Though she couldn't see his face, Zucky could have sworn she felt Ratchet getting slowly aggravated by the chaotic noises that reverberated from the walls of the base, all the way into his processor through his audials.
Her ear drooped as she clung more closely to the railing she was holding onto, trying her best to melt into the background.
But lucky enough, Bulk knew to cut it off as soon as he assumed his bot mode, otherwise it would have been ten times louder! Miko didn't think it was cool at all to cut out in the middle of the good part of the song, though.
Bumblebee and Raf were conversing the whole way back to base, from what Zucky could tell. He's apparently the youngest out of all the bots, which makes sense why he and Raf would get along so well. There was always something special to these two, how Raf understood Bee's warbling, but somehow the other two humans couldn't. In fact Zucky was curious to know what Bee's story was, why he speaks the way he does and not with a speaking voice like the other bots do.
Arcee and Jack partook in casual converstation as well, but the femme was a bot of few words. Brooding and mysterious (at least towards her) from what Zucky was able to gather so far. She still wasn't able to approach the femme, because she had a feeling this one didn't quite like her for some reason, so she left her alone for the most part. The last thing she wanted was to piss her off.
["Nope, this dragon has enough life struggles as it is, thank you."] Zucky thought as she carefully watched the blue bot from afar.["I have to try and break the ice with her some time, Just that...now's not the time."]
After a moment or two after the three teen's guardians returned with their charges, Zucky heard the distinct sound of a Big Rig's engine traveling down the tunnel into the base. Making it to the end of the tunnel it stopped, hissed and then transformed into the large red and blue bot that is the leader of the other four.
He greeted his fellow autobots and their human companions, as he carefully made his way deeper into the room, watching his step; as the teens were still down below on the concrete floor of the base.
After making sure he was up to speed with any progress that Ratchet may have made, he just realised he hasn't seen or heard Zucky at all.
Turning his attention to the teens again, but he didn't see her; so he scanned the platform until he spotted a tiny figure making a sad attempt at waving at him.
He walked over to her with a curious look in his optics.
By the time Prime finished greeting everyone, the dragon's eyes had glazed over as she continued staring ahead after a deep sigh.
Only to be shaken out of it when the bot started walking again. The 'thuds' of his heavy pedsteps sending vibrations that traveled up the platform and through the railing to which she was leaning against.
He doesn't seem to have noticed her presence. Well, at least her 'sinking into the background' plan had worked perfectly; even though it was meant for Ratchet.
Her gaze was now set on Optimus instead of Ratchet, but this one seemed to notice a lot quicker compared to Doc-bot. To be fair, he wasn't distracted with work, but still.
It wasn't too long before he turned around and scanned the base, as if he was looking for something...or someone. Soon enough, he seemed to be looking in her direction, but didn't quite see her yet, so she lifted one of her arms and failed at an attempt to wave at him, but at least it got his attention.
As he started thumping his way over, Zucky had to let go of the railing, because the vibrations were rattling the metal against her head violently.
"I believe the objective of 'Hide and go Seek' is to remain hidden, until the one who is seeking finds you or gives up." He said.
Zucky looked up and cracked a small smile, which died off her face almost as quickly as it appeared as she lowered her head again.
Prime kneeled down to be closer to her eye level. "Is there something wrong, Zucky?" He asked.
She sighed. "I'm just feeling down at the moment." She hugged the railing again.
"Did you have a restful night?" The Prime continued.
The dragon just nodded sluggishly.
"What happened when we were away?" The Autobot was not about to give up on the subject.
"The usual... I got up, got myself ready for the day, had breakfast... then Ratchet took the bandages off." Zucky listed the events in order. "So that's a good thing...other than that, I sketched for a bit, got bored and sat here watching Ratchet work for the better part of a few hours before the rest of you arrived."
The three humans meanwhile had made their way onto the platform, where it was the safest, and were chatting amongst themselves of the day's events at school.
Miko was the first to notice the open sketchbook on the table. She picked it up to have a closer look; "Woah..."
She nudged Jack who's eyes widened at what he saw.
"Cabin fever..." Raf read the title once he got them to lower it for him to see. He looked at Zucky who was talking to Optimus at the moment.
"She's not happy..." He whispered worriedly. "We gotta do something..."
What Zucky told Optimus wasn't out of the ordinary, so the Autobot still wasn't sure what was the matter with her. But he took note. "Sorry...Hey Optimus, can I show you something real quick?" It was Jack. The Prime stood up and walked over to Jack.
Zucky was going to resume staring, when she noticed Miko taking a seat at the other side of her. "Hey Zucky, what's up?" She asked.
The dragon looked up, and then back at Miko. "The ceiling." She answered.
The joke was as corny as a knock-knock joke, but she decided to let it slide and change the subject; "So...I was wondering, if you would like to hang out with me and Bulk today?" Miko asked.
Zucky's ears perked up a bit when she heard that; "That'll be cool I bet..." Then she suddenly remembered. "But I can't go outside though, what if someone sees me?"
"Oh...Uhm...We'll think of something...maybe?" The teen didn't think this all the way through.
"What is it you wanted to show me, Jack?" Optimus asked as he approached.
"This..." The young man held up Zucky's sketch book.
Prime looked at the page and nodded: "Yes, she has told me that she's been drawing today..."
"What he means is this..." Raf clarified when he pointed at the title. "This is why she's acting weird..."
Jack nodded.
"Cabin...Fever?" The Prime asked.
"It's like a claustrophobic reaction to being stuck indoors for a long period of time." The 12 year old explained as he pushed the pair of glasses back up his nose. "Symptoms include: Restlessness, Lethargy, Sadness or depression, Decreased motivation... There are more, but Zucky's been experiencing these, as far as I can tell."
"Maybe it's not from the few days she's been here with us, but she probably hasn't been out in daylight and fresh air for quite a while." Jack added.
"It may even have something to do with that science facility she told us about... the one she's escaped from?" Raf brought up. "Who knows how long she's been trapped between 4 walls in her life."
"Hmmm." Optimus nodded... being unusual on earth themselves the cybertronian understands what that must be like. "Unfortunately due to her unusual appearance, she cannot just go anywhere, or socialize with other humans like you three can."
"Maybe if we can figure out a way to disguise her?" Jack suggested.
"I wouldn't know how to achieve that in humans...let alone a dragon." The Prime trailed off and glanced over at Zucky who was talking to Miko now.
"We'll figure something out." Raf assured him.
Prime nodded and went over to see what he can help Ratchet with.
"Well, I did kinda promise Bulkhead I'd show him how I outsmarted the cons, the first time they took me onboard the ship." The dragon smirked.
"Sweet! Lemme go get Bulk!" The energetic girl shot up from her seat and hopped down the stairs to go get Bulkhead.
Zucky finally got up from her perch and proceeded to stretch her limbs, including her wings. Jack closed the sketchbook and returned it to her. "Here you go, you left it open on the table."
"Thanks for looking out for me, guys...it's very much appreciated." Zucky said as she received her sketchbook back. "I should have told him myself, but I've been so messed up as of late...Although I had a feeling he would point out the obvious, if I did. I don't blame him though...it is the truth after all."
"W-wait...you?" Raf stuttered.
"Knew? Of course! I have a pair of satellite dishes on either side of my head, here. I'd be deaf if I didn't hear it." Zucky revealed. "Though sometimes I have to really ignore it all, otherwise it'll drive me completely insane."
"Wow..." Raf whispered.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Jack sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"You could say that, yes." Zucky answered.
"All we do is go to school, do homework... you know...normal teenager stuff..." Raf shrugged.
"Hang out with 5 giant robot aliens and mutant dragon people... inside of an abandoned missile silo, mind you." Zucky nonchalantly added as she snickered at the end of her sentence. "Yep...normal teenager stuff."
"Touché" Jack pointed out.
"I know, right?" Zucky added.
"Hey Zucky!" Miko called out.
The three turned to look at the girl as she flew up the stairs.
"He's in the gym, C'mon!" Miko excitedly pulled Zucky's good arm. "This way!"
The dragon's wings instinctively flapped erratically as she was trying to keep up with the girl pulling her down the stairs and into a hallway. She made Zucky run all the way, but hey; at least she got her daily dose of cardio out of it.
Miko was about to storm into the room, when Zucky suddenly pulled her back, and not a moment too soon; A large piece of crumpled scrap metal landing where the girl once was!
"Hey!" Miko was about to complain, but Zucky cut her off and pointed at the large object. "Oh..."
Some heavy yet quick ped steps later and the object was grabbed and lifted off the ground by the heavyset Green mech. Bulkhead had a worried look on his face as he regarded the two organic beings; "You two okay?"
"A little too close, but I pulled her out of the way." Zucky answered as she finally let go of the girl's arm.
"Ugh...Again?" He dragged his free servo across his face. "How many times do I have to tell you; knock first!"
"Dude, you make so much noise in here, you won't be able to hear me." Miko tried explaining.
Bulkhead then put a digit on the side of his helm...a moment later Miko's phone went off. The girl gave him a mock scowl and answered anyway; "Hi Bulk!"
"You'll definitely get my attention this way, Miko..." He answered and hung up.
"Okay, fine...Can we move on, already?" The teen complained.
"Alright, what is it?" Bulkhead asked.
"Doc-bot's finally took Zucky's bandages off, so I thought; Why don't we hang out together, huh?" The girl suggested.
"You did ask me to show you how I handled the Decepticons." Zucky added.
"Oh, Right! Almost forgot about that. Hold on, lemme put this away..." The green mech tossed the ball of scrap metal into the far corner. "Okay, so pretend I'm the cons."
"Okay." Zucky smiled as she got on all fours. "So, after they caught me in the mine; They took me aboard their ship, right?" The dragon teleported into Bulkhead's servos
"I was being held by this really big guy, He has blue armour plating and an orange faceplate. He's about as big as you Bulkhead" She explained.
"Wait...you're talking about Breakdown aren't you?" The green bot asked.
"Yeah! That's him. So, when they were distracted, I teleported out of Breakdown's servo's like this: *poof*" Zucky teleported.
"Okay...Then what?" Miko asked. Bulkhead just shrugged. Then suddenly, Zucky poofed back and landed on Bulkhead's helm. "I couldn't control my teleportation as well, so I popped right back in and landed on Megatron's head!"
"Oooooh, not a good idea!" Miko commented.
"I know, and the worse thing yet; I landed badly and was hanging partially from his helm and trying to climb back on, I was scratching up his optics! I won't demo that, cause it wouldn't be nice to Bulkhead." The dragon bent over to look Bulkhead in the optics and booped his olfactory sensor when she finished her sentence.
"So, obviously, the oversized cheesegrater got angry and was about to swat at me, but I jumped off his helm, and landed on Breakdown's shoulder pad!" She hopped to Bulkhead's shoulder.
Bulkhead chuckled: "Please tell me he clocked himself!"
"Of course!" Zucky answered, which earned a hearty laugh from the green bot.
"Next, it was Breakdown's turn! He was going to grab me, but I crawled back towards his backstrut, like this..." The dragon crawled to and secured her grip on Bulkhead's strut.
"That way he can't get to you!" Miko put two and two together as Bulkhead tried seeing if he could, but to no avail.
"Precisely! But he got smart fast, and decided to go back into a wall instead." Bulkhead's optics widened. "He was trying to crush you."
"Yeah, but I climbed back up his strut and onto his helm..." the dragon did just that. "And jumped off!"
"*phew*" Bulkhead vented relieved.
She went over her whole adventure aboard the Nemesis, and Bulkhead shared some of his stories as well; from all the way back in his construction/ demolition days , his days with the wreckers and during the war on Cybertron. He even showed off some of his moves, so long as the girls stayed a good distance away. Miko as usual snapped some pics and gushed to Zucky over the cool showdown she saw Bulkhead in and how Zucky should have been there to see it.
Afterwards Miko was really starting to itch for some off road acton, she tried convincing Zucky to come along anyway, but the dragon was very headstrong about staying back at the base instead, even though she wanted to go outside.
"C'mon please?" Miko whined. "It's perfectly safe, Bulkhead's like a tank! Well... More like an armoured SUV, but still!"
"I believe you on that front, I really do...but if Optimus said it's best I stay indoors until we find a better disguise, then so be it." Zucky explained. "Besides, I can still hang out with Bee and Raf, or Jack and Arcee. I'll be fine, Miko. You two go have fun."
"Yeah, I'm with Zucky on this one, Miko. Especially since Optimus said so as only removed those bandages today, and he probably didn't give her okay for 100% functional yet." Bulkhead agreed.
"Okay fine...But as soon as you're better, you're coming with!" Miko assured me.
I nodded. "I'm so there."