Le Legal Stuff: Transformers, et al., are not mine, only my OCs. This story isn't intended for sale.
Author's Feeble Excuse Clause: This story is a bigger challenge than anticipated and I've made some mistakes and am learning as I go, so I thank you for your patience!

A/N: First, sorry this is a long one, second the story's pace is slowing while the Autobots wait for Optimus to heal and third I'm nervous about the sections with Ellie, I hope they make sense and work. I'm rather tired so editing may have gotten a little sloppy. Sorry and thanks for your patience.

A/N: Question re punctuation… my grammar book, based no doubt on the level of my frustration, refused to show me how to punctuate a character's 'thoughts' in a sentence properly. A children's book wrote thoughts simply in italics, no quotes. I thought 'thoughts' were quoted? Would someone kindly take pity on me and explain what is proper? PM is cool, thanks I really appreciate it!
Reviews and Questions – since Guests have no PM, I'll comment here. Members will be PMed privately:
Thank You to Cosmic Sky, Enmused, for reviews and favorites and Bee4ever for your review! YAY!
Galem! I'm glad this story leaves you smiling and laughing! I enjoy stories that do that for me I'm glad I've managed to do so for another! Thank you for letting me know!

Cybertronian/Earth Time Reference:
Astrosecond/about .273 seconds
Breem / about 8 minutes
Groon/about 1 Earth hour
Orn/about 1 Earth day
Quartex/1 Earth month
Orbital Cycle/about 1 Earth year
Vorn/about 83 Earth years

Chapter 3 – Earth Campaign (Part 19)

— Chicago, Illinois – Temporary Autobot Encampment —

Sideswipe rolled back into the military encampment projecting an aura of bliss as he let a very perspiration-soaked military officer out of his cabin, "That was a great idea Lennox! Let's do it again sometime soon, okay?"

Bill staggered backwards a few steps to allow Sideswipe to transform and watched as he returned to the Autobot side of the compound. Bill answered automatically albeit breathily, "Yeah. Sure. No problem."

Once Sideswipe stepped over the barricade to happily regale his comrades of his adventure, Bill suddenly snapped out of whatever stupor he was in. He turned towards the row of tents and muttered firmly to himself, "Never, again. Ever!"

A few soldiers had tried to speak to the officer as he walked along but his only reply was a hand up and shake of his head, although his expression alone should have been enough of a deterrent. Inside his tent he quickly grabbed his shower kit, towel, a fresh uniform, and then headed towards the shower trailer.

As he walked, he thought dryly that he'd always wanted to drive really fast and yep, he'd done it. 'Tick that item off my bucket list. BOOYAH,' he thought sarcastically. What he hadn't expected was to be in a car when the speedometer's needle dipped past the fastest speed listed on the gauge. Now he had. Unfortunately, a buried needle didn't mean anything to Sideswipe. Nope, not Sideswipe. He just kept accelerating. How fast, Bill had no idea. He was too busy feeling like an astronaut in a NASA gravity simulator to know for sure. Eventually Sideswipe slowed down, traffic congestion had a way of doing that, even for an Autobot.

On the way back to Chicago, driving at what Sideswipe said was a sedate speed. 85?! Really? The mech kindly showed Bill a video he'd shot of the soldier during the ride. Sideswipe promised he would never post it to YouTube. Right. The officer's only answer was raised brows while he began to prepare his explanation to Sarah when she saw it, if she didn't kill him first. He was even able to visualize the YouTube page captioned, '"Wild Bill" in a 'Vette, What a Scream!' And yes, he did scream, at least he didn't scream like a girl, or worse, Sam.

When he first got the idea of a drive, he was confident Sideswipe was a 'professional' driver and that he was doing a good thing for a comrade. No one mentioned to Bill that 'stunt' should've been added to the word driver whenever thinking of Sideswipe. Yep, the name should've clued him in right away but it was too late for him to do anything once they hit the freeway. Who knew cars could do things like that?

Bill stripped his clothing and dropped it into a pile, set the shower to the hottest setting possible and stepped in allowing the water to pummel his skin. As he leaned into the spray he mumbled, "And I thought jumping out of a plane wearing a flying squirrel suit was insane…."

—◊◊—◊◊—◊◊—

After telling Ellie stories of Sam, Bee left the shelter to stretch and check up on Optimus. Alone again, Ellie returned to her cot and watched the daylight advance slowly across the pavement as the day dragged on. And on. And on. In reality, her new chronometer proclaimed her perception of time was skewed and that only five minutes had passed. She realized it was impossible to glare at an annoying timepiece stuck inside her head but she did have fun squishing it with her fingers.

After a minute or so of playing squish the clock window on her HUD she huffed bored. Ellie's shelter world was nothing but dull monotony interspersed with eating, drinking, visiting the 'blue room' as she thought of it, and bothering Bumblebee, which included all sorts of random questions. It was wearing on the young woman. She was grateful that Bumblebee was as patient as he was because she was sure if any of the other bots had been her guardian they would've squashed her by now in irritation. Poor Bee, she thought sympathetically, there were at least another three or four days of confinement to go before they could leave.

She set down an empty MRE packet as Bee returned. Instead of going back to his spot by the wall he chose to lean near the entrance and stare out of the opening of the shelter. She tilted her head and asked, "Bee?"

He glanced her way so she continued, "I uhm, just wanted to say I really appreciate you putting up with me. I'm sure you're bored silly too and my questions must be driving you insane. So I just wanted to thank you for not squishing me, okay?"

She was amazed a bot could look that horrified with half his face covered as he barked using his own voice, laced with static crackles, "Squished?!"

"Not literally," she amended at first and then shrugged. "Well, yeah, literally. I mean, you're what? A more advanced being forced to listen to me either asking pointless questions all day or whining about wanting something to do. It must be like being 70 locked in a room with a 4 year old."

Her eyes opened wider in horror when she thought he might perceive that as an insult and quickly added, "Which is not to say I think you're 70 cause 70 year olds aren't patient and you are. But then my gran certainly was, but even she had her limits. Oh my God, I'm rambling. I'm so sorry." Her face flamed as she found the floor next to her over-sized booted feet quite interesting to look at.

A door-wing flicked as he shook his helm and searched for clips, "Don't be… you should hear… Sam… when he gets going."

She looked up hopefully, "Really? Then I guess that's a good thing, you love him like a brother, don't you?"

Bumblebee nodded in agreement and then added, "And I can be just as… annoying… as the next."

"I doubt that but thanks."

She paused and took a deep breath and then she slapped her palms against her thighs, "Well, we've officially burned another five more minutes. What would you like to do with the rest of the 4 days, 10 hours, 32 minutes, and 17 seconds?"

She laughed as Bumblebee's optics dimmed and quickly added, "No, no, no! Don't calculate that, I was kidding!"

Bumblebee's optics rolled upward as he banged his helm against the wall and played, "Why me?"

"Just lucky I guess," she answered.

Bee straightened and gestured with his hand, she nodded. It was his way of saying he was going out for a walk to check up on things. Once he left she stood and turned to look at her gear thoughtfully.

"Well mom," she said aloud. "Can you believe this? I'm picking up after myself! Maybe you should've kept me bored more often, huh?" She straightened out the sleeping bag, folded her clothes, gathered dry towels and folded them too. Then she bundled the empty MRE packets from her lunch, dropped them onto her make-shift trash container and then leaped back in horror emitting a very breathy shriek. Ants! The trash container was covered in ants.

"Eww, gross, gross, gross!" She wailed as she used a booted toe to carefully nudge the box as far away from her things as possible.

Once that excitement was over she stopped and looked around her 'room' and puffed air out between her lips in an imitation of a horse's sneeze. With child-like aggravation she sat down hard onto her cot and then tilted her head sideways questioningly. When horses made that noise was it really a sneeze or did they do that when they were bored too? She sighed loudly and wondered if asking Bee that would get her squished.

—◊◊—◊◊—◊◊—

'Day two,' Bee thought tiredly as he walked out of the enclosure and took note of the bots present and their placement along the perimeter. Each mech was standing guard and all looked both exhausted and tense which subconsciously made him uneasy as well. He quickly checked his battle routines while he sent the comm he'd originally come out to offer in the first place, 'If any of you want to recharge, go inside, there's plenty of room. I'll stand your post.'

"Yeah, we know Bee," rumbled Roadbuster quietly as he looked down at the smaller mech. "We just don't like what's going on out there." The mech tipped his helm out past the military encampment. The humans in the open area outside of the military perimeter had increased tenfold since Sideswipe had returned.

To Bee, it looked like bedlam. A sea of colorful humanity, some armed with bullhorns shouting. Bee paused to wonder abstractedly why humans insisted on shouting into voice-amplification devices. The action was not only redundant it made whatever they shouted unintelligible. Then he noted a group of humans parrot back the words shouted at them. Apparently not, he thought as he continued to survey the crowd. He read some of the signs, some inventive, some not. Some shouted anger at the military and the Autobots, while another group argued for them. Mixed into the melee were news crews eagerly moving from one group to the next filming and interviewing everything and anything sensational they could find.

Bee felt a tink on his pede and looked down to see a rock slowly roll to a stop. He looked up and noted several humans congratulating themselves while they flipped him off. It was tempting to render tit for tat, i.e., returning the rock in a similar fashion but he knew Prime would not approve. They were lucky, he thought, that they were dealing with him and not Cliffjumper. However, Bee decided as he noted the increased tension of his unit, something should be done to curb others from trying to chuck more hazardous items and came up with a 'subtle' response. With exaggeration he raised his leg and crushed the rock under his pede and ground it in, like one might crush a cigarette. He smiled when his would be assailants paled, it looked like they got the message loud and clear. To be honest, he only felt a slight twinge of guilt knowing Prime probably would not have approved of that action either but he rationalized, they were in an encampment full of trigger happy mechs, he probably just saved their lives. Probably.

He turned his back on the crowd and like a magnet quietly stepped over to the medical enclosure to peek inside. He paused by the entrance to watch the symphony of movement between the two medics. It was hypnotic as master and student worked, sometimes together and sometimes not, yet each move seemed choreographed to flow without collision or accident.

Ratchet, back facing the scout, reached down to pick up a tool from his medical chest quipped, "Back again Bee? Yes, I know it's you. No, I don't have optics in the back of my head, I can tell by the sound of your pedes. Like I said earlier, Prime's doing better and it'll take a few more days. So, unless you can fabricate parts, you should be guarding your charge and not bothering us, move it!"

Bumblebee blinked and played, "Ah, Ratch… just takin' a break."

The medic paused and looked over his shoulder and said sarcastically, "Again?"

Before Ratchet could chew out the mech, FirstAid quickly asked, "How is she doing?"

Bee switched to internal comms, 'Good but bored, especially since she's stuck with a guardian who can't speak. Speaking of, I may as well confess before Ratchet finds out that Ellie convinced me to link up to her. We've been communicating through her HUD.'

FirstAid dropped his wrench and then quickly picked up another tool to cover his shock and hopefully not alert Ratchet that something was amiss and switched to private comms, 'You did what?! Please tell me you didn't change or adjust any settings, make any modifications? She didn't talk you into doing something to her core did she?'

:'Well, I did activate her chronometer.'

:'You did… Bee, from now on, no matter what she says do not make any more changes to her system! She wasn't stabilized when we left and she still needs to be careful. In fact, maybe it's a good thing she let you do this. Since you're already accessing her HUD, check her status frequently. She can show you how and what to watch out for. If she asks why, just tell her I wanted you to do this for me.'

:'She showed me the energy status bar and explained what's going on.'

:'She did? That's good. Any changes, tell me right away. Optimus is past the critical phase so interruptions are acceptable.'

Bumblebee nodded and then added, 'Will do. Uh, when you say modifications, what do you mean exactly? I've been around humans long enough to know their bodies don't upgrade like ours. So, is she different?'

FirstAid looked over at him, 'No, she's human and will always remain so. I installed a Cybertronian device to help stabilize her life functions. Unfortunately I'm not sure if it will be effective.'

:'Effective,' Bee interrupted surprised. 'As in she may terminate?"

:'Yes, that is a possibility. That's why I wish her to take care. I worry she doesn't realize the gravity of her situation. She's very lucky to be alive. So, no matter what she says, any changes tell me.'

:'Understood.'

FirstAid watched the young scout leave and froze when Ratchet placed a servo on his arm. Ratchet surprised the mech further by asking gently, "So, what's going on? Is there a problem with your charge?"

FirstAid looked at his teacher and mentor for a moment, "I'm… I'm worried about the tech I implanted to monitor Ellie's life functions. It wasn't stable when we escaped. It's hard not being able to keep an eye on her."

Ratchet nodded with understanding, very familiar with his gentle-sparked student's regard for his patients. He turned back to Optimus and continued to work, "As doctors, we know there's only so much we can do for a patient and must trust we've done our best. As to Bumblebee, he's very good with humans and he'll keep an optic on her. And once we get Prime up and running, you can go back to monitoring her again."

"I know," FirstAid said as he picked up the severed arm he was preparing to work on, "it's just hard not to worry."

"I know," Ratchet huffed despondently and then stood up straighter. He smiled at his student and tried to lighten the mood by adding, "Try throwing wrenches, it always helped me."

— Washington, D.C., Cybertronian Embassy – Temporary Offices—

Carefully balancing a bag of donuts and paper tray holding two cups of coffee Sam pushed his way into the Cybertronian Embassy's temporary office. Their new embassy wouldn't be ready to move into for weeks. To avoid any overt appearances of collusion with the United States government, Mearing's assistant rented a temporary office suite in Washington. Dino was pleased with the location as it had underground parking. He'd been gaining far too much attention street-side and this location was perfect for him to hack into the building's security system to easily guard the couple floors above without distraction.

Once Mearing learned how easy it was for Dino to hack into the supposedly secure new government phones she'd recently given Sam and Carly, she'd grown rather quiet and calculating. Sam wasn't sure which 'Mearing' he liked better, the upset one or the calculating one, both were equally disturbing. After that incident, Dino advised them of the wisdom in not sharing how easily he accessed building security. It was better for humans to have a limited understanding of their capabilities until tensions eased.

Technical aspects aside, Sam's biggest worry was himself. His quick emotional reactions were helpful in earning people's trust but when things grew more serious he had to bring something different to the table. That's when he coined the idea of channeling his inner Optimus. It took time to explain what that meant to Dino and Carly. Neither expressed confidence or understanding, but this was Sam and Sam had a way of looking at things that defied logic. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. This was one of those 'not' times.

Sam had explained to them that in high school he'd had an acting class, it made sense with Tranquility being so close to Los Angeles, and learned about the 'method'. Method required an actor to have knowledge of the character from the inside out. Dino and Carly agreed it still made no sense but if Sam felt it would help…

Until Dino realized 'method acting' entailed being asked utterly inane questions like why Prime chose blue and red for his armor? Why did he always say 'transform and roll out?' Why did he wear a battle mask? Things when downhill further when Sam asked what Prime had for breakfast. Energon. Lunch? Energon. Dinner? Energon!

At that point Dino sent an urgent text to Carly. With compassion she firmly and decisively ended Sam's first pass at channeling his inner Optimus. She reassured him, confidence would come and to be patient.

Sam hoped so, he really did, but he worried that it wouldn't come soon enough and what that failure would mean for them all.

— Washington, D.C., Director of National Security's Offices —

As to the Director herself, her nation's security was always foremost in any activity and she realized how valuable befriending the Cybertronians were and keeping them on 'our side' was paramount for her nation's security. So while Sam and Carly battled the overt body politic and global sentiment, Mearing was moving within hidden government circles to wage her own private battles.

It had been a disappointment to learn her most strident opponent was Director Galloway himself. With his knowledge of the Cybertronians he should've worked alongside her to keep those valuable assets in the U.S. Her assistant finally asked why she allowed Galloway to stay because Mearing had enough on him to easily terminate him.

Mearing smiled the kind of grin a hunter does when the prey realizes they're trapped. The tiny Asian woman's knees almost buckled but it was Mearing's words that froze her in place, "It's my job to know what motivates him, what his weaknesses are, and where his skeletons are buried. With that, I can keep him in check, control him, and with one misstep bring him down completely. He's an investment I cannot afford to casually toss aside but one I can sacrifice if necessary."

When her assistant finally left the office and headed home, she'd opened her resume file and stared at it wondering why she wasn't seeking alternate employment. She wasn't sure and until then whenever she felt low she'd pop in her favorite movie to sympathize with another heroine in a similar position. As The Devil wears Prada played she wondered, was Miranda Priestly was based on Charlotte? She considered replacing Charlotte's sneakers once with Pradas, until she saw the cost. However, if she hit Power Ball…..

— Washington, D.C., Cybertronian Embassy's Temporary Offices —

With Dino monitoring both the internal security and their phones he could easily listen in on any meetings and despite his sometimes irascible temperament, he would answer questions if need be. Initially he answered directly until one reporter disputed he was really Cybertronian. The conversation deteriorated into Dino screaming epitaphs at the reporter in Italian. Sam should've known better, the reporter was one of those that believed the Cybertronians were an elaborate hoax to keep the populace in line. Dino finally calmed down enough to suggest in English that the reporter come down stairs for a one-on-one chat. Carly quickly ended the meeting promising the reporter serenely that when they had an appropriate venue, he would meet a real Cybertronian.

When the reporter left, Sam was hot on his heels claiming he was off to get donuts. He was, he just had to make a temporary detour to the garage to insure Dino wasn't going to chase after the reporter.

Once he reached the lot Sam was surprised to find a much calmer Dino who suggested he'd answer in text from now on. He also suggested that if they ran up against another doubter, just have Brains transform. As soon as Sam was assured Dino was in a better state of mind he left to pick up the donuts.

"How much time do we have Car," Sam asked as he placed the bag on the counter and handed her a cup of coffee.

Her face scrunched up disappointedly, "Donuts? You were serious?"

"It was close and I was worried about the time," he apologized. "We'll get something better to eat later, I promise."

"I hope so," she grumbled as she delicately plucked at a plain cake donut. "This stuff will kill you, you know."

Sam quickly tidied the table and paused to survey his work and then dove on the food. Armed with a white powdered donut and coffee he felt better as he quipped, "Hey, it's a better way to go than by a Decepticon." Brains chuckled in his rude way which earned him a cold glance from Carly.

She turned back to her soon-to-be husband, "Those arguments will only last so long before we need to buy you new clothes to fit your expanding waistline." She punctuated her statement by patting off the powdered sugar that had fallen onto his shirt helpfully.

"And don't talk with your mouth full," she hastily added as he was about to speak. He snapped his mouth shut and quickly chewed.

She arched a brow at him and sipped her coffee. With a delicate shudder as she searched for some cream and sugar to dilute the brew. Sam held out his hand with a loving smile and dropped several creamers, sugars, and a swizzle stick into her hand. She mouthed 'thank you' and dumped the lot into her cup.

She really did try to enjoy coffee but it was just too bitter for her. She'd ordered tea as soon as she had a chance but it wasn't due to arrive for some time. She thought wistfully of sipping a warm cup of Lady Grey until she sipped her coffee and cringed.

She turned to watch the mini-con playing with the pencils on the table, "Brains, what's next on our schedule?"

He dropped the pencil and quickly transformed back into his laptop mode to display their schedule, "You got time. Next joker's due in 15. Then it's back to back until 6."

Sam gulped down another bite of donut and followed it with some coffee, "Good, that'll give me time to eat."

"It feels odd," Carly said as she walked over to look out of the window to the street below.

Sam grabbed a napkin and cleaned up the mess he'd made and then walked over to join Carly worried, "What about? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"

She snuggled under his arm and smiled at him, "No, I'm fine it's just so… surreal to watch people going about their day. It's like Chicago never happened and it's all some really bad disturbing dream."

Sam nodded, "I know. You want to scream at them to 'wake up' but then you wonder if it's actually you who's asleep."

Brains chose at that moment to leap across the table to the windowsill , "Naw, you ain't sleepin'."

"And thanks for the vivid reminder," Sam finished sarcastically.

Carly sighed as she looked into Sam's apologetic face and her heart melted. His awkwardness was slowly fading into a maturity that made her a little sad but approving. He was a good choice for her and she knew without a doubt that her brother would've approved. Her father, that was to come. For now, she simply placed her cup onto the sill to turn fully into his arms with a certain twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh man, they're gonna do that again," Brains groaned as he leaped from the sill back onto the conference room table. "Where's Wheelie when you need him." The mech quickly turned his back on the couple as he muttered, "Disgusting. AND 10 minutes ain't enough time for that stuff, so cool it already!"

She groaned into Sam's kiss and chided, "If he wasn't useful…."

"I know, I know," Sam quickly closed the distance and couldn't help himself from chuckling at Brain's diatribe about disgusting organic mating rituals.

— Chicago, Illinois – Temporary Autobot Encampment —

Ellie had been hungry again and as a result was staring at another empty MRE she'd wolfed down. 'I'm not sure this is a good sign,' she thought and made a mental note to let FirstAid know as soon as they left this place. But, as long as her energy readings appeared stable, it could wait until Optimus Prime was better.

She raised her arms up and stretched, then dropped them. She looked around and absently drummed her fingers on her thighs. She crossed and uncrossed her arms. Then she stamped her feet in a percussive rhythm for a time on the pavement. Bored with that, she fell back onto her cot and went over a 'Keep Myself From Going Insane' check list. She muttered aloud as she drew checks in the air, "Bath, check. Tidy up, check. Eat, check. Eat again, check, check. Scream at disgusting ants, check. Brush teeth, woops, missed that one. Blue room, check and impending check. What's left?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully as an interesting idea surfaced. Wasn't she able to save a file of what she was watching when Gurmit was running his program? Maybe she could do something similar with her HUD and actually make a file in her head. If she could, that would be pretty darned useful when she started college again. Imagine that, notes she could never lose, how cool would that be? The cheat options alone were staggering, not that she would do that sort of thing.

She opened her HUD and tried to create and save a checklist. Her face bloomed into a smile. Yep, she could save text played onto her HUD! After that momentary success and diversion, she checked her chronometer and groaned. That entire exercise had burned a whole fifteen minutes. Ellie opened her mouth and mentally screamed.

Once she'd gotten that out of her system she groaned and sat up to resume staring at the tiny dust particles that floated in the sunlight while she drummed her fingers on her thighs.

Ellie knew that with Bumblebee doing, whatever it was he was doing outside the shelter, there really wasn't much for her to do. She was a rat in a cage, again, only this time in a much smaller cage. She stood up and thought, time to run the wheel. Gurmit had been insistent she get exercise and doing that should waste some time. So she walked around the perimeter of the shelter, taking care not to go past the opening. When she reached the pile of scrap metal she stopped and stared at it thoughtfully.

Ellie knelt to look at the odd variety of metal bits and wondered what was it for? Was it just earth metal scrap or was there alien metal in the mix? Curious, she pawed gently through the pile, taking care as some of the edges were sharp to pick out a small pile of thin pieces she thought might be alien. She cooed and hummed while she examined various pieces enjoying the distraction. Soon she'd assembled quite a little pile of scrap and filled the pockets of her military pants, a hint of an idea beginning to form in her mind.

When Bumblebee walked in, he expected the femme to be sitting on her cot like usual, not under his pedes. He almost tripped over her and was forced to hop a few steps to keep from falling or stepping on her. As he regained his balance he ranted internally about idiotic femmling midgets parking their afts where they didn't belong.

Ellie rose to her feet and scrambled against the wall apologizing, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry Bee! I was just curious," she said as she walked backwards to her cot, palms up. She ruined the apology by smiling, "Those were some serious dance moves, you didn't pull anything did you?"

Bumblebee growled and played a sarcastic, "Hah hah." He pointed to his 'spot' and then pointed to his wrist, the meaning clear, he wanted to talk to her. He strode over and sat down hard and stared at her. She smiled sheepishly and climbed up onto his thigh.

"I'm sorry for being in the entrance like that," she tried to apologize when he shook his head in the negative.

"Okay, so why are you so serious all of a sudden? What's up?" Ellie asked as she shifted positions on his arm, for comfort and because it was easier to look up into the mech's face.

With practiced ease she'd quickly attached the lead he'd handed to her as line of text appeared on her screen, 'No, I'm not mad, just worried. Standing near the entrance like that was stupid and dangerous, didn't you hear me coming? What if it had been one of the other bots? Next time, hug the wall and stay there.'

"Sorry, I'll be more careful next time," she said contritely although she had to admit watching him flail about was rather funny.

:'See that you do. The reason I wanted to talk to you is I spoke with FirstAid. I told him we're using the HUD to talk. He's okay with that and he said he's worried about you and he wants me to check your status indicator regularly. I'm to report any changes. Show me again where it is?'

She called up the energy bar and used her fingers to expand the screen. "There's the status bar, I'll enlarge it here, so you can monitor it as well." She used her hands to show on the bar the range, "Just so you know, the level fluctuates between these two points. It's never been constant and that always bugged FirstAid. So far it seems to stay within the two points near the middle and FirstAid is okay with that, as long as it doesn't go past those marks. He thinks it's not stable because organic systems operate differently."

She looked up, "And that's pretty much it. I've been watching my levels since we got here. I was an idiot to volunteer for the program in the first place, so I'm not about to make it worse by continuing to be an idiot." She paused for a moment to make sure he understood she was serious, "Okay?"

Bee texted back, 'Okay. To be honest, I didn't think you checked. In my experience younglings take unnecessary risks. And while I can't stop you from doing stupid things, like standing near entrances where you could get stepped on, as long as I'm your guardian I'm going to make sure you don't harm yourself while you're under my protection. Are we clear?'

"Youngling?"

He sent a repeat text, 'Are we clear?'

She let out a gust of air, "Yes we are clear." It was irritating, to say the least, for him to talk to her as if she were child but as she thought about it there was a sense to it. He was in the military, an alien military, so perhaps he expected her to behave accordingly. Then there was that whole responsibility thing and he seemed to be taking that rather seriously. The least she could do was respect him for that.

She looked down at her hands and contemplated the lead connected to her arm and sighed. The fact she had that device proved she didn't always think things through, "FirstAid knows me and you don't, so I guess it makes sense that I'd have to earn your trust. Which means somehow proving I'm not going to take any unnecessary risks."

She paused, "The thing is, you can't wrap me up in bubble wrap either. So why don't we try to find a compromise, ok? Think of it in this way, each time you walk out of this shelter, you put yourself at risk, right? What if you were hurt? How could you protect me? I can't expect you to stay here so there's a modicum of risk and trust involved. I trust you'll take care when you go outside because you're trained to deal with situations like that. I'm used to dealing with this, so I hope you can trust me to know my limits, it goes both ways. We can't stop each other from living."

:'There's a difference…,' Bee sent back and stopped when Ellie fell sideways and banged her head on his chassis dramatically.

"Of course there is, I know that. I just don't know what I can do right now to make you trust me. So, the only thing I can think of is to be honest and start there. So, about last night, I did some work on you while you were resting. Have you checked your internal systems recently?" Bumblebee blinked as his optics narrowed and shook his helm.

"Check your injury status, go on, look." Bumblebee made a scan and then shrugged his shoulders indicating there wasn't anything unusual.

"Did you notice there were fewer minor injuries on the list? I, uhm, linked up with your system last night and made repairs. Don't worry, I was very careful and kept an eye on my status indicator the entire time."

The text flew across her HUD, "What?! Why? FirstAid is afraid you're going to die if you're not careful." Bumblebee was clearly upset as his doorwing flicked sharply against the wall making her cringe slightly at the noise.

Bee stared at her in shock, it was bad enough none of his systems reported an intrusion but the fact she was risking her life over nothing, really upset him. The injuries she repaired weren't life threatening and would've been fixed by his internal systems anyway. It was not worth her life to make such minor repairs!

Unaware of his inner dialog she simply answered his question, "Why? Because, I needed to know what I can and cannot do! As long as the indicator display doesn't go past the marked area, FirstAid said I'm good and am not harming myself. I want to know if I can do something good for a change and not feel so helpless."

She rested her head on his chassis tiredly, "I was stupid when I volunteered for that program, I thought they were trying to help people Bee. They told me it was safe and they lied. Gurmit tricked me. I thought he was my friend, what sort of person willingly does that to another?"

"And then there's you. You saved my life and your reward is to babysit me instead of protecting your friends. Is it wrong to want to do something nice for you in exchange?" She trailed off to listen to the hum of his spark.

Bumblebee realized despite her misguided efforts, her intentions were good, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of her mucking about in his system without his knowledge.

He raised her chin with a finger to squint an optic at her and sent, 'Alright. But, from now on you DO NOT make any repairs or modifications without talking to me and getting my approval. Under no circumstances will you do anything without my supervision. Understood?'

"Understood," she answered with relief.

Another text quickly followed, 'I swear you're going to drive me crazy, you know that don't you?'

She smiled weakly up at him, "I'm sorry. I guess you've never done anything stupid like that before have you?"

Bumblebee decided it was best not to tell her how impulsive he was, is, and decided to simply shrug his shoulders, 'You're gonna give me a spark attack!'

"Does that mean you and I, we're okay? You forgive me?" Bumblebee nodded. She smiled brightly relieved, "Good, I was worried because I wasn't looking forward to sitting here alone for four days getting the silent treatment until we leave."

They sat together companionably for a time not saying anything as the line of sunlight crawled slowly across the pavement.

— Cybertronian Shuttle Updraft —
Autobot Femme Unit, Commander Elita-1/Second Chromia
Crew Complement: Moonracer, Firestar, Arcee, Greenlight and Lancer
Rescued Autobots: Sunstreaker and Wheeljack

Flareup sat quietly at the scanners searching for various signals, traces, anything that might point to anything Decepticon and received a quiet ping. Her blue optics narrowed as she fine-tuned the search and then leaned over to the comm station, "Lancer, I need your help over here."

The femme silently commed Greenlight to the bridge and then moved to stand behind the smallest and youngest of their team, "Sure, what do you need?"

"I'm picking up some very interesting signals. I know I'm supposed to search out Decepticon sources but I'm also picking up an Autobot one, it's really old," she said looking up to the orange and blue femme for advice.

It didn't take long for Greenlight to appear and assume Lancer's post as the femmes analyzed the various readings. Flareup pointed to more data, "What's confusing, is the mixture of Decepticon and Autobot readings."

Lancer nodded as she stood back to contemplate the information and a better way to extract more useful information. When she had an idea she asked politely, "Would you mind?"

Flareup was no fool and quickly evacuated the seat and stood behind the science officer and watched eagerly as Lancer loaded various protocols and narrowed down searches. When she spoke it was equally as cryptic, "This is… interesting."

Since the vessel was drawing closer to Earth many found recharge impossible so the quiet disturbance around the sensor console eventually had the entire crew filling the bridge out of curiosity. Elita walked up and stood next to Flareup as they both looked over Lancer's shoulder, "Interesting? How?"

With a flurry of strokes Lancer pushed data up to the main view screen so everyone could see what Flareup had found. She rose to her pedes and walked over and with a silvery digit she pointed out Earth, "Earth has one satellite, Flareup discovered a confusing mixture of signals emanating from its surface and below, which given the war isn't unusual."

"However, the age of the Autobot materials she found is. First let's start with the Decepticon readings, I hazard a guess they point to an underground facility of some sort. There are no active signals so it's possible we've found an abandoned base. As to the Autobot signal, I'm surprised to say I think that we've found the Ark."

The silence on the bridge was overwhelming as each tried to understand the implications of the find. Elita frowned and simply said, "Lancer, please continue."

Lancer nodded, "The only way we're going to know is to go to that satellite and check it out personally, unless we can upgrade the system." Wheeljack was already pushing his way to the sensor station eager to see what he could do.

Chromia had her chin resting on her arms over the back of the tactical station's seat, "Have we heard anything from the surface yet?"

Greenlight looked at the data and began to tick off pertinent facts, "Not directly. But, there have been some interesting developments. First, two humans have been appointed as Cybertronian ambassadors, an interesting idea. A city called Chicago appears to be the recent battle site and there is a small contingent of Autobots positioned there. I've got some visual data, I'll push it to the main viewscreen."

Within seconds two feeds appeared, one with the Cybertronian ambassadors during an interview and another with a human reporter surrounded by a crowd of yelling humans. What was of note was the background where there were flashes of a large silvery mech. Sunstreaker rose to his pedes, "Is that Sideswipe?"

Greenlight quickly froze the feed and scanned the data and pushed various shots which included various Autobots. Elita asked tiredly, "Anything of Optimus?"

Greenlight shook her helm and realized Elita wasn't looking her way, "No. What I gather from various news reports is the Autobot leader was badly injured and can't be moved. They're working on him now and have created a temporary enclosure to protect him until they can leave the city."

Elita crossed her arms over her chassis, "The humans don't look very pleased."

Greenlight again acknowledge, "Yes. It appears the city was taken by the Decepticons, casualties and damage were great. The humans appear to have difficulty understanding there's a difference between our factions and the new Cybertronian embassy is trying to educate the populace on the difference."

Elita turned towards Greenlight, "Any active Decepticon signals?"

"I've pinpointed at least one or two possible listening outposts and there are many signals spread across Earth itself."

Chromia rose to her pedes and joined her commander, "What are you thinking?"

"The humans appear hostile given the circumstances," she answered as she continued to review the various feeds Greenlight displayed. "It looks like our additional presence might not be favorable and since the Autobots look safe for the moment I think we delay landing until we know more. What intrigues me is the Decepticon facility on that satellite. I'm tempted to search it and see if it's abandoned and capable of defense. If it is, we can contact Prowl and have a base to operate from that's not on the planet."

Sunstreaker turned away from the femme commander to clench his fist, the strength of his desire to be with his twin was overriding his reason. Sideswipe felt the increase in frustration from his twin and placed a servo on Leadfoot's pauldron, "I need a break." Without even waiting the silver frontliner walked into the shelter and sat down. Ignoring the occupants as he reached out through his spark, 'Sunny are you okay?'

Sunstreaker's optics opened wide in shock, he hadn't thought they were close enough yet to communicate and answered as relief flooded their bond, 'Sideswipe are you okay?'

:'Yes, you?'

The crew noticed the sagging frontliner who immediately drew a small crowd of concerned femmes. If he not been communing with his brother he would've reveled in the attention. Instead he held up his servo, "Sideswipe, I can reach him." Instead of provoking silence the crew began bombarding the frontliner with questions while Sideswipe nudged his brother's spark for attention and answers.

Chromia realizing the situation shouted, "Stand down!" The command did the trick and silence filled the bridge allowing him to continue conversing with his brother.

:'Good. Where are you?'

:'Civvie, vessel inbound.'

:'Good to hear. Who's with you?'

:'Femme command, Elita-1, Chromia, Firestar, Moonracer, Greenlight, Lancer, Arcee, Flareup, and Wheeljack.'

:'You lucky mech, all those femmes.'

:'Focus. What's going on?'

:'Prime's injured, but out of critical. Ratchet has help, found FirstAid. Sentinel, the slagger, betrayed us and killed Ironhide. Jazz was offlined when we arrived by Megatron. But Megatron is gone, same with Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave. Que was here, offlined. All that's left of us are Ratchet, Bee, Leadfoot, Roadbuster, Topspin, FirstAid, Jolt, Skids and Mudflap. Although Jolt, Skids and Mudflap are on the run.'

As Sideswipe explained he sent images and feelings to his brother. Sunstreaker quietly intoned each bit of data. Firestar placed an arm around Chromia who gasped when she heard it was Sentinel who had killed and betrayed Ironhide. Her fury was frightening, Sentinel's actions were beyond the pale as she growled, "Tell me, is Sentinel dead?"

:'Chromia needs to know, is Sentinel gone?'

:'Oh slag, that's right you did say she was aboard. That's one tough femme but yeah by Prime did it himself. He was furious.'

Sunstreaker relayed Sideswipe's words as Chromia listened and nodded. She said 'good' with a growl and quickly fled the bridge.

Elita looked at Firestar, the message clear, 'Don't leave her alone.' Firestar nodded and ran off after the femme. Elita moved over to the golden frontliner and placed a servo on his shoulder, "Ask him who's in command and what they want us to do."

:'Elita wants to know who's in command and our orders?'

:'Ratchet.' Sunstreaker felt his connection quiet as he turned to the commander, "Ratchet, he's going to ask."

Sideswipe got up and froze at the restraining servo and questioning look from Bumblebee. Instead of snarling at the touch he said, "Sunstreaker and the femmes are close." Bee instantly released the mech as he sped from the shelter and over to the medical shelter.

"Ratchet," Sideswipe pushed his way inside. "I've gotta connection with Sunstreaker, they're close and Elita's asking for orders."

Ratchet had been prepared to yell at the frontliner and paused at the new information, "Frag it all, I totally forgot. FirstAid, take care of this will you?"

The white medic nodded, "Go, I've got it."

Ratchet pulled Sideswipe aside to think, "I haven't had a chance to see what the political situation is like out there."

"Bad."

Ratchet glared at the frontliner who looked offended, "What? It's the truth and it's not my fault."

"I know," Ratchet poked his head out of the tent and gave the increasing crowds a quick glance. He dropped the fabric and regarded the warrior, "Tell Sunstreaker to hold off landing. The Decepticons are quiet for now and I'm afraid more of us showing up right now will make things worse. If they can, advise Prowl of the situation." Sideswipe sat down and concentrated on his spark to relay the message as Ratchet returned to work.

Sunstreaker looked up, "We're to belay landing. The Decepticons are quiet but more of us arriving will make create problems with the humans. If we can, we should advise Prowl of the situation."

Elita nodded, "Alright then. We explore that satellite and inspect the base for cover. Once we're secure we contact Prowl. Let's move!"

— Chicago, Illinois – Temporary Autobot Encampment —

"Bee, what was that all about," Ellie asked curious when Sideswipe left the shelter.

He turned to his spot and sat down unsure about whether he should explain or how to explain Cybertronian relationships to a human. His attempts with Sam had failed because of communications issues but things were different with Ellie's HUD. He motioned to his wrist which was enough inducement to have the woman quickly climbing onto his frame.

As soon as the link was established he sent, 'Hard to explain. Our sparks are not like your hearts. Twins on your world share the same genetic makeup whereas twins on our world share a spark. Sideswipe has a twin brother, Sunstreaker. When they are close enough they can feel each other and communicate to one another. Sunstreaker must be close by, which is good for us, but I don't think the humans are going to like it. Sideswipe went to inform Ratchet.'

She blinked as she digested that information, "Really, they can feel and sometimes talk to one another. Sometimes twins on Earth have similar abilities but it's not consistent. There's so much about your people I don't know about."

:'And we've got plenty of time to talk about it. Just not now.'

She smiled, "Okay, later then. So what would you like to do?"

Bumblebee activated his radio, cycling it through various stations until he found one he liked as she turned to lean against his frame to listen. At least, Ellie thought, he hadn't walked away and that was a good thing. There just had to be a way for him to understand that she wasn't totally clueless or reckless.

As she listened to the music, she relaxed to the hum of his spark and wondered about sparks. Why was the hum of his spark so relaxing? Was it because it emitted a noise similar to white noise monitors that helped newborns sleep? Did all sparks sound the same? What are sparks, exactly? Do other humans feel the same way when they're near a spark?

The music faded from her mind as she focused on the hum and let it surround her. She sighed pleasantly, it felt like soaking in a hot bath or being wrapped up in a warm blanket on a cold day. Or was it just the warmth his body naturally emitted that made her feel so comfortable. She didn't know and at that point she really didn't care as a yawn escaped her.

Well whatever the reason, she thought, being near him felt nice. She felt safe with FirstAid and Duststorm but hadn't been allowed to be as close for so long as she had been with Bee. Maybe she was simply tired of being lonely and it was nice having someone nearby? Thinking about Duststorm and FirstAid made her wonder what was going to happen when they left Chicago? Bee would no doubt go back to guarding Sam. Would he still talk to her after that? Probably not, she rationalized, so she'd better enjoy the time she had.

Daylight ticked by very slowly as Bee drifted from music to news giving Ellie more time to think about sparks, nanobots, and alien physiology. Finally she succumbed to her questions and asked softly, "Bee?"

"Hmmm," he'd closed his optics some time ago and was drowsing peacefully.

"Where do the nanobots get the necessary supplies to make repairs?"

Bumblebee's optics opened as the peaceful drowsy feeling vanished replaced with curiosity as he texted her, 'You don't know?'

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, I didn't have a whole lot of time to sit down and think about that until now. I mean FirstAid was trying to get me stable and everybody repaired so we could escape. Then there was the possibility of Gurmit eavesdropping so, no, I don't know."

Bumblebee vented as text scrolled across her HUD, 'I'm not a doctor so here's the best way I can explain it. Any metal needed for internal repairs is taken from energon particles and when that isn't enough my frame supplies the rest. That's why we need medics to handle serious injuries.'

"Does that mean when I was making repairs to you I might have been cannibalizing you to fix you?!"

:'You make it sound far worse than it is. It's a part of how we function so it's not… as disturbing as that. Medics use what's called a medical grade of energon which is infused with even more necessary metallic nutrients to help avoid harming our structural integrity. Which gives me an interesting question to ask you, how'd FirstAid build your core? I don't see any surgical wounds and I know humans don't heal that fast.'

Ellie read the text and frowned, "He… used the nanobots to build it inside me… they absorbed or digested metal and used it to make the core. Here, let me show you." Ellie pulled out a piece of metal from her pants pocket and placed it on her skin as she linked to the mech.

:'What are you doing with metal in your pockets?'

She looked at the piece thoughtfully, "Curious. I was wondering which ones were alien."

Then she closed her eyes and thought 'show injuries.' When the list appeared, she thought sort 'major injuries' first and waited for the display update. She thought 'show image of frame and flash areas in question.' She made sure her status bar was visible and noted the indicators were still within the safe range.

Then she looked at the adjusted display she explained, "Okay, this is what FirstAid did when he was trying to extend a wire for Duststorm. He had me instruct the nanobots to absorb the metal and make repairs to the area I wanted repaired. I'm going to start and display the work in progress as well as my status bar. If there's any concern or dip in energy, I'll stop." Before he could answer she quickly issued the commands to absorb and ordered the nanobots to begin work on one of the injuries.

Bumblebee watched her HUD carefully monitoring both on the progress of the work and her status. Then he watched as the small piece of metal slowly diminished in size. When the progress screen disappeared she said, "There, that's all there is to it. Since I did a lot of work on you last night without realizing I was harming you, would you let me fix what I did wrong?"

:'Is that even possible?'

She shrugged, "I don't know. But as long as we monitor my activity, why not try?" She commenced several queries without success. Bumblebee assisted her until they stumbled upon simply commanding the nanobots replace needed metals. Once the correct command was given Bumblebee watched in silence as the metal pieces on her arm slowly dissolved. The quantity wasn't much and he noted with relief there were no fluctuations to her core. Everything she'd done had stayed within acceptable parameters. The two sat like this for several hours, never noting any bots coming in, resting, or adding more metal to their reserves. By the end of the third hour, mid-day had passed and Ellie sighed as the last area inside of Bumblebee read clear.

"See," she said with a smile, "easy-peasy. I think the reason it's not impacting my system much is that it's the nanobots doing the actual work. I simply tell them what to do." Her stomach rumbled loudly, "And that means it's time I took a lunch break. Will you be sticking around or…?"

Bumblebee patted the ground to indicate he was going to stay there as she disconnected his lead. Once he set her on the ground he watched her thoughtfully as she walked over to her cot and pulled out two packages of MREs from the box under her cot.

He leaned back against the wall and ran through what had happened. He'd not felt a single change or received a single warning from his system. Had he not been observing, he would've been oblivious to the changes she made, which thankfully were repairs. Would his system allow her to harm him? Should he ask her to try to know for certain?

— Decepticon Space Carrier Group —
Primax: Dreadwing/Sharpfire
Triaxia: Skyquake/Starwing

Sharpfire turned in his seat, "Commander?"

Dreadwing looked up from his seat, "Yes?"

"Another report in, the mech took another load, he left us about a quarter remaining," Sharpfire quickly ported the information to Dreadwing's station.

"Well, it was nice of him to leave that at least. Any casualties?"

"No."

"Good, are we close to capacity?"

Sharpfire turned in his seat, "Triaxia and her fleet are reporting in at 80 percent, we're at 90 percent."

Dreadwing looked at the data and then back to his first, "Summon Skyquake."

"Yes Sir!"

—◊◊—◊◊—◊◊—

Once the twin seeker commanders were ensconced in Dreadwing's conference room the pair regarded one another. Skyquake finally spoke, "Whoever he is, he doesn't seem to be worried about our mining efforts. If we stay for another orn or so we'll be at capacity if he continues to leave us with a quarter of what we produce. But, I was thinking, instead of trying to process the energon here, why not just take enough of the raw materials and go."

Dreadwing nodded, "I'm thinking that might be wiser than provoking a being who can easily go anywhere without detection."

"Have your people tried to contact him?"

"No, yours?"

Skyquake nodded, "Yeah, we left a note asking if he'd be willing to talk to us. He answered, no."

"No?"

Skyquake nodded, "Starwing had to translate the glyph because it was ancient Cybertronian. It's complex and multilayered so it could mean 'no you're beneath my pede' or 'no talking.' Which could then translate to either an inability to speak or what you might say to silence a sparkling so without any identifiers to the glyph Starwing is unable to hazard what he means."

"Well," Dreadwing sighed, "at least it's not 'I'm going to kill you for stealing my stuff'."

Skyquake chuckled, "Yeah, well, there is that. So have you received any reports from Longflight?"

"No, and I don't expect to hear back from him anything soon. Warping into Cybertron space is dangerous as it is so he's taking his time. He's going for Luna 2 to access the computer facility to scan Cybertron, if it's even there. Once he has information he'll send it to us and then we'll have a better understanding of what we're dealing with."

"And Ratbat?"

Dreadwing growled at his brother, "It appears he bolted Cybertron when Shockwave left to join Megatron on Earth. He's on a vessel somewhere outside of the system and refuses to give his coordinates."

"Coward. But, he's a mini-con and not very powerful, I guess I don't blame him," Skyquake quipped. "How many others are making a play for leadership?"

"Enough to make it nasty," Dreadwing said as he pushed the list up onto the holodisplay.

Skyquake reviewed the list, "Whatever the outcome it's not going to be pretty. At this rate we'll be destroying ourselves internally without Autobot help."

"My thoughts exactly. I wish I could come up with a plan other than avoidance," Dreadwing looked down at his servos.

"Brother, avoidance is a plan. Let's tread carefully and keep our heads down," Skyquake offered.

"I know, but there's another thing that is disturbing me," he said as he pushed another piece of data up onto the holoscreen.

"The Metroplex?" Skyquake scrubbed his chin, "So, explain to me why a civilian ship is bothering you so much?"

"Because it is rumored to contain several members of our once ruling Council," Dreadwing answered darkly. "If they perceive there's been a shift in the war they may be plotting to take over again."

"Well, we won't let that happen will we,"Skyquake growled.

"No, we won't but we also won't move against a neutral vessel," Dreadwing countered.

"So, why not shadow them. Monitor their activity and see what the Council does. If they do move we crush them, no questions asked," Skyquake grinned darkly.

"You are right brother, that's what we shall do. We will shadow Metroplex while we watch and wait to see what the Council and Ratbad do," Dreadwing rose to his pedes feeling slightly better than when the meeting originally started.

— Chicago, Illinois – Temporary Autobot Encampment —

Bee watched as Ellie wolfed down the contents of both meal packets quickly, his optics widened in surprise. He had never seen any human female consume food like that, perhaps Sam or Miles, but never Mikaela or Carly. Curious, he thought. She carefully packed away the remains with the rest of her garbage and then dashed off to the 'blue room'.

When she returned to the yellow mech she quickly climbed up his leg and smiled, "Same old, same old. What would you like to do?"

She felt him shift as he pointed to his lead, she nodded. Once the link was established he sent the following text to her HUD, 'I'd like to ask you to try something for me, will you?'

"Sure, what?"

:'I'd like you to order the nanobots to damage me.'

She looked up at him horrified, "What? Absolutely not!"

He shook his helm gratified of her response and how quickly she reacted, 'It's alright, I just need to know if my systems will alert me. Your work, thus far, has been benign and I'm wondering if my firewalls aren't meant to block those but what about the opposite? I'd like you to try.'

She shook her head negatively and then rested it on his chassis, "Please don't ask me to do that."

:'Didn't you say it was better to know than to sit here wondering? I know I will be wondering and I'm betting you have been too. So instead of guessing, let's find out.'

She nodded realizing the logic of his argument but still didn't like the idea, "Using my argument against me is not fair Bee. Fine, what… what can I do to you that won't cause you any pain or seriously harm you?"

Bumblebee thought for a moment and looked at his servo resting on his thigh, 'What about disabling my servo?'

"Servo? Are you sure?" He nodded. Her shoulders drooped as she said sadly, "Okay, I'll… try."

She closed her eyes and summoned a display of his frame and focused on his left servo. She queried which connections made the servo move and blinked at the detailed graphic displaying streams of lines leading from his hand into his forearm. She queried the display to highlight primary lines in red. She pinpointed one and directed the nanobots to sever the line. She felt bile rise as the nanobots proceeded to slice the line.

She begged, "Please tell me you had some kind of warning?"

Her body felt like ice when she read, 'No'.

She looked up distressed, "Did it hurt?" Text appeared on her HUD which made her feel slightly better, 'No'. She quickly redirected the nanobots to repair the line and asked Bee to test his servo to make sure the repair was successful.

"On the plus side," she said still feeling rather ill, "it's not something they could ever use on the battlefield."

Bee nodded as he sent more text to her HUD, 'True. But that does mean we'll need to be cautious whenever we interact with humans.'

She took in a deep breath and tried to find something optimistic to hold onto and looked up her tone reassuring, "FirstAid is a brilliant doctor and he says Ratchet is even better than he is. When we get back to base they can thoroughly study the process and figure out a way to disable this and upgrade your firewalls. There will be a way to detect and block this."

Bumblebee nodded, 'Yeah, Ratchet's the best around. I think the only thing that's ever stumped him was repairing my voicebox but I think that's only because he never had enough time or materials. If FirstAid's even close to Ratchet in skill and ability, they'll be able to find a solution.'

Leaping on an opportunity to change the subject she asked, "So, what happened to your voicebox?"

Grateful for the diversion as well Bee texted, 'Well, like I said before, I was injured in battle. We always seem to be in combat so Ratchet's only had time to get me fixed enough to do what I need to do. That and I think he's rather grateful I can't talk. I can be sort of a smart aft sometimes. I mean I still am, I'm just not able to say the things I wanna say as much as I used to. I'm starting to recognize that 'look' you're getting and the answer is NO! You are not allowed to try to fix me.'

Ellie blinked and looked away annoyed that that was exactly what she had been thinking and diverted, "I wasn't going to suggest it." She didn't finish off by saying, "At least right now."

Bumblebee's helm tilt was enough to let her know he wasn't buying that either. Instead she asked, "How bad were you injured?"

He sighed, 'Bad…' He paused as he tried to decide whether he should tell her more or not. He looked at her and realized what harm could it do to share? The more humans saw them as friendly individuals instead of violent robots the easier it will be for them to be accepted and right now Bee knew Optimus needed humanity to accept them and texted, 'I was captured and interrogated. When I wouldn't talk, they tortured me. It's easier just to show you.'

Bumblebee motioned for Ellie to disengage the lead and then he lifted both hands to his helm to disengage the lower section that covered his face. With several clicks on both sides of his helm he withdrew the mask and sound device and placed it on the ground.

He turned so she could see his face but refused to look at her knowing what her expression would be. What everyone's expression was which was why he was grateful Ratchet had constructed his speaker attachment with a mask.

The speaker was necessary until his voicebox could be repaired but the addition of the mask was merely cosmetic. It wasn't to say that Autobots couldn't handle seeing another badly injured, they could. But their first reaction was usually horror, distaste, revulsion, or pity. The mask was both a matter of convenience and ego. Bumblebee hated seeing other bot's reactions and he hated seeing himself like that. His injuries reminded him how weak he was in the face of his enemy. It was true he never divulged information and because of that he earned a great deal of respect. No one would ever say he wasn't brave but there was no amount of counseling that could ease the anger he felt at being so victimized and unable to defend himself.

Ellie stood up and ran her hands over the deep scoring on his lower cheek and jaw that ran down and across his throat. The scarring was deep and she could see where repairs had been made. It still looked like some giant dinosaur had grabbed Bee's face and ripped down and across. She stroked the injury and looked up. Now that she could see more of his face, she could see the tension in his features as well as his refusal to look at her.

She frowned thoughtfully, 'Many people who have been badly injured hate it when they think they're being pitied. It was like that with my mom, especially when she lost all her hair. I had to be really careful around mom so what can I do for Bee that he won't misinterpret as pity?'

She pursed her lips and hoped she was saying the right thing, "Did you give whoever did this to you a few scrapes of their own?" He flinched slightly and if she hadn't been watching him she wouldn't have noticed.

He turned and looked directly in the face and shook his head and mouthed, "No."

She pursed her lips chiding herself for her blunder and tried again, "I've seen you in battle, whatever happened must've been intense because you're one tough guy."

Bumblebee stared at her for a moment and smirked slightly, he couldn't help himself. Despite the inaccuracy of her assessment it still felt good to hear. He jumped slightly when he felt her hands gently trace along his jaw, his spark lurched in his chassis at the gentle touch.

He knew she was only being kind and saying those things to cover up for the horror of his injuries. He could tell that by the tension in her posture but it still felt really nice. He smiled at her grateful she was sensitive enough handle an injured soldier so tenderly without realizing it. Of course, it didn't hurt his ego at all and he fluffed a bit at the attention.

"So, do you feel like telling me who the jerk was that did this to you?" She asked as she trailed her fingers along his jaw mesmerized by the texture. She'd expected his 'skin' to be hard to the touch like his armor. It was the opposite however in that his skin was pliant and gave slightly under pressure. Unlike his tougher armored frame, his face had a flexibility she never expected from metal.

He smiled when he noticed how absorbed she was, the action made the scarred portion of his mouth quirk up and her hand to trace downwards across the injury and over his lower lip. When she realized what she'd done she pulled back with a blush realizing the gesture was a bit more intimate than she'd intended. She covered her mouth with her hand and coughed politely.

Bumblebee had to admit the sensations of her tiny hand running along his face had caught him off-guard as well. To diffuse the tension he pulled out his lead and handed it to her.

Once they were connected he answered in a lengthy text, 'The jerk was Megatron. I was scouting the city of Tyger Pax, that's on Cybertron my homeworld, along with other scouts in my unit. Megatron was rumored to be planning an invasion but we didn't know where, when, or with what size of force. I was discovered by Soundwave, one of Megatron's top officers and captured. He brought me to Megatron and they interrogated me for information. I didn't give up anything and I wasn't exactly very polite about it. I have a habit of mouthing off at the worst times possible and Megatron thought so too. So to keep me from mouthing off again he… took my voicebox. Then he tossed me to his goons and they… Well, let's just say they had their fun and then they left me for dead. I was lucky my unit found me, Ratchet put me back together. The end."

She shuddered, "And Megatron and Soundwave, what happened to them?"

Bee sighed softly and sent, 'Both were off-lined here in Chicago. Soundwave almost got me but I got him instead. Prime took out Megatron.' He felt her sigh against him as she turned her face into his chassis, placing her forehead against the cool metal.

"Good," she said and then pulled back, "don't get me wrong, I'm not an advocate for violence or war but…." Bumblebee nodded and then gently rubbed a finger along her spine. It pressed her against his chassis giving them both comfort.

He texted, 'It's okay, you don't have to say any more, I understand. Thank you.'

"Bumblebee…" she said cautiously. He hummed softly, not pressing his vocalizer too hard as he enjoyed the company.

"I was wondering…"

Before she could finish, he barked, 'No!'

"Bumblebee…"

He shook his head angrily and texted, 'No! Don't even think about it!'

She chuckled and responded saucily, "Too late."

Her HUD flashed with a line, 'Don't you get it? A life is worth more than a pretty face! I swear if you do…'

She rubbed a hand across his chassis, "Woah, easy there big guy. I just wanted you to think about it. It's not like we've got anything else to do right? What's wrong with spending our time constructively?"

Then she grinned, "On Earth we say living well is the best revenge. Let me try, with you monitoring? Please?"

Bumblebee's optics narrowed, 'This isn't a matter of revenge. I'm worried about your safety.'

"So am I. I also don't like seeing people hurt. I've been in hospitals before, you know. I have a really good idea about how people feel and whether you admit it or not you want your face back and you're sick of that speaker."

He couldn't help himself as he burst out with a static laced laugh and then sent, 'Oh really? You think you know me that well do you?'

He banged his helm against the wall to cool his temper before continuing, 'Do I really come off as being vain about my appearance? I'm not. I've lived with this for a long time. It's not worth the risk.'

She smiled softly, "No, you don't come off as vain. The thing is, as long as you wear those scars you'll be reminded of what they did to you, that they won."

Bumblebee's optics brightened as his temper flared but before he could retort she added, "I'm not trying to be mean, I'm being honest. Anytime anyone sees those scars they will be reminded of Megatron and Soundwave. But if I can remove the scars all anyone will remember is they're dead and you're not!"

"Of course, all of this is conjecture really because it assumes I can fix you, I might not. So I guess maybe you're right, we probably shouldn't even try…" She trailed off upset with herself. Why she was pushing him like this? What was up with her? Why, all of a sudden, was this so important? She looked up at Bee, past his injuries to see his face as a whole. When she did, she saw so much more as emotions flitted across his face, expressions of anger, self-pity, grief, and determination. Her mouth slowly fell open when she realized she was no longer seeing him as a robot or an alien but as a person, a man.

She blinked at that thought curiously, a man? She shook her head as she looked down at her hands and then at his, no that wasn't quite right either, not man as in human but what exactly? She looked up and angled her head, the only thought that came to mind was, more. More real. A friend.

Bumblebee clenched his fist. What frustrated him more than the fact that what she was saying was working, was that she was right. Sure other bots, once they got to know him and saw his confidence and skill, easily overlooked the handicaps. War injuries were war injuries and that was the end of that.

But not the little human, it was like she reached inside his spark and saw how much he hated feeling vulnerable or worse pity. He hated bots who thought he couldn't speak because he had a limited processor. It was bad enough being a small bot to begin with but to be treated like a simpleton?! Oh, to be able to give those afts what for again! It would feel so good.

He shook his helm angry with himself for being selfish and putting his needs above her survival. That was just wrong and yet, she'd managed to make a great deal of repairs on his form showing no sign of injury to her frame. Would it hurt to try? Was it worth the risk?

Bee scowled down at her, 'I can't believe you're putting me through this.'

She at least had the decency to look horrified, "I'm sorry. Really, I don't know what got into me, you're hurt and all I wanted to do is help and I ended up hurting you more."

She wouldn't look at his face as she gently stroked his chassis in apology and explained, "When my mom was in the hospital, I'd wander through different wards while my dad visited with her to give them privacy. One time I reacted badly to a kid who had some really nasty injuries. The kid's mom grabbed me and pulled me out of the room and chewed me out. The nurses finally pulled her away but what she said really made me see things differently. I know you get pity, horror, disgust, and worse people avoid you because they're afraid of doing or saying the wrong things. It doesn't help that you're already angry at what's been done to you. So the problem is there's no right way to deal with things like this. So I stupidly fell back on the 'I can fix it, it will go away' model. I know it probably sounds like an excuse and it probably is, but that's the best I can do. Except to say, I'm really very sorry."

Bumblebee was still looking away when she reached up with her free hand and stroked his jaw, "I'm an idiot. Does that help?"

He opened his optics to stare down at her, 'It was Megatron who hurt me and yeah you did push a few buttons but so have I. What's important is you're my charge and protecting you is my responsibility. Period. You're not here to heal me, I'm here to keep you safe and alive. What happens if…'

"Bee," she interrupted him. "What happens if you walk outside this shelter? What happens if I trip and fall? The best thing we can do with our lives is to live them. I possess an ability that might, key word might, help you. We know I can do some things if I'm careful and take baby steps. That's all I'm asking, is permission to take baby steps. But, if you still feel this strongly I promise I will do nothing. Although I won't promise I won't keep bugging you about it. Okay?"

He closed his optics and shook his helm more to try to talk himself out of it and then he felt the warmth of her hand along his jaw again. His optics flew open and he regarded her pleading face, showing an honest desire to help him written across her features. Before he realized it the word 'Alright' popped up on her HUD.

She smiled with relief and gratitude, "Thank you!" Then she ruined the moment entirely by saying, "Let's get started!"

He glared at her. She frowned up at him in confusion, "What? What did I do wrong now?"

A/N: Thanks for reading!