Shell Shock Writers:
Rating: PG-RG
Warnings: Ratchet/Azimuth. Violence.
Disclaimer: We value our lives too much to even dare think about claiming Ratchet and Alister as our own. We borrow them for an RP, so don't worry. [Put the Wargroks back into your cage!]
Summary: Everyone's nightmare is to wake up in a cold, dark place without a clue where one is. Sadly, that's what's happened to us. What's even better, we have monsters and weird encounters to endure as well. And then there's them…
Lucky, right? If I ever get out of here, I will need some therapy sessions.
Chapter 6
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Azimuth stared at him, his ears perked and his eyes widened as he listened to Bar. He felt his body tense up as his fingers dug into his palm. Uncomfortable, his mind started to play tricks with his memories of the guards. Were they really that dangerous?
"... What is it that makes them so different?" Alister finally asked.
"... Some things. And they aren't nice." Bar replied idly as if he was far away with his thoughts. "Not nice at all."
"What is so different about them?" Ratchet pressed carefully. He had felt anxious when he had seen the guards before, their blurring, shifting shape unsettling him on a deep level that argued every being had a definite shape, even Ameboids. But Alister had seen the same and Bar just now confirmed their observations - only that what the robot knew more about the guards, and what he knew made him more than anxious. It frightened him. Ratchet somehow didn't doubt it was just as serious as Bar made it sound like.
"They do more than shape shift. I mean, Grummel managed that before with their weapons, turning people into animals, but what the guards do is out of this universe. In truth, they have no real body - heck, they actually should fall apart, causing a mini-nuclear radiation or sumthin' like this because their molecules are so unstable like Dr Nefarious moods. But they don't. They have complete control over the chemical and physical processes of their entity so that they can constantly change the structure."
"How come?" Azimuth frowned. "If it is logically impossible, there still has to be a reason why they exist." It was then his ears perked. "How much can they change?"
"I said it, down to their molecules!" Bar punched on the ground beside him, leaving an indention. "They have no defined shape at all, don't need it - it's just takes much less energy for them to form around the exo-skeletons Dr Nefarious provided them with."
"Exo-skeletons? You mean, if they didn't have their skeleton, they would lose their energy faster?" Azimuth tapped his chin. "Would that mean that if one took that away, one could rather defend oneself against them?"
"Yeah, that they would lose energy but this doesn't change much - these things are their own power plants." The robot shook his head then tilted it upward. "Without the skeletons their bodies just wouldn't fluctuate that much because of the excess charge which actually is the reason they can shift so easily. They simply use the electricity to split the connections between the atoms and re-arrange them to their liking. In both cases your chances are rather slim." The robot paused. "Not that it mattered, anyway." He looked at the elder who was about to say something. "I know. Why doesn't it matter? Because they can change the molecular structure of their skeletons as well. Just like a snip with your fingers."
"But- you said Nefarious gave them the exo-skeletons. It's not part of their own bodies so how do they change it? Except when the skeletons were also part of that project during which the guards came to be." Ratchet pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead, trying to make sense of this fact.
"No, the skeletons are normal structures for humanoid robots like that Courtney Gears or the Space Pirates. We had no progress in the project until we created the guards and that was an accident." Twiddling his six fingers together, the robot's voice lowered with each word until he whispered.
A pause. The Lombaxes looked at each other, the same question in their minds. However, before they could voice it, Bar did so. " I know, I know. So how can they change the skeletons too? That's what makes them so different. So dangerous." Silence fell onto the room as the robot just sat there, staring ahead as if he could look through the wall.
The two Lombaxes found themselves shifting their stance, waiting for him to continue. Ratchet's tail whipped anxiously over the ground as he was staring at Alister from the corner of his eyes. The old Lombax was gripping the handle of his wrench so tightly the knuckles seemed like they would pop out any moment. "Bar, please answer." Finally pleading Ratchet moved his legs under his body so he sat on his knees, leaning forward to the robot.
"If you want to know it so much… Fine. I'll tell ya." The robot sudden snap made Ratchet almost lose his balance while Alister jerked, muscles tensing as if he saw the robot as a possible threat.
"They have assimilated the metal, it's that easy. The energy they control has infused the skeletons, making the molecules just as unstable as their own to mix the two together."
Bar paused with a growl, his body beginning to shake. "They can do that with everything - and everyone. The more complex, the more time will it take to... To infect the other. But that's what they find fun." The robot chuckled lowly, his arms shaking. "For them, the more challenging it is, the more they want to possess the other life form." Bar paused. "The only reason why there are still workers alive - we weren't interesting enough. Others..." The robot gulped. "Others weren't that lucky." His fingers trailed the small, thin lines in the ground. "But I won't forget how... terrible it had felt when they had 'examined' me." Bar grew silent, as if he was drifting off into his memories.
A gasp had alerted the elder to the side as Bar finished. Ratchet sat still on his knees, but his mouth hung open a bit. His ears were raised enough that the tips seemed to bend toward his head - either a sign of high alert or anxiety. The younger was unaware of his body language, only that his mouth had gone dry again - and this time the heat wasn't the fault. "Examined?" Ratchet knew he was biased but how Bar pronounced the word and his reluctance to continue what happened...
A jerk went through Bar as the robot tried to get away from the two of them - only that there was a wall behind him, hindering to follow his urge. "No. NO. I won't tell you. No. Not that. You can't ask that. I won't tell you about that. Don't make me tell you that I won't!"
"Then I won't ask." Ratchet fisted his hands in his lap as he directed a smile at the robot which never reached his eyes or his drooping ears or his voice. He didn't mention that Bar froze at his sudden retreat - not only took it the robot by surprise the Lombax would act on his request not to ask further so suddenly, but with Ratchet's tone it was the robot who felt his insides knot now.
Something was definitely off. Was that... empathy from the organic? Bar's gaze rushed from one side to the other, his fingers clasping against each other nervously. If he had had lips to bite on, he would have done that as well - but for now, only his nervous hands revealed his uneasiness.
"... Listen. It's not like I don't want to tell you. I... I just can't." He muttered, not believing the empathy part he sensed. "I just... can't."
"I said I won't ask." Ratchet raised a hand at which Bar flinched when it hovered above his arm. Drawing it back, he looked sideways.
Azimuth had stayed silent, just observing the two. As much as he had been curious, he realized that Bar really couldn't tell them about it. But that was not what bothered him the most - in fact, it was Ratchet's posture. Was something wrong? The elder frowned slightly and bit his lip. The other Lombax's question was burning on his tongue. He wanted to ask both - but if he acknowledged the robot's request not to pry any deeper, wouldn't it be wrong to ask Ratchet then?
It was then Azimuth's thoughts were scattered once more as a stifled shout came from Ratchet. The elder jumped onto his feet, his wrench already at full charge - only to see that Bar had decided to cover the other Lombax in a hearty hug and delighted squees. Baffled, the general stared at the robot, not believing the sudden change of mood. It was almost like an attempt of Bar to distract himself.
Oh God, this time it hurt. Ratchet kicked his feet in the air, not wanting to hit Bar's legs while his instincts screamed at him to do so in reaction to the too tight, too restraining arms wound around him smothering him against the clothed chest. He finally could turn his head, gasping, and yelled. "What's gotten into you? Do you want to crush me?"
Bar halted in his cuddle, blinking briefly. "What? No. why would I want to crush you? I don't. I just wanted to have a hug - and you promised that if I tell you more about this facility I may. Right?" The robot looked at Azimuth who, still tensed up, didn't respond immediately. Bar interpreted it as confirmation and squished the poor Lombax even more before he finally let go of him.
"Oww..." Ratchet panted, his ribs protesting with each breath his lungs sucked in. He rubbed over his aching chest, carefully prodding at the main power orb of the suit on his chest to feel if there were any cracks.
"I didn't hug you that tightly, did I?" Bar sounded positively worried, lowering his head down to Ratchet's level and then tilted it to his chest, scanning the organic for damage. Due to the overwhelming memories of the guards, Bar had flinched when Ratchet had wanted to touch his arm. It had taken him some seconds to regain sense of the present again; to realize that Ratchet apparently had wanted to comfort him and and had drawn back because of his seemingly defensive reaction. His own feelings as well as the Lombax's defeated posture had raised the need for physical contact though he wanted to comfort the organic due to – even to him – unknown reasons. Apparently he had overdone it though.
Stupid guards messed up everything.
"... Say, Bar." Azimuth crossed his arms, his gaze resting, nearly piercing the robot. "Could you do me a favor and not kill Ratchet with your hugs?"
"What? Kill?" The worker stared at him with utter puzzlement. "But he isn't even close to dying! I mean... My scans, they only said I may have squished his ribs a little bit too much, but he's nowhere near -"
"Would you. Please." Was it just the robot's imagination or had he just seen a blink of bared teeth? Whatever it was, Bar gulped slightly and looked aside, pressing his fingers against each other.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I... I will look out for that from now on!"
"Good." Azimuth let a sigh of relief come from him, even if only a faint one.
The tips of Ratchet's ears fell in surprise, his mouth opening in an oval. He had seen too how the elder had bared his teeth at Bar, and how hadn't he noticed that long, sharp canines before? Were they typical for Lombaxes? More than the sight of the other Lombax's teeth - Ratchet licked with his tongue over his own canines - it stunned him Alister had found Bar's hug on him not amusing anymore. Even less, he seemed to be angered by it if his short gesture of aggression against the robot was any indication as he ordered him despite the 'please' not to hug Ratchet tightly again. It had hurt, Ratchet admitted but not anything lethal. Definitely nothing to warrant that intensity of reaction of the elder.
Right?
"I'm okay, just a bit out of breath." And with indeed aching ribs though he didn't voice that detail. He patted Bar's arm and smiled placatingly at Alister but flinched as he straightened up, a sharp twinge going through his chest. Pressing his teeth together he ignored the pain as he breathed deeply in.
"Hmph." Azimuth watched him as he got up, doing the same as him. "If you say so." The elder frowned, looking at Bar while reflecting on something. "Say, what will you do now? After all, Nefarious ordered your death - I don't assume that you can waltz back in as if nothing happened."
"I haven't really thought about that yet." Bar scratched the side of his head then crossed his arms, murmuring thoughtfully. "If that beam really only teleports people away, some guys reaaaally needs to explain some things to me. Like, things of the sort of vanishing without saying a word that you're still alive to a friend because woulda been dangerous."
The robot made a contemplating sound. "As they ticked the good doctor off too, I guess they would've wanted to get away from the planet - not to mention to get away from the certain fallout with the guards that's gonna come." Clutching his arms, Bar shuddered, pushing the thoughts away in annoyed anxiety. Once he got started thinking about those creatures, he had problems to get them out of his mind again; they just fed the paranoia in him.
"In any case, they probably sneaked out the worker's entrance because-" He growled as he realized the topic steered him yet again to the guards. "As long as Nefarious doesn't give them the command to eliminate a certain somebody, the guards don't care slag if someone they have examined before is going or coming through these." Systems suddenly humming, he turned from one Lombax to the other, tilting his head curiously. "You still haven't told me how you got inside when you came from the halls outside. Don't you think it's a bit unfair I told ya so much while I know almost nothing about you?"
Oh blast it, Bar had them now. Ratchet scratched with his forefinger his cheek, he really didn't know if they should answer truthfully though Bar deserved it.
"As blunt and as stupid it sounds, we don't know." Azimuth stared at the ground, his fingers tipping idly on his upper arm. "Neither of us can remember how exactly we ended up here. It's still... all a haze."
"We don't even remember who attacked us or how they looked like." Ratchet shifted his weight from one foot to the other, also staring down.
"... You are freaking kidding me." Bar stared at Ratchet, then at Azimuth, then at Ratchet once more. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I wish we were." Azimuth frowned. "But that's the truth. It's almost as if it was wiped off our memories."
"We woke up in some caves below the facility." Ratchet continued, his tail swinging back and forth. "Dunno why it was there but we found a pipe which led us to a shaft. We flew it up and went through an opening in the side - that's how we landed in the halls outside."
"Really?" Bar rubbed his chin. "Interesting. I didn't know there were caves around here at all."
"Well, it seems to be a big facility, so this is to be expected." Azimuth bit his lower lip a little as he pushed himself away from the wall. "But... What bothers me is and how we ended up here and who brought us to this facility."
"I just remember they hit us over the head and before that, somebody punched me into the face. They also took away most of our weapons-" Ratchet bit on his lower lip suddenly, his forehead wrinkling. "Now that I think about it - that's where things get weird."
"Huh?" Bar looked at him with an inquisitive yet confused gaze. "What do you mean weird?"
"I mean why didn't take they away all of our weapons? I don't believe they somehow missed the rest of my arsenal." Ratchet swallowed - the talking dried his throat up yet again. He quickly manifested a bottle and swallowed some gulps down. "And Azimuth had his flares left, exactly what we needed in the dark." He swiped over his mouth while he still held the bottle. "If our attackers really would have wanted us to be trapped or out of commission, why leaving us with weapons and devices with which we could defend us?"
"True." Azimuth frowned. The oddity of these circumstances made him wonder - nobody intending to keep prisoners would leave them weapons. But why then would someone not take all then? No matter how much Azimuth reflected on that matter - he came to no reasonable conclusion. It was just counterproductive.
"Um." Bar imitated the sound of clearing a throat, his fingers tipping nervously on his mouth. "... Actually. I might know the reason."
"Really?" Ears shooting up Ratchet stepped up to Bar, not noticing how the robot flinched when he turned to him - actually it seemed he wanted to flinch away. "Please shoot. I hate being in the dark like this, especially when I can't even remember who attacked us."
"... Well. It depends. Like it depends on who abducted you and such and I know that this sounds weird, but I think that if there is someone or something that would do something that weird it would be our guards, but this is completely impossible since they have never left the facility and they shouldn't have left it or Nefarious would have ripped their heads off, figuratively speaking, but it seems like that's just what they love to do so I'm lost as to what this all is about and why they got you and how they got you since you really don't seem like you're from that planet and ACK SYSTEM OVERLOAD!" The robot spazzed for a second before he returned to normal.
"... Okay. Where did I let off?"
"...Uhhh. I got to 'Well. It depends'. Could you repeat the rest?" Ratchet raised his shoulders as if he wanted to hide his confusion, grinning sheepishly with arms clasped behind his back. Bar only stared at him. Hesitant coughing alerted both to Alister who looked like he had no idea what was going on but acted as if he knew.
"I think he tried to tell us that, judging from what we told him, the guards are the ones who took our weapons and are possibly responsible for our abduction as well. On the other hand, however, Bar mentioned that this should be impossible since they aren't allowed to leave the planet yet." Musing like this, the elder rubbed his chin lightly.
"Yeah, exactly that way I said it!" The robot exclaimed and nodded. Then he caught the younger Lombax crossing his arms and glaring at him. "... What did I do?" Bar asked as Ratchet shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
„So why would they give themselves the trouble of traveling to a whole different planet to pick up two Lombaxes? Okay, we're the last in this dimension but we haven't anything special about us which I can think about that could help them. Besides, wouldn't have it maybe been conspicuous if they left the planet with a shuttle? Nefarious likely has every incoming and outgoing ship monitored and I bet his scans would have detected us inside one. Except if the guards could teleport from one planet to another and back but that's even for this universe ridiculous, right?" Grinning, Ratchet made a dismissive gesture with his hand. The idea alone was impossible - not even the highest advanced teleporting technology could transport yet anything or anyone over the boundaries of two planets.
When the other Lombax and the robot stared at him and then at each other, Alister's ears perked up and Bar wrenched his hands, a stone appeared in his stomach and the sinking feeling dragged his smile down.
"Right?"
"I... wouldn't be so sure about that. I mean... I'm not a top-rank-worker here, so I only know the most about my facility. But... Maybe Nefarious is working on that. I don't know." Bar scratched his head uncomfortably.
"Couldn't it be that someone else brought us here? And then the guards took our weapons? Or maybe Nefarious captured us, took our weapons away, only to have his guards give us some of them back without him knowing this." Azimuth looked at the others. "Would that be possible?"
"Ugh, my processor is spinning." Bar clutched is head, his other hand groping around in the air. All those theories terrified him more than the first and he needed some cuddling to let go of his anxiety but Ratchet ducked away with an indignant expression as he felt the gloved hand hover over his head.
Azimuth couldn't help but chuckle at that sight, even if their situation was anything but amusing. However, after a few moments, the noise of the machines in the facility reached his ears again, reminding him where exactly they were. The elder bit his lip, his gaze immediately going from one side to the other - it seemed like all these years had left traces of paranoia in his behavior. Nonetheless… That was no reason to suddenly hear steps rapidly approaching the storage room.
Not good.
Alister went over to Ratchet, tugging him lightly at his arm. "We should move." He whispered, leaning in a little. "I think someone is coming."
"Oh fuck." Ratchet murmured.
"Fuck indeed." Bar agreed but more anxiously. His audios, upon Azimuth's warning, had picked up the steps, coming from the left side. At least this meant it weren't the guards - but trouble could come still along the way! The storage room was the only empty in the moment on this level and he also picked up the little squeaking sounds of cart wheels. None of them three could leave the room without being seen and only one could maybe get away with it. The Lombax needed to hide, now! Bar's gaze fell on the duct and without hesitation, he snatched both Lombaxes again and shoved them to the corner beneath the duct. "Get up there and inside!"
"What-" Ratchet hadn't even finished stumbling when Azimuth grabbed him at his arm and pulled him with him into the duct. Luckily it was just spacious enough so that they could somehow fit in. The elder crawled a bit further inside so that Ratchet could hide as well. Not a second too early - the moment the golden Lombax had vanished, the door swung open, revealing two chitchattering workers.
"And and and you know what she said then?"
"What what what?"
"She said that no matter how she looks at Nefarious, she only thinks of him as an... An... AN... AH!" One of the workers looked at the robot who was shifting his weight nervously from one side to the other. "It can't... BAR?"
"Uh, hi guys?" Bar rubbed the back of his head as his friends' systems whirred in surprise and he was sure they were gaping at him from under their helmets. "How it's going?"
"It's-, y-you-, I mean-" The slightly taller robot's voice ended in a stutter of static, pushing around the cart to Bar.
"Yeah, it's me!" Bar clapped into his hands, laughing a bit. "It's good to see you guys! How have you been?"
"Um... Awesome I guess?" One of the robots scratched his chin. "What about you? I mean... You... Shouldn't you..."
"Oh come on, Skib!" The other robot hit him onto the back. "Let's be happy Bar's all right!"
"Exactly! Be happy that I'm all right!" Bar nodded, the nervousness falling off him.
"Oh bot, I thought ya were gone." The taller robot who had slapped Skib on the back slung an arm around Bar, pulling him against his side.
"Hearing ya two just now, you didn't seem greatly worried though." Bar murmured suddenly in a somber tone, not looking at either of his friends. The way they had talked they had sounded much too cheerful after he had been supposed to be dematerialized.
"Hey, everything's better than working here, ain't it?" Skib provided with a huff. "Sure, Nefarious wouldn't have needed to blow a valve and fire you but-"
"Wait a nano-second!" Stepping away from the other bot Bar curiously stepped to Skib, disbelief reeling his CPU. "Who said Nefarious fired me?"
"One of your shift crew. Bot was he shaking ..."
"... O-o-oh... was he? Haha. Well, you know what kind of temper Nefarious has. It's really like a vulcano. You know, like those on Rykan V." Bar laughed a bit, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess he didn't like me that much."
"Yeaaaah, probably." Skib nodded. "Although..."
"Although what?"
"Skib means: What are you doing here?" Cod tilted his head and tapped on the ground. "I mean... you were fired. Shouldn't you, like, be on your way to somewhere else?"
"Either these two aren't the brightest bulbs in the system or Bar's co-worker wasn't coherent enough to tell properly what happened." Watching the scene Ratchet relaxed against the duct floor. His whisper didn't even almost echo but that was fine as the sensation of Alister's ear twitching against his indicated the elder heard him just fine.
"One lucky moment against a thousand of misfortunes. It was bound to happen." Alister smirked, if only faintly before his expression turned focused again. "Let's hope the lucky moment holds on for a bit more." Frowning a little, he saw how Ratchet's feet were a tad too close to the opening. "How about we move back a little? It's still too close to them."
"Okay, let's move." The space was too narrow for even Ratchet to turn onto his front, so he carefully set his foot up and shoved himself on his side deeper into the duct. Alister did the same in order to give the younger more room, keeping his attention on the grating and the voices coming through.
"To be honest-" Bar slumped, all pretense gone at the question. "I simply don't know where to go. Sure there are much better works than this here." He gestured around the room to indicate the whole facility.
"And I imagined where I could be elsewhere, maybe something with Grummelnet and likes. But it was only imagined, not really plans - I didn't even look up any information on any companies because it's easier just to dream 'bout it. I guess then I'm sulking around at the moment, having no idea what to do."
"Aw..." Skib let his shoulders hang loose. "Don't be so sad, Bar! You've got us!"
"Yeah... I guess so..." The robot looked down and rubbed his arm. "But still... I'm a little lost here."
"Oh my... Bar the sulking puppy-robot. And I know just the right thing to do." Cod stretched his arms. "Come here buddy. Let me hug you."
"Me too. I guess you have your squishy hour again, huh?" Skid chuckled before he pulled Bar into a bear-hug.
"... How heartwarming." Alister remarked. "It seems like he has found his friends again."
"Yeah." Ratchet's ears were perked up as he kept listening to the conversation. "And the conversation goes on."
"Wonderful." The elder sighed. "I suppose we will have to -!" Suddenly Azimuth jerked and turned around, a partially stifled yelp escaping his mouth. Then, before Ratchet could react, the Lombax was pulled into the shadows and vanished.
"AL-" A hand shot up to stifle Ratchet's yell, instinct from combat experience having guided his limb but it couldn't grasp the first sound anymore. It echoed in the duct into the room below while he scrambled as quietly as he could into the darkness of the shaft.
"What was that?" Skib's audio sensors had picked up a noise and he whipped his head from his position over Bar's to the grate at the upper corner. He didn't notice how Bar stiffened in his half-hug, going even quieter than what was usual when he was in his 'squishy moods'.
"What was what? You mean me? I'm a robot, naturally. Or did you mean that 'AL!'?" Bar laughed nervously. "That was me. You know, if I get really, really excited about my hugs, then I start making sounds like 'AL!' or "RA!' or 'AARR'! So... I'm sorry." Bar rubbed his head a little. "Anyway... BEAR HUG!" He grabbed the two robots and took them down with his hug.
Well. At least that wasn't Ratchet's problem anymore. But what should he do now? He stared down the vent as far as he could, gulping a little. Where was Alister now? What happened actually? Could it be that...?
Shaking his head, Ratchet tried to drive away the nervosity and to focus once more. This was not the time for panicking. He had to focus and figure out what was happening.
... Not that easy if you felt something cold around your leg, though.
"!" Ratchet's fingers automatically clawed into the metal - with little success. In a matter of seconds, he lost the little bit of hold he had had and before he knew was sliding into the shadows, losing sight of it all.