The Doctor's Assistant (Ratchet X Reader)

Chapter Fifteen: Triage

"If we are to have any hope of recovering the Iacon relics before the Decepticons do, we must divide our resources," Optimus said.

"But, Optimus, when it comes to numbers, we are already at a grave disadvantage," Ratchet said.

"Under the circumstances, swiftness of action is paramount. This is one race that we absolutely cannot afford to lose."

So, the teams were decided. Arcee, Bee, Miko and Jack would go to Manhattan, Bulk would go to a volcano, Optimus would go to the Antarctic as for Ratchet, Optimus would prefer he had company on his mission. But there's no one else to accompany him. Raf is controlling the Groundbridge and communications, I don't even know if I'm allowed to accompany him and Fowler is still being affected from the electric shock he got back on the Nemesis. But turns out I forgot someone.

Wheeljack. He came back a few weeks ago but prefers to go his own path, and not stay in the base with us. So Ratchet is going with him. Nice paring, Optimus. They hate each other! I asked Optimus to go too just to make sure that Ratchet and Wheeljack didn't start tearing each other to pieces. I followed Ratchet through the groundbridge where we saw Wheeljack with his ship, waiting for us.

"The boss thought you need a backup, huh?" Wheeljack asked

"If you must know Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision," Ratchet told him.

"And I'm here to supervise you both so you can't tear each other to pieces," I said.

"I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Doc. And foxy," Wheeljack said smiling.

"Please, don't call me 'Doc'. And don't call her 'Foxy'," Ratchet said.

"Whatever you say sunshine."

Good thing I am here. Ratchet was starting to get annoyed at Wheeljack for that nickname for us. I'm fine with Foxy but I don't think Ratchet likes that Wheeljack gave me that name. I think he'd like it more if he was the one who made it for me. I've been called much worse things, though. We boarded Wheeljack's ship and flew off to get this relic. Ratchet held onto me.

"So, all of team Prime's busy chasing down these four Iacon relics?" Wheeljack asked.

"The four which are currently in play," I said.

"There's more?"

"Megatron maintains possession of the entire Iacon database. We have yet to learn how many more relics or the Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains," Ratchet said.

"No worries, Doc. I've got your back," Wheeljack said.

Ratchet groaned, "My name is not 'Doc'! And I do not require anyone watching my back! I proved my metal during the war for Cybertron."

"Then I'm lucky you're alone for the ride, champ," some of Wheeljack's equipment started beeping, "'Cause we have a bogey on our tail."

Why am I not surprised! The Decepticons are doing exactly what we're doing. Scattering their forces and collecting the relics. The one who was chasing us was Soundwave. Oh yes, I remember him. He's creepy. Well, Wheeljack had a plan to try to lose him. Most of it was almost getting us killed! So loopty-loops, shooting at Soundwave and his little drone, Lazerbeak, and almost crashing into a cliff face!

I don't remember much about what happened because Wheeljack was being extremely reckless! I guess that's the Wreckers for you. Long story short, we shot down Lazerbeak and then Soundwave did the same thing to us and we crash-landed. We're all fine, thankfully. We came out to inspect the damage.

"Right thrust is fried," Wheeljack said

"If you had pursuit Soundwave as I instructed..."

"His little birdie was still a bit pecking our tailpipes," Wheeljack interrupted Ratchet

"Oh, will you two stop bickering like some old married couple for a minute? We need to resume our search for the relic immediately. Soundwave may already have reached it," I said

"The Jackhammer is not going anywhere. If you wanna catch that Con, we need to roll," Wheeljack said.

We were getting ready for that when Wheeljack walked off somewhere. We just followed to see Lazerbeak sparking. Ratchet warned Wheeljack to keep his distance because Lazerbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave. Well, not anymore. Ratchet scanned Lazerbeak just to be sure.

"Operating system appears functional but offline. However the crash clearly damaged its optic and audio receptors," Ratchet said

"Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch," I said.

"A minor victory and not the one we're here to achieve," Ratchet told me walking off.

"Hang on there, Doc," Ratchet groaned at the name and looked at Wheeljack, "Situation's right for an old wrecker trick."

"I am not sure I follow," Ratchet said

"Sooner or later Soundwave's gonna come looking for his pet. We let them reunite and return to base packing a live grenade. The first time 'Wave reaches inside, he trips the pin and kaboom!"

I thought about something, "Why plant a mere insanitary device? When we could plant a more devastating bomb."

"Where are you going with this?" Ratchet asked.

"A virus. Engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave. Then directly into the Decepticon warship's mainframe, where it will transmit the content of the entire Iacon database to us," I explained

"Sounds complicated. Thought we're in a hurry," Wheeljack said

"Optimus would agree," Ratchet said, "Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is worth vile gamble."

"Does Foxy really have the chops to pull of that kind of programming?"

"Well, not alone. And not here with little equipment. I will require backup," I said smiling.

We got in contact with Raf. We explained our plan to him and he said he was able to do it. But if we want to make sure the Decepticons don't find the virus, we'll need a second virus as a decoy. Or, something less complicated. So, we will be using Wheeljack's idea but with a twist. We'll put the grenade inside of Lazerbeak for them to find but it won't blow up. Ratchet opened up a compartment in Lazerbeak, Wheeljack tossed him the grenade for Ratchet to take out the core and put it inside Lazerbeak.

Now to code the virus. But Wheeljack left us to find the relic and hopefully buy us some time. Time is all we need. We hacked into Lazerbeak to get him active again to plant the virus. When Raf was ready, we turned Lazerbeak back on and tried to hold him down. The virus is now being uploaded into Lazerbeak. I'm praying my plan works. Just as we got 50% uploaded, Wheeljack called apologising to us. What's happened? He lost the relic, didn't he?

He told us we had about 2 minutes before Soundwave found us. Or less at the speed he's going. Ratchet tried asking about Wheeljack's condition but he wouldn't respond. Thankfully, the virus was almost done. We hid behind a rock just to be sure. Once the virus was finished downloading, we let Lazerbeak go and stayed very, very quiet. This is giving me a lot of Deja Vu. Like hiding from hunters. And Soundwave is the hunter.

He walked towards Wheeljack's ship but turned in our direction and we hid. I put a hand over my mouth so Soundwave couldn't hear my heavy breathing. Because the anxiety I'm getting at this exact moment is awful! He found Lazerbeak, picked him up and put him on his torso. He started walking away. But turned in our direction again. We saw his tentacles come from both sides of the rock we were hiding behind. We didn't move or say anything.

But a part that fell off Lazerbeak when we let him go was jumping around. Soundwave took it and left. Thank god. I let out my breath I didn't know I was holding. Soundwave took the bate. Now we wait. Ratchet told me to stay here while he went to check on Wheeljack. They both cane back unharmed. Ratchet ordered a groundbridge and told Wheeljack that he suggests coming back to base to see about his condition.

Wheeljack just wanted to repair his ship. So we just left him to do that. We returned to base where we saw the Iacon Database downloading into our mainframe! My idea worked! Bulk ordered a groundbridge so we opened one for him. Only to see him fly through with a hole in his back! What happened?!