Day 47: Greenhouse [4th Shift]

[mitase]

Entering the greenhouse was almost like coming home, and Hanatarou had been looking forward to this shift for that reason. Everywhere else in the building was strange and confusing (and often dangerous) but in here was the familiar scent of soil and sun-warmed plants with the musty sort of enclosed-space smell overlaying it. His expression turned

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[war_wounds]

The man across from him nearly got a face-full of dirt before Ratchet caught the sarcasm in his tone. It was just as well-- even without touching the stuff he'd managed to get some lodged under one of his finger plates.

"No. I was under the impression that these miserable things got along fine without any help." Just keeping them out of the factory in Detroit had been an endless chore. Speaking of endless chores, his attempts at digging the dirt out from under that useless little plate on his finger had only succeeded in transferring the dirt to two more plates. With an angry snarl, he abandoned the plating as a lost cause. "Why do they even have these?" he said, glaring at his current 'companion' as though daring the man to answer. "What self-respecting species would have structures that attract filth on the tips of their Primus-damned fingers?"

Truthfully, a little grimy plating wasn't such a big deal in and of itself, but the day was going poorly and Ratchet had reached the end of his patience. Frustrated and suddenly weary, he leaned his elbows on the table and glared daggers at his assigned plant. "I hate this place."

[scalyfishman]

... oh, boy. He'd run into one of those types. The kind of picky, perfectionist afthole that ran you out of their lab for forgetting to dust off your bumper. To the Pit with that. As far as Depth Charge was concerned, the more that kind of 'bot sat around cleaning, the less he had to think about them getting up in his face.

Of course, knowing that saying so out loud wouldn't be a good idea didn't exactly take a diplomatic genius- especially when mutual hatred made for an easier ride. "I don't know about the dirt, but I've got bigger reasons to hate this scrapheap of a -"

- wait a second, did he just say Primus?

Immediately, Depth Charge leaned in, dropping the sarcasm in his voice in favaour of intensely scanning the man up and down for anything he might have recognised from an old robot body- eyes, colouring, features... true, he'd thought of Rhinox before, but that definitely wasn't Rhinox's voice. In fact, human or not, he didn't know anything about this guy at all.

Which meant he wasn't from his own time. Hmm. Not like he'd been big on the whole ally gig anyway, even if it might have been a little nice to see a familiar face. Otherwise unperturbed, the Maximal fixed him with a hard look. "Autobot or Decepticon?"

[war_wounds]

Ratchet froze at the question, dirt forgotten. He hadn't paid much attention to the man before; most humans looked the same to him. Now he scrutinized the 'bot closely, though without the usual Cybertronian design landmarks to go by, he wouldn't have any luck trying to figure out who this was or which faction they belonged to.

The voice was unfamiliar, and Ratchet was without his usual defences. This could go downhill very quickly. All the same, he wasn't about to lie about his faction. "Autobot." Without being obvious about it, he curled his fingers around the handle of his trowel.

[scalyfishman]

Autobot. Well, slag. Depth Charge hadn't heard that in, well, in a long time. Until now he'd been up to his neck in Decepticreeps. Not that he needed the backup, especially not with his truce with Lugnut still fresh, but still.

That left, he noted, two options. Either Ratchet or Prowl, the latter he'd only seen appear once on the board and the former... hadn't they argued over something? Hmm. This guy definitely looked crotchety- not to mention suspicious- enough for the role. Maybe, just maybe, it was him. "You Ratchet? I think we spoke earlier. Name's Depth Charge."

[war_wounds]

Ah, yes. So this was the bot he'd corresponded with. "Yeah, that's me." Ratchet didn't let go of the trowel, but did make a small concession to diplomacy by loosening his grip. "I remember you. You're the wing-nut who says he's from the future."

No, he wasn't ready to let go of his only weapon just yet. Depth Charge may well be a member of Ratchet's faction, but the fragger still thought he was a slagging time traveler. Ratchet had been on the business end of a glitched-out bot one too many times in the past to let his guard down completely.

[scalyfishman]

Ah-hah. So this meant he had a medic floating around the Institute. Interesting- but not necessary useful, given that Ratchet looked like the slightest twitch could set him off at any nanoklik. Tch. This was going to be fun.

"Wingnut? Watch your mouth, old timer." He narrowed his eyes, folding his arms. "I'm no liar. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned? You're the time traveller, not me." Transwarp vortex dragging him into prehistoric Earth aside, of course.

[war_wounds]

Ratchet was not in the habit of watching his mouth, and he was unappreciative of any suggestions that he do so. "All right. I'll just call you 'fragger,' then." This was also the second time in as many cycles that Depth Charge had called him 'old timer.' Slagging whelp. Ratchet knew his own age (by rough estimate), and he didn't see the need for a helpful reminder at every turn...

"Fragger," he said, in as friendly a way as he could manage, "we could argue this back and forth all solar cycle and get nowhere. You want to be from the future? Fine. I'm from the past? Fine. Whatever tickles your diodes."

Now to wait and see if Depth Charge got violent. Unprofessional methods, perhaps, but without his scanners Ratchet had no better way of finding out whether or not this glitch was safe to be around.

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge's eyebrows shot up almost straight away. Fragger? It didn't take long for the surprise to wear off and the anger to kick in, and the man's face fell into a deep, irritable scowl while his hands clenched and unclenched on the worktop, miming fists. Well, if that was the way Ratchet wanted it-

-- he was the one who was going to have to suck it up and take it like a big bot. He was good enough at making enemies as it was. He didn't need any more.

Okay. Deep breath. Very deep breath. His nurse had probably seen him turn red from across the greenhouse and thought he'd been about to bust a gasket or two, but he wasn't going to blow. Yet. "... tch. I don't have to take that slag. Let's just cut to the chase. You and me? We run for the same team, whether we like it or not-" Play nice, DC. "- Ratchet."

[war_wounds]

Ratchet had seen Fanzone's face turn that color enough times to know the effect his comment had had, but impressively Depth Charge was able to rein it in. With effort. Finally releasing his trowel, he watched the younger bot cycle air.

"Thank you, Depth Charge," he drawled. "How kind of you to use my designation." He toyed with a leaf of the plant he was supposed to be doing...something...with. "And I doubt either of us like it, but I suppose an Autobot's an Autobot. We can't pick and choose among our comrades."

[scalyfishman]

Sarcasm. Real cute. I should blow out your optic circuits.

Well. That was what Depth Charge said in his head. The reality of it was... somewhat different. "As much as we'd like to," he agreed, trying to avoid gritting his teeth when, as it stood, it felt like they'd been gummed together with arts and crafts glue. That was hostile, wasn't it? Tch.

"Alright," he said, once he was sure the heat had left his face again, "let's try again." His eyes flicked up to Ratchet's face, watching his expression carefully. "You been given the rundown of the place? Info on the 'bots here?"

[war_wounds]

"Don't overprocess it," Ratchet said with a dismissive wave. He knew he grated on people. People grated on him, so it was only fair. "We're not each other's first choice, but it could always be worse." Again, Depth Charge's face changed color, and again Ratchet waited for the color to fade.

Crossed wires or not, Depth Charge was the only friendly (well, the only not-openly-hostile) mechanism he'd managed to find in here. As a fellow Autobot, it was only right to at least try to take him seriously. Ratchet took a moment to consider his response, absently tracing the edges of the scar on his arm. "Only what I've been able to piece together, which isn't much." His expression darkened. "And the only bot I've run into so far is one I'd like to avoid." Though being in the same building as Lockdown was still too close for Ratchet's liking. Generally, he'd prefer himself and the bounty hunter to be in separate star systems. Or entirely different galactic regions.

[scalyfishman]

'Not much' was as good a basis to have as any, Depth Charge supposed- and if Ratchet had only run into 'cons like it sounded he had, he didn't blame him for not being in the know.

"The first thing you should know is that until I met you, I was the only Maxima- Autobot in this crazy joint. There are at least three 'cons here, though: Lugnut, Lockdown and Scourge. Used to be a Starscream, too, if you can believe that," he added with a wry little smile. Past or future, your sensory circuits would have to have been down for you to never have heard of a Starscream.

Anyway. A smile was just about all he had to make the next bit more palatable for Ratchet- something told Depth Charge he wasn't going to like it. Pit, he didn't like it much. That was what he told himself, anyway. "Right now, there's an unofficial alli- truce between us."

[war_wounds]

Nodding, Ratchet made a note of the names. He already knew about Lockdown and Lugnut. So, there was at least one more? And another still that was unaccou- Wait. "A Starscream?" Oh, but of course. There was more than one Starscream, in a way. "One of his clones, you mean?"

And then Depth Charge said something that made Ratchet's processor skip. "I'm sorry," he said, "I must need to recalibrate my audio receptors. I could have sworn you said we have a truce with a group of Decepticons." He laughed. There was nothing else to do in the face of such a bizarre statement. He must have misheard.

[scalyfishman]

"I don't know about clones, but from what he told me? He was the Starscream. The two-timing, snake-eyed, shrill-voiced little slagger everyone knows and loves." The smile stretched itself thinner than ever. "Figures. I would be stuck here with the classic model."

And that 'something' from before had been right. Right now, Ratchet was laughing, but that was just a little something Depth Charge liked to call denial. Thing was, after denial was usually anger. He folded his arms, steeling himself for what he predicted was gonna be a bumpy ride. "That's because I did say it. Me and Lugnut- we got a deal between us. His cronies don't get up my exhaust port, I don't get up theirs."

[war_wounds]

"Hmm." Ratchet frowned. That did sound like Starscream (particularly the shrill-voiced part), but he couldn't think of any significant stretch of time over the last stellar cycle when Starscream was unaccounted for. "But he's gone now...?"

He watched as Depth Charge settled into a more defensive posture and his face darkened. "You're serious." For the first time, Ratchet was a little grateful that he was stuck in here. Had he and Depth Charge had this little conversation in any other setting, Ratchet would have had to do something about it. "Aside from the fact that the Lugnut I know doesn't give or ask for quarter in any circumstance," he snapped, mind contorting as he tried to imagine the huge Decepticon thug negotiating with the enemy, "you have to know how serious this is. If we were at home I'd have to report you for treason."

This was ridiculous. The one Autobot Ratchet had managed to find in here was consorting with the enemy. Wasn't that just his luck? Though he did have to admit (and with that admission came no small measure of guilt) that being here without the added worry of Lugnut and company forcibly dismantling him was an attractive thought...

[scalyfishman]

[I'm so, so, SO insanely sorry for how late this is. /)_(\]

"Gone like that," Depth Charge confirmed, snapping his fingers demonstratively. It probably wasn't needed- Ratchet seemed to know who they were talking about- but talking about Starscream tended to get under his plating. So far as he was concerned, the 'con and X were like (almost literal) sparkmates. "Should've known he wouldn't stick around for long."

Not that they'd be getting palsy over shared experiences for long. The Autobot's mood was already visibly darkening- and then, in the snap of his voice, came the anger. More controlled than he'd thought it might be, but that sure as Pit wasn't a face that looked like it was about to throw a ball over the news.

Depth Charge didn't say anything at first, but while he might have been expecting the reaction, nothing could stop his perfect pokerface from flickering at the word 'treason'. The number of times he'd heard that... be a Maximal. Where's your Maximal pride? Whose side are you on? Sometimes he was the one asking it.

"Oh, I know. Believe me. But this isn't exactly home." He paused, then eased off a little, dropping his voice. "Call it a debt of honour. On our first night? Lugnut ran into me running into a whole rat's nest of trouble. Afterwards, I... patched him up. And don't tell me I'm crazy, because I've heard that tune a hundred times already."