Disclaimer: BW not mine.
Part twelve
Starlet cautiously opened her optics and immediately closed them again as the bright light hit her. So, she was in the lab again. What had happened? She remembered feeling weak and falling asleep. She still felt rather tired and her whole body was stiff. She opened her optics again just slightly to let them adjust to the brightness of the room. When the light stopped hurting her, she carefully moved her head to look around. When she glanced to her right she froze in horror at the huge form lying on the next table. He was partially covered in dried mech fluid as was the table itself and the floor underneath. There were metal sticks sticking out of his limbs and midsection and a narrow tube attached to his arm transferred another portion of mech fluid to her body. It was like a disgusting scene from a horror movie. Starlet felt the urge to scream and run away but she was paralyzed by fear… And by some restraints as well, which were gentle but firm. She started shaking, tears running down her cheeks and she quickly averted her gaze, praying that the image would disappear. She had to get out of this place! She looked at the other robot again. His head was turned towards her now. Then his optics suddenly lit up.
A small, horrified scream escaped her mouth and she strained to get free.
He smiled.
"You're afraid."
She jerked again.
After struggling wildly for about a cycle, she noticed that he wasn't actually doing anything to her. And probably couldn't, pinned as he was to the table. She stopped tugging at the restraints and simply stared at him, panting.
Ok, calm down! What you see is just a huge robot, some mech fluid and some medical equipment. You've seen huge robots before. You've seen mech fluid and medical equipment since you spent a big portion of your life in hospitals. It's not that scary.
In facts, the only really horrifying thing was the way this bot was kept in place and the way he was smiling. But smiles, unpleasant as they could be, didn't kill.
But she was still shaking in fear.
Then she remembered something her mother had thought her when she had been smaller. When you see something scary put it in a trivial situation. Whenever she was afraid of the monster under the bed her mother had made her offer it some energon candies. Do something unexpected and the monster will be more startled than you. Well, she didn't have any candies but…
She took a deep breath.
"Hello."
He blinked, surprise registering on his face for a brief moment.
Aha!
She felt encouraged.
"My name's Starlet. Pleased to meet you."
"You're not." came his reply. "You're afraid of me and you're disgusted. You don't like meeting me one bit."
Never lie to a monster. In movies bots who lie to it end up eaten.
"You're right. But maybe that's because I don't know you yet."
"You'd hate me if you knew me."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"Why would I hate you?"
"Because I have ki- " he paused as realization hit him.
I haven't yet. Not in this timeline anyway.
"Because I want to kill you and everyone else."
She twitched. She really didn't find his company very pleasant. But she was growing more confident talking to him and anyway, dying was not the most scary thing for her. Besides, he couldn't do anything right now.
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because I hate you. You, the scientists, everyone!"
"Why?"
He was starting to get angry.
"Because of all the slagging things you've done to me!"
"I haven't done anything to you."
"They used me to save your pathetic worthless life!"
She cringed back from him.
"This wasn't my fault!"
"Do you think I care! Do you think I did anything to deserve- Argh!"
In his anger he had forgotten about the wedges and the sudden movement of his hand had caused the half-healed wound to reopen.
Silence followed. Rampage stayed still, waiting for the pain to subside. He knew he shouldn't have lost it like that. He should have been collected. He should have played with her mind, not the other way around. He was doing this the wrong way. Even her fear had decreased a little.
"I'm sorry." she said quietly.
He gave her a blank look.
"Huh?"
"For this." she nodded vaguely towards him. "I guess I'd want to kill someone too if I were you."
He stared at her, not knowing how to reply.
"No." he finally said harshly. "I'd want to kill you even without this. I like killing. I like torturing. I like it! And I'm gonna do it no matter what!"
She surveyed him, her optics wide. Then she frowned and looked away. She said nothing more. And he fell silent too.
