"Is...she going to be okay, Ratchet?" Jack broke the silence.
"What happened back there, wasn't supposed to have happened at all..." Ratchet began.
"I'm sorry..."Miko apologised in a barely audible tone.
"For what?" the medic asked confused.
"It's all my fault..." Miko trailed off.
Ratchet Furrowed his Optical ridges.
"She wanted to show me up so badly, that she demanded a rematch." Bulkhead explained. "We gave her one, but only against the other kids. Like you said doc; it was supposed to be harmless...What happened?"
"For one; this cube should have been looked over before any of us even engaged in a game in the first place." The medic was holding the titular cube in his servos. "It's been in storage for so long, its programming has gotten buggy.
"That's why it went crazy back there when I grabbed it." Raf added.
"Precisely. Even though it would have 'gone crazy' as you put it, it shouldn't have been so intense, because the difficulty was toned down for your safety. Ratchet explained. "I blame myself for not looking at it first..."
"Sometimes even the wisest of men and machines can be in error." Optimus said.
"So, that thing could have killed us?!" Miko raged.
"Oh, very easily." The medic pondered. "But what I didn't understand at first, was why it discharged at all..."
"And you left us alone with that thing?!" The girl continued.
"It's only supposed to do that when in contact with a Cybertronian..."The medic was lost in thought.
"Gaaaah!" Miko screamed in frustration. She could have wringed the bot's neck clean off his shoulder pads if she could, she was so angry!
"Ooookay, C'mere you. You need to calm down." Bulkhead carefully plucked Miko off the ground and held her aloft. "Calm down?..Calm Down?! I'm going crazy here not knowing if our friend's gonna be okay or not, and you want me to CALM DOWN?!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stay calm. Calm helps, crazy doesn't." Bulkhead tried reasoning with her.
"UUUUURGH!" Miko did stop raging, but she pouted in midair waiting until her guardian thought it was okay to put her back down.
Meanwhile Bumblebee ducked behind Arcee in case Miko was going to explode or something.
.:"She scares me...":. He beeped.
"Thank Primus you have Raf instead, huh?" Arcee jokes.
.:"Uh-huh":. Bee whirred.
"*clears intake* It seems we've gone completely off track here. As I was saying; It shouldn't have reacted in the way it did, much less discharged itself when in contact with and organic at all." Ratchet explained. "Which brings me to Zucky's current condition: She seems to have only gone into stasis mode."
"Stasis mode?" Jack was confused.
"Erm...I mean; she fainted...She's unconscious at the moment." The medic forgot that not all cybertronian terms are understood by or applicable to humans. "For the time being, we'll have to wait until she wakes back up again."
Nurse Darby drove into the base just as the medic finished his sentence.
"What's going on? Who's unconscious?" Having overheard part of their conversation, she began asking. "Where's Zucky at?"
Ratchet sighed as he had to repeat himself again, but obliged anyway and explained the situation.
Having heard how Zucky rescued Raf, the nurse instinctively looked the teens over real quick just in case there were underlying issues.
"But why do you think the cube discharged, did the bugs in its programming cause it?" Raf asked.
"Hmmm...it is a possibility. But considering how she survived having her blood exposed to energon..." Ratchet trailed off. "However, we must remain positive and hopeful she will make a full recovery."
Raf wasn't exactly satisfied with that answer. There might have been something he is not telling them for some reason, but he didn't push further on that one...after all, everyone is on edge at the moment.
"How long do you think she's gonna be out for?" He opted for a different question.
"It's hard to say, but hopefully not for too long." The medic answered.
"Can't we at least see her?" Miko asked.
Ratchet felt sympathy for Miko this time, although he wouldn't admit it out loud, and allowed the kids to see Zucky, so long as they had clean hands and stayed clear of the burn wounds.
This did mean they couldn't touch the patient's skin at all, because she was littered in them and was laying on her back because she got the brunt of it all in front, due to her hugging the cube tightly at the time of it releasing the energy.
When they reached the medbay, June covered her mouth to suppress a gasp. She's seen burn wounds before, sure...but to see someone you know in that situation is never easy.
Besides that, the dark blue nature of Zucky's skin looked almost like charcoal where it got burnt.
Miko wasted no time and hopped off Ratchet's servo, as soon as it was close enough to the berth and rushed over to Zucky's side. Normally the medic would reprimand her for it, cause she could have easily broken her neck or something if she had fallen off.
But he understood at this point how humans make rash decisions when distressed. He decided to let it slide this time as he held his hand closer to prevent the others from hurting themselves. The girl collapsed next to Zucky's body once she reached her.
Miko was unusually silent as she looked the dragon over. The poor thing looked horrible! Her fur was falling out, evident by a lot of it covering the area where she was lying. This revealed a layer of scales underneath.
The others just stood there and gave the normally rowdy teenage girl some space. Nurse Darby after snapping out of the initial shock, went ahead and approached the patient from the opposite side to have a better look and see what she can help with.
She carefully brushed the bangs out of Zucky's face. They were fried; almost straw like in texture. This earned no response from the dragon. Ratchet seems to have only made sure she was alive, but he wasn't well accustomed to dealing with such skin afflictions in organics...yet.
Miko sighed deeply as she was hoping that maybe Zucky would have woken up by now.
The two boys joined her as they tried to comfort her, but Miko rather be left alone at the moment, so they stood back when she pulled away.
Her phone started buzzing and she groaned, only looking at the small screen to see who or what it was this time.
She sighed sharply in annoyance and got up. "I gotta go; my host parents started messaging me."
As she passed by Jack and Raf, she adjusted her bag. "See you guys at school..." she said and with not even a wave, she walked over to the edge of the berth to wait for Bulkhead to take her away to her house.
Raf and Jack crouched next to Zucky and watched Nurse Darby work. Ratchet had handed her a few supplies from his storage compartment so she could work.
She could only get to so much of the dragon's skin for now. The rest she would have to handle once everyone else left, so she could have enough space to work.
June's son looked at his mother with a worried look in his eyes. "She's..." he wasn't even sure what he could say or how to word his sentence.
"I've never worked on reptile skin before, but I'll do my best..." June tries to reassure her son. "Now, it's getting late you two...it's a school day tomorrow."
"Right. Good night, mom." Jack hugged her and June planted a kiss on his forehead. "Good night sweetheart."
"See you tomorrow at school, Raf." Jack said to Raf before he left.
Raf placed his favorite r/c car next to Zucky. "Bee and I have been working on a new upgrade for the track... maybe you wanna try it out sometime?"
"..." No answer from Zucky.
"See you tomorrow...and thanks for the save back there." Raf continued.
Zucky remained unresponsive, but Rafael clearly was still hopeful.
Ratchet was going to tell him she can't actually hear him or at least he thinks she didn't, but decided it was best to ask about that later.
The boy then got up and walked over to his waiting guardian who took him home. Luckily they arrived just in time, a little later and Raf wouldn't be able to deliver on his promise.
With the boys gone, Nurse Darby was able to get some time and space to finish up on treating the burn wounds properly.
"I'll be off work tomorrow, so I'll make sure to stop by after running some errands... Please let me know if anything happens." June explained as she packed everything back up neatly and prepared to climb into her car to head home.
"Understood." Prime simply answered.
He had a distant look on his faceplate, which bothered June. She got back out of the car.
"Is everything okay, Optimus?" Nurse Darby asked looking at the Prime, trying to search his Optics for answers...easier said than done.
The two bots looked at one another and then at the human who awaited their answer.
"Remember when I said that it's not normal for a cube to discharge when in contact with an organic lifeform?" Ratchet asked.
The nurse only nodded as she braced herself for what she was about to hear.
"We have reason to believe our friend isn't completely what she used to be..." Prime began to explain.
"Oh, that...well you heard her before; she used to be an ordinary human like me, or the kids...though not any more..." June trailed off.
Ratchet, realising the nurse didn't quite get what Optimus was trying to explain, took over: "What Optimus means is that she might not exactly be...uhm...how do I put this? We think she's not even Organic anymore...at least not completely."
Nurse Darby froze...she almost dropped her keys but grabbed them just as they slipped from her fingers. "What are you saying? She's not made of metal, Ratchet...Her skin is soft; scaley, but definitely not metalic in any way. She breathes air, she sweats, her body reacts to injuries and heck; she even bleeds Red Organic Blood just like any of my other patients back at the hospital! What do you mean she's not organic?!"
"Keyword here is 'might' June. We're not even sure what's going on, ourselves! It might not even be Cybertronian in nature at all, for all we know. But remember...she wasn't supposed to have survived the first injury, either." Ratchet reminded her. "It might not be evident on the outside...but I fear something is going on, on the inside."
"What's going on?" June asked with concern plastered on her face.
"There's something about these two normally life threatening (to humans) events that isn't making any sense: Being exposed to either form of energon should have been enough to kill her. The first time it would have been a slow one and this time, it would have been instant." Ratchet began explaining.
"We are not aware of exactly how much energon her body was exposed to, however we do know that she is as you have pointed out Nurse Darby; no longer an ordinary human." Optimus added.
June pinched her nose... Her head trying to wrap itself around what she was going to do, as she never would have imagined she would be standing inside an abandoned missile silo, discussing Science Fiction with two Giant Robots from outer space. "So let me get this straight...whatever...uh...Mutation that caused a normal human young woman to turn into a furry, blue dragon with bunny ears is what saved her life, after she was exposed to a dangerous substance?"
"It's a possibility...However she is from another dimension, at least according to her. It could also be an innate ability of her specific 'human' species." Ratchet shrugged.
"*sigh* Okay...So what's the explanation for her miraculous survival this time?" Nurse Darby rubbed the sides of her tired head trying to brace herself for the answer.
"After surviving exposure to energon, the few traces that remained in her circulatory system were slowly absorbed..." Optimus began.
"So she reacted to it, like one would to a vaccine. Her body is now adapted to be able to defend itself against any future exposures to Energon." June finished.
"However she didn't repel the energon from the cube, she absorbed it." Ratchet added.
Jack made it back home, with Arcee's help. His mind still bothered him, even after his mom reassured him that Zucky was in good hands.
"Hey, Jack?" A voice started invading his thoughts.
"..." The young man was silent.
"Jack?" The voice insisted.
"..." But he still didn't respond.
*beep-beep*
"Woah!" Jack almost fell off, but grabbed hold of the handlebar before he went.
"Jack, You can get off now." It was Arcee.
"Oh! Sorry...I'm..." He was going to explain himself as he got up out of the seat.
"Worried about Zucky, I know...we all are." She finished his sentence. "Listen; your mom's really good at what she does, and right now; Zucky needs us to be strong."
"Yeah...Thanks Arcee." Jack smiled.
"No problem...and next time, I'm throwing you off." Arcee jokes.
"Copy that." Jack chuckled and went inside.
He made sure to check he had everything ready for tomorrow, packed his bag and got ready for bed. His mind still wasn't completely at ease as he thought about how the others are handling this. Raf's pretty hopeful it seems, but Miko was a wreck.
Rafael was up in his room finishing up on his homework for tomorrow, when he got a message from Jack asking how he was doing.
Raf answered back that honestly he was worried, but his mom always tells him to be positive. Zucky might be down and out, but she can still hear and feel everything around her, even if she can't interact with them. So, the best thing was to motivate her to come back and let her know that they are all standing by her no matter what. That's why he left his favorite car with her. Even though she can't play with it in her state, it's the thought that counts.
The boy finished up on his work and chatted with Jack for a while before his mom called to him that it was bedtime. He climbed into bed, took off his glasses and turned over and looked at the shelf on the wall next to his bed. He had all his cars on display there. There was an empty spot where his favorite would always spend the night. He stared at it a while and his mind drifted off to all the good memories he had with it.
From the first time he met Bee; The poor thing got crushed. He chuckled, Bumblebee always twiddled his digits apologetically like a little boy expecting punishment for doing something bad. After a while of hanging out, he and Bee got the bright idea to build a track together. They never showed anyone else, it was their little secret; until he decided to show Zucky the racetrack.
The dragon was so worried the car would end up broken again, that she hurried to catch it before it crashed, but almost ended up crashing herself! If it wasn't for Bee catching her, the track would have been scrapped for sure.
This also reminded the boy of today's events. Zucky always seems to forget her own safety and jump into these precarious situations just to save someone else. Had she not grabbed hold of the cube, he would have gotten seriously injured, or worse. A little too late and he'd be dead, for sure! She took all that energon discharge and she's still breathing? Either she's tougher than she looks, or there was something else at play.
He wanted to talk to Ratchet about it, but had to go home. He'll try and ask tomorrow...
When Miko got home, she received an earful from her host parents, but she didn't care. She stood there, let them unload whatever they had on their minds and went straight upstairs when they dismissed her. The whole while she didn't say a word. They chalked it up to her rebellious nature, but she knew better.
Her mind was still kicking her butt over what happened that day. The image of an injured friend seared into her retina's, so no matter if her eyes were open or shut, she could still see it as clear as crystal as if she's still standing there. The girl didn't stay long enough to hear out what was being said about Zucky's case, so as far as Miko was aware, the poor dragon could have been knocked into a Coma, and it's all her fault!
She tossed her bag into a corner, and slumped into her bed after beating the living daylights out of her pillow. The poor thing was the only witness to what her face was like at the moment. The girl lay there until she passed out. Miko was not looking forward to school tomorrow, but it wasn't like she had a choice. She just wanted to be left alone with her emotions.