Transformers: Gateway to New Beginnings

Chapter 8

   Windblade woke to the clang of someone smacking someone else. She groaned and sat up on the berth, blinking to clear her vision as her optics adjusted to the light.  

   "Ep, ep ep, you need to rest and recover from your injuries, Windblade." Ratchet said, then sputtered in surprise when she shot him a glare and smacked his hand away before getting up. She looked over to where a very startled Smokescreen was recovering from Bulkhead slapping his back, which had been the sound she'd heard. Ratchet scowled, and gently -but firmly- pushed her back down on the berth as he scanned her injuries, muttering under his breath. 

   "Ratchet I'm not fatally injured! I can handle myself!" she protested. 

   "Are you the medic here? No. Now shush before I either throw a wrench at your helm or pinch that wire again," Ratchet scolded, causing Windblade to 'harrumph' and glare at the nearest wall to her right, grumbling under her breath. 

   Just a few minutes later, while Ratchet was finishing up, Arcee commed base, "Ratchet, we need a bridge... and please have the Medbay ready."

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   Windblade watched as Ratchet ran a large-scale scan on Bumblebee, while the others were silent. Her wings twitched, causing pain to shoot through the injured one.

   Optimus walked over to where Arcee sat on a cubelike seat, and she looked up at him, "I'm sorry, Optimus... Knockout was there... waiting for us." she scowled, "seems the 'Cons are improving their decoding skills.

   Ratchet turned away from the controls of the Medbay while some blue lasers were scanning over Bumblebee, "and it seems that with two Keys already separated, no one currently possesses the means to revive Cybertron."

   "While our quest to restore our planet may have reached a stalemate, securing the remaining Keys is still the most prudent course of action," Optimus said, while Windblade watched them silently.

   "Man it must have been crazy with Knockout going all sonic," Smokescreen said wistfully, swinging his arms around, and Windblade faceservoed. Smokescreen punched the air, acting like a kid pretending to be a superhero beating up a villain, "I wish I could've been there! I would've-" 

   Arcee cut him off, "would've what? Recovered the key like you did the first one?" she glared from where Ratchet was scanning her servo with a handheld scanner. 

   "Maybe?" Smokescreen said, and Windblade turned away, wanting it to stop. "Who knows! I just want us to be firing in all cylinders! You know, now that the Star Saber's gone. And I have a preetttyyy good track record so far," he continued. Windblade groaned, "Kid, shut up before you dig yourself a deeper hole."

   Arcee was clearly upset as she stood, pained, holding her left arm as she glared daggers at him. She walked past dejectedly as Bulkhead took up talking to the Rookie, "look, kid. Arcee and Bumblebee are no slouches. And Optimus managed just fine for eons without the 'big sword'. Of course you wouldn't know about that. You've been locked in stasis the whole time we've been fighting this war." Bulkhead's expression was of anger and irritation. 

   "exactly," Smokescreen said, "and I'm ready to make up for lost time."

   "When Optimus says you're ready. You gotta be in this for the long haul," he glared at the rookie, before looking over at Optimus, who was working on decoding the next set of coordinates, "slow and steady wins the race."

   Windblade sighed, laying back down on the berth, listening as Optimus finished decoding another set of coordinates and sent out Bulkhead and Smokescreen to retrieve the Omega Key before falling into recharge.