"Wait, so they're actually dating?" Miko excitedly questioned as Ratchet continued his work, and he sighed heavily. All the Japanese girl had been doing for the past three hours was peppering the doctor with questions, and he was getting terribly sick of it. However, he nodded in response to the girl's question… which she had repeated at least fifty times in the past hour. It was as if she couldn't wrap her head around it. Well, she certainly wasn't the only one. As much as everyone – even Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack – had presumed that both Vesper and Optimus had feelings for each other, they'd not expected either of them to actually show those feelings.

"Miko, really, stop asking the doc questions," Wheeljack chuckled as he strode over and plucked Miko from where she was standing, then sat the young girl on his shoulder. Ratchet didn't say a word, relieved that someone had taken Miko away from him so he could get on with his work without being asked a question every thirty seconds.

Ultra Magnus was standing by himself, musing about something, when Optimus limped over. He still had very little mobility in one of his pedes, but his rehabilitation was going well, which was the source of much relief for the others. His presence had not gone unnoticed by the warrior, who turned to face the Prime and nodded politely. "Sir."

"You seem troubled, Commander," Optimus said, giving Ultra Magnus a pained smile as he leaned his shoulder against the wall. "Is there something on your mind?" he asked, and Ultra Magnus' optics flickered in Vesper's direction. The femme was talking politely to Arcee about something, but neither Ultra Magnus nor Optimus Prime knew what they were conversing about.

"Vesper," he said simply, and Optimus turned to fully look at his femme. Now that their relationship was a bit more known, Optimus found his gaze trailing to her a little more frequently than he actually liked to admit. "She is your sparkmate, is she not?" he asked, looking at Optimus, who drew his vision away from the femme and back towards the commander.

The Prime nodded. "Yes, she is," he said, his voice quiet.

Ultra Magnus nodded. "It is always a great thing when one finds their sparkmate, but…" He trailed off and shook his head slowly. "I still do not know if I completely trust her." He sighed and looked away. "I know that you do, but—"

"It is alright, Commander," Optimus said, his voice kindly. "It will take some time to fully trust her. I understand." He looked back at her to see that she had returned to whatever she had been doing, which was actually looking up human history on the internet. Optimus couldn't help but chuckle lightly; it amused him to see her so fascinated with Earth's history, especially since he himself had been a historian at Iacon before he'd become a Prime. "The others are still adjusting as well, although I do believe that Wheeljack has had an easier time than most."

Ultra Magnus frowned. "Why do you say that?" he asked as he looked over at the Wrecker, who was playing a game of Lobbing with Bulkhead. Miko had been placed on the couch and was watching the two friends throw their giant metal ball around, fascination clear on her face.

"Wheeljack was once a guard to Vesper, when she was working at Iacon," Optimus explained. Ultra Magnus nodded, accepting the explanation, then asked if Optimus was in pain. The Prime frowned as he looked down at his damaged pede, then said, "It… I will admit, it does still pain me." He shook his head. "But there is nothing more than can be done."

"You mean there is nothing that you will let me do to help," Ratchet grumbled, and Optimus sighed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as the medic strode over and crossed his arms. "You will not regain full use of your leg if you don't let me help, Optimus."

The Prime sighed, but then noticed that Bumblebee and Raf were just pulling into the base. Bee had been on curb-side duty for almost the entire day, seeing as Raf had been forced to stay at home and do his homework, but now that he'd been let out the two of them had come straight back to the Autobot base. He greeted the two of them warmly, and asked Raf if he had finished his homework. Vesper, listening in even though she was doing some personal research, couldn't help but crack a smile at how fatherly Optimus seemed.

Suddenly a proximity sensor went off, and Vesper frowned as she tapped away at the monitor. She noticed that it was just Agent Fowler, and she looked over at the lift as the door opened and the agent stepped out. Optimus limped over as the agent crossed his arms and glared at everyone.

"Is something the matter, Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked curiously, frowning.

"Of course something's the matter!" Fowler growled, and Optimus was taken aback by the man's tone of voice. He'd expected the tone before Fowler had met the kids and had warmed up to the group of Cybertronians, but now? It was quite alarming to hear it. "The Decepticons just attacked and blew up half of New York!"

Hearing these words caused Ratchet to stiffen, and his eyes widened in horror as he turned to look at the special agent. Everyone had been shocked by these words, but Ratchet was even more horrified by them. Mainly because, about two hours ago, Alice had requested to go home and he'd bridged her… to New York. Where she lived. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, but once Optimus asked who would go in his stead – he most certainly couldn't, due to his pede – Ratchet turned to the Prime and said, "I will go."

"You?" Vesper asked, her tone polite yet worried as she stepped away from the monitor she was using to conduct her research. "Forgive me, Doctor, but is this not out of your comfort zone?"

Ratchet nodded. "Of course it is!" he growled. Then his tone softened and he clenched his servos, squeezing his eyes shut. "But… I have to go." He looked away as everyone glanced at him curiously. "For Alice."

"I do not follow," Optimus said, putting his servo on the railing of the platform that Fowler was standing and using it to support himself, wincing as his pede caused him pain.

"Wait," Raf said, frowning and looking up at the sad medic. "Is that why Alice always has to be bridged in?" he asked. Ratchet nodded slowly, hesitantly, and there were horrified gasps all around. Ultra Magnus' fist clenched, Wheeljack and Bulkhead shared a look, Arcee's eyes widened, Bee beeped something to himself, Vesper looked away, and Optimus' eyes darkened. Jack and Miko shared a horrified look, while Raf simply said, "Oh," and looked down at the ground.

"Then it is imperative," Optimus said, limping over to the Ground Bridge and setting the coordinates into the control mechanism before pulling the lever down and opening a bridge, "That you all head out as quickly as possible." He turned to Ultra Magnus. "You are in command," he said, and the lieutenant nodded.

Miko suddenly piped up with, "Shouldn't someone stay with Optimus?" as she looked at everyone, and they all nodded in agreement. The group decided that it would be wisest for Vesper to stay behind, and although the femme felt a bit useless, she understood their reasoning. The only sort of fighting Vesper had ever done was to defend herself and occasionally one other; she was incapable of doing much more than that. So she mutely agreed to stay behind as the others ran into the Ground Bridge, and as Optimus closed the vortex she felt worry course through her body.

"Optimus, I… I am worried," she said, turning to the bot, who was leaning against the control system with a slightly pained expression.

He nodded. "I am too, Vesper," he said, a frown appearing on his face. "But there is little that we can do." He shook his head and looked towards the Ground Bridge. "For now, we can only wait… and hope that the others succeed on their mission… and that Alice is alright."

Alice was actually alright; she hadn't been at home at the time, which had been attacked by Decepticons. Instead, she'd been at a mechanic, where she worked. She was still employed even though she was only utilising one hand, mainly because she'd proved that she could still do the work. Of course, she wasn't working at the moment; she was standing out front, a ratchet in hand (something she had been quite amused by when she'd thought back to her Autobot guardian), and she was looking at the humungous plume of smoke rising from half of New York.

She sighed as her hand tightened around the ratchet, and she wished that Ratchet was actually with her. She knew that Decepticons had done this, and she knew why, too; they were looking for her and they had only known where she lived.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of everyone who had been in the area surrounding her home at the time of the Decepticon attack. She knew that a lot of people had definitely been seriously injured, but she had no idea how many had been killed. It pained her to think about that, knowing that it was because of her that they'd all been hurt or had perished.

"Hey, Alice!" someone shouted, and the white haired girl turned to see one of her co-workers striding towards her, a concerned frown on his face and a phone in his hand. He held it out to her and said, "It's for you," while holding his other hand out. Alice gave him the ratchet before taking the phone, thanking her co-worker – who nodded and walked away, tool in hand – and pressing the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked, and she heard a relieved sigh on the other end.

"Alice, it's Ratchet," she heard her guardian say, and her face lit up.

"Oh, hey Ratch," she said cheerfully. Then she frowned. "Why'd you sigh with relief when I answered?" she asked, the skin on the bridge of her nose creasing as she wondered what it had meant.

"The Decepticons attacked your house, and I didn't know if you were there," he admitted, and Alice bit her lip.

"Nah, I got called into work about an hour ago," she explained, and she heard yet another relieved sigh from Ratchet's end. "But I can just tell my boss that I need to leave, if you want to come and get me?" she inquired.

"Please," was all Ratchet said, and Alice farewelled him before hanging up and wandering off to locate her boss. She quickly informed him of the situation, and – after being told to fill in her time sheet – the girl found herself waiting for Ratchet, who pulled up about ten minutes later. She immediately pulled the passenger side door open and jumped in, closing the door after her, but she didn't even have time to put her seatbelt on before Ratchet screamed away from the curb.

"Whoa, slow down!" she exclaimed, shocked, but the emergency vehicle didn't slow. If anything, he just sped up. "Hey, what's gotten into you?" she asked, frowning. Ratchet said nothing, and this caused her to scowl and slam her fist down on the dashboard. "Answer me!"

"Alice, will you not?" Ratchet suddenly growled. "I'm trying to get back to the others as fast as I can! If the Decepticons see me…" He trailed off, and the vehicle seemed to shudder. "They clearly have something that can destroy half of New York! If they hit me with it, we're both scrapped!"

"Oh," was all that the girl managed to choke out, and then she fell completely silent. She scratched her head awkwardly, and then heard a sigh from Ratchet.

"I'm… sorry that I snapped at you," he said after a while, but the human girl said nothing. Instead she looked out of the window, which caused Ratchet to sigh again. "I was just worried about you. Please don't ignore me." Alice continued to ignore his words, but this time the medic got the message and just shut up. He soon returned to the others, and the moment he pulled up Alice got out and walked away from him. He transformed and sadly looked over at her as she walked over and greeted Miko, Jack and Raf.

"What did you say to her?" Bulkhead questioned, walking over and looking over at the four humans, who were chattering happily among themselves.

Ratchet shook his head. "I snapped at her."

Bulkhead sighed, but said nothing more as a Ground Bridge opened for the group. They all headed inside, Ratchet slowly walking after the others, and soon found themselves back at the Autobot base. But there was no time for greetings; each bot noticed that Vesper and Optimus seemed highly alarmed and incredibly concerned about something, and as the two Autobots turned to the rest of the group, Ratchet felt the energon in his veins stop flowing…

Because of the terrified looks on both of their faces.