Disclaimer: All Transformers characters belong to Hasbro. Any made up characters were created by me.
Summery: Transformers Prime Universe. Set in season one, following the episode cannon loosely. Arcee discovers a secret about her past and has to learn to live with it. Can she move forward to a peaceful future?
"blah" – Normal human speak
"blah" – Cybertronian speak
blah – thinking
'blah' – Comm. Speaking
'Blah' – text message
-blah- - Bonded talk
Shadows of the Past
By Yami-Yugi3
Chapter 5
The next day, the children were getting picked up after a good breakfast. They all arrived at the base and decided to have some quiet time. Bumblebee and Rafael raced while Miko drew on her sketch pad. Jack and Melissa talked over their school subjects. Everything was fine until an alert rang out. "What's going on?" Jack asked.
"The Decepticons have found something," Optimus told the children.
"That's not good. What is it?" Melissa asked.
"A data cylinder, from Cybertron..."
"Autobots, we need to go recover the data cylinder before the Decepticons get it. It contains historical information that we may need. We can't let it fall into Decepticon hands."
"Alright then. Let's go," said Arcee. Bumblebee decided he wanted to go too.
"I'll come race with you, Raf," Melissa smiled.
"Thanks."
"Let's roll," Optimus said as Arcee and Bumblebee joined him.
Ratchet activated the ground bridge as Bulkhead watched. "Not going, Bulkhead?" Melissa asked.
"Not right now. They'll be able to recover a cylinder. It's a small team of Cons anyway."
"Great! Cuz I want to get a good rendering of you for my sketch book," smiled Miko.
"Okay," he smiled going over to her and striking a pose.
Prowl and Jazz had come into the main room. "What happened?" Prowl asked.
"We've found an old Cybertronian Data Cylinder."
"One made it this far, Ratch?"
"Apparently."
"What's so important about a cylinder?" Miko asked.
"It's not just a cylinder. It's a data cylinder containing historical knowledge from Cybertron. It might be knowledge from the ancients even."
"We sent them out in space to keep out of Deceptions hands." Prowl said.
"Oh."
"Sounds like a good thing to go after," Melissa said.
"Yeah," agreed Jack. Ratchet watched the computers while everyone went back to what they were doing.
"Wow, you're good, Raf," Melissa smiled as she was beaten again.
"Thanks."
"Oh hey! You want to show the others footage from that Monster Truck Rally we saw last week Bulk?"
"Monster trucks?" Melissa asked, curious but not completely excited.
"Yeah," Miko smiled. "We'll show you. Were you done racing?"
"For now," Rafael said. Miko turned the tv to the Rally.
"Check it out!" Miko smiled.
"...Blood sport..." Ratchet said, shaking his head.
"Well, they're not sentient like you guys," Melissa said. "It's still loud and crazy though. It's not my thing. Raf, why don't you, me, and Jack go somewhere else? I'm sure we can find something to do."
"Yeah, I'm okay with that," said Jack.
"Koyaah! Awesome!"
"Yeah..." Bulkhead said. Melissa, Rafael, and Jack had gathered their things and went to another room down the hall. Miko and Bulkhead watched the rest of the rally, with Ratchet tuning it out as best he could.
"Bulkhead?" Optimus comm. linked. "Bulkhead we need back up." Prowl looked away, not wanting to watch any more himself.
"Come on, Prowler. We're not needed right now. Remember though, they're not living beings like us."
"I know but still..." Jazz just shrugged and led his mate elsewhere.
"I'll be right there Optimus." Bulkhead said. Ratchet activated the ground bridge and sent Bulkhead to them. Miko sighed as she watched her friend leave.
"I have a special mission for you too, Miko."
"Really?" she asked, excited and smiling. He handed her a mop and a bucket. "Awww..." She sighed heavily and took them to go clean up. She waited until he wasn't looking and dashed out of the quickly disappearing ground bridge. Everyone was fighting over the Data Cylinder, and no one had noticed Miko yet.
"Whoa..." she said in awe. A Decepticon drone almost hit her as she ducked for cover. She immediately recovered and that's when she saw the cylinder. She started to crawl towards it in the midst of everything. When she got to it she called Ratchet on her cell phone.
"Miko?" he looked around. She wasn't at the base! "Miko where are you?"
"I'm right next to it."
"Next to what?"
"The data device thingy."
"The data cylinder?"
"Yeah, can you give me a ground bridge to bring it back?"
"Activating original bridge location, now."
"Can you make the bridge any closer?"
"I need coordinates."
"Like fifty yards closer?"
"EXACT coordinates." She growls in irritation as she tried to push or pull the cylinder closer to the bridge. When it didn't budge she gave it a good kick. It hummed loudly and started to power up.
"...What...?"
"MIKO!" Bulkhead cried as he came over to push her out of the way. He landed with his head right in front of the cylinder. It zapped him with a red energy beam, knocking him unconscious. Optimus, Arcee, and Bumblebee ran over to him.
"Ratchet, we need a ground..." Optimus stopped as they rushed into the already open bridge. They spied Miko standing there. "What happened?" Optimus asked.
"Bulkhead got zapped by the data cylinder. Why did it do that?"
"It's a defense mechanism that kicks in if an enemy alien tried to force the data from it."
"Why didn't it go off earlier then? They were Cons all over it."
"Decepticons are Cybertronian. It wouldn't see them as a threat."
"But humans are foreign aliens. It should have shot the data out into space, but Bulkhead stopped it when he was trying to save you."
"...Oh..." Ratchet gave Bulkhead a once over glance and gave him a clean bill of health for the moment.
"C'mon, Bulk. I still haven't finished my picture of you."
"Alright."
She showed him the mop and the bucket she should have been using to clean up. "Hey, got any paint in here?" she smiled.
A bit later Miko ran to Ratchet. "Hey Ratchet, you got to see what Bulkhead is painting in there."
He rolled his optics. "I'm sure it's just some reproduction of an earth painting..."
"The mech's talking like Percy." Jazz said as he pokes his head in as well.
"...That's not art...it's...it's science..." Ratchet said wide optic.
"What?" Miko asked.
"C'mon, Bulkhead. I need to see what's going on." He pulled Bulkhead away and took him to Medical to get a scan.
Once in Medical, he hooked up a diagnostic line to Bulkhead's processor. A picture of his processor appeared on the screen with a red, highlighted area in the center. "Living data is inhabiting Bulkhead's processor. The beam from the cylinder was the data emptying out."
"Like Optimus was explaining before," said Miko.
"Yes."
"So, what kinda info we talking about?" Jazz asked.
"It appears it's a formula for synthetic energon."
"That's cool Ratch."
"Wow! You're a total genius now, Bulk!" smiled Miko.
"Yeah...I guess so. Let's get back to painting."
"Okay," Miko smiled.
"I'm worried about Bulkhead, Ratch." Jazz said.
"I wouldn't concern yourself yet."
"Aww...c'mon, Bulkhead... Aren't you done painting that formula yet?" Bulkhead kept on saying science mumbo jumbo as he painted.
"...amplified to the third power..."
Miko sighed as she hooked up her guitar. "You want amplified?"
She played a very loud cord, startling Bulkhead. "What was that?!"
"Metal. You LOVE Metal."
"I'm trying to concentrate."
"Hey...remember when Wheeljack fought off those Decepticons?"
"Who?"
"You're best friend in the whole world, besides me. You remember...don't you?" she added sadly.
"Of course, you're..." She ran over to Ratchet who was talking to Optimus.
"I thought he was purging the data...but it's..."
"...Taking over his mind..."
"...Erasing everything but the data."
"Ratchet. Bulkhead's totally going nutso over there. He's lost it." Ratchet only stared at her. "You...already know, don't you?"
"We didn't want to frighten you, Miko. Don't worry, Optimus has a plan."
"But Optimus isn't Bulkhead's doctor. I...I need to know...is he going to be okay?" she pleaded with him. Ratchet wasn't sure what to tell her.
"...I-Is he...?" she sniffled, tearing up. All Ratchet could do was stare at her solemnly. She turned away sadly. She knew what she had to do. She went back to the main room where Bulkhead was painting. Optimus and the others were currently fighting for the cylinder.
She took the mop away from Bulkhead. "Hey, I needed that."
She typed on the keyboard and made the ground bridge open. "C'mon, Bulk. You want to finish your formula, don't you?" Bulkhead willing followed. Melissa and Jack came to check on Miko and Bulkhead.
"Where did Miko and Bulkhead go?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, she seemed fine awhile ago," Melissa said. "Everything okay?" She looked at Ratchet. "Something's' wrong, isn't it?" Ratchet sighed.
"Is something wrong with Bulkhead?" Jack asked.
"I don't want to frighten you." he said.
"Okay, spill it, Doc Bot," Melissa said seriously with her hands on her hips. Ratchet explained to them what happened and Bulkhead's fate. "...Poor Miko..." Melissa sighed.
"Is there something we can do to help?" Jack added.
"No..."
"Jack, we need to go find Miko. Where Miko is, Bulkhead might be."
"Okay." Jack and Melissa left, looking around the base to find the two. They didn't know how far away they were. Miko walked around the Monster Truck Rally stadium to try and jog Bulkhead's memory.
"Come on Bulkhead, don't you remember. We went here last week." He just continued to mumble on and paint the walls. "C'mon Bulkhead...remember? We LOVE Smash Monkey and you help me with my homework. -laugh- Trick question. You know I don't do homework...don't you?" Bulkhead just continued to work.
"...Bulkhead..."
"Let's hurry up and find him..." sighed Breakdown as he and Knockout arrived on the scene.
"Bulkhead, we got to hide."
"...energon squared to the tenth power..."
"Bulkhead!" she whispered. "If we don't hide now, they'll...steal the formula!"
"My equations!" Miko led him deep into the parking lot where all the monster trucks were parked.
"Bulkhead...come out where ever you are." Knockout taunted.
Knockout and Breakdown searched the trucks. "Bulkhead...that you?" Breakdown smirked, smashing every truck. Knockout started to chase Miko as she searched for a cell phone signal. Knockout lifted up cars as she kept ducking for cover. Breakdown saw her run past a few times and went to smash her. "Forget the human. Hide and Seek is only fun when you're winning." Knockout smirked as he figured out where Bulkhead was.
"Bulkhead..." smiled Breakdown as they neared him.
"Found you," smiled Knockout. Bulkhead transformed and started painting part of the formula on Knockout's chest plate.
Knockout froze, wide optic. "...You...You painted my paint job! PREPARE FOR SURGERY!" he growled, stretching out his claws. Breakdown came over and knocked Bulkhead to the ground, unconscious. "...Heads...you lose," Knockout smirked, moving Bulkhead's head up. He transformed one of his hands into a saw and slowly brings it close to Bulkhead's neck.
"BULKHEAD! NO!" Miko screamed, running over to fight Knockout. She missed and bumped against Bulkhead's head. His optics opened, two red beams coming out. It was the data expelling itself. "...I did it again?" she sniffled.
"Hmmm dead battery." Knockout said.
"Megatron's gonna kill us for this..." huffed Breakdown.
"So we'll just have to kill you," smirked Knockout. He turned his saw towards Miko. Miko looked scared before a ground bridge opened and the other Autobots came rushing out.
"Let's...peel out of here..." suggested Knockout.
"Right behind you." Breakdown said. They transformed and left. Miko went over to Bulkhead. She started sobbing. Jazz looked worried.
Arcee looked worried too. "Let's get him back to base. It's not certain yet," said Optimus.
It took the Autobots that was there to get Bulkhead back through the ground bridge, Jazz was trying to comfort Miko the best he can. "...It's alright..."
"...I...his mind...is gone...it...it went with the data..." she sobbed. They entered the base and went straight to Medical. Melissa rushed over to Miko as Jazz set her down. The others helped Ratchet get Bulkhead on a berth and hooked up. Melissa pulled Miko into a tight hug.
"Oh Miko..." Ratchet started to run scans of Bulkhead.
"...It's all my fault..." Miko sobbed into Melissa.
"No, it's not... It's going to be okay..." she soothed.
"Miko, your quick thinking stopped the Decepticons from getting the formula," Optimus said.
"...But...we lost Bulkhead..."
"Ratchet?" Melissa asked, still hugging a distraught Miko.
"It's too soon to tell. Something familiar to him might awaken him." Miko went to her guitar and plugged it in. Melissa smiled. Miko strummed a cord. At first there was nothing and Miko slowly puts her guitar away. Everyone waited in anticipation. Then Bulkhead opened his optics and sat up.
"Baduuuum! I LOVE that song!"
"Bulkhead!" Miko cried happily as she ran over to him. Melissa, Jack, and Jazz clapped
"So, no more misadventures, right?"
"...Yeah..." smiled Miko.
Ratchet unhooked everything from Bulkhead. "I know something you all could do."
"What Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked.
"Awww...really...? You're serious?" whined Miko, knowing exactly where he was going. Ratchet smiled and gave each of them their own mop.
"I didn't know it was that dirty," Melissa sighed. "Well...if we all work together, we can get it done. Let's go team!" she smiled.
"Do we have to?" Miko asked.
"Aw, you gotta make it fun. If you make it fun, it gets done."
Miko sighed, but then smiled. "Can we put on some music?"
"Yeah," smiled Melissa. "Let's play something we both like."
"Okay." Miko said. They turned the music onto a rock station. The other Autobots dissipated from the room to do their own thing. Melissa had Miko and Jack doing a good job. Miko was happy because the music was on and she wasn't cleaning alone. Wheeljack and Gadget walked in to check on everyone. The two had been bonding away from base for awhile.
"What's going on here?" Wheeljack asked curiously.
"We're gone for the day and Ratchet has the younglings spiffing up the place?"
"It's like this..." Jazz started. Gadget waited for an answer, hands on her hips. Wheeljack couldn't help but smile at them. "Ya see the others found this data cylinder..." Gadget listened as Wheeljack watched them.
"They sure know how to get things done."
"...Wow... We sure missed a lot, father."
"That human of yours has the other two doing great."
"That's Miss Jackson though. Jazz, I'm sure you'll stay and watch them. I'm going to go have a word with my mentor."
"Go right ahead Red." Jazz said with a smile.
"I'm going to chill in my room."
"Okay, Wheeljack," Gadget said. She shook her head as she went to find the CMO.
"...Ratchet...?"
"What do you need, Gadget?"
"A word," she said, crossing her arms and starting at him.
"Okay..." Ratchet started, unsure of what Gadget was going to say to him.
"I'm gone for the day with Wheeljack and I come back to the children cleaning up the base? Does Optimus know about this? I'm gone and you go mad with power," she said irritably.
"They wanted something to do, and I thought they should make themselves useful," Ratchet said trying to defend himself.
"By giving them chores?!" she exclaimed. She growled irritably and shook her head as she walked away. Ratchet just shrugged with an innocent look on his face.
"Alright! We're done!"
"I think he wanted us to do the main room AND the Medical Bay. Let's go do the other room."
"Awww..."
"C'mon, it'll be fun, Miko. We can do whatever you want to do once we finish."
"Okay."
"One more room, Jack?" Melissa asked him.
"Sure, it wouldn't hurt."
"I'll give ya a hand this time," smiled Jazz as he led them into the main hall.
"Yeah, then we will be done quicker!" Miko said happily.
"That's the spirit," Melissa smiled. Jazz only laughed as they entered into the main room.
"Now let's get started.
"Yeah!" Melissa smiled. Jazz grabbed an extra mop and they started work. Prowl came into the room looking for his mate and stop dead in his tracks seeing Jazz clean with the four humans.
"...J-Jazz...? What are you...What are you doing?"
"Hey Prowler, just helping them get the room clean." Jazz said with a smile.
"...Wh-why?"
"I thought it would be nice to."
"Alright..."
"Wanna help, Prowler?"
"...No thank you."
"Alright. I'll catch ya later."
Prowl nods and headed out of the room. "Awww, it would be cool if he would help," Miko said.
"It's alright." Miko sighed.
Gadget passed through on her way to go relax in her quarters. "You're still at it?" She came over to Melissa. "Youngling...you know you don't have to do this."
"It's alright. I want to. We're helping out. It's only this one time."
"Ya want to help, Red?" Jazz asked.
"...No..." she sighed, getting agitated again.
"We're almost done, anyway," Miko said.
"Is something wrong Red?" Jazz asked.
"Ratchet...-grumbles-...bossing the younglings around...-grumble-..." They watch Gadget continue to go back to her quarters. Jazz shrugged.
Meanwhile Knockout and Breakdown headed the long way back to the base. "Megatron is going to have our head that we lost the data."
"Yeah..." admitted Breakdown. "So what are we gonna do? We have to go back sometime."
"Let's just idle for a while. Let Lord Megatron blow off some steam."
"Okay." The two pulled over on the side of the road.
"How long you think we'll have to wait? You know, just in case the Autobots come looking for trouble?"
"I hope not long." The two stayed parked, trying not to draw attention to themselves. They didn't know that there were some birds sitting above them on a power line. They were chattering and chirping, perched happily on the power line. One of the birds decided it was time to go to the bathroom and a drop of white poop fell and landed on Knockout's hood. Another soon followed from a different bird further down the group.
"What in Primus, my paint job!" Knockout said. Breakdown snickered, knowing what it was. Another one from another bird landed on Knockout. "EEECCHHHH!" he said, peeling away. The birds, attracted to his shiny, clean paintjob followed. Breakdown tried to keep from laughing as he went after him. "AAAAAHHHH! Get these foul creatures away from meeeee!"
Breakdown still snickered as he caught up to him. "Y-y-you're...covered in..."
"IT'S NOT FUNNY! GET THEM OFF!" Breakdown transformed and did his best to scare the birds away as they chased after Knockout. He still couldn't help but snicker. He started swinging his hammer at them until they flew off. Knockout kept speeding away until every last bird was out of sight. Breakdown came over to him. "...Are...Are they gone...?"
"Yeah they're gone." Breakdown said, still trying to keep from laughing.
"Stop laughing! It's not funny! I...I need a water source... a car wash..."
"Don't be such a sparkling." Breakdown said.
"I'm not! Those stupid organic pests ruined my paint!"
"I believe they are called birds."
"I don't care! I need the nearest car wash!" Breakdown sighed.
He transformed and pulled in front. "I saw one back that way a few miles down the road," he said.
"Let's go, and not a word of this to anyone."
"Friends don't rat each other out," Breakdown said. "I won't tell ANYONE." Knockout just sighed heavily as he followed, still sore about his paint.
"Alright, here. No one else is around," said Breakdown.
"Good." Knockout said. He pulled up into it. Breakdown turned it on for him. Breakdown looked around before transforming and helping Knockout. They didn't know someone was watching them from near by.
"I think it I got it all off."
"Make sure!"
"Okay just calm down." Knockout sighed impatiently.
"Okay, I think that's it."
Knockout double checked. "Finally... If I see another bird...I'm going to squash it, then blast it until there's nothing left."
"There's one." said a voice.
"Where?" shouted Knockout, swerving around and partially transforming to shoot it.
The voice started to laugh. "Oh that was a good one."
"Come out so I can scrap you!" The voice came into the light and revealed himself.
"...Barricade...? How long have you been watching us?" Breakdown asked.
"For awhile. Lord Megatron sent me to find you after you didn't come back to base." Barricade said with a smirk.
"Is he mad at us?" Breakdown asked.
"I was simply waiting until his upset at losing the data had subsided," Knockout said matter of factly.
"He's a bit upset but you also know how impatient he is."
Knockout sighed. "I suppose we should head back then." Barricade smirked again. Breakdown looked a little irked.
"What?" Breakdown just shook his head before transforming back into the rugged SUV.
"Barricade...YOU lead the way," Knockout said as he pulled up next to Breakdown.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure there are no birds." Barricade said with a snicker.
"That's not what I meant..." Knockout growled.
"I know that. I was just yanking your tail pipe."
"Well don't."
"Very well." The three headed back towards the ship. As they neared it, a ground bridge opened.
"Let's go." They went into the ground bridge and arrived on the ship where it hovered. Knockout was still worried that Megatron was mad at him. They walked through the halls until they reached the captain's deck.
"I found them, Lord Megatron." Barricade said.
"It's about time," he glared as he looked at them.
"Lord Megatron, we apologize for the l-..."
"I know about your failure!"
"It was that stupid human and then the A-..."
"Silence! Make this your final warning. Failure will NOT be tolerated!"
"Yes Lord Megatron..."
"You're dismissed."
Back at Autobot Headquarters, the children had gone. Ratchet started looking over what Bulkhead had painted. "So...what will happen now, we only got half of the formula?" Prowl asked as he came over.
"I think I can figure it out. We have a little over half here."
"Want some help?" Wheeljack asked.
"No, that's quite alright, Wheeljack."
"I can."
"So can I," offered Gadget as she came in.
"No it's fine, I can do it." Ratchet said.
"I don't know...from what Bumblebee told me about what happened when you "helped" the children with their science projects..." Prowl said.
"That was just a moment of over enthusiasm," said Gadget.
"Knowing him, there was a little bit of me rubbing off," smirked Wheeljack.
"I do think they should help you Ratchet, and I'm sure Prime would agree on that with me."
"Leave him alone," Gadget sighed.
"Very well." Prowl said as he left to see what his mate and daughter were doing.
"So, do you want some help?"
"No, it's fine." Ratchet said.
"Are you sure?" Gadget asked. "Maybe we can at least watch?"
"Fine." She smiled. Her and Wheeljack took a seat, ready to help when necessary. Ratchet went back to looking them over. He would take each metal slab and input the data into the computer. Gadget and Wheeljack watched him quietly. Ratchet went back and forth between the computer and metal before stopping. "...Now the hard part...filling in the blanks..." He slowly looked towards Gadget and Wheeljack.
"Alright, I'll help ya," smiled Wheeljack.
"Sure...NOW you want us to help," Gadget laughed. Ratchet just couldn't help but smile at them.
"Together again," Gadget sighed happily. "Just like old times. ...Well...almost..." she said, sadly reflecting on her sparklinghood.
Wheeljack put an arm around her shoulder. "That's in the past, sweetspark."
"Well let's get to it." Ratchet said.
"Yeah," Gadget said, shaking out of her memories. "Let's crack this code." The three of them started to get to work. Each contributed their knowledge to come up with equations that would fit.
"No...that won't work," said Gadget. "There's a differential here that would reverse the previous equation."
"Oh," sighed Wheeljack.
"What about this one?" Gadget said as she added an equation.
"That's great! We're almost done with the entire formula," said Ratchet.
"It will be great if it works." Wheeljack said.
"We'll have to see," said Ratchet.
"Right," Gadget agreed. She scribbled out another equation. "How about this? It accounts for conversion of matter into energy."
"No...try moving these numbers here."
"Yeah," agreed Wheeljack as he looked at it too. "You want to move this differential over there."
"Oh! Yeah! Thanks! You know...it'd be great if Perceptor wasn't so far away with his Space Exploration Field Study..."
Wheeljack put a hand on her shoulder. "I know your spark must ache having your bonded so far, but he'll come back." Ratchet smiled a bit as he put more equations into the formula.
"It's almost completed! Just one more and we can start testing it out."
"What are you all doing at this late hour?" Optimus asked curiously as he entered the Medical Bay.
"Sorry Optimus, we were just trying to finish up the missing pieces to the formula." Ratchet said.
"Don't apologize. By all means continue. Don't stay up too late."
"We won't." Optimus smiled a bit as he retired for the night. The three of them watched before they each contributed to the last equation. Ratchet put in a piece from all three and plugged it into the computer.
"It's done. We have a completed formula for Synthetic Energon."
"Should we test it?" Wheeljack asked.
"It's late."
"Yeah, we should get to bed," agreed Wheeljack.
"It's been a long day for all of us," admitted Ratchet. The three headed off towards their rooms. Ratchet made sure to turn everything off.
Gadget sighed as her and Wheeljack entered their room. She sat on the edge of the berth as Wheeljack locked up the room. "Bulkhead made quite the discovery, huh?"
"...Yeah..." Gadget sighed again, her loneliness returning. Wheeljack came over and laid down on the berth. He put a hand on her arm.
"What's wrong?"
"...It's just...Percie...being so far from our home...getting used to this place...and her... And...Mom..."
"Why don't you come lie down? We'll talk about it together."
She took a deep breath and laid down. She snuggled close to him and let him put an arm around her. "...I'm glad I found you... And I'm glad you came back..."she said sadly, cuddling closer. She rested her head against him so she could hear his spark. "I don't know what I'd do if you were gone like Perceptor..."
"What's got you so lonely all the sudden? This isn't like you. Something's troubling you."
"...It's just...getting used to Earth being home...and wondering if we're still strong enough to keep Megatron down. We're so few now and with Percie and a few others so far away... I guess that run in with MECH shook up some old pain too..."
He pulled her as close as he could, resting his head against hers. "Sweetspark...I promise you, you'll never be alone. I might leave for awhile just like Perceptor, but I'll always be a comm. link away. I'll never leave you alone. You've got old and new friends here too. Optimus is here so I know we'll ALWAYS be strong enough to keep Megatron down. Gadget, don't worry so much. I'm here now and I plan on staying for awhile."
"...I guess...-sniffle-...I just...really miss Mom..."
"I'm surprised you can remember her. You were so little when I found you."
"...Her face...-sniffle-...Her...her voice...a little... Mostly...I can remember her spark... I just... Taking on such a maternal role for Miss Jackson...and...and -sob-... Seeing Prowl and Jazz here... I just...I just wish I still had her...but...she's gone..."
"I think everything is just finally sinking in and because your spark aches for your mate, you can remember the loss of your mother."
"...I...For once...I'm...I'm honestly...unsure...ma-...maybe even scared..." She burst into sobs, unable to talk anymore. Wheeljack hugged her close.
"...I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I'm here now. I love you, sweetspark and I'm going to do everything I can. Just get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning." She sniffled and nodded, letting the sound of his spark and his presence lull her to sleep.
She cried and cried as the femme holding her ran. The femme ducked into one of the alleyways between Kaon and Iacon. She held the wailing sparkling close to her chest, soothing it with her spark. Her kind, grey face and green optics smiled upon the tiny femme. "Hush now, it's alright my little bitlet. Everything's going to be alright. Mama just has to make it to Iacon and we'll be safe." The crying femme had started to calm down before a dark figure with red optics approached.
"How dare you create one of THOSE with me!"
"No! Please! Don't hurt her!" The figure pulled the sparkling out of the femme's hands.
"How dare you create a femme and an Autobot spawn!"
"...I...Iacon is a better place!"
"Silence, you worthless femme!" The Decepticon killed his neutral lover, sneering as her green optics flickered out. Blue optics widened and the femme sparkling's crying grew louder. "If you're not going to be a Decepticon, then you're no heir of mine!" He went to dispose of the red, blue optic femme but two figures stopped him. A strong, firm voice yelled something at the Decepticon before disposing of him. Another figure with winglets on his back came into the sparkling's field of vision. He spoke comforting words as he knelt down to take the sparkling from the ground. The red femme sadly reached for the dead femme before cuddling into him. Her spark instantly bonded to his for comfort and safety. The strong firm voice said something and they left the alley. Gadget gasped as she woke from the dream. "...M-mom..." She looked around the room and noticed Wheeljack fast asleep beside her. She slowly caught her breath as she cuddled close to him again. "...I don't care what the records say...YOU will always be my real father...not that creep... Oh Percie...I hope you're safe..." she sighed, trying to fall back asleep. She took one of Wheeljack's arms and held it close as a human child would a stuffed animal. It helped her fall back into a more peaceful sleep.