So this chapter is going to be slightly more...sadistic to StarRacer. Just a forewarning.

Ratchet walked out of the med bay solemnly. He had done all he could for StarRacer, but MECH had done something to her. He wondered how he was going to break to the news to Optimus and Elita. No doubt the autobots would want to storm MECH and destroy them. It didn't help that tensions were high with the prophecy ("When the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos. And the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness" if you've forgotten). When he entered the main hanger he saw the humans working on something on the computer.

"Pass…nuh uh…kid in a costume…balloon…nope…oh! Hold! The camera sure loves Bee." Jack pointed out as they stared at the computer. Ratchet grew curious and walked over and watched them work hard on the computer. There was a picture of a yellow and black Camaro with no driver on the screen.

"What can you do? When you're a superstar you're paparazzi bait!" Miko exclaimed as she flopped on the couch. Ratchet was surprised that they'd found a picture of Bee online. What if someone figured out the truth and their secret was blown? He should ask and make sure that he was getting his facts right.

"Wait, is that Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked. The children turned and looked over at him.

"On a conspiracy website, where users post evidence of close encounters, but we have it under control Ratchet. We just scrub and replace Bee with…" Raf started. He finished working on the computer and a cat in a spacesuit popped up and said "Mars cat says take me to your feeder!"

"Hahaha!" Ratchet laughed. He froze when the humans stared at him in shock. He was glad that the others were out on patrol because it just got awkward. He wondered if Optimus heard him. Wait…he still needs to tell Optimus of StarRacer's status!

"Ratchet actually laughed?" Miko asked. Ratchet looked away awkwardly as Jack chuckled a tiny bit. The raven haired teen turned to the autobot leader who was at the monitor. He hadn't moved in a while so the Prime was almost forgotten. He was silent a lot which scared some people or made them uncomfortable. Oh well, their loss.

"Heh, um Optimus! Do you want to see something funny?" Jack offered. He was worried about how Optimus was taking StarRacer's weakened condition. He knew that they couldn't lose StarRacer again or the Prime might end up cracking. Jack could tell that the main thing keeping Optimus sane was his family.

"No," Optimus stated without looking over. Arcee and Bulkhead walked in, hearing what Optimus said. Arcee frowned slightly at how cold it seemed. Obviously something was up with him more than the Unicron thing. She'd have to ask Elita about it later.

"Don't take it personally, Primes are built that way." Arcee commented. She knew that if Elita had heard her she'd smack her upside the helm jokingly. Good thing she and Chromia were out. Actually…most of the bots were out, including Mirage. It was only the original autobots and humans in the base.

"Never seen Optimus laugh, cry, or lose his cool." Bulkhead added. Arcee shot him a glare. Obviously he didn't know Optimus like she did. He wasn't some mindless, emotionless drone. Bulkhead did not see how devastated Optimus was after he and Elita had to give up StarRacer to protect her.

"While Optimus certainly keeps his emotions in check, I've known him far longer than any of you have." Ratchet began. Arcee rolled her optics and crossed her arms. He forgot to mention the fact that Arcee knew him for a very long time too. "And he was different before he was made Prime."

"Oh yeah, he was Orion Pax before the war. He told us about it when we found out how he met Elita." Raf pointed out. Miko leaned her cheek into the palm of her hand and looked up at him.

"So different…how? We talking party animal?" Miko asked. Arcee facepalmed and groaned slightly. If Optimus really was like that then Elita probably never would've fallen for him. It'd remind her too much of the trine they were almost forced to bond with and that would've ended badly.

"No, no, Optimus was more like…Jack." Ratchet explained. Arcee froze, thinking about what he just said. Optimus was a lot like Jack when he was still Orion Pax. Maybe that was why she could trust him so easily with her secret. Jack, however, was doubting he was anything like Optimus. She didn't need him to deny it, she knew he felt that way.

"What? I'm nothing like Op-" Jack started but he was cut off when there was a beep and Fowler popped up on the screen.

"Prime! Those tektites (sorry if I used the wrong word) files perp has been trying. We figured it was MECH on the account of the stealth tactics until moments ago when a security feed at the Pennington air particle collider (again sorry if I got that wrong, I can't understand Fowler sometimes) captured this…" Fowler started. On the screen popped a footage of a certain purple and black decepticon. The humans walked up to get a closer look.

"Soundwave…" Jack confirmed in disbelief. Miko said something about Raf swapping it out with a funny cat video so she was basically ignored.

"The con without a face made off with a cutting-edge phase conductor. Here's a punch list of everything else we've confirmed stolen to date." Fowler then showed a list of things stolen from the lab. It was quite a list considering it was human technology the cons were after.

"Plasma injector, neutron shield, tensor rack…There's only one thing missing if they are intending to build another space bridge." Ratchet stated in disbelief. The base fell silent as the message ended with Fowler promising to keep the autobots up-to-date on the stolen equipment. Finally the other autobots drove in and they were soon filled in on the problem. "Optimus, Elita, I must tell you something about StarRacer."

"What is it?" Elita asked as she walked up with her mate and trine. Ratchet motioned for only Elita and Optimus to follow. So the three autobots went into Ratchet's office. They noticed that he seemed very nervous and on edge. Since they were going to talk about StarRacer they knew it wouldn't be a good sign.

"I've done everything I can. MECH did something to her and he body won't contain energon. It's like it just disappears out of her body. I'm sorry but there's not much more I can do for her except keep her on an energon line and pray to Primus she survives." Ratchet explained. Elita gasped and covered her mouth with a servo. She couldn't believe that her baby girl might die because of what MECH did to her. "I might get more information from Jack about it but he only remembers being there one day."

"If we keep her on life support how long will she have to live?" Optimus asked painfully. Ratchet looked over at the door to the med bay in thought. He tried to think of any possible solution but he kept coming up short. He heaved a sigh and forced himself to look back at StarRacer's sparkparents. He started to wish someone else could tell them the truth, but he was the CMO and had to do some of the toughest things.

"I would say she has about three weeks left."

*GASP* STARRACER MIGHT DIE?! WHAT IS THIS?!

Or will she?

She may or may not...

Muah hahaha!

Review please! :)