Immediately after Bulkhead's departure—Rafael had begun to prepare the third set of coordinates. Optimus had announced that he would be heading for the Antarctic.

Optimus turns to Ratchet. "As for you old friend, I would prefer that you have company on your mission."

"No one is left to join me Optimus, even if Agent Fowler were alert." They looked over to where Agent Fowler was. He was laid down on a gurney and was mumbling incoherent words in his sleep.

"He's human." Ratchet pointed this out although Optimus had a different thing in mind.

"I was considering the only remaining Autobot alternative on this planet." Ratchet had lost his train of thought before Prime's words had finally sunken in.

"You can't be serious? Wheeljack is insubordinate—a Ruffian! Besides he's Bulkheads partner." Ratchet said. Just from the tone of his voice, he didn't seem to look forward in partnering up with Wheeljack.

"Your expertise is scientific but Wheeljack is a highly capable warrior—you would be wise to welcome the temporary alliance." Optimus brought the argument to an agreement whether Ratchet approved of it or not.

Ratchet held where the bridge of his nose was supposed to be, then sighs in utter defeat. Agreeing with something or not—Optimus always has a way with words.

"Umm…mind if I interrupt the conversation?" Lucy said as she now gained both of their attention. "Would it be all right if I accompany Ratchet?"

Ratchet was completely against it, acting like a worried parent to their child. He even tried to persuade her in staying behind to ''help'' work the Ground Bridge with Rafael. However, Lucy—unfazed, was adamant in going with Ratchet on his mission.

"I do appreciate the idea Ratchet but I'm no good with Cybertronian technology. Besides…" Lucy turns her head towards Optimus. "If Jack and Miko can accompany Arcee and Bumblebee on their mission, then why can't I? I mean, I did have my fair share of Decepticon encounters—and MECH."

She did make a valid point.

If he were to approve of her to accompany with Ratchet, it would mean that she would be a target for the Decepticons'. Yet, she won't be alone on this mission. Optimus couldn't help but feel rather conflicted from this. Who wouldn't? Lucy was only human after all—a human that is dear to him; then again, she has proven herself to them. She's capable enough to be vigilant and careful in the direst of situations.

After pondering for what seemed to be the longest time, he had finally come to a decision. "Very well."

Optimus turns and heads towards the Ground Bridge that was waiting for him. Then for some reason, he abruptly stops. He stood there for a moment—looking almost hesitant to leave, and then he resumed his walk through the vortex.

Underneath the fabric of her yellow (Munsell)—long-sleeved, pullover sweatshirt was her necklace. It suddenly was emitting heat when Optimus disappeared through the Ground Bridge. Lucy had her hand over her chest, feeling the warmth of the necklace through the fabric.

Strange… the necklace has only done this a few times and by ''few'' it was rather rare for this to happen. Why would it react like this suddenly?

-x-

The wrecker had received a message from the prime informing him about five Iacon relics which could potentially be used as weapons of mass destruction by the Decepticons'. Now here he was waiting for Ratchet to arrive—out in a wooded area.

Wheeljack was leaned against his ship whilst repeatedly throwing and catching his grenade, waiting. That is until he heard the Ground Bridge swirling open to his left. Wheeljack turns to see Ratchet walking towards him and he notices that he was accompanied by a familiar femme on his shoulder.

Immediately the first thing that went through his mind was: Why did Ratchet have Lucy on his shoulder? Never has he ever seen Ratchet with a human on his shoulder—that he knows of. It was such a strange sight to see, but he brushed it off quickly.

"It's been awhile. What brings you here on this mission?" Wheeljack asks. His optics directed at Lucy.

"I volunteered, of course!" Lucy swayed her head from side to side with a content smile on her face.

Wheeljack raised his brow-ridge (eyebrow) suspiciously. He glances over to Ratchet and notices a look of disapproval and…frustration? Someone doesn't seem so happy that she was here. What he didn't know is that Ratchet was mentally going insane with Lucy being here. After all, she was human and could easily get hurt—or worse.

"So," He turns his gaze at Ratchet. "The boss thought you needed back up, huh?" He smiles almost cheekily, and this didn't sit well with Ratchet.

"If you must know Optimus feels strongly that you require supervision." Ratchet corrected as he, bitterly, points his index digit (finger) at the wrecker almost aggressively before walking away.

Wheeljack found his response entertaining and decided to have a little bit of fun. "I'll sure to be at my best behavior, Doc."

Ratchet abruptly stops and turns halfway to look over his shoulder pad. "Please don't call me Doc." Ratchet said then turns to resume his walk.

"Whatever you say, sunshine."

Once again, Ratchet came to a complete stop. He was beyond annoyed now. He was opening and closing his hands as he lets out a groan while at the same time shaking his head. He could hear Lucy's failed attempts at suppressing her laughter. This made him feel bitterer than he already was.

They soon boarded Wheeljacks ship and then they took off. Then the silence that followed, it lasted for a while inside the cockpit as they were cruising across the sky.

Wheeljack glances over to Ratchet. "So, all of team primes busy chasing down these four iacon relics?"

"The four which are currently in play." Ratchet said.

"There's more?" Wheeljack quizzically asks.

"Megatron maintains possession of the entire iacon database. We have yet to learn how many more relics or Decepticon weapons of mass destruction it contains." Ratchet clarified to Wheeljack.

"No worries, Doc, I got your back." Everything he said was genuine until he added that nickname he had given to Ratchet. This easily annoyed Ratchet.

He gritted his denta (teeth) and a growl escaped from his lips. "My name is not Doc! And I do not require anyone watching my back. I proved my mettle during the war for Cybertron." Ratchet proudly said.

"Then I'm lucky you're along for the ride, champ," Wheeljack said. His optics (eyes) were staring at the monitor on his left, a single red dot had appeared—beeping continuously.

Wheeljack looks over to them from the corner of his optics (eye). "Cause we got a bogey on our tail."

The monitor then changed into a live feed from the back of the ship; it showed a purple MQ-9 Reaper. She didn't recognize who this Decepticon jet was, that is until Ratchet said his name.

"Soundwave!" A familiar name that the kids often mention (mostly Miko).

Wheeljack looks over to Ratchet. "Megatron's communications chief?"

"He must be tracking the same coordinates." Ratchet summed up just before the Decepticon had begun to open fire at them.

"You might want to grab onto something!"

Before they could even react Wheeljack had already shifted the wheel upwards making the ship flip backward. For a moment, Lucy was floating in midair and then she was suddenly overwhelmed with fear for a split second, she had to act quickly. While Ratchet was busy yelling at Wheeljack, Lucy was on the ceiling before swiftly pushing herself back down and on to Ratchet. Instead of being on his shoulder she decided to be near the crook of his neck. She didn't want to be separated from him unless she wanted to bounce around the cabin like a ragdoll, it is best if she hung tight for now until all this excitement was over.

-x-

The entire ride was one hell of a nerve-racking experience and the landing wasn't so pleasant either. The ship crashed landed after Laserbeak shot the right thruster of the ship. It was an unfortunate set back but at least they came out of the wreckage unharmed and most importantly alive.

"If you had pursuit Soundwave as I instructed." Ratchet said.

Wheeljack turns to face him. "His little birdie would still be pecking at our tailpipes!" he retorts sharply.

He was right, and Ratchet simply couldn't argue with that. "Well...we need to resume our search for the relic immediately—Soundwave may already have reached it."

"The Jackhammer is not going anywhere." Wheeljack walks past Ratchet and looks over his shoulder at him. "If you wanna catch that Con, we need to roll." he stops, his optics (eyes) staring off and notices something twitching in the distance, not too far where his ship was.

Wheeljack proceeds to walk towards it, ignoring Ratchet's complaints.

"Make up your mind! Are we walking or are we driving?!"

Ratchet felt a light touch on the side of his neck. He glances down to meet Lucy's eyes. "Look at where he's heading," she said, pointing her index finger over to where Wheeljack was heading.

He obliges, following to where she was pointing at and inches closer towards the wrecker. Wheeljack had drawn both swords and was aiming at a drone, not just any drone: it was Laserbeak. Ratchet, alarmed by the site, immediately took a defensive stance and assuring that Lucy wasn't in the line of sight for the drone to see.

"Wheeljack keep your distance, Laserbeak is the eyes and ears of Soundwave!" Ratchet warned and watches as Wheeljack uses one of his swords to swiftly flip the drone, its backside was exposed showing off its Decepticon insignia.

A smirk graces his lips. "Not anymore it isn't."

If what Wheeljack said was true, then this meant that he had to go over there and confirm this notion himself. Ratchet carefully places Lucy down; he didn't want her to go near that thing even if it was offline. Safety was his main priority. He couldn't even imagine her getting hurt because of his negligence; it made his insides churn uncomfortably at the thought.

Ratchet scanned the fallen drone with the remote scanner. "Operating system appears functional but offline." He looks over to Wheeljack. "However, the crash clearly damaged its optic (eye) and audio receptors' (ears)."

"I guess someone's gonna need a new snitch," Wheeljack said, as he now hovers over Laserbeak.

"A minor victory and not the one we are here to achieve." Ratchet turns, his optics drifting towards Lucy and then proceeds to go over to her.

When he was halfway over to his destination, Wheeljack had called out to him making him stop in his tracks.

"Hang on there Doc."

Oh, how he despised that nickname. He groaned in displeasure, but he maintains his urge to whack the wrecker upside the head with his dactylas (hand). Ratchet turns to face him and was all ears to whatever Wheeljack had to say.

"Situations right for an old wrecker trick," Wheeljack said whilst hinting the idea more as he held a grenade in hand, to which he threw it up in the air and caught it.

Ratchet—oblivious, didn't quite get the idea that was being hinted. "Um...I'm not sure I follow."

-x-

She watched from where she stood as Wheeljack transformed and drove off, presumably to find the relic. Let's just hope that Soundwave hadn't done so already and if so then they'd be at a great disadvantage. However, she notices that Ratchet stayed behind, and he was working on something at the fallen drone.

Should she go over there and check up on him? But Ratchet told her to stay where she was, away from the thing as possible. She couldn't come to a decision, and then she overheard a noise where Ratchet was and another behind her.

A sudden gust blew right towards her, causing her hair to fly all over the place. Naturally, she turns to face the wind to prevent her hair from blinding her. What she did not expect was a metal panel from the Jackhammer to come hurling towards her, missing her precious head by mere inches away.

Ratchet turns to see what the commotion was all about and was horrified to see a piece of the metal embedded on the ground, that wasn't there before, was inches away from Lucy. She just stood there frozen in her place looking just as shocked as he was.

A wave of relief washes over her and she exhales deeply. She blinks, noticing something floating around her. She reaches out, grabbing it from the air and inspects it. It was a piece of her hair... and her head feels a lot lighter too. She was either lucky or the world was simply playing a cruel joke on her.

"Are you all right?" Ratchet's voice managed to snap her out of the trance she was in, and her gaze meets his.

She simply nods in response before dusting away the residue hair from her clothes. At the same time checking if she was alive. "Um...Ratchet?" Lucy looks over to him with a nervous smile.

"Do you mind if I join you? I-uh, don't like being out in the open like this." Ratchet gave her a nod of approval and watches as she hurries over and hides behind a boulder.

He resumes his focus on to Laserbeak, which he's been holding down while at the same time glancing over to the remote scanner. "Rafael, what is our progress?"

"Fifty percent."

Just a little longer and the progress would be complete when he received a commlink from Wheeljack.

"Doc."

"Wheeljack I told you not to call me that!" Ratchet said in annoyance. Would it kill him to at least call him by his REAL name instead of that?

"I'm sorry..."

Wheeljack apologizing? Something was definitely off. "What's wrong—where are you?"

At the end of the line, he could hear Wheeljack groaning—he's hurt. "Thinking you got maybe...ugh, two minutes." was all he said before going silent.

It was a race against time, Soundwave was inching closer to them and the virus was still uploading. He tried contacting the wrecker with little to no success; he must have fallen unconscious after warning him about Soundwave. While the virus was still uploading, Ratchet took the chance to hide behind the boulder; the same one Lucy was at. He made sure to hold down Laserbeak with one hand while holding the remote scanner with the other.

His prayers had been answered when Raf suddenly announced that the upload was complete. Ratchet pressed the button in the middle of the remote with his thumb which caused the two metal plates to close. He lets it go only to watch it struggle to fly, a small portion of its wings breaks as it moves away from them. It flaps its wings before going limp. It was like watching a puppy run but it tripped on something along the way and did a barrel roll; they almost felt sorry for the drone.

Right on cue, Soundwave had arrived at the scene and was now investigating the Jackhammer. It was her first-time seeing Soundwave in person, and he looked exactly what the others have described. A screen for a face - a slender figure with long thin fingers - aside from Megatron, this is a Decepticon she wouldn't want to cross paths with.

After plenty of tense moments and Ratchet was practically engulfing her small figure into his hands, as his life depended on it. Soundwave had finally left with Laserbeak along with the relic, unfortunately.

Ratchet revealed himself from behind his hiding place and tries to contact Wheeljack again, still no response. He curses under his breath before his optics looks down at Lucy. He gestured his index finger downwards.

"Stay. Here. I'll be back momentarily." before she could even interject, he transforms and drives off.

She huffs and then pursed her lips. I hate being alone in the forest.

Lucy walks over to the ship and then settles herself down with her back against the metal of the ship. She just sat there with her legs crossed, silently admiring the night sky while waiting for them to arrive.

Unknowingly, she brushed her fingers against her freshly cut hair, combing it down and was careful not to yank out a knot in her hair. Thankfully there weren't any knots in the way, so her fingers brushed down the strands with ease. It felt smoother and much lighter than before, it felt nice. Her knee-length hair (or more) now reaches down to her armpits; it had some split ends caused by friction from the piece of metal that literally sliced her hair, leaving it in a tousled mess. At least it wasn't her head that it sliced.

Distracting herself was a nice way to pass the time. Before she knew it, Ratchet and Wheeljack had returned. She stood up, brushing off some dirt from her pants before walking over to Ratchet.

"Listen, Wheeljack. I want to...thank you for your back up."

"Yup." was all Wheeljack said while he occupied himself in repairing his ship.

The familiar sounds of the Ground Bridge were like music to their ears. Ratchet then kneels to pick her up then stood upright and carefully places her on his shoulder. He turns and proceeds to walk towards the Ground Bridge.

"See you around..." Wheeljack looks over his shoulder. "Ratchet."

Nothing was said, but as the saying goes: action speaks louder than words. Whatever happened to Ratchet he might have finally acknowledged the wrecker as a useful aspect to the team. He might have come to forge a mutual respect for Wheeljack. Although, he would never openly admit this, the way he looked spoke louder than words.

They arrived back at base; Ratchet was instantly called over by Rafael. Ratchet approaches the monitors and saw that it was busy downloading...

"The iacon database!?" He couldn't believe his optics (eyes). It worked...it was downloading!

"It's downloading into our mainframe!" Rafael turns to face them with a look of pure joy.

Ratchet laughs. "Rafael. You. Are. A. Genius!"

Even they did lose the relic from Soundwave, but they have gained something far more valuable. It was hard work that paid off in the end.

Although, Agent Fowler seemed on edge and told them off rather sharply. Odd.

It's been a couple minutes since their return and the rest of the team still wasn't back yet from their mission. All they could do was wait and hope for the best. Yet, she was practically on the edge of the couch, anxiously waiting for their return. She's been compulsively shaking her leg and was glancing around the base instead of Ground Bridge.

She tried to reassure herself, telling herself that everything would be ok. Yet there was this nagging feeling on the back of her mind that she simply could not shake off. A feeling she didn't welcome at all.

"Raf, open the bridge now!" Agent Fowler ordered as the young boy was tapping away at his laptop.

Something wasn't right.

"Bulkhead is coming through Agent Fowler," Rafael announced.

Why is she seeing this suddenly?

"I can't wait to share the news!" Ratchet said excitingly.

A scene was playing right before her and saw it all in a matter of seconds. An Insecticon was crawling out of a hole where lava flowed below. It screeches - - taking aim and fired. Soon the scene fades out and she was welcomed back by the main room of the base. Then -

BANG!

Instantly, she shot up from the couch and turns her head to look over where the sound came from. There was black smoke coming from the middle of the room, she inches closer. She saw Bulkhead sprawled on the floor—unconscious.

She threw both hands over her mouth, stifling a gasp from being heard. The rhythm of her heart quickened, and she could hear it with absolute clarity as it pounded in her eardrums. The color of the smoke - the scene she witnesses not long after his return - a feeling that was awfully familiar to her. It reminded her of that forsaken day.

There were tears now streaming down her face, her inaudible cries were disregarded by the others. A feeling of emptiness and pain washing over her as it greeted her like an old friend.

A/N

This semester of college has been really eating me, and the stress was a lot to handle and was getting worse. I had a mental breakdown. It was awful guys. I still feel like absolute poop but I'm doing better (thankfully.) I've had wonderful people to help me through this tough time.

Enough about me!

I literally sacrificed myself for two days just to proofread the entire chapter then rechecked 'til I was satisfied! There's a lot more to come, but for now, let's all wonder and theorize. Until next time~ c: