Chapter 32 – Injured

"Mornin' Val!"

"Good morning Bluestreak" Valkyrie replied across the comm. line. "What can I do for ya?"

"Oh, I uh, was just wondering how you were doing and if you were um…are you busy?"

Valkyrie set her datapad down with a frown and gave the comm. line her full attention. "Why?" she asked suddenly suspicious.

"Is there any chance you could make your way out to the firing range?"

"Ratchet would kick my shiny metal aft if I went anywhere near the firing range this far into my pregnancy Blue."

"It's kinda important."

Valkyrie began tapping a finger on Ratchet's desk impatiently. "Ok, I'll bite, what is important?"

"Ironhide needs help with his cannon…again."

Valkyrie grinned as Ironhide's voice grumbled in the background of Bluestreak's comm.. Apparently it was not the weapons specialist's idea to call for assistance. "Well that's stating the obvious Blue. I've been telling that old rust bucket he's been in need of help for over a year now."

"I heard that!" Ironhide yelled back across the line.

"So what's wrong with the guns?"

"We tried boosting the power to Ironhide's left cannon right? And it worked too! Took out a huge wall of rock an everything! Anyways, the cannon jammed up tight an we can't stop the energy build up. It's been building up for over ten minutes now and I think Ironhide is startin' to feel a bit of pain, not that he'd admit it, but…"

"Alright, alright, alright! Calm down Blue. I'm on my way." Valkyrie cut the comm. line and drew a hand across her optics. Ratchet and Wheeljack were still out patching up Mirage and Hoist after their unfortunate run in with a rockslide; which left only her to deal with this. Valkyrie struggled to lift her heavy frame from her chair and cursed when another problem came to light. 'How the hell am I supposed to even get out there?!' she thought to herself. She hadn't been able to transform for months now due to the sparkling; so she couldn't fly to the firing range. Walking was out of the question as Ironhide would probably look like a burnt out toaster oven by the time she got there. "What I need… is a ride."

Fifteen minutes later Valkyrie found herself blinking into the bright sunlight as she stepped from Optimus Prime's trailer. Ironhide and Bluestreak looked at her and Optimus in utter mortification. Apparently the slight embarrassment she had felt over having to ask their commander for a lift was nothing compared to what these two were feeling by the looks on their face plates.

"You coulda warned us Prime was comin' too" Ironhide muttered under his breath when Valkyrie was close enough.

Valkyrie kneeled beside Ironhide and shook her head while removing the outer plating of the overheating cannon. "And how else was I supposed to get out here to fix your broken aft? I'm not exactly the most mobile of Autobots at the moment in case you hadn't fragging noticed. Optimus was the only one available who is big enough to transport me. So quit your whining, sit still, and let me do my oh so thankless job."

"I'm sure what Ironhide meant to say was thank you for coming Valkyrie. We know it was an inconvenience and we really appreciate it" Bluestreak said quickly before Ironhide could reply.

"How is he?" Optimus inquired while peeking over Valkyrie's shoulder with amused optics.

"Well it looks like our Wheeljack wannabe was trying to blow himself up. His cannon is overheating and since genius here can't fire, the energy building up inside has nowhere to go." Valkyrie sat back on her heels pondering a solution for a moment before reaching into the inner workings of the cannon. "If the pressure isn't already beyond a little rerouting I can try to give the pent up energy a new path to follow…" Valkyrie yelped and yanked her hands back as electricity began arcing violently around the weapon specialist's extremity. "Well shit, so much for that idea" she muttered. "Optimus, now might be a good time to grab Blue here and take some cover." The mechs in question looked down at her with worried expressions and appeared ready to argue. "This is a medical emergency which puts me in charge, so it's my way or the highway. Right now my way says get the frag behind some cover!! Now move it!!" Optimus let out a short bark of a laugh then grabbed Bluestreak and jogged for cover. Valkyrie calmly looked into Ironhide's shocked optics and deployed her energon blade. The grizzled old warrior glanced at the blade then sighed nodding grimly in understanding.

"Do it."

With one swift motion Valkyrie sliced through the cannon effectively amputating it from Ironhide's arm. She quickly picked up the now glowing weapon and threw it away from her comrades with all her might. A bright white light overpowered her optics a second later followed by the concussion of an explosion. 'If this doesn't kill me, Ratchet will' was her last thought before her body slammed into something solid.

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"What's taking so long?"

Wheeljack stood from where he was attaching Hoist's tow cable to Mirage's alt form. "Gimme a break Ratch! Mirage is a formula one racer; they're not exactly tow friendly." Mirage muttered something under his breath earning himself an apologetic pat on his hood. "No offense there Mirage."

Ratchet smirked and made a last minute adjustment to Hoist's engine before closing the mechanic's hood. Rather than fixing both mechs in the field, Ratchet and Wheeljack had opted to concentrate their efforts on Hoist and then use his tow truck alt mode to bring Mirage back to base. Wheeljack straightened back up from Hoist's tow mechanism and gave the human gesture of a thumbs up. Ratchet transformed and cautiously led the others down the trail keeping a sharp optic open for anymore rockslides. He relaxed as his wheels touched down on solid pavement and picked up the pace eager to return to base; and Valkyrie. He grew anxious when forced to be separated from her for any period of time. The feelings got worse as the projected birth date of their sparkling rapidly approached.

"Hey, that looks like Bluestreak!"

Ratchet swerved slightly in surprise at Wheeljack's shout and looked off to where the Lancia's sensors were focused. A grey Datsun came into view approaching at dangerous speeds. Ratchet attempted to establish a comm. line with the gunner then slowed to a stop when there was no reply. "Can anyone get a line with him? I'm getting nothing." When everyone else's attempts failed he transformed and instinctively placed himself protectively in front of his patients.

Bluestreak transformed before coming to a stop sending sparks and torn up asphalt skittering across the waiting mechs' frames. "Ratchet! Thank Primus I found you! I would of tried to send word to divert you but the EMP from the explosion knocked out our comm.! I was starting to worry that we'd never find you and…"

Ratchet stopped picking bits of asphalt from his frame and looked up sharply. "Explosion? What explosion?" Bluestreak made a mournful sound and wilted under his stare causing a chill in his spark.

"There was an accident at the firing range and…and…and…Ratchet, Val is hurt" Bluestreak finished in a near whisper.

"Get Hoist and Mirage back to base." Ratchet transformed without waiting for a reply from Wheeljack and took off for the firing range. He had his engine pushed well into the red by the time Bluestreak caught up with him. "Tell me everything Bluestreak!" he shouted. "Everything!"

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Ironhide wiped at a thin stream of energon that trickled from between Valkyrie's parted lips with his good hand. He jerked back in surprise when the femme gave a weak cough and unshuttered dim optics. "Welcome back."

"How long was I out this time?"

"Few minutes. How ya feelin?"

"Fan-fraggin-tastic. From the error messages I keep getting I think half my CPU merged with those rocks I got slammed into. Oh stop looking at me like a kicked puppy; It's not like you knew this was gonna happen."

Ironhide helped Valkyrie into a more comfortable position leaning against his frame and sighed. "Was still my fault. I'm more'n old enough t'know better. Messin' with the adjustments Jack's made on my cannons is just askin' for trouble."

"Have Bluestreak or Optimus returned?" Valkyrie inquired hoping to divert Ironhide's guilt.

"Nope. If Blue doesn't find the Doc at his last known location, Prime'll find em at base or will at least have access to a workin' comm. Either way we'll get yer other half out here an we'll get everythin fixed an..." Ironhide cut off as Valkyrie whimpered and tensed against him. "Val? Darlin' what's wrong?"

"Errrrrrrrrrror with the carrying program. Oh God…the sparkling-ing. Ironhide I….I….I need help!" Valkyrie kicked her legs as a sharp pain began radiating from her abdomen. "Ironhide…help mmmmmmmmmme."

Ironhide tried activating his broken comm. in vain while holding Valkyrie down with his good arm. "Just hold on girl; I'm tryin' ta reach the others. Primus, please. Work damn you!" He gave up on the comm. line and looked down at Valkyrie's twitching frame. "We gotta just wait for the Doc! Prime an Blue'll find em! Just… just hold on!"

Valkyrie tossed her head back and forth violently. "Can-an-an not wait. You have to get it out n-now." Ironhide widened his optics and shook his head in denial. "Please...dont…lllllet it die. Take it out. Take it out nnnnnnnnnnow!"

Ironhide felt like his spark was being torn in two. He laid the twitching femme down on the ground and knelt over her. "No other way?" he asked quietly.

"Please…tell that fraggerrrr…I'm sorry. Tell him I love…love him."

Ironhide shook his head sadly and placed a feather light kiss on Valkyrie's forehead as he placed a knee on her cockpit to hold her down. "Activate yer blade darlin'." He winced as Valkyrie managed to deploy the energon blade from her wrist. He gripped her forearm just above the blade and guided it over to her abdomen. "Primus, forgive me" he whispered as he lowered the blade.

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Bluestreak slammed on his breaks when he caught the sound of Ratchet transforming behind him. He transformed and turned to find the CMO picking himself up from where he had landed as a result of transforming without slowing down first. Bluestreak started to ask why they stopped when the medic abruptly clutched at his chest and screamed. He ran over to Ratchet and gave the medic a shake by his shoulders. "Ratchet! Ratchet what's going on?! What's wrong?!" The scream stopped sharply and Ratchet pitched forward. Bluestreak barely caught the larger mech before he hit the ground and slowly lowered him the rest of the way. "Ratchet? Is…is it Valkyrie?" he asked suddenly fearful that the medics had bonded in secret and fearing the worst.

"No. Not Valkyrie" Ratchet panted into the Datsun's arms. "There is no bond to feel anything from her." He groaned as he forced himself into a seated position and rubbed at his chest plates. 'Primus! That fragging hurt!'he thought to himself. The pain that had gripped his spark a few moments ago was like nothing he'd ever felt before.

"Ok, then what happened? You nearly scared me into total shutdown when you screamed like that. Primus, I don't think I've ever heard anyone scream like that before. I'm surprised your vocals didn't short out. Are you in pain? Are you hurt somewhere?"

Ratchet stopped listening to Bluestreak's rambling as he tried to figure out exactly what did happen to him. His optics widened and his still aching spark sank when a possible answer surfaced. "I don't have a bond with her…" he whispered cutting Bluestreak off. "...but maybe with the sparkling…" He looked up and saw the gunner's optics widen with fear mirroring what his own must look like. "Help me up so I can get back into alt mode. I need to get to her. I need to get to them. Now!"