Now things were even worse than they were after Danni's encounter with Skywarp. The soldiers were not only paying attention to her, but when she walked a couple feet away from the barrier, people would scramble over to her, and escort her back inside and talk to her, talking to her as if she was stupid in some way. She had told them it was a onetime thing, she swore it would never happen again, but no one believed her, not even Optimus. They said she couldn't control it, and would have be watched until they were sure. Now she felt more awkward than ever, constantly having someone looking over her shoulder, watching her.

She couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. They would stand outside the door, knocking on it after about a minute and asking if she was done yet, whether or not they had to go themselves. The only way Danni could be alone was if she went into hiding. Which she was currently doing. Danni wriggled around in the space, knowing no one would ever think of looking here. She had placed herself in the crack of one of the metal curves on Optimus' berth, where he placed his head. No one ever really came into Optimus' quarters, which was smart about it.

It was cold, and a little uncomfortable, but it was worth just spending some time alone. She heard their calls as they shouted her name, trying to find her. She watched through the crack she had gone through as they passed the doorway, unaware she was even there. She crawled back from the crack, not wanting to be noticed, however unlikely it might be. Though, she felt a tinge of guilt as she heard one voice.

Optimus'.

Although she didn't know it, the mech was worried sick about her. His bond was only forming, and he could not yet sense when her presence was near, so he had no idea what was going on. Thoughts, horribly dark thoughts, raced in his helm of what could have happened to Danni. She could have been captured by the Decepticons somehow, even worse, captured by Skywarp. She could have ran away, for all he knew she could be miles and miles away. And that worried him the most. Not knowing. He did not know many things, like when they would win the war, which he worried about most, but this seemed more important than anything at the moment.

A group of soldiers gathered at his feet, saluting him quickly. "No sign of her Optimus! We've checked the barrier, a few troops have gone out to the immigrants camp to see if she somehow ended up there. The wreckers have gone past the barrier, just to make sure she didn't end up over there." He reported, and Optimus sighed. She'd been missing since this morning, and it was already past noon.

"Keep looking, we have to find her." Danni felt guilt now stabbing her, but she kept still. Not even Optimus would make her come out. The mech passed by the door, but just kept walking. She sighed in relief as the sounds of footsteps got fainter and fainter. They'd given up trying this side, and she slid down the edge of the smooth metal. But, as she did so, head had hit the side, making a very loud and irritating "Boink", noise. She rubbed her head slowly, cringing as she felt a small bump on the back of her head, and heard the pause of footsteps.

Danni gulped, and held her breath, though she knew it would do her no good. Whoever was there had noticed the noise, probably knew it was her. The footsteps entered the room, and slowly got closer, until they stopped right in front of her hiding place. A small and soft whirr came from outside the crack, and she could see the baby blue optic peering in to look straight at her. Knowing staying in her would just cause her more trouble, she sighed, and climbed out of the crack, landing with a thump on the hard metal surface.

Looking up, she saw the face of Bumblebee, who cocked his head to the side at her. She examined his faceplate for a moment, taking it in. She'd never seen the scout up close before, and now noticed that he really didn't have any mouth. Weird. Shaking it off, she gulped nervously, waiting for him to scold her and give her some kind of punishment. But he said nothing, just blinked at her as she blinked at him. "A-Aren't you going to say something?" She questioned.

"You get the first say commander!...Why don't you two make up and apologize?" His voice went from a hard and gruff army man, to a soothing therapy show guy.

Danni sighed. 'I'm….I'm sorry I hid from you guys….I just wanted to be alone, just for a little while, without someone breathing down my neck for once…" She said with a sniffle. "It wasn't my fault…I didn't mean to do it…and now everyone thinks I'm some kind of crazy…" She said quietly, and Bumblebee looked at her with sympathetic optics. "I just freaked out, I was just scared…and now, whenever I pass by anyone, they give me a funny look, they get up out of their seats and follow me to wherever I'm going…" She put her head on her knees. "I can't go to the hill with Optimus, I can't barely even go outside without someone pushing me back indoors…" She closed her eyes, trying to hide her tears. "All I wanted was to have some privacy."

"Every little thing, is gonna be alright!" Bumblebee said, snapping his fingers. Danni wiped her nose with her sleeve, and smiled at him with a giggle. "I'm sorry!...we can't….leave…You?...Alone!...enough." He said.

Danni looked down for a moment at the pale metal, and gave a small sigh, nodding her head. "It's…..it's okay. I guess I sorta understand." She said with a small shrug. With one last sniffle, she closed her eyes, and opened them to the Bumblebees servo reached out to her. She got up, and hugged his digit. Bumblebee smiled, or would have if he had a mouth, and curled his own palm over her back in his own hug.

XXX

Optimus sighed, looking out onto the horizon. Danni had been found, yet the wreckers had not yet returned, and it worried him. The soldiers hadn't really bothered to check if they were alright. A Decepticon would have to be completely mad to take on three wreckers, the fiercest and well known of all the Autobots, all on their own.

"Optimus."

The mech didn't turn to see who it was, he already knew. "Why have you been gone so long Leadfoot? It is nearly sunset." He remarked, optics looking at the rapidly setting sun. "You know no one is to be out during the night." He heard a grunt from one of them. "Leadfoot, is something the matter?" Optimus questioned at the sudden silence. They were never this quiet.

"We found a someone outside the perimeter Optimus, I think you'll want to know who it is." Leadfoots voice wasn't strong, nor cocky as it usually was, but it seemed drained in a way.

Optimus turned, and his spark nearly stopped. His face twisted in anger, metal teeth grinding against eachother. Of all their enemies, had to be him. Held between Topspin and Roadbuster, was the Decepticon he loathed the most. The Decepticon he had even though wasn't mad enough to take on their wreckers alone. The one that had killed his Sparkmate. The one that had hurt Danni.

"Skywarp."