:: Rafael! Rafael come in! :: Ratchet shouts into the comm as he starts getting agitated. What could that boy be doing that could cause him to stray away from the controls?
:: Ratchet! I'm here! :: Raf finally responds.
:: Finally. We need a groundbridge. ::
:: Coming right up. :: Raf responds before he opens up a groundbridge for them.
The three mechs walk into the base and Ratchet walks over to Raf, "What took you so long? You better not have been messing with my stuff again."
"No, I haven't. I was talking to 'Bee, he's awake now!"
"What? Seriously?" Ratchet, Optimus and Bulkhead look over at Bumblebee who is still laying down on the berth and the yellow mech lifts up his helm to look at them.
"Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?"
Ratchet runs over to him, "Bumblebee! How are you feeling?" He asks as he checks him over. Optimus and Bulkhead walk over to him.
"I feel like I was shot in the chest with a missile. I'm just happy I'm still functioning and not with the All - Spark."
"And we're happy to see you awake again, Bumblebee. We were all worried about you." Optimus says with a smile.
"Yeah, we really thought we were gonna lose you at first. But Ratchet worked hard to make sure you stayed with us." Bulkhead adds.
"Rafael has been here at the base every day to be by your side and waiting for you to wake up." Ratchet adds in.
Bumblebee looks around, "Were you able to get Arcee?"
Ratchet and Bulkhead look away from him with a heavy spark while Raf looks down with sad eyes. Optimus closes his optics, "No. We still haven't been successful in getting her back."
Bumblebee lays his helm back as he closes his optics. After everything they've been through they still haven't had any luck in getting her back. But he won't lose hope that they will get her back one day and everything will go back to normal.
"Ratchet, maybe you should give Bumblebee some of that stuff that you took. It would really help with his recovery." Bulkhead says half-jokingly, "What did you take anyway? You were a fighting machine out there."
Ratchet laughs as he walks over to the table where he's keeping the other cylinders of Synthetic Energon, "Just a little something I like to call synthen." He says as he picks one up and tosses it to Bulkhead who was following him with Optimus.
"From the data Bulkhead transcribed?" Optimus asks as Bulkhead examines the Synthetic Energon, "But, I thought the formula was..."
"Incomplete?" Ratchet butts in completing his sentence, "Heh, not anymore."
"So Ratchet makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" Bulkhead asks as he hands the cylinder of Synthetic Energon over to Optimus.
"Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject." Optimus says as he examines the cylinder.
"Well, it certainly helped Ratchet take down those Vehicons by himself. I think we should all try that stuff, or maybe give Ratchet more of it so we can take a vacation."
"I agree that the initial results seem... promising." Optimus says as he walks over to Ratchet, "But I recommend that further testing be confined to machines, not Autobots."
"Optimus, we could really use it right now. With Arcee still being held by the Decepticons and Bumblebee still too injured to fight..." Ratchet tries to argue.
"I understand old friend, but I will not allow us to be using something that still needs to be studied and tested. We are still uncertain of its capabilities and what effects we could go through by having that stuff inside our bodies. I will not risk falling short another member of our team because there was a bad effect to the body."
Ratchet looks down and stays silent. He knows Optimus is right but he still can't get rid of the feeling that he could use this stuff to help them get the upper hand over the Decepticons. After everything the Decepticons have been putting them through they deserve a good thrashing.
~~~~~~~~~~
It didn't take long for Optimus to notice that Ratchet was beginning to neglect his medical duties. Ratchet should be looking after Bumblebee and helping him start his recovery, but instead, he's in the training room showing Bulkhead how he took down all the Vehicons. When a loud crash was heard in the halls Optimus went to check it out to find Bulkhead laying upside down against the wall and there was a huge hole in the other wall that looked into the training area. Optimus could see that Ratchet was growing arrogant but he tried to shrug it off, told himself that it should pass once the Synthetic Energon was out of his systems.
Ratchet shoots some more of the synthen into his systems to help him stay on top of his game. He's determined to take down the Decepticons and help end the war for good. But he can't see that the stuff is corrupting him and taking over.
Optimus and Bulkhead are talking to Bumblebee, telling him about everything that has happened since he went unconscious, when the monitors start beeping. Optimus and Bulkhead turn to look at it, "Looks like the 'Cons found some Energon, again." Bulkhead says with slight annoyance.
"Bulkhead, let's rollout."
"Hey hey, shouldn't we wait for our secret weapon?"
"This mission is unlikely to require some medical expertise."
"But you never know if it may require additional firepower." Optimus turns around to see Ratchet leaning against a wall. Ratchet pushes himself off the wall and walks over to him, "It's just you and Bulkhead right now. You need my help on the battlefield, I won't allow you two to go out there and risk getting hurt."
"Bumblebee needs a doctor right now, he needs you. You need to help him start his recovery process." Optimus tells him.
"I'll start on that when we return from this mission." Ratchet says as he walks over to the groundbridge, he then turns to look back at them, "Time to put some hurt on those Decepticons."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arcee looks over at Laserbeak, Soundwave had left the room after being summoned by Megatron and it's now just her and Laserbeak who is still laying on the table. She can't stop thinking about Laserbeak's wing and wants to look at it, Soundwave told her it's fine but she still wants to look at it and see how much it has healed. Would Laserbeak even allow her to get near him?
She notices that Laserbeak is still in recharge so maybe she can check him over and hopefully not wake him. She's gonna have to be quick so Soundwave doesn't catch her, there's no telling how he would react if he caught her messing with Laserbeak. She quietly gets off the berth and moves over to the table.
She looks at Laserbeak's wing and runs a digit over it, it seems to be healing very well. Laserbeak suddenly flies towards her which startles her, she's about to move back when Laserbeak lands on the table again and presses himself against her body. Arcee is shocked by this action, it was really unexpected.
"He likes you."
Arcee turned around quickly to see Soundwave standing there. When did he enter the room? Her optics widen as she starts moving away from Laserbeak. Soundwave smirked behind his visor, it's not every day he sees this strong femme looking startled. He sends one of his appendages over to her and it wraps around her waist to stop her from moving away.
He walks over to her and turns her around so she's facing Laserbeak again, the small mech never moved from his position. Soundwave stood behind her and removed his appendage from her waist, pulling it back to its slot at his side.
"He's very grateful to you for helping him out in the cave." He says as he places his servo over hers and runs her servo over Laserbeak, "As am I."
Arcee's body starts heating up and she fights to keep her fans from kicking in, her processor instantly goes back to a few nights ago when they were in the brig and he was running his servos over her body, feeling out all of her curves. She tries to remove those thoughts and focus on stroking Laserbeak, "It was no problem. I couldn't just leave you two untreated."
"What made you save my life? You could have just left me to die under the rocks. Why didn't you?"
Arcee had to think for a moment, she honestly doesn't know why she did it. She just felt like she needed to do it, "I guess it was my way of paying you back for helping me out."
Soundwave stayed silent as he enjoyed the closeness with her. He came to the room to pick up Laserbeak, he didn't expect to see Arcee standing at the table stroking his wing and he certainly didn't expect to see Laserbeak nuzzle up to her like a sparkling nuzzling up to its carrier. But he's happy that Laserbeak is taking to her so well, especially since she will be his sparkmate soon.