lucy meets mr. tumnus

[Deleted]

Characters: Moonwing, Ratchet
Location: Jasper, Nevada
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: In perfecting the art of getting distracted, Moonwing follows an unusual ambulance and gets a bit more than she bargained for.

[Deleted]

A young seeker with a hunger for knowledge and a mind that wandered was a dangerous thing. No doubt if her commanding officers and mentors knew of her tendency to stray from her prescribed route, they would box her audio receptors and set her on cleaning duty for weeks… which is why Moonwing was incredibly careful not to mention her detours in any of her formal reports. She only hoped that no one watched her tracking signature too closely.

Today’s detour had taken her farther than usual from her usual route, on account of her noticing something interesting far below her. Flashing lights upon the long paved roads the humans had built to connect their settlements had caught her notice, and with them sirens. These vehicles were emergency response vehicles -- police cruisers, firetrucks, and ambulances, not that she knew the terminology -- and, having never encountered them before, they utterly fascinated her.

The black and white ones had red and blue lights, and had a distinct weep-woop sound that made other vehicles immediately pull to the side of the road. The long red vehicles with the lattice-like structures had a long wail of a siren, interspersed with a bellowing honk. The ones that fascinated her the most, however, were the blocky red and white vehicles, whose sirens made all vehicles yield to them and whose drivers apparently were always in a rush to go somewhere. She followed one once to a large building with many windows and what looked like a helicopter landing pad.

A little bit of research revealed that this was the human version of a hospital, and the vehicle she had followed was called an ‘ambulance’ which ferried injured humans to their doctors for repairs. This piqued her interest even more, for the young seeker wanted nothing more than to learn how to heal her own kind and wondered what similarities there were between human and Cybertronian medical practices. Being a doctor, however, was impossible: it was her duty to become a warrior and serve her Lord and Master… but still, deep in her spark, she longed.

Moonwing returned to her assigned flight path and the monotony of her patrol. Time passed, and her boredom grew and grew. She began to daydream more and more about becoming a doctor, of healing instead of hurting, of fixing people when they got hurt. She found the more she thought about it, the more she liked it.

Then, she spotted it. There, down below, was an ambulance just like the ones she’d seen earlier. What was strange about this one was that it did not have its sirens going, nor did it have its lights flashing. She was perplexed. What in the world was it doing so far out away from the little human town and the human hospital? If she were truly wise, she would have been keeping an eye on her internal sensors which would have told her just why this ambulance was so unusual via a very pointed Autobot signal alert, but, being young and naive, Moonwing tended not to pay much attention to those. The silver and blue jet descended a little bit to get a closer look, curiosity getting the better of her.

[Ratchet]

Moonwing might not have known the inner workings of how human emergency vehicles worked, but Ratchet had a fair amount of knowledge when it came to it. As a robot in disguise, and a medic, it was sort of his job to know these things. True, he had no idea how human anatomy worked, or what to do with one should something happen, but it was all fairly the same concept. The ambulances associated with doctors and the police cars were.. fairly obvious. The fire trucks..? Ratchet assumed they were meant for putting out fires.

It'd been a forced day out for the CMO. He'd needed to get away from his work, and it took the force of his fellow Autobots to actually get him to act on it. For the most part, he'd spent it driving around Jasper, getting acquainted with his surroundings. Honestly there wasn't much for his optic sensors to enjoy, but it was Earth after all. He hadn't seen much of it with his own optics to believe there was so much more out there than just sand and dirt. Maybe a building here or there. Perhaps a tree if he were lucky.

He'd pulled off to the side, parallel parked as the humans would say, to take a short nap. As an emergency vehicle, he didn't truly believe anyone would bother him. Oh, was he wrong. Once he'd awoken, he'd found all sorts of pieces of paper stuck under his windshield wipers. In fact, one human was placing one under his left wiper as he awoke from his nap. The medic merely grumbled to himself once the human had left, turning his wipers on to remove the papers. "Can't a bot get a stasis nap around here..?" The nerve!

Once he'd had enough, he decided it was time to return to base. He knew full well that in an emergency, ambulances would keep their sirens on to get to their destination faster. Primus did that come in handy when it came to traffic, but there really wasn't much of a need to do so at the moment. He kept on driving, getting close to base when he noticed.. something strange. At least, it had seemed a bit out of place to him.

Was that jet.. following him?

"Scrap.." What if that was a Decepticon?! He couldn't let them find the base, no matter what! Quickly he turned on his sirens, swinging himself around at such speed that he came close to flipping himself over. Thankfully he hadn't.. The Autobot began to make his way back towards the town, desperate to keep the potential Decepticon away from the Autobot base. First, he needed to be absolutely sure that was the case, otherwise he had his proof that he was finally starting to lose his mind.

[Deleted]

For all her aptitude at learning, Moonwing completely failed to read the warning signs of this situation. So caught up in satisfying her curiosity was she that it did not occur to her to be even the slightest bit wary. Decepticons had never really subscribed to the ‘robots in disguise’ philosophy for the sake of hiding from humans, but still they tended to be discrete in order to avoid being attracting unwanted attention from the native species. An oddly-colored fighter jet stalking an ambulance from a low altitude and slow speed was about as discreet as a lob ball to the faceplates, and was sure to draw some attention. Moonwing did not know any better, however, for subtly had not been in her lesson plans lately.

The young seeker continued to follow the ambulance, following at a distance that most certainly was suspicious for a jet to follow at and completely unaware of the alarm she was no doubt causing. She puzzled at this particular vehicle’s behaviour: It didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular, and there wasn’t any immediate pattern to its movements. Even when it pulled a sharp u-turn and turned on its sirens and lights, she still felt like there was something strange going on.

“That’s odd,” she mumbled to herself. Perhaps it had been called to the scene of some accident, so it could ferry broken humans back to the main human hospital? Moonwing watched and followed, delightfully oblivious to the near spark-attack she was inducing, and pondered. No, it was not going to the scene of an accident, nor was it returning back to the human hospital. Rather, its path seemed to be completely random, doubling back on its route and taking some roads twice. It was utterly perplexing. “Now where are you even going? The hospital was back that way!”

Even without the use of a signal detector, any Decepticon would have known that the vehicle they were stalking was an Autobot clearly trying to shake their tail, but Moonwing was not any Decepticon - she was particularly young, particularly inexperienced, and far too nosy for her own good. She dared inch just a little bit closer, wondering perhaps if she could see if the humans inside were suffering from some sort of affliction that would cause such strange behaviour. It was then that she realized the ambulance had no driver.

[Ratchet]

As Ratchet made his desperate attempts to escape the jet that he felt was following him, he decided it was best to keep one optic trained on the road ahead and one occasionally glancing behind to look at the jet. Just as he'd thought. The moment he swung around, so did the jet. They were following him. He didn't know many Autobots that could fly, so if anyone were chasing after him.. it was most likely a Decepticon.

He'd been tempted to not go through Jasper, if only to avoid that confrontation with Agent Fowler later about some low-flying jet hightailing it after an ambulance. Didn't need the humans panicking about something like that. They were annoying enough as it was, and he only knew five humans!

Eventually he turned off the sirens, deciding to keep away from Jasper and veering off to the left in another attempt to get away, but it was what he'd heard that really confused him. Did the jet not only speak.. but think he really was a human operated vehicle?! Wow would that have been a lucky break, but Ratchet wasn't going to chance it.

Once he'd gained enough distance away from Jasper and came to the realization the aircraft wasn't going anywhere, he finally called the chase quits and transformed. He turned, looking up to the jet.

"Just what is it that you want from me?"

[Deleted]

Round and round they went, as the young seeker grew more and more confused about the entire matter. Given her previous observations, the erratic behaviour of the human vehicle made absolutely no sense. Eventually even the sirens turned off! Moonwing had never been more perplexed in her life... never before had she wanted to solve such a mystery. She was nothing if not persistent.

The moment the ambulance transformed was around about the moment Moonwing realized she was in trouble. Well. That explained why it didn’t return to the human hospital. The bot before her was not someone she recognised from the Nemesis, which was bad. He also had an Autobot symbol upon his chest, which was also bad.

The youngling squawked in shock and fear. Her very first encounter with an Autobot, and she had no backup whatsoever! The seeker transformed too, landing sloppily a short distance away before drawing her blaster with shaking hands. If she were paying any attention, she would have noticed that not only was the blaster not even loaded, the safety was on, rendering it doubly useless. Combined with a rather slumped posture and tense wings, the image she struck was about as intimidating as an infant Earth feline, quite the opposite of the fearsome Decepticon warrior she tried emulate.

“Freeze, Autobot!” Moonwing hadn’t the foggiest idea of what she was supposed to do or say next, as she had not expected the human vehicle with the confusing behaviour to turn out to be one of the enemy. She skittishly circled about, wary of getting too close, and yet remained completely oblivious to the fact that she was already much too close as it was: if the Autobot wanted, he could shoot her practically point blank. With a shaking voice, she announced, “You… You’re my prisoner!” Nevermind the fact that she had no way of actually taking him prisoner, but she would at least get points for trying. 

Being so inexperienced, she knew little of what the long cables suspended on the side of the highway were for, or what they did, and so didn’t think much of stepping near them. She thought she saw the Autobot move, and so with a squeak she took a step backwards. Unfortunately for her, she stepped right back into the hanging cables, and her squeak turned to a shriek as seven hundred kilovolts completed their circuit through her metal frame. Moonwing convulsed once, twice, and then went down in a twitching heap.

[Ratchet]

Ratchet watched as that jet approached him, finally revealing their identity to the medic. He was completely taken by surprise to discover that this jet just so happened to be a young looking femme. She tried to play the cold-hearted Decepticon, but even Ratchet couldn't be fooled by her act. The femme could tell him to freeze and that she'd be his prisoner, but it was her actions that gave her away. Her hands were shaking, as was her voice. Being as small as she was, it was likely that she wasn't going to be a much of a threat in this condition.

"You're taking me prisoner like that? I'm going to safely assume this is your first time." Old grumpy medic wasn't scared in the least. Far from it.

However, as he stepped closer, he noticed that she was about to go straight into a power line. "Wait, watch out for that.." Ooh, too late. She'd already backed up into the thing and had injured herself. Just what they'd needed. A blown transformer. Safely making his way past the probably non-functioning line, Ratchet took a look at the femme, kneeling down by her. She might have been a Decepticon, or at least playing the part, but she was so young looking. It didn't sit well with the Autobot CMO. He sighed a bit, getting to work on her injuries.

If anything, maybe it'd get her to stop jumping any time he so much as looked at her. "You're going to be fine, little one."

[Deleted]

“Q-Quiet!” The young seeker’s wings flared upward slightly in an attempt to make herself appear bigger and more intimidating, but it was immediately clear to her that the Autobot wasn’t at all impressed. Moonwing’s hands trembled more as she gripped the blaster (still oblivious to the fact that it the safety was on and that it was not even loaded). Ratchet was absolutely correct - she was as much a threat to him as dandelion fluff would be. “I said you’re my prisoner, so you have to listen to me!” It was incredibly clear she had no idea what she was doing. In truth, she was probably more afraid of him than he’d ever be of her.

Moonwing was so worked up that she didn’t watch where she was going. Of course she did not listen to the Autobot - he could be trying to trick her, or distract her! Straight into the hanging power lines she went, her weight tearing them from their holdings as she collapsed into a senseless jumble of limbs and wings. The blaster clattered to the ground beside her. Miles away, the lights of Jasper and its surrounding area winked out.

The young seeker was incredibly lucky in that the power lines fell away from her body when she went down, otherwise the high voltage current would have continued to flow through her and caused even worse damage than it already had.Any longer, and the electricity might have caused more serious harm. Her legs - where the power lines had come into contact - smoked ominously, giving off the acrid scent of overloaded circuitry, but despite the high voltage, it looked as if her injuries was minimal.

Eventually, while Ratchet had begun to fix whatever damage there was, Moonwing began to come around from her impromptu shock-induced nap. The first thing she registered was that she hurt all over and her audio sensors were ringing. “Ow,” she uttered blearily, red optics blinking up at the sky without much comprehension. The second thing she registered was the fact that she was on her back, and someone was doing something to her legs. “Wha-...?”

At the sight of the Autobot looming over her, she flinched, and her EM field flared out in alarm: the tables had turned, and now she was at the mercy of her ‘prisoner’. Moonwing let out a small trill of fear. “P-Please don’t hurt me!” she choked out.

[Ratchet]

Ratchet deadpanned, looking to the femme as she nervously made her demands. "Oh, I'm listening. I'm just not doing what it is you say to do. If you plan on taking me 'prisoner', you're going to have to do a little better than holding me at gunpoint with a few spoken words." While the medic would have easily been able to tell if her gun had been switched to safety or not had he not been at the other end of the weapon. "Now how about we talk this out like civil bots?"

It wasn't like he was going to attempt to strike a youngling, even if they were on the other side.

While he attempted to get the femme to stop from backing into the power lines, he'd been too late, or she'd been too late in reacting anyway. She quickly learned why not to mess with those things (Ratchet hoped), and the medic found himself wanting to patch her up. Just a kid, he kept telling himself, one who was probably too young to know better if she really was working with the Decepticons. Thankfully this was an easy fix, though it took time in order for her to come back online after the repairs had been made.

Naturally, he should have expected the plea from the girl not to hurt her instead of a thank you. Instantly he sighed, slapping his palm to his face.

"Hurt you? I just fixed you. Is that really the proper way to be thanking someone?" Ratchet glanced aside for a moment, thinking to himself. Just what was she doing out here anyway? "What's your name? My name is Ratchet."

[Deleted]

Coming back to the realm of consciousness to an utter stranger leaning over one’s prone body was not the most pleasant or ideal ways of waking up. Waking up to the sight of an Autobot doing something to the delicate exposed parts of one’s legs was even less so, and as such poor Moonwing was understandably alarmed. If she had been braver, or of a different frame of mind, she might have thought to try and kick at him and try to make a break for it, but she was neither brave nor of a frame of mind conducive to kicking strangers. The young seeker was the kind of bot to tremble in fear at the predicament she’d landed herself into.

Whatever she’d been expecting, it hadn’t been to be chastised. “I’m sorry!” she said automatically; manners had been instilled in her so deeply that it was second nature, and apparently even the enemy could trigger the reflexive reaction to authority. “Thank you?” Moonwing squeaked then.

Ratchet’s behaviour as an Autobot confused her even more than it had when he had been but a particularly puzzling ambulance. Why didn’t he hurt her? Were they not enemies? What reason did he have to fix her, especially when she’d attempted (and thoroughly failed, in a most amusing fashion) to capture him? Considering everything she had been taught about Autobots thus far, none of it made much sense. Slowly, cautiously, she sat up, studying him warily. Eventually she decided that he couldn’t be all that bad… that, or her ‘stranger danger’ senses had been knocked offline by the big zap. “... My name is Moonwing,” she answered, though it sounded more like a tentative question than anything else.

“Why did you fix me?” Moonwing asked then, apparently unable to contain such a question any longer. “Why didn’t you just t-terminate me instead?” Evidently she expected an Autobot to take advantage of a downed foe, for that was what she’d been taught that Decepticons were to do. A thought came to her then, and her wings drooped. “... Am I your prisoner now?” If she were captured, there would be no rescue, not for a mere soldier-in-training. Moonwing knew she’d be left to whatever fate the Autobots had in store for her. She began to tremble again. “Lord Megatron will kill me if he finds out!”

[Ratchet]

In all fairness, Ratchet wasn't entirely sure what it was he was expecting out of this young femme. Perhaps a 'gee thanks', or perhaps a shot to the face, but an apology was the last thing he'd anticipated.. even if she did follow that up with a questionable thanks. Ratchet raised an optic ridge, looking to the femme he'd just repaired.

Perhaps his behavior towards her had been a bit unorthodox, but at the same time he felt that this was one person he had to repair. He couldn't leave some kid out here injured, regardless of who's side they were on. If he was lucky, perhaps she'd wise up and realize that perhaps her views were a bit skewed. Megatron was good at weaving lies, after all.. and it could only appear that the girl before him had fallen victim to his deceit. If anything, he'd at least gotten a name out of her and not another shriek. "Ratchet." Now they both knew each other's names.

"Moonwing.. have you ever encountered a medic before? We don't exactly kill for the fun of it. In fact.. we tend to not kill at all." He merely scoffed at her next question, rolling his optics as he checked over his work. "Puh-lease. I'm not taking you prisoner. You haven't exactly given me a reason to.. not yet anyway." That was just his way of being 'nice', but regardless he wasn't about to just take some child prisoner. That was for grown-ups. Moonwing continued to talk, raising concerns that someone would try to kill her for this, and the medic didn't even need to ask who.

"I can only assume that this 'he' you speak of is Megatron, am I correct?" Ratchet looked her dead in the optics, all of the seriousness settling on his faceplate. "I don't know what he said to you to make you join the Decepticons, but let me tell you one thing. He's lying. Do you really think someone like him wants peace? After everything I've seen? After all the lives that I've both lost and saved? Someone like that only wants power, and we're not about to give it to him so easily."

[Deleted]

“Why don’t medics kill, though?” In all honesty, Moonwing had never actually encountered a medic that wasn’t a sadist (or any medic that wasn’t Knock Out), not that she realized it. Why shouldn’t medics kill? This was reflected in her confusion: She had been taught all her life that any Autobot would not hesitate to snuff her spark, and yet here was one that had treated her with kindness and had healed her injuries. “Is it an Autobot thing?” It was a concept that utterly mystified her - and caught her attention. Could someone choose not to kill others? Was that even something that was allowed?

Still, it was nice to know that she was not being taken prisoner - yet. Some tension in her frame dissolved at the news, and she let out a subtle sigh of relief. She resolved not to give him a good reason to do so.

The Autobot’s stern optics met hers and held her gaze, and she felt herself wilt slightly under his blue stare. At his words, her wings twitched at the perceived slight against her Lord and Master. “I didn’t join the Decepticons! My creators were officers, and now I must train to become a warrior so that I might serve Lord Megatron in their stead!” There was no denying the mechanical, automatic way the words seemed to spill off her tongue like a script, a product of the lifelong indoctrination she’d been put through. “The Decepticon Cause fights for freedom against Autobot oppression!”

She knew little of the long history of the War, of course, and what little she did know was entirely biased in favor of the faction of her birth. Moonwing had been taught that the Autobots wanted nothing more than to return her kind to a life of slavery, and that they would always go for the kill if given the chance… and yet, Ratchet had not. He was a medic, and he had claimed that medics did not kill, but she had always been told that Autobots did because that was what Autobots do.

“... And Lord Megatron will not be happy with me when he finds out I strayed from my patrol.” The ‘again’ hung silently in the air, though poor Moonwing did not say it. There was no telling what he’d do, really, especially with her less-than-stellar track record. Though her academic achievements were beyond exemplary, she tended to accidentally get herself into situations that earned her Lord and Master’s ire on a regular basis.

The young seeker’s next words surprised even her. “... What’s it like, to be an Autobot? A medic?” Such words were treasonous, and she wasn’t sure if she liked the feeling of knowing she was committing treachery, but she had been taken so suddenly by the need to ask. Such as her nature; a hunger for knowledge and the desire to know, a trait that had not endeared herself in the slightest to her superiors.

[Ratchet]

Why don't medics kill.. An Autobot thing..

Ratchet almost had to laugh at such an absurd question, but refrained from doing so to prevent any further embarrassment for this young femme. He knew she was likely stressed, and even if from the other faction, that wasn't something Ratchet wanted to put her through. "You really don't know much about Autobots, do you? Or Medics? Listen.. it's in our medical oath to first do no harm. That's the first thing they teach you in medical school, and that's considering I studied before the war ever began! Autobot, Decepticon.. it matters not. A medic should never intentionally harm a patient." That was something even he had to fight against, even in the battle field. He'd fight if it meant protecting himself or someone else, but it was never his primary goal to harm anyone at the end of the day.

As the medic listened to Moonwing's tale, the more he began to understand her situation even if just a little. It hadn't been her choice to join Megatron's army, but rather she had been forced into it from the moment she was sparked. Her creators were the ones who had made the choice to join, it would seem. This made him frown a bit, making things a bit more complicated. "I'm.. sorry to hear that. But you must know that Megatron is speaking nothing but lies. I've witnessed it first hand.. the countless cities on Cybertron destroyed when he and his Decepticon army attacked. The unspeakable number of losses that were caused on either side. As a medic, it's not something you forget."

This wasn't going to be as easy as saying she should switch sides, even if she was unhappy with where she was at the moment. Not just for the reason of having Megatron against her, but there was one other factor that would become involved: the Decepticon Justice Division. Granted, who knew where they were at the moment, but the Decepticons did have a space bridge now. It wouldn't be difficult for them to show up at any given moment.. as much as he didn't want to think about that.

"Megatron does not please easily.. and he never has." Ratchet couldn't help but be concerned about what would happen to this femme once she returned to the Nemesis, but he tried to not allow himself to be too distracted by it. "Just.. how do you feel about him? Megatron, that is."

However, it was her next question that had completely thrown him for a loop. She was asking him what it was like to be both an Autobot and a medic? How was he even meant to answer this one? "Well.. it's quite different from being a Decepticon. You're treated with more respect, and aren't always at each other's throats. Sometimes something small can cause an argument, but bots make up. Aside from being against Megatron's views, Optimus is one of my best friends.. so it was only natural that I made the choice that I did." He had to think a moment more how to answer the other half of her question. It wasn't so much that he'd chosen to become a medic as it had been the castes that had forced him into that role. Either way, he was happy with being a medic, but he knew not everyone was happy with the caste.. and he wouldn't argue against it.

"Being a medic is quite an important roll to fill, and just knowing at the end of the day that you were able to save at least one life with your own hands is worth every moment. Even if you can't save them.. just granting them a few extra moments with someone they care for is worth it. I too didn't choose to become a doctor, but I think in the end it was a good fit for someone like me."

[Deleted]

An oath to do no harm? He had her full attention then, for there was no hiding the twitch of interest her wings gave then, nor the curious tilt of her head. Killing was apparently a thing one could indeed choose not to do when one was an Autobot, and her young spark jumped at the thought. She wanted to know more then, to learn more about this oath, and of medics, and of Autobots. The whole reason she’d followed Ratchet, after all (not realizing he’d been an Autobot, of course), had been due to her insatiable curiosity and her secret desire to become a healer instead of someone who hurt others.

“But- The Autobots struck first! They destroyed Vos, and Tarn, and laid siege to Kaon,” The young seeker said, but this time it was less in the tone of a bot faithfully and zealously reciting propaganda, and more along the lines of someone who was beginning to get dreadfully confused. Moonwing’s first instinct was to not believe his words. Autobots were liars, after all, and every Decepticon knew this! Everything this Autobot Ratchet was saying went contrary to everything she had ever been taught … And yet, she could not bring herself to distrust him, for he had healed her wounds instead of leaving her to suffer or snuffing her spark, and his words were spoken with honesty in his voice. He was telling the truth just as she was, which meant one of them had to be wrong. “... That’s… That’s what I’ve always been told, anyways.”

She knew objectively that commanders often refrained from revealing all details of missions to their subordinates, as it was not a mere soldier’s place to know them nor to question. Was… this what was being meant? It was treachery to ever believe that her Lord and Master had lied, for what reason could he ever have to deceive those under his command? Being so young and inexperienced, Moonwing couldn’t think of any, but then again, that did not mean that there were none there.

She squirmed in anxiety and unease when Ratchet asked about her feelings regarding Lord Megatron. The young seeker nervously glanced upward, as if the very mention of his name could bring the Decepticon Leader down from his warship to smite her for her treason, but the skies were clear. “He… scares me,” Moonwing finally admitted, after determining that there couldn’t possibly be any way for anyone else to overhear her words, “I am always afraid of him. Everyone is afraid of him. I don’t know anyone who isn’t, except maybe- my best friend.” Did Ratchet mean to imply that it wasn’t this way with the Autobots -- that no one feared Optimus Prime as Decepticons feared their Lord and Master?

There was that word again, ‘choice’! The idea of choice and of choosing was so foreign to her, for she’d honestly been given so few in her life. “I wish I could do that. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I never want to hurt anyone ever, but that’s what they say I have to do,” Moonwing knew then she ought to have shut her mouth and not said anything more, because she’d rarely ever allowed herself to even acknowledge these thoughts now much less tell anyone, but Ratchet… well, he seemed like someone she could trust, even despite his being an Autobot. With a sad little trill, she added, “-But everyone says I must be a warrior, so that is what I must do to serve Lord Megatron. Besides, a seeker like me could never become a doctor.”

[Ratchet]

Ratchet sighed, listening as Moonwing argued her case from the stories she had been told. Naturally that would have been the tale as Megatron would have spun it for any new spark that joined the world of the living after the war had begun. He'd paint the Autobots in a bad light, and get any new recruits in any manner he saw fit. Even Moonwing seemed to be questioning the story she had been fed, Ratchet looking to her with care.

"It was not the Autobots who struck first. It was in fact Megatron himself. I was friends with Orion Pax in those days.. and I know full well what had happened. The two were set to speak before the council, but Megatron did not receive a favorable outcome. Enraged, he began his Decepticon antics there, taking some of the council with him. It only became worse as time went on.."

Just as he had suspected, the femme was terrified of the tyrant. Who wouldn't be at her age that wasn't already a hardened warrior.. something the Autobot loathed to think about. However, her words did grab his attention. It wasn't just her that was afraid of Megatron, but everyone had been. Everyone she knew had been afraid of him.. except her best friend, whoever that was. Ratchet wanted to ask, but there was no point in distressing her any further. "I can say for certain there are a few that don't fear him that work for the Decepticons. Shockwave and Soundwave for certain.. I would say Starscream, but you never know with that one." As quickly as he wanted control, he was just as quick to cower in fear.

And yet.. as a Decepticon, she didn't want to hurt anyone. This had to have been another Megatron thing. They'd told her that was her job, that as a seeker she had to be a warrior. The medic fought every urge to laugh, but a small chuckle still found it's way out of him. "You can't be serious. The very caste that Megatron fought against, he's imposing on his very own troops? How ironic.." Ratchet outstretched a hand, placing it on her shoulder with a soft smile. "Let me tell you that even if you are a seeker, that doesn't mean you can't be a medic. My very own mentor was a seeker, I will have you know. One of the best medics I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, if not the best. Don't sell yourself so short."