Untold Secrets

5 | Change of plans

It had been a few hours since you last saw Ratchet, so you were hoping the maintenance workers were done with their work so you could speak with him alone. Thankfully, there was no one in sight as you briskly strode into the massive room and climbed the stairs up to the platform.

Ratchet turned his head to look at you when he heard footsteps, a curious expression soon coming over his face. "Y/N, have you come here to discuss the plan?" He asked, his voice echoing off of the concrete walls and making him sound much louder.

You nodded and took a seat, folding your hands in your lap and sighing. "This is gonna be tricky. I have to figure out when there will be the least amount of personnel in the base so getting you out will go smoother..." You mumbled, tapping your knee for a second. A thought came to you and made you freeze. It was one of those 'aha!' moments where everything seemed to click into place. "I know! On the day of the next hunt, I'll sneak around so I won't be caught and free you when everyone leaves. Since I'm just another hunter, they won't notice I'm gone until much later. You, however, may be easier for them to notice that your missing. Hopefully we'll be far away when that happens..."

"And you are certain that this will work? I do not want you to risk your life for mine." Ratchet replied after a moment of silence, his bright blue gaze still focused on you.

You sighed heavily. "Ratchet, I'm willing to risk everything. I need to get you back to the others, wherever the hell they are, so we can fight back against Cemetery Wind and Lockdown. If we don't, they'll just keep killing Autobots until there's none left, even Optimus..." You murmured softly, running a few fingers through your hair. After a moment, you looked up at the Autobot medic with a grim look on your face. "The Autobots fought for us. Now we must fight for them." You placed a hand on your chest and felt your heart beating within it.

The medic looked away for a moment, seemingly in thought, before turning back to you and dipping his head. "You are a brave and courageous human. Now I know why Lennox entrusted you to join N.E.S.T." He said, a hint of a smile on his face. "If you are willing to risk everything, so am I. We are in this together, after all."

"Thank you, Ratchet. I knew I could count on you." You grinned brightly and stood up, leaning over the railing to place a hand on Ratchet's shoulder plating. It was cool to the touch, yet you could feel the life pulsing beneath it. It was such a strange feeling. You pulled your hand away and stepped back from the railing, looking up at Ratchet once more. "Don't worry. I'll make sure we both get out of here alive."

And with that, you turned on your heel and walked out of the room.

———

Today was the day. The dreadful day that everything went down. If things went right, you and Ratchet would get out of there unscathed. If things went wrong, everything you had done up to this point would have been for nothing. You weren't about to let your hard work go to waste. Ratchet had suffered far too long to be let down by you. You were getting him out of here.

And that was final.

Avoiding being spotted while you left during mission briefing wasn't as hard as you thought it would be. Just like that, the base was practically empty besides the maintenance workers and the guards that guarded Ratchet's containment cell. They were the ones you would have to worry about.

"No witnesses..." You muttered under your breath, both hands gripping onto your pistol as you silently approached the guards from the right. In two swift movements, you shot both guards in the chest and easily killed them.

After moving their bodies out of sight, you quickly cleaned up the blood and hurried into the room where Ratchet was. Immediately going over to the electrical panel, you disabled the alarm system so it wouldn't go off when you unlocked Ratchet's restraints. Once that was done, you raced over to the controls and unlocked all of the heavy duty locks that held Ratchet against the metal slab.

A few hisses came from Ratchet as he stepped forwards and rolled his shoulders, loosening up his stiff joints and making sure everything was in working order. He looked down at you and nodded, taking a knee and holding out his hand. "I will protect you if we happen to come across some unexpected security."

You hesitated before nodding and climbing into the palm on his hand. You clung to the metal mechanisms when he lurched upwards to keep your balance, swallowing your fear as he went over to the massive doors. He easily pried them open with one hand and stepped out, closing them as best as he could before turning on his heel and breaking into a light trot. His leg was still in the process of mending, so he had to be careful on it for the time being.

Just like you thought, there was no one else around to stop you as Ratchet carried you outside and stepped over the wire fence. Once he was outside of the fence, he carefully set you down and swiftly transformed into his vehicle mode, which was still a military ambulance.

"Once we get far enough away from this hell hole, I'm going to get you a new paint job so you can blend in better." You said as you got into the front seat of his vehicle mode, closing the door behind you. You put on the seatbelt and almost went to turn the key, which was conveniently in the ignition, when Ratchet stopped you.

"I am able to drive myself, if you were unaware of that." He spoke through the radio system, the Autobot symbol on the steering wheel blinking softly as he talked. Soon after, his engine roared to life and he began driving down the road that led away from the base.

You chuckled and rubbed the back of your head, leaning back in the seat and sighing. "Sorry, completely forgot. It's been a while since I've rode with a bot."

"It's quite alright, Y/N. Would you like the radio on or anything?"

"Air conditioning would be nice, thank you."

A few seconds later, you felt cool air begin blowing out of the vents. That felt heavenly, especially since you were still wearing your heavy duty fighting suit that you had been given. You sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the low hum of Ratchet's engine as he drove.

Ratchet decided to break the silence by asking a question. "You said that it had been a while since you last rode along with a fellow Autobot. May I ask who it was that you last went with?"

You chewed on your bottom lip for a moment, wondering if it would be good to truly answer the medic's question or not. You knew Ratchet was fully aware of what happened with Sentinel, but there were certain things that even Optimus didn't know about. That was one of the things you would need to tell Ratchet in secret. "It was.. Ironhide." You answered softly, nervously twiddling your thumbs.

Ratchet was silent for a moment before he replied. "Oh." After that, he was silent again. He mourned the death of his friend ever since it happened, the hatred he had for Sentinel never going away until Optimus put a bullet in his head. Being angry wouldn't bring Ironhide back, sadly enough. He had learned to cope with it ever since.

You felt terrible that you couldn't just tell Ratchet everything right here. He was obviously in some emotional pain after you brought up his deceased friend, which wasn't your intention. You had to be patient and tell him at the right time, or else everything could go horribly wrong in a matter of seconds.