The Children Chapter 16

One Step at a Time

"The police are still on the lookout for a young man who disappeared from his hospital room yesterday. They warn you not to approach this gentleman as he may be dangerous, just call the police to report his location" A photo appeared next to the female newscasters head, it was the same picture that Penny had been shown in the hospital. She wished they had chosen a different one, plastering his purple glowing veins all over the news wasn't exactly pleasant. She leaned over the back of her couch; Jazz and Ironhide were sitting on it beside the downed autobots. Sufficed to say it was a tad squishy with all 6 of them crowded together.

"Penny ya shouldn't of gone on yer own yesterday" Ironhide said turning to face her, his optics weren't glowing as brightly as usual but they weren't flashing yet.

"I know" She said standing upright, she was wearing a loose white shirt that didn't quite meet the edge of her shorts. There was a slight bulge in the front pocket of her jean shorts where the vial was, she had kept it on her since Thundercracker had given it to her lately. Due to the high tensions she chose not to mention the fact she had seen the decepticon.

"I need to go to school, ill check on Ratchet before I leave" She said quietly as she grabbed her half completed homework and went to walk out the front door.

"Penny do ya want me to come with ya?" Jazz asked hoping to his feet and peeking over the back of the couch.

"Not today Jazz" she said grabbing her bag and closing the door behind her. She felt bad abandoning him considering this is the first time he offered, but she wasn't planning on going to school right away. Anyway he would be spending most of the day crammed in her locker. When she got out to the driveway Sparkplug was already there, his car still had scrapes and dents from their run-in with the Arc's security systems but he was just as cheerful as always.

"Good Morning Penny" He said smiling and leaning against his car.

"Ill drop you off and get you when school is over alright?" He said opening the passenger side door for her. She froze up slightly, she had not plan on having Sparkplug take her this morning it was a bit of a detour compared to where she wanted to go.

"Oh, thanks Sparkplug" She responded smiling

"Just let me check on Ratchet" She said opening the garage to about waist height and slipping through the opening. Ratchet was leaning against Hound and not moving.

"Ratchet?" She said gently, she wasn't ready for him to go offline yet. He was the only one who could completely repair the autobots, Sparkplug knew quite a bit but he had fully admitted he wasn't anywhere near as skilled as Ratchet. Luckily the small medic stirred and his optics came online, she could see his optics focusing.

"Don't worry you aren't losing me quite yet. I just needed...a moment" His servo went to his helm his optics dimming for a moment. He rubbed his chevron and looked up at her, Penny's brow had furrowed in concern.

"It's time for you to go to school right? Head out. I managed to complete a lot over night " He said gesturing at the vehicle behind him. Penny's eyes traced Hounds odd shape in the dim lighting of the garage, light from the outside poured in only highlighting the very clear fact that the majority of the siding had yet to be replaced. Hound was still a shell of what he had once been.

" I could stay and..." Penny started only to have her request answered with a scowl. For some reason Ratchet and Sparkplug had been very adamant about Penny attending school instead of continuing to help. She may not know much about fixing Cybertronians but she had helped her dad with normal cars in the past.

All well

She thought to herself, it wasn't like her offer was incredibly genuine anyway, she had somewhere she needed to go today. If they weren't going to let her help at home she needed to find a new way to be of some use.

"I have Sparkplug and the others." Ratchet said turning back to Hound who had decided to stay quiet until now.

"When Ratchet's done with me I'll be able to take you. It'll be nice to be out without needing a tow!" He said trying to be cheerful, Penny nodded and slipped back out. She wasn't sure if Hound could see her at all but it didn't matter in that moment.

Penny stood at the bus stop outside of her school, a small amount of change in hand. It was enough to make the trip there and back, exactly six dollars. Once Sparkplug dropped her off she had attended her first period class then slipped out during the change over. The wind blew slightly and she pulled her sand colored hair out of her eyes, just as the bus turned the corner. It stopped and the door opened a cheerful woman sitting in the drivers seat.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" She asked letting Penny climb up the steps.

"I have a doctor's appointment" Penny replied dropping the change into the machine. It made a grinding sound as it accepted the coins, then automatically printed a transfer. She was hoping that the 2hr transfer would last so she didn't need to spend anymore coming home. Taking a seat near the front, the bus started up, heading away from her school. Penny stared down at her hands nervously rubbing them together, her green eyes darting up at the window every so often checking the stops as they passed.

I wish Ratchet would let me help more... I may not know much but I'd do anything to help them.

I'd do anything to help Blaster

And bump in the road jostled her slightly, it made her realize she shouldn't be picking favorites like that, she cared for them all equally. Didn't she? Another bump and she was brought back to reality. Clutching the strap of her bag she saw the lab coming into view, she reached up and pulled the yellow cord the lined the bus. A single beep rang out and a red light reading 'STOP REQUESTED' started to glow above where the bus driver was sitting.

"Hi, I'd like to see Dr. Arkeville Jr." Penny said placing her arm onto the rounded counter at the entrance. The woman sitting behind the desk looked up at her, she had clear blue eyes and her auburn hair was fastened into a messy bunch atop her head.

"If you wanted to see Sr I'd tell you that you were in the wrong building. Do you have an appointment? " The woman asked smiling and turning to the computer the was behind the desk on the lower level.

"No but... I'm a family friend" She responded awkwardly, whenever her dad had come here with her he hadn't needed an appointment. The girl looked at her an eyebrow raised curiously.

"You aren't Penny are you?" She asked, Penny just nodded.

"Geez when he told me to put you on the visitors list I didn't think you really existed! Room 201 second floor, be careful sometimes he won't hear you buzz." She said smiling and pointing at the elevator. Penny smiled back at the woman and entered the elevator, she wasn't the secretary that had been here on her last visit. Though that had been a while ago...

She reached out and pressed the button for the second floor. Her hand instinctively trailed to her pocket where the vial was, as if checking to make sure it was still there. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, the walls were glass with a metal frame all the way down the hall. Why they called it room 201 she'd never know, his office was the entire floor. Walking about halfway down the hall she stopped at the door, there was a tall man with goggles working on something at the table. She pressed the button on the side of the door, she had to push it a few times before the man looked up. His eyes met Penny's and a large smile appeared on his face. He took the goggles off and ran over to push the buzzer on his side. The door whooshed open and he grabbed her in a big hug lifting her up off the ground.

"OW! Uncle George!" She said wincing as her injury sent pain through her body. George Arkeville wasn't actually her uncle but he worked with her parents enough through her childhood that it was hard not to consider him family. He placed her back on the ground and poked her ribs quizzingly feeling the reinforced cast.

"Still ow" Penny responded shying from his touch.

"Now how did my little lab rat do that eh?" George said, his brown eyes looking up at her playfully. He had been calling her lab rat since she could walk it was apparently his form of endearment.

"Shelving fell on me...its a long story. Can we talk?" Penny responded trying to portray exactly how important what she had was. He gestured into his lab a goofy grin still plastered on his face.

"Whats mine is yours!" He responded and Penny stepped in the door shutting behind her. She picked a chair up off the floor, who knows how it got knocked over, and sat on it. George leaned against one of the tables and crossed his arms across his chest.

"So whats so important lab rat?" He asked raising one of his slightly singed eyebrows. Penny secretly wondered if this is how it would feel to interact with Wheeljack, the autobots resident crazy scientist. She pulled the vial of Mikes blood out of her pocket and handed it to George who stared at the contents. Holding it up to one of his work lights it glowed a slight purple.

"Where did you get this? This isn't your blood is it?" Georges voice had turned serious, more serious the Penny had ever heard it. It caused her to pause in answering him, how could he even tell that what was in the vial even WAS blood? It wasn't the right colour or consistency.

"Penny, I need you to answer me its very important" He said looking directly at her.

"Its not mine, its kinda... a friends" Right now Mike wasn't exactly at the top of Penny's list of friends. Thinking about friends made her yearn to speak to Mika about all of this, he pure indifference was...refreshing sometimes. George nodded and picked another chair up off the ground placing it in front of one of the tables near the front of the room. There was a rather sizeable microscope sitting atop it, a mess of papers and petri dishes surrounding its base. Penny stood and walked over to him as he lifted one of the dishes to the light to see if it was clean. Once he found one he was satisfied with he opened the vial and dropped a small amount onto it and placed it under the scope. Standing up suddenly he knocked the chair over as he stared through the lens.

"...so..what is it?" Penny asked waiting for George to say anything she could use.

"Lab rat... whoever this sample came from. They aren't going to be around much longer"

Penny exited the elevator holding her arm where a cotton ball had now been taped. George had insisted on testing her blood before she left, he was worried she was lying and it was her blood she had handed him. He had described Mike's blood as being poisoned with an unexplained substance, he said he'd get back to her when he had more information. This wasn't new information which frustrated her slightly, especially considering George had kept the vial. He had asked her if she could convince the person this blood belonged to to come in and see him he would be able to find out more.

Thats not going to happen

She thought to herself, recalling her last run in with the guy. Convincing him to come in and be her Uncles test subject just wasn't going to happen, not to mention Mike was the person who had gone missing from the hospital. She didn't even know where to start looking for him! What bothered her more though was when George put her vial beside Mikes she could of sworn she saw them glow.

"Hey! Girl! uh...Penny!" The girl behind the desk interupted her thoughts. Penny looked at her and attempted a small smile. The girl seemed to take that as Penny wanting her to continue talking, but to be honest she probably would of continued permisson or not.

"I gotta know, is he as crazy as his dad? The entire office gossips about how much of a crazy he was. Said he even replaced his body parts with metal. I mean no wonder his wife ran off with their son but it still leaves you wondering ya know? " Penny's eyes narrowed slightly at this woman. How rude could she be? Penny made her way to the exit only turning for a moment

"I don't know, I never met his dad" Then she stepped out before the secretary could say more. Sitting in the bus shelter beside the road she played with the coins in her pocket waiting for the bus to arrive. Penny hated to admit she had never made the connection between Uncle George Arkeville and the character from the cartoon she claimed to love so much. If the secretary was right and her Uncle was related to him it brought up many questions about who his father really was. Did he really betray the human race to the decepticons the way he did in the cartoon? Or was it all just created as entertainment?

Penny had made it back to her school just in time for her last period class. Her teacher took her aside after class or talk to her about her incomplete homework. She had gotten this talk before though last time she started completing it and handing it in on time. She was regretting building such a good reputation for herself, she wasn't planning on spending anymore time on schoolwork. There were more important things going on in her life right now. Sparkplug was outside waiting for her after school, he waved her over from his dented up pale blue car.

"How was school?" He asked when she approached, crows feet appeared beside the man's eyes as he smiled. Penny opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat, checking the back to see if any of the autobots had joined them. Sky Lynx was curled up in the back seat, optics offline, he reminded Penny of a cat.

"It was fine, how is he?" Penny asked clicking her seatbelt into the buckle. Sparkplugs cheerfulness faded from his face as he looked into the rearview mirror.

"He's getting tired, he has a lot of the same mechanisms dinobots have. He'll probably enter stasis lock before Jazz does." He said putting the car into gear and driving away from the school. Most of the drive was quiet, Penny was too busy thinking about everything that had happened today. She knew Mike was going to die, but without Hound fixed the chances of her getting into the Arc to revive the autobots was zero to none. She had her concerns about her own blood as well, she rubbed her brow feeling frustrated, she wish she could talk to Blaster or cuddle Sideswipe. The car pulled into her driveway and she climbed out. The garage was open at around knee height and Jazz was leaning against it talking to whoever was inside.

"continue like this?" Jazz finished saying as Penny approached, he stopped speaking altogether when he saw her though. Sparkplug had stepped out of the car and approached behind Penny at this point, he opened the garage further and stepped in. Inconveniently blocking Penny's view of Ratchet which only increased her curiosity.

"Why don't you go check on the others? Then you can come back out and help a bit" Sparkplug suggested, the suggestion surprised her considering how closed off they been to her today. Jazz spoke up before she had a chance to respond.

"Ironhide's not doing so well, if ya want to talk to him before, well ya know" He said patting her leg slightly, it was an awkward gesture, Penny wasn't sure if it was supposed to be comforting or what because of his size. She was emotionally split between checking on Ratchet and Hound or seeing Ironhide before he went offline. Sighing she nodded and followed Jazz inside the house, the lighting was dim. A few of the bulbs had went out, she hadn't thought to replace them, the house was such a mess after Grimlocks redecorating earlier and everything else that happened over the last couple days. She leaned over the couch looking over the five autobots that were sitting on the cushions. Blasters venting had slowed so much she could barely hear it, Ironhide was at the end of the couch. His head tilted down, optics offline.

"Ironhide? " Penny asked gently putting a hand on her friends head. His optics onlined, they shone dimly and we're slowly flashing.

"Ah I was jus restin my optics. Dontcha go worryin bout me" He said waving his hand at her.

"I'm jus tired, I just need a few..." He trailed off as Penny lifted him up into her arms, they both knew it was time. He had to enter stasis lock in order to preserve his energy, or they'd be in real trouble.

"You don't need to be tough, it's okay..." Penny said gently tracing his metal cheek.

"I'll...see ya later" He responded his optics offlined and his venting slowed. She continued to cradle him in her arms until she felt Jazz pat her leg. They shared concerned looks and she placed the downed autobot on the couch, pulling the blanket so it now encompassed the new addition.

"Jazz, we both know whose next" Penny said glancing at the door. Ratchet was next, he had been online the longest. Either that or Sky Lynx who had been working harder then he would ever care to admit.

"We need to stay positive babe, no use worrying until it all goes down" Jazz replied, he was obviously an autobot who liked looking at the energon cube as half full opposed to half empty. In Penny's eye however he energon cube was entirely empty. She kneeled down and opened her arms to the small autobot, a pained expression on her face.

"Do you mind?" She asked, she didn't know how Jazz felt about affection in the general presence of Sparkplug. She just could really use the hug.

"'Course not" Jazz responded walking into her arms returning the embrace. She felt his small hand stroking her back in a reassuring manner, it was nice to know she had him to rely on when she really needed it. They sat there for a few moments before letting go of one another.

"C'mon beautiful lets see what we can do to help" The small autobot said as he walked towards the door. Penny followed opening the door and stepping out into the outside air, it was time to set aside her feelings and focus on what was needed to be done. Everything else could take a back seat for now. She saw Sparkplug dragging a sizeable metal piece from Ratchet's approved pile towards the garage and rushed over to help, while Jazz headed into the garage.

"How close are the repairs to being done?" She asked grabbing an edge of the piece so it wouldn't drag on the ground.

"We're getting there, the siding is almost completely attached on one side. I picked up nice new tires today but Ratchets been dealing mainly with the undercarriage. We have Hound up on blocks so he can sneak under. Hes been rattling on about the differences between having normal sized hands and tiny ones." Sparkplug responded with a slight chuckle, the managed to get the siding into the garage and the elderly man began securing the pieces on the autobot. Some of which involved some pretty intense welding. Between Ratchet and Sparkplug, Penny and Jazz were running around getting the two mechanics everything they needed from parts to tools. Pennys main concern though was Ratchet, she kept pausing to check on him. His optics were so dim he had requested a flashlight in order to replace the light they provided, everytime they flashed he would shake his helm as if in an attempt to shake off the exhaustion.

"Ratchet..." Penny started

"For the last time, I am fine, focus on what you're doing and stop worrying" He snapped at her, as things went on Ratchet became more and more grumpy. He also seemed to forget what he was saying mid sentence on occasion, needing to be reminded about what he had started saying. Multiple times throughout it all Jazz and Penny has exchanged very concerned looks over the medics present condition.

"Done!" He said sliding out from under Hound, he stood up and immediately crashed to the floor. Penny rushed over to him lifting him into her arms, his optics were so dim she could hardly tell they were online.

"...Im..done. Energon levels...critical. Shut down...eminent" The last few things that escaped Ratchets vocal processor sounded very unlike him. It was more akin to an automated robot used in a windows operating system.

"He tried to completely override his stasis lock..." Jazz said shaking his helm, this must of been what they were talking about before. It also explained why Ratchet was still online up until this point when Sky Linx was already exhausted. Sparkplug stepped away from Hound just finishing tightening the final bolt on the first of Hound's tires.

"Penny go get the others and place them inside, Jazz and I will finish up here." He said gently putting a slightly dirty but reassuring hand on her shoulder. She stood up looking at Hound, apart from tired he was complete. Each metal piece was a different colour and the quality of the metal wasn't amazing but they had managed a lot in such a short amount of time. All because Ratchet put all he could into completing this repair, who knows what could of happened if he'd entirely run out of energon...She gently placed him in Hound's back seat and headed back into the house to get the rest of her new found friends.

"Are you ready?" Hound asked facing the forced clearing to the Arc Sparkplug's car had made last time they were here.

"Not really" Penny responded swallowing hard, she was sitting in the passenger seat clutching Ratchet in her arms. It had long been decided go give Ratchet the first dose of energon if they got inside. Sparkplug clapped his hand on her shoulder from the drivers seat and smiled.

"We've can do this, if we want our friends back this is the only way" His eyes darted to the back seat where all the downed autobots were laying. The only one left online at this point was Jazz and even he was showing clear signs of energon deprevation.

"Ok" Penny replied taking a deep breath.

"Lets do this."

Authors Notes:

What? Another chapter? After all this time?

I know I know Im sorry ive put this off so much! I keep thinking this story has died then new people review or favourite it and I feel compelled to continue! Just trying to compile my thoughts and get to the end of this so everyone can know the fate of Penny and her friends.

If anyone is wondering Ive been taking bits from all the shows in the G1 continuity, including Beast Wars, if youve seen it then youll know exactly what the weird voice coming from Ratchet sounds like. If you haven't then go watch it, its a great show.

Hope you enjoyed the latest installment, please R&R as I love hearing from you!