On the Table

Characters: Casey Arkeville, Captain Gears, Sgt. Sideswipe, Surefire

Date: September 20, 2016

Summary: Sgt. Sideswipe assists as Captain Gears removes Dr. Arkeville's cybernetics.

As logged by Arkeville - Tuesday, September 20, 2016, 7:30 PM

The Coffin

The Coffin is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA black site prison and interrogation center in Greenland. It got its nickname from its coffin-sized punishment isolation cells. The site is located east of Nuuk and was the location of a brick factory prior to the War on Terror. The CIA adapted it for extrajudicial detention. The prison is dark at all times, with curtains and painted exterior windows. Loud music is played constantly. The prisoners are kept in total darkness and isolation.

At last the transport arrives at The Coffin. Surefire oversees Arkeville's unloading into the prep area. The mad scientist is still strapped to his shockproof travel board. This time, the trip was uneventful - no escape attempts with Arkeville effectively neutered. Captain Gears comes out of the transport and gives Sgt. Sideswipe a grin. "Now for the fun part," he smiles wickedly. "Let's crack this guy open and see what he's made of!"

Sgt. Sideswipe gulps, really, really wishing Lifeline was here. He clears his throat, looking at Dr. Arkeville. "Uh...sir...I know I'm not a doctor yet, but I'm PRETTY sure he's healthy and he doesn't need any operating. He just needs to come to and get in his cell."

At Sideswipe's words, Arkeville opens his eyes - looking very much alive and awake. He narrows his dark eyes in concern.

Unconcerned, Gears smiles. "Oh, no. We've tried it his way. Now we do it our way. Flip back his platform to form a table. I can't wait to get a look at his cybertech." Gears wheels over a small table, and then opens a bag of tools, taking out several that Sideswipe doesn't recognize. Gears looks back up at Sideswipe. "I just need you to keep him alive while I remove his arm and leg, and anything else I can cut off him."

Sgt. Sideswipe backs up and turns a few shades of white. "Uh...you think...maybe..." He clears his throat. "Maybe...I mean, Dr. Steen should probably be here." Sgt. Sideswipe just fired a few careful shots at Dr. Arkeville a few hours ago. But now, a look of genuine concern crosses Sgt. Sideswipe. (most likely Lifeline would have a fit at this point :) )

Gears frowns. "No disrespect intended, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the constraints Lifeline might put on us right now. You shouldn't have to do much - I'm going to leave the NACs in place and just remove the physical prosthetics. Then I can bring them to the new Pit and examine them at my leisure. I just want to make sure there's no chance of Arkeville pulling any of his shit again. This ain't Autobot City - we're not going to cook him custom meals and let him play with dangerous technology." Gears adjusts Arkeville's restraint platform and picks up one of his tools, a dangerous-looking cutting instrument.

Arkeville looks on in horrified silence.

Sgt. Sideswipe looks at Dr. Arkeville in alarm and nods. "Uh...we ARE going to give him a human prosthetic though, right? I mean...it's only humane if we do. I can understand not allowing him access to..." He gestures to that claw. He then reaches for a sedative IV and slowly inserts it into one of Dr. Arkeville's veins.

Gears snorts. "Why? He can eat with his left hand. It's not like he'll have to be opening ketchup bottles where he's going. And with one leg he's not going to be running away, at least." Gears guffaws.

Sgt. Sideswipe clears his throat, then points to his phone. "You know...I have his number right here. I'd just REALLY feel more comfortable calling Lifers." Sgt. Sideswipe gulps, now he knows why they call him Lifeline.

Gears frowns at Sideswipe's threat. "That probably won't work here, but if you'd really feel more comfortable with Lifeline here, use the phone on the wall to call him. I'm not waiting, though." He uses his tool to carefully cut down Arkeville's pant leg, exposing one of his cybernetic limbs.

Sgt. Sideswipe's face turns pale as he sees Gears cut in. He gulps, looking at Dr. Arkeville. "Uh...okay. You're...you're doing really well. Are you feeling any pain?!" He looks at Gears with alarm, tensing.

Arkeville starts to look a little out of it as Sideswipe's drugs start kicking in. "I'm..." he pauses. "You can turn off my tactile feedback sensors with a switch in my skullcap. If you will just release my hand a moment I'll do it myself." Arkeville looks too out of it already to seem like much of a threat... but then again, he IS a super-villain.

Gears frowns. "We shouldn't risk it. I'll see if I can find it." Gears moves up to Arkeville's head.

Youth alert! Sgt. Sideswipe was born 6 years after 'The Ultimate Doom.' He clears his throat, trying to justify the moment. "So..uh...this guy like...killed...what was it? 27,000 people or so?" Sgt. Sideswipe looks at Gears and says in a shaky voice, "You...you sure? I mean, he's strapped down. We can take him if he gets too much trouble!"

Gears frowns at Sideswipe's question. "Something like that," he replies offhandedly, and moves to pick up a much smaller tool. He steps back to the head of Arkeville's table, and reaches down to start disconnecting Arkeville's brainplate - while Arkeville is still awake. Gears slowly works along Arkeville's forehead, carefully detaching chromedome's chrome dome.

Arkeville's dark eyes widen, and he holds himself VERY still, metal arm gripping the table tightly.

Sgt. Sideswipe breathes through his teeth, looking on what Gears is doing. He gulps. "Okay...you're...you're doing just fine..."

Sgt. Sideswipe looks on in alarm. Again, trying to justify his involvement. "Wow...can't believe he was responsible for THAT many deaths. It must have been crazy - to see another planet come so close to Earth's orbit."

Sgt. Sideswipe looks at the sub-standard equipment around him. One of them is a crude prosthetic for an arm. It barely qualifies as one of those grabber-thingees elderlies use to grab the remote. But it's shaped like a hand. A mannequin hand. Nothing that could crush a larynx, or deactivate a force field. And most likely Arkeville's new arm.

Gears frowns in concentration as he slowly works his way across Arkeville's forehead while the still-conscious mad scientist grips the table in fear. "Yeah," Gears replies absently after a moment's pause. "It was something." He moves down one side of Arkeville's head, and then the other, and finally stops, straightening up.

"There we go," Gears says at last. He slowly lifts off the top of Arkeville's skull - revealing a complex mass of electronics integrated right through Arkeville's blood-brain barrier. Gears smiles in triumph as he bends down to closely examine the bio/cyber technology.

Sgt. Sideswipe looks on with a great feeling of unease. Dr. Arkeville is the worst of the worst, but physically removing his prosthetics, and throwing him into what looks like the Earth version of the pits of hell. It's just.. Then, suddenly, Sgt. Sideswipe's phone goes off. He quickly reaches in and looks. It's Lifeline! No. It's... He rolls his eyes and picks up the phone. "Heyah...mom, I'm kind of in the middle of... an operation. Yes - they have me doing operations...no, it's not a big deal. Can I just call you back?" He then gulps, and mumbles out "love you too. Bye." He then goes back to work.

Sgt. Sideswipe looks on in alarm and says with a queasy expression "Oh...my god...you...uh...we better...we should put that back on." Sgt. Sideswipe breathes through his teeth and tries to be the doctor Lifeline thinks he's capable of...and takes a syringe, and loads up a pretty powerful sedative, and injects it into Dr. Arkeville's IV line. "Here...this should take the ed..edge off..dd..doctor."

Arkeville thankfully lapses into unconsciousness, so at least he's no longer looking at Sideswipe with wide, scared-horse-like eyes. His brain is still exposed, though, and now a Joe engineer is poking at it with a sharp tool.

"Here we go," Gears says thoughtfully, making an adjustment to a tiny pin-switch on a connector. "How's that, doc - oh. You put him to sleep." Gears sounds and looks disappointed. "OK. Well, let me figure out how to disconnect his electrical-generator, and then we'll get to lopping off those limbs. I'll even let you install the replacement prosthetics since you're such a bleeding-heart," he teases not-unkindly.

Sgt. Sideswipe frowns in slight protest, "It's called the Hippocratic oath. As a doctor...even a doctor-to-be, I'm responsible for caring for ALL patients..." he frowns slightly at the sleeping mad scientist. "Even the worst of the worst. That's what separates us from Cobra, you know..."

Gears pauses long enough to really look at Sideswipe. "Look. I'm not going to hurt him. I'm pretty sure I disconnected his pain feedback processors - I just wanted to test that before we do any more work. Now I just have to hope for the best." He frowns. "Let's just get this over with." He moves around to Sideswipe's side, somewhat rudely blocking the Joe medic out of the way. "I'm removing his claw arm," Gears announces. "Watch the connection and make sure I don't do any accidental damage to his flesh." Gears cuts off the arm of Arkeville's shirt.

Sgt. Sideswipe nods and hurries around to Gear's side, making sure no damage is done to Dr. Arkeville's flesh. The parts are slowly being collected in a large plastic bin like old Christmas decorations. He tries to keep his composure, like it's just another day.

Sgt. Sideswipe tries to get back into the routineness of things by stating "His status remains 87 beats per minute."

Gears works slowly, making sure that Arkeville is undamaged as each of his external prosthetics are cataloged and removed, and the internal mecha-organs are unable to be weaponized. Finally, he steps back and smiles. "I'll take care of these," he says, looking over Arkeville's removed limbs like they are the presents at Christmas, not just the decorations. "I'll leave the rest to you." Gears collects the discarded cybernetics, and heads out, leaving Arkeville to the tender mercies of the security force and Sideswipe.