Title: The Things That Go Unsaid
Warnings: action, injuries, dark, kinda h/c(?)
Continuity: G1 (part of ultharkitty's Dysfunction AU)
Characters: Brawl, Blast Off, Vortex, Onslaught, Swindle, ensemble
Rating: PG-13
28 Blast Off Prompt: On His Knees
Disclaimer: Sadly, nothing is mine.
Summary: A seemingly light hit turns out to be really bad, and the team has to cope.
Beta: ultharkitty :D
Note: Written for the 28 Blast Off meme.
I just wanted to write something from Brawl's POV. And something in which Blast Off suffers. *lol* I planned to write meta for this, but I'm not sure I will. ._. IF I ever do, it'll probably too late.
The Things That Go Unsaid
Megatron called the retreat; for once, the battle had been a success.
That meant, for everyone except Brawl.
Okay, sure, the tank had to admit, when he lay face down in the mud, that taking on Skyfire alone hadn't been the best idea, but it just had been too tempting.
At least Brawl had been able to damage the Autobot shuttle, and maybe in a klik or two, he would have been able to knock him off his big feet if Megatron hadn't interrupted.
Unsteadily, Brawl stood up, standing there a little lost, because he still wanted to engage the shuttle. If only his damn loyalty programming didn't twinge at that idea.
His engine growled, and it was this moment of musing which made him miss Skyfire drawing his weapon. Only as the muzzle pointed at him, was Brawl forced to agree that retreat was maybe an option...
/You stupid glitch, move!/ Brawl's comm crackled with Blast Off's angry voice. Then the sound of laser fire echoed from above, and Brawl ducked, increasing the distance from the Autobot.
Blast Off's laser hit Skyfire's hand, damaging it badly and whipping the gun out of it.
The weapon hit the wet ground with a thud, and Brawl tried to get to it.
From his peripheral version, he saw Blast Off manoeuvring around the big mech, then transformed and landed a bit away.
/Move here, not to the gun!/ Another growl over the comm, and Brawl would have loved to have snapped back. But he didn't. Words stuck in his vocaliser, and he just watched.
Blast Off ran towards Brawl, though it seemed as is was about to run towards Skyfire. The Autobot shuttle took something of the ground - a metal rod-thingy from one of the destroyed buildings - and rammed it into Blast Off's lower side. Brawl winced in sympathy, and knew Blast Off would consider him responsible for that.
But what happened next was truly bizarre.
Skyfire froze, and so did Blast Off in mid movement. They stared at each other for what seemed joors in battle-time. Then Skyfire let the rod go as if it had burnt him, and he spoke, sounding shocked. "Oh Sigma..."
Blast Off stumbled back a bit, still staring up.
Skyfire continued. "I didn't mean to... I am so sorry..."
Brawl was confused; he ran closer, Skyfire appearing not to be a threat anymore. He actually expected Blast Off to sneer something back, because the tank couldn't imagine that Blast Off was fond of an Autobot apologising after said Autobot damaged him.
Blast Off didn't, though.
He just stood there, and stared. Optics brightening and dimming.
It was weird.
Brawl had seen Blast Off with worse damage. The shuttle once had half his torso ripped open, and still had been able to insult them, so Brawl had no idea what was going on.
Brawl passed Skyfire, who jerked back, as though out of a trance, and then fled when Vortex roared closer, Gatling guns firing.
The Autobot shuttle transformed and flew off, leaving the three Combaticons almost alone on the battlefield.
Cautiously, almost expecting Blast Off to explode any astrosecond, Brawl stepped closer.
The shuttle didn't even seem to notice him. His optics were fixed on the ground; he stumbled a little, hands clutching at the metal rod still sticking out of him. The rod hadn't even penetrated his whole torso, it just stuck there, energon flowing out of the wound which didn't seem bad. Just his whole appearance seemed a little... off. But Brawl couldn't say why.
"Uh... Blast Off?"
The shuttle didn't look up.
The sound of Vortex' rotors subsided as he transformed and came closer as well. Then Brawl heard a rasping noise. Ventilation systems worked frantically, ventilation blades grinding against their housing.
Brawl frowned. Blast Off wasn't even damaged there.
"What's wrong?" Vortex asked, then giggled. "Hehe, oops. Looks like it hurts."
The giggling stopped when Blast Off ripped the rod out, still ignoring them. It began to grate on Brawl.
"Stop being such a pussy," the tank snapped. He had no idea what 'pussy' meant, but he had learnt that humans said it to each other when one was being a drama queen. He would have felt better if the shuttle had answered with his usual growl and annoyance, but he didn't.
Instead, there was the sound of lines bursting, and the scent of hydraulic fluid. It flowed down Blast Off's knee like a river, and the shuttle sunk to the ground.
"Uh... hey..." Brawl stepped a little closer, glancing at Vortex, who shrugged, but seemed equally confused.
This whole situation became even more absurd when Blast Off's battle mask withdrew - with a similar grinding noise as his ventilation systems. Then, he threw up.
Brawl had to jump back a little as not to be hit by the flood of half-processed energon; it was disturbing. His optics widened as he saw the mass of energon on the ground, and it still bubbled out between Blast Off's lip plates, between his clenched denta. How did so much energon fit into someone's tanks?
"O... okay, slag. I don't know what's happening, but we should take him to the Nemesis," Vortex muttered. One of his feet hadn't been brought out of the energon rain in time, and his cockpit glass glimmered with the pink fluid.
Brawl nodded, but before he could answer, another noise made him wince. A shriek as though metal ground against metal, and static which clearly came from Blast Off's vocaliser. The shuttle degradingly curled up into a ball, arms wrapped around his torso. It provided a good view of the ceramic tiles on his back. And they... moved.
Or so it seemed. Brawl wasn't even sure what he was seeing. Plates rasping against plates, appearing to grow and shrink and overlap each other.
Then Blast Off screamed.
No words, not even any usual uttered noise. It was a shrill static sound of pain. And it was loud.
Brawl saw a few of the ceramic tiles crack, and a violent shudder running down Blast Off's frame, then more fluid spread out. Something white gushed out between the seams of his back, and it smelled like coolant.
Vortex didn't wait any longer. He transformed and opened his cargo hold. "Get him in!" he ordered, but it lacked the assurance which Brawl would have liked to hear.
Brawl nodded once more, not really knowing, however, where he could grab Blast Off without hurting him even more. He didn't even know what was going on.
He decided for the upper arm, wanting to drag the shuttle upright, he touched the metal, and withdrew his fingers immediately. It was like getting an electric shock, except, it wasn't really electricity. It also wasn't a force field which seemed to cover Blast Off's plating, it was... odd. A kind of energy Brawl had never experienced before, and he had to force himself to touch the metal again. Sensor nodes on his hands got weird signals, and the grip on Blast Off seemed almost slippery when the plating trembled without actually trembling.
Somehow, it made sense in this weird situation. Not to Brawl, because he wasn't that intelligent and he knew it, but he was sure, for someone this situation would make sense. It had to.
Bringing Blast Off to the Nemesis and the medbay was a struggle all of its own. The shuttle writhed in pain, winced and jerked, vocaliser shrieking as much as his plating did. Always this weird energy wrapped around him. Vortex had also noticed it. He hadn't said anything as they flew over the ocean back to the ship, but every time the energy extended, Vortex twitched.
Eventually, Blast Off lay in medbay.
The Constructicons had already taken care of Blitzwing's damage when the three Combaticons entered the room. As soon as they saw the shuttle, they shoved Vortex and Brawl away.
Blast Off was leaking everywhere. The glass of his visor sprung, the heat shields on his lower arms appearing weirdly twisted.
The Constructicons held him down. Each of them held one limb while Hook examined the hole where Skyfire had struck him. They had problems keeping Blast Off still, and it was somehow reassuring for Brawl to see Blast Off being strong enough to give them a hard time - except for his leg where he had lost all hydraulic fluid.
"Scavenger, get this plate off," Hook said, and his colleague did.
Brawl couldn't really see what the Constructicon did, but he didn't dare edge closer, because he didn't want to be thrown out.
Scavenger handled the plating with a tool, then stumbled back. The metal with the hole in it grew in his hand. Vortex had to duck under it when the Constructicon swayed a little. The plate stopped growing when it was about the same since as Brawl himself.
"Put it back there, and throw the others out!" Hook ordered. And Scavenger did that as well.
There was no use in disobeying, but Vortex at least got a quick answer from the excavator when he asked what's going on.
"His mass shifting circuitry is damaged," Scavenger replied. Then he closed the door, leaving Brawl, Vortex and Blitzwing confused in the corridor.
"Uhm... hi," the triple changer said, looking as disturbed as Brawl felt. "What just happened?"
Vortex huffed, crossing his arms, and leant against the wall. His hands were still smeared with Blast Off's fluids, and so were Brawl's.
The tank shrugged. "Slagged if I know..."
"Vortex, Brawl." A stern voice interrupted Brawl - not that he'd known what to say next anyway - as Onslaught hurried to them. Not running, but certainly walking quicker. Behind him, Swindle followed, pretending to be disinterested, but he wasn't. Brawl knew from the tension in his shoulders that made his wheels stick out a little more.
"What happened to him?" Onslaught nodded to the closed door, then glanced at Blitzwing. He didn't say anything, but the triple changer reset his vocaliser with a static hiss.
"Yeah, uh... see ya later, Brawl," he muttered and left.
Brawl began to explain.
Three joors had passed since they'd been thrown out of medbay.
Brawl sat in the rec room, together with Swindle. They played an old Cybertronian game, the 3D hologram on the table displaying several cubes and patterns. It was Swindle's turn, but he seemed unable to focus. Usually, Swindle flattened Brawl in this game. Now it was only their second round in all this time.
He'd also looked pretty unwell as Brawl had explained what had happened on the battlefield, his story emphasised by muffled screams from behind the door.
Onslaught sat at the same table, reading from a datapad, or typing something on it. Vortex had remained in the corridor.
Expect them, there was no one else in the rec-room. The rest of the Decepticons were tired from battle, or on the night shift. It was an odd atmosphere.
"Can I join in?" Vortex asked, with his usual audible grin, and it startled all three. He sat down next to Brawl; of course, the empty chair next to Swindle would remain empty.
Said businessmech huffed, and crossed his arms. "As if you know the rules."
"Hehe, we can play by my rules, if you like?"
Swindle shook his head, jeep engine revving a little, but he didn't reply.
Brawl merely shrugged. Typing something into the holo projector, he created another game with three parties.
"Why did you leave?" Onslaught wanted to know, and Brawl tensed, anticipating the answer.
"It got quiet in there. And Bonecrusher shooed me away." Vortex finished his turn.
Onslaught nodded.
Swindle frowned at the cubes.
After a further two joors, Swindle was asleep on the table, the holo projector was offline, and Brawl and Vortex each sipped tiredly from a cube of energon. It was a mild surprise for Brawl that even Vortex seemed tired. No usual laughter or poking and prodding. He'd even stopped aggravating Swindle after a while.
Onslaught still read from the pad.
They all, however - except for Swindle - stood up when Scrapper entered the rec-room. He gave Onslaught an acknowledging nod, then his optics roved over Brawl and the others.
"You can speak. I'll tell them later anyway."
Brawl couldn't help but feel relieved, and also a little proud.
"Very well. Blast Off's circuitry has been repaired. There are a few minor things which need to be repaired later in root-mode, but he'll be fine."
"And what actually was damaged?"
Brawl didn't know if he was right, but even Onslaught sounded tired.
"A part of his mass shifting mechanism was, let's say, out of control."
"But wouldn't he just become a bigger robot, then?" Brawl was again confused. He didn't get this whole mass shifting stuff, although it looked kinda cool.
Scrapper shot him a look which made clear that he didn't think much of the tank - or his processor power. He probably should have kept his vocaliser offline and asked Blast Off later...
"Blast Off's systems don't shift on one single ratio, but on different ones. He'd have ended up in a heap of twisted metal and circuits, not become a robot."
In his peripheral vision, Brawl noticed Vortex rotors shift, and Swindle wince - the businessmech must have woken up.
"He's in forced stasis in the hangar." Scrapper addressed Onslaught again. "We'll wake him up in a few joors, but not before tomorrow noon." He went to turn.
"In the hangar?" It was Vortex who asked, and Scrapper paused. Brawl felt a little satisfaction when Vortex gained the same annoyed look that he'd done.
"It's easier for the system to recover in its original state rather than its compressed form."
The Constructicon left.
Onslaught exhaled in a sigh, rubbing the side of his temple with two fingers.
"Right. Go recharge. We'll leave here as soon as Blast Off is awake."
Swindle lay curled up on the berth, between the wall and Brawl.
Brawl had asked the businessmech if he'd like to recharge in his room. Swindle had simply shrugged, and nodded, but Brawl could guess that he hadn't wanted to recharge on his own. Not because any of them wanted to interface - Swindle was much too tired and Brawl wasn't in the mood anyway - it was only that they didn't want to be alone.
The tank didn't like the rooms on the Nemesis. All his belongings, which weren't much, were in his room in their base. The quarters here somehow seemed cold... And he liked to recharge with someone sometimes. There was nothing wrong with that, right?
It had been a long day for them all. The battle had been hard, and Brawl felt a little responsible for what'd happened to Blast Off.
He lay on his back, shifting a little into a more comfortable position, and was about to initiate his recharge cycle when someone pinged him.
Stopping his engine just in time as not to rev to an angry growl, Brawl stood up and swayed to the door, pushing the button harder than intended. It slid open, and revealed Vortex.
That wasn't a surprise.
"Hey," the 'copter said, but lacked any true cheerfulness or carelessness. "You wanna frag?"
Behind his visor, Brawl raised an optical ridge, muttering something inaudible before he answered. "No, not in the mood..."
Vortex didn't say anything, but Brawl was sure for an astrosecond that Vortex' shoulders slumped.
Brawl shrugged, stepping aside a bit. "You still wanna come in?"
"Yeah... 'kay."
It was odd to see Vortex so tired. Or maybe not tired, but thoughtful at least.
Brawl closed the door as soon the 'copter was in, and turned. Vortex glared at him. "What's Swindle doing here?"
"Recharging. Same what I'm gonna do. You wanna go? If so, close the door behind you," Brawl mumbled. He wasn't in the mood for Vortex' antics. Not now. Right now, he didn't even think it was funny.
Vortex engine revved a little, but from the quiet gargling noise, Brawl knew he tried to suppress it; he was probably too tired or stressed to hinder it from revving completely.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. But I'm not gonna be in the middle!"
The battle mask hid Brawl's grin, but from the red visor lightening up for a fraction of an astrosecond, he knew Vortex knew anyway.
A penetrating ping dragged Brawl out of his recharge. Systems booted up slowly, and he felt as though he hadn't recharged enough. His processor clocking lazily, limbs exhausted.
And it was warm.
The sound of two other engines filled the room, and his arms and legs were tangled up with Vortex' and Swindle's. Both mechs were still in recharge.
The ping reached Brawl again, and he hindered himself from groaning, annoyed.
It took him almost a klik to free himself from the arms and legs without waking them up, or accidentally throwing Vortex off the small berth. The ping rang again, and eventually he opened the door.
Onslaught started at him, his stance all but clear how displeased he was. "They're about to wake him up," the commander said, and Brawl knew instantly what he meant. "I don't know where Vortex and Swindle are, but if you find them, inform them we meet in the hangar in a breem." With that, he walked off.
Shifting on his feet, Brawl bit his lower lip, trying not to feel guilty. He probably should have invited Onslaught into his room, too, right?
With his mind full of thoughts just how four big mechs could fit on his berth, he woke the others.
The light in the hangar was turned on when the four Combaticons entered it. A ladder leant against Blast Off's shuttle bulk, leading to the side entrance of the cockpit. The Constructicons were working there, but Brawl couldn't make out what they were actually doing.
Scavenger came to them, his expression exhausted but brightened. Brawl knew Scavenger as hardly ever moody or angry, completely different than Hook. Brawl liked him, even though he thought he wasn't a good fighter.
"He's about to wake up. Give us another moment to check a few systems, then he can transform. Probably. Well, if Hook says so." He hurried off again, and Brawl wondered why he informed them at all.
Maybe they took care of Blast Off because he was the only real shuttle? Or because he was gestalt, too. Like them.
It also made Brawl wonder how they could bring Blast Off to transform when he was in stasis, and he glanced around curiously, as though to find clues. He didn't, of course, but he knew better than to ask. The condescending stare Scrapper had given him the night before still made him angry.
And soon they'd have Blast Off back to look at them in a similar patronising way.
The Constructicons took a little longer than expected. Vortex got bored, and began to annoy Swindle. Swindle got angry and threatened to walk away. Brawl laughed at them, and Onslaught ordered them all to be quiet, or they'd regret it.
They all went quiet - or at least quieter.
They stopped teasing each other - Brawl thought of it as teasing; he was more comfortable with that than with other terms - when a rumble of shuttle vents exhaling air echoed through the hangar. Ailerons flicked, and the huge shuttle bulk shuddered once.
The Constructicons in the cockpit left, removed the ladder.
Hook nodded.
Blast Off transformed.
It looked less cool than usual. Somehow a little clumsy and stiff, but metal plates shifted as always, shrunk and folded together.
Brawl vented air in relief.
The shuttle stumbled the first step, but caught himself quickly, then Scrapper spoke to him.
Due to the mass shifting, the distance between Blast Off and them was bigger now. Too much to understand what they were talking about, and the atmosphere around the four mechs became a little awkward. That was what Brawl thought, at least.
His hands flexed a little, waiting for Scrapper to leave, then he crossed the distance - he knew Blast Off most likely wouldn't.
"Yo, you really put on a show yesterday, didn't you," Brawl laughed, punching Blast Off's should with what he thought was a light poke. It made the shuttle wince, however. And growl.
Vortex laughed at that, now standing next to the tank. He still giggled when he spoke, "You're visor's missing."
Blast Off glared. But Vortex was right. The cracked visor was off and hadn't been replaced yet; the battle mask had been removed as well. Blast Off would need to fix that in their base.
It was odd to see the shuttle's face so naked.
"Obviously, it is." Blast Off muttered, annoyed. "Is that why you all staring at me? I'm not going to fall over at any moment, in case that's what you think."
Brawl tensed. It was good to hear Blast Off complaining again, even though he was only one night out of order. Still, it'd been... wrong. And now this, all five of them gathered after an incident like that, Brawl couldn't recall when it had last happened. No one would say why they were here, and no one would mention yesterday, either. Blast Off wouldn't know, because he just never saw things like that, the tank knew. He also knew no one would speak the reason out loud, although it should be done.
They were gestalt now, but Brawl often had the feeling he was the only one who understood that.
That was why Brawl broke the silence.
"We were worried about you."
It was true, everyone with his own truth, his own reason to worry.
Blast Off stared at him. His jaw mechanisms worked, tensed, and his optics widened slightly. Ailerons on his feet clacked so quietly, it was almost inaudible, but seemed so loud in the sudden silence.
Blast Off didn't answer, Brawl had expected that. He didn't know what to say, the shuttle's body language said as much. Brawl might not be as good as Vortex with that, but he'd known Blast Off long enough.
A reaction like this could almost be interpreted as positive surprise, and maybe a 'thank you'. That was what Brawl hoped.
"All right, let's go home," Onslaught said with his firm voice, and eased the tension around them.
Quietly bickering, they did as they were told.
Nobody had disagreed with Brawl.