome!" Hot Rod retorts, equally sarcastic. He helps Shiftlock settle on the berth, then leans up against the wall near the head. As Ratchet researches, he reassures: "He kind of has an attitude, but he's actually really good. Only if you make him mad he'll knock you out, so I guess don't do that." He shuts up about Ratchet's virtues and vices when he returns, but he also doesn't answer the question. He glances from Ratchet to Shiftlock, deferring the answer to the shapeshifting question without any real subtlety in his dodge. "Is that really all you need?"

Ratchet felt like there was more to it because she was literally /oozing/ that strange liquid everywhere. How was he supposed to plug that up? She would never be able to move with her joints and all the seams that made up her body welded together. He could see the liquid moving towards him out of the corner of his optic and ... was that thing trying to grab him? The medic stepped back a bit. "I can refine some of the eezo we have and give you injections, but is that going to stop ... whatever that stuff is?" he asked. Perhaps he could build a better casing to keep it all contained. Did it need to be contained or just ... fed? He shuddered at the thought and glanced back down at the datapad.

"I don't know, it's never gotten this far before," Shiftlock confesses weakly. "Even if it did I wouldn't remember it. Ratbat kept having my memories wiped over and over, to make sure I couldn't compromise him whenever he sent me out on various jobs. Everything in my head is scattered, but since I've been off the ezero more and more of my memories are coming back. I'm finding forms I didn't know I -had-." The liquid mercury puddling slowly around her on the berth.

Ratchet walked to the other side of the room to grab a bucket and tossed it at Hot Rod. "Collect that, will you?" he directed. "But don't let it touch you." He stepped up to Shiftlock's side and rested a servo on her shoulder. "I'll admit that I've never operated on someone like you before, but I'm going to do my best. I'll refine some of the eezo and I'll be back soon." He looked to Hot Rod. "Let me know if anything else develops."

"It can't hurt," Hot Rod says after a moment, glancing from Shiftlock to Ratchet. "Probably." Anger carves its way into his expression and settles there, accompanied by a muted growl beneath his words. "I am so tired of people getting their memories wiped." He's startled out of the brood by the bucket tossed in his direction. He catches it, but holds it a bit 'what do' until Ratchet gives directions. "What, seriously?" He glances at Shiftlock with a helpless confusion, then says, "Okay." He holds the bucket. He is totally here on drip duty.

The liquid, once it hits the bucket, starts moving -itself- in. It's now streaming out of Shiftlock, and after a few moments she groans and slumps over onto the berth with a thud, blacking out.

"Ratchet!" Hot Rod shouts. This is how he wanted to be told 'if anything else develops', right? "Ratchet, get in here!"

The medic had barely been gone two kliks when Hot Rod started shouting for him again. He better not have been overreacting.

Ratchet rushed back down the hallway and to Shiftlock's room. He noticed her passed out on the berth and glared at Hot Rod. "What did you /do/?" he asked, though he noticed the mercury was actually voluntarily slithering into that bucket. He walked over to Hot Rod and grabbed the bucket. "What is this?" he asked, bringing out his scanner and running it over the liquid. "It's like it's alive..."

The liquid has Cybertronian life signs and more importantly, CNA. Ratchet's medical tool beeps in alarm and red text across the screen identifies the substance as being a -separate entity-, with CNA different than that of the copper and black femmebot now stasis locked on the table.

Rhythmic thumping noises are coming from Shiftlock's torso and the hood of her altmode is buckling out!

"It wasn't me. I didn't do it!" Hot Rod sounds a little panicky as Ratchet comes back in. Despite that, he doesn't let go of the bucket. He allows Ratchet to pull it for a scan, but he keeps a protective hold of it. "She just passed out! Did you get the element zero yet or not?" Then there's the thumping and the buckling out and Hot Rod just stands frozen. NOW WHAT.

Dead End, not really a place for many to be, unless you're at the end of your cycle or looking for someone. Least someone had the decency to put in a free clinic nearby. Course thats among the first place 'certain' people might go.

Ignoring the rare shouts from those that recognize him outside Lockdown looks around the lobby as he says, "Well lets see what we got here." He also ignores anyone complaining as he extinguishes a cy-gar on the front desk.

Ratchet is admittedly starting to panic internally now. He knows nothing about Mutacons, but it seems that Shiftlock's body is reacting negatively now that the liquid mercury is nearly gone. "We need to get it back inside of her," he says before opening her chassis. He looks to Hot Rod. "Try to contain it inside of her while I run and get the eezo."

The thumping is worse, and at last something punches a rounded hole right out of Shiftlock's torso; it's as if she were shot with small cannon balls from inside. The liquid mercury is streaming out pseudopods from the hole, pressing against the metal to widen it. Briefly the glimmer of not one, but -two- lights can be seen inside the hole.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Hot Rod is starting to look skeptical of Ratchet's medical expertise. Clearly Ratchet should be able to deal with near-legendary patients with no problem!! It's just a shifter! Then there's punching and more liquid and Hot Rod is going, "Ratchet!" again. He is going to be so tired of his name. "/I'll/ get the whatever. /You/ ... fix her. Where is it?" (Whatever is going on back in the clinic sure sounds exciting.)

Ratchet groaned as he made it halfway down the hallway before Hot Rod screamed for him again. He darted back, catching a figure in the lobby out of the corner of his optic, but not recognizing him at first. "I'll be with you in a moment!" he shouted before slipping back into Shiftlock's room. "Go down the hall and it's the last door on your left. You have to finish refining it first. Can you do that?" He stared at Hot Rod for a moment. Of course he couldn't. "Nevermind, there are directions in the room next to the machine. NOW GO," he commanded before stepping up to the liquid. "Alright," he said, cracking his knuckles and neck. "You're just metal," he told the mercury, magnets protruding from his forearms. "I'll contain you whether you like it or not." And he started gathering it all from the bucket into a spherical magnetic field.

Lockdown sets his optics on the receptionists saying, "I'm looking for a couple mechs that may have wandered this way. Though whether you would do anything for either of them is a question in itself." Pulling out a datapad he projects a pair of holograms, one of Blast Off, the other Drift. Setting on the desk he adds, "There may be others but that depends on how well this goes."

At the possible commotion he does raise an optic ridge saying, "What the slag is going on?"

As the magnetic field begins to pull on the metalloid, it does something very distinct and disturbing:

It /screams/.

Yep. Hot Rod can follow directions. He looks like just the kind of mech who can follow a step-by-step process. He's definitely not the kind of guy to take a look at a thing and try to intuit a faster way to do it. Absolutely not. TOO LATE FOR SECOND GUESSES: he heads down the hallway, following Ratchet's direction, with a last look over his shoulder. He catches a glimpse of Lockdown in passing, but it's the holograms he's holding that draw a longer look. "Who are you?" he demands. Then there's screaming. That element zero is never going to get refined. He dashes right back in. "What did you do?"

The bounty hunter frowns as Hot Rod starts to demand ID then runs off at the scream. Lockdown ignores the receptionist as he makes his way towards the sound muttering to himself, "What in the pit is going on around here?"

"I'M JUST TRYING TO CONTAIN IT," Ratchet shouted. Surely he couldn't be injuring it. Did it even have pain receptors? A nervous system of any sort? For now, he drops it back into the bucket, ready to tear his wires out. "This was never covered in my training!" he added. He had no idea what to do, but they needed that eezo. It may be their only hope. "Forget about what's going on here, kid! Grab the eezo and hurry!"

Shiftlock's frame is rattling and trembling as the mercury-creature struggles to get out. Part of it finally squeezes out of the hole with a sickening whine of bending metal, and what appears to be curved, fluid-like spark casing exits Shift's body! The spark within it is a brilliant lime green. It's attached to something else inside Shiftlock and it's struggling to get out.

^Let ... me... OUT!^ The voice sounds like water running over a rusty grate. It's definitely not Shiftlock's.

It takes obvious effort for Hot Rod to walk back out again, but he does. Eezo. Okay. He can do this. HE CAN. He even ignores Lockdown in his focus. Clearly he deserves a medal.

Ratchet jumped at the sound of the voice. This was definitely /not/ something he learned during training. What the frag was that thing? But if it could speak, maybe it could be reasoned with before it utterly destroyed poor Shiftlock. "Calm down," the medic said. "I didn't mean to hurt you if I did. I'm just trying to help. What /are/ you?"

Lockdown moves aside as Hot Rod makes his way back out. He doesn't immediately head in as he hears the voice. Instead he moves to lean against a wall near one side of the door and listens. Whatever is going on in there, certainly doesn't seem normal for any sort of medbay.

^Mutacon!^ it seems to gasp. ^Open the hole, please! No e-zero, no more stasis lock!^ The fluid gathered in the bucket rises up and floods towards that green spark, and as the mass gathers, the goo starts taking on shape. It's a humanoid female form, and it's stuck inside Shiftlock at waist level, like a cat trying to crawl through a hole in a fence. Forming arms, the new she braces against the more solid body, and tries to pull herself out more.

Sooo. Directions. Refining. Missing things like someone crawling out of Shiftlock. Hot Rod will be back shortly, and when he is back, he is going to be super confused.

That was gruesome to watch, even for a trained medic like Ratchet. He cringed at the sight of the Mutacon. "Will you at least talk to me before I let you out?" he asked. "How long have you been trapped inside Shiftlock's body? Does she need you to survive? I'd like to be able to save /both/ of your lives, Mutacon."

"Shiftlock?", Lockdown quietly says to himself. Honestly the shifter being here of all places since she disappeared. Whether Drift followed her isn't clear though the mech did wander off seeming to have lost a bit of his edge. For now he doesn't make his way in, though his facemask does slam shut as he fades outta sight. Best not give Hot Rod a reason to be questioning the mech as listens in.

The silvery fembot gives a strained but apologetic expression. ^My name is Mercury, if you please. I... I don't know how long I've been inside her body, but it's been awhile. The element zero keeps me drugged, unable to move, locked into combination with her. I know it looks bad, but she'll be fine once I finish separating from her t-cog. You'll have to trust me on this.^

This sounds like a great time for Hot Rod to come back with the element zero: just as it looks like it might not only not help, but actually hinder the healing. He passes by Lockdown without ever even noticing anything missing on that perfectly normal patch of wall with no one standing there listening in. "I've got it!" he announces as he enters the room, only to pull up short. "What th--." He breaks off.

Ratchet stroked his chin and glanced at Shiftlock. "I .... think I can separate you, but how did you get inside her in the first place? She was asking for eezo. Are you useful to her in some way?" It wasn't that he supported Mercury being Shiftlock's slave, he was just curious. He would free the poor creature, regardless.

And then Hot Rod enters the room. "Stay right there," the medic ordered. "This situation's .... more complicated than I thought."

^I was put inside her,^ Mercury explains to Ratchet and now Hot Rod. She isn't aware of Lockdown yet. Everything's still a bit foggy. ^Tarantulas is responsible. I came here looking to see if any of the other Shifters were still on this planet now that Neutronia's been destroyed, and no sooner than I arrived that old spider was there. He was a friend to us once, now - well, it's apparent he's working for no one but himself. He forced me into a merge with this poor Empty, and instructed the use of E-zero to keep my mind dormant and prevent me from separating. The mind wipes were to prevent Shiftlock here from catching wise. Does this make any sense to you?^

"Yes, thank you, I can see that!" Hot Rod stares. /Complicated/. That's a word for it. He presses the knuckles of his hand to his brow to still a deep processor ache. "Is Shiftlock okay?" he asks. No offense, Merc.

Ratchet nodded. "It's a very ... strange situation, but it makes sense, yes." He stays quiet for a very long time before speaking again. "Very well, I'll remove you from her body. What sort of effect will this have on her ... abilities? Is she going to become an Empty again?"

Lockdown raises an optic ridge as listens, recording all that is said. He tries to put all this together. So Shiftlock is not the shifter but this Mercury stuck inside her is? Honestly he knew Ratbat was into strange things, even having collected them for him, but this is takes the energon cake. Glancing towards Hot Rod through his facemask, camo still active as he tries to make heads or tails of the situation.

^I'm almost out, it's just disconnecting from her t-cog that will be the problem. If you could widen the opening a bit I'll be able to pull myself free. I'm... I'm a bit -stuck-,^ Mercury says with no small amount of embarrassment.

^Oh hello there Hot Rod! Yes, she's okay, just in stasis lock. It's a combiner thing. When you're not actually built to be a combiner it can be difficult to separate, and the mind protects itself by going into a forced suspension; Shiftlock's in a recharge state right now.^ Back to Ratchet. ^Abilities? Oh, there's no abilities I'm afraid, from what I can recall of our collective memories she was graded as a defective by the guild assessors and scheduled for breakdown and smelting; her desire to live was so strong that she found a means of escaping the pools outside Polyhex and made her way to this area. That's where Ratbat's agents picked her up. No training, no function, not even a name - it was easy to get her to go along with them.^

"Those assessors can shove it," Hot Rod says with predictable heat. He glances from Mercury to Shiftlock -- torn between wanting to believe her and hesitant that it might all be some sort of dreadful trick. "She'd better be okay," he settles for in vague threat.

Ratchet wondered if, without Mercury, Shiftlock would be considered useless to this Ratbat. He didn't want that to happen, but he didn't want Mercury to suffer, either. And this would restore Shiftlock's memories, right? "Yes, I can widen it," he said. "Give me a moment." He left briefly to grab some painkillers. From the looks of it he would have to remove a part of her armor plating to create enough room for Mercury to climb out. That was a painful procedure. After returning, he hooked Shiftlock up to the painkillers and went to work. "You really did a number on her," he told the shifter.

"This info's gonna make me some good shanix and I won't have to pull a trigger," Lockdown quietly says to himself. Yeah let the medic do his job while he and Roddy just sit back to watch. Course even if it was fully known that he was hiding here, he wouldn't be much help. I mean what's been done sounds like the ultimate upgrade but one with too high a cost.

Mercury wiggles free, more and more of her coming out until \*POP\*! She fairly tumbles onto the floor, every last bit of her substance freed from the copper and black speeder. Standing up straight, her form solidifies: She's tall, mirror silver and blue, with aqua optics and power lines. She has a regal sort of bearing to her, and her form, once set and hardened, almost has the look of a Prime to it. Losing the watery rasp to her vocoder, she speaks clearly. "I'm pleased to see that you care so much about others. What you're doing here would make Primus smile." She observes Shiftlock, aka /Shifter Locked/, her prison, and her companion. "Both of you can relax. We've been combiners for so long now, and so deeply, that she's kept a bit of me behind. Her autorepair systems will work much better, and her t-cog will function faster. It's something we give in exchange for borrowing a form. Only seems fair, don't you think?" she chuckles in a merry way.

Mercury stands next to Ratchet and asks, "If I may?" holding a hand over the speeder's injury.

Ratchet stepped back as Mercury finally crawled out of Shiftlock's body. He had never seen such a creature before. She was certainly a sight to behold. It made his cheekplates heat up and he glanced away. "You humble me," he said quietly, a little smile playing on his face. He held out a servo for her to carry out the repairs. "By all means. You could do a better job than me since you've lived inside of her for so long."

Hot Rod does not relax, not right away. He's contrary that way. He continues to look somewhat wary. Worried might be more accurate; wary has TOUGH connotations. No prize for guessing which is the descriptor he would choose. Studying Mercury as she takes shape, his expression eases toward open curiosity, maybe even a little awe. She's striking. "So you'll /both/ be okay?"

Lockdown turns to look into the room, scanning Mercury as she seems focused on Shiftlock's repairs. Who he'll give the info he's gathering is a good question. Just have to find the right bidder, not even letting Drift hear the news on Shift, least not from him.

Mercury touches the injury around Shiftlock with one hand; the speeder's metal softens as, at base level, the Colony Leader begins to reshape the injury, zipping up the metal together, and back, as if she had never punched her way out of it. "She'll come around shortly, and I think she'll be happier to be separate. She's -very- independent, this one. It's a pity she wasn't forged one of us, she's got the right spark to be one." Moving her hand away from the repaired fembot she adds, "I suppose in a way she is part of us. She's been a part of me and I of her for so long we might as well be sisters. Yes, we'll both be okay. The element zero was an artificial means of keeping us combined. Ratbat wanted to use my abilities to gather information for himself -- I tell you this now, all three of you - be wary of that Senator. He is intentionally stirring up violence and dissent across this planet in order to make a profit for himself. He has no idea what he's breeding."

Hot Rod leaves the element zero far, far away and only then moves closer. "Okay," he says, low and bewildered but swiftly processing the changes. "Yeah. Believe me, I'm wary. What are you going to do now?"

"And here I was hoping to stay out of politics," Ratchet muttered. "Look, I'm not making it a point to get involved in any of that business. I just run this little clinic and then I go home, nothing more and nothing less." He was curious as to what Mercury was going to do now, too, but he couldn't stay to chat. "I believe there was another patient that needed my assistance. If you'll excuse me." And he exited the room.

The bounty hunter quickly moves so Ratchet doesn't bump into him. Optics focus on the medic as he passes by, but remains hidden unless detected. Lockdown continues to process all thats going on, knowing full well what the senator is capable of. Though during all this he also takes note of the container holding a rare substance nearby as well.

"Leave," Mercury said simply. "I have hundreds of thousands of mutacons that have been without a leader for a good long while. I can't abandon them to stay here any longer." Walking over to Hot Rod and moving out of Ratchet's way, she puts a hand on Rod's shoulder. "I'm going to leave Shiftlock in your care now. She has nowhere else to go, and I think you can handle the responsibility of tending to just one Empty. She'll remember most of the skills we developed, and she'll have her own memories, so she won't be a burden to you, but you need this. I think you're destined for great things, and I'll be waiting for you in space when you get there."

Ratchet thought he /sensed/ something or someone in the hallway with him, but when he looked back there was no one there. Feeling a bit paranoid, he hurried to the receptionist's desk. "Where did the patient go?" he asked, noticing the lobby was empty.

"I don't know," his receptionist answered. "He went down the hall. Said he was looking for a few mechs."

Ratchet felt panic beginning to crawl in his spark. "Was he an Enforcer?"

"I don't think so," the receptionist answered. "He looked kinda ... creepy. I don't think there was a single component that was /his/ and his face was ...eugh."

Ratchet rolled his optics then. "Who were the mechs he was looking for?"

"Mmm, I think their names were Blast Off and Drift."

Ratchet's optics widened. Drift? Oh /brilliant/. The medic was kinda glad he wasn't hiding the vigilante out here or else he would have been caught. Hopefully he would stay at Ratchet's house for the time being. "Thanks," he said before heading back down the hall in search of the bounty hunter.

Hot Rod throws a skeptical glance after Ratchet for his little 'nothing more and nothing less', but then he has /opinions/ about the inevitability of politics. Looking back at Mercury, he gives her a solemn nod of understanding. "Yeah, I can see why you'd need to get back. Good luck." When she puts Shiftlock in his care, his expression goes through a few variations: from a kneejerked DON'T YOU DARE MAKE ME BE RESPONSIBLE to the face of a daredevil squaring up against a challenge all I CAN TOTALLY DO THIS. Then there's the great things stroking his ego, and the last one solidifies. He gives her a cocky grin. "See you out there, then."

Lockdown rolls his optic as Mercury increases Hot Rod's ego many times over. He ponders about tailing the shifter and catching her. But that could be more trouble than its worth. Looking back he does notice Ratchet coming back.

"Oh, and for the record... don't be too upset with the Primes," Mercury notes to Hot Rod. "Most of them have been fake." On that curious note, she liquefies and shoots up to the ceiling, entering an air vent system and moving up and out of the clinic in the shutter of an optic. Orbital patrol won't even be able to register that she left the planet.

This leaves Hot Rod and Shiftlock alone in the medical ward, and Shiftlock is still just a bit blacked out.

Meanwhile, Ratchet is still searching the facility for the bounty hunter. The receptionist was given no name, just a description, but the mech seemed to have vanished without a trace. Odd, really. There were no other exits but the one. Eventually, the medic ends up back in Shiftlock's room. "Did you see anyone else come through here?"

"Well theres goes that rare prize," Lockdown mutters as Mercury makes her speedy exit. Looking back in, he studies Ratchet and Hot Rod before making his way down a different hall, still stealthed for the moment. Once far he his cloak fades as he turns back to head towards the room, footsteps audible.

"nnng don't wanna get up," Shiftlock mutters, rolling over on the berth and away from Hot Rod's poking.

"My apologies, didn't mean to wander around, Doctor?", Lockdown says as he locks his optics on Ratchet, "As for helping me, you may be able to. If you got time to answer a question or two."

"Do I need to have you kicked out of my facility?" Ratchet growled to Hot Rod when he noticed the childish mech poking poor Shiftlock. He smacked him in the back of the helm before continuing. "There was someone here looking for ---" He stopped when he heard the footsteps. "Nevermind," he said before going to the door. Peeking out, he noticed the mech coming towards their room. "Can I help you...?"

"Ow!" Hot Rod grabs at the back of his helm. "You can't kick me out! I'm not leaving her." He drops his hands and folds them together to control the urge to poke Shiftlock again. This lasts only until Ratchet is distracted, then he leans forward, and pokes again. He lightly jostles her arm. "Hey, Shift."

For some reason, Ratchet really doesn't like the look of this mech. He just /oozes/ sinister, but the medic would look suspicious if he was defiant of the questioning. Instead, he smiles and motions for Lockdown to follow him. "Of course," he said, leading him into a different room. "I apologize for the wait. We had an emergency situation. What did you need to ask me?"

Not really cognizant at first, Shiftlock comes out of stasis lock fully when jostled. Having been separated from combining for vorns, she's a bit dazed and not entirely on her game. He reaction when confused? COME OUT SWINGING.

"AH SON OF A [censored] good for nothing [censored] can [censored] with a [censored] [censored] [censored] UNTIL THE HANDLE BREAKS OFF!" She tries to swing her arm out, hand in a fist, at Hot Rod's face.

Surprise robs Hot Rod of the time he'd need to avoid the swing. /Language/. He jerks back, but not fast enough; her fist lands and his head snaps to the side. "Ow!" he says for the second time in as many minutes. "Stop, Shiftlock, it's me, come on. Man, maybe Ratchet was right." It's a good thing he isn't there to hear it. Hot Rod pulls his hands back and stands. No more poking.

Lockdown nods as he follows Ratchet, a chuckle escaping as he hears the string of language come out behind them. He does look back a moment but still follows the medic saying, "It's fine, I'm used to the wait. As for my question, have you seen either of these mechs?" As he says this the bounty hunter pulls out a datapad which emits Drift and Blast Off's holograms once again, "Least ones been known to frequent this area."

Ratchet smirked hearing the string of curse words escaping Shiftlock. He hoped she really clocked Hot Rod. That would make the medic feel /tons/ better. Huh, maybe he'd really get along with that femme.

Once they are in the other room, he leans against the wall. Ratchet definitely hadn't seen this Blast Off mech, but Drift? He studies both of the holograms for a long time as if thinking about if he had seen them before shrugging. "Sorry -- uh, sir? --, but I've never seen either of those two mechs," he replied.

"OH!" Shiftlock goes wide-opticed like a Tailgate at Hot Rod. She didn't mean to punch him! ... much. "Sorry, sorry, I.... gah, my processor. Ever feel like someone's been sitting on your head for the last few thousand years? Yeah. That's me right now." She rubs her face.

"You can call me Lockdown, while that is bad. Ones an associate of mine thats been missing for a while. The other well, you should be aware his fugitive status and sometimes some are known to hide around here or Kaon," Lockdown replies, watching the mechs reaction. He fiddles with the datapad before saying, "How about this femme? She's no trouble, just someone been wondering about as well since we helped each other.

"Ha. Ha ha. Uh." Hot Rod stays just out of punching range as he watches Shiftlock. "How're you feeling? Do you remember -- uhm, anything that just happened?"

Ratchet peers down at the datapad, only to see a hologram of the very femme he was repairing not moments ago. He wouldn't be able to lie to Lockdown now, but surely the mech would have recognized her voice and wouldn't need to ask? Especially if she were a friend of his. That was a bit suspicious. He glances up at Lockdown. "Do you want to thank her or something?"

"I... Yeah I remember part of it," Shiftlock says. "Ugh, it's all making sense now, everything's flooding back. Gimme a minute, I got like, ten thousand years of memories all uncompressing right now." She sits up, holding her head, wincing.

Lockdown smirks, "Yeah I do, while just wanted to know if that was her I heard earlier. Course feel bad for the mech she probably clocked, unless it was an idiot."

"It was an idiot," Ratchet assured. "Yes, that's here, but she really needs her rest at the moment. I'm about to kick the other one out to give her some peace." He stepped forward to offer Lockdown his servo. "Sorry I couldn't be of much help to you. Good luck on your search."

"Take your time," Hot Rod says with a careless gesture and a dry twist to his words. He folds his arms and watches her, leaning forward just slightly. "You sure you're okay?"

Extending his own servo Lockdown shakes hands with Ratchet saying, "Its no problem, Doc. Don't mind if I least say hi to her, do ya?"

"Yeah," Shiftlock answers Hot Rod quietly. "... I'm gonna miss her. It was like I had someone with me all the time who knew what to say, what to do, where to go. Now I'm just... turned loose." She stares at the floor, sounding morose.

How was Ratchet supposed to say no to this mech? As long as there was supervision, he'd allow Lockdown to visit with her. "... Of course," he replied jovially. "Follow me."

He led Lockdown back to Shiftlock's room, knocking on the door before he stepped in. ".... Someone wants to see you."

"Not entirely loose. You've still got friends," Hot Rod says. He rests his hand on her shoulder after a reassuring pat. No sads. He can't handle sads. "You'll figure it out." His hand remains when he turns back to Ratchet. He startles at seeing Lockdown again after that split-second demand earlier. He straightens, slowly.

Shiftlock sits up, recognizing the voice. "Lockdown?" She seems a little surprised, and then is very apologetic. "Oh, oh dude, sorry, I mean to tell you I was jumping ship but Drift wanted me off, said he was no good for me, been trying to kill people I care about, yada-yada. I really don't know what to do with that mech." She sits up, and slides off the table. "If I owe you or something let me know, I mean, I'll try to make good on debts. I feel like someone wiped me clean."

"Heya Shift, no need to worry about that, you can pay at any time. Though Drift has wandered off, seems something happened and don't know if he's still in as well," Lockdown replies, optics shifting towards Hot Rod as the mech gets up,

"Heya Shift, no need to worry about that, you can pay at any time. Though Drift has wandered off, seems something happened and don't know if he's still in as well," Lockdown replies, optics shifting towards Hot Rod as the mech gets up, "So what happened, this goofball do something stupid?"

Dehackling with the way Shiftlock greets Lockdown, Hot Rod gives him an neutral kind of nod. It lasts about as long as it takes Lockdown to call him a goofball, at which point he looks annoyed. Like a goofball. "I didn't do anything!"

"From the string that came out a moment ago, ya had to," Lockdown says to Hot Rod. Looking back to Ratchet then to Shift he says, "Any chance you might know what he's up to?"

Shiftlock shakes her head negatively. "No, I'm afraid not. When I left the ship I lost track of him, and from what I'm hearing, that may have been a good thing. Apparently he's been putting bombs in people." She rubs the back of her neck. "So uh, how much do I owe you, if anything, El Dee?" she questions, using a nickname. "I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to make good with you since my forms are kind of limited to the standard two."

Hot Rod defends himself with a dismissive wave and a, "She's just cranky when she wakes up. What do you need Drift for?" He is not as wary of the answer as he could be. Shiftlock all but vouches for Lockdown in her ease of interacting with him.

"Thats something that can be determined later or just find a way clear the debt now. As for Drift, the mech doesn't know the meaning of overkill with what he did," Lockdown's optics shift to Roddy as he adds, "While in a way you could say I'm his boss and would want to know what the guys up to. Unless he's pulling outta the crew."

Shiftlock glances at Hot Rod. 'cranky when she gets up' eh? She'll show him 'cranky. e\_e "Well, it would be nice to know some kind of amount, since I don't remember staying that long with you. Plus my employment options are really limited right now." As in narrowed down to bloodsports or bust.

Holding up his hands at Shiftlock's glance, Hot Rod puts on a look of protesting innocence. What? What did he say??? "I'll let him know you're looking next time I see him," he promises Lockdown.

Looking to Hot Rod, Lockdown smirks, "Well I guess I can take that promise. Though would prefer finding him myself." Turning back to Shiftlock he ponders a bit, "Yeah that is a problem. I'd give you a figure but may just not be fair at this time. Lets just say you owe me one, what that will be can be decided later."

"Good enough for me," Shiftlock agrees. Yes, she is just as responsible and forward thinking as Hot Rod. They likely will not survive the winter.

"Well, you know: you find him when he wants to be found." Hot Rod tosses it off carelessly and without concern. He's a mirror of Shiftlock's mood, agreeable as long as no one is calling his names. Glancing back at her, he asks, "You think you're ready to get out of here?"

"Sure, why not. It's not like I -live- here or anything," she quips easily. "So... do I call you dad now, since Mercury left you in charge?" She grins like the Ravage that ate the mecha-canary.

Lockdown nods to Shiftlock and Hot Rod, "Well then thats all I can get here. So guess its been a profitable solar cycle for this part." Turning he adds, "Catch you another time, Shiftlock. Hope you don't have to change your name now." Its now more obvious that he caught what happened earlier.

Hot Rod recoils. "I was thinking more of a 'first among equals' kind of in charge," he says hastily. The kind of in charge where 'Dad' is NEVER TO BE THOUGHT AGAIN. "There's space for you in Nyon -- as long as you never say that again." He nods to Lockdown, missing on the implication of his farewell as he just says, "Later."

"Okay, Dad-doo," Shiftlock teases. Hey, he never said she couldn't say -that- word, just not Dad.

"What? No!" Hot Rod is as firm to the variant as he was to the first. "Hot Rod. Hot Roood," he says, just in case she forgot.

"Rod-doo," Shiftlock giggles, making her way to the door.

"Hot Rod," he repeats, following her. They exit on a refrain of nickname, correction, nickname, FIRM CORRECTION. This probably continues all the way to Nyon.