Ep1 - 'Sad Kitty, Hurt Kitty' - Closed

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Not that she didn't trust the Autobots, but...she didn't trust the Autobots. As well she shouldn't.

Ravage nodded seriously to Cleaver. "Your estimation is correct, for the Decepticons as well. Megatron has many loyal followers, but also a very high-placed few who would benefit from his continued...'death'." Ravage's field did not leave much ambiguity about which of those he was: relief was prominent. Ravage did not believe in luck...but he was very glad that he had been the one to find this out. Too many others would have used it for their own gain.

Ravage packaged up this whole conversation, stamping it with high-priority markers and sending it to Soundwave over the gestalt link. "We will get you what you need."

The idea of Megatron having lost so much of his memory was incredibly bad news. But Soundwave would get the proper backup even if he had to hack into Knock Out's meta to find it.

"With that...will he make a full recovery?" The glyphs were steady, as was his voice. Ravage was not one to shrink from the truth, so his gaze was steady as well.

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Mecha were loyal to Optimus Prime for similar reasons they were to Megatron: strength, presence, charisma, history bordering on legend and an unfaltering committment to their cause and success of their faction. There were more in the Decepticon forces who had joined for their own aims, or simply out of a lust for destruction, than in the Autobot ranks, and assassination as a means of promotion was common behind the purple sigal. Cleaver was aware of Megatron's belief that if a leader could be assassinated, then they had no longer deserved to be leader.

Ravage radiated true loyalty, though, and though his voice and field were schooled, she sensed genuine concern for his leader there as well.

"He will," the elderly medic confirmed, transforming her blades back to hands and laying them on the cassette's shoulders. She gently turned him to resume his repairs, producing a micro-welder to fill in and smooth out the tears and dings on the other side. "Upload, a touch more circuit surgery, and then the Decepticon Commander will be returned to his faculties."

And Ironhide won't forgive me.

There was still a great deal of work that Cleaver wanted to do on Megatronus's spark -that splitter needed to come out and the problem it had done a hash job of trying to 'fix' resolved, for one. That was information that Ravage decidedly did not require, however.

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Ravage nodded. He had no choice but to take her word for it. Her word, however, seemed good so far.

Ravage huffed and relaxed into the position she wanted. "I must admit...I admire your true neutrality. I've known many 'neutrals' who wanted the safety without having to take responsibility for choices such as this."

Ravage could understand the Neutrals' point of view. He wished, also, for the war to be over, for it not to demand his attention and life. He wished to rebuild, wished to see Cybertron lit and populated once again, or some other planet colonized and peaceful. And though he had long decided that the only way to achieve this goal was to throw his weight into the side he felt was right, he could appreciate the Neutrals wanting this DMZ and others like it, where the war would not take lives needlessly.

Fixing one of the war's most dangerous fighters, though, must feel anything but neutral.

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He'd said it as a compliment, as an acknowledge that she wasn't being a hypocrit about her stance in the war. Neutral to both sides, giving medical aid to both sides, sheltering both sides... The femme knew in her spark that she shouldn't be hiding Megatronus as she was, but the fewer who knew the Decepticon Commander was here and incapacitated, the more contained and easier to cope with the situation felt.

And, because of the point in time he'd reverted to, the sick damage she'd just repaired in his mind, she felt protective of him. That was terrible, and inappropriate, but her sentiments when it came to Megatron had never been clear. But D-16 and Nos were a long time ago. Now was what was important. To fixate otherwise would be to welcome insanity.

"Yeah," Cleaver replied quietly, buffing over a new weld whilst it was still reasonable soft. Transformation sequences on cassettes demanded smooth plates, as they tended to compact themselves to a particular extreme when linking to their carriers. "We'll see how it pans out."

She rechecked her work before letting the armor she'd lifted up sink back into place, still running a critical optic over Ravage's shoulder and chassis when she was done. "How does that feel?"

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Ravage shifted, then stood on the berth, bending and twisting slowly to test the joints without disturbing the drip. The lack of errors was a relief. "Perfect. Thank you."

He looked up to meet Cleaver's optics, audial twitching, then settling, as he followed the sound of the mech out in the Atrium. Hmm...now two mechs, at least. "My carrier will get the backup you requested to you as soon as possible. His name is Soundwave, and there is no mech more loyal to Megatron. Until that time, you are quite right to be suspicious that any random Decepticon will have our leader's best interests in mind."

Ravage's helm tilted, considering. "Myself. Soundwave. An infiltrator named Barricade. A frontliner named Arma. An avian cassette named Fairwinds. Those I would trust to guard Megatron's well-being with their lives. Others..." His tail flicked dismissively. "...to lesser degrees."

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Barricade.

Barricade.

The medic maintained her neutral expression as that name sunk in, and the potential ramifications. The odds of the Decepticon Ravage listed as one of Megatron's most personally loyal being different to the mech she'd recovered in a collapsed mine were slim to nothing. It made perfect sense that Barricade, Dasal as she'd first called him when there'd been nothing better, was an infiltrator - his core lock had been deep and perfect. Even locked he'd been a quick and cruel mech, and Cleaver doubted that repairing him as she had would improve his attitude inside Haven. Particularly following a sucessful Autobot raid on the Decepticon flagship and with their faction leader no longer functional as a commander.

To Ravage, Cleaver gave a thin, humourless smile, retracting the microtools with a series of snickts. She let her blades hang easy at her sides. "I get the holo'. And I'll keep my optics open."

<<OOC: Repairs are done, so to you to close?>>

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Ravage nodded. "Thank you."

He cautiously stood on the berth, his spinal linkages flexing as he experimentally arched, then bowed his back. Everything came back clear and pain-free, the welds clean.

Hydraulics worked silently as he leapt from the medberth to the floor, landing soundlessly. He turned around once and then stretched carefully one more time, satisfied. He looked up at Cleaver. "And thank you. I will take your offer to stay until the welds set." He sent a final glyph of respectful farewell and sauntered out of the medbay.

Soundwave murmured instructions through their link, but Ravage didn't need them.

He had some reconnaissance to do.

<<Fin!>>