Arcee looked at the prone body lying on the medical bed. The lights in Repair Bay were darkened enough so that his optics wouldn't be damaged as he lay there, offline.

Why did this have to happen?

First Aid and Ratchet walked past her at that moment, both looking worn out and in desperate need of a good recharge cycle.

As he walked past her, Ratchet rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Go get some rest," he urged quietly.

"But . . ."

"No arguments. He's stabilized for the moment and he'll be all right."

"How do you know this? How do you know he's going to be all right?" she asked, amazed at how quietly and calmly she spoke when what she really wanted to do at that moment was scream.

"I just . . . do," he replied softly. "I've known him for a very long time. Giving up just isn't his style."

"Oh . . ." Arcee looked back at the Mech lying on the bed.

"Would it be all right if I stayed here for a while longer?"

Ratchet was looking at her but she didn't raise her head to meet his gaze. She didn't want him to see the guilt that was etched on her face or that reflected in her optics.

"For a little while. But then you need to get some rest, okay?"

She nodded and went to sit down next to the bed. Ratchet sighed a little and left with his own load of worries.

As Arcee sat there, she played the events over and over again in her mind, trying to figure out exactly how this could have happened. . .

--

Arcee stepped tentatively off the shuttle's landing ramp and blinked a couple of times to adjust her optics. Certainly is bright here. Once her optics adjusted to the glare of the sun, she looked around, taking in all of the shades of blue, green, brown, and white. So this is Earth. It's colourful as well as bright.

After she looked around some, Arcee took a few more steps, hesitating a little when the ground gave some under her feet.

"It's all right, Arcee," Optimus said as he walked up behind her, "you're not going to damage much just by stepping on it."

"Just don't step on any of the humans," Blaster joked as he stepped off the shuttle.

"Blaster, haven't you got something you should be doing?"

"No. . ."

A pointed look from Optimus quickly changed Blaster's mind and he suddenly ducked back onto the shuttle.

Meanwhile, the pink Femme had stopped and looked at the Autobot leader, somewhat skeptically. Prime looked at her and nodded in reassurance. After a few moments, Arcee started looking around again, marginally reassured.

As she continued to look around, two familiar-looking Mechs, one red and grey and the other white, walked up to her.

"Hey, Arcee. . ."

Arcee looked up and smiled. "Hey, Ironhide, Ratchet. What brings you out here?"

"You, actually," Ratchet replied. "Ironhide here is gonna show you the sights of Earth after I run some preliminary scans to be sure that you're functioning properly.

"Don't worry," he assured her when it looked like she might protest. "I do this to everyone that arrives here at the Ark."

"I see," she smiled even brighter. "How long will it take?"

"Not very long."

"All right."

They turned around and headed back into the Ark, Arcee following them and looking around as she went.

Arcee sat in Repair Bay, waiting for Ratchet to let leave and watching Ironhide as she waited.

He stood in the doorway, looking rather aloof. Every and now then, he asked Ratchet some inane question and Ratchet answered but neither one had spoken for some time.

She was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong when Ratchet finally spoke up.

"All right, Arcee, you're good to go."

"That's it?"

Ratchet nodded. "Yeah. Sorry it took so long but the network's been sluggish today."

"Let's go then," Ironhide said. "We'll get you settled in and after that, it's a tour of the base, then the local area. Prime will have another assignment for you once we get back."

"Doing what?" she asked, sliding off the bed.

"Dunno," Ironhide shrugged. "I wouldn't worry too much about it right now."

"All right," Arcee replied, following him out of Repair Bay. . .

"And here's where we keep a good majority of our weapons and ammunition," Ironhide stated as they walked through a room filled to capacity with a variety of guns and ammunition.

Arcee looked around with a great amount of interest but couldn't help but feel a little out of place. From the moment he showed her to her own private quarters and started to show her around the base, Arcee was overwhelmed. She'd never really had her own private place nor had she ever been around so many other Autobots, especially when they were all Mechs. It was starting to hit her that she was a long way from home and all of her close friends. It was becoming a very scary prospect to her and a small longing to go back to the Femmes' base started to grow.

"Are you all right?"

Ironhide's voice jarred her out of her thoughts.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you all right? Looked like I lost ya there for a moment. I ain't that boring, am I?"

"Oh, no," Arcee replied, smiling a little in embarrassment. "It's not that. It's just that I . . ."

"You're starting to feel a little homesick for Cybertron?" he asked softly.

"How . . .?" Arcee looked at him in surprise.

"I may be old, but I'm not blind, Arcee," Ironhide said gently. "I could see it reflecting in your optics. It isn't something to be ashamed of, though. It happens to everyone."

"Including you?"

"Including myself," Ironhide nodded.

She smiled a little more, feeling a little more reassured. It didn't ease her homesickness much but at least she didn't feel as alone.

"There you are! Have you any idea as to how difficult you are to find?"

Surprised at hearing an unmistakably female voice, Arcee turned around at the same time Ironhide did to see the source of the voice and she got her first view of a human.

She wasn't very tall, in Arcee's opinion. She didn't even reach her knee! But she was smiling, displaying no fear as she walked up to them.

"I ain't that difficult to find, Carly," Ironhide retorted back. "You just can't keep up with me."

Carly laughed at that, easing some more of Arcee's anxieties.

"So how come you were looking for me?" Ironhide asked, folding his arms some.

"Well," Carly began slowly, "I heard from Bumblebee that there was a . . . femme? I think that's the word he used. . . Anyway, he said that she was with you on a tour of the Ark. I wanted to meet her so I've been trying to track the both of you down."

"Well, you found us," Ironhide grinned. "Arcee, this is Carly. Carly, this is Arcee, one of the Femme Fatales."

"Femme Fatales?"

"Yes," Arcee replied. "The Femme Fatales. It's what we call ourselves . . . See, after the Ark launched, the remaining Femmes went underground. From there, Elita-1, our commander, led secret attacks on the Decepticons, specifically against Shockwave."

"Secret attacks?"

"Well, more like raids," Arcee explained. "See, the female Autobots were believed to be extinct by both sides . . . Alpha Trion believed it to be best at that time. . . So in order to get the energy we needed to survive, we had to go into the Decepticon bases and steal their energy."

"So why against Shockwave?" Carly inquired.

"I don't know," Arcee shrugged. "I was created shortly after they went underground and the older Femmes don't really like to talk about it."

"I see. . ."

Carly became thoughtful at that moment, and Arcee felt herself starting to like this human. She wasn't sure but she felt as if they had a few things in common.

If there was only some way to find out . . .

Carly must have been reading her mind because she looked up at Ironhide.

"Ironhide, this is the last part of your tour for Arcee, right?"

"It can be . . . Why?"

"Well, I was thinking . . ."

"Oh no. We're in trouble now," Ironhide teased.

"Oh hush," Carly admonished playfully. "I was going to ask if it would be all right if I showed Arcee around the local area. That is, if she isn't going to be doing anything else right away . . ."

"Well," Ironhide hesitated.

"It's all right with me, Ironhide," Arcee chimed in. "In fact, I'd love to do it that way."

"All right," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll let Optimus know that. . ."

"Thank you, Ironhide," Carly said, flashing him a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Ironhide said. "Just be careful, all right?"

"We will!" they chorused together as they headed for the main entrance.

Arcee looked back one final time, just in time to see Ironhide shaking his head, as if to say "Kids."

Like a father would . . .

She gave it no more thought as she followed Carly out.

--

"Is it always this bright here?"

As soon as they had reached the main entrance, Arcee had transformed into her vehicle form and allowed Carly to climb in just before taking off. Carly had given her some directions to a rather quiet place (in her opinion) so they could talk without being interrupted by a bunch of males. Arcee had laughed at that as she headed in the direction Carly indicated.

"No. Not always. It gets dark out as the sun goes down and there are times when it does rain. Occasionally it snows but that's about it. Some places get hail and sleet."

"Snow?"

"It's rain, only a little more solidified. Same with sleet and hail, only they can do damage when they're falling."

Arcee wasn't sure what to say to that. She'd never even heard of such stuff.

Maybe I should have done a little more reading about this planet than what I did. . .

"So what brings you to Earth?"

"I don't know, really. Curiosity more than anything else."

"How do you like it so far?"

"It's different," Arcee admitted. "It's very different from Cybertron . . . We don't get things like snow or hail or sleet."

"I know," Carly smiled.

"You know?"

"Yeah."

"How . . .?"

"Spike and I have been to Cybertron before. And I think Cybertron is, well, pretty interesting, to say the least."

"How did you end up going to Cybertron?" Arcee's curiosity was definitely piqued and she found herself liking Carly more and more as Carly told her about her first trip to Cybertron.

It's like I've found a kindred spirit or something . . .

They were both so busy talking that neither of them noticed the F-15 that tailed them overhead.

888888888

Starscream was in a foul mood as he headed back to the Decepticons' new temporary headquarters.

It's just like Megatron to build a base only to abandon it . . . Such a waste of time and energy. It's time best . . .

That train of thought was interrupted when he noticed a pink vehicle below him. It had a rather decidedly Cybertronian look to it. Of course, the red Autobot sigil was a dead giveaway.

It can't be Elita-1 . . . Can it?

He descended a little to get a better look.

No, it's not Elita, he thought as he sorted through the files of all the existing Autobot Femmes. Up until recently, when they resurfaced at Darkmount, the Female Autobots were believed to be extinct. Eventually, nearly all of the files had either been lost or destroyed.

Thank goodness Soundwave didn't delete his files on them. Megatron can praise Shockwave all he wants but he was an idiot for losing those files.

Starscream didn't think much of either Shockwave or Soundwave but he grudgingly admitted, if only to himself, that Soundwave did have his good points. Like now.

As he came to the last profile, he knew exactly who the Femme down below was. Arcee. Starscream smiled wolfishly.

An easy target . . . Time for some fun . . .

With no certain amount of glee, Starscream descended even more, powering up his weapons as he went.

I'll be late but then I don't care . . . Megatron can kiss my exhaust over this.

When his weapons had powered up fully, he began his attack, grinning as he fired upon Arcee. His grin got even bigger when he saw her stop and let a human out before transforming to counter his attack. That was just the opportunity he needed. He fired again, hitting her dead on. She managed to fire off a couple of shots at him but only one hit, grazing his right wing. The wound was superficial and he knew it.

Laughable . . . Weakling Femme won't be able to defeat me.

He fired again, each shot hitting her dead on. She tried to remain standing but didn't quite seem to manage. As he transformed and landed, she hit the ground, unconscious.

That was definitely too easy . . .

A flash of momvent caught his optic at that moment and he remembered the human that was with the Autobot. Within a moment, he snatched up whoever it was.

"Let me go, you Decepti-creep!"

Starscream just laughed. He was definitely pleased with himself. Not only had he captured an Autobot Femme but he had a human captive as well.

"I don't think so, human," Starscream replied coolly. "You and your Autobot friend are coming with me."

He walked over to Arcee, flung her over his shoulder as best he could, and took to the air, getting himself back on course.

888888888

Megatron paced the entire length of the control room before stopping and tracing his steps back.

Where is that confounded fool? He should have been here.

Megatron paced some more before he sighed in exasperation.

"That's it! Soundwave, dispatch . . ."

Starscream arrived at that moment, still carrying the human and the Femme.

Megatron's back was to him when he heard Starscream approach.

Time to find out what that fool has been up to.

"Starscream, what. . .?"

He turned around and stopped what he was going to say when he saw what Starscream had with him.

"How . . .?" Megatron couldn't quite believe his optics. Capturing the human would have been easy, even for someone like Starscream. But the Femme. . . Now that was a completely different story.

"Oh, quite easy, Leader," Starscream smirked. "She was an easy target. She hardly made any attempt to fight back."

Megatron snorted at that and inspected Starscream for any damage. Except for a superficial scrape on his right wing, he was fine. Impressed, Megatron smiled.

"Congratulations, Starscream. You finally did something right for a change."

Starscream was about to retort back to that when Megatron cut him off.

"Take them to the detention center, Starscream. I"m sure they will be most useful."

Starscream scowled at him but complied with the order. Megatron watched him go.

"Soundwave, contact Optimus Prime. It's time we did some . . . negotiating," he laughed.

"As you command, Megatron."

888888888

"Optimus, we have an incoming call coming from the Decepticons," Blaster announced, obviously disturbed.

"The Decepticons? What do they want?" he demanded as he walked up.

"Bringing it on screen now, Prime," Blaster stated, punching a couple of keys.

"Optimus Prime."

There was an amused tone in Megatron's voice that instantly set him on edge.

"What do you want, Megatron?" Prime growled.

"Why, to discuss the terms of your surrender, for course," Megatron purred.

"You have no . . ."

"On the contrary, Optimus Prime, I do," Megatron said smoothly. "Unless, of course, you wish to see harm done to two of your friends . . ."

An image of Arcee and Carly in the Decepticon detention center appeared on Teletran's screen. Prime stiffened when he saw it.

"State your terms," he said tersely.

Megatron's image appeared back.

"You will deliver yourself to these coordinates within three hours or they will be terminated. And come alone, Prime."

The screen went blank, leaving everyone in the control room on edge and looking at Prime. Slowly, carefully, he turned away and stalked out.

"Prime!"

He slowed down some as Ironhide ran up to him but didn't stop.

"Prime, you can't be. . ."

"I am, Ironhide," he snapped. "I told Elita I'd watch over Arcee. I should've warned her about the danger."

"But you couldn't have seen this coming, Prime," Ironhide pointed out. "At least take some back up . . ."

"And risk Megatron killing both Arcee and Carly? No. I go alone. It's the only way."

"But . . ."

"I am going alone, Ironhide. That's final."

Without another word, Prime continued to stalk off, leaving Ironhide where he stood. Or so he thought.

888888888

Arcee couldn't help but feel nervous. She and Carly were in the middle of a Decepticon camp, with nearly all of the Decepticons gathered around, looking and pointing at her. And some of the looks were enough to make her skin crawl.

"What's going on? I've never seen them gather quite like this." Carly's voice was barely a whisper.

"I don't know," Arcee shook her head. She hated the feelings of anxiety that she had at that moment. They made her feel like she was weakling, which she knew she wasn't.

The sound of an engine approaching caught her attention. It caught Carly's as well.

"Oh no," Carly moaned.

"What? What is it?"

"It's Optimus Prime."

Arcee looked at Carly then at the plume of smoke and dust as they made their way towards them. Within a few moments, Prime pulled up and transformed.

"Ah, Optimus Prime," Megatron smiled. "So glad you could make it."

"Enough, Megatron. I'm here. Now let them go."

Arcee wanted to scream when she heard him say that, the cold realization hitting her.

No! He can't be! Not for me! It's not right! The Autobots need him!

Megatron was about to say something when Soundwave did.

"Another Autobot approaching," he announced.

Megatron glared at Optimus.

"I told you to come alone!" he snarled, levelling his fusion cannon at Arcee and Carly. "Now prepare to witness their termination!"

Ironhide drove up at that moment and transformed, guns ablazing, and all hell broke loose . . .

888888888

He fought so valiantly, Arcee thought morosely, as the battle played out in her mind. Ironhide had taken several hits by various Decepticons but he had done his own fair share of damage before Megatron finally got to him. Arcee shuddered as she remembered watching Megatron fire twice on Ironhide at point blank range. She and Carly had managed to get to Optimus and together they had cleared a way to Ironhide. He'd been wounded badly but, with some help from Optimus, he had managed to get out of the battlezone. By the time they'd gotten back to the Ark, though, he'd lost consciousness . . . and a good amount of energon.

This is my fault . . . He wouldn't be here now if it hadn't been for me and my carelessness. . .

"Arcee?"

Prime's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

She still couldn't bring herself to look at anyone, especially him. Elita and Chromia had told her that he and Ironhide were best friends and now Ironhide was fighting for his life.

Because of me . . .

Optimus gently rested a hand on her shoulder at that moment.

"I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened."

Startled, she looked up at him. "How . . .?"

"Ratchet told me you were still here . . . And that you weren't making any kind of optic-contact with anyone, as if you were blaming yourself," he explained softly. "No one thinks you're guilty for what happened. Least of all Ironhide, if I know him. Which, I do," he added, his optics nearly twinkling.

"Then how come I feel so lousy?" she murmured, looking away.

"It's natural, Arcee," he soothed. "It comes with being on the frontlines. It just takes some time to getting use to. So go get some recharge. He'll be awake before you know it."

Arcee nodded as she stood up. "Who told you that? That this comes with being on the frontlines?"

"Ironhide," he answered. "I'll tell you about it. . ."

With one last glance at Ironhide, Arcee nodded and walked out of Repair Bay, feeling a little better as Optimus told her about his first time on the frontline.

"It was shortly after I met Ironhide. . ."