//------------------------------// // Casuality // Story: We Need A Medic // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Casualty “And you didn’t see RV anywhere?” Ratchet asked once more and once more Fluttershy gave the same answer. “No, I didn’t see him or anything else that remotely resembled an RV,” Fluttershy said once again to Ratchet, whose engine growled with frustration at her words. The moment that Fluttershy had told Ratchet that it had been a Con chasing after Applejack he had buckled her into his seat and drove off back towards the Autobot base, with Curbcheck and Stickshift following them from where they had been hiding. “Curse it all this isn’t good. It’s bad enough that a Con has learned where Applejack lives, but now with RV seemingly missing as well,” Ratchet muttered to himself. “Why are you so worried about RV? He’s a giant, metal robot with laser arms. He will be fine,” Fluttershy reminded Ratchet, who sighed in reply. “What I want to know is why you’re leaving Applejack completely unguarded against a Con attack in the future?! They already followed her to her house, who knows what they will try next?!” “Do not think for a moment that I’ve left her unguarded. The moment you told me about the Con I sent a silent command back to the Autobot base. After the loss of Taillight, we implemented a new system, so that if one of the Bots looking after your friends perishes or goes missing, we have a backup on standby. As I speak Lowrider, one of our scouts, is on our way to her home. Lowrider comes with a cloaking device, so she’ll be hard for either Con or human to spot.” “Do you think the Cons are responsible for the disappearance of RV?” Stickshift asked as he drove up beside Ratchet, with his brother flanking Ratchet’s other side. “I don’t just think they might be behind it, I know they are behind it,” Ratchet growled, but it was the experience in his voice that made his words ring true. “But RV was one of the new Wreckers! They’re the toughest of the tough! What kind of Con could possibly bring down somebody as strong as RV?” Curbcheck asked. Ratchet went quiet for a long time after being asked that question and during that time Fluttershy was aware of the nervous hums coming from the engines of both of the twins. “What’s a wrecker?” she asked Stickshift once she had lowered her window. “They’re a group of Autobots founded by Bulkhead. They’re called wreckers because they’re known for causing a huge amount of damage to Cons and breaking through any kind of barriers that the Cons try to place in their way,” Stickshift explained. “There’s only ten or so of the new wreckers, but they’re nearly unstoppable bots. So the fact that one of them is missing…” “Means that the Cons have someone on their side who is either as tough as a wrecker or has a bot that knows how to deal with them,” Curbchek finished for his brother with a roar of his engines. “I don’t like being out in the open like this. Ratchet, let’s just use the ground bridge and warp back to base. I don’t like being out here.” “Neither do I, but you know that the ground bridge is only to be used in emergency situations,” Ratchet snapped back. Curbcheck was about to argue, but a rev of Stickshifts engines ceased the argument before it could begin. “There’s a lot of terms being thrown around I know nothing about. What’s a ground bridge?” Fluttershy asked. “Think of it like a teleporter, except for bigbodies like us,” Ratchet briefly explained. “Okay. So then, to go along with Curbcheck, why aren’t we using it to just teleport to and from the base? Seems like the safer option.” “Because, as I spent so many cycles arguing with Curbcheck, the ground bridge is not as safe as it used to be. Ultracon has new technology that allows him to know when and where a ground bridge is traveling to. Opening a bridge from base to go somewhere is safer than teleporting to base. So I will only do it as a last resort.” “I see,” Fluttershy said despite not seeing at all. “How does the ground bridge work exactly? Does it have to be a specific location? Or can you teleport to people? Because I’m thinking maybe we could use it to-“ An explosion detonated right in front of where Ratchet was driving, bringing an end to that conversation. Fluttershy screamed in terror while Ratchet fought to keep himself from rolling over, before giving up entirely and allowing himself to roll. As he rolled he transformed from his vehicle mode to his robot mode, allowing him to land in a kneeling position. Curbcheck and Stickshift transformed into their vehicle modes as well and began to open fire on the Cons that were attacking from above. A quick scan of the area from Ratchet revealed a small group off boulders to the side of the road. His right arm shifted to that of his rifle and he fired upon the Cons while also running towards the boulders. He slid behind the boulders and opened up his chest cavity, where Fluttershy was shakily standing in the center. “Out out out!” Ratchet instructed before he ducked down to avoid being shot. He held out his left hand for Fluttershy to walk onto, which took her a moment to do so since her head was spinning. The moment her feet touched Ratchet’s hand he lowered her to the ground behind the boulders, where he dumped her off so that he could go charging back into the fight. “How did they find us?! This route was supposed to be secure!” Stickshift yelled over the fire as he dove off the side of the road to take cover in a ditch. The eight Deceptacons came flying down from the sky and landed in front of the Autobots, opening fire in volleys so that the Bots had no time to counter attack. “Perhaps they got the information out of our missing teammate RV!” Curbcheck roared before he dashed out with his arms both changed into shotguns, before a hail of gunfire forced him to dive behind a mound of rock and dirt. “If they needed to know where we were going, they would need to take at least one of us alive!” “Well that certainly would make us easier to ambush!” Ratchet snarled in reply. He dove behind a sign on the highway and used it for cover, but he had to crouch down low due to the fact that the Earth metals in the sign didn’t do much to stop the energon bullets fired by the Cons. “Cons due click and five!” Stickshift understood and whipped out from behind cover, his machine gun already firing as he did so. Thanks to Ratchet telling him the exact locations of the Cons in advance, his bullets tore one of the Con’s chest plate’s and turned his insides into scrap. The other Deceptacons began to focus their fire on Stick’s location, allowing Ratchet and Curbcheck to retaliate and fire upon their exposed flanks. Ratchet’s rifle was the most accurate gun the Bots had with them, so he was focused mostly on taking the heads off of the Cons and keeping their attention away from Curbcheck. He had terminated two of the Cons before they finally began to split up and split their fire between Ratchet and Stickshift equally, meaning that none of them were Watching Curbcheck. With a cry of battle echoing from his mouth Curbchek charged into the rear of the Deceptacons, firing his shotguns wildly into his foes. Each shotgun blast ripped apart a Con and three of them were already gone before the Deceptacons had any idea what was happening. Yet when the turned to focus on the raging Autobot ripping them apart up close was when Ratchet and Stickshift when to work blasting them to pieces from behind. Yet as that battle raged one of the Cons had slipped off of the side, not landing with his comrades but instead landing a distance away, where he activated his camouflage and snuck in close. By a pair of boulders he spied a single, female human that was watching the battle by herself. A human female that gave of an energy signature that matched the one he was supposed to bring back. So while his dying comrades kept the Bots busy, he snuck in close to capture his target. Fluttershy had been so enamored by the battle going on that she never registered the earthshaking footsteps that were getting closer to her until it was too late. She only realized that a Con had snuck up behind her when his shadow fell over her, getting Fluttershy to slowly turn and stare up at the purple con that was reaching towards her. Her voice failed her when she needed it the most, so all she could manage was a small squeak as the Con reached down to pick her up. “Hey! Hands to yourself!” A fist slammed into the side of the Con’s had and sent him sprawling into the dirt. He was down for only a moment though and after taking a second to register what had happened, he spun around and pointed his blaster at his attacker. Unfortunately for the Con, that second was a second too long. A burst of energon bullets erupted from Stickshift’s gun and the Con fell dead a moment later. Stickshift narrowed his eyes at the body of the Con, before he knelt down next to Fluttershy. “You alright, Shy?” he asked her. “Um, yes. Thank you,” Fluttershy replied meekly. “Not a problem. Come on, while Ratchet and Curb finish this up, let’s get you out of-“ BANG! A high-power round tore straight through the back of Stickshift and ripped clean through his spark, before bursting through his chest on the other side. Energon sprayed from the sniper round and splashed the ground around Stickshift, covering both the ground and the girl standing there in blue life blood. Slowly Fluttershy lifted her hands to stare at the blue enegon that was covering her hands and arms, eyes widening as the terror of what had just happened took hold. The sound of something heavy hitting the ground beside her drew her eyes away from her hands and to the body of Stickshift, who was lying motionless next to her. She stared at his face, which was now blank and expressionless, with eyes that no longer held the blue light within them they once did. She barely registered to roar of agony and rage that emanated from Curbcheck nor did she register Ratchet racing over to her side. All she could do was stare with blank eyes at the similar blank expression on Stickshifts face. Ratchet, on the other hand, had something far more terrifying to be staring at. Walking towards them, with one arm as a sniper rifle and the other as an energon launcher, was a Con Ratchet had never hoped to see again. He was slender, angular and purple, calling back to the way the Cons of old used to modify themselves. But it was his face, or lack of, that made Ratchet’s optics widen in horror. For in place of his face was a single, emotionless visor, one that covered all of his features. And that alone was enough to tell Ratchet what to do next. “Ratchet to base. I need a ground bridge on my coordinates right now!” Ratchet roared into the coms before reaching down and grabbing hold of Stickshifts body. The Con lifted his rifle and fired at Ratchet, but Ratchet used his fallen comrades body to block the shot. Ratchet returned fire and forced the Con to use his wing like arms to block, allowing Ratchet a moment to bark orders. “Curb! Grab Fluttershy and get into the ground bridge!” Ratchet barked at Curbcheck as the ground bridge opened behind them. “I ain’t going anywhere! He killed-!” “He’ll kill all of us if we don’t go and then your brother will never be avenged! Now MOVE!” Ratchet roared in a voice that killed all further argument. “As soon as you get through tell them to close it. I’ll be right behind you!” Curbcheck realized what Ratchet was saying and bowed his head, so as Ratchet laid down covering fire Curbcheck raced over and snatched Fluttershy into his hands. Curbcheck dashed into the swirling vortex of the ground bridge and vanished from the battlefield, leaving Ratchet to slowly back towards the vortex while continuing to fire at the Con. A wave of relief washed over Ratchet as he backed into the portal and felt its energy wash over him, before he glared at the Con one last time. “Soon,” the Con said in Ratchet’s voice. And then the ground bridge closed.