//------------------------------// // Partners // Story: We Need A Medic // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Partners Every Autobot that was available at the moment was lined up in the center of the base, awaiting Optimus’ orders to move out. On a raise platform with a holoscreen behind it, Optimus was giving a detailed speech about the plan of attack on the Deceptacon base and what each bot would need to do once inside. Ratchet and the human girls stood off to the side, along with Redheart and another bot that Fluttershy hadn’t met before. But from the red cross on his side plates, she assumed he was also a medic. “And remember my Autobot brethren, our goal is to safely retrieve the two human girls that have been kidnapped by the Deceptacons. Failure is not acceptable this time,” Optimus finished up his speech to the Autobots, looking over each and every one of them so that they would understand the importance of this point. “Are there any questions?” When none of the Autobot’s said a word, Optimus nodded over at Ratchet. Ratchet returned the nod before he pressed a few buttons on a control panel next to him. With a finishing pull of a lever, the ground bridged opened inside of the base, its destination being where the Deceptacons were holding Fluttershy’s friends. “Good luck, Optimus,” Ratchet said to Optimus. “And to you as well, my friend,” Optimus replied before turning back to the Autobot’s. “Autobot’s, Roll out!” Optimus transformed into his vehicle mode as he said this and raced into the ground bridge vortex. The other Autobot’s roared along with him as they too transformed, following him into the green vortex a moment later as well. Once the last Autobot had gone through, Ratchet switched off the bridge and flicked another button on the control panel. A screen popped up in front of the girls and bot’s, giving them a detailed view of what was going on in the mission. “Optimus, the Cons are already aware that you’re on the way,” Ratchet informed Optimus as the dozens of red dots that represented the Autobot’s were approaching numerous purple triangles that Fluttershy could only assume were the Deceptacons. “They’ve sent out their fliers to intercept you before you get too close.” “Countermeasures are already in place. Air Raid, take those fliers down!” the team heard Optimus say on the other end before the sounds of explosions and laser fire filled the channel. Fluttershy had to turn her coms volume down so she didn’t go deaf from the roar of the explosions, but Ratchet didn’t seem bothered by the noise in the slightest. He was too focused on keeping the other bots alive. “Bombshell. Megaton. The two of you are going to need to hit the front of the base with everything you’ve got. They have an energon shield covering all entrances that only allows bot to come out, not go in. If you don’t bring that down and soon, the rest of your team will be sitting ducks!” “You heard the bot, open fire!” the voice of Bombshell replied, before the sound of a tank firing could be heard. Fluttershy watched the screen with careful eyes, aware that each Autobot had a small image next to their dot along with an energon bar. She figured that the lower the bar went, the closer that bot was to shutting down for good. A few of them had dropped below fifty percent, which were the ones that she was keeping a close eye on. “You will not be going out there,” Ratchet said to her, almost as if he was reading her mind. Fluttershy gave him an innocent look in reply, but when he cast his optics her way she could tell he knew. “It’s one thing having you operate on an injured bot here in the safety of our base. It’s another to bring a teenager into a war zone under heavy fire and a very high chance of death. Get comfortable Fluttershy, because you are not leaving this place.” “But that’s not fair! What if there’s an Autobot out there that will need a similar treatment like the one Curbcheck needed?” Fluttershy asked Ratchet, but a glare from him silenced any argument. “If such a situation arises, then we will send one of the professionally trained medical bots out to retrieve them and bring them back here for us to work on them. But I repeat, I am not bringing you into a warzone where you could either be captured or killed.” “The cons don’t want me dead. They just want to capture me. That’s their plan, remember?” “And a battlefield is the first place that a plan goes to die. Just because they have orders to not kill you doesn’t mean that you won’t get hit by a stray round or artillery strike. You’re. Staying. Here.” Ratchet then shook his head and went back to monitoring the battle taking place, before a shrieking sound came over both his and Fluttershy’s communications channel. The sudden wave of noise caused the both of them to clutch at their ears, but as soon as the noise had started it stopped. “Are you okay?” Pinkie asked Fluttersh, while Redheart checked up on Ratchet. “Greetings, Fluttershy and Ratchet,” a very familiar, and mixed, voice said over the coms. “Before either of you says or acts in a way that would alert your comrades to the fact that something is wrong, you will wish to hear me out first.” “Soundwave,” Fluttershy mouthed to Ratchet, who nodded to show that he had deduced that as well. “Recently, the Deceptacons have come across a human that was searching for a us, a human that was using a tracking device to lock onto our energon signatures to try to discern our location. That human was then captured by us and is now being held prisoner. Say hello to your friends, Twilight.” A scream came through on the other end of the communications, one that made Fluttershy heart sink into her stomach. The screaming ceased a moment later, but both Fluttershy and Ratchet seethed with rage. He waved Redheart away and she left his side with a quick glance at her superior. “Listen and listen well. That girl has done nothing to you. She doesn’t even have magic. She is of no use to you,” Ratchet whispered under his breath. “Correct. She has no magic and therefor is no use to us. So we shall be terminating her,” Soundwave continued, as the sound of a laser powering up could be heard in the background. “No!” both Ratchet and Fluttershy yelled at the same time. “Interesting. It seems that you both care for this human despite them having no magical properties. Very well then, we shall spare her if you are willing to make a trade,” Soundwave replied in a symphony of numerous voices, but the moment a trade was mentioned Ratchet scowled. “I already know what you want and the answer is go to the scrapyards,” Ratchet snarled at Soundwave. “Pity. Then the girl shall die,” Soundwave said and Twilight began to scream once more in the background. “What do you want to trade?!” Fluttershy yelled into her coms, getting the screaming to stop. “You for her,” Soundwave responded, directly talking to Fluttershy this time. “Deal,” Fluttershy responded without a moment’s hesitation. “What? No!” Ratchet yelled. “An excellent decision. I will be sending you coordinates over your coms so that you know where to meet us. Come alone and do not tell another bot or human what you are doing. If you do so, and we will know, then we will kill this girl along with everyone else you bring with you. You have ten minutes.” “What were you thinking?!” Ratchet snarled at Fluttershy once the communications with the Con had ceased. “We cannot go through with this! This is the most obvious trap I have ever seen and I have seen quite a number of traps in my life!” “So what would you have me do, leave her at the mercy of the Cons?!” Fluttershy roared back at Ratchet. Ratchet prepared a response, but then he glanced over to see that the others were trying to listen in on their conversation. “Red Alert, take over the controls until I get this whole issue with Fluttershy sorted out,” Ratchet ordered before he placed an open hand in front of Shy. She got on it, but continued to give Ratchet the look of determination and defiance that he had grown accustom to seeing with her. It was quite a change from the timid and shy girl that she used to be. He walked the pair of them to a secluded corner of the room, before he glared down at her while she stared back up at him. “Allow me to make this perfectly clear for you. We are not going. Not only is this a trap, but, even if it wasn’t, I am not trading you to the enemy when you are exactly who they want.” “We’re going. The have one of my closest friends and they will kill her if we do not trade me over,” Fluttershy replied in an equally stern voice. “And need I remind you that the whole reason she was caught is because she went out looking to find the Transformers. If we had just told her in the first place, she would have never sought out the Cons and gotten captured. You owe this to me!” Ratchet narrowed his optics and began to think of a dozen different ways to counter her statement, but then Fluttershy’s eyes soften and she looked up at Ratchet with a look of pleading, not anger. “Please Ratchet, Twilight’s my friend. A friend who I’ve been distant and mean to recently. I owe this to her. And wouldn’t you risk everything if it was one of your friends in danger?” Ratchet thought about her words as well as all of the different times that an Autobot had been captured, leaving it up to Ratchet and the other Autobot’s to rescue them. Ratchet’s snarl turned into a growl as he placed Fluttershy on the ground next to him. “Give me a moment to grab a few things,” Ratchet told her. “And then we can head out.”