"Attention! Attention!"
Skywarp looks up at the sound of the voice booming through the speakers outside his cell. The tension in the large corridor housing a near-endless row of cells is palpable, and everyone remains silent as they wait for the next words to get spoken.
It is time for the purge and no one is safe.
He glances briefly to his right and meets Tic's optics.
The smaller beast-former is as close to a friend as possible under their current circumstances, and Skywarp sees his own anxiousness mirrored in his friend's optics.
When the speakers come to life again, a long list of identification numbers gets announced, and his spark feels like guttering when he realizes that he has to fight against Tic and defeat his friend to avoid entering the final match of the purge.
Only one of them will come out of this purge alive, but how can he defeat his friend, knowing that the final match is a massacre where the losers get one last chance to live.
They just have to be the last to stand alive at the end.
His thrusters have been re-activated and his wings have undergone a meager check-up while Tic has had his cloaking device reinstalled.
Every combatant has the right to have their unique abilities at their disposal during the purge, but Skywarp's warp-gate is such a liability that it can't be allowed, and he will have to rely solely on his flight to defeat his opponent.
He has won, yet the victory is hollow.
Unable to look at Tic's damaged frame, he turns around and flees the arena.
Back in his cell, he huddles into a corner and lets a few discreet tears fall from his optics as he mourns the loss of the only friend he has ever had.
Tic never returns.
As Skywarp slowly wakes from the anesthetic and regains awareness, the deep sorrow at the loss of his friend follows him into the world of the living.
Tears fall from his still offline optics while his processor performs a system check.
With Override's betrayal in fresh memory, he dreads what he will see when he onlines his optics.
The surface beneath him doesn't feel like a medical berth and there are no sounds to give him any indication of where he is.
When he onlines his optics a fraction, darkness greets him.
He can't see any of his immediate surroundings without fully bringing his optics online, but a few seconds later, a soft hue of light activates in the ceiling and allows him to study the room he is inside.
He onlines his optics fully and rises slowly to sit on the edge of the berth.
The room isn't large, but spacious enough for a seeker to comfortably move around without feeling claustrophobic.
As he looks around, the light slowly grows in intensity.
He sees a sturdy window-less door to his left while a desk and chair that have been bolted firmly to the floor stand opposite the berth.
A small vid-screen is embedded in the wall to his right, and when he looks up, he notices a camera and a small speaker that is out of his reach.
His attention is drawn to the vid-screen when it activates.
"Skywarp.
Welcome to rehabilitation facility D-14.
My name is Sonar.
I am one of three guards assigned to observe you while you are in the detention center.
The other two are Sky-High and Nautica.
On the desk in front of you, you will see three datapads.
The first is the official document sanctioning your transfer to D-14. The second is a basic treatment plan and schedule. The third is a list of the team assigned to oversee your treatment while you're staying here at D-14.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Sonar."
Skywarp stares at the vid-screen, re-reading the text a few times before he rises to study the three datapads on the desk.
He begins to relax when he recognizes the same document he had been reading when Override had entered his recovery room. The Joint Investigation Unit's signature flanks Override's signature at the document's bottom, and it further confirms that nothing shady is happening and that he is where he should be.
A blip sounds and new text appears on the vid-screen.
"Are you hungry?"
"A bit," He answers awkwardly.
It is weird to speak to the empty air.
An energon dispenser emerges from a recess in the wall beside the door and pours a cube of energon. When he takes the cube, the dispenser recedes and gets hidden by the wall again.
"If you feel more comfortable with it, I can communicate with you through the speaker. We do text communication as the first interaction to not startle new clients in their first interaction with us." Sonar texts, and Skywarp contemplates the offer while he drinks the energon.
"Yeah, I would prefer that," He answers, looking into the camera.
There is another blip before a calm voice sounds from the speaker: "Hello, Skywarp. Sonar here. Let me know if you need anything."
"Do you know anything about how long I'm going to stay in this room?" Skywarp asks. There is nothing but the three datapads to keep him occupied, and the information stored on those isn't going to keep him interested for long.
"The director should be by soon. If he decides it is safe to move you, you might be out of here before it is time to recharge. I know it can be boring, but it is a safety precaution." Sonar explains reassuringly.
Informed about Skywarp's awakening, Megatron enters the surveillance room and sits down in a chair beside Sonar.
"How is he doing?" He asks the dusty brown helo-former while his optics focuses on the screen and the live-feed from Skywarp's room.
"Telemetry registered an increase in spark pulse right before he woke, but otherwise, he has taken the situation rather calmly. He reacted fine to the activation of the light and my first interaction. In my opinion, he is safe to transfer to the private rooms, but it is of course up to you to decide when you have spoken to him," Sonar reports.
"So far, so good," Megatron hums in satisfaction, but he is taking no chance. Only when he has spoken face to face with the black and purple seeker will he decide. They have experienced before that clients initially seeming docile and approachable have turned violent in a split-second.
Many of them have PTSD due to their experiences, and no one knows what might set them off. Thus their first hours at the rehabilitation facility are spent in the detention center where they can't hurt anyone if they have a bad reaction to something in their new surroundings.