Head Trauma

Trypticon Medical Bay Several operating tables are set in a row here, and long benches line the walls. On these benches are assorted tools and equipment used in repairing damaged Decepticons. The benches near the door are for patients waiting their turn for treatment. Scattered throughout the room are various repair droids, awaiting the arrival of more wounded to repair. The room gives you the perception of being immaculately clean, with not a single tool out of place. Your olfactory sensors pick up the faint odor of the cleansing solutions used to keep the room clean and sanitary.

The Medical Bay is in its usual hustle and bustle, Decepticon medics (named and unnamed) are hustling too and fro about their daily duties. A certain section near the Laboratory has been cordoned off however, tall giant plastic sheets hung from the ceiling keep all but the most sneaky or privlidged optics from knowing what's going on. Not that it's any huge secret though, Backfire is on the slab behind the curtain.. a gaping headwound still being repaired.

Just outside of the taped off area, large orange construction pylons rest at the four corners just in case someone missed the memo, Calibratron sits in a chair at a desk; like a prison warden. In his hands are charts, spreadsheets, and datapads.. all being combed over with meticulous care. Checkmarks are made, figures tabulated, pie charts created.. the medical gumbie casts an awkward glare around the room.

"Not like Buzzkill to be late." he murmurs to himself.

Harrow emerges from her office that she'd probably been holed up in for days, doing Primus knows what, though there's bits of cardboard stuck to her frame. Roused by the noise, she leers outward, still clinging to the doorframe. Something dawns on her, and she briefly checks the date. "Did I miss the hatching?" she asks a passerby.

Buzzkill likes to pride herself on her punctuality but there are times when even she can't keep up with everything. Upon being reminded that Backfire has been set up in the laboratory by her personal assistant Fractal, who is still recovering from a soccer related injury (sports is hard!) she makes her way to where the seeker is being held.

"Is he concious?" the honey bee asks as she pulls back a curtain and enters the cordoned off space. "I need him to tell me exactly what happened." She glances at Harrow who she hasn't seen in like a million years. "Hey! Weren't you supposed to be taking care of him while this was going on? Where were you!?" Buzzkill transforms into her robot mode.

Scalpel looks up from his work, repairing a blown diode in one of the Decepticon's logistics officers, to give Harrow a curt nod of his chin. "You didn't hear? After severe head trauma, Backfire's temple exploded with the tiny Insecticlones." he denotes, severing a connection inside Inquirion's head unit.

"They all died shortly thereafter."

Rising to his feet, Calibratron gives Buzzkill a salute and follows the Insecticon into the tent. "As of now, no.. Buzzkill. Backfire is still recovering from injuries sustained, we've been awaiting a member.. well, a -more- prestigious member of medical to close the wound before we bring him back online."

Harrow eyes Buzzkill a moment, letting the silence linger. "...Take care?" Another pause, and she smacks her fist into her palm. "Oh RIGHT! Hah, well. Backfire's a hardy mech, I'm sure he's fine." Then Scalpel fills her in, and she frowns. Just a little. "That's depressing. You could always try again!" she adds with a winning smile to Buzzkill.

A look of shock and horror overtakes Buzzkill's face when she hears about the Insecticlone's demise. Immediately after shr processes that fact, her lips curl into the angriest of scowls. "What!? How could that be!? I checked and double checked everything before I even cut him open, I made sure everything was just perfect. They should've been healthy when they emerged, not weak and pitiful, dying only a few seconds after they surfaced.."

Harrow's snarky comment and matching smile only serves to make the Insecticon angrier. "No! You don't understand! This was our only chance to better the swarm! They were supposed to be better than the rest, stronger, faster!" She grits her teeth, remembering the conversation she had with Shockwave and how she had to convince him that no, this wasn't a waste of time and yes, it will be worth it in the long run. How stupid she must feel now!

"This must've been caused by Backfire. He must've done..something for this to happen." Buzzkill steps around the berth where the seeker lay, glaring at him with the nastiest most disapproving look she can muster. "Bring him online immediately, the repairs can wait. I want to speak with him now."

"Well, umm.. okay." is all Calibratron can muster before falling silent to Buzzkill's tirade. Far be it from him to tell her the matter at hand, especially when emotions are running so hot.

Plugging some wires into the back of Backfire's head unit, the medic gumby goes about the arduous process of rebooting the Seeker. It's much more elaborate sounding than it actually is, Calibratron is technically just giving his head a jumpstart.. like a dead battery.

A few moments pass, then Backfire shocks awake with a spasm. "My Insecticlone offspring! You can't have them!!" he shouts, optics still a dull white from the 'hatching'. A few blinks later, as the Seeker's optics comb the cordoned off area.. they fixate on Buzzkill and Harrow.

"Where am I? What happened to Whirl and Torque?? Where are the Insecticlones???"

Harrow, for once, edges away from Buzzkill as she snaps. When the blame falls on Backfire, she vents an exhale of relief, and readily follows to watch him get a lashing. Though his head is gruesome enough. "Jeez! It's a wonder they didn't crawl out of your optics. You're in the medbay. You did a shitty job of bearing insecticlones apparently."

Emotions are running VERY hot right now. Buzzkill is practically seething with anger as evidenced by her body language. Teeth grit, fists clenched, and her entire body shaking. As soon as Backfire wakes up, the honey bee reels back a hand and delivers a hard SLAP across his face.

"You have FAILED, Backfire! You have failed me, you have failed Scorn, and you have failed the Empire as a whole!" She leans in close, the honey bee all up in the seeker's grill as she continues to berate him. "You had ONE job to do and you completely screwed up! Do you have any idea how foolish you've made me look? Do you have any idea what it took to convince Commander Shockwave not to can this entire project!?" She grabs him by the shoulders and begins shaking him. "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF? PLEASE, EXPLAIN TO ME WHY I SHOULD EVEN BOTHER FIXING YOU AFTER SUCH A ROYAL FUCK UP!?"

"Oh, Buzzkill.. thank goodness you're here. So there I.. GAH!" Backfire starts to explain to the Insecticon, right before getting slapped across the face. The assault, he is contemplating legal action, jerks his head to one side violently.. the connections in the back of his head used to 'jumpstart' him break from being drawn taught, a loud SNAP echoes through the room as the tension severs the wiring.

Slowly gaining his composure, Backfire looks from Buzzkill to Harrow.. and back to Buzzkill. "Failed? I did as I was assigned! How was I supposed to know -when- they would hatch??" he offers, almost quivering at the show the Insecticon is putting on.

Turning his attention to Harrow, "Where were you?"

Scorn was supposed to be here too, but it's no surprise that she isn't, at least until Buzzkill starts screaming. But it isn't the bee she goes to first, no instead she silently sneaks up behind Harrow instead, the biggest chesire grin on her face as fingers seek out wingtips and pinch them hard. "Well well, look who came out of their hermit hole finally." She cackles softly. But she can't tease the seeker for long once she spots Buzzkill smacking Backfire and beginning to shake him.

Ugh.

"Buzzkill, easy!" The mantis tries to calm her, fluttering up behind her and gently placing hands upon Buzz's shoulders, looking to lightly pull her away. "Easy, dear, he did all he could..." Yeah, she heard about them dieing, but it's clear she's far from being as concerned as Buzz.

Harrow's optics snap wide when Scorn pinches her wings, and she yelps in surprise, whirling around to threaten with her scalpel. "Mantissss," she hisses, but doesn't linger, turning her attention back to Backfire and jabbing the tool at him. "Where was I? Where was /I/? ...That's none of your business. I have no training in midwifery! I am an elite medic, not some bug doctor!"

Buzzkill had a lot of high hopes for those pods. /A lot./ To hear that they all died, that her experiment failed miserably, really hurts her. What does it say about her as a scientist when something like this happens? Yes, not every experiment is successful, that's why they're called experiments, but Buzzkill has a very hard time accepting any kind of failure.

Backfire's protesting that he did nothing wrong only serves to further enrage the Insecticon, Buzzkill lifting her hand to give him another harsh slap but Scorn seems to step in just in time, placating the honey bee and pulling her away. "No... no no no no.." She clutches her head, seemingly on the brink of having a complete nervous breakdown. "This wasn't supposed to happen.. I did everything right.. I did everything perfectly.."

She then gives Harrow a burning glare, pointing at her (how rude!) with an accusing finger. "You! You were supposed to be taking care of him, taking care of the pods inside his head! Where were you!? Did you even try!? Perhaps YOU are the one to blame for all of this!"

"Insectress, speak some sense into her!" Backfire shrill-ly calls to Scorn, huddling up on his slab as best he can to defend himself from another attack by Buzzkill's backhand (thankfully it wasn't Torque slapping, now THAT'D hurt).

"I wasn't created to be the greatest Decepticon, a fabulous fancier of beards, OR a surrogate Insecticlone bearer." the Seeker simpleton sneers at Harrow, "But we ADAPT!"

Then when Buzzkill latches onto Harrow for blame, Backfire's head bobs along right next to the Insecticon's.. like right behind her, his hand wagging a finger at the other Seeker. "Yeah, what she said!"

Some green noxious energon seeps out of his head wound.

"I'LL NOT BE BLAMED FOR THIS FOOLERY," Harrow exclaims abruptly, thrusting a finger in the air. "Perhaps our Lord Galvatron should have assigned an /expert in Insecticons/ rather than a Seeker medic! Not that I couldn't become one. But I was hardly given TIME."

"Clearly this host was defective. I mean look at him." She gestures vaguely at Backfire.

Scorn may enjoy some good yelling as much as the next person, but she's not much of a fan when Buzzkill does it. Mainly because it's annoying. An unamused look is sent Backfire's way, close to turning into a glare as she hisses softly. "Just sit there and shut up before you make things worse." And by worse she means the bee going into a fit.

Which she does. On Harrow. "Buzzkill.." Scorn grumbles, pinching between her optics, surprisingly the only sane one in the conversation so far. But the bee doesn't stop, forcing a light scowl upon the Insecticon's lips. "Buzzkill!" She barks, grip tightening on her shoulders and spinning her around to greet her with a swift backhand across the face to snap her out of her rage.

Backfire instantly slinks back down to the slab, as far as he can get from the confrontation without slinking UNDER the slab itself for protection. His hand nervously clutches the plastic curtain hung around them.

Outside, the Medical Bay has pratically come to a halt.. everyone pretty much either obviously listening in on the shouting match or discreetly by pretending to do work. One mech has swept the same spot for almost a cycle now.

Calibratron attempts to put himself inbetween the two Insecticons. "Now, now.. you both know full well the rules of the Med Ward."

"FILTH AND LIES!" Buzzkill snaps, looking like she's about to go apeshit on Harrow. "You didn't even TRY! This is the first time any of us have seen you outside your office! WHAT DO YOU EVEN DO IN THERE, HM!? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE TO NEGLECT THE DUTIES I ASSIGNED TO YOU? PLEASE, ENLIGHTEN ME AS TO WHY YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN!"

To say Buzzkill is hysterical right now would be an understatement. This is probably the most emotional she has been in her entire life, the usually collected Insecticon letting her disappointment in both herself and her project manifest itself in the form of a screaming fit. The only thing that keeps her from escalating (believe it or not it could definitely get a lot worse than this) is the stinging slap Scorn delivers across her face. Buzzkill just stares at her fellow Insecticon, jaw hanging in a look of shock. She says nothing for a long time, trying to accept what just happened, until Calibratron steps in and attempts to difuse the situation.

"Shut up! This is between Insecticons now!" Buzzkill blurts out, shoving the other medic out of her way and closing the distance between her and Scorn, a burning glare behind her optic visor. "How DARE you! Assaulting a superior officer like that, I could have you thrown into the brig!"

Calibratron tips over easily, falling on his own surgery scalpel. Standing, he limps out of the cordoned off area and gets a medic to assist him in removal and repair.

Harrow puffs up as Buzzkill continues her onslaught, trying to make herself appear bigger by standing on her toes. Logic. "Filth?! ME!?" she nearly screams, "My duties included bringing that piece of slag pickled energon. I shan't be DEMEANED! This is YOUR project, not mine! What I do in my office is TOP SECRET!" Her finger remains in the air, indignant.

Catching Backfire sliding off the table, she aims an ice beam at his feet to try and root him there. "You're not getting off so easy!"

Combat: Harrow sets her defense level to Fearless. Combat: Harrow strikes Backfire with her Ice Pistol attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Backfire's Agility. (Crippled) Harrow (har) pages: TOO LATE

With Backfire's feet frozen in place, it's too bad that his momentum didn't get the memo. His body continues to topple forward, smacking his head against the floor with a CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-ACK. At the same time, the frozen feet stay in place.. perfectly snapping off at the ankle.

Backfire lies motionless on the ground, knocked unconcious with green energon seeping from his headwound.. sans feet, as well.

And now Buzzkill sets her anger on her. Ah well, it's better for the other two at least to be out of the line of fire now. And despite Buzz's shouting Scorn remains as calm as every, expression lax as she crosses arms and looks down on the short bee. "I know you could. But you won't." She speaks bluntly, calling her bluff. "I should feel disappointed in Backfire, but I'm only feeling that for you right now for letting your temper get the best of you." Antennas twitch at the sound of gunfire, gaze flicking away a moment to spot Harrow freezing Backfire on the spot, which actually gets a bit of a smirk from the mantis. Well... at least until his legs completely snap off and he sprawls out unconcious on the floor. Well then...

"I suggest you calm down and strart thinking a bit more clearly before you go around slapping people for no good reason." And with that said she turns on a heel, stepping on over to Backfire and nudging his body with a foot. "Look at this.. And to think we actually used him instead of a proper grunt." She scoffs, squatting down to steal a swab of green energon pouring from his head and lick finger clean. "I think what we have to blame the clones' deaths on though is this energon of his.. Tastey, but I'm starting to doubt its nutritional benefits."

Calibratron returns a moment later, scalpel still sticking out of his chest. "Can someone help me remove this.. I've stemmed the energon loss, but its gotten itself dug in there."

Instantly he grows quiet, looking at Backfire's body, the green energon pool, and his dismembered frozen feet on the floor.

"Scavenger, clean up on isle seven."

Damn that Scorn! One of the biggest drawbacks of workng so closely with her is that she can read Buzzkill like a book. She knows all too well that she would never have Scorn thrown into the brig or allow anything like that to happen no matter how angry she may get.

Buzzkill just stews in anger for a bit, crossing her arms and looking uncharacteristically mopey and sullen. Scorn brings up a good point about the energon though; it;s tasty and everything but it's definitely abnormal. Perhaps Buzzkill should've taken it into consideration before plopping the pods inside of Backfire's head. "I.. I suppose you may be right," she finally admits, the hardest thing she's had to do all day.

As her anger begins to subside, it's replaced by an intense feeling of embarassment for letting herself get so worked up. "I just.. I need some time to think."

Harrow stares down at footless Backfire, then jams one of her heel fins in his back. "What is wrong with your energon, hm? What've you been drinking exactly!" The look she tosses Calibration is one of great annoyance. "Why don't you push it further, maybe it'll come out the other side!"

"Well, I don't think.." Calibratron starts, then realizes it was sarcasm. Quickly soon after, he shuffles off before she freezes HIS feet and knocks him unconcious.