Miko shifted uncomfortably as she exited Bulkhead's interior with a farewell and into the searing heat of the parking lot later that morning. Simply being nervous didn't even begin to describe her right then. This was her only shot - if she screwed up, it was back to the drawing board. For the next six months. Or maybe even longer with her luck.

She walked inside the restaurant and felt a blast of cold air as she opened the door. Miko's eyes quickly adjusted several seconds later and took in the interior. The large room was rather dingy and damp smelling; it barely had enough patrons to keep the pizzeria running. The robots - the animatronics that Jack mentioned - were attempting to sing coherently through scratchy speakers.

She wandered in to get a better look at the place.

At the far end of the room, a stage with a purple, star-scattered curtain caught her attention. A sign - one that stuck out like a sore thumb on the stage - read, Sorry! Out of order! For a moment, all her old instincts welled up in her and she was extremely tempted to peer behind the curtain to see what was hidden from the outside. She felt the familiar rush of rebellion flow through her for this was surely against the rules...

"Hey, are you Miko Nakadai?"

She jumped with a barely audible yelp at the sudden question. She guiltily turned around to face the voice. A man, more likely in his late thirties-early forties, smiled and extended his hand, "I'm Scott Cawthon, manager of Freddy's. How are you?" He had dark hair and eyes that lit up when he smiled. However, she saw several lines of hardness and fatigue - he must be really dedicated to his job.

Miko shook his hand, "I'm great, thanks."

Scott gestured towards the front of the pizzeria where his office would be located out of the way. "My office is around there. Follow me."

They entered his small office after weaving through booths and playing children. When they reached a flimsy looking door, the manager opened it and let her in first. The room felt damp and smelled of mildew as she sat on an uncomfortable chair facing the manager's desk. Miko did her best not to betray her emotions on her face, but a small twitch managed to get through. 'No wonder the pay's so small...'

Cawthon gave her an apologetic look, "the place is about to close down, so I don't really bother keeping up with the maintenance."

Miko only nodded absently. 'And yet you have enough money to clean and replace everything when a death occurs?'

He laced his fingers together, "you have all the paperwork?"

"Right here," she handed him the necessary documents to look over.

"So, you were an exchange student..."

"Actually, I finished school in Japan and came over here to live. I needed to find some work though..."

He glanced up, "I understand." He flipped through the rest of her paperwork without finding anything suspicious. "So, how's your reflexes?"

Miko quickly raised her brow in confusion. Her reflexes? Last time she checked, all she had to do was sit around and watch cameras. Although, this was a security job, so she'd probably have to chase off some baddies every now and then. But who'd be desperate enough to rob a children's restaurant?

"I'm pretty fast. And, not to brag or anything, but I think my reflexes are pretty sharp."

'Cons made sure of that one.'

"Okay, I'll need you to read and sign this right here..." He placed a piece of paper towards her.

She scanned the paper's fineprint and quickly became bored. 'Bla, bla, bla - safety, don't tamper with the robots, you must work a minimum of five days unless told otherwise, don't inform anyone out of your job of what goes on in the restaurant for confidential reasons... okay, then?' This was getting weird, it might have been safer to apply at the K.O. Burger. (Against her better judgement and Jack's advice.)

She looked at the manager, "what's with the fineprint?"

"Hm? Oh, that's just for legal reasons. You never know what kind of people walk through these doors, you know. Especially these days." He explained rather quickly but Miko didn't take much notice.

She signed her name (refraining from writing Japanese characters) and handed the document back to Scott. He glanced at it quickly then offered his hand to shake. "Alright, I'll expect you in next Monday night around 11:30 PM. I might not be there, but an associate of mine will let you in and give you some keys to the place."

Miko blinked, speechless. This quick? It was all happening so rapidly that she was starting to feel an incoming headache.

"I'll give you your uniform at the door." He said as he had got up and let them both out of the office.

He walked off towards the back while she stood uncertainly towards the front. Her gaze drifted towards the animatronics. They stopped their cringe worthy concert for a while, but for some reason they were deactivated while turned towards her. All three of them.

All of them seemed to be watching her with their uncanny eyes. Actually, everything about them crossed the uncanny valley to tell the truth - what on earth or Cybertron did those kids see in them? She stared back at them defiantly. If they thought she was going to be cowed by them, they were dead wrong.

Miko kept up this train of thought until a thought hit her.

She was having a staring contest with a bunch of machines that couldn't possibly hurt her. Sure, they were creepy, but still. She slapped a hand on her forehead, "I need to get more sleep." She muttered crossly.

Her sleep deprivation problem had to wait since Scott came back from the back hallway with a folded up uniform around her size. "Here you go," he handed the clothing to her, "you might want to get some sleep over the weekend, the job can be pretty taxing over time."

"Thanks. I'll be fine." Miko replied.

She snuck a glance at the robots again and held in a shudder. They were so creepy! There was also something about them...something weird that even she didn't want to mess with.

Miko tried to shrug it off; it was getting ridiculous anyway. Those things were just moving dolls that somehow spawned horror legends.

"I'll do the remaining days and leave on-the-job training messages you can use." Scott's voice jarred Miko out of her thoughts.

"Oh, thanks." Miko murmured distractedly. She was starting to feel nauseous just from standing in the restaurant. Scott noticed this and took pity, leading her to the main doors.

After confirming the time with him, Miko hurriedly said goodbye, already feeling much better now that she was in the fresh (albeit really hot) air. She jumped into the driver's seat in Bulkhead's cabin mostly just to preserve his identity.

"How'd it go?" He rumbled gently and curiously, his Autobot insignia lighting up when he spoke.

"I think it went well - it looked like I was the first person in a while to ask about the guard job, but it was kinda weird, y'know?" Miko answered. She relaxed into the driver's seat and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Really? How weird?" Bulkhead asked as he busied himself with the task of maneuvering out of the parking lot. He drove out towards the direction of the base.

"I hate to say it, but you were kind of right about the place being creepy." Miko stated.

"Told ya." Bulkhead replied smugly.

"Hey, I'm a big girl, I can admit when I'm wrong." Miko retorted and crossed her arms, not looking at Bulkhead's dash.

"Are you really okay working there though?" Bulkhead inquired, having gone serious all of a sudden.

Miko threw him a suspicious look, "what? You know something I don't? That's the hundredth time you've asked me, Bulk."

Bulkhead sighed softly. He really should just let the matter go. It wasn't like Miko was entering a battlefield full of 'Cons. But something was telling him that this was much worse than anything the Decepticons could throw at them.

"Sorry, just lookin' out for your safety, that's all. It's kinda my job." He playfully swerved, causing Miko to giggle.

"Alright, Dad." Miko kidded. "Though, weren't you guys relieved from duty or something?" She asked.

"Nope."

"Really?"

"Well, actually, Optimus said that since you guys weren't in instant danger as far as we knew, we didn't have to keep watching over you. But Arcee, 'Bee, and I really didn't want to give up guarding over you guys. We'd miss you too much." He slightly tightened his seat-belt over her - his version of a hug.

"Aw, that's really sweet!" Miko grinned, slightly pink in the face.

Bulkhead didn't say anything but Miko could feel his happiness radiating through the cabin. While she wasn't much for warm and fuzzies (she preferred hardcore herself), she found that she was willing to give an exception in this case.

Ending with fluff because I can. :) (Though I have no idea how that happened.)

And to answer one of the reviews, there aren't going to be any Decepticon activity. This is supposed to take place after Prime, remember? ;) Don't worry, I was considering any possible scenarios before I realized that I made this take place after the show. Whoops. So no 'Cons.

Anyway, I am so sorry about the delay!
I had so much going on (like school and searching for a job) and then I had writer's block (which I try to alleviate by working on different stories). I can't promise another chapter soon, maybe by October at best or November/December if things get hairy for me. It's also my first time writing a crossover so it's really tough trying to balance two different things to make sure they mesh together just right.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's welcome PorNgub, Azturner, LibraryNexus, AutobotTwila, ChuckNorris'ssister, Bonnielicious, ArmoredSoul, raven-saber, Griff-Pendragon, DigiPokeNinjaDragon Fangirl, Blue Ussain, AVFireBlade9472, TheMysteriousOtaku, Juxshoa, DreamDusk, alfbogart, cartoons and anime, Little Kunai, and Sunny Lighter. Wow, that's a lot of new names. Thanks for liking and following this story; I hope I won't disappoint!

Now, special thanks for reviewing goes to Elhini Prime, CaityGirlz, Varus the Shadow Sage, Juxshoa, PorNgub, TFSTARFIRE, alfbogart, Guest, ChuckNorris'ssister, and John Vector Foxfire. You guys are all awesome and made me a very happy author reading your reviews! :)

Now let me know if you see any mistakes and I'll re-edit this chapter.

-Winterbornbree