Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, its characters, or any of its content. I am not making any money off this story or its chapters.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews! I never expected this to be viewed so much, let alone followed or favorited!

Chapter 4: Refueling

Elaine sipped at her coffee and stared at the giant metal...things...sitting in her barn. After a lot of screaming, pleading, and a couple of fired shotgun shells, they had all agreed to sit down and calmly talk about the situation. Starscream glared down at the small woman and tried not to think about the small, stinging hole in his hand where she'd shot at him. It didn't do much damage, but Primus, did it ever sting! He was sure she had more shells in that primitive weapon and he had no desire to anger her again and have to weld a bunch of tiny injuries. Skywarp, somehow, managed to avoid all the rounds altogether and was sitting beside Thundercracker, subtly leaning a little close to the large blue flier. Titan, for a reason unfathomable to her, was sitting at Thundercracker's feet, watching everything intently with his ears back. It surprised Elaine that the dog even got close to one of the mechs. He had shown nothing short of fear and aggression when they had discovered the three of them.

"So let me get this straight..." Elaine began. "Your boss tried to kill you, so you flew away. You landed in my field after your friend passed out in the sky and proceeded to take cover in my barn, then destroyed my tractor to use for spare parts. Am I getting this so far or have I missed something?"

"You're still upset about that thing?" Skywarp muttered.

"Yes, I'm still upset about that thing. That thing is a beautiful Massey Ferguson and the average cost for a new one of that particular model is about 300,000 goddamn dollars. So yeah...I'm a little upset. I can fix it, but the parts aren't going to be cheap and, in case you haven't noticed, it's an absolute mess!" Her voice went from quiet to loud in a matter of seconds.

Titan started growling at the cybertronians again.

"Human, calm down." Starscream started. His processor was aching terribly.

"Elaine." She interrupted him.

"What?"

"My name is Elaine. Not human, not fleshbag, not squishy. You're staying in my building. Mind your manners."

"You shot me! Where are your manners?! Is this how you treat all of your guests?!"

"You trespassed and scared the fuck out of me. I had a right to shoot you. And it hardly even hurt you. Look how much bigger you are than me, for chrissake!"

"Guys...please stop yelling..." Skywarp cut in.

Elaine and Starscream looked his way. The purple seeker was quietly sitting with his fallen friend, face turned downward, and looking very much upset. At this point, despite the damage that had been done to her barn and her equipment, Elaine felt awful for him. He was clearly the youngest of the three and seemed to be suffering the most emotional trauma out of everyone present. Even at his impressive size, his optics and expression made him look like a kicked puppy. The damage to the blue one was obvious. Whatever they had been through, it hadn't been pleasant at all.

"Well...I can fix it...I can fix anything, really. Buy a brand new one that looks just like it if that doesn't work...They make 'em everyday." She muttered and looked at Starscream again.

Starscream sighed and relaxed a bit. Screaming wasn't going to get them anywhere, and if they wanted parts and fuel, not to mention keeping their whereabouts a secret from both factions, they'd have to cooperate with the woman that owned the property. He looked over to Elaine, who was gazing at him with an upset expression on her face. Was that pity he saw in her eyes? Compassion? That was something that might work to their advantage if he played his cards right.

"Elaine," He began. "Do you have any source of fuel here? Anything we could convert and use would be ideal. It'd get Thundercracker up and moving faster. He was so low on fuel when we flew out of the base, he went into stasis lock."

"So he's basically starving to death? That's awful! What the hell kind of place did you live in?" She shook her head. "Yeah. I've got gasoline in one large tank for the machines here. There's kerosene in a tank by the house for the emergency furnace. It's been sitting for awhile now, so I have no clue if it's any good for your kind. If you don't mind my asking, what do you mean by convert?"

"We cannot drink the fuel in it's raw form without becoming ill. Doing so might work in an emergency, but it also has the potential to clog our tanks with contaminants and offline us anyway. It has to be converted to Energon, which is what our bodies use for sustenance." He carefully explained. "I have been able to convert your human fuels to our fuel with a chemical process. Thankfully, I've been keeping the necessary equipment with me to do so, or we'd be fragged right now."

Elaine nodded. "Which one would you like?"

"Preferably, the gasoline. Even after it's converted, kerosene smells and tastes disgusting."

"Well, it is a pretty foul smelling form of fuel, I'll agree. I can shut off and disconnect the tank from the pump, then bring it down here on a trailer. My truck might have a bit of a tough time with it, but it'll move it." She looked into his optics. "Wait here and I'll get it. I don't need you guys walking around in the middle of the night. You might step on something expensive."

She got up from her seat and grabbed her keys. When she was halfway out the door, she looked behind her.

"Titan...are you staying or going, big guy?"

Titan just let out a bark and a whine, looking up at the blue seeker, then back at her.

"Well, there's nothing you can do, but it's nice of you to watch him. Good boy."

He let out a bark and stayed seated, his ever watchful eyes keeping track of everything. It was his job to keep an eye on this place and the intruders. If they tried something, he could trip them or at least alert Elaine in time. The doberman looked up at Thundercracker once again. This one, whatever he was, was in bad shape. He could smell something off about him; he was sure that the massive machine was sick or hurt. He would stay in this spot beside him until he woke up, just in case he was more aggressive than his companions. His dear Elaine could not be hurt by any of these beings. He would not allow it.

Elaine walked out of the barn and headed up the field towards the house. Starscream glanced down at the small, furry creature sitting by his comrade's pede. The dog gave him a look that clearly said 'I know what you're up to' and growled at him.

"Oh please. You're not the least bit intimidating."

The doberman snarled at him and bared his teeth.

"You know, Screamer, if he were any bigger, he'd look a lot like Ravage. His teeth look pretty sharp..."

"He's a canine. They don't get big like Ravage on this planet."

"Do you think his teeth can go through metal?"

"No, you dumbaft! They'd break off if he bit into something that hard! Didn't you study anything about this planet? You've certainly been on it long enough!"

"That's your department. You're the one fascinated with organics."

"I'm not fascinated with organics! I was one of Cybertron's best scientists! You don't get that far by not studying things!"

"Whatever...geek."

"What was that?!"

Titan grumbled. On second thought, these idiots were harmless if they were just going to fight amongst themselves. He jumped at the sound of something clanging off the purple one. The red one apparently threw a small tool at him and was yelling obscenities quite loudly. Well, it was all well and good if they were just going to argue with each other like a couple of dimwits, but it was something altogether different now that they were bringing his owner's tools into their silly conflict. He knew how much it upset her to have her things broken.

The doberman sauntered over to the loud, screechy one that he liked the least and glared up at him. If this one wanted to be mean, fine. He would show him that he could be pretty mean too.

Starscream froze when he felt something warm and wet on his leg. He glanced down just as the rust colored, furry dog walked out of the barn, a proud bounce in his step. Skywarp started laughing.

"That...That wretched little slagger just leaked fluids all over me!" He screeched in disbelief. "Stop laughing, Primus damn you! Skywarp! It's. Not. Funny!"

His purple friend kept laughing at him as Starscream frantically looked around for something to clean himself with.

"Stop giggling over there like a dumbaft and help me find something to wipe the piss off with!"

If anything, that statement just made Skywarp laugh harder.

Elaine heard shouting from the barn and shook her head. At least she was miles away from everyone and it would hopefully go unnoticed by the locals. Most meant well, but damn were they nosy.

She had managed to get the truck detached from the trailer with the weird pink shit in it and moved it down to the fuel tank with a slight bigger trailer now attached to the back. The pump was disconnected shortly afterward, and she used her old, but still running forklift to load the tank onto the trailer. It strained the forklift and she could see the back end of the truck sagging a little bit, but she only had to move it a short distance without tipping it. Once she got the tank secure and strapped down, she hopped in the truck and backed it down to the barn doorway. It was still raining out, and when everything was said and done, she was soaked.

Hopping out of her truck, she walked through the now open sliding door that was very much out of alignment and broken in a couple spots.

"So I've got the fuel tank he-" She stopped for a moment, looking at the scene before her. "Um, Starscream...may I ask why you're wiping your leg with my tarp?"

The red mech looked at her, visibly aggravated and offended.

"Your wonderful little pet leaked fluids on me!"

"He leaked fluids on you?...Oh! He peed on you!"

"Yes, he peed on me! You organics and your habits are disgusting!"

Elaine sighed and walked over to one side of the barn. She pulled out a bottle of Meguiar's Gold Class from the shelf after looking through the soap section. She had only met the red mech hours ago, but she figured he wouldn't appreciate the cheap shit she used on the farm equipment. After grabbing a bucket, she filled it with some water and the soap, then took one of her good washing mitts and a towel off the same shelf.

Starscream glared over at Skywarp, who had stopped giggling, but still had that obnoxious smirk on his face. He looked back down, and was surprised to see Elaine standing by his leg, holding a bucket of liquid and towels.

"What are you doing?" He screeched.

"You know, my ears are a little sensitive. Must you screech so loud?"

"That's how he got his name." Skywarp said, still smirking.

"Shut up, you aft!"

"Knock it off, you two." Elaine grumbled. "I'm going to wash your leg off and dry it."

"I don't want your organic hands on me!"

"Oh, then you'd rather rust and have discolored paint? Urine isn't exactly nice to certain finishes."

Starscream let a gust of air out of his intakes, but remained quiet after that. To be honest, it was rather pleasant to have someone washing him, even if it was a tiny human, but he would never admit that outloud.

Elaine finished washing him, rinsed his leg the best she could, and dried him off. She set the bucket and accompanying supplies over to the side of the barn she got them from.

Starscream looked over at Thundercracker. His armor wasn't graying at all, and he wasn't leaking anymore energon, but he knew the large mech was in worse shape that he appeared to be. Skywarp dropped his cheerful expression when he looked back at TC. They were foolish to be arguing amongst themselves and worrying about trivial things like their paint at a time like this.

"The fuel is right on the trailer just outside the doorway. You two are much larger than I am, so I'll let you unload it. I don't think my forklift is up to the task again."

The two mechs looked back at Elaine. She stepped aside when they stood up and got to work. Skywarp and Starscream had the tank unloaded and safely inside the barn in a fraction of the time it took her to load it up. She stood and watched them work, amazed at how graceful and fluid their movements were despite their massive size. Starscream's movements were a bit more refined, but Skywarp was by no means awkward as he moved about.

The conversion process took about 64 minutes. Starscream was doing some sort of scan on the finished fuel.

"Looks like it worked well. It's not the best grade, but it'll have to do for now. We'll need to give it to Thundercracker first, 'Warp. He needs it the most. There might not be too much left over after that." The red seeker told his comrade.

Skywarps tanks made a gurgling sound, but he nodded. He sat back down next to Thundercracker, exhausted and almost ready to slip into recharge. He forced himself to stay awake.

Elaine watched as Starscream took a clear line with a sharp end on one end. He put one end into the tank and opened up Thundercracker's armor near his shoulder. He pierced his friend's internal line and watched closely as the fuel began to flow from the tank and into the blue mech's body. The young woman's eyes widened. The fuel was pink, and looked so much like what she had an abundance of in the glass bottles of the other trailer. She wouldn't disturb Starscream while he was working, but she would surely share Jerry's discovery afterward.

"This metal is holding up to our fuel just fine. It eats through most of the containers on this planet."

"Well, it's galvanized. There's a protective layer of zinc on the metal. The zinc won't hurt him, will it?" Elaine asked.

"No. It's too small an amount to be dangerous to him even if it does react with the energon. It's one of the minerals on this planet that is relatively harmless to us." Starscream explained.

"Human's are sensitive I guess. Too much zinc is bad for us, and so is too little. It's a micronutrient for humans."

"I know. I've been studying your planet for a while now. It'd all be more interesting if we weren't in the middle of this fragging war."

Skywarp watched the two of them talk to each other. They were being civil, which was a far better scenario than that of them yelling at one another. Starscream had an abrasive personality and he could be irritating as hell nowadays, but he wasn't always that way. Whenever science came into play, or exploration, he seemed a bit calmer. The purple flyer longed to see an end to the war so they could have a home again; so his trinemates could go back to being happy and at peace with everything. Instead, they were bringing their problems to someone else's planet and destroying it much like they had their own. There were a few neutral settlements here and there, and some Decepticon and Autobot outposts scattered across Cybertron's vast landscape, but it was a shell of what it used to be. Skywarp wasn't usually one to think deeply about things; that changed during one of the raids the Decepticons made on a Gas Storage Plant. The Autobots showed up to stop them and attempted to protect the humans working at the plant. Before he had retreated and warped away, Skywarp caught a glimpse of one of the humans on the ground, holding another who appeared to have gone offline in a horrifying manner. The woman was screaming, clutching the man to her chest, and crying in despair. She had the same look on her face that Skywarp's adoptive carrier had on hers as she held his foster creator in her arms when he was offlined in the battle that destroyed Vos. The femme had offlined herself flying into battle against the invading Autobots in one last attempt to avenge her sparkmate's death. He had lost both his caregivers that day.

Thundercracker's frame started to hum just a little bit louder, Elaine noticed.

"His body is accepting the fuel just fine. He's at 76% now. As much as I'd like to get him to an optimum level, we need some of this fuel for ourselves. He should come back online in about 6 Earth hours." Starscream assessed Thundercracker's condition.

Starscream slid the tank to Skywarp after removing the line and replacing it with another, who began to drink as soon as it was passed to him. He stopped after a little while and passed it back, his systems getting used to the converted fuel.

"Primus, Screamer. This stuff tastes funny."

"It's better than nothing, 'Warp. Stop complaining."

Starscream had his share and Elaine turned and busied herself with organizing a workbench, not wanting to stare at them while they...drank? Ate? She wasn't sure what it was called.

The empty fuel tank was hefted up and placed outside the barn by Starscream, who came back in and sat down afterward, watching Thundercracker. Skywarp must've fell into recharge against the wall, because his optics were dim and he was too quiet to have been awake.

Elaine noticed a difference automatically. Starscream's eyes were a brighter red, glowing a bit more than they were. His armor even seemed to gain a little bit of luster. Skywarp's armor also looked much better. She supposed that being malnourished really took a toll on them, just like it would any other creature.

"You're soaked."

"Pardon me?"

"You're soaking wet. Human's get sick exposed to rain for too long."

"I suppose you're right. I'll go to the house for a while. Is there anything else you need?"

"Is there any source of heat in this building? We're not as susceptible to low temperature as your kind are, but Thundercracker is recovering. He will have a harder time keeping his core temperature up while he's trying to heal."

"I have a couple large space heaters." She flipped a switch on the wall. "They're electric, so you don't have to worry about running out of fuel for them. Keep them on as long as you'd like."

"That will be acceptable."

Elaine grinned and walked to her cabin. That, she assumed, was as close to a 'thank you' as she was going to get. Titan was on the doorstep, soaking wet and glaring at her when she stepped onto the porch.

"What? I didn't tell you to run in the rain, you jackass."

She opened the door and let him in first, then followed. Kicking her boots off, she searched around for a towel and some dry clothing. Her heart was pounding in her chest; it had been one hell of a day and she was still wound up about it. She definitely needed a few hours sleep before she went back out to deal with her guests. She fixed Titan with a stern glare.

"If you wake me this time, there will be hell to pay."

He blinked and yawned loudly at her. She shook her head and climbed the stairs, shutting off the downstairs lights and hoping to get a decent amount of rest, though she doubted that would happen.