Shell Shock
Writers: Denny and Leila
Rating: PG-RG
Warnings: Ratchet/Azimuth. Violence.
Disclaimer: We value our lives too much to even dare think about claiming Ratchet and Alister as our own. We borrow them for an RP, so don't worry. [Put the Wargroks back into your cage!]
Summary: Everyone's nightmare is to wake up in a cold, dark place without a clue where one is. Sadly, that's what's happened to us. What's even better, we have monsters and weird encounters to endure as well. And then there's them…
Lucky, right? If I ever get out of here, I will need some therapy sessions.
Chapter 20
-
When Ratchet left the room under a growl, the elder followed him silently. As soon as he stepped out, the door closed once more, leaving the two Lombaxes alone again.
"... Well. Seems like this is it." Azimuth smiled in a confident way, but the flicks of his ears betrayed him.
Ratchet's smile was more guarded, but quickly fell away. He averted his gaze, hand rubbing his neck. "I'm even way less sure about this than I have been during the briefing. But no backing out now, huh?"
A hand patted him reassuringly. "We'll be fine. It's just like the first jump into cold water." Azimuth stepped beside the younger and looked at him confidently. "We can go and stock up on weapons first, too. Then we've prepared as much as we can."
So they did. The weapon's vendor of that area already expected them, saying that his colleague from the halls had updated him on their requests.
"Well, yer maxed out again, pal! Make sure ya treat yer new toys nicely." The vendor laughed. "It would kill yer funds without fail."
"Believe me, wherever I go, I tend to fill my funds up." Ratchet replied drily.
"I know, I know. But still, keep'em up. I might have those gold editions out there next time."
The elder waited for Ratchet to finish his conversation. There was still something bugging him...
"Something wrong, Alister?" The elder held that particular stance of which Ratchet knew by now it meant something was bothering him.
"A-Ah… No, nothing." Azimuth rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't really ask him about that odd… behavior right before they headed to the orientation room, now could he?
Ears standing on different heights, Ratchet finally just shrugged. If Alister wanted to tell him when he was ready, okay.
"Wait." The elder bit his lip. "... I was just wondering if you were all right. Ever since breakfast... You were a bit odd."
"Odd?" Two could play a game of ambiguousness and secrecy. Although he was really curious if Alister really meant what he thought he did so his question was only half-pretended.
"... Yes. Odd." Although the elder did not move, Azimuth would have more than gladly jerked back a little. He had gotten the ambiguous tone beneath the question, and felt like it was the wrong time to pry further - but still... Now that he had asked he could as well pull through. "Your... smile. Each time you smiled, it seemed off."
So he had noticed. The very half-sad, half-amused smile that confused Azimuth so much pulled on his mouth again and he didn't even notice this time. "Let's just say that the last days have made me... really tired."
The elder stared at him, confusion even more rising in him. "Ratchet...?"
"Huh?" The question had the expression dissolving, to which Alister's tail unconsciously drooped in relief. Ratchet shook his head, a more genuine smile lighting up on his face. "Just all the stress, I guess - uh, stupid pun." He grumbled as he turned around to face the direction of their next destination.
"... Stress, huh?" Azimuth mumbled, frowning before he followed Ratchet. Somehow he had a feeling that this was not the actual cause; no, rather that it had to do with him. But what was it exactly?
Suddenly he shook his head. This was no time for contemplating. This was no time for even worrying. Right now, they had to face an enemy worse than anyone before - and for this, he simply couldn't afford drowning in his doubts.
-
"Do you really think these squishies can do anything against these plague of guards?... Oh, more to the right please, I have a kinked cable there..."
"Oh, I am actually quite confident that they can." Lawrence moved his hands a bit more to the right, rubbing the heel of his hand soothingly on Nefarious' back. "Is that better, sir?"
The lanky form relaxed into the cushions. "I just fear that with their tendency to destroy things - especially Ratchet - will do more damage than only to the halls. What if they take the fight to one of the production halls? That would be a complete disaster!"
"They won't... The area they've chosen for their battle is far away from the production halls. In fact, it is at the other end of the facility." The hands pulled away. "Anywhere else you would like to be massaged?"
"The back of my neck has been aching since my last outburst." Though he never remembered anything that happened around him when his mind got 'stuck', he had always to defrag his processor because the crash did a number on his programs. The feedback and the stress in turn showed in hydraulics clamping together.
"Hm... I see." The butler leant forward and placed his hands on Nefarious' neck, circling his thumbs slowly and sending low energy impulses. "You should really have this repaired, sir. Your episodes of 'Lance and Janice' are entertaining, but only that much."
"You know I've been checked hundreds of times by different programs, and every time the result was the error is read-only." He sighed. "It would be too much trouble with the added risk of damaging the surrounding data to try to remove it."
"True. The chances that you would lose you unique personality would be far too high." A chuckle. "And that would be a shame."
"Very funny, Lawrence, very funny." Nefarious crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I have no problems whatsoever with my temper. I mean, I don't feel conscious about it - the only annoying thing about it is when my circuits overheat and my reaction gets actually worse than even I intended it to be."
"Oh really, sir." The butler smirked. "I can't imagine." One last application of pressure, then he let his hands slide off the doctor's shell. "One day I will look into it and repair it… If I ever feel the need to."
"Back to our new 'employees' - where should they be exactly in this moment?"
The butler activated the small pad in his hand. The map appeared, along with two blinking points. "They are near the designated area... Ah!" Lawrence blinked.
Nefarious jerked back - why was Lawrence surprised? Lawrence - surprised. That combination shouldn't be possible, but the sounds the butler just had made... "What is it?"
"… It is almost shameful to admit." The butler stared the map. One of the lines, the dark red one, was approaching the area. "Our new staff might face some difficulties…"
-
"This is it, Ratchet." Azimuth turned to the other, breathing in deeply. Before them a blue hue separated the safe area from the 'guarded' corridors. "A trial by fire it is."
"I can't say I'm looking forward to it." He bit shortly on his lower lip, unconsciously.
"Don't worry. We can handle them." Azimuth patted on Ratchet's shoulder. "According to Lawrence's map, the Wrathful are about to appear. Remember, we just have to provoke them and dodge their attacks, then eliminate them with all we've got."
"... It's just that I have a very bad feeling in the moment." He threw a glance to the force field. "Something's gonna happen - and not only the confrontation with the guards."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't even know myself. I guess it won't help to procrastinate though, no matter what I feel. We are as well prepared as we could get. So we should go, and see."
The elder nodded in approval. "We can do this. This time we know what is coming for us, and we will beat them."
Ratchet quickly glanced to him but said nothing. Sometimes, despite that he had so much more experience and had lived a much harder life than him, the general owned a kind of optimism about fights he couldn't share.
Azimuth looked at him. He sensed that Ratchet was anything but calm. He wasn't either, but at least he had the confidence and experience to cool his head. But what could he do? He wanted to ease the younger's nervousness, but what could he do? He had already patted him, spoken words of encouragement – could he even do anything else? Anything to dissolve at least some of Ratchet's uneasiness?
For starters you could apologize for your behavior during breakfast.
The elder halted for a moment. That he could do, but… that would mean admitting something that he could not admit. Something that just he just could not say out loud since it would mean to lower his head to something that he could not tolerate due to his pride.
Ratchet didn't notice the other's inner turmoil, back turned to him as he stood just shy of the blue wall.
Azimuth looked at him, eyebrows pulled together in anxiety. Should… Should he say anything? Or would it seem out of context? Or should he do something to ease the other? But what could he do? All his pride allowed him to do had been done, and all he wanted to do was off limits already.
He clenched his fists. Pride. So deluding, so constricting. Yet he couldn't let go of it. What for?
"Alister?"
That wouldn't do - the general was brooding again. Probably again about the situation or how to comfort him and if he guessed right, he was holding back again because of his principles. Principles that seemed to mock Ratchet whenever they had Alister back-pedaling on anything that seemed to move forward on their relationship. But was it even one?
Ratchet had decided for himself to accept it, however. Alister could not jump over them and his reservations, and Ratchet had no reason to believe he could ever, at least in the near future. It was easier than to hope he could change. It 'helped' somehow he was unsure himself about their situation, so any rest hanging over this 'intimacy' was welcome in the moment.
Alister blinked. "Yes, Ratchet?" He looked at the younger, wondering why he had called out for him...
It was that odd look again.
The Lombax frowned. Why? Why did Ratchet look at him like this?
"Shouldn't we get going?"
"... Oh. Yes." They still had a bit of time. Their targets were still a few meters away. Azimuth pressed himself against the wall and prepared his wrench. He would get the element of surprise, and then act like he was running away. That was the plan. It should infuriate the Wrathful enough to lose their temper...
Ratchet had readied his flamethrower - he had upgraded it to the highest level possible and although Grummelnet didn't accept Raritanium anymore to strengthen their weapons, the vendor had made an exception for him. "Shall we move on three?"
The elder nodded. There was no need to waste any concentration on words. He raised one hand.
One.
Inarticulate sounds could be heard, most presumably to imitate a conversation.
Two.
The cursed giggling set in. According to the map they were about to appear in front of the exit…
Three.
The moment the entities appeared in front of the force field, Azimuth rushed forward, jumped and cornered one of the guards by wrapping his legs around it. Then he snapped the Shapeshifter at its neck with his wrench and unleashed a burst of energy, used the impetus of the fall and pushed himself up in the air to land two meters away from the now beheaded guard.
Ratchet in turn slammed the flamethrower against the other guard's chest, pulling the trigger all the way back. A strange, burnt smell made him gag before flames shot out of the guard's back, distracting him enough that he noticed the clawed hand over his head almost too late. He jerked the weapon back and dove aside the guard.
Azimuth grasped Ratchet at his wrist and pulled him towards him – just in time as a long spear pierced the spot where the younger had stood just a moment ago. Yellow eyes, squinted in delight, stared at them, accompanied by contemptuous grin. Beside it, the beheaded guard rose again, first displeasure on its face before it recognized the creatures that had attacked them. The face was split by an excited and greedy grin – and before they knew, the guard lunged forward and slashed after them.
One, two, three, four slashes and Ratchet lost count on how many times the guard attacked. The manic gaze gleamed with childish glee as he kept evading, only realizing that it kept getting closer to hitting him. Alister had dived out the way, just to be engaged in an own fight with the other Shapeshifter.
The elder rolled over the ground and barely evaded the spear thrust after him. Something was wrong. The frustration of constant misses should have already gone up so high that one of the guards should have lost their temper, but… they simply didn't.
There is no time for contemplation. Azimuth reached behind his back and ignited a bomb. Just defeat them and be done with it. With that he rushed towards the Shapeshifter who awaited him with a contemptuous grin. Instead of evading his attack, the creature reached out to grab him at his wrist. Before it could do that, though, Alister let himself fall to the ground and rammed the bomb into the inconsistent matter. Then he ignited his hoverboots and rushed away – the entity was torn apart by the explosion under a scream.
"Will. You. Leave. Me. ALONE!" Enough was enough. He bent down to gain room and momentum and kicked up himself feet first from the ground. The heels of his boots hit the head from below, cracking it backwards - but the giggling just wouldn't stop. Indeed it had grown louder with his clamors of frustration. With another crack, and change of the pitch, the giggling grew in volume yet again as the guard bent its head into the proper position again. It seemed to be grinning smugly at his slightly terrified expression.
Smug…
"Something's wrong here, Ratchet!" Azimuth shouted, only to be broken off by the on-pressing enemy he had to deal with. It seemed like the bomb had done almost nothing to it – more than that, it had exhilarated it so much that it didn't even look tense. Instead it smoothed one hand over its head, giggling with utmost pleasure.
"Our visitors are apparently enjoying the challenge," came the shout back. "Though they should stop fooling around, if they want to catch us… Then again, we two need to get going instead of playing stupid games with them." The last part he gritted against his adversary, although he then thought different of it and shifted to a smirk.
"… True." Azimuth smirked. Once more he charged his wrench and whirled it, ready for the fight. "Let's do this!" He dashed right into the Shapeshifter and pierced its stomach with his wrench, discharging the energy and ramming the entity into the ground. Then he ran towards the exit, just like Ratchet did –
A giggling grimace blocked the path.
The guard had spread over the exits, laughing right into Azimuth's face and hindering them from entering any of the corridors.
"YUCK. That looks like a living door made of flesh." The other guard giggled at Ratchet's half-gagging and then pointed its finger at its companion. It seemed to say 'The Lombax has just compared you to an organic'.
The giggling quickly stopped as the younger dove and re-appeared in front of it, jamming his flamethrower into the open mouth.
It was now the entity's turn to gag as the flames burst through its skull. A scream tore through the area, but turned out to be distraction: The guard's hands reached for Ratchet's arms, one actually grasping him.
"Ratchet!" Azimuth screamed, blasting himself towards the younger and pinching the entity's arm with his wrench and snapping through.
Ratchet shook from the contact. Too late he had realized what the Shapeshifter intended to do and had nearly dropped his weapon as the familiar, tingling sensation crawled up his arm. In retaliation, he materialized his Constructo Bomb with the other hand, planting the disk on the entity's chest. "Get clear!", he shouted to Alister who raced also to safety before the disk exploded.
He had equipped the acid pallets which released their content part by part, covering the writhing guard. Panting, Ratchet watched the display in disgust while he kept the shadowy movements in the periphery of his view. The adrenaline sharpened his view ridiculously as well as his hearing - his heart was rocking against his rib-cage yet the slithering of the second guard rung like metal scraping through him.
"Ratchet! Are you all right?" Azimuth stood at the younger's side, eyes widened in worry.
Shaking his head, Ratchet blinked a few times to get rid of the haze. His lips were also tingling again, less than last time but it still frustrated him. He refrained from biting on them in case the guards realized why he did it. No point in giving this kind this sort of pleasure. He stiffened. "Careful!" Catching Alister by the wrist, he hauled him away as the spear struck from the ceiling.
Azimuth stared at the spear piercing the ground he had been standing on. The other guard had left a part of itself to have the exit sealed while the rest came as support for the writhing Shapeshifter. "Damn it..." Alister growled, "It will be tough to get out of here now..."
The giggling started again. The annoyance about the sound temporarily blended the anxiety out. Had Alister yet realized they were likely dealing with two Prideful instead of the Wrathful that Lawrence had predicted?
"Man, you guys are like a broken record. Can you do something else than giggling? I feel like I'm in a kindergarten for idiotic monsters."
The reaction from the guards made Azimuth realize that they were not dealing with the Wrathful. As Lawrence had said, the insults Ratchet made would only exhilarate them... And the deafening cackling was more than enough evidence that this was the case.
"Well, that didn't work out well, Ratchet." The elder frowned. "I guess we'll just have to keep up the blind hits and hope that we don't have to unnerve them."
"Come on! We can't do that! It's so stupid to play around with them when we have to be elsewhere!"
"We have no choice! They are going to block the paths if we don't deal with them first!"
"Okay okay, but I won't waste my better weapons on them! The stocking up ate a lot of my funds and I want to use them for something where they are needed."
"True. There are more powerful-"
Azimuth was grabbed at his neck and smashed against the wall with such strength that the metal surface was dented. The elder let out a stifled groan, much to the entertainment of the guard. The grin on its lips was so belittling, so condescending as if the guards had been complimented.
"Sorry, but no messing with my partner in crime." The guard jerked as a wrench now gripped around its throat itself, while Alister cut through the wrist. It was hauled up and backwards as Ratchet planted a foot into the small of its back and rolled backwards, flinging the guard with his wrench.
What Ratchet had not thought of was the other guard that now grabbed him from behind, one hand covering his mouth while the other smoothed down his chest. Its tongue touched the Lombax at the base of his ear, linking the Shapeshifter's thoughts with Ratchet's.
"You are so cute…", it whispered into his mind, "So very darling with your attempts to insult us. In fact, all this bragging makes me think how cute you would be as pets…"
The breath hitched in Ratchet's chest, ripples of disgust rolling from his ear to the rest of his body. The contact was too much - the hand over his mouth, the other on his chest, that foreign entity violating his thoughts—
Suddenly the anger came. It burst only shortly and it amused the guard, but in its coals it left something much more effective against them:
Boundless annoyance.
Ratchet rolled his eyes at the Shapeshifter. He shifted quickly through his menu at which it whispered, "How do you want to hit me this way?"
A grin stretched under its hand. Who said I was the one who would hit you? You aren't the only ones who can do distractions.
The yellow eyes widened. "What?"
A high-pitched hum flashed from Ratchet's hand. Alister whipped his head to the side where a round blade had embedded into the wall. More hums followed, hitting home on the other guard in a curve. I only said I wouldn't hit you. But the part about the distraction was a lie.
"! You little…" The snarl that reached Ratchet's ear was not a transmission of thoughts. "If it weren't for the Superior's—"
Suddenly the Shapeshifter's head was yanked back so far that it would have broken any organic's spine. Yellow eyes stared into amber ones that were accompanied by a contemptuous smirk –
And before it knew, it had its head cut off. The grip around Ratchet loosened, making it possible to escape the hands.
Alister threw the head aside and pulled Ratchet away from the convulsing body. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, just a bit reeling from the guard licking my ear. Eeew." He stuck out his tongue and pinched his face. "But your moves were really cool. I didn't even see you moving if you were so fast to appear like that from behind."
"Heh... Why, thank you." Azimuth grinned, the buzzblade in his hand while his wrench was loosely in the other. "Good to hear some of my attacks are still-"
Before he could go on, a hand with claws sharper than razor blades grabbed the Lombax at his face and rammed him into the ground, skidding over the floor until the hand rebuilt the body it belonged to. A frantic glare was cast at Azimuth, glowing teeth bared at him. The other hand pinned down his wrist while another arm grew out of its back and chained the Lombax's free limb to the ground. With the elder the Shapeshifter did not see the need to connect their thoughts as it did with Ratchet - its fingers were already cutting so far into the flesh that he felt the elder's blood trickle over it, there was more than enough connection made.
"Imbecile creature", it hissed, "Continuously interfering with out plans. Continuously interrupting our entertainment!" Yellow sparks flashed from the creature's eyes over its whole body. "I will teach you respect, and then—"
The shrill scream that escaped the entity at blades imbedding into its head was cut short as ten or more of the same model beheaded it again by slashing through its neck.
Azimuth pushed the body aside and gasped. He wiped over his face, eyes widened in terror. Blood was trickling down his fur, but this was not the horrifying sight. It almost looked like the blood drips had a purplish note to them...
But this was no time for contemplating. The spear passing him by a breath's length pulled him back into reality. Quickly he jumped up, although shakily, and readied his wrench again.
"Thanks, Ratchet." He grinned at the younger. "That was a close call." He would take care of his wounds later. As for now he had enough to do.
"You all right?" Ratchet turned to him. The blood disquieted him as it showed how much rougher they treated the elder simply because he had crossed their plans before.
"Yes I am." Azimuth grinned at the younger. No need to disquiet him. "I'm fine." He stared at the headless body before them. "I wouldn't say as much about our enemies."
Two beeping disks fell on it, this time erupting instantly, the green acid dealing their own damage after the impact.
"No, I wouldn't really say he's fine."
"Agreed— WATCH OUT!" The elder shoved Ratchet aside. Just in time – the other Shapeshifter's spear rammed the ground before transforming into the entity itself. Discontentment was on its lips. Seemed like the Lombaxes were slowly getting closer to their goal.
About time. Seemed like they didn't like being shown up - the fight was still hard, but in tandem with Alister it flowed so much smoother. They needed to keep up outsmarting the guards, at best combined with some subtle humiliation.
Azimuth looked at Ratchet. A playful, almost mischievous, grin appeared on the younger's lips. One that promised humiliation for all surrounding figures.
For all surrounding figures.
"NO, Ratchet! You're not planning on-"
A shiny, spinning disco ball appeared in Ratchet's hand.
"I hope you like dancing, guys, because there's gonna come a lot of it! Yeehah!" With a practiced flick of the wrist practiced in hundreds of similar throws, the disco ball took up into the air.
The entities stared at the shiny disco ball levitating in the air. They had never seen such a device, yet to speak of its interesting structure –
It didn't seem that interesting when the hypnotizing disco groove went off.
At the sound the guards levitated in the air and faced each other. Frantically they exchanged thoughts, questioning the sudden turn of events; but only a few moments later they found themselves in each other's arms, dancing a very intimate form of tango.
Oh narcissism. How you emerge in the most beautiful moments.
At the same time Alister locked up, arm and legs twitching as he fought - for naught - the effects of the Groovitron.
"RATCHET!", the elder screamed while he spun around himself, performing a moonwalk. "Did you have to throw this god damn thing NOW? This is freaking embarrassing!"
"What's the matter? You've got some really good moves - and when would be more perfect than now?" His grin turned a tad manic, as he readied the buzz blades again. "Time for the 'special effects'.
He pulled the trigger at maximum, the weapon spitting out a constant chain of the blades. The lights from the disco ball were caught on the metallic surfaces and sharp edges, hundreds of little mirrors that reflected dancing light points at the walls. Besides being pretty, they blinded the guards who could still control in which direction they took their tango, hindering them massively in their evasion moves. Their screams pitched up into indigenous roars.
Ratchet couldn't concentrate for long on this, however - before he knew, he found himself being pulled into a waltz. Azimuth was more than flustered, but he couldn't help it - the Groovitron held him tightly in its grasp.
That... made things admittedly more difficult. He averted the other's gaze, face hot, completely shocked that the Groovitron apparently also worked on varying emotions. At least he had the hand around Alister's waist free and with this hand he continued his assault. The stream of buzz blades wouldn't end, cutting, slashing or going right into the guards' bodies.
"I-I'm sorry Ratchet, but I tried to warn you!" They spun around and whirled none too gracelessly. "I've told you numerous - NUMEROUS times before that you should not throw this thing if I am in your proximity!"
"Now I know, but how should I have known BEFORE this would happen? You never did that all the other times I threw this thing!" They approached each other again, Alister's right hand gripping Ratchet's left.
"You could have assumed that it would end up embarrassing for all of us!" Azimuth sighed. At least they weren't dancing a dance with lots of corporal interaction-
Just at this moment the tune changed. And so did the dance they danced.
Ratchet couldn't identify the instruments at first, until the strings began playing and even then the urge to dance didn't feel in any way familiar. Then the lyrics started and his ears fell. You've gotta be kidding me.
Azimuth's ears folded. "This is a freaking joke, now isn't it...", he breathed. Whenever Ratchet tapped away, he followed him. It almost seemed like the younger was now affected by the Groovitron as well - the teasing wiggle with his index finger certainly wasn't part of Ratchet's character...
Why was he dancing actually now too? The vendor had said that this would never happen, because the Groovitron recognized his ID and wouldn't affect him as the only one.
Except when he wanted to dance and this fell together with a song that resonated with his current mood. He'd never thought himself for such a sap. He wriggled his finger at Alister. Or maybe not so much.
Azimuth stepped closer, almost reaching the younger – but then Ratchet put his hands on his shoulders and pressed him down into a kneeling, no, almost sitting position. "R-Ratchet?" What was he doing there? Why—
His ears picked up the lyrics. They were acting out the described actions?
With a coquette smile he brought their faces closer, mouth slightly parted. He trailed fingers teasingly over the shoulders while he gazed directly into the elder's eyes.
Azimuth's face turned slightly red under the fur. He wasn't going to… was he? What would he do to him? His whole body tingled, with both eagerness and reluctance listening to the lyrics. Was this the sweet temptation? He certainly felt enticed to lean in, just to close the distance…
A saucy smirk, two eye brows shortly lifting and Ratchet danced away, grinning over his shoulder at the still dazed Lombax.
Azimuth stared at him, ears folding as he slowly forgot the Shapeshifters. He got up, following the dancing Lombax until he finally reached him.
Just in that moment, the song suddenly cut off. The lights vanished as the disco ball stopped spinning before lighting yet one last time again in a flashy explosion. No sooner had that happened was a spear thrust in Ratchet's direction.
"Shit!" Azimuth stumbled back and snapped his head towards the Shapeshifters. His eyes gleamed with anger, for one because they had snapped out of the dance and attacked them so suddenly, for one because they had ended that peculiar dance between him and Ratchet.
That feeling of anger was partially reciprocated; it was not wrath per se, but endless aggravation from the entities' side. To be forced into dancing a silly dance was certainly not something that they had expected, but it was not exactly what hurt their pride either.
"That seemed to go too long to be true." Ratchet gritted out, annoyed again by the turn of events. If the Groovitron just had held out a bit longer...
That expression led to a ridiculing "aww". The Shapeshifters grinned at him. Too bad. They did not want to give him a second of rest in their presence.
The Shapeshifter with the spear lunged at Ratchet, spinning its weapon and thrusting it towards the Lombax.
Ratchet just rolled his eyes at the 'aww' and easily pivoted out of the way. He activated his tether, grinning as it latched onto the spear and tore it out the entity's grasp. It clunked loudly at the wall behind him.
He shouldn't have done that.
The moment the spear hit the wall it lost its shape and turned into shapeless substance that searched the shortest way back to the entity. This happened to be right through his left arm.
Ratchet yelled at the sensation that felt like thousands of needles, burning and freezing at the same time, shot through his arm, with more needles sprouting out from the origin like crystals. Adrenaline whited out his mind. He heard a sound, long-drawn and deep like from a slowed down recording. The world tilted and the sting of acid and plasma came through the haze, along the smell of burning oil.
He stared around at the splotches of yellow, smoke rising from where it mingled with the rests of Plasma Beasts. Sounds warped back to its real time as the adrenaline stopped accelerating his perception, the noise becoming a scream from the guard who was on fire. It futilely tried to stop the flames licking on it. The acid had burnt into his outer shape, the plasma keeping the wounds open. The fire now was steadily eating on these wounds - the smell and the sight had Ratchet's stomach rising.
Although first screaming, the Shapeshifter soon stopped doing so. Fine. It hurt. It was burning it all up. But if that was the case, it would first destroy these two.
The other guard rushed up to it, honest worry in its eyes. Perhaps it felt that the other's energy was running out? Perhaps. It was an odd sight to see one of them worrying for another.
The burning Shapeshifter pushed it away, however. Apparently he did not want any help... Which the other refused to accept vehemently. It followed its companion, imploring it with its inarticulate cries to let them work together. If they actually worked together and disregarded their crave for individual satisfaction, they would-
Suddenly a burning hand grabbed the Shapeshifter at its face and pulled it up to the other. With a snarl the injured entity refused the offer and rushed towards the exits, ramming the other guard right into their barricades and disassembling its comrade to enforce the seal.
It would not accept pity from anyone. And if that meant killing off its companion, it would do that.
"That... was one of the most stupid things I have ever seen a fighter doing." With a shake of his head, Ratchet looked at the remaining guard with pity. Internally he shook - had the guard just sacrificed his comrade only because the other had annoyed it? What did that reveal about their species as a whole?
"More than stupid." Azimuth hurried to Ratchet's side. Now that the younger had come out of his frenzy, Azimuth could finally treat the wound. He smeared Nanotech over it, just enough to stop the bleeding and to close the hole. "To let pride hinder you from achieving your goals is simply foolish-"
He stopped as the words resonated in his mind. After some reflection, wasn't that exactly what he was doing? Letting his pride come between them at all times?
Didn't this brand him as a hypocrite?
He didn't have much longer to think about it. A flaming spear was thrust at them; Azimuth could barely evade the attack so that it almost scraped his helmet.
Ratchet did not react at first. He was still divided between pity for this sacrifice and anger at the entity's actions. Then the adrenaline faded even more and he gasped with the pain as Nanotech was applied to his wound. Alister's words from that point one were but a mumble, the only clear word he filtered out that of 'foolish'. It still didn't explain the sudden pang in his heart.
But this was no time for contemplation. The guard reminded him of this by lunging forward and slashing after Ratchet. As it seemed it had found some use for the unceasing flames - they now were on its blade and tore a line of heat after the attack.
The heat woke Ratchet from his daze. Seeing the flames, he reflexively called up on the only weapon that would stop the oil-based fire and wouldn't give the Shapeshifter an 'effect' that it could use for attacking. He threw the cryo-mine which quickly encased the entity in an ice-block.
"Come, before the effect wears off." He gritted to Alister, setting up several Plasma Beasts which instantly attacked the frozen guard, some Constructo Bombs in a wide circle around and finally the Nano Swarmer.
Ratchet did not have to repeat that. Azimuth charged up his wrench and shot energy blasts at the creature, threw bombs and detonated them.
The ice block was shaking. As it seemed the Shapeshifter was suffering immensely, the silent cry even getting through the ice block. Then the icy prison shattered and left the guard writhing on the ground. Sparks of energy left it, the shape of the creature growing more and more inconsistent. Its eyes burned with anger as it stared up to the two Lombaxes.
I will kill you, it formed hatefully with its lips. I will kill you despite my orders.
That got only a crooked grin from Ratchet. "You are maybe strong and intelligent, but that display just now - color me unimpressed about your threat. You're just a common thug. And if you are supposed to be a representative of the guards - well, they could have sent someone better who doesn't do such a stupid mistake like killing their comrade in battle."
The creature stared at him, eyes narrowed in anger. More and more of its body seemed to lose its consistency, no – it was losing more and more of its substance. Almost as if its time was running out.
As it seemed, the creature realized this as well. Suddenly all its anger turned into shock. So this was how it would end? This was how it would die?
No. This would not be its end. Its pride would never accept this.
It concentrated all its anger into fueling its body. The body regained consistency, became less malleable until it was stable again - but this didn't hold long either. The surface skin began throwing tiny waves as if thousand bugs were crawling beneath it. The energy crested and crested, pulsing in the countless colorful lines that waved over the body.
Azimuth tensed up. Something was wrong right here…
Suddenly the creature lunged at him, hands raised to grab him and drain his energy. It wouldn't… Wouldn't die like this-
But just as it reached the elder, its hands turned into dark purple mist. Alister blinked in surprise, even forgetting to step back. He could only watch how the Shapeshifter's body fell apart, first slowly, then with increasing speed. Still, the entity did not give up – it rammed its head forward, jaw widened to bite Azimuth's head off.
A second later its collar fell to the ground, and with it, the Shapeshifter was gone.
The barrier collapsed not even a second later. With a loud clatter, another collar fell to the ground, only proof that a guard had served to barricade the door - sacrificed by its own partner and its pride.
"Alister, are you alright?" The elder just stood there, mouth slightly open at the remains of the second guard. He nodded, but didn't offer any words.
Wary still, Ratchet inched to the collar in front of the elder.
"Don't!"
Azimuth grabbed him at his arm and pulled him back. "This… collar won't help us in any way. Lawrence can give us any information we need." Slight shivers, probably rests of adrenaline, went through the elder. "Let's… let's go back."