Chapter Six

Ari clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as she paced the floor inside Wheeljack's lab. The source of her agitation came from the loud laser blasts and various explosions that could be heard outside. She reached the wall, turned on her heel, and stalked back the way she'd come. Pix watched her from his perch on one of the tables.

"Eep?"

The girl jumped in surprise and looked up at the lab's only other occupant. He chirped again.

"I'm just worried about Wheeljack...I wish I knew what was going on out there!" Wheeljack had given her express orders to stay in the lab, citing several grisly deaths to her, and threats to inflict them himself if she disobeyed him being the most prominent among them. She sighed as she reached the opposite wall and leaned against it. "There's got to be something I can do..."

Meanwhile, outside...

Wheeljack dove behind a rock and crouched there as laser fire rained down around him. He leaned around the side of the boulder and squeezed off a few shots before retreating again. Optimus Prime, as usual, was going one-on-one with Megatron, Ironhide and Brawn were teamed up against Soundwave, while Jazz, Hound, and Sideswipe went after Reflector. He couldn't see the others, but was pretty sure they were just as busy. Thundercracker roared by overhead and spun to take aim at him, making the rock he had used as a refuge become a rather handy firing wall. He scrambled around it just in time to avoid the seeker's missiles. The concussion from the blast caused him to nearly lose his balance. Just then he heard a loud hiss, and looked up in time to see Pix dive-bomb the blue seeker. Thundercracker, taken by surprise, ended up with several deep scratches across his nosecone. The miniature dragon glided down to perch on his shoulder. It looked him in the optics and chirped.

"I thought I told you to guard Ari." The Autobot engineer remarked, somewhat annoyed. Pix opened his mouth..

"You told him to guard me?!?!"

"WHAT THE-!" He cried, jumping back at the sound of Ari's voice coming from his pet's throat. Pix stared at him curiously and chirped again. Wheeljack eyed the dragon warily. "What was that?!" He demanded. The dragon cocked its head and opened its mouth again.

"It's me, Ari. I'm using your computer to see and talk through Pix." There was a moment's hesitation, then she blurted. "Are you all right?!"

He couldn't help being amused by her concern. "I'm still in once piece Ari, just stay in the lab like I told you to."

"But-"

"No."

"But-"

"I said no."

He could practically see her stamp her foot in frustration. "I can't just sit here while you get yourself blown up!!"

"Why not? You were perfectly willing to let me handle those explosives yesterday....hold on..." The engineer ducked as laser fire peppered the boulder he was hiding behind, and returned fire. When things had quieted down... meaning he wasn't currently fearing for his life...he turned back to the dragon.

"And what happened when I let you handle those explosives?" Ari was saying. "You blew yourself up! It took me and Ratchet three hours just to find all the pieces!"

"...That's not the point Ari..."

"Then enlighten me."

He sighed "You can't do anything out here except get yourself killed. And if you get yourself killed, I'll kill you! Got it?"

She laughed softly over the comm. "Very cute. But how about repairs? Ratchet's been teaching me about transformer medicine...I could-"

"Hold it! One: No, you can't go play medic. Two: When did you start taking lessons from Ratchet?!" More laser fire came his way, and he launched a missile in what he guessed was the direction of its source. The loud screams and cursings a moment later told him he'd guessed correctly. Pix leapt from his shoulder to attack another flyer, returning with a rather smug look on his face. Wheeljack gave it a suspicious look before continuing. "And three: Why does Pix have weapons?!"

He could almost hear her roll her eyes. "Why not, two weeks ago, and 'cause I got bored. Anything else you'd like to know?" Pix suddenly jerked his head up to peer behind the mech. He opened his mouth and a long stream of flame engulfed Ravage, who had been sneaking up on them. The decepticon cassette snarled in pain and ran away.

"Yes, when were you going to tell me my pet dragon had a flame-thrower?"

"Oh, I was just going to let you figure that out by yourself..."

"Thanks." He grumbled, rubbing the side of his head where Pix's newest surprise had singed it.

"No problem."

"Hand me the welder." Ari ordered from halfway inside Ironhide's chest cavity. She, Ratchet, and Wheeljack were quite busy dealing with the injuries resulting from the battle. Jazz handed her the tool she requested and she managed to wriggle even farther inside to fix a disconnected fuel line. He looked up at Ironhide, who had a rather interesting expression on his face.

"How ya feelin'?"

Ironhide grunted. "Ya trah havin' a human crawlin' ahround inside ya and ya wouldn't be askin'." He winced as Ari pulled herself out of his internals and sealed his armor back up.

"Better than running around with a leaking fuel line!"

He chuckled and sat up. "Ya got that right missy. Thankya fer the fixup."

She beamed at him. "No problem big guy. Who's next?"

Jazz winced. "That'd be Sunstreaker..."

Ari just grinned. "Well, bring him in!"

"I can't believe it.." Ratchet commented, staring. Wheeljack just nodded. "She actually repaired Sunstreaker....and he didn't complain about his paint?!"

Jazz grinned and shrugged. "He claims she didn't leave a scratch. Guess that was good enough for him."

"I don't believe it. I just don't believe it!" Ratchet shook his head and saw Ari walking towards them. He waved her down. "All right, spill. How'd you do it?"

She smiled up at him innocently. "Why whatever do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! What did you do to Sunstreaker? Rewire him?"

The human grinned and pulled a small cardboard box out of her pocket. Upon opening it, they saw it was filled with various-colored tiny cylinders. "Crayons. Just find one that matches and color in the scratch. A little buffing and..."

They stared at her a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Crayons?! Oh boy, Sunstreaker's gonna have a FIT when he finds out!"

"Are you kidding? He'll blow a gasket!"

She gave them a sidelong glance. "He's doesn't have to know, y'know.."

That set them off on another round of laughter.