Pint Sized Accidents

by J.M.Spellbound

WOWL verse: What happens when you mix Wheeljack, Jynx, Nook, and broken warp guns? In short, Jynx got a balloon's eye view of New Iacon, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker panicked, Jazz tried to kill Jacky, Prowl glitched, and Nook wouldn't stop laughing. Oh, did I mention that Jynx ended up about three foot tall too? All this because Nook got bored. Moral: Never let Nook get bored.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just the plot and OCs.

Okay, I'm going to start with this. If you haven't read What Once Was Lost then this silly bunch of fun isn't going to make a lick of sense to you. However, if you want to try and figure it out anyway, be by guest! I love new readers.

Alright, anyway, so this started out as what was supposed to be a shorts challenge prompt on the blog, but it somehow decided to grow legs and run away from me until it was over twenty thousand words long. So it has become my first ever one-shot. In which we will all learn that I apparently cannot write anything short to save my freaking life.

It is 100% ridiculousness that both ties into the main story line and at the same time is too freaky silly to ever work in an actual plot line. So yeah, it became its own thing. I had a lot of fun with it even if it is complete silliness and I hope you guys like it too. After the stressful chapters I've put you through since coming back from Hiatus I felt like you all deserved something that is just me attempting to make you laugh.

Anyway, this was a prompt that was given to me by an anon for the challenge on the blog: Jynx, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Nook, Jazz, Prowl, Wheeljack. #180. Make up your own. (Jacky shrinks Jynx to the size of a sparkling.)

Honestly, this amused me to no end and was very helpful these last few weeks as my classes have attempted to kill me in my sleep. Thank you, anon, seriously. I hope you like the monstrosity of stupid you managed to coax out of me.

---

Lets make one thing abundantly clear, okay?

This was not what was suppose to happen.

Not that anybot around here stopped long enough to ask Wheeljack if he had meant for the gun to go off in something other than a poof and a shot across the room. Why the slag would he make a sparkorn toy that shrunk full grown bots to the size of sparklings!?

He would very much like somebot to tell him why they thought he would do this?

Really he would!

He was a bit wacky, yes he would admit it. Sometimes he did not plan things out all that well. Every now and again something he made turned out . . . well less great. Yeah, it was true. However, he was not-no matter how much, Ratchet, Percy, and Soundwave said so-insane!

More so then anything else he wasn't crazy enough to do something quite this stupid when every single mech around here that was slightly too invested in the bright white femme were around to see it.

Come on, yes it was true he blew himself up a tad much, but that didn't mean he actively had a death wish.

Okay, okay, maybe he should back track a little bit. See, there is more to this then just what he was currently doing. You know, running for his life down a glittered filled hallway with an angry silver ex-assassin chasing him. Much more actually. It all started out completely harmless.

He swears!

It wasn't like he wanted to end up with a grown femme the size of a sparkling stuck on a balloon floating halfway across the city!

See, it actually all started out like this.

---

"I don't get it." Sitting cross legged in what had become 'her' comfy reading chair in the corner of Nook's room she lifted an optic ridge over at the brightly colored mech currently drying himself off with a large fluffy purple towel in the doorway to his washracks.

Jynx still wasn't all that sure why Skywarp seemed to think Nook needed large fluffy towels of every color possible, but hey, the big mech wasn't hurting anything. Might as well roll with it.

"And what isn't there to get?" Those bright, two-tone green and gold optics gleamed as Nook swayed his way through the washrack doors towel hanging around his neck. He still gleamed from the steaming hot shower he'd spent the better part of a bream in this morning. If there was one thing about New Iacon that the mech was adjusting to the best Jynx had to say it was the free hot showers. "Seems pretty straightforward to me."

"You do hear yourself, right?" Smirk curling her lips she allowed the small datapad she'd been reading to fall to her lap. She hadn't been that interested in it anyway. It was more something to do to pass the time than anything else. Everybot else was busy and Nook seemed like he could use the company this morning so while the twins went on patrol she sashayed her little self down to Nook's room to see what he was up too.

She had promptly been hit in the faceplate with a pillow and told it was two slaggin' early to be bothering him. She then of course proceed to poke him rapidity in the ribs until she'd found herself tackled to the floor in the middle of a tickling fight for seventeen laughter filled klicks before she'd gotten her aft handed to her. She'd still been giggling though as the doorwinged mech dropped her on her aft in her chair and told her to stay put while he showered.

So there she had stayed. Plucking up one of the books he'd borrowed from Bluestreak that he had laying around to flick through while he scrubbed himself to gleaming.

"I'm the one speaking, I'd hope I can hear it." The snicker got a chair pillow tossed at his helm. She deemed that equal payback for the one he'd tossed at her when she had poked him. However, an easy dodge to the left and a whip of that brightly colored towel meant the pillow hit the wall instead of his smug faceplate.

Jynx stuck her tongue out at him. Even if her glittering silver optics were gleaming behind the curve of her visor.

That earned her another snicker in that rolling, smooth, musical tone of his before the bright mech plopped himself down on the small ped-rest sitting before the chair. Sprawling himself out in a lazy lean of finally crafted frame he crossed his legs at his knees, laid back on his palms with bent elbows. Helm thrown to the side in some kind of charming lazy grin Jynx found herself staring into that handsome silver faceplate and unique optics with a growing sense of apprehension.

Because of all the bots in this world there were none left alive that knew the green and gold colored Praxian like she did. No other knew the way he worked. All the hidden meanings and guarded secrets. Because of this, if she had been somebot other than herself she probably never would have noticed.

She wasn't somebot else though, and she knew that look in those two tone optics for what it was.

Boredom.

Little known fact about the universe; Nook handled boredom worse than she did.

Knowing this, Jynx found herself straightening up in her cross legged perch. Tall sensors atop her helm lifting from their grooves to let the complicated network of delicate wiring and cabling loose. The extra input to her senses allowed her to take in every one of even the slightest details. Everything from the color of the light bouncing of Nook's green shoulders to the sound his doorwings made when the shifted the slightest bit on his back.

It wasn't really that she needed the extra input, but it was reflex for her at this point that when she felt safe enough to do so she'd allow the sensor lose to help her as they were meant to.

There was no safer place then Nook to her. Even when he looked like he was looking for trouble. Not to mention said things like this.

"You want to go play in Wheeljack's lab?" Maybe if she said it back to him he'd hear how ridiculous he sounded. Because really? Wheeljack's lab?

He'd only just been given back the stupid thing.

She hadn't even lived here that long and even she knew the mech had a bit of a track record. On top of all that though, Nook knew it too. Mech was too smart and paid too much attention for his own good.

The little white femme knew there was no way he had missed the tiny little detail that everybot around here seemed to think the mech was a walking scientific disaster with blinky helm fins.

After some of the stuff Jynx had seen the mech try since she'd lived here, she was inclined to believe them.

"That is what I said." Nook replied, that smile curling a bit further up his lips.

"Why?"

"We've both got nothing better to do." He shrugged. "Besides, why not?"

"How about painful and fiery death? Does that sound like a good enough reason?"

He actually snickered—again—at that.

"From what I understand it's the mech himself that has the track record of 'series of improbable disasters' following him around on a leash, right?"

"Yeah." She nodded, kind of confused.

"Then, avoid the mech. No bot said his lab was the cause of all of it."

Huh.

That . . . probably didn't have any merit to be honest . . . .

"You'll probably get to play with explosives.

Her optics gleamed.

Sold.

---

Plan Find-something-for-Nook-to-do-before-he-started-doing-something-crazy-like-talking-to-bots-he-was-avoiding, involved two parts.

Part one: Get into Wheeljack's lab while he wasn't around.

Part two: Find something to do in said lab.

It waseasier said than done. Jynx was nothing if not inventive though, and Nook, well that mech was just too smart for his own damn good. Hence current plan of action.

Which involved Jynx peaking her helm around the corner of one of the sublevel halls looking down toward the rather ominously glaring neon door at the end. She'd never had the slightest idea why Wheeljack's door was such an awful shade of paint when the rest of the compound was rather tasteful. Then again though, this was Wheeljack and no bot really ever understood a thing he did.

"You do realize, Jacky's lab is considered armed and dangerous for a reason, right?"

Throwing a glance over her shoulder she lifted an optic ridge at Nook which earned her a peck on cheek that had her blushing with a giggle before turning back to look down the hall while the mech murmured.

"This isn't my fine Fancy backing away from a challenge, now is it?" He teased.

"I'm not the one bored to the point of making trouble mech." She snarked back, optics set on the door while she plotted.

"Ah come on, femme, shaking the boat is fun. You know I'm right."

"You know I wouldn't be down here with you if I wasn't game."

"This is true."

"I'm just pointing out that sooner or later this is going to come back and bite us in the afts."

"At least we'll be having fun while doing it."

"Until we end up in a billion pieces, sure. Or magnetized to each other. Or in switched frames. Or—"

"Hold up a klick." Wrapping his clawed hand lightly around her elbow he pulled her back enough to stare with widened optics down at her. "Switched frames? What the frag!?"

"Ask Bee."

"You're joking right?" The elegant doorwings high on his back twitched a bit downward with his thoughts. "Please tell me you're joking."

She shrugged. "No idea,"

When she went back to peaking around the wall she felt through his field more then she heard him mutter. "I'm gonna hope you are joking."

"You're the one that thinks sneaking into Wheeljack's lab is a good idea. Not me."

"Not like you don't want to play with things ya shouldn't."

"I never said that, what I'm saying is you don't. Which you know."

"Watch it, Jynx." Nook glanced down at her through those bright optics of his with a telling gleam she knew all too well. Jynx wasn't worried though.

She'd faced far worse than him when she was right. So instead of raising to that bait she simply lifted an optic ridge at him before looking back to the task at hand. The problem was there was no real way to know whether or not Wheeljack was in there without going in to find out.

That was something not even Nook's clever mind could work around without sneaking their way into the camera stations of the Compound. She couldn't see that working out very well when Red Alert or Soundwave caught them at it.

Red was still steaming about the silly string and streamers, after all.

She was pretty sure she might never live that one down. Or get out of the security directors 'not allowed to plan anything ever again' box.

It had so been worth it though.

Jynx swallowed back a laugh at that thought so that she could focus on the task at hand. The next thing that was probably going to get her in a lot of trouble. "Come on, only one way to find out."

Nook trailed after her as they slipped down the hall. A glance in each direction was split between the both of them, though at this point anybot who might catch them down here was more likely to join in then ask what they were up too. Silver optics set on the neon orange door Jynx lifted a hand knocking her knuckles against it lightly.

Silence.

Sensors fluttering in their grooves she tilted her helm back to watch Nook shrug. After a klick he lifted a hand to tap the door control on the panel blinking softly on the side. The following swish of metal slipping away was louder then Jynx remembered it being but Red Alert didn't come screaming down the hall at them for breaking agreed upon codes of conduct yet, so she was gonna call it good.

Sometimes she wondered if maybe she feared that glitchy red mech a little too much? He amused her sure, when he wasn't freaking out to the point he was smoking while running around in circles flailing his arms, but she was also honest to Primus terrified of his stink-optic.

Seriously.

Mech was worse than Ratchet when he glared.

However, lately she'd been good enough that he had been looking the other way when she trailed after Bumblebee or Skywarp somewhere. She figured she could live with it whichever way it was.

Leaning forward she poked her helm over the door line leaving the safety of space-that-doesn't-have-constant-contact-with-Wheeljack into the realm of the unknown. When no blaring alarms, misplaced rocket launchers, corrosive acid, resurrected scraplets—and yes that had happened—or hidden bombs triggered with that action she dared step fully inside.

Nothing life altering came with that either.

Huh.

On a roll here.

Then Nook's warm palm smacked her lightly in the middle of her back knocking her forward in a stumble of tripping limbs that she would deny to the end of her vorns, and she found herself standing in the relative middle of a very clustered, scattered . . . well disaster zone to be honest.

She wasn't all that sure where to look first.

She was pretty sure there were tables and counters to be found somewhere under the heaps of parts, wires, cables, slabs of stuff she wasn't sure she wanted to know what were, boxes, crates, various weapons and what seemed to be empty bomb shells, and so much more she couldn't even begin to name piled on every available surface.

Then were was the actual scientific looking contraptions and tools she couldn't even begin to make since of scattered around as well. Beakers, test tubes, microscopes, you name it Wheeljack had it—wait was that an incubator?

Sensors lifted from their grooves she titled her helm to the side in curiosity before walking over to the big glass box looking thing under one of his air vents leading to the surface.

See, the Prime might have stuffed Wheeljack and his playing with bombs in the basement for the safety of all parties involved but labs apparently required lots of ventilation on occasion. Especially when stuff blew up in them on a regular basis.

So while Wheeljack might not actually own any windows he did have several huge ventilation ducts and vents pipped through his ceiling. Directly under one was where Jynx now found herself peaking over the edge of the glass lid of what appeared to be an incubator.

There was a warm orange light glowing on the inside of it and what seemed to be three bright purple eggs bigger than her forearm tucked away on the inside.

"What on Cybertron is he growing now?" Muttering quietly to herself she heard Nook walk up behind her. Leaning over her shoulder to look down at the eggs as well he cocked his helm to the side.

"What are they?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Lots of things on Cybertron lay eggs."

"Like my Insecticon eggs?"

Jumping three feet in the air, swirling around, and letting a sparkling like squeak of fright is also something Jynx will deny to the end of her vorns. She will, however, mock Nook for doing the same.

The two of them ended up in a tangle of limbs clinging to each other five feet away from the incubator box, optics round, and denials on their tongues before they both froze up. Finding themselves staring back at a happily grinning inventor painted in base white and then stripes of red and green, with impossibly blue optics, and blinky helm fins they stood their clinging together for a few nanos too long.

With another clatter, and quite a bit of poking and shoving they snapped apart again, easing away from the box a bit more as Jynx turned to glare at Nook while he pulled up a show worthy grin.

"Wheeljack, mech, how are you?"

"Fine, Nook." The inventor nodded, still smiling brightly as ever as he walked toward them. Leaning over the incubator box himself with a satisfied sigh. "Fascinating, aren't they?"

"Umm, yeah." Jynx nodded, not quite sure what else to do at the moment.

The inventor looked up, blinked for a moment at her blank faceplate, and lifted an optic ridge with a small smirk. "You've no idea what that is do you?"

"Not a clue."

Nook snickered behind her.

She smacked backward at him with a palm and ended up getting a finger bit for her trouble. Jumping away with another yelp she swirled to glare at him while Jacky chuckled at them. Straightening from his crouch over the box he turned to face them fully. Smile still in place as he leaned against it.

"What brings you two down here anyway? Most bots tend to avoid my messes, you know."

They paused again, for a half klick before Nook smirked. "Honestly, we were hoping you would be out so we could play with stuff we shouldn't."

Jynx smacked her palm into her forehelm.

That turned out to be more effective then attempting to smack Nook had been. At least in terms of getting him to shut up long enough to look at her before it didn't work anymore.

Well, worth a shot.

It earned her another snicker while Wheeljack started cackling at the green and gold Praxian's blunt truth.

"Oh really?" He snorted out through a laugh, helm fins blinking a rapid happy blue.

Parting her fingers enough to see through the hand still smacked to her face Jynx sighed. "He's bored."

Wheeljack sobered a little at that before offering them up a warm grin. "Well, we can't have that now can we? Come on, we'll see if we can find the two of you something to do."

"Will it involve explosives?" She perked up.

"Oh yes," A wiggle of optic ridges and those helm fins flashed a somehow mischief filled yellow.

Nook and Jynx shared a grin before hurrying off after him through the long expanse of his lab.

---

"You're making a what now?" Blinking down at the cluster of metal, tube, wires, what seemed to be black powder of some kind, a tube of plasma, and what she was pretty sure was nothing but pink glitter.

"Fireworks." Wheeljack grinned.

"Fireworks?" Jynx repeated.

"Fireworks!" The tri colored inventor was all but bouncing on his peds where he had led the two of them to one of the far corners of his lab to look down at an assortment of . . . things. Honestly, Jynx was still a little caught up on the glitter.

"Fireworks." Nook drawled with a slight shake of his helm, but amusement dancing in his optics all the same. Leaning forward over the table to pluck up what looked to be some kind of glowing paint mixture.

Jynx kinda wanted to tell him to put it down.

"Well," The brightly colored Praxian tilted his helm just enough to smile down at her. "You did want to play with explosives."

Wheeljack giggled like a sparkling on her left.

She glanced back at him with a lifted optic ridge. "Who gave you permission to make fireworks?"

Don't get her wrong, she wanted to play with the glitter filled stuff. However, she remembered quite well all the slag Wheeljack had gotten himself into when he decided last week the stairways needed escalators. She was pretty sure Hoist and Breakdown would still be picking bits of Ironhide out of the damn things had it not been for Bee's quick thinking with the reverse switch.

The stupid things had had a reverse switch, like seriously how did Wheeljack come up with these things?

Better yet, who's bright idea was it to give the mech the ability and tools to use them?

"Me." He grinned down at her, helm fins blinking that mischievous yellow only for them to flash pale green for quick nano as he tagged on. "Just don't tell Prowl."

"No worries there, mech." Nook huffed, still twisting the can around in his hands. "Defeats the purpose of looking for trouble."

Yeah, that was the only reason why he wouldn't tell Prowl.

Jynx rolled her optics at him, reaching out to poke the thing of glitter. It was kind of pretty. A mix of shiny paint and what she was pretty sure was just enhanced nanites. She had no idea how the slag that was supposed to mix well with the giant create of TNT and black powder sitting next to it, but well, that was why Wheeljack was the wacky brilliant mech and she wasn't.

"So . . . what are you gonna do with it?" She finally ventured. They were already down here after all, why the pit not?

"Think, giant glittery flash bomb in the sky!" That grin was boarding on manic as the taller bot stood there nearly bouncing on his toes as he stared down at them.

Giant glittery flash bomb in the sky, huh?

Okay, she was in.

That, might have been mistake number one. If you don't count agreeing to come down here in the first place, then not running for their lives when it turned out the inventor was actually home.

---

Two breams later found Jynx sitting cross legged on Wheeljack's work table—mistake number two—surrounded by screwdrivers, pliers, a magnifying glass, six boxes half as big as she was full of explosives, and fourteen cube size tubes of glitter paint. Said glitter paint came in various shades ranging from purple to gold and everything in between. She was currently elbow deep in a tube of shiny blue she was not so carefully scooping cubs of then lifting to pour into the long missile looking thing leaned on the table in front of her. The long, thin tube of metal with the top currently popped off was tall enough that it rested on the ground and was still able to stand a few feet taller than the table she was perched on.

It was currently resting between Nook's legs as he propped himself there in front of her scooping glitter paint just like she was—his choice was purple—and dumping it down into the long thing.

Six long fireworks lay completed on the table over to the side where Wheeljack had been measuring out explosives substances that she wanted to play with but had settled with the glitter for now. If for no other reason than Wheeljack was a very bad teacher.

He'd spent the better part of thirty klicks trying to explain to Jynx and Nook the proper ratios of explosive substances she didn't even know what were, and when it turned out that Wheeljack couldn't figure out how to dumb down his explanations for two bots that weren't scientific geniuses they instead settled for playing with the paint until Jacky got past the part that would blow them all up if it was measured wrong.

That was mistake number three.

Somewhere in the middle of dumping glitter paint into fireworks—and flicking it at each other—they had become distracted from the thing they had come down here knowing; Wheeljack and explosive or strange substances normally didn't mix.

No matter how much he claimed something was completely harmless. Eight-three percent of the time the slagger was wrong.

Which was why Jynx should have been a whole lot more concerned when the tri colored mech over to the side suddenly perked up from what he was doing as an idea flashed though him, helm fins blinking a rapid yellow again.

"Oh! I just remembered something!"

In a shared movement that only vorns of knowing another could achieve Jynx and Nook snapped their gazes up to stare at the inventor.

"What?" Nook questioned.

Wheeljack just let out something that sound far too much like a gleeful giggle as he all but scurried back down the large lab to a collection of boxes over near the corner.

"I'm working on a new gun or sorts for Bluestreak. His sparkorn is coming up, you know."

"Yeah," Jynx nodded, setting down the tube of glitter in front of her while she tilted her helm. "Bee told me. He's planning a party. Nook and I are helping."

Not that Nook was all that happy about it.

Honestly, Jynx didn't really give a damn.

Wheeljack was elbow deep in various hunks of metal and such tossing things out of boxes this way and that before he finally came up with a large, silver gun. Twisting around to face them he scurried on back, that gleeful grin still on his face that Jynx couldn't help but snicker at.

"You want to see?" He chirped—actually chirped, like a sparkling, gah this mech was adorable, why was everybot so terrified of him again?—swaying back and forth on his peds while he lifted the large gun.

It was about the length of his arm. A deep silver color with more do-dads and gadgets attached to it then Jynx even knew where to start with. Helm tilting again she fluttered her sensors looking the thing over while Wheeljack held it out.

It had a long, narrow barrel with a good brace for the shoulder. In her limited knowledge of guns it looked quite a bit like a sniper rifle. If one hung a whole bunch of fluid filled tanks and binky lights all up and down the side of a sniper rifle.

To her it didn't really make all that much sense, but then again she wasn't the brilliant inventor here either.

It was only after several klicks of silence went by in which the inventor kept up his hopeful blinking and bright smile that Jynx realized she was supposed to be responding in some way.

"Oh!" Straightening up from her lean from her perch on the table she nodded at the tri colored mech, half smile in place. Problem was she had no worldly idea what the mech wanted her to say about it. "Its . . . very neat looking, Wheeljack."

"Yeah," Having shifted to lean against the table beside her Nook crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at the rifle. "Nice . . . gun."

The comments only made Jacky wilt though.

The sight of a full grown mech wilting like a youngling who got their favorite toy taken away should not have made Jynx's spark squeeze the way it did. She just couldn't help it though!

Wheeljack didn't pout like a full grown mech.

That is to say if one actually believed full grown mechs were capable of doing a thing like pouting. Frankly, Jynx was more than willing to say they did. She knew quite a few capable of it.

He actually wilted. Whole frame seeming to sag into itself as he ducked his helm, his lips pouted, his helm fins took up a sour looking pale orange color, and he scuffed his ped back and forth against the floor.

It was pitiful, Primus damn it!

Downright slaggin' pitiful!

How did he slaggin' do that!?

"You don't like it?" His voice cracked—cracked!—as he bent his helm low staring down at the rifle in his hands as if his very hopes and dreams had been ground into dust.

Oh, for the love of Primus.

She couldn't fraggin' take this!

"No I like it!" Lifting a hand, she waved at the odd looking contraption. Trying to appease the overgrown sparkling so he'd stop making that face. "I'm sure Blue will love it."

"Yeah, mech." Nook nodded, though there was amusement dancing around in his optics while he darted his gaze between her and the inventor. Jynx resisted the urge to smack his smug faceplate.

Yes, she knew she was actually a giant push over.

No, she did not need him to keep grinning like that and point it out.

"I just don't know a damn thing about guns, Wheeljack."

That perked the scientist back up. His helm fins flashing back to yellow as his attention snapped upright while he grinned at the slightly smaller mech. "You don't? Really? I figure there weren't many of us of the grown verity that didn't know something about guns after this long at war."

"Guns aren't really my style." Nook shrugged. "Never have been."

"Would you like me to show you this one? It really is quite fascinating. See, I got to thinking. It's Bluestreak after all, you know, mechling has every kind of gun known to the universe. Prowl has a bit of a problem, you see. What's the term . . . oh yes! Guilt giving is what Arcee calls it. Really, the mech is horrible about it. Don't know why he seems to think he needs to do it honestly. Blue will be the first one to tell you it isn't needed. Prowl doesn't any way though. Believe me, you should see Smokescreen's room. It's insane how many blades that mech has from Prowl. He loves them sure, but I don't think he or Blue really want Prowl to get them all this stuff."

Jynx stifled a chuckle at Wheeljack's rambling. Watching through the clear curve of her visor as he spoke comically with his hands. Waving this way and that, not seeming at all concerned with the fact that he had a giant rifle in his grip.

The bright white femme had been around Wheeljack enough times by now to know what he was like when he got on one of his explaining rolls. At first, she hadn't a clue what the twins meant when they told her how smart mechs got when they were trying to make others understand their nonsense. To her it hadn't made any sense.

How could somebot so smart have such a hard time making others understand what they were saying?

After spending so long with Nook she'd thought she'd had a pretty good understanding of mechs quite a deal smarter than she was.

Turns out, Sides and Sunny were right and she didn't have a damn clue what she was talking about.

That . . . or Wheeljack didn't.

The first time she'd sat through one his long-winded speeches that somehow was supposed to be an explanation of some sort all she'd heard was techno-babble. Stuff she figured would be understandable if she was anywhere near as scientifically brilliant as Wheeljack was. Trouble was, she wasn't and from that orn on out she had resigned herself to being amused by the inventor's over animated babble. Trying to pick up bits and pieces of his explanations where she could. She didn't put much more worry into it than that.

"Anyway," He went on, waving the rifle another direction, Jynx and Nook's optics tracking the movement. "What I was thinking was, what kind of rifle didn't Blue have. If he's got every other kind of gun known to the universe than that obviously means I needed to invent something. Right?"

Those helm fins flashed a happy blue as he looked over at them again. Not even waiting for a nod from either of them before he went back to his explaining. Explaining that lead to him twisting away, taking a few steps, pulling up a giant rolling chalkboard, yanking up a piece of chalk, and then proceeded to start scribbling.

Hasty squeaks of chalk played backdrop to his words while his unoccupied hand moved rapidly across the board. A design that looked a bit like the rifle to Jynx—if the rifle was split open into two halves and all the inner parts were quickly labeled with hardly legible glyphs—as she tilted her helm. Sensors fluttering in their grooves atop her helm while she listened.

"Right! So, this is what I was thinking! A mix between a plasma cannon and a shot blast with a really cool twist at the end! Amazing I know! So here is how it works! First I did—"

Leaning to the side as the inventor dissolved into more techno-babble she didn't understand Jynx kept her optics on him even when she felt Nook's field brush playfully against hers as he whispered.

"And what was all this paranoid hype you were preaching earlier? This mech is a walking disaster, and we should avoid his lab at all cost?" He chuckled softly.

"I'm not wrong." She shot back just as softly. "He is an accident-prone explosion magnet, but he is also adorably silly. Bumblebee's words not mine."

"You just called an Autobot adorable. You do realize that, right? Are we hearing the same thing?"

"No, I didn't. Bee did. And oh look now who is questioning who?" She giggled with a roll of her optics. "I never said he wasn't. I just said he was also something else."

"The glitchy fool is harmless." Nook shook his helm lightly, two tone optics more than a little amused as he stared. "Accident prone, but harmless."

"You won't be saying that when he blows you up." She huffed at him.

"If it means something to do, I'll take my chances."

"You know—"

"Don't start with me, femme." That whisper was a little harsher than the rest. Leaving Jynx to snap her mouth shut and turn her attention back to Wheeljack.

She was not angry, no. There was no reason to be angry, not with Nook. The mech was still adjusting.

After all, everybot knew how she had handled settling into life here in New Iacon in the beginning. It was a challenge for the bots like themselves in more ways than one. Nook was doing the best he could. If that meant he wanted to sneak down to explosive labs to test fate with how lucky Wheeljack was this orn then Jynx was game. He was only here because of her in the first place.

"You wanna go back to stuffing glitter in fireworks then?" She figured that was a safer direction to point this conversation. Wheeljack was still rambling on in front of them. Chalk squeaking as he rapidly moved his hand across the board creating more detailed and detailed pictures to went along with the explanation for the gun he was waving around while none of any of it made any sense.

The brightly colored two tone mech stood there for a klick longer under the glowing lights of the lab until finally he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. Turning back to the table to pluck up one of the contains filled with glitter. "Sure, why not."

With his back to the inventor now Nook tossed her the tube he picked up in favor of adjusting the long firework between them they were supposed to be cramming full of the stuff. Distracted by the task just as Jynx was with suddenly trying not to fumble the sloshing container of glitter all over her lap they both failed to notice what part of the explanation the inventor had reached.

In fact, only one piece of said explanation even really registered.

One that had Nook pausing halfway through dumping another container of mixed shiny stuff so that he could half turn to look back. "Wait a klick . . . did you just say mini warp tech?"

Jynx's helm snapped back up, optics widening behind her visor just in time for Wheeljack to spin back around and face them—gun still waving about—as he grinned.

"Yes!" Nodding rapidly, he went on. "Fascinating isn't it!? I still can't honestly believe it worked. I mean there is no way any kind of warp tech should have mixed with a fusion chamber let alone a plasma relay. Seriously, it shouldn't have worked!"

Warp tech.

Jynx found herself blinking dumbly in response to that.

Because . . . huh?

He put warp tech in a gun . . . ?

Uh, why?

What the frag was one supposed to do with a gun that . . . warped?

Wait . . . how did a gun even do that!?

"It . . . warps?" Helm tilting to the side, sensors high from their grooves in an unconscious effort to better understand, Jynx blinked at him. "Really?"

"Yes!" Wheeljack grinned, hands still waving about while his helm fins flashed a mix between blue and yellow so fast she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "Here! I'll show you!"

And that was how Jynx found herself staring down the barrel of a seriously weird looking rifle.

The simple fact that she didn't do what her first instinct suggested, you know, run away screaming was something she was seriously going to come to regret.

Balking at the point of the rifle she leaned back on the table. Hands falling away from the glitter she was holding to let it spill all over her lap. She paid it no mind though. She was a little too busy having her optics spiral wide as she scrambled backward on the table before Nook snapped into motion.

"Hey! Slow down there, mech!" His waving and motion pulled Wheeljack's attention. The tri colored inventor lowering his blaster while Nook stepped halfway in front of Jynx, his optics narrowing. "You're not shooting her with that thing! Are you nuts?"

Confusion written all over his faceplate for a moment Wheeljack simply blinked at him before it seemed to register what the problem was and the mech found himself back tracking slightly. Grin curling back up his lips while he shook his helm at the pair of them.

"Oh no, no need to worry. I assure you, it's perfectly safe! I've already tested it out on both living and nonliving things. Nothing bad happened."

"Tested it on—" Leaning around Nook, Jynx stared hard at the inventor. "What living thing have you tested it on!?"

She was like nighty-eight percent sure Soundwave and Perceptor banned Wheeljack from testing things on living stuff! You know, because of death!

"Tech."

Jynx's jaw dropped, then she was springing off the table spinning in circles while she looked desperately around for the tiny black robo-kitten that never went too far from Jacky. How had she not realized he wasn't around before now!?

"You tested a gun on your cat!?" She screeched at him, still looking around frantically for the little ball of squishy black protoform.

"Yes." He nodded.

Jynx might hit him.

She just might.

Spinning back around she threw her arms over her helm shouting in a mix between a growl and a plea. "Why the frag would you do that!?"

"If I thought it would have hurt him I wouldn't have." The mech actually looked amused by her panicking.

Okay.

Now she was gonna hit him.

"He's fine, Jynx." Lifting a placating hand—yep, her fist, his face, it was happening—he waved her off before tilting his helm upward. Not knowing what else to do Jynx let her attention follow, catching Nook's shared motion from the corner of her visor, to find a little black ball of robo-kitten with big blinking green optics staring down at her from his perch in the heavy support beams of Wheeljack's ceiling.

Oh.

"See?" Jacky chuckled at them. "I wouldn't hurt the little bit-let, I promise you that. Besides, testing it on him was actually an accident. He jumped after the glitch mouse I was actually trying to test it on. He's fine though. Didn't even stun him. Just poofed him to the other side of the room."

Oh.

Settling from the worked up ruffle she had worked herself into, Jynx let her bristled up plating fall flat against her protoform again. Relaxing back on her peds instead of the tense crouch she had been in. Watching as the little kitten crouched there on the beam over their helms. Stubby tail twitching in curiosity while his large audios perked down at her. Those shinning green optics of his full of interest as he let out a soft mew before he went on down the beam. Padding along further until he disappeared deeper into the bay.

"You didn't really think I'd test slag on him that would hurt him, did you?" Wheeljack's helm fins flashed green, then orange, then purple before settling on blue once more as he lifted an optic ridge at them.

Well . . . .

Looking back to Nook she found he only shrugged. Neither really thought the mech meant to hurt anything ever, but well . . . he tended to blow things up.

"So, it really is just a warp gun?" Jynx asked instead of answering his question.

He nodded again. "Yep . . . well far as I know at least."

Oh, that was so reassuring.

Resisting the urge to roll her optics again Jynx shook her helm at him while his faceplate split into another grin.

"So, ya wanna try it? It doesn't even have live ammunition in it. I took all that out when I figured out what it was doing. It's perfectly safe!"

Silver optics shifted to two tone gold and green before Nook shrugged again. "It's not like we've got anything better to do. What's the worst that can happen?"

Let it be said, that neither Nook nor Jynx had ever been all that good of decision makers. The ended up down here in the first place, didn't they?

With a shrug of her own Jynx said. "I'm getting tired of playing with paint anyway."

When that rifle lifted, and fired she was soon gonna regret those words.

---

Funny thing about warp tech that should probably come up about now. No matter how much anyone claimed they did, no one really understood every aspect of Cybertronian warp drives. Sure, the scientific stuff that goes behind them bots get.

If they didn't they wouldn't be building them now would they?

The things about them that they didn't get was just how they truly functioned. Warp tech was what went into Space Bridges. And being the temperamental slaggers that those stupid things were it was the perfect example of how warp tech functioned how it wanted to. Not how you wanted it too.

Any navigational sequence in the universe could theoretically be programmed into a warp drive or Space Bridge and it should poof out right there. Problem was, that it did. Known shipping route, transport lanes, and intergalactic highways were not put where they were in space because of choice. They were put where they were in space because that was where the warp jumps wanted to go.

Nighty-seven percent of the time that was exactly the path they were going to take too. No matter what one punched into a navigational computer traveling faster then the speed of light, bending space and time, it broke quite a few cosmic understandings and the universe would only bend to mortal beings' will so much.

So, warp tech was stubborn.

It did what it wanted, no matter what anybot had to say about.

Sure, with enough hacking, wiring, cursing, and figuring the rules could be bent. There wouldn't be back routes and black-market dealings if there wasn't now would there?

Bent, but never broken.

In the end—when you got dumped out of warp half a galaxy away from where you wanted to go because you'd been thinking you could outwit universal laws—the warp tech won.

It always won.

Beings capable of intergalactic space travel, for the most part, stopped trying to fight this concept eons, and eons ago. Because it was pointless.

And then there was Wheeljack.

Who apparently thought nothing bad would happen when he took a fully functional warp drive and wired it down until it was the size of his hand and stuck it in a plasma rifle.

Yeah.

That wasn't going to end badly at all.

---

She had expected it to tingle, maybe tickle a bit.

Well, okay, honestly Jynx hadn't been all that sure how it would feel. She was hopping that it wouldn't hurt, but other than that she hadn't quite known what to expect. A tiny, snarky voice in the back of her helm had expected her to end up in a wall, but when she snapped her optics shut in the face of a blinding blue light only to feel nothing she figured when she peaked them open again she would still be standing in front of Jacky to find the thing hadn't worked.

She had not expected to be standing alone in a cluttered supply closest staring at a mop bucket that was twice as big as she was.

Wait . . . what?

---

Nook squeezed his optics shut at the blinding surge of blue light only to blink them open again a little timidly when Wheeljack let out a whoop of excitement.

"It worked! Ha-ha! Yes! It worked!" The tri colored inventor stood in the middle of his lab raining kisses down on the side of the rifle leaving Nook to lift an optic ridge at him for a full klick before he finally rolled his optics looking out around the lab.

And . . . didn't find Jynx.

He blinked for a moment.

Okay.

Jynx was gone.

He walked forward a few steps, twisting this way and that unable to find her around any of the cluttered tables of scattered shelves.

Okay. He told himself, optics still flicking about while Wheeljack stood pressing kisses to his rifle while he celebrated. Yes, Nook was going to mock that later, but for now, no matter if he was repeating things to himself, he thought; Jynx is gone.

Well.

It was supposed to warp things places.

So . . . maybe this was not a bad thing.

Wheeljack had said it only warped Tech across the room though, and Jynx was not across the room.

Taking a deep breath he let his doorwings ruffle uneasily behind his back while turning his attention inward.

Comm her. He told himself. He warped her somewhere, obviously. So, just comm her.

Flicking on his comm and hailing her frequency he let his voice drift across the air ways. "Jynx? Where you at, love?"

Nothing.

Not even a busy signal.

He took another breath.

Okay, no need to panic yet.

He'd try again.

Yeah.

"Jynx?"

Another great big lot of nothing.

His left doorwing flicked uneasily behind him.

"Love, if you don't want me to beat your nutty inventor friend to death with his own stupid flashy helm fins you had better tell me he didn't kill you."

Nothing.

Okay, time to panic.

Turning flashing green and gold optics toward the still pleased inventor Nook drawled out in that smooth, silk voice of his. "Wheeljack?"

The sound pulled the mech from his pleased rambling, turning his attention to Nook only to pause when he took him in. Plating ruffled up off his protoform like an annoyed cat, doorwings hiked high and tight behind him, and beautiful two tone optics set in narrow slits even if his faceplate was completely blank.

The happy slipped out of him just about as quick as it took him to straighten up, lower the rifle, and set his whole focus on the rather pissed off looking Praxian.

"Yes?"

Lifting his arms, spreading his hands, Nook motioned around the suddenly too empty laboratory. "Where did she go?"

Bright blue optics widening Wheeljack threw his gaze around the lab not finding the femme a few feet away like he figured she would be. After all, that was what happened with everything else he tried it on so far.

But . . . she wasn't here.

"Because she's not answering her comm." Nook went on, voice hard.

"Oh." The word squeaked out of Wheeljack filled with a whole lot more worry then he meant it too. "Umm. Uh oh."

From the rafters, Tech let out a rather amused sounding meow.

Nook's optic twitched.

---

Half way across the city, in the middle of a drastically boring patrol Sideswipe rounded a corner a few steps behind his twin when he suddenly stopped short. Optic ridges furring he found himself turning the slightest bit on his peds. Gaze lifting through the tall, shimmering buildings of New Iacon to find the glittering glass building that stood over looking them all.

Sunstreaker, a few paces ahead now, paused when he no longer felt the flicker of his twin's energy field against his own. Stopping, he twisted, but his vivid blue gaze found his twin not their home he was currently staring back at.

"Sideswipe?" The golden brother asked, helm tilted slightly in question. "What is it?"

"I just got the weirdest feeling." Sideswipe murmured back while he turned fully to stare back at the compound.

Interest perking, Sunstreaker walked the short distance between them to stand next to his younger twin. Attention shifting inside to try and find what it was his brother was talking about. When he couldn't find anything odd between their twinbond or any of their other spark links he shifted his dark gaze back to his brother.

"Like what?"

"Like something incredibly ridiculous just happened and I wasn't a part of it."

Handsome silver faceplate suddenly twisting into a scowl Sunstreaker turned enough to glare at the side of his twin's helm. "Are you being serious right now? We're supposed to be working, you glitch."

"But . . . something weird just happened, Sunny."

"And how the slag do you know that?"

Just about then, their comms rang.

---

"That's it, I'm calling the twins." Throwing the empty box that Wheeljack for some reason thought needed to be checked in at the flinching inventor's helm Nook spun from the torn apart lab—not that any difference in it could be noticed—heading for the door.

"No!" Wheeljack yelped, throwing himself forward to latch hold of the smaller mech's arm. He got a doorwing smacked upside his helm for his trouble but at least it stopped the fuming mech long enough to have him look back at him while Wheeljack scrambled around him. "Don't call the twins!"

"And why the pit not!?" Nook shot back at him. "Would you prefer I call Jazz? Maybe Optimus? How about Soundwave? Oh, no wait, I know! I'll call Ratchet and tell him you shot Jynx with a teleportation gun and have no idea where it sent her!"

Wheeljack balanced, back tracking a few steps as he shook his helm. "Umm . . . well, no . . . no not really, that . . . that would be a very bad idea actually."

"Oh?" Nook snapped. "Bad idea? Bad idea like shooting Jynx with a gun you claimed you knew what would do, but actually didn't!?"

"I do know what it does!" Wheeljack snapped back, only to pause again and lower his optics. "Okay, well, I thought knew what it did. Everything else I tested it on in only shot them across the room. I'm still not sure what went wrong. Maybe it has something to do with different mass ratio? Height maybe? It could have been physical make up, I suppose?"

"You suppose!?" Throwing his hands over his helm, Nook snarled back at the other mech. "How the frag could you shot her with something you suppose you knew worked!?"

"Hey now, you two were all game for it a few klicks ago! You were the ones that were bored and wanted something to do! This isn't completely my fault!"

"Find Jynx, you wacky fragger, or the twins won't be the ones you have to worry about dismantling you for scrap parts!"

With that he spun from the lab already dialing his comm again.

---

She'll be honest, after eight straight klicks of standing there silent with her jaw hanging open, her optics spiraled wide, and her vents heaving in shock, she screamed.

Really loud.

There might also have been some slight running around in a circle with her arms flailing in panic.

Maybe.

However, it ended as quickly as it began leaving her panting for breath again while she stood there staring at the reflection looking back at her in the side of the mirror like shine of the mop bucket.

The mop bucket that was taller than she was.

Because apparently, that was a thing now.

Her being the size of a six vorn old sparkling, that is.

Once she got over the initial shock of the sight of her own reflection, and tilting her helm back to find that cleaning supplies towered over her like metrotitans she found herself simply standing there staring at her own reflection.

Tilting herself this way and that as she tried to wrap her processor around the fact that she still looked like herself but was now very much tiny. It was an odd concept to be sure. If she was the type to glitch she likely would have done so already. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, she was not the type to glitch in the face of such utter ridiculousness.

So, instead, she simply stood there blinking at her own reflection before letting out an annoyed huff.

"This is what you get for saying yes to Wheeljack, I suppose." She told the reflection before finally turning around to face the rest of the clutter filled supply closet. If she ever managed to get out of here and back to her normal self she was gonna talk to Inferno about the state of the Compounds cleaning stations. This place was a wreck.

Twisting about she let her gaze drift over the shelves and other slag that was scattered all over the place having a new appreciation for the way the pups and the cub viewed the world around them.

No bot really remembered what it was like to look at the world though sparkling optics as they had all once done. It was just not something processors held onto over the long vorns that bots lived.

So for Jynx, a view like this was all very new.

She had no memory of what it was like to be able to fit in a grown bots palm or look at every orn tools as if they belonged to giants. She was kind of glad she didn't. She'd never expected a vacuum cleaner to be intimidating before.

Turning toward the remarkably tall door Jynx slowly padded toward it. Maneuvering around knocked over brooms, pans, and buckets until she found herself staring up at the twenty or so feet expanse of height that stood between her and the keypad.

"Slag it all." She mumbled under her breath.

She was never letting Nook get bored ever again. Not as long as either of them fraggin' lived.

---

"Mechs?"

Nook's voice drifting through the twins shared comm signal was a bit of a shock to the say the least. Their brightly colored guest didn't have all that much enthusiasm for any of them right now. Not that anybot blamed him. He had more than enough good reasons.

It made him calling them in the middle of the orn a little odd though.

Odd enough that it left the two frontliners sharing a mirrored look before their attention turned inward to their comms.

"Nook?" Sideswipe questioned back.

"Nah, it's some bot else that sounds just like me calling you from the comm signal that only reads as Nook." The Praxian's snap back was not all that surprising. He wasn't the twins' biggest fan at the moment, but it still made Sideswipe cringe slightly while Sunstreaker narrowed his optics.

"What do you want, mech?" Sunstreaker shot back at him. "We're on patrol. If you want to know where Jynx is, she told us this morning she was going to hang out with you while we were gone."

"Yeah, about that . . . ." For a nano Nook paused in an uncharacteristically uncertainty before he huffed out. "Okay, yeah there is no other way to word this. Listen, Wheeljack shot Jynx with a warping gun he has no idea what really did to her and now I can't find her. So either come help me find her or I'm gonna kill your stupid mad scientist and Prime's gonna have to get himself a new one."

With that he hung up.

Four nanos passed in which the two brothers stood there in the middle of the bustling sidewalk staring at each other until in a scramble of frantic limbs they broke through the crowd, transformed in a whirl of shifting metal, and raced back to the Compound.

---

This . . . was not working.

The plan started out good in theory but put into action it was no surprise that she was currently sitting on her aft with a giant bucket over the top of her.

"Sometimes I really hate my life." Growling lowly to herself Jynx shoved her now tiny frame back up right so that she could blink through the darkness at the side of the bucket.

Granted, looking back, maybe she should have stopped shoving things off the shelf and onto each other when they started swaying back and forth, and maybe she should not have kept climbing up the leaning tower of mop buckets and brooms when the whole thing started wiggling.

But well, hindsight being twenty-twenty and all that.

Huffing to herself she knelt down to hook her claws around the edge of the bucket. Lifting with all her might the thing hardly budged. She'd already discovered shrinking meant strength as well as size.

Picking up a bucket should have been as easy as flicking her fingers but when the bucket was bigger then you that suddenly became like her trying to pick up Thundercracker.

It just didn't work.

She wasn't crafty for nothing though and with some heaving and wiggling she lifted it just enough to slide out from under the bucket before letting it slam back to the ground. The jarring sound hand her pinning her sensor in their grooves while giving her helm a shake.

Turning her attention back to the room around her she let her now tiny clawed peds pad her back to the door through the mess she had added too when her climbing perch collapsed in on itself. Hopping up to scale the mountain that was a half propped up broom leaning against the wall she clawed and wiggled until she was sitting near the top of the handle.

Crouched on the balls of her peds she regarded the keypad a few feet from her in its seemingly easy to reach place on the wall. It had occurred to her already—when she was sitting on her smarting aft under an overturned bucket—that calling somebot for help might be needed right about now.

Turns out, here comms were fried. She had no idea how, or why, but they were. Which meant no calls out and no calls in. So she was actually stuck in some random supply closet the size of a sparkling with no way to call anybot to do something about it!

And yes, she was blaming Wheeljack for that one too.

Huffing again she stared hard at the large access button near the bottom of the panel. All she'd have to do is tap the stupid thing and the door would open.

Seemed easy enough, right?

Reaching it was the real problem.

Turning to the side she regarded her slightly distorted reflection blinking back at her from its place on the side of an overturned clear bottle laying on a table to her right. Because no bot could put the table any closer to the door lock.

No.

That would have made her life easier.

"Jumping is a bad idea, right?" She asked the slightly distorted reflection of herself. Watching as her sensors fluttered in their grooves and her claws flexed around mop handle she was perched on.

She received no answer, not that she had expected one, and finally figured it was jump or come up with something else. Coming up with something else was taking too long considering there was a chance Nook already murdered Wheeljack.

Jumping it was then.

Bunching herself up on her wooden perch, she crouched low while muscle cabling and hydraulic lines all over her frame readying themselves at the thought swimming through her processor. Then, with a tightening of her jaw, she sprang.

Leaping through the air in a sailing of limbs across the rather large gap of space until she crashed hard into the control panel. Sliding down in a squeal of metal that was her now tiny claws trying to find hold against the smooth surface. She just managed to kick the access button with her ped before sliding all the way back down the wall to land once again on her aft.

---

Walking as calmly as he could manage down one of the main lower halls of the Compound, Nook tried to make it look like he wasn't running around looking for something. For the most part he was successful. Apart from some of the long looks he still got around here he was left alone.

That served him just fine as he was ducking down every hall, glancing around every corner, and poking his helm in every room that the action wouldn't get him thrown out of trying to find the slaggin' femme that wouldn't answer her comm.

He'd left Wheeljack scrambling around his lab not at all concerned with him or what the twins were going to do to him when they finally got their afts back here. The slaggin' nut was lucky Nook just hadn't called Jazz.

Granted, he only didn't call Jazz because he didn't want to talk to Jazz because that was an extension of talking to Prowl, but that was neither here nor there.

The point was he'd been all over this damn building twice and there was still no sign of Jynx. He was starting to become concerned.

Heading down another hall he tried to keep his doorwings some kind of level behind him to not broadcast just how worked up he was. The last thing he needed was any of these glitches noticing him.

His luck held for a while too. As he worked his way up and down the halls of the massive building until eventually he crossed paths with one brightly colored just grown youngling that was far too perceptive for his own slaggin' good.

"Nook?"

That young, upbeat voice stalled Nook for half a step before he continued on hoping the young fragger would get the message.

No such luck.

Hurried ped steps and then there was a yellow with black stripes mech striding down the hall next to him. At least the mechling was smart enough this time to not reach out for his energy field.

"Nook?"

"What can I do for you, Bumblebee?" He asked, gaze flicking over to the young mech before going back to his searching that was trying to come across as not searching.

"You just look like something is the matter." The younger mech shrugged, those expressive doorwings and winglets of his hanging with open emotion behind his back.

Nook still didn't get that, but it was not his main concern at the moment.

"Nothing I can't handle." He replied, checking around another corner before picking another random hall and heading down it. "Just looking."

"Looking for something in the hall that only leads to the boiler rooms?"

Nook stopped.

Whole frame stiffening as he took an evaluating look around him then huffed. Well damn.

"Yes." He nodded, starting forward again.

"You don't really have clearance to be down here." Bee spoke again, following along beside him still.

"Are you going to tattle on me, mechling?" A glance for the corner of his optic found the young mech grinning before shaking his helm.

"No, but I'd like you to tell me what you were looking for. You know, since I just saw Sideswipe and Sunstreaker come racing in from their patrol that isn't supposed to end for another joor heading for Wheeljack's lab."

Nook couldn't help the amused snort before he gave into an optic roll and sighed. "You wouldn't have happened to see Jynx around, have ya?"

"Umm, this morning? No. Why?"

"There has been a bit of an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"The kind that involves Wheeljack, a stupid gun, and a vanishing Jynx."

Bee's baby blue optics widened almost comically before he muttered. "Oh slag."

Yeah, that about summed it up.

---

Once she got out of the storage closest she discovered her next problem. Probably something that she should have realized before now. She had been a little occupied trying to get out of the slagging broom closet though. She was giving herself a little leeway on that front for now. Mainly because she had bigger issues.

Like the fact that she didn't actually know where she was.

Stepping out into the hallway consisted of a whole lot more looking up. Helm bent back she stared at walls she didn't recognized, but at least the paint was familiar. For the most part. It was at least the same Primus awful shade of off green that a few halls on the east wing of the compound had.

That was a plus side.

Still in a part of home at least.

Three foot tall yes, but still at home was better than not.

Silver optics darting up and down the hall she found no bot around so with a shrug she headed the direction she figured would be the shortest route to Wheeljack. If she really was in the east wing that meant it was quite a few hallways and stairs before she found her way back to his lab.

She figured she might as well get walking.

Sooner she got there, sooner she got to be her normal size again. Sooner she got to be her normal size again, sooner she could punch Jacky in his stupid faceplate. Even if she had agreed to it.

---

Wheeljack was not all that shocked when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came barreling into his lab. He was also not all that surprised when the golden twin had him by the collar of his armor in less than a blink. Slamming back into the wall beside the table he was working at he found his vision swimming with black and white dots only to clear to find himself noseplate to noseplate with a very fragged off frontliner.

Now it would likely be in Wheeljack's best interest right now to calmly explain himself and the situation. Explain how he was in the process of figuring out what went wrong with the rifle and that Nook was likely going to find Jynx just fine in a few klicks.

Probably.

Hopefully.

He . . . well he was pretty sure at least.

Problem there was, in the face of those seething dark blue optics and the twin growls of high performance engines all of Wheeljack's 'probably should' went right out the window. Even if his lab didn't have windows.

"Umm . . . Sunny . . . hi—"

And hard slam back into the hall behind him had Wheeljack's helm spinning again as well as his helm fins flashing sickly white with panic. He then found himself staring back into those narrow optics with a rough swallow and his mouth clamped shut.

"What did you do, Wheeljack?" Sunstreaker was not a mech known for his patience, nor his tolerance, nor his forgiveness. In fact, for the most part, the masses knew Sunstreaker as a quick tempered, egoistical, self-centered jerk.

However, the masses were also wrong.

Sunstreaker was much more than just his vanity and his pride. Granted, it was a very large part of who he was, but he was also a whole pit of a lot more than that. He simply rarely—if ever—felt the need to prove that to the world outside his closest family. For him, it wasn't worth the effort.

He did not care what the world thought of him. He only cared about what his family did. So why would he waste time and energy on worrying about the impression he gave off?

He didn't see the point.

So, most saw him as cold and angry.

Narrowed optics and a cold stare.

Wheeljack was one of those few of the world that did know more than the front Sunstreaker put off though. He knew the mech behind those cold, angry optics. He knew him very well actually. Came with being the close friend—even if he and Ratchet spent most of the time complaining to each other—with the mech that had taken both Sunny and his brother in all those vorns ago and gave them something to trust.

It was no secret among the Autobots that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had only stayed long enough with them in the beginning to become what they were now because of Ratchet. It was Ratchet and Arcee that they had grown to trust first. It was for them that the twins took up insignias and arms at the frontlines of a war they hadn't wanted any part of it. It was for them the twins had leaked and spilled enough energon to blanket some small worlds.

It was for them the twins had given the rest of this wacky family a shot in the first place.

Over many long vorns of war and struggle the bots Sides and Sunny opened up two had grown to become the large group it was this orn. And over the orns Wheeljack—for all his explosive accidents, or maybe because of—had been one of the first besides the mated medics to pull the twins' interest and later earn their trust.

For Sideswipe, it had been curiosity.

Curiosity of the mech that blew himself out his own lab doors more orns than not. That came limping into Ratchet's medical bay after failed experiments holding his own limbs and shrugging like a confused turbo-fox when the CMO flew into a concerned rage for him.

It was those times that Sideswipe witnessed among his own many trips to the bay for either injuries or those times that grew in frequency that he was simply down there to hide away in the safety that was the mated medics. From there he had followed Wheeljack to test fate at the hands at whatever he was willing to test from the mech. And it had grown from there.

For Sunstreaker, it had been boredom. Or, at least that was what he blamed it on.

In all truth it had more to do with finding out why he kept getting echos of pain from his twin while he was hanging out with the blinky finned idiot. He'd marched down to the lab that first time with the intent to strangle the glitch and then do the same to his glitched other half. He'd ended up stopping in the doorway though when he found Sideswipe bent over a table beside the blinky helmed glitch laughing like he hadn't laughed in vorns fiddling with wires on something that later blew up.

Sunstreaker had turned right back around and walked out before either of them had known he was there. And he had ignored the flashes of pain or random falling smack on his faceplate unconscious that came from his twin hanging around the accident-prone fool. For the stupid inventor had made Sunstreaker's brighter half shine happily once again.

That was all it really took for Sunstreaker.

Now though, vorns and vorns and vorns after they had grown to know each other very well Sunstreaker had absolutely no problem what so ever with collaring Jacky by the armor and glaring into his faceplate. For there was another thing that belonged to Sunstreaker now—more or less—that the brightness of mattered to him.

And she was currently missing because this idiot point a gun at her!

"Well, you see, I umm, made this new rifle for Bluestreak. For his sparkorn next cycle, you know? I've been working on it for a while now. Because you know, what do you get a mech that loves guns but has every gun you can possibly think of? I'm no good with books or anything of the like so I figured I'd stick with guns. So I was trying to figure what I could make—"

"Wheeljack!" Sideswipe's snarl cut him off, drawing his optics to the left in a snap to find the red twin leaning in beside his other half. While it was true that both twins shared the same faceplate in everything but how time had changed them neither often wore the same expression. The times they did, well those were the times bots needed to stop and pay attention.

"The point." Sunstreaker finished.

"Okay, well, I made a warp gun and asked Jynx if she wanted to try it and she said yes and now I'm not so sure where she went."

For a nano the twins blinked, then: "YOU SHOT JYNX WITH A WARP GUN!?"

"Uh . . . yes? She said I could."

"AND YOU LISTENED?"

Asking should he not have proved to be not the smartest come back when Sunstreaker spun around and tossed him through a shelf.

---

Padding along the hallway, one hand running along the wall, Jynx was reevaluating ever teasing Rumble and Frenzy for their complaints about how big this place was ever again. She found she had a new-found respect for short legs in a place made for towering war frames. It felt like she'd been walking for a bream and hadn't been further than a few halls. She'd also turned around at the stairwell and headed in the opposite direction a while back.

Who would have ever though stairs would be scary?

She certainly didn't.

Her wondering had taken her further along for a while still trying to figure out how it was she ended up being tiny when the gun was only supposed to warp things places until the heavy tread of a huge bot had her stilling. Twisting around just in time to feel her optics go very wide at the sight of the now colossal for a very familiar blue seeker striped in white and red down the broad, powerful wings hanging from his shoulders.

At first, he didn't seem to notice her. It was not often bots ever had the need to watch where they place their peds after all. Normally the integrated coding only ever came with maturity and exposure to sparklings. For some reason though, be it the fact that she was standing off to the side as a bright white spot, or maybe because Thundercracker was a rather observant mech. Whatever the reason though, those deep red optics flickered down the slightest bit to land on her making that huge frame freeze up in a blink.

It was no exaggeration that Thundercracker was large. As a flier and a war frame on top of that he outsized most normal sized mechs. He was by no means the largest of their kind, let alone around here, but he was still a good-sized bot compared to her. At her normal height, she only came to the bottom of his ribs. Like this, she was about the size of his clawed toes.

Pushing herself further up against the wall, more than a little shocked by the sheer size of him she couldn't help the startled squeak that came out when that whole frame twisted around in a quick flash of blue. She then found herself staring up into those deep red optics that widened to almost hilarious proportions at the sight of her.

A handful of nanos ticked by in which the two of them just stood there. Staring at each other blankly before finally TC shifted. That huge frame folding in on itself as he bent one leg to bend a knee. Bringing himself down in a bend of his strong back as one long arm and clawed hand came down to support the movement on the hall floor near her. As he leaned closer Jynx's sensors fluttered with the feeling of his vents washing hot air over her before his faceplate was brought close enough for her to touch that sleek silver faceplate.

There was another slow blink in which Jynx took a moment to swallow down the fact that his faceplate was bigger then her.

She was so going to kill Wheeljack.

And Nook.

Not necessarily in that order.

"Jynx?" That deep bass voice of his sounded of so very much like his namesake even when she wasn't this pathetic size. Now, it was enough to rattle her plating.

It had her backing up to hit the wall before she even knew what she was doing. Sensors pinning down tightly into their grooves in an effort to stop the ringing. Optics clenching shut for a moment as her audios fought with her logic center about the truth of that rattling sound. She'd heard TC talk enough that her processor didn't understand why suddenly his voice nearly hurt.

Her smack back into the wall had the huge seeker leaning back, surprise and then apology flashing through his optics when she dared look at him again even if there was still quite a bit of confusion written all over every inch of him.

Jynx couldn't say she blamed him.

She was pretty confused too.

"Jynx . . . ." He muttered her name again, dark optics running over her pathetic size. "That . . . that is you, isn't it?"

"You know any other things running around looking like me?" She shot back, pushing herself of the wall but keeping her sensors pinned down in an effort to keep that resonating voice from blowing her audios out.

Thundercracker snorted. "You're tiny."

"Really?" She drawled, hands falling to her hips while she glared darkly up at him. "I hadn't noticed."

That got her a lifted optic ridge from the mech kneeling in front of her. "Why are you the size of a sparkling?"

Good question.

She wasn't one hundred percent sure, but she did know it at least had to do with this. "Wheeljack."

That had the big mech straightening in his bend while his faceplate scrunched up in confusion before he huffed. "What have you and Nook done now?"

She shrugged. "He was bored."

"And let me guess, you went and played in Wheeljack's lab because of it?"

Well, considering she was now the size of the mech's toe she didn't see much point in denying it. "The original plan was for him not to be there."

"And he was there? And you two fools stayed anyway?" With that he was leaning away with a shake of his helm. "Why am I not surprised?"

Jynx couldn't help but giggle at the sheer exasperation that bloomed through the mech. His energy field producing static with it as he shook his helm back and forth until he finally glared down at her again.

"And why the pit aren't you freaking out? You're the size of a fraggin' sparkling!"

She could only shrug again. "Figured there are probably enough mechs around right now doing that anyway."

She saw the moment the fact clicked in the flier's processor. Then, in a blur of movement, she found herself letting out an undignified squeak as a large clawed hand reached out, scooped her up, and pulled her close.

"TC!" She yelped, unable to help herself as the whole world around her was suddenly shifting and moving while the now towering mech pushed himself back upright. She felt absolutely no shame in wrapping her whole self around his thumb and proceeding to cling for all she was worth when the ground disappeared in a vertical shift.

Holy slag she was never laughing when the pups squeaked about getting pick up ever again! This was fraggin' terrifying!

"Oh you're fine, calm down. I'm not going to drop you." He rumbled, pulling his hand up against his chest.

Refusing to release her wrap around limb hold on the mech's thumb she buried her faceplate into the largest joint. Because she was not looking down.

"Put me down you over grown hawk!"

"You want to try and keep up like this?" Thundercracker shot back at her while he turned and headed down the hall. "I'll admit I'd like to see you attempt the stairs."

"Already tried." She huffed, optics peaking open just the slightest bit as she leaned around his thumb. Around the thick, barrel curve of his strong chest she found she actually couldn't see the floor. Now, the rocking motion of his steps wasn't doing her tanks any favors but she found it was bearable if she settled her helm against the side of his thumb.

Her response seemed to amuse Thundercracker. A low chuckle working its way through his chest. The vibration echoing down along the palm he had curled around her. Since she was still clutching hard at his thumb she wasn't pressed up against the thick armor of his chest, but she could still feel the deep resonate of the laughter rolling through her. With her sensors still pinned down because of the sheer volume of him she didn't get all of it, but that might have been a good thing.

"I'd have paid to see that." He finally commented, fingers parting enough around the shape of her in his hand so that she could peek up to see amusement flickering in those deep red pools.

"It wasn't that funny." She snorted.

"I bet it was from up here."

"Ha-ha." Rolling her optics, she turned to peek around his claws to find the direction they were going. "Where are you taking me anyway?"

"As far away from Prowl as physically possible." The flier responded. "The last thing we need right now is another glitch."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault."

"Yeah, because Skywarp would have come up with that many balloons and streamers on his own."

"You shouldn't doubt your trine brother, TC, it's mean." She teased, grin curling up her lips while she flicked her gaze back to him.

"I'll do what I please, pint-size."

The smile fell away to be replaced by a scowl worthy of Sunstreaker at the nickname leaving Thundercracker to a booming laugh while he walked.

"I'm gonna kick you in the optics if you even start." She snapped at him, slapping his thumb with her palm for effect. When the action only made a pathetic 'ping' her face fell in frustration before settling into a pout.

Damn.

She really hated being tiny.

With that his laughter bubbled even louder. The sound shaking the whole mech until finally he had to stop to lean against the wall or risk dropping her from how hard he was laughing. Through it all Jynx just sat there in his palm with her arms crossed over her chest glaring up at that handsome faceplate twisted in mirth. Considering how much of the time Thundercracker walked around frowning, quiet, and seeming as if he carried far too much weight for those strong shoulders of his she couldn't find it in her to get mad though.

She knew the big blue flier well if she did so say so herself.

She knew under that stiff, stoic front he wore was a warm sparked, word loving, tired but mostly content mech that placed his brother above everything, including himself. A mech that cared so much for those he let close to him that he constantly worried for their well-being.

Something very few knew about him though, was that TC loved to laugh.

He didn't do it near enough with the thoughts he constantly let drag him down, but when given the chance, if the mech was comfortable enough with what or who was around him. He would laugh like few Jynx had ever met.

He'd also tease.

She was use to it by now.

"Glad you find this so funny." She glared at him even if there was no heat in it. It was refreshing in a way she was still coming to terms with to see him laugh like that. "If it's so amusing to you, maybe next time Jacky can shot you with the broken warp gun."

Still cackling the seeker straightened enough to glance down at her from where he held her against his chest with an almost fond shake of his helm.

"Explain all this to me." He finally relented after the laughter eased off enough that he could start down the hall once more. Seeing no point in not Jynx started from the beginning and explained to the huge mech how she ended up palm sized. He seemed to find it endlessly amusing.

---

"You mean to tell me," Sideswipe wasn't seething per say but he was awful close to it. "That you have no idea where it sent her?"

Wheeljack was still rubbing at the sore spot on his helm from where he collided with a shelf, then the floor, then a box, then the wall all before the twins got a hold of him again. Other than that though all he really got was a good shaking to rattle his armor. It was a whole pit of a lot less then what the two of them were actually capable of.

That might have to do with the fact that if they wanted their femme back he was going to have to be alive to make it happen though.

Wheeljack was going to go on pretending it was just because they actually liked him. Not because they needed him for finding Jynx.

"At this point no. No I don't." Admitting it made him cringe a little more over the very rifle that was the cause of all this while the two mechs glared on both sides of him.

"Why?" Sunstreaker growled.

"Well . . . it was only supposed to snap her across the room. Considering it didn't do that I'm sort of at a lost."

"She is alive though, right?" Sideswipe snapped.

"I imagine you two, not to mention Nook, would know if she wasn't." Wheeljack couldn't help but snap back at that one. He hadn't killed the femme for crying out loud. She was just fine!

Probably.

He hoped.

"Honestly, Sideswipe, she's probably fine. The blast must have messed with the signal of her comms. That makes since. Warp tech is finicky to begin with. She'll probably walk right back in here in a few klicks and yell at me."

"And what if she doesn't?" Sunstreaker glared. "What if it sent her somewhere else?"

"It's not programmed to do that."

"It wasn't programmed to make her vanish either!"

"And I can't figure out what it did do until you two shut up and let me work either!"

Okay . . . so he maybe deserved it when they both snapped him over the helm fins for that one. But at least after that they stalked out in search of the femme and let him frantically go back to trying to figure out where the fraggin' Primus she went.

He was also starting to think that he might not be able to give the gun to Bluestreak for his spark orn . . . .

---

Heavy steps caring him down another flight of stairs and then out into one of the main courtyards sat pleasantly in the open areas between the buildings and walls of the compound Thundercracker tried to keep himself out of sight. Not so much because he felt this was something to hide—pit no, it would be all over the main building before sun down—but because the less bots he had to deal with freaking out about a pint sized Jynx in his hand the better.

The truth was the little—and no he didn't smirk at that thought, not at all—thing was handling this all rather well. She'd told him about the little screaming running around in circles fit she'd fist had when she saw what had happened to her, but TC was pretty sure a little bit of freak out was allowed when one found oneself a fraction of their actual size.

Then again, he also thought she should have considered that before she agreed to let Wheeljack shot her with something. But . . . well, he did know a little something about Nook and Jynx now. He couldn't say he was all that surprised to be honest.

Passing through the courtyard was relatively uneventful. The morning was still relatively early and most were on shift doing something or another. However, when the doors across the west side of the yard from him slammed open to the swift movements of a two brightly painted doorwinged mechs he found himself coming to a full stop.

Casting his optics over in their direction his pause had Jynx sitting up in his palm to peek through his fingers. When she caught sight of Nook along with Bumblebee she couldn't help the excited smile before calling out.

"Nook!"

The green and gold mech skidded to a stop halfway across his hurry through the courtyard. The broad sensory panels on his back snapping up before flaring wide with the sound. His whole frame twisted then, optics wide and searching as he snapped his gaze around the yard only to stop when he caught sight of Thundercracker.

Beside him Bumblebee had been a mirror of almost every movement. His own surprise showing in those big, baby blue optics of his when there two gazes darted around him in search of the voice they both knew.

When they didn't find her—Thundercracker didn't seem to think he needed to part his fingers to make her visible in his hand no matter how hard she was kicking at his thumb—they shared a glance before hurrying his way. The two shorter mechs reaching him in just a few nanos. Coming to rest in front of his tall form looking up into those dark optics of his Nook asked.

"You by any chance wouldn't have happened to have seen Jynx, have you?"

"You mean this Jynx?" He responded, helm tilting, optics flashing in amusement while he parted his fingers to reveal the little femme perched on his palm.

The two dropped jaws that earned were more than a little expected.

Two sets of doorwings along with a pair of winglets shot straight up at the sight of Jynx standing there in Thundercracker's palm with an arm wrapped around his thumb. Looking down at the two mechs was a novel thing Jynx to begin with, but doing it while she was small enough to fit in their hands was even more noteworthy.

She was suddenly very glad Thundercracker had plucked her up and brought her along with him. Somehow, Nook finding her the size of a sparkling and yet looking up at her at the same time amused her to no end. As was the look on his faceplate, all spiraled wide optics, hanging jaw, and slight broken stuttering while he stared up at her.

"J—Jy—J—I—wh—ho—Jy—co—h-" Suddenly giving his helm a good shake Nook took a whole step back before he snapped. "What the ever-loving pit!?"

"You're tiny." Bumblebee chirped, optics still blown wide and mouth still hanging a bit too much.

Jynx shrugged.

"Why the pit are you tiny!?" Throwing his hands up over his helm the young mech then let them snap down over his antennas while his doorwings quivered behind him. He didn't get it!

"It shrunk you?" In a quick snap of movement Nook went up on his toes to snatch Jynx from TC's hand. Neither bot did much to stop the movement and he soon had her leaned against his chest, cupped in his palm. Staring down with his helm tilted to the side as he blinked at her. "It shrunk you!"

"Apparently." She nodded, leaning against the smooth warmth of his chest.

"You know why she's tiny!?" Bee twisted to stare up at Nook but the other mech could only tilt his helm, golden chevron glinting in the morning light.

"Wheeljack's slaggin' gun I'm assuming." He replied after a long klick.

"Jacky made a shrink ray?" Bumblebee rocked back on his heels before letting out a bubble of laughter. "Awesome!"

All three of the elder bots turned to glare at him.

"What?" He snorted. "That's awesome!"

"Maybe if he had meant to be building a shrink ray." Nook sighed. "It's supposed to be a warp gun."

"You can make a warp gun?" The youngling asked.

"Obviously no, you can't." Jynx huffed at him, hands falling to her hips again. "Because it obviously didn't work."

"Well," Nook drawled, a hint of amusement suddenly coming to life in his voice that Jynx wasn't sure she liked the sound of. "Technically, it did send you somewhere else. That is what warp tech is supposed to do. It just also made you tiny at the same time."

"That does not make it work!" She bit at him as she watched those pretty optics sparkle and shine with building humor.

And then he was laughing.

That smooth, rolling, wave of musical sound she both clung to and let her drive mad. His whole frame rumbling with it. Warmth pulsing both in his field and through the link that tied their sparks together.

"This is not funny!" She smacked her palm against his armor that that was no more effective than it had been when she tried it on Thundercracker.

"Did I hit a nerve, little one?" Nook lifted an optic ridge over his golden optic while a grin curled up his faceplate and the laughter kept on.

Silver optics narrowing behind her visor Jynx glared at him. Because he couldn't. He couldn't possibly. "You can stop now."

"Temper a little short this orn?"

Oh.

Apparently, he was.

Joy.

"Nook." She warned.

"Maybe it's because you've been overlooked."

"That wasn't even remotely funny."

"Is it a tiny bit annoying?"

"When I'm normal size again I'm going to punch you in the face."

"I didn't think you'd stoop that low."

Falling back into his palm she crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

"Come on now, short stuff, after thousands upon thousands of vorns of war you have to learn to appreciate the little things in life. I'm finding that this is one of those things."

"I'm gonna make Jacky shot you with the broken warp gun."

"Why? Because then we'll be on the same level?"

"For Primus sakes Nook!"

"Are you feeling shorted by my humor?"

It was with that that Bumblebee finally started cackling. Standing to the elder mech's side he just about fell over himself as he bent with his laughter. Doorwings wiggling with his emotions while his soft laughter rattled all of him. Arms wrapped around his middle while he cackled.

Behind her she didn't need to look to know that that was when Thundercracker snorted out his deeper laugh as well. The sound vibrating down to her again while she glared daggers up at her best friend.

"This. Is. Not. Funny."

"It's a little funny." Nook shot back, but that was as far as he was able to keep it up either. The last words were static laced with his emotions and then he to busted out into chuckles. His frame bent with the sound as well. Leaning with the force of his laughter, one arm lowered to wrap around his middle while he giggled. He still managed to keep Jynx balanced safely in his other hand. Curling it to his chest to make sure she could hold on to him while he shook with laughter.

The worst part was, she couldn't even fault the three of them for it.

If she wasn't the one currently palm sized she'd probably be laughing just as hard as they were. Trouble there was, she was the one currently palm sized and it wasn't that slaggin' funny!

"Stop laughing, you glitches!" She shouted at the three of them, but apparently tiny her jumping up and down on Nook's palm, waving her hands around in frustration was even funnier than the stupid short jokes because Bumblebee actually toppled over to land hard on his aft as his laughter reached the point he was doing nothing but wheezing while he tried to breathe. Thundercracker's growing humor was pretty much a bellow of a sound that still had her sensors tucked low while Nook just straightened up to throw his helm back and laughed until it hurt.

"I hate you all." Pouting she fell back to her aft in Nook's palm to sulk.

---

"What are the chances that she got poofed somewhere not dangerous?" Sideswipe grumbled as the twins stalked down the hall heading . . . somewhere they might find her.

"With her luck?" Sunstreaker heaved a sigh as the took a turn toward down another long hall. "Not likely."

"Should we try and comm her again?"

"Static isn't changing. Comm Nook, he might have found her already."

"Wouldn't he have called us if he did?" Sideswipe questioned his brother even while he called up the comm number in his processor and dialed.

"You know how that glitch is." Sunstreaker huffed back. "He gets 'distracted'." The finger quotes around the word might have been funny if both brothers weren't wound quite so tight with worry.

Wheeljack wasn't panicking but considering that mech had walked straight faced into Ratchet's medical bay before with no arms, limping, and his armor on fire like nothing at all was wrong they weren't too comforted by that fact.

So, yeah, they were panicking a bit.

Sue 'em.

She was gone!

"Nook?" Sideswipe voice drifted over the comm air ways and for a moment there was no answer. Then when it did come, it didn't make one slaggin' bit of sense.

Both brothers came to a stop in the middle of whatever random hall they were hurrying down to share a look before both focused fully on the . . . laughter?

Nook was laughing.

Or more accurately it sounded like he was wheezing in laughter. The sound a breathy mix of his normal smooth humor. The kind that only came with laughing so long and so hard that a bots vents seized up and left them with nothing but short hiccups of sound while their vocal processors were trying to work with no input from their vents.

What . . . what the slag was he laughing that hard about?

"Nook!" Sunstreaker bit though the channel. "Mech! Actually answer your damn comm!"

There was another peal of laughter before finally the overly amused tone sounded back down the airway. "Oh, twins," Another bit of giggling. "What you mechs want?"

"What the slag are you laughing about?" Sunstreaker snarled at him. "Ten klicks ago you were freaking out about Jynx being gone!"

"Oh yeah," He chuckled again, words halting as even his internal voice struggled with the force of his laughter. "Sorry, mechs, forgot to comm ya. I got a little distracted."

"By what?" Sides snapped.

"Oh, just this."

There was the zing as a visual capture via his optic feed swept down the connection link to them. They both figured they were pretty justified in walking faceplate first into a door after that when they both opened the file to find a snap shot of a pint sized Jynx glaring up at them while she sat in Nook's palm via his optics.

Because . . . what?

---

Nook had fallen over about eight klicks into his laughter. Jynx's panicked squeak the only thing that saved her from getting crushed as he remembered at the last klick to tuck his hand close as he ended up on his aft.

Apparently, the squeak was just as funny as the rest of it thought because he went back to his cackling, peds now kicking out in front of him from where he had them sprawled. Doorwings wiggling up and down with his chuckles and his helm still thrown back to the sky. Bumblebee was now sprawled out on his back a few paces away from Nook. Legs curled up to him and kicked as well while he rocked back and forth with his own giggles. The sound having left him a while ago leaving him with nothing but hiccuped wheezes while his vents tried to pull air and his vocal processor couldn't make sound without it.

Thundercracker was bent double, hands resting on his knees, wings shaking up and down behind him with his own amusement. His faceplate had flushed blue a few klicks ago with the fact that he wasn't breathing all that well either.

It might have all been hilariously funny if it wasn't at her expense.

But is was, so it wasn't.

Still sitting on her aft, arms crossed over her chest, she glared for all she was worth up at the three fraggin' idiots waiting for them to get a hold of themselves. If she thought she could get their on her own she would have hopped up by now and walked her own tiny aft back down to Wheeljack's lab to get this slaggin' problem fixed. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to open any more doors though, especially the big heavy ones that lead inside from the courtyard.

So, she was stuck until these three fools got a hold of themselves.

The doors across the courtyard banged open again, the sound hardly heard over the choirs of giggles going on around her. Still, considering she was just sitting there pouting she caught notice of it. Lifting her helm and turning just a bit so that she could watch Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sprint out of the doors only to slide to a stop, then spin at the sound of the laughter. They then went still when even all the way across the open courtyard she felt the moment those dark blue optics found her and held.

For a few nanos they blinked at each other. Then, tentatively, she lifted a now tiny hand and waved over at them.

She was in no way shocked when two sets of jaws dropped open again before in a shared blur of movement the two frontliners bolted across the stone yard to slide to a stop there beside the laughing bunch of the rest of them.

She then found herself yanked up again by a quick but careful hand. Pulling her from Nook's grip the green and gold mech didn't seem to care as he just took the change as a chance to fall back fully and cackle some more.

Really now, it wasn't that funny!

Pulled up she tired to ignore the sickening since of vertigo that came with the yank as she found herself now rested against a crimson painted chest, leaning back against the strength and the warmth she tilted her helm back to stare into the disbelief filled dark blue optics set in a silver faceplate framed by a black helmet.

"You're tiny." Sideswipe muttered.

Jynx puffed out a breath when that sent the other three into even more cackles. "Yeah . . . seems so."

"Why are you tiny?" Sunstreaker leaned in beside his brother, faceplate coming into view above her while the big mechs pressed in close to each other.

"Wheeljack's toy gun sucks." She sneered. "That's why."

"Oh, you mean the one you volunteered to let him shot you with?" Sunstreaker narrowed those dark optics of his down at her but she just glared right back.

"All this was Nook's idea! Blame him!"

For some reason that was funny as well because it started up another round of wheezing laughter from the two on the ground and third one that looked like he was well on his way there if he didn't balance out those wiggling wings soon.

"I am." Turning those narrow dark optics toward the three rolling around in a fit Sunstreaker scowled before he snorted. "This is not funny! She's the size of a damn sparkling!"

Again, apparently, this was hilarious as well because it just got the lot of them laughing harder.

Sideswipe huffed an amused breath at the sight only to reel back in the sound and the feeling as Sunstreaker and Jynx swung back to glare at him.

"Sorry." He muttered, shrugging a little. The motion making Jynx rise and fall against his chest, having to adjust her hold on the grooves of his armor to keep from falling off. "I've never seen TC laugh that hard."

"Yes," Jynx glared at him. "It's amazing, now will you please take me back to Wheeljack so I cannot be the size of a sparkling anymore!?"

"I don't know, kitten." A smile curled up Sides' lips as he lifted her up in his hand while he bent his helm down to peer at her better. "I think it's kinda cute."

Valiantly ignoring the way her cheeks flushed bright blue in a blush she kept her glare, lifted a hand, and pointed hard toward the direction of Wheeljack while she growled. "This is not cute."

"Yes—" Bumblebee spoke around his wheezing giggles. "Yes! Yes it is!"

Snapping her gaze around to Sunstreaker's in search of some support she found the mech had leaned back a little to scrutinize her for a few nanos before a slow grin of his own curled up his faceplate. "Panicking might have been a bit of an overreaction."

"We should probably apologize to Jacky for putting him through that shelf now." Sideswipe nodded.

The three idiots over on the ground found that to be even more fuel for the laughing fire. And this time Thundercracker really did fall on his aft. The resulting bang was enough to have Jynx flinching, jumping, and letting out another startled squeak at the sound. Flinging herself around in Sideswipe's palm to find what had made the sound. However, that just set them all to laughing even harder. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker letting out a few amused chuckles of their own now that their sparks were calming down with the fact that they had found her again. Unharmed, small yes, but unharmed.

Wheeljack was usually capable of undoing the things he messed up. After all, Bee and Blue were back in their proper frames. If he could undo that blow up he should be able to fix this.

Besides, Sideswipe was kind of right.

It was a little cute.

Not that Jynx thought so.

All of what Jynx thought was about to become irrelevant though because in a crackling surge of purple static a huge black and purple seeker dropped into existence to Sideswipe's right and all but climbed the smaller bot in an effort to get a look at the tiny femme in his hand. Yellow optics flashing Skywarp bent his huge self over Sideswipe smaller mass nearly putting both him and his twin on their afts as he shoved his faceplate down into Sides' cupped hand grinning down at the tiny form of Jynx.

"MISS PRETTY!" The few degrees off seeker boomed down at her leaving her cringing away from both his mass and the sound. "Is that you!? You is so small! Why is you so small!? Thought you was bigger!? Was you not bigger!? You is all tiny! Like sparkling! Why you like sparkling!? Is you sparkling!? OH YAY! Little pretty sparkling!"

"Skywarp!" Sideswipe snapped, pulling Jynx away and backing up a few peds even if that didn't really work considering the huge flier was clinging to his arm. It was a little hard for even a mech as strong and Sides to go much of anywhere when Warp dug in his peds and held still. Helm tilting to the side while those distorted yellow optics gleamed in wonder and excitement. "You'll hurt her, back off a bit mech."

"She is sparkling!?"

"No, Warp." Sunstreaker shook his helm reaching out to latch hold of the bigger mech's arm trying to pry his claws out from around Sides' forearm before he accidentally hurt one of all of them. "She's not a sparkling, she just got shrunk."

"How got little? She is not that little. Always mostly little. But that really little! Why is so little!?"

Suddenly seeming to get his laughter under control—not that Bumblebee or Nook were even attempt to that considering they were still rolling around on the ground—Thundercracker was shoving himself up right. Making to get a hold of his trine brother to both help Sunstreaker and protect Skywarp should the mech suddenly decide something that wouldn't be for the best. "Warp, I'll explain, just hold up a klick."

The seeker was too busy vibrating with excitement to pay attention to his trine brother though. Instead he was in the middle of forming what had to be a remarkably brilliant idea.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! This be so awesome!" Then with a quick snatch and a poof of purple static Warp and Jynx were gone.

---

For a nano her whole processor spun with the force of the warp energy. Vision spotting in purple and white dots before she finally looked up and realized where she was. Hanging like a limb doll from Skywarp's claws in some other random open courtyard around the compound. Judging by the purple crystals scattered here and there the south side yard where most of the stylized fighting training that needed to happen outside did. She'd watched quite a few lessons in this place and spent quite a few quiet evenings watching the stars with the twins.

Now she found herself blinking blankly at the sight of a corner cart full of balloons of various colors and twisted in various animal shapes.

Seriously.

What was it with this mech and balloons?

"Look Miss Pretty!" Skywarp pulled her up in a jerk until she was optic to optics with his blazing smile. "I gots yous balloons again! You like them? Look at them!"

She was then thrust forward and dumped onto the cart. Throwing her limbs around wildly as she was dropped she latched hold of the nearest balloon string. Clinging to it for all she was worth as the world jarred around her until the big seeker backed off a few paces to smile down at her again.

She couldn't even get huffy at him for the rough treatment. It wasn't like he knew any better. Besides, he was so damn cute when grinned that big mega-watt smile.

As he blinked expectantly at her she readjusted her grip on the string she was dangling from. Glancing up to find it was attached to a neon pink turbo fox shape. The balloon was surrounded by what looked to be hundreds of similar and different shapes. Every bright color she could think of among them. It was actually kind of cool, and probably would have been shocking that the mech had gotten his hands on so many if he hadn't done stunts like this a few times already in the past.

For Warp, balloons seemed to fix everything.

Jynx couldn't really begrudge him that innocent comfort.

"You like them?" The flier finally pressed, his wings drooping a little behind his back as the answer took longer and longer to come.

Snapping to attention with the sight Jynx quickly nodded. "Yeah, Warp, yeah. They're awesome. Thank you. Where did you find them this time?"

"Oh!" The seeker was back to grinning in a nano. "From corner store that go to before. Me bought the whole cart from mech this time. Made him real happy."

"I bet it did." Jynx couldn't help but chuckle at him. Shaking her helm fondly while she leaned back to stare at all the balloons again. Fact was that Warp probably kept that corner shop balloon store in business. "Thank you for the balloons again, Warp, but what are they for this time?"

"Nothing." He grinned even brighter. "Just like giving things to you, Miss Pretty."

That fond smile grew as she shook her helm again, hanging there lightly from the balloon string. Then, suddenly Warp went tense. Those strange yellow optics clouding as his attention turned inward. It wasn't all that hard to guess he was getting a comm call.

"Oh." The mech huffed out in a confused breath. "Umm . . . TC not so happy that I took you. Me is gonna go get him and twins and bring them back. Be right back!"

In another poof of purple he was gone leaving Jynx hanging there from a balloon string shaking her helm.

She would have stayed there quite happily too, waiting on Warp to get the other mechs and then get her aft down to Wheeljack to get this slaggin' problem fixed had a sudden hard gust of wind not suddenly blown up through the courtyard, caught the balloons in its grip, and yanked her up airborne with a whole cluster of them leaving her clinging to a string as the ground suddenly disappeared in a cloud of colorful balloons.

---

Jazz was actually supposed to be working.

There was a virtual mountain of datapads pilled on the desk and even some in the chair behind him, but he didn't feel like slaggin' doing it right now. So, instead of doing what he should be doing he was leaning against his office window seal staring out at the sprawling city of New Iacon laid out before him.

In the bright morning sun, it shown like a jewel of different shimmering colors. Laying out in a noise and motion as far as his optics could see until it reach the safety of the towering wall that kept the wild out and the growing harmony in.

Jazz looked forward to the orn that wall came down. For the orn they no longer needed it, for it would mean safety—real safety—to the family he had created inside of it.

Behind him the steady tap, tap, tap of Prowl diligently typing away at his own reports was a steady reminder that he should be doing his own paperwork. Those field request and transfer sheets weren't going to finish themselves, but gah he was so tired of paperwork for an orn!

Letting out a hard vent he bent with his elbows propping up his chin, glaring through his visor at the city before him. There were a billon and one things more entertaining he could be doing beside slaggin' paperwork.

He wondered what Jynx was up to right about now?

The twins were supposed to be on patrol until this evening which normally meant Jynx entertained herself in either the company of Bumblebee, Bluestreak, or Nook. For a moment the ex-assassin entertained the notion of call them up and asking about her only for a riot of color from the corner of his vision to pulled his visor covered gaze to the side.

Balloons?

Helm tilting the silver mech turned enough to get a good look at the cloud of balloons floating up on a strong breeze for the southern court yard. He huffed a laugh when they blew closer to his window so he could catch the shapes of them. Another big bundle of neon colored cyber animals. Seemed Skywarp had been shopping again.

Jazz wondered who it was he was buying the bundles of rubber animals for this time.

Leaning back down against the ledge before his large window he watched the cluster of color float by. Their strings dangling widely in the wind like annoyed little tails he snickered at them only to choke on the sound two nanos later when he caught sight of—

Was that Jynx!?

That—that—that wasn't possible!

Shoving himself upright Jazz felt his jaw drop as he watched in seemingly slow motion as a tiny white bit of plating that in no way should have been able to be Jynx came flouting by his window dangling from the end of a balloon.

Jynx.

Jynx!

His fully-grown daughter was the grand size of a six vorn old sparkling hanging from the end of the string as it floated past his window some fifty-six floors high.

As she reached the middle of the window before him as he gasped at her she let go with one hand and waved her claws at him as she slowly drifted out of sight. Leaving Jazz leaning forward until his cheek pressed hard against the clear pane of glass trying to keep sight of her as she floated higher and higher away.

When she vanished from what he was able to see through his window he found himself still pressed up against the glass as his processor tried to catch up with what his optics had just told him he saw. Because that shouldn't have been possible but he had just seen it.

There was an all too familiar hissing static pop behind him making the silver mech twirl himself around hands already raised to try and stop what came next but he was too late. Prowl's pale blue optics were set on the window behind him, wide and left one twitching rapidly. Doorwings hiked high and broad behind him with confusion.

"Prowl—" Jazz didn't get any further then that before the black and white mech's processor let out an audible 'pop' and the mech's optics went dark as he fell over sideways crashing down behind his desk.

For a klick, Jazz just stood there contemplating the audacity that was his life before he broke from the office at a run already dialing his comm.

---

Sometimes Jynx questioned the stupid nonsense that was her life. Other times, she found letting out a heavy breath and just accepting it for the madness that it was worked better in the long run. This, oddly enough, felt like one of those latter times in which it worked out better in the end if she simply pouted and went with it.

You know, that, and because she couldn't figure out how to slaggin' get down.

Clinging as tightly as she could to a balloon string she watched New Iacon flow by under her like some kind of odd noise and light filled river of life. She was a good distance off the ground now. Floating high along the windows of the taller buildings but low enough that she could still see the forms of hundreds of different mechs and femmes moving back and forth with their ornly lives.

It might have been entertaining, flying was a fascinating concept even to grounders, but she was a little too busy being slightly scared out of her processor to do much more than cling.

Worse yet, she couldn't even blame anybot for this one. If she'd thought for half a nano she'd have let go when the wind first caught the balloons. She'd been too shocked though. Not realizing what was happening until she was flying high above the court yard. And she wasn't chancing the fall to the ground after that.

She liked breathing.

Shattering into a millions pieces on the court yard stone while being the size of a sparkling was not a dignified way to go out for a femme who had survived all she had. So letting go wasn't an option.

Floating it was then.

Holding tightly to her ride she let herself watch the city life flow around her. The noise and the motion calming her from the fear that had burned to life when this little balloon adventure started.

It was . . . kind of cool actually.

It was a way she had never looked at the city before, that was for sure. No bot seemed to notice her. Sure, the cluster of balloons on the breeze caught her attention, but she seemed to not be noticed along the cluster of rainbow colors.

Silver optics wide behind the curve of her clear visor she was oddly enough okay with that. Because this was actually slightly entertaining.

---

Skywarp was not really supposed to transport this many bots at a time, but what Ratchet didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Considering how pissed the twins had been when he poofed back into sight where he had left them, he figured stressing his drives wasn't all that big of a deal if it meant they would stop glaring at him like that.

So after he had bent low under their snarling only to be saved by Thundercracker's stern but understanding words he just reached out and warped them. He didn't think there was a faster way then that to solve the issue he had somehow created but didn't really understand.

However, he had in no way expected to poof them all back to his balloon stand, throw his arms out, declare that there was their femme, and then look down to see that his balloons were gone . . . along with Jynx.

Yellow optics widening Skywarp's two tone frame sagged. The two powerful wings that had been behind high and excited behind his back fell down in shock as he straightened at the sight of his missing things . . . and Miss Pretty.

"Oh." He chirped lowly, sadness creeping into his tone as he turned this way and that in search of both his balloons and the for some reason tiny femme only to come up empty.

But . . . .

But he left them right there?

"Gone?" He questioned, helm tilting in confusion as he turned back to his brother. Who now stood in a cluster of mechs trying to pick themselves up off the ground from the suddenness of the warp that left them all a little sick to their tanks.

Nook was shoving Bumblebee off his back while Thundercracker pulled them both to their peds as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker pushed themselves up right. The collection of different colored optics darting this way and that before landing on Warp again when they didn't find what they were looking for.

Widening a bit more when they saw the confusion written all over the big seeker's faceplate as he turned his trine brother.

"Why gone?"

"What do you mean gone?" Sunstreaker snapped, only to get shoved behind a bigger blue frame as Thundercracker walked to his confused younger brother helm tilting in question.

"Warp, you said you left her here. Didn't you?"

"With balloons." Skywarp nodded, optics still wide in confusion before he twisted enough to point to the cart that was no very empty of balloons where some had been tied just a few nanos ago. "Now balloons and Miss Pretty gone. But me not know why."

"Gone." Sideswipe muttered, glaring around the side of Thundercracker's down cast wings. "You lost her and a whole slag load of balloons?"

"What the frag, Warp!?" Sunstreaker shouted.

"Mechs," Nook stepped between the lot of them. "He's Warp, calm down."

"Why the frag aren't you freaking out about this!?" Both twins seethed. "It's all your fault to begin with!"

Before Nook could snarl right back at them a comm link channel blared to life between all of them, hacked by one of the only mechs around here capable of doing it. Though how in all of Cybertron Jazz figured to call the lot of them about this at the same time . . . well they honestly didn't know and if the lot of them thought too hard about it they were likely to become very insulted.

"Mechs!" The silver saboteur's voice snarled through the comm link channel full of both anger and a rapidly growing fear. "Why the pit did my femmeling just float by my window hanging from a balloon string heading for down town while she's the size of a SPARKLING!?"

For a nano, there was silence apart from the crackling of static over the comm channel as none of them responded right away to the shouting.

Then with a sound that started out as a comical kind of bubbling snort which evolved into full blown cackles Nook keeled over onto his aft. Arms clutching at his own middle as he threw his helm back and laughed.

Standing beside him Bumblebee flicked his antennas for a klick before the sound bubbled up in him as well. Though he apparently was smart enough to keep the sound a little more contained when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker turned burning glares on the two of them.

Thundercracker merely sighed, that deep put-upon sigh that he had perfected eons ago. When one was legally bound to an idiot like Starscream, one learned to master such sounds.

Raising a clawed hand he smacked it hard into his forehelm while Skywarp wiggled beside him in confusion.

"MECHS!?"

Jazz apparently did not like being ignored.

Not that any bot really blamed him.

Still, Nook's laughter filled voice didn't help matters at all when he giggled through the comm channel. "Wheeljack."

The following spew of curses and threats was more then enough to tell them all that Jazz had changed course and was now likely headed down stairs to kill Jacky.

For some reason, Nook found this remarkably funny as well.

Spinning from the cackling mech Sideswipe and Sunstreaker fixed their optics on Warp, letting out shared stressed growls as they said together. "Warp, go get her!"

"But . . . where go?" The flier questioned, optics darting between the twins and his trine brother looking for an explanation.

"She's apparently floating through downtown, Warp. Please go and catch her before she falls and hurts herself." Thundercracker sighed, knowing that somebot around here had to stop laughing long enough to fix this.

Besides, he'd laugh later.

When the twins weren't fit to murder somebot.

"Oh!" The black and purple flier perked back up, spinning on his heels as he looked off toward the city. "Okay! Bring right back!"

And with another poof he was gone.

Leaving Nook rolling on the ground still laughing, Bumblebee giggling to himself, the twins seething and Thundercracker contemplating whether or not somebot needed to go save Wheeljack.

Nah.

They'd worry about it after Warp got back with Jynx.

---

Still hanging by the end of the balloon string Jynx watched the highway flow along beneath her as her and her balloon herd floated further and further along. She was reaching a height now that she could no longer make out bots' faceplates.

Instead they were blurs of color in shapes of different forms. Picking out alt modes rushing along the roads and bi-ped forms milling down the sidewalks. A little while ago she drifted over one of the main public parts in the center of New Iacon. She'd seen what looked to be a spark orn party for some little youngling getting slung around in a fit of laughter by older siblings.

The little bot had caught sight of her balloons and called out in excitement at them all. Hanging from her string in the middle of the cluster she went unnoticed, but she didn't mind. She could only imagine the freak out that would come with grown bots looking up to see what they would think was a sparkling dangling from a balloon quite a few dozen feet off the ground.

Still drifting along quietly now she actually wasn't bothered by all this anymore. It was kind of funny now that she had a chance to think about it. Sure, being tiny was inconvenient, and Nook laughing had gotten old real fast, but now hanging above the city by a string she couldn't claim she was upset anymore.

It was . . . nice.

It a weird, just go with it kind of way, she supposed.

Watching the buildings shining in the sun, the life flow through the city all around her, was a reminder that no matter the slag her life had been and the chaos that still reined outside the city walls there was still . . . life.

She wasn't sure why hanging from a balloon string helped her with that, but she didn't feel too much like digging deeper into the feeling either.

Silver optics still darting this way and that behind the curve of her visor she was somehow not at all surprised when from the corner of her optics she caught sight of a bright purple flash. Helm snapping up she found Skywarp poofing in and out a few blocks away.

The huge black and purple seeker flashing in and out of existence. Looking all around him as his big frame well after the warp wore off before another crackle of drives would magically place him somewhere else.

Clinging to her string she was about the call out to the big flier when suddenly those yellow optics of his caught sight of her. The wide grin that cut across his faceplate made her chuckle despite herself. In another flash and blink she found herself caught.

Large but careful clawed hands scooping her up—balloon and all—while the giggling flier chirped. "Got ya, Miss Pretty!"

And they were gone with another crackling poof.

---

Skywarp didn't waste time poofing back to where he left his brother. Instead, the flier shot out a quick comm to those he left behind as to what he was up to—he was getting better at the whole explaining what he was thinking thing, when he was reminded—before popping himself and Jynx back down to Wheeljack's lab.

They arrived in his customary crackling purple flash that for some reason had Wheeljack yelping like a startled fawn and jumping halfway to the ceiling. An action that sent glitter paint flying everywhere, a match struck before any bot noticed, and as the inventor landed in a pile of shocked limbs on the floor staring up at the big grinning seeker and the tiny white femme in his palm his mouth dropped open in shock the same time the firework that had been laying on the table behind him shot off with a whirling dazzle.

The streak of light and sound made Skywarp twist with it. Optics and audios tracking the sight in curiosity. The motion making it to where he and the tiny form of Jynx in his palm were unfortunately in direct firing line of it as it crashed into the far lab wall with an audio splitting crack.

"Get down!"

One would not normally think a mech of Skywarp's size could be bull rushed and successfully taken to the ground by a mech Wheeljack's size, but the inventor didn't survive all the slag that went up in flames around him on a regular basis because he was built weak.

Muscle cord for muscle cord in that study tri colored frame Wheeljack was in no way a push over. Which meant, you know, he could actually push over Skywarp in a full tilt tackle that had the big seeker yelping like a startled pup. Tightening his claws into a quick but careful ball Warp yanked Jynx tightly to his chest even while Wheeljack crashed down on top of them. Managing to pin them both to the floor in a way Warp was definitely gonna wonder over later right as that audio shatter crack was taken over by a sheering bloom of red, gold, yellow, and purple light making Jynx squeak while Warp squeezed his optics shut.

When the ringing echo finally stopped dancing around his audios the big flier carefully peaked open one optics to find the world around him . . . covered in sticky pink glitter paint.

Huh?

"Ah damn." The mutter came from the weight laying on top of his middle made him dare for both optics to open. Well, that and the fact that the whole room, and him, were covered in sticky pink glitter paint.

Why was he covered in sticky pink glitter paint?

He didn't understand.

"Well . . . ." Pushing himself upright on a very large expanse of warm dark armor, Wheeljack shook the residing ringing from his audios. Helm fins giving a flash of yellow before fading to green and then blue again as he sighed. "At least the glitter chambers work."

"Glitter." Warp mumbled. "Boom and then glitter . . . huh?"

"Glitter filled firework, Warp." Wheeljack explained, pushing himself up right until he was more or less straddling the bigger mech's ribs. "You made me drop it, then it blew up."

"Oh." Tilting his helm back he let his optics dart around the now glittery room. "Pretty."

Wheeljack snorted in amusement, before a tiny banging of fists beating at a closed hand sounded between them. Both sets of optics snapping down. It was right about then that Wheeljack remembered what he had seen sitting in Skywarp's palm.

"Holy frag!" Throwing himself forward the inventor scrambled up Warp's chest, latching hold of his clenched hand, prying back clawed fingers that didn't fight him, until he found himself staring down at the rather put out tiny form of Jynx glaring back at him.

"Miss Pretty is tiny." Skywarp helpfully put in. Pushing himself up the big seeker ended up with Wheeljack sitting in his lap with his jaw hanging open while he stared at Jynx. The tiny Jynx sitting in Skywarp's palm with her arms crossed over her chest scowling at him.

"Wha . . . ." The inventor blinked.

"Was kinda hoping you'd tell me." She growled at him.

"Yeah," A far deeper voice, but one that held the same undertones and similar drawl snarled from the doorway leaving them all looking up to find Jazz standing there with a snarl. "So would I."

Wheeljack went very still.

Blue optics widening, helm fins flashing white, the tri colored inventor could do nothing but stare up at the rater angry looking silver mech currently striding into his lab. Bright blue optics narrowed behind a darkened visor and lips pulled back in a scowl that showed fangs the seething silver mech strolled forward until he was looming over the lot of them.

Those bright optics of his darting from the suddenly nervously chuckling inventor, to the blissfully unaware grin of the seeker, and finally down to the form of Jynx sitting with her arms crossed in said seeker's hand glaring at the lot of them.

While she was three foot high.

Sparkling size.

And all that wasn't even taking into account how everything around them was fraggin' covered in pink glitter!

Taking a deep breath, Jazz tried to pretend he wasn't clenching his claws at his side while he grumbled. "What. The. Frag?"

"His gun is broken." Jynx shot back, lifting a tiny claw to jab Wheeljack in the wrist. The inventor shot up from the jab that in no way could have hurt with a yelp. The pained sound had a whole lot more to do with the words she spoke then the action she'd just made.

Spinning on his peds the tri colored mech lifted both hands in a pacifying gesture even as Jazz slowly turned on him with a bubbling snarl.

"What the slag does she mean your 'gun is broken'?" He growled.

"Umm, well, see it's really a very funny story."

"I'm sure."

His building growl was met with an every growing nervous chuckle. He opened his mouth for what would likely have been a very good explanation of what had happened—for he had actually figured it out—when he was cut off by Jynx's huff.

"He shot me with a warp gun that didn't work and I ended up in a broom closet the size of a sparkling."

For a moment there was silence, well besides Skywarp's sudden snort of amusement but no bot was paying him any mind. Then, slowly, Jazz—who's attention had snapped down to Jynx when she started talking—turned himself back toward Wheeljack. Stalking forward with all the skilled precision of a deadly predator until he was noseplate to noseplate with the sinking inventor.

"You. Shot. My sparkling. With a gun?"

"Well technically it was a warp gun. Not an actual gun. So shot is the wrong word. Because nothing really hit her. It was just a burst of energy, and well, I figured out what happened. I can . . . well I'm pretty sure I can fix it. All the other shots I tested nothing like this happened, but then I started wondering if it had something to do with maybe I just didn't notice. Because everything I tested it on so far was already tiny. Momentary lapse in notice there . . . ." The quickly spit out ramble trailed off into a very tentative chuckle as the tri colored mech that in truth was a good few feet taller than Jazz cowered lower and lower as the snarling silver mech backed him across the lab.

Jazz's engine picked up the growls vibrating through his vocal processor letting the angry sound echo even harsher as he grated though through gritted teeth. "You shot her with a test weapon you didn't even know what did!?"

"Umm . . . ."

"Wheeljack?" A heavy, level voice calling from the door wasn't enough to tear the cowering inventor's gaze away from his looming demise but he still managed to squeak out.

"Yeah?"

"Run, you blinky fool." Thundercracker rumbled.

"Good idea." His helm fins flashing white in panic the inventor spun on his heels, somehow managed to dodge the viscous swipe of claws Jazz aimed for his neck, before he took off in a limb-milling flee that was fully of screaming apologizes and pleas while Jazz tore after him down the glitter filled hallway throwing back promises of death when he got a hold of him.

Both ran right past the cluster of mechs in Wheeljack's doorway not even bothering to take note of Nook leant against the doorframe still giggling his aft off, Bumblebee more or less holding him up now, the twins seething as they stalked into the room, or Thundercracker simply standing there shaking his helm.

Still seated on his aft in the middle of Jacky's pink glitter coated lab Skywarp watched with big yellow optics as the golden and red frontliners made their way to him. He didn't protest—because Jynx didn't—as Sideswipe bent to snatch her up. Cradling her in his palm while pulling her to rest against his chest. Turning back to the doorway as his twin muttered darkly.

"Serves the glitchy idiot right."

"Umm, mechs?" Bumblebee pulled the twins' attention to him as he flexed his doorwings behind him uneasily. Now just hanging onto Nook's arm while the mech giggled breathlessly against the doorframe beside him. At least he was mostly hidden behind Thundercracker's bulk so the twins' dagger like glares couldn't get to him. "I think Jazz might actually be planning to kill him."

"So?" Sideswipe grumbled, tilted his helm while wiggling Jynx a little in his hand to bring notice to her. He got smacked for it by a tiny clawed hand but he didn't really mind. "Look at what he slaggin' did!"

"Well, yeah." Bee nodded even as he shrugged. "But if Jazz kills Jacky how does Jynx get back to normal size?"

The twins stiffened while Jynx let out an annoyed sigh.

"I mean, unless you want her to stay tiny. I was just thinking, that might make your life a little difficult is all."

From a good ways down the hallway there came a very un-mechly like screech that sounded an awful lot like Wheeljack followed by a banging crash loud enough to have them all winching.

Finding herself dumped back in Skywarp's palm while the twins broke from the lab at a full sprint yelling after Jazz to hold it a klick before he committed homicide in no way surprised her. If anything, she'd seen it coming.

Caught in the big dark clawed hands of a seeker carefully shoving himself to his peds, shaking like a wet trubo-fox in an effort to get some of the clinging glitter paint off of him she balanced there in his hand while casting a glare over to the brightly painted green and gold bot now leant against Thundercracker's hip. Whole frame shuddering with the laughter he could no longer make as his vents had seized from over use.

Still standing there beside the two of them, now rocking back and forth on his peds the young yellow mech striped in black glanced around at the glittering lab before his optics fell back down to the tiny white femme.

"So." He said. "Why is everything glittery pink?"

Jynx felt fully justified in flopping back into Skywarp's palm, and banging her hands into her forehelm.

It had been a very long orn.

---

Later—after it had taken the twins, Thundercracker, Ratchet, Megatron, and Optimus Prime to separate a very angry Jazz from a very sorry Wheeljack—Jynx found herself once again her proper size, leaning back on one of the outside common area tables with Sideswipe leaning on one side of her and Sunstreaker leaning on the other while they watched the sun go down over the distant buildings.

Sitting there quietly sipping at a cube of highgrade Sideswipe had produced from somewhere she absentmindedly swung her peds back and forth as she rested her weight against the red twin's strong shoulder.

The two of them had been rather quiet since the three of them were banished from Wheeljack's lab after she was put back to rights to leave the inventor—still covered in quite a few scrapes, scratches, dents, and bruises from where Jazz had been trying to murder him and Ratchet didn't feel much like fixing—with his helm bent low and his shoulders sagging under the stern lecture of both the Prime and the Protector while Soundwave and Perceptor stood off to the side fiddling with his now known to be slightly malfunctioning warp gun that still somehow managed to slightly work.

Even if it had gotten the tri colored scientist in a whole heap of trouble that did not mean the other bright minds of New Iacon's command staff weren't intrigued.

Now that all the chaos of the orn had seemingly ended the two big mechs were a great deal calmer even if they didn't feel much like talking to her.

She wasn't bothered.

They'd get to talking soon enough.

So, while she waited she figured she might as well enjoy the sunset as she sipped happily at the warm, bubbly, kick of good highgrade waiting for the stars to come out. Her patience eventually rewarded her with a low grumble coming from Sideswipe before her leaning post shifted just enough that she was forced to straighten up so that she could turn her visor covered gaze up to him.

"How the frag do you get yourself into the slag that you do?"

Snorting she rolled her optics as she lifted her drink again. Taking a long swallow, she simply stared up into the big mech's dark optics before replying. "Nook got bored."

Like that explained everything.

Sad part of it all, it did.

Even if now the brightly painted Praxian was back in his room, likely still laughing about all this, not caring at all for the scolding Prime had given him, both frontliners knew it to be the truth. It was a truth they had come to except.

Still, Sunstreaker let out a hard vent as he shook his helm back and forth. The sound and the motion drawing Jynx to turn her attention to him as he rumbled lowly at her.

"Fine. Next time Nook gets bored though, go to the park, go shopping, go get a drink, go sit in on the defense lessons, go buy a new pet for all I fraggin' care like we need a slaggin' 'nother one, but please do not go play in Wheeljack's lab!"

"Okay?" Sideswipe finished.

"Yeah," Jynx nodded, knowing when she'd been beat. "Okay. I am sorry by the way. It was fun until the whole warp gun thing."

"I still can't believe you fraggin' agreed to that." Sunstreaker mumbled under his breath.

Jynx just shrugged. Looking back at it now, neither could she, but if there were two in this world that now understood the loopy way she decided things it was these two. She wasn't too worried about them being all grumble now.

So, instead of rising to Sunny's bait she instead leaned on his shoulder this time. Relaxing back into the warmth and strength that was his frame while the three of them lapsed back into silence. The trio stayed that way as the sun sank lower and lower until eventually the world turned soft, cool, and dark around them. Stars slowly beginning to twinkle to life overhead despite the light and life of the city that surrounded them.

Then, quietly, because she could Jynx tilted her helm back just enough to stare up at the underside of Sunstreaker's jaw. "Sunny?"

He grunted a wordless response prompting her to go on.

"Were you serious about the not caring about another pet thing?"

The question made Sideswipe snicker softly on her other side while the golden brother twisted enough to look down at her. "Jynx, we have enough pets. We have too many pets."

"I know." She shrugged. "But were you?"

Letting out a heavy sigh the frontliner turned his focus back to the sky. "I guess, it depends."

"Okay." She nodded then added. "Because Wheeljack said something about Insecticon eggs."

Both twins straightened a little at this and though she didn't need to look back at Sideswipe she knew his faceplate mirrored his twin's as Sunstreaker shifted again to look down at her with a lifted optic ridge. Jynx just stared back at him for a klick or two before smiling. Turning her attention back to the stars above them leaving them to stew over it.

For she knew them more then well enough now to know interest when it shown in those dark optics.

Hiding her growing smirk in the rim of highgrade cube she silently chalked this mess up to what actually turned out to be a rather good orn.

---

And that's it. *falls*

Over twenty thousand words of pure silliness. I hope you all liked it and I look forward to seeing what you thought!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

-Jaycee