"Ratchet, is this really necessary?" I asked, nervous from all of the cords clipped onto my body. "It is necessary if you want your wounds to heal a lot more faster," Ratchet replied, clipping on another cord. "Come on, I'll be fine just healing alone, you've done enough for me. Besides...this makes me feel like a test subject," I start to pull away a cord.
"Hey hey hey, alright! Just let me remove them before you damage yourself even more," Ratchet snaps. I let out a nervous laugh, "R-Right," Once I was free from the cords, I sat up from the berth, "While I'm stuck here, do you need any help with anything?"
Ratchet sighed, looking around, "I'll call you when I do," I pull up the side of my mouth as a reply, then start to walk around in boredom. Then, I heard a sound of metal falling. "Ariona!" Ratchet snapped. "I-It wasn't me!" I shout back. A sound of clacking came.
"W-Wah!" I felt something jump on top of my helm and I quickly grab at it and threw it off, "What the scrap!"
"By the AllSpark, what was that!" Ratchet shouts. "I don't-ah!" I quickly grab the creature once it leaped toward me, looking into my optics with it's menacingly lavender one. I quickly bare out my blades and putting them together without letting the thing go. Forming a gun with my blades, I shoot at it, letting it go and it was sent flying away from me. It growled and scurried towards us again.
I jump back away from it as it went over towards Ratchet. He immediately grabs a metal rod and swings at it. I aimed my gun and shoot at the creature, nearly missing with every shot. While at it, I accidentally shoot down something that looked important. "I needed that!" Ratchet snaps at me. Knew it.
The creature growls and jumps at us. Before I could shoot, a laser hits it and it crashes onto the floor. I made a 'oopsie' sound by using my vocal processor, Oronian language.
I looked over to my left and see Optimus. He comes over to us and stomps into the creature. "And stay down. Now, what could have caused that?" Ratchet asked. "I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet. Dark Energon," Optimus replied.
"I haven't seen or heard such a thing ever sense the war," I make a worried expression, "It can't be possible for that type of substance to be found on Earth, right?"
"This is proof of it," Ratchet grabs the crushed creature and puts it inside a glass cylinder and gives it to Optimus. "If the residue Arcee found on Cliffjumper brought your broken equipment to life, it would stand to reason, that the very same substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead," Optimus puts the cylinder away.
"Joy..." I sighed. "That could explain his signal coming back online, but, Dark Energon? It's so scarce that it shouldn't be existing," Ratchet says, "But, what I'm concerned about, the same as Ariona, is how it got on Earth,"
"It was transported, by Megatron," Optimus answered. I blinked in surprise. "For what purpose?" Ratchet asked. "To conquer this planet, by raising an army of the undead," Optimus replied. "But- to raise such an army, the source that Megatron will have is..." I bit my lip. Cybertron.
I turned once I hear the rest of the Autobots coming back with the humans. Once they have let the kids step out, they transformed. I giggled slightly once Bulkhead pulls out a guitar that belonged to Miko. then, Optimus stepped forth.
"Autobots-" He looks down at the kids. "Roll out?" Arcee asked. "Remain here with Ariona, Ratchet, you come with me," Optimus said, "Arcee, we will be out of communications range for quite some time, so I'm putting you in charge,"
"Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing. Babysitting is different. Besides, Ratchet hasn't been in the field sense the war," Arcee said. "She's right. I can handle the humans while you guys are gone," I insisted.
"My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing is sharp as ever! Ariona, do you even know how to use the ground bridge when we need it?" Ratchet asked in annoyance. "Uh...well," I shifted in place a bit. "It is only for the moment," Optimus replied to Arcee.
"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?" Arcee asked. "Arcee, much has changed during the last twenty-four hours, and we all need to adapt," Optimus said before looking to Ratchet, "Ratchet, bridge us out,"
Not longer, Optimus and Ratchet were gone, leaving us with the kids. "So, uh, what's on the activity's list?" Jack asked. Arcee rolled her optics, "I'm going on patrol,"
"But Optimus told us to stay here," Bulkhead said. "When you're in charge, you can call the shots. Bee! You're with me," Arcee says.
'Aw man,' Bumblebee beeps. "Bulkhead, you're in charge," Arcee said. Then, Arcee and Bumblebee were gone. I let out a sigh. "So, uh, what's on the activity's list?" Bulkhead asked, shrugging his shoulders. A ringing sound caused me to cringe. I looked over at the kids and saw Miko with her guitar out hooked onto a speaker.
"How about band practice?" She asked with enthusiasm. "But, we're not a band," Raf said. "Why are you so anti-social? Come one Raf, what do you play?" Miko smiled.
"Um...keyboard?" Raf holds up his laptop. "Good," Miko turns to Jack, "Jack, what about you?"
"I sometimes mess around with the harmonica," Jack rubs his neck. "Do I look like I do country? just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming," Miko waves him off. I blinked in reaction. "Bulkhead, we're going to need a big industrial sound. Ariona, you'll be singing. DIY, we have a band! We just gotta learn the songs. This one's a ballet, my fist, your face," "But, Miko, I'm a terrible singer," Miko starts to play the guitar, causing me to cringe more.
I flinched once I heard the computer going off and flashing green. "Whoa whoa, Miko," Bulkhead says. Miko stops playing, "C'mon, you can't handle raw power?"
"The sensor's going off, quick hide!" Bulkhead beckons the kids to hide behind him. The elevator doors open, "Prime!" I look closer to see that it was Agent Fowler. Uh oh.
"Agent Fowler! Uh, he's not here. No one's here! Except Ariona and I, of course" Bulkhead said, nervous. "Hey," I waved at Fowler in a fast pace, acting innocent. "Well, where did he go! Oh don't tell me, he's out pancaking a mini mall. Now, I don't know what language you bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised that he would handle the Decepticons, and blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska, is NOT what the word 'handling' means on Earth! So, you tell Prime-" Fowler was interrupted by a sound of the guitar.
He looks down at Bulkhead's foot, seeing the cord that was connecting Miko's guitar and the speaker. I rolled my optics in worry. "Sense when were you bots electric?" Fowler asked. Bulkhead looks down at the kids. Jack only shrugs, knowing that the cover was blowed, "H-Hey. How're you doin'?"
"Contact with civilians!" Fowler slams his palm on the metal railing, "Team Prime is really going off book this time. Wait, don't tell me, you're running a daycare center!"
"W-we're interns!" Jack says. "Student interns," Raf adds. "Earning extra credit in-" "Robotics," Miko adds.
I let out a sigh, "It wasn't anything we couldn't avoid. Fowler shakes his head, "Alright, let's move. I'm taking all three of you into custody for protection,"
Bulkhead and I stand in front of the children. "We're protecting them," Bulkhead said. "Is that so..?" Fowler asked. "It is so," I retort. Fowler rolls his eyes and starts to walk back up the stairs, "Well maybe you could explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon," Fowler grabs the phone. "W-Wait," I held up my hands. "Don't use that phone its," Bulkhead pushes his finger against the phone booth, "out of order."
"This isn't over, big-butts! Not by a long shot!" Fowler starts claiming the stairs. "Big-butt?" I placed my hands on my hips, making a face at the agent. Fowler enters the elevator and leaves, leaving Bulkhead with a groan.
"What was that about?" Miko asked. "A threat, obviously," I sighed. The computer starts to beep again. "What now?" I asked. Bulkhead walks up to check it out. "It's an SOS. From Fowler!" He says. "Did you find his location?" Raf asked. "The scan was incomplete. Oh well," Bulkhead shrugs.
"Oh well? Seriously!" Jack shouts. "Fowler's a jerk!" Bulkhead shouts back.
"Regardless of that, he might have been engaged on Decepticons. He is a human, and therefore, he needs help, Bulkhead," I said. "And he knows your location. Our location," Raf said in worry. "Also, those 'Cons can torture him to spill it out!" Miko said.
"But we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere!" Bulkhead said. "Maybe I can help," Raf pulls out his laptop and opens it, "Five years ago, the Government started to put microchips into their agents. You know, something like owners do with pets,"
"T-That's interesting," I shivered, picturing someone getting drilled into their head and had a chip placed inside before sealing it up and stitched.
"What? I saw it on t.v!" Raf said, noticing everyone's look and I shivered again.
"A-Anyway, If I can hack into the mainframe, maybe I can pinpoint where Fowler's at," Raf types. "You know how to hack?" Miko asked. "Experienced it myself," I smiled. "But, he's like, two years old!" Miko said.
"Twelve, and a quarter," Raf reassures. He continues to type, "There, got it. Latitude thirty-nine point five. Longitude one hundred sixteen point nine,"
"There's no doubt about it, Decepticons are the culprits," I say and look up at Bulkhead, who was opening a bridge to the coordinates. "Okay, wait here," Bulkhead said. "B-But Bulkhead, I don't know the details of working this," I point to the opening to the ground bridge.
"All you have to do is put in the location and pull the lever, easy as that. I'm counting on you on being in charge," Bulkhead winks before running into the bridge. I sighed, "Right..."
"I guess it's just the four of us, right Miko?" Jack blinks and looks around, "Miko?" I gasped and looked everywhere, then realized.
"Scrap!" I kicked a crate, "I'm in deep..." "What should we do? Bulkhead might not have realized that she followed him," Raf said in worry. "Miko hasn't seen what the 'Cons do like we have. We have to go after her," Jack said.
"Oh no. No way! I'm not getting into anymore trouble as I am in now!" I shout. "We have to! Miko's our friend, we can't just abandon her!" Jack says back. "Please Ariona? The location is still locked on," Raf said.
I thought for a moment. I did want to get out on the battlefield again, but in doing so would disobey Optimus' orders. But still...
I let out a sigh, "Fine, we'll go. Raf, you're in charge," I pull down the lever to open a space bridge and grabbed Jack. "In charge of who?" Raf asked. "Be lucky, no one," I replied. I blinked when Raf starts to follow. I sighed and picked him up, too. I place the two on each shoulder as the bridge starts to open. "Hang on," I tell them as I ran through the bridge.
"Ugh, I need to get used to that again.." I took in deep breathes as I exit out from the bridge. "Ariona!" Bulkhead said in shock, "What are you doing here? With them?"
"Sorry, friendly worries," I replied with a nervous laugh. "Do you feel your bones vibrating?" Raf asked. "Thanks for sharing," I quickly say, looking up at the warship, "Scrap,"
"You there!" I look up at the Vehicons who were pointing cannons at us. "Ugh..." I cursed in my Oronian language.