Hey everyone, I'm back! Here is chapter 26. I hope you like it.
Transformers Prime: The Medic's Assistant
Chapter 26: Stronger, Faster
Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime
(Autobot Base)
Looking through the microscope, Ratchet jotted down his notes for the synthetic energon formula. Since the team's energon storage had been running low, he was more determined than ever to complete it.
However, he was constantly interrupted by a certain individual.
As he was working, he couldn't help but feel the presence of someone trying to look over his shoulder. He let out a frustrated vent. "Stormracer."
The teal femme perked up when he said her name. "Yes?! You need help with the formula?! I'm right here!"
"I don't need help, now leave," the medic said.
Her smile disappeared. "Ratchet, come on. Let me take a look at it."
"No."
Whining a little, Stormracer walked off. Ratchet stepped away from the microscope to grab something from across the area, only to come back and see Stormracer taking a peak through it. "Heh hem!"
Stormracer's armor nearly leaped off of her as she turned around and gave him an innocent smile.
"I know you want to help, but your assistance is not required," Ratchet said as he had her move over to the side.
"But I can help you," she said, "I've studied chemical formulas for stellar cycles. Come on, Ratchet, please!"
"If you want to help that badly, then go finish cleaning those beakers. I'm going to need them," he said without even looking at her.
Stormracer sadly vented. "Yes, Ratchet."
Stormracer continued her work as Ratchet continued his project. She watched as Ratchet tested the formula on a machine with Raf watching him. She let out a sad vent. She wanted to prove to Ratchet that she could be more than just his assistant when it comes to science. All she wanted was a chance.
Just then an alarm sounded on the main computer, gaining everyone's attention.
"More energon on the move," Arcee said.
"Again?" Bulkhead asked.
"The recent activity suggests a familiar pattern," Optimus said, "the decepticons are desperately scouting for new energon deposits. Autobots, prepare to-"
"Optimus," Ratchet interrupted, "if one of you comes back wounded, well, our energon reserves are nearly depleted."
"Understood," the prime said before looking at the others, "autobots, roll out!"
Soon as the bots left, Ratchet vented. "Sometimes, I wish I could do more," he said sadly.
"You and me both," Stormracer mumbled.
Ratchet looked at her. "What was that?"
"Uh, hey Raf, wanna give me a hand?" she asked the human, pretending she didn't say her previous sentence.
"Sure, Storm," the boy said.
The two walked away, leaving Ratchet at his work area. It wasn't long until they heard the sound of glass breaking, making them turn around to see Ratchet falling to the floor unconscious.
"Ratchet!" Stormracer exclaimed fearfully as she rushed over. Looking at the cybertronian syringe on the floor close to him, her optics widened as she tried to get Ratchet to wake up. "Ratchet!"
"Is he okay?!" Raf asked worryingly as he rushed over beside her.
"Wake up!" the teal femme pleaded, shaking the medic. Ratchet's optics slowly opened. Stormracer's optics widened even more when she saw his optics were no longer blue, but green.
Ratchet frowned at her as he sat up. "You don't have to shout."
"You fell," Raf said as Stormracer helped Ratchet back up, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine," the medic said. He paused for a moment as he stood to his full height. Moving his arm around, he said, "I'm... more than fine!" He opened his arm compartment, revealing a screen as he looked at his readings. "Huh! Energy efficiency is up thirty percent?! Motor functions optimal?" He let out a laugh before looking at the two. "Any word from the others?"
"Not yet," Stormracer said. Looking at the medic for a second, she said, "you injected the formula into yourself. Why?"
"Well, the formula is stable, and it did pass the first test," he said, moving around some more, "I figured it was time to try it out. I feel like I have so much energy."
"But doesn't it have to-" Stormracer was interrupted as their leader's voice came through the commlink unit.
"Ratchet!" Optimus said urgently, "lock onto Arcee's coordinates and prepare an emergency groundbridge."
Ratchet rushed over to the groundbridge. "I'm locked on," he said, setting it up, "Arcee, decelerate and prepare to return to base."
"Save it, Ratchet," the two wheeler said, "I'm too close."
"Don't be a fool!"
After a moment, another alarm sounded. "She's hurt," the medic said. Activating the groundbridge, he looked at his assistant. "Man the groundbridge," he said before transforming and rushing through the portal. Not wanting Ratchet to go alone, Stormracer looked at Raf. "What he said," she told the human. Transforming, she followed after the medic through the bridge. Soon as she made it to the other end, she transformed as she free fell towards the ground. Soon as she landed with her EMP ready, she looked up before her jaw dropped in shock. Ratchet was fighting a dozen vehicons on his own with such speed and strength, and with no problem whatsoever. Even Arcee was shocked at what she was seeing.
Stormracer rushed over to the two wheeler. "You okay?" she asked her.
"Yeah," she said, "but what happened to Ratchet?"
They watched as the medic dodged the fire power and ran over to a vehicon, picking him up and tossing him to the ground hard. It wasn't long for the others to arrive just as Ratchet finished the fight. The last vehicon tried sneaking up behind him, only for the medic to bring his fist back over his shoulder, knocking the con out cold. "Hooaah!" he cheered.
Everyone looked at the medic in shock. "Uh... what just happened?" Bumblebee asked.
Soon as Raf activated the groundbridge, the bots returned to base with a very proud Ratchet.
"What happened?" Raf asked.
"I just saw the gory aftermath, but I heard the doc was a one bot wrecking machine," Bulkhead said.
Ratchet walked over to the human and picked him up. "Hey there, little fella," he said as he bounced the boy in his servo before setting him back down.
"Alright, what's your secret?" Arcee asked Ratchet.
"No secret," the medic said, "just a little something I like to call SynthEn." He tossed a canister full of SynthEn over to her.
Catching it, Arcee looked at the green liquid inside. "From the data Bulkhead transcribed?" she asked, "I thought the formula was-"
"Incomplete? Not anymore."
"So Ratchet makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" Bulkhead asked as he looked at the canister before handing it to Optimus.
Optimus was not as enthused as the others. "Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject."
"Optimus, you didn't see Ratchet out there," Arcee said, "we should all try this stuff."
"Or give Ratchet more so we can take a vacation," Bulkhead suggested.
"I agree the initial results are promising," Optimus said, "but I recommend that further testing be confined to machines. Not autobots. Outnumbered we may be, old friend, we need a warrior in the laboratory right now, more than we need another in the field."
Ratchet frowned at that, knowing he could do more with the SynthEn in his system. Stormracer looked at him and vented. She knew how much he wanted to help the others. And she had to admit, the formula was showing promise.
(Later)
"And that's what happened," Arcee said, finishing her story as she, Stormracer, and Bumblebee walked down the hall.
"Imagine if we all use that stuff," Bumblebee said, "we'd win this war in an instant."
Just then they heard a loud crashing sound, making them rush over to see Bulkhead laying upside down against the wall with a large hole in the one across from him.
"Bulk, you okay?!" Stormracer asked.
"What happened?" Arcee asked.
"You have competition Bulk," Ratchet said boastfully as he hopped out through the hole. "I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. I'm also a bit faster!" He threw a punch as if to hit Bumblebee, making the scout flinch. Ratchet laughed. "Think you can take me on, muscle car?"
"No thanks, I'm good," Bumblebee said.
The medic scoffed at him. "Wimp," he said. He walked by the others and clicked at Arcee. "How's it humming?"
Everyone watched as the medic walked away. "Did he just..." Arcee went to say.
"Stronger, faster, studlier," Bulkhead said.
Leaving the others behind, Stormracer followed after the medic. "Hey, Ratchet, Optimus wants you over at the monitor."
He scoffed as he kept walking. "Why should I waste my time pressing a bunch of buttons? I want to see what else I can do."
Stormracer was surprised by this. "But Optimus said-"
"Then go do it for me," he said, sounding annoyed, "you're my assistant aren't you? So go do your job."
Stormracer stopped in her tracks as he continued walking. She was shocked by how he talked to her. And the fact he refused to carry out Optimus' order. As Stormracer watched Ratchet disappear around the corner, she frowned. This was not the same medic she worked for.
(Later)
Stormracer was noticing Ratchet's behavior was changing drastically. The more she saw it, the more of a bad feeling she was getting. After much thinking, she decided she was going to get to the bottom of it.
While Ratchet was busy in the training room, Stormracer made her way over to his work area and looked at his notes. She knew he would flip his lid on her for even going through them, but she wanted to know what was going on. Scanning through the notes, she found his latest ones and read it through.
Frowning, she looked at the machine Ratchet used to test the formula. "It passed the first test. But Ratchet didn't put it through the second." Checking to make sure no one was coming into the room, she grabbed another machine and set it up. "Guess I'll have to do it." Soon as it was ready, she grabbed a canister and injected the formula into the machine.
She watched the machine start up and run as she studied the readings, even jotting down notes of her own. It seemed to start off normal and was working effectively. She then turned it up a notch, making the machine go faster. She continued doing so until she reached the fourth stage. The machine going faster, it started making a bad sound before sparking and going out of control. Stormracer immediately went for the off switch, having to hold it down as it shook around on the table. After much struggle, she switched it off, making the machine die down. A big vent of relief escaped her mouth. But that relief soon turned into worry.
With her new information, she went to speak with Ratchet. Sure enough, he was still in the training room, pummeling one of the training dummies. Her optics widened as he gave it one big punch and sent it flying against the wall, causing it to break into pieces.
"Hooaah!" he cheered.
Gripping her data pad, Stormracer made her way over to him. "Hey, Ratchet."
He looked at her and smiled. "Stormracer! Did you see that? I've never been able to do that before. I feel young again. Only better!"
"Um, that's uh, that's great, Ratchet," she said, "listen, I need to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"First off, know that I care about your well being and its because of that I did something you would not approve of but did because of the situation-"
"Stormracer," her boss said, giving her a look.
She let out a vent. "I was looking at your notes on the formula and ran it through the second test."
An angry look came upon Ratchet's face. "What?!"
"Please, hear me out," she said, "it failed the second test." She showed him her data pad, "look at these readings. There's a chemical imbalance in the formula."
He scoffed at her. "The formula works just fine. I feel better than ever."
"Yes, it makes you stronger and faster. But it's not as stable as you think it is. It's affecting your behavior. You're acting... well, not like you."
"What's your point?"
She frowned at him. "You can't keep taking it! We have to figure out-"
"I'm sorry, we?" Ratchet asked, giving her a look, "since when did this become a we thing? I was the one who figured out the formula while you decided to go behind my back to try and fix what doesn't need fixing."
"Ratchet, please, I'm worried about-"
"There's nothing wrong with the formula!" he snapped, making her flinch, "you're only saying this just to convince me to let you help! Well I don't need help! Especially not from an undergraduate reject!"
His words hit Stormracer hard. Her feelings hurt, she frowned as she rushed out of the room, not wanting to talk to the medic anymore. Entering the main hangar, she tossed her data pad to the side as she made her way past the others.
Bumblebee was the first to notice something was wrong. "Storm, are you okay?"
Fighting back her tears, she kept walking. "Fine. I'm going for a drive."
Transforming, she drove off down the corridor and sped out of the base and onto the road. She didn't stop until she found a spot far away from the road that she transformed and allowed her tears to fall. She remained like this for a while as Ratchet's words echoed in her head.
After a moment of crying, she wiped away her tears and let out a vent.
"Come on, Stormracer," she said to herself, "pull yourself together. He didn't mean it. It's just the SynthEn talking. He would never really say that to you." Feeling a bit better, she frowned. "If Ratchet won't listen to me, then Optimus will."
Transforming back into vehicle mode, the teal car headed back to base. Soon as she returned, she transformed and looked around, seeing only Bumblebee at the computer.
He looked over at her. "Hey, Storm. You okay? You left in a hurry."
"I'm okay," she said, "just had to step out for a while. Where is everyone?"
"The con's hit an energon vein so the bots went over there," he said.
"Why did you stay behind?"
"Ratchet wanted to go with them so I was volunteered to stay and operate the groundbridge."
"What?!" Stormracer exclaimed, making Bumblebee jump in surprise, "Ratchet can't be out there! The formula isn't stable!"
"The formula isn't what?" Bumblebee asked, very confused.
Stormracer held her helm. "I should have gone straight to Optimus instead of sulking. We have to contact him and let him know about-"
Optimus's voice interrupted her through the commlink unit. "Bumblebee, bridge us back."
"Wow. Good timing," the assistant said.
Bumblebee activated the groundbridge. While they waited, he looked at her. "What do you mean by the formulas unstable?"
"There's a chemical imbalance that's affecting Ratchet's behavior," she said, "I tried telling him but he wouldn't listen."
They waited and waited for the others to return.
"Where are they?" Bumblebee asked.
They were about to contact the bots until they rushed in through the groundbridge.
"What happened?" Stormracer asked. She immediately noticed they were missing someone. "Where's Ratchet?"
"He went to hunt down Megatron," Arcee said.
The assistant's optics widened. "What?!" She immediately typed away on the computer to look for the medic's signature. "I can't find him on the scanners," she said worryingly.
"That bogus energon must be scrambling his signal," Bulkhead said.
"Stormracer, keep trying," Optimus told her, "we must locate Ratchet before he finds Megatron."
Stormracer kept searching through the scanners, hoping to find any sign of her boss. After a long while, Ratchet's signal finally came into view. "I found him!" Stormracer said. Though she didn't like how fast his signal popped up.
"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus said.
"I'm coming too," Stormracer said as she rushed over and grabbed her first aid kit.
Optimus looked at her. "Stormracer, you nee-"
"His signal appeared too quickly. I think he's hurt," she argued.
Optimus thought for a quick second before looking at Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, operate the groundbridge. Autobots, roll out!" Optimus, Stormracer, Bulkhead, and Arcee rushed through the groundbridge, finding themselves in a decepticon mine. The battle starting, the bots fired back at the enemy.
Stormracer ducked from rock to rock to avoid the fire power as she followed the signal into a tunnel. Seeing a vehicon in her way, she activated her EMP and fired it at him, causing him to become disoriented before she rushed over and knocked him out with one punch. Another appeared around the corner and tried to grab her, only for her to grab hold of his arm and slam him into the ground. "Thank you, Arcee," she said out loud as she kept running. She didn't stop as she got closer to Ratchet's signal. Slowing down, she could hear Knock Out's voice as she got closer.
Just around the corner, Knock Out was holding a canister with a sample of the synthetic energon inside. Pleased with his sample, he looked down at an injured Ratchet laying in a pool of the green substance.
His optics back to blue, the autobot medic laid there with a large wound on his chest, the armor cracked with synthetic energon bleeding out of it. Having lost so much energon, he felt very weak.
Knock Out grinned at him. "Doctor to doctor, I must say, your contribution to the decepticon cause is very much appreciated. I'll be sure to boast about your accomplishment when you're gone." He then activated his buzzsaw, the blade spinning rapidly as he brought it closer and closer to Ratchet's neck, "which will happen in three, two, o-" but just as he was about to slice off Ratchet's head, the con was hit by an EMP pulse. Letting out a surprised grunt, he held his helm and staggered back before falling to the ground, letting go of the canister in the process.
Deactivating her EMP generator, Stormracer rushed over to the injured bot. "Ratchet!"
Ratchet's optics widened when he saw his assistant. "St-Stormracer."
Stormracer knelt down beside him, seeing how bad his injury was. "Scrap!" she said, "We have to get you back to base ASAP."
"Th-the sample," Ratchet said weakly as he pointed, "M-Megatron can't have it."
Looking at where he was pointing, she saw the canister laying on the ground a little ways away from Knock Out. Agreeing that Megatron shouldn't have the formula, she got up and rushed over to grab the canister. But just as she was about to pick it up, a servo reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Sorry," Knock Out said tauntingly as he shook off the dizziness. Getting back up, he pulled her arm back and twisted it, making her yelp in pain. "But I can't let you take that."
Frowning at the con over her shoulder, she gave him a kick, making him yelp as he let go of her. He threw a couple punches at her as she dodged. She was able to punch him a few times before spinning around and kicking him back. Growling at her, he charged and tried to hit her again. Finding an opening, he kneed her in the torso. She gasped as she bent forward from the blow, allowing the doctor to elbow her in the back of the helm. Stormracer let out a grunt as she fell to the ground, blacking out for a second.
Knock Out looked at her and tsked. "Honestly, why do you even try?"
Using what strength he had left, Ratchet tackled Knock Out away from her. Both got back up as Knock Out activated his buzzsaw and charged at the autobot medic. Ratchet was able to grab Knock Out's arm, keeping the saw away from him as he used his other servo to keep the con back. Knock Out pushed the saw forward, having it slowly make it's way towards the autobot medic's helm. Just as it reached him, Ratchet managed to push it away and head butt the decepticon doctor. It fazed Knock Out for a second as he staggered back and covered his face with his one servo. Recovering, he tried to attack again with his saw. Ratchet was able to dodge in time, making Knock Out get his buzzsaw stuck in the rock wall. While Knock Out tried to get his saw out, Ratchet made his way over to the canister and picked it up.
Stormracer soon recovered, rubbing the back of her helm as she sat up. Looking up, she saw Ratchet holding the SynthEn as he looked at it.
Seeing the autobot holding the sample, Knock Out laughed at him. "What are you going to do? Drink it?"
Ratchet looked over at his assistant. She was looking back at him, worried he might actually drink it. Looking at his wound, the medic looked back at the formula. "No," he said, "I'm going to destroy it." With that said, he threw the canister as hard as he could. It hit the rock wall beside Knock Out, shattering into pieces.
Knock Out finally yanked his saw out as he looked at the mess. "You idiot!" he exclaimed angrily, "Megatron will have my head!"
His strength running out, Ratchet dizzily stepped back before collapsing onto his back.
"Ratchet!" Stormracer exclaimed as she rushed over to him.
Outraged, Knock Out readied his buzzsaw and went to finish the medic off. Stormracer saw him and immediately stood up and got in his way, making him stop.
"Move!" he said in a threatening tone.
The femme activated her EMP and aimed it at him. "Stay away from my boss!" she warned.
The two glared at each other before the sound of fire blasts got their attention. Knowing he would be outnumbered, Knock Out gave Stormracer one last frown before he deactivated his buzzsaw and transformed. He took off down the tunnel, wanting to get far away from the autobots as fast as possible. Soon as he was gone, Stormracer let out a big vent of relief before attending to Ratchet as the others arrived.
(Time skip)
(Autobot base)
Regaining consciousness, Ratchet found himself back at base in the med area with a tube connected to where his wound was. He tried to sit up before a servo touched his shoulder.
"Easy, old friend," Optimus said, "you've lost a lot of energon. Both good and bad."
"I... I didn't intend... to hurt anyone," Ratchet said, "I just wanted so badly to-"
"Help us. We know," the Prime said, "but you nearly caused the loss of something irreplaceable. Our medic, and a most trusted friend. You did lead us to a much needed energon supply." He gestured towards the others who were stacking the large amount of energon cubes. "And for that, we should all be thankful."
Ratchet looked at the others then back at his leader. "The synthetic energon formula clearly needs refining before it can be tested again. On machines. Not autobots."
"Let us take comfort in the fact that you were able to dispose of the quantity that remained," Optimus said.
Soon after the Prime left her patient to help the others, Stormracer made her way over to Ratchet. "Your transfusion is almost complete, but I suggest you rest for the rest of the day. And when I say suggest, I mean that's an order. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Ratchet looked at her and smiled. "You sound like a medic."
She smiled back. "I learned from the best."
His smile faded as guilt took over. "What I said to you earlier... I'm sorry. I... shouldn't-"
"Hey, don't worry about it," she said, "I mean, yeah it hurt, but I knew it was the SynEn talking. I'm just glad to have my boss back. Now get some rest. I'll check up on you later."
Ratchet watched as she walked away to assist the others. Smiling again, he let out a vent and shut his optics.
(The next day)
Soon as he was fit for duty, Ratchet resumed his work on the formula. Stormracer was off to the side on her data pad when the medic called her over. "Stormracer, will you come here please."
Dropping what she was doing, she made her way over to him. "What's up?"
"I require your help," he said.
"Sure thing," she said, "what do you need cleaned or move?"
"I require your help with the formula."
Stormracer's optics widened as she looked at her boss in shock. "S-say what now?"
"Before I thought I was capable of figuring out the formula on my own," he said, "but now I see that I was wrong, and am in need of someone's expertise on chemical formulas. A partner. Will you help me complete this project?"
Stormracer was silent, thinking for a second she was dreaming. Her shocked expression was soon replaced with a look of excitement as she squealed and hugged Ratchet. "Yesyesyes a hundred times yes! Thank you!"
The medic let out a slight chuckle. "Then lets get to work," he said. Soon as she pulled away, the doctor showed her what he put together so far. He listened as she told him her thoughts on what they should try, even making calculations to show her theory. Ratchet knew he made the right choice in having her help. Even though he was upset that someone with her knowledge never got into the science division, he was happy to have her by his side.
And that was chapter 26! I hope you liked it! Holy crap, we're so close to the end of season 1! I can't wait to get into season 2 and have Stormracer meet Dreadwing and Smokescreen. Plus there will be more Stormracer and Knock Out chapters. I honestly have to say season 2 is my favorite season of Transformers Prime. And I want to thank you guys again for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me. I enjoy reading them and they do help me figure out my chapters.
Also just saw the netflix War for Cybertron show and love it! I kinda want to write a story based in that series, but not sure of what I would do. I could have Stormracer in it, though because of the tone of the show, her personality might change a little. That or I might make a new OC. Still debating on it, plus I feel like I should wait until the other chapters are released on Netflix. We'll see what happens in the future.
Anyway, next chapter is One Shall Fall. Hopefully I will have that one up soon. Until next time! God bless!