I don't own anything except for my OC's and some of the plot.

"Blasted earth tech!" Ratchet exclaimed loudly in annoyance, almost slamming his clenched fist down onto the keypads of the computer, but stopped himself just before doing so, thinking better of it, he instead just glared hard at the computer screen in front of him.

Astrid looked up at him from the office wheelchair that she found herself to be sitting in with her legs crossed as her left hand apsetly played with her loose shoulder length ginger hair, as per doctor's orders, she was ordered to stay off of her feet and to stay right where she was. And that was on top of the nearest platform next to Ratchet, that also happened to be next to the computer that he was currently glaring at. If looks could kill, then Ratchet would be shooting laser beams right out of his eyes.

But despite his bad temper and almost constant scowling, Ratchet had actually surprised her with how gentle he could be while he had cautiously, but surely wrapped up her ankle to make a tight brace for it. His actions towards her had made her feel like she was made out of one of those creepy porcelain china dolls that she sometimes saw in the front window of the antique/thrift shop that wasn't to far of a walk away from the music store that Eric worked at instead of squishy flesh and durable bones.

She also found that while what he says is negative and can be extremely rude at times, but his actions towards her well-being say another thing entirely.

If he really didn't care about them, then he wouldn't have even bothered her about her injury. He would have simply ignored her and moved on, but he didn't. He had noticed, and had insisted on helping her, even though she had made her opinions on that very clear. She didn't like doctors, she had had one too many bad experiences with them to feel comfortable around them. The only exception to this had been Doctor Bishop, but he was a different case entirely. And the only reason as to why she even relented in the first place now was because of Raf.

Ever since their first day together, Raf had always seemed to be one of her weaknesses, she didn't know how he even does it sometimes, but every time when they got into a disagreement about something and he really, really wanted it. He would always look up at her with his big chocolate brown pleading eyes that reminded her of sad puppy dog, and if she was being extra stubborn about it, then he would pull out the big guns and start quivering his bottom lip slightly in that pathetic way that makes her feel guilty for even saying no in the first place. It was so unfair.

"Cliffjumper's signal just popped back online." Ratchet told them all as both Autobots and humans came closer to hear what was going on.

"Who's Cliffjumper?" Both Astrid and Miko asked at the same time. Glancing at each other in surprise, Astrid raised one of her eyebrows, while Miko gave an annoyed huff in her direction before turning her attention back onto the Autobots.

Raf, Jack and Miko had been sitting/leaning around the platform that Ratchet had set her down on. Both Jack and Raf wanted to make sure that she was ok, while Miko… Well.. Actually, now that she thought about it. Astrid had no idea as to why she was even up here in the first place.

Rolling her eyes at Miko's attitude towards her, Astrid pulled her own attention back on to the conversation at hand.

"How is that possible?" Optimus asked, almost in disbelief.

"It isn't." Ratchet stated with certainty. "Another bug, the system is chock full of them." He added, waving his hand annoyedly at the computer.

Arcee looked up to her leader. "If there's any chance that Cliffs alive." A hopeful note in her determined voice.

Optimus nodded his head in agreement. "Ratchet, prepare sickbay." He ordered, before quietly adding. "We may need it."

After saying that, Astrid could see a slight shift in his persona as two pieces of metal slide into place over the lower half of his face, making it act like a face mask. She could also see it in the way that he held himself as well. His whole body was tense, and yet more loose at the same time. It was a stance of a warrior or a fighter.

"Hey!" Miko suddenly called out, leaning over the yellow railing. "What can we do?" She asked excitedly.

Astrid wasn't really sure if she was asking to make herself useful, or to somehow get herself in part of the action... Probably more of the last one than the first now that she thought about it.

From what little that she had been able to observe of Miko. Astrid was able to see that the Japanese girl was a risk taker, or a daredevil if you will. But the thing that bothered her the most about the girl was why did she come here to Jasper Nevada. The supposedly most boring and most uninteresting of small towns in the desert.

It was suspicious and just didn't make any kind of sense to Astrid at all, why would a girl like Miko move to the middle of nowhere, in a completely different country that had a completely different culture and language than her own? And why Jasper? of all the places that she could've gone to like New York City, Washington D.C., heck she could've gone to Las Vegas or even San Francisco, but no, she came here.

And why would her parents let her move from Tokyo to all the way over here in Jasper? There weren't any grand or prestigious schools anywhere around as far as she knew and Jasper High, while it was a good school, it certainly wasn't the best either. Did they just not care about their daughter at all? Sure, Miko was a troublemaker, probably a little bit more than what she was worth of times, but still.

Astrid eyes narrowed in suspicion as she looked at Miko as dread started to seep down into her stomach as a sudden thought came to her.

Or maybe... she was one of his spies? It would make sense and it wouldn't be the first time that she and Eric had to deal with one or more of them at a time.

But if that was true, then why make up such a lame background story for herself? If Miko really was one of his spies, then she could've easily made up a much better story for herself as she would've been trained to do… or maybe she was a distraction for the real spy?

Either way, whether Miko Nakadai was real or not, Astrid would be keeping a special eye on her at all times from now on.

Optimus hesitated for a moment before saying. "Remain here with Ratchet."

"Aaaw!" Miko groaned in disappointment, her shoulders slumping.

"Aaaaww!" Ratchet groaned a moment after her in disappointment to.

Astrid had to quickly put her a hand over her mouth in order to muffle her own giggles of amusement at the scene.

Suddenly a brilliant white, blue and green swirling vortex appears within a tunnel to the side.

If Astrid wasn't already holding her mouth, it would have been open in shock and in awe at the beautiful and amazing site.

They watched as the rest of the Autobots made their way towards the vortex.

"Autobots!" Optimus called out, raising one of his long red painted arms as a signal of 'let's go' to the others, he stepped onto the ramp first, before giving out his order. "Roll out."

And with that. Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead all transformed into their own vehicle modes and put the pedal to the metal as the screeching of their tires was the last thing that she heard before they all disappeared within the swirling vortex.

"What.. just happened?" Jack asked in confusion and in slight awe.

Astrid got up from her chair to leaned against the railing with the others, in order to get better look at what they all just saw.

"I transported them to the designated cornets via groundbridge." Ratchet explained to them.

"What's a groundbridge?" Raf questioned in curiosity, with a little bit of confusion as well.

Ratchet made a noise that was halfway between a groan and a whine at the question. Making Astrid turned her head to give him a look as her eyes narrowed sharply and her lips thinned into a fine line of disapproval at his attitude.

He took a side glance at her and saw the look that she was giving him. He just rolled his eyes in exasperation before explaining. "A scaled down version of spacebridge technology." He told them, turning to face the computer again.

"Since we don't currently process that means, or the energon required for intergalactic travel." He added, a sad note in his gruff voice.

"You're stuck here." Jack stated in realization, slowly walking forward to the giant robot as he turned to look at them again. "On earth."

"With the likes of you, yes." He told them coldly, before his tone switch into a proud smugness as he continued saying. "But I constructed the groundbridge to enable travel from here to anywhere on your planet."

Astrid's eyes widen slightly at the information that he had just given them. 'Anywhere on the planet?' She thought in amazement. If that was true, and she saw no reason for Ratchet to be lying to them about this, plus she had just seen it with her very own eyes that this groundbridge worked.

This brought on so many new thoughts and possibilities for her. If she were to somehow learn how to use it… Then maybe she and Eric could use it to get a head start if they were ever in a need to run away from Silas and his goons again.

'Silas.' She thought bitterly to herself, her hands clenching tightly onto the railing in front of her in anger. The thoughts of Eric, Jacqueline, of her mother and of Doctor Bishop.. and so many more of the lost souls that he had broken or destroyed in one way or another along the line. All for his thirst for power.

"Whoa." Raf gasped, turning to ask Ratchet another question. "Does it work for humans?

"Natural." He answered with a simple nod of his head.

"You mean I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?" Miko asked curiously.

"Within moments." He told her, before a certain gleam entered into his turquoise eyes. "In fact, allow me to send you there immediately, all four of you." He said, looking almost excited for the chance of getting rid of them.

A moment of silence passes, before Miko warned him quietly. "Watch it Ratchet."

Astrid couldn't help the quiet snort of amusement that came out of her before placing her right hand over her chest. "Sorry, but it's gonna take a lot more than that to get rid of us unfortunately." She told him in a fake sympathetic voice, more amused by his attitude towards them than annoyed at the moment.

"Eh, it was worth a shot." He muttered mostly to himself, before shutting down the groundbridge and turning his attention towards making sure that the sickbay was ready for any injuries that the other Autobots might sustain while coming back from their rescue mission.

"Well I'm going to start exploring this cool place." Miko told them after Ratchet was out of sight. "Sooo, who's with me?" She asked, a mischievous note in her voice as her face split into a wide grin.

"Sure." Jack shrugged uncaringly.

But Raf seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I… think I'll stay here with Astrid." He answered, sounding a little unsure on his decision of staying behind.

Miko rolled her honey brown eyes before giving them a dismissive shrug of her shoulders, turning on the heels of her boots with her back now facing towards them. She said in a snippy tone. "Your loss then, if you prefer to stay with miss boring over there, then it's fine with me."

'Boring?' Astrid thought in bemusement. Her right eyebrow raising just a bit at Miko's comment.

Once both Miko and Jack were out of sight, Astrid turned her attention towards Raf, who was still not looking at her. Sighing softly, Astrid turned to sit back down in the chair and folded both of her hands together onto her lap while also crossing her legs before giving the her young friend a searching look.

"Alright Raf, what's wrong?" She finally asked after about a minute of silence.

He looked nervous about something, that much was obvious, but she wasn't sure what it could possibly be that was making him act like this.

"Can I.. ask you a question Astrid?" He asked her quietly. Still not making eye contact with her as his right hand nervously tightening its grip on the shoulder strap of his school bag that was on him.

She didn't even hesitate in answering his question. "Of course you can." She said, feeling a bit bewildered by his question as her brow creased in slight concern. "What do I always say to you when you ask me this?" She questioned encouragingly to him, trying to help him feel more comfortable with her so that he could ask his question.

"That there's no such thing as a stupid question, so long as you learn something from it." He answered, looking a bit more confident in himself.

She felt one side of her lips start to twitch upwards at his answer. "Then ask away." She told him with a casual wave of one of her hands.

"Ok…" He said absently, before nodding his head. She assumed that he had finally came to a decision on asking her his real question or not.

He finally looked at her in the eyes, his warm chocolate brown meeting her own hazel ones, before asking his question, a conference in his voice that she rarely heard from him.

"How were you able get our school bags when we were running away from the Decepticons?"

Dead silence was met with his question. Astrid sat there in stunned shock. Of all of the questions that she could think of him asking her, this was not one of them.

"What?" She laughed nervously, she didn't even know why she was laughing in the first place, but it seemed to be helping in keeping her from looking like a deer caught in the headlights as she felt her hands fold back together tightly on top her lap again.

"I've just been noticing that ever since the first day that I've met you that strange things always seem to happen whenever you're around." He continued on.

'Crap!' She thought as dread was starting to seep down into her stomach again, only this time it was much, much worse.

"Like that time when Vince tripped me in the hall, and then he got a bucket full of dirty soap water all over him as he walked through a classroom door that I know that the janitor was still using as we had just walked past him not even minutes after that happened."

'Crap on a pogo stick!' She exclaimed inwardly, as her eyes widen in horror as he continued to tell her every single little weird thing that he had been noticing while being around her.

"Or that time when Sierra's friend Linda came out of the girls bathroom looking like a clown-"

"OK! I get it!" She quickly interrupted him with a harsh whisper as she leaned forwards in her chair and started waving her hands in a stopping motion in front of her before he could continue to go any further with his observations. Her eyes rapidly checked over his head to see if anyone else was nearby to hear them, seeing no one around at the moment, she turned her attention back onto him.

She could see his intelligent brown eyes watching her carefully through his red rimmed glasses, and the uneasy, but determined look on his face made her sigh in defeat. She was a fool and a complete moron for even thinking that he wouldn't notice the aftermath of her actions of using her powers, or for her to just assume that he would be like most normal people, who would just simply shrug it off and walk away if they saw something that was weird and couldn't explain it in their own logical way.

But Raf wasn't like most normal people as she had come to learn in their short time of knowing each other.

She closed her eyes and raised one of her hands up to rub at her brow in frustration, feeling the dread growing into knots inside of her stomach as she tried to figure out how to handle this situation that she suddenly found herself to be in.

She didn't want to lie to him, but she couldn't exactly tell him the truth either. It would put him into much danger in knowing too much about Eric and herself.

Inwardly she gave a weary sigh. 'Great.' She thought with a groan. First Eric, and now Raf, her luck lately just seemed to be getting better and better as the day continued on.

She was just about to open her mouth to gently tell him that it was none of his business, but then he surprised her with what he said next.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I just.. wanted to make sure that you know that you can trust me with anything. Just like I trust you." He told her as he nervously fixed with his glasses.

Astrid could feel her heart melting at his level of trust that he had in her, trust that she didn't feel like that she deserved from him… or from anyone else really.

"Oh Raf…" She breathed out softly, a small smile coming to her lips before she continued on. "Of course I trust you, its just that... I don't want to put you in anymore danger than you already are."

"But I'm not in any danger." He said to her while looking confused.

"Yes you are, and you have been since the day you met me." She told him earnestly. She didn't want to scare him, but she knew now that lying to him wasn't a good option either.

Raf's brow furrowed anxiously. "But why-" he started to ask her, but just then they both heard the echo Ratchet's clinking footsteps coming towards them.

Astrid leaned down and gave him a light hug for comfort while whispering into his ear. "We'll talk about this later, ok?"

She knew that most boys his age were against hugs and kisses and all that mushy stuff in general, but she also knew that unlike most boys, Raf didn't really mind to be given or to give a hug or two from time to time.

Pulling back, she saw him give her a small nod of his head in understanding.

Smiling in relief, Astrid gave his shoulder a slight squeeze before letting him go completely.

"What is this anyway?" She faintly heard Miko's question from down below.

"Broken, don't touch." Ratchet told her as he walked past her and back over to the computer.

Astrid moved her head a little in order to see Miko looking at an old piece of machinery that was placed on one of the sidewalls of a platform. Miko was just about to touch it again.

"Don't touch that either." Ratchet added, not even looking behind him to see Miko winc at being caught while quickly moving her hand away from the machine on the wall.

"Is there anything in here that we can touch?" She heard Jack ask as he came into her line of sight.

Ratchet shot them an annoyed expression.

Beep.

The giant computer gave a sudden deep negative sound as a small box appeared on screen with a red X icon in the left hand side of said box.

"How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf asked Ratchet.

"It certainly isn't by choice. It was handed down by the previous tenants when we inherited this former missile site, I make modifications as I see fit." He told them, staring forlornly at the computer screen.

Without warning, the computer gave even more negative beeping as more boxes filled all of the screens.

Ratchet gave a weary groan as he looked at the mess.

"I think that I can fix that." Raf announces happily as he races towards her and slips off his backpack from his shoulders to open it and get his laptop. Looking eager to help.

"Really?" Ratchet asks doubtfully.

Smiling, Astrid got up from her chair and silently motioned for Raf to use it.

Nodding his thanks, he hops into the chair before opening up his laptop and getting himself hooked up into the Autobot system.

Ratchet continued on with his skepticism. "You know this is complex technology don't you, I mean it isn't a child's toy."

"Oh shush and just watch, Raf's has the most amazing computer skills for a twelve year old." Astrid said while casually leaning her rear against the desk with her arms casually crossed over her chest.

"And a quarter." Raf added, not even looking up from the laptop on top of his lap.

"Sorry." She apologized with a chuckle, always finding it amusing that he insisted on putting that little percentage onto his age. "Let me rephrase then. He's the most amazing computer hacker for a twelve and a quarter year old."

She watched with even more amusement as Raf's ears grew a healthy shade of red at her complement.

He cleared his throat embarrassingly. "Um, now try." He said to Ratchet as he looked up towards him.

Still looking skeptical, Ratchet decided that it might as well be worth a shot, nothing else that he and others did seemed to work. So he pushed a button and like magic, all of the boxes disappeared from all of the screens on the big computer.

Looking back down at the youngest human child in surprise, Ratchet couldn't help but gain a little bit of respect for the little human boy.

The deep baritone of Optimus Prime's voice suddenly called out from the computer. "Ratchet! Bridge us back!"

Ratchet immediately snapped into action as his hands start flying across the keypads, his full attention was focused now on getting his people back safe and sound.

At this point, both Jack and Miko had raced up the ladder and stood next to the railing to get a better vantage point in seeing what was going on.

"Use the arrival coordinates. Now!"

Ratchet pulled the lever down to activate the groundbridge and the swirling vortex came back to life.

A few seconds later, they could see all of the Autobots coming, racing back through the groundbridge with a large wave of blue fire following closely behind their bumpers.

Optimus was the last one to barely come through the groundbridge as he transformed back into his bipedal form and jumped the rest of the way out of the vortex and did half of a one handed backflip, Ratchet was quick in lifting the lever back up again to cut off the deadly wall of blue flames as it came closer towards them all.

And as the portal closed with a puff of smoke, Optimus slowly rose back up to his feet as swirling smoke started to move around him. Giving him the look of a strong and fearless warrior with a hint of mystery in there as well.

Standing next to Jack's right side, she heard as Raf, Jack and Miko all gave looks and sounds of amazement and awe at what they all just saw.

Ok, even she had admit it, that was pretty awesome looking.

"Cutting it a bit close." Ratchet commented almost fondly before getting back down to business. "What about Cliffjumper?" He asked, quickly noticing that he was not with them.

Bumblebee, Optimus and Bulkhead all looked at each other before bowing their heads mournfully for their fallen friend.

Astrid gave them a sad and sympathetic look before bowing her head slightly in mournful respect for their fallen friend as well.

She couldn't help but be reminded of Jacqueline, and of how she and Eric had lost her as she slowly started to fade away in their arms, telling them both to never give up, to keep fighting for their freedom, and to always take care of each other.

Tears started to form in her eyes at the memory, but she hastily blinked her eyes and tilted her head slightly up to get rid of them quickly before anyone noticed.

"What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come next time?" Miko suddenly started asking abrasively in an excited manner, Astrid didn't know which was worse, either Miko was completely oblivious to the fact that the Autobots had just lost a good friend, or she just didn't care.

Hot anger shot through her body as she felt both of her hands clenching tightly onto the railing in front of her, it was so tempting to go over and just smack her again, but before she could make a move she felt one of Raf's smaller hands placing itself on top of her own, her anger slowly started to fade away into the background with his calming and familiar presence.

Without looking, she moved their hands together until their fingers interlaced with one another as her thumb gave a series of gentle tapping against the back of his palm, giving him a silent message.

Thank you.

She had learned how to use morse code from Jacqueline when she was little, it had been their own way of silently communicating with each other without anyone ever really knowing.

She didn't know if he knew what her tapping meant, he probably just thought it was one of her many weird little quirks.

She watched as Arcee came out from behind Optimus, glaring at Miko as she growled out angrily. "Look-"

But fortunately for the Japanese girl's sake Jack suddenly stepped in. "Hey hey Miko, let's go see what the bots hide in their sock drawer?" He said as he dragged her way, trying to distract her (and not succeeding very well) so that she wouldn't say something else that would get herself into even more trouble with the furious looking Arcee.

"Seriously?" Miko asked, unimpressed with his excuse for dragging her way.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked her gently, needing to know what she saw and why they hadn't been able to save Cliffjumper.

Arcee hugged herself for comfort as she told them what she saw while trying to rescue Cliff.

"Not Cliff, at least not anymore. He was mutated, butchered, like something from those Con experiments during the war." She told them, her voice quivering the more upset she got while remembered the raging, soulless monster that had been Cliff.

Arcee suddenly fainted, falling, but before she could fall completely she was able to catch herself with one of the many crates that were laying around the base.

Astrid's eyes widen in surprise and concern as she watched the other Autobots ask the blue female autobot if she was alright.

"I'm fine, just dizzy." Was her quick reply.

"Robots that get dizzy?" Miko asked in bewilderment.

"Robots with emotions." Raf stated almost factually.

"Robots who can die." Jack said in realization as he looked at Arcee and the other Autobots.

"It would seem that their not that much different from us." Astrid commented empathetically as she watched Ratchet examine Arcee for any injuries.

The other three all gazed at her with a variety of expressions on their face.

"Hm..huh, what is this? Ratchet asked after finishing with his scanning. The scanner had turned red each time that it had past over her hand. There was something on the back of her hand that looked like some kind of shiny purple slime on it.

Arcee rubbed at her helm. "Don't know. Cliff was covered in it. Leaking it."

Ratchet scrape some of the purple slime off of her hand with a knife like object.

"Go take a decontamination bath. Now." He ordered.

Arcee nodded and let Bumblebee help in taking her towards the decontamination room without incident.

Out of the corner of her eye, Astrid saw Jack take out his phone as he frowned upon opening the screen.

"O-Optimus I hate to bug, but no bars." Jack pointed out as he showed his phone up to Optimus.

Astrid took out her own phone as well to see that he was right, her phone had no signal at all.

"A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

Jack sighed. "Well if I don't call my mom like now I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me."

Optimus leaned in closer towards them, looking at Jack with a serious expression. "Have you broken a law?" He questioned.

"Uh curfew." Jack shrugs. "Its after ten p.m."

"I better get home to, or I'll be grounded for a year." Raf added in.

"Don't worry, you can always blame it on me if you want. Who knows, I might even be able to convince your mom to only ground you for six months instead of a whole year." Astrid said to him teasingly with a slight wink and a smile.

He smiled back.

"Earth customs. I hadn't considered." Optimus said, becoming thoughtful as he took a step back from them. "But the issue of your safety still remains. He told them as he quickly thought over his options.

He turned to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, accompany Miko home."

"Awesome! My host parents will freak!" Miko exclaimed as she moved and waved her arms around excitedly.

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle from." He continued on after hearing what Miko said.

Bulkhead nodded his head in understanding. "Curbside duty, got it."

"Aaaw." Miko moaned in disappointment, shoulders slumping.

Optimus then turned to Bumblebee. "Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf."

Bumblebee looked to Raf to see his reaction.

Raf gave a small smile as he looked back at him.

Astrid gave a silent nod of approval at this paring. She could tell that Raf really liked hanging out Bumblebee, and it seemed that Bumblebee felt the same.

Bumblebee would make a good guardian for him.

Both Optimus and Bulkhead turned to Ratchet and Arcee, who had just came back from her decontamination bath, looking like she was back to her normal self again.

"Ratchet-"

"Busy." Ratchet swiftly replied, waving one of his hands dismissively behind him.

Optimus then turned to Arcee. "Arcee, you'll accompany Jack."

Neither Jack or Arcee looked happy about this arrangement.

Jack even looked a little scared at the prospect of having Arcee as his ride home and guardian. And Astrid didn't really blame him for being so.

"Woah, still dizzy." Arcee said, trying to pretend that she still didn't feel so good, not wanting to be a babysitter for one of the humans.

But then Ratchet had to ruined it for her by saying. "You're fine, says your physician."

Arcee shot him a slight glare at his back before sighing in resignation as she made her way over towards the other two assigned guardians, who now stood near to the exit with their assigned human next to them.

Optimus then suddenly turned his attention back onto Ratchet. "Ratchet, you will be the one to accompany Astrid."

"WHAT!" Both Astrid and Ratchet exclaimed loudly at the same time in surprise.

"No." Astrid stated firmly. Her arms crossed over her chest, glaring with her golden gaze at them in defiance. She didn't need nor did she want a giant grumpy robot as her guardian. She already had enough to worry about as it was right now, and she was old enough to look after herself as she had been doing so for a long time now. Besides, with her powers, she knew that she would be able to at least be able to run away from the Decepticons if need be. Not that they knew that little bit of information of course.

"Absolutely not." Ratchet responded with a low growl, crossing his arms over his chest as well as he glowered up at his leader in annoyance. "Optimus, I'm busy enough as it is, and I don't need the responsibilities of looking after a human child along with everything else."

Astrid just barely managed to not roll her eyes at being called a child. "For your information I'm seventeen, almost a year away from being a human adult." She told them rather curtly, before taking in a deep breath through her nose to help ease her rising temper. "So while I do appreciate the thought and concern, I don't need a guardian. I can take care of myself just fine." She tried continuing on more calmly with a little bit more success, but even she could still hear the simmering anger and annoyance beneath her calm tone.

Optimus narrowed his eyes slightly at their shared behavior, but remained calm as he continued. "This isn't a request, it's an order."

Both Ratchet and Optimus stared intensely at each other, making it look like they were having a silent conversation just between the two of them. After a few long seconds of deafening silence, Ratchet finally gave a weary and frustrated sigh of defeat before silently nodding his head in reluctant acceptance at his leader.

Optimus then finally turned his full attention onto her.

Astrid stubbornly stood her ground while they silently eyeballed each other, her unwavering gaze meeting his own strong and unbending one. It was now a battle of wills for them.

She knew that he was only trying to protect her and the others from their enemies, if she were in his position she would be doing the same, but she had secrets and responsibilities of her own that she had to up keep, and she couldn't really do them if she was to constantly have a grumpy and opinionated babysitter breathing down her neck.

She could see that Optimus wasn't going to back down anytime soon if his narrow eyes and stiff poster was anything to go by.

She sighed. "Look, I know that you're only trying to protect me and the others from the Decepticons, but I have responsibilities and people that I have to protect as well. And I can't do them if I'm constantly being followed around by you guys." She told him bluntly, needing him to at least understand why she didn't want a guardian.

His expression softened a bit at her rather blunt confession, but he still remained firm in his decision of making Ratchet her guardian.

"Be that as it may, I however cannot in good conscience leave you defenseless to our enemies."

Astrid sighed again while rubbing at the back of her neck in frustration. She wanted so badly to just tell them that she would be able to take care of herself just fine against any enemy, both human and cybertronian, but she also knew that if she did that, then she would have to explain to them all of the how's and why's of what she could do, and she couldn't do that, not without putting everyone in even more danger than they already were in.

It really didn't look like that she had that much of a choice, but it didn't mean that she was going to go down without at least a little bit of a fight.

"All right, how about we make a deal."

Everyone blinked in surprise at this, including Optimus. "And what kind of a deal would that be." He asks her uncertainty.

"I'll accept having a guardian, but I want to be able to leave anytime that I want with no questions asked about where I'm going or what I'm doing." She told him assertively before holding out her hand to seal the deal. "So, do we have a deal?"

He gazed at her for a long moment. He couldn't help but think of her each time when this human girl would say or do something that would remind him of her. If it weren't for her very human appreciate, he would have sworn that she was a younger version of her, or at the very least her daughter.

But he knew that both theories were completely impossible to be true.

He raised his much larger hand towards her own, and gently shook her tiny hand with just one of his fingers.

"Deal."

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. I will admit that I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but I figured that you guys have been waiting long enough for an update that I decided to just throw caution into the winds and see what happens.

And also, just so that everyone knows that I will be changing a few things here and there for nearly all of the original characters in the show, not so much so to the point where nobody can't recognize them, but just enough to be able to fit my OC's into the story and other plot points as well.

And if you can't already guess, I'm kind of trying to give Astrid and Miko sort of a love/hate relationship. I guess you can say that I'm giving some of my own thoughts and feelings about Miko onto Astrid, because I've always had complex feelings about her as a character whenever I watch the show. One moment I think she's awesome and then the next I think she's the worst.

Am I the only one that thinks that?

But anyway, Thank you for all of you who have reviewed, favorited and followed this story. It really does mean a lot to me.