-Chapter 13-

A/N: So, in the many RPs I did with my bestest friend in all the world Shane, we did a come up that Transformers can get illness naturally, so we made up something known as "Core Fever" which is sorta like a cold and fever in speaking sense along with Core Illness which is like the flu, so those will most definitely be in this chapter :) Also probably gonna make up medicines XDD And this chapter only makes sense since its a coincidence that I got a cold :P

Guest Starring: Ratchet, Drift(briefly-cameo), and Gasket(briefly-cameo)

He really wasn't feeling all that dandy that morning and in fact, he honestly felt like his spark's core was burning right through him and he felt ablaze along with his EM field pulsing, and surely felt that there was a chance that the orbed life force inside him was going to burn its way right out of his chassis. But then again, he didn't want to think like that at the moment, so he just assumed that he was just a little sick and it wasn't anything major, which wasn't entirely bad right? Well that's what he hoped for anyways, just a small fever. Maybe he'd better go and see how Skids was doing, maybe the blue black mech was really sick along with him, then he'd feel a little guilty for getting him ill as well. Rolling onto his side he noticed he really didn't have to get up to go look for the trainee Theoretician. The slightly short mech was still curled up in a ball while facing the wall, his back to him like always, and a blanket was draped over him from the prior night, and well it was sort of...Adorable, seeing him defenseless like that and all. Skids was a pretty tough mech even for his age and one that was quite serious at it too, but while recharging the way he was, well he seemed more like the young spark he really is, and really, it was cute.

Not weird at all thinking those thoughts Windcharger, you're strange...

"Hey Skids?" He said somewhat above a whisper but he was given no sort of response or action that indicated that the other bot had heard him, so he decided to try again but this time a little louder. "Skids." This time the mech just curled up even more with a quiet groan of disapproval, a thing he wasn't seen doing very often and this was always his way of telling someone to leave him alone, but at this rate he'd never know if the other mech was sick or not, he couldn't read his EM because his was too fuzzy from the heat of his own fever. But he still had to try! Crawling off his berth and dizzily walking over he plopped himself down to be sitting down right next to the blue black mech's berth and he began to poke at him, the slightly shorter mech just scooted away with groans of objection. "Skkkkiiiiidddddsssss." And now he was complaining like he did when he just wanted a little attention or wanted something. What an obvious card to pull.

"...Mmmwhat do you want?" The super learner finally replied in just a whisper, his voice was ragged as if he had a sore fuel pump cable in this throat or something. "Go away, I'm tired..." But he was continued to be nudged from behind anyways and realizing that he knew Windcharger wasn't going to stop until he was given what he wanted to sighed and rolled over. Honestly, he didn't overly feel very well that orbit so it wasn't a surprise to himself that he wanted to 'charge it off. "Okay fine, what do you want?"

"Hey are you sick?" Well that was a pretty straight forward question, but then again, wait? What time was it? Looking up he glanced at his chronometer and he noticed it was nearly into the high breems of the high cycle shifts of the orbit and he huffed out a short sigh. He really was going to recharge all orbit, but the idea really wasn't a bad one. His chassis was burning up and his body felt heavy, he was extremely drowsy and he really didn't want to get up, even if it meant he probably needed to get some medicine. Maybe he could just recharge it off, besides he didn't want to go back outside into the rain just to go to the pharmacy or a clinic to get checked up on and he knew Windcharger wasn't going to make him go if he didn't want to. Even though for the past few orbits he had-literally-been dragged away from his studying because the Leviator wanted to play since he had a thing for gloomy weather. Not saying Skids didn't like it-though the playing was a bit childish-he always did prefer the more overcast cool climate rather than the blazing heat during the first season, but he really didn't like it when he caught a sickness. "Ah, so you're sick to..." Oh, so that's why he woke me up... "Come up, we need to get up! Can't just rest all orbit! We need to get our systems checked out!" Skids grunted dissatisfaction and rolled back over to face the wall and in this short process he had skillfully wrapped himself in his blanket and Windcharger heaved out a long time. This was going to be a challenge he really didn't want to fight with, not today anyways...

Yeah, recharge sounds the best, I'm going back to bed...

"Well that's odd, I haven't seen the both of them all orbit either." Glitch replied to Trailbreaker who rubbed the back of his helm in a confused manner. The black semi red trimmed mech had only arrived back at the academy from his trip down to Helex just late the other night so he really hadn't know what had happened in the time he was gone, but that was obviously a normal thing to happen anyways. Though, Skids or Windcharger was normally the ones to greet him back to the "party" and tell him everything that had happened while he was gone to catch him up on the daily events or their so called; "special ops" research, but the two of them seemed ot have completely disappeared from the equation and it was scary on how that had exactly happened. "I even asked around but nobody's seen or heard from them today, and they surely didn't go out or go with Senator, somebot would've seen them.

"So? What do you think happened to Mr. In Kind Theoretician and Mr. Magic Arms? You think they got into some sort of trouble over night? Maybe they snuck out? Maybe that Prowl guy is being a jerk about something again? What?" Trailbreaker replied with a shrug and to be perfectly honest, he highly doubted that the two were in any sort of trouble but who knows? "Have you tried to call them then?" He asked his own suggestion and Glitch nodded his reply.

"Well of course I already tried to contact them, but none of them are answering and all I get is being asked ot leave an audio message for later...More than one since I tried multiple times, but they won't answer and I've literally been checking everywhere for them. And they're HUD chats are also offline." Glitch mention as he began to count and number off all the places he had checked for Trailbreaker. "Do you think we should call Senator? I mean it could be a pressing issue for all we know." Now that was a last resort option for them, especially since the mech was busy but they also really didn't want him to worry over them like he did when he found out they were at the police station because they had been hurt during their "mission." "I mean, I really don't want to bug him encase he's like in some important meeting or something, but...You know how he gets...He'd probably think of all the places I forgot to check and I've been to every last corner to all the four sections of the building." Trailbreaker thought it over before he nodded in agreement to calling Senator.

"Well...If we can't find them, Senator surely can and that's for fact..."

"So you say that neither of you can find either of them, right? And that you even double checked?" Shockwave asked as he strolled up to Glitch and Trailbreaker who were just sitting there on the steps to the academy's main front entrance, he was casual like always when he walked up to them. "Well, nobody can just disappear over night-well than again when it comes to you lot, its possible-without a trace, so I'm assuming that you haven't checked everywhere than and that this isn't just a fancy way of saying; 'let's play hide-go-seek'." He seemed so calm, maybe even a little too calm for this, it was like he wasn't worried even in the slightest and like something really hadn't happened to two, but then again, Senator had learned not to just jump to conclusions. Especially not to jump to conclusions when he was dealing with his family such as them. "So if you have looked everywhere as you have claimed, I'm assuming that you also checked their dorm? You know fully well as much as I do that the both of them are roommates." Opps, they really had missed something in their frantic search for the two.

"Oh..." They both said quietly as they stood up and swiftly went to follow the jet down the corridors of the long hallways, and as they walked by they were all greeted, some were silent with simple waves, nods or other motions, others were aloud and exclaiming to them, and it was a normal daily thing, they were all like that especially when their friend, mentor, and father figure came home. And even a few others decided to tag along as they judged Shockwave's paint scheme, criticizing that he should return to the blue and red colors because it suited him the most out of everything else and that they didn't like the purple with white trim and claimed it to be a future fashion criss. But they soon all departed when they had reached the dorms area, it really was a place the students spend less time at anyways seeing how they really didn't need much of their stuff that they packed away in their rooms aside from notes and books.

Walking over Shockwave really didn't even bother to knock and instead he immediately dialed in the codes and the door slid open for them all and they entered the cold that had a bitter frost of cold seeping out of it in waves of notable fog. The place was neat aside from the pile of what the Leviator had claimed to be his junk pile and there the two were in their frozen room. Skids curled up to himself wrapped tightly in a blanket and then there was Windcharger who was sprawled out on his berth with the AC fan roaring down on him mainly. Both their EM fields emitting a great fuzzy pulse of heat and created the source of the dampness in the air to make the fog from the interactions of the AC, which was noted to be on full blast.

"Ah, poor lads. You seem to have caught ourselves a bit of a core fever, now haven't we?" Shockwave said as he walked over and sat down on the edge of Windcharger's berth, placing a servo down gently on the red black mech's chassis and running a scan on him to take the temperature of his core's status. "Hmmm." Getting up he did the same with Skids, though with a little repositioning involved before he was able to take the scan, but the shorter mech didn't seem to react against the movement, they were both out of it anyways. "Well then, you two boys are out cold like a heat haze struck ya...Well actually that one's pretty true. Hey Glitch, why don't you hand me that blow horn that's at the top of Windcharger's junk pile?" Looking back the orange red mech grabbed it and handed it to him, Shockwave taking it with a smile and he pushed back the spring releasing a loud absurd noise to come screeching from the container causing the two recharging mechs to jump up in a panic and Windcharger to roll of his berth. Shockwave discarded the item and put his servos on his hip plating.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Windcharger exclaimed confused as he sat up from where he had fallen onto the floor, his EM field puff out its fuzzy stage and the three mechs were washed in a haze of heat. Extending a servo Windcharger took it and he was pulled to his pedes though he stumbled but he was steadied by the jet. "Senator? That really hurt my head..." Shockwave didn't reply but instead he patted him atop his helm and motioned Skids to get up in which he did so very slowly.

"Alright, you two boys need to go see a doctor. You've gotten yourself some core fever and well, if you don't get some medicine for it it's going to last a lot longer than just a few short orbits. And I was thinking maybe you two were sick anyways because Ratbat told me Soundwave and his friends got themselves a bit of a fever as well."

.::No wonder why he didn't seem worried::. Trailbreaker said to Glitch over the private communications.

.::Yeah...::. Glitch typed.

"So anyways, I know a place where that's cheap and he's a friend and I think you'll like him." Shockwave said and Skids and Windcharger looked at each other before nodding slowly. "Okay, let's go!" And now he seems more like one of them instead of a Senator or mentor, welp it's probably why he got along with them so well.

"Hey Ratchet! I got some patients for ya!" Shockwave called out as he bursted into the small clinic as ushered his two ill students instead and out of the rain and Ratchet didn't even look over as he finished welding up another mech. His medical clinic was pretty much a secret from the Senate for many reasons. One because it was free of charge and didn't make any money and also that Ratchet had been trying to do his best to put all his medical skills to help those Guttermechs and Empties that inhabited the wretched slums of Polyhex known as Dead End. All those poor sparks were suffering but the Senate did nothing to help and there was no way Shockwave alone could convince them to help the city state Rodion in anyway. Functionist scum. But of course, Shockwave knew about this small unnoticeable clinic in Dead End because Orion Pax had gladly shown him as long as he kept his friend Ratchet safe and steer the Senate's gaze somewhere else, in which he gladly did.

"Alright kid, you're good to go." Ratchet patted the white gray mech who had faded plates of gold along his midsection armor on the shoulder as he sat up groggily, uneasily getting to his pedes and a gray tan mech rushed over to help him, giving the white red trimmed medic his thanks before helping his friend out into the pouring weather. But now he was paying more attention to them. "Its rare to see you here in Dead End and all let alone have business in Rodion." Ratchet said as he motioned the two students to sit out on a clean berth. "Sorry its a bit messy, sometimes get a little rough when patching these guys up." The two sat down and Ratchet was quick to go examining them.

"Well, yeah I can understand that really, but I thought you could steer me the right way on some advice about getting some medicine for my two sick boys." Shockwave shrugged and gave many generous signals to the two of them as the medic looked over them. Ratchet backed up and stood straight before turning and walking over to a large cabinet at the back of the room and began rambling through its contents.

"Yes, yes of course. But you could have easily purchased them a bottle of cooling and stabilizing pills to calm their core's temperature you do realize this. So, I know the real reason on why you're here." Skids and Windcharger looked at each other when suddenly a pill was forced into their servos and they were motioned over to the sink to take it. "You just needed an excuse to come down here and you obviously wanted them to hear it, didn't you?" Ratchet crossed his arms and he almost frowned at the idea of children knowing about this situation, but then again with everything he's heard about them from Orion, he wasn't surprised if Shockwave were to bring some of them down to get them involved into a crazy plan. "Well am I right?"

"Well...Yeah you caught me." Shockwave said in his defense and put his servos up but then they flopped back down to his sides in a single moment. "I took a sick leave especially for this one, to 'tend' to my boys. Well since its right for the truth, I'm going to brief them."

"About the plan? Already? Isn't this a little early though? We haven't gathered enough evidence from the crimes yet and even with the help of my so called; 'boys' down here in Dead End, you can't possibly be serious about what we're really going to do here, right?" Ratchet inquired as he watched the two swallow their pills, but judging by Shockwave's expression, he was being serious. And there was a long pause of silence and the absence of voices was uncomfortable. "Very well, have them recover for a few days, here." He tossed Shockwave a bottle. "Have them take those every six joors, they should be feeling good in a matter of orbits, I'll go tell Orion about this." Shockwave nodded and the two Outliers stared at each other.

"Don't worry about it, I know we're being watched..." Shockwave said with a nod.