Chapter Sixteen: Pressure and crisis

164 6 1
                                    

Ratchet turned Bulk on his back and tried to get him responsive but nothing was working. Bee, Arcee, Miko and Jack came back around that time too. But the stench on Bulk almost made me vomit. And it's not from the volcano he was at. Ratchet detected something called Tox-En on Bulk. I guess it's the Cybertronian version of Toxic waste. No wonder he smells. And because of this Tox-En, his systems have gone into complete shutdown. That's not good. The bots helped Ratchet get Bulk into the medical bay. Fowler told us how he got shot.

An Insecticon named Hardshell shot him while he was weak. Ratchet and I started taking care of him. Arcee also called Wheeljack because she thought that he would want to see his best friend after he was almost killed. That ended up being a terrible idea because then Wheeljack and Miko came back after getting revenge on the Insecticon that hurt Bulk. During that time, we discovered that Bulk would be fine. He's just in stasis now.

Once he was active again, Ratchet began to help him with his Physical Therapy with Miko's help. But he's being very stubborn about it. He's limping, he can hardly move without the support of a wall, and he just wants to drive or stay at the base now that he's useless. His words, not mine. He made that clear when we took in a new recruit. A young bot named Smokescreen. I honestly thought him and Bee would get along great but then I saw how much of a nuisance he is.

He's always talking about his destiny and how he's destined to be a great warrior. And, of all things, he chooses a race car as his vehicle mode. The idea is to blend in, not stand out! He's really annoying. But, he has his uses. Like taking some Armour back from Starscream who took it from Optimus. Bulk got well soon after that. But recently the pressure of getting all the Iacon relics has grown. Optimus recently got a Sword called the Starsaber. A weapon that can only be used by a Prime. With it came a message from an old bot called Alpha Tyrion.

A bot who Smokescreen guarded near the end of the war. But only Smokescreen survived the Decepticon attack. Optimus explained that the four remaining codes in the Iacon Database are keys to restore Cybertron. But, keys open doors. How can they revive a whole planet? A planet far bigger than Earth at that. Optimus claimed not to know anything about them. But that later turned out to be a lie. For hours, days almost, we searched for these keys. We managed to get one.

The others were taken by Knockout and Starscream. The fourth one we hadn't found around that time because Optimus hadn't decoded it. When we lost a key to Starscream, Smokescreen complained that he shouldn't have dropped his guard and, because of this, his destiny to become a great warrior was looking thin. Okay! I've had enough of this child talking about his probably non-existent destiny!

"Some great warrior I'm turning out to be," Smokescreen mumbled

"You still don't get it, do you? A couple of victories aren't gonna make you a legend," I started, "And not every mission results in success, not for Arcee, not for Bee, not even for Optimus. We've gained relics, and we've lost some. But you've also lost friends. You've even lost a world. But this is one time you get a do-over. You all have a chance to bring back Cybertron, and everyone in this room needs to be in sync. This isn't about you or your destiny!"

"(Y/N), you have made your point," Optimus said

"Optimus, he needs to hear this," I told him, "You might actually become a great warrior one day, and I sincerely hope that you do. But greatness begins and ends with putting the team first, not your personal scorecard."

"There's nothing I wouldn't do for you guys," Smokescreen said

"Then stop trying to be a hero and start being an Autobot!" I told him.

Smokescreen looked at the team and then at Optimus.

"You know what? Maybe I'm just not good enough!" Smokescreen transformed and drove off.

I don't regret giving him that lecture. I've had enough of him and his childish attitude. Ratchet told me to next time listen to Optimus. Bulk was ready to go talk to Smokescreen but Optimus told him not to. He just continued to de-code the database. But when it was de-coded, something happened. Some pixels appeared on-screen. Optimus assumed it was some another layer of codes. But no. It was a picture. A picture of Smokescreen! Does he have the key? Or he knows where it is? Oh no! And I've just scared him off!

Yeah, I'm listening to Optimus next time. They went to go get him but he was knocked out and taken to Megatron. We soon worked out how Smokescreen would be the key. When the Decepticons stormed Iacon, where Smokescreen was at the time, it may have been too late for Alpha Tryon to send the last key into space so he knocked out Smokescreen, put the key in him and let the Decepticons take him knowing the final key was safe. So Smokescreen doesn't know about this.

Well, I'm not sure what happened next back on the Decepticon warship, but Smokescreen managed to escape with two keys. The one Knockout took and the one that was inside him. So we have three keys and Starscream has one of them. But we didn't know that at the time. Then Starscream tricked us so he could sneak into the base and take the three keys we had. No doubt he'll use them to bargain with Megatron. But, luckily for us, there was a Decepticon who decided to betray them.

The twin to Skyquake, Dreadwing, gave us another relic that can only be used by a Prime. The Forge of Solus Prime. It can create anything from raw materials. Like making our own Spacebridge. We need it too. Because Optimus just revealed that the keys lead to the Omega Lock that's on Cybertron. Okay, so I'm staying here with Ratchet.

Everyone got prepared after Optimus used the Forge to make the groundbridge into a Spacebridge and went to Cybertron. While everyone was away, Ratchet and I kept ourselves company. I didn't want to do any lovey-dovey moments right now because Ratchet is really stressed with everything that's happening. I just hope the Autobots win this.

The Doctor's Assistant (Ratchet X Reader)Where stories live. Discover now