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// The Call (5) 
// Story: We Need A Medic 
// by Onomonopia 
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"I'm going to die."

Having come to grips with that fact, Fluttershy found she had the courage to look in one of the ambulances rear view mirrors to see what was trying to kill the both of them. Driving behind the ambulance was an assortment of ten different vehicles, each of them with the same purple and neon coloring that Fuel had been painted in. And all of them had laser cannons aimed out the front of their hoods. Which they were using proficiently.

The ambulance swerved to the left and right in motions so jerky that Fluttershy was certain that she would have been flung around like a rag-doll if her seat belt hadn't infused her to the chair. Explosions and purple lasers rocked her vision as they detonated just on the other side of the glass, all that was separating her from a gruesome and most likely painful end. Her nails had dug into the seating beneath her and she was certain that it would take a crowbar to pry her from where she sat.

But what spooked her the most, more than the explosions or the cars that all seemed to be after her or the giant robot brawl she had just witnessed, was the fact that the ambulance had no driver. The giant robots were definitely a close second, but there was something about a car moving on its own without anyone behind the wheel that made her shiver. Even giant robots were supposed to have people piloting them. But the wheel turned on its own and the occasional curse when an explosion got too close was proof enough that not only was the ambulance she was in a giant robot, but a completely sentient one at that.

"I'm going to die i'm going to die i'm going to die," Fluttershy muttered to herself over and over, her eyes wide and sweat dripping down her face.

"Will you quit that whining, I'm trying to drive here!" Ratchet yelled at Fluttershy, getting the girl to leap up in her chair. Another explosion was followed by another curse as one of the Deceptacon drove up beside the pair. A scalpel blade shot out from the ambulances side and sliced through the cons tires, sending him skidding out of control. With a scream that would haunt her dreams Fluttershy watched as the car crashed into a boulder and exploded into a ball of fire a moment later.

"You...you..."

"It was him or us," Ratchet replied in a tone that was devoid of any emotion. "And don't worry about that happening to us. I don't care how may wet behind the gears Cons they send at us, they won't get you. I survived Iacon, the fall of Cybertron and the war with Megatron. I'll be scrapped if I let myself die here. Now hold on, things are about to get intense."

Fluttershy flattened herself against her seat. If the ambulance was telling her that things were about to get intense, after what she had just seen, then perhaps she had been too hasty in assuming she was going to die before. It made much more sense that now was when she was going to die.

Ratchet's engine roared with the ferocity of a caged animal and Fluttershy felt herself being pinned in her seat by the acceleration. Ratchet then swerved right off of the road and came crashing down off of the highway on a long stretch of land with nothing to obstruct Shy's view of the horizon. A glance back at the highway showed that the purple cars were following them, with all eight of them in hot pursuit.

"Wait a moment..." Fluttershy muttered to herself. "There's one of them missing."

"What do you mean?"

"There were ten when they first started chasing you. You then...took care of one of them, so there should still be nine. But i only count eight." Fluttershy's eyes snapped to the mirrors to see them adjusting themselves to count the Cons, before her missing driver swore once more.

"By the Primes you're right. Alright, time to end this chase. Ratchet to base, I need immediate air support," the ambulance who Fluttershy learned was named Ratchet called in. A moment passed of only static. "Wake up fliers, it's time to do what you're trained for! I said that-"

Something screamed by overhead and Fluttershy glanced up to see a purple jet, only for the screaming of the jet to be drowned out by a colossal explosion that detonated just in front of the ambulance. Fluttershy barely heard Ratchet yell something to her before the rescue vehicle tipped over onto two wheels and started to crash onto its side. Then the side of the vehicle transformed into an arm, which slammed into the ground and righted Ratchet. He slammed onto his wheels and took off once more.

"Fliers! Where in the name of the all spark are you?!" Ratchet roared into his radio before another missile narrowly missed the pair.

"Ratchet, this is Silverbolt! We got your message and are en route! We estimate it will be five minutes before we get there!"

"We may not have five minutes!" Ratchet snapped in reply before he shifted the ambulance into reverse. The moment he did so he cranked the wheel hard to right and spun the whole vehicle around so that he was hood to hood with the Cons following him. A rifle transformed out of the top of the ambulance so that it could unload laser fire into the oncoming Cons. Most of them scattered under the hail of laser fire, but one of the closer ones couldn't react in time and a moment later was a ball of fire and scrap metal.

Ratchet fired a few more times into the oncoming Cons, but driving in reverse was slowing him down at a rapid pace. He whipped the vehicle around so that it was facing the proper way before flooring it once more. Fluttershy saw all of the dials behind the wheel go red as the engine roared with fire once more. But this time the Cons were ready for them.

The faster of the ground based Cons drove parallel with Ratchet, staying far enough away to avoid his blades but close enough so that he didn't have much room to maneuver. The more heavily armored Cons drove up from behind and began to fire at the rescue vehicle, who started to take far more hits with less places to go. Then, through the windshield, Fluttershy watched as the Deceptacon jet flew down in front of Ratchet, turned around, and began to open fire with its machine guns.

Fluttershy let out a shriek as she ducked down with her head in her hands as laser blasts pelted the windshield. Alarms blared in the cab, which was quickly followed by smoke beginning to pour from the side of Ratchets engine. Fear clawed at Fluttershy's heart as it truly sunk in that this was it for her. Her life would end at sixteen and she would die in the clutches of  a being she knew nothing about. Also that it would most likely be a giant, fiery ball of metal and death. Because why go out in a lame way like old age?

"Fluttershy, I need you to listen to me," Ratchet's voice said clear as day through all the gunfire and explosions. "I know things seem bad right now and I know you're scared. But I will get you out of this alive and I will not let any of these Cons lay a hand on you. I just need you to calm down and trust me."

Fluttershy wasn't sure why she put so much faith in his words, especially when the ambulance skidded to a halt, but for a moment she was able to take in a deep breath and calm down. But then the fears came back in full force when she saw the six cars encircle the ambulance, with the jet hovering to a halt on the outskirts of the ring of cars.

"Well well, Fuel was right. This old bucket of rust is the infamous Ratchet," one of the Cons laughed, but kept his lasers aimed on the smoking ambulance. "What's the matter, did the Autobots run out of actual warriors and had to resort to using old bots? Or did you just want to get that feeling of having your tail pipe kicked by us one last time?"

"Well, so much for getting away from them," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Once their flier showed up I realized that we couldn't get away," Ratchet revealed to Fluttershy, who wondered if she was supposed to feel better by learning that information. "So instead, I decided to stall for time and leave them as open to a surprise attack as possible. Notice how they're all facing us instead of looking around? Or that it's been five minutes?"

Right as he said this a missile rocketed into the engine of the flying Deceptacon, causing it to shriek before it crashed into the ground in a giant ball of fire. The explosion took out two more Deceptacons, while the rest aimed their weaponry into the sky to try to combat the recently arrived Autobot fliers. It was too little too late and a moment later more missiles came raining down from on high, decimating the Deceptacon forces.

"Ratchet, we've opened a path for you! Get out of there!" the voice of Silverbolt yelled over the radio. Ratchet didn't wait to be asked again and a moment later he drove past the flaming wreckage of what used to be a small squad of Deceptacon warriors. As they drove away Fluttershy looked at one of the rear-view mirrors and watched as the red and orange jets bombarded the rest of the Cons, who, despite desperately trying to fight back, were completely decimated. A shudder escaped from her body as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"That's war, kid," Ratchet said to her a moment later and Fluttershy began to wonder if this giant, sentient robot could actually sense how she was feeling. "And whether you wanted to be or not, you're now involved in it."