Alice had never dreamed of stepping foot onto another planet. As she touched the surface of Cybertron, she found herself looking around, her eyes wide and her mouth forming a small 'o'. In front of her, Ratchet was gazing around at the darkened Cybertron, his mouth set into a thin, hard line. He had never wanted her to see it, not while it was in this condition, but he didn't say that. Instead he turned to Alice and shook his head slowly. "Welcome to Cybertron."
"This is your home?" she asked, gazing around, then looking back at Ratchet only to notice that he'd transformed into vehicular mode and his driver's side door was open, waiting for her to get in. With a slightly miserable expression, the girl hopped in, and the door closed just as Ratchet drove off. "So where are we driving to?" Alice asked, curious to know where Ratchet was going, but the medic didn't answer for a brief moment.
Then he responded with, "We're heading to my old medical clinic."
Alice frowned. "Your old clinic?" she asked. If Ratchet had been capable of nodding, he would have. Instead, he satisfied himself by making an affirmative noise. "Ah," Alice said, then leaned back and looked out of the window, observing the surroundings as they raced by. She could see that many wars had taken place, and the planet was completely ravaged and destroyed. Much energon had been spilled, and Alice found herself wondering how many people Ratchet had saved… or had failed to save.
They drove for what seemed like hours, yet Ratchet soon confirmed that it had only been about half an hour, before they pulled up to an out-of-the-way medical clinic. As Alice stepped out, Ratchet transformed, and motioned to the old, decrepit husk of a building. "This was my old clinic," he said, seeming quite monotone and blunt. Alice looked up at him, but said nothing as he walked over and opened the door. Then he turned to her and said, "Come on. We have supplies to collect," before turning on his heel and walking inside. Alice bit her lip before following, and she soon found herself in the darkened, burnt out clinic.
Ratchet looked around, trying to stop himself from crying. He had had so many patients here, and so many interesting conversations. He wasn't much of a conversationalist and had had a reputation of being quite grumpy sometimes, but his medical knowledge – the top in his field, he'd been told many times – came cheap, which was good for those who couldn't afford to go to the clinics in Iacon, which were the best ones on Cybertron.
"Ratch?" Alice asked, and the medic looked down as she put her hand on his leg. "Is something wrong?"
Ratchet smiled sadly. "I would be lying if I said I didn't miss what I've experienced in this clinic," he said, turning back and looking around. His optics fell on something – it was the size of Alice's head, and it was rectangular, box-like – that was painted in his familiar red and white, and he grinned as he strode over to it. "Ah, my triage kit!"
"That's what you need?" Alice asked, her voice shocked. She couldn't believe that it was so small, yet so useful.
Ratchet nodded as he held it up. "This is just the condensed version; the kit itself is much larger, full of tools and invaluable medical supplies that I left behind when I departed Cybertron." He shook his head as his backpack slid open and he put the kit inside it. Then, as the pack closed, he looked around and said, "Now, I think I have some materials that I can use to help Vesper around here…" He walked around, sifting through the rubble and many a broken medical tool in order to find whatever he was seeking. Alice decided to help him by picking up whatever intact tools she could find, and Ratchet appreciated her help.
When he finally found what he was looking for, he held it up for Alice to see. It was a long, cord-esque thing, and Alice found herself frowning at it. "Wait, you're actually going to replace her spinal cord?!"
Ratchet nodded as he placed the cord in his subspace. "Yes. It's possible… well," he said, looking Alice up and down, "It's possible for us Cybertronians. I don't know about humans." He shook his head. "In any case, I have what I came for. We best head back."
Alice nodded in agreement. "Hopefully Ultra Magnus managed to hold the bridge…" She looked nervously away.
Ratchet slowly shook his head before striding towards the door of the decrepit clinic. "Ultra Magnus is perfectly capable of holding a Space Bridge." He shook his head. "But we should still return soon; I don't know if my patients are okay, and as a medic I—"
"You have a duty of care," Alice finished for him, and Ratchet nodded before walking out of the clinic. The human girl followed to notice that he was back in vehicle mode, the door open yet again, waiting for her. She smiled softly before getting in and closing the door, and Ratchet drove off towards the area where the bridge had opened.
When they got there, they noticed that the swirling green vortex was still open, which was quite relieving to the both of them. However, when they drove through the portal, they found that something was different.
Ultra Magnus, hammer and all, was gone.
"Where's Ultra Magnus gone?" Alice whimpered as she got out of Ratchet and the bot transformed. His azure optics gazed around, carefully checking the surroundings for any differences. He didn't initially see anything out of the ordinary, but he didn't feel right. He felt endangered, unsafe, and knew that – no matter what his processor was telling him – there was something amiss, and deep in his spark he knew it. "Ratch?"
"Alice, we need to leave," the medic growled, turning the Space Bridge off, which closed the swirling green vortex and cut Cybertron off again.
"Why?" she asked as he transformed back into vehicular form, and she got in. As the door closed Ratchet lurched forward and raced off, making Alice shout in alarm… moments before gunfire hit the ground centimetres away from the medic's back tires. "Whoa!" Alice cried as Ratchet sharply turned a corner, and he soon found his way out of the mineshaft that the Space Bridge had been hidden in. Ultra Magnus had still not emerged or had not been found, which was highly concerning to Ratchet… but it wasn't as concerning as the fact that he was now being tailed by at least ten identical cars.
"Scrap," the doctor growled as he looked behind him using his mirrors, and he scowled. He couldn't call base, either; he, Alice and Ultra Magnus had executed this plan in secrecy, and calling base would cause the others to question why they had gone to a Decepticon mine. His only hope was Ultra Magnus' return… and that came swiftly.
A Cybertronian truck – somewhat similar to the trucks on Earth – pulled up beside the Earth-style emergency vehicle, and Alice was extremely relieved to see him. The warrior transformed then, skidding to a stop in front of Ratchet and allowing him time to get back to base without being tailed, and summoned the Magnus Hammer to his hand.
"Wait, we're just going to leave him?!" Alice exclaimed, looking back at the hammer-wielding bot in horror as Ratchet drove further and further away.
"Alice, he's allowing us to escape, and he's strong; he'll survive." Ratchet sighed. "Trust me."
Alice was about to speak, but she decided against it. Instead she leaned back into the chair and looked out the window, watching as Earth's familiar landscape rushed past. She eventually got sick of her helmet and she attempted to remove, succeeding after many struggles. Life wasn't easy with just one arm.
When they finally got back to base, Ratchet pulled up and waited for Alice to get out before transforming back into robot mode and walked over to his patients. He turned to Alice and said, "Go get changed; I need to get to work on Vesper." Alice nodded and headed off as Ratchet drew Vesper out of her coma, and the femme – after slowly waking – looked drowsily over at the doctor.
"Doctor," she murmured, then winced as she felt the pain in her back for the first time in a while. "Do you… need something?"
Ratchet nodded. "I need to inform you that I will be performing another surgery on your back," he said, pulling the long cord that he'd retrieved from Cybertron from his subspace. "And this time, I hope for better results."
Vesper sleepily looked at the cord, then looked back up at Ratchet and smiled tiredly. "Very well, Doctor," she said, and Ratchet nodded before putting the femme back into stasis. Then he pulled his triage kit out from his subspace and set it down next to him. He opened it, a smile appearing on his face when he saw that most of his tools were intact and operable, and picked out the ones that would be the most beneficial in the surgery. Then he got to work. He opened up her back and looked at the damaged cord, wincing when he looked at it. It was almost completely undamaged, save for a large gouge that Ratchet had found himself unable to patch up, and the medic sighed as he started to remove the cord. He knew that, as soon as he removed it, he had precious little time to install the new one and reconnect the processor and spark chamber before Vesper offlined, but he also knew that – so long as he wasn't distracted at all – he would be able to do it with no issues.
He worked tirelessly, quickly removing Vesper's damaged cord and replacing it, reattaching every little cord where it needed to be attached. It took hours, and by that time, the sun was beginning to rise and everyone else was just beginning to walk out. Alice, who had gone to bed after getting changed mainly because she hadn't wanted to interrupt the doctor's work, was the first to come out, just as Ratchet was cleaning up and putting his tools away. The damaged cord that he'd removed was sitting on the medical table near one of the monitors, and Alice decided that she wanted a closer look at it.
"Hey, Ratch," she called, getting the medic's attention. He looked down at her and frowned. "Can I have a closer squiz at that?" she asked, pointing at the damaged cord, and Ratchet smiled before kneeling down and picking the human girl up. Then he placed her next to the cord, and she peered at it curiously. She took in the damages, including the ones that Ratchet had been able to repair, then looked up at the medic and said, "Woah."
The medic started to laugh as he walked over to Optimus. "Is that all you ca—" He cut himself off as his optics widened. The life support machine that the Prime was hooked up had failed. On a nearby screen that showed bodily functions, there was no processor activity… and no spark beat.
Optimus Prime had flatlined.