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 35

"I can feel your stare pierce me even from this far away."

The Superior turned to the Shifter. Eyes heavy-lidded, hands folded behind its back, it looked at the other guard. "You are supposed to accompany the Equitable to arrange the energy rations for the lesser entities. Is there an issue you wanted to discuss with me?"

"You always attend those meetings, your Excellency," the Shifter quietly replied. Fingers curled behind its back as pressed its lips together. "I was concerned about your decision not to do so this time."

"Is that so?" The Superior raised an eyebrow. Its thoughts turned lower and sharper in nature though the words it chose did not. "And why would this decision trouble you?"

"Why would you not attend the meeting to begin with?" The Shifter stepped closer, eyes locking with the other entity's. "You have never done this before. It is simply peculiar on its own."

"Well, as a matter of fact I have some faith in your judgment, my dear. I don't need to attend every single meeting."

"Faith?" The Shifter stared at him with surprise. "You have faith in someone else?"

"Why, yes." The entity returned the gaze with equal confusion. "I believe in your abilities. You are very much capable of taking care of some matters not only of urgent, but daily degree. That is why I left you in charge of tending to the wounded entities two days ago."

The more was said, the more shock appeared in the Shifter's eyes. What in the universe… "But your Excellency," it continued with audibly insecure thought, "As much as your faith honors me, how can you trust another entity?" The guard stepped closer when its leader turned away. "A Shapeshifter's nature forbids trusting. It is in our essence that no matter our rank, there will be an urge to continue our pursuit for superiority. Aren't you even in the least worried-"

A finger lifted up the Shifter's chin and led it closer to the Superior who looked deep into its eyes. It stirred something in the lesser entity – excitement, anticipation, but also shock. Its thoughts stopped instantly, its mind lost track of all it meant to say. This was so different from the treatment it had received before the conversation with the good doctor, so… so gentle…

"My dear Shifter," the Superior quietly whispered into its mind, "You are far too rational, far too knowledgeable to attempt such a thing." It laid its free hand on the other's lower back and brought it a little closer. The lesser entity had to suppress the urge to show any sign of excitement, to give away the decrease in resolve, but it was so difficult – especially with such delicate fingers resting on its body…
"Your mind is beautiful," it continued, "I daresay that it is almost as beautiful as it could be, and certainly just as pure." The tip of its finger trailed along the jaw line. "It is clean from all the restraints other life forms have." The hand on the Shifter's back slid up a bit, creating contact between their bodies – by Orvus, if that continued… "It is in control of any irrational urges that would undermine your beautifully clear mind."
Gazes locked. Unknown to itself, the lesser entity aligned its body to its leader's flow and let a hand rest on the Superior's shoulder. The orange glow in the other's look drove the Shifter mad with anticipation. By the universe, it could almost drown in those mesmerizing eyes…

"Would such a beautiful mind harm its leader?", was asked calmly. That voice, too – all the sentiments that were evoked by the mere sound of its voice made the Shifter lose any capabilities to object.

"No," the entity replied feebly, mind intoxicated by the almost diminished distance between their faces. "It would not."

"Then," the Superior continued lowly as it tilted its head a little with a heavy lidded gaze, "Do I have any reason to question your loyalty?"

"N… No, your Highness," was the faint answer. The Shifter's thoughts had become but a whisper. It could barely hold itself back from simply pushing forward and closing the distance – but such an action would be imprudent, absolutely uncalled for. It had to hold back, hold back at all costs… "I am honored to have your trust."

"Good. Then we are done here." Just as unexpectedly the intimate moment had come, the Shifter was robbed from it. Quick steps brought distance between them again and left the entity standing in shock. "Tend to the matter at hand. When you are finished, notify me as discreetly as possible."

A cry almost tore from the lesser entity's lips; but in the last moment it could contain its discontent and looked down. "I..," it began. Fingers curled into its chest, shaking under tension. It did not take long, though, before it got a hold of itself again and straightened up, taking up its usual indifferent expression. "I shall tend to it immediately."

"Splendid." the Superior was already walking away, only waving its hand idly. "I am looking forward to your report-"

"Your Excellency?"

The entity stopped. "What is it?"

"This was not the actual issue that concerned me," the Shifter quietly transmitted. "It was—"

"Not now, Shifter." Discontent was audible in the leader's thoughts. "I have personal matters to tend to which I cannot leave any longer. Tell me when you hand over the report – and do be discreet. I do not wish to make my Precious uneasy with your presence." And with that said, it left.

The lesser entity stared after the Superior. Different sentiments troubled its mind – and now that it was alone with itself, it shut its eyes and looked down. Fingers curled into its coat; the entity bit its lip under quivers. Quietly it remained as such, waiting until it could no longer sense the Superior. Then, no moment later a bone-chilling scream tore from its lips as it rammed its arm, now shaped as a large blade, into the wall.
The blade vanished, the scream did not. Instead it turned into a pained cry as the Shifter slid down to its knees, losing itself in one of the few moments that allowed it to be the creature that dwelled within, and not the entity that had to contain itself at all costs.

-

Snapping the shoulder pad in place, Ratchet turned to Alister who was finishing his own preparations.

"Shall we go?"

"Mhm." The elder nodded faintly and turned around to him. "Time to pick up with business again." Wrench on his back, he moved towards the door and waited for Ratchet to catch up with him.

They walked the way to the conference room in silence. The tension surrounded them like a bubble that moved with them, always there – even expanding the closer they got to their destination.

Nefarious waited for them, very much like the first time Ratchet had seen him – sitting in his chair, fingers clasped and a devious glint in his optics. "About time," he greeted them, "What took you?"

"Nothing. You know we're," Ratchet glanced at his personal computer's clock, "seven minutes earlier than the assigned time. Let's just get to business, alright?"

"Tsk, always trying to be right!" Nefarious rolled its optics. "I'm still waiting for the Superior to send me the venue of the battle. Perhaps it forgot and we can blast their quarters for the violation of a rule-"

"If you do that, Nefarious, I will personally turn you into scrap metal." Azimuth stared at him sternly and crossed his arms. "You know exactly that this would kill every single one in here."

"Spoil my fun, will you? I was only imagining for fun's sake." A distinct look flitted over his face for a moment. "I wouldn't want to disappoint Lawrence by causing too much destruction. He really needs that vacation."

"What? Lawrence is on vacation?" The elder blinked at the doctor. "I know that he was unable to operate completely, but…"

"He wanted to be physically distant to the facility, and for his peace of mind, I couldn't deny him this reprieve." Sharply twisting out of his chair, he went to a table that had been set up in the middle of the room. "And that's all you need to know." He said in a tone that told this particular topic was closed.

A questioning gaze was all Azimuth did in response. He stepped to the table, noticing that it was a three-dimensional blueprint of the facility. Several blinking spots were visible; three were in the secure area, most presumably them. Several white spots scattered in groups around the production plants. And then there were those purple dots concentrated at one spot at the outer periphery. As it seemed, the Shapeshifters did keep their promise of leaving the workers alone – and to add to it, the only places where one could find more of their signs were at the exits of the facility. Whether that meant that they were still protecting or simply ensuring that nobody left the plants was up to debate.

A snap of Nefarious' finger, and the map vanished to be replaced by the model of what Ratchet recognized as an arena instantly.

"This is the overview of the room where the fights will take place."

"Before we move on to that, I just noticed that… well, there are several Shapeshifters left according to the prior blueprint." Azimuth frowned slightly. "So we will have to stay down here for several weeks?" He could only imagine what Nefarious could do while they were confined to this facility; all the things that would happen in Polaris, all the missed chances… And all the missed time to search for the Great Clock. To get more information about Clank's location.

"The number of Shapeshifters has decreased on its own even when you two weren't fighting them." Nefarious replied idly. "They have most presumably gone back to killing each other in big numbers, as they did in the beginning of their existence. Their headcount from the day on you killed one of them for the first time has dwindled by 54.29 % as of today."

"How many were there to begin with?"

"It sounds like from a contrived myth, but exactly one hundred of them were created in the accident. When you arrived and then when they hunted you, their number had already fallen to 35. You have killed six in the last days – and 13 have vanished. 19 Shapeshifters less."

"That's… interesting." Alister blinked. "If that keeps up, maybe we will be out of here within a few days?" A morbidly pleasant thought. Well, if they wanted to kill each other off, then there was less to worry about. After all, all they were could be described with one word: Monsters.

"This 'positive' development is off-set by the fact that Shapeshifters don't kill their own alone for pleasure like they would anybody else. They seek to get stronger, and stronger they get by killing and absorbing their fellow Shapeshifters' energy and mass."

Immediately the smile on the elder's lips vanished. "So much for relief," he groaned and sighed deeply.

"Yes, yes, terrible." Nefarious rolled his optics and shook his head. "Now can we please focus? I can't believe I am the one telling you that right now, considering they call me mad." His finger trailed along the arena's holoplans. Pulses of energy emerged at certain points. "Remember those spots. I'll make sure to deliver some Nanotech and ammo to them.

"Feel free to use as much Nanotech as you like. The best scenario would be that you dose yourself with it so it poisons the Shapeshifters on contact, but that would be much too obvious. But just a bit at the tips of your melee weapons…"

"That's devious."

"Oh no." The robot grinned maliciously. "It is nefarious." He looked back to the plan before turning away sharply. "I have a new device for each of you. A slightly different version of that immobilizer device that Lawrence gave you." Fingers clattered over the holo-keyboard as he ordered the materialization of the weapons.

"What is so different about it?" asked Ratchet.

"Well, I read the report the general wrote. He was complaining quite elaborately about the fact that the device did not work until sixty seconds later."

"What— I did not complain! I simply stated the facts!"

"Of course, try to be an honorable male squishie as much as you want." Nefarious shook his head. "It doesn't change you complained like an obnoxiously touchy one." Before Azimuth could rebut that statement, the doctor continued to give information. "Well, I looked into the matter at hand and took care of the sixty-second issue. It now works within five with 100% success rate. However…"

"However?" Ratchet gazed questioningly at the robot, ignoring Alister who was still silently fuming next to the young Lombax.

"It isn't as efficient." Nefarious turned around and stepped aside, revealing the devices ready for taking. "I had to decrease the degree to which it hinders the Shapeshifters for quicker results – so instead of having them revert to that ball-stage, they will be reverted to their most common shape." A pause. "I guess it will come in handy when they shapeshift their bodies into weapons and such."

"It still outweighs the risks involved using the previous version." That fight had particularly gone bad, although not for the device's effect itself. "It was too dangerous keeping to a spot when Alister had launched the wire. Even if we kept fighting in the next battle, the guards could use the old design to their advantage – we would need to stay close to the Shapeshifter and be careful that neither they nor us would trip over the wire or pull it out."

"It doesn't change that they remain in their default shape and can still inflict damage." Azimuth frowned and tapped his chin. "How long does the effect last?"

"A minute." Nefarious rolled his optics. "Are you done asking? You're getting on my nerves with all those pesky details!"

"Since it's us who have to battle them, and since we don't know how this anti-Shapeshifter device exactly works, and since we need to use every advantage we have against them, we have every right to ask about these 'pesky details'. Or you can very soon go looking for another pair of fighters able to go against Shapeshifters."

The doctor glared at him. "Whatever. Is there anything else you want to know?"

An idea appeared inside Ratchet's mind as he glanced at the icon of the spot where the ammunition and Nanotech would be delivered to. "Just one thing I'm curious about. Nanotech is poisonous to Shapeshifters, isn't it? Why did Lawrence say he had removed them all so the Shapeshifters couldn't use it to their own means?"

"We don't know anything specific, but I suspect they use it for their little conniveries." The disturbed expression that crossed his face unsettled both Lombaxes. "Back when they were created, their numbers fell sharply after they found out how poisonous Nanotech was for them. Of course, in the interest of this facility's safety I did not let this knowledge spread; but when their numbers kept declining, I figured the only way to keep them alive was to remove the crates." A sigh. "Not that a huge amount was used; I think in total one crate of Nanotech has vanished during that time."

"… Yikes." Ratchet shuddered at the idea that not only the Shapeshifters practiced cannibalism so to speak – he actually had gotten used a bit to this idea – but that they devoured them apparently after hurting them with a substance that was poisonous to them.

"But they had to use it somehow on each other – how shall we know they don't deflect us using it in the coming battles?"

"How do I know?" Nefarious shrugged and stared at him. "Do I look like someone who tried to poison them before?"

The gaze he received from Azimuth was worth more than thousand words.

"Accidently did, not tried. That's a big difference." The robot shrugged. "The Superior in one of its worst moments angered me so much, I threw an orb of Nanotech at him which I carried in that moment as I was healing myself. I didn't expect it to hit, and neither did it think I'd ever do such a thing.

"So seeing it sizzle everywhere the Nanotech touched was surprising – if not satisfying as I realized what was going on."

"I thought you and the guards had been on good terms at some point of your relationship?"

Nefarious snapped his head to the elder and looked at him as if he had gone mad. "How did you get to this insane notion?"

"Well, would you be insane enough to make them your guards if you didn't trust them the least bit?"

"All other options weren't debatable. As the staff soon learned, hardly anything could kill them because of their hive mind and shared energy; they could escape any containment, and releasing them? Then I could just blow up the whole Polaris Galaxy and be done with it – the result would have been the same.

"By giving them a purpose, restrained by the collars later, while allowing them to indulge into some of their games made them cooperative at least… To an extent, as you know by now."

"I… see." Azimuth frowned and sighed lowly before walking towards the new device. As soon as he equipped it, it aligned itself to the color scheme of his armor. Blinking, he turned his arm around a bit – it was surprisingly light.

"I've improved the camouflage system and lessened the weight, so it won't bother you during a fight."

Ratchet picked up the device as well and equipped it, watching with fascination as it seemed to melt into his armor.

A light sound echoed through the room. As it seemed, the Shapeshifters were ready for the fight; and so was the doctor for losing his patience. "There! The coordinates are set. Now get yourselves into the assigned location."

"You know, I was happy for the moments where he was annoyed. It sounds weird, but at least he was acting normal – for himself, anyway." The thumb Ratchet stabbed over his shoulder pointed into the general direction of the door through which they had nearly been booted out.

"Agreed." Azimuth glanced over his shoulder before concentrating on the way before ahead. "It's good that he isn't getting too friendly with us, considering that he considers us a major threat to his plans." A pause as he looked at Ratchet. "Or arch nemesis, even."

"The words of 'getting friendly' in connection with Nefarious sound so wrong. We need to go left, right?"

"Yes." The elder turned on the visor and readied himself; then he fell into silence as they quietly came closer to the battle-site. Anxiety settled in him – facing Shapeshifters at any time, under any situation equaled suicidal tendencies. They had to be mad to be doing this for the sake of one robot worker; had it not been for Bar, they would have probably shot their way out of there already. Somehow. Hopefully that robot was already enjoying his newly-won freedom, otherwise this whole ordeal was in naught.

A sigh. No time to waste, and so much more to do.