Verdant dropped her welder and stood up, leaving Wheeljack laying on the floor without another word. Bulkhead moved to help him stand up, but Wheeljack grumbled and did it himself, muttering something about looking bad in front of the stiffs.
Rolling her optics, Verdant turned away from them and watched as Ultra Magnus activated the docking platform and the two of them waited until the wreckers were ready before flipping the switch to lower it and stepping over.
The sight waiting outside wasn't unfamiliar.
There were three other bots with wide, relieved grins, and four humans who instantly engaged in hugging rituals. The wreckers, both human and cybertronian, went to meet up with their friends, exchanging laughter and jokes.
One of the bots walked up to Ultra Magnus and Verdant as they stepped off the platform. "I'm glad Ultra Magnus brought you back safely, Verdant."
"Uh," Verdant's optics flashed white momentarily and she took a picture of him before running it through her database. "Nice to see you, Ratchet."
Now all she needed to remember was how he recognized her and she didn't recognize him. Most bots didn't pay her much attention, considering she was always cozy and concealed in Ultra Magnus's shadow.
Ratchet nodded toward the building behind them. "If you'd follow me, I'll show you to the tech we borrowed from an abandoned Decepticon ship. Raf and I have been working on it, but Ultra Magnus tells me you're adept in this kind of work."
Oh, so that's how he knew her name. Verdant smiled and nodded to him politely. For a moment there, she thought–
"Of course," Ratchet glanced at her, "I know this all too well from when we were stationed together in Polyhex."
"Right, Polyhex," Verdant remembered Polyhex, just not this old bot. "Optimus Prime sent for all of his lieutenants to meet there and I accompanied Commander Magnus, along with some of his other advisors and soldiers."
Ratchet nodded. "I wasn't Chief Medical Officer yet, but even as a field medic, it's hard to forget watching a Steelbender so similar to Soundwave nearly overload an entire Decepticon armada's powergrid from miles away. You really are impressive."
Gee, thanks, Verdant winced. That incident had earned her a lot of praise, but she had done it entirely on accident. It didn't make her feel any better that she immediately went into stasis lock either, right in the middle of the intelligence room.
Oh, and it certainly annoyed her when he mentioned Soundwave. Verdant felt like practically ever other time she met someone, they compared her to Soundwave.
Ratchet stopped in front of a pile of hastily stacked electrical equipment.
Verdant hid a grin. This looked like a ton of work, and it was going to be a wonderful change from flying around space in boredom. She was going to enjoy this.
"I can handle this just fine," Verdant assured him.
Ratchet shook his helm. "No, Wheeljack and I can cover assembling the junk—"
Junk!? Verdant wanted to backhand him.
"—but we need you to hack in and sift through the Decepticon data and convert it so that it's compatible with Autobots."
"I see," Verdant let her small spike of anger fade away and be replaced with excitement. "That, that I can also do."
Ratchet sighed deeply. "Thank Primus. I've had to do this kind of thing almost entirely by myself, and I'm not trained to be anything more than a medic."
"I'm sure you did a excellent job, given the circumstances," Verdant told him.
"Eh," Ratchet shrugged. "You should meet Raf. He's a human kid, and he's smart. Helps me out all the time."
YOU ARE READING
Going Green
Fanfiction"I'm not Soundwave." Ever since the destruction of her home, Verdant had spent her life as a loyal Autobot soldier. She was Ultra Magnus's third in command, and the most renowned intelligence officer in the Autobots. She was of the same frame-ty...
