Only a Flesh Wound

[Ultra Magnus]

OOC: Open to Autobots.

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It's a low, shuddering, resonant sound that can be heard clearly from one particular corridor – an unsteady rhythm pounded through one of the Event Horizon's airlocks. Three heavy slams and then silence, repeated after a few seconds.

Ultra Magnus is knocking.

He carefully stamps out the sequence again, trying to balance with the tip of his foot wedged into a narrow gap in the hull, then pauses. This is not the same airlock Guzzle and Nightbeat used for their retreat; Magnus's tussle with Scourge and the ending barrage displaced him from his original position. He wearily searches the markings nearby for something he can use to call his location.

//Ultra Magnus at airlock <pick a designation>,// he announces. //Someone let me in. I'm not in the mood to blow another one of these today.//

[Override]

Override has been a 'background combatant' for this fight. Presumably, she's been in scuffles with... some one, but none of it's been interesting enough to waste precious screen time on. In addition, she's been doing a lot of running back and forth, getting wounded to where they can be treated, be it medical or the Rock Room (where Long Haul is holed up).

She is, in fact, still doing that.

The race car rolls down the hall. //On my way,// she answers, transforming as she approaches the hatch. Her hand slams onto the airlock activation trigger before her feet hit the ground, and rather than doing the usual skidding to a stop, she spins on her feet when she lands and turns so that she's facing the hatchway.

[Ultra Magnus]

//Acknowledged,// Magnus says. He sinks gratefully into the airlock once the outer hatch opens and very gingerly settles himself against a bulkhead while the whole affair cycles through. He can't quite see what a sight he'll make for Override once the inner door slides open, but he can imagine it won't be a grand one.

He pulls himself upright as the door moves aside on its track; his near-severed shoulder twangs painfully and the broken shoulder makes a grinding noise when the weight of his arm forces the parts to rotate. He takes a moment to steady himself lest he stumble and inadvertently swing at Override with the weapon jutting from his torso. It won't do to hit the person who opened the door for him.

"Thanks," he murmurs, nodding to her and making to step over the threshold.

[Override]

Override's optics widen. For her part, she only has a few minor scrapes. Certainly nothing on the level of a sword through the chest. "Woah... woah!" she exclaims, stepping forward to support Ultra Magnus. "Well, if you're pulling yourself in, I take it you gave more than you got, but since you got his sword, I don't want to know what he got from you!"

As she shifts, trying to prop him up in the most comfortable manner, she gestures to that same sword. "That's not holding anything in place, is it? Can we pull it out?"

[Ultra Magnus]

Ultra Magnus grimaces but says nothing to answer Override's observations. All he really did was make Scourge angry – not exactly a stunning feat, that; the other truck angers readily enough – and then throw him. It doesn't sound like much of a fair trade given the state Magnus himself is in. He also tries not to lean too much on her support if only because without the use of his arms, all he needs to do is lose his balance and end up putting all his weight on her. That can't end well, he thinks.

"Well," he says, looking at the hilt jutting from his chest, "I'm not quite sure. But it stopped hurting several minutes ago and that… concerns me." His pain tolerance isn't that good.

[Override]

Override's lips twist into a frown as she examines the wound and the sword. "Hang on, this is going to hurt." Then she grabs hold of it and attempts to carefully pulls the weapon out. Perhaps surprisingly, the Velocitronian Champion is actually a fair hand at repair, having even aided and directed part of the restoration of Primus himself.

"Be easier to get down the hallway if we don't have to worry about that thing catching corners," she mutters as she pulls, careful not to yank anything else loose, and watching for any leaks that might open up.

[Ultra Magnus]

"I'll manage," Magnus says when Override advises him of the inevitable pain. He'll be glad if it hurts; it's the lack of sensory input that bothers him. He braces himself on the deck as best he can, unable to grab anything to steady his upper body, which will hopefully facilitate removal.

It's surprising – and slightly worrying – that none of Override's tugging hurts. The sword wound is numb by all accounts and Magnus watches in detached fascination as the blade begins to slide free. It isn't caught on anything, but it is wedged between two spans of outer plating that aren't meant to be separated horizontally; they're pinching together on the sword. That hurts, a sharply stinging scrape of metal on metal, tripping relays in his armour where the corresponding circuits in his body seem to be non-functioning. He just stifles a grunt of discomfort and his left arm – with the broken shoulder but intact motor lines – twitches. Nothing has yet started leaking.

"You might," he groans, "have to… pull harder."

[Override]

Override gives a single, shop nod. "Right." She examines the wound once more, checking to make sure she can do what she plans to do without killing Magnus. Deciding she can, she pushes the larger Autobot against the wall, firmly grabs the hilt of the sword, and then puts the bottom of her right foot on the wall, next to Ultra Magnus's torso. Once she has her balance, she lifts the other foot and, braced entirely against the wall, no contact with the floor, begins pulling, grunting with the strain.

This positioning would probably come across as very awkward to an organic who happens upon the two, although most robots are less likely to think much of it.

OOC: Pushing around of Magnus done with permission.

[Lynn Deanna Payne]

Bambi grew up on Earth and has studied organic species more extensively than she has her own!

She was just trying to drag her busted self to medical after fighting Frenzy and Ravage with Ramulus. Bambi's blackened from fire and covered in fire retardant foam, which mostly disguises the fact that she has puncture wounds all over the place. She pauses when she sees, well... Ultra Magnus up against a wall and Override up on the wall, tugging at something in Ultra Magnus's midsection.

Bambi even transforms just so she can make a funny face over this incident. On the one hand, she should probably look away. This is just not polite! On the other hand, the closest Bambi has gotten to documenting Cybertronian courtship and mating rituals is noting that Mirage was a bit flustered over discussing Skyblast's spark. There is science at stake here.

Bambi looks away and backs down the corridor a bit. Ultra Magnus and Override haven't signed informed consent forms.

[Ultra Magnus]

Magnus is as resilient to injury as he is morose; it takes a good deal more than Override playing Arthur – and if only Magnus actually knew about that bit of Terran mythos so he could wryly crack a joke! – to kill him. He counter-braces against her pull, setting his heels and pressing his weight into them and into the bulkhead behind him. The sword is uncooperative, lurching out little by little with a low grinding sound each time as the metals scrape across one another, and the sensation of the sound makes Magnus's relays crawl; he shudders every time it cuts through him. It would tickle if it wasn't so damned unpleasant.

The removal should get easier as the sword's taper comes into play, for which Magnus will certainly be grateful. He's a little too distracted at the moment to notice the quiet and largely concealed Bambi over there.

"This went in much easier," he grinds out, strained.

[Override]

Finally, Override manages to pull the sword free. Considering both of her feet are on the wall and she is using them to push against it, this means that she immediately clatters to the floor in front of Ultra Magnus. The sword falls to the ground between them - Bambi now may be able to see it, and perhaps be able to figure out what they were really up to.

"Well, it's out now," she pants, pulling herself up to her feet. She grabs the sword up off the floor as she stands, then moves to support Magnus. "Hey, let's get you to medi- is that Bambi?"

[Lynn Deanna Payne]

Bambi could crack jokes about Override being the rightful king of England if she was not too busy thinking Ultra Magnus and Override are doing something a bit kinky. Ultra Magnus is not helping.

However, that sounded like a falling sword. (Bambi has better hearing than usual.) Bambi peers back around the corner, mess of blackness and foam that she is. She announces, before anyone gets any ideas of shooting, "It me Bambi!"

[Ultra Magnus]

Override may need both hands for Magnus since his body is trying to follow the sword to the deck, legs buckling under the sheer weight of that last rush of pain and the relief that follows. He tries to catch himself, too, trying to force tension back into his legs or jam an arm to keep him upright. Or at least get one knee under him so he doesn't land squarely on his skidplate.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles tiredly, almost as a reflex, when he starts to lean on Override. He is never fighting in outer space again. "Did– have you seen Guzzle? And Nightbeat?" he asks both Override and Bambi, looking between them. The little Dinobot is a mess; don't she and Magnus make quite the pair? "Nightbeat was injured… covered their retreat." Or he could radio them, but they're out of thread.

[Override]

"Think I might have seen them, but I've been tearing through these halls at pretty high speed, getting folks to medical and the rock room and everywhere else," Override admits, letting the sword clatter to the floor once again so she can use both hands to keep Magnus from falling over. Someone else can come back and get the sword later.

She looks over at Bambi. "Bambi, can you walk on your own?" Because Override's pretty sure she'll have a hard time carrying them both.

[Lynn Deanna Payne]

"Me Bambi can no smell them. Can only smell smoke. Blech," Bambi answers Ultra Magnus. She doesn't seem hugely concerned, despite Ultra Magnus's obvious worry. Children often have trouble with close interpersonal attachments! And the concept of death. She is a bit more defensive in answering Override, "Me Bambi walking!"

The limping dinosaur is still walking.

She looks at Ultra Magnus's injuries with open and unashamed curiousity. Bambi's fixed trucks before. Despite looking outwardly truckish, Ultra Magnus sure looks a lot more complex on the inside.