Mirage's petition was shoved aside by Hook. The Constructicon ignored Skywarp, bullied his way past Barricade, and extracted Ratchet with minimal explanation beyond the buzz of high speed communication. To the medic. Who bustled out of quarantine in the crane's wake already cycling up his emergency protocols.
The spy knew what Ratchet was doing because he noticed the ambulance flicking off his sirens as he and Hook hurried away. Someone was in trouble. Mirage looked to Barricade, who shut the room then leaned against the wall as though he was there to guard the door not the prisoner. His doorwings twitched but he said nothing.
"Fragger." Skywarp snapped, provokingly. The Praxian crossed his arms and again said nothing.
"Perhaps we should make our report." Mirage suggested, interested in the circumstances prompting Hook to retrieve a much disliked rival. He also wanted to distract the Seeker from picking a quarrel. He wasn't in the mood to hide behind the furniture, though if he left them to it he might more easily find out what was going on.
"Yeah. We got things to do." The jet sneered then marched off with the noble following him a beat later as a dutiful secondary should. It would be impolite for him to snub his conjunx's trine-mate in public regardless of the linkage between them. Maintaining one's own good conduct was important particularly if one was in unfortunate company, as Mirage's governess had said often. The echo of the long deactivated mech's glyphs was ironic; he had denied the existence of any political movement capable of toppling the Towers.
The noble courteously delayed inquiring why they were walking and not teleporting until they were out of the Enforcer's acoustic pick-up. Mirage assumed Barricade had a similar range to Prowl thus they were quite a distance into the warren of hospital corridors before he spoke.
"I had intended to suggest we return to the bunker." He remarked once Skywarp paused in his vexed hike. "Tempest can manage a little time without me but it is preferable..."
"Shut up." The Seeker interrupted his careful objection. "Listen."
Mirage listened.
Around the corner of the T-junction, there was a lot of activity. Whatever this building had been before being repurposed, it had multiple rooms with wide-access swing doors. They were just out of sight of one of them and the doors were flapping. Someone was shouting for supplemental power. Someone else was shouting for a third someone to calm down. Ratchet amidst the hubbub was asking for consent for a medical override.
"Thrust's real competitive." Skywarp kept his volume low. "He's not gonna let 'Screamer do anything better than him."
"I will not eavesdrop on someone losing their sparkling." Mirage hissed, horrified and offended at what he presumed the Decepticon was implying.
"Don't get your gears locked, they've not managed to kindle." The Seeker said disdainfully. "I bet Thrust badgered his dumb-aft trine into trying a three-way merge. Simultaneous not tandem like we did for Tempest. They'll have overcharged someone's chamber." The unmistakable BEEP BEEP BEEP of a spark support machine seemed to support his supposition. "Fifty shanix says it's Dirge. He always ran cold."
"I will wait in the foyer for you." Mirage stated crisply, already returning the way they came before Skywarp had a chance to respond. The spy had no liking for any of the Coneheads but he was emphatically not going to wager on one of them dying. Shades of the gladiatorial games he had refused to attend, even before contemplating the desperation that had brought that trine to this situation.
The noble expected Skywarp to grab him or teleport in front of him to assert his authority. He was supposed to be guarding a parolee. Although his rank in the government might supersede his residence status. Mirage made a mental note to ask Soundwave for clarification, was able to send a query ping to the aforementioned mech, and reach the elevator unaccosted.
He turned after he touched the pad to summon the cabin. Now would be a good time for an ambush. Unconsciously bracing for an unkind 'gotcha', the Autobot found to his surprise he was alone. Skywarp was nowhere in sight. The corridors were empty except for himself and Barricade, who was watching him with idle interest.
"I am going to the foyer." Mirage informed the Enforcer.
"Acknowledged." The Enforcer replied. "Might want to take a step back."
Avoiding a comedic moment by not asking why, Mirage moved away from the elevator door. Therefore he was not barged into by the racer who came charging out. It was Drift (Deadlock) and he did not look affable. He went straight for Barricade without a glance aside, almost slamming their chassis together. The double agent added a jabbing digit for extra emphasis.
"No one was to sign him out without my permission." Deadlock snarled.
"Medical emergency override." The Praxian bared his fangs in a not-friendly-at-all smile. He really was an aft, Mirage thought as he put his back to the elevator panel hopefully tidily out of way. Discretion suggested he leave but curiosity compelled him to stay. It could hardly be called eavesdropping if they were yelling in a public space.
"Your orders were to comm me for any override attempt." A high performance engine could make rather a lot of reverb in a hallway. Deadlock didn't try not to.
"You see, glitch, that's where you're wrong." Barricade's doorwings flicked. He was enjoying himself. "I report to the Parole Authority not individual sponsors." His smile turned into a sneer. "Sure, you got rank, but I'm a civvie. So suck my spike and fill in a complaint form."
Deadlock lashed out faster than Mirage could intervene. The spy wasn't certain he should get between the two Decepticons or that he would be effective if he did. The dark race car took that option away by raking his claws across Barricade's optics. Fast and vicious, the Enforcer didn't have time to block but he wasn't taken completely by surprise; he riposted with a heavy punch to the assassin's chest-plate right at the fuel pump where speed frames were vulnerable.
Maybe it was just fisticuffs. Mirage couldn't tell how much the pair wanted to damage each other. Past and current experience showed he did not have a good read on 'Con feelings. They were quickly trading armour denting blows. He shouted for them to stop, which they ignored. He repeated the request in a firm officer's voice making it an order. All that got was Deadlock grabbing one of Barricade's doorwings and wrenching it out of joint.
So Mirage did what he would have done on the Ark if a brawl had broken out in the mess. He backed right off and called Security. His HUD gave him a helpful ping that a member of the Security detail was in near proximity. Right in front of him rolling on the floor kneeing another mech in the panel. He called again, flagging it urgent but non-emergency.
"Urgent?" Soft steps came out of a side room beyond the bank of elevators. Mirage turned, keeping his back to the wall, to see Glit padding down the corridor towards him. He indicated the scuffle further along. The beastformer medic paused then trotted up to sit beside him.
"They appear to mean it." The remark was wry with a dusting of frustration. Mirage didn't know how he should deal with this.
"Oh, that is personal." Glit confirmed. "A grudge and bigotry proxied onto a comrade with a divergent speciality." He explained, noted Mirage's continued interest, and clarified. "Guttermech vs Enforcer is a longstanding conflict, which was redirected and I would say filtered some extent through Decepticon ideology into an acceptable antagonism between an assassin and an interrogator." The medic contemplated the two mecha. "Personality dissonance is also a factor."
"Should we intrude?" Mirage prompted as Barricade got a fist around one of Deadlock's finials and tried to slam his helm into the floor. Statistically, he would have said the racer would have the advantage but the recent reframe and melee rather than ranged combat levelled the odds. "You're a doctor and I am a government official. We should do something."
"You're Autobot is showing." The felinoid chided gently. "We are doing something. We're watching. We're making sure this doesn't go from 'squabble' to 'fight'." He waved a paw at the combatants as though referencing an anatomical diagram, clearly not worried. "No weapons, one-on-one, out in the open. All fair. Vug, even, as I'm an officer supervising."
"When can we intervene?" This was clearly something he needed to learn.
"If one of them yields and it's ignored, or if there's function-threatening damage, or if it drags on or impedes traffic." Glit vented, tail curling around his haunches. "It's not an ideal stress resolution procedure but tensions are high. They always are, when the infantry is restless. High Command is doing their best, of course."
"Are they?" Mirage was more direct than he wished to be. The beastformer's calm openness was a balm.
"Well, you'd know, wouldn't you?" He chuckled softly. "Megatron made you part of the new government. He's appointing suitable mecha as fast as they pass their psych evals. He needs everyone to switch settings to civilian as quickly as possible, before some bored officer decides to rebel. Warframes need something to do, cold-con warframes especially so. We'd hoped sparkling production would occupy everyone while the dents were knocked out."
"But that hasn't happened." The spy mused, realising the potential depths of Megatron's desperation. The Slagmaker had blown the space bridge and Primus knew how much of the Decepticon supply reserve on moving Cybertron. He couldn't afford this gambit to fail. They couldn't afford it to fail.