It was a bright, sunny morning in the city. Young Koji was riding his bike in the skate park when he spotted something in the corner of his eye- or rather, someone. "Hi, Lex," he waved.
The blonde stopped and replied, "Hi, Runt," as she offered a weak wave and continued blading down the path. Koji watched her go with a quizzical look on his face.
It had been about four weeks since that stormy night when the Autobots succeeded in helping Mr. Raiden find Lex. After that, he thought she would start opening up to him as well as to the other Autobots. Unfortunately, that wasn't really the case. Though she was no longer as hostile as she used to be, she still kept to herself almost all of the time. 'She's probably still living on what's left of the anger she built up those two years,' he remembered Midnight Express explaining once, 'And, when something becomes a part of your life, it can be hard to let go.' Koji admitted to himself that he kind of understood what that meant and what Lex had to have gone through that whole time. Then, his thoughts flashed back to the time Lex started calling Nicki, Jan, and himself by pet-names; Nicki was 'Pip-Squeak', Jan was 'Cowboy', and he was 'Runt'. He had to admit, even though it was a little weird at first, he and his friends were getting used to being called by those names. Still, there were times when he wondered why she still kept to herself. He knew she knew the team was more than willing to be friends with her; the problem was she wasn't very open to them. All they'd get out of her was, at the most, a sentence or two.
That evening, Mr. Raiden made dinner while Lex finished her homework. True to his promise, he started spending much less time at work and more time at home so he could be with his daughter. Even though she had made some improvements, he knew she still had a little ways to go. Finally, dinner was ready.
"This roast is pretty good, Dad."
"Thank you, I had a good teacher."
"Well, when you're on your own for almost the entire day and you know that someone is going to be expecting dinner when they get home, you gotta know or learn some recipes."
"Hey, I thought we agreed we weren't going to dwell on that again."
She giggled mischievously.
The next day, Lex was enjoying the view atop a cliff at the seashore. As she inhaled a deep breath of salty sea air, she closed her eyes and listened to a gull cawing. This was one of her favorite places in the entire world; it was just the perfect setting for her to just relax and open her mind. Suddenly, she heard something that sounded like laser fire and ran to investigate.
The Autobot brothers were involved in a battle with the Predacons, which was a bit of a difference for them. Normally, Megatron sent the Decepticons to do the dirty work. "Guys," X- Brawn called to his siblings, "we can't let'um get tothayt oil tanker."
'So that's what they're after,' thought Lex as she watched the fight. She was told about the Predacons and Decepticons before, but this was the first time she'd seen them live. Before she realized it, a stray laser blast hit the hill she was standing on and weakened it to the point where it couldn't support her weight. With a yell, she slid down into the battlefield. When she looked up after her little bumpy ride, she saw the Predacon, Gas Skunk, towering above her. What really made her shake on the inside was the evil toothy grin and he was looking right at her.
"I'll bet if we take this kid hostage, those dumb Autobots won't even dare try to stop us from getting that energy," and he reached down with his huge hand. That's when Lex got an idea; she clutched a rock with her hand and was about to throw it when a giant robot rammed into the Predacon.
"You keep your filthy hands away from her Gas Skunk," the robot ordered with fury. Lex recognized Midnight's voice. She noticed in the corner of her eye that from thepale blue light of a Space Bridge portal,came Midnight's fellow trains, Railspike and Rapid Run.
"Railspike, transform."
"Rapid Run, transform."
That's when the Predacons just ran to the water to try and stop the ship with the Autobots after them. However, the Predacons had too much of a head start. "We'll never catch up to them before they reach the water," called Prowl. Then, Lex remembered she still had the rock in her hand. She was just about to throw it at a cliffside when it collapsed, right on the Predacons.
'Guess they didn't need my help after all,' she thought as she dropped the rock.
"Are you alright Lex?" Midnight asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.
Just as she was about to walk away, Railspike called, "Wait, can we offer you a ride home?"
"No thanks," she politely declined, "my Dad will be here soon to pick me up." So, the Autobots transformed and entered the Space Bridge, all except Sideburn, who was stopped by Lex.
"Hey, wait, Sideburn."
"What is it, Lex?"
"I could use a boost back to the top of the hill."
With a chuckle, Sideburn transformed to robot mode and gently lifted Lex to the top of the hill.
Later that day, at the Predacon's base, Megatron was not very happy. "You blundering idiots, I should've known better than to trust you with such a mission." The Predacons cowered in fear as the Decepticons just stood off to the side, silently chuckling at the Predacon's predicament. "We'll try again at a power station that's just on the boundaries of town," Megatron announced, "And, Scourge, you and your Decepticons shall recover that energy for me."
"As you command, Megatron," Scourge bowed. However, Scourge smiled inwardly to himself. It would only be a matter of time before he and the Decepticons could finally make their move against Megatron.
That night, the Decepticons got to work on their plan. They took the power station by surprise and gathered as much energy as they could carry. However, the Autobots arrived. The task force included Team Bullet Train, the Spychangers, and Optimus Prime himself. 'Perfect,' thought Scourge, 'this is my chance to take down Optimus Prime once and for all,' and the battle began.
A few blocks away, Lex was getting her rollerblades on when she heard laser fire and saw lights. 'Sounds like another battle,' she said to herself. She had not skated more than three blocks away from the power station when something came crashing down in front of her. It was Crosswise. "Are you ok?" asked Lex.
"Affirmative," he groaned, "but stay back." She took cover in an alley and was about to try and make a break for it when she noticed that the battlefield had been extended another few blocks. Now, all of Lex's possible exits were blocked by either debris or fighting robots and the alley was a dead end. From her post, Lex saw that Midnight was taking on Mega Octane, himself.
'He won't be a problem for Midnight to handle,' she thought, 'he's bigger than that over-grown bolt bucket.' However, that all changed when two huge beams fell on top of Midnight. Not only did they pin him to the ground, but they also pinned his arms to his sides. The beams were heavy, even for him, and Mega Octane knew that. " I've gotcha now, Autobot," he said as he lowered his twin back-mounted cannons. Lex watched in horror as she prayed that something would happen to help Midnight, and it did. A laser blast hit Mega Octane's twin laser cannons, rendering them useless. The one who fired the shot was the only Autobot who was smiling: R.E.V. Then, Midnight saw something heading right for the Spychanger.
"R.E.V. look out!" he called; but his warning came too late, thus, R.E.V. wasn't left any time to react. Under a huge, heavy slab of metal, R.E.V. found himself in pretty much the same predicament as Midnight Express.
"I'll take care of you after I'm done with your friend here," Mega Octane informed the trapped Spychanger. He started volleying powerful punches at Midnight, who, by moving his upper body side to side, was managing to dodge them. Lex, however, knew Midnight wouldn't be able to keep that up for long and, with the other Autobots fighting other opponents, there was no one else who could help him. Without really thinking about it, she frantically searched the wreckage for something, anything. Then, she spotted a long, pointed metal rod and grabbed it. Hotshot saw her skating towards the Decepticon.
"Lex, stay back," he called, but she didn't listen. With a call like a battle cry, Lex thrust the rod deep into Mega Octane's calf as if it were a sword. The Decepticon screamed in pain and surprise. He turned around and discovered Lex with the weapon that was dripping with energon.
"I'm going to make you pay for that, human germ," he growled as he reached for her. That was all the provocation Midnight needed to find the strength he needed to free himself of the beams that imprisoned him. Just when the Decepticon's hand was about to enclose itself around the girl, Midnight grabbed the robot by the back of his neck, picked him up and squeezed. This was a technique he happened to have picked up from Lex herself. The pain was more intense than anything Mega Octane had ever felt before, which gave him the clue that he really provoked this particular Autobot.
"You will not touch her," Midnight hissed before he threw him to ground.
"Hey," called R.E.V., "could someone help me out of here? My legs are going numb." After Lex and Midnight shared a smile, the train-bot went to go help his comrade.
Shortly after that, Scourge called off the attack and he and his troops retreated. After they were out of sight, Midnight looked down at Lex and smiled, "Thanks, Lex". Caught totally off guard, Lex gave a questioning expression. Midnight decided to take a different approach.
"Lex, you just saved my life. Why did you do it?"
"Well, you saved my life once."
"So that's it? You were only repaying a debt?"
"No, that's not what I meant. It's. . because . . you're my . . friend."
"And, that's what friends do--they help each other."
"Yeah, something like that. We watch each other's back."
As the two were talking, the other Autobots watched from a short distance. "I don't get it," said W.A.R.S.
"It's very simple W.A.R.S.," replied R.E.V.
"You see Lex really did care about Midnight Express, but the problem was that because she had spent so much time not forming any new relationships with anyone else, something's as simple as friendship had become foreign to her."
"I see," said Ironhide. "That's why she's been so shy around us; she'd forgotten what friendship was."
Just as everyone was heading home for the night, Lex called to Midnight.
"Yo, Midnight."
"Yes Lex."
"Um . . . I guess I just wanted to say that . . . I think you look pretty heroic, standing against the moon. See ya, Midnight."
As Lex bladed off into the distance, Midnight pleasingly smiled. "Goodnight Lex. You go, girl!" he chuckled as he thought of how selflessly and bravely Lex stepped in to help him during the battle. Then, he transformed to train mode, and raced after his friends.
