17: The Adventures of Little Riley!

Chapter 17 - That One Time

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers Prime or the franchise. All characters (except Riley and my other characters) belong to Hasbro.

Remember when Bulkhead mentioned Riley getting restless? And when Ratchet said he only needed to see it one time to know? Well what was that one time? Time to find out!

5 year old Riley ran through the halls as Ratchet chased her down. She screamed and squealed as he kept shouting at her. She may or may not have hid one of his things. He grew more and more frustrated as Riley kept running. When he did catch up and caught her, he became the bad cop.

"Let's try this again Riley, where. Did. You. Put. It." Ratchet hissed. Riley kept giggling in his grip. She shook her head, making Ratchet enraged. He was about to blow a fuse trying to get info out of this kid. That's when Bulkhead came in to her rescue.

"Ratchet, you might wanna relax there. And Riley, it's not nice to hide things from grumpy uncle Ratchet." He said. Riley looked at him and nodded sadly as she was put down. Now Ratchet was fussing over something else.

"Bulkhead! Your leg still needs to heal! You injured it 2 hours ago for Primus sake! Sit your aft back down at the medical bay!" Ratchet shouted. He pointed down the hall towards the medbay. Reluctantly, Bulkhead sighed and hobbled his way over.

"Wrecker is gonna permanently damage something one of these days..." Ratchet muttered under his breath before turning to Riley. But she wasn't there.

"RILEY AUTOBOT PAX! Where in Primus are you now! We aren't done young lady!" Ratchet screamed. Riley has managed to slip past Ratchet to Bulkhead who was now at Medbay. She wanted to give him company. She shuddered and coward in fear when she heard her full name. It was cute how the team made their faction her middle name. And even with Optimus not being her father (yet), she still took his previous surname as her own. Of course she has yet to know Ratchet was the one who named her but she would in due time.

"She's here Ratchet" Bulkhead announced loudly. Riley could feel Ratchet's pedsteps coming after that. She got on top of a sitting Bulkhead and begged him to help her. He let out his servo and placed her on his shoulder where she ducked deep into his cables. She was seriously scared of what Ratchet could do. Plus her guardian and siblings were out on an energon mission. No one but an injured Bulkhead could protect her.

"Ry', that tickles" Bulkhead said, shifting his helm around. Riley giggled back, forgetting about her current situation momentarily.

"Young lady. I know you think this is funny but I really need that part, please tell me where it is." Ratchet asked more calm this time. Riley decided to give up and nodded her head. She exchanged herself from Bulkhead to Ratchet and showed him where she hid the small component. Ratchet thanked her, before giving her back to Bulkhead.

As Ratchet went back to fixing his computer, Bulkhead and Riley chatted it up. But it didn't take long before Riley felt bored.

"Bulky, can we go for a race?" Riley asked. Bulkhead shook his head at her. "Sorry kid, have to rest my leg. Doctors orders." Bulkhead explained. Riley huffed before crossing her arms and sitting down roughly.

"Ratchy is mean. I don't like him." She said stubbornly. "The feeling is mutual kid" Ratchet piped in. Riley stuck her tongue out at him. Ratchet merely rolled his optics before working again. "Don't say that Riley, you love Uncle Ratchet. He just does and says those things because he loves us" Bulkhead said teasingly glancing towards Ratchet.

Ratchet banged his helm as he got up. The words "he loves us" got his full attention. "I do not 'love' you guys. I am just doing my job since no one else can!" He retorted, putting his servos on his hips. "Suurreee" Bulkhead said. Riley was amused by their interactions but decided to do exploring of her own while the two talked.

"Bulkhead, you don't want to test me! We are in the medbay, where there are plenty of tools to use against you." He hissed but said the last part jokingly. Bulkhead didn't seem phased. "Your bluffing" Bulkhead said challengingly. Ratchet scoffed smiling before grabbing one of the tools and scraping it against Bulkheads armour. "Bluffing eh?" Ratchet questioned smiling. Bulkhead looked at the scratch mark and looked annoyingly back at Ratchet.

"Don't worry I can buff it later you big sparkling-Riley what are you doing..." Ratchet said off guard. Bulkhead turned around to see Riley walking up the stairs and towards the railings. She smiled cheekily at them both as she lifted herself up on to the railings and started to walk across.

"RILEY!" They both shouted as Ratchet sprinted over and grabbed Riley. "What in Primus were you thinking!" Ratchet shouted. Riley shrugged her shoulders, claiming to be bored. Bulkhead sighed in relief when Riley was safely in Ratchets servos.

Ratchet rolled his optics before walking towards the computer again and placing Riley down on top of the console just below the screen.

"Stay there and don't move." Ratchet pointed at her sternly, with Riley sighing in defeat. Ratchet looked in Bulkheads direction who assured him she was safe. Ratchet got down on his knees to continue working while Riley looked up at the screen.

It was still on but it had to be repaired (thanks to Bulkhead) so some of the stuff wasn't working. Riley looked back at Ratchet then back to the screen. Her little pigtails bobbing around as she did. Bulkhead was looking over the brace on his leg while Ratchet focused solely on the repairs. Perfect.

Riley got up and started to press the keys. The sound was deactivated so she could do whatever she wanted without making noise. She tapped away at the symbols, not knowing what they were doing. When she looked down at them again, they appeared in English.

She could see what each button did. She looked up at the screen. Now that was in English too. She could see what screen she was on. 'Medical Records'. Did she activate an English setting? Well whatever she did, now she could fully explore.

She scrolled through until she saw something that caught her eye. A folder with the name 'Cybertron'. She clicked on to it and was met with several pictures. She clicked on the first one and scrolled through the rest.

The first picture was of Cybertron itself. The next was Ratchet among other doctors working on patients in a makeshift hospital. The next picture was Optimus and Ratchet who were standing there smiling. Riley loved that one the most. It was cute, seeing Ratchet smile alongside her guardian, or at all.

The next few pictures were unknown bots assumed to be friends, cities, and the war. She saw the dead bodies scattering the ground while Autobot and Decepticon troops fired at eachother. But after all that, there was a picture that truly made her go in aw.

It was Optimus sitting in a chair, recharging. Next to him was a femme laying on a medical bed. She was holding something. No, someone. A baby? Riley tried to look closely at the picture. Optimus and the femme we're fast asleep, so was the thing.

That's when Ratchet finally leaned back. He looked at the completed work before glancing up. He panicked as he closed the folder and shut down the computer. Riley got jump scared when he did.

"What were you doing?" Ratchet asked nervously. Riley looked down at her feet, noticing the keys were back to those strange symbols.

"I was bored Ratchy...sorry" she said glumly. Ratchet sighed shaking his head. "How did you even get there?" He asked. "I pressed a bunch of buttons till I made it English. Then I saw the folder and looked at all those pictures." She explained. Ratchets faceplates showed confusion.

"Riley...there is no setting for English." He said slowly still confused. Riley now looked confused. "Maybe you were seeing things or the symbols looked like English." Ratchet said brushing it off. "No no! It was English! Those keys are to scroll through. That key is the power button, those are a bunch of letters..." Riley explained defensively as she pointed to the corresponding thing.

Ratchet was now shocked. His optics were wide. Bulkhead had come into the conversation after Riley started to point out the keys and their functions. He was just as shocked. Riley looked confused as to why but shrugged it off. She attempted to get down but Ratchet just placed her on the ground.

"G-go do something Riley..." he said, still in a shocked state. Riley nodded slowly, confused. She walked up the stairs and to the couch, sitting herself down and watching a movie channel. Ratchet and Bulkhead we're talking to eachother quietly, too quiet for Riley to hear but she didn't even notice with the noise of the T.V.

She was still bored. She looked around before going into the halls to further investigate. She walked around aimlessly till she saw a small room. It was pretty dark but she was able to see plenty with the light coming from the door.

She smiled evilly before walking further in to grab some of the things. "Perfect" she said glancing down at the new entertainment.

(1 Hour Later)

"Riley? Riley?" Ratchet shouted. He walked around, trying to find the small girl. But something caught his optic "Uh Oh..." he huffed. He followed the paint trail the lead to Riley, who was painting the walls and pipes in colourful paint. Ratchet just stood there dumbfounded and a little mad.

"What are you doing?" He asked trying to keep a levelled tone. She turned her head to him and greeted him smiling and waving. The paintbrush was in her hand so the paint splattered around. Ratchet walked towards her and snatched the paint away.

She whined but huffed in defeat. She took the paintbrush and threw it at Ratchet. The colour was pink and did it look good on Ratchets right leg. He grumbled angrily as he put the stuff back. When he entered the main part of the base, he stood frozen in his spot.

Riley stood there, smirking at him before flipping over a tray of bolts to the ground. She walked away satisfied as Ratchet stood there completely annoyed. Riley brushed her hands together, satisfied, while walking away. Bulkhead was having a hard time from laughing.

After Ratchet managed to find each bolt and put them back, he turned around to see Riley holding a bottle of bleach. She opened the bottle and poured it over the railing, on top of the crates below. Ratchet went into full panic mode as he grabbed the bottle from Riley's grasp. He read how dangerous bleach was to humans and Riley having it wasn't good. Wait where did she even find it?

"Riley! Are you trying to hurt yourself?!" Ratchet accused angrily. Riley didn't respond, only smiling and walking away. Ratchet was nearly at his limit. He went back to the monitor, thinking there was nothing else Riley could do. Oh how wrong he was.

(Another Hour Later)

Ratchet typed away at the computer, embracing the silence. Wait, it's been silent for too long. He looked around, finding it empty besides Bulkhead taking a recharge nap. He looked around before hearing Riley's scream in the halls. Panicked, he ran in her general direction but didn't find her. He looked around only to hear her again but from a different direction.

He caught on quick and walked back to medbay. Ignoring her screaming. She tried changing her screams with her acting skills but nothing worked. She grew tired of it so she went into the energon storage area and climbed on to some cubes. Then she saw it in a bottle but liquified. She got herself onto the shelf and pushed it over so it could crash on the floor.

She knew energon was important but it was only one bottle. She made her way back to the ground and walked towards the blue substance. What was the harm in touching it? A lot actually.

She put her hand out and placed her palm on the puddle but immediately pulling it back as a burning feeling rushed to that hand. Now she was screaming in pain, for real.

"RATCHET! UNCLE RATCHY!" She cried out. But she didn't hear him coming or responding. It was like that book Optimus read her, the boy who cried wolf. She ran out of the storage room, tripping on broken glass on the way, leaving a few cuts. She ran as fast as she could, still screaming for Ratchet.

Ratchet was back at medbay, he heard a crash come from the energon storage room. After a few mins, Riley's screams were heard. He wasn't falling for it again. But he noticed how the scream wasn't staying in the same spot. She was moving around, and towards him. "Riley is really pushing it" he muttered to himself.

First walking on the railings, then the computer, then the paint, then the bolts, the bleach, screaming, throwing things around in the energon storage room possibly? What next? She was going to cover herself in fake blood?

Riley eventually made it to Ratchet, who was ignoring her cries. 'Can't he hear me or tell the difference of my screams?' She thought to herself before trying to get Ratchets attention. "Ratchet?" She called out. He glanced down in her direction. How did he know.

"Fake blood? Seriously? Riley I don't have time for your antics. The others will be back soon ok? You'll get to play games with them when they do." He said, turning back to the monitor. It took everything in him to not snap. Optimus said she was just a child, well soon she would dead. Riley was holding her hand that had met with energon. The skins was raw, blisters forming and blood seeping through in some spots. She winced everytime she moved it. She walked towards Ratchet and banged on his ped.

Sighing, he looked down at her again. This time, Riley held her burnt hand out so Ratchet could see. Ratchet, of course, went into full parental mode. He grabbed Riley and placed her on another medical berth. He searched around and found the human first aid kit.

He treated her hand and the cuts on her legs, sternly telling her not to move. The whole time he treated her, she squirmed around and whined, making things more difficult. She hid some cuts, afraid Ratchet was going to hurt them more. Dealing with her hand was worse. She kept crying and moving. Ratchet couldn't hold her still and work at the same time.

Somehow, after taking forever, he did it. He sighed in relief once Riley was done. She thanked him quietly as she attempted to leave the berth. "Ep ep ep! Your not leaving young lady. Your staying here. Don't need you causing more trouble just cause your bored for Primus sake!" Ratchet explained annoyed. He went to the energon storage to clean up the mess she caused. Before leaving her sight, he made a v-shape with his digits. He pointed at his optics and then turned them to Riley. She giggled in response, making Ratchet smile a bit.

Once he was done, he saw Riley was about to jump off the berth. He reached out and managed to catch her on time. Now she definitely wasn't leaving his side. He placed her on his shoulder, which she retaliated but he told her it was final. She plopped herself down, crossing her arms in defeat.

She annoyed Ratchet the whole time. Asking him questions, talking, and constantly fidgeting on his shoulder. He was seriously considering going to what humans call a 'Zoo' and leaving her there with the lions. Parents said that often, him not knowing why. Well now he understood. The lions would surely would eat her up. He could explain she left and he didn't know how or why.

He ignored her questions, instead coming up with her death and an alibi. Eventually she started to beg him to go for a ride around Jasper. At this point, he had given up all of his sanity so he agreed.

"Will it shut your mouth?" He asked annoyed. She nodded in response innocently. "Will you stop asking questions and bothering me?" He asked again. And she nodded her head in response again. He sighed, waking up Bulkhead and telling him that he was leaving for a drive.

"You? Going for a ride? With her?" Bulkhead asked absolutely dumbfounded and amused. "I have no choice Bulkhead" he said tired. Dark circles were under his optics, clearly from stress and Riley in general. Ratchet finished with telling Bulkhead to rest and not to move at all or too much. He transformed with Riley inside and sped out of base.

(2 Hours Later)

Ratchet slowed down as he entered base. He transformed, balancing a sleeping 5 year old in his servo. Bulkhead noticed and whispered, asking how the drive was. Ratchet used his free servo to wave him off. Optimus called for a groundbridge seconds later. He went towards the control and pulled the lever slowly. He didn't want to wake the monster up.

Surprisingly, she kept still. She was surly in a deep sleep after all of that. Optimus and the others entered with some energon, placing it down near the crates. The Prime smiled at the sight of Ratchet with Riley laying down, sleeping in his servo.

"Have fun?" Arcee asked as she walked to Bulkhead. "Yeah. Should have been here though 'Cee! That kid has some guts!" Bulkhead said laughing. Ratchet immediately shushed him, violently. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper were confused until they saw Riley.

Ratchet walked away tiredly as they made comments at how cute it was that he allowed her to sleep on his servo. He didn't have the energy to throw wrenches or scold them. He entered Riley's room, placing her down in her bed before sitting against a wall. He sighed in relief, looking up at the ceiling. "Never again. Please Primus, I'll do anything if it means to never experience or witness this again."

Before he knew it, his optics shut and he was in a deep recharge. The others took notice when he didn't return but left his peaceful frame when they saw him. But not without a picture! Oh the blackmail they could use.

(The Next Morning)

"Primus...my processor" Ratchet said groggily as he placed his servo on his helm. He looked around confused at first until he remembered. He had dozed off in Riley's room. Just great.

Ratchet slowly got up, tumbling a bit on his pedes. After balancing himself on the wall, he glanced over to where Riley slept. "She isn't awake. Thank Primus" he cheered quietly. Last thing he needed was for her to see him in her room.

He quietly left and went straight down the hall. He checked the time using the screen on his forearm. 7:45am. Perfect. No one should be up till 8:30. Ratchet made his way to the main part, turning everything on and setting it all up. By the time it was 8, Optimus had woken up and joined Ratchet.

"Good morning old friend" he greeted. Ratchet hummed back. "Riley really tired you out, hope you recharged well" Optimus mentioned trying to hide a laugh behind a smirk. Ratchet turned his head so fast at Optimus, it could have snapped off. He stared at his leader optics, absolutely worried of what he had seen.

"Wh-What do you see..." he asked quietly. Optimus let out a small chuckle before heading towards the console and pulling up the picture they had. Ratchet quickly ran towards it and attempted to erase the image.

"That won't work old friend. It is heavily encrypted with many backups. The others won't let you live it down. Perhaps we should show Riley?" He teased slightly. 'Careful Optimus, your Orion is showing' Ratchet thought to himself.

If Ratchet could kill his leader and team, he would. He would find a way to get rid of it but right now, he needs to basically beg his leader not to show his charge the photo. That and keep Riley away from the computers since she could figure them out now.

"Optimus, do not show her. She doesn't need to see it." He said low but dangerous. Optimus held up his servos, "if that's what you want old friend but you have to convince the others that" he replied. Ratchet knew how to convince Bulkhead but the other 3 were gonna be fun.

Ratchet has spent his spare time decoding the system so that retched photo could be gone forever. Everyone by now had a printed copy hidden in their berthrooms. Even to this day, that code is still in place. Ratchet swears on the all spark that he's close but he doesn't know that Optimus resets all his progress every time.

(~In the future~) (10 years to be exact)

"Hey Ratchet? What's this file?" Rafeal asked. Ratchet didn't look, only saying it was nothing. Miko on the other hand, was curious. She stole Raf's laptop and pulled up the file. Snickering filled Ratchets audio receptors. He stopped his work, his servos hovering over the keys. He had a feeling he knew what they were laughing at now.

Jack, Miko, and Raf were bursting out laughing, catching their guardians attention. "What are you guys laughing at?" Arcee asked. Raf struggled but managed to pull up the photo to the bigger screens. Now everyone in the room, except for Ratchet, was laughing at the picture. "Oh my- you found the picture?!" Bulkhead managed to say before laughing again.

Optimus entered the main part, only to find Ratchet stunned at the console, staring at the larger screens projecting the image. He couldn't help but smile while everyone was catching their breath/activating their cooling systems.

"Still haven't deleted it?" Optimus asked teasingly. Ratchet just sent a death glare before disconnecting the connection from Raf's laptop to the screen.

"Where and when was that anyway? I think I saw a toy next to him." Miko asked, looking at Bulkhead. Everybot now looked at Miko with sad optics, including Ratchet. No one spoke for a bit, Jack caught wind of the situation. "Miko, how about we play the racing car game?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She whined at not getting an answer but agreed anyway.

Optimus motioned for his team to gather on the other side of the room, while the kids secretly watched. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon. Once we find her..." Optimus said low but sadly. If he didn't have his skill of hiding emotions, he would be leaking lubricant from his optics. The others did though. Just a drop leaving everyone's optics. They all nodded their heads in understanding. Optimus said a few positive words, hoping to lift his team's spirits.

Once they all dispersed, Ratchet and Arcee were quick to wipe the tear away. Bumblebee just let it go down his faceplates while Bulkhead made his way to his berthroom swiftly. The kids looked confused and worried, not knowing what caused the bots to be so upset in the first place. But they did hear one thing, "Once we find her."

"I wonder who it is" Miko asked, looking at Jack and Raf. The boys shrugged but Miko got an idea. "Raf, let's figure out the mystery! You've got the tech and skill. If the bots won't tell us then we will find out on our own!" Miko chanted loud enough for the boys to hear, but not the bots. "Miko, asking them is one thing but snooping through their stuff is another." Jack remarked annoyed. Miko kept urging Raf who eventually gave in.

"Count me out." Jack said, raising his hands up and walking away. Miko peered over Rafs shoulder as he scrolled through the confusing mainframe of the Autobots. Until they found one thing that popped out, a file with the name "Riley Autobot Pax". Of course, they opened it and the first thing they saw was a little girl. She had her short black hair down, cyan eyes, and wore a dress. She had a huge smile across her face. There was a date and writing underneath. April 1st, 1998, Riley's Last Birthday with us...

So that was the one time Riley was restless and completely bored! You also got to a hint for future chapters when the other humans are involved! Hope you enjoyed it!

Please leave a review so I can help improve Riley's story!

IG: x_adventures . of . little . riley_x

Have a good day/morning/afternoon/evening/night!