Contact me.
Nacelle frowns at the short decrypted message.
There is a sense of urgency in his spark, that doesn't belong to himself.
Something significant must have happened, but right now he can't do as requested.
Sending an apology as response to the urgency in his spark, he deletes the message, and turns his attention to the door.
Thundercracker enters a moment later.
"How are you feeling?" He asks, when the blue seeker sits down in the chair opposite him.
"I'm not sure." Thundercracker answers, voice thoughtful, "The nightmares have lessened. I'm recharging better. Have more energy when I wake."
"It sounds to me that the Alpha-Theta training is working its magic. We'll keep doing it for a bit longer, before we turn to EMDR therapy. As for today, I have a little challenge for you."
Nacelle withdraws a fake spike from subspace and places it on the table between them, and Thundercracker instantly goes rigid.
"You don't have to look at it. You don't have to touch it. It will remain there while we talk, and if you at any point feel brave enough to touch it, or want me to move it closer to you, then tell me." He explains casually, "I know that what I'm doing right now is distressing, but if we don't address this topic, then you are never going to get better. Then they will win. Then you will remain a victim. You need to take control over your life, and that includes taking care of your frame's need."
"I don't..." Thundercracker begins, but his argument dies in his vocalizer.
"There is something I have been thinking about." Nacelle adds, curiously, "You could have chosen literally everyone to assist you with a 'cold' overload, yet you choose him. The embodiment of your deepest fear. Why?"
Thundercracker remains silent, expression blank.
"Think about it." Nacelle encourages, and deviates smoothly into another topic.
The fake spike remains where it is, forgotten, except for a few hesitant glances, while Nacelle explains the theory behind EMDR therapy and the benefits Thundercracker should achieve from it.
When the session ends, Nacelle finally addresses his own issue.
Withdrawing the encrypted datapad from subspace, he leans back in the chair as his identity is verified and the communication established.
::About time.::
"It couldn't be helped. I had a client."
There is a deep sigh on the other end.
::Understood.::
"What is it that is so urgent, that you risk yet another message, instead of waiting for me to take contact?"
::With the recent terrorist attacks against the facilities, we petitioned for the use of invasive interrogation.::
"The high court would never..."
::They did.::
There is a moment of silence, while Nacelle reflects upon the new knowledge.
"Did they find anything?" His spark pulse increases dramatically, while he anxiously waits for the answer.
::Enough to gain an insight into their organization and various global operations. The identification of the ones pulling the threads are only a question about time.::
::We also uncovered something else, and this is why I'm taking contact. They appear to have infiltrated some of the rehabilitation facilities.::
"You can't be serious!" Nacelle argues, rising abruptly to pace back and forth.
::I'm afraid so.::
"Which facilities? Who? What are their intentions?" He demands to know, suddenly turning around on the spot to face the live feed on the datapad, "You are NOT pulling me out!"
On the screen Prowl lifts his hands in acquiescence.
::I don't intend to. It is too late, anyway, and would arise suspicion.:: The chief of the JIU acknowledges grudgingly. ::We don't know which facilities in particular they are focusing on, or the identity of their agents, but it is clear what their intentions are.::
"To reacquire their most valuable assets." The psychiatrist growls menacingly, and his anger rises at the terrible thought, that any of his former or present clients might be forced back into yet another existence of constant pain.
::Yes.:: Prowl sighs, ::In that area, we have failed.::
No.
No!
NO!
"How did no one notice their disappearance?!" He hisses, enraged, and Prowls utterly apologetic presence in his spark is not enough to quell the tornado of feelings inside it.
::The attacks forced us to deviate our attention.::
Nacelle's furious scream fills the office belonging to the chief of the JIU, causing Prowl to cringe at the intensity, while his door-wings shrink back.
"I guess, he didn't react well to the news?" Topkick asks politely, when Prowl opens the door and leaves his office.
As one of three Senior Investigating Officer's, he has access to all the new information they have acquired from the terrorist, which they managed to take alive at the most recent attack.
"No." Prowl sighs, his demeanor far from the confident tactician he usually is, and they walk hurriedly down the corridor towards the Tactical Operation Center, "And I don't blame him his reaction."
"He is as dedicated to his work as I am, and the knowledge, that his and his colleagues hard work has been ruined by our inability to protect the victims, is crushing." He adds with a hint of remorse in his voice.
Topkick nods in silent understanding.
"Are you pulling him out?" The SIO asks.
A faint humorless laughter.
"Nacelle would rip my door-wings off if I dared."
"The fate of being bonded." Topkick adds, wryly.
"No, it is too late to pull him out. I believed that I sent him to safety after the threats to I-11, yet it seems I have failed in that regard. He should still be safer at D-14, than at any other place I could have sent him. And I have been careful to erase any connection to me. In anyone else's optics, he is just a psychiatrist." Prowl answers calmly, his stoic demeanor returning, and once again he is the chief of JIU, and has his focus on the task ahead of him, instead of on his bonded.
"Right now, we need to increase the focus on the facilities while also increasing the security of the rehabilitated victims of the organized slavery."