This is almost more of a glimpse of life between actual chapters.
"Get back here!"
"Not on your life you crazy mech!" I dodged another swiping hand, wincing in pain. I sprinted for the door, trying to evade the massive metal terror towering behind me.
"Neal, I swear if you don't let me repair you, I'm going to lock you in the brig!"
"And I swear, if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to hide your wrenches!" I yelped and ducked as one of the mentioned weapons whipped past my head, clanging against the wall.
'He's trying to kill me!'
"I'd like to see you try to lift one of these, now come here!"
"No! You're insane!"
"Only because of mechs like you, now come! Here!" I ducked away from one servo, only to smack into the other. He scooped me up and gently but firmly wrapped his fingers around me. "Finally," He sighed as I squirmed, pushing against his thumb to try and break free.
"Lemme go! I don't wanna die!"
"You won't die, Neal. But it will take longer for you to heal if you keep squirming like that." I sighed. I caught a smirk on his face and raised an eyebrow at him.
"You always enjoy torturing your patients?" I asked rhetorically.
"Only those who make it more difficult for themselves…and me," He added as an afterthought. He set me down on his worktable and poked at me. "Stay." I folded my arms.
"I'm not a dog."
"You ran like one."
"'Ey!" He shot me a look, which promptly shut me up.
"What exactly happened?" He asked. I folded my arms. Siege had requested that I not say anything about his newly revealed gimmick to anyone. When I had asked why, he simply shrugged and went quiet.
"…I fell down some stairs…" The impromptu staring contest lasted about 10 seconds before Ratchet sighed and shook his head.
"Fine, don't tell me," He straightened up and stepped back. "Just stay there, I need to finish some work on this glitch head over here before I can get to you." He walked over to a second berm in the corner, his movements just then alerting me to the other Bot in the room. "Bluestreak, how are you feeling?" The Bot shifted, a groan emitting from their throat.
"Not too much better Doc Bot. Shoulder still hurts a lot."
"Yeah well, we told you not to leave the base. You only got injured because you went on a rampage as the Cons fled," Ratchet said as he looked over the mech, lifting the damaged shoulder plate and sighing. "You're internally leaking, hold still." He pried the plate off, the mech's eyes shutting as he grunted in pain.
"Nh!" I winced in sympathy. It looked like their armor was a part of them.
'That can't feel good…' I thought as the bot squirmed a little before Ratchet put his hand on his chest.
"Stop moving."
"Sorry Doc, that stings something wild-!" His head snapped back and his back arched as he tried not to move. Ratchet stuck a tool or two in between the plates and dug around for a minute before Bluestreak went limp on the berth, heaving a sigh of relief.
"That should do it. Let me grab a patch kit and you can go."
"Thanks Ratch." The mech only grunted as he stepped out of the room. The Bot named Bluestreak looked over at me. "Hey Squishy, what are you in for?" I folded my arms and lowered my brow, hiding a wince when my hand brushed my ribs.
"I'm not squishy." He snorted and shook his head, hiding a wince of his own as he reached out a finger.
"Well whatever your designation is, mine's Bluestreak." I didn't move, glancing between his finger and his eyes. He sighed and let his arm fall back to his side. "Ol' Hatchet scare you that badly?"
"He chucked a wrench at me!" I threw my arms in the air. He was acting like that Bot wasn't trying to murder me and make it seem lie an accident.
"So he can speak!" He poked playfully. He sounded a bit on the younger side compared to the bots I'd met. "He has perfect aim. He missed on purpose." Bluestreak shrugged.
"That wrench weighs as much as I do!"
"He wouldn't hurt you, it's against his nature. He's too soft for that."
*Whoosh-CLANG* I jumped, wide-eyed, as a wrench knocked his head back against the berm. He let out a low groan of pain as the wrench clattered loudly to the ground, my ears ringing from the sound.
"The only reason I have such good aim, Bluestreak, is because you glitch heads give me plenty of practice." My head snapped over to see Ratchet walking back in. I instinctively tried to make myself look smaller in the hopes he wouldn't notice me. He paused and glanced down at me, and it was all I could do not to flinch under his gaze. "But he is right, I would never harm a human. Not without good reason."
'That doesn't' make me feel better!'
"Frag it Hatchet, that hurt!" Bluestreak held his head in his hand, shaking it a little.
"It is not nice to talk about someone behind their back you know. And you'll earn another wrench to your helm if you keep calling me that."
"I was explainin' the fact that you weren't going to make the squishy a stain under your pede! Don'thurtme!" He ducked as another wrench appeared in Rachet's hand. After a short stare down, Ratchet lowered his weapon. He got to work patching up Bluestreak, and neither Bluestreak nor I broke the silence for fear of more wrenches. Soon enough, Ratchet stepped back and placed his hand on Bluestreak's good shoulder.
"That should do. Just take it easy for a while." Bluestreak nodded and got up, rolling his shoulder a little.
"Thanks Doc Bot, hope I don't have to see you for a while."
"You and me both." Bluestreak just rolled his eyes before waving at me.
"Later Squishy!" I started to retort but the bay door shut before I could, leaving my retort to die out in a low grumble.
"I outta…" Ratchet raised an eye ridge and my complaints died off when I met his gaze. He crouched down and shifted to his alternate form. His door open and someone stepped out. I jumped when the person blipped out of existence and yelped when they popped back into existence right next to me. Wearing standard scrubs, the man had brown hair with some gray peppered in.
"Alright, what happened?" It took me a second before I slowly lowered my arm.
"R-Rachet?"
"…" He shot me a deadpanned look and I shook my head, answering his question.
"Right, holoform. I already told you."
"Neal…" I flinched internally.
"Alright! Alright!" I said frantically. He directed me over to a hospital bed, where his eyes flashed and a scan ran over me, making me shudder. It felt like static filling my body.
"Bruised ribs…Minor abrasions in the outer skin…" His gaze darkened and I shrunk back. "You got into the fight, didn't you?"
"I didn't have a choice! The Cons were too close to where we were hiding!" I defended myself.
"Are you insane?!"
"Yes!" I yelped as I scooted back away from a regular sized wrench appearing in his hand. "Keep that thing away from me!" I cried out. He took another step forward and I rolled sideways, dropping off the bed.
"Neal! Get back on the berm!"
"Not on your life!" I yelped once again as I ducked under a flying wrench. I managed to make it over to the ladder and in a feat of pure adrenaline, slid down it using the outside rails.
"Neal!"
"Never!" I booked it out of the room, ignoring the pain my injuries were causing as I was in a dead sprint for my life. I heard Ratchet's actual body shift and loud footsteps thundered after me.
"Get back here before I find out how weldable humans are!" I heard something whizzing through the air and dove to the side. I scrambled to my feet as the my-height-wrench slammed into the concrete floor. In my mad dash for survival, I saw Optimus in his vehicle mode. Out of pure desperation, I changed my direction of travel.
"Optimus help! He's going to kill me!" I ducked behind the semi as the engine revved in surprise. Optimus transformed and held up a hand to a charging Ratchet as I hid behind his foot. Said Med Bot slowed to a stop and folded his arms. Optimus lowered himself to a kneel, exposing me to the frenzied mech.
"Neal, Ratchet will not harm you."
"Lies!" I cried out as I ducked behind the Prime's knee. I was still nervous around these bots, and the threats on my life really didn't help build my confidence in them. Renegade and Optimus were the only ones I really trusted explicitly. Renegade for obvious reasons, Optimus only because he seemed the most level-headed as the leader of the group. Siege was "normal" sized so he didn't count.
"Only find out a way to reformat a human," Ratchet added, only to get a sharp glance from Optimus and a fearful look from me. Optimus waved a hand at him before turning back to me.
"You need to get your injuries checked out."
"By someone who isn't going to be the death of me!"
"You uncooperative humans are going to be my own offlining!" Rachet retorted.
"I wonder why, mechazoid!" I clapped back.
"Neal!" I flinched and turned around, seeing Renegade standing at the room's entrance. He stepped forward and glowered at me. "What is your reason for using that tone with him?"
"He tried to kill me!"
"I highly doubt that." He retorted matter-of-factly.
"He chucked a wrench at me! Multiple times! He nearly made me a blood stain on the floor!"
"If you had only cooperated, I wouldn't have had to do that!"
"Enough." The stern voice from Prime made my upcoming response die in my throat. "Neal, you need your injuries checked, and Ratchet is our only fully trained medic." My shoulders dropped and I shot a wary look at said Bot.
"…No wrenches."
"As long as you don't run off."
"…Deal."
So yes, Neal is still nervous around the Cybertronians. Sure, Renegade is the biggest, so the other Bots' sizes aren't as much of a shock, but it is still terrifying situation to be thrown into. (Especially after almost being kidnapped.) No matter how careful the Bots are, one wrong step or unconscious shift of a pede and SPLAT.
Understandable, I would hope.
Renegade is not taking place of Neal's father, by the way. He is more of a non-familial friend who isn't afraid to call Neal out of his crap. Which he needs sometimes…XD
Hoo boy! You guys are going to HATE me next chapter...
~Silverleone