Chapter 8

Mystery

Penny didn't exactly know what to do from that point. She now had a decepticon in her arms bleeding all over her clothing. It was dark out and the energon was making her light up like a Christmas tree. Penny's first thought was to bring him to Mike, she knew he could fix the small jet since he fixed Ironhide right? But Mike lived on the other side of town, by the time she reached him she would be carrying around a lifeless body. Her only other option was going back to her house, which was currently full of autobot soldiers. Ratchet would be able to fix him she knew he could, but would he be willing to. Sighing she headed in the direction of her house, it was better to try and convince the small medical bot then to stand there any longer.

"You should just leave me here..." He said after letting out a light moan. Penny just shook her head again; she couldn't leave him alone in the forest.

"Don't be stupid, if I left you there you would bleed to death and you know it" She stated, her house was coming into view. The two story red-bricked house was looking very welcoming right now; she could only see one light on. It was the one near the front of the house, most likely where all the other little robots were. She didn't expect to see any of them until she got in, unfortunately the unexpected just had to occur. Right in her path was a little red robot, his gun aimed at Penny.

"Ironhide..." She said looking down at him automatically holding the blue jet closer to her body.

"drop'em, Penny He tried ta kill ya, we might as well put em out of his misery" Ironhide said glaring at the seeker.

"I'm not going to let Thundercracker die; he came to life just as you guys did. If he can provide any answers as to why this is occurring in the first place we need him alive" She stated rather strongly, compared to how she really felt. Ironhide shook his head and didn't lower his gun.

"Fer all we know he's fakin his injuries. Just put em down, I'll kill em, it'll be over with" Ironhide answered, his face hardening into a glare.

"Ironhide, if you want to kill him, fine. But you're killing me first. You understand?" Penny was going to stand her ground on this one. She couldn't let them boss her around she knew what was right and she knew what Ironhide would or wouldn't do. At least she hoped she did. She took this stalemate as a moment to glance down at the seeker again. His optics had grown a tad wider as he was trying to understand his situation. Even though they were wide they were beginning to flicker and lose their brightness. She knew he was fading.

"I-I can't" Ironhide responded. He lowered his gun looking up at his friend.

"Come on, get'em in the house. We'll jus have'ta see what the others think of this" Ironhide said turning around and leading the way up the steps. She smiled lightly, glad to be able to at least try and save the small jet. She turned the handle and Ironhide pushed it open, on the other side stood Ratchet his arms were crossed and he was tapping his foot.

"Ratchet," Penny started, but as soon as Ratchet saw the energon his face dropped. He was instantly concerned instead of annoyed.

"W-who's..." He eyed Thundercracker and then it clicked in his head what had happened.

"You went back for him?" He asked slightly shocked.

"I know, I thought she was crazy but, she wouldn't let me put'em out of his misery" Ironhide grumbled standing at Penny's feet.

"Ratchet please help him, for me?" Penny responded. By this point the others had started to gather around. Ratchet looked back at the others then up at Penny's desperate face.

"Alright..." He said sighing

"Put him on the counter"

Penny had changed once again. Thundercracker's energon was starting to burn her skin not to mention it was causing the other autobots, who were already on edge, to feel uncomfortable. Now wearing a long sleeved red shirt and jean shorts she went back down the stairs.

"Penny," It was Blaster he was waiting at the bottom.

"Yes?" She asked sitting down a few steps from the bottom.

"You aren't thinking of letting Thundercracker stay here are ya?" Blaster responded. He never looked more worried than he did now. Penny cocked her head to the side in thought.

"It depends. I don't want to send him back right away because then he'll know how many of you guys there are not to mention, I want to ask him a few things. Like how he came to life. I only collect autobots so it doesn't have anything to do with me" She said leaned on the railing of the stairs slightly, her broken rib was starting to hurt again.

"But... Penny..." Blaster was cut off by Sideswipe running over.

"Penny, Ratchet said your new friend is all repaired. He's not going to turn him online though until you've had a good night's sleep" Sideswipe said glancing back at the Kitchen. Penny followed his gaze to see Ratchet standing on the counter with his arms crossed. Penny sighed and nodded at him.

"Tell him alright, but I don't want any of you touching Thundercracker tonight understand?" She said turning around to walk back up the stairs. Before she could take a step she felt someone tap her on the leg.

"Can I come with you or are you still in pain?" Blaster asked hopefully.

"Hey if you're going with her I am too!" Sideswipe stated. Penny smiled and picked up Blaster.

"Sideswipe, right now I think I can only handle one of you guys with me I'm sorry" Penny said turning around and walking up the stairs.

"Thanks fer keeping me with ya babe" He said smirking.

"No problem." Penny responded yawning. She should really grab something to eat before she went to bed but she was exhausted.

She was running, as fast as she could. She could see her parents they were getting on a plane.

"Bye honey, well be back in a week" they said in unison as the plane seemed to engulf them.

"Mom Dad no!" She yelled out. Her feet suddenly felt very heavy she looked down to see Blaster clinging on one of her legs Sideswipe on the other.

"Don't Penny it's too late" They said their optics turning red.

"You can't save them you can't ever save them. Don't even try" The little robots said to her smiling.

"No! You're wrong! I can still get there in time!" She yelled the plane lifted off the ground as if it were out of her reach.

"NO!" She yelled

"No! Don't go! Please!" She then heard her name being said over and over again, fog clouded her vision and she was pulled back to reality.

"Penny!" She saw Blaster standing above her. His optics were filled with worry. She sat up causing him to fall from where he was sitting on her chest onto her lap.

"Penny are you ok? You were yelling in your sleep" He said getting up and walking to her side putting his hand gently on her arm.

"It...It was just a bad dream" She said sighing and putting a hand on her face. She felt wetness and realized she was crying. Wiping her eyes she smiled down at the small red robot.

"Must've been. Who were you trying ta save?" He asked curiously.

"No one" Penny's voice dropped rather coldly as she looked up at her shelves. Most of them had been bought by her parents, though she usually brought them back and exchanged them if she didn't like the one her parents picked out. She sighed and got up, it was 8am later then when she usually slept in till, she was lucky her shift at the restaurant wasn't until later. Throwing on what she had on last night she took Blaster downstairs. Only to find all the other robots were asleep. She placed Blaster on the counter beside the still offline Thundercracker then popped to pieces of toast in her toaster.

"Penny, you alright?" Blaster asked looking at her oddly. She nodded inspecting the repairs Ratchet did on Thundercracker. She never figured out where he got the extra metal from.

"He's operational if you want me to turn him online" she looked up to try and find the owner of this voice. It was Ratchet; he had snuggled up on the sofa not too close to Grimlock.

"You sure you don't want to wait for the others to wake up? I mean I don't think he'll attack me but you guys seemed to be pretty worried about it" Penny said idly stroking the side of Thundercracker's face. She was starting to wish she had collected decepticons as well. At least then she would know where he came from.

"I think we should wait until Jazz gets up at least" Sideswipe had just come out of recharge and caught onto what they were talking about. Penny nodded; Jazz probably had the most level head out of all of them. Not to mention he was the highest ranking officer so, he'd be able to control the other autobots. She turned around and pulled her toast out of the toaster, she was getting really hungry and her toaster usually burnt it when it popped anyway. Not bothering to put butter on it she started nibbling on it. She didn't like waiting. Luckily though the others seemed to be waking up pretty quickly, Sunstreaker had woken up soon after his brother and then Ironhide. The small red bot had decided to take a post up on the counter next to the decepticon he didn't like the fact they were leaving him unguarded.

"I really don't think he should be'ere" Ironhide grumbled to himself holding his blaster rather tightly. He still had the moon shaped mark on his leg, but with all that had happened he seemed to have forgotten to hide it.

"Would you like to be left behind like he was?" Penny asked looking at him. Ironhide shrugged, she could tell he didn't want to be here. He still had the tracker in him. Then something clicked in her head, couldn't Ratchet remove it?

"Um,Ironhide I need to talk to you" Penny said lifting him off the counter not giving him a chance to respond. She moved upstairs and went into her bedroom closing the door behind her. She placed iron hide on the bed and she sat on the floor this gave him a bit more height so he didn't feel like a child.

"Penny, what'd ya want?" He asked looking a bit agitated. He wanted to be keeping an eye on the seeker they had left behind in the kitchen.

"I wanna talk to you about the tracker." She stated rather clearly.

"I want to get Ratchet to try and locate and remove it. But I didn't know whether you wanted any of the others knowing about it" She said glancing up at the shelves. She was wondering whether they knew what was going on while they were toys. If so she had just announced it to most of the autobot army. Ironhide shifted his sitting position uncomfortably at the question.

"Awh... I don't know. I should've left ya when ya found me, but with all these soldiers actin out of line. I jus couldn't" He said looking up at her

"If I had left maybe ya wouldn't of had that lil decepticreep in yur kitchen" He looked down at his hands, he felt guilty now. As if everything that had happened thus far had been his fault.

"None of this is your fault. If you're worried about it just get Ratchet to take a look at you" She said smiling slightly. Ironhide didn't respond, instead he just pointed one finger up at the shelves behind her. His optics were wide. Penny turned around to see that Sky Linx was shining slightly. She was lucky to have gotten that character, Mika had got it from china last time she went there.

"Penny, I dun think waking him up will be a good idea" Ironhide said continuing to stare. He had no idea what size Sky Linx would grow to when brought to life.

"Well I can't leave him there glowing like a nightlight now can I? Anyway who knows? I might not be able to wake him up" She said getting up and reaching for the toy. It was on the second shelf to the top, usually she placed the big ones on the smaller shelves but she had specifically put this one up high because of how valuable she considered it. That's when she felt something grab her ankle.

"Penny..." Ironhide said looking up at her. He was trying to stop her. She just smiled reassuringly then reached out and grabbed Sky Linx from the shelf... The stretching made her wince slightly in pain from her ribs but she managed to grab hold of the figure. Just as some of the others had he glowed brighter and brighter in her grasp and suddenly the light was blinding. She felt the figure grow in her hands she let go just to feel two legs on her shoulders. The weight of this new character pushed her to the ground causing her to yell out in pain. Sky Linx jumped off her and onto the bed.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I don't realise my own weight." He said bending over, his dragon like head inspecting her. He had grown to the size of a full grown dog and not one of those little ones but a German Sheppard size

"I'm ok" She mumbled, trying to stay as still as possible where she was lying. Ironhide looked really worried.

"Sky help me get this door open. I'm gunna get Ratch" He said looking at the handle which was far out of his reach. Doing as he was told Sky Linx gave Ironhide a boost on his head allowing the small robot to open the door.

"I'll go get him. Saving a damsel in distress is my specialty" Sky Linx stated letting Ironhide slide back down to the floor and running down the stairs. Ironhide grumbled something about him being cocky and went to Penny's side.

"Ironhide I'm fine" She said smiling and attempting to pull herself up using the bed as leverage. Ironhide stopped her though.

"Ya need yur rest. You landed pretty hard" he responded. She had never heard Ironhide so calm and reassuring. She just nodded thinking how silly it was for them to be worried; she was fine just had to get back on her feet and get a hold of some pain killers. Sky Linx appeared back at the door in about five minutes with Ratchet on his back. When they got in the door Ratchet instantly slid off and inspected her.

"You just bruised yourself slightly." He stated.

"You should be more careful. We don't have anyone else to drive you to the hospital" He said looking rather sternly at her. She just shrugged and pulled herself up using the bed. She was really sore. Looking between the two she smiled.

"Ironhide is the one you should be talking to about taking care of himself" She stated winking at him. Ratchet gave Ironhide a confused look and Ironhide just put his hands up defensively.

"What's wrong with Ironhide?" He asked looking him over.

"Nothin" Ironhide stated pushing away the curious medic who had just been eyeing the moon shaped mark on his leg.

"Hide, tell him" She responded rather sternly.

"You better listen to the lady" Sky Linx piped in. Really he was just curious as to what was going on.

"Fine," He grumbled

"I got a tracker placed in me by some crazed collector named Mike you happy?" He said glaring at them.

"W-wait!" Penny said her eyes wide.

"His name was Mike?"

Sorry for taking so long with this guys,

I feel bad for not updating in 2 years .
anyway this one hasn't been edited by my beta so if you see any issues with spelling grammar ect please tell me :)

i'll make sure to change it

enjoy