I Have No Excuse

Untitled Part 18

It was safe to say that we weren't going to do that again. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were brought back to their tank a day later and seemed to be healing well enough to be left to their own devices. They were acting much more lethargic for obvious reasons and Bee had been bringing their share of the food to them instead of them getting it themselves. Prowl on the other hand was pacing about the tank. Barricade had been practically torn apart and was making things difficult in the med bay for Ratchet and Aid. He had to be sedated nearly all the time because he'd struggle and snap at them. Hissing and glaring whenever they even looked at him. His wing fin had to be rewrapped several times and bled plenty each time he tore it back open. He'd howl and screech each time he ripped it back open and that would set Prowl off. He'd whistle and pop his head out of the water and on occasion he'd even look at me for an answer. Blaster and I had tried to reassure him, but that only went so far.

I didn't understand why he didn't just stop. I mean he was only hurting himself. It wasn't like Ratchet and Aid were doing anything to hurt him. Aid especially was much more caring and easy when it came to taking care of him. But still he threatened Aid all the same. Maybe they couldn't speak the way we did and maybe they had no clue what we said, but they weren't stupid. He wasn't stupid. He knew what he was doing. He knew that they weren't going to hurt him. He knew and yet out of pure stubbornness he fought them. He clawed at his bandages. Wiped off the medication whenever he got the chance. Tore off the splint that held his wing fin in place.

"What is your Problem?" I snapped at the mer one morning.

He was glaring at me as per usual, but it had a little less bite than normal. He had lost plenty of blood this morning. Again. I didn't even want to think of what he was costing the facility with his attitude.

"Just what are ya trying to do? What is the point of this?"

My gesturing at him had earned a growl, but I could not care less than I already did. The only reason I was here was for Prowl. Not him. Prowl was upset and if getting him to knock it off would help then I was going to damn well try. As much as I hated it, if Barricade got himself killed just because he was being difficult then Prowl was going to suffer for it.

"This isn't helping anyone and certainly not ya. What exactly are ya hoping to accomplish? All you're doing is hurting yourself and Prowl. I bet ya didn't think about that. Whatever ya do affects Prowl too."

He didn't even look slightly bothered by what I was saying. Even if he had no clue what I was saying he knew what Prowl was at least. Prowl had been trying to reach him and since Prowl could hear him from the tank I had no doubt he could hear Prowl too.

"Then there was the thing with the tank. What were ya thinking? Things seemed to be going pretty well from where I was standing. It was your fault that ya got hurt. It is Your fault that you're in here. Prowl was doing fine with Bee. And ya know what? The other two weren't even bothered by Prowl. Their only problem was ya and how ya wouldn't back down. Can't ya just Not be yourself for five minutes? Things would have gone fine if ya hadn't of done anything. Ya might even have a bigger pod and be back in the ocean if ya had just left them alone. But no."

I stopped a moment to glare back at him with a huff. He was not looking good, but he still had to go and growl and glare at everyone. Didn't he get sick of it? Didn't it get tiring to keep this up?

"I don't like ya. I mean I Really don't like ya. I wouldn't care too much if ya kicked it, but Prowl needs ya. So ya really need to get over yourself and start being a little friendlier or you're never going to get out of here. Just quit being an asshole for a while, huh? If not for yourself then do it for Prowl." With that I turned around and left.

444444444444 Nooooo! The Fours Have Returned!4444444444444

It was hoped that if he was returned to the tank that he would quit ripping off his bandages. Or at least Prowl could convince him to knock it off. But that hope was in vain. He tore at them and on more than one occasion he got around to ripping off the splint that kept his wing fin in place. Prowl had been trying to clean his wounds and even hissed at him for touching the bandages. It seemed that on more than one occasion they were arguing, but since it never turned physical no one tried to stop them. Barricade had made several half hearted swipes at Prowl whenever he had tried to clean or check his wounds, but he always ended up letting Prowl fuss over him. He just lay there and pouted when Prowl rewrapped the wounds.

It was a cycle I'm sure Prowl was getting sick of even with his seemingly unlimited patience. Barricade would rip off the bandages and tear open his wounds again in the process and then Prowl would argue with him and rewrap them, putting pressure on the wounds until the bleeding stopped. Then it would happen again. My little lecture hadn't done a damn thing and no matter what anyone did or said he refused to stop. Refused to even try to be semi passive. Always growling and hissing and snapping. He was going to kill himself if this kept up. Then Prowl was really going to be alone. Why couldn't he just stop?