"Don't mention it, kid," Ratchet says, shaking his head a little--before he freezes.
He aches, bitterly, and he's briefly, poisonously resentful of Rodimus for somehow squirming out of explaining this to Drift when this whole situation was his responsibility in the first place. Ratchet watches Drift for a long moment, but prolonging this wasn't going to help.
"Overlord escaped," he says shortly, his voice scraped flat with exhausted resignation. "He killed Pipes, but not before Pipes sounded the alarm. He nearly stormed the medibay, but you and I held him off long enough for reinforcements to arrive. ...you told me to lock myself in with my patients, but I refused.
"In the end, Rewind sacrificed himself to reseal Overlord in his cell and get him off the ship so nobody else died. You let Rodimus pin the whole thing on you for some completely inconceivable reason and he stripped your badge and exiled you. He told everybody about it a while later when we all nearly died on Luna-1 or I'd have no idea, except for the fact that you putting Overlord on board makes literally no sense and was a stupid cover story to begin with." Ratchet stops, pressing his lips together hard and venting slowly for a moment, staring off to the side as he struggles for composure and then looks back at Drift, optics burning.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why you did it, but I know what it must have cost you, and I'm sorry."
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He aches, bitterly, and he's briefly, poisonously resentful of Rodimus for somehow squirming out of explaining this to Drift when this whole situation was his responsibility in the first place. Ratchet watches Drift for a long moment, but prolonging this wasn't going to help.
"Overlord escaped," he says shortly, his voice scraped flat with exhausted resignation. "He killed Pipes, but not before Pipes sounded the alarm. He nearly stormed the medibay, but you and I held him off long enough for reinforcements to arrive. ...you told me to lock myself in with my patients, but I refused.
"In the end, Rewind sacrificed himself to reseal Overlord in his cell and get him off the ship so nobody else died. You let Rodimus pin the whole thing on you for some completely inconceivable reason and he stripped your badge and exiled you. He told everybody about it a while later when we all nearly died on Luna-1 or I'd have no idea, except for the fact that you putting Overlord on board makes literally no sense and was a stupid cover story to begin with." Ratchet stops, pressing his lips together hard and venting slowly for a moment, staring off to the side as he struggles for composure and then looks back at Drift, optics burning.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why you did it, but I know what it must have cost you, and I'm sorry."