Full Ark: Little Known Facts

This is the third of the Full Ark series. It is here we get some more insight on the war going on. Once again I own nothing/nada/kaput! I only own Jen and the plot. So please relax and enjoy the story.

A bit of warning: There is a bit of a dark part here. It's not that bad, but please don't get upset with me. This is after all an Alternate Universe.

Jen poked her head around a crate, the entrance of the Ark wide open. Her eyes scanned across the area. Not an Autobot in sight. Perfect.

She half crawled, half ran towards the door. She could practically feel the soft breeze coming into the Ark. It was a nice sunny day. She could recognize a robin calling to his mate. Her goal was a few feet away. Just a couple more steps.

"What do you think you're doing?" A giant hand picked her up by her mid-section. Jen found herself looking at Hound. "Getting tired of us already?"

Jen crossed her arms. "No. I'm just tired being cooped up." She cocked a brow. "Where do you think you're going?"

Hound placed her down. "I'm going scouting with Bumblebee." He juts his thumb towards the yellow volts wagon standing next to him.

"Aren't you supposed to be with Perceptor?" The minibot asked.

"I have a day off. Can I please go with you guys?" She pleaded. "I promise I'll listen and won't cause any trouble."

"Is it alright with Prowl?" Hound asked.

She shuffled her feet. "If I say that he said yes, will you let me come with you?"

Bumblebee gave a sad smile. "I'm sorry Jen. To be truthful, I wouldn't mind taking you, but it's a warzone out there."

"You're safer here." Hound added. He then looked at Bumblebee. "Let's get going."

"See you later Jen." The volts wagon added before he and Hound went out the door.

Jen slumped to the ground. That was the fifth failed attempt this week! She saw one of Red Alert's cameras turn her way. Oh how she wished she could flick him off right there, but that wouldn't do anything, so she resisted the urge. The security director had spotted her trying to get out more than once. So many times in fact, that he eventually told the mechs going out for sentry duty to look out for her. Now, when she meant sentry, she didn't mean the ones going outside. Oh-no. Red alert intentionally assigned mechs for inside sentry duty. She swore the mech had a thing against her!

Jen felt bad for the mechs assigned IS duty (inside sentry duty), but they weren't mad at her. They were rather mad at the paranoid security officer. They would flip him the bird whenever his camera came around to scan the area. That was one of the first things the Autobots learned when they arrived on Earth. Not to mention some of the mechs have been bothering Jen to learn more (rather inappropriate) Earth language.

Jen stood up. Oh well, she's bored out of her mind. Something red caught the corner of her eye. "Cliffjumper? What are you doing here?" She approached the bored minibot, sitting on a crate.

"IS duty." He helped her on the crate.

"You didn't stop me." It was a statement.

Cliffjumper just laid back. "No one takes Red's IS duty seriously. We just leave when Red's not looking. Not like you're gonna run away anyway."

"I'm just so sick and tired staying inside. Especially on a nice day!" She points at the door. She sighed. "Though I can't complain too much. You guys are risking a lot by keeping me here."

"I ain't complaining. But I don't entirely understand the reason you're in hiding."

"Well, I'm not the only one in hiding you know."

Cliffjumper sat up. "No, I don't know. Care to explain?"

"Well…" She twittled her thumbs. "Minus the Decepticon threat, there's a bit of a civil war between us humans, when you guys arrived shortly after. It's…it's a bit hard to explain."

"It's alright, I've got time."

Jen, clearly uncomfortable, jumped off the crate. "Sorry Cliffjumper. I got to go." She left.

Cliffjumper fell flat on his back and exhaled air from his vents in a form of a sigh. "What the slag did I do wrong?"

"It's still a sensitive subject for 'er." The minibot turned his head to see Jazz.

"Spying on us?" He sneered.

"Hardly. What she said piped curiosity in me. It seems there are things going on that we don't know about."

"She acts like she's alright, but something seems to be bothering her." Cliffjumper stated. "I just want her to open up to me more, have her tell me things."

Jazz gave a smile. "You care about her, dontcha?"

Cliffjumper just glared at him. "We share a common enemy, Decepticons. Both of our lives were ruined by them."

"I agree, but if you are worried about the information she's withholding, then maybe you should go see Prowl. Maybe he can do something about it."

"I guess." After a moment, Cliffjumper realized that Jazz wasn't going anywhere. "What the slag do you want!"

"Ya been picking less fights lately." The saboteur casually put in.

"So? Your point?" He scoffed.

Jazz shrugged. "Just seems a little someone is distracting ya. Ratchet's relieved about that."

The minibot frowned. "You're glitched in the head." He hopped off the crate. "Slag off!"

"Just let her come to you! Ya don't want her ta think you're over bearing." Jazz called out after the minibot. Without looking back, Cliffjumper raised his one arm in a 'just shut up' gestured.

Jen was bored out of her mind. She went to the lab to see if Perceptor needed help with anything, but he just shooed her out; telling her to enjoy the day off. So she went to hang out with the dinobots. She put in one of the 'Land Before Time' movies and sat on Snarl's head. The stegosaurus's body was low enough for her to get on with little trouble.

They all got a crack out of the series.

"Me Grimlock say you should make a Ducky dinobot!" Grimlock turned to Wheeljack.

"For the last time, I'm not making another dinobot."

"But him Snarl needs a little sister!" Swoop put in. "We dinobots can't play Land Before Time without a Ducky."

"I'm not a making another dinobot, and that's final."

"You guys can always pretend you have a Ducky with you." Jen said.

Grimlock bent down to get a good look at the girl. "You runt are Ducky now."

"I can't be Ducky!" The dinobots roared in pleasure.

"Me Snarl have a sister now!" The stego said in glee.

"You Ducky go 'Yup, yup, yup' now." Sludge said.

"Wheeljack!"

The inventor turned away, getting back at his work. "Oh no. I'm not getting involved in this. You're the one that brought this on." He had an amused tone to his voice.

Jen gave a defeated sigh, and from Snarl's head she said, "Come on guys, let's go to the Great Valley. Yup, yup, yup!"

So they all stormed out of Wheeljack's lab, making their own adventure. The adventure ended up in the med-bay, where Grimlock said their job was to get Ratchet's wrench and pretend it was the key to the made-up temple. Even though Littlefoot was the group leader in the movies, Grimlock refused to give Sludge that satisfaction. Jen was against taking Ratchet's favorite wrench, but Swoop just flew up and grabbed it from the shelf.

"Me Pteri got it!"

Just then Ratchet came out of his office, only to see Swoop holding his wrench. He looked to also see Jen with the dinobots.

"Slag it all, give me back my wrench!" He yelled.

Jen kicked at Snarl's head a bit. "Run Snarl!"

"Me not Snarl, me Spike. Silly Ducky!"

"Run!"

They all got out of there as fast as they could. Swoop still had the wrench when they stopped in the hallway.

"Swoop! Why didn't you put it away?"

"Me Chomper say that we must find temple." Oh great. They're still in play mode.

Jen could hear Ratchet's thundering footsteps from a distance. "Great. We angered Ratchet. The best thing we can do is return the wrench somehow."

"We must stay away from him Ratchet." Slag said.

And stay away they did. It wasn't easy. They hardly had any time to stop and rest. That didn't really bother the dinobots, but after a while, Jen's left knee started to act up from all the joggling from Snarl's head. Jen looked around and recognized the hallway they were in.

"Here Swoop. Give me the wrench." He complied. "Just drop me off here and just hide. I'll think of something. Perhaps Sunny and 'Sides might help."

Snarl bent his head down to allow the girl to get off.

"You Jen okay?" Grimlock asked.

"My knee is starting to hurt. I just need a few minutes of rest is all." She looked as them. "Well, go! Ratchet is going to be coming down here soon!"

Grimlock used his tail to knock on the door. It swished open to reveal the body of Sunstreaker. The yellow warrior looked at the dinobots then down at the human. Jen gave a small wave.

"My knee is acting up and Ratchet is coming this way soon. Mind if I chill with you guys for a few moments?"

Sunstreaker did not fail to notice the wrench by the human. "Oh sure, get us in trouble why don't you?" She was about to say something when the warrior picked her up in one hand and the wrench in the other. "Beat it." He said to the dinobots and shut the door.

Sideswipe looked up from his game consol he shared with his brother. "Hey sis! What brings you here?"

"I was playing with the dinobots for awhile, then my knee started to act up. So I needed a break."

"Oh. Okay. Chill here as long as you like." He went back to the game.

Sunstreaker just threw the wrench at his brother's head. "Idiot."

Sideswipe rubbed his smarting head. "Ow! Jeez, aren't you just a bundle of sunshine today…" He then noticed the wrench in his lap. "Hey Sunny, how the slag did you manage to steal Ratchet's wrench?"

The yellow front liner just snorted. "Why don't you ask Jenny that?"

"Jen, did you really do that?"

"The dinobots wanted to play 'Land Before Time' and they me play as Ducky. And well," She rubbed the back of her head. "Let's just say Ratchet's wrench was the object we needed to get in order to enter a temple. It was a complete accident."

Sunstreaker had a weird glint in his optics. "You mean to tell us that, while we continuously failed to steal the Hatchet's prized possession, you manage to accidently take it?"

"Well, since you put it that way…"

The two brothers looked up at each other and busted out in laughter.

"You have a gift Jen!" The red warrior laughed. "I'm glad you're on our side! What do you say Sunny? Should we pay ole Ratchet a visit since he's lacking his secret weapon?" He threw the wrench in the air and caught it.

"Eh, what the slag? I'm getting tired of beating you in Halo anyway." Sunstreaker picked Jen up.

"So we're returning Ratchet's baby, huh?" She said.

"Well since you said that," Sideswipe grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped it around the wrench, then started cradling it. "Good idea sis!"

"I don't mean to give you ideas."

"But we appreciate it all the same!" Sideswipe exclaimed.

"So, how's your drawing coming along?" Sunstreaker casually asked.

"Alright, but you guys are a pain in the rear to draw. No offense."

"The only pictures I see are your equines with some other stuff."

Jen gave a small smile. "I keep the others stashed away."

"I can always give you pointers." Just then, they all walked in the med-bay.

"Special delivery for Mr. Ratchet. Congratulations, it's a mech!" Sideswipe was definitely asking for a death wish.

Ratchet stormed over and grabbed the bundle from Sideswipe. He then snatched the girl out of Sunstreaker's hand.

"Ratch, could you please loosen your grip a bit? You're hurting my already sore knee." Ratchet looked at the girl and gave a quick scan.

"I think that's an appropriate punishment for you."

"Hey!"

"Serves you right." The CMO shook his head in disbelief. 'Teaching the dinobots to steal my stuff."

"Yeah Jen, shame on you!" Jen shot Sideswipe a death glare.

Ratchet then took that liberty to fling his wrench at the brothers. Miraculously, the wrench came back to him like a boomerang. "You two!" He points at two berths. "It's time for your yearly tune up!"

Sideswipe's optics widens. "Did I ever tell you what a great guy you are?"

A real brown noser.

"And as for you." His attention turned back on the human. "Your punishment is going to march into Prowl's office to give that knee of yours a rest."

"Can't I just do that in the rec room?" She wined.

"And risk your knee getting more swollen by the chance of acting like an idiot? I don't think so." Ratchet crossed his arms, waiting for a complaint to come from the girl's mouth. He's been around long enough to know how younglings acted, and human younglings were no different than Cybertronian ones.

"I promise I'll just sit back and chill. The rec room has a couch, and a TV! I'll just lay there for awhile. Prowl's office is boring. All he does is just sits there and work on papers and assigning stuff."

"You forgot to mention he handles the punishments too." Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Yeah! He's like a robot!" Jen paused. "That was a bad analogy, wasn't it?"

The CMO shook his head a bit. "What do you expect him to do in his office? Have a party and play music on high volumes?"

"That's what Jazz does." Jen mumbled. "Plus he has a dart board with Megatron's face on it!"

"Too bad you suck at darts though." Sunstreaker said.

"Yeah, well, you suck at a lot of things too." Jen countered.

"I don't know about that Sunny." Sideswipe started. "We had a full bodied Megatron picture and Jenny completely wiped out Megadork's crotch!"

"I have bad aim! So sue me!"

"Are you three done yet?" Ratchet was getting tired of this game.

"Jazz has a lava lamp too." Jen saw the CMO glare at her. "Okay, now I'm done."

"Alright, fine. I'll let you go to the rec room. But!" He put in when he saw the girl give a happy dance. "You are to lie on the couch till your knee gets better. The only thing I can do to help ease the pain is to give you an ice pack."

"Thank you Ratchet! You're the-"

"But," He interrupted. "If I see you moving around, then I will personally take you to Prowl, and tell him about what you did on your little adventure with the dinobots."

"It was just a wrench, and I didn't know that Swoop took it until he had it."

"It's my belonging and I don't need others touching it. The wrench is not a toy."

"And yet he plays with it himself by throwing it at mechs." Sideswipe whispered to his brother, only to be completely knocked out by Ratchet's wrench.

"You want to say something also?" He threatened the yellow twin.

"No." He knew better. He knew Ratchet would knock him too if he provoked the medic enough. Even though he and his brother were like two peas in a pod, he knew the medic didn't do initial damage to Sideswipe. He did ask for it anyway. Idiot doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

"Good." He turns to Jen. "Now I trust you to keep your word."

"My word is as good as gold!"

"That better be a yes."

Jen giggled. "It is. It's just a saying."

Humans and their weird sayings.

Jen was lying on the couch, a pillow under her left knee. Her knee wasn't that bad, a bit red and swollen, but she had had worse before. The ice pack was helping very little. The cold on her warm skin did feel good, but the process of her knee swelling down was slow. She was surprise her knee got sore in the first place. She had ridden horses before without her knee getting bad. Then, again, the way Snarl kept on moving his head back and forth didn't help either. Her leg kept on banging on his hard head.

Ironhide was sitting on the other end of the couch. The weapon specialist was flipping through the channels, not deciding which one was better. Jen got a crack out of Big Red (That's what a lot of 'bots called him). She liked his Texas-like accent.

"So have you always been into different types of weapons?" Jen asked.

"Ah've always had ah interest in 'em." Ironhide stated. "What ah-bout you?"

"It's kind of funny really. I'm not into fighting and war, but yet I love to hear and learn about past wars; Like WWII, and the civil war. I just can't get enough of them. As for weapons," She thought for a moment. "I like ancient medieval type weapons. Like swords, bow and arrow, spears, bo, kusarigama… Stuff like that."

"Yah should meet Kup one o' these days. He's got a lota war stories. More so than the rest o' us."

Jen was interested. "He sounds like my grandpa."

Ironhide nodded a bit, optics never leaving the screen. "Ah guess 'grandpa' would be the term ta describe Kup, that ole' rust bucket!" He laughed a bit at that part. "Older than me."

"Please don't think of this as rude, but out of curiosity, are you and Optimus the same age?"

"A-ha-ha-ha!"

Well that was unexpected. Jen figured the laughing was better than what else might have happened.

"Me an' Prime the same age?" Ironhide chuckled. "You're real funny kid. Real funny." He stopped laughing when he saw the look on her face. "Oh. You were serious?"

"Um…yeah." Boy, she sure felt stupid. Not as stupid as Big Red felt though.

"Oh…sorry." He made a weird noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. "I am older than Prime. I knew him since he was ah recruit in the Autobot army. Ah was one o' his teachers."

"Oh that's neat." Jen exclaimed. "How would you categorize the other 'bots then?"

The weapon specialist leaned back a bit. "Ah'm one of the oldest here. Ratchet's a bit younger than me along with Wheeljack."

"So would that make Optimus younger than Ratchet then, right?"

"Right on kid!"

She learned the different ages of the Autobots. Prowl was around the same age as Prime, if not slightly older. Jazz was pretty much the same age as Prowl, even though he acted much younger. The brothers', Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, recently got out of the youngling stage. Perceptor was quite young too, though much older than the twins, but younger than Prime. She learned other tidbits of the sort as well.

"Well," Ironhide stood up. "I'm gonna go warm up the ole' cannons on the practice droids. See ya around kid."

"See ya Big Red!" Jen closed her eyes. Her knee still ached, even though almost all the redness had gone down a bit. She was about to doze off when she felt the couch go down a bit right next to her. "Oh, hey C.J."

"C.J.?" Cliffjumper asked.

Jen sat up a bit. "It's short for Cliffjumper. Is it okay if I can call you that? I've wanted to call you that for quite awhile, but I wasn't sure how you'd react to it."

"No, I don't mind. Just caught me by surprise there a bit." He looked at her elevated knee. "What happened?"

"I was playing with the dinobots, and after awhile, my knee got sore. Ratchet gave me an ice pack, but it's only keeping the redness down, not the pain….Ow! Hey!"

She exclaimed when Cliffjumper picked her up and set her on his lap. His left arm came around her back, so that she could lean against it. Both of his hands were carefully inspecting the knee. He threw the ice pack on the ground.

"I've handled something similar to this before." He mumbled, and then he looked her in the eye. "Granted, it was on a Cybertronian, but even though you're lacking wires and circuits like us, it's still the same concept."

At this point Jen was utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

She stayed quiet when the minibot's fingers started rubbing small circles on her knee. At first she tensed in pain, but the ache gradually subsided. She couldn't believe her eyes. Cliffjumper, the same friend who loved a good fight, was massaging her knee!

"You never told me you were a masseuse."

"That was vorns ago." Jen remembered what Prowl and Perceptor told her; one vorn was 83 years, and the red minibot said vorns, plural. She could only imagine how long that was.

"Was that before the Great War started?" She asked.

Cliffjumper nodded slowly. "Yeah, and a little bit after too. It was a way of livin' for me. I was also a bit of a craft-bot too."

"That's neat."

"The muscles around your knee are irritated. It just needed to loosen up a bit."

"What was it that you were saying before about Cybertronians' and humans?" Jen was curious.

"There are times when our inner wires get twisted." Cliffjumper stated. "Think of it like your muscles. Some Cybertronians would rather go to a masseuse than a medic like Ratchet. With a masseuse, only the outer armor is removed since we know how to get to the inner workings with little trouble. Medics take apart everything, since they fix stuff, you know?" She nodded her understanding. "Now what I want to know is why your knee is like this."

She leaned back against Cliffjumper. "I was in an accident just right before the war started. I was at a cross walk, and the signal said it was safe to cross. Just when I was almost at the other side, a car went flying by and rammed into me. My left leg took the brunt of the force. I had scrapes and scratches all over the place, but it was my knee that was the most critically damaged."

She went on telling him that she had to have three surgeries in order to save her leg. She was very happy that she didn't have to loose a limb.

"I'm sorry to hear about that." Cliffjumper said as he continued to massage her knee.

"At least my knee is not as bad as the civil war going on."

The minibot stopped what he was doing; a surprised look on his face plates. "What?"

"That's one of the reasons I'm here, to stay safe." Jen said.

"I heard that there's a conflict among you humans, but did it really turn into a civil war?"

"Right now there's a possibility that it's going to turn into a World War III." She stated. "Other countries are getting on edge."

"What's the other reason why you're here?"

"What?" She was confused.

Cliffjumper sighed. "You said one of the reasons you're here is to stay safe. I want to know the other reason."

Jen was being very hesitant. It wasn't the only fact that she was a bit uncomfortable with the topic, but more so if she could trust Cliffjumper one hundred percent with this. Keith said the Autobots were allies, but for all she knew, some could secretly be spies. Optimus knew, along with Prowl and Jazz, and the other high ranking officers. It was their job to know what is going on. She had been here a month, and recently had the courage to tell Prowl her tale just a few days before. If there's one thing about Prowl, is that he's very friendly when it comes to listening. He handled her bit of crying patiently, never speaking until she was done. It was not that she thought Cliffjumper was a spy; it's just that with all she's been through, she learned to be careful around other people.

"Can I trust you?" she softly asked.

Cliffjumper gave a weak smile. "I'm as loyal as they come."

That was true. Ask any Autobot, and they'll say Cliffjumper is one of the most extremely loyal to the Autobot cause. Granted, he didn't trust a lot of 'bots, thinking that they were possible traitors. He hated those who seem to be Decepticon sympathizers. He always rub 'bots the wrong way, and, not to mention, loved a good fight!

He had a selected few for friends. He considered Jen part of that few. There was something about her that just had him interested. Minibots', such as himself, always seem to get the short end of the stick. Everybody, well almost, always give them a hard time; One reason why Cliffjumper was a brute. But Jen had been friendly since day one, considering that she hung out with the twins. Her adopted brothers' (aka: Sunstreaker) would give him a hard time if they feel that the minibot was bothering her. Jen had repeatedly come to defense; saying that he's her friend. He only wanted to be there for her in return.

"I'm here also to stay alive and remember."

"What do you…"

"Would you just let me finish while I'm able too?" She snapped a bit at him.

"When you guys arrived with your war, it put people on edge. Eventually you had those that supported the Autobts, such as my family, and you have those who hate robots in general. It didn't matter whether it's Decepticons or Autobots, they just want to get ride of both. The ones that support you guys are called Autosupporters, or the AS. The ones against you are called the Earth Conservatives, or the ECON. The ECON's despise the AS, fearing that we will allow robots to take over the world." She gave a small humorless laugh. "They don't know the difference between Autobots and Decepticons. All they see are giant alien robots destroying the Earth. They don't understand that the Autobots only want to stop this destruction and try to save the Earth."

Tiny droplets now started to form, her voice starting to crack. "The ECON's started doing almost the exact same thing Hitler did. Figuring out who were supporters and trying to get rid of them, or torture them to switch sides. And that's not the worst of it." She gulped. "The American army has divided as well. One half of the army is pro Autobots, while the other half is against robotic organisms. The AS army doesn't want to fight the ECON one, only because they want to concentrate getting rid of the Decepticon threat. But the ECON army is making it hard for the AS one to aid you.

"There are interment camps out there. I just hope they're not as horrible as Hitler's concentration camps. I was separated from my family. Keith found me, but didn't know what happen to the others. So I stayed with him at his army base for awhile. And that's how I ended up here."

Cliffjumper was aghast. "That's horrible! Oh, Jen, I'm so sorry!" He gave her a comforting hug.

Jen wiped her tears away with her hand. "I'm not putting the blame on you. You never asked to be in this war either. If anything, you've been dealing with this war a whole lot longer than I have."

"But still, it doesn't make it right." He has always despised the Decpticons, but now his hatred for them now goes beyond loathe. With the Autobots, their main enemy is the Decpticons, but here Jen, sweet Jen, had two enemies to look out for. Not only Decepticons, but those ECONs as well. It amazed him to no end how the humans could turn against each other like that. Now he wanted to learn more about this Hitler guy.

"I'm just thankful that I'm alive." She whispered as she closed her eyes and started to dose off.

Cliffjumper resumed his massage. "Me too."

CRASH!

Jen jolted wide awake, startled. Body shaken, she poked her upper half of her body through Prowl's fingers. The window was laden with heavy rain. She saw the flash, and a crack of lightening, along with the boom of thunder in the night.

Or was it really thunder?

It was so hard to tell now these days. Instinct told her it was the weather, but her mind had other thoughts; engraved from what she experienced.

CRASH!

She hid back under the safety of her guardian's hand. She scooted herself closer to his spark. Weirdly enough, it provided her comfort.

CRASH!

She threw her blankets over her and started to shake like a pair of maracas.

Prowl woke from recharge of a feeling that something was wrong. He felt a vibrating sensation on his chest plates. He peeked under his hand to see a shaking lump.

"Jenifer?" He lightly nudged her with his finger, only to have her jump and fling herself on his neck.

"I-It's j-just thunder. R-Right?" She said through clattering teeth.

Prowl carefully pried her off and set her back on his chest. "Yes, it's just the weather."

"You sure?"

The tactician knew what she was getting at. "Teletraan-I would have picked up something if it was anything else." He rubbed her back. "Go back to sleep. You're safe. I'll be right here." Prowl didn't go back in recharge until he knew for sure his charge was asleep.

The storm would carry on for most of the following day. He was not going to thoroughly enjoy the day.

"So as you see, for safety precautions, it is better to pour acid into water, rather than vice-versa. So we'll use this buret to know the proper amount of what to put in the beaker."

Perceptor was teaching Jen how to handle measuring the amount of acid to put in a beaker full of water. (Well, in reality they were using a base, but it was the same concept and still must be handled with care.) Unfortunately for the girl, he was practically oblivious to her nervous form from the storm outside.

"The device Ratchet gave us can only be fixed by applying a base to the engine." The microscope continued. "This machine helps aids in spark readings. Jen, would you be so kind to hand me the container of sodium hydroxide?"

Jen carefully grabbed the 450ml container and started towards the scientist. She was doing her best to keep her cool. The Ark's walls did block out most of the noise, but there was the occasional crack that would somehow get through the thick barriers.

CRACK!

CRASH!

Perceptor looked up form his work to see a broken beaker by the furiously shaken Jen. He quickly rushed to her and picked her up by her underarms.

"I'm so sorry Percy! The thunder startled me! I'll clean it up!" She was getting nervous under the scientist's intense stare. Then she heard him let out a relieved sigh. "Perceptor?"

"Thank Primus none of that stuff got on you. That would've been a challenged to wash off." He let out a soft laugh. "Well, let's clean this up."

They both got some cleaning materials and started cleaning up the mess.

"I'm really, really sorry Percy."

"Don't be. It was an accident. It was my fault for not taking notice of your plight earlier. That thunder was louder than Wheeljack's explosions!" He laughed, trying to cheer her up.

Ah, yes. The engineer was infamous for his explosions from his inventions.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help with this storm going on." She stated. "Will the spark monitor be alright?"

"Certainly. I have plenty more sodium hydroxide. As for your saying of not being much help…quite the contrary. I can hook you up to a machine in the med-bay to study your brainwaves." He exclaimed.

Jen just gave him a confused look. "How is that helping you?"

"For my human study!" He was getting too happy again. "It is a perfect study on how your brain reacts to certain situations. It's a good way to see what makes you anxious, and I'm sure Ratchet wouldn't mind the company."

That's what happened. Jen was hooked up with some wires tapped to her head, and was laying on one of the berths. She was utterly bored. At least this was making Perceptor happy. Sarcasm included. She was making a pretty decent conversation with Ratchet, that was until Grimlock came in, demanding Ratchet to let her go so that they could play Land Before Time. The CMO shooed him out, and looked at the girl.

"Why?"

Jen got confused. "Why what?"

"Why the slag did you have to get them into that movie?"

"Well," She started, with a devious glint in her eye. "It was either that or Jurassic Park."

The medic shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about, and quite frankly, I don't want to know."

"Have you've seen House?"

"Why would I want a house?"

"Ugh! You gotta be kidding me?" She exclaimed.

"I do not 'kid' about anything."

"Perceptor's not mad at me, is he?"

Ratchet looked at her. "The day Perceptor gets mad, is the day the twins stop pranking me." He gave a small smile. "In all my stellar cycles I've known him; I have never seen him angry. Frustrated yes, angry no."

"Oh, cause for awhile, I thinking that the study of the human brain waves was just an excuse, and that this was his way of punishing me." Jen stated.

"What can I say? He is really fascinated with you and your species."

"Where's Bluestreak?"

"He's probably out on a mission." Ratchet said.

"Grr." She put her face in a pillow. "He's my conversation buddy."

"Hey now! I'm making conversation with you."

Jen just gave him a look. "But you're not Bluestreak! Blue is funny."

"Oh, and I'm not?"

"Once you start getting your chevron stuck in the weirdest places, then you'll be funny." Jen laughed, that is until she heard the crash of thunder. "Eek!" She ducked her head under the pillow.

Ratchet patted her on her back. "Blue's your comfort buddy, huh?"

"Just a little bit." With her head still under the pillow, she used her hand to emphasize 'a little'.

Ratchet unhooked her from the machine. "Go on. I'll tell Perceptor to cut you some slack for today. Besides, you've been hooked up long enough."

"Thanks Ratchet." The CMO placed her on the ground. She then skedaddled out.

She was walking down the corridors trying to find a good place to hide. She had passed a few mechs along the way. One of them was Red Alert. He was suspicious why she was demised a half hour early, and refused to let her past. That is until Inferno came by and convinced Red Alert to give her a break. Jen liked the red fire truck. He was sweet, unlike his companion.

Right now she just wanted to get her mind off the thunder. Perhaps she could convince Prowl to take a break and play chess with her?

Her brothers (it took her quite awhile to consider the twins her adopted brothers) were currently in the brig, due to their latest prank. They thought it would be funny to replace Prowl's pens ink cartridges with invisible ink. Jen thought it was brilliant, but her guardian thought otherwise. He told them to scrub out the entire brig, and told her not to get any ideas. Jen laughed out loud at that memory.

CRASH!

Jen freaked, and absent mindedly rushed into an unknown room.

Cliffjumper came back from his scouting mission with Bumblebee and Trailbreaker. They had a run in with one of the insecticons. The battle was short. Cliffjumper got the one of the buggers in the optic. Of course they didn't come out unscathed. Bumblebee took a hit on his leg, and Trailbreaker got one of his hands chewed off. Cliffjumper got shot at in the arm, but the injury was minor and his self repair systems will take care of that with no problem. The thunderstorm outside was horrible, but they managed.

He felt the Ark shake a bit from the thunder outside. One thing he absolutely hated about this planet was the unpredictable weather (though Earth's rain was much more tolerable than Cybertron's acid rains). He wasn't the only one who felt that way. A lot of mechs weren't crazy about this planet. Jazz was a big exception.

Cliffjumper was surprised that his door to his room was unlocked. The storm must be glitching up the systems. Red Alert was probably having a spazz attack about it.

As soon as he walked in he knew immediately that something was off. Someone was in his room. He growled at first, thinking it was Mirage snooping around, but then remembered that Mirage would have no reason going in. Whatever was in his room, it was behind his stool. He took out his gun and slowly started to inch his way over. It could be the twins pulling a prank. Yeah, that's it, and he would beat them to a slaggin' pulp.

"I know you're in here slaggers!" He kicked the stool across the room. Just as he did that, there was a boom of thunder and a scream at the same time. Cliffjumper lowered his gun. "Jenifer? What the slag are you doing in my room?"

Jen was too scared for words. As if the thunder wasn't bad enough, Cliffjumper nearly pulled his gun on her. She just sat there scrunched up. There was another boom from the thunder and Jen covered her ears more. The minibot knelt down to her level.

"You're afraid of the thunder, aren't you?"

"I-I j-just had t-to get a-away." She stuttered.

Cliffjumper stood up. "Sit tight. I'll be right back." He left the room. A few minutes later he returns with a blanket and a pair of headphones. He put the headphones over her ears and wrapped the blanket around her. "That should help." He plopped right down next to her.

Jen felt secure in the blanket. The headphones weren't plugged in a CD player, but it muffled the sound of the thunder. She scooted closer to the minibot for extra security.

Cliffjumper brought his arm around her to keep her close. Her shivering has gone down considerably. "So, how's your leg?" He wanted to get her mind off the storm.

"Good as new, thank you."

"Yeah well, if you're ever feelin' sore, let me know. 'Kay?"

She gave a nod. "Ratchet told me you use to give massages to other mechs on the base once in a blue moon."

"That was vorns ago, and I only did that when I was in a pretty slaggin' good mood. Now it's not so much."

"So I take it you were in a good mood yesterday?" She asked.

Cliffjumper just shrugged. "Not really. I was just concern. I'm never in a good mood these days. Everyone just ticks me off." He muttered.

"Oh." Jen wrapped the blanket closure. "Sorry."

Cliffjumper turned his head to her, confused. "What for?"

"For ticking you off."

"What?" Now he was caught off guard. "I'm not ticked off at you."

"But you said…"

"Forget what I said! I meant everyone else!"

"What about Bluestreak?"

He eyed her a bit suspiciously. "What about 'im?"

Jen shrugged slightly. "Doe he tick you off? I find it hard for Blue to tick someone off. I find him such a likable mech."

"What's with you and Bluestreak?"

"What? He's a very approachable guy."

"Oh, and I'm not?"

Jen had to pause and think about what she was going to say, so that it wouldn't sound offending. "Not saying you're not. I mean, you're a lot more approachable than Red Alert. Please don't take this the wrong way, but from what I've seen, well…others are hesitant to approach you by yourself; with the exception of Sunstreaker that is."

He just looked at her for a few minutes when, "Are you afraid to approach me?" He saw her hesitate. "Be truthful Jen."

"Promise you won't get mad?"

"I will get mad if you don't tell me." There was irritation in his voice.

"Sometimes," She sighed and leaned her head against his side. "I just don't know whether you'd be mean to me or not."

Cliffjumper was offended. "Have I ever been mean to you? If anything, you're the only one on this slaggin' base that I'm nice to one hundred percent of the time!"

"Well, you didn't exactly make the best first impression on me, if that helps any." She saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see Cliffjumper's wounded arm. "What happen? Are you okay?"

He looked at the arm she was pointing at. "Insecticons." He then saw her worried expression. "It's fine, really. My self repairs will take care of it. It's just a small wound any way."

"Oh, that's good."

"Look, I'm sorry about getting snippy with you. I…I've just been feeling weird lately." He confessed.

Jen patted his leg. "It's okay. We all have our moments."

They just sat there for awhile, listening to the pitter patter of the rain bouncing off the Ark's walls. The thundering has stopped.

Just then Cliffjumper spoke up. "I'm going to slag that idiot."

Jen was confused. "Which idiot?"

"The idiot who told you that moons are blue."

"Oh Cliffjumper." She patted his arm. "You guys have so much to learn."

I have finished! This is by far my longest so far. The next one I plan to make it shorter. Thank you for taking your time and reading through this.

Stay tune for the next episode of Full Ark!