If everything disappears but memories,
Why not just accept and continue onward?
Repairs: 93% complete. Continuing… continuing...
Unable to continue: right servo missing. Acquire new servo to proceed.
Auto-repair sequence ending.
"Wake up, you're fully repaired. Except for your servo, but I have a couple of ideas that might help."
"AH!" The dark red mech onlined quickly, ready to dodge a crushing pede or blaster shot. After a short, panicked flailing episode, he realized that neither one was forthcoming. He decided to calm down and recalibrate his optics to the bright light. The blurry image of a familiar green frame slowly came into focus.
"Oh, you. What do you want?"
"We have to do something about your servo. It'll be difficult to get energon without two," the medic said, glancing meaningfully at the dark red mech's stump. "I can make a hook, if you want."
"What? No!" Harvesting parts and surviving were difficult enough with two functional servos. "I'd rather have some other bot's servo than a hook."
"I was afraid you might say that. My other idea is a lot more dangerous, but you will probably get an actual servo out of it."
"Do tell," the mech muttered, expecting an equally bad option.
"I know where Chopper keeps some spare parts. He saves them in case the scrap harvesters aren't able to find a customer's order quickly enough."
"Hmph. We could try that, I suppose." The mech frowned at his companion, then directed his gaze at his severed limb. "I liked my old servo."
"I simply can't build you another from scrap."
"Yours is nearly the same model." He leaned forward, an unnerving gleam in his dim red optics. "Can't you lend me a servo… so to speak?"
"Whoa, whoa!" The medic backed away cautiously, fearing an outburst similar to mech's previous attack. "Look, we'll find one very similar, ok? We can even paint it green if you like. Just—just calm down."
"I am calm." The mech rose, slowly approaching the frightened medic. "I'll put it to far better use than you would, anyway. Which of us can actually offline another mech without having a panic attack? I'll even split any energon I get with you, eighty-twelve, if you give it to me now. Deal?"
"Heh, heh, no. It's my servo. You can't have it." The medic paused for a moment in confusion. "Wait, eighty-twelve? Why's that? What happened to the other eight?"
"Unless you want to completely eviscerate the next mech we find, we're not getting the last few drops."
"Wait, 'the next mech'? Who said anything about mechs? Chopper has a bit of energon in his storehouse—right there!" The medic was growing desperate now; the mech had almost completely backed him into a corner, and the alley was too narrow to transform into alt-mode or fly away.
The mech paused, evidently distracted from his quest for the medic's servo by the possibility of fresh energon. "He's not that stupid. He'd at least have it rigged so the guards don't steal any."
"He puts trackers on the cubes, but removing them is easy. Only issue is, if you disturb the crates too much, the warehouse goes into lockdown."
"Hmm…" A calculating look came over the dark red mech. "That much energon, just waiting to be taken. It's worth a try."
"Great!" The medic grinned, certain he had distracted the mech from stealing his servo. "Now—"
"But I will need another servo. Soon," the mech interrupted, glaring sharply at the medic. "Or I will take yours."
"Perhaps taking a slight detour to Chopper's spare parts section would be in order…?"
The mechs crept by the current guards, who were too busy arguing about what had happened to the other four to notice two winged shadows slipping into the warehouse.
"Well? I thought you said Chopper's spare parts section was here."
"It is, but Chopper keeps the place locked up. The only ways to unlock it are a cutting torch or the remote. I think the remote is the safer way."
"Chopper would never leave something like that laying around for just anyone to find." The red mech's optics narrowed. "Are you trying to get me offlined sooner by raiding his office?"
"No! That's not it at all! I would never!"
A soft scratching sound caught the medic's attention. His helm swiveled towards the spare parts cubicle. "What's that? It sounded like someone was scratching the walls inside!"
"I don't think that's a mech..."
A rivet in the metal slowly worked its way around the lock, followed by whirring sounds.
"Scraplets? Not again! How?" The medic looked ready to bolt at the slightest sign of the vermin.
"Quiet! Doesn't matter how, now's our chance to check the scrapyard!"
Grudgingly nodding, the green medic pulled out a blowtorch from subspace. "This might take a while anyway. Make sure the guards don't notice me."
The red mech pulled a nearly empty container of energon and smeared the contents on the walls of the cube. He quickly tossed the empty cube away from the door.
"Energon," cried one guard, spotting the glowing cube tumbling across the floor. "First one ta reach it gets it!"
The guard took off, followed by two of his comrades.
"Hey! Aren't ya curious about who threw that cube? We're supposed to guard this!"
"Don't worry, nobody can get through that door! Chopper's the only one who can open it. 'Sides, I dunno about you, but I haven't had good fuel in a decaorn!"
"I got it! I got it!" The first guard leaped forward and caught the energon cube.
"It's empty! It was a trick!"
"Oh no. Chopper's gonna be mad."
"Get the mech that threw it!"
"...What mech? No one here but us."
"Someone musta thrown it..."
The green medic finished melting the lock off. The two mechs were inside before the guards noticed them.
"Eeek! Scraplet!" The green medic pulled back his servo and repeatedly punched the scraplet until it was a pile of scrap.
"You're wasting energon. I could use that servo slightly more efficiently, see?" The red mech skillfully stabbed another scraplet through the optic with one claw. It dropped to the ground, deactivated. "Much faster and quieter."
"Just go find a servo for yourself..."
Looking around, the mech saw a shelf full of servos.
"Why don't we look over there?"
The green mech followed, jumping every time he heard a sound.
"Stop worrying about scraplets. I don't think a lot of them escaped."
"If you say so." The green mech looked at the pile. "This one looks good. Why don't you try i—iieek! SCRAPLET!"
The green medic started whacking the servo at a slightly scraplet-shaped ball bearing.
"Oh, not a scraplet..."
"I thought you were here to help me find a servo, not destroy all the spare parts here?"
"Yes, yes. Here, try this one?" He held up a brown and red servo.
"It's hollow. I should know; I collected it."
"This one?" The medic held up one clearly built for a large grounder. "It's green, just like mine."
"Funny. You know I can't use that."
Seeing a box buried in the middle of the parts, he cleared the servos off the top.
"What's this?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen it before. Chopper didn't let me dig through the piles."
"Can you open it?
The green mech looked at it, then picked it up very carefully.
"I don't think it's locked. Scanning."
"Well?"
"There's a servo. It looks compatible with your model, but a tracker is welded to the first digit. It can't be removed without removing the digit." The medic moved to put the box back, but the red mech stopped him.
"I have a digit. Is it possible to use the servo with the replacement?"
"Probably, but you would have to remove the digit in exactly the right spot. Also, be very gentle; Chopper's trackers alert him if they sense large vibrations."
"Here." Pulling out the digit he had found, the red mech carefully lifted the servo out of the box and placed it on the floor. It was a glittering silvery blue. "Shiny. No wonder it has that tracker. It must have been harvested from a high-class mech."
"Hmm," the medic hummed, inspecting the servo. "It needs your laser. My welders aren't good at precision cutting."
"I'll do it. Just tell me where to cut." The laser on the mech's intact arm flared online with a soft hum.
"That segment, there, there, and there." The green medic pointed at the digit's links. A low-power laser beam hit the metal, but it only darkened the paint. The underlying metal remained fully intact.
"It's not working." The red mech turned the power up, and the laser slowly cut through the plating. "Must be a military-grade alloy. Just like my old one."
"Good. Mine aren't, so you won't be taking them anytime soon, now that you have this."
"Ha ha. Very funny," the mech said, glancing at the medic's green servo. "Yours might still be an option if I can't cut through this soon enough. I need energon. I only have 24% and it's going down quickly."
"Here." The green mech pulled a cube out of subspace and gave it to the red mech. "My last cube. We should get more soon."
"How can you be so sure Chopper didn't move the cubes since you left?" Returning to cutting, the red mech zoomed in on the joint he was slicing.
"Chopper is the richest boss because..."
"Because what?" The red mech was almost finished cutting through a cable.
"He keeps caches of energon cubes in every building he controls. That way, even if some mech tried to rob him, all of the other cubes would still be safe. Plus, he has far more energon than territory. Even if he wanted to move the cubes stored here, he wouldn't have anywhere to put them."
"I suppose that makes sense. But… that can't be the only reason for his wealth. You were his apprentice; you must have noticed something else, right?"
"Well, he also has many rich customers, and, most importantly, he owns a large energon deposit. The only mine on this side of Cybertron."
"Then why isn't he richer?"
"If he controls the supply, he can keep every mech around desperate enough to pay well for it. Also, mining it slowly dissuades hungry mechs from stealing; anyone who tried to rob him would end up with a few cubes while the bulk of his supply remains safe underground, defended by his mining drones."
"Clever."
There was a long pause, during which both fliers watched the glowing point of light as the mech's laser slowly cut through the silver-blue servo.
"Finished. Could you attach the digit now?" The red mech placed his original digit next to the servo.
"Sure thing." The green medic pulled out his welding torch and started fusing the red digit to the servo. His progress was torturously slow. "Hang on, this might take some time."
"Done!" The green medic held up the completed servo.
"Now it just needs some paint... Hey wait, what's this mark?"
The red mech gestured impatiently with his good servo.
"Just attach it, the sooner we can get the energon the better."
The green mech studied the logo before spotting a tiny engraving.
"'Combat Medic Prototype Servo MK-2'? Wow, I thought the combat medics were decommissioned before the Golden Age. Apparently one of them glitched and no one wanted the others to follow. I heard that the mech overrode his medical programming and went berserk! Horrible… how could a medic do such a thing? Poor mech."
"What?" Looking somewhat surprised, the red mech proclaimed, "I am most certainly not glitched! Ungrateful mechs. I saved that soldier's spark in the final battle against the Quintessons, and what did they do to thank me? They tried to scrap me!"
"Wait… that was you?" The green medic froze, shocked. "Now it all makes sense! You trying to tear off my servo is the least of it! Because of you, all those innocent combat medics were fired!"
"I only did my best to save the sparks that were worth saving. Any decent medic would do the same." The mech paused, shifting impatiently. "And you might become one of those mechs worth saving if you help me with that servo."
"Wait, might?" The medic looked unsure, but eventually his resolve hardened. "I suppose you're the same mech that you were last orn. I'll attach the servo. Hold out your arm."
The medic reactivated his torch, attaching the intricate tensors and motor relays inside before welding up the outside. The metal matched almost seamlessly, though the colors were vastly different.
"Excellent," the red mech said, flexing his new servo. "Now, let's pay Chopper a little… visit."
Some units:
orn - day
decaorn - 10 orns / 1 week
vorn - year
megavorn - 1,000,000 years
Thanks for reading.
~The Voids