1Human Interactions
A Physician's Oath
By Paperkat
07/18/07
Disclaimer: The Transformers movie and all related material belong to Hasbro, Dreamworks and Paramount, concept originally created and licensed through Takara Co. LTD.
The Disclaimer's Disclaimer: I stole the above disclaimer from Straya. Please for give me
Author's note: I've attempted to give Ironhide back some of his drawl. I know it's not MovieVerse but I have a hard time hearing him any other way.
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"I do not understand Ratchet. Why are you against this idea?" Optimus asked the Autobot's medic.
Ironhide had been listening with only half of his audio, but Ratchet's next outburst made the weapons officer actually flinch with surprise.
"Oh, I don't know Optimus. Maybe because it is completely insane!" The only sound in the resulting silence was that of Bumblebee's antenna retreating to their off-line position. Ironhide couldn't blame the kid, if he could shut down his sensors as easily he would have. It was rare to see Optimus so angered that he needed a moment to collect himself before continuing.
"I do not want to make this an order Ratchet, but unless you can give me a reasonable and rational reason why this is such an insane proposition it will become one." At that point Ironhide could sense Optimus' internal cooling take affect, and their leader continued in a much colder tone. "And to that end I expect a full Railen Report on your position in the next 24 Earth hours, is that understood?"
The tension grew when there wasn't an immediate response. But before Optimus was forced to ask a second time, Ratchet answered.
"Yes, sir," was the medic's clipped reply.
With no further comment, Optimus transformed and rolled out. Moments later, Bumblebee edged away and then transformed, but apparently he had his own piece to say in the matter. Before he put himself into full throttle, the cocky little bot rolled down his windows and blared an Earth tune from his speakers.
"Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won, I fought the law and the law won..."
"Don't you think I don't know where Optimus got that foolish idea!" Ratchet bellowed back. Stomping to his newly built workbench, Ratchet began roughly opening and slamming compartments. It was quite obvious once he began muttering in his native language that Ratchet had forgotten that Ironhide was there. The weapons officer had gotten use to that kind of thing happening ages ago. Everyone seemed to be surprised that he could be both quite and reserved, which had the side effect of rendering him completely invisible most of the time. Ironhide grumbled to himself about the unfairness of type casting. He didn't always threaten beings with termination, just the ones that really deserved it.
Ironhide reflected on Optimus' request of Ratchet while he examined every nuance of his canons for flaws. The request was simple really, nothing that Ratchet hadn't done with other green recruits, but his long time friend had reacted as if Optimus had asked his medical officer to recruit Frenzy as his assisting nurse. Ironhide saw no harm in educating the children in Cybertronian physiology. It wasn't as if they could research it themselves on the World Wide Web.
From a tactical point of view, it would give the children at least some chance against a mech. He had already observed with Captain Lennox's successful attack on Blackout, how even the smallest bits of Intel could be put to their advantage. He had even entertained the idea of training Sam and Mikaela in self-defense. Both of them had proven his own personal motto to be true; there simply was no replacement for guts.
If only we had had more citizens with the spark of those two humans, Ironhide thought to himself. Or soldiers, like Lennox and his team, that knew when doing the right thing was more important than following orders. The battle for the Docks would have gone much differently.
Ironhide filed away those thoughts in a place he buried all things that he could not change and focused on the battle at hand. Optimus' request wasn't unreasonable, and Ironhide had it in his processor to find out why Ratchet seemed to think it was. Then after that, he was going to get Ratchet to change his mind.
By now Ratchet had throttled down considerably and was seemingly calmly sorting equipment and parts into their new storage compartments, but there was one thing that Transformers knew intimately. Looks were deceiving. And nothing showed that better than Ratchet's reaction to Ironhide's comment.
"A full Railen Report, eh? That's pretty harsh."
The flux rod in Ratchet's hand snapped in two, when the medic jumped. Ratchet's system took in a massive amount of air before expelling it in a rush that blew several spools of wire off the bench he was working at.
"It should not be that bad," Ratchet replied tightly as he searched the workbench for the tool needed to fix the flux rod. "I could fill several million taraquads with just how irrational it is to teach those children how to, quite literally, monkey around with our insides."
Ironhide gave a short jovial laugh. "Ain't that the truth. Especially with how Mikaela screwed up rescuing Bumblebee."
"Exactly," Ratchet agreed. Ironhide was a bit taken aback by Ratchet's quick agreement. He was the one known for being crude and rude, Ratchet was just blunt to the point of being painful. For him to be so caustic meant that Ratchet was still defensive from his earlier reprimand from Optimus. So instead of a direct frontal assault, Ironhide opted for a flanking maneuver.
"If they had've just gotten out of the way quicker, I wouldn't have had to order Bumblebee to help me block Starscream's missile and he wouldn't have gotten hurt at all," Ironhide continued, taking note that Ratchet had paused over the tool he had been looking for before picking it up.
"You did what you had to do, Ironhide. You were under orders to protect the humans."
"Yeah, I know, I know." Ironhide continued, pleased that the conversation was shaping up as he expected. "But standing there, seein' Bumblebee crawling on his hands and knees trying to get to the boy. I gotta tell ya, I blew hot. And then when Mikaela took off…"
Ironhide let the statement hang there for a moment, wondering if Ratchet's unconscious need to protect those that could not defend themselves would surface. Ironhide wasn't disappointed.
"She was retrieving that Earth vehicle made for transporting other non-functioning vehicles," Ratchet reminded him stiffly, the tool in his hand flaring to life and adding a hum to their conversation.
"Oh, yeah. You're right." Ironhide gave a hurmph, but never took his sensors off of Ratchet. "My time logs must have gotten scrambled during the attack, there was so much going on, didn't know where to look for the next attack."
For a few moments there was only the soft purr of Ratchet's device and the high pitched whir of Ironhide's canons shifting configurations so that he could examine every part. When he was sure that Ratchet was finished repairing the flux tube, Ironhide went in for another assault.
"Still," Ironhide continued, smiling at Ratchet's back as he paused in placing the flux tube in its appropriate compartment to listen. "I don't know what got into that mush humans call a brain of hers to come back. I mean, what if Bumblebee had a major energon leak or hydro hemorrhage. It could have killed him."
"Actually, he did have a severe hemorrhage," Ratchet informed him needlessly. Ironhide knew full well the injuries Bumblebee had sustained; he had just been unable to assist the young bot at the time.
"Oh, really. Then I guess it's a good thing he was conscious to use his MedSear. Wasn't like the humans were going to do anything for him," Ironhide responded, pushing his friend just a little bit more.
"Yes, well, they wouldn't have known how to use the MedSear even if they had found it in Bumblebee's emergency repair compartment."
"That's true, that's true. Hell, given Mikaela's track record she'd probably melt Bee's leg to his aft. Sam told me that she actually attacked Frenzy with a reciprocating saw, and didn't even go for his spark!" Ironhide informed Ratchet. "Just chopped his arms and head off. Every bot knows his spark's behind his eyes."
"Well it was an understandable mistake. Even our kind cannot usually survive decapitation," Ratchet stopped his sorting to turn around and face Ironhide. "Isn't that how Frenzy was able to infiltrate the base on Selnose Five?"
That made Ironhide pause. He hadn't expected Ratchet to actually participate in a real conversation. Ironhide had been so intent on his mission that the question completely caught him off guard.
"Oh, yeah, I remember." This time Ironhide wasn't play-acting, he really had forgotten about that incident. He needed to get Ratchet to look into his memory recall algorithms, but that was for another time.
"Poor Jazz," Ironhide said, his recall of the event coming in clearer focus. "He was such a youngling back then," the two old friends shared a comfortable laugh. "He really thought he'd earn his passage with that one."
"Only to find out that Frenzy was far from deactivated," Ratchet said folding his arms comfortably across his chest, the brightness returning to his optics. "He almost shut down the defense grid before Optimus stopped him."
"Yup, a boot to the cranium all the way to the asteroid belt and still that little creep survived. I don't know who his maker was, but he's only one cronite from being a synthoid roach that's for sure."
Then all at once the humor was gone from Ratchet's optics. The medic turned back around and started sorting again and Ironhide cursed himself for his lack of sensitivity. He knew how upset Ratchet got about topics of creators, now he had put the whole mission in jeopardy. Ironhide was trying to find a way to loop the conversation back to the humans when Ratchet spoke.
"Jazz would have lived if he had been put in emergency stasis."
"He went off-line too quickly, Ratchet," Ironhide reminded, trying to comfort his friend, forgetting about his own agenda for the moment. "None of us were in the area, there wasn't anything any of us could have done." Again there was a long pause before Ratchet responded.
"I looked at his last data load," the medic confessed quietly.
Ironhide was so surprised by Ratchet's violation of etiquette; he couldn't stop the reproachful tone from coloring his voice.
"Ratchet…"
The Autobot medic abruptly stood, confronting Ironhide openly.
"I know that right is reserved for their creator, their Bonded or their Second," Ratchet acknowledged heatedly. "But we may never see another of our kind again let alone his creator and you and I know Jazz had no Bonded or Second. The data was corrupted, degrading, and someone had to…" Ratchet stopped, his vocal compositor softened to the barest of whispers. "I had to know what his final wishes were."
Ironhide couldn't bring himself to harbor any ill will towards Ratchet for his breach of protocol. How many times had he left a fellow Autobot behind, knowing that there would be no hope for Final Closure? How many times had he been forced to place the needs of the living over that of the dead, knowing they may never find the peace they desired in their last moments?
"What was it?" Ironhide asked.
"Only some human drivel about living fast, dying young and leaving a good looking corpse." Ironhide chuckled at that.
"Sounds about right. I had wondered why you repaired his body and set him in his alternate form."
"I believe that would have been what he wanted," Ratchet said as he returned to his workbench. Looking more calm and relaxed now that his secret had been told. "He was very pleased with his last alternate appearance. More so than he had been with any other."
The two friends lapsed into a reflective silence. Ironhide pretending to fix invisible flaws in his canons, Ratchet pretending that he cared where all of his bits and pieces were stored away. Ratchet finally broke the silence.
"I know what you have been up to, and I actually do have a rational for not letting the children work on our systems," the medic told him tersely, seeming to brace himself for a confrontation.
"I'm sure you do Ratchet," Ironhide replied with true sincerity, and Ratchet responded by relaxing his posture.
"Do you know how little force it would take to crush or sever human fingers? All it would take is a spark jump of involuntary reflexive movement while their hands were inside," Ratchet informed him. "With an Autobot Optimus' size, they would have to climb almost completely inside."
Ratchet didn't have to finish the scenario for Ironhide. He could quite plainly imagine the implications.
"Then teach them how to disable the nerve relays," Ironhide told the medic. "You do it all the time with the severely injured yourself, or for delicate procedures, and they would qualify as delicate."
Presenting a logical solution to Ratchet's problem seemed to frustrate the medic. Once again he abandoned his sorting to confront Ironhide directly.
"Well, what about an energon leak?" Ratchet asked with no small amount of superiority in his tone. "It's pure energy. It would probably sear through their flesh before they even knew it was there."
"Energon is pretty easy to identify," Ironhide needlessly informed Ratchet. In all of its forms, energon glowed with very distinctive warmth that would be hard to miss, even with human's limited visual acuity and senses. "They should be able to easily avoid it and if they couldn't, a simple irradiator would remove small amounts of energon if it was in their way. It would take some effort to make one small enough for them to operate, but not impossible."
Ratchet now refused to look in his direction.
"Hydo fluid is poisonous to humans," came the medic's haughty retort.
"They're not going to drink it Ratchet!" Ironhide boomed, now becoming frustrated at the ridiculousness of Ratchet's supposed reasons.
"There is a possibility of accidental ingestion,' Ratchet continued on, sounding as infantile as a sparkling. Ironhide just continued to glare at his friend, and Ratchet wilted just a bit before giving a weak defense. "They're always putting things in their mouths."
"By Primus, what's gotten into you Ratchet?!" Ironhide exclaimed. "If this is all you have to put into your report, it's going to be a long 24 hours."
"Fine, you want the real reason they should not service us in anyway, and probably not even be in our presence at all?!" the medic yelled back. "Our systems produce large amounts of radiation, alright! Humans are highly sensitive to seemingly all forms of radiation. They can even get cancer from the light of their own slagging sun!" Ratchet immediately turned back around to face his workbench.
It took a moment for Ironhide to look up 'cancer' from the World Wide Web to understand the implications of what Ratchet had told him. Even with his limited knowledge of things medical it didn't look good to Ironhide.
"You really believe that it could harm the children?"
Ratchet had calmed back down again, but he kept his back to Ironhide.
"I don't know for sure, but there doesn't seem to be much that can't harm them."
"But Sector Seven had Megatron for more than one human lifetime?" Ironhide tried to argue. "All of them are functioning properly."
"I wouldn't exactly classify Agent Simmons as functioning properly," Ratchet corrected offhandedly before explaining his position. "Megatron was frozen solid, on limited energon reserves and in emergency stasis. He was one of the most heavily armored mechs save a Supreme I have ever come across. It is possible that all of those factors combined may have protected the humans, but who knows. It's not like Sector Seven was happily passing out Intel when they were disbanded."
"I will contact Captain Lennox," Ironhide offered, but Ratchet was already shaking his head.
"He would not have the authority for that kind of information," Ratchet protested.
"Then get Optimus to contact Secretary Keller, for Primus sake!"
Ratchet responded to the escalation of Ironhide's frustration by bringing his fists down on the workbench with a resounding crash.
"Don't you think I already thought of that?!"
"Then why didn't you say something to Optimus earlier?!"
"Because I did not want Bumblebee to know!"
Ironhide felt his spark jump. Ratchet couldn't possibly be thinking…
"I have never seen Bumblebee attach to anyone as completely and quickly as he has to Sam," Ratchet said quietly. "It's going to be hard enough if Sam dies of old age, but if his life is shortened by simply being with Bumblebee, what do you think that would do to him?"
Ironhide didn't know how to respond but he knew the answer. It would destroy Bumblebee to find out he had harmed Sam, in anyway, even unintentionally. Ratchet must not have expected a reply because he continued.
"The humans have an oath much like the one I took when I first joined the medical profession," Ratchet's voice sounded as far away as the focus of his optics. "'Above all else, do no harm'. Everywhere we've gone, every world we've touched, we brought our war and its death and its destruction." Ratchets frame slumped where he sat. "The very kindness and compassion that ended our war may very well kill them in the end."
Ironhide returned his canon to the interior of his arm and approached Ratchet. The Autobot medic didn't turn around or even acknowledge the hand Ironhide placed on his shoulder.
"I'm only going to say one thing and then I'll leave you alone. I want you to think about this, Ratchet. Sam never stopped until he got Bumblebee away from his government. Which is more than we can say. He completely ignored Optimus' order to place the Allspark into his chest, having no idea, and not caring, what might happen to him. Mikaela conducted herself more honorably and courageously than some of the trained warriors I have had under my command, without even being asked. Do you really think that you're going to be able to stop them just by telling them 'no'?"
Ironhide left his friend there in the silence, and wondered if he had just help their human friends or condemned them.