No End In Sight

Chapter 29

:: Rafael! Rafael come in! :: Ratchet shouts into the comm as he starts getting agitated. What could that boy be doing that could cause him to stray away from the controls?

:: Ratchet! I'm here! :: Raf finally responds.

:: Finally. We need a groundbridge. ::

:: Coming right up. :: Raf responds before he opens up a groundbridge for them.

The three mechs walk into the base and Ratchet walks over to Raf, "What took you so long? You better not have been messing with my stuff again."

"No, I haven't. I was talking to 'Bee, he's awake now!"

"What? Seriously?" Ratchet, Optimus and Bulkhead look over at Bumblebee who is still laying down on the berth and the yellow mech lifts up his helm to look at them.

"Hey, guys. Did I miss anything?"

Ratchet runs over to him, "Bumblebee! How are you feeling?" He asks as he checks him over. Optimus and Bulkhead walk over to him.

"I feel like I was shot in the chest with a missile. I'm just happy I'm still functioning and not with the All - Spark."

"And we're happy to see you awake again, Bumblebee. We were all worried about you." Optimus says with a smile.

"Yeah, we really thought we were gonna lose you at first. But Ratchet worked hard to make sure you stayed with us." Bulkhead adds.

"Rafael has been here at the base every day to be by your side and waiting for you to wake up." Ratchet adds in.

Bumblebee looks around, "Were you able to get Arcee?"

Ratchet and Bulkhead look away from him with a heavy spark while Raf looks down with sad eyes. Optimus closes his optics, "No. We still haven't been successful in getting her back."

Bumblebee lays his helm back as he closes his optics. After everything they've been through they still haven't had any luck in getting her back. But he won't lose hope that they will get her back one day and everything will go back to normal.

"Ratchet, maybe you should give Bumblebee some of that stuff that you took. It would really help with his recovery." Bulkhead says half-jokingly, "What did you take anyway? You were a fighting machine out there."

Ratchet laughs as he walks over to the table where he's keeping the other cylinders of Synthetic Energon, "Just a little something I like to call synthen." He says as he picks one up and tosses it to Bulkhead who was following him with Optimus.

"From the data Bulkhead transcribed?" Optimus asks as Bulkhead examines the Synthetic Energon, "But, I thought the formula was..."

"Incomplete?" Ratchet butts in completing his sentence, "Heh, not anymore."

"So Ratchet makes a better tough guy than I do a smart guy?" Bulkhead asks as he hands the cylinder of Synthetic Energon over to Optimus.

"Ratchet, I question the wisdom of using yourself as a test subject." Optimus says as he examines the cylinder.

"Well, it certainly helped Ratchet take down those Vehicons by himself. I think we should all try that stuff, or maybe give Ratchet more of it so we can take a vacation."

"I agree that the initial results seem... promising." Optimus says as he walks over to Ratchet, "But I recommend that further testing be confined to machines, not Autobots."

"Optimus, we could really use it right now. With Arcee still being held by the Decepticons and Bumblebee still too injured to fight..." Ratchet tries to argue.