Someone Who Cares

Chapter Five

The bandaging had been pulled aside to reveal Leader's arm. The teen was still unconscious, a good thing for all parties included. Ratchet still couldn't believe his optics at the sight. His servo gently brushed along the appendage, and he knew that this was a bad sign. Leader's arm was no longer organic. It instead was red and blue, sturdy but light metal plating, and at the end of the limb was a delicate servo that was slightly closed. The metal had stopped past her elbow for now, but was still destroying organic matter to replace with Cybertronian.

"All functions are normal, but it is one hundred percent Cybertronian." Ratchet muttered softly as he sighed. He scanned the arm again, watching as a metal finger twitched. "The bad news is that upon reaching inside of your engine, Ultra Magnus, she got repair nanites on her skin. This is harmless, and usually the nanites will die off rather quickly, as they have nothing to sustain them. When she burned herself though, it opened the skin. This too, is not too much of a problem, there may be some healing, but not at the rate that Leader had experienced."

The medic turned and picked up a data pad, a precious rarity since having come to Earth. He handed it gingerly to Optimus, who looked over the CNA testing Ratchet had done. "I couldn't figure out why it would heal her the way it did, and then change the arm to a Cybertronian matter. I finally did a CNA test, and look at the results. Now, this is another sample of CNA." He tapped the tablet, bringing up two sets of CNA, which were identical.

"Whose CNA is that?" Ultra Magnus asked, having an uneasy feeling at the possible answer.

Ratchet faced him, his faceplate utterly serious. "It's yours." Ratchet felt some guilt as the mech's optics widened and he took a step back.

Optimus looked up sharply. "Ratchet, this is serious. We cannot have a human with a Cybertronian arm. It will cause far greater damage than good, if any at all. Is there any way to reverse it?"

Ratchet shook his helm. "I'm afraid not. If we do not stop these nanites, they will reform her entirely. The current rate is two Earth weeks for an appendage such as her arm and hand." All sat there in silence, contemplating different thoughts as they stared down at the girl. "Perhaps I will be able to reprogram the nanites to instead take care of the current Cybertronian matter already in place. It may take another week to reprogram them with our more primitive equipment." Optimus nodded, then set down the data pad before leaving to contact Agent Fowler.

Ultra Magnus stared at the girl, his processor whirling. Ratchet noticed, leaving them alone for the time being. A monitor beeped softly, signaling that the sedative had worn off and the patient was coming to. The red and blue mech was too lost in his own thoughts to notice.

--

I groaned softly, groggily coming to. My eyes fluttered open and looked around, but couldn't see anything due to the bright lights overhead. I shifted and blinked again, my arm feeling weird. Almost as if it no longer was warm. That couldn't be right though, since it was burned, creating even more heat. I shook my head, and looked straight up. Staring down at me was a giant red and blue robot. It blinked, and then spoke, voice deep yet holding concern. "Scrap."