#vaporex

[cocajimmycola]

Vaporex-

A gender system in which something is directly tied to vaporwave within your gender . This can be anything . I.E. Vaporexcat , Vaporexbun , Vaporexclown .. ETC. Can also be a gender within itself . [ Vaporexgender ]

Retrox-

Remake of old retrox . [ Also coined by me ] A gender system in which something is directly tied to retro vibes within your gender . This can be anything . I.E. Retroxgame , Retroxthing , Retroxcat .. ETC. Can also be a gender within itself . [ Retroxgender ]

[ofvaporex]

There wasn't even a foundation here. Not anymore.

The coordinates were right, at least. The site of the hospital he'd learned his earliest lessons in, following a weathered old medic like a puppy on a string. He'd been so quiet and gentle, and perhaps some of that had rubbed off on Ratchet.

It was strange. Certainly information creep had stolen so many of his early memories, but every feature of the old building that had once stood here was clear as a bell in his mind's eye.

Standing here felt almost blasphemous. Funny, considering here was among the last places he'd been religious at all, that blasphemy would be the first thought to occur to him. But like so many places rebuilding on Cybertron, every single new thing was a reminder of everything that was.

His optics trailed to the datapad in his hand. To the title of the very first chapter in his life.

"First Partings."

Many of the people he'd known here were dead. Those damn functionalists or the war or some other violence had claimed them. And yet somehow he, the youngest of the scant handful of sparks so lovingly carved from the seven-strong hotspot near what had once been the city's center, was the one left standing.

The one who'd been in the thick of it. The one who by all rights should have died.

The very first chapter of his memoir was a love letter to a city long dead, and sparks long extinguished. He'd never been good at saying goodbye. Hell, he'd never told anyone here goodbye when he'd been spirited off to the Iacon Medical Academy.

A rare gift, the functionalists had said. Back then, he'd been young. Naive. Stupid. And he'd believed them, leaving Vaporex without even the slightest of a glance back.

Regret bled into every word he wrote. Could he live with himself if he left it unpublished?

His optics drifted to the horizon. There were no answers here either.

"...why the hell did I come here alone...?"

[cinnabuntastic]

Hey do y'all ever think about how IDW1’s main timeline begins and ends with Ratchet saving lives?

In the very first issue, he saves Hunter and Verity from Thundercracker, despite knowing nothing about them and having no real stake. The timeline ends with Ratchet’s funeral in LL#25, where he’s willed every donation of innermost energon at his memorial be used to help settlers, and his core components be sent to hospitals across New Cybertron to save more lives.

It’s just really important to me. He’s such a damn self-sacrificing character. His entire life has been dedicated to saving lives, often to the detriment of his own health, no matter how deep he buries it. Pharma said it best:

“Liar. You do care- all you do is care; you care about everything and everyone. It’s one of your more admirable weaknesses.”

[earthstellar]

Here’s a timeline summary of all the known Eras of Cybertronian history from Transformers Prime!

It doesn’t contain a whole lot of detail, as this is just intended to be used as a general reference, but it’s nice to see how each era does overlap with the next; It flows in canon like an actual timeline of events, and doesn’t skip around as much as you might think! 

For example, Ratchet was online during the Age of Wrath, as it is noted in the Covenant of Primus that he treated one of the first Cybertronians to present to medical services with signs of Quintesson manipulation. We don’t know when he came online exactly, but he was definitely already alive and was mature enough to be practicing medicine during this time.

But Orion Pax states in one of the novels (I believe the first one?) that he never got to see the original colonial expansion space bridges in operation, which means he had to have come online sometime during the Age of Rust.

So Ratchet is a very old friend, indeed-- Given that he was already mature during the Age of Wrath, and we know that he was around before the development of Iacon as a fully realised city-state (he was one of the first students of Remedy and had to walk to Iacon from Vaporex, hinting that this was before roadways were constructed in most places if at all)-- 

--It is entirely possible that Ratchet was one of the early Cybertronian sparklings that came out of the Well and had to enter stasis during the Cataclysm, coming up from stasis shelter underground in what would be known as Vaporex, although his dialogue in the show regarding Predacons may somewhat challenge that theory. (I need to dig up the episode script to check!) 

Either way, holy shit, Ratchet is old. Quite literally possibly as old as “dinosaurs”; The dialogue in the show may not be as contradictory as it might seem, as we know that natural memory lapse to save processor space and file integrity is something that can occur in this continuity as well, if I recall correctly--

--So it’s very possible that Ratchet just doesn’t remember his sparkling days very well, or those memory files may have been prone to information creep which was established in IDW 1 and may have been a concept that was already floating around when the writers for TFP were working on building the lore for this series as well. 

Anyway, it’s 4 AM so I’m gonna go make some tea, LOL 

I hope this is helpful for some people out there! :) <3

edit: I’m a doofus and just realised I put my old username and not my current one as the image credit. sigh. in my defence I made this very, very early in the morning 

[medicdoodles]

A mashup of IDW and Seige canon of Ratchet and Deadlock, meet and run his underground asylum.

Based on Dialogue trees you get from Futomimi and Sakagahi, when you do the Aferlife Bell quest in SMT Nocturne.

For Ratchlock day.

(Next Chapter) || (Last Chapter)

There's a stain shaped like a human.

Work hard, do your best, and eventually you'll get somewhere.

When Ratchet transferred from the highest ranked schooling from Vaporex to the political charged state of Iacon, he expected pointed comments. He expected turned up faces. What he didn't know was how much he would be pushed into being an engineer.

Sure he has some skill in the field, many of his professors have left comments on it but never has he imagined being one. However, Ratchet found that his study to become a medic was going nowhere. Everywhere he went all of the classes would refuse his application, but he didn't give up.

If he wasn't going to be an official student he could still go to classes. When other mechs would sneak out or skip lectures he would slip in. Medic trainees would pay him to do their homework and he took it. All this hard work pays off, he gets the top scores, his engineering career is going well too. When his colleagues get hurt he can repair them better than the campus doctors. Then he graduated...

He gets hired to work on ground bridge operations. It doesn't excite him but it was honest work, and he could save enough money to carry equipment for a first aid kit. Once he was shipped off to the outskirts of the Dead End, that's where he finds his calling.

Since all fast travel in the area was decommissioned, Ratchet was forced to drive out to all locations. It wasn't too bad, but since he was the only one willing to do this job he was on his own. That's when he sees in person just how much Cybertron has abandon.

Streets filled with broken mechs and ruined buildings. There's no hope here, and his white paint lights up against the ash filled air, stains the vision of the city. It was silent until a siren went off in the distance. Despite him knowing the police's pensions for brutality, seeing it with his own eyes still frighten him.

"You're going to be okay." He hears a bot the panic in his voice. "Just hang in there, I'm going to get you help. Just hold on." Ratchet makes it to the voice. It was two bots in the middle of the road, both covered in blood. However, one person is down, closer to death.

"I don't think I can...", said bot also coughs up more blood. "Just wait for me to pass on. Then you can scavenge my parts."

"It's not fair." The mech brakes eye contact, looking to the sky. Then he looks towards the siren lights driving away. "They killed the wrong bot..."

"Let me try to help." Ratchet walks up to two mechs. The back mind is yelling at him, he's a ground bridge operator, an engineer, never even picked ot study medic. He can't do this, but he also can't stand here doing nothing. "I can't promise anything, but please I want to help."

They both look at him with a befuddled faces. He knows they shouldn't trust him but something must have broken because they allow him to help. They let him operate, and by the end of it all they thanked him, and for the first time since he left his home village, he felt proud of himself.

That's when Ratchet knew the direction of where is life is going. He would make money fixing and maintaining public works, taking other jobs, and making as much money as he could to build a clinc. He set it up in the center of Dead End, chosen it to give it resistance the fastest access to him. He worked himself tirelessly between these jobs and for the first time in his life. He managed to find success and happiness.

Do you think my life was a success?

Yes

>No

I see... yeah you might be right.

Just when I thought I achieved happiness, my fortune collapsed like a house of cards.

Then the outside world gotten word about it. The Senate at first only saw the healing of Dead End's bots. That they would start to walk around and they would fix the left over peices of the city. Had enough energy to walk around and wanted to start working.

However, Ratchet soon discovered that this was unwanted. That if Dead End successfully pulled itself together and made it possible to be something, then the fundamental ideology of Functionism would be thrown into question. If that where to happen, what other mechs would go against the class systems set forward by them.

It couldn't stand, so they made sure it didn't, and so they set off a bomb. Framed as an accident during transit from the military bases, they had approved of it being set off. Then they approved of some police officers to do a quick sweep of firing rounds to hit what remained. They're mission wasn't to kill anyone but if the managed too, it wasn't seen as a bad thing.

At the time Ratchet was sent off planet to see if he could assist in fixing a space bridge from Lunar-2 to Tyger Pax. Of course when it played on the news he tried to ground bridge there, but couldn't. His first transporters where destroyed, when he did get back, his clinc as well. Then when he made it home, his house was raided too.

Nothing made him feel so powerless than when he was stopped at the front door. A mech had pinned him against the wall of his assigned room and warned him away from returning to Dead End. That if they found out he went back he wouldn't be able to keep his face.

Worse was when the said mech had his hands wonder all over his body, and said next time he gets sent out he has permission to do as he pleases with him. Ratchet also finds all of his funds were frozen out, and when he does get access to them all of the money had disappeared.

You should be careful. You never know what tomorrow may bring...

After all of that, Ratchet still tries to help. He still returns to assist all the mechs of the city. They still look at him with hopefully eyes, but understanding that they could never crawl out by their own strength. Many where mad at him for even letting them entertain the idea. Others where mad for him, after all it was one thing to steal from bots with nothing on them. It was another to kick the bot who tries to give a hand to someone who needs it.

Most bots however, joined the Decepticons. They believed that if the government had been threatened by their peaceful solution then they would coware at their revolution. All of this would lead to their planet dying, not that the blame could be one sided. The Senate and later the Autobots would fight them to standstill.

Ratchet would find himself in the middle of it. At first he tried to stay neutral but the bots of Dead End where quick to bring up the attack. Then it was shaking down his person and finally braking into his home and ransacking his equipment.

Traitor was branded on his door, then on his frame. When Ratchet returned to work with a still orange smelter on his left hip, his friend Wheeljack, help him join the Autobots. For a time he was safe, the squad he joined even allowed him to repair any bot whom he wanted, even Decepticons were allowed to be fixed.

Do you think my life was a success?

>Yes

No

That's what everybody else thought, too.

...until that one day.

That was until a superior officer had came down for a vist. When they saw Ratchet repair two mechs with purple badges, they made it clear to him this would stop. If he gets caught again they would charge him with treason and he would be place on the enemy list. That's when he knew he had to go.

Being a deserter was a lighter charge than being a traitor. With his life on the line again, Ratchet has to go, because he could never leave a bot to die. In his spark he could never leave a mech to die without trying. He gives Wheeljack his coordinates, he trust that mech to only uses it when absolutely necessary.

Or at least he did.

The next time he sees his former colleague the bot had brought in toe a former bailiff turned Assassin. They force Ratchet to hand over everything on his person. The bots he was traveling with where tied down and put into custody of the Prime.

For the first time in my life, I had the urge to kill.

He was left on the ground, one push away from the cliffside. Wheeljack had saved his life but at the freedom of others. That's when he tells him to never find him again. That if he truly is sorry, he would only give that location to mechs who need it. They both promised something that day and that would be the last time he would speak to him, or it seemed.

So much anger,

As the war went on, Ratchet would travel. He would make a portable ground bridge went to the next battlefields and collect both parts and bots left behind to die. Like a Grim Reaper, he walks the path of death. However, he wouldn't take life he would do his best to keep it.

Rumor about his presence as a super natural entity made it easier to avoid authority. Many bots who believed in apparitions would come with him quietly. When he repaired them all of them would stay by him. When two bots of different factions would meet, it was almost always up to him to keep them civil.

Then he ran into Deadlock. The bot he gained feelings for. At first he didn't recognize him, but in private the mech tells him about the time they first met. That he was standing in the middle of the road in his friend's arm about to die. Then he adimts about the time he almost turned him to Megatron.

But the only way he could place Deadlock to the incidents is when he spoke those words to him. "Come on Doc, don't think like that. Everyone has kindness in their hearts."

That's when Ratchet's spark drops. This was the mech who was sent to capture him. Who knew of his habit of helping injured bots and almost trapped him into the Decepticons. Whenever he looks at Deadlock now, all he sees is a bot who has changed course, and doesn't he deserve a chance at it.

Ratchet of course also has a bad habit of letting mechs who hurt him do it again. So they both come to an agreement, he repairs Deadlock and takes him to back. The mech agrees to help him out with his operations.

So that's what they did. Ratchet would travel around and Deadlock would follow in tow. Keeping him safe and holding down bots when their reflexes kicked in. Later when their party had gotten too big to travel around and the building became to full. Deadlock drove off without a word.

Weeks became months and when two years passed by the mech came back. He tells Ratchet that he managed to find a bombed down theater that still had functional power. It was large enough for housing and medical care. When he shows him Ratchet is so relieved that he kisses him on the spot.

Deadlock field goes haywire but he doesn't reject it. Instead he grabs Ratchet's frame and frags him hard and wild, places him on the stage. With his groveling voice yells into Ratchet's microphone pick ups that he can't wait when the crew comes in. That after a long shift of picking up bots and patching up frames they would do this again, and next time they will have an audience to perform for.

That was the only time they had. As most of it was being too exhausted with fixing the building. Making sure that it look destroyed from the outside, having to only fix the bottom floors without collapsing the building from the top proved to be difficult. Even with the mechs he saved helping out, many issuses of resources and planning was still too much to worry about.

So Deadlock planned to search again. He spends his last night just sitting next to Ratchet. Telling him not worry, and he will comm every day just to reassure him of his safety. Ratchet gives him his ground bridge. Tells him to come back immediately after he finds something he thinks will help and that he will pick up his calls even if he can't talk back.

That was the last time they speak together, because once Ratchet was properly situated he update Wheeljack of his location.

There's a stain shaped like a human.

That's when he finds Impactor and things spirals out of control. Between Wheeljack taking Optimus Prime here, their entourage raising tempers and talks about Megatron abuse of the Matrix. Ratchet has to leave.

Many of his mechs encourage him to stay. Prime has no power here and if they want his help he should force the Autobots to promise to leave them alone. He doesn't answer them, he knows Wheeljack has betrayed him before. That the army has force his hands, but something tells him complying is the best option.

He turns to Impactor, tells him to tell the bigger bots to take care of the sick. Ratchet knows that mech has turned himself around and regained his spark. So it comes to a surprise that the mech follows behind him. Defending him from Elita-One and even sacrificing his own frame by pulling his comm out.

They violated him and still Impactor smiles at him, stays with him and gives his life for him. He sees his spark give out, but never sees his new found love of life leave his body.

That mankin died. He died the instant he became human. You see humans cannot exist in the vortex world...

As he boards the Arc, Ratchet gets a call from Deadlock. When he reached to answer the distance is to far.

[pluage-docters-go-brrrrrr]

So I thought of this last night after watching a quick review of the Friday the 13th movies and it has been in my head since. (The video is by the youtuber chalupa. This is in tfp btw.)

So basically on cyberteon, after the war, there's this successful horror movie trilogy and the directors are thinking of making the final part of the series. They want to make the one character that has been watching from the sidelines the whole time. Then one guy gets the idea to get a popular figure to be that character. But the only popular figures at the time are political figures.

So they go to like Bumblebee or Arcee or something and their like "nah, the movie business isn't really my thing." But like they have Ratchet with them for some reason and he's like, "oh wow, being in a movie sure sounds interesting." So like the directors are like sure why not and make some adjustments to this new character to just make them Ratchet. Because Ratchet's smart and would figure the bad guys whole flow very easily.

So like they just have ratchet in here with seasoned actors and like 1/12 of the shit he does is like improvised cus the directors told him to just be himself the whole time. And most of the script was pretty accurate.

I have two scenes floating in my head at this point. So the first is the whole introduction of the new character thing and it's like a whole interview for like a talk show or something and like in the middle of the answer to a question the bad guy walks in and like he's murdered 3 people at this point and ratchet just goes like this:

(Can't draw the back of ratchet's head lol) Two seconds later ratchet just shoots the guy like 10 times.

The second is like the bad guy is thought to be dead because the girl main character stabed him 45 times and they all start walking away but then the bad guy gets up and so they all have to do a climactic turn around. And when they turn around ratchet's just like "fuck this guy" picks up a vase and like smashes it on the guys head. The bad guy falls to the floor and junk and and ratchet casually just does this:

So(off topic) the tf wiki page for tfp ratchet says he's from a small village outside of iacon or something so I'm spawning artistic liberties and saying the village is in vaproex. Thus making him Ratchet of vaporex, and I head cannon he looks more like someone from iacon than from vaporex so everyone just assumes he's from iacon. So when the credits are being made ratchet's all like "oh btw I'm from vaporex" and everyone's like "oh no we put iacon." But ratchet just like changes so it reads "Ratchet of Vaporex as Ratchet of Iacon" instead. They kept it because they were too scared to change it.

I shared this with @shroombat14 already and I thought it would be better to write it down in case I ever want to make a fic or comic about it. I'll probably reblog to add any new ideas to this idea dump. Maybe new visuals as well. 🤷‍♂️

[poptimus-prime]

[Image ID: A series of images meant to be a comic with black arrows directing the reader.

The first image is Stormy spraying something orange from a can labeled "PS" onto Ratchet's hand. He says, "I thought 'pumpkin spice' was a food." to which Stormy replies, "Sometimes humans want their space to smell like food."

The second image is Ratchet making a disgusted face with squinted eyes and lowered audial fins. He says, "Stormy?" and they reply off-screen, "Yea, Ratchet?" He then says, "That is the worst thing I have ever smelled in my life. And Vaporex had sulfer pits."

The third image is Stormy looking guilty and holding the canister in both of their hands while saying, "Sorry Ratchet!" Jack is standing next to them and says with a skeptical look, "How did he get a good wiff when you sprayed it on his hand?"

The final panel is Stormy looking to Jack and responding "His olfactory sensors are on the backs of his hands, Jack." Jack looks confused and has a bunch of math around him a la the confused math lady gifs, and simply says "O...K..."

End image ID]

This post was brought to you by a reply @sarai-the-furry made on my Pumpkin Spice post and the canister of pumpkin spice air freshener I purchased for 50 cents last week.

[thenamesblurrito]

since cybertron Presumably doesn't have France, what do they call that specific type of Smooch?

PRESUMABLY HGALJAHAAHLGJGHA

anon ty this is the funniest ask i have gotten in a long while

i immediately scoured my maps for F location names but there's not a lot of options. Ferromax kiss? Vauvaire kiss? Vaporex kiss? perhaps instead of a tongue tango they have a glossa glide? there's always the tried and true term makeout which i think i've been defaulting to. uhhh i dunno uh. facial vehicular manslaughter??? i don't know, i give you free reign to go with whatever is funniest

kissing is of course not the only form of affection especially for people with faceplates instead of lips

[decepticonfessional]

Finally got a good chunk of basic functionality working with Cybercattle Ranch, so now I can start building out scenes. There are three ranch locations - Toraxxis, Monoplex, and Vaporex. I’ll be focusing on the first one, which is where Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, and Bluestreak all are, with the starting mechabull being Magnus.

[fieldmedicine]

"Look," Ratchet mutters, cheek resting on his fist. "Me and him grew up the same. I mean, sure, Vaporex is way up to the north and the Pious Pools are down past Tetrahex out on the coast, but it was the same kind of thing. Little religious enclave, one service hall, everybot knowing everybot."

He fiddles with the empty drink in front of him, tapping his index against the glass.

"I got out early. I don't think Rung ever left."

[rifleseye]

I've talked about it in depth with a friend (who is not on here) But here's my general headcanon for what the Lost Light's crew structure and layout is like.

LOST LIGHT CREW STRUCTURE

Captain: Rodimus Prime of Nyon Second-in-command: Ultra Magnus of Ambus Minor Third-in-command: Drift of Rodion

Director of Science: Perceptor of Nova Cronum Director of Medicine: Ratchet of Vaporex ( Formerly ), First Aid of Hydrax, Velocity of Aperium ( Temporary ) Director of Communication: Blaster of Iacon Director of Security: Red Alert of Iacon ( Formerly ), Hound of Lower Monoplex Director of Engineering: Hoist of Kalis ( Formerly ), Nautica of the Western Camien Sea

Lead Pilot and Navigator: Mainframe of Altihex Lead Mechanic: Nautica of the Western Camien Sea Lead Psychiatrist: Rung of the Pious Pools Lead Weapons Engineer: Brainstorm of Operation: Solar Storm Internal Affairs Committee: Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Xaaron, (Sometimes Directors)

LOST LIGHT SHIP LAYOUT

The Lost Light is segmented into 3 different decks. These decks are further separated into smaller floors and wings. The ship was built in segments, which was then all brought together in a cohesive structure. The engines were added last and are detachable from the rest of the structure for ease of swapping and general repair.

DECK 1 — All of the hab suites. Observation decks. Visage’s. Mess hall. Lecture halls. DECK 2 — Bridge. Light storage. Offices. Meeting hall. Swerve’s. Communications. DECK 3 — R&D. Medical. Heavy storage. Generator + engine rooms. Brig. Shuttle bays. Reservoir. Laboratories.

[cocajimmycola]

Assorted Badges

Vaporex , Retrox , Dollemo , Dollpunk , Timdyria , Solarcreation , Mercurycreation , Venuscreation , Earthcreation , Marscreation , Jupitercreation , Saturncreation , Uranuscreation , Neptunecreation , Plutocreation

[ofvaporex]

We're over 9000 words! Now to determine what I'll do here tonight.

[transingthoseformers]

The next part of the Dratchet Family AU starts years later when Ratchet is established herself. A quick background for Drift and Ratchet.

Ratchet is born in Vaporex to Remedy (a Medic) and Cogwheel (an Engineer) who broke several laws to create her. They manage to slip her in as a member of the Golden Harvest with Remedy’s credentials. Ratchet has no idea she was created this way as culturally and "scientifically" it is known the only one who is supposed to be able to reproduce with someone else is the Prime. Ratchet is quickly identified as being a Medical Frame with outstanding dexterity.

Drift is born as part of a helicopter request for the military during a war. She is extra and unneeded so her Spark is going to be sent for “reprocessing” since it doesn’t meet the charge criteria, but the Foreman takes pity on her and sticks her in a speedster frame before rushing her out without ID but at least she lived.

Ratchet made waves early with her “miracle hands”, discovery of a new treatment for Pigment Nanite Fading in older Cybertronians. She refuses to peddle in “recommended upgrades” (a la Victorian doctors paired with miracle cures) unless they have actual backing. This has put her at odds with both certain investors in her hospital now that she has been promoted to one of the head doctors. She has the saving grace of her skill and reputation that makes her difficult to dispose of.

Drift has a rough life because without an ID she doesn't exist and can't do anything. Can't get legal work, can't get "societal support programs", can't leave the city legally, or exist. She has to get by doing crimes and with others who aren't deemed "fit for society". This is how she meets Ratchet who had been caught up in Sentinel's Civil War with Zeta and ends up being saved by Drift who'd been making money during the chaos of the war.

They stay in contact, start working out of the back rooms of bars until Ratchet has enough prestige to open her own clinic which Drift helps pay for and is definitely breaking the law and treating people under the table without payment or ID required. She also has an anonymous contact in the Church who helps get clean IDs for people that come into the Clinic.

Any onto accidental baby acquisition.

Hot Rod is born from the Silver Bloom, the last generation born before the war. He was born in the Nyon Hot Spot, but was sent to Rodion’s Deltaran Medical Facility’s Crèche when it was discovered he was Matrix Compatible on orders of the Governor of Nyon, Thunderwing, who was dealing with Pickup’s Crisis, which is a protest turned arm conflict being ran by veterans from Sentinel’s Rebellion against Zeta.

Hot Rod is very curious and becomes known for his penchant for breaking out and visiting others. All of the medics are constantly having to snatch the protoform up and bring him back. He likes following people around and is strangely social and fearless for a newborn. The patients are enchanted by him as many have not seen a young protoform before. Ratchet actually meets him first when she is doing her rounds and keeps running into giggling and eventually is told about the small rider she has on her. Hot Rod has magnetized to her back.

Hot Rod is a very social and likes to do rounds visiting the log term patients and workers. The workers learn to check themselves at the door and it becomes a game for him of hiding on people.

Drift makes a deal with Hardtop (Swindle's sibling) to get parts for the Clinic.

When Hardtop and Drift break in to the Deltaran Facility for supplies for the MPC patients, Hot Rod wakes up and thinks that they are playing a game and loves visitors. He magnetizes to Drift who gives him good vibes. Drift makes it far and tries to transform only for her proximity sensor to go off as if she has something jammed in her seams. She finds Hot Rod who is delighted and giggly and she takes him to the safe house and alerts Ratchet via their private channel.

Ratchet and Drift plan for how to get Hot Rod back in and Ratchet comes up with the idea that he magnetized to her when she left and will fake a return to her office and out, making a point to walk near the Crèche. She intends to return with him in the morning, but before they can the missing protoform is reported and the polity is in chaos because one of the two Matrix Bearers born in this generation has been taken. (The other one is Thunderclash.) Sentinel Prime sends out his personal guards to investigate it and suddenly the crime know includes heresy which is a capital offense.

Hot Rod spends time with them and Drift calls him “Roddy” because he is the “Rodion Protoform” in the news cycle. Roddy bonds with them to the point he starts imitating their frame, imprinting on them to take Ratchet's red and Drift's speedster frame which is deeply concerning and why protoforms are kept in the Crèche until they are assigned a caretaker and can bond with them.

Drift is trying to track down Hardtop to threaten him into silence as he only other person that knows Drift was there and Hardtop attempts to kidnap Hot Rod after talking to Drift and escapes. Drift doesn't tell Ratchet but she goes after Hardtop fully intending to kill him.

The reason Hardtop wanted to kidnap Hot Rod is that he got an offer from Alpha Trion to bring him the protoform.

Ricochet, AT's agent, is sent to make sure it works out. When things go haywire he is supposed to “clean things up”. Hardtop, panicking, tries to contact the Primal Agents investigating, Heretech and Wing, but Ricochet gets him first.

Hardtop is found dead which makes Drift nervous. Ricochet though is one of Ratchet’s patients as he investigates and observes them as Hardtop had reported they had them in the message Ricochet intercepted. Ricochet likes them enough to decide to not kill the good doctor and her lover.

There is a confrontation at the Clinic when Drift catches Ricochet trying to take Hot Rod and fights him. The Clinic gets lit on fire in the struggle with Hot Rod's Outlier ability activating and Heretech and Wing show up joining the fight. Ratchet who'd been shot is dragged out by Wing.

Ratchet is arrested by Wing on suspicion of crimes against the Primacy. He protects her from Heretech, who wants to kill her because he likes killing, but Wing stops him by cutting off Heretech's hands, protecting her as he realizes she's carrying. She begs him to save Drift and Roddy, but he sadly informs her that the fire is too hot and Ratchet passes out. Drift, impaled on her own sword, has to watch Ricochet disappear with Hot Rod and manages to drag herself out into an alley pursuing him and is delirious for days.

By the time Drift wakes up Ratchet is known to have been taken which she knows is synonymous with execution and becomes determine to find Ricochet and the missing baby, their baby.

Ratchet meanwhile wakes up in a gilded cage, healed and with a tracking anklet and Wing walks in. He updates her on the situation. Neither Drift nor the protoform were found in the ruins and are believed to be dead and the bodies melted with the rest of the building given the heat. Ratchet is horrified and she asks dully why they have not charged her with heresy. Wing informs her she has been given a Special Exemption due to extenuating circumstances. This is how she learns about Pharma and her carrying.

There's some legal things surrounding protection of carrying mechanisms in religion that Sentinel doesn't want to fuck with so either Ratchet lets him claim the baby and gets in line really quickly or Primal Consort Mirage has a miracle child. Ratchet takes the former and becomes the Primal Doctor and Sentinel's "Amica", getting to know Mirage and adopting an outward appearance of piety to protect Pharma, who is her last connection to Drift. She becomes friends with Wing who was her contact cleaning the IDs.

Drift starts her quest to find Ricochet and this knocks into a whole hornet's nest called Alpha Trion, Jazz, and Ravage.

Oooo damn, so Ratchet's backstory is a mystery to her for a while

Interesting on the detail of the Prime supposedly being the only one who can reproduce, because I think we've definitely thought about that before on this blog too

Awww on Drift and Ratchet working together to help people

Roddie is adorable and amazing

Ah shit it's the special cops

Oh no

Oh no Ratty oh no

damnnnnnn.

Sentinel? Not wanting to fuck with something? You don't see that all that often

damnnn. That's one hell of an adventure

[sketchy-galaxy]

🌹

AU: Skids sees Starr at a party and sneaks in to meet with her, Romeo and Juliet type vibes (also all/most cybertronians are human height for practicality)

 Skids approached her. The human looked down to the bright city below. He opened his mouth to speak, to introduce himself and ask her for a chance to dance. But all that came out was a crackle as his voicebox reset from his nervousness. Skids clasped his hand over his mouth, the the human jumped and turned to face him.

She was beautiful up close. In the moment, time slowed as the Cybertronian admired her. She had gorgeous brown eyes that almost glimmered gold in the light. Her black hair was braided back, each part looked like stars. Her hand touched her chest as she blinked at him. She was stunning.

"Hi." He finally reset his voice box and spoke. The human smiled at him.

"Hi." She replied, she voice was soft in a gentle whisper," I don't think we've met before. My name is Starr of Vaporex, kin to Ratchet of Vaporex."

"Yeah I know-" He said in a whisper, venting as he stared at her smile. He tensed," Yeah- I mean! I-" He muttered and bumbled like a fool. Starr had tensed at the comment but seemed to relax when the mech stumbled over his tongue.

"Here," She took his hand," You already know my name, how about I get yours?"

Skids' spark flashed in his chest and he nodded, holding her hand gently in his, he bowed his head

"My name is Skids." He smiled.

[pastelgrungewrecker]

Drache || Sg || Au of an Au of an Au

Don't try to reach me, 'cause I'll tear up your mind I've seen the future and I've left it behind

[“It’s destabilizing.”, sighed Stormy, knuckles rubbing at his temple to mitigate the headache from a sixteen hour binge in New Kimia’s labs as his double rested his head on the dining room table, “I. I can’t fucking figure out why, why NOW- But something’s wrong. Paradox doubles are bleeding through in heavier and heavier numbers, all of them saying they were guided by some kind. Some kind of weird leader.”

“Weird leader? Like a resistance?”, asked Perceptor as Percy stirred his coffee and tilted his head.

“Something in. I think it’s some lingua franca from a fringe colony maybe. Klinky Saga or something?”

“Strange.”, said Percy, the more flamboyant of the doubled Perceptors, before he sipped his coffee, “It almost sounds like old central Iaconian; from before Neo became the preferred speech?”

“Yes, perhaps.”, mused Perceptor, “Try to say it again?”

“Klayne Shagh?”

“Kleyne Shlang.”, said Ratchet from the kitchen as his double looked up, “Means little or young dragon, I think. Some of the old’ns in Vaporex spoke a language modified slightly from auld Iaconian; it’s actually still mostly spoken around where Ma lives.”

“Strange. I wonder why that moniker.”]

Sightless eyes watched the ship engage, a hand covered in a dirty glove didn’t bother to rise to shield a visor as the engines fired up and the shuttle vanished into the nightdark in silence and flickers of miniature sunbeams like a comet.

He turned, looking behind him and away from the Rift in the sky like a bleeding wound as he saw the Hell Horizon of the approaching battalions of the False God’s ships. He cracked his knuckles, tapping the side of the digivisor and whispering his commands.

“Server- destruct. Permissions code 8 dash 6 6 0 dash 3 5 7 7.”

::Permissions accepted, server wipe in t-minus 5...::

He smiled, mirthless and cold, and bolted for the two-man shuttle he’d had waiting on standby. The door hissed closed after him, his digivisor sending the activation codes to the shuttles main console and firing up the idle engines to max in seconds- jarring his passenger awake with a groan.

“Bout time. Thought I’d have to-nngh. Leave without ya.”

“As if you have the ability to stay awake, much less steer Captain.”, was the deadpan answer, “Stop forcing yourself to stay aware, let the sedatives work their magic- you’re gravely injured you know.”

“Yeah, well. Optimus ain’t exactly one to fuck around when it comes to finding out he’s wrong.”

“Hush, Rodimus.”, was the sighed command.

“That’s no way to talk to your old Cap’n, Aid.”

“Not a Captain anymore- The Last Light is rubble and this is my shuttle.”, Was First Aid’s soft answer as he took his seat and heard the distant rumble of carpet-bombing beginning to commence. He paused a moment, closing his eyes in a brief second of grieving for his fourth home lost to the ego of a mad God and then steadied himself. The soft trills and twitters of the console accepting his commands as his hands moved without him looking and he cocked an ear towards the badly beaten man in the passenger side.

“...I’m sorry we lost Magnus.”, was the curt statement.

“...Least we got the twins.”, was Rodimus’s reply, nodding his head to the darkened side of the shuttles interior where two teenage boys slept the sleep of the medicated- each sporting matching black eyes and nose patches, “That’s the important thing. That.. NeoCreator program... Why did Prowl even think it would wo-”

And with that, the shuttle took off at beyond breakneck speed; Rodimus wincing loudly and the twin boys snorting awake with shocked yelps in tandem. They steadied quickly, the Rift rising high in their vision through the heavy window of the shuttle before First Aid snapped the shuttle’s covers closed and dropped them into darkness.

“So. Why the nickname. Little Dragon? Sounds like a cartoon character for younglings learning their colors.”

“It’s something of a signal. To the right people on the other side.”, said First Aid with a grim smile, “...Assuming, of course- they made it. I hope they did- or I’m doomed and you’re dead and so are the boys.”

“Draw made it through.”, grumbled one of the boys with a yawn, “I know he did. His trackers are all still active.”

“Prowl’s trackers, you mean?”

“Nah, his own. He gave me the signal frequency just in case he uh. Vanished on Kimia for No Good Reason.”

“Aw, how sweet. You’re boyfriend taught you how to stalk him-”

“Shut up Forge, you fucking donkey-”

“Boys, no fuckin’ swearing!”

“Hold tight, engaging Rift in Five...”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Another comet in a distant night sky as rolling death drifted over the last vestiges of a paradox planet, smoke billowing from the ruins left behind.

On the other side of the Rift; the sky darkened like an electric storm- the terrifying expulsions of electricity that plagued the planet in the time before history could be remembered. 

Twin Ratchets ran themselves ragged as power flickered, as generators were kicked and revved awake and lines were checked with an obsessive frequency. The sky was pitch black and the Rift pulsed in the sky like a visible tear in an artery, like a threat without words.

Blue eyes watched, too dark coffee was drunk too fast because sometimes chemicals could be a lifeline.

“What is on your mind, double?”, asked a modified medic with an amused snort.

A sigh, a hand through still vibrantly red hair.

“I’m just thinkin’ about what Stormy said, that he’d found out about the paradox doubles coming through the Rift. They keep saying they’re being.. Directed? Sent? By someone.”

“Oho, another ragtag attempt at resisting my people’s Optimus. Goody-goody.”, was the exhausted mutter, “Do tell, what grand title did this one use.”

“It almost sounds. Childish. Cartoonish. Like a nickname, y’know?”

“Mhm. Well, don’t keep me in suspense.”

“It’s old Teorrex, for Little Dragon. Sounds like a cartoon charac- GGGHK!”

And suddenly, Ratchet is faced with a mad-eyed double, modified hand cinched around a strong neck and pulling them close enough for him to see fear and the flickers of enhancements in glimmering eyes.

“ARE YOU SURE. ARE YOU CERTAIN-”

“Y-hgk-YES NOW LEMME GO BEFORE I CHOKE ASSHOLE-”

He was released with apologies, whispered and almost frantic and suddenly Ratchet is watching his wilder twin skitter about like a spooked deer, snatching up things like keycard rings and digging about in desk drawers for-

“IS THAT A FUCKING PISTOL.”

“Yes, yes it fucking is!”, hissed the more vicious of the pair, “I have to go, I need to get to the Rift immediately-”

“Wh- What, hey wait WHY after hearin’ that silly name are you running off like a Petrex hen with it’s head lopped off-”

“Drache.”

A pause.

A sigh from the modified medic that seemed to deflate him and his ego at once, “Drache was a nickname Prowl had for me. Dragon, in auld Iaconian. It was... Not quite an inside joke, more likely it was derogatory because of his jealousy and, well. The fact he was absolutely out of his mind with zealotry. But Little Dragon as a name isn’t a name or a title. It’s a signal.”

“A signal?”

“Yes. The little me. The smaller me- That nickname could be First Aid on the run again; since I am gone, and he was CMO of the Last Light then... then when Optimus reclaimed it he...”

“...He woulda forced your Aid to become his medic, thinking your Aid could keep him alive like you used to.”

“Exactly. That name can’t be an accident- Not with how clever my boy is. Now; I have to go- I have to go and make sure; The Rift is acting up obviously, and it does this before a horde pushes through.”

Then the sky crackled alive with fingers of electricity and the Rift seemed to glow brighter and almost wider as the noses of shuttles pushed through, looking like a shark’s teeth growing in due to the the distance from the planet’s surface.

“Get goin’ then! I can hold down this place, I’ve held down worse now GIT!”

A mod from the modded double and he snatched his day coat, hurriedly pulling it on to flare behind him as he ran- polished leather shoes silent on the sanitized tiles as he barged through doors and out into the street.

Hurriedly, his vehicle rumbled to life, the dashcomm activating when he babbled his verbal code and his modded hands nearly dented the steering as he gripped onto it.

“Mmn, hello dear- Just woke up from a nap; wait, you should still be on shift love, love what is it-”

“Aid’s coming.”, he choked out as his speed climbed higher. His eyes burned almost like they needed to grieve as hope climbed too high behind a reinforced chest, “It’s Aid, love. I know it is. Double told me the name the Riftrunners have been giving.”

“What name, oh, the whole little dra...gon...”, Percy’s voice trailed off, and then silence before a breathless half sob leaked through, “Oh God. Oh God that’s right, Prowl always called you that stupid fucking name and Aid was. You made him CMO before...”

“I did. I shouldn’t have god DAMMIT I’ve never been stupider- Hell in a handbasket this is the biggest horde through the Rift yet-”

The commline dropped as his vehicle’s motors died with a shriek; as massive shuttles drifted through with scalds and scorchmarks all along the sides and stamped with city names he could feel were long gone.

He stumbled out, jacket flapping in the heated downdrafts that kept bursting through in random intervals and then he saw it- as the last shuttle pushed through and the Rift began to shrink back down to it’s usual size once more.

He saw it, careening crookedly through the sky at an uncontrolled angle with red lights bright along each side... and the Mad Mod Medic began to run. He shouldered past Enforcers and field medics, modified eyes on the sky and blown wide as enhancements zoomed in best they could; soot dusted his clothes as he got ever closer to the hellscape of a landing zone the massive shuttles had chosen as their own systems gave out and he watched in sudden and new terror as the much smaller spacecraft spiralled down and slammed into the ground at what he prayed was not terminal velocity.

And he ran. He felt the singe of seams in clothes overheating as he got closer and closer to the still bubbling hull and gagged as he breathed too deep the fumes of burning protectant coatings and crackling systems.

He pounded his fist on the shuttle’s visible and half melted door, bellowing a name loud enough for his forgotten God to hear.

“MULLEIN, MULLEIN ARE YOU IN THERE, CAN YOU HEAR ME!!”

The trill of the lock releasing, and a crackle in his earpiece comm.

“Papa, hel-”, and static.

He ran his hands over the shuttle door, looking for any point to get a grip on even as he heard Enforcers behind him.

“Sir, hands up, this is a restricted zone-”

“MY SON IS IN HERE NOW STEP DOWN OR YOU NEVER SEE YOUR FAMILIES AGAIN!”

Steam trickled from between megalodon’s teeth, eyes wide and glowing in unholy glimmers of green and blue and sickly hazmat yellow. He turned back, snarling again and flexing modified hands to expose knifelike claw implants that had long ago replaced fingernails. Still simmering metal screamed like it was in pain as he dug hands into where seams once were before the Rift burned it all together, and he began to pull. He pulled until he felt shoulders creak, until the nanomodded heart in his chest seemed to scream in time with the steel and he had to pause- coughing toxicity and pressure steam before his moved his head to crack his neck and start again.

Inside the shuttle, Aid coughed weakly; Halfway through the push through the Rift internal oxygenation systems had failed. He had masked the twin boys and Rodimus but all three had fallen unconscious as sedatives and lack of air slowly began to overtake them.

And Aid had simply tried to breath quick and soft and small; just like all those years ago when his Nana bundled him close and told him to breathe by her heart; when the air was hot like it was now, when the smoke tasted acrid where it leaked in from the crash and it smelled like Vaporex burning.

And then, there was light. Flashlight.

Flashlights illuminating a broad-shouldered silhouette with shimmering eyes and a crisp-shouldered businessman’s coat.

“H-Hello. Father.”, rasped First Aid as his digivisor finally shorted out, “Rodim-s. Stitches. Not holding-”

Aid passed out then, feeling his body relax and weaken as the bellows of unfamiliar voices called for breather masks and oxygen tanks. As he felt familiar modified and calloused hands reach in after the weight of Rodimus and the boys was moved from the broad chest he inherited from Optimus’s right hand medic.

The paradox Ratchet stood tall, Enforcers backing away at the few mods that had activated in his panic and fury and he lifted his Aid from the destroyed shuttle and held him close.

“Call the New Iacon Research Hospital.”, he rasped, “Call the red Ratchet.”

{The between place glimmered like the Rift. Aid looked around, touching his face and knowing he was dreaming because his vision was so very bright. His steps clacked like he walked the halls of an afterlife his Nana once pondered the existence of.

“Mullein. Lee, my baby.”

He turned, recognizing that voice.

“Nana! Nana where are you!”

“Foller my voice, young’n. Your papa’s worried sick now.”

“NANA! NANA WAIT WAIT FOR ME!”

“Oh baby- it ain’t time for you t’follow me so far yet.”, were the words that echoed around him as his temples began to throb, “Jus’ follow m’voice. I’m so proud a’you li’l one. Now g’wan. Your Papa is so worr-”}

-”ied about you. And so am I, my sweet boy.”

“Nana!”

Aid sat bolt upright, seeing only vague shadowy grey shapes once more before something clicked near his ear and his digivisor flickered back into activation to once more give him his crystalline color vision.

Percy sniffed grandly, eye swollen and red, “Oh my baby- you c-c-cAME HOME!”

He grunted as Percy threw himself against Aid’s chest, and his arms went around his Baba on instinct and he looked slowly around with a hard wince.

“Head is POUNDING-”

“You were on the way out young’n.”

He whipped his head to the side, instinctively reaching for a sidearm he realized he no longer had, “...Father?”

“Nah, well. Kinda? I’m... his double. His paradox twin. The Rift it... Leads to our universe. Our version of it, anyway.”

Aid raised his eyebrows, “...This has to be a joke.”

“It’s not.”, was the sigh on his other side, and he turned- and couldn’t help the shrieked swear as he clung tight to his Baba and made the vampiric sniper wheeze.

The double Aid’s stared at each other, the sighted one moving his visor up to show the entirety of his annoyed expression, “Get it out now, dude- I really don’t want a repeat of the Brainstorm’s okay? If you’re gonna try and kill me, do it now-”

“The Warmaster. Is here.”, were the growled words that made several eyes widen slightly, “And WHERE is that rude, narcissistic, borderline nymphomaniacal ratfink.”

“Uhm. Well, he is with his Quickdraw. They’ve been sitting with the Rodimus you brought in and the twin boys. His Quickdraw was rather antsy about them all.”

“Yeah, he and young Dominus the Second have been an item since they started their study years not long before the Rift.”

“...Right. Uh, anyway yeah! That’s where he is; with our daughter also, she was fussy and I didn’t think you needed a crying toddler in the room coming back from nearly suffocating.”

“YOU PROCREATED WITH THAT PILE OF MISMATCHED ALLELES, ARE YOU BRAINDEAD OR SIMPLY MENTAL?!”

“HEY, THAT’S MY HUSBAND YOU’RE ACCUSING OF BEING A MENTAL ILLNESS, NOW-”

“YOUR HUSBAND ONCE SENT ME A VOICE CLIP OF HIM BRAGGING ABOUT RAILING MY BABA BECAUSE I REMINDED HIM HE WAS SCARED OF FATHER!”

“HE WHAT?!”

And with those words, a modified hand gently landed on top of dark waves cut through with auburn highlights.

“Storm’s sins against you aside, son.”, rumbled a familiar voice, “Welcome back from the brink.”

He turned his head back to see his Father, face tired and reddened near the edges of modified eyes. Aid twitched his nose, his version of a squint.

“Father. You have been crying. You know that can corrode the facial circuitry-”

And then words were muffled as both Percy and the newer Aid were enveloped in a breath-killing hug; tight enough to make natural spines creak.

Aid coughed weakly, patting at his father to be released and hiding his grin at the show of emotion.

Percy held his son’s face, frantically peering about and checking for any more damage before Aid sighed and laid his hands on Percy’s.

“Baba, I’m alright now.”

“I know, I know but. What would have possessed you to do something so bloody RASH?! What if he had killed you?!”

“He was going to.”, said Aid softly, jumping slightly as his double crossed his arms to lean against the wall, “Something’s gone... terribly wrong. There’s been disappearances in the higher echelons- nobility vanishing without a trace, prisoners being found in pieces in their cells with very particular parts missing.”

The paradox Ratchet’s jaw set in a grim line, “...He’s decaying.”

“Yeah, he is.”, sighed Aid, “He thought for some reason I knew how to replicate Father’s remedies and when he realized I couldn’t, well. He sent Rodimus after me... with another agent.”

“Who?”

“...The Executioner. Magnus.”

The room went cold, and the sighted Aid glanced from face to face before looking at his own papa and staying silent by the look in his eyes.

“The planet on that side of the Rift is. Dying. Maybe already dead. The Matrix’s corruption is overtaking the False God faster than he can be put back together and he’s finally gone totally mad. I had to evacuate who I could. I had to, Baba.”

Aid hung his head, “...I couldn’t let Vaporex happen all over again, not while I could do something.”

A sigh, “That’s why you used that name. You knew I and your Baba had gone through. You knew, if I were alive, I’d pick up on it.”

“I’d expect Der Drache to know his hatchling was trying to get safe.”

A chuckle, “You’ve done well, First Aid.”

A softly hopeful twitch to a mouth that this universe’s Aid remembered having all too many times.

“I’ve never been more proud of you.”

“....Not even when I blackmailed Prowl into bankrolling my first single-shuttle?”

“This is even better than that- but only just.”

There was a knock at the door, the sound of a nurse’s voice calling gently, “Pardon me, a visitor for- uhm. kleyne.. something, oh dear.”

“Send them in.”, rumbled both Ratchet’s in unison before giving a half hearted squint to each other.

The door slammed open then, and the nurse yelped as the figure in the doorway grunted and the medical boot on their leg thudded into the room. He leaned against the doorframe, giving an exhaustedly fond look to the Aid on the bed.

“Kiddo, when you tol’ me you’d be tailin’ in a shuttle you coulda TOLD ME that the shuttle you was tailin’ in had injured aboard.”

“Sorry, Uncle Hide. You were worried enough shepherding the refugees and I needed you crisp and alert just in case it all went tits up tango, so to speak.”

“HIDE?!”

Ironhide, or the paradox double of him, looked up and grinned before digging in a pocket and pulling out the remnants of a cigar and tucking it between his teeth, “You and Percy pumped out a helluva rebel there Ratch. He made his Nana proud. Twice an’ double, he saved.”

The unmodified medic watched in amusement as his modded double bolted at the speed of too fast, barreling into the paradox Ironhide and crushing him into a near-pneumatic hug.

“L-Lemme fuckin’ go you gotdamn hellhound, they JUST stabilized m’spinal rods again!”