Ok, I'm so sorry for not updating in a while but here's the next chapter.

I've had a review asking me who Jemina will fall for, Optimus, Bee, etc., and the answer is no one, currently. She just lost her entire family, minus her brother, and so the 'bot are, unknowingly, filling that vacuum. So the way it works is like this, she sees Optimus as a father, Ratchet as that cranky uncle, Arcee as sister, and Bee and Bulkhead as two more brothers, but she is closest to Optimus. She might, emphasis on might, fall for Jack later on but that is still in the unknown. Thank you to those who have reviewed, when you review it helps me see if I've made any mistakes or left something pretty unclear. Thank you again and enjoy.

The week was passed in a routine, Optimus and Bee would pick Jemina and Jayce up around twelve then they would spend the rest of the day at the base. Wednesday came and Jack couldn't help but ask, "Hey Jemina."

"Yeah?" Jemina was on the platform when the kids came in.

"I was wondering, where do you go to school? I know you don't go to my high school so…and you're always here before we are."

"Oh, yeah. I'm homeschooled, well ever since we moved here. And my parents aren't really home so they don't notice that Jayce and I are gone." The lights dimmed a bit, though no one noticed.

"Wow, really? They must work over time…" His voice trailed off thinking of his mom.

Jemina just stared straight ahead, "Yeah, I guess you could put it that way."

"Do they neglect you or something?" Miko asked.

"Oh no, o' my gosh no! They just aren't really home, so we never see them." They left it at that.

The rest of the week was spent in the same fashion, though the 'bots and Jemina began noticing something that could be labeled as strange. The Autobots began noticing how the lights would brighten or dim depending on Jemina's attitude whenever she was around; the lights would dim when she was sad or scared, and the lights would brighten if she was happy, excited, or angry. Also the 'bots felt more energized when Jemina was around and in a good mood and the opposite was true if she was upset. Jemina for her part began to see that she had become even more disastrous with tech.

Saturday came and Jemina came to base early. "I told you doc, we're fine." Bulkhead complained.

"The only way to be certain you're fine, Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure. You know prolonged exposure to sub-zero conditions can cause permanent system damage." Ratchet pushed him back down.

Optimus came in, he having just returned from picking up Jemina and Jayce since Bee was out. "Ratchet, have you learned anything more about our Artic find?"

"Not yet. The pod can't be opened while it's frozen solid." Ratchet replied.

"What did you guys find?" Jemina asked curiously.

Optimus replied, "We are not sure but it is currently thawing out."

"Oh, well let me now if there's anything I can do to help." Jemina left Jayce with Bee, who was still in the defrosting procedure, and walked to the storage room. There, in the middle of the room, was a large metal pod. Oh gosh, we're in for one heck of a day. Jemina then left the room and went in search for various items.

Optimus and Arcee walked over to Ratchet, "Arcee and I will search for any clue which might explain the origin of our Artic find."

"Only until your sensors sound. Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failure aren't likely…they're emanate." Ratchet warned. Jemina had come back a short while ago.

"Miss us, doc 'bot?" Miko hopped out of Bulkhead.

Ratchet groans, "Shouldn't they be in school?"

"On Saturday? We have the whole weekend off to spend with you." Miko pointed at Ratchet.

"Lucky us." Jemina muttered.

Jack walked over to Arcee, "I wasn't expecting to carpool. What gives, Arcee?"

"Tag team, Jack. It's my turn for exploration duty."

Jack made a sad face, "Oh, too bad. It's a beautiful day for a ride. Would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors."

Arcee replied, "Artic exploration duty."

"Indoors where it's warm." He said as he pointed to the platform.

Raf came over, "The Arctic? I've always wanted to see snow."

"I would invite you to join, Rafael, but the conditions are much too extreme, even for we Autobots." Optimus explained.

Raf said sadly, "I…understand."

Optimus went to walk through the ground bridge but stopped and turn around. "But I will bring you back a snowball."

Raf perked up, "That would be awesome!"

Optimus and Arcee walked through the ground bridge, "Transport complete." The ground bridge spark and the machine goes down. "By the Allspark!"

"I swear I did not touch it." Jemina said as she raised her hands in surrender.

Jack, Miko, and Raf looked at her. "What do you mean by that?" Raf asked.

"Oh," Jemina laughed, "I forgot you don't know…I inherited my mother's curse."

"Your mother's curse?" Miko asked.

"Yeah, see my mom has the worst luck with tech. When she lived in Cali. as a teen she fried tech like no tomorrow." The kids looked at Jemina like she was kidding while Jayce knew the rest of the story, "Let me explain. She blew up a VCR, a radio, an alarm clock, a DVR, and heavens knows what else. At certain times she said that she could stand about an inch to two inches away from the wall a see a small line of electricity from her fingertip to the wall."

"So what does that have to do with you?" Miko chipped in.

"Well, I can shock just about anything or anyone and not many people can shock me, if they try they usually end up shocking themselves. I've fried four or five, I've lost count, computers at my school and I've fried a Walmart computer." Jemina explained.

"What do you mean by 'fried'?" Raf asked.

"Well they would either seize up and the technicians couldn't get them to work, for half-a-year at least, get the blue screen of death, or stops working all together."

"I don't believe you." Jack stated flatly.

"Yeah, well tell that to my house phone that went up in sparks yesterday. I have to say it's getting worse."

Raf subconsciously hugged his laptop closer, away from this strange girl, when Miko asked "So, what do you guys think we should do today?"

:Your car racing on the screen?:

"Video game tournament! Last one standing wins!" Raf agreed in a hurry.

Ratchet yelled, "Bulkhead, Bumblebee! Here! Now!"

:Sorry.:

Miko grabbed a controller right before Raf could and handed it to Jack, "Prepare to be destroyed."

Jack groans, "Yeah, not really my thing Miko"

"Oh?" Miko mocks, "Scared of losing? To a girl?"

Jack sighs and swipes the controller, "Bring it!"

Miko smiled, "No mercy."

Jack noticed Raf's downhearted face, "Hey Raf…you want to take on Miko for me?"

"Nah, I have stuff to do." Raf turned away from the group and Jayce followed.

Miko shouted, "Hoo-yeah!"

Bulkhead and Bee came over to where Ratchet was waiting, "You can't boss us around just because the boss is out."

Ratchet pointed to the floor, "I need some heavy lifting. The ground bridge is down."

:Did Optimus and Arcee make it alright?:

"Optimus and Arcee made it through just fine." Ratchet looked back to the ground bridge controls, "It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now, remove those panels…chop-chop."

Raf was in a hallway make believing with Jayce, "Temperature's sub-zero and dropping. Got to…get back...to base!" He and Jayce 'fought' against the wind when they hear metal clanks, a screw falls. "Hello?" More clanks, falls "AAH!...AAH!" They both scream then begin laughing when a little metal creature. "Where did you come from? The Autobots never said anything about pets."

"You wanna play fetch?" Jayce asked as he hucked a screw, "Good bot."

"Go get it! No! Don't eat that!" Raf began to run after it, "You're gonna choke! Or not?" The metal creature rubs his leg. He and Jayce turn around and began walking back to the main room.

Jack was fully engaged in his game while Jemina was on a chair reading, "Ah, come on. Come on. You want some? In…your…face!" He dances a victory dance.

Miko falls back on the couch, "Ugh."

Jack cried as the lights flickered on and off, "Whoa! What the…?! Great. Power failure."

"Aw." Miko tried to sound sad, "It wipe out our game."

"But," Jack scoffs, "I was winning!"

Miko retorted with, "Bummer." And through the remote on the couch.

Ratchet sighs "We most defiantly have a problem. But what could have cause this?"

"Or that?" Bulkhead asked as the lights flickered again.

Ratchet answered, "Might be the main grid. Hopefully, it isn't a substation malfunction."

Raf walked in with Jayce and the creature in his arms, "Hey guys. Look what I found."

"We're busy!" Ratchet said exasperated, "AAH!"

Bulkhead shouted, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" All 'bots jump up and away, whipping their guns out.

Miko and Jack ran in front of Raf while Jemina pulled the creature out of his arms. "Hey, hey! What's with you guys?"

Bulkhead shouted now aiming at Jemina, "Scraplet! Scraplet!"

Raf asked, "What's a Scraplet?"

"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet answered Raf.

Jack scoffs and gestures to the creature in Jemina's arms, "This? Are you kidding me?"

Miko half-way asks, "You're giant robots. Scrappy here is…teeny."

"Aren't mosquitos tiny, yet look at how much damage and death they cause." Jemina informed as she carried the Scraplet away trying to find something to smash it with.

Bulkhead was near a panic attack, "You have no idea of the damage that teeny thing can do!"

Raf looked at the Scraplet, "Aw, he wouldn't hurt anything." The Scraplet activates jumping out of Jemina's arms, despite her best efforts to hold it, and it attacks Bumblebee.

Raf grunts, smashing it to bits with the crowbar Jemina had handed it to him. "AAH!"

Jack grabs the crowbar once the thing is thoroughly smashed. "Whoa, easy there killer."

"Whoa. I did not see that coming." Miko looked at Bee.

Raf ran up to Bee where Jayce was already at, "I'm sorry Bumblebee."

:It's okay. Just please kill any more of those thing that you see.:

Raf nodded, "Is he going to be okay?"

"Only a mesh wound." Ratchet answered, "He'll live."

Bulkhead spoke again, "Now do you believe me? All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal…especially living metal."

Jack shrugged, "Well, bug squashed, game over, right?"

"No." Ratchet answered, "When it comes to Scraplets, there's never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here. Jemina, what were you doing with that Scraplet?"

"I was trying to get it away from you guys, you were really freaking out with it around." Jemina explained.

Ratchet stood outside of and well away from the metal pod, "It's a trap…a Scraplet trap."

Bulkhead looked warily between Ratchet and the pod, "Uh, an empty Scraplet trap." Bee hides behind Ratchet.

"Most likely ejected into space eons ago, only to wind up in the Artic, where the temperature kept them in stasis." Ratchet deduced.

"Why would it not have just frozen them instead of putting them in stasis?" Jemina asked, it was something that had been bugging her since she had seen that episode.

"The metal casing more than likely protected them just enough to keep them from freezing." Ratchet explained

Jack held a crowbar, as were all of the humans, "Until we brought the thaw."

Miko banged a wrench against her hand, "Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch."

"So…" Raf asked warily, "How many are we talking about?"

"Thousands. And the power malfunctions and the ground bridge damage are sure signs that their infestation is well underway." Ratchet answered.

Back in the main room Ratchet was at the computers, "Ratchet to Optimus, do you read me? We have a situation." The computer fizzled out, "The Scraplets have gotten into the com-link system! If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce this entire base to a scrap heap!"

Bulkhead looked around nervously "I say we bug out of here and let them keep it!"

:Agreed.:

Ratchet shook his head, "Evacuation is not an option. If we don't get the ground bridge back online stat, Optimus and Arcee will perish."

"They…will?" Jack stuttered thinking of his friend and guardian.

Miko stomped over to where Bulkhead stood, "Bulkhead, you never run!"

"Miko," Bulkhead stated with fear in his voice, "You haven't see a swarm of these things devour a 'bot. I have. They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small, juicy bits first…fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, till there's nothing left, and I mean nothing…not even your optics."

Jemina looked straight at Bulkhead and the lights flared a bit, "Yeah, well I'm not leaving Optimus and Arcee out there to freeze to death, not after everything I went through with Knockout. You know, right know would be a really good time to know where Megatron's ship was located."

"Why do say that?" Ratchet asked.

"Think about it. The Decepticons are still at large and we have a swarm of hungry Scraplets hanging around wanting a bite to eat."

Bulkhead just quivered at the thought, "Fist we have to get the ground bridge operational." Ratchet interjected.

Jack steeped forward, "You have to let us help."

Raf pipped in, "We're not made of metal."

"Yeah. The Scraplets can't hurt us." Miko was excited, why? No one knew.

Ratchet thought for a moment, "Typically, I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality…but it would appear to provide an advantage under these extremes."

Jack spoke up and explained a plan of action, "Okay, good. So we pair off…one 'bot, one human. I'll watch you back while you repair the ground bridge."

Miko then pointed at Bulkhead and Bee, "And we go on a bug hunt."

"Oh boy." Both Bulkhead and Bee shook in fear.

"Well, since there's more 'bots than humans I'll stay here with you and Ratchet, Jayce can go with Bee and Raf." Jemina added in.

"Great, let's go!" Miko shouted and ran down off of the platform.

Miko and Bulkhead were walking through a corridor, "I get to be your bodyguard for once. How cool is that?!"

Bulkhead was jumping at every sound, "Raf found the first one here, right?" He asked, his voice wavering, then screams like a little girl when the lights go out for a second.

"Did you just scream like a little girl?" Miko asked with a very unimpressed look on her face.

"No! Maybe. Can we talk about this later?" There was a small noise and Bulkhead fired.

"Take 'er easy Bulkhead. Just stay focused. Everything's gonna be…"

More skittering and Bulkhead fires up into some cables causing them to fall "AAAH! AAAH! Look out! AAAAH!" He screeches like a little girl again as he fights fallen cables.

Miko looked down and shook her head, "Okay. Wish I hadn't seen that. Bulkhead, you're fine. It's just a bunch of cables."

"AAH! Oh. Right. Cables." He begins to chuckle then starts screaming again when Scraplets begin to fall.

:I don't want to be here…:

Raf looked around, "Don't these things ever stop eating?"

"Look at that." Jayce pulls Raf's shirt and points to an air vent, it's been eaten through. Bee finish pulling it off and points his gun inside, "AAH!" There's nothing there, they then hear whirring coming from an air vent in the floor and the Scraplets come through it and attack.

Jack looked around nervously, "How's it going over there?"

Ratchet sighed, "I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the ground bridge still won't receive power!" He punches the floor when Jack and Jemina hear a bunch of clinking from above.

They turned around to see a mass of Scraplets on the wall. They take interest in Ratchet and take off, "Whoa! They fly?! You never said they could fly!" Jack screamed as they attack Ratchet and he falls to the floor screaming, though with more dignity than Bulkhead. "Ratchet!" Jack screams and starts batting Scraplets away. Jemina ran up to the platform and grabbed something out from behind the couch, as she ran back down she could see that Ratchet was covered in Scraplets.

She pulled the pin and pressed the trigger of the fire extinguisher and starts spraying Ratchet. As the Scraplets begin to drop she yells over to Jack, "Get the fire extinguisher, they can't take the cold." He got the extinguisher and after a few minutes they managed to freeze the Scraplets that were on and around Ratchet though there are still many hanging in the air.

Bulkhead, Bee, and the kids come in and Bulkhead called out, "Ratchet, get the patch kit. We're leaking Energon like…whoa!" They see Ratchet and the swarm hanging above them. Bee starts firing and Bulkhead starts smashing. "Eat this!" The Scraplets attack his mace of a hand and he starts screams like a little girl, again.

Miko, Raf, and Jayce join in, smashing Scraplets, as Jemina shouted, "Miko! Raf! Jayce! Go get the fire extinguishers! There's some by the couch!" As they run to get them, Jack and Jemina continue freezing Scraplets. After a few minutes the attack ends and Ratchet groans, then everyone groans.

Jack asked as he froze another Scraplet, making sure that it wasn't coming back, "Did we get them all?"

Ratchet looked around, "Hardly. These were just scouts."

:Great.: He falls onto his back

"So, the rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead looked around and still heard whirring echoing everywhere.

Ratchet rested his head, "And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus and Arcee will never make it home. We must get the ground bridge operational."

Raf then thought back to what Jemina had said about sending the Scraplets to Megatron. "Then we can use it to send the Scraplets anywhere on Earth."

"Why not back to the Artic?" Jack asked looking at the fire extinguisher, "We already know they don't do cold."

Miko pumped her fist in the air, "Sweat! One-stop shopping."

Ratchet thought about it, "Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperature should freeze them on contact. So think Ratchet think! If the ground bridge is still down, there must be a breach in the Energon fuel line."

:I can't move.:

Bulkhead groans, "If we weren't breaching, one of use could get back over there and fix it."

Jack looked at Mieko and Raf, "Where do we find it?"

"And how do we fix it?" Raf asked.

"Joyce and I will stay here and look after the 'bots while you guys are fixing it.". Jemima informed.

"Sounds good. See you in a bit.". with that Jack, Mieko, and Raf took off in the direction of the power supply.

A short while later Bulkhead asked, "So, if we get…when we get the ground bridge open, do we send the creepy-crawlies out or bring our 'bots in?"

"Will you hold still Bulkhead, I can't do anything of you keep moving." Jemima was trying to patch up Bulkhead, or at least trying to get him to stop leaking.

"Sorry, I feel better already…" He thought for a minute, "I feel like I just a got an Energon infusion."

"Well, I sure didn't give you one. I'm just about done…" Jemima finished.

"Optimus and Arcee will be fresh meat. If we bring them in first, the Scraplets will have no reason to leave. We'll need bait." Ratchet thought.

Bulkhead got upset, "Where are we gonna get bait?! The Scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here!" Scraplets return circling them again, "AAH!"

Jack came running back in, "Ratchet, all systems go!"

"Fire it up!" Miko added.

Ratchet groans as he gets up and pushes the leaver, "Ground bridge…activated."

Bulkhead gets up, "Bait huh?" He walks to the ground bridge, "Ready for the main course? Come and get it!" He weakly limps/runs through the ground bridge as they follow him.

When Optimus and Arcee came through they found the base was better than they had expected. Sure there was plenty of evidence that Scraplets had taken residence but, all-in-all, it was pretty clean. He could not say that for the rest of the Autobots, "Optimus, help me get Arcee to the med bay." Ratchet then began hooking Arcee up to the defrosting machine, "And get yourself over to a machine too." Optimus did as he was told, no need to argue with the obviously cranky doctor, though he all the right in the world to be cranky.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee were soon also on medical berths as the kids did as Ratchet instructed, he being too weak to repair them himself. "Report "bio-circuitry status."

Jack gave a thumbs up, "Levels are rising."

"Excellent. Rafael, keep a close watch on Bumblebee's electro-pulse monitor. Miko, check Bulkhead's interface patch." Ratchet instructed.

Raf answered, "It's steady."

"Looking good." Miko replied.

Optimus placed a hand on Ratchet's shoulder, "Perhaps you should get some rest yourself old friend. You saved quite a few lives today."

Ratchet rests his head on the wall, "It…wasn't all my doing." He looks at the kids who are working on the 'bots, "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened…on a Saturday."

"Ratchet! Hold your foot still, I can't fix the Energon line that the Scraplet ate through if you keep moving!" Jemina shouted up to Ratchet.

"Where did you learn to repair damaged lines like that?" Ratchet was baffled.

"My dad liked to work on cars so I helped him. Actually I had to help him rebuild our CJ-7's engine. There, it's not a permanent fix but it should hold."

Ratchet moved his foot experimentally, seemed fine enough, "Thanks."

Optimus looked at the humans still working on the 'bots, "Our human friends may be small, but they are strong."

"AAAAAAH!" Miko suddenly screams like a little girl.

Jack raised a pipe, preparing to smash it while Jemina grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, "Scraplet?!"

"Spider!" Jayce then took off and hid behind Bee, the kid is terrified of spiders, while Miko starts checking herself, "Is it on me?!" She suddenly shrieks again and runs away. "AAH! Get it off!"

Bulkhead raised an eyebrow, "Did she just scream like a little girl?"

"Well at she is a girl." Jemina shot back, "You know that I could hear you from in here right?" Bulkhead looked sheepish, "Oh, there's our culprit." Jemina bent down and picked something up.

"Are you crazy? I may not scream like a little girl when I see a spider but I certainly don't pick it up." Jack stated.

"I you call this a spider then you need your eyes checked. Besides if I did see a spider it would be a mess under my shoe by now."

"Well what are you holding then?" Raf asked.

Jemina opened her hand to reveal a small, green lizard, "It's just a harmless lizard, I see them around my grandparent's pool all the time."

Everyone burst into laughter and Jayce came out from behind Bee, "Can I hold it?"

"Sure," Jemina transferred the lizard to Jayce's hand as Miko came back.

"Is it gone did you kill it?" She looked warily at the group.

"No, but we found a lizard." Jayce answered as he ran to show Miko it.

"A lizard, ewe. Keep it away from me!" Miko then began to run away from Jayce as he began chasing her with the lizard. "Jemina keep your brother away from me!"

"Why, it's just a harmless lizard." Jemina was doing her best not to laugh. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up, though it would take a while as the entire base was a mess, and trying to get Jayce to stop chasing Miko with the lizard. "Hey Jayce?" Jemina asked during the cleanup.

"Yeah?" He looked at Jemina.

"I noticed that you don't talk as much as you used too. How come?"

"I don't know, I just don't really feel like it anymore." Jayce looked down, "I miss mom and dad."

"I understand, I don't like to talk much either. It's a different feeling huh? Keeping most, if not all, you say in your head and not speaking it." Jemina laughed.

Jayce nodded his head, "Yeah, it's weird." Jemina pulled him into a hug.

Mech HQ

A little over a week had passed and still no sign of the person they had transported. Silas was in a foul mood, he wanted this person found and he wanted him found now! He was deep in thought when a voice brought him out of it, "Sir?"

"Yes?" Silas hissed.

"We found, something." The man informed.

"Is it our missing person?" Silas' hopes raised just a bit.

"No, but we found someone who might now."

"Oh, now who is that?" The man played a video recording of the incident. It was all normal, Silas didn't see anything or anyone out of the ordinary. "I don't see who it is you are speaking of."

The man played back the tape again but paused it right after the machine exploded and there was smoke everywhere. "There, see that darker form?"

"Yes." Silas now saw what the man was pointing at though still not seeing his point, "So?"

"Well after numerous examinations and replays of the event, our men determined that the machine did not explode because of the transporters malfunction."

"So, you're saying someone sabotaged it?" Silas asked.

"Yes." The man nodded.

"Tell me, who was the man at the controls to that machine?"

"He was a fairly new recruit, came on a month before we started the project, named Jenson McWall." The man informed.

"And where is this Jenson McWall?"

"That we don't know." He pressed play on the recording. The dark form moved and the machine began to spark, then when the entire building was filled with smoke it moved out of the picture. He stopped the recording, "No one has seen him since."

Silas was fuming now, someone had sabotaged the project, "Do we have any information on who he is? Or better yet, where he is?"

"No sir. We had men look into it and come to find out all of the information we had was faked and forged. We have absolutely no idea who the man actually is. But the technicians have ran scans and analyzed what's left of the machine, they have come to the conclusion that whoever was operating the machine whipped it of its memory before overloading it."

"So if we find this, man, we find the person we brought here, yet we have as little data on the man as we do on the transported person. It's like trying to find two needles in a haystack when you're looking for just one." He looked at the man still standing there, "There is a shipment coming that we will be intercepting."

"What is it?"

"It is a power source, but I believe that if we get it we can use it to track our missing person. Until then I want everyone to continue searching for the, uh, misplaced person and our missing agent. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." The man turned and left while Silas just sat there grinning.

So this chapter's a bit longer than usual, hope that makes up for not updating. 'Till next time!