Meeting the Doc

"So, what's Ferric like anyway?" Sideswipe asked, limping slightly as his damaged leg decided to protest it's treatment over the past day.
"Ratchet's evil twin on steroids." Jazz replied without a hint of humour as they rounded the final corner. To the twin's surprise, the wall directly opposite the repair bay doors was well padded and there was a crash mat on the floor.

The reason became quite apparent when a mech suddenly came flying out the swinging doors, hit the wall with his shoulder and crumpled to the floor. A tall white jet mech came to help him up.

"Prithee, comrade, I believe that your exit from our esteemed healer's care would be far less violent in nature if you would refrain from insulting him whilst in his domain." The jet-mech advised.
"Aw slag off Gauntlet." The other mech snarled, pushing him away and staggering down the hall. Gauntlet noticed the trio, offered a helpless shrug and hurried after the mech.

"Best behaviour, I mean it." Jazz warned. "This guy doesn't bother with seds if he wants ya t' shut it." He raised one hand and knocked on the door. It was immediately snatched open and a deep red mech with medic's brands on his arms glared down at them. Ratchet's evil twin on steroids indeed, this mech was at least a full head and shoulders taller than any of them and the scowl on his face was lethal enough to make Bruticus snap to attention.

Ferric's gaze drifted over them for a moment, mentally tallying up the damage. "You two the ones who keep giving Ratchet a hard time?" He growled at the twins.
"Yes sir."The brothersmeeklychorused.
"Good." Ferric grunted. "Always was a softy. Now, get your afts onto slabs, double time!"

Thankfully most of the repair work was minor, but by the end of it all three had sworn to never take Ratchet for granted again, foul temper, fouler mouth, deadly throwing arm and all. No matter how nasty 'ol Doc Ratch was feeling, unlike Ferric at least he still had a spark.

"Oooh, I don't know what hurt more, the busted piston or when he repaired it." Sideswipe groaned as he hobbled out of the repair bay. Though Ferric was unquestionably as good as Ratchet, his 'technique' left quite a bit to be desired.
Sunstreaker grimaced, one hand pressed to his freshly welded side. "I hear you."
"Ditto." Jazz grunted, also limping. "Should stop hurting in a bit, just a question of walking it off." He advised. "Let's head back t' the dorm, we've got some reports t' write."

0o0o0

Deck was waiting for them as they returned, leaning on the wall beside the 116's dorm with a twisted smile on his face. "So, I hear you had to kill a couple of guards." Deck smirked. "How did it feel to take a life with your own hands again Jazz? Was it like how you remembered? I seem to recall you saying how much you liked hand to hand combat training."

Jazz stopped and slowly turned towards the heavy artillery truck, his lips pressed into a thin line. The twins, having had a glimpse of what Jazz was capable of, drew back slightly. They didn't need to be able to see his optics to know that they were narrowed down to thin, angry slits. Deck had just pushed the wrong button at the wrong time.

It happened too quickly for the twins to see. One moment Jazz was facing the smirking mech, the next Jazz had him pinned to the wall, one hand wrapped around Deck's throat and their faces centimetres apart. Metal creaked as Jazz tightened his grip. "For your information, yes it was." Jazz replied in a low growl, his accent swallowed by the venom in his voice. "It was exactly like how I remembered." Deck gagged as the black and white's fingers began to crush the vital energon lines in his neck.

Surprisingly, it was Sunstreaker who intervened. He reached out and laid one hand on Jazz's shoulder. "Are you there Jazz?" He asked cryptically.

Jazz looked at him, then back at Deck. "Yeah, I'm here." He replied finally, then released Deck, turned, and entered the dorm. The twins lingered for a moment, waiting until the black and white was gone before they acted. Black Ops may have been out of their usual scope, but dealing with self-important wannabe cowards was nothing new.

Sideswipe easily picked Deck up by his shoulder guards and slammed him into the wall, pinning him as he and his brother leaned in much closer than Jazz had. "Count yourself lucky that Jazz has a conscience." Sideswipe hissed.
"Because we don't." Sunstreaker finished, his sculpted face a mask of anger. "Trust us, it's surprising what you can live through. Now back off."

With an expression of distaste, Sideswipe released their captive and let him fall to the decking with a dull clang, turning on his heel and striding away. Sunstreaker paused, looming over the prone mech for a moment with slitted optics before following his twin.