A New Battle Is Waging {Sequel to You Heal Me}

Chapter 8

It's been three weeks. Magnus had found all the rest of the team except for Optimus and Smokescreen. I was concerned for them but not as concerned as I was for Ratchet. He had been healed completely but he was in a coma. I had barely left his side. I put Arcee in charge as she had been helping me lead from the very beginning and knew what she was doing.

Ultra Magnus came in every now and then to check on me and tried to convince me to leave Ratchet's side to get some sustenance and some rest but I refused every time. I would not leave my sparkmates side. That is... Until Arcee came to me for some advice.

"We are planning on attacking the insecticons. We want to know if you think it is a good idea. If you do want us to go through it, we will need your help to plan and to fight. I feel it will be the only way to be rid of this war", Arcee says.

I look at her and sigh, knowing she is right. I finally stand up from my position next to Ratchet. "We will do it."

Arcee smiles, causing me to give her a faint smile in return. I leave the medbay but not before sparing Ratchet one last glance. I close the doors and go to the war strategy room where I meet with Megatron, Soundwave, Arcee, Nebula, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, and Bulkhead.

"Okay, what do you guys know?" I immediately spoke as soon as I walked into the room.

Ultra Magnus pulled up a map of the Earth and pointed to a small sector of it. "We believe them to be stationed here."

"That's in Australia", I murmur. "Few trees, lots of animals. Not a very good place to hide. Bumblebee, Nebula, we'll send you in to scout it out. When you return, we will continue planning. Go swiftly, and don't get caught. We will need you guys in the battle. Soundwave, send Lazerbeak with them. She can survey from the sky", I order. They all do as they're told and soon, Lazerbeak, Nebula, and Bumblebee were in Australia a few miles from their destination.

"I am going to be getting some fuel and maybe some rest if they don't return soon. Please contact me upon their return", I say, before leaving.

I quickly go to energon storage and grab one cube. "How should I pair them together...? Who will work best with who...?" I was talking aloud to myself before I go to my room and lay down, thinking. I never fell asleep but I at least got to rest a bit. Just as I received a message from Ultra Magnus saying that our scouting mission was a success and that Bumblebee and Nebula were back, I came up with who the teams would be.

I go back to the planning room where everyone was. "Bumblebee, Nebula, report", I say. They do so and it seems that Arachnids forces were stationed in Australia.

"Alright. Here's the plan. Wheeljack and Bulkhead will come in from the North. Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, and two of Soundwave's minicons, Rumble and Frenzy, will come in from the South. Ultra Magnus, I will warn you, Rumble and Frenzy can be a handful. Make sure they fight the enemy and not each other. If anything, get a friendly rivalry going between them to see who can defeat the most insecticons. Soundwave and Nebula, you'll come in from the West. Soundwave, keep Lazerbeak with you. She will come in for some use for you, I suspect and she will only really listen to you. Megatron and Arcee, you'll come in from the East. And each group will have 35 vehicons with you. I will attack from above in my predacon form. Is there anything that might need to be changed?"

No one said anything so I smiled. "We fight in two days time. Get plenty of rest", I say to the group and they nod before leaving solemnly. I go to inform the vehicons of what was occurring. I trusted Soundwave to tell his minicons.

As soon as I informed the vehicons, I go to the medbay where I find Knockout, staring at a tool blankly. I saw a tear run down his face and I sighed before getting an idea. I connected my memory bank to the computer in the medbay and go back to several fun memories I had with Breakdown. After I downloaded several of them, I played them, catching Knockout's attention. "Aura? What are you doing?" I shushed him and he watched.

It started with my first memories of them. The ones that made me smile. Then it switched to me calling them my family. Then to them teasing me. Then it switched to me leaving them. I was crying and I could tell that they were sad too. Then it switched to me talking to Knockout on the computer the day that I found out that Breakdown was gone. It continued to the forest clearing. And then it showed Breakdown and Knockout's song. After that, the screen turned blank. Knockout had tears streaming down his face.

"I miss him so much", he whispers. I smile softly.

"I know. I miss him too. He was my big brother, just like you are. If you ever need to talk, don't be afraid to come talk to me, okay?"

Knockout nods and gives me a hug. "He wouldn't want you to cry, would he?" I smile softly as I speak. "He'd want you to be strong."

"I know, it's just really hard. I do something and it just... sometimes it reminds me of him. I never wanted to lose him but now... he's gone. He's been gone for a while but it still hurts. Maybe not as much but... it's difficult. I miss him a lot", Knockout whispers. I smile softly and look around only to see a faint shimmering in the air in a very specific shape. But what I didn't expect was for the shimmering to become less shimmering and more... real. It was the shape of Breakdown and he was appearing in the medbay. I tensed up, confusing Knockout until he turned to look at what I was looking at.

Soon, all the shimmering was gone and Breakdown was there, looking at us. He had both his optics again. I walked slowly up to him. "Breakdown?" I whisper, very confused.

"Aura!" Breakdown exclaims happily as he wraps me in a hug. I blink in surprise as I feel that Breakdown was real and tangible. I couldn't believe my optics.

"Breakdown... How are you here?", I whisper.

"Someone needed me. Primus could sense that. He gave me a bit more life very slowly until I finally had enough life to come back here. I'll need to rest a bit before I have all my strength but... I'm back. I'm back for good. I won't be leaving anytime soon", Breakdown explains.

"I think I have a good idea as to who needed you", I say as I look over at Knockout who was still staring in disbelief. He couldn't believe his optics either.

"Breakdown...?" Knockout whispers, his voice filled with pain and shock and a bit sorrow.

"Hey, Knockout", Breakdown says as his optics fill with tears. I smile before deciding to leave them to catch up. They needed some brotherly time to themselves. But as I was going to leave, Breakdown stopped me.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I was going to leave you guys to have some brotherly time", I say with a smile.

"Well, how 'bout it's family time instead, sis?", Breakdown asks with a smile.

"I would love to but... I think someone would really like to have some alone time with you. Besides... I need to go tell the others what has happened", I say softly.

"You go do that then. We'll be here waiting for you to join us", Breakdown says. I smile and look at Knockout, who was still in shock, but he had tears in his eyes. But they weren't sad tears. They were happy tears.

I smile again and make my way to bridge. I tell Soundwave that I need to address everyone except those in the medbay, which happened to be Ratchet, Breakdown and Knockout.

I informed everyone of what has occurred but tell them to stay clear of the medbay for now, as Breakdown needed to regain his strength. I could hear murmurs of disbelief throughout the ship after I was done speaking. Everyone was talking about Breakdown coming back from the dead.

I smile as I enter the medbay again. "Breakdown, you're good to roam the warship, though you may get some weird looks. In the meantime, there is something else, I must attend to", I say, looking at the private room of the medbay. Ratchet was in there.

Breakdown looked at me curiously but Knockout kept him from asking. I went into the medbay and sat next to Ratchet again and cried. And I cried hard. Knockout has his favorite Cybertronian back but mine was in a coma and I didn't know what to do.