A Small Dose of Ratchet Fever - A Transformers Bayverse Fanfiction

Chapter 12

The large red mech, known as Ratchet, sighed softly. It had been just a few months since the death of his most memorable assistant, but the aches of losing a being you are close to stayed deep within him. It wasn't as strong as the connections he often felt for his patients. He just couldn't shake off the guilt he had. She had been so young when she had passed.

"Sir? Are you alright? You seem to have spaced off again."

He slowly looked down upon his newest assistant. What confused him most about the new guy was his age. He was not even of age yet to vote, and had a strong British accent, though claimed to be from America. "You need to get back to your simulations."

The boy nodded slowly, and turned his attention back to his task at hand. Ratchet always watched him carefully, and even when this boy got everything correct, he was not pleased. It took so much more than simply being correct to please him.

Ratchet walked back over to his large monitor as it began to flicker red. He sighed, then looked down once again to the human boy. "I am needed in the main hangar. You stay here and continue your simulations."

"But-"

"Boy, do not argue with your superior," he barked, quickly leaving the room.

Ratchet walked into the main hangar on the East side of the Diego Garcia base. They would soon be moving to a base in Washington D.C., so most of the base's contents were wrapped in bubblewrap and in boxes. He sighed softly, shaking his helm.

He didn't know why the death of a mere assistant affected him so much. He could have the most perfect assistant, but it would be nothing compared to her. She was so devoted, hardworking, passionate about what she did, he would always tell himself. Nothing could make him forget her.

Once he was in the hangar, he looked around for Optimus, who had called him there in the first place. The larger mech wasn't there. He frowned.

"Optimus?"

There was no answer, not for a few seconds. Finally, there was a reply.

"I am here, Ratchet," the baritone Prime said, walking through the entry of the hangar. "I apologize for not being here right away. Your assistant was in need of dismissal."

Ratchet scoffed. "Dismissal? He has work to do, and he is very slow at working. He needs as much time as he can get in order to get his simulations done."

Optimus Prime raised an optic ridge. "Do you know his name?"

"Of course! It's... It's.... It starts with a G, I know-"

"Daniel?" the great Prime sighed. "Ratchet, I must know why you have a sudden lack of any type of respect for your assistants."

He rolled his optics. "Maybe if I were given a top-notch assistant for a change, instead of high school boys, they would learn to earn my respect."

The large mech gave him an odd look, the oddest look the Prime could somehow muster up. "We are all very aware that you are in mourning of your lost assistant-"

Ratchet's expression went from frustrated to furious. "She has a name!"

"- and we understand that it was a tough loss," he continued, unphased. "But nonetheless, we must all move on."

If looks could have killed, Optimus would have been lost to the universe. Ratchet slammed his metal fist against the wall in fury. "Are your processors fried? Prime, you can't-"

"For the time being, I am going to have to put you on temporary leave. You are not contributing well to the tasks given to you, your emotions are getting in the way of progress of Daniel as well."

"You can't be serious-!"

"I am sorry, Ratchet. You have left me no choice." The Prime shook his head, then left the room, leaving Ratchet only to his thoughts.

~

'How could he do this to me?' Ratchet thought angrily, his pedes dragging along the floor as he walked to his quarters. 'That human child is in no shape to be handling the medical bay with me, let alone by himself.'

Words couldn't describe how aggravated Ratchet was at the Prime for making him take a temporary leave. He wasn't in pain, he wasn't close to death, why should the medic have to take leave for something like this? It wasn't like he hadn't gone through a loss of a comrade before.

The Prime knew that.

He also knew that this loss was somehow unlike all the others that Ratchet had endured in his lifetime.

Ratchet looked around his quarters and sighed softly. There was nothing in there that really made him want to do anything other than sleep. It wasn't personalized, like Bumblebee's had been, or adorned with color like Sideswipe's room. There weren't even things hanging from the ceiling like Jolt had had.

It was a large grey room with a metal berth in the corner. That was it.

"This is going to be a very long... Time..." He didn't even know when he would be able to be back at work.

~

The next morning, Ratchet strolled out of his room at the usual time, looking well-rested and in a more cheerful mood than he usually was.

Optimus Prime passed him in the hallway, and he gave him an odd sort of look. "Ratchet, are you feeling alright?"

He nodded, smiling. "I feel great, Optimus. Better than I have in a long, long time."

Optimus raised an optic ridge. "Oh? And why is that?"

Ratchet chose to not answer that directly. "Today seems like just one of those good days."

Thankfully, the Prime did not question him further, and instead went right along on his way to where he was needed. Ratchet, on the other hand, did not go where he was 'suppose' to go. No, he went the opposite way he was suppose to go.

Daniel was in the medbay, working on some more of his simulations that Ratchet had told him to work on before he was put on leave. He looked up at hearing an odd sound, but when he saw that nothing was there, he turned his attention back to the simulations on his datapad.

What he did not know was that Ratchet had already left the medbay, and some of the tools and spare armor and metal were missing.

He did not at all think of himself as a 'mad' doctor, though at times he did seem to be a bit angry. This wasn't the case at all. This time, he had a plan, and he was going to do anything he could to see this plan through.

Ratchet carefully set down the tools in his berth, the mobile and small ones, and started to walk out the door. He paused for a few seconds, then locked his door before leaving.

The hallways in the base were busy, but not extremely crowded. He easily made his way to the morgue, and had to scan through the caskets in order to find the one he needed. As soon as it was located, he hid the casket in his chest compartment and walked right back out, leaving no trace of him ever being there.

'This is the only way,' he thought to himself, as if trying to reassure himself that this was the okay thing to do. 'My spark will rest in peace.. at least I will have tried.'

He entered his room again, and locked the door behind him.