Another Solar Cycle passed. Blurr, after quitting the Elite Guard, managed to get a job as a courier, with the occasional race slipping its way in every once in awhile.

As much as Blurr relished the time he got to spend with his Sparklings the former Intel agent could not help but let a wave of guilt ride over him every time he thought about the war. He was one of the most useful agents they had on base and he'd quit. Just like that. He hadn't even tried to reason with his superiors.

Every time a thought like that invaded Blurr's processor he shook it off. He knew Optimus and the rest of the council would do whatever it took to win the war. He was well aware that the terms drawn up in that contract were not subject to debate. If Blurr wanted to live a peaceful, healthy life with his Sparklings he had no choice but to quit the guard.

This rationalization didn't stop Blurr from wishing he could still be serving the guard. He wanted to help the cause, everyone did. He was in a prime position to do that and they pushed him away.

Within that Solar Cycle all of the sparklings started school. It was all fine, at first, they were all happy to go to school and learn, excited to tell Carrier what they learned every day, what they did, how nice the teachers were. It was all great.

Then, as time went on, the sparklings became more distant. Lightwave especially, who had been the most excited to start attending. She didn't talk as much as she used to, about anything. She swished her energon around in its cube for a while before actually drinking it, clearly caught in deep thought. She lost interest in racing around with her siblings, and reading, and collecting information. Really she lost interest in everything.

All of Blurr's attempts to address this turned up empty. It saddened him to see his Sparkling like this. What happened to his happy, curious, fact filled daughter? Blurr attempted to talk to the school about it, considering it seemed the rest of his children were sworn to secrecy and he certainly wasn't getting anywhere with Lightwave.

The school gave him a less than satisfactory answer, "Children like them," started the principal, apparently referring to all of Blurr's offspring, "can sometimes be hard to handle. They are having a difficult time fitting in with the rest of us, but it should pass in time."

Blurr lifted a brow at this answer, "I'm sorry, I'm confused," he said, "what do you mean children like them? I'm just here to talk about Lightwave. What do my other sparklings have to do with this?"

"Well, Blurr, frankly, all of your children have proven to be something of a distraction," her tone became almost sullen, but in a condescending way, "which is understandable," she added quickly, "considering the circumstances. No one expects them to fit in, so we're quite forgiving."

Blurrs face twisted with even more confusion, "I don't follow," said Blurr, "they're Autobots, like everyone else. I came here to ask about Lightwave. And only Lightwave. To see if she was getting bullied."

The principal nodded, "oh, well, yes, they all are, to an extent. I just want you to rest assured that we are trying to deal with the situation. Sparklings will be sparklings, you know, and Autobots will be Autobots. It's just the natural order of things."

"I don't think I understand your meaning. What does being Autobots have to do with-" Blurr cut himself off, suddenly realizing what she was saying.

The principal seemed to jump to attention, realizing what it was Blurr wasn't understanding, "oh! I'm sorry, I understand now. You see, despite great effort, your sparklings fellow classmates have gotten into the habit of thinking of your sparklings as Decepticons. We're trying to rectify this, I assure you."

Blurr didn't say anything for a moment, trying to process this information. This was exactly what he was afraid of. He came to the conclusion that Lightwave was getting the blunt of of the blow as she looked the most like a Decepticon. He didn't believe this woman for a second when she said they were doing something about it.

"What are you doing about it?" Blurr challenged, skeptical the principal could give him a suitable answer.

The femme took pause, clearly surprised by the question, "what are we doing about it?" She repeated, "why-uh, punishment, of course. Time outs for anyone caught referring to them as such." She smiled, satisfied with her answered.

"Mm-hm," Blurr hummed skeptically, "I'm sure you do," Blurr stood, "thank you, Principal Clipper. I'm sure we'll be see eachother again before the school year is up."

The principal gave no reply as the speedster took his leave. Blurr was visiting during school hours but did not catch a glimpse of his Sparklings, as they were currently on the playground.

Lightwave, who was hiding in her own corner of the fenced in playground, watched him leave.

A ball hit her in the shoulder as carrier disappeared. The impact changed her color from the gray she wore back to her natural purple. "quit watching people," Bluewave demanded, catching the ball as it bounced back to him, "catch the ball,"

"Sorry, Bluey," Lightwave apologized, turning to her brother, "I'm a little distracted." she switched her color back to gray. Lightwave had learned that a Purple sparkling was an easier target, and so generally kept herself gray while on school grounds. This had also come from the request of the teachers, who said her deep purple plating was more of a distraction than anything.

Bluewave managed the best scoff a five year old could, "You're always distracted. What are you so worried about?" Bluewave threw the ball to his now attentive sibling.

"What If Carrier finds out?" Lightwave asked, tossing the ball back.

"Would that really be so bad? You don't like school anyways, it was never very nice to you. It's just a buncha meanies,"

"If Carrier finds out then he'll want to homeschool us, and if he homeschools us then I'll never get into the academy."

"I forgot you still wanna do that."

"Carrier wants to make it seem like this war is actually going somewhere."

Bluewave shrugged, "Maybe it is," he proposed quietly, "Nobody can fight forever."

"Well, they have been fighting forever!" Lightwave called, catching the ball and keeping it as she spoke, "the Autobots and Decepticons fight for years on end, who knows how long this war will last!" she threw the ball.

Bluewave caught it and kept it, "Just 'cause they fought for a buncha millions of years in the past, doesn't mean they'll do it again."

Lightwave stood in thought, "I don't know," she grumbled.

Lightwave suddenly sensed something behind her. She turned quickly to meet whatever it was and met her brother, "Zippy!" she called, "Quit sneaking up on me like that!"

Zippy didn't say anything, he just pointed. Lightwave and Bluewave looked in the direction he was pointing. A second later Jazz zipped up, coming to a sliding halt in front of them, "Heads up, kiddies," she started, walking towards her siblings, "Polychrome and her goons are coming."

A group of five femmes approached the quad. They were lead by a gold and blue bot, sporting a custom paint job that looked flashy and overpriced.

"Heeey Guuys," Polychrome greeted condescendingly.

The four sparklings ignored the greeting, blankly continuing what they were doing. Bluewave adjusted his seat on the ground so he was faced more away from the group of femmes. Lightwave set her gaze on the ground while Jazz stood tall with Zippy, who remained the smallest of the group.

Polychrome held out a small communicator, "My sire got a me a new Communicator for my creation day? What did you Decepticon babies get?"

Nobody answered her. Polychrome took a few steps closer, entering the center of the horde, "Oh, that's right, you four don't have a Sire." she mocked, scanning the four bot's who were ignoring her. Polychrome stomped her foot, "Pay attention when I'm talking to you Decepticon babies!" she raged, turning about the group. She scowled, and approached the smallest member. She waved a hand in front of Zippy's face for a moment with a sick grin on her face, "Hey mute mech, can you see me?" she called, then holding up three servos, "How many servos am I holding up?" she smirked with satisfaction.

A moment later Zippy, stone faced, held up three servos to answer her question. Polychrome seemed taken aback for a moment before growling out a scowl, "Lucky guess," he grumbled, heading her her next victim.

"Go away Polychrome," Jazz spoke up, "Nobody wants you here,"

Polychrome flung around to look at the little speedster, "No!" she called, stepping closer, "Nobody wants you here," she said, as if correcting her, "You're just a buncha Deceptibaby Defects." She eased back, putting on an uppity stance once again, "You all should count yourselves lucky you get my attention. I try to be nice and you freaks just act like meanies and ignore me." Now she was facing Lightwave, her favorite target, "We're all glad you sit in your corner all day so we don't catch your weirdness." she spat, then putting on a smirk, "You know," she was talking directly to Lightwave, "My Sire says I shouldn't even be talking to Deceptibabies like you. He says you're all just ilgitimates, and that your Carrier is a dirty, rotten, Decepticon whore."

That tears it.

Lightwave was on Polychrome in a minute, tackling her to the ground and proceeding to beat her small fists against the femmes face until Jazz and Bluewave pulled her back. Lightwave struggled against them, "Let me go!" she demanded, reaching towards her victim and flailing in her captor's arms, "Someone needs to teach this glitch a lesson!"

"Lightwave!" a stern voice called from across the playground. Everything stopped as the teacher approached. She grabbed the purple femme by the hand and dragged her inside. Just her. Not the instigator, who, of course, got off scot free.

Lightwave was dragged into the Counselor's office and dumped there to be taken care of.

Blurr was not wrong to believe his oldest got the brunt of the blow. Not only by the students, but by the school. Anything that was acceptable for the other students to do was not acceptable for her to do. Lightwave could see the disgust in her teacher's eyes when they had to "deal" with her. If she had been beaten up, it was her fault, if she got into a fight it was her fault, if she was having a panic attack or emotional breakdown it was her fault. She was in the counselor's office nearly everyday because the principle had gotten tired of "dealing" with her. Lightwave was taken in and left standing in the office with the vague instruction of "deal with this," passed on to the receptionist.

Lightwave had gotten used to it by now, and had learned to deal with her sorrows. She toughed it out, learning very early in her school career that nobody cared for her. She'd learned to accept that. Or so she'd convinced herself.

She determined the only people who cared about her in this world were her Carrier and her siblings. That was all she needed. She never told Carrier about her school struggles because she didn't want Carrier to worry. Carrier was already sad, he was always sad. But his sparklings always seemed to bring a light to his life that Lightwave did not want to extinguish with her problems. So she kept quiet.

The counselor took Lightwave into her office and sat her down for questioning like she always did.

"Lightwave, why did you beat Polychrome up?"

Lightwave scowled, "Because someone had to," she answered sharply, drawing a frown from her superior.

"Lightwave, we don't hit other students. You know this, we've discussed it before."

"She called my Carrier a whore!" Lightwave defended, "I bet she doesn't even know what that means!"

"Now, Lightwave, you know we are all entitled to our opinions. There's no need to get violent if someone disagrees with you."

Lightwave flung her hands to her face and shook her head, well aware that she was being treated unjustly.

"What about Polychrome?" she spat, "Doesn't she get punished for bullying us."

"Polychrome will be dealt with accordingly, that is none of your concern."

"Are you qualified for this position, ma'am, because you do a really scrappy job."

The counselor began to fume, her face twisting with repressed rage. She took in a deep vent, "I understand you're upset Lightwave, but that is no way to talk to someone who is trying to help you." she said testily, "You will be allowed to return to the playground, but you will be sitting in the timeout chair for the rest of the day. Do you understand?"

Lightwave frowned, dissatisfied, "Yes ma'am," she grumbled.

"Good," the counselor looked through a datapad for a moment, "I've got just a couple more questions for you, Lightwave, and then you can go. Alright?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, Lightwave, when you're at home does your Sire ever be mean to your Carrier? Maybe call him names, or hit him?"

Lightwave lifted a brow in confusion, wondering what has prompted these questions, "No," she answered, the confusion slipping into her tone, "We don't have a sire in the house. It's just Carrier."

"Oh really?" the counselor acted surprised, "Well that is very interesting. Does your Carrier give you energon?"

Lightwave looked at the woman as though it was the dumbest question she'd ever heard, "Yes, he gives us energon."

"Well that's good. Has your Carrier ever gotten mad, and maybe yelled at you or your siblings, or hit any of you?"

Now Lightwave was insulted, "Of course not!" she cried, "Carrier would never hurt us. He used to bring us to work everyday and let us play in his office. And Carrier never yells. Carrier doesn't yell at anyone."

"Anyone?" The counselor pushed skeptically.

Lightwave took a short moment to think, "I guess not unless someone really deserves it. Like you," she smiled, "he'd probably yell at you."

The counselor scowled but made no comment, "that will be all, Lightwave, the receptionist will walk you back to the playground."

Lightwave leaped off the chair and headed back for the seating area, where she was then taken by the hand and escorted back to the playground. She was told to sit in the timeout seat placed at the door and wait until the teacher called everyone in.

Lightwave watched as the other kids played, her mind lost in it's endless thoughts. Without her realizing it all of her siblings had gathered by her side. Bluewave was the first to arrive. He sat right next to her and leaned on the chair. Zippy was next, taking his seat on the other side. Then came Jazz, jittery as ever. She took a few laps around the chair before seating herself directly in front of her older sister.

The speedster smirked, "So whatya in for?" she asked.

Lightwave held back a smile as she crossed her arms, "What did they do with Polychrome?" she asked, her repressed smile turning to a scowl.

Zippy looked up at her, holding up a cyberflower for her to take as Bluewave answered the question "They took her to the nurse. We're not sure what they're gonna do wif er."

Lightwave rolled her eyes, "They're probably not going to do anything. They don't ever do anything."

A teacher called for the siblings, "Don't talk to students while they're in timeout, you know the rules," she said, gesturing for the three hooligans to come back over to the playground. Reluctantly the three began to follow her orders. Jazz was the first to stand, she put her hands on her hips and leaned towards her siblings, "And why can't we be home schooled again?" she whispered, raising an annoyed brow.

"Because Elite Guard girl is 'fraid Carrier won't let her go if we're not in real school." Bluewave explained, struggling to get to his feet.

Jazz's mouth twisted with something similar to annoyance, "Ya know, Wavey, if you think about it Carrie would make a much better teacher than any of these hacks. Why don't we just tell him what's going on?"

Lightwave frowned, "Because Carrier's got enough trouble...he doesn't need ours."

Jazz frowned, "Well if you won't tell him, then I will," he expression lightened, "None of us like seeing you get hurt by those jerks."

Then Jazz rushed off. Bluewave said his goodbyes before following her, and Zippy stayed behind for another moment. He looked to his sister, took her hand, and squeezed it.

Lightwave replied with a sad smile, "I'll be okay, Zippy, go off and join the others."

Zippy hesitated, but eventually let go of her hand and reluctantly rejoined the playground group.

Lightwave, once he was gone, dropped her smile and slumped back in the chair. She let out a small vent as she proceeded to get lost in her thoughts again. Before she could get too deep, though, the femmes who had accompanied Polychrome earlier approached the lone sparkling. They did not look happy.

They just stood there for a moment, deep scowls set on their faces. Lightwave stiffened, drawing in just slightly as she watched them. After a minute of nothing Lightwave spoke, "Can I -help you?" she asked hesitantly.

The new leader for a group, an orange femme, looked to her cohorts, "Get 'er," she demanded.

The other three femmes rushed towards their fellow classmate. Lightwave attempted to run away but she wasn't quick enough, they were on her in a second. One grabbed her by the shoulders while the other two took her arms. The three femmes dragged their squirming hostage to the side of the building. Lightwave screamed, but no one came to her aid. As soon as they dropped her she attempted to get up and run away, but was stopped by a prompt kick in the stomach, bringing her down.

Lightwave didn't remember much from the beating, she was too busy pulling herself in and trying to block the blows to her head. One femme in her class couldn't hit very hard, but the four of them together was enough to hurt.

Tears slipped from the sparklings eyes as she was kicked, punched and shoved on the ground. She cried and screamed but no one seemed to hear.

Then somebody came sliding in.

Jazz smacked the instigator right in the chest with her elbow, sending the orange femme to the dirt. "Ha! Take that!" she gloated, pointing to her victim. A second later the orange femme was on her feet, leaping towards her attacker. Jazz moved out of the way, "Too slow," she mocked with a smirk. She laughed as the kiddie continued to attack.

Bluewave lifted two of the femmes off of his sister with little effort, while Zippy took down, and proceeded to sit on the last bully. Lightwave, wide eyed and sobbing, watched as her siblings fought off her attackers.

After much failure the instigators of the attack halted their attacks, "We're telling teacher!" called the orange femme, then racing back to the playground.

The quad just watched as they ran, making sure all four were gone before rushing to their sister.

"Wavy!" Jazz called, sliding to her knees in front of the older, "Are you okay!?" she asked, putting a hand on her sister's knee and inspecting Lightwave's face. The oldest's face was still twisting with sobs as thick tears ran from her red optics. Bluewave plopped himself next to her and asked where it hurt.

Lightwave, feeling crowded, threw her arms out in an attempt to get everyone away from her. She drew in a second later before flying to her feet and turning to the fence she'd been leaning against. In one quick move she stretched her arms up and took hold of the top of the fence, where she proceeded to haul herself up and over.

"Lightwave!" Jazz called after her, grabbing the fence and pressing her face against it as she watched her sister run away, "Where are you going!?" she called louder.

Zippy began to climb the fence, despite the protest from Bluewave, "Where are you going!?" Jazz called, suddenly feeling flustered by her siblings behavior.

Zippy jumped from the top of the fence and chased after his twin.

Jazz threw her hands to her head as she began to jitter, "Oh, Carrier is gonna kill us," she groaned, watching as the two older of the quad got further and further away.

"You two!" a teacher called from the edge of the building, "What are you doing back here?" she demanded harshly, "We're going inside now,"

Jazz and Bluewave took one last glance behind the fence before following orders.

As they went inside the teacher counted and checked to make sure everyone was there. She noticed not everyone was, "Where are Lightwave and Zippy?" she called to the class.

No one seemed to be able to give an answer.

Then the search began.

They searched every classroom, every piece of playground equipment. They interrogated Jazz and Bluewave but neither gave any useful information. They kept their mouths shut and eyes on the floor.

Then the principal decided it was time to make the call.

She put a hand to her head as her face fell into worry and fear, "This should be fun," she mumbled sarcastically before making the call.

Blurr had just returned from a run when his comm lit up. It was the school.

Odd? They never called him for anything. Maybe someone had died.

It was a joke, but a concerning one.

"Blurr?" the principal's voice broke through as Blurr answered,

"Yes?"

"We've got- somewhat of a situation at the school."

Of course Blurr wasn't very happy to hear that two. Two. Of his sparklings had gone missing. He wasn't horribly surprised, but that didn't suppress his rage.

"You lost them!?" he roared, "How do you- I know you have more than two sparklings in your class!- They're five solar cycles old and there are twelve of them, don't feed me this scrap that they're hard to keep track of! I'm one person and I can keep track of four! AND THREE OF THEM ARE SPEEDSTERS!"

The principal tried to reason with the angry Carrier, but Blurr was having none of it, "Just. Stop," Blurr said sternly, tired of her babbling, "I'm coming to pick up the rest of the my sparklings. Be sure not to lose them."

Blurr informed his boss of the situation and he let the delivery bot leave for the day, wishing Blurr luck with finding his sparklings.

Blurr raced to the school and picked up his remaining kids before rushing home to check for her there. He mumbled and swore under his breath as they ran home.

"Lightwave!" Blurr called as soon as he entered the house. He waited for a reply, but got none, "She's not here," he determined, then turning to his other two. Blurr sat them down on the couch and put his hands on his hips, "Alright. Where are they?" he asked the drawn in sparklings. Neither looked at Blurr, both feeling guilty that they couldn't stop their siblings.

Blurr kneeled down before them. He put a hand on Jazz's knee, "I'm not mad," he said calmly, "I'm just worried. I trust Lightwave out there on her own, but think about Zippy. He's fine at home, he's fine at school, but wondering around the city he's in danger. If you know where they might have gone you have to tell me."

Jazz looked to her Carrier, "Zippy is with Wavy, he should be fine, right?"

"Maybe. But we don't know that. Jazz, what happened? Why did they run away?"

Bluewave spoke up first, "It was Lightwave!" he said, confessing, "She got beat up by a buncha meanies and ran off. Zippy ran after her, we tried to stop them!"

Blurr put a hand on his panicking son's wrist, "Calm down," he advised, "Don't overwork yourself." Blurr looked between his two sparklings, "Do you know where they might have gone?"

Jazz hesitated, but eventually spit out an answer, "I- I think I might."

Lightwave found herself sobbing in her usual spot. This wasn't the first time she'd left school, it was just the first time she was discovered to be missing. She generally managed to return to the school before Carrier came to pick them up, but this time it had just been too much.

She needed to leave. She needed to go and be alone for a while.

Zippy stayed back as she sat in her spot. He sat on top of the bridge instead of under it. He waited, listening until she calmed down. It took a while, but she eventually wiped her eyes and invited him down.

Lightwave had found herself a small stone bridge over a dry stream right outside the city. It appeared to have remained from the society that came before the autobots. The entire planet had yet to be developed, so the remains of an apocalypse littered the outer edges of the city. They were currently in the process of cyberforming the place, but had yet to reach Lightwave's special spot.

Zippy leaped down from the bridge and came to sit beside her sister. He drew a few symbols on her plating and leaned on her shoulder, telling her it was okay to cry.

Lightwave didn't cry in front of people. Zippy had learned to wait for her to stop, for the most part at least, before going down to comfort her. She never cried in front of Carrier, not anymore. She never cried at school, or in front of any of her siblings. If she cried at home it was in a closet, all alone.

Lightwave wasn't sure when she'd learned this behavior. Maybe it was from the kids at school, who laughed at the Deceptibaby who cried. Maybe it was from her Carrier, who cried alone on the rare occasions he cried. Maybe a combination of both. Whatever it was, it had stuck.

She was in rare form, having invited Zippy down before her eyes were entirely dry. She hiccupped as the last few tears slipped from behind her optics. She averted her gaze to the knees pull up to her chest, "Why am I so different?" she asked quietly, not really looking for an answer. She straightened her legs and brought her hands up to look at them. She switched back and forth from purple to gray, "Why can I do this?" she shot to her feet, sending Zippy to the ground, "Why is Bluey so much bigger than everyone else!?" she asked, beginning to pace, "And why are you so much smaller? Why am I purple? And I can change color!" she turned her attention back to her sibling, "Haven't you ever wondered!?" she cried, "We're so different, and everyone calls us Deceptibabies! What is with that!?"

Zippy stood and approached his sister. He moved his fingers around in a pattern, one only the family seemed to understand.

Lightwave rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "Some questions are better left unanswered, yeah, sure. You read that in a book!"

Zippy lifted a brow, putting on a light scowl, "You read everything in a book," he countered.

Lightwave eased, "Well, you're not wrong about that." she jumped to attention again, getting back on track, "I don't like unanswered questions!" she called, "What about our Sire? Where's he? We never even hear about him, and whenever anyone mentions him Carrier avoids it, like it's some kind of plague."

Zippy stepped closer to his sister and took her hands to communicate with her. He told her that they were young, and Carrier might tell them what she wanted to know when they were older.

That's how it went, right? In every movie, book, show, that's what the adult said. They said "I'll tell you when you're older," every time something came up. Zippy didn't know why this was the way it was, but his sister was in distress and it was the best he could give her.

Lightwave pulled away, "What if I don't want to wait that long!" Before Lightwave could say more she heard someone call her name. It sounded like it was coming from far away, but a second later she and Zippy were captured in a hug.

Blurr slid on his knees, holding the two sparklings as closely as he could, "Lightwave, Zippy, My sparklings, oh my beautiful beautiful sparklings," Blurr sighed, then spotting his sparkling's helms with kisses. After a long, tight hug he released them for a second and began inspecting Lightwave, "Are you alright, are you hurt?" He grabbed the sparkling lightly under the jaw and turned her head about for a quick inspection, "You're covered in dents," Blurr said, his voice tensing a bit with anger. Blurr made a fist, "I am going to kill that kid's parents," Blurr mumbled under his breath. He calmed a second later, returning the twins to his embrace, "Don't ever disappear on me like that again. You had me too worried for words, and I mean really worried. Very worried, the highest level of worried you can be, that's how worried I was you have no idea how happy I am that you're safe, well, relatively safe you're still covered in dents and you werebeatupbythoseglitches, Oh!" Blurr paused, putting a hand to his mouth. He looked around at his four sparklings, "I'm rambling," he said, "To the point," he looked back to Lightwave, "I'm pulling you out of the school," he looked about the sparklings again, "All of you. No more bullies, no more hack teachers, just me. I can't stand to see you all getting hurt."

Lightwave stiffened, "You told him!?" she called to Jazz and Bluewave, who were standing behind the Carrier.

"Yes," Blurr answered quickly, putting his hands on the sparklings shoulders and pulling her attention back to him, "And I'm glad they did. They told me everything, Lightwave. The bullies, the teachers, the Elite Guard...We'll see about that by the way, but until then, I don't want you to be afraid to come to me when the going gets tough. If you ever want to be an Elite Guardsman then you're going to have to learn to rely on your teammates," Blurr pointed to himself, "I am your teammate. You're problems are my problems for now, alright?"

Lightwave took in a slightly disappointed sigh, "Yes Carrier," she agreed quietly, averting her gaze to the ground.

Blurr pulled her into a hug, pinning her to his chest, "I'm not mad," he said quietly, "I'm telling you this, not only because I'm your Carrier, but because when you make it into the Academy I want you to be ahead of the game," he smirked, "Like I was,"

Lightwave looked up at her Carrier, shocked, "You mean-?"

Blurr smiled, "I'll consider it," he said, "Let's just see how you do in my class first."

Lightwave put on a wide smile, "Carrier!" she cried happily, wrapping her arms around the larger, "Thanks you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I'll do my best, I promise!"

"I'm sure you will," Blurr stood, taking Lightwave by the hand, "Come on," he said to everyone, "We're going home."

They formed their line, and ran home.

When they got home Blurr served everyone their energon before banishing them to their room.

He wasn't really mad, and understood the reasoning behind his Sparklings actions, but that didn't change the fact that running away and nearly giving their Carrier a spark attack was a punishable offense.

The four shared a room, everyone having a wall to themselves. Lightwave edge of the room was lined with Datapads while her wall was covered in graphs and sheets she used to write on. A pen tied to a wire hung off her wall so whenever a thought came to mind she could just draw it.

Jazz's wall was covered to the brink with racing posters. She even had one of Blurr that Bumblebee had found and given to her. He was at the center of them, inspiring Jazz the most to become a better racer.

Bluewave's edge was a mess, but there was nothing on his wall. The same went for Zippy's wall, though his edge was an organized pile of audio books and reports he'd snagged from Autobot headquarters when they were there. He also had a good collection of all sorts of music. Recordings like that were rare on a growing planet, so it was Arcee and Bumblebee who'd provided these for him. They brought the sparklings all sorts of random things from their missions.

The four sparklings kept themselves occupied until Carrier called for lights out. Everyone settled into their berth's, but found it somewhat difficult to get to sleep.

As the night progressed and nary managed a steady recharge, one by one the sparklings abandoned their berths. They migrated to Carrier's room, where their caregiver was fast asleep and very inviting. Everyone silently took their usual spots, all without disturbing the slumbering mech.

Lightwave was the last to join them, but as she laid down beside her Carrier a simple thought crossed her mind.

From now on, things would be better.

It was late, too late for Optimus when Cliffjumper came charging into his office, "We need to think of something." the red bot declared, after lecturing Optimus, for the eight time that month, on the importance of the agreement made with Shockwave.

Optimus lifted his head from his servo," Cliffjumper, this has gone on long enough. We're not going to get him to agree to this."

Since Blurr's leave Optimus and Cliffjumper had made several attempts to get him to come back and agree to the Shockwave deal under slightly new terms. Blurr ignored every attempt to contact him, and had almost snubbed the Elite Guard all together, still holding a grudge against his former superiors for trying to shove him in a cell with his former captor.

Optimus hadn't heard from the speedster in a solar-cycle, and was ready to give up. Cliffjumper, however, was not about to give up.

Cliffjumper turned sharply to his colleague, "We need him, Optimus. We need this deal! We could win. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Optimus scowled, "We've won before without the aid of Shockwave's intel. We can do it again."

"With so few resources!? With dwindling forces, an understaffed homebase, and a defective communication system? I don't think so Optimus, not this time. Right now we are losing, and we're going to keep losing if we don't get Blurr's aft back in here! And into that cell!"

"There's nothing we can do Cliffjumper!" Optimus insisted sternly, "Blurr isn't Elite Guard any more, and even if he was- you saw how well that worked out. What did you expect would happen?"

"I expected Blurr to be loyal to his people, and do what was necessary for the Autobot cause."

"There is a line, Cliffjumper, and we crossed it. You can't deny that. We should have never made that arrangement without him."

A voice interrupted from the door, "I agree," said Arcee, leaning on the frame. She pushed off and walked into the room, "That was a dirty trick you pulled. Binding it by law? Even lower."

Cliffjumper scowled at her, "This is high ranking business, Arcee. What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just heard you talking, thought I'd stop by," she made her way to Prime's desk and leaned against it, "You had no right writing up that contract, not even legally."

"Don't you have reports to read?" Cliffjumper snapped, getting angry.

Arcee continued, "Blurr was Elite Guard, you could boss him around, sure...But his sparklings weren't the only person who is legally allowed to make decisions regarding them is Blurr. So, technically, writing up that contract at all without his consent was Illegal. It was an act of intimidation. Is it any wonder he left?"

Cliffjumper's scowl deepened, "You're overstepping your bounds soldier."

"I'm speaking to you as a friend, Cliffjumper. I'm speaking to both of you as friends." She glanced at Optimus, "If you want Blurr back so badly, I suggest you do the same."

"But he won't speak to us," Optimus said, taking Arcee's words into consideration.

Arcee turned fully to the prime, "That's because you're still talking to him like one of your soldiers. You ping him, and send him federal messages. Of course he's going to ignore you. Since I know you won't drop this Shockwave agreement nonsense, I'm not going to try and convince you to," she began walking towards the door, "I think it's wrong, but I can't deny that the information we can get from Shockwave could turn the tide in our favor ten fold. So, I suggest, in the case of Blurr, instead of looking at him like one of your cronies, look at him like a friend. Invite him out for a drink. Drop by for a visit. Just do something- that isn't anything you are currently doing." with that she took her leave.

Optimus and Cliffjumper took a moment to think over the suggestion.

"You know," Optimus started, "She's- not wrong."

Cliffjumper rolled his eyes, "You want to get all buddy buddy with the bot who abandoned his cause? Fine, but I'm not taking part in it."

Optimus scowled, "Blurr has done more than enough for the Autobots, Cliffjumper, don't try to discredit him because we forced him to leave."

"We forced him!?" Cliffjumper raged

"Yes!" Optimus shot back, "We pushed him away, we gave him no choice but to do what he thought was necessary to protect himself and his family. I don't want to force him to do anything he doesn't want to do." Optimus approached the smaller bot, "Our war is not with our own."

Cliffjumper scowled up at his superior, "we need this Optimus." He pointed a sharp finger at the larger, "and by the time you see that it will be too late." Cliffjumper stomped off, leaving Optimus with a lot to think about.