Return (A Ratchet TFP Fanfiction Story)

Chapter 10

Optimus sighed as he heaved more Energon cubes through the Groundbridge, optics narrowing slightly. While the Energon retrieval had been a success, with hardly any opposition, he still hadn't felt like he'd won. How could he, when his old friend couldn't congratulate them, like he always did on successful Energon findings?

Arcee must have heard the sigh as they went through. She cast him a worried glance as she put down the cubes she was carrying alongside him. "Optimus. Are you.. okay?"

Her leader turned to her as if seeing her there for the first time, but quickly led it pass. "I am grateful that we managed to get a hold of this much Energon, that is all," he told her.

She scowled a bit. "You know that's not what I meant. You're worried about Ratchet."

The Prime said nothing, but glanced away at her statement.

She sighed, bringing a servo to her faceplate. "Of course you are. And you have every right to be."

"I'm sorry if my performance had dwindled because of this, Arcee," Optimus apologized.

"What?" she replied, looking back up. "No, that's not what I was trying to.. don't you think you should let someone else look for his signal tonight?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you've been pulling all-nighters for several weeks now searching for him. You're on the monitors almost as much as Ratchet was," she joked slightly. "Not that you're not doing well, but don't you think you should get some rest? We don't want your performance to actually slip."

Optimus blinked at her, thinking over what she said. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he placed a servo on her shoulder plate.

"Thank you for your concern, Arcee," he said. "It is very much appreciated."

She returned the smile, glad to see he hadn't taken it the wrong way. 

"Perhaps I will let one of you take over for the night," he sighed. Now that Arcee had made it clear to him, he was starting to notice just how tired he really was. He hadn't had a good recharge in a while.

"Allow me," she said. She wasn't volunteering; she was doing it.

Optimus nodded and turned back to the Bridge to retrieve more Energon, Arcee close behind.

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"Blast this piece of scrap!"

Ratchet slammed the console for probably the fifth time that night, optic ridges furrowed angrily. Omega watched from the sidelines and sighed. Alpha was actually helping the doctor with his work; he had been honestly surprised when Ratchet had allowed it. He peeked out from under the console with exasperation on his faceplate.

"Still not working?" he asked tiredly.

Ratchet growled at the machine as it flickered back on. "I fear the main power core is beginning to freeze. This unit can't function properly without a well-charged power source!"

"So, it's not the piece that you put back in the ship yesterday?"

"No, Omega, if that had gone wrong it still wouldn't be acting like this," Ratchet told her, before mumbling something under his breath.

Alpha sighed and slid out from under the console. "It's heated in here; how could the main power core be frozen?" He placed his servos on his hips.

Ratchet turned from his work, thinking it over. "That's true.. you could have a breach in the Energon fuel line.."

"If it were small, the leak would be so slow that we wouldn't notice it at first," Omega said, instinctively looking around for anything. "I guess until now."

"Help me look for it," Ratchet instructed, walking out. Alpha and Omega shared an amused look before following him out. 

"The fuel line runs along here," Alpha told him, running a servo along the base of the wall. "And leads all the way to the room where the main power core is."

"Hmm," Ratchet pondered, bringing a servo to his chin. "Omega, could you show me the main power core? Hopefully the breach will be there; if it's not we will have to take out the wall."

Alpha gave him a distressed look, obviously wanting to keep his ship intact the best he could. Omega rolled her eyes at her brother and motioned for Ratchet to follow her. They made their way into the small room, where the power source hummed quietly. Ratchet inspected it, noticing that the light coming from it seemed to be dimming. He looked around carefully for any sign of a leak.

"Ratchet, over here!" Omega said, calling from the other side of the source.

The medic went over to her side and looked at his servo. His melder appeared at his command and he grinned at his progress. Earlier his injuries had been so bad he couldn't even bring out his blades. He wondered if he would be able to turn into his alt mode soon. He hoped for the best and turned to Omega, who was standing over a tube connected to the power core. 

"The leak is right here," she said, pointing her digit. "It looks like when we crashed, the whole thing unbolted and hit the wall. See these skid marks?" She pointed again at the ground, where the metal was scraped. "Luckily for us, it must have slid back."

Ratchet nodded. "Would you get me a scrap piece of metal? I have to be careful not to ignite the Energon."

The young femme nodded cheerfully and jumped up to do as requested. Alpha walked in just as she rushed out, giving him a playful slap on the shoulder plates. He watched her go with a confused look in his optics before turning to the doctor, who was still carefully inspecting the break. He bent over and also looked it over.

"Easy fix?" he asked hopefully.

"I believe so," the medic replied. "If this is the only breach, then we won't have any more problems." Then he realized something and groaned. "Of course, we would need some more Energon to fix our current problems."

"And to refuel ourselves," Alpha sighed. "Our tanks are running low, and we used up a lot healing you up."

Ratchet didn't reply, just looked at the floor for a moment. He nodded slowly and thought it over.

"If we had access to a Groundbridge, even one with limited range, we could probably search for an Energon mine," the medic said.

"We do have a Bridge. It's connected to the main console you were working on earlier," Alpha told him, standing back up. "If you could fix it, we could possibly get somewhere."

Omega ran back in with a large slab of metal. "I got it!" she saw the two together and raised an optic ridge. "What were you two talking about?"

Ratchet stood and took the slab from her. "We were formulating a plan."

"We were?" Alpha said, confused.

The doctor rolled his optics as he bent back over. "I  was. If we could fix the main console, thus hopefully repairing the Groundbridge, we could hopefully find an Energon mine."

Alpha gave him another confused look as the medic pulled his welder back out. "We already established that."

Ratchet sighed in annoyance. "If we can stock up our Energon supply, it will be a lot easier to fix the broken equipment on your ship. The main console, the power line, thrusters." He began to carefully weld the piece of metal onto the tube. "And, hopefully, upgrade your Groundbridge range."

"So you can go home," Omega finished. "Back to your team."

"Back to Optimus," Ratchet muttered under his breath.

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YAAAAAAAAAAY chapter 10!! I'm actually proud of myself.

Also, this story has reached over 100 reads! I know that seems like a small achievement, but to me it's a big step! I'm so grateful and excited! Thank you all so much!

I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

*waves*