DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

[hailmegatron]

Where was Blitzwing?Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally

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[haplesstracker]

Scourge woke up, and by rote stabbed the air (as he'd been doing for what felt like hours) with a screwdriver he no longer had in search of a target that was no longer there. It took a few more slices before he stopped and panting, looked up at the bright ceiling with a rising feeling of relief.

"...oh." He was back.

The tracker sat up, one arm wrapped around his chest, rolling up his sleeves to make sure nothing had taken a chunk out of his flesh--just scrapes and bruises. He'd made it through the night alive.

Even in the midst of his joy, the intercom announcement made him raise a slight eyebrow. The head doctor must be on vacation or something. Were they getting visitors? That could get interesting, even if they'd probably have the same reaction to the prisoners as the townspeople did. Maybe he could beg more stuff off them.

Scourge practically skipped over to the cafeteria, taking a moment to look over the notice boards--someone had died, apparently, Scourge was surprised that it was just one. He stocked up his tray with "brunch", justifying his gluttony today with the fact that he totally deserved it for being good yesterday, and went over to talk to Lugnut.

Where the heck had he been, anyway?

[hailmegatron]

Lugnut ignored Scourge until the Decepticon was next to him, still scanning the cafeteria.

Blitzwing would show up any moment. He was sure of it. They were wingmates: they supported each other, despite spats and disloyal mutterings, and Blitzwing would never allow himself to be swallowed by this place.

When Blitzwing didn't show up in the next few moments, he glanced down at scourge, face blanker than normal but voice definitely filled with ill-concealed worry as he asked, "Have you seen Blitzwing?"

[haplesstracker]

Yeah, Lugnut wasn't fooling anyone.

"No," Scourge answered, trying to sound sympathetic and helpful. He hadn't seen his corpse either, but they'd already had one casualty tonight. He didn't rate Blitzwing's chances too highly.

He sat, and pretend to be enthralled with his breakfast.

[hailmegatron]

Without conscious thought, Lugnut made an undignified noise of distress, one that he covered as quickly as he could with a growl. "Slagger better show up soon," he grumbled, harshly, and sat down next to Scourge with poorly-feigned unconcern, ignoring the tray he set on the table in favor of glaring blankly at nothing in particular.

[haplesstracker]

"He might have gotten out of town during the zombie attack," Scourge offered. "If he got out of range of whatever pulls us back in the morning, he might have made a full escape."

But it wasn't likely. Even if Scourge didn't really care about the guy he still felt a pang of loss--and what a way to die.

[hailmegatron]

Lugnut snorted in derision. "He would not have left without me," he growled, lowly, and unhappily prodded the cup of bright orange fluid the nurse had put on his tray. No, Blitzwing had to still be here, just... not where Lugnut could see him. Perhaps he'd been curious and gone to the "chapel," a place Lugnut had never been to. Yes, that would explain it...

[haplesstracker]

"With all that mess going on? He'd never have found you in time. If he escaped I'm sure he'll come back for you eventually." Scourge kept piling on the lies the way he piled scrambled eggs onto his plate in the morning.

[hailmegatron]

Lugnut swung around towards Scourge, grabbed the front of his shirt, yanked him nose-to-nose, and snarled, "He would not leave without me."

Then he shoved Scourge back into his seat, scanning the cafeteria again.

"... Maybe he's still recharging," he muttered, "useless layabout."

[haplesstracker]

Gleep! Scourge nearly dropped his fork when Lugnut grabbed him, and reverted to merely nodding his head frantically until he was released.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's probably it." What was their deal, anyway?

[hailmegatron]

With an annoyed noise, Lugnut seemed to settle on that as a reasonable, untroubling explanation, and finally caved to his fuel tank's complaints. A gulp of orange juice and a grimacing bite of of sausage later, he looked at Scourge and asked (as conversationally as Lugnut asked anything), "What did you do last night, tracker?"

[haplesstracker]

Scourge, who'd had every muscle in his body tense until Lugnut finally calmed down, gave a slight shrug. "The night fell when I was with Lord Recluse and the Search and Rescue team, so I stayed with the group for safety. We wound up barricaded in the sheriff's office."

Come to think of it, they really hadn't done any actual searching and the only rescue was en route. Statesman really didn't think anything through.

[hailmegatron]

Lugnut nodded, not seeming to find anything wrong with that, and went back to nibbling at the breakfast.

Apparently, he wasn't very good at casual conversation.

[haplesstracker]

In an attempt to move things along, Scourge asked, "And you?"

[hailmegatron]

"Looked for Blitzwing," he said, a note of defensiveness in his voice. It was normal, trying to join your wingmate when there was danger. Wingmates were important.

(Lugnut had only ever been able to keep the one. He was very good at ignoring the fact that this made Blitzwing important-with-emphais.)

[tartaros_avatar]

Well, this was an interesting start to the day. Recluse's first order of business was to put a request for information on the bulletin before being led off by his nurse to the cafeteria. The fact that none of them seemed to have reacted at all to the message over the intercom seemed enough to prove that they were nothing more than drones, either through psychic control or some other means.

He took the food given to him without comment, finding Scourge and sitting down near the tracker and another man he had never met. He'd gotten enough information off of the bulletin to have an idea of what he wanted done tonight. "Someone should check the morgue tonight to see if Landel's body is there, unless he returns. I've received information that he was possibly killed last night."

[haplesstracker]

All hail Lord Recluse, master of interrupting awkward non-conversations. Scourge gave the overlord a respectful but relieved nod as he approach.

"So I heard, during the zombie attack," he said, leaning forward on his elbows. "But why would they keep the body there? Heck, maybe there isn't a body, or isn't one complete enough for an ID. Most humans look the same with their heads taken off."

Belatedly, the tracker realizes he should probably introduce his two sorta-bosses. "This is Lugnut," he added, head cocking at the tall man beside him.