Normal, ::cybertronian::, emphasized, thoughts, *comm. line*, //bond//
Chapter 1 - The Professionals
Ratchet kept one audio tuned into the battle traffic while he prepared the med bay for the inevitable arrival of injured mechs. Bumblebee had run into Barricade again, which lead to the call for Autobot backup, which in turn lead to Barricade requesting assistance from his decepticon faction, and so on and so forth until Ratchet was the only one left at the base. He wondered if the Decepticons had emptied their base of all available personnel as well. Once he was sure he had prepared for just about any kind of scenario his processor could come up with Ratchet sat down and began the waiting game. He listened to the various reports as they were transmitted and hoped it wouldn't be too bad this time around.
Since the events surrounding Mission City both the Autobots and the Decepticons had been welcoming in new additions to their numbers. A small scout ship with four mechs here, a lone transport with two mechs there, a medium sized battle frigate with two full fire teams; a nasty surprise that had been on learning that addition to the Decepticons' forces. At last count the Decepticons outnumbered the Autobots but were still unable to claim the win. Ratchet accredited that to the fact that the Decepticons lacked a leader with half a functional processor while the Autobots had their beloved Prime to lead them.
Ratchet glanced around his med bay and couldn't hold back a small pride filled smile. The grateful humans had no problem in supplying the heroes of Mission City with some land on which to build a base. The med bay had been one of the first things built in their new home. It wasn't like his old bay back on Iacon but Ratchet was pleased with it none the less. Ratchet's thoughts were suddenly jolted back to the present when his designation sounded across the Autobot's frequency.
*Ratchet we have a situation, are you able to tend to a critically injured human?*
Ratchet frowned at Prowl's strange request. *Human? Is there anyway you can get it to one of their medical facilities? I can rebuild a mech damn near from scratch but humans are a little more… complicated.*
*Complicated or not we have no choice. The fighting has made all possible routes to human medical facilities inaccessible.*
Ratchet nervously flexed and relaxed his hands as he glanced around the med bay imagining the difficulties of treating an organic. *What about having a human rescue crew brought to the scene then?*
*I believe that the injured human is the rescue crew.*
Frag. Ratchet couldn't help but feel for the human in question. His current form was based off a rescue vehicle after all. *Very well, bring them here. Hopefully, I'll be able to find what information I need to treat them on the internet prior to their arrival.*
*Acknowledged. Expect an ETA of five minutes.*
Ratchet looked up at the ceiling in exasperation as the Autobots' SIC cut the comm. line. "Five minutes. For Primus' sake Prowl! Way to give me an adequate amount of time to prepare and download!" Ratchet set to work flipping through various medical, fire/rescue, and anatomy websites. It seemed that he had barely scratched the surface of the requested information when the med bay doors slammed open to reveal Sideswipe carrying what looked like the mangled cab of a rescue vehicle similar to the CMO's own design.
"The human is still pinned inside. Prowl thought it would be safer to use our tools here to get them out."
"Makes sense I guess." Ratchet crouched on the ground in an attempt to look inside the wrecked vehicle as Sideswipe set it down. "Are you sure it is even still alive in there?"
Sideswipe sighed and shrugged. "I didn't notice any sound or movement coming from it while carrying it here. It took a missile from Starscream. Think he musta thought it was you or maybe another Autobot. Hey look, I gotta get back to the fight. Sunsteaker is still out there an I think we owe some payback to Screamer for this one. Good luck with the human!"
Ratchet frowned as he watched the red mech fold into his Lamborghini alt mode and tear out of the med bay. He turned his frown to the twisted vehicle laid before him. A brief scan revealed that there was something still alive within. He grabbed a variety of tools and set to work in extricating the injured human. "This would be a lot easier if I could use a welding torch, though I doubt you would appreciate me cooking you in the process" he offered the pile of metal.
It didn't take long to peel back the inferior metal frame the humans had used on this particular vehicle. He blinked in surprise to discover that there were actually two humans lying inside the twisted cab. There was shattered glass sparkling across their bodies and more then a little blood. Ratchet performed another scan of the two bodies but knew it was probably pointless for one of them based on appearances. His suspicions were confirmed as the scan revealed the heavily damaged male was beyond his help. The female however, was not too bad off. One of her arms appeared to have a minor fracture and she had several cuts though none serious. Digging through the internet and checking the various medical sites he decided that the female was probably suffering from a concussion as well, which explained the unconsciousness.
Ratchet gently removed the female from the wreckage and placed her on one of the metal repair berths. He had to adjust the magnification of his optics several times to successfully bandage her wounds and splint her arm. He managed to find a blanket (courtesy of the frequent visits from the Witwicky boy) and laid it across the wounded female to help her retain some heat. Now that she was cleaned up a bit Ratchet was able to get a decent look at her. He supposed she was attractive as far as human females went. She was well toned and had dark red wavy hair tied at the nape of her neck. Ratchet glanced back at the wrecked rescue vehicle and sighed. He was a seasoned Autobot and the CMO to boot, but despite his experience he found himself dreading telling the female human that her male counterpart failed to survive their first experience with cybertronians. He imagined that the human would not take it well when she learned the attack was likely due to mistaken identity.
The all clear sounded across the radio snapping Ratchet out of his thoughts. He moved the human female into his office carefully laying her down on his desk then returned to the med bay proper to push the wrecked cab against a far wall. He draped a tarp across it and the dead human it still contained. Autobots protected life, they would learn about the dead human soon enough, but not until after all the wounded were seen to. No need to add disheartened feelings to an already injured mech.
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Pain. That was the first thing that registered to Joe. She opened her eyes and squinted having a hard time focusing on her surroundings. Wherever she was it was very bright and smelled very clean. A hospital maybe? "Ugh, how long have I been out?" Ok girl, let's go over the symptoms. Neck pain, headache, blurry vision, loss of consciousness… well shit, even a rookie medic could tell me I'm experiencing the joys of a concussion. She noticed the splint on her arm and after closer examination decided it was probably a sprain or a mini break at the worst. Stings and pains around the rest of her body were a given after a car wreck. She muttered to herself when she realized it would probably take at least two weeks to get all the glass worked out of her skin. Joe sat up bringing her good hand up to her head. Wincing slightly she put the pain aside and decided that she would grab some Tylenol from the hospital stock room before trying to help with the patients. After the destruction she witnessed before her own incident there was going to be a lot more patients then medical staff. I'll be damned if they think I'm not going to do my job over a few bumps and scratches like this. Speaking of job… "Kevin?" Joe called in an attempt to find her fellow paramedic.
Joe swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to stand only to discover that the floor was a lot further away the she thought. She hit the floor with a strangled shout. "What the hell?" Luckily it didn't feel like she had injured herself further so she stood up leaning heavily against the insanely tall bed she had just fallen from. She heard a door open and frowned at the shouted "Ratchet! It's awake and it's loose!"
"It's loose?" Joe said with her best frozen ice queen voice. She closed her eyes for a moment and re-opened them in a failed attempt to clear her vision. She thought she heard something enter the room and decided that it was time to say her thank-yous to whoever her Doc was and make it clear that she had no intention of remaining in patient status. "Alright, thanks for the catnap Doc, I'll just be needing some headache meds and I'll be out of your way. I'm also going to need to know where my partner is so we can start helping out with the patients. His name is Kevin Baker and he was the other paramedic in the ambulance wreck with me."
A voice from way above where a normal person should be responding from replied in careful tones. "I am afraid that your friend did not survive. You have my sympathies. As for getting out of the way, you are in no condition. So if you will please lie back down and try to relax…"
Kevin. Oh God. Joe took a deep breath. She had given death notifications herself, she could handle this. There would be plenty of time for mourning later. "I see. I appreciate your concern but I still have a job to do. So if you could please tell me how I get to the casualty collection point so I can check in?"
Ratchet noticed the single tear falling down the cheek of the human female despite her best efforts. He was about to try offering some words of comfort when he heard some whispering behind his back.
"Dear Primus, she's about as stubborn as he is."
"Minus the fact that she hasn't thrown anything at anyone or cursed anyone out, she sounds like the Hatchet."
"Definitely a one track processor."
Ratchet growled and spun around to face the growing crowd of mechs. "Unless you are injured get out of my med bay now! You are not helping!"
Joe squinted against the lights as she glanced up looking for the owner of the loud voice. She felt her mouth drop in surprise. Vague red blurs mixed in with mostly yellow blurs, but it was the two blue blurs that looked at her that made her gasp.
"I'm assuming that you've noticed a few things are off by now?" the tall blurry thing with blue eyes replied. "Hold on a moment, let me try something with your optics errr…eyes."
Joe froze as the large blurry thing lowered itself putting it in very close proximity. More pain registered and she fell to her knees wrapping her good arm around her eyes when a bright light flashed before her. The pain receded and she cautiously opened her eyes. A pair of large glowing blue orbs she could only assume were eyes regarded her from close up. Joe's vision was still not perfect but she could most definitely see the large robot crouched down holding some device before her.
"Green then. I was not sure what color they were earlier when you were unconscious but I assumed as much. Red hair and green eyes seem to go hand and hand amongst your race. The name is Ratchet by the way; I am the Chief Medical Officer here, welcome to the Autobot base med bay."
Autobot? Joe stared wide eyed as the robotic creature before her straightened to his full height. Well whatever he is, he introduced himself, so I better do the same. "My name is Josephine, Joe for short. I am a paramedic with… we were responding to reports of… just what the hell is going on here?!"
Ratchet raised an optic ridge and regarded the female human for a moment. "I will be more then happy to explain once we have you back on the desk where you belong." He moved with the intention of picking the human up but apparently this Joe was having none of that. She tried to make a run for it but only managed to make it a grand five paces before her weakened and sore body failed and she stumbled landing on her injured arm. She yelled at the sharp pain and instinctively curled around the arm cradling it protectively.
"See? You should have listened to me. I didn't go through the trouble of taking care of you only to have you injure yourself further in my med bay of all places. Now will you please relax and allow me to put you back on the desk?" Ratchet tried being nice with this human and now he found himself resorting to the kind of bullying required on the majority of the Autobot crew.
Joe glared up at him. At least I think it's a him. "I'll have you know that I am an experienced paramedic, a Lieutenant with my county's fire and rescue service, and am fully capable of taking care of myself thank you very much! You are not my chief and so you have no right to give me orders of any kind!" Joe forced herself not to flinch as the large yellow being quickly scooper her up in his hands and brought her to level with his face.
"Slagging stubborn aft femme!"
Joe stood and met the creature's glare with one of her own. "Fucking burnt out toaster!"
"Half pint, half trained…"
"Loud mouthed, jackass…"
The exchanges continued much to the amusement of the gathered audience of Autobots to include a very shocked Optimus Prime.
"I told you… it's a female human version of the Hatchet" whispered an awed Sideswipe.
"Give her a wrench and see if she throws it, then we'll know for sure" replied Sunstreaker.
Both Ratchet and Joe turned to the Lamborghini twins and shouted at the same time. "Shut up!!"