Bleed Like Me
Universe: Prime
Pairing: RatchetxDrones
Story Rating: R/MA+
Chapter Rating: MA+
Warnings: Non-con, Sexual situations, Violence
Description: One day Ratchet shows up without any warning on the Nemesis and living with the Drones no less. When he shows them an ounce of kindness several decide to take him under their wings or wheels without any question as to why he left the Autobots.
"Why must we fall apart to understand how to fly?
I will find a way.
Even without wings.
Follow your heart,
'Til it bleeds,
As we run towards the end of the dream."
~ Evanescence "End of the Dream"
"You like my artwork?" he smirks, going over to another chair to sit. He sipped at his high grade, settling back to enjoy the macabre scene before him.
Artwork. That's what he called this…disgusting image that I would never be able to purge from my memory. The smell of spilt energon was the first thing that assaulted my senses as soon as I walked through the door. It drew my optics to the berth where a chain was suspended from a hook above it; my gaze ran down the length until I found it connected to a pair of stasis cuffs that held up an unconscious mech.
"Dante," I breathe in horror.
"Dante?" Megatron chuckles darkly. "That's a lot easier than his number."
I stay where I am, fighting to rush forward to the unconscious mech. "Yeah, it is," I say so softly I'm afraid I just thought it. Energon dripped down the black and purple metal, pooling on the berth below him. His mask was off and I could see it hadn't been touched. "Would you like me to handle this?"
Megatron quirked an optic ridge. "In a manner of speaking," he chuckles, the sound running down my spinal struts like ice. I tear my optics away from the sight before me to see the lecherous glint in the warlord's faceplate. Dread made my fuel tanks churn. "Go on, I don't do foreplay and I don't want to rip his valve."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," I mutter, hearing a small noise as Dante shifts. A small groan almost pulled my optics away from the warlord but I held fast.
He slouched, crossing his legs over one another. "Do I have to spell it out for you, Medic?" he asks with a mocking expression. "Don't make me tell you twice."
I heard the warning; I understood what I had to do. So, I climbed up onto the berth, touching the mech's faceplate with my fingers. "Dante?" I whisper gently, trying to wake him up fully.
"R-Ratchet?" he responds, vocalizer rough from screaming. "It hurts."
"Shush," I touch his derma with my fingers. "It's not over yet but…" His sobbed breath was physically painful. "I'm going to be right here."
His optics were dim but he looked up at me and I saw hope there. "You?"
"Yeah, you trust me right?" I chuckle, trying to sound playful but ending up sounding dry.
He nods his head. "I'd rather it be you than him," he whispers over comm.-link. I could hear the pain in his tone but I could also hear the relief that relaxed his form until he was leaning his helm on my shoulder. His trust in me was flattering but worrying; I had never had someone hold so much faith in me before.
Pulling away just a bit, I cup the mechs' faceplate with both servos before leaning forward. His derma were quivering with exhaustion and pain as they brushed across mine so I kissed him gently. He was slow to respond but when he pushed back, my spark pulsed. His glossa had a slight hint of energon but it was overwhelmed by heat and electricity.
I wrapped my arms around his waist to pull him against my body. He tried to struggle away but the energon didn't bother me; I let it stain my chassis so he wouldn't feel so self-conscious. My servos drift across his back gently, trying to keep from hurting his sensitive scratches. I could tell they were from Megatron's deadly talons but I skimmed past them to the other seams.
His first gasp of surprised pleasure was accompanied with a quick rise in his body temperature. I did everything, touched every seam, plucked every wire so that he would feel more pleasure than pain and completely forgot about Megatron for a moment. He moaned as my derma slipped down to tease his neck cables, drawing out as much pleasure as I could.
I lowered down until I was sitting on the berth, swirling my glossa in the sensitive hip-seam. The taste of energon was disturbing but I pushed past it to pleasure the mech. My fingers grazed his hot panel and he bucked into the touch without thinking. "R-Ratchet," he whispers softly. It was beautiful to hear pleasure instead of pain coming from the mech.
"Open up," I smile, running my slick glossa across the seal of the panel. It opened with a soft sound, his spike pressurizing and lubricant slipping down his thighs. His whole body was trembling but it was in pleasure, not pain, and I wanted to hear him scream my name. "You're so beautiful," I tell him through our comm.-link. I didn't want Megatron to know just how close they were.
"Get on with it, Medic," speak of the Devil. I didn't even look back at the mech to know he was smirking. How I wanted to rip his spark out for making Dante do this.
I slowly spread the mech's legs by his thighs and heard him whimper as my servos slipped up along his sensitive metal. He made a beautiful noise when my finger eased into his tight valve. My own panel was burning to be opened but I kept it closed; this was about Dante, not me.
His sounds were close to mewls as I thrust my finger into his valve, striking nodes and sensors as I went. My glossa teased his spike until he was straining against his chains desperately. "Ratchet, please!" he whimpers, bucking against my finger until I press another into his valve.
His gasped vents made my panel alert me that it was ready but I couldn't. Any other time and I wouldn't have hesitated to press my spike into his valve. Primus, did I want to show him how a true mech interfaced. "Next time," I rasped over our comm.-link. "I'm going to take you nice and slow until you can't see straight."
"Primus!" he gasps just as I slip another finger into his valve. There is a slight hint of pain on his faceplate but it slowly drains away until he is pressing into my fingers again.
"That's good enough," Megatron's voice booms through the space. He stood as I took my fingers from Dante's valve, taking up the space behind the young mech. The look of fear and pain that crossed my friend's faceplate was…poisonous and made my fuel tanks churn in disgust. "You are dismissed to my living room. I'll be done shortly."
Dante wanted to object but kept his derma tightly sealed even when Megatron's sharp claws revisited old wounds. Obedient as always, I left the room. I didn't want to hear Megatron abuse my friend but I sat outside on the couch anyways, careful to keep the energon from dripping on the furniture. "I'm right here, Dante," I whisper through the comm.-link.
The first scream should have been the hardest but every one after that hurt just as badly. I wanted to turn my audio receptors off, block out the pain of my friend. No, I would hear every second of it. It would be a constant reminder of what I had to accomplish-what we had to accomplish. I couldn't let this go on any longer. The Decepticons were worse than dirt. And I had my own army, complete with a spy, to compete with.
Finally, it stopped.
I checked my internal clock and found that it had taken less than ten minutes. My body stood as the door opened, showing the quick draw himself. "Get him out of my sight," is all he said before disappearing into his wash racks.
Pain wasn't rare when you were an Eradicon but this was a different kind of ache. It was a physical pain mixed with one that ate at my processor. It didn't help that the procedure to check the integrity of my valve didn't help my mental integrity. I was heavily embarrassed when I was carried bodily into Ratchet's makeshift infirmary and laid across one of the berths.
"Don't squirm, Dante," the Medic tells me before I hear the door open.
"I came as quick as I could," Sermin's voice states as he comes into my peripheral vision. "Oh, Dante." His sympathy was more welcome than I had originally thought it would be. He knew what I was going through; he more than most others understood what being a berth-toy meant. "You don't okay?" he soothes, touching my servo.
I wrap my fingers around his and hold tightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't fully understand until now," I say with a voice that sounds rough and ragged from screaming. His optics flash with a sadness so deep it hurts.
He strokes my servo gently. "I had hoped no one else would have to fully understand," he smiles sadly. Ratchet's servos are cleaning up the energon on my body and I can't help but wince as a deep gash was grazed. "You had it worse off than me, I think."
I didn't agree out loud but we all knew the truth. Scratch marks of this intensity had never shown up from Knockout; never had Sermin needed a full valve check-up either. The aching sting of Ratchet's finger pressing into my sore valve to check how it had held together against Megatron's assault. Sermin was getting a lesson at the same time but I didn't mind; he needed to know how to check this sort of thing.
He held my servo the whole time though and I'd be a liar if I said it didn't help ease my nerves. "Other than some chaffing, you're valve is still in tact, Dante," Ratchet finally says, walking over to sit on the edge of my berth. His servo was gentle on the side of my faceplate but I couldn't look at his optics. "Why did you go to Megatron?"
I couldn't answer him.
"Gabriel injured the Prime in the ambush today," Sermin answers for me, his voice soft but confident. "Megatron became angry and Dante stepped forward to talk some sense into the overlord." Sermin's servo clenches around mine, his anger radiating hot from his body. "He compromised."
Ratchet's faceplate held nothing for a few moments then a sudden, raw anger. Was he mad at…me? I couldn't bear it if he were angry at me; it would destroy my entire world. "Ratchet," I whisper but his servos grab me up. I find myself wrapped in his arms, his servos pressing against the small of my back.
"I'm sorry," he nearly sobs. His tone was a mixture of sadness and anger that made me feel better and worse at the same time.
I leaned into the embrace, stealing the Medic's heat. It didn't surprise me when Sermin's arms wrapped around me from behind, incasing me in a warmth that soothed my aching body. It hurt, both mentally and physically, but I couldn't help but feel better to have both Sermin and Ratchet there. They both knew what it was like to be forced into something that you didn't want to take part in.
The door opened a few minutes later to let in the rest of our little gang. I looked up in just enough time to see Puck's faceplate twist with horror and anger before he rushed the way he came. "I've got him," Gene whispers before following.
Gabriel's optics were sad as he sat down on the opposite side of the berth from Ratchet. Sermin's servo stroked the huge mech's shoulder to soothe him because we could all see the guilt. "Gabe," I smile weakly. "It was worth it to save your sorry aft."
My lame try at humor got me a small, dry chuckle from the mech even as he reached out to pull me into a rare hug. It was warm and welcome; he had been hugging us a lot lately. "This won't happen again," he promises, his derma moving against my forehead. "Never again."
And I believed him.
My best friend's body was…ravaged. It was the only way to describe what I was looking at. He had scratch marks all over his frame that oozed phosphorescent energon and his hips had two giant dents that looked conveniently like servos. I don't think I had even been speechless in my entire function to date but…tonight, I didn't have anything to say.
Anger, raw and overwhelming, started in my spark and spread like poison through my form until I was trembling with it. I had never felt something so powerful before and it was hard to keep it bottled up. I couldn't say anything as I stood there, staring. One of the smartest, bravest, most wonderful mechs I had ever met; he had never said a terrible thing about anyone in his entire function and this was how he was repaid.
I rushed from the room without thinking; I needed air that didn't smell like energon. Someone followed me but I didn't care as a scream ripped from my throat and I threw my fist at the wall. It didn't land; no, instead, Gene wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me back and his other kept my fist from contacting the wall. It was probably the closest I had ever been with the mech but I couldn't hold in the half-choked sob that escaped my throat.
Helpless, I was angry and helpless.
The Vehicon tactician didn't say anything, just held me. It was the strangest hug I had ever been a part of but it helped, a little. "He didn't deserve that," I finally whisper.
His servos gently turned me around so that he could look into my maskless faceplate. "He, least of all, deserved that," he agreed, holding onto my upper arms softly. "It's time to take what is rightfully ours."
I was shocked when he was suddenly switched to the comm.-link but I couldn't agree more with him. "Yes, I'm tired of being used," I respond with a nasty smirk before I pull away from him. "You'd better be careful…we might start to believe you have a spark."
He chuckles lightly and pats my shoulder. "Good to have you back."
I sat at my console in the control room, alone, and smirked from behind my mask. Dreadwing, Knockout and Megatron were out of the ship on a mission and wouldn't be back for another hour or so. It was plenty of time to commandeer the ship and start our plan. Soundwave had stepped out of the room for a few minutes, which wasn't a surprise seeing as he was our double agent, sort of. He couldn't 'officially' help us but he could be 'conveniently' missing when we struck.
Primus, Ratchet was a genius.
Gene was stationed on a lower section of the ship with the rest of the Drones ordered to stay on the ship. Actually, we had picked and chosen who we wanted here on the ship and who we wanted to go with Megatron. It wasn't like he knew the difference between us or cared to check; he figured he was fine with any Drones and didn't expect anything.
Gabriel was with Gene along with a whole pack of double digits, one and two hundred generations because they were our warriors. Several three and four hundred generation tacticians were set up with separate teams to convey orders as they were given. Gene had our best five and six hundred generation specialists, some were snipers, spies, ninjas and other specializations were scattered across the Nemesis in specified spots. They were our backup.
Puck and I, seven and eight hundred generation so we were under a broad classification. We were a little bit engineer, a dash of scientist and a hint of inventor. I was a bit better at coding than Puck who was at a different console, deep within our territory, ready to take control of the ship within a spark beat.
Our nine hundred and four digit generations were Medics and other assorted professions. The Medics were scattered across the ship as well to monitor our other troops.
Now all that was needed was my first move. It was an easy access into the ship's coding and all I needed to do was block Soundwave from having control. To get the communication's officer out of the way, he had accepted to take on a harmless virus that would temporarily knock him into a stasis mode that only Ratchet had the pass code for; not even I knew what it was. It was a genius little piece of work that I was quite proud of creating.
I quickly uploaded the virus and locked it onto Soundwave's specific frequency before setting up the other coding. The process took all of two minutes and I was hacked into the ship's controls. I shifted it to the console where Puck was waiting. "Hack complete," I state over the comm.-link with a smirk.
"Copy that," Puck responds. "Commencing phase two."
Closing down the window on my console, I didn't have to wait long before Soundwave returned to the control room. He was an odd mech with long, lanky limbs and sharp edges across his body; he wasn't unattractive, by any means, but he was a mysterious figure that no one knew anything about. Even hacking into the computer hadn't allowed me to find any information on him. It was best left that way, I guess.
As he usually did, his tentacles came out of his body and latched onto the computer. I watched out of the corner of my optic as he started to hack into the ship's coding. I smirked when the mech's body snapped ramrod straight as if shocked. My body was quick to lurch forward so that he didn't hit the ground; he deserved better than a couple of dents for agreeing to this. He was helping us, after all.
Gently, I laid him down on the ground. He needed to be found like this for the plan to work properly but I wouldn't let him get hurt. Megatron wouldn't check for the dents that should be there and I quickly made myself scarce. The warlord and his two generals would be here soon; I wouldn't allow myself to be in their warpath.
I went to Puck's side and waited.
My pedes carried me to the control room. Knockout was at my side, his faceplate a grim twist of worry and confusion. This was all according to plan; Megatron would want to see me after he found his unconscious communication's officer in the control room. Why would anyone else try to take out Soundwave? I was the only one on this ship capable, right?
I kept a smirk from crossing my derma as the door to the control room opened up. Megatron was already in a rampage when I stepped onto the bridge. "What did you do to Soundwave?" Megatron rounds on me as soon as he knows I'm there.
My optics move over to the prone mech lying on the ground. He was obviously very unconscious; he was a getting a nice quite vacation while the rebellion went on. We promised him he wouldn't be hurt in the process and I was going to uphold my end of the bargain. "I haven't done anything, My Lord," I say honestly. "You can check the surveillance."
His faceplate heats with an amount of anger I had never witnessed before. "I can't access the surveillance! Someone has hacked our computer!" he roars, stomping forward to get into my personal space.
"Megatron, you know that I am about as good with coding as Soundwave is with small talk," I point out, crossing my arms over my spark chamber. He couldn't pin anything on me but that didn't meant he couldn't beat me to make himself feel better.
"Then who could it have possibly been?" his voice rattles the metal of the room. I could feel it vibrate through my chassis as well but I stood firm.
"I don't know, Megatron," I shrug lightly. "I don't know of anyone who would be able to hack your ship." Liar.
He didn't seem to know what to do with himself especially when he realized that my logic was sound. I was a Medic, not a hacker. Knockout and Dreadwing also looked disturbed when they realized that someone off ship had hacked into the Nemesis. Dante had cut off all communication capabilities so they couldn't contact the insecticons either.
Gene had thought of everything.
Now, all we had to do was take down the two generals. Then, Megatron would need to surrender or die; I was pretty sure he wouldn't lower himself to the latter. "If all of these consoles are not operational then perhaps this person didn't think to do the same to the Drone's consoles," I plant the final seed that perks Megatron's interest.
"Dreadwing, Knockout, go find a terminal that works," he commands easily before looking at me. "The Medic stays with me."
I stood in my hidden section of darkened piping waiting. Any second now the two generals would be making their way down this hallway, corralled by our snipers and shadow-mechs. Dreadwing was my team of double digit's responsibility; Knockout was an opposite team of one hundred generation's problem.
The sounds of quick pedes and gun shots came to my audio receptor and I turned to nod at my team. They spread out around the piping to spots that lined the walkway where the two generals were being led. I took my own spot next to the leader of the other team captain in the middle of the walkway to block the progress of the two mechs. We were almost touching the hallway was so narrow.
Knockout was the first to round the corner, staring behind him in evident fear. "You two!" he shouts when he spots the two of us. "Go find what's shooting at us!"
How I wish I could have the other Captain's job. It would feel so sweet to beat the pulp out of the lecherous mech for what he did to Sermin and myself. "No sir," the other Captain, nicknamed Bob, smirks behind his mask.
Shock crosses the Medic's faceplate before he is hauled up bodily into the air and tossed further down the hallway where the team waited. I didn't need to look to hear them jump the mech to start tying him up; his high pitched scream was good enough for me.
Dreadwing wasn't too far behind him but we already had Knockout out of the way and hidden in an alcove that only we would know about. He looked around ignoring me until he realized that I was the only one there. "Where is Knockout?" he questions, hefting his weapon just to be sure.
"We took him to a safe place, sir," I said, changing tactics. Dreadwing was smart and we no longer hand the advantage of surprise. "We need you to come with us. Someone has infiltrated the ship and we have to get you to safety."
He looks a little skeptical at first but he nods his helm and moves to walk in front of me. Of course, he would lead the way as I politely follow. We pass the alcove where Knockout was hidden; I reach out and the shock staff that the general constantly used slid into my palm.
With a quick glance upwards, I nod my helm before turning the staff on full power and jabbing it into Dreadwing's back. He roars with pain, his body going straight with tension before turning to growl at me. I smirk as a shadow drops from the ceiling behind him and relieves him of the giant cannon before disappearing again.
Dreadwing took his optics off of me at the proper time. Cocking back, I slammed my fist into his faceplate, knocking him to the ground. My team swarmed around him to incapacitate the general and slipping him into an alcove as well.
"Mission accomplished," I send to Gene with a smirk. "I'm heading to the control room."
"We need a new plan, Gabriel," Gene says, sounding distracted.
"What? Why?"
"Megatron kept Ratchet with him," he explains. I curse softly, waiting for the mech to come up with a new plan; it wouldn't take long. "Okay, I've got it."
"What's taking so long? He's getting angry," I ask Gene through our comm.-link.
"They're on their way, just hold on."
That was all I got before the link was shut off. This wasn't quite what the plan had it mind; we figured Megatron would send me to guide them through that part of the ship. Neither of the generals knew where all the terminals were like I did but Megatron was unpredictable.
"This is all because of the Autobots isn't it?" he smirks from his spot by the main terminal. "You're a double agent? Is that is?"
Oh slag. "No, I haven't spoken to the Autobots since I defected," I say, trying to ease this paranoia before he came to any dangerous conclusions.
He walks closer and I feel my spark pound in anxiety. "Is that so? Was it even true, the excuse you gave me?" he questions with an ugly expression on his faceplate.
"Yes, sir, it was," I grit out, trying to forget what my old friend made me do. "If the Autobots are trying to sabotage you, I have nothing to do with it."
He seemed to relax a little before nodding. "I believe you, Medic," he smirks but lifts his cannon anyway. "But, I can't take any chances."
I hear the hum of his cannon coming to life just as the door opens to my right. Megatron doesn't even bother to see who it is before he fires. My function flashes through my processor and I know that I have no time to dodge. Everything slows down even as I feel something hit me to the side into the terminal at my left.
Everything goes deathly silent and I can smell burnt metal and energon. A roar penetrates the air even as I look over to see a crumpled body against the wall. A mess of splattered energon covered the wall behind him and a huge hole is where his right arm and shoulder should be. I can see the light of his spark leaking out the right side where his chamber was compromised.
I lunge forward to press my hand against the wound, trying to find something to cover the huge hole in his chamber. "You need to stay with me," I nearly sob as I take up a piece of my own armor off my shoulder. I place it against the hole and try to weld the piece on but it's much too thick so I try a different piece.
"Ratchet," he whispers, taking off his mask so that I could see who it was. "Hey, it's okay, dude. There's no use."
"Don't say that Puck! Shut up and let me work!" I snap weakly as I find that his arm and shoulder were in too small of pieces. "Sermin, I need scrap metal! Hurry!"
He touches my faceplate with his remaining servo. "Ratch, take it easy. I'm good."
"No you're not, stop saying that!" I shout, completely oblivious to the fight going on behind me.
He pulls me closer to kiss my derma gently; it felt too much like a good-bye. "Tell Dante I said bye, 'kay?" he murmurs with a soft smile. "I'm glad it was for something worthwhile. I'd hate to die in a mining accident."
"Puck, stay with me!" I press my servo harder onto the containment but it was cold. Pulling away, I see that the light was gone and his optics were dim. My spark twists in pain even as the door opens for Sermin. The mech takes one look at the body and drops everything in shock. "Primus, please!"
I took my optics off of my opponent for a small second to see Ratchet covering Puck's lifeless body. It was all the push I needed for anger, powerful and raw, to fill my entire form. With a roar, I shoved Megatron off of me. He seemed shocked at my ferocity and it gave me the perfect moment to slide my arm blade up through his spark chamber from his abdomen.
He gasps in pain but his instincts tell him to stay still so that the blade doesn't press any further. I was two inches away from his spark. "This is for what you did to Dante and Puck," I whisper into his audio receptor before twisting the blade.
I would be a liar to say that I didn't enjoy the pop of his spark chamber or the wheezed breath that left Megatron's oral vent. I could feel the heat of his spark then…nothing. Jerking my blade from the mech's spark chamber, I watched the shell of a once charismatic leader fall to the ground in a lifeless heap.
Sermin had Ratchet wrapped up in his arms and I lowered myself down to my knees to wrap my arms around both of them. It was hard to see Puck without the liveliness that he had lived with; I should have tried harder to keep him from coming with me. He had insisted so that he could help protect Ratchet. Without him, Ratchet would be dead. No one could have seen this coming.
The door slipped open again but only silence ruled for a few moments. I didn't really have to look up to know it was Dante standing there but I did anyways. I felt pain lance through me at the expression on his faceplate. Puck had been his best friend and some of us expected a lot more. "Dante," I whisper, standing to touch his shoulder. He jerks away and rushes from the room.
I didn't blame him…running away seemed like a good idea right now.
To be continued...
A/N: I'm not going to say much because this chapter says it all! One more chapter and I'm done with this story! D: I'm going to miss it!
Thanks to everyone who commented! :D
Autobotdog: Thank you so much! *bows* That makes me super happy! xD And I'm going to choose the next pairing after I finish with the last part of this story!
I hope you enjoyed it!
