Normal Perspective:
Having been assigned to find the third relic with Wheeljack, who had been called in on short notice, Ratchet and Knockout headed out to the location the Wrecker was waiting at with the Jackhammer, which the Wrecker had come back for after exploring the Earth for a few weeks in his vehicle mode before taking to Earth's skies once more, ultimately deciding to stay on the planet. He was tossing one of his grenades in the air and catching it in his servo when the two arrived, and the Wrecker immediately went on the offensive upon seeing the cherry-red mech, but Ratchet stopped him before he could get any further in his attack.
"He's with us!" He said, making the Wrecker stop in his tracks, and he could only stare at the former 'Con in mistrust, then he hesitantly backed off.
"You can't be serious." He said in disbelief. "First Starscream, and now him?"
"Yes, and you better believe it for Knockout, as well as Breakdown, is now on our side thanks to Michael." Ratchet said, and explained everything about what had occurred in his absence. Wheeljack could only shake his helm once the red and white mech had finished.
"I'll never understand that kid..." He said to himself, thinking of Michael, then he smiled as he thought of the reason why he had been called upon and partnered with the two medics in the first place. "So, the boss thought you needed backup, huh?" He asked, smirking.
"If you must know, Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision." Ratchet replied firmly, then he and Knockout walked on ahead.
"I'll be sure to be on my best behavior, Docs."
"Please don't call me Doc." The two medics said together before looking at each other, then went to walk on again when Wheeljack spoke up again.
"Whatever you say, Sunshines."
The two medics stopped, and groaned. This was going to be a long mission.
After getting situated in the Jackhammer, the trio set off, taking off into the afternoon skies.
"So, all of Team Prime's busy chasin' down these four Iacon relics?" Wheeljack asked, for he hadn't been given a deep explanation due to the time constraints Team Prime was under.
"Four of which that are currently in play." Ratchet replied.
"There's more?" Wheeljack asked, surprised.
"Megatron maintains possession of the entire Iacon Database." Ratchet replied. "We have yet to learn how many more relics or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains."
"The coordinates of the current four being decoded by Megatron's Warship, which we were able to receive." Knockout added, smirking.
"No worries, Docs, I gotcha backs." Wheeljack said confidently, to which the two medics groaned.
"Our names are not Doc!" Ratchet said, annoyed. "And I do not require anyone watching my back! I proved my mettle during the war for Cybertron."
"As have I!" Knockout added. "And if I want anyone watching my back, I want it to be Breakdown, and not you!"
"Then I'm lucky you're along for the ride, champs." Wheeljack said as a signal appeared on his radar behind them. "Cause we got a bogey on our tail."
And they did.
"Soundwave." Ratchet said, recognizing the flyer behind them through the back camera.
"Megatron's communications chief?" Wheeljack asked, not knowing why he of all mechs would be sent out to retrieve the relic.
"He must be tracking the same coordinates." Ratchet hypothesized.
"You do not want to cross him." Knockout said, remembering when Airachnid had tried to do so when he had still been part of the Decepticons. Soundwave then began firing at them, getting a hit on the ship.
"You two might want to grab onto something." Wheeljack warned before making the ship go up, forcing Ratchet back into his seat and throwing Knockout back into the wall behind him.
"Are you trying to send us to the scrapyard?!" Ratchet asked as Wheeljack made the ship go a complete 360 over Soundwave, getting them behind the silent 'Con, throwing Knockout around in the back before he was finally able to grab on to the back of Ratchet's seat, messing up his paintwork. Wheeljack then deployed his ship's blasters, then open fire on the mech.
Soundwave performed all sorts of stunts to dodge the blaster fire, with the trio in the Jackhammer right on his tail, not at all relenting. Soon, Soundwave deployed Laserbeak to distract them.
"What's that?" Wheeljack asked, surprised by the unexpected object now flying about near them.
"Soundwave's surveillance drone, Laserbeak." Ratchet answered, to which Knockout groaned. Laserbeak opened fire on them, throwing them off their trail, but still keeping Soundwave in their sights. "Wheeljack, maintain pursuit! Soundwave is merely using the drone to distract us!"
"I welcome a good distraction." Wheeljack replied, smirking slyly. He then flew the Jackhammer behind her, and open fire on her. "The hunter becomes the hunted."
"This is no time to be hot-dogging!" Ratchet scolded, but the Wrecker just ignored him. They kept up with her for a few minutes until they lost sight of her, or so they thought.
"He's gone." Knockout said, relieved.
"Now we can go find Soundwa-" Ratchet never finished as the drone shot by them at an angle, making the two medics shriek in surprise before Wheeljack immediately gave chase to her once again. She led them down, and the clouds cleared to reveal that they were heading towards a rock wall. The two medics screamed in terror as Wheeljack pulled up sharply, narrowly missing the wall.
The Jackhammer clipped the the edge of the cliff, but didn't lose control, and they continued chasing the drone, who turned around and headed straight towards them, the two sides firing at each other.
"What are you doing?!" Ratchet asked.
"You're going to get us killed at this rate!" Knockout added.
Wheeljack ignored them, focusing on Laserbeak.
"Wheeljack! WHEELJAAAAAAACK!"
Laserbeak streaked right over them, missing them by inches. Wheeljack turned, locked on to her again, and fired, missing several times, but at last, he managed to get a hit, sending her down to the ground below.
"Choke on that, 'Con!" Wheeljack snarked.
"You- You did it!" Ratchet said in disbelief.
"You took down Laserbeak!" Knockout cheered.
But their luck was short-lived.
Laserbeak, streaking to the ground, fired off two final shots, one of them hitting the Jackhammer, damaging it severely and sending them down to the land below with her.
The crashed into the ground in a forested and rocky area, skidding along it and damaging the ship even more, with it needing a lot of repairs before the ship could be flight-worthy again.
Thankfully, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Knockout had survived the crash, and were unhurt. Knockout's paintwork, however, had been scratched up in the fiasco, which he complained bitterly about to the Wrecker, who just ignored his ranting as he inspected his ship, finishing a while later, as evening in the their location approached.
"Bah! Right thruster's fried." Wheeljack said, annoyed that they were grounded.
"If you had pursued Soundwave as I instructed." Ratchet began, annoyed at the Wrecker's ignorance.
"His little birdie would still be pecking at our tailpipes!" Wheeljack shot back.
"And yet, she was the one that brought us down!" Knockout snapped in annoyance.
"Well, we need to continue our search for the relic immediately." Ratchet said, bring them back to the goal at hand. "Soundwave may already have reached it."
"The Jackhammer's not going anywhere." Wheeljack said, walking away from it, and ahead of the two medics. "If you wanna catch that 'Con, we need to roll." But before he could figure out their next move, he spotted something near them, and walked over to it as Ratchet spoke up.
"Well, make up your mind! Are we walking or are we driving?!"
Wheeljack didn't reply. Instead, he unsheathed his katanas, preparing himself as the two medics stepped closer.
The downed object was Laserbeak, damaged and sparking.
"Wheeljack, keep your distance." Ratchet advised. "Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave."
Wheeljack flipped her over, making her sit upright, but she didn't move.
"Not anymore it isn't." He said, smirking.
Ratchet and Knockout walked over, scanning her.
"Operating system appears fully functional but offline." Ratchet deduced after his scans came back.
"However, the crash clearly damaged its optic and audio receptors." Knockout added.
"Guess someone's gonna need a new snitch." Wheeljack said, smirking at the downed minicon.
"A minor victory." Ratchet admitted. "And not the one we are here to achieve."
"I'd destroy the bird now while we have the chance." Knockout said, as he and Ratchet walked away, but Wheeljack thought for a moment on these words, and smiled as an idea struck him.
"Hang on there, Docs." He called back, making the two groan and turn around. "Situation's right for an old Wrecker trick."
"If it has to do with us nearly getting killed again, I'm not interested." Knockout said in slight annoyance, not wanting to nearly get killed again.
"It has to do with someone getting killed, Doc Knock, but it won't be us." Wheeljack smirked.
"I'm... not sure I follow." Ratchet admitted, confused.
"Sooner or later, Soundwave's gonna come looking for his pet." The Wrecker explained. "We let 'em reunite and return to base, packin' a live grenade. The first time 'Wave reaches inside, he trips the pin and 'Kaboom'."
Ratchet thought for a moment, then an idea struck him for a more dangerous, yet less physical weapon.
"Why plant a more incendiary device, when we could plant a more devastating bomb?" He asked as and Knockout walked over to the downed 'Con, as Ratchet deployed his blowtorch, cutting into a section of the drone's body, opening up a space inside her, before retracting it. "A virus engineered to pass from Laserbeak to Soundwave. Then, directly into the Decepticon Warship's mainframe where it will transmit the contents of the entire Iacon Database to us."
"A genius plan! Glad I thought of it!" Knockout said vainly, while Ratchet sent him a glare.
"Sounds complicated." Wheeljack put in, not believing such a thing would work, or they would have enough time to do that and grab the relic they were after. "Thought we were in a hurry?"
"Optimus and Michael would agree." Ratchet argued. "Risking the loss of one relic to gain the rest is a worthwhile gamble."
"Either of you really have the chops to pull off that kind of programming?" Wheeljack asked.
Ratchet and Knockout looked at each other, sharing a look.
They didn't. But Ratchet did know someone that did.
"Mmm... Not alone." Ratchet admitted. "We will require backup." He added, smirking.
He knew exactly who to call for help, and activated his comm.
"Rafael, we have a situation."
At the same time, Soundwave arrived at the relic's coordinates. Scanning for it and finding it nearby, he headed off to find it, arriving at a rocky bridge-like structure a short time later, and began to dig for it with his tendrils.
Back at the forest, Ratchet had explained the situation and their plan.
"If you can write a source code for the virus, my scanner will translate it to Cybertronian script as it uploads." The red and white mech finished.
"I can do it." Raf said through the comm. "But if we want to keep the virus hidden from the 'Cons, we'll need a decoy. Y'know, like a second virus."
"Or, something less complicated." Ratchet said, smirking, as he eyed Wheeljack's grenade.
The Wrecker soon caught on.
"A decoy as in: We want 'em to find it, but it doesn't blow?" He asked.
"Correct." Ratchet answered.
"Seems like a waste of a perfectly good grenade." Wheeljack admitted, then he tossed it to the medics, who took out the main part of the grenade and installed it into the opening Ratchet had made, the grenade clicking into place as they did, fitting perfectly into it.
"It's only one grenade." Knockout said. "Knowing you, you probably have several of them."
"Wait a minute." Raf spoke up, as he realized something. "A grenade inside of Laserbeak inside of Soundwave? Like a turducken!"
The three mechs looked at each other, confused by the comparison, and lost at what a 'Turducken' was.
"I'm sorry?" Ratchet asked, confused.
"It's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a... never mind."
Wheeljack then began to walk off.
"And where are you off to?" Ratchet asked as he and Knockout got up.
"Buy you two some time." Wheeljack said. "And who knows? Maybe pick up a relic."
He then transformed and drove off, leaving the two medics behind.
"His funeral." Knockout muttered.
The two mechs then set to work on the virus.
-----
At the relic's coordinates, Soundwave finished digging for the relic, and pulled it out, just as Wheeljack arrived, jumping over the higher cliff and transforming, wielding both katanas, as he slashed down. The TIC jumped back, making the Wrecker miss.
"Ya dropped something'" Wheeljack taunted. Soundwave looked over, seeing the relic on the ground below them. The two stood in the sunset's light at a stand-still, both wanting the relic. Soundwave unsheathed a blade, which Wheeljack noticed.
"This should be fun." He said, and charged forward.
The Wrecker swung his katanas several times as Soundwave blocked most of the strikes, but Wheeljack got a swing in, the tip of one of his blades scratching the 'Con's visor slightly. He then swung several more times, with Soundwave dodging and blocking them. He then sent a tendril at the 'Bot, knocking him back and almost causing him to go over the edge of the rocky bridge they were on, but he caught his balance and recovered, noticing that Soundwave managed to steal one of his katanas. Wheeljack's optics narrowed and he charged forward, knocking away the katana that Soundwave threw at him, and made a jump slash, but before he could complete his attack, one of the 'Con's tendrils caught him, throwing him around and throwing him to the ground, cracking the bottom of the arch they were on slightly. He then threw the white mech again, throwing him over to the edge on his tanks. Soundwave walked over, flipped him over with one of his tendrils, pinned him down with it, and used another tendril to try and drill into the bot's helm, but Wheeljack caught it, held it off, and jammed it into the other tendril, making Soundwave recoil and allowing him to get up. He then headbutted the 'Con, cracking his visor.
"Here I go again. Shattering expectations." Wheeljack said, smirking from behind his mask.
Back at the forest, progress had been made in the plan, and now they were ready for Phase Two.
"Rafael, we've jacked into Laserbeak's uplink transmitter." Ratchet said into his comm. "When you're ready, we will bring its operating system back online in order to receive the transfer."
Back at the arch, Wheeljack got the upper hand over Soundwave, and both were sent down to the bottom of the arch. Soundwave, who was lying on the ground, looked over to where the relic stood, planted in the ground. He then looked back at the sound of a blaster being aimed at him.
"Any last words?" Wheeljack asked. Silence. "Right. Silent type."
He then charged up his blaster, ready for the kill. At the same time, Soundwave had discreetly sent out a tendril and picked up the relic, aiming it right at Wheeljack's helm behind him. It then activated, sending out sonic waves and causing the Wrecker to scream in pain, who then collapsed and fell into stasis-lock.
Back at the forest, the second phase was being put into action.
"Ratchet, Knockout, the virus is coded." Raf said through the comm. "Commencing upload."
Laserbeak's systems then came online, and she tried to fly away, but the two mechs held her down, but even with their combined weight and strength, they struggled to keep her down.
Back at the arch, Soundwave attached the relic to him, and was about to finish Wheeljack off when Laserbeak's signal appeared, stopping him.
At the forest, the two mechs were still struggling to hold the drone down.
"Rafael, what is our progress?" Ratchet asked into his comm. There was a pause before a reply came back.
"50%"
"Can't it upload any faster?!" Knockout complained, but Ratchet ignored him.
"Docs..." Came a weak Wheeljack's voice through Ratchet's comm.
"Wheeljack, we told you not to call us that!" The Autobot medic scolded.
"I'm sorry..."
This made both medics pause and look at each other, concerned. Ratchet then spoke into his comm. again.
"What's wrong? Where are you?"
"Ugh... Figure you two got maybe... two minutes..."
The two medics looked at each other, sharing a worried look, then the two looked out into the clouds, using their optics to zoom in, spotting Soundwave flying towards their location.
"Or less..." Ratchet muttered.
"What do we do?!" Knockout asked.
"We continue with our plan, and hopefully it finishes before Soundwave gets here." Ratchet answered, and the two went back to holding her down. "Rafael...?"
"We're almost there!"
The two mechs, knowing they needed to hide, moved to a rock, holding the drone down in their laps.
Time was almost up.
At last, the virus had fully uploaded.
"Done!" Rafael exclaimed through the comm.
Ratchet then pressed the button on the scanner, closing the opening where the grenade had been placed. The two finally let the drone go, the cyber-bird struggling to fly up, breaking something off in the process. She then finally collapsed a few feet away from the rock the two bots were hiding behind, just as Soundwave arrived, the medics watching from behind the rock.
Transforming, he landed on the ground and scanned the Jackhammer, finding nothing. Feeling a presence behind him, the 'Con pointed the relic behind him, causing the two CMOs to completely hide behind the rock, tensing up as the silent mech approached, having finally found his minicon. He then reattached her to his chassis, suspecting nothing. He then began to walk away, as the two mechs made a noise, making Soundwave stop and turn around, appearing to be alerted to their presence. He then sent out two tendrils towards the rock, and the mechs feared that they had finally been found out, but it was merely to retrieve the broken piece of Laserbeak.
Retrieving what he lost, he then took off to the skies once more, back to the Nemesis, his mission complete.
The two medics sighed in relief as they got up and watched the 'Con fly away.
"Soundwave has taken the bait." Ratchet said into the comm.
But no response came.
"Wheeljack?"
Still no response.
"Scrap!" He swore, and the two medics started running, transformed, and took off in the direction the Wrecker had gone.
A while later, Soundwave had returned to the Nemesis, bringing his relic with him, impressing Megatron.
"Ahhh.... The Resonance Blaster." The Warlord said, recognizing the device. "Crafted by Decepticon Scientists for maximum sonic devastation. Soundwave, you have performed admirably." He then turned around to face the mechs in the room with him. "Unlike Dreadwing and Cyclonus here, who somehow managed to lose the Apex Amor to Michael's counterpart!"
The two seekers only looked down in shamed silence.
"However," The Warlord went on. "two more decrypted coordinates remain in play, and I have every confidence that Barricade and I..." He trailed off as the aforementioned mech came into view, severely damaged from his subway experience.
"Master..." He greeted solemnly.
"Did you retrieve the relic?" Megatron asked as he walked up to him
"No, my liege..." Barricade said, glancing away.
"I suggest for you convince me of your continued usefulness by examining Laserbeak with Thundercracker before you are repaired."
"Yes, Lord Megatron." The CPO said, and the three headed for the Medbay.
Back at the relic's location, Ratchet and Knockout found Wheeljack on the ground.
"Wheeljack!" Ratchet cried in concern, and the two medics transformed, running over to him. Ratchet knelt down and lifted him up slightly, causing the Wrecker to stir.
"Ugh... Just resting my optics... Ugh... and my audio receptors..." He groaned.
Ratchet and Knockout looked at each other, frowning.
What exactly was the relic Soundwave found?
Eventually, Wheeljack was able to recover, and the trio headed back to where the Jackhammer was.
In the Nemesis's Medbay, Thundercracker was scanning Laserbeak when something came up on the scanner.
"What is it?" Megatron asked.
"An obstruction of some sort." Thundercracker diagnosed.
Sounwave got up, deployed Laserbeak, and the section in her middle opened, revealing the grenade, which was now blinking. Skywarp, who was in the room, looked at it and immediately started panicking.
"GRENADE!" He cried out in fright, and ran to the side of the room, throwing himself to the floor and covering his helm, shuddering, while Thundercracker only sighed.
"Ahhh.... That is clever." Megatron then turned to Skywarp. "Skywarp, prepare to properly dispose of the obstruction."
Skywarp hesitantly got up and took the grenade, which Barricade had removed from the drone, and ran out of the room with it, trying to keep it from blowing up in his faceplate, as Soundwave placed Laserbeak back onto his chassis.
"Soundwave," Megatron addressed. "If we are to maintain any advantage over the Autobots," He paused, and waited, an explosion ringing out seconds later, then he continued. "Decoding the remainder of the Iacon Database, must remain your top priority."
The silent mech nodded.
-----
Back at the forest, Ratchet, Knockout, and Wheeljack arrived back at to where the Jackhammer had been left, as Ratchet activated his comm.
"Rafael, send the Groundbridge." He ordered, as the three mechs transformed. The Autobot medic then turned to Wheeljack, as he walked over to his ship. "I still advise that you return to base. You require a thorough examination."
"The only thing I require is some hole sealant." Wheeljack replied. "Trust me, the Jackhammer here is in more need of repair than me."
Knock and Ratchet looked at each other.
"His call, I guess." Knockout said, and Ratchet sighed, then they looked back at the Wrecker.
"Listen, Wheeljack, I want to... thank you for your... backup." Ratchet said.
"Yep." The white mech said simply, as he tore off a panel and set about working to repair his ship. Ratchet and Knockout looked over as the Groundbridge opened, and the two medics walked towards it, just as Wheeljack spoke up again.
"See you around, Ratchet and Knockout."
The two medics slightly smiled, a new-found mutual respect falling amongst the three.
The two medics entered the bridge, wondering if their plan to hack the Iacon Database had worked.
They would soon come to find that it did, much to their excitement.
But that excitement and success would be overshadowed by a devastating blow...
~~~
A/N: Triage is now done. This one was kinda hard to write, with trying to fit Knockout into the mix, but I did what I could. I bet the next one will be harder since Bulkhead is with Breakdown this time around instead of going by himself, but eh. What do you guys think of the chapter? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you for 10K reads!
Next Chapter: Bulkhead and Breakdown struggle to work together when searching for the final relic, but things take a turn when Hardshell and his Insecticons get in the way, and things get worse when the two large mechs discover exactly what the relic they found is.