robothell | [ THE "DRIFT GOT HECKED UP BY TARN" CATCH-ALL POST ]

Megatron seems to consider declining after giving the clinic one last look, certain if he left for more than a few minutes he'd find some sort of bloodied disaster waiting for him.

But no one was as aware of the building strain on his frame than he was, and his mind was swimming in - well, in a lot of things. He'd be no use to anyone if he wasn't focused.

"Not too far. I need to be there if one of the medics need me."

"We'll be well within reach," Aftermath assures, gently guiding Megatron away from the clinic entrance. "I am pretty sure both Red Alert and Ratchet know how to yell for you when you're needed. And loudly too." Ratchet was missing his leg after all, not his voice.

Besides, the young miner looked tense enough to snap. He needed a break.

"There's a spot to sit just a little ways down the side walk. The clinic will be in our line of sight."

He stays in place at first, still hesitant, but then follows Aftermath's careful nudge to the entrance after hearing more of what he said.

Opening the door, he paces next to the the old bot to their spot outside, just out of earshot. He gives the clinic one last look back before leaning against a wall.

"Has news gotten out of what happened?"

"I've gotten no news at all, I'm afraid." With no network in place, the only method news had to travel was by word of mouth. Aftermath didn't have anyone's personal frequency asides from Megatron's.

"What DID happen?" he asks, taking a seat on the remnants of a public advertising board, the metal creaking under his weight.

There's a long pause before some of his deep frustration slips out of his expression, all the fatigue being replaced with a cold acidity.

"Tarn."

Megatron crosses his arms,"He's here, and I was fool enough to believe he'd listen to reason and stand down. Now Ratchet is missing his leg and his friend has been nearly torn to pieces."

"I want to do something, but I need to help them recuperate."

The name makes Aftermath go very still.

"Tarn," he murmurs softly, covering his face mask with a hand. "We never did talk about him properly, did we?" And Megatron had been... talking to him? Primus. Primus.

"You're doing plenty, Megatron. There's not much else you can do that wouldn't be reckless or dangerous." Letting his hand drop to his lap, curling it into a fist for a long moment.

Megatron notices Aftermath's reaction, and gives him a look of concern. That's right, Tarn went after defectors, and Aftermath would absolutely qualify.

"If he's threatened you..." he starts, stepping off the wall. He'd given Tarn his chance to be trusted, and he was done doing nothing about the outbursts of violence if he could help it.

"The first day I arrived here, he threatened me. But he let me go for the sake of obtaining more information about this place." His spark still sometimes ached when he thought of that encounter.

"It's one reason I've been keeping on the move. Without Kaon around, Tarn can't really hunt down people quite so well. He's slower than me and ambush tactics don't work well when you can't predict where your victim will be." Aftermath quietly loosens his fist, staring unseeing at his hand for a moment.

"What did Tarn tell you?"

"He told me he was part of a unit that executed traitors that endangered other Decepticons. Considering what you'd told me, I assumed it was worse than that..."

He begins to pace around the old bot's makeshift chair, growing agitated with the news. If this chat was supposed to be relaxing, it seemed to be having the opposite effect.

"Regardless, he seemed loyal - a fanatic, yes, but one that would listen to me. So I told him to work with the Autobots as I intended to."

"He's executed many Decepticons who were still very loyal to the cause." There's quiet pain in Aftermath's voice. "Captured soldiers who'd given in during interrogation, non-combatants who committed the crime of not being useful in fights- and anyone who dared to speak up against the horrific command structure. The list goes on and it got uglier with so many people losing faith as the war wound down."

He really didn't want to make Megatron's day worse, but it wasn't fair to keep the truth from him either. Especially not now when Tarn was making his move.

"I imagine he's being friendly to you with the intention of grooming you to be... well." Ah, they might have hit a rather awkward subject here.

He stops.

It was difficult not to feel disgusted at what Aftermath describes. Memories of Croteus-12 were still vivid and fresh in his mind, and nothing seemed to sting quite like the judgment call of who is 'useful'.

Megatron is strangely cold as a wave of anger crawls up his struts, clenching his fists.

"He's failed to understand that I'm not his, nor anyone's to be 'groomed'."

The miner looks back at the clinic, his temper just hidden beneath a thin mask.

"I've clearly been too tolerant of the sickness that has entered my cause."

"Don't do anything to put yourself in danger, Megatron, please," Aftermath stands up, stepping after the younger mech. "He's a trained warrior with at least four million years of combat experience behind him and the ability to put out sparks with his voice."

He places his palm lightly against the back of Megatron's shoulder, voice growing quiet. "You cannot change the way of things if you end up dead."

"I'm aware."

The worry in Aftermath's voice pacifies some of the fire Megatron's expression as he turns to meet him. It didn't feel good to make him worry.

"He's already had four million years of violence, I imagine he's quite acclimated to it. More of the same won't make any impact."

He squares his shoulders,"But I will make my point, and it will burn worse than any gunshot wound."

"I disapprove of any interaction with him, nonviolent or otherwise," Aftermath opines, bemusement belying his words. "... But I won't stop you."

"At least let me come with you should you find the occasion for such a thing," the old truck continues quietly. "You don't have to endure this alone. You shouldn't have to."

"No."

Megatron thinks of Drift's torn up body lying in the medibay. That's not something he'd want to risk on anyone else he knows.

"If I want to change the Decepticon movement for the better, I need to do this by myself. I can't let Tarn use you as an excuse to ignore what I'm saying."

A hand rises to the radio in his helm,"I still have your call signature if anything happens."

Edited 2015-02-10 07:18 (UTC)

"You're going to give me a spark flicker one of these days," Aftermath says, drawing in a long in-vent and gently pinching the top edge of his mask.

"Tell me when you go," he insists, letting the hand drop after a moment. "I'll be near in case things go South."

And things could go very South indeed.

"I don't think they will. Tarn also knows that without me there will be no Decepticon movement."

He holds his chin thoughtfully.

"And without that, where will he be?"

"He doesn't need to kill you to do you harm, Megatron. A professional torturer knows how to prolong the pain. In fact, he doesn't even need to intend to do you harm in order to accomplish so." Aftermath crosses his arms, looking away. "He may very well hurt you for what he thinks is your own good- just like how he culls 'traitors' from our ranks for the good of the Cause."

His expression sours at that. 'The Good of the Cause' just seemed like a sadist's excuse to indulge in twisted displays of ultraviolence.

"I think if he'd wanted to hurt me to teach me a lesson, or whatever the hell his reasoning is, he'd have done it."

"I've been apprentice to Ratchet for over a month. That would technically make me a traitor, wouldn't it? If he hasn't done it by now, he won't do it when I go talk to him."

Edited 2015-02-20 14:35 (UTC)

"I won't claim any understanding of Tarn's brand of thinking, but just because he hasn't hurt you doesn't mean he won't." Aftermath's attention drifts back to the gaping hole in Megatron's face and his spark clenches.

"What about the looter who attacked you? He certainly didn't seem to have a problem hurting you. What if he's in cahoots with Tarn and this was some warning?"

"No, I don't think so," a hand silently rises to the wound, remembering what happened after his vision had gone white.

"I think he was expecting someone else. After recognizing me, he just looked terrified and confused. If they're working together at all, Tarn probably put him up to finding medical supplies since Ratchet refused to treat him."

"He DID shoot Megatron in the face. Most Decepticons would be extremely distressed with that, even if they'd been ordered to." It doesn't really explain the confusion though; it wasn't like a Deception wouldn't recognize Megatron.

"That's one unfortunate mech."

[ THE "DRIFT GOT HECKED UP BY TARN" CATCH-ALL POST ]

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