Gotta go fast

Chapter 21

As he awoke his helm ached. He immediately regretted onlining his optics as everything looked as though it was spinning. He groaned as he sat up from his lying position on the floor. He remembered hearing Arcee's voice over the comm link as he awoke but now he heard everyone's voices. Ultra Magnus stood over him and offered him a servo to help him up from the ground. He graciously took it and got his bearings as he stood back on his peds. He noticed that everyone had huddled together as they were assessing what had happened except Ratchet was not amongst them. "Peeled some paint off Laserbeak" Arcee held part the wing that the rookie had managed to shoot off "If I were a better shot Ratchet would still be here"

"Chin up soldier, we've combed the entire floor. For the moment that remains our only clue" he gestured to the metal in Arcee's servo. Knock Out pieced together that Soundwave had kidnapped Ratchet while they were knock out but for unknown purposes. He recalled that the last thing he remembered was protecting Luna from the silent mech and then he was shocked by one of the tentacles. "Nothing in the ground bridge log; if they bridged out of here they used theirs not ours" Bulkhead moved from the ground bridge controls to the others.

Knock Out then moved away from them his optics scanning the area. He hated himself for not noticing earlier.

"Why take Ratchet prisoner but leave these three behind?" Arcee asked finally noticing that Knock Out was in his own little world and his face was becoming angrier with each passing second.

"Because he didn't just take Ratchet...he took Luna as well" as Knock Out finished he noticed a glare on the floor on the other side of the room. He remembered that that was where Luna was the last time he had seen her. Approaching small item on the floor he immediately saw that it was the brunette's phone. He picked it up gently and kept it safe. He groaned as his spark began to ache.

He had failed her. He promised to protect her and he failed, but he was sure as hell going to get her back.

"If Megatron intends to hold our medic and the native hostage I find it curious that he has made no demands" at this point the bots were joined by Optimus as he had returned from scouting around the base.

"It stands to reason that Ratchet and Luna must possess something the decepticons want"

Ultra Magnus then gave them all a confused look as he processed the information. "What could a human possibly have to offer" before anything more could be said Knock Out's fury was released onto the commander as the red bot hit Magnus making him stammer back.

"You're talking about my squishy there! And she's not useless; she coded together the means to a holoform, helped repair Bulkhead and fixed Wheeljack. Luna is not like any ordinary human" he defended her. The former con knew to not strike the commander again. Before he could continue to let out his frustrations he turned away from the others so that he could go outside and be alone. Optimus watched at the mech disappeared knowing it best to leave him to think.

"Well whatever the cons are after Ratch won't give it up...Right?"

"Perhaps if they threatened Luna if he doesn't cooperate" Arcee stated the idea making everyone go silent. Time was obviously running out and they needed to locate the warship if they were to have any hope of saving the medic and human as well as stopping the decepticons from cyberforming the planet again.

Knock Out had heard what the others had said having moved to the door so that he could look up at the sky. He couldn't help but frown as he was scared for what Luna must be going through. He hadn't found her pendant which meant she still had it so he knew that she would activate the tracker when she could. He listened as the autobots behind him were trying to work out what the decepticons wanted. He was sure to be the one that would rip the communications officer apart.