Transformers Prime: The Three Pacifists

2.3 - Et sic incipit, prima monstrum occidit

His frame transitions into survival mode, gritting his teeth as he is rendered mute by pain. One of the officers takes the other side of the mech Steel had saved and relieves him of some of the weight. He does not see the other officer but assumes he went to apprehend the aggressor.

They get all the way out of the building in a half hour before sirens could even be heard in the distance. Finally, the medical responders and Sprocket arrive. Noticing Steel and the mangled mech, the emts rush towards them.

"Careful with him, he's seen a lot." Steel passes the mech over to one of the EMTs and begrudgingly allows himself to be sat down.

As much as he hates receiving medical treatment from others, he knows it's against protocol for them to leave him unchecked, and he doesn't feel like making their jobs any harder today. As the emt starts prodding at the armoured plating of his shoulder, he grimaces, resisting the urge to pull away. Medical coolant in the form of a thick slush is poured on majority of his wounds, instead of directly into his systems. One wound in particular is paid extra attention to.

"Why are you-"

"The wound is cauterized, stay still..." Cauterized?

Steel doesn't remember there being any uncomfortable amounts of heat or plasma in the building, even if he did have to keep his vents open to stay cool. Steel remains in his thoughts, distracting him from the pain of his wounds. As first responders, Steel was trained to subdue the criminal and get a first-hand account of the scene. However, he's covert ops now and that role no longer belongs to him. Though, he could care less. At the very least, the victim survived, and they'd be able to have a living witness in court.

Pondering, Steel tries to make sense of things. The aggressor was intelligent enough to torture the victim while still keeping him alive, yet they had a hard time forming words. Not to mention the use of illegal mods in their attempt to kill Steel. It would be baffling but he's dealt with these guys before. This particular race of Cybertronian, especially on the outskirts of the city, were so vile and aggressive you needed an entire team to apprehend just one. Steel only got lucky with the needle. Perhaps he should get one of those decals with the vial of fortune designs to rest under his insignia. No. He shouldn't get cocky. Especially since this species' numbers almost tripled over the course of the previous great war. Perhaps this particular one had some special ability to burn through metal. He couldn't be too sure. Frankly, he didn't feel like looking into it either.

"I see you managed to bring the brute down with a needle," Steel cycles his optics, surprised to see his commanding officer standing in front of him. Must be a pretty serious arrest for him to show up so early.

"Yeah well I don't think I'll ever get that lucky again, sir," Steel says, humoured. His plating tenses up, showing his discomfort due to his wounds.

"Well, you know what they say about dark cycles, sun goes down and the wolves come out to play." The commanding officer says, turning to watch four on-scene officers haul the aggressor towards the transport trailer.

Steel gives him a light-hearted chuckle.

"We don't have a sun, sir."