Captain: A'ight, this chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but the next is longer, I promise! On that same note, holy quacaomole guys I found a mystical *magical* keyboard. Okay I bought it off amazon. Did I need to? No. Is there anything wrong with my laptop keyboard? No. Did I make this purchase during normal waking/daylight hours? ...Also No. BUT GUYS! It lights up, like it has a hundred different backlight options including customizable and more importantly, it sounds like a typewriter! I mean the keys themselves make the actual noise, it's not computer-produced, so it's a wonderful sound and the keys themselves actually compress down like a typewriter and I probably have an unhealthy love of the damn thing but it has worked *magic* on my writing muse. I write slow, I'm sure ya'll know this. It's why updates can take weeks to months. More often than not I have the muse, just no motivation to write. NOT WITH THIS KEYBOARD! I've had it four days, one of those days was occupied with other things and zero writing occurred, the other three days? I wrote a combined total of 34 pages. 34! I haven't written that much in a *month* since like...the days of writing my thesis! Like I said, it's magic. Did I spend too much on it considering I lost my job? Probably, but also worth it. :D That's what savings is for, right?

As a forewarning though, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this November. If you haven't heard of it, it's National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. I will be working on an original piece for it, so I probably won't get much (if any) fanfic worked on. Since I am a few chaps ahead for this fic though, I should be able to toss out an update mid-month during those 30 days.

Oh, I also started a Dog Training Academy to become a dog trainer because finding work in the field I got a Bachelor's in has been impossible this year. But it's a 'at your leisure' kind of class so it shouldn't interfere with writing.

So there's the life updates! An update for Firewall will be out within a few days (just gotta edit and it's the longest bloody chapter ever) and let's hope this keyboard magic lasts a good long while!

Hopefully I got all the mistakes and cases of odd wording, but most of my editing gets done around 2am, so apologies for what I missed. Enjoy!

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on. ~Havelock Ellis

Darcy wished she could say that everything was better after the drive with Prowl, but that would have been a lie. The dreams did not disappear or fade, but neither had she found someone to talk to them about. When faced with a none-too-pleased Ratchet, she panicked and couldn't admit to remembering the dreams or that they were the reason she avoided sleep.

In an effort to prevent herself from intentionally avoiding the few who might seek her out, she left the phone in her room. While it did conveniently prevent them from tracking her, she was forced to run into them before making an escape.

Jazz made no mention of it when his holo brought coffee to her one morning and ensnared her in easy conversation for well over an hour. Whether Prowl had filled him in or the Autobot was just that observant, Darcy couldn't help but admire and appreciate his patience and kindness.

While he filled the silence between them with colorful and humorous stories, she noted he left plenty of openings for her to unload her dreams without ever specifically bringing them up. Yet not even to him could she admit what haunted her sleep. How could she tell such an unthreatening and cheerful being that it was sometimes his features the Decepticons of her nightmares took on? So she kept quiet despite her deal with Prowl. She would talk about it to someone eventually, just, not yet.

It might help if she had something to do with herself rather than be left to her own devices. Anything, even regular household chores she once abhorred were sounding better and better.

Staring at her kitchen three days after the drive through the desert had her deciding that perhaps it was time she learned to cook properly. Only the small cupboards were utterly barren of all but the cooking utensils themselves.

All she needed was permission to leave the base….and a car to borrow. Hardly a thing to bother Major Lennox about-as if she could track him down in this maze of a base-so she found a Captain to put her request in to.

A part of her doubted the man would really get back to her like he promised and knew that as the charge of an Autobot, the real commander she should be approaching was Optimus Prime.

To hell with that.

She sighed as she read the same story from the newspaper for a sixth time and still had no idea what it said. Catching movement from the corner of her eye, she gave up and dropped the paper as Prowl stepped into the rec room. No doubt she was due for a health check scan again, a suspicion confirmed when he turned towards her instead of the energon dispenser she had no interest in getting near.

Opening her arms in silent agreement, she rolled her hand to gesture for him to get it over with. There was no getting used to the feeling of that blue light rolling along her skin.

"Detective, we had an agreement," Prowl intoned after finishing his scan.

Darcy blew out a breath, tossing loose strands of hair away from her face. "I know. I just….I need some normalcy first, damn it. I need something to do with myself before I can...face them."

He made the motion of raising a brow. "Which is why you made the request to leave the base for a...grocery run?"

She shrugged, gesturing back in the vague direction of her little apartment, mentally making a note not to make requests to the soldiers anymore. They kept going to the Autobot that was her supposed guardian anyway. "I have an entire kitchen and yet I can't even make myself my own cup of coffee."

Prowl's optics shuttered rapidly in what looked a lot like a confused blink. "Why would you need to when coffee and other nutrition is provided in full in the mess hall?"

She was so not going into the nuance in flavors of coffee when prepared en mass versus doing it herself. "It's the act of making it, Prowl, it's something I've done every day of my adult life and I need it to feel somewhat normal again while everything else is out of whack."

It wasn't like she was asking for an entire day away from the base. All she wanted, all she needed was a few hours away from it all. To buy crap at a grocery store and otherwise just feel like a human being.

Prowl blinked again, cocking his head a little to one side. His optics dimmed for a flash. "I believe you can get everything you would need for that from the mess supply."

Darcy pinched her brow. Of course he didn't get it. Why would he? The last time his world had been utterly upturned was probably millions of years ago.

"That's not the point. I need to get away from soldiers and aliens and all things military. I need to do something that normal people are doing every day."

His optics dimmed again and she wondered who he might be talking to.

"I cannot allow you to leave the base unprotected, but I have been informed of normalcy's importance to human psyche. I will take you, as my holoprojector is still down, time inside the store will be...alien free."

She winced. The words sounded...harsh having them repeated back at her like that and guilt gnawed at her gut, but so did hope blossom. "You will?"

His chin tipped down. "I will meet you in the garage at 0900. In the meantime, I suggest you attempt sleep."

He turned and left. Darcy glanced up at the clock on the wall, surprised to see it reading just after three. Given the lack of human company in the rec room, it was probably a.m..

Six hours before she needed to be at the bay. She knew she needed to try, even if the result was already known.

There was no need to set an alarm, in three hours she was jolting upright, Barricade's hair-raising laugh echoing in her head. Knowing she was about to be stepping back in civilization, Darcy took a long and scalding shower while trying to figure out why the hell her belly was knotted with nerves. It was just a trip to the store, with Prowl no less, why did she feel like she did her first day on the force?

Once finished and standing before her limited selection of clothes, Darcy scrunched her nose. Retrieving more of her closet was high on her list of desires. Or at least getting a few new shirts, anything to help it not feel like she was reliving the same three days over and over. Grabbing the red, she resigned herself to checking the steamy mirror. She grimaced sharply. Even blurry she could tell she looked terrible. Dark bags perpetually stained the skin under her eyes while the rest of her face looked a sickly pale the best foundation couldn't cover. The stints in the makeshift gym helped somewhat to rebuild the figure she'd lost with the Decepticons, but she still hardly recognized the woman looking back at her.

Hardly fit to face the public, but there was nothing she could do about it for now. Pulling her hair back in a poor attempt to hide its desperate need for a trim, she hoped it would be cool enough that it would not look out of place for her to wear a jacket inside.

Still too early to head for the garage, Darcy turned towards the mess hall. Coffee would be a must and she should choke down some breakfast. Doubtful Prowl would allow her two stops when they went out.

Darcy paused, staring at the plain muffin in her hand. How was she going to pay for her little outing? Her wallet had been recovered from the mangled remains of her car and returned in her duffel, but it wasn't as if she'd been able to check her bank statements since being rescued. What had even been told to her department, if anything? Would the 'Cons be monitoring her credit cards?

At least Prowl might know something about the latter.

She sighed, wishing this could all be over already. She wanted her life back.

One month, she would have it back in one month. A few days had already gone by so it was down to three and a half weeks. So close she could almost taste it. She could do it.

Finally it was close enough to nine to head for the garage. Still the nerves danced in her gut, growing stronger as she stepped into the hangar bay. Her mind jumped from the black-and-white to the one in her dreams. Her pace hesitated. Eyes tracking up, they found the red chevron and her heart settled. In all her nightmares, that one thing never appeared.

Her step stuttered. It never appeared. Even the Prowl of her dreams lacked the splash of red. She let her eyes linger on it as she approached him. Such a small thing and yet it stilled the nerves all the same.

"Are you ready, Detective?" he asked, punching a code into the massive bay door. It slid open on a silent track.

"As I'll ever be," she answered, tugging the jacket over her shoulders. The incision on her forearm itched fiercely under the bandage. "Ah, Prowl, is this a cash only venture or am I free to use my cards?"

She had both, just in case, but her stash of cash was well….not enough to cover a proper grocery run.

Prowl dropped wordlessly down into the Charger, propping open the driver's door. Darcy eyed the offering warily, remembering his little stunt the last time. Of course with the holoprojector still down, he couldn't very well make it look like he was driving himself, so there really wasn't much of a choice.

If he drifted them in front of a semi again though, she was running him into a guardrail.

"Neither," he finally answered as she took the seat and clicked the seatbelt into place. "Check the glovebox."

Raising a brow, Darcy did as he bid, popping open the compartment and finding a thick silver card. The sucker was heavy and solid. Definitely metal and definitely a company card.

"I would advise against using your own cards, the Decepticons may be tracking activity on any of your accounts. While you are in our care, you may use this to get what you need."

"Oh, uh, thanks." She glanced at the card, brows raising. "Darcy Row? Really?"

Prowl rolled forward, breaching through the bay doors and into the late dawn. "I could not use your full given name."

"But isn't just tacking on the last name of your human cover a little...obvious?" It was not a move she expected of a tactician, certainly.

"Precisely. They will expect me to make it difficult and so they will dismiss it as coincidence or a false lead if they uncover the new identity." It was some backwards reverse psychology or something. Darcy thought it nuts, but maybe it was just nuts enough to work.

Or maybe she was loony for trusting it and had finally lost what was left of her wits. Either way, the dam was falling behind and she wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth and cancel her chance at getting away for a few hours. Prowl knew what he was doing, she just had to trust him.

Desert passed by in a brown blur and Darcy watched it without interest. A multi-colored bird flushed from the sagebrush, indignant at their passing; Darcy tilted her head as it brought the landscape into focus. Away from the road a coyote trotted easily, too intent on his destination to be bothered by them. Small birds flitted from branch to branch among the bushes, singing songs drowned out by the growl of Prowl's engine.

Jagged red rocks broke through to tower overhead or dropped away to reveal small canyons to the creek beds below. It had its own beauty in a way, so very different from the Rockies in the distant north. And yet, the two landscapes possessed so many similarities.

Same coin, just opposite sides.

Chewing her bottom lip, Darcy glanced at the steering wheel in front of her, thumb mindlessly tracing over the faux leather.

"Sometimes….sometimes it's the Decepticons torturing me or someone else while all I can do is watch. Sometimes it's Barricade going through with all the things he threatened me with or Shockwave continuing his experiments. Sometimes I just relive the night Starscream let everyone else go before sending the others out to gun them down; only...only I'm out there with them, but I can't get to any of them in time. I'm always too slow, too late." Darcy took a shuddering breath, closing her eyes so that she might pretend she was only confessing to herself. "But sometimes the Cons...they aren't totally themselves, they have some of your features. Blue eyes, Jazz's visor, Ironhide's guns, Ratchet's paint colors, sometimes even your voices. And then other times….other times it's Autobots doing the torturing, the killing, and I can never do anything about it. I can't help anyone. I know you're the good guys, I know you would never do it, but it all just...it feels so real and I can't….I can't not remember it when around some of you."

Darcy fell into silence, the twisted visions of her mind rolling behind her eyes. There was no escape from it and she didn't know what to do anymore. Sleeping as little as possible wasn't working, forcing herself to be around the Autobots wasn't helping her anxiety around them, now putting it out into the open air felt like ripping the scab off a barely closing wound.

Prowl let the quiet go for some time, either waiting for her to add more or unsure of how to respond.

"I know it will not be easy," he finally started, "but you must let go of what you cannot change. The other humans would have perished regardless of your presence in the mountain. You have to accept that there was nothing you could have done, but we can stop them from doing it again. Our kind are strong, but we are not gods. We can be killed. We can and will stop the Decepticons, and humans like you can help us do it."

Darcy snorted softly. Sure NEST had the human component that went into fights with the Autobots, but did they ever truly accomplish much or were they simply a distraction of which granted the bots the openings they needed to take down their enemy?

"While you cannot directly participate for the time being, I will put in a request for you to observe field practice of the soldiers. We are far from impervious to damage. I am sure Jazz will be more than happy to point out individual susceptibilities." A note of amusement traced his tone at the end.

Darcy raised her brows. As the tactician, no doubt Prowl knew a way to exploit each and every bot's weakness to beat them. Only thing he didn't seem to know how to do was keep bullheaded humans from doing something stupid.

Rubbing her knuckles, mostly healed but still tender, she winced at the now decently sized list of things she'd done lately that she wasn't proud of. "I...I never apologized for hitting your holoform and breaking the projector. I didn't...I shouldn't have done it. You were right and I'm sorry."

Air escaped the vents more heavily, brushing across her face. "I cannot absolve myself of fault, for you were not entirely wrong. I underestimated your tenacity and believed I could steer you where I willed. When I could not, I blamed human stubbornness rather than find fault in my own actions."

Darcy's lips twitched, "Well I wouldn't completely rule out human stubbornness. I was bullheaded and pushing for intel I wasn't cleared to know."

Still, Prowl was admitting to fault in basically what amounted to his real version of an apology.

"You were dedicated to help your people. That you would care so much for others you have never met is an admirable trait, Detective."

It shouldn't mean much, it wasn't such a unique trait after all, especially among cops, but coming from the tactician, it resonated as high praise.

"Still, you're out a projector because I couldn't watch my temper." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. Granted what he'd said was certainly no way to keep anyone calm, but she did feel bad for breaking the holoform.

The Charger rumbled lightly. Was that….was that a laugh? His tone was certainly the most amused she'd ever heard it. "I assure you, our tech is not usually so fragile. The projector had been barely functioning for some time. Hound had been insisting I allow him to fix it, but I put him off. I believe he considers what you did a favor."

"Is that…" she cocked her head, eyeing the dash, "is that why you let me, ah, steal you? When John was taken?"

It had certainly been the biggest question mark she'd had about his behavior since finding out his true nature. All it would have taken was locking his doors or refusing to move.

"Yes. I overheard the call you received and was unable to project my holoform. I knew my scanners would be able to pick up what you could not see and so ensured that you could not take your own vehicle. A good thing I did, as it was the moment Barricade chose to reveal himself."

Darcy couldn't stop the shudder that racked down her spine. Starscream may be the leader of the Decepticons, Shockwave may have held no emotion while he torturing people for his experiments, and Knock Out may have been a sadistic doctor who cared more for his finish than he did the lives he took, but it was Barricade that scared her the most.

"I know that I failed you once," Prowl continued after a pause, "but I will do everything in my power to not do so again. I will not allow Barricade to touch you."

The detective knew well the promises one could and couldn't make in law enforcement, so she appreciated the line that Prowl walked with his words. It was a promise to do all he could, and despite the fear and distrust she felt towards his kind, she knew she could believe he would do as he said.

Of all of them, she could trust him.

A comfortable silence fell between them as the countryside continued to roll by, slowly giving way to human structures. Prowl stayed on the highway, even as a decently sized supermarket flashed its name on glowing signs.

"Uh, Prowl? Aren't we going to a store?" Darcy asked, raising a brow as just as quickly as it had arrived, the town faded to the rearview.

"Yes."

The other brow joined the first as he failed to elaborate further. "And you realize you just passed one?"

"Yes."

Oh for God's sake. One moment it feels like they're getting somewhere and the next she's not feeling so sorry for hitting him. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she closed her eyes and blew out a breath. "And why did we not stop at that one?"

"Because it is the nearest store to the Dam. The further we get from it, the less likely the Decepticons are to incidentally discover it."

Okay, so that made sense, but still, "I thought that was the point of the fake name?"

She waved the credit card for emphasis. Huh, could he actually see what went on in his cab or only feel it?

Nope, that wasn't a question she wanted answered.

"A point made moot should you visit a location large enough to have security cameras."

Okay, point again. "Do you really think they'd be monitoring every camera looking for my face? I'm no one."

Would she have to worry about that when she went home? Would she have to change her name, avoid any and all types of cameras for the rest of her life?

"On the contrary, you are not only a known ally of the Autobots, but you escaped their captivity. Even Starscream will take that personally and it is nothing for Soundwave to infiltrate CCTV networks on a global scale."

That was definitely a terrifying notion, a Decepticon with global access to all security cameras attached to any sort of satellite or internet. "What about John? You all said he'd be safe to go home and he escaped them."

"Yet his attachment to us is through you. I cannot promise they would not take him again if presented the opportunity; what makes Starscream so dangerous is his unpredictability, but I do not think he will put much effort into searching for a human who is not directly tied to us." He paused as a cruiser raced by with lights and sirens. Darcy felt a pang, wishing she could follow and knowing she might never be able to do so again. "Optimus offered your friend Autobot protection for a time, but he turned it down. NEST will still ensure he makes the move to Florida without incident."

She could only hope Starscream would leave the other survivors alone, could only hope NEST would be enough protection if he didn't. But what about her? Lennox was in this for the long haul, but she had no intention of staying for longer than she had to, so how long would that really be? How long would the Decepticons continue to be a threat to her, simply because they knew her face?

Releasing a sigh, Darcy slumped in the seat. At least John was being looked after for the time being, she could be thankful for that. Whatever she had to deal with, however long it lasted, she could handle it. She was Darcy Blake, she was a police detective, she had survived the Decepticons, and she would get through time with the Autobots and get her head straight again.

Quiet descended again while Darcy let herself get lost in her own thoughts, paying no attention to the road or how long they drove for. Only when Prowl exited the highway did she look up and around. The landscape hardly looked any different than it had when they left the dam; perhaps a bit drier, a bit more open, but nothing to indicate which direction the dam itself was.

Dirt flew behind the Charger as Prowl turned off the highway and onto a road that hadn't seen painted lines in at least twenty years. Yet as a small town appeared on the horizon, the passing vehicles showed to be in better condition than the pavement. The general store appeared larger than the detective expected for way out here, boasting its own parking lot dotted with trucks new, old, and ancient.

Several drivers turned to watch the dramatically painted cruiser pull in. Darcy pursed her lips. "I'm all for hitting a town without cameras and using a fake name, but don't you think you stand out?"

All it would take was one picture on social media to out him.

"The more the humans believe you to be just passing by, the fewer questions they are likely to ask."

He had a point. Local sheriff might approach her, but everyone else was eyeing the rig like wary deer, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"Alright," Darcy blew out a steadying breath, making sure the credit card was in her wallet. "I'll try to make it quick."

"Take as much time as you need, Detective."

Right, sparing the dash a grateful look, she swung the door open and stepped into the blazing sun. So very different from the cold north, it drew a line of sweat on the back of her neck before she'd even finished crossing the parking lot. Heart pounding in her ears, she stepped through the doors into the store, immediately greeted by the cool breeze of a struggling A/C. Still too hot for a jacket. She scratched at her damaged forearm.

Healing started with not hiding. She showed up in a police car, everyone would assume injuries had been taken on the job. Biting her lip as she moved away from the front door, Darcy carefully pushed the jacket sleeves up to her elbows. There weren't many people in the store itself, the majority apparently loitering in the parking lot to catch up with friends and neighbors they hadn't seen since the last trek into town. Even so, she swore she felt eyes on her, tracking over the bandage and the hollow cheeks.

Sucking in another shaky breath, she picked an aisle at random and walked down it. She didn't know what she needed, she realized belatedly. There'd been no attempt to make a list or even consider what she might attempt to cook during her stay at the base. The spices had her as lost as a cactus in a snowstorm.

Her weight rocked back and forth from foot to foot, teeth worrying her lip hard enough to draw a line of blood. She was bare and exposed. The lack of a gun at her hip more painfully obvious than it had ever been before. She was defenseless and alone. The aisle was too close, too narrow. There was no room to move and only two exits made it too easy a trap, too much like the tunnels in the mountains.

"Honey, are you okay?"

Darcy lurched away from the voice, mind racing until her eyes focused on the elderly woman standing next to her. Clenching her shaking hands, she tried to will her galloping heart to steady.

"I….ah….will be, thanks." She offered the woman a weak smile, staring at the spices without seeing them. How long had she been standing here?

"No dear, thank you." The woman slowly reached out and took a trembling hand between her own, lightly patting the back of it while briefly glancing at the bandage.

Darcy stared at her in confusion. "What?"

She offered a soft smile, tipping her head towards the front of the store. "For your service. I saw what car you came in. I just want to thank you for doing all you can to help people. It may not always feel like enough, but know that it is enough and there are still people who see you and appreciate what you do."

The detective blinked suddenly burning eyes and found herself fighting against a lump in her throat. "I, uh, thank you, that means a lot."

The woman gave her hand one last pat before releasing it and reaching for a bottle of bay leaves. "Whenever I find myself in need of easy comfort, I always go for breakfast. Not much a pancake can't make a little brighter."

A wider smile was tossed her way along with a wink before the woman walked off the way she had come and disappeared towards another aisle.

Darcy tilted her head, discovering that her hands were not shaking quite so much. Her lips twitched. Once upon a time, Lennox had forced Prowl to pick up IHop as a formal apology. Maybe the sweet old lady was on to something.

It only took a minute to find the breakfast aisle and load a basket with everything she might need to replicate that breakfast. They even carried the brand of coffee she liked. The longer she moved, the more she grabbed, until the basket threatened to topple its contents onto the floor. For a moment she considered trading it in for a cart. No, she didn't know what the limit was on this card and better to not be completely stocked, she'd be needing another excuse to leave the base soon enough.

Paying without incident, Darcy stepped back into the outside world feeling a little lighter despite the weight of the bags in her hand. Prowl hadn't moved, though he was still gaining a few curious stares from others pulling in or walking by. Darcy avoided all of their eyes as she approached the Charger, the front door swinging easily open the moment her finger touched it. Prowl appeared so lifeless and silent that if it weren't for the Autobot insignia brazenly displayed on the side and on the steering wheel, she might have confused him for any other police cruiser. Only when the door shut, firmly cutting her off from the outside world, did he come to life, revving his engine in a faux display of start up.

"Your heart rate became elevated for a time, did something happen?" He pulled back onto the road, heading the way they had come.

"No," she answered a little too fast, embarrassed to admit nearly having a panic attack in a grocery store aisle, "just got lost in my own head for a….how do you know?"

She frowned at the dash. Now she was fairly certain the scanners did not work through solid walls, nor would Prowl have gotten away with using them while surrounded by so many civilians. So how in the hell did he know her heart rate when she was in the store?

Prowl did not answer at first, letting the town fall to his rearview before admitting reluctantly, "The phone that Jazz gave to you has minor sensors attuned to you. Only I have the frequency to read it and I must be within fifty yards to do so."

It really wasn't that much of a surprise, she'd already figured that it worked both ways as a tracker, but to know that it was monitoring her damn heart rate? Pinching the bridge of her nose and silently counting down from ten, she tried to remind herself that this was Prowl's way of watching out and that he'd gone so far out of his way just to let her visit a grocery store.

"That is….uncalled for, Prowl. If you're going to give me tech, I need to know about it." Yep, the stupid thing was going in a deep drawer where she was not going to touch it again.

"And yet your pattern of hiding what is bothering you makes it difficult to trust you would be forthcoming with some of the issues you are facing."

Darcy growled low in her throat. "There is a reason for that."

"I understand. While I cannot be sorry for taking preemptive measures, I will...endeavor to be more open about any technology we present to you."

It certainly wasn't a promise not to do it again, Darcy noted with a scowl, but she decided to let this one pass with a heavily released breath. No doubt if something had happened that required Autobot intervention, she would have been thankful for the thing. But it hadn't, so she let herself be annoyed for a bit longer before brushing it away. A phone was a large scale improvement over a physical chip that threatened to kill her if she tried removing it.

"May I ask what you got lost in your head about?" Prowl asked after a time. Already they were back on the highway, the distance to the dam fast closing.

Darcy shrugged, unsure if he would even be able to comprehend a feeling so many in her field faced after an injury. "Just...it's a little bit of a shock stepping back into the normal world. It's always a little jarring after an….incident."

Yeah, incident was so not the way to describe what happened, but it was what she was going with. The lack of a gun had only made it that much worse, but she kept that part to herself. There was only so much confessing of her twisted mind she could do in a day.

"I cannot say it is something I have experienced; is there something I can do to assist?" Alright who was this guy and what had he done with Prowl?

"No, it's just something I've got to work through myself."

He did just that, letting the miles pass in easy silence. By the time they rolled up to the big bay doors of the base, noon had come and gone. Soldiers moved about their business, clearly a slim path for a green Autobot she dimly recognized. Stepping out of Prowl's alt mode with bags in tow, she made it only a few steps away before he transformed and stood to his full height.

That was a sight she was never going to get used to.

"Hound," he greeted the approaching bot, who boasted a recognizable Jeep grill on his chest. She'd seen him a few times, but never had he said anything to her.

"It isn't the cleanest fix given the lack of proper tools around here, but it should do the trick for now. I'm working on a new prototype for you." Hound offered out a small metal box. Darcy was fairly certain the last time she'd seen it, it'd been smoking.

Prowl took it, the metal plates on his torso shifting to reveal an empty space perfectly sized for the box. "If it is functional, that is all I require."

Darcy couldn't keep track of all the little pieces that seemingly moved themselves to accommodate and attach to the box, which faintly lit up with blue once placed. The outer panels shifted back into place, hiding it from view.

Yeah, she was definitely never getting used to these aliens.

A flicker of light and Karl Urban was standing in front of her, the too-blue eyes of the Autobot giving her a curious look as she snorted.

"Is something amusing, Detective?" he asked, his real body standing eerily still as the holoform turned towards her.

"It's, ah, an interesting look," Darcy fought and failed to hide her amused grin.

Hound sighed. "It appears the twins may have tampered with it while I was busy elsewhere."

Prowl's holoform blinked, looking down at himself. Where once had been a crisp suit was now the most god awful Hawaiin shirt and shorts combo Darcy had ever seen in her life. To top it off, where once brunette hair laid neatly back, was now a shaggy mane half dyed yellow and cherry red.

The holoform dissipated, the faux Charger shifting towards the main door into the rest of the base. "Detective, if you will excuse me, I have two miscreants to deal with."

Before she could get out a proper response, he was stalking away, the door wings on his back rigid.

"Should I be concerned?" she asked the remaining alien who was watching the tactician disappear with amusement plain on his face.

He looked back at her with a flash of surprise before smiling easily. "For Prowl? Definitely not. For the twins? Possibly, but it will hardly be more than they've brought on themselves."

"This isn't a new thing, is it?" Sounded downright suicidal to try pranking Prowl of all Autobots, but somehow Hound didn't seem all that shocked by it.

"Oh no. The longer we go without Decepticon contact, the more inventive they get. Doubly so now that Jazz is back."

"Jazz is a prankster?"

Hound barked a laugh. "Jazz is the prankster. So watch yourself around him, he's corrupted many to his ways."

A blue optic shuttered out in a wink before the green Jeep was headed back down the hall, chuckling to himself.

Giant alien robots who played pranks, who pulled others into it, who got creative when the boredom set in. Besides being alien robots who could turn into cars, there seemed very little that made them different from any human band of soldiers.

With that thought bouncing around her head, Darcy made for her little apartment. After brewing a cup of coffee, she would master the art of pancakes.

Alright, after two cups of caffeinated lifeblood, three burnt attempts, and four grotesquely undercooked battery balls of mush, she finally managed a pair of edible breakfast cakes. It was nothing on the restaurant chain, but Darcy was still going to take it as a win.

And she was getting dinner from the mess hall later.

Captain: Oh lovable twins, will you ever learn not to prank Prowl? We hope not ;) And here Darcy discovers the downside of living off poptarts and eating out for too much of her adult life. Come on woman, fix yoself. But pancakes can be hard if you don't know the bubble trick, so we'll give her a break for now :D

The next chapter contains a surprise guest inspired by one of your reviews! So drop those comments and let me know what you thought of the chapter, what you hope for the future, or characters or moments you'd love to see! A big hearty Thank You to all of you who have dropped reviews so far, they really do brighten my day! 3