Angel From A Dream

Chapter 25

Knock Out jolts awake from a horrible dream, he looks over to Sideswipe before looking at the monitors. "You're still with me, thank Primus," he says as he vents out a sigh of relief. He had a dream where Sideswipe and Smokescreen both left him and he was just as alone as he was when he lost Sunfire and Breakdown. Thankfully it was only a dream.

"Of course, you're not getting rid of me that easily."

Knock Out's optics widen as he looks to where the groggy voice came from, he sees Sideswipe, his son, looking up at him, "Sideswipe! You're awake!"

Sideswipe smiles weakly at him, "Hey, Dad. What are you doing here? Where's my carrier?"

"I'm here to save your aft. You were inches away from offlining and joining the well of AllSparks. Your carrier is here as well, he went with the others to look for Strongarm."

"Do they know where she is?"

"'Bee said they had just picked up on her signal when we arrived so they went to check it out. Seems they haven't had any luck finding her yet." Knock Out knew that would be his next question so he went ahead and threw it in.

Sideswipe closes his optics, he doesn't even want to imagine what those 'Cons have been doing to her all this time. Wait... How long has he been out? He opens his optics to look at Knock Out again, "How long have I been out?"

"About a week."

"A week?" He questions in shock and amazement, he would have shouted the question if his voice box wasn't feeling like it was already rusting. How did he survive for so long?

"Sideswipe!" The two look over to see Denny and Russell running towards them with Fixit wheeling in behind them. "I'm so glad to see you awake, we were so worried you wouldn't make it!" Russell shouts as he comes to a stop at the side of the berth.

Sideswipe smiled upon seeing his human friend again, "You know I wouldn't let something like that take me down."

"Your friends here barely left your side. You have them to thank for keeping you alive long enough for me to get here and operate on you," Knock Out says with a smile.

"Thank you all for saving my life," Sideswipe says before he lays his helm back down on the berth, "Curse Steeljaw for doing this."

"So, it was Steeljaw that did this to you?"

"Yeah. How do you know about him?"

"Bumblebee mentioned him as a possible suspect for Strongarm's disappearance."

"He was right, Steeljaw injured me then took Strongarm."

"Bumblebee, come in." Fixit is on the controls already calling Bumblebee, "I have crate, trait, GREAT news!"

:: What is it, Fixit? Did Sideswipe wake up yet? ::

"Yes, he did! He just woke up a few minutes ago, and he says says says..." Russell whacks him on the back, "Thank you. He says that Steeljaw is the one that hurt him."

:: Sideswipe! How are you feeling? I'm so glad you're finally awake! :: Smokescreen says over the comm, and Sideswipe smiles.

"Hey, carrier. I'm in a lot of pain but I'm glad to be alive."

"Have you guys found Strongarm yet?" Knock Out asks.

:: In a way, yes. But we don't have her yet. :: Bumblebee responds.:: She's on an island with Steeljaw and we need to get the Ground Bridge working again to get them back here. ::

"How's it going?"

:: Ratchet will get to working on it after he finishes fixing up Grimlock and Underbite. ::

"What happened to Grimlock?" Sideswipe asked as he felt concerned for his friend.

:: Long story, I'll explain when we return to base. ::

"Alright, I'll see you guys when you get back."

~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm so relieved Sideswipe is awake and will be just fine," Arcee says with a smile.

"You're nowhere near as relieved as I am," Smokescreen says starting to seem like his old self again. "I'm so happy he's gonna be alright, but I'm still gonna kick Steeljaw's aft for putting him in that state."

"Get in line, kid. I call first dibs on beating his aft. He's not gonna get away with what he's done to Strongarm. He's got some nerve marking my daughter without her or my consent," Wheeljack says as he acts like he's cracking his knuckles.

"Since you all are so anxious to kick his aft I'll let you all stay and welcome them when they come through the Ground Bridge," Bumblebee says as he walks over to them. "Ultra Magnus and I are gonna help Grimlock get back to the scrapyard."

"Just be careful with him, he's still in bad shape. He's lucky he can even still transform," Arcee tells him.

"I know, Arcee. We will."

Arcee, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen watch as Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee leave with Grimlock, they really hope the Dinobot will be okay. But right now they need to focus on getting the Ground Bridge working again so they can get Strongarm back, that's all that's left to do now.

CLUNK

They look over at Ratchet after hearing the clunking sound and see him waving a wrench in front of Underbite. "I told you to stop trying to bite me. I know it hurts but it doesn't mean you should try to eat me. Now hold still so I can finish."

The Chompazoid lay there silently as Ratchet continued with his work, he tried to ignore the laughing coming from Thunderhoof and Fracture as well as the small giggles and chuckles coming from the rest of the Autobots. He hates being in this predicament where he has to rely on another bot to help him, especially when that other bot is an Autobot. He starts wondering how he's gonna get back to their hideout since he knows neither Thunderhoof nor Fracture nor Steeljaw will help him back. He's just gonna have to work it out on his own, it's what he's always done.

"Finished," Ratchet says as he steps back to fully look him over, "You'll have to take it easy for a while."

"Easier said than done," Underbite mumbles lowly.

Ratchet didn't catch it as he was already walking over to his old team, "Now, where's that Ground Bridge?"

"This way," Bulkhead says as he begins walking towards the room where the Ground Bridge is. Ratchet and the others follow him.

Once Ratchet gets into the room he looks over the damage, "Primus, it really got shot up. Some humans can be so dumb at times, they should have known better than to shoot at the pair when they were near this equipment."

"Can you fix it, doc?" Wheeljack asked.

Ratchet turns around to glare at him, "How many times do I have to tell you!? Don't call me doc!" He turns back to the Ground Bridge controls, "Luckily it's not beyond repair. I should be able to get it fixed up."

"We knew you could!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

Ratchet side glances at them, "It's gonna take some time though."

"We'll help out where we can," Arcee says with confidence. She can't wait to have her daughter in her arms once more.