Counting Wounds

Chapter 10

"Well? What do you want?" Knockout asked, crossing his arms. By the way he was irritated, I could tell he was used to some uninvited guest knocking on his door. The Vechicon turned to him. I hadn't realized that he was glancing over his shoulderplate.

"Intruders, sir," the 'con said. Knockout raised an optic ridge. "What kind? Autobots?" He asked. The Vechicon had something in his servo. It reminded me of a mini TV, except that it was a glowing green color like Ratchet's computer. The Vechicon held up the mini TV thing, and it showed all the hidden cameras on the computer. You know, like the ones you see at stores? I realized that the Vechicon must be more hooked up to computers than fighting. He only goes out to the battle field when he's need, like Ratchet. Wait...why was I looking at everything and thinking of Ratchet?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and watched from my cage, my hands clenched on the bars. Amanda watched silently from the floor of our cage. Knockout took the mini TV thing and from where I was imprisoned, me and Amanda could clearly see the screen. I caught a glimpse of orange and white on the screen and a faceplate came closer up to the camera. He his servos had been transformed into blades, and sprawled on the floor behind him were injured Vechicons.

My heart leaped. The orange-and-white dude was Ratchet! Amanda scrambled to her feet, surprise flicking across her face. I pressed my face against the bars if my cage to get a better look.

Ratchet had a girl with black and pink hair on his shoulderplate. Miko. I should've known. She waved at the camera with a smirk on her face. Then Ratchet raised his left blade back and slammed it against the camera. The screen went black.

Knockout handed the mini TV thing back to the Vechicon and growled, "Watch them. I'll be back soon." Then he started toward the door. I banged my fists against my cage and yelled after him, "Don't you dare hurt Ratchet!" Knockout stopped and glanced over his shoulderplate.

"Hurt him? Oh no, little Lizzy, I will do something worse than just injure him," Knockout said darkly and slipped out of the room, the doors closing after him. Tears sprang up in the corners of my eyes, and I quickly wiped them off. Amanda placed her hand on my shoulder. "It's ok," she whispered. "Ratchet will come for us. I know he will." "I hope," I said, my voice hoarse.

Miko's POV

"Well, he certainly is dead," I said after Ratchet stabbed his blade one more time into the Vechicon. With the hidden security camera down and cracked, we could snuff more sparks without being caught. Slowly, Ratchet started to creep around the corner. I kept watch from behind him, though something caught my eye.

On Ratchet's shoulder looked something like a tracking device. Amanda and Izzy's faces and identities were on it. There was also a map of the Warship on the device, with two red dots on the green map. I knew right away that Ratchet was finding the girls with the tracking device.

I went back to looking behind Ratchet and suddenly froze. Because running toward us, with his electric hand saw, was Knockout. "Ratchet," I said, tapping the side of his helm. "I'm busy, Miko," Ratchet muttered. "No, Ratchet! It's Knockout!" I hissed. At once, Ratchet whipped around, almost throwing me off. As soon as he spied the medic, he grabbed me and threw me across the floor. I skidded between Knockout's peds and pushed myself around just in time to see Knockout crash into Ratchet.

The Autobot medic twisted himself around and tried to stab Knockout, but he was too fast for him. I wanted to spring into the action but I wasn't as strong as Izzy or clever as Amanda. So I slowly backed away, keeping my eyes on the conflict.

I wasn't alert to the surroundings around me. Bumping into something hard, I glanced up, expecting a Vechicon. But instead, I was looking at the roof. Confused, I turned around just in time to see the wall split itself open. Or a door.