All righty, here's where it gets a little confusing. The puppet itself is not Ratchet, it's Megatron controlling it. I really hope no one gets uber confused. Some of the writing here may be a little obvious and unnecessary, but there's always someone out there that doesn't get it. No biggie. So, enjoy, and take it slow.
AUTHOR'S WARNING!!! This is where it starts to get violent and a bit creepy. IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. Thank you.
-Juana
Seven: The Nightmare Cometh
Megatron controlled the puppet through the series of hallways and a lobby filled with humans, who all looked up at him with smiles on their faces.
"Hello, sir!" said Joshua the intern, who waved happily. Megatron made the puppet wave back and say cheerfully,
"Hello, Joshua. Having a good day, I trust?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. You're a good kid, remember that."
"Thank you, sir!" Megatron felt disgusted with himself, never being one to hand praise out like they were orders. But he knew he had to stay in character as best he could without bringing any negative attention to himself. He continued on and walked past many people, most of which smiled and waved, or said 'hello'. He hurried along, trying to get to the Autobot base as fast as he could.
When he reached the road, he made the puppet transform—something Ratchet had not put into the design at all, and took off.
"How—"
"I downloaded it into the machine," answered Megatron. "Now silence." The puppet took off down the road in the direction of the base. The location of the Autobot base had been downloaded from Ratchet's memory chip, making it easy to get there. The puppet transformed back to robot mode and walked calmly into the base.
"NO!" cried Ratchet, watching in horror. "Don't go in there! I beg of you, don't hurt them!"
"I intend to hurt only one of them," said Megatron coolly.
"I swear, if you...that...Megapuppet touches any one of them, I'll kill you!" Ratchet screamed, despite knowing his threat was empty.
"Megapuppet...hmm...not very clever, but usable," said Megatron. "That's what it shall be called between us from now on. Megapuppet..."
Megapuppet continued toward the base and finally entered, tapping in the code Megatron had retrieved from Ratchet's data banks to gain access. It stepped into the base and looked around. Upon seeing no one, it walked forward until it spotted Bulkhead sitting on the floor, continuing his attempt at fine art with his bricks.
"Still workin' on that...thing, soldier?" Bulkhead looked at Ratchet, a.k.a. Megapuppet and said,
"Oh, uh...yes, sir. Just trying to get the composition just right..."
"Nice work. Where's Bumblebee?"
"Thanks. Um...I think he's in his room."
"Thanks." Megapuppet walked over to Bumblebee's room and knocked sharply on the door. A few seconds went by without an answer, but then the door opened up slowly. Bumblebee peeked out and said tonelessly,
"Oh. Hi." Megapuppet pushed past him and entered the room, surprised to see Prowl was still there.
"Why are you still in here, youngling? Go to your own room, now." Prowl protested and said,
"I was simply assisting Bumblebee with—"
"NOW." Prowl winced and got off the berth and walked out, giving Bumblebee a nervous glance. Megapuppet waited for the ninja to be out of range, then said,
"Come with me to the med bay. I wanna talk to you about your behavior."
"AGAIN? Come on, just leave me alone already!" Megapuppet grabbed Bumblebee's arm roughly and pulled him to the med bay itself, Megatron deciding that the adolescent 'bot wasn't going to listen to him unless you used force. He dragged the struggling Autobot to the med bay and, checking to make sure no one had followed them, closed the door quietly.
"You're going to love this," said Megatron to Ratchet. "This is the fun part."
"Please, don't hurt him. Don't...don't...what are you gonna do?!"
"You'll see."
Megapuppet slammed Bumblebee against a wall and leaned in close to his audio receptors. Bumblebee cried out as he hit his head against the wall, reaching a hand back to rub the pain out. Megapuppet slapped his cheek and growled,
"You are a worthless, pathetic little slagger, Bumblebee. I want you to know that. You're loud, obnoxious, rude, stupid and immature, and I can't stand even a moment around you." It gripped Bumblebee's shoulders tightly, hurting the little 'bot immensely.
"Ow! Ratchet, stop!"
"No," growled the Ratchet replica, "I will not stop. You've earned this little punishment." Megatron located one of Ratchet's surgical lasers, used much like a human scalpel, and had Megapuppet bring it close to Bumblebee's face.
"See this?" he whispered in the Autobot's audio receptors harshly. "This is a laser-cutter. Used to cut through Autobot hides for operations. Without proper pain relievers, this little thing can really sting."
Megapuppet grabbed Bumblebee's right wrist and lifted it up, just over his head, exposing the underside of his upper arm. Bumblebee realized what it was going to do, and tried to kick the puppet off.
"STOP IT!" he screamed. "PRIME! PROWL! HELP!" He received a smart smack to the face and a knee to his abdomen. He nearly doubled over, but Megapuppet held him in place.
"Shut your mouth, little Bee," it hissed threateningly, "or I'll just kill you right now." Bumblebee shut his mouth and gave the puppet the saddest optics he'd ever given in his life. All it earned him was another crack across the face.
"Now sit still while I punish you," Megapuppet said as it pushed its weight into Bumblebee, preventing any movement. Gripping his wrist hard against the wall, Megatron's puppet carefully carved a few lines into the underside of Bumblebee's upper arm. Bumblebee whimpered and shuddered as he experienced a level of pain he'd never been exposed to before. He held in his cries; the pain was so bad, so intense...
"This," said the puppet casually, "is to remind you of how worthless you are. Every time you step out of line, or whenever I feel like it, I'm going to punish you. And you deserve every bit of it." The puppet then dabbed away at the fluid leaking from the wounds with an oily cloth and snapped,
"And if you ever, EVER tell anyone, be it Prime, Prowl, Bulkhead or a human, I'll kill that little girl you always spend your time with."
"What? No, you can't!" Bumblebee sobbed, trying to push the puppet over, "Ratchet, you can't do this!"
"Oh, but I just did. Now, if you want your friend to live, I suggest you keep your damn mouth shut. Make up a good lie for those cuts, too. If any of the Autobots suspects me, I'll kill him and the girl. Got it?"
"...I..."
"GOT IT?"
"...Y-yes, sir..."
"Good boy. Now, get outta here. And tell no one." Bumblebee gave him one last desperately frightened look, then ran off, trying his best to hide his tears, letting them out only when he reached his room. When he was gone, the puppet stood still and did nothing. In Sumdac's lab, Ratchet looked up with a horrified face at Megatron, who laughed and said,
"I feel so much better. Wasn't that fun, little Ratchet?"
"You...you monster..." Ratchet stammered angrily. "How...how DARE you do that to him...He's just a kid..."
"An annoying little Autobrat, if you ask me. And now, this is for you: if you manage to break out of here, I will kill that human that's keeping me here, and the Autobrat. Would you like that?"
"You sicken me, Decepticon."
"I know I do," replied Megatron with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Have you any idea how long I've wanted to punish someone? If StarScream were here, I'd happily destroy him. But seeing as he's disappeared for a while, I had to find an alternative. Your Autobrat was the perfect target."
"You can't do this," pleaded Ratchet desperately, "Please...I'm begging you now."
"And it's pathetic," Megatron spat. "You know as well as I that it's going to continue until I get my own body back, and you're going to build it for me. The human scientist leaves every night around the earth hour of eleven. He returns at the earth hour of eight. You have nine hours each night to work on my new body."
"And where the frag am I hidin' this so-called body?"
"There is a space large enough to accommodate it in the back. Right behind you," he added. Ratchet turned around to see what Megatron was talking about. Sure enough, there was a section of the lab that seemed it had never been used for anything other than storage space. The medic turned back slowly and said,
"...What's going to be your first move after you get your body back?"
"Destroy this laboratory and all its inhabitants."
"Of course . . . of course. You're pathetically predictable, Megatron. Always were."
"Yes, yes. I should probably warn you: I'm not going to kill you or hurt you in any way unless you need a reminder of who is in charge. Each time you piss me off, I will simply take it out on the Autobrat. I'll let it slide now, since you did not know. But just know that everything you say meant to infuriate me will result in punishment for Bumblebee." Ratchet wanted to argue and attack, but he kept his mouth shut, instead taking a moment to slam his fist into the wall behind him furiously. Megatron laughed and said,
"So glad you're taking this so well." Ratchet could only give him the dirtiest look he could muster.
There came a sharp knock on his door, and he refused to answer until he knew who it was. Bumblebee sat on his floor, ripping apart the useless clothing he'd collected and trying to fashion it into a homemade giant sweater. He was so terrified for Sari's safety that he was willing to do anything, even wear human clothing to hide his new wounds, to protect her.
"Bumblebee? Open up, it's me, Prowl."
"Uh...c-come in..." The ninja opened the door and stepped in. The first thing he said when he saw what Bumblebee was doing was,
"Have you decided to leave the Cybertronians and join the humans?" He smiled, hoping the joke would make Bumblebee laugh, but he didn't get a response. It was unlike Bumblebee to not laugh at a joke of any kind, even bad ones. Concerned, Prowl stepped forward and tried to sit down next to the youngest Autobot, but Bumblebee scooted back and turned himself, insuring that Prowl wouldn't see the scars on his arm.
"Hey," said Prowl, "are you okay? What did Ratchet want?"
"N-nothing," Bumblebee lied, "nothing."
"Nothing, huh? Why are you trying to make Bumblebee-sized clothing?"
"I thought it would be fun," Bumblebee lied again. Prowl gave him a look that said 'I know you're lying to me', but he didn't say it. Instead, he said,
"Listen, if you ever need to talk, you know you can go to Prime. For anything. Or me, if you want to. I'm sure you've already heard this before, and you'll hear it for a long time, but you're at the age where you don't really know who you are yet. You're developing as an individual, which is why it's not that big a deal that you're experimenting with human fashion. Just—remember you can trust us. All of us."
"Yeah, right," Bumblebee snorted without realizing it.
"What?" said Prowl, caught off-guard by the nasty tone in Bumblebee's voice. "What does that mean?" Bumblebee suddenly realized what he'd said and lied,
"Nothing, nothing! I think it's just the...adolescent attitude in me."
"...Right," said Prowl suspiciously, "right." He patted Bumblebee on the back, who winced slightly at the touch, then said,
"I think you need some space, am I right? I'll be in my room if you need me, for anything. Okay, Bumblebee?"
"Um...yeah, sure. Cool. Thanks."
"All right, then. 'Bye, big guy." Bumblebee watched Prowl leave, and as soon as the door was closed, the little Autobot burst into tears again and sobbed so hard it hurt. His life had taken a turn for the worst, and he felt he only had himself to blame. Unknown to him, Prowl pressed his audio receptor against the door and listened, unsure of what could have happened to cause this sudden change in Bumblebee's personality. He decided to keep an extra close watch on the youngling and make note of any drastic changes in his behavior.
"Spyin' on your team mates now, Prowl?" The ninja jumped a foot in the air and nearly clocked who he believed to be Ratchet standing behind him. But before his hand could even hope to hit its target, the Megapuppet grabbed his wrist and threw him down to the floor violently. Prowl tried to get up, but the puppet pinned him down with his foot.
"Wha-WHOA! Ratchet, where did that come?!" The Megapuppet looked down at its victim, then smiled and reached out a hand to help him back up.
"Gotcha," he laughed, "Never thought I'd ever be able to pull a fast one on you, 'ninja-'bot'."
"Right. Good job. Now, do you know what's wro—" He stopped himself mid-sentence, realizing there was a chance that if his suspicions were correct, he'd only be making Bumblebee's life harder. But the puppet looked at him with interest and asked,
"Yes? What is it?"
"Um..." Prowl needed a lie, and he needed it NOW. "Um...it's...embarrassing, um..." He leaned in and whispered the most humiliating thing he could think of pertaining to his body. He wanted to protect Bumblebee if he could, and he hoped to Primus 'Ratchet' would buy it.
"Oh. I see. Well, let's go down to the med bay and take a look, shall we?" Prowl winced, hating himself for subjecting himself to this. But he complied and followed 'Ratchet' to the med bay, careful to not look back at Bumblebee's closed door one last time.
Ouch. This was one of those chapters that makes you feel sick. Hope everyone else is okay!
-Juana