Kim's lab is actually just a robot refuge in disguise.

[darkscience]

Who: Kim and Prowl
Where: Kim's Laboratory (before it gets blown up by the bank)
Summary: Prowl gets hurt in a battle and ends up outside Kim's lab. Kim finds him and decides to patch him up. (Almost better than Ratchet, eh?)
Warnings: None.

Dragging the large metal behemoth from the spot where he'd completely shut down the rest of the way to her lab had proven to be a challenge. Though Kim always reveled in beating challenges. Lots of clever uses of highly experimental machinery and some basic flaunting of the laws of physics, and he eventually ended up from 5,000 feet from her lab to 50 feet from her lab in under two hours. Of course, no matter what, it would take way too much time to get him to actually fit inside her lab, so instead she had to make do with setting up a temporary outdoor lab to work on and examine the robot instead.

Equipment is strewn everywhere, and diagnostics are being constantly displayed on several monitors from her computers while she runs all sorts of scans, trying to isolate the worst areas of damage so she can fix them.

It's an all night job. But Kim is used to losing days of sleep when an important project gets a hold of her- and this project had reached the top of her list of priorities almost instantly. This strange robot, whatever this thing is, is alive. And dying. And like hell would she let that happen on her watch.

Eventually, the worst of the damage to his circuits around his fuel pump and that weird whirring engine in his chest is repaired, though there's still a lot of superficial damage to his right arm and leg. She takes it as a good sign that the engine in his chest is regaining its bright light and activity, though, and that he's stopped bleeding.

When he finally begins to stir, he'll find himself hooked up to an innumerable amount of wires, looking up at a night sky. Kim herself is standing over his exposed spark, wearing a bandanna and a pair of overalls and tinkering away at some still torn wires. When she notices he's finally coming back online, she'll look up from her work and give a big wave with her very clearly robotic arm.

"Hey, look who's finally woken up. How're you feeling, Copper?" Yes, that is the name she decided to pick for him due to his police car markings. Because shut up, you're not the boss of her.

Comments

[pffft]

It would be a lie to say there wasn't at least a little shock at waking up to find his spark chamber exposed and plugged into what could at best be described as a back alley alien surgery.

His first instinct is to tear himself out of the cabled mess - but he knew far better than that. If this human had wanted to kill him he wouldn't have woken up at all. And he did notice that his systems were looking significantly better than they had when he'd fallen unconscious.

Still, he looks far from pleased at the state of his exposed plating as he stirs back into consciousness, immediately slamming his spark chamber closed. No more light. But otherwise, he tolerates her presence there as she works near it.

"Who are you?"

[darkscience]

Kim stumbles backwards when he slams his spark chamber shut, falling backwards onto his abdomen with a thud. She groans as she pushes her sliding bandanna back up on her head, giving him a mildly irritated look. She would have at least appreciated a little warning; she could've lost her last organic limb. Still, Kim understands that he's probably feeling a little violated. She didn't like doctors either.

In fact, she looks far more happy that this mysterious robot can actually talk.

"Kim Ross," she declares as she gets to her feet and brushes off her overalls. "And don't worry, I'm a roboticist, you couldn't be in more capable hands. I suggest you don't move around too much, though- you'll rip out all the wires, and as it is you're running low on fuel so it's taking all my resources just to keep you online."

[pffft]

Prowl could generate an extensive list of who he would consider 'more capable hands' in about 0.3 seconds. All of them would be Cybertronian, sure, but it still counts. Nonetheless, this human did do a fair job of rescuing him. She seems to be above the average technological sophistication of the planet, so he'll be a little more conceding. A little.

After giving the set-up another look over, and couldn't help but feeling a tad impressed at her work. Not everyone can pick up on alien biology like that.

Eventually, he speaks again.

"You'll need energon. It's a pink, glowing fluid."

[darkscience]

Kim looks to the left and right. There's energon on the ground everywhere, from where Copper here had 'bled out'. So his fuel was also part of his circulatory system.

"I've never heard of it, and therefore don't happen to have any on hand. Give me a week and I could probably get your system to work on glucose instead, though." She's kidding, of course. Mostly.

Kim walks over his chest up closer to his face, metal feet clanking against his metal casing. She leans over slightly to look down at his face, squinting at him, scrutinizing.

"So, a giant robot with an autonomous AI... A smart one, too, a lot smarter than the last robot who showed up at my doorstep. What exactly are you?"

[pffft]

It took a lot of self control not to panic at seeing himself laying near a puddle of his own energon.

"I'd prefer if you did not tamper with my systems at all. It is possible to make a synthetic solution from all the energon you've allowed to be spilled out."

It was a bit gruesome, but not unheard of to recycle it. It was certainly less invasive than being modified to consume other fuels. And, well, Cybertronians don't really get sick from most contaminants.

"As for your AI theory, no. I'm not a creation by some other species. I'm a robotic organism - a Cybertronian."

[darkscience]

"I had bigger concerns than trying to catch all the volatile substances leaking out of you, like stopping the bleed and saving your life. Give me..." Kim looks back and forth at all the energon, thinking for a moment. The sclera of her right eye suddenly turns black, the blue iris glowing as she inspects the alien substance. "Eight hours, and I'll be able to gather up enough of it for a transfusion. In the meantime, I'm still trying to make sure your engine doesn't sputter and die. So I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to pry this back open." She taps her foot against his spark casing. "And at some point I'm going to have to work on your arm and leg, unless you want to be an amputee."

Kim tilts her head in curiosity over his claim to be an organism- as in organic, as in naturally occurring. Not created by another species?

"So... you, your robotic race known as 'Cybertronians', evolved naturally? I mean, I could almost believe it. Smart enough AI would strive to procreate and improve itself over time. But a purely natural robotic species with no initial influence from an intelligent organic species?" Kim narrows her eyes, then smiles at him. "You're pretty unbelievable, Copper."