Those damn tentacle plants!
Well my Cosmos/Shockwave fic got derailed and this happened.
The first indication that there was something wrong was some unexplained drag on his engines. The drag only got worse as whatever it was that was on him consistently grew in size until he could barely control where he was going. He shouted to his passengers that something was wrong, that he was going to crash, and managed to jettison them to safety after careening through the atmosphere.
With his passengers safe he turned his attention to making his crash appear as much like a landing as possible. Warnings and sirens and lights filled his consciousness as he braced himself for impact. And impact he did; right into the middle of a dusty field. The force of the crash knocked him offline for a few moments and when he came to the first thing he tried was to comm. his passengers to see if they had made it out alright. All he got for his efforts, however, was a burst of static through his processor.
Cosmos found that he couldn’t transform, couldn’t move, couldn’t comm. his fellows, and he was leaking energon at a rather alarming rate. The worst part, though, were the vaguely organic plants that were wriggling all around him. They must be the reason that he had lost control and gone off course, and they were growing.
They were all over him in moments, quickly covering both him and his surroundings. He dismally wondered if he’d ever be found in this mess.
Oh Primus, what are they doing now?
Apparently just covering him from view wasn’t enough for now the blasted plants that covered him turned their attention to the mech they had hitched a ride on. The smaller tendrils efficiently mapped out his frame as if searching for weak points. Cosmos shivered as they gently, almost too gently, slid along his seams.
They must be looking for the best way to eat me.
He felt his forlorn thoughts were verified when he felt some of the slim tentacles slip inside and manually open his boarding hatch. He shuddered and felt blind panic as the plant’s appendages practically cascaded into him.
Cosmos was absolutely surrounded by the tentacles, inside and out. They filled his insides, large tentacles wrapping around his instruments and writhing against his sensors. The smaller tendrils invaded him further by exploiting every hatch, every panel, even going so far as to find his interface coupling within his rearranged form.
He tried to cry out, but only managed some garbled static that didn’t seem to faze the plants one bit. They continued their assault on the mini-bot, invading his form even as they caressed him from the outside causing Cosmos to emit more static laced cries that would have been moans and whimpers had his vocalizer not been damaged.
The tentacles tensed as one when Cosmos’ cooling fans activated. A larger tentacle had managed to travel through his inner workings to join the smaller ones that had been teasing his interface coupling. Loud, persistent static filled the air as the appendage simultaneously surrounded his cord and slipped into his port.
A high pitched feedback whine joined the static of his cries as he overloaded. His alt form shuddered as his vents released the pent-up heat of his overload. Cycling cool air like mad he felt the tentacles back off somewhat, put off by the overwhelming heat and noise.
Many of the larger tentacles still wrapped around his armor, keeping clear of the vents that were spitting such hot air at them. The smaller tendrils of the plants seemed to lose interest in him and began exploring their surroundings. Soon enough, though, when Cosmos had cooled down and was no longer making such alarming noises they returned.
Why are they doing this?
Was all he could think before the plants continued their ministrations to the helpless mech.
Epilogue
Staring up at the ceiling of the medbay Cosmos thought how lucky he was that the others had managed to find a way to neutralize the plants and rescue him before he went into stasis. Interfaced to death by alien tentacle monsters wasn’t a very dignified way to go. As it was it was just another indignity the little bot had survived.
Still, it was a rather traumatic experience. When he came to after his transformation cog was finally repaired all he felt were hands (no, tentacles) on him. He popped up off the table and punched the first mech that came within arm’s length. Afterwards, of course, he thoroughly apologized to Hoist. Hoist was very understanding about the whole thing even though Grapple gave Cosmos dirty looks for days.
Despite the punch to the face, Hoist continued treating the mini-bot until his injuries healed. Still, something didn’t seem quite right with the recon unit.
“Cosmos, you seem very upset about the incident with the Morphobots.” Hoist started in his refined accent “Perhaps you would like to speak with someone about what happened?”
“You-you know what they did to me?” Cosmos asked worriedly in his own strange accent
“Cosmos, dear boy, I assure you it’s really nothing to be ashamed of. Why, the same thing happened to Perceptor.”
The first indication that there was something wrong was some unexplained drag on his engines. The drag only got worse as whatever it was that was on him consistently grew in size until he could barely control where he was going. He shouted to his passengers that something was wrong, that he was going to crash, and managed to jettison them to safety after careening through the atmosphere.
With his passengers safe he turned his attention to making his crash appear as much like a landing as possible. Warnings and sirens and lights filled his consciousness as he braced himself for impact. And impact he did; right into the middle of a dusty field. The force of the crash knocked him offline for a few moments and when he came to the first thing he tried was to comm. his passengers to see if they had made it out alright. All he got for his efforts, however, was a burst of static through his processor.
Cosmos found that he couldn’t transform, couldn’t move, couldn’t comm. his fellows, and he was leaking energon at a rather alarming rate. The worst part, though, were the vaguely organic plants that were wriggling all around him. They must be the reason that he had lost control and gone off course, and they were growing.
They were all over him in moments, quickly covering both him and his surroundings. He dismally wondered if he’d ever be found in this mess.
Oh Primus, what are they doing now?
Apparently just covering him from view wasn’t enough for now the blasted plants that covered him turned their attention to the mech they had hitched a ride on. The smaller tendrils efficiently mapped out his frame as if searching for weak points. Cosmos shivered as they gently, almost too gently, slid along his seams.
They must be looking for the best way to eat me.
He felt his forlorn thoughts were verified when he felt some of the slim tentacles slip inside and manually open his boarding hatch. He shuddered and felt blind panic as the plant’s appendages practically cascaded into him.
Cosmos was absolutely surrounded by the tentacles, inside and out. They filled his insides, large tentacles wrapping around his instruments and writhing against his sensors. The smaller tendrils invaded him further by exploiting every hatch, every panel, even going so far as to find his interface coupling within his rearranged form.
He tried to cry out, but only managed some garbled static that didn’t seem to faze the plants one bit. They continued their assault on the mini-bot, invading his form even as they caressed him from the outside causing Cosmos to emit more static laced cries that would have been moans and whimpers had his vocalizer not been damaged.
The tentacles tensed as one when Cosmos’ cooling fans activated. A larger tentacle had managed to travel through his inner workings to join the smaller ones that had been teasing his interface coupling. Loud, persistent static filled the air as the appendage simultaneously surrounded his cord and slipped into his port.
A high pitched feedback whine joined the static of his cries as he overloaded. His alt form shuddered as his vents released the pent-up heat of his overload. Cycling cool air like mad he felt the tentacles back off somewhat, put off by the overwhelming heat and noise.
Many of the larger tentacles still wrapped around his armor, keeping clear of the vents that were spitting such hot air at them. The smaller tendrils of the plants seemed to lose interest in him and began exploring their surroundings. Soon enough, though, when Cosmos had cooled down and was no longer making such alarming noises they returned.
Why are they doing this?
Was all he could think before the plants continued their ministrations to the helpless mech.
Epilogue
Staring up at the ceiling of the medbay Cosmos thought how lucky he was that the others had managed to find a way to neutralize the plants and rescue him before he went into stasis. Interfaced to death by alien tentacle monsters wasn’t a very dignified way to go. As it was it was just another indignity the little bot had survived.
Still, it was a rather traumatic experience. When he came to after his transformation cog was finally repaired all he felt were hands (no, tentacles) on him. He popped up off the table and punched the first mech that came within arm’s length. Afterwards, of course, he thoroughly apologized to Hoist. Hoist was very understanding about the whole thing even though Grapple gave Cosmos dirty looks for days.
Despite the punch to the face, Hoist continued treating the mini-bot until his injuries healed. Still, something didn’t seem quite right with the recon unit.
“Cosmos, you seem very upset about the incident with the Morphobots.” Hoist started in his refined accent “Perhaps you would like to speak with someone about what happened?”
“You-you know what they did to me?” Cosmos asked worriedly in his own strange accent
“Cosmos, dear boy, I assure you it’s really nothing to be ashamed of. Why, the same thing happened to Perceptor.”