The Life of Dung Chapter 1: Brightest of Them All

It's the quiet end of a cycle at the clinic, and it would seem that there are no more new patients for the cycle. In fact, any sensible clinic worker would probably start packing his bags and getting ready to leave. Outside, mechs are leaving work to head to the bars as the sun starts to dip behind the horizon. However, a knock sounds on the door, followed by a meek, "H-Hello? I don't mean to intrude.." The shy knock comes again, and the sound of mechanical feet shuffling can be heard.
Closing time at the clinic was Ratchet's favorite time of the evening. It meant one short trip to Maccadam's and a few good tonics in his system. He was putting away patient records in a filing cabinet and went to head out when he heard the second knock.The medic checked the time of the wall and groaned. Another patient at this hour? It was probably Drift or Hot Rod ... or Shiftlock dropping someone else off at his door. Oi. These kids...
The door to the clinic opened and the grumpy medic stood in the doorway, an optic ridge cocked. What a tiny little mech to have such enormous eyebrows. He was very odd-looking. "... Can I help you?"
"I'm sorry to be bothering you so late," the tiny orange mech says. It will quickly become clear to Ratchet that he has suffered some damage to his helm. His wrists also look bruised. "If you'd like, I can come back tomorrow," Rung says, sounding rather anxious. Why does he sound so nervous? Oh, why does he keeps looking over his shoulder as if afraid some monstrous predator will spring out and devour him at any moment?
Ratchet shifted his gaze behind Rung, but he didn't see anyone hiding in the shadows that might be a threat to the mech's safety. He stepped to the side and motioned for Rung to come to the clinic. "I'm always willing to help a 'Bot in need, no matter the time of night. Come on in," he said. "It looks like you could use a few repairs." He lead Rung to one of the rooms and patted the berth. "Go ahead and sit there. Tell me what ails you."
Rung makes a small sound of ailment and puts his hand to his helm. "I was roughed up by some Autobot cadets, I do not know the extent of the damage.. but." He shrugs."Not too bad, I don't think, but it does give me some pain." He smiles at Ratchet. "You are kind, thank you for attending to me despite the hour," he says.
Ratchet grabbed a scanner to see the extent of Rung's damage. "Autobot cadets?" he asked, a frown decorating his face. "Why would they do that? What happened exactly?" He brought out some tools to start the repairs on Rung's helm. "Oh," Rung says a little sadly, "I guess they thought I was misbehaving? I'm not really sure. Maybe I was." Rung looks around the clinic in awe and pity, apparently saddened by the state of the patients in the clinic, but also curious about.. well everything. He smiles a little. "What an interesting experience," Rung says, "it has been a while since I've been inside a clinic."
"If you're that confused about whether or not you 'misbehaved', then you definitely /didn't/ misbehave," Ratchet said, rolling his optics. "Do you know the names of these cadets?" Orion Pax would hear of this. He wouldn't tolerate bullying in the ranks of the Autobots. "It's been a while, huh? That's a good thing. What's your name? What do you do?"
"No," he says, shaking his helm. "Don't worry about it friend, it's in the past now."He glances outside nervously before looking back at Ratchet. "Hm.. yes, you're right,I suppose." He pauses. "You are a doctor,is it normal to have tune ups on a regular basis?" he asks, as if he had never gotten one before. "I am Rung," he says quietly, and perhaps Ratchet won't catch his name, because just at that moment, a group of loud and over energized mechs wander past the entrance of the clinic, drowning out Rung's voice. "I am a psychiatrist." He pauses. "Perhaps it would be good, since I am here, for me to have a tuneup. That is, if you don't mind."
Ratchet frowned. Don't worry about it? If this poor little mech was getting beat up out there on the streets, of course he would worry about it! He would have to treat all of his injuries, after all! Pulled back from his little mind babble, Ratchet scoffed. "Of /course/ it's normal to get a tuneup! Everyone needs one! ... Have you never gotten one?" Just then, the most annoying mechs passed by the clinic and Ratchet wanted to hurl a few wrenches at their obnoxious helms, but then he'd have to treat them for injuries. That was the one bane of being a medic. "Huh? Did you say Dung?" That was a horrible name! Poor guy ... no wonder he was being bullied. “You're a ... psychiatrist." Ah, a doctor of the mind (AKA, not a doctor at all). He sighed. "Alright, yeah, I can give you a tuneup."
"No," Rung answers with complete honesty. "I have never received a tuneup." He looks guilty. "Oh ... I just never felt the need for one I suppose," he says. Then he looks thoughtful. "Well, come to think of it, I think I had my transformation cog examined, shortly after Nova received Trion's blessing to become Prime? Ah, yes, I did. Does that count?" he asks innocently. Rung cringes when Ratchet gets his name wrong. "No ... no that's not," he sighs, then shakes his helm as Ratchet interrupts him and makes a comment about him being a psychiatrist. "Yes I know, not a doctor by your standards," he says. "Oh, good," he says, "but what does it involve?"
"No, it doesn't count. Being examined is a lot different from getting a tuneup or getting repairs," Ratchet said. He went about preparing his tools before dropping one of them and spinning around. "Wait, did you say /Nova's/ transformation to Prime? You're a lot older than you look, Dung!" It made him laugh. "Tuneups aren't that intimidating. I'll just check your systems and make sure they're running smoothly, clean up rust spots, clear debris from your gears, clean out your filters ... it'll fly by, don't worry." He finished with the repairs to Rung's helm and took a look at his wrists. "Oh and I'll run a few tests to make sure your transformation cog is running smoothly."
"Mm, I suppose," Rung says belatedly. "Thank you?" he says, arching a brow at Ratchet. "Ah, yes, I remember writing an article on the inner psyche of Nova Prime. That was back during the Golden Age." Rung sighs, sounding nostalgic. He frowns. "It's Rung," he says a little vehemently, unfortunately he says this just as Ratchet starts laughing, so the medic probably won't hear him. Again. "Oh," He says, suddenly looking relieved, "I was about request if I could bypass the spark examination part of the tune up," he says, "but I suppose if it isn't even part of it, then I won't," he says cheerfully.
The fact that Rung wrote an article on Nova Prime was ... pretty cool, to be honest. "Ah, the Golden Age. I miss those days," Ratchet admitted, feeling pretty nostalgic. "You're still getting a spark examination," he clarified. "That's part of the 'checking systems' part of the tuneup. Actually, that's the most important part."
"Although I often wonder if it was worth the great war that preceded it," Rung says thoughtfully. Wait just how old is this guy? He remembered the war before Nova became Prime??
Rung frowns. "Then I would request for your own sake that I bypass that part of the tuneup," he says, "and if you simply will not, I must request that my chest cavity remained closed entirely the whole time."
From the sound of it, Rung was nearly as old as Kup or Ironhide. "Uh .... right," he said, unsure of how to respond to that. It wasn't like /he/ was around when that happened. "You want to request for /my/ sake to leave your spark alone?" He narrowed his optics and furrowed his brows, a look of suspicion on his face. "Why are you requesting that? Is something wrong?"
"No, no," Rung says, "Nothing's wrong." But the way he's waving his hands, and arching his brows seems to indicate that he does have something to hide. "It is possible to conduct a spark examination with my chest cavity closed.. correct?" he asks. He glances outside. The sun has set, and what with it being after hours at the clinic, it's pretty dim in the room. Rung frowns anxiously.
Ratchet frowned. He /could/ perform the examination with his scanner, but now Rung had piqued his interest with that guilty attitude. "... No, I'm afraid I'll have to open it up," he lied. He stepped closer to the psychiatrist. "Now just sit back and let me work."
Rung's optics narrow. "Is the spark examination really a necessary component of the tuneup?" he asks. He shifts uncomfortably on the berth, glancing at the ground. "Fine. You might as well perform the rest of the tuneup first, anyhow."
"Fair enough," the medic replied. He went about clearing out any debris in Rung's joints and gears before applying some oil. Any rust spots the psychiatrist had were completely removed, leaving his armor spic and span ... relatively speaking. He wasn't going to give Rung a good washing and wax. "Alright, how's that? Transform so I can see if there's any problems with your transformation cog."
Rung nods, "A little better, I suppose, but I don't really feel or see any real difference," he says, with a sigh. Ratchet might be surprised to find that Rung is in nearly mint condition despite his age. He has very few rust spots and little debris in his joints.
The psychiatrist hesitates again. "Is this really necessary?" he asks again, with a sigh. After a moment's pause, he transforms. Into the weirdest... thing Ratchet has ever seen. In fact, that's really what it is... a thing. Unidentifiable, and it's function,well, that's a complete mystery too. His alt mode is oblong in shape, with a circular joint on one end.
"..........."
Ratchet opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn't entirely sure what it was. Nor did he know what /Rung/ was. This wasn't an altmode, it was a ... a ... uh....? "What the frag are you?" he asked, kneeling down to pick up the whatever-it-was. "Are you some sort of bat? Magnifying glass? Pin?" He was trying not to laugh at this point. He cleared his throat. "Er, anyway ... it looks like your transformation cog is fine. Everything's fine, actually. You're in tiptop shape except for the minor injuries you had coming in. I should really check your spark, though."
Rung protoforms, slightly annoyed. "No, I don't know," he says, putting his hand on his helm. "Thank you," he says, "for reasserting the fact that my alt mode is a freak show." Rung frowns. "I'll pass," Rung says hurriedly, and starts heading for the door. "Thank you for all your help, you've been very kind," he huffs.
Ratchet frowned slightly. "Your alt mode isn't a freak show. It's just ... not what I'm familiar with, that's all," he said. "Everyone I've treated have had vehicles as alternate modes, not objects." He sighed. "... Fine. I'll let you get away with no spark examination /for now/, but mark my words, you're going to come in for a checkup again and I'll do it!" He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "See you later, Rung."
Ah, so he /was/ listening to the mech, it seemed.
But Rung hasn't run away just yet. Outside, there are some Autobot cadets roaming freely on patrol. The tiny orange psychiatrist runs back inside the clinic just at that moment and closes the doors quickly, his optics frantic. So apparently he's on the run from the law. He looks up at Ratchet innocently. "..sorry about that.."
Ratchet was surprised to see him run back so quickly. Then he noticed some cadets and realized that this mech must have actually been 'misbehaving' as he called it. That was just the medic's luck to get mixed up with criminals. First Drift, then Whirl, now Rung. "... Do you ... need a place to lay low for a while? I mean, this is a clinic, though I don't condone whatever criminal acts you've committed."
"No.. no.. thank you," Rung says, waving a hand at Ratchet. "It's alright. I don't want to put you in danger." He glances nervously out the window at the cadets outside.
He meanders over to the berth he was sitting on just a moment ago. He frowns, and idly picks up the scanner Ratchet had been using a moment ago. He turns around so that Ratchet can't see what he's doing, and runs the scanner over the front of his chassis. Then with a surprised, "Oh!" he drops the scanner on the floor. If Ratchet leans over to look at what it reads, he'll see the words big and red on the screen--ERROR.
He didn't want to put the medic in danger, yet he was staying in the clinic anyway. Apparently he was just waiting for the cadets to leave. Ratchet would give him a tarp to use as a disguise or something. He watched Rung mess around over by the berth, unsure of what he was truly doing until he noticed the flash of the scanner. "Don't touch that!" he scolded and snatched the scanner away. "What the ...?" Error? Was the damned thing broken? Did Rung break it..? Or was this related to his ... persistence in /not/ having his spark examined. "You need to tell me what's going on."
"I'm /fine/," the psychiatrist insists, "I /really/ am." But he's putting his hand over his chest cavity. Perhaps out of pain, perhaps out of fear,the question as to why will go unanswered but this much will be clear to Ratchet:he definitely has something to hide.
Ratchet was going to get to the bottom of whatever this mech was hiding. He could knock Rung out with a blast of his EMP generator and then just open up the cavity and see for himself, though it would go against his ethics as a doctor. Rung would never trust him again, that was for sure. Unfortunately, this one he would have to wait out. In his free time, he'd be theorizing about the psychiatrist. Maybe he'd ask Pharma. "... If you insist," Ratchet grumbled. "Stay as long as you want until it's safe to leave, but don't stay too long. I'd /like/ to go home sometime tonight."
But the psychiatrist is staring at the scanner in a worried fashion now, his optics locked onto the flashing message on the screen of the device. "....."
"Well...perhaps..." Rung trails off. "If you really must know.. Perhaps you could give me some insight.." He comes closer and closer to Ratchet, until he's inches from the medic. And then, he opens his chest cavity, just a little. But the light that escapes from that tiny opening is enough to nearly blind Ratchet...
"Ack!" Ratchet shielded his optics when he was blinded by that terribly bright light.He held his servo there for a moment until his optics could adjust to such intensity."Is that .... is that your /spark/?" he asked. Never before had he seen someone's spark so bright! What could it mean? To be honest, he wasn't sure.
The Autobot patrollers suddenly come to a halt. "Did you see that?" One of them says to the other. Approaching footsteps. "Hey, who's there? It's after hours.."
Rung gasps quietly and shuts his chassis chamber quickly. He grabs Ratchet's arm and drags him away to the back of the clinic, into a maintenance closet. "See! This is why I didn't want to show you before.."
Ratchet did /not/ appreciate being dragged into a maintenance closet with this strange mech. If someone actually /was/ in the clinic and opened the door what would they think? Ugh.
He frowned down at Rung. "I own this clinic," he said. "I can easily tell them that I'm staying late to organize files. That's not important right now, though. How long has your spark been that way?"
Rung peeks out a little, to see if it's safe to come out yet. But apparently the Autobots haven't left, Rung shuts the closet door hurriedly. "You should have said that /before/," Rung says, frowning. "And I don't think that excuse would work for me."
"It.. it is important..!" But he shakes his helm in surrender. "What do you mean? It wasn't /that/ bright, was it..?"
"There's still a lot of static in my visual receptors," Ratchet said. "So yes, it was/extremely/ bright. My optics sting, too." He leaned against the back of the closet. "Has it always been that way? Since you were created? A spark with that intensity would surely burn you from the inside out..."
Rung's optics widen. "Oh.. Primus. I'm sorry." Then he does a double take and frowns,folding his arms. "Wait, I'm /not/ sorry! I warned you to not open my chassis to look at it for your own sake!" He shakes a disciplinary finger at the doctor. "I..I don't really know. I only recently discovered it."
"ME?!" Ratchet asked. "/You/ were the one to open it!" He smacked Rung's finger away before calming down a little. "You only recently discovered it? Then something must have happened to ... make it that way. When did you notice it and what happened before that?"
"Because you were demanding to see it!" Rung snaps back. He makes a sound of annoyance and steps back, arms folded. Then he sighs. "Oh, fine," he mutters, "I was a little concerned when I discovered my spark had caused your scanner to malfunction,my apologies. But you were the one pushing for me to expose myself in a way that I wasn't comfortable with in the first place," Rung finishes, raising an eyebrow at Ratchet.
"Well that can't be true for certain, since you must recall that I have never gone for a tuneup before, how else would I know about it? I don't remember doing anything out of the ordinary," Rung answers.
"So you mean recently as in ten kliks ago," Ratchet said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright ... Why have you never gotten a tuneup then? You didn't know about your spark situation at all? I'll tell you what, I have /never/ seen anything like that," he admitted. "It's so strange. You're the epitome of a healthy mech with a blinding spark, even though you're extremely old." He frowned. "I don't get it."
"Well, yes, and no," Rung answers honestly, "I didn't know.. it was /that/ bright. I had a.. notion that my spark was different from everyone else's, back before the Clampdown I tried to join the Autobots. As per military protocol, they conducted a physical examination of me,then promptly rejected me due to the fact that my spark 'was too volatile.' I inquired, and as you most likely know, the raw energy of a spark coming in contact with weapons grade substances causes explosions of incalculable measure. They told me that if any special circumstances akin to what I just described were to happen to me.. well, it was just simply too dangerous to risk."
That's rough," Ratchet said, feeling sympathy for the mech. "Well, I can try and see if I can put a dampener on it. Maybe then you could join the Autobots if you still want to. Besides that, I'm not really sure what I can do. I definitely want to see you back here often, though. You've officially become my best patient."
"Oh really?" Rung doesn't think he's been a very good patient what with having nearly blinded the doctor and dragged him into a maintenance closet against his will. He gives the doctor a surprised look. "Er, thank you, but you see, I've never gone for a tuneup because I never felt the need for one. I have never suffered any problems, due to my spark or anything else for that matter," Rung says. "I don't know if putting a dampener on it will help me or hurt me."
"That makes sense. You're in tiptop shape. The most I did was clean off some dirt and repair those minor wounds," the medic replied. "I don't know what a dampener will do,either. It's up to you whether or not you want to test it. I could use you as a case study if there are others out there like you."
Rung deadpans, then peeks out of the maintenance closet again, to see if the Autobot cadets have left them alone for now. He glances back at Ratchet. "You think there are others like me?" he says, sounding curious. "What do you think could happen if I don't put the dampener on?" he asks.
Ratchet peeked out of the closet after him and grabbed the mech's wrist, leading him to one of the empty rooms in the back. "As much as I believe in everyone being unique in our talents and looks, I can't believe you would be the only one with this condition," he said. "If you are, they might just keep you locked up in a lab somewhere to study you for the rest of your life." That would be horrible. Ratchet wanted to learn about Rung, but he wasn't going to be brutal about it or force the poor mech. "You already explained what would happen without a dampener. I don't know if the Autobots were correct in their prediction, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Wouldn't want you bumping into a weapon and blowing up half of the city, would we?"
Rung frowns. "I'm sure the circumstances would have be a lot more specific than that, but the way it was described to me, well, I think perhaps the damage would be greater than half a city. But I'm not sure. They were vague about it; they mostly just wanted me to know that they were not going to let me in, and that was all." He shrugs. He doesn't seem too torn up about it. He rubs his helm. "I suppose you're right," he says to Ratchet, "it wouldn't hurt to have a try." The psychiatrist meekly allows himself to be dragged out of the closet.
More than half the city? That was ... unbelievable. Despite his small stature and meek personality, this little mech was packing quite the bomb in his chassis. Ratchet sat him down on a berth. "I'll be right back. Whenever I attach it, let me know the moment you feel any discomfort or strange sensations." He nodded once before leaving the room, coming back a few minutes later with a small round device. It had a miniature EMP generator connected to the top with some wires and a clamp on the bottom that would attach to the outer ring of Rung's spark chamber.
"...Alright," Rung says quietly. He watches as Ratchet hooks him up to the small round device. He looks a little unnerved. "So what does the dampener do, exactly?" he says, "...it will diminish my spark's energy output?"
"That's the definition of a dampener, yes," he replied. Everything was in place. All he had to do was switch it on. "Are you ready?"
Rung glances a little anxiously down at the dampener, before turning to Ratchet. "Yes, I'm ready."
Ratchet nodded solemnly, feeling a bit of anxiety himself. He was afraid that it could backfire and end up taking out the city anyway. Oh well, he lived a full--No, no he didn't. He wasn't a religious mech, but he prayed that it wouldn't end up that way. "Alright, here we go." And he switched the device on.
Rung seems to be alright for the first few kliks. He glances serenely over at the doctor. "I don't feel any different." A pause. Then, suddenly the machine makes a loud sizzling sound and shuts off. Rung looks quizzically over at Ratchet. "..."
"......" Ratchet stared down at the device and back up at Rung. ".... You broke my dampener," he said.
"...." The psychiatrist doesn't say anything for a moment. Cue the awkward silence. "Er, that isn't your only one, is it?"
Ratchet sighed dramatically. "I have the parts to make another one," he said. "But EMP generators are expensive! I think I should first ... study your spark more beforeI try to treat it," he said. "I'll need the temperature, energy emissions ..." He trailed off, thinking about it. "For now, just be really careful getting around. Don't go near any weapons, I suppose. You may want to stay here at the clinic."
"Oh, I'm sorry.." Rung says softly. "I suppose it was worth a try, though," he says, heaving a sigh. "Yes.. I suppose. I've done just fine so far." Did Rung forget to mention that he was almost crushed by a burning building? And then everyone had thought he was dead a for while.. Rung then blinks, and glances down at the dampener,which has started to hum again. "Look! It isn't broken after all," the psychiatrist says cheerfully.
A pause. Then, "Oh.. I feel weak." And then, he's out, like a broken lightbulb, going into severe spark arrest.
"Yeah, I suppose," he said, though he still wanted to keep Rung in the clinic to keep an optic on him. Just then, Rung collapsed onto the berth and Ratchet felt panic rise in his spark. He sprang into action, first reaching in to remove the dampener though it burned his servo. He then grabbed an energon infuser and inserted it straight into the mech's spark, hoping to jumpstart his spark once more. "You're not getting away from me that easily!"
Rung remains inert and unresponsive, and it seems that Ratchet's effort are in vain..
Ratchet frowned and made a few more attempts with the energon infuser. How was this possible? He didn't think the dampener was even half as powerful as Rung's spark and it managed to completely deplete it? "Damnit, don't die on me," he said lowly, setting the infuser aside to get a larger, more powerful defibrillation system. He plugged the clamps around Rung's spark chamber and powered up the device before delivering a powerful jolt.
Rung lies there, still inert after all of Ratchet's desperate attempts to revive him.His slight form trembles when Ratchet delivers the powerful jolt from the defibrillator. Then, he lies there, still unaffected. A klik or two later, the psychiatrist suddenly sits up, as if the prior events hadn't occurred at all. "That was a refreshing nap," the psychiatrist says to Ratchet, "thank you." He stands up, and heads for the exit of the clinic, now that the cadets are gone. "I really appreciate everything, doctor," Rung says, "but I must get going. I'll visit again if I have any trouble." And with that, the orange mech disappears out the door and into the night.
After so many attempts to bring Rung back from the brink of death, Ratchet collapsed in a seat next to him. He held his face in his servos, feeling like an utter failure for being unable to keep his patient alive, much less help him. This was all his fault. Before he was able to hurtle into too much depression, that fraggin' mech just sprung up like a, well, /spring/, acting as if nothing had happened. Ratchet's jaw dropped as he watched Rung get up and say goodbye. 'Refreshing nap' the mech had said. /What/?! Just /what/? The medic wasn't able to say a word. All he could do was watch Rung leave his clinic happily and wave awkwardly.