Artificial

Walking into the base, not a sound could be heard, which was unusual, since it was usually rowdy with boisterous voices echoing throughout the corridors. Diana walked up the stairs of the platform. The Decepticons weren't stirring up trouble, and there was no commotion anywhere on Earth, so the kids must be off having fun.

Walking up further, Diana saw Ratchet's mighty frame leaning against the lab table. From the looks of it, he was fast asleep. She may have come in at a bad time. Out of all the Bots, Ratchet was the fussiest of them all, so disturbing him wouldn't be a wise choice. She looked at what was on the table. In a gigantic container was some sort of green substance, glowing in the dark. A mild chill went through her spine. The stuff from horror movies and sci-fi shows was right in front of her.

All of a sudden, she felt herself in midair. Her lungs screamed out a Tarzan as she tumbled to the floor. Her brow knit, feeling the force of the floor against her joints. That was gonna leave a mark… Footsteps thundered throughout the base. Her screams must have woken Ratchet. The titanic doctor was now fully awake. Once he gained full consciousness again, he turned to look at her.

"Oh, Diana… It's you," mumbled the doctor. "How did you get to base? I didn't use the Ground Bridge…"

"I'm in town for my grandfather's birthday with the rest of my immediate family," smiled Diana, dusting herself off as she got up. "Bumblebee and Raf dropped me off, so I thought I'd say hi."

Ratchet nodded, sleep still in his eyes. He looked away to the other side. "Yes, yes, yes… I'm glad you came by to see us."

There was the same green substance on his arm as he turned away to the monitor. Diana's brow wrinkled.

"Ratchet… That stuff on your arm and on the table," she began. "What is it?"

Ratchet looked at his arms, optics widening. "This? Oh, it's nothing. It's just one of my experiments that didn't work out…"

From the look on his… skin if that's what the Bots called it, it looked cracked up. Upon closer inspection, Diana saw that Ratchet's optics didn't have that cyan blue tint, but rather a sickly sea green. He was hiding something.

"Is this some sort of robotic cold? You don't look well."

"I'm fine, Diana, I just-"

"Raf told me everything." Diana's voiced firmed.

The atmosphere suddenly got tense. Ratchet cringed, eyes looking down to the floor.

"He told me you made artificial energon, Synth-En, and you used it on yourself, and you just about hurt one of the others and almost injured yourself in the process."

He slowly went from might doctor to an ashamed child, second by second. She could tell he was embarrassed by this.

"Tell me. Is it true that you almost hurt one of your friends and almost got yourself killed?"

He tried with all his strength to look into her eyes.

"Yes…" he said faintly. "Yes, I did. Energon is in such short supply on your planet, the Decepticons were running us out; just fighting for it if they got to it first cost Energon, too. I thought… making it in the lab would help us out, save us the time and trouble, and maybe… we could win this war once and for all, but…"

He touched his damaged abdomen.

"It didn't."

He looked up towards her again. "We've been fighting this war for so long… longer than before when your planet was even born. I thought I could do something to help my kind, bring back Cybertron, but then… who needs a rusty old doctor like me… We'll never get to see home."

Her heart felt heavy as Ratchet's eyes closed, turning away from her as his head sunk. She shouldn't have snapped at him before. Perhaps she was a little harsh. Ratchet could get opinionated and disagreeable, but at the end of the day, his intentions were always true. He could get unpleasant, but his heart was always in the right place.

He was homesick. She couldn't imagine how long a Cybertronian life span could last for, but to be away from home that long… it could make anyone depressed. She climbed down the stairs of the platform, placing her hand on the doctor's foot.

"You just… want to go back home," she began. "When my family was moving to Portland, I was sad at first for leaving behind my grandparents, the rest of my relatives, Raf and my friends. Everyone would be moving on without me in Jasper and things did change. It was sad, but… if you keep something really dear and close to your heart, it will always have a way of coming back to you."

Their eyes met as her neck craned to look at the robotic giant. "I sincerely hope that you'll bring back Cybertron, Ratchet. In your case… I really hope it comes true."

A smile slowly began to draw on his face.

"And you maybe rusty and old," she continued. "But you definitely aren't useless."

They both chuckled, but Ratchet continued to laugh. A hand reached down for her, and soon, she was in the palm of his hand. The smile on his face made his optics shine that much brighter. They started to shift back to their cyan tinge.

"You know, for a human…" began Ratchet. "You are quite incredible, Diana."

Her cheeks just about turned into two tomatoes. A compliment, from an extra-terrestrial robotic alien… She never thought that would happen in her life time.

"And you are, too…" she began softly. "Perhaps your kind are the only aliens I'll ever meet, but you defiantly are amazing."

He brought his hand closer to his face. Soon she felt her arms around him.

"Thank you…"

There were many great medical teachers back at the University of Oregon, but for Diana, Ratchet will always be the greatest mentor.

Note*~

Now I know the Synth-En episode aired ages ago, but... here's the story!

Time's been busy, though hopefully, I'll keep Diana up and running... I have another idea with her and Arcee. She and Miko had some girl bonding, so why not have a girls' corner? :) TFP needs more girl power than one girl per group with the humans, Bots and Cons.