Hey everybody, I'm back with another revised chapter! Sorry it took so long. I ended up having to take summer classes to lighten my load for my Senior year of College, so that left me super busy. Thankfully, I just finished my last class for the summer, so I was finally able to get this chapter edited and uploaded for your enjoyment.

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.

A Battle of the Mind

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

Soooo, where did we leave off in the last chapter? Oh yes, the autobots had just obtained the immobilizer, and Reese was attempting to invent a device that would mask her energon signature. Well, sometime has passed since then, and with Ratchet's expertise, Reese finally obtained a working energon cloaking device. It is a device she can wear on her wrist, that emits a signal that masks the techno-organic nature of her own. Hmmmm, what else has happened since then? Let's see; Miko and Bulkhead have been marathoning monster truck rallies all week, much to everyone's annoyance, and… well, what the hay, instead of wasting time going over particulars, why don't we just jump in and take a looksie at what is going on.

Reese was in her room, trying to read a data pad on the history of Cybertron, but also trying to tune out the sounds of yelling and crashing metal coming from the main room of the base. Miko and Bulkhead were watching a monster truck rally… again. They had started it up right after the others left on a recon mission, something about looking for a data canister, or something like that.

Reese had gone to relax with a good book, and she had been enjoying it thoroughly, until Miko and Bulkhead started up their show. Gosh, they could be so inconsiderate sometimes.

Finally, after rereading the same paragraph three times, she decided that trying to read or relax was a futile effort, at least while Miko and Bulk were screaming and yelling in the other room. She laid the data pad on the bedside table, climbed off the bed and headed for the door, fully intending to give them a piece of her mind.

She stomped into the main room and glared at the Japanese girl and the green wrecker. They were so absorbed in their program that they hadn't even noticed her come in.

"Could you two please lower the volume? Some people are trying to read!" Reese had to yell to be heard over the volume on the tv.

"Well, there's your first problem. Only nerds read. Gosh Reese, you're just as bad as Ratchet," Miko retorted, rolling her eyes. "He literally just asked us the same thing. Honestly, I think he is starting to rub off on you, and let me tell you, it's not a good look."

"Ha ha, very funny. Now, could you please turn your show down? Ratchet, back me up here!" Reese turned from Miko to Ratchet, looking up at him pleadingly.

"I would rather not get in an argument with Miko, thank you very much," Ratchet held up his servos placatingly.

"Sheesh, you're no help," Reese grumbled under her breath.

Rather than confronting Miko about the volume of the TV, Ratchet turned to Bulkhead. "You know, you really should be out there helping Optimus obtain the data cylinder."

Bulkhead only looked away from his program long enough to say, "Oh, he doesn't need my help to search for some ancient, educational, thingamabob."

"That 'thingamabob', as you call it, is actually a valuable data cylinder." Ratchet argued, pulling up a schematic of the data cylinder on the TV where Bulk and Miko had previously been watching their monster truck rally, electing a groan of annoyance from both of them. "These cylinders were created during the golden age of Cybertron, and they contain vast amounts of untold knowledge ranging from stellar cartography, medicine, and ancient mythology. Who knows what this one that we are looking for could contain?" Ratchet explained excitedly, though from the looks on Miko and Bulk's faces, they had already tuned him out. Reese seemed to be the only one paying attention to the medic.

"Well, if these data cylinders contain so much vast knowledge, why would there be one here? Wouldn't they have been hidden somewhere safe on Cybertron?" Reese asked, thoroughly interested in the device displayed on the TV in front of her.

"Nerd Alert," Miko scoffed in annoyance, but Reese chose to ignore her snide remark.

"That is a valid question, Reese. When the war broke out, the cylinders were hidden throughout the galaxy in hopes of keeping them out of decepticon hands. But, detecting one's signal here on Earth, well, it's the opportunity of a lifetime!" Ratchet's excitement grew as he noticed how interested Reese was in learning more about Cybertronian history. His excitement was contagious, but only to Reese it seemed. Miko and Bulkhead looked bored as ever.

"Ugh, TMI dude, can you please turn our show back on?" Miko interrupted again, dampening Ratchet's mood. He looked like he was about to give a retort, but he was stopped by a transmission from Optimus coming in over the communications system.

"Ratchet, there has been a decepticon ambush. The cylinder is at risk. We require back-up!" Optimus informed the medic urgently.

"Backup is what I'm built for!" Bulkhead jumped to his peds and ran to the ground bridge that Ratchet was already opening. Miko stood, looking dejected as she watched her guardian go through the portal. Now who was she going to watch her monster truck rally with?

"Miko, I have an important job for you," Ratchet turned to the dejected girl with a smug look in his optics.

"Ooh? What is it!?" Miko looked excited, obviously not noticing the glint in Ratchet's optics.

"You have the very important job of tidying up." Ratchet smirked as he handed Miko a mop and a bucket.

"Awww, c'mon!" Miko stomped her foot and dropped the mop. Tidying up was clearly not on her agenda for the day. Instead, she snuck down to the ground bridge, which Ratchet had conveniently left open. She ran through the portal while Ratchet's back was turned. Reese didn't see her leave, either. She was too absorbed in analyzing the schematics of the data cylinder.

While Miko was out getting her adrenaline quota, Reese and Ratchet were talking about the data cylinders.

"Who knows what kind of information this cylinder could hold? It could contain the cure for the rust plague, or it might have the schematics for a weapon that could change the tide of the war!" Ratchet gushed enthusiastically.

"Ooh, what if it has more information on techno-organics?" Reese chimed in.

"I don't know, but there is always a possibility. I must say, you seem to be quite fascinated in Cybertronian history lately. I noticed you sneaking into your room the other day with a handful of my data pads on Cybertronian lore," Ratchet looked down at Reese bemusedly.

"Heh, yea… I kind of figured that since I'm part Cybertronian now, I should at least learn a little bit about Cybertronian history and culture. Besides, if I understand more about Cybertronians, maybe I can figure out more about Grandpa, like how he was able to have a kid that was half-Cybertronian half-human," Reese looked down and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Well, I for one and glad to see you taking an interest in learning more about Cybertron," Ratchet chuckled.

"yea, well I-" Reese began, but was cut off by an incoming transmission from none other than Miko.

"Miko? This is an emergency channel; we need to keep it open for the oth-" Ratchet stopped mid-sentence as he heard battle sounds coming from the background.

"Oh scrap! Please tell me she didn't…" Reese trailed off, running her hand down her face.

"Miko, where are you?" Ratchet asked, despite being pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Duh, I'm with the thingamabob! Can you bridge it back?" Miko sounded desperate.

"I will reopen arrival coordinates!" Ratchet quickly reentered the coordinates and opened the ground bridge.

An exasperated groan came over the communication link, followed by, "Could you move it closer? This thing is freaking heavy!"

"I would need more exact coordinates, Miko," Ratchet sighed in exasperation.

"AAAAAAH! I will call you back," Miko hung up and Reese and Ratchet were left staring at each other with concerned quizzical expressions.

They were fixing to call Miko back when Optimus and Co came through the ground bridge, Miko riding on Bulkhead's shoulder plating.

"What happened out there?" Ratchet addressed his question to Optimus.

"We were ambushed by the Decepticons and there was a struggle over the data cylinder. Unfortunately, in the process of the fight, the cylinder fired some kind of beam at Bulkhead's helm, giving the Decepticons a chance to grab it and bridge out. Bulkhead seems to be okay now, but I think it would be wise if you ran a scan of his processor, just to be safe," Optimus explained, recounting all that had happened. "In the meantime, I'm going to take Arcee and Bumblebee with me. We are going to try and relocate the canister and see if we can get it back from the Decepticons. The information in it is too valuable to allow to fall into Megatron's servos."

"Alright, Optimus, keep me posted," Ratchet fired up the ground bridge for Optimus, Bee, and Arcee to go through, then grabbed Bulkhead by the arm and dragged him over to the med bay.

"Oh, c'mon Doc, I helped lose that thing. I should be out there helping Optimus get it back!" Bulkhead struggled against Ratchet as the medic attached a neural network scanner to the wrecker's helm.

"Ep, Ep, you are under my command now, Optimus' orders, and running a full diagnostic of your neural net would be a better use of your time," Ratchet huffed as he monitored the progress of the scan. He let out a vent of frustration as the scan suddenly stopped, due to Bulkhead detaching the diagnostic equipment from his helm.

"Doc, we both know there isn't anything up there for you to scan! I feel fine." Bulkhead stood up from the medical berth and finished unhooking himself from the rest of the diagnostic equipment. "Seriously, let me go back out there and help my team!"

"Absolutely not. If you won't let me run a scan on you, then I will just have to keep a close optic on you to watch for any changes. In the meantime, if you feel so fine, why don't you make yourself useful and help Miko with the chores?" Ratchet handed a mop to Bulkhead and turned back to the computer. He did not have the patience to deal with Bulkhead's stubbornness.

"UGH, he's mad with power!" Miko groaned as she turned away from the annoyed medic. She and Bulkhead left the medical bay, but it would be a miracle if they actually got any tidying done, considering that Bulkhead was better at making messes than he was at cleaning them up.

Once the unruly pair had left the medical bay to 'clean up', Reese walked in. Don't take 'em seriously Ratchet. It's best if you don't let them get under your skin… er… metal exterior… er… forget it. The phrase doesn't work as well with robots."

"Trust me, I have dealt with Bulkhead long enough to know how to work around his stubborn attitude," Ratchet vented again, trying to release the frustration that had been building in him all morning, courtesy of Miko and Bulkhead.

"Well, um, if you aren't too busy, I wouldn't mind learning more about the Golden Age of Cybertron… I mean, only if you aren't busy."

"I think I can spare a little time for a history lesson," Ratchet grinned.

"And that's how Optimus became a Prime," Ratchet finished his story.

"Wow! I can't believe Optimus wasn't always a Prime! That's so fascinating!" Reese sat nearby Ratchet, perched on the edge of the medical berth, her elbows resting on her knees and her chin resting in her hands.

"Hey guys! I hate to interrupt the bore-fest you have going on, but I think you should come see what Bulkhead is painting in the other room," Miko came running in unexpectedly, a look of concern on her face. Something wasn't right, concern wasn't an emotion that Miko expressed often.

"Yes, I'm sure one hasn't truly lived until one has beheld Bulkhead's take on still life with lug nuts," Ratchet scoffed. He didn't look like he intended on investigating the situation further.
"Hey Ratchet, I think we should at least give it a look… Something tells me this is more than just a still life," Reese hopped off the edge of the medical berth and followed Miko back into the main room of the base.

The three came up behind Bulkhead, who had taken the mop and bucket that Ratchet had given him to tidy up and was using them as a paint brush and paint bucket. He was very intently painting some kind of jumble of numbers and symbols on the wall of the base.

Upon surveying Bulkhead's "masterpiece", Ratchet let out a gasp. "That's not art; That's science!" Immediately he grabbed Bulkhead by the arm and dragged him over to the med bay, hooking him back up to the neural net scanner.

"What's going on?" Miko looked concerned.

"I'm not sure yet. I will need to run some diagnostic scans to find out. In the meantime, Reese, could you call Optimus and tell him to come back here? I think he will want to see this."

"Yea, sure," Reese hurried over to the communications panel, connecting to Optimus' comm frequency. "Optimus, Bulkhead is acting… weird, and Ratchet thinks you should come back to base."

"Understood. Open a bridge to our coordinates," The Prime replied. Reese opened the bridge and then scurried back over to Ratchet, who was surveying the readings of the neural net scan.

Optimus and Co walked into the base, immediately making their way over to the med bay and joining up with Ratchet, Reese, and Miko.

"What have you found, Ratchet," Optimus queried, looking with slight concern between Ratchet and Bulk.

"Well, there appears to be a hotspot of information inside of Bulkhead's processor, and from what I can tell, it's trying to escape through the form of Bulkhead painting out the formula it represents. Though, I'm not exactly sure how it would have gotten there in the first place."

"Based on the skirmish for the canister earlier, it would seem that the data cylinder was programmed to eject the living data it held within, in case it fell into the wrong hands," Optimus mused.
"Oh, like a security measure," Ratchet was catching on.

"It would have jettisoned heavenward, lost to the stars, if Bulkhead had not been in the way," Optimus continued.

"But every decepticon there made a grab for it, why did it only go off when Miko touched it?" Arcee brought up the question that was on everybody's mind.

"The data cylinders were made during the golden era of Cybertron, long before the war with the decepticons. The data would not consider any native of Cybertron to be a threat. Only aliens, such as humans, would cause the security safety measure to go off," Ratchet explained, seeming to fully understand the situation now.

"Well, then I have another question. What exactly are we looking at here?" Arcee motioned to the formula Bulkhead had painted on the wall.

"I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, but from what I can tell, it appears to possibly be a formula for synthetic energon," Ratchet said hesitantly.

Despite Ratchets' warning against getting their hopes up, that is exactly what they did. All the bots began to talk excitedly amongst themselves.

Bulkhead jumped up from the medical berth and came excitedly over to Miko. "Miko, do you know what this means? Energon provides our fuel, our ammo, our life force, and with the natural stuff in such short supply, this could solve a whole lot of problems!"

"Such as giving us the edge we need to turn the tides of this war," Optimus added.

"Or giving us the means to revitalize Cybertron!" Ratchet piggybacked off of Optimus' thought. "But we aren't going to get the formula if you don't keep painting, Bulkhead." Ratchet handed Bulkhead his makeshift paintbrush and bucket. "But, let's try to keep the painting off the walls." He ushered the wrecker over to a stack of metal panels. "These should work nicely for you to paint on."

Miko looked like she was trying to be as happy as everyone else, especially since Bulkhead was going to be helping out the whole team, but there was still a hint of worry in her eyes, something that Reese picked up on.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm sure that once he finishes painting the formula, you two can go right back to watching your monster truck rallies."

"Maybe…" Miko sighed, wrapping her arms around her middle. "I still kind of feel like this is all my fault."

"Well, it kind of is, but at least it turned out for the best. I mean, this way we get a synthetic energon formula, and the decepticons got stuck with an empty canister. Looking at how things turned out, I would say that you hitting that canister worked out perfectly. Besides, Bulk looks happy to be able to use his noggin for once," Reese chuckled, patting Miko on the back.

As the hours went by, Bulkhead filled up more and more metal panels with the formula that was stuck in his processor. Miko got bored of watching him do nothing but paint, so she went to occupy herself with some video games, but Reese stuck around, mostly watching Ratchet piece together the formula. She found it all very fascinating. Her fascination turned to horror, though, when she looked over at the ongoing scan of Bulkhead's neural net. No longer was the hotspot localized in one part of his processor. It was growing and spreading out to all portions of the bot's mind. Ratchet had noticed this too and discretely called Optimus over.

"Optimus, I hate to worry you, but I just took another look at the ongoing scan we have been running on Bulkhead's brain, and things aren't looking good. I had hoped that Bulkhead writing out the formula would have purged the data from his mind, but instead, it appears that the data is actively and aggressively rewriting his neural net."

"You have to find a way to stop the data from completely destroying Bulkhead!" Reese blurted out to Optimus and Ratchet.

"But if we do that, we can say goodbye to synthetic energon," Arcee, who had overheard the conversation and had come to investigate, pointed out.

"Is this synthetic energon really more important than Bulkhead?" Reese shot back angrily.

"No, I'm just saying that if we stopped him, we would lose any possible advantage we might have against the Decepticons," Arcee countered back.

"You speak as if we have a way of stopping him. From what I can tell, Bulkhead's processor became the new home of this data once it left the canister. I don't know that we could transfer it into anything else.

"Wait, what if we were able to transmit the data back into the data cylinder it came from?" Reese threw out the idea as it popped into her head.

"That could work," Ratchet mused. "But we don't even have the data cylinder to transmit it back into."

"Leave that to me, Old Friend. I will talk with Megatron and see if I can get him to return the canister to us," Optimus said. "But, if I am going to find him, I will need a decoy of the data's energy signature to get his attention."

"I will begin working on a decoy right away," Rachet affirmed as he began gathering the materials together to make the decoy. "In the meantime, let's keep this information on the downlow. If Miko were to find out, it could be problematic for all of us."

"find out what?"

Uh oh

Miko came sulking up to the rest of the group. "Find out that Bulkhead is losing his mind? Yea, I already know…"

"Miko, we didn't want to frighten you, and rest assured that we are doing everything in our ability to fix this." Ratchet tried to encourage the girl, but she looked at him dubiously.

"Look, You're Bulkhead's doctor; Is he going to go back to normal when he finishes spitting out that formula?" She leaned over the edge of the railing and stared into Ratchet's optics imploringly. Ratchet looked away, unable to say anything, but his silence spoke volumes. Miko knew the answer now, and with this new knowledge she blinked back tears and ran out of the med bay.

"you think she will be okay?" Reese looked after the retreating teen, her heart breaking for the girl.

"With Miko, you never know… But she is pretty strong willed, so I think she will probably be okay." Ratchet sighed as he put the finishing touches on the decoy for Optimus.

"I'm gonna go check on her," Reese got up, dusted off her jeans, and exited the med bay in search of the girl.

She found Miko in the main room of the base, looking very distraught. She was standing in front of Bulkhead, who was still painting the formula out on the sheet metal.

"Miko, you okay?" Reese came up and put a comforting arm around Miko's slumped shoulders.

"He doesn't even remember me anymore. I have to fix this. It's my fault he is losing his mind, so it's up to me to get him back." A look of determination fell over Miko's features as she broke free from Reese's comforting embrace and headed for the computer mainframe that controlled the ground bridge.

"Miko, what are you doing!? Don't tell me you are planning on leaving the base!" Reese jogged up to the girl, trying to get between her and the computer. Miko merely shoved her aside, punching in coordinates on the keypad.

"I know what I have to do, so don't even try and stop me," Miko's voice held a warning tone.

"Miko, you cannot leave the base. It would be too dangerous. Besides, imagine what Ratchet would do if he noticed Bulkhead was missing. He would probably blow a gasket!" Reese tried to reason with the girl.

"You don't care about Bulkhead or my friendship with him. You haven't seen your best friend look you dead in the eye and not be able to recall your name! You are just like the rest of the bots here, selfish. You guys are more concerned with getting some stupid formula than with losing your teammate!" Miko snapped angrily, shoving Reese out of the way as the ground bridge opened.

"That's not true! We do care about Bulkhead, and we are doing literally everything we can to try to save him!" Reese chased after Miko, grabbing her by the arm.

"If you aren't with me, then you're against me," Miko hissed, pushing Reese with her free hand, causing Reese to loosen her grip on Miko's wrist. "Come on Bulkhead, you can finish your formula where we are going!" She broke free from Reese's grasp, grabbed the mop from Bulkhead's servo, and stalked through the ground bridge, Bulkhead in tow.

Reese ran her hand down her face, and with a relenting sigh, activated her energon cloaking device and followed Miko through the portal.

About the time Reese jumped through on the other end, the portal closed behind her. It must have been on a delayed closing sequence. "Scrap, there goes our chance of getting back without Ratchet finding out," Reese muttered under her breath.

She took a quick look at her surroundings. She was in a large dirt arena with a bunch of destroyed cars lying around. There was a low concrete wall separating rows of bleachers that surrounded the whole arena. This was the location of the Monster Truck Rally that Miko and Bulkhead had been watching. No wonder Miko brought him here.

Unfortunately, the familiar surroundings didn't seem to have done anything for Bulk. He was still in Brainiac mode, painting the formula on the low wall that lined the arena. Miko was hugging his leg, crying.

Hesitantly, Reese walked up to the sobbing girl. Miko had never made a very good impression on Reese, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Bulkhead was her best friend, and now he didn't even remember her. Reese gently placed a comforting hand on Miko's shoulder, not sure what else to do.

"It didn't work. Bringing him here didn't work," Miko choked through her tears.

"Maybe there is something else that can snap him out of this… But, for now, we need to get him back to the base. I was trying to tell you, back at base, that the reason he is safer there is because he can't be tracked. That data in his head, it emits a strong energy signature. How else do you think we found the data canister in the first place? Undoubtedly, the Decepticons are probably scanning for it, which is why we need to get back before they can find it."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that… Yea, I guess you are right," Miko relented.

"Okay, I will call Ratchet and get him to open a ground bridge for us. Hopefully he won't be too upset that we left base," Reese said as she pulled out her phone, dialing into the secure frequency of the base. The phone didn't ring, all she got was a bunch of static. "That's weird; I'm not getting a signal".

"Me either," Miko concurred, holding up her phone and showing that it had no bars.

"How cute, a couple of humans trying to get their buddy back. I'm shedding lubricant," a voice said from the other side of the arena wall, opposite to the girls and Bulkhead. Both girls pivoted to see who was talking, jumping back in surprise when they saw two Decepticons.

Reese recognized these two from her initial introduction with the cons. These were the two that had been snickering when she got sick on Starscream. One of them, the flashy red one, transformed his servo into a rotary saw, while the other, the one-eyed, blue one, transformed his servo into a giant war hammer.

"Uh oh, we gotta go, NOW!" Reese grabbed Miko's arm and started dragging her, but the girl refused to move. She wasn't about to just leave Bulkhead to the cons.

"We can't just leave Bulk. He has to come with us," Miko explained, pulling her arm back and turning to her guardian. "Bulkhead listen to me. We gotta get out of here right now, or those cons are going to steal the formula!"

Miko got Bulkheads undivided attention at the mention of the formula. He grabbed his "paintbrush" and quickly followed Miko and Reese out of the Arena. They ran into the lot behind the arena where all the monster trucks were parked.

"Perfect, Bulk can transform and will blend right in among these trucks," Reese noted, running deeper into the rows of beefed up vehicles. Finally, she and Miko found an empty spot between two particularly large trucks, and convinced Bulk to transform and hide. Once Bulk was properly disguised, Miko and Reese climbed under one of the other trucks, trying to get a pinpoint on their pursuers' locations.

"Miko, listen, I have a super important job for you," Reese grabbed Miko by the shoulders sternly, effectively getting Miko's undivided attention. "I want you to run all the way to the other end of this car lot. Get as far away as you can from those cons. You need to get out of their scrambling range so that you can get a call into base to get us some backup. Do you understand?"

"Yea, I got it. Get far enough away to get a signal through to the bots, but what about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to serve as your distraction. If those cons see you running, they are undoubtedly going to follow. I'm going to make sure their attention stays off you, and off Bulkhead too."

"What if they catch you?" Miko gaped at Reese's plan.

"Then I will improvise. Look, that is why you have to get out of their range as quickly as possible," Reese sighed, not liking the plan much herself. She would rather run with Miko, but someone had to serve as a distraction and get those cons away from Bulk and Miko.

"Alright, I'm going to make a run for it," Miko gave a heads-up as she peeked out from under the truck where they were hiding and started making a mad dash for the other end of the lot. As soon as Miko was off, Reese crawled to the other side of the vehicle, and scouted to see if any of the cons were near. She liked to fall over backwards when Flashy Paint Job's ped landed right next to her.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," He tauntingly called out.

"Fine then, I will," Reese muttered, dodging out from behind the truck she was using as cover and right into the line of sight of the red con. "Hey! Flashy Paint Job! Don't you and that One-Eyed oaf you call your battle partner have better things to do than chase around a couple of humans and a bot who can't even fight?"

"Oh, so you like my paint, do you? Why thank you! I try. As for your question, I suppose I could be doing better things, but I'm already here, so why not? Why don't you go ahead and show me to where your intellectual friend is?" Flashy Paint Job reached down and made a grab for Reese.

"Oh Scrap!" Reese gasped as she just barely dodged the con's reaching servo. She scrambled between a line of trucks, making her way in the opposite direction of both Miko and Bulkhead.

"Hey, get back here Little Missy!" Flashy Paint Job called out as he pushed several trucks out of his way in an attempt to follow Reese.

"I sure hope Miko is out of their range by now. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to outrun these guys," Reese thought as she narrowly missed being grabbed, again. She was starting to run out of energy and found herself slowing down. "Could really use some back-up right about now." She ducked under another truck, hoping to buy herself a couple seconds to catch her breath. Unfortunately, the con had seen her run under the truck and easily flipped it on its side, revealing Reese hiding underneath. He reached down and grabbed her before she had a chance to start running again.

"WHOAAAAA!" Reese cried out as she suddenly found herself rapidly lifted into the air. She struggled against the servo that held her, hitting it with her metal fists.

"Stop that, you're going to scratch my paint!" Flashy Paint Job shook Reese a little to get her to stop.

"Knockout, I can't find the other human. She must have gotten away," Mr. One-Eye said as he came up to his friend.

"Don't worry about the other human, Breakdown. We have this one already. Besides, I'm tired of running around. Games are only fun when you are winning," Knockout pulled out some kind of tracking device with his other servo, watching as the needle on the screen pointed in the direction of Bulkhead.

Knockout and Breakdown began making their way towards Bulkhead, the tracking device beeping louder with each step they took. "I think I'm warm," Knockout grinned as he walked up to Bulkhead's vehicle form and put away his tracker.

Suddenly, Bulkhead transformed right in front of Knockout. "EM3 divided by the square root of the propulsion factor equals…" Bulkhead spouted out the equation as he painted the answer on Knockout's chassis with his mop.

Knockout was so surprised by the sudden attack on his finish that he dropped Reese and looked down at his ruined paint. "You painted my paint job! Prepare for surgery!" Knockout's surprise turned into anger as his servo transformed into a rotary saw.

Breakdown joined in with his battle partner, slamming his war hammer right into the side of Bulkhead's helm!

"Oh no!" Reese yelled as she scrambled to her feet and ran towards Bulkhead.

Miko, who also heard the crash of Bulkhead falling to the ground, came running from behind some other trucks, gasping at the fallen form of her best friend. "NOOOOO!" She screamed as Knockout grabbed Bulkhead's helm and prepared to sever it from the rest of his body. She grabbed a metal pipe off the ground and ran towards Knockout in a blind rage.

Knockout lifted his ped out of Miko's reach just as she swung the metal pipe, causing her to lose her footing and fall into Bulkhead. Her running into Bulkhead caused the data within his helm to once again initiate its failsafe mechanism. Bulkhead's eyes opened and glowed red as the data ejected itself skyward.

"Oh no, I did it again?" Miko jumped back and stared in horror at the red beams coming from Bulkhead's optics.

Knockout scanned Bulkhead's helm after the data was done ejecting. "Dead battery. Megatron will peel our paint for losing that data, so that means we're gonna peel you!" He reactivated his sawblade and began inching it closer to Miko.

"Not if I can help it!" Reese had climbed up on top of Bulkhead's frame, and from there, jumped onto Knockout's outstretched arm. After taking a second to stabilize herself, she laid into his paint job, scratching away at it with her metal hands. It was like scratching nails on a chalk board, but it was better than Miko getting turned into human sushi.

Knockout let out a terrified yelp as Reese left deep scratches in the paint on his arm and door. "Get it off, get it off, its ruining my paint!" He shrieked as he swung his arm back and forth, trying to free it from his assailant.

Breakdown instinctively activated his war hammer and prepared to swing, but another terrified shriek from Knockout stopped him. "Not like that you idiot! With your depth perception, you're likely to miss her and take my whole arm off!"

Reese was still railing into Knockout's paint when a ground bridge opened nearby, and Team Prime jumped through. The distraction of the ground bridge caused Reese to loosen her grip long enough for Knockout to shake her free, sending her flying onto the hood of one of the nearby trucks.

Upon freeing himself from his attacker, Knockout retreated from the lot, Breakdown at his heel struts.

The Autobots ran over, surveying the situation. It didn't look good. Bulkhead laid unconscious on the ground, Miko was leaning against his shoulder plating, crying, and Reese was peeling herself off the hood of a monster truck. Carefully, Optimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee picked up and carried Bulkhead through the ground bridge. Reese followed behind with Miko.

Once back at base Ratchet began running a full range diagnostic on Bulkhead's neural net. "The data has been fully expelled, but Bulkhead still remains unresponsive," Ratchet noted as he studied the scans of Bulk's neural net. Miko let out a long sigh.

"That's because the energy took Bulkhead's mind with it, heavenward, lost to the stars," Miko sighed sadly, wiping her nose on her arm. "It's my fault you will never know the rest of the formula, and it's my fault that Bulkhead is gone forever."

"Miko, it was your quick thinking that kept the formula from falling into decepticon hands," Optimus tried to reassure Miko, but she only sighed again.

"No, I wasn't thinking. I dragged him out of the base after Reese warned me not to. I was being foolish, and selfish. I just wanted my best friend back… that's all I wanted," Miko broke down in tears again, burying her face in her arms.

"Miko, we don't know that Bulkhead is completely gone; it's just too early to know the extent of his condition. Something as simple as a familiar sight or smell, perhaps even a sound, could trigger Bulkhead's awakening." Ratchet tried to give the girl some glimmer of hope. Seeing her cry made him feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Miko didn't respond at first, she just sat there, head still buried in arms. After a few moments, though, she stood up with a new look on her face. Determination. She walked over to her electric guitar and plugged it into the amp. Then, she closed her eyes and began to play Bulkhead's favorite song.

Everybody watched Bulkhead intently, hoping that the song would have some kind of effect. Nothing happened though. Everyone was beginning to lose hope, including Miko, when Bulkhead suddenly opened his optics, sat upright, and began playing air guitar with the music.

"I love that song!" He looked up and saw Miko standing on the platform in front of him with her guitar in hand and tears of joy in her eyes. He was back, memories and all.

A little while later, after Miko had gone home for the night and most everyone else had gone into recharge, Reese came walking into the med bay, holding her arm tenderly.

"Hey Ratchet, do you think you could take a look at this?" Reese held out her arm, showing where part of the metal plating had been stripped away, revealing a newer, softer, layer of metal underneath. It was leaking energon, though not very quickly.

"For Primus' sake, what happened and why didn't you tell me about this earlier?!" Ratchet exclaimed when he saw the damage.

"I just scraped it when I got flung off Knockout, that's all. Everybody was so preoccupied with Bulkhead; I didn't want to be an extra burden." Reese looked down at the wound and winced in pain.

"Reese, you are never a burden! I only wish you would have told me sooner about the injury. Now, let's take a look at this wound, why don't we?" Ratchet gently picked up Reese and set her beside the console of his computer. "I really should work on a specially made medical berth, just in case you were ever severely injured," Ratchet muttered aloud to himself he examined the wound.

"So, um, why is there metal there instead of skin?" Reese pointed to the new layer of metal that the wound exposed on her arm.

"Probably because your Cybertronian side has been reawakened. Your body will repair itself with living metal now, rather than skin. Unfortunately, these kinds of wounds don't heal quite quickly enough, which is why we Cybertronians often have to use repair patches, much like your band-aids. The patches help to stop the energon leak, as well as protect the metal underneath."

"there is so much I don't understand about being part Cybertronian. Its so strange to me…" Reese lowered her head.

"It takes time to adjust, but I think you are adjusting just fine. Give it some time. As you learn more and get used to it."

"I hope so…"

"You will, I promise," Ratchet grabbed a roll of fiber-optic mesh, cut out a strip of it, and began wrapping it around the wound on Reese's arm. "I can't just solder a metal patch onto you… it doesn't quite work that easily, so this will have to suffice until the wound is fully healed. It will at least stop it from leaking energon everywhere. In the meantime, I think you would do well to go get some rest. It will help the healing process go faster," Ratchet said as he gently lifted Reese off the console and set her back down on the ground.

"Thank you Ratchet. Not just for fixing me up when I get hurt, but also for being a good friend," Reese smiled and walked back to her room.

Ratchet, just stood there, watching her walk away. He wondered at how she could see him as a friend, despite the fact that he hardly showed any care for the humans at all. He would never understand her, but it warmed his spark to know that she saw him as her friend.

Alrighty, I hope you liked the chapter! Feel free to leave a comment so that I know how I did. Your comments keep me going. Anyways, thanks again for reading and have a lovely day! Bai for now - Lucy