Arcee sat in front of the school, waiting for Jack to finish. Relief surged through the bot as the final bell rang and she was assured a small wait for her human charge. When he finally arrived and mounted the seat, she was ready to take off and did, well over the 15 mph limit for the school zone.

"Woah, Arcee, you okay?" He asked, still shoving his helmet on while trying to appear as if he was driving.

Curtly, she replied," Fine."

"Yeah, try telling me that while you're not trying to run a red light."

She must have just realized the traffic lights were yellow and screeched to a halt, her treads feeling the burn. "I could have made it easily."

"What's that you're always telling me about the whole-"

"Jack, I'm not really in the mood for a lesson right now," She interrupted. It had been only three days since being trapped in that cave and treating the decepticon ended up being more than Ratchet had anticipated and took a full day. Seeing the other completely helpless and having to hear and see all about his injuries old and new, it had spooked her, left her on edge, far more than it should've. The two days since they had left him, he'd made an annoying habit of popping into whatever she was thinking about.

"Arcee, you can tell. Whatever's got you down, I'll listen; I'm here for you," He offered, placing a hand reassuringly on the dash.

"It's Starscream," She confided. "While we were in the cave..." She trailed off, unsure if she should continue. It was weird, or at least, she couldn't get used to the idea. "He told me he had a crush on me."

"What?"

"That is the correct terminology, right?" She asked, feeling a little more insecure than she already had been. It was the term he had used, so she assumed it was right. "A mildly infantile conveyance of affection towards another?"

"Uh, yeah, that's a way to put it," Jack said, a little astonishment hinted in his voice. "Really? Starscream?"

Tentatively, the motorcycle autobot affirmed," Yes, Starscream, and I don't know how to react to it."

Jack didn't honestly know either, he knew what it was like to have a crush on a girl for a very long time, and to not even be noticed by the other. "I've had a crush on Sierra for... quite a while, and she didn't even know that I existed until the day you first came into my life. She still doesn't know, hopefully, that I have a crush on her since I haven't really been able to... y'know..." He hadn't had the guts to ask her out yet, that was the truth, but he didn't really want to out and admit. "Uh, do you like him?"

"He killed my partner, Jack."

"Oh, yeah..." He fell silent, not really sure how one continued off of that. Something came to mind, and he spoke up," Optimus Prime says that people can change."

"Sure, they can, but do they is the question," She muttered, taking a sharp right a little less fluidly than usual. They were approaching the alley that they usually used for a ground bridge, but Arcee skipped the turn. They'd loop through town again; she wasn't ready to return to base yet. Luckily, Jack seemed to understand, and didn't mention it.

"How do you believe Sierra would react should you tell her that you have a crush on her?" She asked, hoping for insight into... something useful for how she felt now.

"I would hope that she would be, um, happy? I don't know. I'm kind of afraid she'll reject me."

"Obtaining the Matrix of Leadership on an alien planet didn't phase you, and then being attacked by an insecticon didn't throw you off your game, but asking out a human girl is something to fear?"

Jack nodded to himself and said," Yeah, pretty much."

They rounded the corner and this time, Arcee entered the alley way for the ground bridge that Ratchet would be opening any moment. "Please, don't mention this to anyone."

"Of course," Jack promised.

"We're receiving a high frequency message," Ratchet announced.

Bulkhead laughed and said," I bet I can tell ya' who it is!"

"And you would be right," Ratchet affirmed, but then added," It doesn't make sense though. It's complete gibberish."

"Should we even bother? Maybe he just has us on speed dial and accidentally contacted us," Arcee said, but then Bumblebee mentioned that maybe he didn't have the time to compose a full message if he was was being attacked. With hesitation, the blue autobot agreed," It wouldn't hurt to check into it."

"Alright, Autobots, special agent Fowler has requested our presence elsewhere, so I will send Arcee and Bumblebee," Optimus Prime said. "Bulkhead and I will attend to agent Fowler's needs."

"And if Starscream requires medical aid?" Ratchet asked.

"Then decide how best to take care of the situation," Prime decided. Giving Ratchet a nod, the ground bridge opened and he commanded," Bulkhead, let's roll out." The two shifted to vehicular modes and drove through the bridge.

Ratchet shut down the bridge, typed in Starscream's coordinates, and reopened it again.

"Well, I suppose we have to go now," Arcee sighed and transformed into her motorcycle form, then speeding through the green portal, closely followed by the yellow muscle car.

Arriving on the other side in the forest they had left him, Arcee front flipped into robot form. Screaming came from behind the autobots, and Arcee turned to see the ex con running with all he had.

He swore as the ground bridge fizzled out and shrieked," Run! Run!" His hands were bound behind his back with webs, and his run had a pained limp to it. "It looks like you autobots aren't the only ones to find me!"

As if on cue, Airachnid came spinning into view, slinging a web at her prey. Starscream managed to leap out of the way, but with his feet off the ground, they became prime target for a web to bind them together. He fell ungracefully and slid to a stop in the mud. Frantically shuffling his feet, he succeeded in slicing himself free and leapt to his feet to keep running.

"Oh, Arcee! Is this your latest partner?" The spiderly robot came to a stop and laughed. Perched in a tree, she asked," Confronting me once again? Perhaps you desire another late partner?"

With a furious yell, Arcee charged the decepticon, guns blazing. Even with Bumblebee assisting in firing, Airachnid dodged every blast. "I'm afraid I don't have time to waste. I had just been enjoying myself some with Screamer." She jumped to the ground and drilled through easily, escaping the bots.

"Scrap!" Arcee said with a frustrated stomp. Bumbled offered to stay watch, and Arcee picked up the meaning. "Fine, I'll go check on the coward." Neither wanted to seek him out, but the seeker was beginning to become something like the team pet. She kept silent as she sought him out, weary of alerting Airachnid to her position if the spider was still in the area after all.

Hidden in the trees surrounding a clearing, she saw Starscream carefully walking and keeping a cautious eye out for any stalking predators. His walk was slow and pained, she noticed, but was more interested in what he was able to pick up around him and why he hadn't broken free of the binding webs yet. Arcee could tell that he was aware something was watching him, but he finally gave in and roughly took a knee, extremely attentive to his his bound arms.

With a low groan, he attempted to use his heel to cut at the webs, but found it difficult to accomplish without viciously attacking the web. He was there for at least three minutes, warily tending to his bindings, when Arcee sighed and stepped into sight and asked," Need help?" Her tone fully indicated how annoyed she was that she was bothering to provide assistance.

He almost immediately rejected the offer, but then said," I would actually greatly appreciate that, I'm rigged to explode should I mess this up."

Surprise rattled through Arcee as she asked," Airachnid is using pyrotechnics now?"

"No," Starscream answered dully," but that blasted spider and her web slinging caught me mid firing of my missile and caught it as it was leaving its holster. I'm lucky it hasn't blown up yet, what with the safety being off and it already set to go."

"Wow, that's impressive. How do you fail at timing your shots so tremendously?" She asked teased, making her way up to the decepticon. He merely grumbled something that she imagined to be quite colorful as she came up behind him and kneeled, picking up his hands. "I promise, if you manage to blow me to smithereens, you'll have all of the autobots to answer to."

"Hasn't that always been the case? You autobots are rather close nit," He said idly, trying not to let his concern show as she handled the missile. One wrong cut in the web and they were both goners.

She began to selectively cut thread by thread of the web and mockingly agreed," Yeah, we care for eachother, how weird."

He scoffed and grumbled," You don't know how strange it is. Wha- Hey! Be care with that!" She had wrenched his arms to the left to get a better angle.

"Do you want my help? I'm not obliged to give it." The con was suddenly a lot more compliant as she continued the stressful work. One wrong snip and- "Oh frag!" She wrenched his arm again, but this time straight up into the air as the missile spiraled away, miraculously missing both of them in its voluted path.

"Look at what your clumsy fingers accomplished now!" He cried, staring up at the missile creating a light show in the sky. There went his only means of defense.

A yellow and black muscle car came racing into view and anxiously asked if everything was alright.

"Yes, Bumblebee. He was just the butt of Airachnid's joke," Arcee explained with a small smile. "If it wasn't for me, he'd still be a walking bomb."

With a jovial tune, Bee teased that maybe Starscream should just join the autobots if they were assisting him so much.

"Are you insane? I'll stay neutral, thank you very much," Starscream spat as he stood to his feet rubbed his wrists. "Last time I tried to join the autobots, I was nearly murdered!"

Bee's eyes whirred as his expression dropped and he looked over to Arcee, who looked suddenly very uncomfortable. "Ratchet," She called placing her her hand on her helmet," Ready to bridge back."

"What was the situation?"

As Arcee watched Starscream walk away, a limp still noticeable to his gait, she hesitated before answering," He was attacked by Airachnid, but she got away before we could engage her in a proper fight. Uh, Starscream..." She had scruples as to whether she should offer any aid at all. He was walking and not dripping any energon as opposed to normal... "Do you require medical assist-"

Raising a hand dismissively, he said," I'll manage on my own." His words were slightly injured as his footing failed, but he continued walking into the forest without sparing a glance back.

Arcee didn't understand why she was a little frustrated by this response, but she simply gave a sigh through her air intakes and finished her report with Ratchet. "It will just be Bumblebee and me, we'll explain later."