Together We Stand Divided We Fall (Transformers Prime Beast Hunters)

Chapter 16

Aura slowly woke up to the sound of Arcee's voice coming through the comlink. She slowly stood up and looked around the base. There was Smokescreen, Bulkhead, and a looney Fowler. "Yo Charles! There's a man on the wing of this plane!" rambled Fowler. I walked over to the boys and helped them up. "Anyone there? Ratchet?" asked Arcee. "Uh, Arcee?" asked Bulkhead in reply. "Bulkhead! Is everything alright? Where's Ratchet?" asked Arcee. Aura lifted her head and looked up at the spot where she last saw Ratchet. He wasn't there. "He, he's gone." answered Bulkhead. Aura couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. She searched the entire base looking for him. Nothing. Just bitter emptiness. "He, really is gone." said Aura sadly.

Smokescreen brought the rest of the Autobots back to base via the ground bridge. Arcee held in her servo a piece of Laserbeak's wing that Smokescreen shot off earlier. "Peeled some paint off of Laserbeak. If I had a better shot, Ratchet would still be here!" said Smokescreen. "And if I was just a bit more stronger against Soundwave, Ratchet would still be here." added Aura. "Chin up you two. We've all looked everywhere, and for now that remains as our only clue." replied Ultra Magnus. "Nothing in the Ground Bridge Log." added Bulkhead "If they bridged Ratchet out of our base, they used theirs." "Why take Ratchet prisoner? Why leave these three behind?" asked Arcee. "If Megatron intends to hold our medic hostage, I find it curious that he's made no demands." said Ultra Magnus. "It would stand to reason, that Ratchet possesses something that the Decepticons want." stated Optimus. "Well whatever the 'Cons are after, Ratchet won't give it up!" said Bulkhead while punching his fists together.

"Listen! I need 24/7 satellite monitoring. Eyes on the skies, and on the ground!" ordered Fowler as he hung up his cell phone. Meanwhile, Wheeljack was doing some digging on Ratchet's medic computer. "Maybe bucket head is after this techno-bable." suggested Wheeljack. He brought up an image of yellow and green CNA strands. "The synfectic energon formula!" stated Aura. "Why would the 'Cons try to steal this stuff if they already have taken all of the energon mines?" asked Smokescreen. "Greed! What else?" answered Bulkhead. "If Megatron truly is rebuilding the Omega Lock, synfectic energon will become a mandatory component." said Optimus. "I hate to be the one to bring lightning to a thunderstorm, but there's one thing we're all ignoring! If the 'Cons found Ratchet here then they know the location of this base!" stated Fowler. "By the Allspark! He's right!" said Aura.

"All aerial search patterns are coming up empty." said Fowler. "No com-link chatter either." added Arcee. "And no ground bridge activity." added Wheeljack. "Megatron's quite. A little too quite." said Aura. "Since the Decepticons no longer seek Predicon bones, or earth technology, there is no activity to track." said Optimus. "So until Megatron makes a move, we're in a holding pattern." said Bulkhead. "Ratchet thought this new hand he built for me wasn't good enough. But I'll tell you what's not good enough. Giving up. We have no choice but to play it old school. Split into teams for maximum coverage." stated Ultra Magnus. All of a sudden the alarms went off. "We got Decepticon signals!" said Fowler. "So what do we do?" asked Aura. "Remain here." answered Optimus. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stay here and get blown up?! I don't think so!" replied Aura. "Aura, trust us. We know what we're doing." ensured Ultra Magnus. "Air cover is holding, for the moment." said Fowler. We watched the monitor show us one of the hangers blinking red. As we waiting, we heard an explosion which made all of us flinch. As the Decepticons flew away from radar, the Autobots walked outside to see a hanger up in flames. "So again, how did this happen?" asked Aura. "Switched the letters of the hangar." answered Wheeljack. "Now that's what I call old school." replied Aura. "That mess hall sure is a mess." said Smokescreen. "We are fortunate that the Decepticons can be fooled by a simple paint job." added Ultra Magnus.

"So the kid blasted off Laserbeak's transponder." said Wheeljack. "Your not such a bad shot after all." added Arcee. "Nice job Smokescreen." said Aura. Raf was hard at work on scanning and analyzing Laserbeak's wing with his laptop. "We thought you'd be the best option to help us with this situation. In Ratchet's absence." said Fowler. "It's trying to communicate with the warship." explained Raf. "Really?" asked Cole. "How do you know?" asked Miko. "It's telling us." answered Raf. "Uh Raf? That's Cybertronian code." said Jack. "Wait, first Raf understands Bumblebee, now he reads Cybertronian? Are we sure he's not some sort of alien?" asked Miko. "I've been learning for a while. In between stuff when, Ratchet had time to teach me." explained Raf as he teared up slightly. "Hey Raf, we'll bring him back." ensured Jack as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You can count on it." said Aura. "If its the last thing we do." added Miko. "If its calling to its momma, can we triangulate the signal?" asked Fowler. "To a shielded warship?" asked Ultra Magnus in reply. "If the transponder were still attached to Laserbeak, maybe we could follow it." said Arcee. "Maybe we should give it wings." replied Wheeljack. "We could build a decoy!" suggested Aura. "We can use spare parts from the machine shop." added Raf. "Then lets do it, for the Doc." said Wheeljack.

Wheeljack, Aura, and Raf with some assistance from Miko and Cole, worked together to build a decoy of Laserbeak to lead them to the warship. "Ugh! The frequency links keep shorting out!" complained Raf. "Easy champ. Let me try uncrossing some wires." replied Wheeljack. "Raf, try rerouting the circuit breakers and see if that helps." suggested Aura. Cole and Miko tried to fit a piece to the drone, but Raf stopped them. And his reaction reminded me of a certain medic. "Yep! Yep! Yep! Miko! Cole! I needed that!" whined Raf. "What? What did we do?" asked Cole. "We were just trying to tighten up that thing-a-ma jig." said Miko. "Pull-lease!" replied Raf. Aura couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the act. "Alright, let's fire this puppy up." said Wheeljack. Raf took out a controller from his backpack and turned it on. The drone turned on, hovering in mid air and it flew around the base. Almost hitting Jack and Agent Fowler. "Sorry Agent Fowler." apologized Raf. "Um, I think I need to change my star spangled shorts." said Fowler. "Too much info." muttered Aura. "I still need to readjust some chips." explained Raf. "Chip?" asked Arcee. "So we're gonna make this thing fly back to 'Con central?" asked Smokescreen. "And lead us right to Ratchet." added Jack.