I managed to stabilize the patient before he went into shock and quickly started pumping some low-grade energon through his system. He was too weak for the normal stuff, which had the possibility of being rejected by the body and thus initiating a total system-wide shutdown. Now that he was squared away, it was time to find that slag-headed medic.

I asked around, but nobody seemed to know where he had run off to. Someone said they thought they saw him heading down the east wing, so I decided to try my luck there first.

The halls were eerily quiet. It was a slow day, so that was to be expected, but something about it didn't sit well with me. Maybe I had spent too much time on the front lines. Experiences like that tend to heighten your senses to the point where you can almost hear your spark pulsing. I didn't need to listen for the cough of a weapon or the tick of a well-hidden explosive in here, but it had saved my life more times than I could count and I wasn't about to change my habits now.

The east wing was mainly comprised of laboratories and testing centers along with a few exam rooms that contained specialized equipment. Doors were always locked and could only be opened by a key card possessed by the higher ranking medics, including myself. From what I knew, the medic I was after didn't have a key card. He'd been one of the newer arrivals. So what was he doing down here?

So far, every door I checked was secure and hadn't been opened in quite some time, which made sense because we hardly had any need for these rooms when we were dealing with patients exclusively from the battlefield. I was beginning to think that someone had purposely misled me, and that's when I saw it. Something, or rather someone, had darted across the hall and I managed to spot him before he disappeared into another room.

"Hey!" I called out, breaking into a sprint in order to catch up to him.

Upon reaching the room I saw him duck into, I encountered something... strange. He was right there in front of me, dead, with his body seemingly posed as if he were waiting for a patient to arrive for an examination. And as if that wasn't unsettling enough, both his hands and his optics were missing.

I had barely taken the time to examine his body when an unnerving sensation ghosted my sensors, like someone had brushed their fingers across the back of my neck. But when I spun around to confront them, there was no one. It was at this point that I wished I hadn't left my blaster in my quarters. I couldn't remember if this exam room had scalpels or not.

"Aren't you going to tell your colleagues about your little... discovery, Ratchet?" A voice hissed in my audio receptor. Yet again, I turned to find no one.

"That depends." I responded gruffly as I tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Someone was in the room with me, but where? "Why don't you tell me what you're doing here?"

The mystery mech laughed at me. "That would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?" His voice seemed to come from all corners of the room. "I'm not finished playing with you yet, Ratchet. You're much more fun than the others."

Others? He must mean the other medics.

"Watching you play detective has been... entertaining, to say the least, but I've grown weary of your failure to uncover the truth. A mech of your talent should've figured it out by now."

While he was talking, I had inched over to the counter and began rummaging through the drawers for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I've been rather busy..." I muttered, moving on to another drawer. There had to be something I could use. Anything! Finally, I managed to find something that resembled a scalpel and gripped it in my hand.

"Then perhaps I should relieve you of duty."

I reacted too late and ended up sprawled across the floor without even knowing what happened. As I scrambled to my pedes, I swore I saw the wall start to move, only to realize that I wasn't looking at a wall. I was looking at a person.

Slag...

I quickly backpedaled as the mech lunged at me, swiping at him with the scalpel. To my dismay, it harmlessly glanced off of his chest armor. I'd have to do better than that. Ducking under a punch, I slid my hands under a cart of supplies and flipped it into him to buy myself some time. Just as I reached the door, I was grabbed from behind and thrown onto the exam table, now staring at an exact replica of the medic I'd just seen the body of.

"You were so close, yet so far." The mech seethed venomously. It felt unnatural to hear his voice coming from someone I used to work with. "How long must you make me wait?!"

My optics widened upon watching his hand shift into a medical torch. I fought against his advances as he pressed the torch closer and closer, so close that I could feel the heat of the flame against my faceplate. Confusion swirled around in my processor. If he wasn't a Decepticon and he wasn't an Autobot, then what was he? And why did he want to kill me so badly?

"S-Stop!" I struggled to speak, pulling my head as far back as I could to escape the flame. "You don't have to do this!"

The mech only growled, his disguise faltering for a moment as he let his emotions get the best of him. He shoved the torch down, nearly missing my optic. I let out a cry of agony as the circuitry in my face started to melt and burn from the heat.

After ten agonizing seconds, I managed to thrust my arm forwards, plunging the scalpel into the mech's neck. Energon immediately spurted from the wound and he choked, more of the blue substance beginning to bubble through his lips. I pushed it deeper and twisted, wanting him to die quickly. Finally, he jerked once with a gurgle, his limp body now slumped across mine. His alternate disguise of the other medic dissipated, leaving his true appearance behind. I laid there for a moment, reeling in pain and shock while covered in energon, before I shoved his body off of me.

Words could not describe how I was feeling in that moment. I could only think of one thing:

What the frag was going on?

•••

I LIIIIIIIVE!

Yes, I know it's been a very long time since I've updated this book. I apologize for the wait, but you guys know I have no update schedule 😂

I hope you enjoyed it!