It had been nearly a week since Miles and Sam had been on base. After the ears and tail had been removed, Miles had quickly been shipped back to his home town to catch up on all the school work he had missed. Somehow it just didn't hold the appeal of spending the day with beings thousands of years older than his home planet, so he had gone over to Sam's to sulk with his friend.

Now he was sitting on his bed, glaring up at his ceiling as if it had personally offended him. Sam was sitting at his computer, on the chat network for the NEST base. It was something that Maggie and Glen had worked together to carefuly code, seperate from AIM and MSN although it provided a similar chat based option. They called it NBEC as a joke, Non-biological Extraterrestrial Chatting. Someone had even taken NBE-1 as a username until Optimus had forced them to get rid of it. Only those connected to NEST with high clearance could access it outside of the base, Bumblebee making sure that his teen and his friends could do so.

Miles' car was out sitting at the curb, thankfully non-sentient. Between Bob and Sam it had safely been made sure that he could, in fact, drive and afterwards he had spent an hour just checking out the inside for a Decepticon or Autobot insignia. When he didn't find one he got out and talked to the hood. When he didn't have an answer he assumed it wasn't alive, but he made sure to have Bumblebee scan it just in case. Bumblebee confirmed that it was just a regular car.

"Hey Miles, get over here. Ratchet has a job for us!" Sam called to his friend, scooting away from the computer a bit so Miles could see the screen too. Miles came over and quickly peered at the screen.

Wrench_Medic: Samuel, I require your assistance.
LadiesMan217: Yeah? Miles is here too. He in?
Wrench_Medic: That is fine.
LadiesMan217: Okay, he's looking. What's up?
Wrench_Medic: Wheeljack's been acting oddly. I'm sure it involves work because he's been getting less and less recharge time in, however he's leaving the base. It's not at the lab and I do not know where he is going. He can tell if another 'bot is coming up on him.
LadiesMan217: Whatcha want us to do?
Wrench_Medic: As Miles' car is non-sentient he would not be able to sense it tracking him as well. He'd notice it if it was close enough, yes, but if you stay far enough back it should work.
LadiesMan217: (Miles typing) First off, still say you should've gone for theHatchet on here, but whatev. Second off, ask the twins if they still have those trackers.
-Wrench_Medic is away
-Wrench_Medic has returned
Wrench_Medic: They say they do, those little fraggers.
LadiesMan217: (Miles duh) Hey, don't get pissy at them just yet. They'll help us find out where Wheeljack's going. Tell them to plant it on him.
Wrench_Medic: Affirmative.
LadiesMan217: We'll let Wheeljack go for three times, make sure he's always going to the same place. Then we'll wait till he leaves and then go to that place ourselves in Sasha.
Wrench_Medic: Sasha?
LadiesMan217: (Miles here again 3) My car. Scrubs reference. You should watch that show, it's based on human medicine. I think you'd love it.
Wrench_Medic: Oh. Perhaps I will give it a try. Thank you, I'll send the information to you after it's been collected each time. Have a nice night.
-Wrench_Medic has logged off

"Scrubs?" Sam asked in exasperation as he leaned back in his computer chair, "Really?"

Miles shrugged, "I like the show. Spread the love."

"What do you think Jack's up to?" Sam asked, logging off NBEC before Bumblebee realized he'd be staying up past bedtime and not getting the eight hours of sleep he needed. The Autobot could find other ways to annoy him to go to sleep, but he'd handle those later.

"Frag if I know, man. It's Jack. His last big project ended up giving me cat ears and tail," Miles pointed out. "I'm almost afraid to find out. It's Tuesday so if they get it on by tonight or tomorrow morning we should be good to go Friday or Saturday."

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped as a car horn blared loudly. He opened his window and leaned out. "It's guys night, Bee. We're not going to sleep! That's lame!"

Bumblebee only honked his horn again in reply, showing that he very much did not care what type of night it was.

"Remember when you were up for about three nights straight because you had that major math test that counted for most of your grade?" Miles inquired with a smirk, "I had come over half because Mikaela had sent me to try to annoy you to bed, and half to help you to study."

Sam sighed deeply, "Yeah. Bee got his holoform out and manhandled me into bed, then held me there until I gave in and fell asleep."

"I really don't think he'd be against doing that again." Miles stated, "And they can make more then one at a time. I don't feel like being mahandled by your Autobot."

Sam got up out of the chair and headed for his bed, then paused. "Wait, they can? Since when?"

"Since always, apparently. They just don't because it takes up too tiring to have two holoforms that can feel, smell, touch, etc and focus on both of them so they're both receiving all that sensory input at the same time. It's easier to have a holoform and hologram, but even that's supposedly over doing it." Miles replied, grabbing his pajama pants out of his back pack and putting them on.

"So is that what Prowl did to the twins?" Sam asked, changing into his own pajamas.

"Hologram wise, yeah." Miles smirked, then proceeded to jump on to Sam's bed and fight his friend for it. They only stopped when Bee honked his horn again.

The two had everything they needed ready to go by Friday. Thanks to the trackers, Ratchet was able to locate just where Wheeljack kept going. He had gone to the same place twice already, and he went there Friday night, too. It was a couple of hours away, a place in Nevada that actually had a bit of forest to it. The surrounding area where he had stopped was deserted, nothing but old factory buildings sitting there.

The teens had driven themselves to base in Miles' car, getting filled in on everything and a map from the CMO. Ratchet promised to set Wheeljack to work on something that would last him awhile and make sure he wouldn't go to wherever he was going to Saturday night.

They weren't expecting much trouble on base, but it was early Saturday that was the most trying for both of them. It seemed Barricade had finally had enough of the awkwardness and had asked to talk to Miles later that night, an obvious hint that he was probably going to apologize, but Miles wouldn't be there for it. Sam wasn't sure who had more trouble with that idea: Miles because he had to deliver that blow then run off, or Barricade because his apology was essentially just brushed off by an organic.

That, more than anything, was the main reason Miles and Sam set out as early as they did. They had originally been planning to leave at sunset, but now they were leaving before lunch, with a promise to call Ratchet when they arrived to let him know that they were safe.

They figured out quickly that wherever they were going wasn't going to have civilization anywhere near it, so they stopped and ate a quick lunch, Miles seeming to suddenly be in the mood to complain about everything now that he could no longer just make up with Barricade and had probably ruined any chances of it happening any time soon, driving Sam up the wall with his behavior.

After that it didn't take them too long to find where Wheeljack had been going, in part because Sam sped up to make them get there faster once they knew it was only through back roads where cops were unlikely to be. They came upon huge abandoned factory that looked like it had seen better days. There were several buildings, actually.

The one in the middle was the biggest and it looked like the doors had been bashed down, so they decided to start there. Sam fired off a text to Ratchet so the medic would know they were there and wouldn't worry. They entered the building then, stumbling around blindly because even though it was still light out the inside of the factory was incredibly black. They both cursed because neither of them had thought to bring a flashlight.

Miles was just slightly luckier in that Wheeljack's nanobots had improved the whatever in his eyes enough to aid him some, allowing him to walk around without tripping all over the place like Sam was. He figured Sam would be smart enough to eventually take out and use his phone as a light until he heard a loud thump and cussing.

"Fuck!" Sam cussed, scrambling back up. "I tripped over... a wire? It was plugged into the wall."

"Not plugged in anymore." Miles replied, moving closer to look at it with his friend before shrugging. "Doubt it's important, it's just a plug. This place is abandoned, what could it have even been plugged into that would still be working at this point?"

Sam shrugged as well and they continued searching for anything that might turn the lights on, or a hint at what Wheeljack had been up to. They both froze when they heard a loud roar, followed by several loud thumps. They looked at each other with wide eyes, both trying to think of explanations for what they had just heard.

"We really need to find those lights," Miles muttered, "And if we can't find them I say we just get the fuck outta dodge, because that sure as shit doesn't sound good."

Sam nodded his agreement and Miles took the lead, looking for anything that looked like it might turn on the lights. He was praying for a light switch, but if he would have welcomed a nice looking lever or some buttons. He didn't notice when Sam stopped following him until he heard Sam squeak.

"M-Miles?" Sam squeaked, and it could really only be defined as that. High pitched, laced with fear and sounding worried.

Miles turned quickly to see what was wrong, stumbling backwards in shock as a large shape darted down from the ceiling and grabbed Sam. Sam screamed, the thing spreading it's wings and flying up, breaking through the ceiling and sending pieces of rafter falling down on him. As the creature flew out into the open sky Miles saw that it was almost completely metallic, though he was unable to make out anything more than it had Sam grasped in it's claws.

"SAM!" Miles yelled, but it was useless and he knew it.

He stared up at the hole in the ceiling where the thing had flown out with Sam, trying to think of anything he could do to help his friend. There was no way he could follow the thing, it was long gone and he wasn't even that fast, nor did he know what direction it had taken Sam in. He would have thought it to be one of Soundwave's cassetticons if it hadn't been so much larger, able to lift Sam so easily.

He realized with a shock that he was alone, totally and completely. Sam had been taken by something and needed help, but Miles had no idea what to do. He had never felt so afraid, alone, and unsure in his life. At least when he had been facing Ravage he had people around he trusted and knew well, people he knew that could and would take a bullet for him. Now he had no one but himself, and he was just a weak little human. Not even military strong or smart.

He knew he was beginning to panic and that it was probably the worst thing he could do, so he took a few deep breaths and shoved his fears away as much as he could. He looked around for anything of use, freezing when his heightened hearing picked up movement outside the factory. He heard the same roar from before just as something slammed into the factory wall as if it was trying to get in, the siding near him bulging from the pressure.

He ran.

Barricade, Prowl, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Jazz, Ironhide, Will, and Epps were in the conference room, one of the few places that could hold so many mechs all in their bipedal mode. Ratchet was trying his hardest not to worry about the two organics he'd sent off on a private mission. He'd gotten a text from them half an hour before that they'd gotten there, but after that there'd been nothing. He'd even called Sam and the teen hadn't picked up. After his fears had grown he had summoned all of them into the same room because he imagined that, should something actually be amiss, they would be among those most likely to receive a call from either teen.

He had told them all why, of course. Bumblebee had already known somewhat, the others being completely in the dark about it. As Ratchet had promised the teens, he had long ago pulled rank and forced Wheeljack into recharge, so it would have been useless to try to question him. His medical overrides wouldn't allow the scientist to wake up until the next day around noon, and even he would have trouble bypassing them.

Right now they were just gossiping, having nothing else to do at this odd time of night just after dinner. The medic's attention was drawn to Epps as the Sergeant let out a surprised exclamation.

"Whoa, the Allspark shard was seriously missing?" Epps asked from his perch on Jazz's leg.

Prowl nodded, "It was. The footage had been tampered with and whoever took it left no traces behind. They returned it soon after, however."

"How long ago was this?" Ironhide growled, Will sitting on his shoulder. Ratchet wanted to growl with him. Neither of them had been in the know about it; from the look on Jazz's faceplates he hadn't known, either.

"A few days." Prowl replied simply, "Optimus and I saw no need to have everybody panic if it had been returned. We checked it and it is the same Allspark shard we originally had."

Ratchet narrowed his optics at this, "What's the 'but'?"

"It's weaker," Prowl said after a moment of hesitation, "Like some of the energy it contained has been used on something. We can't tell what."

"So ya saying that it's been taken, used, then returned? Ah think if it had been the Decepticons they woulda kept it." Jazz commented, faceplates carefully blank.

Barricade nodded, "I agree with Jazz. We never would have returned it if it was one of mine."

"So that means an Autobot took it," Will stated, slipping off of Ironhide's shoulder.

"At least we don't have to worry about tall, evil, and fugly then!" Epps added cheerfully.

They fell silent for awhile, some of them thinking about who could have taken it and why, and others just thankful that it didn't seem to have been used to revive Megatron. Barricade was lost in his own thoughts, so he didn't notice the first time an incoming call warning popped up on his HUD. By the time he did it was too late to answer, and he cursed out loud in Cybertronian, drawing the other's attention to him.

"Miles just called me and I missed it," Barricade ground out, glaring at all of them as if to dare them to say something.

He noticed that Ratchet seemed worried, but he was more surprised that the teen had actually called him. After the incident earlier that day he was sure that Miles wouldn't have bothered, or at least tried to hide away for a few days before showing his face again, because Barricade had been rightly angry. Miles called again, not even a full minute after his first attempt, and that told the 'con something was wrong. He routed the call through his speakers so that everyone and mech else in the room would be able to hear him and he them, picking up quickly..

"Barry?" They all heard, surprised by how panicked and breathless Miles sounded. "Thank God you picked up! I need help, they got Sam!"

Ratchet moved closer to Barricade quickly, "Miles, what's going on? Who's got Sam?"

"I don't kn-!" They heard Miles start to say, then freeze as something was knocked over in the background.

The teen stayed silent, so they all did, too, worried that anything they might say could only make whatever was happening worse. Barricade hacked into Miles' phone, using what little he knew from Frenzy to focus the coding on the sound programs so that they could hear better. With the sound quality increased they could hear Miles' deep breathing, along with the sound of something moving around near to him. They heard a loud bang as something else was knocked over, this time sounding much closer to where Miles was. Then Miles screamed.

"Miles?" Barricade called, "Miles, are you okay? Answer me!"

They could tell it was useless and that the 'con was going unheard. From what they could hear it sounded as if Miles was running, phone probably still in his hand, as something thundered after him. Whatever it was had to be big if it was making such a racket.

Bumblebee moved closer to Barricade and Ratchet, looking as panicked and as worried as a Cybertronian could get.

"They have Sam?" Bumblebee questioned, "I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone!"

"This is my fault, Bumblebee." Ratchet replied with a shake of his helm, "I asked them to go and wanted them to do so without any of us for a reason."

He didn't need to say that he had never dreamed it would be anything dangerous. The boys knew better at this point then to go near anything that looked like it might explode; what could have Wheeljack been doing in a place that would put them in danger?

"Shut up!" Barricade hissed at them.

They could all hear Miles come to a stop, the teen breathing harshly. They were relieved when Miles put the phone near his mouth again.

"I don't know what these things are! I think there's three, but..." Miles paused as he took another big gulp of breath, "What do I do? Oh God, I don't have any idea! The one's been chasing me for forever now, I was able to pull off some tricks but now all I can do is run as it breaks through things! And the other thing! It took Sam, just up and flew away with him!"

The teen fell silent and the room stayed silent as well, listening to Miles shuffle around in his panicked state. Prowl was trying to think of anything that could help the boy, they all were, but none had any idea what to say or what he was going up against. If it had been a Decepticon then the teen would have been able to tell them that, give them something to work with or allow them to barter with the potential enemy.

None of them tried to move from the room yet, knowing by the time they got there it would already be far too late. All they could do was wait, each individual trying to think of something to say to help.

"I think... yeah, if I can get up there then I could get through that window... maybe to the roof..." Miles mumbled.

It was obvious the teen was probably talking to himself, but none of them cared. They listened as he set the phone down, all of them noting several dragging sounds and then the teen grunting. He started muttering lowly almost as an afterthought, explaining to them that he was stacking a few boxes to try and aid him as he jumped into some of the low hanging rafters.

Ratchet thought this was a terrible idea, but he kept it to himself. They listened to Miles move things and mutter until he suddenly stopped.

"It's... Sam's alive! I can hear him yelling!" Miles sounded both happy and relieved for a split second. Then the teen seemed to realize just what that could mean and his tone changed completely, "Fuck, he's yelling. What am I supposed to do? If I could get out of this room I could try to find him, but one of them is out there. If I could break through the window I might be able to get there but I don't know how long that'll take! What if they're torturing him? I can't get to him yet!"

"Listen to me, Miles." Barricade commanded, putting on a tone that none in the room had heard yet. It was one that was obviously meant to calm and reassure the teen even as he cut off the organic's slightly hysterical rambling, "We'll be there as soon as we can. Ironhide is already half way there. Do anything you need to so that you can stay hidden but don't try to find Sam. If both of you are caught that would be even worse. Unless you can get out the window do not leave the room you are in."

No one called the Decepticon Neutral out on his lie, knowing it was meant to sooth the teen. Miles stayed silent for a moment, but they could hear a loud crash as something heavy rammed into something metal. By the way the teen gave an almost inaudible whimper it wasn't hard to tell that whatever had been chasing him was now trying to break into the room he was in.

"I have to try for the window," Miles said, voice unusually high as he set the phone back down.

There was another loud banging sound as they tried to figure out what the teen was doing. Within a minute the sound of boxes falling over came to them, followed by Miles grunting loudly.

"Okay," Miles' voice sounded far away from the phone at this point. "I got up to the rafters, I don't think it can get me from here."

Another loud bang echoed through the room he was in and they could hear the teen curse, although it was too low for them to tell what he said.

"Okay, this is just in case, got it?" The teen sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than them, "Tell my parents I love them. Fuck, Sam's too. Give Epps all my money so he can fucking bet it away, I don't even care anymore. Oh, and, all things considered, if it's my last chance to say it... technically, Barry, you apologized first. Even if it didn't actually happen it counts!"

The teen rambled off a few more things, everyone and mech just listening to him silently. A final loud crash rang out, followed by what they could only assume was the door meeting a rough ending on the ground.

"Is that a fucking...?" Miles' voice rang out clearly, full of disbelief. Then it was full of terror. "Fuck, it's going for the pillar, it knows I'm up here! Don't you dare you assho-!"

They heard whatever it was ram into the pillar, Miles' sentence ending in a choked scream. There was a loud thump and groan, the sound of the teen hitting the floor and being winded. Miles screamed again as the creature gave a loud roar, then there was nothing as the line went dead.

Everyone was shocked into silence for a second, looking at each other as if they were unsure what the proper reaction was. Barricade gave a loud snarl, transforming down into his alt mode and racing out of the room. Bumblebee was quick to follow, everymech else giving chase. Only Will and Epps were left behind.

Barricade and Bumblebee were the first to arrive at the secluded, seemingly abandoned factory. Ratchet, Jazz, Prowl, and Ironhide were quick to follow, though. All of the Cybertronians changed into their bipedal modes as they moved in group towards the main building of the factory, where Miles' car was directly parked outside of.

Prowl was about to say something, going to suggest they devise a plan first, but Ratchet put up a servo to silence him. Barricade and Bumblebee walked right in, Bumblebee's plasma cannons charged up and Barricade looking murderous even just with his claws. The other four followed their lead, but they all stopped when something swooped down from the sky and landed in front of them. They all looked at the thing in slight shock as it spread it's wings at them in a threatening manner.

"Is that..." Ironhide sounded unusually thunderstruck, "Is that a slagging robotic dinosaur?"

"It doesn't matter!" Bumblebee decided with a growl, "This is the thing that took Sam!"

The Scout took aim and immediately fired a shot. The first one missed, but the creature obviously took it as the threat it was and immediately started to cower away from them, surprising them all. Bumblebee charged up his cannon for another shot, getting ready to aim once more when an angry voice stopped him.

"BUMBLEBEE!" Sam yelled, the teen sounding absolutely furious. They were all surprised when he appeared from around the side of the main building, the creature immediately turning tail and running behind him. They watched as it attempted to cower behind him ineffectively, being over half Sam's size.

"You put that cannon away right now," Sam ordered, putting his hands on his hips as he glared up at his Guardian.

Bumblebee listened immediately to his Charge, more than happy to just see him alive. They watched as Sam turned around and cooed at the thing, stroking one of it's wings and trying to get it to stop cowering.

"Aw, look what you did! You scared Swoop!" Sam exclaimed, continuing to try to comfort Swoop.

"Samuel," Prowl started carefully, "What exactly is Swoop?"

Ratchet decided he simply didn't care what Swoop was or why Swoop existed, reaching out a servo to pick Sam up and check him closely for any injuries. He could have easily scanned him, and in fact he did a minor one, but it was nice to feel his patient and make sure on a more personal level. He stopped when Swoop immediately stepped in front of Sam to guard him.

Sam laughed, "It's okay Swoop, they're friends. This is Swoop. Me 'n Miles have nicknamed him and his brothers the Dinobots. I'm pretty sure he's a Pteranodon."

"What the frag is going on around here?" Ironhide demanded, glaring at Swoop.

"I'll take you guys to Miles, Grimlock, and Snarl." Sam replied, patting one of Swoop's arms. The Pteranodon took this as a signal to pick the teen up, and Sam then patted his helm. "Come on, Swoop. Let's go see the others."

They followed Swoop as he led them inside the main building. The lights had been turned on, a few illuminating the place as they moved deeper into it. They entered a large room to see Miles sitting in front of a large robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Triceratops. Swoop paused there, setting Sam down when the teen patted him on the arm again. They all looked closely at the Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurus Rex, noticing that they appeared to be trying to hold some type of playing cards. They kept falling out of their hands, and eventually the Tyrannosaurus Rex seemed to have enough of it, just tossing the rest of his cards down. Miles didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Me Grimlock HATE FISH GO!" The Tyrannosaurus Rex all but roared, causing Sam and Miles to wince at the level as Grimlock stood up, slamming his tail on the ground to show he was angry, if anyone had been stupid enough to miss it.

"Grimmy!" Miles admonished, "What did I tell you about using your inside voice? And it's Go Fish, not Fish Go."

Grimlock seemed to lose his anger quickly, sitting back down as he sulked. "Me Grimlock sorry."

"It's alright, Grimmy. Just try not to do it again." Miles soothed, patting Grimlock's side. He finally noticed Sam and Swoop with the others, grinning. "Hey guys! About time you showed up. We were running low on junk food to keep us awake."

Sam nodded, "No way are we going to bed before these oversized sparklings."

His tone was oddly affectionate as he moved closer, picking up the cards that Grimlock and Snarl had dropped. It was clear that the two teens were viewing the Dinobots, as they had been dubbed, almost as if they were children, and were treating them accordingly. Sam used the same exact tone when he talked to Annabelle.

"Ah don't think I get what's goin' down," Jazz spoke up, voicing the confusion for all of them. "Someone care to explain it to meh?"

"Well, as you know Ratchet asked us to sneak here to see what Wheeljack was up to," Sam said, switching places with Miles so his friend could stand and stretch while he sat down on Swoop's feet. "These guys are what he's been up to, apparently. I think we accidentally woke them up when I pulled out some plug, but this was the first time ever according to Grimmy, so they were all very frightened and curious. Swoop grabbed me, but we quickly managed to work it out. However, Miles was stuck with Grimmy and Snarl."

Miles picked up the conversation now, "These guys don't seem to be the smartest, or maybe it's because they're so young, but either way they gave chase because they see this as their territory since they woke up here. I heard Sam yelling because he and Swoop were trying to get their attention. Oh, and Grimlock stepped on my phone, think the government will reimburse me on that? Mom'll be pissed. That's the second phone this year."

The group of Cybertronians stared at the trio of Dinobots and the two teens. However scared they may have been initially, neither were showing any sort of fear now, having obviously become attached to the three that had frightened them so. Miles went about putting the cards and all the trash lying on the ground away.

"We do have one question ourselves, though." Sam said, looking at the 'bots expectantly.

Barricade and Ratchet exchanged weary glances, and Bumblebee looked confused. Ironhide was the one who asked what they wanted to ask, ignoring Prowl as he glared at him.

Sam and Miles looked at each other, then clasped their hands together in front of their chests in a begging manner, putting on their best puppy dog looks, pleading eyes and pout pushed up to the max. "Can we keep 'em? Please, please, pleaseeee?"

"Frag." Ironhide cussed, and his fellow Cybertronians couldn't help but agree.

An eventful hour later showed that it was Wheeljack who had taken the Allspark shard, using it to create the Dinobots for some reason. Prowl and Ratchet were both furious at the scientist and planned to grill him about it later when they returned to base and he woke up. Not even Ratchet would go against his own medical overrides, though, so they would have to wait until later the next day. Optimus had been called and informed of the situation, driving to the abandoned factory with his trailer so that they could pile the Dinobots into it and drive them back safely and secretly that way. later

Miles was sitting inside of Barricade, stretched out in the backseat comfortably and stroking some of what he could reach in a form of petting. The two sat in relative silence for awhile, the 'con keeping the teen updated on what was going on for most of the hour. The teen gave an occasional yawn, more than a bit tired, but he kept up his ministrations against the inside of Barricade's interior anyway.

"Are you okay?" Barricade finally asked, talking quietly through his radio.

"Yeah," Miles replied tiredly, sounding as exhausted as he felt. "I think so. I mean, excluding the fact I almost pissed myself when a Tyrannosaurus Rex broke into the room I was hiding in and advanced."

"You must have been frightened."

"I ran and nearly cried like a little kid for over an hour because of Grimmy and Snarl," Miles retorted with a snort. "I was a bit beyond frightened. And it's funny to me now, because I know them and they're nothing but over-sized children. I think they're just sparklings, really. They had to have been just afraid as I was. I've never been so terrified in my life, not even when I saw Soundwave or went against Ravage, and now I'm treating the things that were scaring me so badly like little siblings."

"I was... worried," Barricade admitted. "When you called like that, with the following conversation, I was not sure we would get here in time. I feared that you would be dead."

"Oh, I think I could have died happy. You were going to apologize first," Miles teased.

Barricade stayed silent instead of bothering to growl, surprising the teen. He was surprised even more when he felt the backseat mold against him, providing better support and allowing his body to relax more.

"Yeah, okay." Miles sighed, "I thought I was gonna die too, Barry. And it's okay, I get you have this whole 'I don't feel anything like weak emotions, especially if they tie me to inferior beings' thing going on, the big bad 'con that you are. But you can't expect me to just stick around and take that! I was pissed and I had a right to be. That was me you and Bee were tearing apart and fighting over, you fucking asswipe."

"I did not think you would walk in on us," Barricade admitted quietly. "You had been gone most of the day and usually I get a text or-"

"It does not make me feel any better that you were only getting so pissy because I wasn't there to hear it," Miles cut in. "Because you were still saying those things."

"I..." Barricade vented sharply, "That is an understandable point. I have reservations about appearing too close to anyone and it appears organics even more so; Bumblebee saw this and picked at it. I overreacted."

It was as close to another apology that Miles was going to get, even though the first one had never been officially said. The teen sighed happily, accepting it for what it was, and stretched contentedly. He was about to drift off when he remembered something.

"Barry?" He asked softly, half asleep but fighting falling asleep the whole way.

He only got the radio turning on and playing soft music as a reply, Barricade trying to lull him to sleep. Miles knew Ratchet had recommended it, for both him and Sam, but the teen had fought it so far. He thought about teasing the 'con since he was doing Prowl's job, but decided against it so he could be even more honest for a bit.

"No matter what I'll never be sorry that you revealed yourself to me, so don't be stupid enough to blame yourself when something happens to me." Miles ordered, "It'll probably be my own stupid fault, anyway, so just promise that you'll try to help if it's really bad and we'll be golden. Oh, and I'd take you cutting back on being such a huge aft, but I know that's asking a lot."

He felt Barricade's frame shake with silent laughter, smiling widely because that told him that what he had said had been appreciated, and perhaps even agreed with. The teen decided that if it took thinking he was going to die to make him be more openly emotional with the 'con and for him to react likewise then they could just stay the way they were for all he cared.

Sam sat inside of Bumblebee, getting the Autobot to call Epps. After a few rings he could hear Epps' voice come through the radio. "Whassup Sammy, lil B?"

"Who won the bet this time?" Sam asked, grinning.

"Fucking Optimus," Epps grumbled. "He had 'Miles being put in danger somehow so Barricade apologizes or Miles freaks and apologizes because he doesn't want to die without doing so'. Prowl was close, but he said Barricade being put in danger. I can see why Optimus chose him as SIC, they think pretty similar. What do you think boss bot' is gonna do with the money, anyway?"

Before Sam could reply Bumblebee chose a song he thought appropriate, "Vacation all I ever wanted! Vacation had to get away!"

Sam and Epps laughed.