Verdant onlined and checked her system logs. She wasn't sure why she was offline or what happened around that time, but she could at least confirm that she'd been in recharge for ten Earth hours.
"Goodmorning, Little Ms. Potty Mouth."
She frowned and sat up, her helm pounding and looked over at Wheeljack, who was sitting next to her on an unfamiliar berth, his servos occupied by a datapad. They were in a small berthroom and the door was open.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
Wheeljack hummed in response. "Ratchet, she's awake now."
Verdant stared at him. "Wheeljack."
"You almost sound normal," Wheeljack tilted his helm at her. "How do you feel?"
"Fine," Verdant responsed before stopping. "Well... a bit unusual."
He sat up and put the datapad to the side. "Ratchet won't believe this."
"I won't believe what?" Ratchet demanded as he strode into the room.
Verdant looked at the medic. "What happened?"
"You were pulled out of the screen during your mission to gather data from the Decepticons," Ratchet explained simply, raising his arm to scan her.
She stared at him, expression becoming blank. "I... the others!"
Immediately, Verdant launched off the berth, ignoring Wheeljack's surprised warning, and then promptly faceplanted when her legs gave out from under her.
"I hope you learned your lesson," Ratchet snorted, grabbing her arm and helping her back to the berth. "The others can wait until you've recovered. From what I've seen, they haven't got any worse since yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Verdant frowned. "How bad were they yesterday?"
She checked her chronometer again, this time going back a little further. With wide optics, she realized that it had been less than twenty-four hours since the Autobots waged their ill-fated attack on the Nemesis.
But she felt fine... considering how recent her unplugging was.
She activated her comms. "Ultra Magnus, I need you."
Wheeljack crossed his arms.
Ratchet sat her down on the berth. "Where do you feel pain?"
"My helm, my servos, my tentacles," Verdant listed, looking around. "Not as much as I should be feeling. Something is different."
She ejected her tentacles and raised them up to inspect them. "I've been jacked."
"I haven't done anything to you," Wheeljack told her.
"No, you dummy," Verdant frowned, immensely confused. "Soundwave..."
Ultra Magnus took that moment to appear in the doorway. "What about him?"
"He jacked me."
The commander shook his helm. "I don't know what that means."
"Last time I was pulled out of a graying, my processor was completely scrambled," Verdant stated. "Soundwave unscrambled it."
"He helped you?" Ultra Magnus walked forward. "Is that why you're not... being weird?"
Wheeljack sighed. "Disappointing. It was kinda fun listening to you."
Verdant glared at him, trying to convey some explicit choice-words.
"Did you get the information?" Ratchet asked.
Verdant paused, thinking deeply, and her optics flickered white before immediately turning blue again. She lurched forward and cried out, servos flailing up in panic.
"Woah," Ratchet grabbed her upper arm. "Don't do any of that. Even if Soundwave unscrambled you, you still aren't at your best. Remember faceplanting? Not optimal."
She gritted her denta. "I saved the recordings of the med-bay. How am I supposed to access them if I can't–"
"The point is that you can't," Ultra Magnus told her. "So you are simply stuck with waiting until you can. Smokescreen and Bumblebee will survive until then."
Verdant slumped and leaned against the wall. "The whole point of going to the Nemesis was so that they wouldn't have to wait."
Ratchet shook his helm. "You did good. They will certainly not have to wait as long now and you will be to thank for it. Do you remember anything about the experiments?"
"Synthetic energon might have been involved," Verdant told him, her optics dimming. "I dunno. Was rushing."
He nodded and glanced at Ultra Magnus. "Alright, then. Let me know if you think of anything else. Until then, just rest."
"In here?" Verdant questioned.
"Unless you want to recharge next to me in the main room while Miko plays karaoke," Ratchet affirmed. "Wheeljack is in charge of you for now."
"For now," Ultra Magnus emphasized. "Tell me if he bothers you."
"I'm too charming for that," Wheeljack winked at the commander, who rolled his optics in response.
The two mechs left the room.
"Alright," Wheeljack picked up his datapad. "Go back into the land of unconsciousness."
Verdant frowned at him.
"What?" he nodded toward her face. "You're visibly exhausted. Recharge some more and then I'll bother you."
Verdant sighed before offlining.
▪️◾◼⬛◼◾▪️
The next time she onlined, Wheeljack was in the exact same position, helm tilted down and datapad in his lap. The only difference was that he was in recharge, optics dark, and chassis rising in a steady, calm pattern.
She smiled at the sight. It was probably the most peace she'd ever see from the obnoxious wrecker.
Peace was something her infected teammates were needing right about now. Verdant frowned. Maybe another recharge would have cleared her systems. She tried accessing her files again, only for another sharp stab of pain to dig into her processor. Her digits curled against the bed and she jerked forward, scrunching her face up in pain, but keeping her intake shut so she wouldn't disturb Wheeljack.
It didn't work.
His servo was already on her back and his face was hovering in front of her. "What happened? Are you okay? Do you need Ratchet?"
Verdant grunted. "I'm fine."
"You say that too often," Wheeljack frowned. "More often than it is true."
She leaned back again. "I want to go help Ratchet."
"Can you walk?"
Verdant looked at the floor and considered it. "I don't want to fall again."
He climbed across to her side of the berth and then slid off, standing in front of her and holding out his servos invitingly. "I won't drop you."
"On accident," Verdant replied.
"I won't drop you on purpose either," Wheeljack grinned teasingly. "I did carry you all the way here, after all. If I was going to drop you, I would have done it then."
Verdant considered his proposal a moment longer before sliding her legs off the berth and grabbing his servos. He pulled her up and Verdant wobbled unsteadily. Wheeljack slipped his arm around her waist and they stood there, finding the right position for her to stand properly.
"This is harder than I thought," Verdant gave her pedes a sour expression.
He chuckled. "Plenty fun for me."
She glared.
"Come on," Wheeljack helped her forward.
Verdant stumbled a bit at first, holding onto Wheeljack for support. He smiled encouragingly and the two of them walked out of the berthroom.
"Verdant," Arcee said in surprise. "Hello."
"Hello," Verdant greeted, her face turning blue as Arcee examined the situation she was in. "Uh... we'll talk later, we have somewhere to be."
Arcee's optic ridge rose. "I'm sure you do."
Wheeljack's grin was far larger than the situation required.
Verdant stepped on his pede rather aggressively. "Oops."
He tripped and dropped her, only to swing around and catch her in a dip, bending over so that their faces were nearly touching. "Oops."
She smacked him. "I think my servo spasmed."
Wheeljack grabbed her servo. "We should get this taken care of then."
He kissed it.
Verdant blushed deeply and pulled it away. "We got distracted."
"I wasn't distracted from you."
Verdant huffed. "You're not helping."
"I'm not trying to."
She leaned against him suddenly. "We should go back to your room."
Wheeljack frowned. "I agree, but why do you want to?"
"More rest," Verdant told him tiredly. "It just hit me."
Wheeljack picked her up. "Okay."
She was out before he could make three steps. Wheeljack sighed and continued forward, pushing open his door again. He didn't like how often this was happening recently.
Verdant stirred as he set her down. "Wha were you reading?"
Wheeljack grabbed his datapad. "I can do more things than read with one of these."
"Writing?"
He laughed. "Video games."
Verdant turned and looked at him. "Why da frag you look so calm playing games?"
"I'm a professional," he shrugged.
She groaned. "Your ego is huge."
"Didn't you need recharge very suddenly and then pass out in my arms?" Wheeljack questioned.
"Eh," she wiggled around. "I'm just tired."
Verdant rolled over next to him and placed her chin on his shoulder, looking down at the datapad. "Entertain me with your professionalism."
Wheeljack grinned. "Most certainly."
He looked down at the little screen and turned it on, moving through a few things before onlining a game. It was a simple game and he went through the first level before looking at Verdant.
"Is this enter..."
She was in recharge.
Wheeljack smiled.