I Have No Excuse

Chapter 11

Prowl was shunning me. He did however shift over to the side of tank when Blaster came by. Then when I came by he'd turn around. This was not how I wanted things to go when I saw him again. I suppose I did get him locked up in a confined tank. At least he didn't straight up jet to the other side and eye me warily like he did with everyone else.

The water was filled with dissolved supplements and medication to boost his immune system and help him to heal. Everything that went in was checked and double checked including food much like for the other one in the next room. However at least Prowl ate and rested. The other would pace despite his wounds and refused to eat anything we offered him. Fish was a no. Shellfish didn't even result in any investigation. Cleaning out the decaying fish was troublesome with how aggressive he acted. He snapped at anything that entered to try and clean the tank. Lunged at the sides when anyone got too close. Ratchet was pissed that we had to drug him each time we had to clean the tank almost as much as the fact that he kept reopening his wounds. Aid was worrying over the possibility of infection and starvation.

I was sure Ratchet was getting close to the point of suggesting we tie him down and shove the fish down his throat. After a time Arcee suggested that we just don't even offer food for a few days if he was just going to refuse it and boost his probability of infection. That was a straight up no and a lecture from here to hell and back. Then Eric, a.k.a. Mirage suggested live 'prey' to add some familiarity to the ocean. However that was ejected over the fact that there was no way he was going to be able to catch anything in his state even if it was a confine space. It was a good idea, but encouraging him to move was not. We were officially running out of options and force feeding was quickly climbing up the list.

Prowl was healing fine, but he wouldn't be returning to the ocean anytime soon. Even if the other started cooperating and healed they wouldn't be able to survive long out there. Then there was the fact that they would no doubt return to the bridge to cause trouble. It was where their nest had been and they all seemed pretty convinced that they were trying to take back the area. They did have nowhere else to go and it was hard to find a safe place to build a nest as it was and to find another when they only had one other pod member was suicide. They were stuck by the shore. The only other option was to try and merge one broken pod with another.

However that was harder than it sounded. A broken pod was wary and adding just one member was difficult as it was. Putting two different pods together was much harder. Sometimes it worked and other times, which tended it be more often, it did not and ended in a fierce fight if there wasn't enough space. That was the reason there was one main tank that was nearly three times as large as a standard tank in the back that was commonly called the merger. Well Blurr called it the bloodbath behind Ratchets back. It usually kept them from fighting over territory in a new space. If they separated themselves from each other for longer than a two week period without any sign of curiosity of the other or others or showed too much aggression in that time it was a pretty clear indication that they weren't willing to merge.

So far it was clear Geminus Avium or the dual winged mers that formed trines would not join a pod. They flat out refused to and only merged with others of its kind. Magis Avium or the winged would merge with practically any pod if accepted from both sides from what they had seen over the years. Very few pods that held a winged mer would rarely have more than one. Magis Parvus or the minis as they were dubbed would either be in a pod of just minis or they would seek out larger mer pods. Fractura Videte on the other hand were even smaller and they had a different relationship and were much easier. They would hatch together and stick together and find a larger mer in another pod and would obey only that mer from the pod. Latching on until ordered to assist in some way such as herding prey out of small areas and would be given a portion of the meal. There were other types like the practically mythical titans that had barely been seen in even passing and accidents. However the other types were pretty easy going and were willing to mix and match most of the time.

Nothing was going to happen, no merging, if Prowls pod mate over in the next room kept acting the way he was. Then things just got worse. He had just froze for a second, ear fins twitching, before he started whistling and howling loudly. Then Prowl had gotten active. Testing the tank and swimming up to the top and peeking out before going back under before whistling back in a more subdued manner. The constant noise from the larger one was giving everyone a headache and was just an annoyance for a time. It wouldn't do to put them together in such a cramped area and we couldn't just double the dosage in the tank. It would be too much for one of them, most likely Prowl, and getting them high and causing damage was not the goal. We could handle the sounds and deal with the situation until we could put them together. That is before Prowl had decided to leap up onto the feeding stand and drag himself down the steps and to the door that led to the next room where he clawed at it in frustration until someone came.

We had put them together after some debate. After treating Prowl from new scrapes from the stairs of course. Neither one would get enough from a single dose, but Ratchet had just sighed and said he'd work something out with Aid. No point in keeping them separated if Prowl was just going to escape the tank and the other was just going to ram the tank and howl. One of these days Prowl would probably figure out how to open a door and make it to the other tank on his own anyway.