Ratchet's P.O.V:
For the past three days I've done nothing but examine and study the energon cube I found in storage. After showing Optimus my finding, the both of us checked the rest of the supplies and to our horror in the way back we found seven energon cubes of the same fate.
By now the cube was finished with its bubbling but the gray had somehow darkened. I had no clue as to what was causing this to the energon. I've done a tainted test, a spoiled test, infected, I even check for any form of a human virus but I still found nothing. Besides the fact that it was a deeper gray, the cube seemed to have nothing wrong with it.
"what am I missing? What am I forgetting to check?" I asked myself as I pinched the area between my optics. A habit I picked up from the humans but none more so than Juliana who repeated this action as many times as Miko got detention. "I am sure old friend that you will find out this situation soon."
Turning to the open med-bay door, I saw Optimus standing there looking at the energon cube. "I really hope so Optimus. until I check the other cubes and this one again I will be unable to tell if the others are going to go into this state." I said as I took a needle and took a large sample of the energon.
"Do you think this is some form of contamination?" Optimus asked as he stood next to me as I studied the sample under a microscope. "Possibly. But with my earlier findings I find it highly unlikable." Taking my optics away from the sample, I gave off an irritated groan. "I just can't find anything wrong with this energon. It just like nothing is wrong with it at all."
Optimus nodded and looked over at the cube again. "Ratchet we will need to inform the others of this. This concerns them as much as us." I nodded but I knew this was not going to end well. "Very well. Let's go find them."
As we both exited the med-bay, we were both surprised to see that only Arcee was here and she was standing up against the wall with an angry expression on her. "Arcee, where are the others?" I asked and she only shrugged.
"Probably off with Juliana at Miko's house. They've planned something for some show that's coming up and Miko insisted on keeping it a secret. I didn't like the idea of leaving them alone but Miko said Bulkhead would be enough." The look in Arcee's optics showed that she was indeed angered that she wasn't needed.
"Must be something special Arcee. Maybe Juliana will inform us of it on a later date." Optimus said but the look Arcee gave off showed that she wasn't happy with the idea of hearing it from Juliana.
"Why do you give Juliana such a hard time Arcee?" I asked bluntly and it took both Optimus and Arcee by surprise. "What do you mean?" Arcee asked as she pushed herself off the wall.
"You know what I mean. Ever since Juliana began to stay with us you have done nothing to do with her; she tries to talk to you all you do is stay silent, when she and Jack ask for a ride all you say is that you have only enough room for Jack. Why are you purposely pushing her away?!"
Arcee stood there silently as Optimus and I watched and waited for her to answer. "Arcee?" Optimus asked slowly, trying to show he was also curios but he also didn't want to anger her. "You really want to know why? Well Fine! I don't want to be around her because she reminds me of my own Sparkling!"
Optimus and I stood there in silence, this took us both by surprise. "Juliana is acts so much like my own Sparkling, like Starchaser. And I don't want to lose her just like Starchaser. My little Sparkling was offlined because of this war and I don't want to become attached to Juliana just to see that happen to her!" Arcee shouted and I couldn't bring myself to speak.
I knew very well that Arcee's past was a troubled one, beginning with Tailgate and more recently Cliffjumper, but knowing this only made the troubles increase. "Arcee, I can promise you that nothing like that will ever happen to Juliana. You have my word." Optimus spoke softly and he placed a gently servo on her shoulder plating.
Arcee looked at the floor for a moment but after a while she looked up with a smile. "I am sorry to find out about your loss Arcee." I said and Arcee nod. "It's alright Ratchet."
Suddenly a call came in and we looked over at the computers to see that it was Juliana. Walking over to the computers I answered the call. "Hey Ratchet. Can I ask you guys there a favor?" Juliana's voice asked over the call. "What is it Juliana?" I asked "I need a lift to the mall. I need to pick something up for this project Miko has us doing."
Just as I was about to answer and tell her I would be there someone placed there servo on my shoulder plating. "I'll take you Juliana." Looking over my shoulder I saw Arcee standing next to me with a smile. "Arcee? Really, I mean, if it's no trouble. Optimus can take me or Ratchet." Juliana's voice sounded surprised but also a little excited. Juliana had told me previously that she looked up to Arcee as an great influence and hearing this must be making her day.
"There's no problem Juliana. I'll be there in a little bit to pick you up." As I ended the call I looked over at Arcee with a surprised smile. "Maybe I have been kind of, sort of, been a little bit of a glitch towards Juliana." I nodded and crossed my arms; meaning I was waiting for more. "And I should have given her a more friendlier welcome." I nodded again and I began to walk away from the computers.
"You best get going, Juliana's waiting." I said and before I could turn around I heard Arcee riding off. "I think she finally excepts Juliana Optimus." I stated as I began to walk towards the med-bay. "I agree Ratchet." as he began to follow me I remembered that we were supposed to tell the others about the energon but I decided that it could wait for a later date.
OoOoOoOoOo
Juliana's P.O.V:
As I walked down the many different isles with Arcee's holoform, I couldn't help but hold a smile on my face. With ever Autobot I had a special relationship; Bulkhead was like my over protective older brother, Bumblebee was my kid brother, Optimus was like the father I never had and Ratchet… okay, Ratchet was still kind of a mystery to me. Maybe he was like my best best friend or something.
But with Arcee, I never could form some form of bond since she would always push me away with my attempts to befriend her. But now for some odd reason Arcee had offered to take me to the mall and we were both having the time of our lives.
"So what about this one, it's not pink and it somewhat looks nice?" Arcee asked as she held up a short gray and purple dress that had a large flower on the front. "No, the flower ruined it." I said as Arcee placed it back on the rack.
"Why are you looking for a dress anyway? You don't strike me as what Miko calls a 'Dressy-Dress' kind of girl." Arcee asked and I had to nod. "Yeah, but I made this deal with Miko and she said that part of it was that I needed to wear a dress. I'm just lucky that she allowed me to choose it."
Walking down the many other dresses, Arcee strode alongside me with a happy smile. Taking a glance at Arcee's holoform I had to emit that she was very beautiful. Arcee had short brown hair that stopped at the neckline but she had a few blond highlights in the front, she was just a little bit taller than I was, she was on the very skinny factor but it fit her perfectly, her eyes were still a dazzling blue with a light purple/pink around her pupils, and her face had a natural blush to it. Her clothing was a normal pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt but she had on her a necklace that sported a red Autobot symbol.
"How about when we find your dress, we go and find you something to eat than go look for some stuff to spruce up your room?" Arcee offered and I had to smile happily. "Sounds Great! Hey, look at this one." Picking out a dress from its hiding spot, both Arcee and I stood there in awe of it.
"That would definitely work for you." "Truly this is the one." We agreed as we continued to look at the dress. "Let's go pay for it than and after that we can have some fun." Arcee said as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and led me to the counter.
Like I had said before I had special relationships with each of the Autobots; Bulk and Bee were my Brothers, Optimus my Father, and Ratchet my Best Friend. Arcee… she was something special, she had taken two rolls that no one else could take. Arcee acted as both my caring older sister but she also took a role that I once had but it was never full there; Arcee had taken the roll of my loving Mother.
OoOoOoOoOo
1 week later:
Well, the talent show was only a few days away and to say I was nervous was an understatement; I was nothing more that flat out terrified.
Besides going to practice with Miko, Jack and Raf, I mostly would stay hold up in my room with Squirt. Optimus and Ratchet would come in from time to time and ask if everything was okay and say that the others were starting to worry about me but I just told them that I was fine and that they had nothing to worry about.
As I lay in my hammock, with Squirt sitting down on my stomach, I looked to the ceiling absent-mindedly. "/Something is bothering you Juliana. What is it?/" the voice said in a calming tone. Over the course of time since I returned from my disappearing act I have grown accustomed to hearing him from time to time. And yes, I call the voice him now as well as Mister. I had to call him something, it was starting to become difficult talking to him as if he wasn't there.
"Just getting kind of nervous for this big show we're having in a few days Mister. Miko's been pestering me to be ready or else she's taking all my clothes and replacing them with pink." I said with a shudder. "/what is there to be nervous about? I am more than certain that you all will do well. Do you plan on tell the Autobots of your upcoming event?/"
I shook my head, "No, I am having problems knowing the fact that the whole school is going to watch me, I don't want to have the thought of having Ratchet and the others there watching too." As I waited for a while for him to respond I heard a light laugh come up and I had to glare at the ceiling.
"What's so funny?" I asked and the laughing increased a little. "Nothing, it was just the way how you only mentioned Ratchet's name and not the others./"
At noticing this my face began to blush an extreme red. "So?! I could have mentioned the others I just didn't want to. What's it matter to you anyway?" I asked sharply and it caused Squirt to move closer to my face to see what I was yelling at.
"/Never mind young one. I meant nothing by it. But you should tell the others; I am sure they would enjoy it as much as I./" I couldn't help but blush some more but it soon stopped as Squirt decided to play with my nose and hair. "I think Squirt here is trying to figure out who it is I'm talking to Mister."
Again Mister's laugh rolled through my ears and I had to join in as well as Squirt decided that he would start to look for Mister in my ear. "Cut it out Squirt, I don't think he's in there." Sitting up, I picked Squirt up and set him down on the floor. "Why don't you go take a snack break Squirt?"
As soon as Squirt hit the floor, he rushed over to his pen that the money Agent Fowler had given to me from the government had bought. It was a good sized one and it kept Squirt in my room and out of Ratchet's way during school. Walking up the side of it, Squirt than entered through the open door and sat right next to his food dish and happily munched on some fruit.
"/That little creature is still an oddity to me Juliana./" Mister said and I shrugged, "That's kind of understandable but he too cute to really care." I said and before Mister could even answer back the door opened to show Optimus standing there with this confused look on his face.
"Juliana, were you speaking with someone?" he asked as he took one step and was fully in my room. "Just Squirt Optimus, no one else is here to talk to besides you." I said quickly and it caused Optimus to give me a confused look. "Is there something I can do for you?" I asked trying to lead him away from what just happened.
"Nothing much, it is just that Ratchet and I need to show everyone something and that everyone includes you." Optimus said as he bent down and lowered his hand for me to climb on. "Okay, Let's go."
Sliding onto his hand, Optimus slowly lifted himself up and walked out the door and closed it behind him. As we walked down the hall, I noticed that Optimus was heading towards the med-bay.
As we entered the med-bay doors, I finally saw everyone else was waiting for us. Bumblebee looked at me and Optimus than over to Ratchet and gave off a few beeps.
"Juliana stays here with us as well Bumblebee, so this matter concerns her as well." Ratchet said, answering my question to what Bumblebee had said.
"What is this 'matter' anyway Ratchet? I have to take Juliana over to Miko's soon." Arcee asked as Optimus placed me in her hand and walked over towards Ratchet.
"The matter is Arcee is that Ratchet and I have found something that concerns our wellbeing." Optimus said as Ratchet pushed a cart out with something covered in a large blanket. "What we are about to show you all we cannot find the cause of but you all must know of it."
As Ratchet pulled the blanket away, I leaned closer to get a better view but as soon as the blanket was gone I wished I hadn't.
Under the blanket stood a energon cube but this cube was a sickly gray and the edges of it gave off a deadly looking color of red.
OoOoOoOoOo
Ratchet's P.O.V:
The looks from the others told me that what they were looking at was far from what they were expecting. But I couldn't really blame them; the energon was still gray but now the edges of the cube had turned red and the smell was somewhat of a mix between burnt objects and rotten energon.
"Ratchet what is that?" Bulkhead asked but I could only shrug. "To be honest Bulkhead, I don't have a clue. Optimus and I found many others like this and I have yet to find out what is the cause of it."
"That thing smells awful! Luckily I haven't eaten yet or I would have purged already." Juliana spoke as she turned in Arcee's servo to where she had her body facing away from the cube but she still had her eyes on it.
"Is it some form of a virus Ratchet? Could it spread through to the other cubes?" Arcee asked as she pulled Juliana closer to her. "No, I check that. Whatever caused this isn't able to spread to the others; from the little information I found it happens to the energon singly and after it happens it doesn't spread."
Placing the cover back on the cube, I turned to a screen and showed the file I had created on the gray energon. "Everything looks normal. Even the chemicals in it look fine." I stated as I looked over at the others, but none of their faces confused me more than Juliana's.
Juliana was still looking at the now covered energon cube with what looked to be guilt in her eyes. As I continued to watch her, I noticed her lips move slightly but I heard nothing loud enough to make out.
"Something troubling you Juliana?" Optimus' voice spoke out; he must have seen her conflicted looks as well. "Nothing, it's just that…" she stopped herself and this caused everyone to look down at her. "What is it Juliana?" I asked rubbing a digit on her back side.
"I'm just worried is all. If this this 'problem' takes a turn for the worst… I just don't want to see any of you get hurt." Juliana's voice sounded like she was on the brink of tears and she lowered her head to where it rested on her knees.
"Juliana you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure Ratchet here can find out what the problem is; can't you Ratchet?" Bulkhead said in a positive tone and I nodded slowly. "You have nothing to worry about Juliana, you have my word that this will be solved as quickly as possible."
Juliana raised her head to look at me and I saw he smile lightly. "Thanks Ratchet." I nodded back but I was just hoping that I could keep that promise.
OoOoOoOoOo
Juliana's P.O.V:
After Arcee had taken me back to my room and I had made sure that no one was listening. I growled and turned my attention to the ceiling. "Why didn't you tell me that I was doing that to the energon!"
I waited a few minutes and sure enough Mister's voice sprung up in my head. /"I didn't think it would concern you and I highly thought that the Autobots wouldn't tell you about it./" his voice was its normal mellow tone; almost as if he didn't care about that something could be going wrong.
"Concern me?! I might be causing serious damage to them! If I had known that by doing this I would most likely be killing them, I would have never listened to you!" I shouted out loud enough to cause Squirt to chitter in concern.
/"you shouldn't be worrying yourself over this. You are nearly back to your normal strength and then it will be over."/ Mister's voice raised a little in anger but he still somehow managed to sound calm.
"Well, I am worrying over it and I've come to a decision. I am no longer going to be going back to the energon storage room and I am as Sure as God himself am not going to cause any more damage to the team." I shouted out loud and plopped down in my hammock.
/"that is very unwise Juliana. You need your strength for the up coming events, you must continue on with this. Your last trip was over a week and a half ago; you'll be needing the energy soon./" Mister now sounded forceful but I only shook my head. "You're just a voice in my head. You can't make me do anything. All I have to do is just ignore you." Turning onto my side, I closed my eyes as Mister's voice continued on trying to convince me to continue but I would never again do it. No matter what happened.
Another CHPTR done, YES!
To me this was more of a filler CHPTR so I might update the next CHPTR quickly to fill the void ( or something like that).
Review please. i enjoy your reviews!