//------------------------------// // Answers // Story: We Need A Medic // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Answers Ratchet had never been one for taking in the scenery, but he supposed that the grassy landscape that he was currently parked on was not that offensive to his optics. There were no trees obstructing his vision, no little animals trying to climb into his engine to make a nest and, most importantly, it was quiet. That was what he liked the most. In fact, the scenery would almost had been peaceful, were it not for the reason that Ratchet and Fluttershy were there. Fluttershy sat on Ratchet’s hood, looking over a holo-report of one of the surgery’s Ratchet had performed back in the day. She was wearing clothing far different from her regular apparel and her outfit consisted of sweatpants, a t-shirt and running shoes. Most people would think that she was simply ready to go for a jog, but Ratchet knew the truth. She wore those clothes so that she was ready run for her life if she needed to. He could tell by monitoring her vitals that she was nervous, but she kept her calm incredibly well. In fact, ever since she had tied her hair back, Ratchet had noticed some subtle changes in Fluttershy. She was no longer as cowardly or reserved as she once had been. She seemed more driven and determined, like she didn’t have time for uncertainty or the meekness that had once made up her character. But she never spoke about it and Ratchet never asked. It was interesting, though. So too was the way she consumed everything Cybertronian that Ratchet gave to her. Whether it was history, biology, or even modern news, Fluttershy would tear through it rapidly so long as Ratchet remembered to translate it to English. Something had changed in Fluttershy. She had seen the cost of war. “Anything?” Fluttershy asked in the quietest whisper. “No. Scanners show no signs of Cybertronian life. Aside from me.” “Hmm…So who were the other members of your team?” Fluttershy asked in her normal voice. “What team?” “Your team. When you were on Earth for the first time, back when you still fought against Megatron,” Fluttershy asked and Ratchet wondered where this sudden curiosity had come from. “I know you and Optimus were a part of it, but aside from that none of the other bots talk about it.” “You haven’t asked Optimus?” “Optimus…can kinda be hard to talk to at times,” Fluttershy admitted. “When nothing is going on he’s nice, but when things get serious I have trouble looking him in the eyes.” “Yes, Optimus can be quite a lot to take in, especially for those that have never met him before. He’s a legend back on Cybertron, as well as the last Prime,” Ratchet said with a chuckle. “And I know what you’re going to ask. The Primes were leaders chosen by the council whenever they found a bot who best exemplified the traits of leadership. Optimus was the last Prime chosen by the council of old. And he’s, to the best of my knowledge, the only Prime still functional.” “Wow. That does sound impressive. So why is he on Earth instead of leading Cybertron?” “The same reason working with your government is such a hassle. Politics,” Ratchet spat out. “The new council isn’t too happy with what Optimus and the rest of us did on Earth, as I previously told you. And now we’re seen as somewhat criminals and yada yada yada. But enough about politics, you asked about my old team, correct? Let me think…” “The first member I should probably tell you about was our scout Bumblebee. He had lost his ability to speak thanks to Megatron, so for a long time he could only communicate through beeps and the radio. During our final fight with Megatron, his voice was fixed thanks to a powerful pool of energon. He was loyal and a great fighter, but had a habit of rushing in first and not thinking of the consequences. I actually believe he’s on Earth right now, but dealing with another problem.” “Arcee is next. She was a flanking bot with a motorcycle design. She…carried a lot of baggage, mostly because she lost two of her partners in the war with the Cons. She’s lightning quick and can tear your head off if you’re not careful, but she’s as loyal as she is fierce. She and I had our issues, but there were many times I was grateful that she had my back.” “Bulkhead…oh how many stories I could tell you about this bot. He was loud, large, a bumbling moron and broke so many of my medical tools that I actually had Optimus ban him from my medical station. But he never gives up and was always, always, the last bot to retreat. Ugh, were him and Miko a pair. Both of them were loud and enjoyed bugging me to no end. Especially when they played those guitars. Ugh.” “There’s that name again. Miko,” Fluttershy noticed. “That sounds like a human name. Have you actually interacted with other humans besides me and the rest of my friends before?” “…I’m not supposed to talk about them, but after all you’ve been through I suppose you have a right to know. Yes, we have made contact with other humans before. Some of them I can’t tell you anything about, but there are three I can speak of. Jack, Miko and Raphael. Raf for short. They were the first three humans to accidentally stumble onto us during our war with Megatron. Again, robots in disguise. How am I the only member of the team who only willingly gave away his secret?” “You were talking about the humans.” “Right, right. At first I thought of the humans as annoying, but over time that changed.” “You came to see them as friends and they no longer annoyed you?” “Nope. They still annoyed me, even after we became friends. Jack was…sensible, but headstrong. He often thought about what was going on before acting. Him and Arcee were a pair and they balanced each other out, with Jack helping Arcee through some of her tougher times. But the both of them had a knack for getting into trouble, on numerous occasions. Jack and I never talked much, but for a teenager, he wasn’t that bad.” “Was he better than me?” “I know better than to fall into that trap. A human who I cannot say I got along with was Miko. That girl was arrogant, didn’t listen to anything anyone said, aside from Prime but of course she listened to him, and had a terrible habit of rushing onto the field of battle where we were already fighting for our lives. Last thing we needed to worry about was stepping on her. She was Bulkhead’s partner. Remember how I said Arcee and Jack balanced each other out? Bulkhead and Miko did not do that. That brought out each-others most annoying traits, much to my disdain. She may have been my friend, but she got on my nerves nearly every day.” “Last is Raphael. He was younger than Jack and Miko, but far more intelligent. I got along with him the best, as we were both scientific minds, but his partner was Bumblebee. Not only could he understand Bee with his damage voice, but also acted as the reason to Bumblebee’s impulsiveness. The got along well and I was honestly sad when I had to say goodbye to him. There were a few others, but I am not authorized to speak about them.” “Wow, sounds like you guys had quite the crazy adventure,” Fluttershy noticed as she mentally recorded this information, before looking back at Ratchet. “Hey, so Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead all had human partners, right? Did you have one as well?” “Ha. Please, none of those humans wanted to be partners with me, even the others I can’t speak of. To be fair to them, I wasn’t exactly kind and welcoming when we first brought them to the base. I wanted them out and made that opinion know every time they were around for a long time. Eventually we became friends, but no Fluttershy, I never had a human partner the last time I was on Earth.” “Oh…well you do now,” Fluttershy said with a warm smile as she patted the top of Ratchet’s hood. “And honestly I can’t see why any of the others didn’t want to be your partner. Yeah, you can be rude and a know it all, but I’ve seen how far you’ve gone for me, my friends and even the other bots. Out of all the bots I’ve met, I trust you.” Fluttershy then went back to reading Ratchet’s past reports, never noticing how Ratchet remained silent after Fluttershy had spoken for a long time. That was until his scanners picked up on an energy wave that washed over them, instantly putting him on high alert. “They’re coming,” was all Ratchet needed to say and instantly Fluttershy was alert. She made no physical movements, but from how she tensed up and how her eyes started glancing around, Ratchet knew she was ready. “They just deployed a jammer that was jam all human communications and camera. They don’t want to be seen doing this by anyone. Unfortunately for them, that gave them away.” “How many?” Fluttershy muttered quietly. “Five, from what one of our scouts is telling me. But they’re all heavily armed and are designed with shoot to kill in mind. They have no intention of taking me alive.” “But they won’t shoot at you if I’m in the way. They need me alive,” Fluttershy muttered. And with that thought she firmly planted herself onto Ratchet’s hood, preparing to hold her ground no matter what the Cons tried. She then took in a deep breath and waited for the Cons to arrive. The Cons didn’t keep the lad waiting. With a minute of Ratchet alerting her to their presences, the Cons descended onto the pair. The five of them crashed down from the sky, each of them helicopter types, and surrounded the pair. Fluttershy fought back the fear that was bubbling up inside of her as the Cons encircled her, weapons pointed at Ratchet. “Well well, what do we have here? A human and a bot that have lost their way,” one of the Cons snickered as he drew closer. “Deceptacons,” Ratchet snarled, playing it like he had been caught off guard. “I should have known that you were coming from your stench. What do you want?” “What do you think? The same thing we’ve been after since we first arrived here. The girl.” Fluttershy took care to whimper at this line and back up, getting the Con to laugh as he stopped his advancement. Fluttershy quickly glanced around to see that the other Cons were all smiling at the pair, but they weren’t keeping their weapons trained on them. They thought they had ambushed Ratchet and Fluttershy. Exactly as she had planned. “We won’t let you take her,” Ratchet promised the Con, who laughed aloud in reply. “It doesn’t matter what you say, it’s five to one. And we will be…wait a moment. We? What do you mean we?” the Con asked Ratchet with narrow eyes. “Exactly what he said.” And the energon fire rained down on the Deceptacons.