The Diego Diaries: Moving On (dd6 380)
-0-After the meeting
They gathered in the rec room with Ratchet newly extricated from the garbage barrel. He smirked at Drift and Springer for their impertinence even as he understood that all he had to do was troll the internet, find something gory or cringe inducing, then own them all. It was a lively conversation among friends and relatives, companions of fox holes and civilian compatriots just as the message reached Ratchet. He listened a moment, then shoved everyone aside as he sprinted for the doors nearby. Dashing through them, he vanished from the courtyard before anyone could move.
"What the frag?" Ironhide said, then raced after Ratchet, the others following him as closely as they could. Ironhide may have been big but he was extremely fast when he wanted to be. He wanted to be so now.
Ratchet ran in a bee line toward the Tranquilitatis District cutting through traffic and jaywalking without a thought as he raced for his tower. Entering the lobby at last, he raced for an elevator and disappeared inside just as the rest of them were dancing through traffic down the street outside. Ratchet reached his floor as the others reached the lobby heading toward the elevators. Ironhide who was frantically calling Ratchet over their comm link got nothing back but static. He felt his insides turn to ice until it dawned on him at the elevator doors that no kids were home to be frightened for.
This was about elders.
The mob entered the elevators almost as one and took all of them up to the 24th floor together.
Ratchet reached his floor, sped out and ran for his amma's apartment, reaching the door in seconds. Gripping the latch, he wrenched it off its hinges, tossing it aside as he strode inside. Kneeling on the floor in a state of near hysteria beside a prostrate Corr, Docker looked up. "SONNY! CORR! HELP HIM! HE JUST FELL DOWN!"
Ratchet moved her gently, then plugged in as every scan he had hit the small crumpled little mech at once. He lay on the floor arms and legs akimbo, his optics off line. He looked too still for anyone's comfort. Ratchet listened, watched and assessed. "We have to get him to the hospital. What happened? Did he bump his helm or what?"
"He … I DON'T KNOW! He was walking to the sink, then fell down. I CALLED YOU, SONNY! YOU'RE A DOCTOR!" she said uncharacteristically terrorized.
Just then, everyone made it to the apartment, Ironhide in the lead. Ratchet looked at them. "GET AMMA DOCKER! I have to get Amma Corr to the hospital. Get my Amma, Ironhide," Ratchet said as he slipped his arms under Corr. Turning him slightly, he stood, then shifted him more carefully in his arms. Walking around everyone, he left the apartment and hurried to the elevators. Ironhide gripped Docker, then picked her up. Moving through the mechs and femmes with him, he followed Ratchet. They reached the elevators at the same time, then everyone piled on and down they went. The door lay on the floor where Ratchet flung it.
-0-At the bottom
Ratchet stepped out, then hurried for the doors, calling on an emergency team to meet him in emergency receiving. He was bringing in a processor case and needed EVERYONE there. Following with a nearly hysterical Docker in his arms, Ironhide, Springer, Drift, Hercy, Kup, Paragon, Blackjack, Alor, Raptor, Turbine, Hard Drive, and Delphi followed.
They reached the hospital doors, then entered to run for the elevators again. They took them up and stepped out on the 49th floor where a gurney and a medical team was waiting. Gently laying Corr onto it, they hurried to the processor injury suite where Gypsy was waiting. They hooked Corr up, then watched as the data ran. Ratchet jolted, then turned to the group silently watching. "IRONHIDE! Get the others. Get my appas. Don't tell them a thing. Tell them I want to see them here. I'll tell them myself," he said as he remembered that they weren't here. "Springer and Drift, get my genitors. Lock the slagging shop up. Don't tell them. Please, do this."
Everyone nodded and with Paragon sitting on the couch with Docker, the group hurried out to comply. It was tense and silent as the machines made their assessment. More mechs arrived to watch, whisper among themselves to explain what they knew to each other, then it was silent again. Sickeningly silent. As the machines spun, Ratchet called up a number of mechs who were processor experts along with him, Goldwing and Gullwing, both of whom were his students years before during the big Seeker push for professions. The monitor flashed on and there was an outline of Corr's body on it. Data was spinning, then the internal structures of his body on screen began to turn silver on the diagram, outlining what could be detected of Corr's internal condition.
As it did, the data from other scans was made coherent as Corr's geriatric specialist, Dr. Medley walked in with the data charts on Corr's progress for his situational dementia and protoform wasting. He stood to one side waiting for the diagnosis to spit out. It was grimly silent.
-0-Elsewhere
Prowl entered the shop where Ravel and Tie were working. Behind him, dispatched swiftly were Springer and Drift. Having been alerted by Ironhide, he had hurried to the store. The three gathered in the showroom together, the doorbell ringing as they entered. Ravel walked out, then smiled. "Boys! Hello. What brings you here?"
"Amma, Ada wants you to come to his office. He found something he wants you to see … something that comes from the old neighborhood," Springer said. The others nodded.
"He does?" Ravel asked with surprise. "That Sonny, he's filled with surprises. Does he want Tie as well?"
Prowl forced a grin. "He does. You know him. He likes surprises."
Ravel grinned, then walked to the back. After a moment, he came out with Tie. Tie grinned. "What's he got up his subspace now?"
Drift grinned slightly. "You know him, Appa. Could be anything."
Tie grinned, then pulled up the sign that said they were closed for a moment. "Everything is banked so we can go. Tell me, infants … he hasn't got some weird trick up his sleeve does he?"
Prowl stepped forward and patted Tie. "No, Abba … he just wants you there."
They walked together to the door and left. The sign said they would return shortly.
-0-Tracking down Chan and Appa Ratchet
They found them at the Main Public Library near The Fortress getting books related to a class they were taking. Glancing up to see Ironhide, Raptor and Blackjack, they smiled. "Hello, infants! Are you getting books, too? I still can't get over the idea I can come here and get all the books I want," Appa Ratchet said with a big smile.
Ironhide grinned at him. "You can take the whole library, Appa. Right now, Ratchet has a surprise. He sent us to get both of you. Can you check out and come?"
"What's that infant got going on, Ironhide? He's so wild and untamed," Chan said with a smile.
"THAT'S MY BOY! HE'S PERFECT!" Appa Ratchet said with emotion. "We'll check out, son. Give us a second."
They carried their books and datapads to the desk where the librarian helped, then they subspaced them. Walking out with the big mechs, they began to head back uptown to the gigantic medical tower that was next door to their home. They hadn't a clue.
Drift, Springer, Ravel, Prowl, and Tie arrived at the hospital, then went upward to the 49th floor. Stepping out, they noted half the people they knew standing around a suite down the hallway. Ravel glanced up at Prowl. "What is happening, Prowl?" he asked.
Prowl put his arm around Ravel and Tie. "Let's go find out."
They walked to the doorway where the crowd parted, then entered the suite. That's when they saw a stricken looking Docker and Ratchet. "SONNY! WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MY ADA!?" Tie Down asked with shock.
Ratchet turned to his father. "Atar, we have to fix a problem."
That's when Tie Down burst into tears and ran to stand by his father's silent helm.
-0-Down below
They entered the elevator, then went up, Chan and Appa Ratchet standing like mini-cons in the midst of Ironhide, his father and grandfather. They had chatted about books and going to the theater this weekend on a group pass connected to their classes on classical Cybertronian literature. Chan, Docker, Corr, and Appa Ratchet had a 'box seat, Sonny … down in front. Scout and Trooper got it for us. Can you imagine that?' …
Ratchet could.
When they saw the group standing in front of a door and heard the sounds of crying, they slowed to a halt. "What's this, Ironhide?" Appa Ratchet asked.
Then Chan stiffened. "What's happening? Something's wrong with Corr. I thought he was recharging at home. He had a … his processor hurts. Sonny?" he called.
A moment passed before Ratchet walked out, hurrying to his little appas to kneel. He gripped their servos. "Appas, Amma Corr fell down at home. He has a helm injury. We're getting him treatment now. I don't want you to be afraid. He's got the best doctors Cybertron ever had working on him now."
"Corr? My little Corr?" Chan gasped. "Where is he, Sonny? TAKE ME THERE!"
Ratchet picked Chan up and carried him down the hallway until he reached the suite. Entering, he set the little mech down gently. Tie was standing by Corr's helm crying as Ravel tried to comfort him. Chan was stricken, then he moved to Corr taking his servo. "What is this, Ravel? I thought he was recharging. I … the bond was muted."
"He was walking to the sink when he fell, Chan. I called for Sonny. I didn't know what to do. He just fell and I didn't know what to do," Docker said as she rose to walk to them.
Appa Ratchet stunned out of his stupor put his arm around Docker. "You did the right thing. Sonny knows what to do. You can fix this, right, Sonny?"
Terrified optics looked up at him as Ratchet stared at the data. "We will, Ammas. I want you to come here and sit down so we can figure this out. Okay?" he asked gently as he guided his terrified little grandparents to the couch. Big mechs jumped up and helped them settle as Ratchet gathered Tie and Ravel together. "Please, help ammas and appas. I'll help Amma Corr. Okay?"
They stared at him with terror, then nodded, sitting on the couch with the others. Chan was crying softly and Docker looked numb. Ratchet looked at them and felt devastation flash through him. Turning to the screen, he studied it. "We need Levee in here. This looks like a bleed."
Gullwing and Goldwing nodded. A tech made a general call as they began to sort the data out. After a moment, a tall handsome older mech joined them, gathering with Gullwing, Goldwing, Medley, Ratchet, and a med-tech for processors, Insert. It was a tense off line conversation, then Ratchet turned to the others. "Amma Corr has a very frail protoform. He's got less than you need to avoid this kind of thing but he was doing well, right, Medley?"
Medley who was the doctor for Corr's health related to protoform wasting and other geriatric conditions nodded. "He was taken off his medications because his system was making good protoform at a good rate. If you look here," he said calling up a diagram of Corr's internals when he came from the rescue. "He was very, very deficient at first," he said pointing out the silver outline that showed his internal structure of protoform. He tabbed a key and another diagram overlay that. It was half again as developed from before. "He had come past the 66% magic marker line in the course of his treatment that meant his body was on track again. He still had a way to go to be secure and out of danger for breakages, but he was doing it himself. I discharged him from his medication routine to encourage rather than control that. He wasn't due for a check up for another 9 decaorns."
It was then that Levee arrived and was quickly filled in. He looked at the two diagrams, then the scans of Corr's helm. He looked at the patient, then turned to the family and Ratchet. "Protoform wasting is a strange condition. It seems to be worse in some areas than others. I see a lot of thinning of protoform structures in the helm and back struts. That allows for simple bumps to cause big problems. I would suggest, Ratchet," he said, "that Corr bumped his helm either today or not long ago, something that would not be a problem any other time. It was enough to cause a fracture of this area," he said pointing to something that would be in the area of the left frontal portion of Corr's processor. "He had a small injury which led to a slow bleed. Given any other time, it wouldn't have happened but he's still regaining full development of his protoform so it did. It led to a bleed that caused a rupture."
"What will it take to fix it?" Tie said as he stood up from the couch nearly trembling with fear. Ravel stood with him and held him around the waist. They both looked terrified. All of them did.
"I repair two or three of these an orn," Levee said gently. "We have so much thin protoform development from starvation and other factors, that I do them nearly daily. I will do this and we can put him back on track."
"What about long term? Will my ada have … you know … mental problems?" Tie asked.
"We can determine that after the operation. Most of my patients are fine. Some have a tiny bit of trouble reading or talking but there are things we can do. We have to determine what the damage is, then fix it. After that, we can find out how its going to be," Levee said. "I do this a lot. I don't want you to be afraid."
Tie looked at him, then the others. Moving to sit next to a terrified Chan, he put his arm around his father. "When will you do it? We have to be here."
"We can do it now. The sooner, the better," Levee said as he turned to Ratchet. "I will do this. You take care of your family, Ratchet. I can have Gull and Goldie help me and observe if you'd like that."
Ratchet heard about every third word around the sirens in his helm. He nodded wordlessly, then helped them put Corr on a gurney to be wheeled into a surgical suite nearby. Chan stood up, wailing as Corr was rolled out. Ratchet picked him up and held him, swaying wordlessly as he did. Docker stared at him with a numbed expression as the others sat down again. "What now, Sonny?" Appa Ratchet said as he stood again. "CORR IS A GOOD MECH! HE NEVER HAD A BREAK BUT HE STAYED GOOD! WHAT NOW!?"
Ratchet moved toward the door. "Bring them to the sitting room nearby," he said to the others as he carried Chan with him. They were brought along, mostly in the arms of their sons-in-law and grandsons to the comfortable big lounge nearby. Sitting them down, Ratchet held Chan as he wailed. "CORR IS MY BOND! HE'S MY HERO! HOW CAN I LIVE WITHOUT HIM!? HE NEVER GAVE UP! HE WAS ALWAYS A GOOD MECH! HE LOVES ME, SONNY! I LOVE HIM! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! IT ISN'T FAIR! WHY ISN'T IT ME!? HE'S THE ONE WHO WAS SICKEST! WE ALL ENDED UP IN THE DEAD END BECAUSE THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT HIM! WE HAD TO PRETEND! WE COULDN'T LET THEM TAKE HIM AWAY! HE COULDN'T BE DUMPED TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF! THIS IS MY CORR! MY LITTLE CORR!" he wailed.
It was sickening.
-0-Twenty minutes later
Optimus Prime walked into the lounge to see a subdued group sitting listlessly around the room. Chan looked up and stared at him a moment, then jumped up. He gripped Prime's servo, then knelt down on his knees. "LORD OPTIMUS! MY CORR IS SICK! HE'S HURT! CAN YOU HELP HIM!? WE PRAY EVERY ORN TO THE PANTHEON! CAN THEY HELP HIM!? DO YOU KNOW IF THEY CAN!?"
Ratchet picked Corr up, then carried him to the couch, wifi-ing a sedative to the little mech as he did. It took a moment, then he sagged a little, falling into a light sleep. Setting him down gently, Ratchet rose and walked to Prime. They hugged a moment, then Prime and Prowl who walked to Optimus moved to a corner to speak. "Amma bumped his helm and ordinarily it wouldn't matter. But his protoform is so thin it started a bleed. Levee, Goldwing and Gullwing are working on him now."
"What is the prognosis?" Optimus asked with concern.
"We'll know when they're done. It could be nothing or it could leave some impairment in speech or reading," Ratchet said as Prowl slipped his arm around Prime's waist.
Optimus shook his helm. "This is awful. I am sorry, Ratchet. I cannot predict the Matrix. Sometimes, the things that happen to us are life lessons we need to learn and the Matrix will not intervene. If I can, I will."
Ratchet nodded. "I know. We just have to wait and see."
Optimus walked to the forlorn group of elders sitting on a pair of couches nearby. Sitting on a coffee table, he held their servos and comforted them as everyone sat or stood around waiting for the outcome. As they did, relatives from all over began to converge on town.
-0-Three joors later
Levee stepped into the room, passing through the mechs both inside and out to reach Ratchet and the family. Gullwing and Goldwing followed along with Gypsy and Medley. The little mechs on the couch looked at them with terror and hope. Levee looked at Ratchet. "We repaired the injury, cleaned up the bleed and recharged the nodes around the area to insure they're operational. I've seen worse injuries. He has delicate protoform recovery in his helm. It might require that he wear special head gear until the recovery grows more structure there. As it is now, he came through well. We have good data. What we'll determine when he's awake is the extent, if any, of lingering effects of the injury."
"Will he know me?" Chan asked in a quavering voice. "He's my bond. He's been sick and didn't know me sometimes but he always came around. Didn't he?" he asked the others who nodded. "He won't be hurt in his helm? He'll know me, won't he?"
Levee nodded. "He will, Chan. What he's going to be is sick, disoriented and weak for a few orns. We're keeping him here for about five orns to make sure that the reboot going on is smooth. I believe it will be. We want him here to care for him so you won't have to worry. The best doctors are always here so you don't have to worry."
"I do," Chan wailed. "He's so small. He worked so hard all his life. They threw him into the Dead End. We were thrown away. I could cry forever thinking about how helpless he was. If we weren't there, he would have been harmed by someone or shot. He never deserved it. HE NEVER DID!" He began to wail again.
"I'm checking Appa Chan in. I want to have Jarro see him. He needs to see someone, too. In fact, all of you do," Ratchet said firmly as he picked Chan up in his arms. "Amma is going to be alright. We need to make sure we take care of him until he's at 90% or more protoform. Then this won't happen. Right, Levee?"
Levee nodded. "Right. We'll take both of them." He looked at the others. "Do you need to stay as well? We have room and you can get sleep and good care. We want all of you to be happy and healthy again."
"I have to stay with my genitors," Tie said around his tears. "I love them so much. They deserve everything. They never hurt anyone in their lives."
Docker hugged Tie tightly. "We can all stay. I don't think I can go home again until we all feel better. Is that okay, Sonny?" she asked Ratchet with an almost disoriented expression.
"It's going to happen. All of you. We have a ward we can use. Right now, I want our boys to take one of you and carry you to the eighteenth floor to the big family ward there. We can close off space to make it private and you can all stay there together." Ratchet glanced at the silent solemn mechs standing by the door. "Help your elders, infants."
Sideswipe entered, then gently picked up Docker. She clung to him and began to cry. Sunstreaker took Chan, Drift gently picked up a faint Appa Ratchet, Springer took Tie Down, and Hercy gently led a weaving Ravel out of the room. When they were gone, Ratchet turned to Levee. "Tell me what you couldn't say in front of them."
Levee looked at Ratchet. "It went well, Ratchet. There's always possibilities of complications but it looked good. These little elders … they come here trounced. We work together, Medley and all of us with Geriatrics and Specialties to prevent this but I get two or three cases of breaks, some in processors, backs and elsewhere that are just like this. He'll recover. If there's complications, they won't impair his life very greatly."
"He loves to read. He goes to school. I want that for him. He's earned it," Ratchet said.
Levee squeezed Ratchet's arm. "I've treated impairment cases. This doesn't reach that level. I feel good about this and you know me. I never say so if I don't think so."
Ratchet hugged him, then Gullwing, Goldwing, and Gypsy. He hugged Medley, the techs, everyone standing around, then Prowl. "I love you all. You have no idea how awful this is. I could kill Sentinel and Megatron with my bare servos."
"You and me both," Levee said. "I have two more cases, Ratchet. Same thing. Have faith." He patted Ratchet's arms, shook hands with everyone and with the doctors in tow, filed out to do that same thing two more times.
Ratchet watched them go, then glanced around at everyone. "I love you all. I couldn't do this without you. If you ever tell anyone, I'll bash you good."
Hard Drive who was sitting on a chair arose. "Our lips are sealed," he said before Ratchet enveloped him with his arms.
-0-TBC 6-9-18 edited 6-18-18