Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, sadly. *huddles under desk crying* But….. I do own Nicole, Taylor, and Willow. I DARE you to try and steal them without my permission. *gets shotgun*

Fanfiction screwed with my format. Damn it. Oh, and the song at the beginning of the last chapter of Life and It's Not So Little Surprises is Waiting For The End by Linkin Park, of course.


Chapter 1:

Logging On:

Data Upload, complete.

Dear stupid audio journal that is really pointless:

Barricade's ticked off at me.

Like, BAD ticked off. Well, any form of Barricade being mad at me is bad, but…well, this is worse than usual. And all because I won't tell him what dreams – I mean, nightmares, that I've been having lately. He thinks it's a big deal. I don't.

…Okay, so maybe waking up in the middle of the night screaming is a big deal.

But, honestly, it's not my fault. I mean, I didn't ask for the damn title of AllSpark, did I? No.

*sigh*Okay, so maybe I should be telling him what I'm dreaming about. But I don't want to. If I did, it'd just make him feel a thousand times worst than I know he already does. Another pointless thing; why the frag does he think it's his fault that I'm having nightmares?

But, anyways, he's been avoiding me, going as far as to take missions halfway around the world. And since I'm the oh-so-precious AllSpark, I have to stay at home.

…I don't guess I blame them for being worried. If I had only one thing that could ensure the victory of the war and the continuation of my race, I'd want to keep it under lock and key, too.

*sigh* But it's more than that. Despite the fact that I've proven over and over that I can take care of myself, even though I'm pint-sized, they're still worried about me getting hurt. Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but…they treat me like a teenager. Well, Ratchet and Prowl do at least. I get told to go to my quarters at least once a week still. Sure, I still act like a teenager and still look pretty young since I've officially stopped aging by human years, but I'm more mature about it, at least. I think. 'Mature' isn't a word I use a lot.

Another thing: in the year and a half since I was resurrected, I've stayed the same. I don't look a day older that I was when I died. Taylor and Willow have aged. Not much, but I look younger than them. It scares me to think I'll see the day my best friends die and still look the same as I did when I died.

I'm off topic, aren't I? Seems I've been doing that a lot lately. Back to what's bothering me so much.

I've been dreaming about the Youth Sectors.

It's…weird. The dreams always start out with a nice little scene: a youngling playing with friends, a caretaker feeding a sparkling, a creator coming to pick up their creation… And then it just turns dark. The Decepticons attack. Younglings, sparklings, caretakers, all killed ruthlessly. Graying frames littering a Youth Sector building that's been bombed. One particularly bad scene is of a dead femme curled around her dying youngling, the poor mechling slowly bleeding to deactivation while calling for his carrier.

…And the worst part is…I see Barricade in the squadron sent to attack the Youth Sectors. I see him kill younglings, sparklings, caretakers.

I know he's changed. I know he'd never hurt something so…innocent, now. But…these nightmares aren't just nightmares. They're also memories.

Which means that at one time, Barricade did do these things.

…I…I don't know what to think. It scares me to see him so ruthless in killing sparklings. I'm not scared of him. …I don't think so, at least.

*sigh* Primus. This all makes me want to cry. I'm a terrible bondmate, aren't I? It's just… Fraggit, I can't explain anything! I hate this. I hate my dreams. I hate my nightmares. I hate the fact that I can't live a normal life. I hate that I can't give Barricade a normal bondmate that doesn't knock him out everytime we sparkmerge.

I hate myself for doubting my own bondmate for something that happened so long ago.

I really am a terrible bondmate - Ah,slag! I just blew the power circuits again. Why the frag does this happen everytime I get all worked up? Damn. *sigh* Duty calls.

Signing off:

~Nicole Witwicky, AllSpark and terrible bondmate~


"And the Ark will be landing tonight?"

Prowl nodded, the light of his office glinting off his black and white armor. "Yes. It is scheduled to arrive at approximately-"

"7:30," Jazz finished smugly, pedes on the desk and servos behind his helm.

"Jazz!" The SIC snapped sharply at his bondmate, "First of all, could you pleaseat least use military time? And second, no-"

"-Pedes on the desk, 'less yer not lookin'. I know, Prowler."

"Wha- No! I said don't put your pedes on it atall-"

Major Lennox coughed, breaking up the escalating argument. "Look, I've got new recruits coming at that time and I've got to be there to greet the Ark, too. Who's going to brief them if Epps is halfway across the world with Optimus in Russia sniffing out that Energon signature?"

Prowl shot one last glare at his grinning bondmate sitting across him before turning his gaze to the human standing beside his desk. "Nicole has already volunteered to brief the recruits."

"Does she know what to go over with them?"

"I've put together a check list that I will send to her later. Plus, I will be there to ensure that she goes over everything. Jazz will be meeting the Ark with you to make sure the Chevy twins take Hot Rod's place."

"And just why is Hot Rod being transferred here again?" The soldier asked, crossing his arms.

"Ya kiddin' me?" Jazz asked with a grin. "Afta what Skids and Mudflap pulled last week, Prowler here booted 'em ta the Ark crew. And jus' ta add ta the mix, Hot Rod's been gettin' antsy on the Ark, and when tha' happens, bad things happen. Things like Kup gettin' very ornery and sendin' us some slaggin' hard battle simulations."

Lennox shook his head, trying to hide his smile at how the Solstice described the mechs. "I wasn't here, but I hear that Mirage was out for blood after he found a few hornet nests in his and Hound's quarters."

"Yep. Raj wasn't too happy, but Hound and the Chevy twins sure were."

Prowl groaned a little, optics dimming. "Please, don't remind me. Only Primus knows how in Pit they got those nests in there."

Both Jazz and Lennox laughed, but poor Prowl just glowered at the datapads on his desk as if they were the Chevy twins themselves.

After saying he needed to attend to other things, Lennox left, leaving the two mechs alone. Prowl resumed his work while Jazz stared up at the ceiling. After a few moments, Jazz said lowly, "Ya know, it might not be a good idea ta have Nicki talkin' ta the new recruits."

"And why is that?" The SIC asked, not looking up from his datapads.

"Have ya talked ta the femme lately, Prowler? She's a lot crankier than usual. She pretty much bit Leo's head off the other day. An' she's been havin' trouble controllin' the excess AllSpark energy. Jus' this month Nicki blew out all the power on base threetimes."

Prowl made a small noise, signing off on a report and putting it in the 'Out' pile on his desk. "I know. I signed off on the order for the new lights. Has she been meditating?"

"Everyday, she says. An' poor Barricade's been worryin' himself sick 'bout it, 'cause Nicki won't tell him what's wrong."

"Has Ratchet-"

Prowl was cut off as the air was suddenly crackling with energy, and all the fluorescent lights that were lit in the office popped, glass shattering. The charge in the air went away as soon as it had came, and the office was dark except for the light of Prowl and Jazz's optics.

Over an open comm. to everyone on base, Sideswipe said, ::It happened again, didn't it?::

::No shit, Sherlock! Damn it!::, came Nicole's sharp voice.

Prowl started. ::Nicole-::

::I know, I know! I'm fixing it!:: she snapped before her comm. line went dead.

::Someone's having a bad day.:: Sunstreaker muttered.

::You're one to talk, Sunny.:: Sides teased.

::Mute it.::

There was an audible sigh over the comm., crackling a little static. ::I'll go find her before she shoots something.:: Ironhide muttered.

::Someone, you mean.:: Sideswipe added helpfully.

There were a few moments before the back up generator powered up, lighting the back up light bulbs that were so small they were barely efficient. There was enough light to see, but it was dimmer than before.

Prowl sighed again, already doing the math on how much it would cost to replace the fluorescent lights and staring at the ceiling. "Maybe you're right."

"Pit yeah I'm right," came the witty reply.

The SIC ignored him.


Nicole POV

"How many Nicole's does it take to replace a light bulb?" I muttered under my breath, scowling at the opening in the ceiling where I was screwing in the said fluorescent light. "Three. One to pop the damn things, another to replace them, and a third to do it all over again later."

The stupid fluorescent light in my servo was determined to make this as hard as it could be. Using the recently added magnetic amplifiers that I myself had installed (without Ratchet's permission), I was standing on the ceiling. Or would it be hanging from the ceiling? Either way, I had my pedes magnetized to the ceiling and was changing the light bulbs that I had popped.

Finally, the stupid light screwed in right. It was one of those long fluorescent light bulbs, and I had half a mind to whack myself with it because I was utterly hating my AllSpark powers right now. Sighing, I let the empty fluorescent light bulb box drop to the floor, not really caring who picked it up as long as it wasn't me. There, I thought. I'm done. I think. Oh, well.

I stared at the floor below me, my holoform's hair hanging upside down. Did I want to walk? No, not really. If I walked, I'd most likely run into someone and right now, I didn't feel like talking. So, with that thought in mind, I crouched on the ceiling and started crawling along it like Spider-Man.

Have you ever tried to walk on the ceiling? It's hard. I fell the first time I tried because one pede wasn't enough to keep me glued to the ceiling. So crawling like some brought-to-life version of Spider-Man was the only other option. It was actually fun sometimes, and other times, it served as a great way to get past Red Alert's security cameras or crawl right over Prowl's helm with him none the wiser.

When our quarters came in sight, I half-dreaded and half-celebrated it. Barricade was still on a scouting mission with Bumblebee in Oregon, so our quarters had been cold and empty. But he was supposed to get home sometime tonight. I hummed happily at the thought and continued crawling my way along.

When I got to my quarter doors, I considered dropping to the floor or transwarping. It was a long drop and my old human body would have been in pieces, but my new metal body was stronger, so the worst thing about dropping was the jarring impact as I landed. Plus, I got an adrenaline rush from it.

Turning off my mags, I let myself fall for a few seconds before turning in mid air to land squarely on my feet with a grunt. Once I recovered my balance and got used to the gravity change, I stood up fully, smiling a little. Yeah, being pretty indestructible had its perks. Perks such as new strength, faster speed, and heightened senses. It made me realize how dull the human senses were.

A soldier that had been walking past stared at me as if I had grown two heads. Apparently a newbie. My bad mood came back, and I scowled at him. "Take a picture. It lasts longer." And with that little delightful parting comment, I sent a command to my quarter doors to swish open and stalked inside.

As the doors slid shut, I transwarped to the berth that Barricade and I recharged on every night. Well, every night that Barricade's ever here, I thought darkly.

When I landed on the berth, I bounced on the soft mesh material that had been broken in by Barricade and I sleeping on it. Laying down and breathing in a deep intake of the familiar comforting scent, I let the nerve relays in my body relax. I had duct taped the security camera lens that Red Alert had put in a long time ago, and with the doors locked, no one could bother me. It was only 7:34 PM, and yet I was sotired. Maybe I could get in a few hours of recharge before Barricade got back. Closing my optics, I prepared myself for what would most likely be a recharge interrupted by nightmares.

…Only to be interrupted by the beeping of my comm. link.

Fed up and tired, I opened the comm. link determined to tear into whoever was calling and tell them to leave me the hell alone. ::What the frag do you want?:: I nearly snarled.

::Nicole::, Prowl's cool voice came through the other end. ::You were supposed to be at the front of the base four minutes ago to meet the new recruits. Luckily, the transport vehicle they are on is late, but I advise that you make your way here now.:: He paused for a second before asking in a less cold voice and more concerned tone, ::Is something wrong?::

Any rage I had melted. I couldn't stand it when I worried my family, especially when it came to Jazz and Prowl. Really, it was hard to be mad when they sounded like that.

Fatigue replaced the anger and I sighed. ::No, Prowl.:: I said in tired voice. ::Nothing's wrong. I'll be down in a sec.:: Without wait for his reply, I shut the comm. and rubbed my faceplates with my servos.

"So much for getting some rest," I murmured as I started change my holoform's look to match what I think would be close for an official soldier to wear while greeting new recruits. Camouflage cargo pants tucked into some tan army boots, a dark green tank top, and to top it off, the necklace I wore all the time that included an army tag with my name and job in the military (which would have been 'AllSpark') and the second ring that Barricade had given me, since my first one had been turned into AllSpark energy for my spark.

…Okay, so maybe this isn't what an official soldier would wear, but this is what I would wear. To finish it, I changed my hair to where it hung down my back in a long, black braid.

Satisfied, I transwarped outside my quarters, choosing to walk to my destination so I could go over the check list of things I needed to cover for the soldiers. Reading files that were in my processor while walking had been hard at first, mostly because I'd run into some walls and the occasional human or Autobot. But I'd gotten the hang of it now by using my EM field to map out everything around me. I got some weird looks from the humans who didn't know much about Transformers and saw me laughing at nothing when I was really laughing at a datafile that Sideswipe had sent me, though.

Nicole:

These are the things to cover in your debriefing of the recruits. I made them in order from first to last so you would know what to go over first.

-Prowl

Good ol' Prowl. Always knows that sometimes you have to put some things simple for me, and for that, I was grateful.

The list wasn't too long. Not as long as I'd thought it'd be.

1. Introduce yourself and learn their names. Make sure they are all accounted for. Okay, this sounded like I was a kindergarten teacher making sure all her students were there.

2. Prepare them for first meeting with an Autobot. Myself and Sunstreaker will be volunteering. So, in other words, I'd be giving them their first introduction to a mech. And it was with Sunny. That…would be interesting.

3. Go over the rules for the base.Tell them what to do and what not to do, what mechs to piss off and not to piss off. Easy, since I had learned from my own experiences the hard way.

4. Go through protocols. I had no idea what 'protocols' Prowl was talking about, but who's to say I couldn't make my own?

5. Give them a tour of the base. Introduce them to any Autobots or humans you may come across. Be sure to explain said human or Autobots rank. I could see myself saying, "Want to meet my family consisting of humans and aliens?"

6. Show them their barracks. In the morning you will personally deliver their schedules, which will include the time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Internally, I groaned. Soldiers around here got up early, which meant that now I had to get up early. Wonderful.

That was the end of the checklist and I had made it to the front of the base without running into a single wall. Prowl was standing there already, staring stoically out the hangar doors into the summer night, and Sunny was in his alt mode, no doubt sulking about being pulled into volunteering. There was a nice breeze coming in the hangar, blowing back a few strands of my hair that had escaped my braid.

If the SIC sensed me coming, he didn't acknowledge it. Sunny sure did, though.

"Well, well, well," he voice blasted from the radio out the open window as I came to stand beside his driver door. "Looks like someone finally decided to show up, Prowl."

I stuck my glossa out at Sunstreaker while the black and white mech looked down at me, an optics ridge raised. "It would seem so. And just in time. The soldiers ETA is three minutes."

I shrugged, walking around Sunny's alt mode to stand in front of it. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" As I said this, I leaned back, meaning to lean against Sunny's hood, but the stupid mech rolled back just in time.

Which made me fall flat on my back.

I hissed as I felt the pain radiating from my helm. "Slaaaaaaag, that hurt!" Rolling over, I saw Jolt laughing openly as he walked past. "Mute it, Jolt!"

He didn't. Where was that AllSpark respect when I actually wanted it?

Growling, I pushed myself to my knees and glared Sunstreaker, who wasn't bothering to hide the smug feeling in his EM field. "Fragger."

He snorted. "Serves you right for trying to touch my finish."

In response I transwarped onto Sunny's hood on my back. He gave a yelp, before spinning backwards in reverse in an attempt to roll me off. Before I did, though, I dug my fingers under the edge of his hood and held on.

For the next minute, the gold Corvette drove like a lunatic all around the hangar trying to roll me off, all while shouting nasty insults. I just laughed and held on tighter. It was starting to get really good until Prowl got fed up and stepped right in front of Sunstreaker's speeding alt mode, forcing the Corvette to screech to halt. After all, running over your superior when he was looking at you like that was suicidal.

And Prowl did look pretty fragged off. "Stop. Now. Or monitor duty for three days for both of you."

I groaned, letting my helm fall back onto Sunny's way-too-shiny hood. "Aw, c'mon, Prowl. You know I'm no good at that."

Sunstreaker made a noise that could have been a snort. "Because you're always falling asleep? Or because you let Ravage sneak in twice while on duty?"

"Hey," I said sharply, scooting up on his hood to lean against his windshield, "that wasn't my fault. Jazz was annoying the crap out of me one time by playing his music over the comm. as loud as he could, and Barricade was talking to me over the bond the other time."

"I forgot. Nothing is ever your fault, is it?"

I tapped my fingernails against his golden paint. "Hey, Sunny, have you ever seen what fingernails can do to paint on a car?"

The Corvette shut up quickly.

Prowl suddenly transformed into his alt mode, saying, "Stop playing and pay attention. They're almost here."

Sure enough, 43 seconds later a military transportation truck pulled up in front of the open hangar. I watched as eight men in military dress jumped out the back of the truck with duffel bags. A blonde haired man with the medals of a Captain on his uniform patted the hood of the truck as the rest of the men got in line and the truck drove off. He stepped in line and saluted. The rest of the men followed his example as he proceeded to shout his squad number.

I hardly heard what he said, instead analyzing each soldier and already looking at their files. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I asked, Whydotheyhavetoshouteverything? Maybe the drill sergeants were deaf or something…

It took me a moment to realize that there was silence in the hangar, all human eyes one me. "Oh," I muttered, "is this my part?"

No one answered, of course, but I'm pretty sure Sunny was laughing because he was just lightly vibrating under me.

Sighing, I slid off his hood (and probably pissed him off because of it), and waved at the new soldiers because I didn't know what else to do. "Hi. My name is Nicole Witwicky, and I'll be the one debriefing you tonight since Major Lennox is attending to other business." I stared at the all for a moment before saying, "You can stop saluting now."

::It's 'At ease', genius.:: Sunstreaker said over a comm..

I scowled, but said, "At ease."

They stopped saluting.

I huffed, blowing air out through my mouth. This was going to be harder than I thought.

"Okay, since I already know all your names, I'm going to go on to why you're here. You all qualified for a special secret branch of military called NEST. And what we do here at NEST is deal with aliens." I paused to see their reactions, and aside from just glancing at each other, they remained impassive. "These aliens are mechanical in nature. Many years ago, they came to our planet because of their war. We fight with the good guys, who are called Autobots. They don'twant to kill humans. The Decepticons do, however, and we are what is keeping them from taking over Earth. Any questions so far?"

No one spoke up. I didn't really expect them to. I nodded, continuing. "You will no doubt see various Autobots working around base and all. They don't harm humans, and most are very nice, but a little tip: don't piss any of them off." I smiled, maybe a little evilly. "You really don't want to do that."

They still remained impassive, but the look in their eyes kept saying, "WhatthehelldidIgetmyselfinto?"

I gestured around us. "Do you see any giant robots walking around? No. That's because they blend in with our world. They have alt modes, which look like everyday cars."

And suddenly everyone was looking at the golden Corvette behind me and the black and white police Charger to my left.

I nearly smiled, but I was fighting it. It was pretty hard to keep up the tough drill sergeant attitude when I was about to show them something that would blow their mind. I stepped forward so I'd be out of Sunstreaker's range when he transformed. "Prepare yourselves, soldiers. What you're about to see is going to be…incredible. And I swear to God, if any of you faint, you're on your own. Mechs, if you'd please?"

Right on cue, they transformed. Or, at least Prowl did. Sunny stayed in his alt mode, a stubborn streak tainting his EM field. While the soldiers gawked at Prowl in silence, I glared at the golden Corvette. "Well?"

He stayed silent.

Okay, this was starting to make me look stupid because I was talking to a car. Though I'm not sure any of the soldiers were paying much attention to me because of Prowl. Fed up with a certain golden twin, I did what is probably the stupidest thing you could do to Sunny:

I walked over to his driver door and kicked it hard.

In promptly two seconds flat, the golden Corvette had transformed in a two story tall robot and was in my faceplates with an active plasma cannon. "You little fragger!"

I smiled uncaringly at the angry frontliner. "Hello, Sunstreaker. How nice of you to participate."

"I swear to Primus, if you scratched or dented my armor there will be Pit to pay-"

Trust me, it's definitely dented. Turning away from the cannon still in my face, I smiled charmingly at the new recruits. "This little ray of sunshine standing beside me goes by the designation Sunstreaker, though we call him Sunny, Sunshine, and Daffodil. The black and white bot on my other side is Prowl, the SIC of the Autobot army."

While Sunny reluctantly powered his cannon down with a scowl and stood up like Prowl, the SIC nodded to the soldiers. "I trust your trip here was well?"

The captain of the team was the first to respond, returning the nod and saying, "Yes, sir."

Oh, good, I thought, someone who catches on quickly. That makes my job easier.

Several of the soldiers were still staring at Sunny, so I said, "Don't mind Sunny. He's real touchy about his paint job and really moody all the time, but don't worry. Inside he's just a big teddy bear with deadly cannons."

"You're pushing it, Nicki," said mech snapped irritably.

My smile dropped, and I turned to glare at him. "Don't call me that, Sunshine."

He stuck his glossa out at me. I mirrored the action.

Prowl just sighed.


As soon as the door to the new recruits' barracks shut, I slumped and blew out a puff of air through my mouth. "Finally. It's over."

Prowl hummed his agreement, optics dim as he looked at who-knows-what.

I scowled up at him. "Are you even listening?"

"Yes, I am."

After a few moments of silence, I asked, "What are you looking at?"

The SIC blinked, finally looking down to me. "Nicole… It seems that Barricade and Bumblebee are going to be late getting back."

I stared at him for a moment, trying to process that information. "What?"

"There was a flash flood that covered their planned route. They're going to circle back and find another way, but it will be sometime tomorrow before they're back."

"Oh." I said somewhat quietly.

Prowl's usual stoic mask fell, and he shot me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to seeing Barricade again."

Snapping back into reality, I waved the sympathy. "Yeah, I was, but it's okay. Just it's just tomorrow, right?" I shrugged, shooting him a half-smile. "I have more patience than you think."

The Charger didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "Will you be alright?"

I shot him a bright smile, already starting the long walk to my quarters. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Giving him no room to reply, I sped up my pace, turning the corner and disappearing from view.

I walked fast, wanting to escape the looks of the other mechs and soldiers, wanting to escape reality. I wanted to be in my quarters, where no one could see just how much I was wishing Barricade was there.


I fell into a fitful recharge that night without taking my nightly two cubes of Energon. Being the AllSpark had required more than one cube, and lately I had been drinking three twice a day instead of two because I was so worn out all the time. And even then, I was still tired.

I was halfway through my nightmares of watching the Youth Sectors burn to the ground when my subconscious apparently had enough of watching distressful images and woke me up like every other time. Sighing, I rolled on my back, barely opening my optics to the dark room. Almost instantly, my vision switched to night vision, and everything in the room stood out in detail.

There was thunder and rain pounding down outside. Seems like whatever storm had delayed Bumblebee and Barricade's trip back had finally hit us. My chronometer said it was 2:30 in the morning. Blinking blearily, I sat up and transwarped off the berth. I was up now, might as well do something useful.

I had forgotten to change my holoform's clothes before I recharged, so I had slept in the army attire. Changing it to my regular hoodie and jeans, I sent the ping to my door to open. The bright lights from the hall made me blink again as I started walking…somewhere. Being AllSpark, I didn't officially have a schedule for what shifts I'd do. Prowl usually assigned me monitor duty or some other duty for punishment for some idiotic thing I had done, so I had a lot of free time in between those times.

My pedes went on autopilot, walking aimlessly through the base. Everything was quiet except for the occasional soldier or mech walking past, most who ignored me because I'd become a pretty much permanent fixture on base.

It was only when I got closer to the officers' offices that the trouble started.

"-need to send someone out there now, Prowl!"

That was Red Alert. Oh, joy, I thought, here we go.

Prowl's office door was open because the giant form of Inferno was standing in the doorway. Just from the way his frame was slumped, I could tell he was tired. Inside, Red Alert was standing in front of Prowl's desk with that panicked look that seemed to be on his faceplates half the time. And behind said desk, the SIC sat looking vaguely annoyed and tired.

I walked in, having the urge to either sigh or laugh. Inferno looked down at me with weary optics and a tired smiled. "Hey there, Nicki."

I smiled back. "Hey, Inferno."

Red Alert and Prowl didn't notice my entrance, instead continuing their argument/conversation. Prowl sighed, pinching the bridge of his olfactory sensor as a human gesture he had adopted. "Red Alert… Just because one of our sensors went out doesn't mean that the Decepticons are trying to infiltrate the base. The batteries might have went out on it, or a tree could have fallen over on it in the storm."

The sensors he was talking about were some Energon detectors that had been placed in a ten-mile radius of the base. We'd just installed them about eight months ago. They were supposed to pick up any mechanism that ran on Energon and send an alert to base. They'd saved our afts more than a few times from Ravage or Frenzy or Rumble sneaking in.

Red Alert's optic twitched, something that I found hilarious a lot of the time. "But in between the time that it went out and the time we get it fixed, Ravage or some other Decepticon could sneak in! They could get our codes and wreak havoc on this base! They could murder any of us in our recharge! We need to get it fixed now!"

Prowl looked at the ceiling as if asking, "Why me?"

And before I knew it, I was transwarping on Prowl's desk. "I'll do it."

Both mechs shot me startled glances. Well, Prowl looked more surprised while Red Alert looked at me with suspicion. The Security Director had been wary of me ever since that first time he had seen me transwarp in Ratchet's Med Bay, scaring him out of his wits while doing so. Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it was slagging annoying.

"You'll do it?" Prowl asked, almost surprised.

I gave him a half-smile, shrugging. "Why not? I've got nothing else to do."

"But it's raining outside and it's nearly three in the morning."

I just shrugged again. "Think about it, Prowl. I can transwarp there, get it fixed quick, and get back, all in fifteen, maybe thirty minutes. And I'm up, so why not?"

"Will you know how to fix it?" Red Alert asked, frowning.

"I can just download the specs on the sensor, figure out what's wrong, and use a bit of AllSpark energy to fix it."

The Security Director looked like he was still uncertain, but Prowl gave me a small smile. "Thank you, Nicole." Then he looked at Red Alert, like he was daring him to complain about the plan. "Will that be all, Red Alert?"

"I- Yes, I guess so…"

Inferno grinned and started to tug Red Alert out of the office. "See, Red? Told ya they'd work it out. Now can we pleasego back to our quarters…" The door slid shut, cutting off the rest of their conversation.

I snorted, still staring at the door. "Poor Inferno. It's a wonder Red didn't bond to his security consol and not Inferno."

I could practically hear Prowl's wince. "That…isn't even possible."

I looked at him in surprise, my holoform's eyebrows raised. "Wow. You didn't say 'logic'."

He ignored that.

I sighed, sticking my hands in my hoodie pocket. "Jazz in recharge?"

For a moment, the tactician tensed, but said a quick, "Yes."

I stared at him for a few moments before grinning. "You snuck out, didn't you?"

The SIC jerked like I had smacked him. "No."

"Yes, you did. You're supposed to be in recharge. But you snuck out after Jazz fell into recharge." I grinned wider, rocking on my pedes. "Oooh, naughty Prowler. Jazz will have your aft if he wakes and finds you gone. Never knew you had it in you."

To his credit, Prowl didn't deny it. He just glared at the datapads on his desk. "I have too much work left to do to recharge."

I nodded as if that were the answer to everything. "Uh-huh. I'm sure you used that excuse on Cybertron, didn't you?"

This time he did glare at me, though I could tell he was fighting a smile. "Don't you have a sensor to fix?"

"Yeah. I just like bothering you more." At his look, I sighed dramatically. "Fine, I'm going. You wanna send the file to me now or later when I actually see what's wrong with it?"

"Later after you see it. There's a very high percentage that a tree just knocked it over and shut it off."

I nodded. "Okay. Which sensor is it?"

"The one farthest northeast. Number 004. And Nicole?"

Just in time I stopped myself from transwarping. "Yeah?"

Prowl paused, not looking at me for a few seconds. And when he did I knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Be careful. There isstill a chance it was part of the Decepticons doing. I want you to comm. me as soon as you find the sensor."

A small piece of me inside screamed. No matter how much I loved my family and how much they cared about me, it hurt every time I was reminded that they didn't have faith in my ability to keep myself alive. Sure, I may be rash, do stupid things, doing downright dumb things, but I don't do it unless I'm one hundred percent sure that no one – including myself – will get hurt. Okay, so me dying didn't really help that situation, or the fact that I was the AllSpark and nearly every Decepticon had tried to kill me once or twice, but…still. I could take care of myself. I wasn't the weak human that I was before. Despite how much of an idiot I acted like all the time, I actually did learn something from those training sessions from Ironhide and those hacking lessons Jazz had taught me.

But they didn't think so. They didn't believe I could take care of myself. They didn't have faith in my abilities. They didn't have faith in my intelligence. They didn't have faith in me. They still thought of me as the human Nicole, not the Nicole that came back from the dead and pissed Megatron off because of it.

And it drove me insane.

…Not that I'd ever let them know.


I stumbled as I transwarped near where the sensor was supposed to be. The rain was thundering down, making it near impossible to see through. The ground I was standing on was so muddy, my holoform's rain boots sank down to the ankles.

"Disgusting," I muttered to myself as I pulled my pedes out, but my muttering was barely a whisper through the loud rain.

Sighing, I looked around and pulled my hoodie's hood over my helm. Right now I was on the edge of a road used by the Autobots to patrol. If my map was correct, I'd have to go into the woods lining either side of the road to get to it.

Being the middle of June, the trees were thick with green leaves that partially stopped the rain. I gratefully took advantage of it and started jogging towards the sensor, ducking and jumping over any foliage. It took me about seven minutes since I couldn't transwarp to a place I hadn't been before, but I finally reached a clearing. In the middle a tripod with a sensor on it was toppled over and crushed under a tree that was wider than me.

"Wonderful," I mumbled to myself as I stared out at the crushed sensor from my safe haven in the trees. "Fragging wonderful."

I took one step into the clearing, and a wave of vertigo hit me. The world went sideways and I had to lean against a tree for a moment. There was a burning in my chest. Sucking in air as best as I could, I rubbed my chest harder.

This was the wrong thing to do.

Before I knew it, I was bent over, purging any and all Energon I had consumed within the past 24 hours.

And for those who don't know, purging Energon is ten times worst than throwing up as a human. Half-processed Energon doesn't do well with the sensitive lining in my throat.

Coughing up the rest of my tanks contents, I wiped at my optics, trying to clear the rain and Energon tears that had sprung up. The half-processed Energon steamed on the ground, most likely burning the ground under it despite the rain.

Gasping, I leaned my back against the tree and stared at the Energon, feeling drained of everything and shocked all at once. What the frag was thatabout? I was the AllSpark. I didn't get sick. I was invulnerable. And yet the proof was all over the ground in front of me. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I rubbed my chest a little as if that would make the burning feeling go away. It didn't.

I squinted up at the sky. The rain had lessened just a tiny bit, but it was still pouring. The sensor hadn't magically fixed itself during my sick spell. I still had a job to do. Maybe it had just been a bad batch of Energon.

Whatever it was, it had left a bad taste in my mouth. Literally.

Spitting on the ground as I walked in the clearing, I made a note to check with Ratch on it. But before I could do that, I had to get this sensor and take it back to base so it could be replaced. Because this one was definitely totaled.

I knelt beside the crushed sensor to get a better look. Yeah, this thing would definitely be hitting the Broken Tech Graveyard, as Jazz had called the pile of little gadgets that I had accidentally brought to life and sometimes-not-so-accidentally shot. But for once, I didn't kill this one.

I opened my comm. to Prowl, but all I got was static. Frowning, I stood up. I should have reception. Being a high-tech mechanism let me have reception anywhere.

My spark chilled as I realized something.

…I had reception everywhere there wasn't a signal jammer. Which meant there was either a signal jammer nearby, or… Well, that's the only reason I wouldn't have a signal. A small suspicion wormed it's way in my processor and I started walking towards the end of the tree where it should have been broken off at the trunk.

I found the trunk. Instead of muddy mess of yanked up roots or splintered wood, there was a neat cut straight through the middle made by a rotor saw.

…Frag.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when I heard the shot, and a millisecond later I felt a searing pain in my knee and then in my other knee, effectively disabling my ability to run. As I fell to my knees cursing, I felt the ground shake as something very big came behind me. I barely managed to turn in time to see a giant servo scoop me up very roughly and squeeze tightly around my small frame like I was a doll.

And there he was in all his ugliness: Starscream, bright red optics and sneering faceplates in all.

"Hello, girl."

And that was when I officially labeled the past twenty-four hours as the worst hours of my new life.


Right... So, like for the first chapter? No? Yes? I sure hope so. Reviews are love! And I know I said this would be up a few hours ago, but something screwed with that also, soooo... Sorry.

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