BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

Hey, wanna hang tonight?

Nah I don't feel like it.

Haven't seen you in 4EVR dude. It'd be good for you to get out.

I said No. Now drop it.

No word on your sis yet huh?

No...

She'll turn up man. She couldn't have gotten far, she's 14

Eight days. Its been EIGHT DAYS.

Sarahs a smart kid, Mike. Youre an awesome bro. I highly doubt she ran away.

Schoolsbeen hell tho.

She would have said something to you if she had a feeling she couldn't handle it.

It's just weird..

What?

There was no call for a ransom, she didn't pack any clothes. There was just that mark and she was gone.

IDK what to tell you man. But I know she'll find her way home.

Eventually.

Eventually.

Michael stared at his cell phone for a moment before shoving it back into his pocket. His chin rest on his knuckles as the news passed by in front of him, waiting for a certain part. His friend was right though, getting out of the house would probably do him some good but the deep pit in his stomach held him grounded. There were too many questions buzzing around in his head over the whereabouts of his baby sister, too many 'what ifs' he would much rather not think about.

Like what if she really did run away? What if she was never coming back? What if he never saw her again?

See? This was why he didn't leave the house.

"Police are still on the look out for 14-year old Sarah Matthews after having disappeared from her house over a week ago. Detectives believe that due to domestic violence potrayed at school, Sarah had run off into hiding, however there is no concrete evidence that supports this."

A rag suddenly hit the television screen and the teenager glared at the man behind it. "Of coarse there's not, Dingus! She didn't run off she was taken!"

"Suprisingly, Sarah's disappearence has sparked a sort of ralley across the country. Twitter and Facebooks groups have been started to aid in the girl's finding. Groups such as 'Missing Matthews', #SaveSarah, #ComeHome, and 'Lost Child' are just some of the hundreds of the groups already made. Instagram profiles are reducing in the number of food images and instead of the ever popular headshot of Sarah." Said picture appeared over his shoulder. "Many reports have been filed over Sarah Matthews look alikes, but none of them have been the real Sarah. The phenomenon is unlikely to stop until she is safely returned home."

Hundreds of thousands of people around the country and maybe even the world were trying to find his sister. That made him feel better at least. She would be found sooner or later, though he would much rather have her found now. He dropped his face back into his hands, forcing back the tears as he sniffed. Why hadn't he seen the signs? Why hadn't he bothered to ask her if anything was wrong? He was always busy...

They all were! Their parents, Martin. Even Brandon was busy and barely home due to band practise.

Why had no one been there for her?

How could he have practically abandoned his sister?

He jumped by the sudden buzz of his phone recieving a text. From his father.

Almost home. Want me stop and pick something up?

Micheal rubbed at his eyes, clearing away the fuzziness the tears had brought before replying.

No. Not really that hungry.

You sure? You haven't been eating much

I'm fine.

Alright. I'll be home in ten.

He held his phone tightly in his hand, staring at the call icon. His pressed it and scrolled through his contacts, trying to get to the 'S' collumn as fast as possible. He was an idiot for trying.

But maybe she'll pick up this time...

He tapped the Autobot symbol that Sarah had chosen for herself in his phone, hitting call number and bringing the speaker to his ear. He waited a moment, two. Finally he heard the low ranged ringing and his grip on the Apple devise tightened. He prayed and prayed and prayed, closing his eyes tightly and just hoping he wouldn't hear the same message.

"Hey, It's Sarah. Sorry I didn't get your call, but leave your message at the beep and I'll get back to ya' bye." BEEP.

Michael took a deep breath as her voice mail answered and as always he left the same message. "Sarah, it's me. No one knows where you are and we're worried like hell. Call me when you get this, okay? Love you.." His thumb hovered over end call for a second before clicking. He slipped his phone back into his pocket, not bothering to wipe away the tear that had began to roll down his face. It was best to just let them come or else the depression would consume him.

Where ever she was, he just hoped to God she knew they were worried. He hoped she knew he would try harder as a brother and that he was always going to be there for her no matter how tired or damaged he was. She came first now. Sarah came first.


"I hate winter. I was born in a blizzard, and I hate winter," Sarah huffed from Optimus' shoulder quietly. Bulkhead and Bumblebee had just gotten back from their trip to the Arctic and were slowly defrosting under Ratchet's care.

"I told you, Doc," Bulkhead grumbled as he pulled the defroster off his chassis. "we're fine." He made an effort to stand, quickly being sat back down by the medic.

"The only way to be certain you're fine, Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure." The red and white mech gave the wrecker a hard look. "You know prolong exposure to sub-zero conditions can cause permanent system damage."

Optimus glanced over to his human and uttered to her. "I can understand why." The Prime walked closer to his CMO. "Ratchet, have you learned anything more about our Arctic find?"

The older mech scoffed, stepping up to the monitor and pulling up security feed. "Not yet. The pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid."

Sarah stared at the monitor, to the giant copper pod that was situated in an empty storage room the Autobots did not need. She had to suppress a shiver as she remembered the events of that episode. She clenched his fists tightly at her sides.

Remember, Matthews, scraplets don't like the cold.

She hid letting out a breath within the sounds of Bumblebee and Bulkhead engines as they went to get their own charges.

Optimus' hand came up and she stepped into his palm, letting him set her down on the catwalk near the other teens' play area. She watched as Ratchet reactivated the groundbridge, the coordinates set back for the frozen tundra.

"Arcee and I will search for any clue which may explain the origin of our Arctic find."

"ONLY until you sensors sound," Ratchet heeded, his scanner in hand as he calibrated it to the necessary measurements. "Remember," He said as he set the warnings. "once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures aren't likely, they're eminent." It seemed he wanted to say something else before the harsh sounds of Bumblebee and Bulkhead's engines cut through the silence and stopped him.

The scout and wrecker slammed on their breaks just at the end of the tunnel, their doors opening up and the first of the three to pipe up was, of coarse, Miko. "Miss us, Doc-bot?"

Ratchet groaned, looking up to Optimus with an irritated look. "Shouldn't they be in school?"

"On Saturday?" Miko scoffed. "We have the whole weekend off! To spend with you." She added with a grin.

"I wasn't expecting a carpool," Jack said as he walked up to his guardian. "What gives, Arcee?"

A short explanation from Arcee about how it was her turn for exploration.

"It's a beautiful day, hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors," Jack raised an eyebrow at his guardian with a smile.

"Arctic exploration duty."

"Indoors where it's warm!"

"The arctic?" Raf asked as he took a step closer and beamed. "I always wanted to see snow!"

"I would invite you to join, Rafael," Optimus said. "But the conditions are much too extreme. Even for we Autobots."

It was clear the boy was disappointed in being unable to see his first snow, but he hid it in his voice as he spoke.

"I understand." He watched at the towering mech turned to walk through the groundbridge, only for him to pause and look back down at the boy.

"But, I will bring you back a snowball."

"I'm holding you to that!" Sarah called as she pointed to the Prime. "I'm writing that down as something you promised to do, and if you don't do it I am coming after you! Don't think I won't!"

With his mask up, no one could see the amused smile on the Prime's face at his charge before he and Arcee disappeared through the groundbridge. No sooner had they, the control's sudden fritzed and let out a series of pops and sparks that nearly had Ratchet falling back.

"By the Allspark!"

The brunette leaned over the railing to see over medic's shoulder, a look of concern on her face. She knew this would happen, but she's come to learn just how terrifying it can be when fantasy becomes reality.

"I'm guessing that wasn't supposed to happen?"

"Definitely not." The medic straightened from his spot at the controls to call across the room. "Bulkhead! Bumblebee! Here, now!" He attempted to keep tinkering with the controls, the levers still sparking and giving off little bursts of electricity with every pull.

"You can boss us around just because the boss is out," Bulkhead grumbled once he and Bumblebee were at Ratchet's side.

"I need some heavy lifting. The groundbridge is down!" His exclamation was met with the scout's worried buzzing. "Optimus and Arcee made it through just fine. It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now," He pointed to the space behind him. "Remove those panels. Chop-chop!"

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend to do it?" Bulkhead mumbled under his breath as he and Bumblebee bent to pick up the panels.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

The medic harrumphed as he set the teenager on his shoulder, crossing his arms over his chassis as he nodded slowly. "That's what I thought you said."

Once the panels were removed, the older Autobot bent down to pick one of the chips out of the motherboard. It was fried and charred at the edges. It looked like it had been eaten.

"We most definitely have a problem. But what could have caused this?"

"Or that?" The wrecker asked once the lights flickered again. This was no normal power failure.

"Main grid?" Sarah piped in.

"Perhaps. Hopefully it's not a sub-station malfunction." He was running through every situation he could think of that could have caused the fritz to the systems when Raf suddenly spoke up.

"Hey guys, look what I found!"

"We're busy-" The moment Ratchet go this optic on Raf, a scream erupted from him. At first it seemed like he may have been over reacting. The boy was holding something small and circular but clearly alive at the large eyes that took up most of it's face. But the girl knew better. She may have been thrown from Ratchet's shoulder when he stood up and backed away, thankfully not being too far off the ground and only landing with a light ache in her calves, but she knew better.

Which is why she had hid a baseball bat nearby.

For such an occasion.

"Scraplet!" Bulkhead was shrieking, blaster out and pointed straight for the boy. "SCRAPLET!" The other two teenager were trying to calm them down from their place in front of Raf.

"What's a scraplet?" The boy asked innocently.

"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron!" Ratchet hissed.

The kids just laughed, unable to find how robots towering over thirty feet tall could be afriad of something that easily fit in Raf's arms. It was minuscule compared to them, and one well aimed shot of a blaster could easily take it out. Where was the harm?

But Sarah knew better. She had already grabbed the bat from it's hidden location and was waiting by patiently. Any second now.

Any second...

The minute teeth came out she had the bat over her shoulder. She had to wait for a second or two. Bulkhead shot once, Bumblebee twice but still the little thing remained unharmed.

"NEW BATTER!" The screech left her as soon as the monster leapt for Bumblebee's leg, and she was running with the bat already in swing. The sound that emenated from the thing as it collided with a cylinder of metal had to be music to their audios.

The scraplet was dazed in it's new spot fifteen feet from it's target, a large dent in it's tiny cranium evidence of the attack it just went through. It skittered around, dizzy and letting out what had to be pain filled chirps and beeps. But she wasn't done. She knew better. She was stalking towards the tiny creature, bat low at her side and dragging across the ground as her glasses were gently tossed to the floor. She didn't want anything scratching them up too badly. Those were her only pair.

She raised the weapon above her head again, eyes trained in on the creature as it looked up dizzied to her. It tried to focus on her and the metalic instrument in her hand but it gave up after it came crashing down again, and again, and again. She was left panting after the attack, staring down at the pile of broken scraplet at her feet. The bat clanked noisily as she dropped it and went to retrieve her glasses, fitting them to her face securely once there were back. It was only now did she realize how dead quiet it was in the hanger.

She took once last glance at the mess she had made before back up to the three shocked Autobots. "You guys alright?"

They nodded, still unsure of what to say after the brunette's sudden act of bravery (on their terms).

"Now do you believe me?" Bulkhead asked. "All scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal! Especially living metal!"

"Bug squashed. Game over, right?" Jack asked the wrecker only to be answer gruffly by the medic.

"No. When it comes to Scraplets there is never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here..."

He stood up and lift the girl back to his shoulder once she aquired her weapon of choice. He felt a little less anxious with her by his side, knowing she would gladly take on of those things. It made this whole situation a little less horrible. The others took their own charges, and Jack, and they carefully went to the hanger that held the pod that Bulkhead and Bumblebee brought back from the Arctic.

A quick visual scan of it using his light answered Ratchet's fears.

"It's a trap. A scraplet trap."

"Uhm, an empty scraplet trap," Bulkhead clarified wearily.

The medic nodded and put away his light. "Most likely ejected into space eons ago only to wind up in the Arctic where the temperatures kept them in stasis."

"Until we brought the thaw.." Jack mumbled.

"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch," Miko shuddered.

"How many are we talking about?" Raf asked.

"Thousands," Ratchet answered. "The power malfunctions and Groundbridge damage are sure signs that their infestation is way underway."

"Guess we're playing Bug hunt." Matthews said, lifting her bat to set it on her shoulder with a frown on her face. "Not the best way I wanted to start my Saturday, but I'll give into the exception."

"We should be getting back to the bridge. Based on the amount of time Optimus and Arcee have been gone, I suspect they should be attempting to contact us soon." Ratchet started back as soon as he said it, the others following but on full alert for anything small with teeth that wasn't a human. The medic had a feeling it was going to be a long day.