You guys, this chapter took FOREVER! you would think that since I'm rewriting old chapters that it wouldn't take this long, but the original chapter 8 was a dumpster fire XD. Literally nothing that furthered the plot happened in that chapter. It was a measly 2000 words of filler, so I basically had to completely restructure and re-plot out this chapter from scratch. It's better than the original, but not my favorite... At least it deals with some of Reese's backstory, which is cool.

Please note: I do not own Transformers. I do, however, have my own OC's which I have inserted into the story. My OC's include Reese Shields and Chase Sanders. Electra belongs to my sister.

Painful Memories

The events of this chapter correspond to the episode "Partners"

Reese climbed out of bed the next day feeling slightly less sore. She had pretty much passed out after she and Bumblebee headed back downstairs. She had been right, getting things off her chest and letting out all that emotional energy had been just what she needed to finally fall asleep. She made her way into the main room of the base, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hey Ratchet, where is everyone, and what time is it?"

"Well look who is finally awake. It's almost 11 a.m. Everyone else is out on a mission. We picked up a Cybertronian vessel's signal and the others went to investigate it."

"Wow, almost 11? I didn't realize I had slept in so late…"

"Well, considering everything you have been through lately, I can't say I'm surprised. Speaking of which, since I have a free moment, I would like to run some diagnostics on you to see how the cyberforming process is coming along," Ratchet said, finally turning from the computer to face Reese.

"Oh…" Reese instinctively started backing out of the room. That didn't sound fun. It sounded painful, both physically and emotionally. She wasn't ready to deal with that just yet.

"Don't look at me like that," Ratchet vented.

"Like what?" Reese asked, taking a moment to actually glance up at the medic.

"Like I just threatened to squish you or something! Primus, it's only a simple routine checkup, nothing more. Think of it like you would a checkup at the doctor's office."

"No Ratchet, there is nothing simple or routine about it. I'm slowly turning into a robot on the inside. That isn't routine!" Reese's eyes flashed for a moment.

"No, I suppose it isn't, but I still need to run that diagnostic regardless of whether you want me to or not. I promise, it won't hurt."

Reese looked away again, crossing her arms over her chest and biting the inside of her cheek. She knew that Ratchet wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but she still didn't like the idea of having diagnostics run on her.

Ratchet knelt down and held out his servo, forcing Reese to actually make a decision. She could step onto his hand and allow him to run the diagnostics, or she could turn and walk away. She looked up at him and saw a gentleness and sincerity in his optics that she hadn't really seen before. He was usually so gruff and serious, but now he looked calm and friendly.

"… Fine," She sighed reluctantly and climbed into his hand, allowing him to pick her up and carry her over to the med bay where he would begin the diagnostic.

"So, I'm curious. Do you happen to know who in your family might be a Cybertronian?" Ratchet attempted to make small talk while he prepared his diagnostic equipment.

"No clue. I didn't even know that Cybertronians existed until I met you guys. Both my grandparents on my Mom's side passed away before I was born, so I never met them. I know she has a brother, but he got married to some French woman and moved to Europe. That I'm aware of, though, neither he, nor my mom, showed any signs of being Cybertronian," Reese shrugged her shoulders as she began explaining her family tree.

"What about your dad's side of the family?" Ratchet queried as he turned on his scanner and began running it up and down Reese's body, logging in the results while simultaneously listening to Reese's story.

"He was an only child. His mom died when he was in college, and his relationship with his dad was… rocky. I only met my grandfather a couple times, mostly when I was younger. He was super nice, and Mom seemed to like going to visit him, but he and Dad didn't get along very well."

"Why didn't they get along?"

"You know, I'm not really sure. He loved to talk. He had so many stories to tell, and when he wasn't telling stories, he would talk just for the sake of talking. I liked it. It was entertaining, but dad would get tired of it real quick. Other than being a total chatterbox, he was super cheerful and funny. Every once in a while, Mom would convince Dad to take a road trip out to Nebraska, where Grandpa lived. We would travel out there and spend a few days on his ranch. He would always take me out exploring, and he loved to show me his car. Gosh, he loved his car. It was a fancy blue Nissan Fairlady Z (1). He called it his pride and joy."

"Interesting… Tell me more," Ratchet seemed to be getting quite invested in the story, which kind of surprised Reese, considering that he usually didn't like to listen when the humans told stories.

"Well, the last time we went to visit him, I remember it ending badly. Dad had a big argument with Grandpa, and we ended up leaving a day early. Mom told Dad that he should apologize, but Dad wouldn't hear it. He said that he never wanted to see Grandpa ever again," Reese sighed sadly.

"Well, was that the last you ever saw of him?" Ratchet wasn't even paying attention to the scanner in his servo anymore.

"Actually, I did get to see him one more time. He stopped by the house when I was about twelve years old. He actually had a young boy with him, but the boy ended up staying out in the car while Grandpa came in. He told Mom that he loved her like she was his own daughter. He told Dad that he sold the ranch, and that part of the money would go to Dad. He also said that Dad wouldn't have to worry about talking to him ever again, since he probably wouldn't ever see him again. Just before he left, he took me outside and gave me a big hug. I could tell he was trying not to cry, which was hard to believe, since he was such a strong guy. I had never seen him cry, even after he and my dad argued. He told me he loved me, and he gave me my necklace that I wear every day. He told me to think of him whenever I wear it," Reese sighed again, fingering her necklace.

"Let me see the necklace," Ratchet requested abruptly, startling Reese a little.

"Uh, okay," Reese unclasped the necklace from around her neck, handing it to Ratchet. "Just… be careful with it."

Ratchet took the necklace, holding it as delicately as he could in his massive servo. He scanned it with his scanner before giving a triumphant "AHA".

Reese looked up at him quizzically.

"I thought that necklace of yours looked an awful lot like a tiny energon crystal. Scanning it only confirmed my suspicions. If I had to guess, I would say that your Grandfather was actually Cybertronian! What did you say his name was again?" Ratchet looked down at Reese expectantly.

"Uh, well, I usually just called him Grandpa. I know it sounds kind of strange, but I never actually learned his real name. My dad always called him dad. Mom called him that too," Reese scratched the back of her head as she pulled the memory from the back of her brain. "He did used to talk about a nickname he had a long time ago. He said the people used to call him Bluestreak, because when he would go racing, his car was just a blue streak that would whiz past everyone else."

"Hmm… The name Bluestreak sounds familiar," Ratchet muttered to himself as his digits flew across the keyboard of his computer. After a few moments of searching, a bio popped up with a Cybertronian named Bluestreak on it.

"Hey, that looks like Grandpa's old car!" Reese exclaimed in surprise as she saw the vehicle form that was registered with the bot's bio.

"It says here that Bluestreak was sent to earth with a squadron to protect the autobot's energon reserves that were hidden on this world back during the war," (2) Ratchet gleaned from the bio.

"Okay, but my Grandpa was a human, or at least looked like one," Reese pointed out.

"He was likely using a holoform. All Cybertronians have the ability to project a holographic form of themselves that looks like the species of whatever world they are on. It helps us to blend in more efficiently with our surroundings. Currently, Arcee is the only one who uses theirs, at least on a frequent basis," Ratchet explained.

"He couldn't have been a hologram. He hugged me, remember? He wouldn't have been able to do that if he was a hologram."

"Cybertronian holoforms are much more complex than any holographic technology you might have here on Earth. We can create holoprojections that look and feel as real as an actual person."

"That's incredible!" Reese's jaw dropped as everything finally clicked into place.

"Yea, but as incredible as that all sounds, it still doesn't explain how he and a human were able to create a child. Cybertronians and humans aren't exactly compatible, if you know what I mean."

"Well, if my grandfather is still here on earth, then can't you find him and ask him yourself?" Reese queried expectantly.

"Not exactly. We have no way of knowing what his communication frequency is. It would take who knows how long to scan through all the frequencies to find his specific one. It's possible in theory, but it wouldn't be efficient," Ratchet explained.

"Oh… So, there is no way we can find him?" Reese looked down dejectedly. She had already started getting her hopes up of seeing her grandfather again, but it didn't look like that was going to happen after all.

"Well, there are ways, they would just take too long and too many resources…" Ratchet vented, hating the turn the conversation had taken. This wasn't what Reese needed right now. "Anyways, it looks like my scan is complete. The cyber-forming process has progressed much faster than I anticipated, though I had no benchmark to compare it to, so I don't know what I was expecting," Ratchet quickly changed the subject.

"What do you mean by saying it has progressed faster than expected?"

"Well, from what I can tell, it seems that you are almost completely cybertronian on the inside. Your cells have transformed on the molecular level to restructure your internal organs and body structure. On the outside you appear human, but on the inside, you are pretty much completely cybertronian"

"I… I don't feel any different though. I mean, I have noticed a few differences in my vision and strength but other than that, nothing major," Reese looked bewildered as she took in what Ratchet was telling her.

"The process has been gradual enough that you wouldn't feel a change."

"What does this mean for me going forward? Does this mean I have to change up my whole lifestyle to accommodate being part cybertronian? Does it mean I can only consume energon from now on? Do I have an energon signature now like everyone else? I have so many questions!" Reese ran her hands down her face in a tizzy.

"Well, I hadn't thought about it, but yes. You would have an energon signature now…" Ratchet placed a digit on his chin thoughtfully. "Though, I don't think that it will be exactly the same as ours. This brings a concern to mind. If you were to leave the base, your unique signature would appear clear as day on decepticon sensors, since it would be considered an anomaly. We will need to devise a way of masking that signature when you go outside the confines of the base."

"Wait, so you're saying I can't even leave the base anymore?" Reese stared at Ratchet, mouth agape.

"Not until we can mask your energon signature, no," Ratchet said impatiently. "Just my luck, I have another thing to tack onto my workload. Not only do I have to help the team, do all the medical work, maintain the ground bridge, and do whatever is necessary to keep this base running, but now I also have to build you an energon cloaking device, and I don't even know where to begin with something like that," He groaned in exasperation.

"What about my other questions?"

"Not now, I'm too overwhelmed at the moment. Besides, it's been far too long before I checked in with Optimus anyways, so why don't you go find some way to occupy yourself. I'm done with the diagnostic," Ratchet snapped and turned to his computer again.

"You're the reason I have all these questions; You should at least answer them!" Reese stomped over to the edge of the railing, glaring impatiently at Ratchet.

"Go make yourself useful somewhere else," Ratchet grumbled and waved his servo at Reese dismissively, not even turning to look at her.

"ARRRRRHHHHHHSDMFDHSFMSHFMESFH!" Only angry noises escaped Reese in her annoyance with the medic. Why did he have to be so rude? He had seemed so interested in her story, but as soon as he found it out entailed more work for him, he just had to go and act like a butt. She stalked off to her room, slamming the door behind her. She knew Ratchet cared about her, he was just being grumpy and irritable. "I hope I never end up all grouchy and mean like him when I get old," She muttered to herself.

She walked over to her desk and half sat half leaned on it, crossing her arms over her chest. The annoyed pout was still on her face, but wheels were turning in her head. Maybe, if she could come up with the concept for an energon cloaking device, then Ratchet could get it done sooner, and then she could go out safely again.

She properly sat down at the desk, pulling out several sheets of paper. Something like this would need to be compact, easily carried on herself. A backpack would be way too big… but what about a ring? No, trying to fit all the components to cloak an energon signature into the size of a ring would be nigh impossible. But maybe… Reese began scribbling furiously, the design ideas flowing directly from her head onto the paper.

After what felt like hours (but was probably only like 30 minutes) Reese stood up and held her sketches out at arm's length. "Hmmm… could work, could work…" She mumbled to herself audibly, proudly surveying her work. She took the sketches back to the main room of the base but stopped short, dropping the papers, as she took in the sight in front of her. "What… What happened?"

In the main room, Bumblebee was half carrying an injured Arcee over to the med bay, helping her sit down on one of the medical berths. The ground bridge was still open, and Bee went running back through it as soon as he had set Arcee down.

Reese ran up to Arcee, lightly placing her hand on the femme's knee. "Arcee, what happened?"

Arcee held her servos tenderly across her abdomen, and Reese could see and smell the energon leaking from the femme. "You have to tell me what happened!"

"Leave…" Arcee whispered hoarsely, her voice full of anger. Reese's eyes widened at the femme's response, and she took a couple steps back. She turned back to the ground bridge to see Ratchet and Bee coming back through, supporting Optimus and Bulkhead, who appeared to be paralyzed.

"Bumblebee, help me set them down over here where they won't fall over," Ratchet ordered Bee, pointing to where Optimus and Bulkhead's paralyzed frames would be placed. The two frozen bots were propped up against the wall, and then Ratchet turned to check on his other patient.

Arcee was still sitting on the medical berth, staring at the wall in front of her as if she were trying to bore a whole into it with her optics. She still had her arms wrapped around her midsection, but the puddle of leaked energon had already grown significantly in the time it took for Ratchet and Bee to get Optimus and Bulkhead situated.

"Bumblebee, go and get the broken pieces of the immobilizer and bring them back here while I tend to Arcee."

Upon receiving his orders, Bee ran back through the ground bridge, returning a moment later with a broken metal rod in his servos.

"Oh, for the love of… WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Reese yelled at the top of her lungs. It seemed she wasn't going to get anyone's attention any other way.

Bumblebee turned to address Reese, and she could see the anger and pain that was in his optics. He gently picked her up and set her on his shoulder plating, telling her what happened whilst simultaneously trying to help Ratchet in any way possible.

"It's kind of a long story. You see, we picked up the signal of a decepticon vessel, the Harbinger, and went to investigate. At the scene we found Starscream tangled up in a mass of giant webs. It turns out that he and Airachnid had also been exploring the ship, looking for a relic, only, the relic wasn't there. The ship had broken into two parts when it crashed, and the relic was in the other section, so we used Starscream to lead us to it," Bumblebee explained.

"Wait, who is Airachnid?"

"She's a techno-organic, half spider half robot, and a master at torture. She used to work for the decepticons, interrogating and torturing autobots. She… she tortured Arcee, killing her partner right in front of her very optics. Arcee and Airachnid have been arch enemies ever since…"

"Wait, this Airachnid robot is a techno-organic too? But, I thought I was the only one!"

"No, there were many techno-organics created during the war. They were the result of horrible science experiments conducted by the decepticon's in an attempt to make adaptable Cybertronians. Most of the experiments went awry, either killing or mutating the victims. The ones who survived, like Airachnid, went insane…"(3)

"Oh…" Reese fell quiet again, letting Bee continue retelling what happened.

"So, as I was saying. Optimus, Bulkhead, and I went to the other half of the Harbinger to look for the relic. We left Arcee to guard Starscream, since she would have likely been blinded by her hatred for Airachnid otherwise. We didn't even make it onto the ship before Airachnid ambushed us with the relic, a device called the Immobilizer. She used it to paralyze Optimus and Bulkhead. I was able to trick her into thinking I was frozen too, and that's how I was able to get the immobilizer from her, but unfortunately it was broken during the fight, and Airachnid got away. I went to get Arcee to help me, but I found her in a fight with Starscream. She was about to kill him."

"What did he do? I mean, he is terrible, but why did she go from guarding him to trying to kill him?"

"Well, before you joined us. Before any of the humans joined us, we had another member on the team. He was Arcee's partner. The one she was paired with after Airachnid killed her first one. His name was Cliff Jumper. Unfortunately, he was killed and experimented on with dark energon, which reanimates the dead. We never knew who exactly killed him, but it turns out it was Starscream all along. Arcee found this out and went into a blind rage. I stopped her before she could kill him. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did. Starscream got away, but not before badly injuring Arcee, both physically and emotionally."

"Why did you save Starscream? He has done nothing but bring pain and suffering to the autobots." Reese asked Bee, and edge in her voice.

"I don't know, I guess, I just knew that it's what Optimus would have wanted. Optimus does not like to take any lives, even if they are decepticon. He would have given Starscream a chance to change his ways, even though we all know that Starscream would never do that. It just didn't feel right for Arcee to take him out in a blind rage."

"Well, that makes you stronger willed than me… I can understand how Arcee feels. I would have a hard time walking away from a fight with the person who killed my parents. If I knew who they were, that is." Reese sighed sadly.

"Well, you're a lot stronger than you might think. When it comes down to it, if you ever find out who it was that took your parents, I know that you will do what is right. You have a good spark." Bumblebee turned and looked at her, smiling ever so slightly.

"Thanks Bee, you always know just what to say," Reese leaned against his helm, sighing again.

By the time Bee had finished recounting all that had happened, Arcee's wounds had been mended and she was resting as comfortably as possible on the medical berth. With Arcee's wounds tended to, Ratchet moved onto attempting to repair the broken Immobilizer.

"Is there anything I can do to help, Ratchet?" Bumblebee walked over to the medic, looking over his shoulder plating.

"No need, I already fixed it. It was quite simple actually," Ratchet turned around, holding the now intact immobilizer in his servo. "The damage was quite minimal; it was only a matter of reconnecting some wires and welding the pieces back together."

"Then let's unfreeze Bulkhead and Optimus already!" Reese blurted out impatiently.

"Primus kid, I was literally just about to. You're so impatient," Ratchet huffed before turning to the two paralyzed bots and shooting them with the reverse beam on the immobilizer. There was a lot of metal creaking as Optimus and Bulkhead's joints slowly began to unfreeze and they found themselves able to move again.

"Thanks for unfreezing us Ratchet. Gosh, I sure am stiff though," Bulkhead groaned as he stretched and tried to loosen up his joints.

"You will regain your full range of motion in time," Ratchet assured.

"Yes, but sometimes it's the old scars that take the longest to heal," Optimus said softly, glancing over to Arcee who was still sitting on the medical berth. She glanced up, realizing that they were talking about her, and looked away again, not wanting them to see the coolant already starting to build up in her optics. With a heavy sigh, she stood up and carefully made her way over to the autobot elevator that went up to the top of the plateau. Ratchet moved to stop her, but Optimus put a servo on his shoulder plating and held him back. Optimus knew that right now Arcee needed some time to work things out and tend to her freshly opened emotional wounds.

After Arcee had left to go up top, the others were left in the room along with a heavy and awkward silence. Reese figured that now was as good a time as any to bring up her idea for the energon cloaking device, and besides, it would be something to break the heavy silence.

"Hey Ratchet… I, uh, had an idea for the energon cloaking device you mentioned earlier. I know that you weren't thrilled about the idea of working on it, so I thought maybe I could help out a little bit. These are the schematics I drew up, if you wanna take a look at them…" Reese held up the papers that had her sketches on them.

Ratchet took the papers and looked over them quickly, seeming disinterested. However, as he looked at the schematics more closely, a thoughtful expression came over his face.

"You know, this might actually work. Well, at least the shell of the device would. If you work on constructing the shell for the device, I will work on the inner components that will block your signal. Once I complete that, then we can install it into your design. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Reese smiled, glad that Ratchet seemed to be on board with her idea.

"I will get started on the energon cloaking components in the morning, for now, I think it would do us all good to get a little rest. It has been a long day for everyone." Ratchet stated with a yawn before turning to head to his quarters.

"I can agree with that old friend. Good night Bumblebee. Goodnight Reese," Optimus bid everyone goodnight and headed to his quarters as well.

"I'm going to go check on Arcee, okay?" Bumblebee said, giving a half glance at Reese before heading towards the autobot elevator.

"Alright Bee, Goodnight," Reese smiled slightly as she watched the elevator doors close behind the bot.

After everyone else had left, Reese gave a giant sigh. This day had turned out to be a pretty stressful one. She still had so many questions, and not enough answers. When would everything make sense? Why would her dad keep his autobot side a secret? With all these questions rolling around in her head, she decided to hit the hay as well, hoping that more answers would come in the morning.

(1) Bluestreak's vehicle mode in the G1 series is a Nissan Fairlady Z.

(2) Okay, so I know that in my original version of this story, Tracks was supposed to be Reese's grandfather, but upon further research of his character, he ended up not working the way I thought he would. I have decided to use Bluestreak (also known as Silverstreak) instead. Bluestreak is actually a character from the original series. He didn't have much backstory, so I figured he would work perfectly. In original lore, he was actually the sole survivor of the attack on Praxus, but I'm changing that a little bit. It will be something that he and Bee can bond over, since Bee thought he was the only survivor too. Also, Bluestreak shouldn't be confused with Blue Steel, who is the character I created to be Bee's deceased brother figure.

(3) SO, I'm not totally sure what all experiments were done during the war, but since Airachnid's origins aren't explained in the show, I figured I might create a little bit of backstory for her. Given that she has many features of a spider, I thought it would make sense to say she was a techno-organic as well, kind of like Black Arachnia from Transformers Animated.

Thanks for reading to the end! I hope that you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you think of the chapter! I love getting feedback, and honestly, getting comments is kind of what encourages me to keep writing, so please feel free to leave one! (of course, lets keep them nice and constructive) Anyways, thanks again and I hope you all have a wonderful blessed day! Until next time - Lucy