robothell | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Tarn and First Aid with a guest appearance by Rampage, Tarn and Sixshot
What: Tarn has "words" with First Aid
When: a few weeks after pollen
Where: somewhere near the Autobot Medibay
Warnings: gratuitous robot violence. Seriously.

Embarrassment. It’s the only word Tarn can find to describe how he feels upon recollection of his last meeting with First Aid. The tiny Autobot had taken him firmly in hand, taking advantage of every shameful desire that he could muster; drunk with the effects of the pollen that had clogged his systems.

Worse than what the medic had seen was what he probably thinks. After how Tarn had acted, any respect or fear that First Aid had was surely long gone. And what rumors had he been spreading? Who else knew about the incident? His tanks churn at the thought.

Really, Tarn knows what he must do. The only thing keeping him contained, so far, was the thought of Megatron finding out. They had come so far, trust was just beginning to be rebuilt. Was his pride really worth shattering all that work?

Yes. It was.

Which is how Tarn found himself prowling the back alleys near the Autobot Medibay, optics scanning for a certain small red and white Autobot that he was to have words with.

Fortunately it doesn’t take him long.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's too bad Rampage didn't arrive sooner, since to the untrained eye the mech in Tarn's grip was likely dead. First Aid had stopped moving sometime halfway into the excruciating slow process of severing his leg from his hip, no longer having the energy to struggle or form many conscious thoughts. His Autobot badge -- the only part of his body that glows besides his visor -- was now completely dark, and the pulse of energon from the wounds had slowed to a trickle.

He's still alive though. His spark was shrinking, his lifespan slowly ticking away, but alive for now.

First Aid feels very warm, almost flushed, even if his frame itself was cold as his energon leaves him. He thinks about his friends; movie nights in Rewind's room, staying late and talking Wreckers with Ratchet, Ambulon's awkward cluelessness, curling in Sixshot's paws, Rampage's horrible attempts at comfort.

He'd pay 10,000 shanix just to see Rampage beat the slag out of Tarn. Too bad he wasn't going to see it.

Tarn looks up at the newcomer. Slight surprise written in his eyes. Who does this mech think he is? With that sort of attitude, Tarn is certain that there is no way around the inevitable. With a put upon sigh, he gathers to his feet, dragging First Aid’s limp frame with him.

This is….not ideal. Now he’s going to have to kill them both.

“You have made an unfortunate mistake in coming here.”

Tarn gives the broad frame a quick up and down look. He’s big, for certain. But, Tarn has bested larger opponents in battle. His voice is low and foreboding, curling sharply around Rampage’s spark in an attempt to give the mech a taste of what is to come.

First Aid isn't dead. Yet. Rampage had familiarized himself with the feel of the various states of sparks between healthy and dead. He's felt them extinguish against his intake, prickling all the way down.

He's certainly on his way out, though, and he growls as Tarn drags First Aid's mutilated body with him.

"Stop touching my things!" he snaps, lunging forward to try and slam a fist into Tarn's face. There's a strange sensation in his spark as Tarn speaks, a pinch, a pain, but he ignores it. It's nothing compared to what he endured on Omicron.

Tarn stumbles back, stunned for a moment. His grip, however, remains strong around the medic’s neck.

“Your things?” Tarn tries to sound incredulous as he hefts the dead weight of First Aid’s mutilated frame even higher, using him as a shield. “I will do with him as i please and you had better not intervene. He is to die.”

Tarn pushes harder, frustrated by the lack of response to his vocal talents. It undulates inside his chamber, ripping violently at Rampage’s life-force. He puts everything into it, hoping to end the mech immediately.

It's not the first time Rampage has seen someone try to use another as a shield. It's just the first time someone has tried to use someone he actually likes against him. The attempt makes his rage boil higher and he steps closer, ready to punch his way through First Aid if he has to.

Then something happens. His spark flickers, throbs, and for a moment, just a moment, it contracts to a single point. His optics go wide then gutter out, his knees collapse, and he falls face first onto the ground.

It feels like dying.

Then with a crackle of pain and energy, his spark does what it always does: keeps on sparking. It burns but then he's spent so much time burning. He lets the pain fuel his rage and from the ground he launches himself at Tarn's leg. His faceplate splits open along its jagged central design revealing rows upon rows of jagged teeth, primed to sink into the sweet metal of Tarn's knee.

"hk--!"

Bites down on a yelp as teeth sink into the sensitive wiring in his knee. Tarn's fingers slip loose, dropping First Aid on Rampage's head, bringing both hands down to pry the jaws free.

That should have worked, why didn't it work? The only thing that it seems to have accomplished is making the stranger more angry. Tarn glances around for something to hit him with, reaching for First Aid's severed leg. If drowning his spark won't work he'll have to do this the old fashioned way. Although, with no Nuke available, he is struggling to remain confident.

Winding up, he wacks Rampage with all his strength, sending bits of armor flying from the leg.

Rampage resists the tug of Tarn's hands long enough to bring his teeth together with a sharp snick, neatly severing a mouthful of metal from the surrounding plating. He swallows, sending his tasty snack down through a gauntlet of throat teeth.

He grunts when First Aid's leg smashes into him, but the lightly armored appendage takes more damage than he does, and the dents it leaves pop back out in short order.

He's dropped First Aid. Green optics dart around, falling on the limp remains where they had fallen next to him. Still alive. Barely.

The anger flares hot again. He doesn't want First Aid to die, and even if he did, the only one allowed to kill him would be Rampage! He heaves up, throwing his weight against Tarn to knock him further away from the small medic.

Pausing for a bare moment, he rubs at his chest, his spark still aching a little from Tarn's strange trick. "That was interesting. For a moment I actually thought I might die. What fun."

Tarn curses as Rampage tears away from his leg, leaving a sizable wound behind.

He tries to evade the massive charging beastformer, stumbling backwards. Unfortunately, in his hasty retreat he manages to slip in a puddle of energon, landing hard on his back. Rampage is unrelenting in his assault, bearing down on him with all his strength as Tarn struggles to gain the upper hand.

"That's enough!" He hisses, trying once more at his failed spark manipulation. He kicks up at the heavy frame, trying to land a hit with the wicked tips of his feet.

"You've forced my hand. I cannot allow you to walk away from this." Each word is bit out as he struggles to inflict any sort of damage to the seemingly indestructible frame above him.

He flickers again, though this time not as strongly as before, his weight briefly collapsing onto Tarn as his strength suddenly wanes. The kick punches into thick metal, splattering droplets of energon to join the gore, but as Rampage pulls, strength returning, the metal folds back into place, sealing seamlessly as if never punctured.

He laughs, loud and wild, optics blazing with sickly green light. "You can't allow me to walk away? Oh, my dear, I'm going to feast on your spark!"

Grappling back, he works to force his gaping maw closer to Tarn's face. "It's been such a long time."

Tarn is taken aback as he watches plating heal before his very eyes. He can’t win this. This mech is somehow untouchable.

He has lost.

Swallowing his pride, Tarn suddenly finds himself faced with a terrible decision. Does he keep fighting this fruitless battle, doomed to fail? Or, does he cut his losses and live to fight another day? Surely Helex would never forgive him if he threw his life away so carelessly; for such a ridiculous and insignificant cause...The decision is easily made.

He braces his forearms against Rampage’s chest and pushes, trying to get that snapping mouth away from him and leaver the frame enough to roll from underneath it. He ceases any sort of offense and devotes his entire strategy to defense. It’s a strange feeling, and jarring compared to what he had been doing not five minutes ago.

Not quite untouchable, but certainly a bit indestructible. Luckily for Tarn, even without the Nuke he's still strong, not to mention more experienced with combat. He manages to fend off Rampage's beastly jaws and roll away.

"Why run?" Rampage asks as Tarn pushes away from him. "You're not nearly frightened enough, yet!"

His spark still throbs painfully from Tarn's strange attacks, but after a moment he realizes some of the ache is from First Aid's dwindling spark. It gives him pause. First Aid is dying. Could he try and save him? Or should he just keep on with the fun part: revenge?

Tarn backs away as Rampage's attention seems to be taken by First Aid's shrinking spark. The distance put between them allows him to relax ever so slightly.

"I'm smart enough to know when a battle has been lost. Besides, you seem to have a decision to make. Do you chase after me, or try to save your precious medic? The clock is ticking, after all."

He hopes that perhaps his efforts today won't be in vain. First Aid's spark is so very weak now. Flickering on the precipice off death. If only he could get close enough to send it on it's way... all it would take would be a quiet word.

Rampage isn't even certain that he can save First Aid. He's only dealt with shrinking sparks while killing people. He does know an emerging infusion might buy some time. He'd tried that before just to see how long it would take them to die.

But he doesn't actually want First Aid to die.

He is pretty certain that he can kill Tarn if he keeps at it long enough. But he doesn't have to do that now. Maybe anticipation will make things sweeter.

With a heavy sigh, he takes a step towards First Aid.

"There's nowhere you can hide from me," he says matter-of-factly to Tarn, before drawing his weapon and firing missile in the Decepticon's general direction.

Whether it hits or not, the explosion is bound to draw some attention.

With a curse, Tarn takes cover from the blast as Ramapage’s missile hits a few yards away. He finds himself choking on thick smoke, trying to expel debris from his vents. Using the dust as cover, Tarn begins his his hasty retreat. He stops only to throw his last two cents in.

“I welcome the challenge."

Rampage is really very tempted to continue shooting missiles after Tarn, but time is of the essence. He can shoot at Tarn another time, but First Aid is only likely to die once.

Crouching over First Aid's battered form, he lets out a slight huff. The feel of his aching, shrinking spark is sweet, and for a moment Rampage wonders if this is the right thing to do.

"Do I extend your suffering, or end your pain?" he asks conversationally even though First Aid is far beyond answering now.

He has no moral compass to guide him. He would ask himself what Transmutate would do, but he doesn't really know. So he's left with his own desires, and his desires say he doesn't want First Aid to die. Not now, not like this.

He has no equipment for a proper transfusion, nor does he know how to perform one. So he simply casually tears an energon line from his wrist, ignoring the spray of fluid, then forces it over the torn end of one of First Aid's own dripping lines.

The pool of fluids soaking the ground grows.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Ratchet barely manages to modulate his voice into something that isn't a shriek, hobbling around a broken chunk of building and finding Rampage pressing one of his own torn lines to--he feels the bottom drop from his tanks and fall, endlessly, as he barely recognizes the medic insignia emblazoned on one energon-smeared shoulder of the crumpled mess on the ground. It's First Aid--it has to be, though he's unrecognizable. Ratchet takes a split second to be stunned and sick before he refocuses his attention, drawing himself up on his crutches.

"You want to help?" he snaps at Rampage, his ventilation short and shallow now, calculations for equipment and supplies needed already running through his head, triaging injuries as he sees them, barely taking his optics off First Aid. "Get him back to the medibay, now, let's go!"

Rampage finds himself hunching protectively over First Aid at the sound of Ratchet's shout. His head snaps up to glare at him - the medic red and whites actually make his horns bristle threateningly, never mind that the crumpled form he's feeding energon into shares the same paint job.

There's a soft growl escaping his vocalizer, and he hesitates. He doesn't want to go the medibay. He doesn't want this medic anywhere near him.

But... there's no way First Aid will survive without medical attention. He's not like Rampage. He can't heal himself. So before he lets himself think too much about it, he forces himself to his feet, clutching First Aid's tattered chassis to his chest and follows Ratchet. His spark is so weak next to his own...

"How long has he been leaking there?" Ratchet demands as he moves, all his attention focused on his patient now, barely acknowledging Rampage at all. He shoulders his way into the medibay and holds the door open for Rampage behind him, his optics pale with fright and concentration.

"There, on the operating slab. Grab me that cart, the one in the corner, and the pole stand next to it." He doesn't even question whether Rampage is going to stick around to help, just moves to the slab in question and spreads what's left of First Aid out on it before he starts to work.

"Not long-" Rampage starts. He makes it halfway to the operating slab, then locks up.

His optics fixate on the metal bed and Ratchet's words fading away, not even noticing as First Aid is pulled away and laid out.

On the operating slab, X.

No, he doesn't want to-

Follow the order, or there will be consequences.

Not again, it hurt last time-

Good. The restraints, please- thank you, now we may begin.

No, no, no-!

The only thing he ends up grabbing are his own upper arms, fingers pressing tight against the metal. Most useful assistant.

Ratchet looks to the side to grab his tools only to find them still across the room and Rampage curled in on himself.

"Out of the way," he snaps, moving around Rampage and hooking a crutch around the corner of the cart to drag it over, then turning his back on Rampage again as he starts to work in earnest, patching lines and reconnecting circuits, struggling to get First Aid stable.

"Are you hurt?" he asks over his shoulder, barely looking away--Rampage had moved all right getting there, and he hadn't complained, but Ratchet has no idea why he's just standing there. "What's your name?"

Rampage isn't hurt at all, physically. Even the torn line he'd used to feed energon into First Aid has squirmed its way back into placed and sealed tight.

"Nnh," is his only response at first, backing away from the medical berth.

What's his name? He doesn't have a name. Names are for people, he's not a person, he's an experiment, he's Experiment X-

His hands tighten until his plating dents, grounding him. "...Rampage."

"Rampage," Ratchet says and grits his teeth, wanting four extra hands, wanting both his damn legs, wanting to scream as First Aid's small body leaks itself dry under his hands. "Unless you're about to drop dead, I have to do this first. Can you call any of the other medics? Ambulon, Megatron, anyone? Please."

The next words feel ripped from him as he leans harder into his crutches, his hands never slowing.

"I can't do this by myself."

Rampage gives a shudder, shaking off his past as best he can, though he remains unsettled. He rubs a hand over his face.

"I don't- I don't know anyone..."

He's really been keeping to himself for the most part. He can call First Aid and Sixshot but otherwise... He stares helplessly at First Aid.

"His spark is shrinking," he adds. Helpful, helpful, so very helpful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only