No End In Sight

Chapter 27

"No progress yet?" Ratchet asks as he walks over to Raf.

"No. I've tried everything I can think of, talking to him, playing sounds of race cars, but nothing seems to be working to help him wake up."

"It might not work for some. But keep trying, it may still work." Ratchet tells him with enthusiasm. He still doesn't believe it would work with Bumblebee with how far gone he is, but if it makes the kid happy and more hopeful then let him keep trying.

Ratchet walks over to his workbench and Raf follows deciding to take a small break from playing stuff that he hopes will help Bumblebee wake up. He walks over to the medic as he looks into a microscope to examine the Synthetic Energon, "Is that the Synthetic Energon?" Raf asks with curiosity.

Ratchet looks up from the microscope to look at the boy, "Well, yes. In fact, I'm preparing to test a sample." He responds as he picks up a canister with the Synthetic Energon and places it into some injector, "I see you brought protective goggles."

Raf's face lit up with pure happiness, "I can watch?" He asks with excitement.

Normally, Ratchet wouldn't allow anyone to watch him do his experiments or even get on his workbench, but if it'll get Raf's mind off of Bumblebee and cheer him up for a quick moment he'll allow it. Ratchet chuckles as Raf jump down from the platform he was standing on onto the workbench, Ratchet then inserts the injector into a machine to insert the Synthetic Energon into it.

"We just add some to this test engine..." Ratchet says before he trails off and the two watch the engine to see if it'll start powering up. The engine releases some steam and starts revving up.

Raf runs towards it all excitedly, "It works! We should tell the team!"

"Ep, ep, this iteration requires further trial before we can even think about using it for fuel, ammunition, or first aid. Which is rather unfortunate since our Energon reserves are at an all-time low... Our severely outnumbered warriors have been burning through our stockpile as of late, especially with Bumblebee in the state he's in now and needing so much Energon put into him just to keep his spark pulsing..."

Ratchet pauses as him and Raf look over to the scout that's laying on the medical berth still unconscious, "As the Decepticon army continue to run us ragged and grind us down. Since they took Arcee they've been getting the upper hand over us, almost completely destroying us. We're all still trying to recover from our fight with her when she badly injured us and Megatron's been exploiting it... Natural Energon is in such short supply on your planet and Megatron seems to have his oily claws buried deep in all the Earth's deposits. But, if we can successfully produce a synthetic form, we can manufacture all the energy we'll ever need."

Raf feels a lot of sympathy for the 'Bots, they've been through so much recently. With Arcee getting captured by the Decepticons, them having to fight her and almost getting killed by her, Megatron using her as bait to get them into a trap where Bumblebee ended up getting severely injured, as well as everything else. They've been through so much pain and suffering lately, both physically and emotionally, Raf can't help but feel sorry for them. He wishes he could help them in some way but there's not anything he can do except support them as much as possible.

Their attention was pulled toward the monitors when the red lights started flashing and it started beeping. Optimus and Bulkhead walk towards it to see what's displaying on the screen, "More Energon on the move, again." Bulkhead states with a hint of annoyance in his tone. Every time a signal for Energon pops up it always turns out that the Decepticons were one step ahead of them and they escape with the Energon. 

The red lights shut off and the monitor stops beeping as it tracks the Energon, "Their recent events suggest a familiar pattern." Optimus says as he turns around, "The Decepticons are desperately scouting for new deposits to mine. Autobots...!"

"Optimus..." Ratchet interrupts as he gets in front of him, "First of all, it's only you and Bulkhead."

Optimus turns to look at the big green mech before looking back at Ratchet, "Right, out of habit." He says as he feels a twinge of pain and sadness in his spark.

"We'll have the whole team back together and you can use that phrase again in no time. The second thing I wanted to say is that if either of you come back wounded this time, well... Our Energon reserves are nearly depleted." Ratchet finishes with a heavy spark.

"Understood. Activate the groundbridge." Optimus says and Ratchet instantly opens the groundbridge. Optimus looks back at Bulkhead, "Bulkhead, let's roll out!" The two then transform and drive through the groundbridge.

Ratchet watches them leave and he vents out a sigh, "Sometimes I wish I could do more." In that instant an idea pops into his processor, if the Synthetic Energon needs to be tested on a bot there's none better than him. Better to put himself as a test subject than get one of the others to do it.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Still no word from Knockout and Breakdown?" Megatron asked Soundwave in irritation and Soundwave just shook his helm, "Why is it taking them so long to find a fresh Energon deposit?"

Soundwave continued with his work, typing away as he tried his best to keep from thinking about what he did with Arcee in the brig. The sight of her sexy body without armor and the sound of her moaning his name with her sweet voice constantly plays over and over in his processor. No matter how hard he tries to forget it and focus on other stuff he always finds himself thinking about it.

"Soundwave." The silent mech stops typing and turns to look at Megatron with a questionable look, although Megatron can't see it behind his visor he still knows it's there, "We never discussed the lack of obedience you showed the other day. I will let it go this time because you were calming down Arcee and I'm sure you were in dire need to relieve yourself, but don't ever do it again." He says in a threatening tone. He never thought he would have to use it with Soundwave but it seems the mech needed a small reminder of where his place is.

Soundwave nodded to show his understanding, he didn't mean to disobey his master but he was caught up in the moment and Arcee was willingly giving herself up. No way in Pit was he gonna pass up the opportunity to frag Arcee when she was giving her consent.

"Go take her out of the brig, she'll be staying with you in your room. I put her completely in your charge."

Soundwave nods before walking off to go to the brig. He's surprised that Megatron is letting her come out but he's happy that he's gonna be able to spend a bit more time with her besides just having brief visits with her in the brig.