Vesper's eyes flickered open, and she noticed Ratchet standing next to her, his servo on her shoulder. It was obvious that he was the one who had woken her, pulled her out of her shared dream, and while that annoyed her she gave no voice to her thoughts. Instead, she smiled up at the doctor and said, "Good morning, Doctor."
Ratchet smiled in return. "It's afternoon, but that doesn't matter. You need to start your rehabilitation," he said, his smile falling, and Vesper frowned. "First, I'm going to have you sit up," Ratchet said abruptly, and it was clear that he was impatient to get her up and moving, to see if his surgery had gone well. She decided to oblige him, even though she was still in a little bit of pain, and attempted to sit up. After managing to do that with little difficulty, Ratchet nodded and jotted something down. "Well, this might go a little quicker than I previously believed. That's good," he said, a relieved smile popping onto his face.
Vesper looked over to see Alice snoozing on the couch. She smiled sadly, but turned her attention back to Ratchet and asked, "Where are the others?"
Ratchet, busy typing something down on a monitor, looked out of the corner of his optics back at the femme, and he shook his head. "They're all out, except for myself, you, Optimus, and young Alice over there." He looked over at the human girl affectionately, and smiled. Then he turned back to Vesper and frowned. "Now, you can still feel your legs, yes?" he asked, and Vesper tentatively nodded. Ratchet grinned. "Good. Now, I want you to attempt to stand."
Vesper blinked at him, stunned, but managed a nod. "Okay," she said, her voice small and nervous, and then she did as she'd been asked. She did manage it, but as soon as she put weight on her right foot, burning agony jolted up her leg and she cried out before collapsing. Ratchet immediately caught her, and the femme's pained cry woke Alice, who jumped off of the couch and looked around, worriedly. When she saw Ratchet helping Vesper back to the medical berth, she settled down a bit and walked over to the railing of the platform the couch was sitting on.
"What just happened?" she asked as Ratchet scanned Vesper's leg, and the medic – after completing his scan – turned back and frowned at his human charge.
"Her leg gave out on her," he said simply, then turned back to Vesper and asked, "Are you in any pain?"
The femme slowly shook her head. "Not anymore," she said, sadly looking down at the leg that had collapsed underneath her. "It just hurt when I put weight on it."
Ratchet frowned. "Did you feel the same pain in your left leg?" he asked, and his answer came in the mere shake of the head from Vesper. The medic frowned, shook his head, and sighed. He'd done all he could, and while movement had been restored to her legs, it was obvious that she only had full use of one of them. The other leg was absolutely useless, which was quite bad and disabled Vesper from walking anyway.
Alice sighed; even after replacing Vesper's spinal cord, the femme still couldn't walk, which was the entire reason Ratchet and Alice had braved Cybertron and its dangers in the first place. This made the girl feel quite sad, but she didn't voice this concern. Instead, she tried to be optimistic and said, "Hey, you'll be able to walk again. It might just take a while."
The girl's optimism gave Vesper hope, and she nodded. "Indeed, Alice. And I am willing to take however long I must," she said, smiling at the human girl's direction. Then she looked over just as the communication line went off, and Ratchet strode over and opened it to find that it was Ultra Magnus requesting a bridge. He immediately opened the bridge, and the warrior strode in.
As soon as he noticed that Vesper was awake, Ultra Magnus nodded and said, "Vesper."
"Sir," Vesper politely said in return. Then she turned to look up at Ratchet, who was again opening a bridge; this time, allowing Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee to return, as they'd all met up. That left only Wheeljack to return, but alarmingly he never called in. The kids even called, but that was only to say that they weren't coming back for the night, as they were all exhausted and their parents were worried. That was fine by Ratchet, who didn't have the time to worry about them. Alice, after yet another call from her parents, sighed and was forced to leave (much to the medic's chagrin), and soon enough the base was completely devoid of human life.
Vesper continued to try and walk over and over again, but every time she tried, her leg collapsed agonisingly underneath her. That never stopped her, however; it was actually Bulkhead who confined her to the medical berth, saying that she shouldn't strain herself.
The femme sighed. "But I am useless like this!" she exclaimed.
Ultra Magnus, agreeing with Bulkhead, frowned and crossed his arms. "While that may be true," he stated, making the femme feel quite miserable, "It is only a temporary thing. You will heal in no time." He shook his head. "But if you force yourself to recover, you may do more damage than good."
Vesper was about to argue, but upon realising that the warrior was correct, she sighed and simply nodding in compliance. Then she looked over at Optimus, and frowned. There was another reason she wanted to recover, and that was to help Optimus. She believed that if she could do it, then he could as well, and she could assist him.
"I know that you want to help Optimus," Arcee suddenly said, and Vesper turned around to meet the other femme's eyes. "But if you don't recover, then he won't. Okay?"
It was almost as if Arcee had read Vesper's mind. The scarlet femme sighed and nodded in agreement, then looked back at her sparkmate. She prayed to Primus that Optimus would survive, and then she yawned. She hadn't realised how exhausted she was until that moment, and she looked over at the others. Ratchet, seeing this, requested that she get some rest, and she did so with a goodnight to the others.
Vesper's decision to sleep took Ratchet's racing mind off of her, and he soon found himself wondering where Wheeljack had gotten off to. When he voiced his thoughts to the others, even Ultra Magnus found himself concerned about the Wrecker's whereabouts.
And each one of them had every right to be… mainly because Wheeljack was currently being held prisoner on board the Nemesis. He was restrained by electro-manacles, and was barely conscious, having being beaten to the point of open, freely flowing wounds. Yet, even though he had been beaten so badly, he refused to give the Decepticons the information they wanted. Even under threat of death he had not given in, and now he was alone, left to bleed out and die. He didn't care so much about dying; he just wanted to see the Decepticons snarl, grit their teeth, clench their servos, become angry when they could force no information out of him.
The door opened, and Wheeljack's eyes opened slowly, drearily, as someone slipped in. He noticed that it was Knockout, the Decepticon medic, and the Wrecker scowled as the doctor walked over and regarded him with an angry expression.
"You're a very difficult bot to crack," Knockout noted, but Wheeljack stubbornly remained silent, which seemed to anger the medic even more. "We wanted to not use a cortical psychic patch, but you're not making it easy for us."
"Use it, then," Wheeljack said bitterly. "You won't get scrap out of me!"
Knockout scowled, but said nothing as the door opened. Someone stepped in, and Wheeljack's eyes widened as he gazed at the Decepticon with a single optic. He had heard a lot about this particular Decepticon – the 'Con before him was a scientist, one of high esteem… and was the creator of the cortical psychic patch.
"Shockwave," Wheeljack hissed.
Shockwave said absolutely nothing to the Wrecker; instead, he picked up a long, purplish cord that reminded Wheeljack of Soundwave's tentacles, just a little bit thinner, then turned to Wheeljack and started stomping towards him.
Wheeljack was lying to himself if he said that he wasn't afraid at all, because he was. He was fearful that he couldn't be able to conceal the information that the 'Cons so desperately sought, but he was also fearful that his mind would be permanently damaged. It could happen and it was one of the biggest reasons that Optimus Prime had banned it… at least by the Autobots.
Wheeljack suddenly felt the cord get plugged into the back of his neck, and his optics widened before he found himself unconscious…
And standing in a familiar battlefield. It was one of the ones that the Wreckers had taken part of, but it had been so long ago that he no longer really remembered the details. It was a deserted place, too; it was clearly after the battle had taken place and clean-up had occurred. Wheeljack noticed, however, that he wasn't completely alone; there was someone standing in front of him, someone he recognised.
Wheeljack growled and pulled his katanas from his back. "Get out of my head, freak," he hissed, and Shockwave turned to regard him.
"I cannot do that," the 'Con said, his voice sending a shiver down Jackie's backstrut. However, the Wrecker didn't back down; instead he took a threatening step forward. Shockwave didn't seem fearful, or even alarmed. "What you are doing is illogical. You cannot harm me."
"It's my head,"Wheeljack said simply, "So I can do what I—agh!" He clutched at his head as an enormous amount of pain raced through it. It felt like his head was being crushed underneath a large pede, and he collapsed to his knees and slammed his forehead against the ground. The whole time Shockwave just stood above the Wrecker, watching.
Eventually the cyclopean Decepticon spoke. "Give me the information I seek, and the pain will stop. It is the only logical solution."
Wheeljack fought through the agony in his head to look up at the 'Con. "Go… g-get… scrapped…!"
This seemed to anger the 'Con, but before anything else could happen, Wheeljack felt the pain in his head stop… and Shockwave just seemed to disappear into nothingness. Darkness began to enswathe Wheeljack, causing him to begin to panic…
And as he flailed, his fist smashed Knockout in the chin, causing the Decepticon medic to stumble backwards and slam into a wall, slumping to the floor. Shockwave had begun to stride over to Wheeljack, but the Wrecker didn't panic; he took out his katanas and tried to slice at the 'Con, hitting him in the single optic. Shockwave made a noise reminiscent of an agonised cry, just much quieter, and stumbled backwards. This allowed Wheeljack to make an escape, and he ran through the corridors of the Nemesis, killing or knocking out every Vehicon that tried to stop him.
The only time he had an issue was when he found himself on top of the warship, looking down at the ground that was thousands of miles below. Without the ability to fly, jumping was not an option for the Wrecker; he would merely slam into the ground and probably explode or something.
Looking behind him and seeing Vehicons running towards him – as well as Soundwave stalking towards him – was enough to make him reconsider. He would rather die than give precious information to the Decepticon forces, so – with one last look back at them and a grin – he ran and jumped off the edge of the warship.
Flying through the air as fast as he was didn't scare Wheeljack; it was the ground below that scared him. Pressing a finger to his audio processor, he screamed, "I need a Ground Bridge!"
Everyone in the Autobot base stiffened as they heard Wheeljack's words – including the newly awake Vesper – and her cyan optics widened. Ratchet immediately hurried over and tried to triangulate Wheeljack's coordinates, but found that he was unable to. He was, however, able to open a Ground Bridge just underneath Wheeljack, and the Wrecker flew into the base as the bridge opened, slamming into the floor and lying still as the bridge closed.
Vesper watched as the medic tentatively walked over and put his servo on Wheeljack's shoulder. Thankfully, the Wrecker groaned and soon enough sat up, although Ratchet was still concerned for the bot's health.
"It is thankful that you are alright," Vesper said, grinning at her former bodyguard, and Wheeljack grinned back. Then Vesper's face fell and she said, "What happened to you? Why did you not return earlier?"
Wheeljack was about to say something, but then he fell silent as Ultra Magnus strode over and said, "You were taken captive by the Decepticons."
Wheeljack was a little taken aback by how easily Magnus had guessed, but he nodded. "Yeah… but they didn't get anything out of me," he assured everyone. This drew the smallest of smiles from Magnus, who said nothing else.
Instead, he turned to everyone else and said, "This is getting out of hand."
Vesper found herself nodding in agreement. "The Decepticons are getting more and more desperate, it seems, to take us out." Everyone else nodded…
But they had absolutely no idea that they were horribly correct in their assumptions.