Where we love is home- home that our feet may leave,

but not our hearts.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

-;-

Unfortunately, Ellie and Will were very nicely asked to 'get out of the hangar so the big bots could have their grown-up talk' when they arrived back on base. However, the mocha skinned woman wasn't one that was about to give up.

There were still a couple of men hiding up in the vents, still managing to avoid their examinations, and now was the perfect time to use that as an excuse should she get caught.

Grabbing her newly claimed wrench, she tucked it into her jeans belt and pulled on her gloves before double checking the cuts on her arms. They were healing rather nicely, all things considered, and the one that had been on her palm was just another freshly healed scar.

That all done, she grinned to herself, hauling herself up into the vent above her bed.

These guys made it too easy.

-;-

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stood together over against the wall, their shoulders touching in a silent form of communication. Neither of them had really expected to see the other, and now that they were reunited, Ratchet was already getting a bad feeling running through his spinal strut. Those two had always managed to be bad news around base back on Cybertron, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't be much different here.

Optimus and Elita-One were cuddling next to Ironhide and Chromia, while Flareup and Arcee were nearby mock gagging at the sights that Chromia and the Weapons Specialist were giving them.

Jolt, Ratchet, Prowl and Glyph were all lined up against the last wall, and other than initial greetings, nothing had been said. In fact, it was seeming more and more likely that this was the most that was going to happen during this little get together.

Just as Flareup opened her mouth, there was a horrific banging from above, followed by a very loud yelp of pain.

"I warned you not to run, and what did you do? You ran!" an irate voice growled from the airvent that ran along the edges of the room. "Now where'd the other one go.."

All optics turned to Optimus, who vented heavily. "The organic femme that you all saw earlier." he said in explanation. "She is the CMO for the human side of the base, and currently, the examinations are occurring. The soldiers thought that it would be a wise idea to hide in the airvents in order to escape her."

-;-

Ellie swore as she bashed her head against the top of the vent, narrowing her eyes as she spotted the other soldier she was hunting down. His partner had been felled with a 'love tap' with her wrench, and was left behind so that she could use both hands to catch the other.

"I know you're here.." she hissed, turning the corner. She perked up at the sound of shuffling, and she fell silent for a moment, trying to figure out exactly where the sound had come from.

Several seconds later, she realized that there was a smaller tunnel that branched off, and she smirked. So that was where he had decided to hide. No matter. She had him right where she wanted him. Creeping along, she feigned ignorance, muttering about how when she caught him he was going to be given more than a love tap with her wrench.

And then she struck.

Leaping into the smaller tunnel, she bowled over the other soldier, smacking the back of his head with her wrench. The problem was, of course, was that there just so happened to be one of the openings below the soldier that she didn't see, and it gave under the combined weight.

With a screech, she was sent toppling through the vent and into a startled looking Jolt's hand, along with the other soldier.

"Owwwww.." she moaned, rubbing her hip. "That hurt. And nice catch, Jolt."

"Elina..might I ask what you were doing in the ventilation shafts?" Ratchet vented. The mocha skinned woman flashed him a deadpan look before looking rather pointedly at the motionless soldier beside her.

"I thought it was pretty obvious, but I was hunting down the last two soldiers on my list." she shrugged before taking in just how many optics were currently resting on her. Sheepishly, she hunched her shoulders and brought her hand up in a tentative wave.

Flareup was the first to break the silence with a high peal of laughter, quickly followed by Arcee.

"I like you, femme." Flareup chirped, moving closer to get a better look at the organic. "I don't think too many mechs or femmes can get away with talking to the Hatchet like that without getting a wrench to the helm."

Without missing a beat, Ratchet subspaced a wrench and brought it down on Flareup's helm, earning a surprised yelp, which set off Chromia and Ironhide. Even Elita and Optimus cracked smiles at the sight. Ellie blinked, wondering what kind of joke she was missing, before shaking her head and starting to haul the soldier upright by the armpits.

"Jolt, can you possibly raise me back up so I can go get the other one?" she asked nicely, ignoring the optics boring into her back. Damn her and her tendancies to twitch around the Autobots. "I really don't feel like having to drag them all the way back to the Med Bay through the tunnels."

Jolt looked over at Ratchet for a moment, and Ellie waited impatiently for the two to get over whatever discussion that they were currently having.

"Very well." Ratchet finally gave, reaching up casually and simply ripping the vent from the ceiling. Startled yelps from Sunstreaker and Sideswipe rang out as debris came down with it, and Ellie ducked for cover under Jolt's fingers as a larger piece of debris came dangerously close to the mechs palm.

"Was that really necessary, Ratchet?" Optimus scolded lightly once everyone had finished coughing and waving away the dust that had come down with the vent.

"She," Ratchet grumbled with a gesture in Ellie's direction, "Is not going back up into those vents until the rest of her injuries are healed."

Indignantly, Ellie opened up her mouth to say something, but was quickly cut off by a stern look from the Medic. "Your forearms still need time to heal, and all of this scurrying around like a glitchmouse isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Fine." she muttered, crossing her arms with a huff. "I hope you didn't crush my soldier by killing the vent."

"The soldier is just fine." Ratchet retorted, opening his palm to reveal the unconscious man. "And I suggest you get moving before any other catastrophe hits."

"Yeah, yeah." Ellie rolled her eyes, waiting until Jolt had placed her on the ground before grabbing his ankle and dragging him over to Ratchet's pede, where she waited for the other soldier. As soon as his top half touched the ground, Ellie's other hand snapped around his ankle like a vice. That done, she started dragging both over to the door,

continuing to mutter under her breath.

After the doors closed behind her, all of the 'bots who had known the woman since she'd arrived shared a knowing look.

She'd be back soon enough.

-;-

Skidz and Mudflap waited for the perfect opportunity to snatch the orangic femme who had dared to step on their hoods and insult them. They needed to take drastic measures in making sure that the femme knew what her place was, and they were going to make sure she learned it, alright.

The two small mechs waited just around the corner from the organic Med Bay, knowing that the femme had gone out searching for the other soldiers who had managed to escape her clutches during the examinations. Internally, they shuddered, knowing exactly what kind of punishments were going to be in store for them. After all, they'd been witness to Ironhide's own inevitable punishments after Ratchet managed to hunt him down, and it wasn't pretty. Not one bit.

So, they had been spending the last several days hidden away from the world, only coming out when Ratchet had come looking for them for their own examinations, before going right back to it.

And they were sure that this time their plan wouldn't fail. After all, considering that they'd stolen all the femme's 'clothes' and she had barely batted an eye, they needed to come up with something that she wouldn't be able to just brush off.

And so, they lay in wait.

-;-

"Told you I'd get you, didn't I.." Ellie snarked to herself as she went over the routine examination of the men. Luckily enough for them, the mocha skinned woman had been considerate enough to wait until they woke to get started, though she'd barricaded them into the Med Bay so they couldn't escape. "Told you I'd make you regret running, I did.."

Adam and Josh, the unfortunate souls who had the bad luck to get on their new CMO's bad side, gave each other nervous looks, but made no moves to get away. They's already felt the pain that her wrench could do first hand, and it was definitely not something that they would want to experience anytime in the near future.

"Alright, you're both good to go. Although Adam, I'd suggest getting that scar tissue more closely looked at by someone who can get you into physical therapy." Ellie hummed, pulling off her gloves and tossing them into the garbage can.

"Yes ma'am." Adam nodded along with Josh before going over to the doors and unbarricading them, one object at a time until they could worm their way through the doors.

As soon as the door was closed, Ellie sighed, slouching over. Honestly...when her father had said it was war, she understood. She really did. But she had a feeling that it wouldn't quite sink in until she was out on the warfront, trying to save someone's life. She could tell from Adam's wound that he had been in a serious accident sometime in the not quite so distant past, making the mocha skinned woman actually believe that it might have been during Mission City that he had recieved said injury.

Her heart went out to him and his family, whoever they were. Even though she didn't know a lot of the people on base, Ellie had quite a bit of respect for them, having the courage to go into battle with the Cybertronian foe. Something that they thought they had no chance of defeating, and yet...

She'd heard the story about Lennox taking down a Decepticon with nothing but a motorcycle and a heavy duty machine gun. After the fact, everyone laughed and teased Will about the event, but at the time, it had to be terrifying. Seeing something like that, so close to you, knowing it could kill you but going after it anyway.

It brought to mind the images of Sideswipe and Ironhide while they were sparring. If they were enemies, they would have died a long time ago. The mocha skinned woman knew the kind of things that they were capable of now, having seen them spar alone. But she had a feeling that her views on them would change drastically the moment that she stepped foot onto the battlefield.

"I'm thinking too hard on this." she muttered to herself finally, shaking her head and pulling out the elastic from her hair, allowing the thick strands to curl around her face. Tucking the elastic onto her wrist, she hummed to herself as she pulled on her fingerless biking gloves and double checked that nothing was out of place before leaving the Med Bay.

She was hardly aware that two certain Chevys were following her closely down the hall, waiting for their chance to strike.

-;-

Eventually, the Autobots did end up telling what events had led them to Earth, told in parts by Chromia, Flareup and Elita. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were too immersed in their own thoughts, strengthening their bond once more by the close proximity they now found themselves in. Arcee had fallen into a light recharge against Jolt's leg, while Glyph was speaking to Prowl quietly about some sort of calculation that only someone like the SIC could understand.

Sunstreaker had been assigned to Glyph for one of her digs through Helix after the Decepticons had destroyed the city, and the poor femme had nearly purged her tanks after just seeing the wreckages that had been left behind. The once lively city had been brought to its knees, buildings crumbling and fires from cannonfire still flickering brightly.

Of course, this was just before all Pit had broken out in Iacon, so the pair hadn't been witness to the horrible battle that had occurred while they had been on their mission. But when they returned, all they had managed to find were swarms of Decepticons, all of them seeking the Allspark. They had taken shelter in one of the more desolate homes, and from there, they waited out the carnage. Sunstreaker had had to blow their cover in order to keep the scientist femme from offlining considering that she wasn't a warrior build, but that hadn't really been on their processors at the time.

Eventually, when everything had died down, Sunstreaker had gone in search of his twin, but there was nothing left of the Autobot base that had been there. However, there were several femmes who had had enough intelligence to take cover and wait it out, with some help from Flareup's pyrotech abilities, and they had all banded together.

"From there, we waited until there was enough of a cover so that we could get to the remaining ships." Chromia explained quietly. "We had to wait several orns; and then all of the slaggers just cleared out. Made no sense to us at the time, but we weren't about to argue."

"Chromia and I went ahead to see if we could save any of the ships that had been left." Flareup continued cheerily. "And luckily enough, there just so happened to be a neutral ship that only needed some tweaking with the engine, and it was ready to go after that!"

"Since then, we've been wandering the worlds, hoping to find you." Elita finished, looking up at her spark-mate. "And then we recieved your message."

"And now we're here!" Flareup finished with a bright grin.

"We are fortunate to have you." Optimus nodded solemnly. "With the loss of Jazz, we were afraid that our numbers would dwindle even further."

"Ah, don't worry, Prime!" Chromia snorted. "The big guns have arrived now, so there's nothing to worry about!"

"Somehow, that only makes me worry more." Ratchet muttered.

"Ah, who asked you!?"

-;-

Ellie woke to something splashing over her face.

Groggily, she shifted, only to freeze when she realized that the splashing she felt was water.

"What the...?" she hissed, spinning, paddling to keep herself upright. As far as she could see in all directions was water. Actually, when she squinted, she could see land, but that wasn't really the point.

"Those twins.." she growled when her memories came rushing back to her. She'd been walking along, completely innocent, and then those two snatched her up and locked her in their alt-modes before she could so much as squeak. Then, they'd literally thrown her into the ocean. Which probably explained why every inch of her hurt like a sonofabitch.

"When I get my hands on them, they're going to wish I was Ratchet." the mocha skinned woman snarled before starting to swim towards the land in the distance.