Gotta go fast

Chapter 22

It had been hours since Knock Out had awoken along with Smokescreen and Bulkhead to find that both Luna and Ratchet had been kidnapped by the decpeticons. No ransom had been made for their return which made the ex-con even more concerned. It meant that the decepticons needed the two if only to use Luna as leverage for Ratchets co-operation. The only way he was going to get her back was to go up there and get her himself which is all well and good but the warship is fast there is no way of telling where it is or where it's going. Since she had gone Knock Out had distanced himself from the other autobots, he knew that his emotions were getting in the way of his thinking and didn't want the other to be on the receiving end of his fury.

He listened in on their conversation so that he knew what was going on. Any clue they could find was a new lead on where this would go from there. Knock Out had watched Wheeljack fiddle with the monitor and piece together that the decepticons were probably after the synthetic energon formula and had watched the autobots scramble to fool the cons when they attacked. He wondered why Luna hadn't tried signalling him yet but as he stared at the rubble of the empty hanger that they let the cons blow up he realised something; she probably thought he was dead.

He growled to himself. There was no way for him t let her know that he was alive and well without compromising the autobots as well, everything including Luna would be put in jeopardy.

"So the kid clipped the business end of Laserbeaks transponder" Wheeljack gracefully complimented Smokescreen.

"You're not such a bad shot after all" Arcee joined in. Fowler made his way down the catwalk to where the three teens were huddled around a desk and a computer that Rafael was working on. Attached to the computer were two wires that were clipped onto the shrapnel of Laserbeak. Optimus had ordered Knock Out to take a look at it but he hadn't been able to concentrate and the Prime could see it. He nearly ended up trashing the monitor but held himself back and declared himself emotionally compromised to perform the task. Of course Optimus understood and immediately called for the teens to be brought in for help. "We thought that you might be the best one to provide an analysis...in Ratchets absence" The older man stood watch over Raf as he typed vigorously away on the keypad. "It's trying to communicate with the warship"

Miko moved to lean on the desk to the right of Raf "How do you know?"

"It's telling us" Raf gestured to his screen before continuing. Miko and Jack then took a quick look at the screen giving it a closer inspection. They both stood bewildered giving each other blank stares.

"Er Raf...that's cybertronian code" Fowler was just looking between them as they spoke.

"Wait first Raf understands Bumblebee now he reads cybertronian" she moved next to Jack "Are we sure he's not some kind of alien?" she asked placing her hand on her hip. They suddenly jumped when a loud thud sounded from the door. All eyes diverted to the medic looking outside, his fist clenched and held above him against the wall where he had obviously punched it in frustration. "Isn't it obvious that Ratchet had been teaching him just...just like I had been teaching...Luna" he had paused in his sentence to compose himself.

"Easy Knock Out we'll get her back and Ratchet" Arcee tried to reassure him but even she could see that the only comfort he needed was to hear Luna's voice. He had learned how to live with Luna but not how to live without her. The mech had become so attached to this particular human that it hurt him to be apart especially if she was kidnapped. The autobots had taken a little time to get used to the new information that a decepticons had changed and loved a human but now they could really see how much the medic needed Luna. "If it's talking to its mama can we triangulate the signal" Fowler asked the bots around. Ultra Magnus turned from his post at the monitor. "To a shielded warship"