Chapter 36: Paciscor

(Latin: to make a bargain or agreement, covenant, deal)

AN: Oh, hey guys! Hopefully the New Year is being good to all of you lovely people out there! And I wanted to throw out a hearty thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! All 34 of you, thanks so much! Thank you! –throws plushies out like confetti-

Um… in return, I give you a massive chapter?

Shockwave glanced over all the information about the pitiful human group, Sector Seven. According to his information, recovered by one of his drones, this human was the leader of the group. As he stared at the human, he found the human lacking.

It was clear he had startled the human – a man, from the data that Soundwave had sent him. He'd checked it for corruptions before downloading, of course.

The man – Manuel Alvarez – was making a stalwart effort at retaining calm.

"You could just take all the data I have and be done with it," the human retorted, eyes bright. Shockwave titled his helm, one optic focused on the human. Not as slow as he might have suspected. Of course, since he had access to the man's computer, he already had all the data the human had on the Autobots as well as all his side projects.

"Indeed. However, I have deemed you useful."

"Oh?" The human tilted his own head – an unconscious mimicry, indicating deference or attraction. Most likely deference.

"You have connections and fanatic soldiers. I desire one human – incidentally one that you are quite familiar with. One Alexandra Wells."

The human leaned back, moving his fingers upwards and crossing them. A habit, most likely. How intriguing.

"Why contact me?" The human questioned.

"It is clear by your files that you have extensive knowledge on this human and that your primary goal is to eradicate Cybertronians."

"Correect. I don't know how this involves me," the human hinted, raising one eyebrow.

Shockwave had to suppress a sigh at the human's lack of subtlety.

"I will equip you with the technology to bring them down. I have decreased their numbers by two already. Once they are all down, you will have free reign of all their technology and bodies, apart from the human girl. My associates and myself will leave the planet."

"For good?"

"Yes." Of course, that was a lie. Shockwave was expecting at least one of the Autobots to make it through. And this planet was so resource-rich, the perfect mine to create energon from their petroleum.

Of course, any technology he 'loaned' to the human organization would be specially crafted – no need to give the humans something that was infinitely sustainable.

Alexandra Wells, according to S7's data, was nearly always guarded by the twins. Was there a connection there that he was missing? It was entirely possible. It could be as simple as guard duty for the AllSpark, or something else.

"And all you want is the human?" The human was suspicious, as he should be, but there was nothing he could do. Both knew that Shockwave was in ultimate control.

"Yes."

The most reasonable thing to do would be to have the humans try to wipe out the Autobots, have both sides weaken themselves while he sat back, and then destroy both. He would have Megatron onlined again and have his delicious golden experiment to play with, along with his twin. And the human girl as well.

Little did he know it, but Q's plan was near-identical to Shockwave's.

My chest was torn open, leaking and sparking all over the table. I couldn't make any noise – the processor for my vocals was gone, melted into a pile of slag in my helm along with my long and short range communications. The only remaining link to the outside world was my link with Sideswipe – and I didn't want him anywhere near here. If I escaped, I'd do it on my own.

I didn't want my twin anywhere near Shockwave – I didn't need any help at all. I never needed help.

The high-efficiency vents on the sides of my helm were crushed, and the core temperature of my processors was rising – soon, my HUD informed me, the temperature would be critical and coding would be damaged. That, or I would lose information.

The systems in my torso were whining, smoke rising from my chest in thick curls. Energon dripped with a steady rhythm and the heat in my internals was growing.

I'd been alone, unable to move from the table – no limbs made moving very difficult – and Shockwave had been gone for joors. My energon levels were critically low at this point, and my optics were failing – I had kept them on solely for the purpose of watching for Shockwave. Soon, I'd have to turn them off, or they'd automatically shut off. As it was, I was having trouble keeping from slipping offline.

The thought made me angry – if I was offline, I was letting him win. Letting him do whatever he wanted, and that was not going to happen. I'd kill the fragging bastard before he got Sideswipe, before he deactivated me.

This, of all things, wasn't going to take me out. If I had to deactivate, which I wouldn't, I'd want it to be in battle. But I'd never lost a fight – I was the best.

A tiny, feral grin lifted one corner of my mouth as pain washed through all my remaining circuitry. Shockwave was not going to break me, even if he thought otherwise.

Joors later, the quiet presence of the mech made himself known. The eeriest thing about Shockwave was how silent he was – no telltale hum of systems, no creak of metal on metal, no steps sounding on the metal of the ship's floors. It was difficult to tell where he was, which was one of the main reasons I kept my optics online.

I tilted what remained of my helm at the silver Decepticon, gaze cold and intent. My face was blank.

Shockwave rarely said anything. He was the epitome of efficient.

The silver mech moved smoothly, to pull some equipment from his subspace. The tip of one – it appeared to be a welding torch – was flicked on, and began to glow white with hot flame. Shockwave had been testing the melting point of the armour on my chassis with different elements. To be sure, it was simple testing, but he seemed to get some sort of perverse pleasure from burning the beautiful yellow armour.

Granted, I had had the armour upgraded past normal, so it must have been giving him different results than normal armour. A flicker of pride washed through me faintly – of course he liked my armour, it was the best.

Revulsion was quick to follow – I was going to take great pleasure in destroying Shockwave, rip him apart, tease each wire out and burn the frame out.

Shockwave hadn't touched my spark yet – he seemed to be waiting for something, but I wasn't sure what that was to be yet. My processor feared it had something to do with Sideswipe.

As the molten tip of the tool touched the armour on the side of my chest, burning the sleek armour with the stench of metal, my frame shuddered, and if I had a vocalizer I would have been fighting to keep from screeching. The pain was white hot, and it was worse that Shockwave had added something to the surface of the armour – a corrosive material that burned much, much longer than just the flame. My body jerked, and I had to force myself to not show the pain on my face.

Shockwave moved the tip closer again, watching the melting spot of armour with a clinical eye. I writhed from the pain as much as I was able, but kept my face blank.

My heart was racing as I leapt up, moving, to get away, get away from the pain – it had felt incredibly real, and I was surprised to not see a single red eye, looking down at me.

Instead, two sets of blue optics were watching me as I gasped, eyes intent on the room, checking for the one-eyed monster with my whole body, turning and checking, even looking under the berth.

He wasn't there, and I relaxed a little bit, heart still trying to jump out of my chest, breathing shallow and fast.

As I came to more awareness, I realized I had my hand clenched around my knife, the blade down and ready to slice. Through the bond was wary alertness and pride, of all things.

::You okay?:: Sideswipe asked, voice smooth and cautious, pride infusing his thoughts.

I nodded, still breathing fast. Turning to Sunstreaker, I wasn't sure what to say.

::You're incredible,::I finally breathed out, and was immediately surprised at where my thoughts had taken me. But it was true – he had been so strong, so brave. I held no doubts that I would have been so strong in such a situation, but his focus had always, always been Sideswipe.

There was a weird cluster of emotions that Sunstreaker couldn't quite repress in time. Pride, shock at me, anger, a hefty dose of embarrassment and scorching hatred for Shockwave.

Sunstreaker didn't respond verbally, and I smiled to myself.

Sideswipe chuckled. ::Other than the nightmare, did you sleep well?::

I nodded, eyes starting to flicker out when I took a deep draught of energon, picking my weapon up and sliding it into the harness again, the comforting weight like a blanket. I stretched, shoulders still aching. I was still adjusting to the weight.

::Where are we?::

::Sunny and I's quarters,:: Sideswipe said cheerfully, adding a flirting tone to his words. ::You slept with us.::

My brain blanked, and I had a very, very human reaction to that statement. Blood rushed to my face, and I was scrambling backwards, away from Sideswipe and Sunstreaker until my back hit a large metal hand behind me.

Sideswipe was snickering and Sunstreaker was not amused. I figured out very quickly that his hand was the one behind me, preventing me from falling off the table. Or berth, whatever.

I looked at Sideswipe, the glittering of his optics as he stared at me a counterpoint to the mirth rolling through his mind. Sunstreaker wasn't quite as amused, but a tiny dark humor was in his mind. Both twins were still wound tight, and it was clear that a single provocation could set them off.

Scrambling away from his hand (didn't want to leave nasty human oils on his delicate armour, I mused), I started snickering with Sideswipe.

::You're just terrible, you know that?:: I laughed.

::Worth it,:: he laughed, poking me with a large, warm metal finger.

Both twins were tense for a moment, and then Sideswipe poked me in the stomach again. "Don't humans have to eat?"

I nodded, and before I knew it, Sideswipe was picking me up and placing me on his shoulder. It was rather slippery on the slick metal and we soon figured out that it was just easier for me to be on his hand. He moved down the hall, out into the sun. I squinted, wondering what the time was. Sideswipe sent me a quick data ping about the time – nine in the morning - and dropped me off at one of the smaller hangars. I moved inside, smelling cooking food. None of it smelled appetizing.

A small plate later, I was sitting at a table. Eggs, a strip of bacon and some lightly buttered toast. It was more food than I had eaten in a while – actually, I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten.

I had to sit slightly ahead in the seat – the gun on my back made sitting back impossible.

Someone touched my back, and I was immediately shoving backwards, hard, seat scraping loudly in the empty room. My hand gripped my fork like a weapon and my other hand was going for the butter knife on the table. I whirled around, to confront a man who had his hands up, backed up a few steps.

::Problem?:: Sideswipe asked, voice cold. I sent him a quick negative.

"Woah, woah – no harm done, right? Put down the weapon," he said cajolingly, moving a hand towards me.

I breathed out, swallowing the bite of egg in my mouth and lowering myself to the seat again, smiling nervously at the man. My heart rate slowly came back down.

His eyes – dark, dark grey in the black shape were focused on my teeth and he hesitated before speaking. I closed my mouth, wanting to take a look at my teeth.

"Remember me? You had my knife."

I blinked, then nodded – it was sort of a blur, but I remembered this guy taking back his stolen knife.

"Sorry," I said, and the man looked at me with a blank face. I sighed – still talking Cybertronian – and gestured to my throat. Turning around, I started in on my breakfast again – that way, the man (Epps, I thought his name was) had an easy out. My manners were niggling me – I was being rude.

"Nice piece – any good?" he asked, and I could feel his fingers tapping the weapon. I turned around again, eyes intent on him.

"Any good?" he repeated.

I nodded, and smiled, lips covering my teeth. There was an awkward silence, in which I could tell he was itching to ask if he could try it, and knowing that there was no way I was letting someone else hold or even touch my weapon if I could help it.

He looked to the side, rubbing at the back of his head and then excused himself. I turned back to my cooling meal, wincing at the sad-looking bacon. I ate the toast, and felt decidedly squeamish about eating any more.

Just as I left the hangar, my vision flickered a bit, so I drank a few more gulps of the energon hanging at my belt. The bottle felt about half-empty, and I could see through the metal container walls to see the energon sloshing inside. I

There was a quick chirp of a car alarm from beside me, and I turned to see a tall shape – grey and wispy-looking, with thin waves radiating out from the form. The brilliant blue of the spark gave the mech away as Bumblebee.

I smiled at the cheerful mech.

Bumblebee waved at me, a wiggle of his fingers. Then his radio kicked on, and my jaw dropped, eyebrows raising.

"I want sexual healing, sexual healing, oh baby, makes me feel so fine, helps to relieve my mi-" There was an embarrassed chitter from Bumblebee and a whirl of noise reminiscent of R2-D2 from Star Wars. I laughed.

Sideswipe was cackling in my mind, satisfaction roiling.

"What happened to your radio?!"

"Switch me on, turn me up, I want to touch you, you're just made for love," 'Bee's radio blared, and I started snickering as Bumblebee tried to cover his radio with his hands.

"Did you get it stuck on a… bad radio station?" I wiggled my eyebrows, placing my hands on my hips for emphasis.

"Relax, don't do it, when you want to suck to it," his radio jangled out cheerfully, and Bumblebee mournfully lowered his head.

Through my snickers, I managed to get out a few questions. "Can you talk at all?"

"I want your sex, I want you, I want your sex," Bee crooned out, and I had to bite my lip to keep from dying with laughter. The rippling lines around the mech were showing his embarrassment changing to amusement.

"I'm taking that as a no," I managed, holding my stomach. Sideswipe was still laughing, and even Sunstreaker was slightly amused.

Bumblebee continued, his hands starting to move as he started to sway with the beat. "Sex is natural - sex is fun, sex is best when it's one on one."

Still laughing, I started dancing with Bumblebee, just letting myself move to the beat, the hot sun scorching my head and shoulders, harness moving oddly on my body. My grin was wide and strong, and the mech was moving me around a little, dancing carefully so that I wasn't injured.

The bond thrummed darkly, all amusement sliding swiftly from both mechs. I ignored them.

"Have love, will travel, if you need lovin', oh baby I travel," Bumblebee's bass kicked in and the heavy beat moved the small clearing. 'Bee was moving around, and I was mimicking him. He kicked it to a new song, and I snickered again. The silly lyrics didn't mean that the song wasn't good – and I was having a lot of fun dancing around with Bumblebee.

A few more song clips played, focused on sex, and I found myself laughing again.

INXS was playing, the song rocking through the small clearing. "All we've got is this moment," the song crooned, and I found myself lip syncing to the older song, a massive smile on my face.

There was a dark growl through the bond.

'Bee was still dancing around the clearing, and that was when two more humans came up to us, curious and amused at the sight of the Cybertronian dancing, ground shaking and bass thumping. The girl wolf-whistled, and 'Bee gave her a cheeky wave.

"Radio still broken?" she asked, and I pegged her as Mikaela. I'd met her recently – she was the medic-in-training, or something like that.

'Bee nodded, warbling out something that was just a collection of notes – no words.

I waved to the two humans, and eyed the guy she was with. Perhaps this was Sam? He hadn't said much yet, but he seemed like her boyfriend – he was holding her hand, and standing really close to her.

"Is this Sam?" I asked Bumblebee, knowing that the humans wouldn't be able to understand a word I was saying.

The mech nodded, bouncing on his feet happily as he reached one finger towards the boy. The little waves around Sam showed me that he was happy to see the mech too, and he reached a hand out to touch the finger.

"Hey, buddy – how've you been holding up?"

"Sex in the air, I don't care I love the smell of it, sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me," 'Bee whined out, mournfully covering his helm with his hands.

Mikaela burst out laughing, and San took a shocked step backwards.

"Uh… I can come back… later, if you want," the boy offered awkwardly. I smiled, but I didn't feel like laughing. It was strange to laugh around those I didn't know very well.

There was a screech of tires, and twin transformation sequences as two flashy cars came flying our way.

Sideswipe swirled to a stop on his wheels, Sunstreaker transforming at the last second to loom over the other two humans and Bumblebee.

"Alex, you're late for a date with a doctor," Sideswipe chirped, although his little waves around his frame were short and tense, and his mind was dark with an emotion that I didn't want to analyze.

Sunstreaker was wound even tighter, nearly radiating wrath at Bumblebee.

Sideswipe picked me up, neatly dropping me into his collapsing form, cushioned by his seat. The gull-wing doors slid closed neatly.

::Ratchet wanted to see me?:: I asked, and then changed tactics. At this point, I wasn't even surprised that they took this long to get me to Ratchet – the medic was going to be raging and frothing at the mouth by now. ::Never mind that, what the frag'd you do to Bumblebee's radio? Why?::

::Eh, I was bored. Pretty clever, huh?:: he grinned, effortlessly hiding his other feelings on the matter. We all seemed to be getting better at that – other than Sunstreaker.

I snickered in the confines of the sleek car, pulling my gun to sit on my lap. ::It was great! 'Bee's such a good-natured mech, you know?::

Sideswipe's mood darkened. ::Oh?:: he asked cheerfully, mind growling behind his soft word.

I nodded, leaning back. The seat instantly reclined a little more, and I sighed in pleasure. ::It's not permanent, is it?::

Sideswipe hesitated, and then answered reluctantly. ::No, it's not.::

Sunstreaker was driving beside us, engine snarling loudly, loud enough to be heard from within Sideswipe.

As we slid sideways into the medical hangar, tires screeching and leaving streaks on the pavement, I could already hear Ratchet's bellow.

::Well, he sounds as happy as I left him,:: I commented wryly. The last time I had been in here, Jolt had been the medic, and he was a lot more patient than Ratchet had been. Although he hadn't been as invested in the twins, or so I thought.

A niggling thought hit me. ::How long has Ratchet been waiting for me?:: I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach as Sideswipe snickered again and Sunstreaker smacked him through the bond.

::Not like you helped!:: I snapped at Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker would have known for just as long as Sideswipe that Ratchet wanted to see me.

There was a dark thrum from Sunstreaker as he growled at me. I clenched my teeth – it was true! I wasn't going to apologize for the truth.

Sideswipe was silent, and I got out when the door opened. I took another drink of energon, feeling the invigorating rush of energy fill my body.

Both sports cars rushed out, the noise of their engines filling the small, thin metal hangar.

I moved towards Ratchet, feeling guilt wash through my body.

"Sorry for running away yesterday," I mumbled.

Ratchet grumbled, engine revving angrily. It sounded like he wasn't recovered yet, and I couldn't blame him for that. It must have been incredibly difficult to lose two patients at once, after so many years repairing them, smacking them with wrenches and generally caring about them.

The problem with Ratchet was that he cared too much – he took each loss personally, and that had taken its toll. Those he had left, he guarded so fiercely, so jealously, that each one lost was a massive blow.

"So why did you want to see me?" I asked Ratchet, a little more firmly.

There was a moment, and I watched as his optics locked on to my form, tucking the gun back into the holder. His optics locked on to the bottle at my waist, sloshing with energon.

There was a dark glare at me, and I crossed my arms across my chest defensively, feeling like he was about to rip it away from me.

"Alex! That's pure energon! You'll radiate your internals with that, if you haven't already," he snapped. His optics flashed a brighter blue, edging on white, and he growled.

"Still can't scan, fraggit!"

He moved towards me swiftly, hand reaching out for the bottle at my side. I shied away, turning to protect the energon. I glared at him.

"I need it, Ratchet. IV just isn't cutting it – it's too unreliable and nerve-wracking. I need to be able to see."
"Not at the expense of your health!" he growled, making another grab at me. He had my body clenched in one hand, and I had one hand on my knife, the other at the bottle, protectively.

"You're not taking this from me, Ratchet! You brought me here to yell at me?!" I snapped back at him, heart starting to race from adrenaline. My stomach was tense, and my head was throbbing hotly.

"As Chief Medical Officer, I need to have scans on what this is doing to your body! I don't have any scans right now; it's too dangerous to keep infusing it in raw form!"

His hand tightened around me, peeling my hand away from the energon bottle with disgusting ease.

"No, no, no," I could hear myself chanting, fighting back, knife coming out to stab deeply into Ratchet's wrist. The blade slipped between the slats of armour to slice into the more delicate lines and wires dancing under the surface. The twins were in my mind instantly, and in the same moment, both were appraised of the situation.

::We're coming.::

With a reflexive gasp, I pulled the dripping blade out.

"Ratchet, holy crap, your wrist – I hurt you! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry!" I babbled, trying to cover the spot that small drops of energon dripped from. I tucked my knife into my sheath, hands moving ineffectually across the small cut. My stomach was in my throat and I felt like running away. My heart was racing.

"Alex, it's fine, it's just a small nick on a few tubes," he growled. His optics focused on me, and before I could recover from knowing that I had stabbed Ratchet, with the intent to hurt him, he had swiped my energon bottle from me.

Anger rushed through me – I needed that, it was one of the only things that I could rely on to keep my vision. I clenched my fists tight.

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe been teaching you knife work?" he asked, dangerous edge to his voice. He was inspecting and scanning the energon bottle again, glancing at the slowing energon drip from his wrist. It was his dominant hand, and Mikaela needed the practice. He'd get her to fix it.

I was shaking, not sure why he was so calm about the stab wound – I was a twitching mess. I'd attacked Ratchet, of all mechs! And he wasn't blowing up – but he definitely had a serious voice, danger lurking in a manner I usually associated with my twins.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to order my thoughts. To be rational and sensible would help my case the most.

I bit my lower lip, and swallowed, collecting my thoughts. Both twins were still scarily intense, on their way to the medbay. Only astroseconds until they rolled in. I sent a quick wait to them, and to my slight surprise, they did so.

"If I'm in a fight, the energon seems to decrease. I can't rely on having an IV clunking around after me, and there is no way to guarantee that I'll be in no fights. This concentration of energon allows the fastest transfer of sight and it's comparatively easy to haul around. You can't take that away from me!" I told Ratchet, focusing on him intently. I was nearly yelling, and it took a moment of deep breaths and clenching my jaw to calm down.

He growled. "My problem is that you do not seem to care if you live or die, and that you recklessly endanger yourself without asking me if it's a good idea or not!"

There was a sharp clang of metal as Ratchet smacked a big piece of metal on to the table, making me shake with the vibrations.

"But I need it to be safe!"

"I could have told you that it wasn't!" he growled back.

"But I need it!"

"There are other options; you should have fragging asked me first! Primus, Alex, I don't want you to deactivate through your own fragging stupidity!"

I suddenly felt foolish. I hadn't even thought of asking Ratchet his opinion – it had all been about what I was thinking and how I was feeling.

Selfish, greedy human. I clenched my jaw, feeling like an asshat – why did I always forget to think about what others would want? Why did I focus so much on myself?

I looked at the ground, feeling my heart rising in my throat, making it hard to swallow.

"Sorry Ratchet – I was being silly," I managed, staring at the ground, some fifteen feet down.

The twins burst into the room. "Ratchet, stop making the human leak – she's inconsolable after!" Sideswipe griped, although what he was saying didn't match up to what he was thinking at all. His thoughts were dark, along the lines of dismantling Ratchet and ripping his limbs off.

I sent a quick growl at him, reminding him that he wasn't going to get off lightly for injuring the CMO. That would just be stupid. It felt good to know that I had someone on my side, even when I was being selfish.

Sunstreaker sent a fast comm. to Ratchet, and from the tense lines rotating out from each of their grey frames, it wasn't anything pleasant. Sideswipe leaned forwards slightly, tires squeaking on the concrete.

There was a snap of metal on metal and Sunstreaker was moving, intent in his thoughts. I felt a quick mental jerking feeling and then he was still, satisfaction in his mind. Sideswipe was gleeful, smirking satisfaction oozing from him. The two skittered from the medbay quickly, and it was all I could do to stare back at them.

What.

Sideswipe's voice was smug. ::Got your bottle back, baby.::

My face must have blanched, and then flushed bright red. ::Baby? The hell, Sideswipe?::

He snickered. ::Ooh, you don't get teased much, huh?:: He paused, and I tensed myself, just knowing that it was coming. ::Baby.::

::Someday, I will figure out a way to make you pay. And then, then I'll get you good,:: I threatened, next to no actual strength to my threat. All three of us knew that.

There was a huff of hot air, and I turned to Ratchet.

He turned back to me, and paused, seemingly looking me up and down. He sighed, air rushing from his vents heavily. "I… Go see Jolt for today – I'm busy."

I blinked, and then felt my stomach clench into knots. "Is it because I stabbed you?" I asked hesitantly, swallowing.

Another hot puff of air, and Ratchet laughed once, a harsh, tired sound. "No. That was equivalent to a moderate bruise, although if you had hit a little deeper, it could have been much more serious. This will just take a few days to fully heal unless I have it repaired."
"I'm still sorry," I said. His hand came up to the table, and I hopped on. He deposited me on the floor, and I looked up at the grey mech, pale blue spark glowing brightly, a tiny little sun wrapped in a metal cage.

"Go see Jolt," he ordered gruffly, and I nodded. The little lines around his frame were still tight with unexpressed tension, and his every move was coiled, like he was preventing himself from exploding at me; at the world itself.

"Okay," I promised. As I trotted out of the medbay, towards Jolt, I missed his expression – spark-deep exhaustion suddenly washing over his frame.

There was just no fragging end.

He'd been forced to recharge, but his processor couldn't shut down. Jolt had used medical code to turn his processor off for a deep defrag of his processor cores. It hadn't been completely effective – vorns, and vorns ago, Ratchet had Elita One and Perceptor – the best two at coding – change the recharge coding so he couldn't be taken offline so easily. As a result, he recharged less frequently and not as deeply. But that came with a price – the length of time he was offline was much longer, it was just a shallower recharge cycle.

He hadn't been able to save the twins – the youngest twins, and no matter how many times his processor replayed the whole incident, the results didn't change. He couldn't save them, and Shockwave would win.

The burly yellow mech set to work, rinsing Optimus' shoulder plate of heavy armour with a thin degreasing fluid, cleaning the filthy, charred armour. As he cleaned, the dark, dark colours showed, grey tones showing through the rich colours.

Since the nanites weren't energized on the armour anymore, it would take reintegration with Prime's systems to restore the healthy, vibrant luster of his armour.

A massive scorch mark was searing through one whole side of the piece, and Ratchet scowled as the full damage was revealed. The laser that had missed Optimus had been seriously powerful, incredibly hot and had melted right through the armour.

He'd either have to do a shoddy replacement of full Earth metals – which were much less durable – or he could try to patch it. Patching it would leave a segment very weak, but unless that part was hit, it would be better than an Earth metal alloy.

Ratchet had run out of pieces in Optimus' size a few years back, when the Prime had been deactivated. To fix his frame, after it had been utterly destroyed by the 'cons had taken all the parts he'd had on Earth that were stored in every 'bot's subspace. They'd only repaired him because Sam had said that he could bring him back.

But the boy couldn't bring back Skids and Mudflap – that had been up to Ratchet, and he had failed. Utterly failed. It had been too soon after Jazz had died to lose another two. There were so few remaining that the loss of two was heavily noticed.

They'd been so young too.

He slammed a fist into the metal, denting it slightly. Whitened optics narrowed as he flipped the piece over and growled. All the circuitry on the underside was fried, which he had expected. Optimus' shoulder had taken hours of rewiring – the laser had fried the circuitry underneath from the heat, and segments of the armour had melted to the wires, pistons and gears underneath. Once that had hardened, it had been almost impossible to get out, and he'd had a difficult job replacing it.

Jolt had done some work on the armour slat already, old wires removed and some heavy Earth alloy lined up to use in the armour. Ratchet needed the supplies that had been requested, but so far, there were no new supplies – other than Shockwave's ship.

His engine snarled loudly. Fragging glitch-ridden scrap of melted motherboard, he hated that mech.

-Ratchet, are you free?- Optimus commed him, and he replied in the affirmative, even though he was cranky and overwrought. He'd told Optimus after Jolt and he were done with the shoulder that he'd want him to come back in so that he could see how it was integrating with his system and check for any problem areas.

The larger mech moved into the medbay, steps steady. Grey plating was on his shoulder – Ratchet had had Jolt write a program that blocked the paint nanites from swarming the temporary armour. If he had painted it, it would have just been a waste of materials, considering the piece was coming off (hopefully tomorrow).

Ratchet wasted no time in having Optimus sit, release the catches for the temporary armour and deaden the sensory receptors in the whole shoulder. He checked the programming with a data link, noting that there was a miniscule remnant of melted armour in the shoulder that he hadn't removed, and stretched a finger into a small pincer to grip the piece and pull it out.

"Any error messages?" he asked the Prime, fingers deep in the shoulder.

Optimus Prime inclined his head. "I believe that the piece you removed was causing errors; other than that, the pieces have integrated as expected."
Ratchet scowled. "'As expected,' huh? I'll be the fragging judge of that," he snapped.

Optimus sent a quick information data pack of all the sensory information from his frame for the past three days, from directly post-injury.

Ratchet scanned the information, and scowled. Everything looked like it was progressing as it should, now he just needed to finish the armour piece and connect it back to Optimus. Until he did, the armour would have no sensory information on the top of the armour. It could be searing hot and Optimus wouldn't know.

"You did your best, Ratchet. You always do," Optimus said.

Ratchet couldn't look at the Prime. "You think I don't know that? It never gets any easier."

"Would you want it to?" Optimus asked softly.

There was no pause from Ratchet, and his engine snarled as he huffed out a laugh. "Of course not."

"I believe that is what separates us from the Decepticons," Optimus mused. There was a pause as both thought about his statement, Ratchet spraying a coat of lubricant on the new gears to ease their use. He attached the armour plating, and revived the sensory information around the piece of temporary armour.

"They were so young," he recollected. "Primus, I've probably got parts older than they were."

"No one has the luxury of choosing when to join the Well of Allsparks in this war," Optimus mused.

Ratchet scoffed. "No one has chosen to regroup with the Well in eons, Optimus."

"This war has seen too much loss," Optimus said, voice soft. "However, to all we should be fair."

Ratchet knew immediately that he was talking about Alex, and his systems froze slightly before he continued scrubbing the shoulder piece.

"Fair doesn't mean blind," he growled.

"If she decides to leave, she needs to know that she can stand on her own two feet. We all make mistakes, and sometimes we need to be allowed to make said mistakes. She is young."

"Too young," he growled.

Optimus tilted his head. "Perhaps. However, she is also smart enough to learn quickly. I would advise you to be careful about alienating her. She does not need more heartache if we can help it."

"If she'd stop being so fragging dependent on the slagging twins, then I wouldn't have to do so much," Ratchet growled.

"Ratchet, she is young, but not incapable. Do not mistake her naivety for incompetence. She needs allies. We all do. None of us are alone, but we all need to be allowed to make our own choices."

Ratchet sighed, the weight of Optimus' hand on his shoulder heavier than it should be.

"I understand."

They were both silent, but when Optimus left, Ratchet felt better. Not that he'd ever say so – but Optimus knew. He always knew.

The next time he saw Alex, he'd have to have a talk with her.

I poked my head into the other medbay – a much smaller medical area that doubled as a weapons repair area. I already knew that Jolt was inside; his spark was easily visible and glowing bright through the walls.

"Jolt? Did Ratchet tell you that I was coming?" I asked hesitantly. My brain was still reeling from dealing with Ratchet and the twins.

"Yes, he did," the mech replied, voice formal. He placed a piece of metal on the table, the clanking sound muffled. My eyes flickered, and my mouth twitched downwards.

::Sideswipe? Can you subtly bring me the energon bottle?::

::Sure thing, baby,:: the mech chirped cheerfully. It was messing with my head that his mental tone was so different than his emotions.

I flushed bright red again as he continued. ::Baby needs a bottle?:: he asked, in the most patronizing tone I had ever heard.

::I am going to pull your tailpipe through your optics,:: I informed him, mental voice icy cold. Sunstreaker was annoyed too – mainly because he was on guard duty again for the fighting with 'Bee yesterday.

::Ooh, kinky,:: Sideswipe teased in a husky purr.

"The fragging hell's wrong with you?!" I demanded, both mentally and verbally. Jolt jumped at my loud exclamation, metal clattering as a static noise squealed from him and two thin lines of blue snapped white-hot for a moment from his arms.

"Sideswipe?" he guessed, a knowing waver to his aura. Was it an aura? That was the closest thing I could think of to describe the lines.

I nodded, face hot and jaw tight.

Sideswipe was laughing in my mind, Sunstreaker growling at him to knock it off. That, and grumbling about the slow 'cling-on.' I gathered that the cling-on was me, which was an improvement on 'squishy,' I supposed.

I sighed. "Sorry, Sideswipe's been really weird lately. Both of them, actually. And I was a jerk to Ratchet too," I added, sitting on the table that Jolt lifted me to, folding my legs under me. My head ached with the sudden move.

Jolt blew air out, depositing a piece of metal into my lap along with a rag and a bottle with a spray nozzle.

"I'd be more surprised if Ratchet was fine," Jolt said softly, lining up wires on a translucent piece of grey metal. Or, translucent to me – it was probably opaque.

I nodded immediately. "You're right. I didn't know that he… well…" I blew air out through my lips, hair flapping from the breeze.

"It's like I can't say anything that would avoid him getting upset!" I finally snapped, scrubbing fiercely at the metal in my lap. "And then I put my blade in his wrist," I mumbled, half-hoping that Jolt hadn't heard that little bit, even though it was a wild chance.

His finger paused over the metal, and he looked at me, optics piercing through me.

The voice piped up, soft and reedy. He is wise beyond his years.

I blinked.

"Why?" His voice was soft and patient. Even though I had just admitted to stabbing his superior, he wasn't yelling at me, he wasn't growling or looking upset at all.

"We had a disagreement." I hesitated. "About energon through an IV versus drinking it. He took my energon from me and I… stabbed him in the wrist."

"Did you tell him why you stabbed him?"

Nodding vigorously, I halted my scrubbing to look up at the greyed-out mech. "Yeah, I did, but he didn't listen. And I just can't get over the fact that I actually wanted to hurt him to get it back, it was mine!" I sobered, then dug fiercely at a small knot of hardened slime and mud on the piece of armour.

"Do you still want to hurt him?"

My head was shaking before he finished his question. "No, no, I don't! I don't want to hurt anyone – that was an awful feeling!" I shuddered at the remembrance of slick metal ripping and providing resistance to my blade. Energon, dripping down my knife, pooling on the floor with small plips.
"You don't have to feel guilty, Alex," Jolt said, and my fingers hesitated on the metal.

"But I hurt him," I protest softly.

"And that right there is why you shouldn't feel guilty. We all know that you're not out to hurt others." He laughed, Cybertronian-style, rumbling in his chassis. "Besides, you're far more innocent than any of us. Ratchet's had worse patients, I can guarantee it."

I started to feel better, even though the ball in my stomach was still tight and curled.

Jolt's waves tightened and seemed to quirk in a way that made me nervous.

"Twins bleeding over?" he guessed.

"I hadn't thought of that," I mused, puzzled.

He let out a concerned noise, halting the placing of wires to look at me.

I looked away, unable to take his stare.

"Does it bother you, that you have essentially no privacy?"

Taking a moment to consider the question, I scrubbed intently at another spot where oil had congealed, mixed with bright blue that I identified as energon.

Part of me wanted to not tell him anything, to keep everything I was thinking and feeling bottled up, safe and sound. But this was Jolt, and I trusted him like I trusted Ratchet. A small part of my mind whispered traitorously to me, Look how well that turned out, Jolt's the same; he's a medic too.

I shoved that part of my mind aside, and breathed out.

"It used to," I said honestly, still not looking up from the armour. I wondered how he'd known I needed something in my hands, something to do so that I could speak honestly, almost like I was distracting my mind from what I was saying. Jolt was smart that way.

"What changed that?"

"Time," I said. "I know for you guys it doesn't feel that long, but for a human mind I can barely remember a time in which I was alone in my head. The idea is scary now – it's like I know how much space I have in my head, and I can feel it all, pressing in on me and making me want to stuff cotton into my mind just to fill up the space."

Jolt was silent for a moment.

Hastily, I added a sentence. "I'm pretty sure that's not healthy," I tried to joke, but it fell flat.

There was a shift in the air, and the lines around Jolt changed, like he'd decided something. I opened my mouth to ask what he was thinking, or something, anything to fill the dead air, when he made a noise.

There was a crash from the door, and a pair of sparks I was well-acquainted with moved through the door.

"Hey, Jolt!" Sideswipe called, waving a hand.

Sunstreaker stalked in behind him, taking up a position against the wall, optics moving around the room, flickering with streaks of white.

"Hello, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe. What brings you here?" Jolt said, hands still on the table. Wary caution radiated from the mech, his lines tight and tense.

The lines around Sunstreaker were tight and coiled, tense. Sideswipe was much the same, but he was much better at hiding it.

Sideswipe focused on Jolt, after flicking a glance at me.

"Just bringing Baby her bottle."

My guts churned as I stared at the mech. "Seriously?" I demanded past the blush on my face and my pulse in my ears. "This is your idea of subtle? The frag's wrong with you?"

He snickered, and Jolt looked at him with a discerning face. Sunstreaker glared at the medic-in-training, and Jolt looked back at me.

Sideswipe stalked across the lab as Sunstreaker moved towards Jolt with intent in every step.

Sunstreaker loomed behind Jolt, hands crossed over his chest. The smaller blue mech was trying to watch both of the twins at once, the lines around him tightening with each second Sunstreaker loomed behind him like a dark shadow.

With a flick, the energon was pulled out of subspace and dropped in my lap. I took a drink, a smile on my face from the rush of energy. I hooked the bottle back on to my belt.

Sideswipe turned to Jolt, moving forwards intently. His optics were narrow, focused intensely on the mech.

"No reason to alert Ratchet, right?"

Jolt shook his head. "I can't agree to that."

Sunstreaker snarled, hands clenching.

"Don't hurt him!" I called, moving to the table's ladder and scaling down quickly. Sideswipe sent me a derisive snort through the bond.

::His move,:: Sunstreaker growled, looking at Jolt. Meaning, of course, that Jolt was too easy to beat for him to fight without Jolt starting something. I nodded, racing across the floor towards the two mechs boxing in the medic. Jolt was being extremely calm, and not going to stupidly start something with my two glowering at him.

"We won't hurt him unless he takes that energon away, Alex," Sideswipe said, staring at the medic.

Jolt tilted his head. "Unless it causes irreparable harm to her systems, or I receive a direct order from a superior, I will not remove it from her."

"It's always causing irreparable damage," Sunstreaker snorted, now leaning against the back wall, giving Jolt a little more space.

"Irreparable damage meaning incapacitating. She's an adult, she deserves some level of autonomy."

The twins stepped back, and Sideswipe shot a look at me. I smiled at him, a small, closed-lip smile. ::Thank you for not hurting him,:: I said. ::And for bringing me my energon.::

::Anything for you, Baby,:: Sideswipe snickered.

From my position near his foot-wheel, I glared up at him. ::Again? Seriously?::

::I kinda like it,:: he smirked, moving his foot a little bit to the right, shoving me lightly to the side. I staggered, and shoved my hands at the metal.

::I think it sucks. So uncreative!:: And embarrassing, but I certainly didn't add that part – he'd latch on and I'd be stuck with the nickname for ages.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both turned their thoughts inward, and I looked to Jolt, who was giving me a considering expression. I looked back down, realized my hands were still on Sideswipe's ankle, silvery-grey metal warm under my blue-tinted palms.

The two moved out of the lab swiftly, Sideswipe easily skating around me. A slight breeze from his movement moved my hair. I shoved it out of the way, annoyed by the long mass.

Jolt let out a soft laugh, so different from the rough grunts, growls and engine noises that I was used to.

"Seems like you're a lot closer to the twins than I remember," he commented. I blinked.

"Well… sort of. We don't try to kill each other and the twins are training me in knives and fighting." Of course, the 'we don't try to kill each other' was actually more like 'Sunstreaker doesn't try to torture me anymore,' but it sounded rather tactless to actually say that.

"Oh?" Jolt asked, a strange tone to his voice, hands steady and calm on the piece he was working on.

I nodded, head bent over the gritty armour. "I wanted them to. Decepticons and all, you know."

Jolt hummed, noise soothing in my chest.

"They gave you the weapons?"

I nodded, running the cloth over the cleaned armour piece. "Yeah, they did."

"And the nickname?"

Instantly I flushed. "Just Sideswipe being Sideswipe."

He tilted his helm to me.

"How long has that been going on?"

I shrugged a shoulder, internally squirming. Nicknames were just so… gah. No one had called me by a nickname since my parents, since Jace. Thinking of my brother siding with that… the group who wanted to kill me was hard.

"Sideswipe doesn't give nicknames to many people, not anymore."

"Oh?" I asked. From where I was standing, Sideswipe gave nicknames out like candy. At least in his head.

"How interesting, that he'd give you a nickname. And one so… human, as it were."
I squinted at Jolt suspiciously, moving back towards my table.

"What are you thinking?"
He hummed a smile at me, chassis rumbling with humor. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Jolt was silent after that. I scrambled up to my table and continued cleaning the piece.

I tilted my head at him, but could tell that he wasn't going to say anything more. He was smug, seemingly knowing something that he wasn't interested in telling me.

That was fine – I had more secrets in my head than I needed as it was. And I didn't like how smug he was being.

Jolt was silent again as I shoved our confusing conversation out of my head. We worked in silence for a while, until my curiosity overcame me.

I hefted the heavy piece – now clean – over my lap. It was too heavy to lift any higher, and my arms were shaking from the effort of hoisting it so high.

"What is this?"

He glanced at the armour for a second, and turned back to his wires, fingers clamping different wires and twisting them into place with deft ease.

"That's a piece of knee armour for Ironhide – he's really hard on his armour. Lets it get all clogged up and filthy, so Ratchet and I make it an order for him to remove pieces and have them cleaned."

"Do you have another one I could work on?"

Unceremoniously, another piece was dumped in my lap. I started scrubbing at the congealed filth.

As I cleaned, I glanced around and paused on a greyed-out form, languishing in a corner on a table. No spark glowed in the chest, and my stomach clenched. I was frozen, staring at the frame. Familiarity was washing through me, although I didn't know why.

Part of me wanted to touch it, and another part was screeching at me to ignore it. I was shocked out of my stupor by Jolt's sigh.

"It's so… still," I muttered, glancing at Jolt before staring back at the frame. "Who was it?" Only after I spoke did I think about what I was saying.

I winced. "Sorry, that was probably insensitive," I mumbled, going back to scrubbing with deathly intensity.

"This is what remains of Jazz," Jolt said somberly, gesturing with a small spike of metal towards the black-translucent grey frame.

Something jabbed inside me at the name.

"Who was he?"

"Our second in command, best in Spec Ops, loved his music with a passion," Jolt said, now welding something to the piece of metal. I stared at the welding light, not seeing anything more than a pale grey smudge, bordering on white. It wasn't painful to look at.

My eyes were drawn back to the hollow frame as the speed of my scrubbing slowed. There was something about it… Something that I kept on thinking I should recognize… But the thought was gone.

I returned to my scrubbing.

"Ratchet's been working on repairing him. He's almost finished now."

"Why's he repairing him?" I asked in a soft voice.

There was a hum from Jolt. "Gives him something to do," the car said.

I looked back down – that couldn't possibly be right. Ratchet was always, always swamped with work. And he had complained, through swearing and glaring at "defective Earth alloys" that weren't as strong as the Cybertronian alloys – he wouldn't use more material than he had to. Which meant that he was repairing Jazz for something else.

Maybe guilt? Atonement for his 'failure' to revive Jazz?

I didn't say anything. Jolt was just trying to protect Ratchet, even though it was obvious he wasn't repairing him because he had to.

Maybe it was like the Autobot's version of a funeral or last rites.

I wasn't sure how long I worked, cleaning pieces of metal and asking Jolt what they were after trying to guess – I was wrong every time. The Cybertronians were so much more elaborate and detailed than I had comprehended earlier.

Briefly, I wondered how they had been created, until Sideswipe interrupted me.

::Alex, Sunny and I are on patrol till tomorrow morning.::

::Okay,:: I said, ignoring Sunstreaker's growl from his nickname. I wondered why he was telling me this.

::Recharge in our room., kay?:: He said in a chipper tone, and immediately, I was suspicious.

::Why? I have a perfectly good room.::

::No, you don't,:: Sunstreaker informed me.

::What? What do mean I don't have a room?::

Sideswipe snickered. ::Well, when we came here, you slept in the sun. Then the medbay and then with us.::

Again I flushed, even though I could feel Sideswipe's amusement at the embarrassment washing through me.

Sunstreaker spoke, voice dark and cold, mind wound tight again. ::We'll find you and put you there if you don't.::

Fantastic. Sunstreaker was wound tighter than a spool of thread, lit like a firecracker about to go off.

::It was only recently that this base even created individual rooms for us – before, when I was here without Sunny, we all recharged in one hangar.:: A mental smack for the nickname, and my headache throbbed for a moment.

Sideswipe was giving me the best puppy eyes that he could through the bond.

::If you don't use it, how do we know that bad humans won't come and take our stuff?::

I laughed despite myself, one side of my lip pulling up. ::You are completely incorrigible. Fine, fine, I'll be there.::

::Good,:: Sunstreaker growled.

I stretched, and Jolt startled me with his words. "It's been almost two joors since you ate; you should go refuel."

"Sure," I commented, moving off the table slowly, carefully moving down the ladder. I trotted out, feeling my eyes wavering with exhaustion. My bottle was getting low, and I resolved to ask Sideswipe for some more later on.

A small grin quirked my lips. Sideswipe, energon dealer. He'd probably like that idea.

I moved out of the hangar, rubbing my eyes again as my headache flared white-hot for a moment. I took another slurp of energon, wincing as it ached in my throat for a moment. The fluid burned all the way down, leaving a pool in my stomach.

A wince crossed my face as I clenched my teeth. My stomach ached and I did not want to eat now. No. I'd eaten earlier – the toast.

That would be enough for a while longer.

My lank hair fell into my eyes again, and I growled with irritation.

I stared at myself in the mirror. Pale, pale grey skin with darker, almost translucent strands of knotted hair hanging around my face stared back at me, bags under my eyes and scars littering the skin.

I stared at the girl in the mirror again, noting how lean and narrow her face was; how dark and intense her eyes were. The leather-type material that held my weapons was snug and firm, and I was shocked at how small I looked in the mirror.

My hair was getting really long – I pulled my new knife out, liking how it felt in my hands, and clustered up the long strands, knots catching in my fingers.

With one slice, I took off the whole handful, stray pieces falling to the bathroom floor. The shortened front pieces fell into my face, and I frowned at them. Even shorter would mean that the hair wouldn't be in my eyes.

With another slice, the longer pieces were now barely long enough to fall like bangs. I glanced in the mirror – it looked awful. I smiled, somehow liking the image – short chunks all around, hair falling haphazardly.

Who cared what I looked like? I certainly didn't, not anymore. It wasn't like Sideswipe or Sunstreaker cared either – I could strip completely naked and race past them and neither would care even one bit. It was very liberating to know this. Before, it had been scary, but now, I relished the idea. I could be my own self, with no walls or barriers around who I was, and they wouldn't care.

I was stronger than that. People could go shoot themselves for all I cared.

Yeah. I liked it.

I threw the hair into the garbage, moving back and outside. The hot sun beat down on my neck, and I smiled, lying down next to the door – out of the way so that I wouldn't be hit by a door opening. The sun felt absolutely delicious – I cracked my back with satisfaction at the hot rays beating down on me.

It was nice, being back in Nevada.

::Alex, Ratchet wants to see you… Aren't you tired?::

::He wants to see me again?:: I said, ignoring his last statement. I was tired, but the sun was just delicious.

::Yeah.:: There was a feeling of contemplation, and then Sideswipe spoke. ::You haven't recharged in twenty human hours. That's a fragging long time.::

I smiled. ::So what time is it?::

::Around six in the morning,:: Sideswipe calculated. I nodded.

::My sleep schedule's completely blown,:: I mused. Shoving my hair back with both hands, I basked in the sun. ::Is it still May?::

A quick affirmative through the bond.

::Well, I guess I'll go see what Ratchet wants,:: I mused, standing up and wobbling my way forwards.

After a moment of recalibrating, I managed to walk in a straight line, towards Ratchet's medbay. I stashed the energon beside the door, behind a small metal container. There was no way he was going to take it away from me again.

I moved in, looking up at the tables from below. A bright blue spark was on one of the tables, sitting with legs dangling and a slightly dimmer, whiter spark in front of the mech. I grinned – I knew both of those sparks. The bright one was obviously Bumblebee; the other clearly Ratchet. Scuttling under a table, I clambered up the ladder to stand behind Bumblebee's shoulder.

"Hey – gotten that radio fixed yet?" I grinned, shoving one of the back pieces of armour lightly.

"One pair of candy lips and your bubblegum tongue," Bumblebee crooned, and I bit my lip hard in an effort to keep from grinning. I failed utterly.

"Yep, sounds like you're ready to go, Casanova," I teased, a snicker escaping me.

'Bee warbled, throwing his hands over his face. Ratchet growled, forcing 'Bee to put his hands down so he could continue taking the piece out.

"Is it a coding problem?" I asked Ratchet. "Or something that I have no idea about?"

The medic growled, fingers ending in tiny pincers as he poked at something in Bumblebee's upper chest.

"It looks like the fragger managed to delete all previous data Bumblebee had to use, as well as bypassed the Cybertronian language modules. Now all the slagging fragger has to use is these human songs. Fragger," the medic snarled.

So it was mostly coding then.

I poked Bumblebee's shiny armor again, leaning forwards to glance over his shoulder and at Ratchet. The medic looked intense.

"Frag, it'll take me hours to fish all the coding out and open up the Cybertronian language module," Ratchet swore.

His fingers jerked, and a piece of Bumblebee came out, to rest in his palm. There was something morbidly entrancing about watching pieces being taken out and fixed, then placed back inside. Something decidedly not human.

Ratchet smacked Bumblebee on the other shoulder, sending vibrations through his frame. My hands shuddered.

"Bumblebee, I want you back for reinstallation in one joor."

'Bee, bereft of any method to make noise, nodded his head. I smirked at the mech as he left the medbay swiftly, looking back at the door to give me a jaunty wave.

I waved back, the bright blue spark getting further away, behind the translucent grey wall. I turned to Ratchet, who was looking slightly… guilty? The waves around him were wavering, loose and spastic.

I tilted my head, unsure whether I should apologize.

"Uh… how's the wrist?" I asked.

He turned the joint, the flexing of metal parts loud beside me.

"Fine. It's repaired."

"Jolt?" I guessed.

He shook his helm, optics locked on to the metal from Bumblebee's chest. "I had Mikaela fix it."

"Really?" I asked, eyebrow quirking. "You must like her a lot."

His reply was gruff. "She needs all the fragging practice she can get."

A small smile curled my lips. Ratchet definitely liked her – if he hadn't, she wouldn't have been that close to him, and she must be decent otherwise she wouldn't have been anywhere near one of his hands. She must also be relatively good at it – he seemed to be quite proud of her, really. Like a gruff father.

"I'm… I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, Ratchet. But I still need to talk to you about that."

He sighed, halting his delicate work on 'Bee's voice processor to rub his face – a decidedly human response. "I still cannot condone you using raw energon to fuel your eyes; however, I will let it slide as long as you remain relatively functional."

He hesitated, and then spoke again, looking back down at his work. "I also should not have lost my temper."

I nodded, completely content to drop the issue now. "So, what did you want me here for?"

"I wanted to see if I could scan you," he growled.

I gathered that he couldn't – he wouldn't have been so upset with 'Bee's processor if he could.

"Anything else?" I asked. He looked at me, and frowned.

"Go get some fragging recharge; you look awful," he said bluntly.

I grinned, giving him a sharp salute. "Aye-aye, Captain," I said snappily, immediately moving out of the hangar and collecting my energon bottle from where I had stashed it, glowing blue and beautiful outside the door.

A clang echoed from inside. "I saw that!" he hollered, and I grinned, thinking of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe who had gotten it back for me.

"You said I could keep it!" I yelled back, startling myself with how loud my voice was.

"Fragging Pitspawn twins!" he grouched. I grinned widely.

AN: So… the best part of this chapter was definitely, definitely looking up sex songs for Bumblebee. xD There was a funny moment while writing – I was listening to TKO and thinking, "Damn, I wish I could use this but it's too new for the timeline!" (Seriously, dem lyrics…) And then I skipped on to the next song, checking out the lyrics as I went. Sibling comes up behind me, goes, "Holy… what the hell are you looking at?"

"Story research." Right. Like that's going to fly. :)

Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye

Ooh La La – Goldfrapp

Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood

I Want Your Sex – George Micheal

Have Love, Will Travel – the Sonics

S&M – Rihanna

Need You Tonight – INXS

Your Body Is A Wonderland – John Mayer