Chapter Text
“talking”
‘thinking’
{titan talking}
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[All stories, no matter how great or insignificant they might seem, always have some sort of beginning. It might be the sparking of a particular mech, a tragic event or even something like a chance meeting. This particular story began with the meeting of two young mechs, mechs that would one day help shape the future of Cybertron! But that time is still yet to come.]~ [End of record AT-839832/ORM#00334]
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It was the Golden Age of Cybertron – an age of near boundless development and prosperity. Space exploration, colonization of new worlds, technological advancements and marvels. The future was looking better and brighter for the cybertronians than ever before.
Iacon city, the capital of Cybertron was a shining beacon of new possibilities, mechs flocking there, looking for new opportunities and fame. It was a perfect place to live as far as anyone could say, the educational center of the planet, the glorious city teeming with possibilities, ignoring some of the darker aspects of the shining city, hidden into the darker alleys and down below. But that was not important at the moment.
The Iacon Academia, the biggest educational facility in the city, stood proudly just a few blocks away from the Iacon towers, where they were in clear view out of the many windows of the academy. Many of the students dreamed to once be able to work there or become part of the elites that resided in the top levels, but that was not true for one young mechling. His name was Ratchet and his dream was to become the best medic in Cybertron’s history! A medic that would be able to save the lives of anyone, no matter what, a medic that would go down in history and his name would be remembered for generations to come!
Ratchet was a genius, he was in the advanced medical course after proving his knowledge and skills, skipping vorns ahead of his peers. He was the youngest in the advanced course, all of his new classmates much older than him and taller too, he barely even reached above the waist joints of the taller students there. Many either disliked him or didn’t want anything to do with him – the ‘teeny bot’.
He was always the odd one out of the group. The other mech his age, his previous classmates, thought of him as weird and rude because of his… a bit abrasive nature and the fact that he loved studying to the point he’d rather stay in the library rather than play games with them, not to mention that Ratchet sometimes talked using terms and definitions he learned in the medical books. His previous classmates were always confused by his ‘big words’ and couldn’t keep up with his ‘adult talk’. He thought that once he was moved up to the advanced class, he’d be able to have a proper conversation with mechs with a similar mindset and interests in the medical field like him, but it didn’t turn out like that either.
The other students of the advanced class were all at least twice as old as him and would not take him seriously! They thought that Ratchet was a spoiled youngling and no one wanted to have anything to do with him, some even talked about him behind his back, others made fun of him after classes. Ratchet knew the reason why – they didn’t like the fact that someone as young as him was in their class and doing better than majority of the class, ranking in top 10 on each test and practical task. He… had no friends, actually. He didn’t let that get to him, though, his processor was set on becoming a medic!
………………..
Ratchet’s days were filled with rigorous study and relentless determination, but also with the quiet loneliness that followed him. Every cycle began the same way: he’d rise early, pour over his notes, and head to the towering halls of the Iacon Academia, his small red and white frame almost swallowed by the crowd walking through the grand halls, pushing his way through the crowd and around the much bigger frames around him. The spires reflected the brilliance of the rising sun, but Ratchet’s optics were always fixed on his datapad, scanning notes on advanced repair techniques and trauma management protocols.
He wasn’t oblivious to the whispers or the sideways glances from his peers. No, he heard them- each and every comment.
"Who does he think he is, skipping ahead like that?"
"He’s not even tall enough to reach the upper shelves in the lab without a ladder."
"Bet he got here because someone pulled strings for him."
“That know-it-all…”
Still, he persisted and ignored the words as best as he could.
One day, after finishing his lessons in the Academia, Ratchet decided to not take the railway, like he usually did, to his home but instead decided to walk. He did not live too far from the academy; it would take him a bit of time but he’d be back before his creators returned from work. He pulled out his pad and started looking through the notes he took during the day.
They were visited by THE Perceptor! One of the leading scientists on Cybertron and he even had the honor to ask the older bot some questions after the lecture was over and even discuss some of the newer technological advancements in the medical field.
“Ugh! Not again!”
One of Ratchet’s audials twitched at the gruff and clearly angry tone, making him look up from his pad. To his left, standing near one of the buildings were two construction bots. One was big with black and dark blue plating, a few bright yellow stripes marking him for easier visibility during work, a set of pliers in his servo. The other one was a bit smaller with red and brown plating, a few oil stains on his pedes and a tool belt. They had lifted some of the sidewalk’s panels and examining the many cables and pipes that ran under the city.
“The blasted thing’s busted again! See! No flow!” – the red-brown bot gestured quickly.
“I can see that!” blue-black one growled “There’s no energon in the supply pipe once again. I swear to Primus, this is the 3rd time this deca-cycle someone called for low flow!”
“Yeah, the pipe’s full of air. Should we report and head down to check for leaks?” – the smaller worker offered.
“Bah! Sure, why not, but I bet it is due to those blasted pumps malfunctioning again and not bringing the energon up! The higher-ups had not changed them in in vorns!” – the bigger worker grumbled and kicked the open panel.
Ratchet quickly moved along, not really interested in whatever they had to say after his curiosity was sated.
Meanwhile, down to the side of the main road was a group of older students, messing around after classes, listening to music and trying out new moves.
“Hey, look who’s over there!” – Burrmes, a yellow and orange praxian pointed.
“Hm? What is it?” – Hi-Wire, a green and white bot with a visor paused his spinning on the ground and stood up.
“Is that the young bot from the advanced course?” – Kickstart, a blue and purple four-wheeler straightened up to focus better.
“It is him!” Burrmes exclaimed “It is the same bitlet from the class next door! And he’s just walking alone right there!”
“And?” – Kickstart tilted his helm.
“And… This is our chance to take him down a peg!” – Burrmes exclaimed.
“Hm, that IS true. No one dares to directly mess with him because the instructors in the academy favor that know it all but now, he’s alone.” – Hi-Wire’s optics zoomed at the smaller bot.
“I know you wanted to join the advanced class too, but isn’t it a bit… low, to mess with someone half our age?” – Kickstart asked his friends.
“Come on, Kicks! We’re just going to tease him a bit, nothing serious! Not to mention that know it all probably got his creators to get him into the class, so this will be like a reminder to not be too cocky in the future.” – Burrmes put a servo on his friend’s shoulder.
“Hm, as much as I hate to agree, Burr is not that wrong. We should just be careful and tease him a bit. It shouldn’t do any harm.” – Hi-Wire nodded.
“Ugh, fine. It is not like I have anything else to do.” – Kickstart gave in and followed his buddies.
Ratchet was just passing through the bridge leading to the sector where he lived in when a larger servo snatched his pad.
“Heey there, teeny bot~ What’cha looking at?”
Ratchet’s optics darted up, only to be met with the grinning faceplate of an older mech. He did not know who the mech was but he looked familiar- Ratchet had seen him in the academy, in the class next door!
“Some notes from class. Please, return my datapad.” – the white and red bot extended a servo.
“Hm, that’s a rude way to talk to a senior.” – Hi-Wire took a few steps closer.
“I am in the same grade as you, so you technically are not my seniors. Again, please return my pad to me. There are some personal notes that I want to review.”
Ratchet tried to reach for his pad but the taller bot simply raised it up and out of his reach.
“How about… No.” -Burrmes laughed and waved the pad just out of reach.
“Hey! Stop it! I need that!” – Ratchet tried once more to get his pad.
The younger bot’s servos could not reach high enough, no matter how much he tried, it made Burrmess laugh and toss the pad over to Hi-Wire. The green and white bot caught it easily and lifted it up in the air, out of Ratchet’s reach.
Ratchet, despite trying to remain composed, was still young and was starting to get frustrated with the older mechs.
“Give it back! This is not funny!” – he shouted.
The other two were just tossing the pad between them, they laughed as Ratchet tried to get it only to miss it and have to run after the pad again. Kickstart stood to the side, watching uncomfortably.
“Hey, Kicks, catch!” – Burrmes shouted and threw the pad at the purple bot.
Kickstart awkwardly caught it and held it above his head.
“Sorry, for this…” he muttered “This doesn’t feel right, Burr, Wire. I don’t like it!” – he addressed his friends.
“If you are sorry, then give my pad back!” – Ratchet demanded.
“Come on, Kicks, it’s just harmless fun! We didn’t even touch the teeny bot!” – Burrmes booed.
“Hm, that’s right.” – Hi-Wire nodded his helm.
Ratchet jumped up to try and reach his pad but it was still high up in the older bot’s servo.
“But- oof!” – Kickstart began but then something collided with the plating on his front.
Ratchet, in his growing frustration, had decided the best course of action was to collide with the older bot. Kickstart was surprised, since he was not paying attention, and almost fell backwards. He wobbled a bit, his stabilizers trying to keep him on his pedes, and his grip on the pad loosened. The device slipped his grasp and Ratchet tried to catch it but accidentally knocked it to the side with the back of his servo. The pad spun in the air, hit the sidewalk once and slipped through the safety railing of the bridge.
“No! No, no, no!” – Ratchet ran and looked over the railing.
His small servos gripped the bars tightly as he watched the pad fall down to the dry canal under the bridge. A few mechs passing by stopped to see what was happening.
“Oh, frag! Let’s bounce!” – Burrmes shouted before running off.
Hi-Wire also ran, followed awkwardly by Kickstart. Meanwhile Ratchet stared at the small black dot that was his pad down below. It hit the ground and bounced a few times before sliding under the bridge. His optics zoomed in, as he tried to see if it was whole. The visual data was not very clear but it hadn’t shattered on impact.
‘Thankfully I chose the model with reinforced casing.’ – Ratchet thought as he stood up.
He really did not want the pad to be destroyed, after all it was a gift he got from his Creators when he was transferred to the advanced class. It was a cherished gift but also held all his notes and many materials and studies he downloaded from the Academia’s library. He could not just lose it like that!
So, after he made up his processor, he ran back to the bridge’s end and searched for a ladder down. He had seen the maintenance crews going down there to clean trash and debris after a storm, so he knew there was a way to go down. He was also lucky that the canal was dry and empty, so his pad was not damaged by water or washed away down one of the many drains. After a few kliks, he found what he was looking for, a ladder that went all the way to the bottom. He struggled a bit on the way down, but managed to safely touch down at the bottom of the canal.
Ratchet looked around quickly, scanning for someone that might try and catch him for breaking the rules but there were no mechs paying attention to him, so he quickly ran back towards the bridge. His pedes moved quickly over the rough metal slabs that formed the canal, but when he was finally under the bridge, he saw his pad safe and whole, but there was one small problem. His pad was on top of one of the grates that covered the drainage pipes. It looked old and the bars were a bit bent, it also looked quite unstable.
Ratchet lingered near the edge, servos clenching and unclenching as he observed carefully. The pipe was big enough to fit several bots his size and the fall was going to be pretty long, judging by the fact that he could not see the bottom. He looked at his pad and the grate before trying to inch over and just grab it but as toon as the edge of his pede touched the grate, it creaked and shook, his pad wobbled and was balancing precariously on top of the bars.
‘Why did it have to end up here?! Couldn’t this pad have stayed where it fell?!’ – the little bot thought and vented in frustration.
He was so close but it was just out of reach! He could fall if he tried to stand on the grate or the pad could fall down the pipe if he shook the grate too much. The young mech crouched down and looked over the area – there was nothing he could use but maybe if he went to the other side and stretched… He just might be able to hook the pad’s edge and pull it back to himself.
‘This better work… It has to work.’ – Ratchet thought as he reached the other side.
From that angle, the datapad was just a bit closer, so he kneeled, braced one servo against the solid metal edge and stretched his other one towards his pad.
‘Come on… just a little… further…’
His digits stretched and then the tips of his fingers reached the pad.
‘Yes!’ – he thought and shifted his weight carefully as to not lose his feeble grip on the piece of tech.
He glanced down and let out a nervous whirr, the fall was very deep and it looked scary. He didn’t want to be there any longer, so he gently started pulling the pad closer.
*Creaaak~
The metal underneath him creaked, startling the young mechling. His servo moved sharply and he lost whatever grip he had on his pad. The device wobbled and started tilting to one side. Ratchet frantically tried to grab it but it slipped through the bars and fell down, he lost his balance and his front chassis hit the grate. Something gave out under him and he felt himself slipping. His servos moved frantically and watched onto one of the bent bars. His pedes dangled over the void below him and he couldn’t help but let out a call for help, pinging frantically for someone to come and pull him up but no one heard him over the noise coming from the bridge above.
Ratchet felt his digits slipping and the grate shaking and creaking some more.
‘It can fall any moment now!’ – he realized.
His optics frantically scanned what was around him and to his relief, he saw that the pipe was not a simple fall straight down but there were other pipes connected to it from the side. He swung his pedes and aimed for the big pipe that was open just in front of him. It was risky but it was either that of plummeting into the unknown.
He gained momentum but hesitated for a moment.
‘What if I miss?!’
But then the grate he was holding to creaked once more and he let go. The little bot sailed through the air and landed roughly inside the connecting pipe. He rolled a bit before stopping, a few pebbles scraped his plating. He had made the right decision because not a moment later another part of the grate broke off and fell down. Ratchet vented frantically, his internal fans pushing air out in an irregular rate due to the scare.
‘1, 2, 3, 4…’ Ratchet counted, trying to calm himself down “10, 11, 12, 13…’
He had reached 50 by the time he calmed down enough to think again. It was then that it hit him – he was alone, stuck in a drainage pipe in the canal and no one knew where he was, his Creators were going to be so worried when he didn’t return to their home!
‘Oh, no! What am I going to do now?!’ – Ratchet sniffled and desperately tried to not let coolant leak from his optics.
He was a big, smart bot now, he was smart enough to study with the older bots in the advanced class and big bots did not cry! Still, he was scared… But! He was not too far away from the surface! Maybe- maybe he could look for a pipe that led back up and he could climb up out of it?
And so, Ratchet started searching for a way up but no matter which connecting pipe or tunnel he checked, they were either too steep or led deeper down. Eventually, he took a relatively wide pipe that he hoped would have a way up somewhere along its way, only to be led to a winding slope down.
“Why is nothing going right?!” – Ratchet sniffled.
He wandered through the many pipes and underground maintenance tunnels for a while until the last turn down a pipe took him to a huge chamber and something familiar glittered on the floor. He looked up at the wide opening of a pipe and the smallest dot of sunchine and then back down to stare at his datapad. All that walking and he ended at the same spot, just deeper down!
“I would have preferred if I didn’t have to fall into the sewers to get you back.” – he grumbled as he picked his pad up.
Its screen had thin cracks running over it and the protective casing was heavily dented and scratched but it still lit up when he pressed the power button. He tried to connect to the network or call one of his creators for help but just as his communicator, there was no signal underground. The young bot vented and put the pad back into his subspace, he wasn’t going to leave it down there to become scraplet food. With no obvious way out, he marched forward, at least this chamber was a bit different from the numerous metal pipes and had a flat floor made of concrete.
Ratchet’s steps echoed through the empty space, his audials in a state of constant alert, least he hears something dangerous. He had heard a lot about the dangers that lurked in the sewers but there was nothing and the silence was making him even more nervous. He walked for a while, the concrete chamber stretching into something like a tunnel. Ratchet could see old support beams and rusted light installations, none of them working for obvious reasons, but there! In the distance he saw light, an opening leading out of the claustrophobic pipes and tunnels!
His small pedes carried him as fast as they could towards the exit, but what he saw when he reached the end of the tunnel left him speechless and shocked. Instead of opening into a side alley or somewhere near the outskirts of Iacon, the tunnel had brought him to a place he never thought he’d see with his own optics.
“Old Iacon…” – his vocalizer crackled a bit.
He took out his pad and without thinking, opened a file from his history lessons. An old picture filled the screen and he lifted it up – the old photograph stood side by side with what he was currently seeing with his own optics. The photo had been taked during the Quintesson war, when Iacon was entirely built underground as a form of protection, the spires and buildings hanging from the ceiling were almost exactly the same as the ones on his pad, albeit with some differences. Unlike the photo, this city was dark, none of the bright lights were present, a few emergency lights and lamps, plus colossal projectors hanging from the walls were the only sources of light, making the whole place dim and intimidating. Many of the buildings were also showing clear signs of their age and damage, broken windows, corrosion and some collapsed buildings littered the whole underground city. It was… a bit uncanny, to see the once grand city they learned about look so empty, abandoned, forgotten…
‘Am I also going to be lost here? Forgotten?’ – Ratchet’s processor couldn’t help but think.
He shook his helm, trying to cease that thread of thought. It was not the time to think about that sort of stuff! He took a cautious step forward, then another, as he slowly made his way out of the old tunnel and onto a higher platform. Once upon a time, it might have been a street, but now it was cracked and empty, some wild cable vines growing through the cracks in the metal.
Ratchet was not eager to go into the old city, he had been told many times by his Creators about the dangers that worked in dark and seemingly abandoned places – dangerous mechs like criminals, outlaws, energon leeches, insecticons, scraplets, scrapdragons, monsters and many other things! He was also not looking forward to accidentally meeting traffickers. He had heard of mechs disappearing and being taken apart for parts and he certainly did not want that. But what other choice did he have? He was lost, not sure of the way back up from where he came but he could find a new exit! He read about it in the data files – the citizens of the old city frequently travelled to the surface while Iacon was being built above ground, so there must be multiple paths leading to the newer city above!
With a bit of dread in his spark chamber, Ratched steeled his resolve and headed into the abandoned city.
………………………………………..
The little white and red bot walked through the desolate streets, alone and nervous. The occasional working light and his own biolights helped him navigate the place a bit easier. The tall spires loomed over him like giants, the buildings hanging from the ceiling felt like they would fall on top of him at any moment. Ratchet clicked nervously, clutching his datapad closer to his chassis when he noticed uneven grooves carved into the wall of a broken, abandoned train car that had fallen from the railway above – clear sign of scraplets!
He hurried away from the dangerous place, listening for the tell-tale grinding of the scraplets’ dentae when they spotted prey. His pedes moved quickly, avoiding broken glass and fallen metal along the way. There was an old ship blocking Ratchet’s way, having fallen and lodged itself between the two buildings. It blocked the narrow street the young mechling was currently running on but it wasn’t going to stop Ratchet – he needed to get away from there as fast as he could! So, he held his pad in one servo and scrambled up the side of the ship. It was awkward to climb with only 3 limbs but the white and red mech pulled himself up, ran across the ship’s roof and jumped down on the other side. He felt like something was watching him from behind and he feared that if he stopped running to look back, he’d see a horde of scraplets staring at him like he was an energon cube. Ratchet continued running for a while but calmed down after not hearing any of the usual scraplet noises. He vented in relief and scurried away, still, the feeling of optics watching him never left.
………………………………..
Ratchet sat on a piece of rubble, scrolling through his data pad. He was looking for useful information that would help him orient himself better and reach an exit. His optics widened as he once more lifted his pad up.
‘This must be it!’ – he thought with excitement.
Albeit a bit destroyed and having another building half collapsed on it, there stood the Eastern Transportation Hub. According to the data on his pad, the hub had direct connection to the surface through the railway running through it and by the looks of it, the train tunnel was still whole. If he could reach the top floor and take the tunnel, he should come out right in the eastern sector of Iacon! The plan was genius! Those old train tunnels were made to withstand bombings and transport supplies during the Quintesson war, so they should be safe to travel!
Ratchet’s happiness was cut short by a shiver that ran down his back struts. His helm whipped back and he scanned the area but he saw no one, only dilapidated buildings and broken machinery, but the feeling of being watched was even clearer! His frame shook and he quickly put the pad in his subspace.
‘I have to get out of here! Whatever is out there, watching…’ he shivered once more ‘I don’t want to meet it.’
The young mech hurried inside the abandoned tower, walking through a broken glass pane, and made his way up the floors and there were so… maNY…STAIRS! Of course, the lift won’t work with the power being almost entirely cut off! Why had he even thought that it would be easy?! His pedes trembled from the strain and felt like they’d fall apart, his vents expelling heated air out and away from his internals. He was forced to stop for a bit and take a break, least he overheated and collapsed.
After the break, Ratchet forced himself to continue up the many, many steps up. But when he reached the mid-point, he encountered another problem. The half-collapsed building from earlier? Yeah, it had crashed through the wall and was blocking the entire staircase. There was no way around it, so the young bot was forced to find a way past it – his solution was to climb through the hole in the destroyed wall and then scale the fallen building until he reached an undamaged staircase leading up.
Ratchet clicked nervously as he peered out of the hole – he was really high up and the drop was…
‘Don’t think about that! Just don’t look down!’ – he told himself.
The small white and red bot climbed out, his digits gripping tightly around the metal panels making up the wall. Glass crunched as he climbed fully on the leaning structure, he swayed for a moment but found his balance and continued climbing up the building’s side. Ratchet ignored how the gaze aimed at him seemed to suddenly intensify – he had one goal and he was not backing out so easily.
It was just then that he reached a beam that was bent out of shape and sticking out through one of the windows. He tried to pull himself up and climb onto it, so he could open a window and climb back inside the transportation hub, but his pede slipped. Ratchet couldn’t find his balance fast enough and tumbled backwards and off to the side. He was high up and there was nothing to stop his fall this time, he fell straight down towards the ground.
His processor flashed in panic and his limbs flailed but he was a ground frame, he was not a flier of a triple-changer, there was nothing he could do. He was going to crash down on the street below and offline! He was going to join the well and his Creators wouldn’t even know what happened to him! In his panic he was sending distress calls all over the place but knew very well that no one would hear him. The ground was getting closer and he closed his optics, preparing himself for the impact but that didn’t happen.
Something snatched him out of the air and wrapped around him tightly, there was a moment of weightlessness before-
*BOOOOOOOM!!!
A loud crash and everything around Ratchet shook violently, the sound echoing through the tight space he was currently in, his whole frame shaking with the tremors, plates bumping and scraping the walls around him. His optics shot wide open and his fans were working overtime to keep him from overheating from the flood of information, but all he could see was dark gray metal on all sides. The shaking stopped and he used his digits to explore his surroundings but just as his optics confirmed, he was surrounded on all sides. Was he in some sort of metal cocoon? Did some monster wrap him in its trap and was about to eat him?!
He tried pushing, hitting and knocking on the walls that surrounded him but nothing budged.
‘What am I going to go now?! I want to go back home but nothing I tried worked and now I am trapped in here!’ – Ratchet was on the verge of crying once more.
Just then, a low rumble echoed through his confines and the young mech froze. What was that?! With a slight creak, the ‘cocoon’ that had trapped him began to open and – oh…
As blue light shone from above, the young mech realized that was no cocoon, those were the digits of a giant servo and the ‘lights’ above him were actually a set of giant optics in a similarly giant helm. He was sitting in the servo of an absolutely giant bot! So impossibly big, bigger than anything living the young medic in training has ever seen in the many vorns he’d been alive. There was nothing like this even mentioned in the library that resembled the giant blue and red being in front of him!
Ratchet looked up and his optics met the giant’s, the two beings stared at one other in pure shock and panic, maybe even a bit of wonder. Then, after his processor rebooted properly, Ratchet did the next logical thing after meeting a giant being-
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
He screamed in pure terror, like he had seen Unicron rise up from the ground and was coming to take his spark.