Empurata AU [Shockwave/Ratchet]

For a prompt by docmanda. This ship is way interesting~

Bonus fic/drabble idea:

They found him alone in the ruins of the Autobot base they destroyed. Mute, malnourished, abandoned, malformed. It should be unfortunate the Autobot survived, they think, as they toss the medic to Shockwave’s explicit care.

The entire Decepticon base falls into silence as the Autobot is dragged across the ship. There is no doubt who did this to medic. Shockwave finds himself with a Ratchet so traumatized he’s barely functional, unwilling to even refuel. Stripped of the tools of his functioning, he’s lost all will to live. Unacceptable, to see the medic catatonic because of his faction. Deplorable, even.

Shockwave ensures the Autobot is nourished, feeding him when he’s asleep, to the extent that he sedates Ratchet just so he could hook a line to his fuel tank. He gives him a voice, as the Autobots were so inept they left his voicebox severed from his vocalizer. Still, he does not speak. He fixes the dents of his plating, leaving the Autobot’s colors intact. It is the least he could do to respect the medic’s identity. He treats Ratchet as one would a frightened turbofox, with calculated steps and a patient, outstretched hand. He doesn’t let the Autobot out of his sight, as he’s proven to start picking at his exposed wires and puncture his plating, no matter how many times he’s had to put rubber on his claws.

The Decepticon infantry watches from afar as Shockwave treats Ratchet. They do not dare intervene nor approach the two, both appalled by the thought that the ‘good’ Autobots could strip their own medic and the fear that any interaction with the medic might cause him to do the inevitable to himself. Megatron and Starscream however, want the Autobot medic gone, left alone to rust. Shockwave reassures them that his methods will have Ratchet functional again. The medic is, after all, a scientist of equal mind as himself, a valuable partner to have by his side, after all things said and done. This is Ratchet, friends as they were in the academy. He will come around. 

In his lab, Shockwave has lost count the number of times he has uplinked to Ratchet via the cortical psychic patch. Being a victim himself of empurata is of no consequence to him; Shockwave navigates Ratchet’s psyche with ease, witnessing time and time again the betrayal of Ratchet’s faction upon finding out about his role in aiding the Decepticons with their spacebridge. He tastes the medic’s fear as his ‘friends’ capture him and put him under. Experiences that moment of headlessness all empurats share, of waking up with aching welds and clipped wires. He feels himself be thrown in a cell, weeks passing as he runs on fumes, of being crushed by the ceiling coming down on him. He feels nothing as he is taken by Starscream’s armada, staring up at the Decepticon High Command from the floor. He feels time waste away as his mind floats. It is in these memories that Shockwave talks to Ratchet, guides him through the memory loops, dispels the dark thoughts lingering in his mind in isolation. 

It is a slow process, of treatments in reality and in dreams. Eventually, he succeeds as calculated. The day Ratchet finally speaks in the midst of a breakdown is the sweetest success Shockwave has ever tasted. The Autobot stands still, shaking, looking at the gap where his servos should have been. Shockwave turns at the sight. He holds Ratchet close as the medic repeats:

“The Autobots did this. The Autobots did this. The Autobots did this.”

To this, Shockwave reassures, “The Decepticons are with you now.”

And Ratchet, upon hearing this, looks up at the face similar to his, and a new dawn awakens in him.