you know you are as small as the things you let annoy you {backdated before robot prom}

[asafepairofhands]

It's a little while after Sixshot has dug all of the medics up from whatever underground art bunker they had been briefly trapped in, miraculously without anyone killing each other, and Ratchet is back in the medibay at work. He is still half-legless and especially foul-tempered, especially considering the upcoming festivities, which he plans to avoid as completely as possible.

COME BOTHER HIM



[CLOSED TO RODIMUS]
It's not long after the medics are back that Ratchet sends a message to Rodimus privately, apropos of what seems like nothing.

Come to the medibay. I need to check something.

Comments

[wreckers]

"Don't worry - I learned to be careful." It just took awhile.

When Ratchet gingerly touches her face she leans into it as subtly as she could, still cagey about physical contact but when she raised her hand and it initials appears as though she meant to bat away his hand she pats the side of his massive digit. Ratchet needed to reassurance, maybe even more than she did. The thought of Magnus tearing into Prowl put a smile on her face, even if it was a fleeting one.

"The missing moon?" Verity jerked her head up, pulling a face. She missed more than the end of the war. "What the hell happened?"

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet does relax when she touches his hand, his face softening helplessly.

"Yeah, it--we found it sort of by accident. Magnus was... badly hurt, in the fight with Overlord. Almost killed. His body disappeared out of the medibay, and we followed it to Luna-1. It turns out that Chief Justice Tyrest was not only set up there, but was also completely crazy and had made a killswitch built to drop everybody who'd been cold constructed dead. We took care of it, but it was kind of a mess. Magnus resigned afterward, gave the position of Duly Appointed Enforcer to... Fort Max, actually. He's doing a fine job, from what I've heard."

Something occurs to Ratchet and he stills, looking down at Verity and biting at the delicate microplating of his lip.

"Verity," he says after a brief hesitation. "...have you ever heard the name Minimus Ambus?"

[wreckers]

"So Prowl's bullshit nearly got Magnus killed." Verity took a sharp inhale through the nose, "Ok." Her set her jaw out and nodded slowly, having come to some quiet conclusion that her already low opinion of the Autobot's intelligence officer took a nosedive.

All that anger fit to kill but when she looked back at Ratchet it fizzled out.

"As in the Ambus test?" She was only connecting the name to what she already knew but didn't quite put two and two together. "Beyond that - no."

[asafepairofhands]

"...I guess I'm not surprised," Ratchet says slowly. "And this is going to be difficult to explain, but--no. That was Dominus Ambus who created the Ambus test. Minimus Ambus was--is related to him." He looks down at Verity, his expression still.

"But Minimus Ambus is also Ultra Magnus. Or--the latest Ultra Magnus. The 'Ultra Magnus' you know is a suit of armor that people have been wearing since the start of the war, based on the original 'Ultra Magnus'--there really was someone by that name. I knew him. I've known every Ultra Magnus, but Minimus has carried the title the longest. Minimus is certainly the only Ultra Magnus you knew."

Ratchet stops, one shoulder shifting in a half-shrug. "Down to the smallest set of armor, Minimus is a little taller than you are. But please understand--this wasn't Minimus' secret to keep, not really. It was a long legacy, and we only found out because Tyrest stripped the armor by the time we'd got to Luna-1. Nobody would have found out if Minimus--if Magnus had a choice in the matter. If you weren't told, that's why, not because you weren't trusted or because it wasn't important. Magnus didn't even know I knew until after the whole thing had blown over."

He flips a hand palm out, offering, watching her face for a reaction. "I figured you deserved to know, after everything. Now that the secret's out. I know Magnus trusts you and would want you to know, if anyone does."