Making a House Call

[Ratchet]

Characters: Ratchet, @strongarm, @bumblebee
Location: Vintage Salvage Depot for the Discriminating Nostalgist
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Not wanting to leave the Bee Team without proper medical care, Ratchet makes his way to the scrapyard in order to give the group a check up. If nothing else, he may get to spend some quality time with a couple of Cybertronians from his Cybertron days.

[Ratchet]

Energon cubes? Check.

Medical supplies all packed away? Check.

Datapad in the event an oddly specific mech decides to message him? Check.

Yes. He was completely prepared. It was that time again to check on the base in Crown City. While they did have their own Mini-Con who acted as a medic, Ratchet just felt more comfortable if he visited the base every so often for a routine check-up. Sure, he wasn't the only medic now, but he did have his reasons for wanting to go regardless. Not only would it be his chance to catch up with the rest of the Autobots there, or get acquainted with them as the case might have been, it was his chance to visit his adopted child.

It'd been awhile since he'd seen Strongarm, and while they kept in contact when they could, he felt bad that he couldn't always be there for her. It was a part of growing up, he supposed, but there wasn't much that he could do about it. She'd been assigned to Bumblebee's team in order to hunt down and re-capture a bunch of Decepticon fugitives from a crashed prison ship.

Bumblebee.. He missed the kid too, not that he would be as quick to admit that as he would have with Strongarm. He was young, and always willing to help. Had a good commanding voice too, even if the younger mech himself didn't believe it. He'd make a great leader. Bee just needed to believe in himself a little more.

Setting up the ground bridge, Ratchet gathered his things and set his course towards Crown City. He set the ground bridge not too far from the base, but close enough that he wouldn't need to worry about transforming and driving a long distance. While he could have easily just set the coordinates for the scrapyard base itself, he didn't want to chance spooking the natives.

Pff.. Natives.

Once he had arrived, he made his way towards the gate of the makeshift Autobot base. Their sensors would detect him, of course, but he would wait patiently for the moment before he began banging on the gate.

[Deleted]

Meanwhile, Strongarm was making her own check of the base. A sweep of the area would detect any bugging devices the Decepticons may have left in their haste, the base would be...well, as cleaned up as it could be for the safety of both human and Cybertronian. And Strongarm was going to make a good count of their energon supply so she knew just how much they could ration to the team and not risk danger of running out of the supply they had. That was just how she was, she made sure things got done, that things were going to be ready.

She had no idea just yet that her adoptive sire was going to be coming. She loved him dearly; he had always taken care of her when she was but a young orphan Praxian. Man, that had been so long ago! So very long ago! Her optics were bright with excitement just thinking about him. But what were the odds that he was coming?

She could hear the sensors and already headed toward the gate. Decepticon? Maybe. But they hadn't quite discovered the Scrapyard, yet, right? Her optics widened, however, when she saw was at the gate.

"PAPA!"

Her hand was already slamming the button to let him inside.

[Deleted]

Strongarm’s screech, along with the sound of the scrapyard’s gate opening, yanked Bumblebee out of his sudoku reverie. What had that been? An intruder? He snapped out of the seat where he had been lounging, subspacing his datapad and pulling out his plasma gun.

He sprinted to the gate, ready to help Strongarm—except what he found there made him stop in his tracks. His doorwings shot upward with delight and surprise. It was Ratchet! Bumblebee couldn’t believe the old medic had come all this way to see them. What was he doing at the scrapyard? The smile that had started to creep into Bumblebee’s face faded. Had something happened? Was someone from Prime’s team hurt? Was someone from his team hurt?

Bumblebee shook that thought away. His teammates had been fine that morning. No one had looked in need of medical assistance. Bumblebee wasn’t that bad a leader that he wouldn’t notice if someone did, and if anyone had got hurt during the day enough to need a medic—which would warrant a severe enough wound, and it had been a slow day so there was no chance, unless Sideswipe had done something stupid again—he would have been alerted before the minicons contacted Omega Outpost and asked for Ratchet’s aid.

Maybe Ratchet was just visiting? Yes, that made sense. Strongarm was his adoptive daughter, wasn’t she? And Ratchet was known to care too much even if he tried not to show it. It was very probable that he was just dropping by to see his kid and check up on everyone else. Bumblebee relaxed, putting his gun away.

“Hey, Ratchet.” He waved, feeling a bit awkward. He didn’t want to shoehorn himself into the family reunion. “Been a while.”

[Ratchet]

If there was one thing that Ratchet should've prepared himself for, it should've been Strongarm's excitement at seeing him after so long. He'd missed his adopted kid, and clearly she'd missed her adopted sire just as much if not more. It had been difficult at first to let her go onto Bumblebee's team in a completely different city, but he knew that he was going to just have to get over it and let her go.

Besides, Pharma had let him go to live his own life after graduating, hadn't he?

Once the gate had opened, he spotted the overeager Strongarm, but didn't fail to notice Bumblebee rushing towards the gate with weapon in hand. Whoops. He'd startled the poor mech, hadn't he?

"Easy, Strongarm, and it's good to see you, too, Bumblebee. I has been awhile since we last met. Worry not. I merely came to check up on you all, both on a personal level and physically. It would put my processor at ease."

He stepped inside the base, looking around. Primus was this place cluttered..

"I brought some energon for you all as well. I figured it would be fair to share some of the energon we got from Wheeljack's most recent.. escapade."

[Deleted]

Strongarm squeaked and winced. Oh, that's right. Bumblebee. She must have startled him! But it was definitely for a better reason than intruding Decepticons. It was for visiting Ratchet, which meant papa was here and she couldn't help but show that inner youngling that she kept hidden deep down. She was just so excited to see her adopted Parens Endura. Just as excited as she hoped he was to see her.

"Sorry, just get so excited to see you. Missed you during my last trip to Jasper. But I met a nice bot while I was there." It was so casual that she would mention it but she was still kind of excited and awkward about that mech. Smokescreen, was it? He was kind of cute but wasn't fraternization against the rules? Maybe not. Maybe. Oh she didn't know! She totally had to look up the regulations on that later! This was just way too exciting for her, but she still managed not to pass out like some overly-excited bots sometimes did.

She then sighed with relief. "Good. I was thinking I might have to come back out to Jasper and get more at this rate. The Alchemor's supply is kind of tapped." She'd tried. She'd honestly tried with all of Fixit's hints as to where he knew some of the supply of it. But that supply? Well, it was tapped.

[Ratchet]

It had seemed that Bumblebee had only been able to stay long enough to say hi before having to dash. Being a leader sometimes made one busy, and Ratchet couldn't fault him for that. Busy little Bumblebee. Ratchet couldn't help but smile. He was going to be supportive of his role as team leader no matter what. The mech had come a long way since the beginning of the war. Perhaps another day.

"Wait.. you visited Jasper? When was this?" Oh Primus, if she had visited back when he was tending to Wheeljack, he was going to feel bad for missing a chance to meet with his adopted child. But at the same time.. Wait.. just what was that she had said about a nice bot?! "Nice bot.. who?"

He'd brought energon back for them, softly smiling at Strongarm as she released a sigh of relief. "I suppose I stopped at a good time then. This should be able to tide you and the others over for a little while. I just hope that we don't have to keep running around with this energon shortage for much longer.." It was already stressing the medic out to no end, but he wasn't about to let the others suffer when supplies were at an all time low. Not a chance. He'd take a cut in his own rations of energon before that ever happened. But then again.. Wheeljack also scolded him after figuring out he'd done it once before. He'd have to fight to not start that habit back up.

"Well.. I did come to give you and your team a check-up. Do you want me to check anything for you, Strongarm?"

[Deleted]

Strongarm was amazed at how quickly Bumblebee was able to roll out on his next hunt, no pun intended. She then perked up while speaking to her adoptive sire and she gave a small smile. "Oh, that was while you were away, I think with someone else, he said..." She then paused and gave the faintest flush. "If I recall, Smokescreen." Primus damn it, she hoped she wasn't flushing. Then it would probably be twenty questions. Well, okay, she didn't know how her adoptive sire would react. But if it was anything like the human movies that Russell and Denny showed at times, the father always did that kind of thing to the daughter, right?

She gave a wry smile. "At the best possible time. Thank Primus you're thoughtful like that, daddy." She then gave a quick gulp. "I hope not, but...aren't most of the mines Decepticon-controlled? That's going to make it tougher unless we manage to blow them out of one of their own mines and take what they've been getting, right?" Mind you, she didn't know of any near Crown City or she would ask about possibly lashing out at that mine.

She paused, then flicked a wing slightly. "My wings. Remember how they used to get stiff when I was little? They're kind of doing the stiff thing again and...I've been recently having itching fits...I don't know if it's allergies, homesickness or...well...oh...papa, why was it that I broke out in hives that one time and couldn't stop itching?"

[Ratchet]

Smokescreen?!

Of all the 'nice bots' out there Strongarm could of met, it had to be him?!

Once Ratchet let the thought sink in, he realized maybe it wasn't the worst.  Primus, imagine what would've happened if she had met that immature Wrecker kid, Hot Shot?  It was Hot Shot, right?  "I'm surprised, honestly.  How many rules did he try to break, if I may ask?"  Certainly she had gotten on his case for how many rules Smokescreen would always try to break, but if he had been a 'nice bot', then.. maybe that hadn't been the case.  Oh, Primus..

It did give the medic some relief to know that he had arrived at a good time, bringing much needed Energon for Bumblebee's group.  He did give Strongarm an awkward glance as she mentioned the numerous Decepticon controlled mines.  "It's true that they control nearly all of them.. but.. we do have someone looking out for us and is bringing us plenty of Energon.  It's not ideal by any means, but.. I can't argue too much while I try to perfect the Synthetic Energon."  He smiled fondly, once again thinking about Wheeljack.

It had also seemed that Strongarm was indeed needing some medical assistance, and was having some reoccurring issues that she had when she was younger.. plus more.  Itching fits, with many possibilities as to what it could be.  "Why don't you have a seat and I can look at the itching.  Why don't you tell me more about that while I work on your wings?  When did the itching start.. or roughly start?  I can think of a few things it could be, but I just need to be sure." 

[Deleted]

Strongarm paused. Rules to be broken? Well, the only one wasn't really anything more than an "unwritten rule from Praxus". She gave a sheepish smile. "Only the unwritten Praxian rule of 'don't sneak up on someone'." She gave a playful smile. "But he didn't mean to startle me. He was actually quite helpful and kept me company while you were away. And we even talked about Praxus."

She then bit her lower lip. It was that bad; the Decepticons really did control more mines than she thought. "Thank goodness. If there were any close to here I'd...try to lead Grimlock through one and have him wreck a few 'Cons while we gather it." Her optics darted aside. "Maybe take Sideswipe there to help too."

She settled and let him work carefully. "When I started getting a little homesick. And...." She scratched carefully at an arm. "And there's been this yellow stuff coming from the trees and other plants around here..."

[Ratchet]

No way.  This couldn't possibly be the same Smokescreen that they were talking about.  The one who always would bend the rules in his favor?  The one that Raf had to scrub off the internet because he decided to get confrontational with a human as a joke?  'Pizza'd' someone's car with Jack?!  There was no way that this kid didn't break at least two rules with Strongarm around!

"I'm glad that he was.. able to keep you company, then.  I'm sorry that I missed you while you were out in Jasper.  I wish I could have seen you, but I must have been busy with something when you had come."

...like healing an injured Wrecker.

It seemed that Strongarm really did want to be able to help more when it came to taking control of mines the Decepticons had in their possession, even if that meant just sending one or two of her team.  He didn't know what a Grimlock was, and Sideswipe.. the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put a digit on it.  "It's quite alright.  I know that you want to help more, but I know that the mission you all are on right now is an important one too.  I was proud that you were chosen to go after those Decepticon criminals.  I just want you to be careful, alright.  I'd.. rather you not get yourself hurt."

Ratchet listened as Strongarm began to describe her symptoms, telling when they had started and what seemed to be triggering them.  As the femme scratched at her arm, he watched as if it added more to his theory as to what it could be.  "Sounds like a case of alloy hives to me.  It's fairly common when one is overstressed or around allergens that don't react well to their body chemistry.  Thankfully, that's easy to treat.  Some ointment I have should be able to do the trick for you in the meantime."

[Deleted]

Oh, yes way. It was the same Smokescreen. The one who was only a little bit older than one of the youngest Praxians before the fall of Praxus. Strongarm twitched her doorwings ever so softly thinking about him, much like other Praxians might have fluttered their wings.

"I believe you were tending to wounded away from the base. But I'd expect a medic to be doing medical things, not waiting around forever." Her wings flitted again. "Maybe next time I'm in town, papa?"

She really wanted to help more and it was killing her that she couldn't do more. She felt like a useless, helpless child. They weren't even able to track the Alchemor prisoners in their current state! "I know, papa. I know I have an important mission, but I can't help but feel like I'm useless here at times. We haven't even seen SIGNALS of any of the criminals."

She started scratching hard at the alloy hives and winced. "Just like when I was little, huh?" There was a meek, wry smile across her face. "Thanks papa. I know I don't say that enough..." No, he wasn't her papa by spark and energon, but he had been there when she needed someone after her world had crashed down.

[Ratchet]

While he was tending to wounded while he was away from the base? Ratchet thought for a moment, trying to recall a time where he had.. Wait a minute. He'd stayed with Wheeljack for roughly a week. Maybe less. Had she come during that time? Granted, it could have been any time he'd been away from the base, but that had been the longest he'd been away. "Perhaps next time you are in town. Don't be afraid to comm me first if you'd like. I'm able to multitask unless I'm preforming an extremely delicate surgery.. but even then the chances of that aren't too likely."

He looked to Strongarm with a mixture of concern and sternness as she spoke of feeling useless. "You are not useless. Please don't ever say that about yourself. The Decepticons can be tricky and good at hiding. It could simply be that they are gearing up for something big. I would recommend the occasional patrol and to check spots you don't think they may be. If you're really feeling as bad as you say.. talk to Bumblebee. Maybe he'll let you join us for a little while."

The hives he vaguely remembered from when Strongarm had been younger. Looked like they were making their rounds again, but given how she felt and how the Earth was in general, it couldn't have been helped. "You're most certainly welcome." Opening up his subspace, he took out a container of wax, applying it to where he spotted the hives. "It may take some time to stop itching, but just apply this a couple of times a day until the itching subsides entirely."