Fic - Basic Augmentation Part 3: Explanation
Title: 3. Explanation
Continuity: G1, Dysfunction AU
Rating: PG-13
Content advice: Discussion of violence
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in the sandbox
Characters and/or pairings: Vortex, Wrench (OC), Spinister, mention of other OCs
Summary: In which Vortex explains exactly what did happen to Windwarp.
Notes: Part of the Online series.
1. Pulling the Strings
2. Implications
Oh frag, that wasn’t good. Stupid copter, speaking before acting. Impulse control issues, like his first psych evaluator had said before he punched him in the thorax. Had to learn to control that, if he ever wanted to be anything.
That lesson had been worth remembering fifteen astroseconds ago. Before he'd as good as admitted to killing Windwarp.
Stupid purple copter with his stupid bluff.
And he'd fallen for it, leaping right in with his crazy-aft vocaliser and fraggin' annoying impulse control issues.
He'd be lucky if they didn't recycle him.
Vortex risked looking up. The view wasn't great. Chief Instructor Wrench was grinning like he'd just won a promotion, and that purple copter was still standing there in the middle of the desk, all tiny and hollogrammy and flickering, looking at him.
"Now," that voice came again over the speakers. "New-build 12 of batch 5..."
"I got a designation," Vortex snapped, and instantly regretted it. “Uh… Sir?” The purple mech looked official. Seriously official. Security Forces or Intelligence or something. Vortex wished he’d paid closer attention to Tailbreak’s talks.
"So you have," the mech responded. Condescending glitch. Vortex wanted to punch his stupid, purple face in. Especially when he continued without acknowledging that designation. "You will now describe the events which led to the disappearance and deactivation of new-build Windwarp."
Wrench's engine rumbled, and Vortex forced his fists to un-ball. Trying to thump the hologram wouldn’t be the best plan he'd ever had.
Not that he'd ever had a good plan. Things just happened. Like Windwarp. And Spindrift before him, and that other guy back in his first cycle before they’d known each others' designations.
The first two had been written off as terminal mechanical failure. One of the med team had explained it while she loaded designation-unknown into the waste pod; not everyone survived basic augmentation.
Vortex’s engine threatened to stall; maybe he wouldn't either.
"Take your time," Wrench growled. His grin evaporated, replaced by that look he got when he was about to kick some tailboom.
"Uh..." Vortex began. Great start, he thought. A full and complete answer, just what they wanted to hear. But what the frag was he meant to say? I didn't mean to, it was just too much fun to stop probably wouldn't wash. He deserved it wasn't much better. And what if they really did have footage of the act? At least if he told the truth, there’d be nothing they could catch him out on - and if they didn’t catch him out on anything, they’d be likely to go easier on him? It wasn’t like he could think of anything else. OK, so, the truth… "I dismantled him and spread the bits around the damaged parts pods, the ones that go back to the factory."
Wrench stared.
"And?" the purple mech prompted.
"Wasn't lying when I said I didn't kill him." Vortex met the hologram's optics. "I didn't, sir, he was still online when I put him in there."
Wrench went to speak, but the hologram got in first. "Explain."
"It's, uh, kind of a blur?" Vortex said, but Wrench's body language told him that it better not be a blur for much longer. "After we got back to base, he kept following me around. He wanted to talk to me, said all this scrap about how we should all learn from our mistakes. But it was his mistake what happened on that mission, not my mistake... Had an argument over comms, he kept on saying I should forget about it." Vortex paused, gave himself time to try to read Wrench's expression, to try to work out if this was what they wanted him to say.
He drew a blank.
"What next?" Wrench prompted.
"He said we oughta 'face and forget about it." Vortex shrugged. A suspicion sprang up that he should have taken a different fork at the last conversational junction, but there was no turning back now. "I thought why not, y'know? We weren't on duty or anything."
"So you interfaced?" Wrench's expression changed again, this time to 'I really do not want to know.'
"Um... No, sir."
"What did you do?" the purple mech said.
"Well... We were about to, but then he started talking again, saying about how he never wanted for Tailbreak to pick him for command, and how the whole thing made him sick to his tanks, and how he just wanted to get out of there. And then I hit him." It had felt so reasonable at the time, the only suitable response to a audial-full of stupid, unpatriotic slag.
"And?" the purple mech urged. The hologram's optics were bright, his colourful rotors completely still.
Vortex gripped his tail blades and focused on the ‘inappropriate input’ warnings from his sensor net. "We'd gone to this bit outside medbay,” he said. “'Cause it's all clangs in there anyway and no-one can hear if you're 'facing. So...uh..."
"So no-one noticed you hit him?" Wrench said.
Vortex nodded. If only they’d give some indication that this wasn’t going to get him killed. Wasn’t the law meant to go easy on new-builds? He couldn’t remember. "We were outta the way, that corner behind the big pipes."
"Then what did you do?" mystery mech asked, and Vortex began to wonder if they were taking turns in their questioning on purpose.
"I kept hitting him," Vortex said. He searched desperately for a way to explain that would make them less likely to want him deactivated. Thank frag they didn’t know about the other two. "He was weak." He met Wrench’s optics, watching for his response. "He wasn't one of us. He went down quick, didn't fight back." Couldn't, Vortex thought, after the blow that cracked open his helm and made his CPU spark in the hot air. "Just kept beggin'. He must’a got the wrong personality component, some fragger in the factory swapped one of us for a civilian.” That’s it, shift the blame. “He wasn’t military, he was scared. I didn't want him with us, didn't want a rotary comin' out of here same time as us, looking like us, who wasn't one of us. It's just plain wrong. So I swiped a laser knife from medbay and cut him up, then put him in the pods, a bit in each one. Sent him back to the factory."
Wrench's mouth was open, but his vocaliser remained resolutely off.
"And what of his laser core?" the purple mech asked.
"They're lead-lined right?" Vortex said. "The waste pods. Stops repair bots getting all fragged up 'cause of laser cores gone critical or something. I.. Uh... Could be why you thought he was dead, sir?"
Wrench looked like he was about to blow one of his weird grounder gaskets. He took a long, slow vent. "Well frag me," he said.
Vortex got the impression that maybe he was meant to express some kind of concern about his former batchmate. Not that he gave a flying scrap about Windwarp, the idiot had it coming. But it could be the difference between deactivation and some other punishment. "Uh... Any chance he ain't dead?" Vortex asked.
"No chance," Wrench replied. "Waste pods go straight to the smelter."
Vortex couldn't help but laugh, and it wasn't until he stopped that he realised it was entirely the wrong response. "Uh..."
"Fraggin' copters." Wrench stood. "Sir," he said to the hologram, "I think we're done here."
The other mech didn't respond, the hologram simply vanished.
Wrench shook his head. "That's the trouble with building ruthless killing machines," he said, as though to himself. He ground out a laugh, giving Vortex a look that made him feel as though someone had stripped off all of his paint. "Every fraggin’ batch, we get someone like you. Get your aft outta that chair, you’re going in solitary."
Continuity: G1, Dysfunction AU
Rating: PG-13
Content advice: Discussion of violence
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing in the sandbox
Characters and/or pairings: Vortex, Wrench (OC), Spinister, mention of other OCs
Summary: In which Vortex explains exactly what did happen to Windwarp.
Notes: Part of the Online series.
1. Pulling the Strings
2. Implications
Oh frag, that wasn’t good. Stupid copter, speaking before acting. Impulse control issues, like his first psych evaluator had said before he punched him in the thorax. Had to learn to control that, if he ever wanted to be anything.
That lesson had been worth remembering fifteen astroseconds ago. Before he'd as good as admitted to killing Windwarp.
Stupid purple copter with his stupid bluff.
And he'd fallen for it, leaping right in with his crazy-aft vocaliser and fraggin' annoying impulse control issues.
He'd be lucky if they didn't recycle him.
Vortex risked looking up. The view wasn't great. Chief Instructor Wrench was grinning like he'd just won a promotion, and that purple copter was still standing there in the middle of the desk, all tiny and hollogrammy and flickering, looking at him.
"Now," that voice came again over the speakers. "New-build 12 of batch 5..."
"I got a designation," Vortex snapped, and instantly regretted it. “Uh… Sir?” The purple mech looked official. Seriously official. Security Forces or Intelligence or something. Vortex wished he’d paid closer attention to Tailbreak’s talks.
"So you have," the mech responded. Condescending glitch. Vortex wanted to punch his stupid, purple face in. Especially when he continued without acknowledging that designation. "You will now describe the events which led to the disappearance and deactivation of new-build Windwarp."
Wrench's engine rumbled, and Vortex forced his fists to un-ball. Trying to thump the hologram wouldn’t be the best plan he'd ever had.
Not that he'd ever had a good plan. Things just happened. Like Windwarp. And Spindrift before him, and that other guy back in his first cycle before they’d known each others' designations.
The first two had been written off as terminal mechanical failure. One of the med team had explained it while she loaded designation-unknown into the waste pod; not everyone survived basic augmentation.
Vortex’s engine threatened to stall; maybe he wouldn't either.
"Take your time," Wrench growled. His grin evaporated, replaced by that look he got when he was about to kick some tailboom.
"Uh..." Vortex began. Great start, he thought. A full and complete answer, just what they wanted to hear. But what the frag was he meant to say? I didn't mean to, it was just too much fun to stop probably wouldn't wash. He deserved it wasn't much better. And what if they really did have footage of the act? At least if he told the truth, there’d be nothing they could catch him out on - and if they didn’t catch him out on anything, they’d be likely to go easier on him? It wasn’t like he could think of anything else. OK, so, the truth… "I dismantled him and spread the bits around the damaged parts pods, the ones that go back to the factory."
Wrench stared.
"And?" the purple mech prompted.
"Wasn't lying when I said I didn't kill him." Vortex met the hologram's optics. "I didn't, sir, he was still online when I put him in there."
Wrench went to speak, but the hologram got in first. "Explain."
"It's, uh, kind of a blur?" Vortex said, but Wrench's body language told him that it better not be a blur for much longer. "After we got back to base, he kept following me around. He wanted to talk to me, said all this scrap about how we should all learn from our mistakes. But it was his mistake what happened on that mission, not my mistake... Had an argument over comms, he kept on saying I should forget about it." Vortex paused, gave himself time to try to read Wrench's expression, to try to work out if this was what they wanted him to say.
He drew a blank.
"What next?" Wrench prompted.
"He said we oughta 'face and forget about it." Vortex shrugged. A suspicion sprang up that he should have taken a different fork at the last conversational junction, but there was no turning back now. "I thought why not, y'know? We weren't on duty or anything."
"So you interfaced?" Wrench's expression changed again, this time to 'I really do not want to know.'
"Um... No, sir."
"What did you do?" the purple mech said.
"Well... We were about to, but then he started talking again, saying about how he never wanted for Tailbreak to pick him for command, and how the whole thing made him sick to his tanks, and how he just wanted to get out of there. And then I hit him." It had felt so reasonable at the time, the only suitable response to a audial-full of stupid, unpatriotic slag.
"And?" the purple mech urged. The hologram's optics were bright, his colourful rotors completely still.
Vortex gripped his tail blades and focused on the ‘inappropriate input’ warnings from his sensor net. "We'd gone to this bit outside medbay,” he said. “'Cause it's all clangs in there anyway and no-one can hear if you're 'facing. So...uh..."
"So no-one noticed you hit him?" Wrench said.
Vortex nodded. If only they’d give some indication that this wasn’t going to get him killed. Wasn’t the law meant to go easy on new-builds? He couldn’t remember. "We were outta the way, that corner behind the big pipes."
"Then what did you do?" mystery mech asked, and Vortex began to wonder if they were taking turns in their questioning on purpose.
"I kept hitting him," Vortex said. He searched desperately for a way to explain that would make them less likely to want him deactivated. Thank frag they didn’t know about the other two. "He was weak." He met Wrench’s optics, watching for his response. "He wasn't one of us. He went down quick, didn't fight back." Couldn't, Vortex thought, after the blow that cracked open his helm and made his CPU spark in the hot air. "Just kept beggin'. He must’a got the wrong personality component, some fragger in the factory swapped one of us for a civilian.” That’s it, shift the blame. “He wasn’t military, he was scared. I didn't want him with us, didn't want a rotary comin' out of here same time as us, looking like us, who wasn't one of us. It's just plain wrong. So I swiped a laser knife from medbay and cut him up, then put him in the pods, a bit in each one. Sent him back to the factory."
Wrench's mouth was open, but his vocaliser remained resolutely off.
"And what of his laser core?" the purple mech asked.
"They're lead-lined right?" Vortex said. "The waste pods. Stops repair bots getting all fragged up 'cause of laser cores gone critical or something. I.. Uh... Could be why you thought he was dead, sir?"
Wrench looked like he was about to blow one of his weird grounder gaskets. He took a long, slow vent. "Well frag me," he said.
Vortex got the impression that maybe he was meant to express some kind of concern about his former batchmate. Not that he gave a flying scrap about Windwarp, the idiot had it coming. But it could be the difference between deactivation and some other punishment. "Uh... Any chance he ain't dead?" Vortex asked.
"No chance," Wrench replied. "Waste pods go straight to the smelter."
Vortex couldn't help but laugh, and it wasn't until he stopped that he realised it was entirely the wrong response. "Uh..."
"Fraggin' copters." Wrench stood. "Sir," he said to the hologram, "I think we're done here."
The other mech didn't respond, the hologram simply vanished.
Wrench shook his head. "That's the trouble with building ruthless killing machines," he said, as though to himself. He ground out a laugh, giving Vortex a look that made him feel as though someone had stripped off all of his paint. "Every fraggin’ batch, we get someone like you. Get your aft outta that chair, you’re going in solitary."