Work Text:
'This is unacceptable', is what he would be insisting on if he wasn't busy panicking. 'This has got to be some sort of crime'.
There's no way Queen rubbed off on Tenna that bad. How did he even know about this!?
And Ramb hasn't even been that annoying today! But...
Yeah, somehow, he was getting plugged. Shown complete dominance over. Stripped of free will. Just a toy in the hands of a more powerful being. Which would be okay, because he's actually used to it and "Because Plugboys only experience being generally disoriented afterwards", as Tenna helpfully provided right now, ...if not for one small thing.
He was British.
"Tenna, I'm warnin' ya, I'm not-" Piss off. "Tenna, this ain't a normal thing to do-" Go fuck yourself. "Tenna-"
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't hurt me. I'm sorry.
"Tenna, get this bloody- thing away from me!", he growled, pushing it away with all his might, but-
Click.
It broke through his faceplate with a sickening crunch, in one sudden motion, cracking the plastic and drilling into his very being. Ramb went limp for a moment and then started fighting back with extra vigor. It hurt, Angel it hurt.
The pain was so agonizing that the only thing he could do was scream... that is, if he wasn't plugged right now. Werewires had no mouths to scream and no minds to think and-
He tried to gasp, but-
He wasn't a werewire. He wasn't transforming. His face was just broken through, static filling his ears and blood pouring down his chin. He wasn't a werewire, he was-
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't...
"Um, Boss?", he heard Mike's voice cutting through the overwhelming static. "Whatcha...- what's going on?"
Mike.
Fuck, Mike had to save him! He was going to die here!
Ramb growled something not very family-friendly and shouted for Mike. Well, it came out as a muffled "Mmph!!", but...
"Is that... Ramb over there?"
That caught his attention. Good.
He was going to die here. He was going to die, Angel, this really was the end.
[help], he signed. Mike had to be looking. Mike had to notice. [help-me].
...please, he had to notice. [m-i-k-e], if the signs were even intelligible with how hard his hands were shaking, [help].
He could tell Tenna was speaking but couldn't hear him enough to understand anything. His consciousness was fading, probably from blood loss or maybe from being turned into a Werewire. Was he? Would TV World wires work the same as back home?
His lungs, or whatever he had in there, were starting to hurt even more than his face.
Tenna was getting what he wanted: rid of Ramb, and...-
"You can't just plug him, Boss, he's not a normal plugboy!"
A pause.
"...he isn't?", Tenna asked uncertainly.
"Wh- no?!? You're going to kill him, that's what you're doing!"
"Oh."
Thank you.
Ramb gripped the wire, – not to fight back this time, but to steady his weakly dangling body, – and tried really hard to calm down. It's okay. It'll be over soon. You're okay. Nobody's going to hurt you, Swatch kept whispering to him, their wing softly patting his back, it's fine, you're gonna be fine, you're-
Click.
He fell onto the floor with a thud like a discarded toy that no one wanted anymore, blood splashing onto the carpet along with cracked off bits and pieces of his face. He coughed violently, gasped for air, trying so hard to breathe, c'mon, it's okay, hun, I'm here for you, but their sweet voice in his head wasn't helping when he was drowning in his own-
Everything suddenly grew quiet, not even his deafening heartbeat or cracking static remaining. He tried to take a breath.
And couldn't. But that was okay for now.
@@@
Now he didn't even pretend to like Tenna. Shit, now he didn't even pretend to tolerate Tenna! Now he was...
...scared. And for what?! That wasn't in his contract! He was supposed to be friendly and obedient, not...
...shrink into himself and jerk away from any touches. Hide his shaking hands whenever Tenna was around.
He also wasn't supposed to be living on the couch in Mike's room!
*
"He's... been doing better!", Mike assured him as they walked towards his door. "You really don't have to check up on him, I'm doing just fine."
"You're supposed to be MY assistant, Mike, not... waste time on caring for the sick! That's the Weathers' job."
"Elnina visits him once in a while," Mike prompts, slowing down. He doesn't seem to be planning on letting Tenna into his room. "Says he's healing just fine. So why don't we-"
"Show me."
"...what?"
"Show him to me."
Mike pauses. Stares. Smiles nervously, "There's really no need-"
"Show. Me."
...and folds instantly. "Okay."
They stand in front of the door for longer than necessary, and Mike finally knocks and opens it. (Why would he knock on his own door?)
"Hey, Ramb... it's me."
Ramb is sitting on the couch, one leg over the other, fidgeting with something absolutely random and... blindfolded. Tenna can see the cracks going past the bandages, the blood stains awkwardly wiped away with some cloth (or perhaps clothes) and that stupidly endearing grin of his. He looks... calm and relaxed. Tenna isn't sure he's ever seen him this comfortable. "«Me» who, luv? Can't exactly, heh, see ya-"
"And Tenna."
Ramb pauses. Slowly turns his head towards them both, ears perked up. His lips form a thin line, he presses his feet against the floor and grips the armrests.
He looks tense. That's normal. He looks alarmed. That's okay.
He looks scared.
And Tenna isn't sure he likes that anymore.
"...hey, Mike? What's he doing here, hun?", Ramb asks, voice strained. He looks ready to bolt. His tail is lashing against the cushions, little sparks of static running across his whole body. "Mike? Why is Tenna here, love?"
"I'm sorry," Mike whispers and clears his throat. "Ahem, well, boss, y'see he's absolutely fine-"
"Ramb."
Ramb shrinks into himself further, gripping the couch to the point of white knuckles like that would somehow save him from the impending doom. "Y-yeah?"
"You..." What would he even say? "I..." an 'I'm sorry'? A 'get well soon?' "You... can, um, have the week off. Paid leave."
"Ok. Okay."
No 'wow, how generous', no snarky remark, no smirk, nothing. He looked so... broken, now.
Without saying a word more, Tenna leaves.
He hasn't visited Mike's room since then.
@@@
"You're bleeding again," Battat says in accusation. "And your sweater's ruined."
"Eh, that's really no biggie, both of that. Not like I can see it ruined."
He came to quickly change his bandages: Ramb could manage it himself, he always insisted, he didn't deserve have to be cared for, but Bat still visited in-between his shifts.
"Gimme your head, pup."
And, of course, the way he was being treated was kinda nice.
"'Course, boss," he obliges with a grin, tilting his head so that Battat could get easier access to the bandages. "...Is it bad?"
He can only see a somewhat green spot, which is probably Bat's poncho, in front of him, so blurry that he's not even sure when the Tat ends and the wall begins. His vision always hasn't been great, but this was another level.
'At least it's not completely gone', he thinks as the Pippin finally answers:
"It's not good. But not as horrible as before, either. The wounds keep opening and I don't know why."
He sounds... worried, for some reason. It feels weird.
"It's whatever. Don't worry 'bout me, will ya? I'll be fine."
Even though he can't see, somehow he catches Battat's frown.