It was another day at the scrapyard. The air warm and still, and the sky cloudless. The droning buzz of cicadas filled the air, the summer insects going unseen by the scrapyard's inhabitants.

The team awaited for Bumblebee and Strongarm to return from Cybertron. They went after Ped, who escaped, thanks to a malfunction on his stasis pod, and hadn't returned yet.

Suddenly, they heard their Groundbridge opening. Bumblebee and Strongarm came over, carrying their fugitive with them.

"Finally!" Sideswipe commneted. "It was about time you two came back!"

"So, how was it?" Fixit asked. "Was there any program-pollen-problem?!" He asked, beating off his usual glitching. The swirling vortex shut behind them. Bumblebee and Strongarm supported the unconscious Decepticon between them.

"Yeah, it could have gone better," Bumblebee said. Strongarm rubbed her arms, her current appearence looking like she had just came out of a harsh beatdown.

"It was harder than it seemed. But we have good news for you." Strongarm commneted.

"Team… we have a new member joining us." He extended his arm, and what was stuck into it came out of there, revealing it to be a blue and golden Mini-Con. As she came to the floor, the team came closer. Except Grimlock, clearly due to his "cute things" issue. "Team, meet Goldbug."

There was a short, quizzical silence as the team sized up the abruptly added new member. She looked young, a thought that Sideswipe didn't hesitate to voice.

"She's tiny, and seems really young. Are you sure that she'll be able to keep up with us?" More like keep up with him.

Drift extended his arms so Jetstorm and Slipstream could take a look at her.

"Aww… so cute!" Jetstorm squealed.

"Hmm," Drift hummed. "As strange as that may be, Sideswipe is right. How do you know she is ready for combat?" The orange and black bounty hunter's question made everyone focus their attention on Bumblebee.

"I know she may be young, but what she lacks in size and age she makes it up with gifted abilities." Bee commented.

"So she's some kind of prodigy child?" Denny Clay asked, and Russell knelt to compliment her, receiving a hug.

"If by prodigy, you mean helping us track this Bot and bring him down, yes." Strongarm guaranteed. The team looked bewildered.

"It's a long story…" Bee decided to start from the beginning.

It all started once we got into Cybertron. There was a possibliity of finding Ped on Luna-1 or 2. And we found out we were right once we stepped off the Groundbridge.

"Well, we trail his coordinates to Luna-1. But it's a very huge place."

"Strongarm, you look to the north area. I'll search the south area. Call me if you see anything suspicious."

Once we split up, I made a complete search over the south area. It was filled of Mini-Cons everywhere. Some were workers, others students, even young ones.

Then… I heard a soft sound. It seemed like someone was… whimpering. I followed the sound, and that's when I saw her… cornered against a wall by Ped.

I decided to keep a low profile, and watched as he scared her and picked up her Energon cube, before leaving. What a coward… attacking a little Con like that…

"Are you okay?" She seemed very scared.

"B-bad bot…Nergon…I, mall…"

Even though her words were, like any child, hard to process at first, what came clear was that not only Ped stole her Energon but also called her small. Sure, she WAS a Mini-Con… but even I didn't liked to be called small.

"Don't worry. He's gone now." I picked her up calmly. "What's your name, cutie?"She looked down then.

"N-no…nam…"

"You don't have a name?" Poor little thing… "Tell me… where do you live?"

She sniffled, holding her hands to chest before pointing north.

She was quiet the whole way there, only saying a few mumbled words and blinking in understanding. She seemed to trust me, and she kept close to me when we got to where she lived.

That sector was filled of Mini-Cons. Mostly boys, of course. What surprised me more, though, was the presence of an old friend. His colors were changed, but he was him.

"Smokescreen?"

"Bee? Ha! What are you DOING here?" Boy, was he excited to see me. "First I hear you hijacked a space bridge and end up on Earth with two rookies, and now you're on one of Cybertron's moons?" He seemed a little bit impressed, which was a little worrying.

"Don't follow my lead." I warned. Smokescreen just waved his hand in a flippant gesture.

"Like I'd get the chance to. I'm all up with work, and having to help here too."

Once I showed the little one, Smokescreen picked her up.

"Wow. Where was she?"

"She was attacked by a Decepticon me and my cadet are after."

"Typical. Decepticons are all cowards. Always attacking smaller bots than them."

"Yeah… I sent Strongarm the location of the attack, so she'll be trailing the way to Ped." Then, I looked around. "What is this place?"

"An Adoption Sector. They were rebuilt a little bit after you left Cybertron. A lot of Mini-Cons were orphaned during the war," Smokescreen answered, looking over the Mini-Con. "These little ones are just waiting for someone to take them home."

"Has any of them been adopted yet?"

"Indeed. Some still doesn't have names, though. Like this little one."Smokescreen placed her on the floor. I watched as she tried playing with the others, but she didn't seemed to fit in. They stared at her like she was scary or something bad.

"What's with them?"

"Well, even I don't know… but there are rumors she has some kind of unusual abilitiy… and it left the others scared of socializing with her. Another reason she goes out by herself sometimes."

I frowned, and feel a pang of sympathy for the young Mini-Con. Many bots had treated my way of communication before my vocalizer was repaired as a disability, and some even avoided me because of it.

She sat on the ground all by herself, fiddling with a few coloured building blocks. The others still avoided her, and some threw glance at her before turning to their friends and whispering.

I waved at her, trying to give her comfort, and she waved back at me, with those optics filled of innocence. Poor little thing…

Goldbug giggled as Jetstorm played peek-a-boo with her.

"Where am I? Peek-a-boo!" He said, cheerfully.

"That poor little thing… all alone like that, with no friends? That's sharable-cerebel-terrible!" Fixit pointed out.

"Boy, even in Cybertron there's bullying?" Russell commneted.

"You bet. Take it from someone who suffered a long time." Bee pointed out.

"But what about Strongarm? How was she doing in her search for Ped?" Grimlock asked, from far away, with some pans to defend himself from the "cute thing".

"I'll take it from here, sir." Strongarm decided, and Bee agreed.

Once I got the coordinates, I went to the very place in Luna-1 where Ped attacked Goldbug.

To say it was a mess would be an understatement. There was a hole from where Ped made his entrance and escape, and a trail of energon lead down what I presumed to be his exit tunnel. It looked like some sort of one-sided fight had been put up.

Following the trail, I've noticed Ped really did learn new tricks. He managed to confuse me by leaving trails in all directions.

"Looks like someone had a tutor in the subject 'Annoy the Cop,'," I grumbled, looking around with my blaster drawn.

"Is it so hard to believe that I can get smarter?" Ped's disembodied voice floated from behind me. I whirled around and was faced with his form looming over mine with his large claws spread menacingly. "Time for me to prove myself to the Decepticons by bringing in you."

"Don't think you're the only one with new tricks, Ped." As expected, a challenge is a challenge.

"What? You think tunnelling silently is ALL I learned?" Ped took a step back as the ground beneath me began to tremble. "No, it's nooot…" Pits that activated when he wasn't standing behind them? That was not in my plans.

The ground opened under me, and I barely managed to grab hold of the edge. I looked down and immediately regretted it: the hole was deep, and the fall would seriously injure me.

I had to get out of there, and make that stop, but how? Looking at my Decepticon Hunter, an idea came to me. 'Distract him,' I thought. So I threw my blaster over the edge, sending Ped scrambling backward.

"Ack! Grenade!" He yelped. I used this to my advantage and hauled myself over edge.

"Sword," I commanded the Decepticon Hunter. It turned into a mace. "Close enough," I muttered.

The battle was well-balanced for a while, but pretty soon I would have to change technique, if to prevent future accidents on the roads.

Higher ground would give me the advantage, and I wouldn't have to dodge Ped's Pit traps. So I climbed on the surrounding buildings, forcing him to follow me up.

I hid behind a crate while he searched for me. I heard his breathing close to me, so I exposed myself and took him down. When he hit the ground he was seemingly out.

"Surrender already?" Little did I knew that fight was far from ending.

His claws moved like lightening, and they gripped my wrists tightly as they sent me flying over him. Remembering my training, I hit the ground feet first, sliding a feet.

"You just won't go down, will you?" I asked him as he charged forward. I got no answer and I jumped out of the way.

"Stay still!" Ped yelled.

Moving quickly, I climbed onto a large stack of crates. Unstable, they wobbled as I reached the top, and I figured I was about thirty feet off the ground.

Ped had just begun to climb then as well, and I knew they would collapse under his weight. Just as they started to fall, I gripped the ledge of the building. Ped wasn't so lucky, and he was buried beneath the crates. There was no way he could still fight after that.

"Sir, Ped's out of combat. I'll bring him to your location as soon as I c-" Soon, however, things got dark.

The team paid close attention to Strongarm's side of the story, while Fixit analyzed where to put an Autobot insignia on Goldbug.

"Then, what happened?" Russell asked.

"I don't remember much. It all got dark so quickly it's hard to process."

"It's a good thing you called me when you did." Bumblebee assured, preparing to take over from there. "Me, Smokescreen and Goldbug arrived at the location and didn't found Strongarm anywhere…"

It was a mess, more so than before. Potholes marked the ground, and there were crates scattered everywhere.

The glint of bright blue energon caught my attention, and I gave the signal to Smokescreen to cover me as I climbed the building and onto a ledge. The energon was fresh, and was still warm on my digit. I slid down the downspout and landed beside them.

"The construction Bots will be well paid to fix this." Smokescreen, as always, tried to break the ice. I appreciate he tries.

"I wonder where he's going now…" I asked myself. Goldbug then came down from Smokescreen's arms and touched the energon. Then, I saw her watching the trails left in all directions. After some moments, she pointed out to two directions, then pointed west.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but I know in that direction there's a big Energon storage. I pass by there once in a while to get fresh Energon for the Mini-Cons."

"Back on Earth, Ped collected energon cubes–and stole ours–and tried to monopolize them so he could negotiate with other Decepticons. It's possible that he's doing the same here."

"Then that should be the first place we search," Smokescreen responded. Goldbug nodded. Could she be trying to tell us that he went that way? Was she THAT bright for that age?

"Thank you. You were a great help." I said, caressing her helm. Once she climbed up my armor and settled herself, I got she wanted to come with us."Well, you two, we better rev up and roll out."

"Nice battle cry."

"Thanks."

Trails of energon led into the rather large warehouse, and some shattered cubes lay discarded on the ground.

"I don't like this. Seems too easy, back on Earth things were harder,"Smokscreen muttered, and I agreed.

"All the more reason to keep out guard up."

We made our way inside, trying not to make a sound. One false move and we would be caught. Then, we saw Strongarm tied down and knocked out. Goldbug whimpered of fear and worry.

Quickly, I made my way over to Strongarm. She let out a small groan and raised her head weakly.

"Lieutenant?" She asked, disoriented.

"Sshh… don't worry, we're going to get you out of here," I said.

"Oooh, three Autobots, the Decepticons will be very pleased," Ped tittered, coming over. Smokescreen was right: too easy.

"You mean, our team will be pleased. Pleased to see you back in your stasis pod!" I declared, calling for my Decepticon Hunter.

"Fighting side by side, just like old times, Bee." Smokescreen, optimistic as always.

"Is that… Smokescreen?" Strongarm just couldn't hold herself. "THE Smokescreen?!" I winced, not sure how this would play out. "Think you can give some tips for a cadet?"

"Maybe even give you an autograph, girl," he winked. I had to chuckle; no surprise in that case.

"Enough talk. Let's fight," Ped said.

"You sure? 'Cause that's not going to end well for you," Smokescreen taunted. His blasters were aimed at Ped, and I smirked.

"Just like old times," I agreed.

Goldbug freed Strongarm and helped her move out of there. She was, as you could notice, exxhausted and debilitated. For now, it were only me and Smokescreen against Ped.

"Two against one? That's hardly fair," Ped commented.

"Being the kind that attacks young Mini-Cons for their energon, you're not the best one to speak about fair," I retorted.

"Starscream was a coward, and look what happened to him," Smokescreen goaded him into attacking.

"Rargh! I am nothing like that traitorous fool!"

We had a plan: rile him up until he couldn't think straight, let alone plan attacks. We kept our attacks in a lower level, until we could seize the opportunity to trap him.

"Sir, be careful. He's not the same we faced before." Strongarm tried to warn us.

"What?" I asked, but it was too late. The ground beneath Smokescreen's feet trembled and began to cave in. He looked up with wide, shocked optics just as he fell down.

"Smokescreen!" I gasped, running to the edge of the hole. Then, a familiar sound came to my audios. Was that…

A right one in my chest cut off the chat, and made me go back to fight with a left one.

It went back and forth like this for a while, but the tables turned when he landed a string punch while my back was turned. I landed face first on the ground, and Ped stepped on my back to keep me from rising.

"Why do you even bother?" He asked. Then, that sound again.

"Because he's an Autobot and a good friend, and you are a Decepticon and a monster!" There was the thump of a body hitting the ground and the pressure on my back disappeared. Smokescreen was back, and with precisely what I was thinking. "Wasn't expecting me to still hold the Phase Shifter, huh?"

"You really need to stop doing this kind of stuff."

"And ruin the surprise? You know some things don't change." I had to chuckle. He was right. Goldbug cheered and Storngarm stared in awe.

"Are you two done? Cause I'm ready to knock you both!" Ped cut off that chat really fast.

"Third time you were knocked out and you're STILL not down? How do you do that?" Strongarm groaned. Goldbug then looked at Strongarm.

Smokescreen and I looked at the Mini-Con, who had climbed on her arm.

"What is she doing?" Smokescreen wondered

Then, she assumed her alt-mode, and placed herself at Strongarm's arm, as some kind of Gauntlet. Was she… asking Strongarm's help? Well, she possibly though, questions later.

"Sir, Smokescreen! Bring him here!" She warned us, through audio. Ped stumbled to his feet, and shook his head as he looked at Smokescreen and I.

"Oh, you'll pay for that, Autobots."

We moved, strategically placing ourselves Ped's back to Strongarm. She then pointed her arm to Ped and Goldbug was shoot at him, changing to her robot mode and surprising him with her tiny hands attacking him, faster than we could process.

"What the spark?" Smokescreen wondered. "She never did that before!" What surprised me as well was her color: she was glowing a strong golden color. Ped stumbled around, turning in circles as he tried to dislodge the furiously attacking Mini-Con.

"Ack! Get off, get off, get off!" He yelped as he fell onto his back.

"Tack! Tack!" She told us… to attack. Of course, a perfect distraction for us to defeat Ped in his own game. We surrounded him, me and Strongarm, who stood up with a bit of strenght left, with our Decepticon Hunters drawn, and Smokescreen with his blasters drawn and ready to fire.

"You are under arrest," Smokescreen said, a snarky undertone to his voice. Ped struggled to his feet as the Mini-Con scrambled behind one of my feet. Smokescreen didn't hesitate to blast him. It wasn't fatal, and this time Ped DID stay down. "What? He was resisting."

"You're right, buddy… some things don't change." I smirked at him. He shrugged in response, with that "whatever" expresson. Goldbug just chuckled in response.

Back to where we started, we awaited for Fixit to open up the groundbridge, and spoke with Smokescreen about a decision I took.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Bee?"

"I am. What others may have called a dangerous thing…. I think it's a valuable gift. She needs someone that cares for her… and I'm more than willing to be this someone. And I'm sure the team will like her too."

"She'll need a name then," Smokescreen said.

"Hm… what about… Goldbug?" I decided.

"Nice one."

"You heard that?" I told her. "Your name is now Goldbug." She giggled as she clapped her hands, and climbed up, morphing to her gauntlet mode. The groundbridge opened up behind us, and I felt a pang of sadness at leaving my old friend.

"Hey," Smokescreen said as we dragged Ped to where Strongarm and I would drag him through. "I"m sure Optimus would be proud of you."

"I think he is," I said, before we entered the groundbridge. I thought if I told him right away, he wouldn't believe it. Maybe when he DO come to Earth.

"And then we got back here and you got to meet her." Bumblebee finished. "I'm sure that with our help, Goldbug's ability can be used for something good. Plus, she'll have not only a team… but a family."

"A family. Indeed a great way of thinking, Bumblebee." Optimus Prime, who was listening from far away, commented, as he approached to take a good look at Goldbug. She looked up with wide optics as she craned her neck to see the Prime. Awestruck, she gave a slighlty awkward wave.

"Famie," she giggled. "Famie, famie!" She did her best to pronounce 'family.' Optimus chuckled as she reached up, hands making a grabby motion. Windblade came closer to take a look at her as well.

"A powerful small being. Welcome to Bee Team, Goldie." Windblade greeted, tickling her belly.

"Well, an Autobot insignia would look great on her chest." Fixit decided. "Now, back to Ped…"

"I'll take him to the stasis pod." Grimlock quickly answered, picking him up. "You take care of Strongarm."

"Make sure to give a double-check. We don't want malfunctions on it ag-g-g-g-gain!" Fixit warned.

"What do you know, Russell? You always told me you wanted a little sister." Denny pointed out.

"Wasn't expecting a robot sister, but I think that's gonna be fun, dad." Russell pointed out. Goldbug blinked at that word.

"Dad?" She asked.

"Um… boy, how to expalin in a way that's not hard?" Denny wondered, stroking his beard. "Even harder the way Bee says it… Well, a dad is someone… who cares for you a lot," he said.

Goldbug thought for a minute before pointing to Bumblebee. "U… daddy?" she asked Bumblebee. He blinked, then smiled at her, picking her up.

"Yes… I'm daddy." He said, as she chuckled, embracing his face.

That was the beginning of a new life for her, and of her learning about the planet she was in. Another day for Bee's team, another member for their family.