Lady Nightsong: Thanks for all the support and advice! I'll take that, and perhaps Kal might get slightly nicer after a bit warm up with the crew ;)

It's been really long before I last touched my computer... sorry, school and tests are killing me :p

Anyways, next week is slightly less tense as the last, and I spare myself for a while (honestly that's an excuse not to study for a while XD). You have the next chapter, folks, on Darkness Rising Pt. 5.

Nightmares suck.

Sure, nightmares are my daily visitors, but tonight's are worse than ever. How many times have I seen Raf escaping narrowly from the guns of the cons? How many ways have I seen him being killed by the cons? The screamings and terrifying scenes fill my head… help.

The last one is the nightmare I see the most, yet the most horrible one.

I sink into empty darkness, almost relieved about being spared from nightmares until new voices ring in my brain:

"So! These are the life forms on this planet. How interesting…"

People scream. Voices both I recognize and can't recognize occupy my head. I want to end it, I force myself to wake, but it is like I'm stuck in a theatre that wouldn't allow audiences to leave until the play has ended, forcing me to stay…

"Frederick! Grab the bike, take Kal and go! Someone has to live to tell the tale…"

I want to scream, I want to plead my mother to go with me, I want to drag her with me if only I can, but it's just a dream, and I see nothing but darkness, pit darkness…

A new voice joins. A metallic voice, a low, eerie voice joins:

"Lord Megatron, the cargo's discovered and is ready for transport…"

"Excellent! Now, destroy… this will never be a record in human history."

The owner of that alpha and omega sentence of that single dream cackles in a way so devilish, so creepy that scares my life out of my mind, and I can never forget that evil laughter. Then a loud long blast fills my head – and I wake up on my bed panting, soaked in cold sweat.

I sit up on my bed, still trembling in my place, remove my blankets and smooth the goosebumps all over my arm resulted from the dreams.

I pinch my arm hard, ensuring everything is real when a few gentle knocks sound on my tightly-shut door. "Come in," I pronounce, trying to keep my tone normal while wiping the sweat over my forehead.

Raf, already in his usual outdoors outfit peeps through a gap he opens on my door. "It's nine, Kal; Bee's calling downstairs."

"Yeah, right. Base." I shake my head, trying to keep my gaze focused and senses alert. "Go get some breakfast, I'll meet you downstairs."

He nods, and closes my door quietly.

I sigh in relief, and get changed into my usual outfit: a sleeveless plain white T-shirt, tight black pants, soft black boots, black fingerless biker gloves and my mother's black half-length leather jacket.

My mother's jacket. One of the closest memories with my family, something to hold onto.

I take a quick look in the mirror. I look slightly paler than normal, and my choppy short hair is wild as ever, except that it's slightly glittering in sweat.

I march downstairs, where the devil of the house, Mrs Esquivel is already getting the finished dishes into the kitchen.

"Too late, Kallistrate Malsky. You'll either make your own meal or you find your breakfast outside."

I ignore her and stride for the fridge, and fish out a can of beer.

I slap the can open right in her face and take a large, refreshing gulp from it. "This will keep me up and alive for a whole day."

She glares, but she doesn't do anything else, and really – why now? She hadn't reported my underage beer consumption even she'd known for years.

"Raf's going out with you today?" she asks as I reach the front door.

"We won't break curfew" is my curt reply, before shutting the door behind me.

Raf is already standing by Bee, who's at the moment in his vehicle mode with doors opened waiting for us.

"Get in. It's fun Sunday today, isn't it?" I beam at the boys.

"Sure it is. I've brought the video game set. Maybe we can try to set it up in base!" he grins widely at the idea while fastening his seatbelt at the backseats.

I take a last gulp of beer from the can and throw it into the trash can a few yards outside the garage. Strike. "Hey, Bee, mind if I sit in the driver's seat?" I ask, and without waiting for his answer I've occupied the place already. "Don't wanna have people casting us weird looks."

Fortunately he's fine with that, and he doesn't expel me from the place. As you like it, I don't wanna get famous for this, he beeps thoughtfully. Do you want to hold the wheel then?

"Not necessarily, you're the boss," I muse and lean backwards comfortably. "As long as there's someone in the seat, everything's gonna be okay."

The engine of the muscle car starts up, and we speed onto the road.

We enjoy ourselves in a brief spell of peacefulness and quietness, until the silent radio sounds. "Bumblebee, are you taking the kids in?" comes Ratchet's voice.

No worries doc, we're on the way, Bee replies.

"Well then, we need you to come in for a mission now, it's urgent."

No problem doc bot.

Bee speeds up on the dirt road, meaning our peaceful time will end as soon as we arrive – with Miko in the base. That's just too sad.

Sooner than we even realise, we've arrived in Autobot base, where Optimus, Ratchet, Bulkhead and Miko are waiting. Arcee is missing, and so is Jack. Suddenly it feels weird.

Bee transforms into his robot mode before we even get out, having the two of us sitting on either side of his big shoulder up high.

"Seriously? You don't even ask if we mind?" I manage a smile, sitting slightly backwards to keep me from falling forward.

Oh well, I guess you aren't afraid of heights, and that's fun! Bee protests.

I shrug, and don't even bother to say anything more. I like that feeling, I have to admit.

Okay, so… what are you guys planning on to now? We've got con fight? Bee asks the other bots eagerly.

"We have a mission for you, Bumblebee," Ratchet says, still working on his computer with his back to us, the assembled crowd. "To us all, to be exact."

"The cons are up to something with their space bridge. Ratchet's trying to pinpoint its location," Bulkhead explains.

"Do you recall I've been talking about the army of undead we've encountered last night?" Optimus asks us.

"Yeah, zombie-cons, and I'm still holding a grudge that I couldn't see them," Miko folds her arms down on the ground. I sigh and roll my eyes, kicking my legs. She never learns.

"From what we've encountered yesterday, I believe… that this is what Megatron is planning on doing," Optimus says. "He is attempting to recruit a larger army of undead Cybertronians, with dark energon."

"But the only place he can do so is…"

"Cybertron."

Optimus finishes Ratchet's line, and I shift my position on Bee's large shoulder uncomfortably. "Your planet?" I ask uncertainly. "Isn't it…"

"Abandoned, nothing but a piece of scrap yard. But the population of dead and corpses lying on Cybertron is astronomical, and that is more than enough for Megatron to raise an army capable of destroying Earth."

Destroying Earth… the two words sound impossible to be linked together. I don't really care what might happen to me, but I'm concerned about Raf's safety, and the innocent lives that could be caused.

For a short while it is silence except from having Ratchet tapping his keyboard and constant beeping on the screen. "Optimus, I've pinpointed the location of Megatron's space bridge, high in Earth's orbit," he informs the leader with a grave voice.

"Out of our reach," Optimus murmurs, taking a closer look at Ratchet's result on the vast monitor.

"Okay so, you guys don't fly. Can't you just ground bridge there?" Mio arouses.

"The ground bridge has limited range," Ratchet explains tiredly. "Stretch all the way into the orbit's vortex could snap – and scatter us to the stars."

Miko is speechless for once, looking astounded and holds her ground.

"Since Megatron is already in transit, I'm afraid we must take that risk," Optimus finalises. "Reaching the space bridge first is our only means of stopping him."

Suddenly a couple beeping of car arrest my attention. We all turn, and see Arcee with an unexpected passenger on her motorcycle form: Jack Darby.

He gets off the bike and takes of his helmet. "Hey, guess who's back," he tries to keep a cheerful tone.

"Someone did lie last night," I reply dryly, and he blushes slightly. But actually, I'm partially quite glad he's back. At the least point, he's less as insufferable as Miko; and more, he's been playing nice around.

Still, everything seems more crowded with another participant. And I don't exactly like to be social. Having him returning almost equals more social interaction, which is something I hate. Oh well, that's me.

"Autobots, prepare for departure," Optimus announces before the ground bridge.

"Where're we to?" Arcee asks.

"The final frontier," Miko tells her.

"Space? I thought they didn't have any way to get there!" Jack says.

"They don't. Really," Raf says, as Bee gestures us to get of his shoulder and get onto his palm, so he can put us on the solid ground.

"Um, be seeing ya?" Jack asks Arcee awkwardly as I stand on the ground onto my feet. Arcee just shrugs, and she smiles and walk to the bridge entrance.

Ratchet enters the destination coordinates into his computers and fires up the bridge. It lights up with the usual blur of green and white flash, which I am now used to.

"Be careful, Bee." Raf turns to our giant yellow friend, who is kneeling on the ground facing us.

"Stop them, no matter the cost," I tell him stiffly. Suddenly I realise how dangerous the mission it can be, and I can't help but have this feeling: I can't afford to lose him. "Take care," I add.

I'll see you two when I'm back, Bee promises, and gets back onto his feet, and strides towards the entrance of the bridge.

"I'm so jealous," Miko says to Bulkhead.

He knows too well what she has on her big mind. He holds out a big palm. "Don't even think about following me," he warns her.

Ratchet's farewell to the team, however, is the most unexpected one. "Optimus, if you leave me stranded on this planet taming with humans, I will never forgive you."

Optimus' reply is simple. "Until we meet again, old friend. Autobots, roll out!"

At sound of the last word the four bots transform into their respective vehicle mode before the bridge, and disappear into the blur of light.

We walk up the stage for easier communication with Ratchet and the others through the comm link. Miko appears to be unusually quiet – in fact, every one of us are.

A moment of dead silence. I get uneasy, for getting no status updates from any of the bots, and decide to chew on some gum to relief the worry. Before long Arcee's voice rings around the chamber from Ratchet's systems. "Well, what are they waiting for?"

"It appears the Decepticons have sustained a serious to their interstellar navigation system," Optimus confirms their denied attack.

"Oh, that's my handiwork," Bulkhead muses.

"Great job, Bulkhead. Without the dish, Megatron will be unable to aim the space bridge at Cybertron."

"Don't the Decepticons don't know where their own planet is?" Raf raises the question.

"Naturally. But Cybertron is many light years away. To reach their target their aim must be astronomically precise," Ratchet responds to Raf's question.

"If Megatron went into the trouble of rondival with his space bridge, he must have an alternate targeting system. A remote one," Optimus concludes the hypothesis of the cons' intentions.

"Humph. From what I know of Earth's technology I doubt there exist a single radio telescope dish on this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron," Ratchet says.

"What about a whole bunch of linked radio telescopes? Like the giant-sized array in Texas," Raf searches on his computer and suggests an alternative.

"Zip-ip-ip-ip! That, this is not a child's play!" Ratchet waves his gigantic hand at us frantically.

However, Optimus doesn't seem to share the same thought as Ratchet. "Good thinking, Raf," his voice transmits through the comm link. "Ratchet, have Agent Fowler alerted the concerned staff to the security hazard?"

"You! Soldier!" Fowler cries on the other side of the stage all of a sudden, sitting up on his patient bed pointing at Ratchet. "You're not in a uniform! Put on some pants!" then he falls back unconscious on his bed.

"That may be a challenge," Ratchet muses, shaking his head.

Raf turns back to his computer and tries to hack into the computer systems of the network he mentioned. "I can't get through the firewalls. They're too thick!"

"You? You actually think you can keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet questions him behind us.

"Maybe, if I can get in."

"Wait, Raf, what if we can get you… all the way in? Like, inside the building in," Jack suggests.

"If I can walk into their tone network on the other side of the firewall."

"The risk is too great," Optimus tells us. "The Decepticons will be there, perhaps even armed sight."

"Optimus, with all due respect, you said it yourself, this is bigger than the safety of three humans," Jack reasons.

"Yeah! If we let the cons win, we're fragged along with everyone else on our planet," Miko joins in.

"We cannot afford to let the cons win. Nobody can," I emphasise.

Optimus thinks for a while. "Raf?"

Raf looks down, thinking hard. "I wanna give it a shot."

"Very well," Ratchet sighs. "Raf, pass the coordinates so I can bridge you in. All four of you in. and, Kal, I want you to bring that blaster in for safety measures. You can shoot with that, right?"

I look at the massive blaster he has placed in front of his controls which I've been using just the day before. I can remember well how to function it, and I surely can sense how the bones in my hands are still echoing resulted from all the shooting the day before. "Should be." I walk over and pick the gun up without further hesitation. We have no time to lose.

Ratchet fires up the bridge while we march down the stairs, with Miko squealing behind me, "S-weet! This is gonna be fun!"

I shake my head and sigh. This is meant to be a low-profiled mission, and I highly doubt if the girl can keep the record low.

Before we go into the bridge I turn back at Ratchet. "You have our numbers, doc? For communication?"

He stares. "Well, none of you gave me!"

I tell him my number, and plug the Bluetooth earphone into my ear. He connects his computer to my phone and I can hear him through the earpiece. "Just keep the line open. I'll call for a ground bridge when we need it."

We walk into swirl of light and within moments of walking, we jump off the bridge and are in the place Raf mentioned, even within the security fence. Great. We've passed the first barrier.

However, the others don't appear to be at such a good state. They groan as soon as their feet hit the solid ground. "Better take some time to get use to it." Jack rubs his forehead and groans.

"Whoa." Miko recovers from her queasiness first and look up to see a whole bunch of radar satellites with apartment houses standing between each one of them. We know too well what we should do, and dash for one of the houses, our destination.

With luck the guards aren't patrolling our way when we sneak into the house, and conveniently find a room with a computer capable of serving our use.

"Security sure is lax in this place," Miko comments as she shut the door behind her, while Raf start to work his computer magic with Jack and I standing guard beside him.

"Sure that sounds easy to you, Miko. We just went through without passing the most heavily guarded barrier," I tell her, and spit the piece of chewed-out gum into my palm and stick it onto the side of the table.

"I'm in," Raf announces as he gets into the system. "And so are the Decepticons."

"What?" Jack exclaims.

"How can you tell?" Miko asks.

"Schematics. With the same mainly and math, but this time I can download it." Raf pulls out a USB and plugs it into the flash drive plug-in.

"It's gotta be the space bridge," Miko concludes.

"The Decepticons are sinking it into their dishes. But I can sink into that."

"Um, will they know?" Jack asks, can't keep the obvious worry in his voice out.

"Even the Decepticons see that I'm in the system, they'll have no idea I'm in the house!" Raf reassures him of our safety, and continue overdriving the systems.

The graphics and images on the screen keep evolving and I lost track of the progress soon. Then in the end an image of three spheres combine into one and turns red. "The Decepticons have locked onto Cybertron. But not for long." Raf continues working vigorously after a spell of pause. Soon enough, the graph of Cybertron breaks apart again, and with a few whizzes above head signal us that Raf has succeeded in his plan.

I am about to encourage him onto working when he says, "The dishes are heading back to Cybertron. I'll just undo that again."

"What happens if the cons know they're punked?" Jack asks.

"It's only virtual combat. You know, like online gaming!" Raf explains the concept to him.

The gun in my grip is getting heavier and heavier. I slam it onto the table. "I won't be needing it now anyway."

"Yeah, Jack, what can the cons do? They're probably a thousand miles away," Miko laughs, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

Big mistake.

Behind us, I hear sounds like metal tentacles tickling. Jack and I turn, only to see a creepy long cable with something like automated moving live wires tickling behind us. "Whoa!" Jack screams, and I just duck in time before the tentacle cable slams onto me along with Jack and Miko, who unfortunately are pulled away by it and slammed onto the wall with a loud BAM. Ouch. I reckon that hurts.

Cons. They must've somehow found us. Whatever is the reason to this, I don't have time to bother.

"I won't let them lock on again!" Raf says determinedly, and I realise I am the only one who can buy him some more time to let him take control over the situation. I pull the blaster I left on the table behind and take my aim, which is difficult. I take multiple shots and the reaction of the gun is so vigorous that my fingers start to tremble and my arms get numb, which is too bad that I can't even get the swaying cable-weapon of the cons damaged in the slightest means.

"C'mon! I'm here!" I bellow, getting its attention as to as to keep it off Raf and the others. Raf, with a frightened look on his face keep concentrating on the computer and working without stop, uninfluenced by the cable-arm's series attack.

The cable-arm shoots towards my way, attempting to knock me down with its thick cable. I jump over it just in time and run for the door, where the cable arm leads out. But it is much faster than I am, and soon as I reached the door the con grabs my gun and smashes it onto the floor, snapping the hard solid gun into half.

"Kal! What is happening?" Ratchet screams on the other end of our link, which I decide to ignore first. I falter as the cable turn to me. Then it sway its end at me, and I don't manage to jump in time, ending up tripping over, falling hard on my back onto the smashed gun right beside a groaning Jack and Miko.

The tentacle turns towards Raf. Raf has his frights creeped out with the tentacles tickling by his side. He swiftly pulls out his flash drive and jumps off the chair right before the cable smashes it into pieces.

"Raf!" I scream, and my little brother runs my way with the downloaded data in his hands. Meanwhile, Miko appears to have recovered from her crash. She grabs an axe on the wall behind her and charges at the cable-arm, only to get herself disarmed and smashed back hard onto the wall again.

What's worse, the cable-arm picks the axes on the floor up with its tiny live wires on the end.

"You handed it an axe?" Jack cries incredulously.

"That's brave of you, but stupid!" I yell.

"Not good," Raf murmurs beside me with a quavering voice.

The armed cable waves the axe high up, ready to slice us. Without hesitation I push the trio sideways so as to avoid the life-threatening weapon, but the cable retreats and leaves the room with its newly found weapon.

We drag Miko out and dart towards the room where the cable has disappeared into. And what we see only shocks us.

A full-size Decepticon is standing on the opened roof of the single room, and turns its head towards us. Instead of seeing a face with the commonplace v-shaped red optic for eyes, the thing in front of us literally has no face, but a single piece of glass cover.

Miko takes her phone out and snaps a photo of it. In response, the con also makes a snap sound, and we see his glass face – lighted up like a monitor, with a picture of the four of us he just snapped. Then he jumps upwards, transforms midair into a jet – and flies away without a single evidence of its visit.

"Why is he leaving?" Miko asks.

Raf walks over to a black cable, which has the axe embarked onto it. I can actually feel the blood in my veins freezing. The hard lines are cut.

"It's cut the hard lines. The dishes are locked onto Cybertron," Raf says mournfully as he check on it. "For good."

I bite my lip and look down at the axe, the evidence of our failed mission. That's when I realise Ratchet's still screaming on the other side of the link. "Answer me, Kal! What is happening? Are you attacked?"

"Ratchet, send us a ground bridge." I stride out of the room and get into our previous hacking room to retrieve the smashed blaster.

"What do you mean? Wait, don't tell me - "

"Mission failed. We need another way to stop the cons," I growl through gritted teeth.

A moment of pause. "Very well, I'm sending a ground bridge to your arrival coordinates," Ratchet sigh as the other three gather behind me. I cut off the line on my earpiece. "Let's go back."

"So you've been ambushed, by a Decepticon right next door?"

Ratchet's welcome back speech isn't exactly encouraging.

"Yeah! This one, some random faceless con attacked us with his creepy ginormous space tentacles!" Miko runs up the stage stairs as soon as Ratchet power down the ground bridge, and show him her phone with the picture of the con we saw.

Ratchet takes a close look at her phone. "Soundwave," he grumbles. "Megatron's communications administrator."

I place the snapped blaster onto the spot where it was placed before Ratchet's controls. "Didn't mean to snap it. I couldn't take Soundwave down," I apologize.

"It is not your fault you could not stop him, Kal. Soundwave is no ordinary Cybertronian, and it's hard for anyone to take him down," Ratchet comforts me.

All of a sudden his monitors start to beep and a radar signal image pops onto the screen. A worried look emerges on his face almost instantly. "Optimus, I'm registering a rapidly mass in their space bridge vortex, with a peculiar energy signature," he informs the bots on the other side of the link.

"Dark energon," there comes Optimus' grave voice from the computers. "Ratchet, we must destroy the space bridge. There's enough live energon coursing through it to achieve definition, but we lack the fire power to ignite it."

"If I knew how the space bridge was engineered, I might find a tactical way of achieving it," Ratchet says tiredly and looks downwards.

"Um, would schematics help?" Raf pulls the USB drive out of his pocket and holds it to Ratchet.

Ratchet stares up onto the screen. "Optimus, I must say, the space bridge is our sole hope of ever returning to Cybertron. Are you certain its destruction is the only option?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Then by all means, let us light our darkest hour."

"Autobots, take your positions, and follow Ratchet's lead," Optimus instructs his team into working.

Ratchet instructs Raf on passing information to him, so that he can study whatever information we have. Agent Fowler just gets up from his unconscious state, and keeps tabs on our work and on Ratchet's screen.

"These things are getting closer," he pops without warning, gesturing at the signal diagram of the space bridge's status. "That's bad, right?"

"Ratchet, we're in position," Arcee's voice sounds through the computer.

"Arcee, pay close attention," Ratchet says, while instructing Raf to open a certain file with some diagrams of engineering artefact. "Now follow the line from the flow regulator to the energon pub. There should be a vial."

"I see it," Arcee confirms, and we can hear a sound much like what happens when a machine starts up.

"Good. To turn all that power against itself, all you need to do is reverse the current."

Within a few seconds time, we get the good news from Arcee. "Current reversed."

"YES!" Agent Fowler cheers loudly beside the four of us, which is something much to our surprise before anyone else can react to Arcee's latest report. We stare at him. "Right?" he adds to Raf quickly.

"I'll ready the ground bridge," Ratchet informs the bots, and fires up the ground bridge. "Optimus, the ground bridge is ready and waiting."

"Autobots, jump!" Optimus shouts, and the link goes off.

We wait. And wait. But we still don't have new updates, and we start to get worried.

"Do you think they're…" Raf queries with an edge of worry in his voice.

"Four life signals. One very faint." Ratchet checks on something like a pulse register on his forearm, and announces the shocking news.

Instead of anything else, my brain keeps repeating the words: not Bee, place, not him…

We get movements. First it's Optimus who makes his way through, with his battle mask still covering his face.

None of us say anything, until another bulky figure passes through.

"Bulkhead!" Miko cries with delight and relief, and runs down to hug her company's big metal palm.

We follow her off the stage when another figure runs through the bridge. My heart gives a huge pound of gladness when I see the incoming person – yet my stomach reacts uncomfortably at the same time when I see them.

Jack, Raf and I walk over to Bumblebee and Arcee. Bee is alright from what I see – but not Arcee. The female warrior lies in Bee's arms, her optics shut tightly.

Jack looks slightly pale. Miko walks over, and pats his shoulder lightly in support.

"We've lost one this week, by the AllSpark, don't let it be two!" Ratchet walks over and checks on Arcee.

Jack steps forward and places his palm on Arcee's. Nothing happens. "Arcee…"

Her eyes flicker open. "Jack. Really? There are other motorcycles in the world." The female warrior smiles weakly.

"But… you're my first," Jack says, his hand still on Arcee's palm.

A day ago I could've told Jack, "Really? You barely know it. The robot, I mean."

But now I realise… everything's different. I no longer feel like they're strangers, or outsiders to my world.

"Arcee, you're more than just being a motorcycle." I take a step forward and place my hand on Jack's shoulder. He looks at me, and smiles in gratitude.

"And Megatron?" Ratchet asks Optimus.

"Not even him could have survived ground-zero."

"Prime!"

Fowler's voice sounds from the stage by the elevator. He straightens his suit sleeves. "I didn't get to thank for the save. I owe you one." He walks into the opened elevator door, and turns towards us. "We all do."

The elevator door shuts, and Fowler is out of sight.

Arcee gets back onto her feet, and beams – looking as good as everyone else of the team, as if just woken up from a nice afternoon nap. I know she is worse than she appears to be after that much work.

Suddenly Miko turns sideways and walks towards Optimus. "So… is this the part where we say goodbye, and tell us we need to forget we ever saw you?"

My heart sinks, and the prime remains silent. If Fowler does report us, we're expelled from base – either way we leave ourselves or the government expels us, we're leaving.

I can actually feel my desire to stay growing stronger. It's no longer just my intention to uncover more of their – or rather, the Decepticons' secrets held from me which I would do anything to hold onto, or the determination to keep Raf out of harm's way at all costs. I look at Bee, and his big blue optics look back sadly. Then, quietly Optimus orders the bots to return us all to home first, and report back at base immediately.

The ride back home is quiet. Sure, the three of us: Bee, Raf and I have always preferred to stay quiet, but this time it feels intense, as if we know what lies ahead. Goodbyes. And I'm not ready to say that yet.

I ask Bee to drop us a street away from Raf's house, so to prevent suspicion to have Bee driving himself away.

And Raf's mother is quite surprised, and less than pleased to see us back early.

"I thought you are staying outside all day," she says as she tears her attention from her computer in the living room to us, raising an eyebrow.

"We didn't break curfew," I say, and take Raf into the house.

"Hold it, where's your car, smart girl?" she asks behind me.

"Getting fixed," I reply casually, and take Raf back upstairs to his room to put his video game set back in place without even casting another look at his mother.

He looks out of his window, which allows us to see the street view. "Now what?" he murmurs.

I take off my leather gloves and stand behind him, suddenly feeling like something is missing in my life as I look out of the window.

"Returning back to normal life? I'm not sure," I sigh, placing a palm on his shoulder. We sink into our deep thoughts as we look at a distant car, a yellow racing car speeding away from us on the lonely dirt road leading away from the busier areas, until it's gone from our sigh.

I look downwards at my boots. Sometimes karma's really a bitch. We get enough excitement and fun, and friendship in three days' time. Then we lost all that in one morning.

I shuffle Raf's hair. "Hey, I'll be at old man Joe's repairs garage. Call me when you need me."

"Okay."

He looks at me right in the eye, and somehow – I can feel like I can read his emotions. The miserable glint in his eyes seems obvious to me, and he looks as if he also understand my pain, just for this once.

I look down. What's gone is gone. Time to get back to work.

"Your car engine isn't faulty, it's the coolant expansion tank that has broken down," I conclude after taking a thorough look in my schoolmate's car.

It's Monday afternoon already. Classes have ended and with normal routine, people from school tend to approach me – only to ask me fix electronics and machines for them.

"Well, then, how much would it take to repair my car?" he waves up impatiently.

"That'll need a replacement." I take a closer inspection in the car's hood. The part is severely worn-out. Then I stand back straight and turn to him. "Twenty-five."

"Twenty-five? Seriously?" he glares at me incredulously, as if I just said something ridiculous. "That cost me thirty last time when I took it to the automobile shop!"

"It's a personal deal, and I make my own rules." I slam his car hood back down, and clap the dust off my gloves. "And rule number one, I make the price. No bargaining."

He condenses the whole thing for a while. Then he grins broadly. "Deal. I heard you make the fairest prices, and I guess it's true." He shoves out his wallet. "When can I pick up my car?"

"I have three more bills ahead of yours, but I can get the parts tonight. Expect it tomorrow at my house." I scribble down an address on a notepad from my pocket and tear a page to him. In exchange he pays what he's for. "Mind hauling it there first? If anyone asks, tell them it's my own business."

He agrees on that and drives away. That's when I see Miko Nakadai, who's sitting on the school's front steps drawing on her sketchbook. Jack and Raf just get out of class, and the three of them wave at me. I can't help but smiled. That's the nicest act I've ever got except from my deceased parents and Raf.

I walk over to them, and that's when a few flashes of light catch our attention. I turn back, and we all see them: Arcee, Bulkhead and Bee in their car forms, flashing their headlights to us. Bee and Bulk open their car doors – a message clear enough to signal us to get in.

We must have been somehow suspended from being expelled. The almost dissipated idea of ever returning to the Autobots pops back online in our brains. We can't be any happier – and gladly we get on our cars, can't wait to reunite and start new adventures.

That's it for now. Unfortunately tests and project dues are rolling in for the upcoming two weeks, this will take longer than usual to be updated.

My creativity processing unit is running low on energon... people, please don't hesitate to give me ideas to move on! Fuel me up so this story continues!