Heheheheheeh *cough cough* I know I've been gone for a while. I started a new job and it's one where I don't get most evenings or weekends free, so it's been hard to keep up with my story. But I'm finally done with the chapter! Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger for so long.

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.

27. Rescue

Reese groggily opened her optics. Where was she? What had happened again? She looked around, a little disoriented. Slowly, everything seemed to fall into place. She was on the warship, still magnetized to the medical slab in the med bay. She noted that there was still a tube patched to her arm, but instead of siphoning out her own energon, it was doing the opposite.

'A transfusion," she thought, vaguely remembering hearing Knockout mention one before she passed out. That's right, he had taken too much energon while collecting a sample. Figures.

She also noted that her hands were bandaged up. She had injured them in her frantic attempt to escape the glass canister she had been imprisoned in previously. Had Knockout bandaged them? Why would he do that?

At that moment, Knockout came through the doors that led into a deeper part of the med bay. He wiped his servos on a rag, looking somewhere between disgusted and highly put out. "Well, that takes care of that," He muttered.

'What takes care of what?' Reese thought. She didn't quite feel like she had the strength to speak, or she would have said it out loud.

Knockout seemed to sense her watching him and came over to check on her. "Look who's awake. Did you enjoy your little impromptu nap?"

Reese only glared at him.

"Giving me the silent treatment, are you? After I bandaged up your hands and everything. Talk about ungrateful."

"Why?" she asked, almost inaudibly.

"Why what? Why did I bandage your hands? Your energon was getting all over the place, and I didn't want to keep cleaning it up. You know, I had to use my holoform to bandage those tiny hands of yours; you should be thanking me."

"You… have a holoform?"

"Naturally."

"I'm surprised. You don't seem like the type who would want one."

"To be honest, I haven't really needed to use it until now. I got it when I first arrived on the planet, thinking it would come in handy, and then never ended up needing it."

"I see."

Reese kept pretty quiet after that, still trying to regain her strength. She watched as Knockout tidied up the lab. He ignored her for the most part, only glancing her way when she would breathe heavily or try to move. Reese didn't really know what to think of him. He was a con. He had kidnapped her and treated her like a lab experiment, and yet, he still bothered to tend to her wounds, even if it was only to "prevent messes" as he suggested. She wondered if there was a small part of him that truly did care about life?

"So… um… what were you doing earlier in that back room?" She asked, finally mustering up the strength to speak again.

"You know, you really aren't in a position to be sticking your nose in things that don't concern you."

"I was just curious… It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Fine, it's not like it's a secret or anything. If you must know, an autobot and his human pet offlined the leader of the insecticons, Hardshell. Good riddance. Unfortunately, I was the one who had to deal with the body," Knockout shuddered at the memory.

"An autobot and a human?" Reese thought aloud. She doubted that it would be Bumblebee and Raf, and Arcee wouldn't dare bring Jack along if she thought he could end up in danger. So it must have been Bulkhead and Miko. But wait, wasn't Bulkhead still unconscious? He had been when she left the base. There was no way he would have been able to take on a decepticon... Who was it then? Wheeljack? That was a possibility.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?"

"Huh? Oh, I wasn't- never mind," Reese sighed. It was no use trying to explain to him that she had just been thinking out loud. Instead she drew back into her own thoughts. What else had happened while she was out? Had Knockout told Megatron about what she was? He probably had. She shivered a little to think about what Megatron could possibly be considering using her for.

"So, when am I going to be allowed to go back to the bots?" She asked, purposefully avoiding eye contact with Knockout. She had a feeling she knew the answer, and she really didn't want to see the condescendingly smug look he was probably giving her.

"Not anytime soon. Megatron seemed quite interested in your techno-organic nature. He wants to keep you around for further studies. Not to mention, you are extremely precious to the bots. That's not something Megatron is going to let slip through his digits that easily. You might as well make yourself comfortable."

"Would be easier to do if I wasn't magnetized to a slab…" Reese grumbled.

"Well, I could return you to the canister, if you would like. That being said, if you try doing anything to escape, you go right back to the slab, got it?"

"Are those my only options?"

"Yep."

"Lovely…"

"So, what'll it be?"

"The canister I guess," Reese sighed. If she were being honest, neither option really appealed to her, but at least she would be able to move a little inside the canister.

Knockout nodded and came over, pressing a button on the side of the slab to deactivate the magnetism.

Reese felt the magnetic pull release, but before she could even think about trying to move or run, Knockout had picked her up and was carrying her to the open canister.

"In you go," He said as he dropped her inside, screwing the lid back on.

Reese transformed back into her human form and sat down on the floor of the canister, pulling her knees to her chest. She leaned her back against the glass wall, using it to prop herself up. There wasn't a whole lot she could do, other than watch whatever was going on around her, so that's what she did.

Knockout had settled down at a workstation and seemed to be tinkering on something, but Reese couldn't tell what it was. Whatever it was, it was really tiny. He had pulled out a magnifying glass to work on it more easily.

"Whatcha working on?"

"Megatron asked me to come up with something that would allow us to control your cybernetic enhancements," Knockout replied, not bothering to look up from his work.

"What?!" Reese blanched. Why would Megatron want to control her enhancements? He wasn't planning on turning her into a weapon, was he?

"Keep quiet would you, you're distracting me," Knockout huffed, readjusting the magnifying glass. "Do you know how hard it is to work on technology this small?"

"I mean, I would rather not be controlled against my will, so distraction seems like a perfectly fine plan in my book. Besides, if I distract you, then you don't have to strain to work on tiny tech. It's a win win, if you ask me."

"Well I wasn't asking y- ARRGH! Look what you made me do! I soldered the wrong thing. I'm going to have to start over now!" Knockout growled, shooting Reese an irritated look.

"Oops, oh well," Reese shrugged, smiling smugly.

"If you don't stop, I'm going to lock you in a closet somewhere," Knockout grumbled.

"Rude…"

"I can't work like this!" Knockout threw his servos in the air.

"Then don't."

"Do you think I really have a choice? This is a direct order from Megatron; I'm not doing this for my own enjoyment."

"What if you just told Megatron it was an impossible task?"

"No thanks, I would rather not be on the receiving end of Megatron's wrath. Looks like I will just have to use my holoform for a project of this size." Knockout vented, activating his holoform.

The holoform looked like a tall man with slicked back, flaming red hair. He had red eyes and a little red soul patch on his chin. His face was chiseled and it wore a very intimidating, almost devious, expression. His attire consisted of a white lab coat over a dark red button up shirt and black slacks. He had a very debonair aura about him, which seemed fitting, given his character.

"So that's what it looks like," Reese noted. She had wondered if she would get to see Knockout's holoform at some point. She always liked seeing how Cybertronians would choose to look if they were human. It was super fascinating to see how their personalities affected their stylistic choices. She wondered if any of the other cons had holoforms, and if they did, what would they look like? She bet Megatron's would be terrifying.

"Is it what you were expecting?" Knockout raised an eyebrow, shooting Reese a curious glance. Was he fishing for compliments? Probably, I mean, this was Knockout after all.

"I don't know. I didn't really have any expectations, I guess." Reese shrugged.

"Fair enough, it's not like your opinion matters anyways," Knockout turned back to his work, seeming to realize that there were no compliments to be earned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Reese was inclined to be offended by such a comment. Sure, it was coming from a decepticon, but still.

"I mean, it doesn't matter what you or anyone thinks about it, since I am probably never going to need to use it much after this. That being said, I think it captures my personality quite nicely, if I do say so myself."

"You would say so," Reese rolled her eyes.

"Listen here, little missy, there is nothing wrong with being proud of one's appearances, especially someone with appearances like mine."

"Jeez Louise, you really do have an ego the size of Cybertron, don't you?" Reese didn't think her eyes could roll any further into the back of her head. Was this guy serious?

"That was unnecessary," Knockout stopped tinkering long enough to glare angrily at Reese.

"Was it?"

"I've heard just about enough from you. You were much less annoying when you were unconscious," Knockout grumbled, setting his soldering tools down for the umpteenth time.

"Is that a threat?"

"I don't know, you tell me! I can make it one if you don't stop talking. Honestly, I can't tell if you're just stupid, or if you genuinely want to make me angry. Megatron may have ordered me not to kill you, but there are plenty of non-lethal things I can do that would make your stay on this ship much less pleasant, and I already have a couple good ideas coming to mind."

"Okay, okay, I'm done," Reese held her hands up placatingly, her face going completely white. She needed to learn to keep her big mouth shut.

"Oh, I think it's a little late for that." Knockout deactivated his holoform and turned towards Reese, transforming his servo into a long drill in the process. Any hint of jest was long gone from his optics.

Reese's eyes went wide and she pressed herself up against the back of the glass canister. He wasn't actually going to hurt her, was he? The speed at which his temperament shifted was terrifying.

Thankfully, Reese didn't have to find out if Knockout was being serious or not, because Soundwave entered the med bay, interrupting anything the mad scientist may have been planning to do.

"Bring Knockout here at once," Audio waves displayed on Soundwave's visor as he replayed Megatron's command.

"You've got to be kidding me," Knockout groaned. "Fine, fine, tell him I'll be there in a moment."

Soundwave made no motions to leave. It was clear that he wasn't going back to the bridge without Knockout.

"Alright, I'm coming," Knockout transformed his drill arm back into his normal servo, seeming very put out. "I'll deal with you later," He directed his last comment at Reese, ice in his voice. He then turned and followed Soundwave out of the medbay, leaving Reese feeling very relieved to finally be alone.

"You just had to sass him, didn't you. You're such an idiot," Reese flicked herself hard on the forehead, leaving a little red welt. "Well, there is no way i'm sticking around long enough to find out what kind of revenge he has in store for me," She muttered, surveying her surroundings. There had to be something she could use to escape. She looked down at her fists, which were still bandaged, and winced. "Yea, I'm not gonna try punching my way out again."

She racked her brain, trying to figure out any other alternatives she might have. Whatever she decided to do, she would need to do it now. She might not get another opportunity like this. She looked over the ledge upon which her prison sat, and an idea popped into her head.

She transformed back into her cyberform and placed her hands on either side of the canister. Then, she began swaying forcefully side to side, trying to get the canister to tip over. Slowly but surely, her movements caused the canister to wobble, and then fall over completely, sending it plummeting off the ledge.

The canister hit the floor hard, followed by a loud cracking sound. Reese was so rattled about inside that, for a moment, she wasn't sure if the sound had come from the glass or her own body. She laid there dazed, hoping that she hadn't just made a huge mistake.

After a few moments, the room stopped spinning enough for her to sit up and look around. The cracking sound had indeed come from the glass, much to her relief. She surveyed the crack, noting that it stretched the whole length of the canister. She had kind of hoped falling from such a high ledge would have shattered the glass, but the stuff was clearly heavy duty.

"Well, that will have to do," Reese thought to herself, positioning herself inside the canister so that she could forcefully kick the cracked part of the glass. She kicked repeatedly, and with each attack, the crack spread a tiny bit.

"Just a little more," Reese grunted, kicking the glass again. It took several more hits, but she was able to crack the glass enough for it to break, leaving a hole large enough to climb out of. "Finally!" She slipped through the hole in the canister and ran to the nearest dark corner.

The question now was whether or not to hide or try to make a run for it. If she hid, she had less of a chance of running into another Decepticon, but she would still be stuck on the warship. If she ran, she might be able to get to a control terminal and at least send out a distress signal, but that would be extremely risky.

She noted that there was a control terminal within the med bay, but it was much too high to reach. In fact, just about any terminal in the warship would be well out of her reach. She would need to find another way to alert the bots of her predicament.

She looked around, still trying to decide on a plan, and she saw that there was a metal panel beneath the control terminal that wasn't quite flush with the wall. She ran over to it, a spark of an idea formulating in her mind.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear that this panel led to the cables and inner workings of the control terminal, much to Reese's delight. Using the strength from her Cyberform, she pried on the panel, widening the crack between it and the wall. It took a lot of effort, but she finally pried it far enough for her to squeeze through the crack.

Once inside, she found herself face to face with dozens of wires and cables. She had no way of knowing which cable connected to what, but surely if she disconnected enough of them, she would be able to cause enough system malfunctions to maybe give the autobots a helping hand in locating the ship. That was her hope anyway.

So that's exactly what she did, starting with the cables closest to the floor. She tugged on several of them, using all of her strength to pull them free from the mainframe. She then climbed up some of the other cables and did the same thing to the ones higher up.

Eventually, she had pulled free over half of the cables that connected into the mainframe. She took a step back, looking up and surveying her handiwork with smug satisfaction. "That should do some damage."

While still admiring the carnage she had caused, she heard the sound of banging coming from the door to the med bay, followed by curses.

"What in the pits of kaon is going on? I swear, I step away for two minutes and suddenly the whole ship starts malfunctioning! You there! Yes you. Come help me get this door open."

"Scrap, Knockout's back and he doesn't sound happy," Reese sweatdropped. The odds of him finding her in the wall of the warship probably weren't very high, but he was definitely going to notice that she was missing when he came in.

She heard the doors to the med bay creak as they were pried open by Knockout and some unnamed deception trooper. There was a lot of grunting and cursing on Knockout's part, followed by an exasperated "Finally", as the doors opened enough for him to get through.

It didn't take long for him to notice the empty glass canister on the floor in the middle of his laboratory. "You've got to be kidding me," He groaned, and Reese could almost picture the look of sheer irritation spreading across his facial plating.

Reese retreated a little farther into the wall space, keeping a safe distance from the panel she had used to get into the mainframe to begin with. She really didn't want to end up getting caught again.

"Alright you little half-breed, come out now and I'll let you off easy. Don't make me hunt you down, because I will, and you best believe it won't be pleasant when I find you," Knockout called out, sending chills up and down Reese's spine. She didn't plan on walking back out there, so she just had to hope that she could stay hidden long enough for the bots to show up.

"Can't this ship fly any faster?" BlueStreak tapped his digits on his leg impatiently.

"Ask me that one more time and I will throw you out the airlock," Wheeljack snapped, giving Bluestreak a warning look. The blue bot had been pestering him about the speed of his ship and the accuracy of its sensor since they had taken off.

"Give him a break Bluestreak, he's pushing his ship to its limits as it is," Chase chided Bluestreak, but he could also understand his guardian's impatience. It was nerve wracking thinking of all the things Reese could be going through while they were searching for her.

"I get that you're worried about your grandkid, but you need to remember that searching for the Nemesis on a planet of this size is like searching for a specific part in the middle of a giant scrapyard. It's gonna take some time," Wheeljack vented.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stop thinking of what Reese must be going through right now," Bluestreak held his helm in his servos. "What if they are torturing her, or using her as some kind of lab experiment. What if we don't make it to her in time? I'll never be able to forgive myself."

"Whoa there, the cons might be cruel, but they aren't stupid. Megatron knows that Reese is more valuable to him alive, so I don't think you have to worry about worst case scenarios. Besides, from what I've heard about her, she's a pretty tough cookie. She's probably fine," Wheeljack tried to ease some of Bluestreak's concerns.

"Maybe…" Bluestreak mumbled unconvincingly.

"Well I'll be! Looks like she's doing alright after all!" Wheeljack suddenly exclaimed.

"What? What is it? Did something show up on the sensors?" Bluestreak jumped, checking the scanners.

Wheeljack laughed. "Yeah, the Nemesis' cloaking field just went down. Don't suppose our little friend inside had something to do with it?"

"That's my girl! Hang on just a little longer Reese, we're coming for you!" Bluestreak cheered.

"Surely the con's know their shields are down. Do you think we can make it there before they get them back up and running?" Chase asked, pulling the other two bots back to reality for a second.

Wheeljack flipped a switch, laughing, "We can if I do this, though you might wanna hold on… YEEEEE HAAAW!" Blue streak grabbed Chase as the ship lurched forward, slipping into hyperdrive.

"Whoaaa! Why didn't you activate this sooner?"

"Hyperdrive uses a lot of fuel, kid. It's best to be saved for the perfect moment," Wheeljack chuckled, piloting the Jackhammer towards the Nemesis at unimaginable speeds. It only took a few minutes for them to catch up with the warship, and soon they found themselves landing on its hull.

"You go in and get Reese. I'll keep the Jackhammer close in case you need backup. That being said, once you get the kid, don't come looking for me. Just bridge back to the base, got it? I'll let the others know what we are doing so they can be standing by," Wheeljack instructed Bluestreak.

"I'm coming with you," Chase jumped up.

"What did I tell you? I thought I made it very clear that you weren't going anywhere near the warship!" BlueStreak scolded.

"Please BlueStreak, let me come!"

"No! You aren't setting one foot on this warship. I can't risk you getting caught too." Bluestreak declared with finality. "Wheeljack, make sure he doesn't leave the Jackhammer."

"Sorry kiddo, you heard the bot. Normally I'd be all for breaking the rules and sneaking you in, but I gotta agree with your old man on this one."

"Fine… Just be careful, okay?" Chase sighed, sitting back down.

"I will, don't worry. I'll be in and out in no time."

"Alright then, stop lollygagging and get in there. The cons probably already know we're here, so we don't have the element of surprise anymore. Get going."

"I'm going, I'm going. Hang in there Reese, I'm on my way."

"Now, If I were a little human, where would I hide?" Reese heard Knockout say.

She adjusted her position so she could see out the cracked panel, while still remaining hidden inside. She could see Knockout standing not too far away from the control terminal, but she couldn't see his face, only his pedes.

His pedes walked closer to the panel she was hiding behind, and she instinctively backed up even farther into the wall space. Unfortunately, she was kind of backed into a corner. If he found her little hiding spot, she would be done for.

His pedes stopped in front of the control terminal for a moment, before walking on. Reese breathed a sigh of relief, holding a hand over her spark. It was beating so rapidly that she wondered if it was audible.

She shouldn't have let her guard down, though, because without warning, Knockout pried off the wall panel that shielded her hiding spot. Reese screamed, terrified by his sudden appearance. It was like a jumpscare out of a horror movie.

"Aha! There you are! I should have figured that you would be the one behind the ship-wide system failures." Knockout reached in and grabbed Reese, dragging her out of her hidey hole. "Primus knows I'm going to get blamed for this. Which means my finish is in imminent danger of being ruined by Lord Megatron himself."

He carried her over to the medical slab and re-magnetized the surface, roughly shoving her onto it. "You know, I've been thinking, with how many times you have ruined my finish, it's only fair that I return the favor. You already have a nasty looking scar on that tiny face of yours. It sure would be a shame if someone were to make it worse," Knockout lightly ran one of his sharp digits along the length of the scar that stretched under Reese's left optic. It was the one she had received when her jeep slammed into Starscream when she first met the autobots.

Reese's optics widened in terror. He was being serious.

"I'm not completely without mercy, though. It really would be a shame to ruin your pretty little face more than it already is. If you tell me the whereabouts of the autobot base, I will consider us even. How does that sound?" His voice held mock sincerity, and there was a sadistic gleam in his optics.

Reese stared up at Knockout incredulously. Was this an ultimatum? Did he really think she would rat out the bots so easily? No way!

"Well, What'll it be?" Knockout tapped his digit threateningly against her facial plating, causing her to flinch.

"I… I won't betray the autobots."

"Wrong answer", Knockout deadpanned, easily slicing open the scar on Reese's face with one quick motion.

Reese screamed as energon leaked from the freshly opened wound.

"Now, let's try this again. You tell me the location of the autobot base, and I won't give you a matching scar under your other optic. Sound fair?"

Reese whimpered, her optics instinctively filling with blue tinted tears from the pain. She bit her lip and shook her head. Even if it meant that she would literally be scarred for life, she wouldn't betray her family. Not now, not ever.

"That's too bad. I suppose this will at least make your face symmetrical again," Knockout placed his digit under Reese's right optic, preparing to mirror the damage on the other side. She set her jaw and squeezed her optics shut, preparing for the pain that was inevitably coming.

However, Instead of pain there came a familiar voice.

"You do that and it will be the last thing you ever do!"

"What!?" Knockout whipped around to see who the speaker was, only to find himself face to face with a VERY angry Bluestreak. "How'd You-"

Bluestreak didn't let Knockout finish his question. He decked him so hard that it immediately sent the medic to the floor. "That'll teach you to hurt my baby girl."

"Bluestreak!" Reese burst into relieved tears at the sight of her grandsire.

"Reese! I'm so sorry it took so long for us to find you!" Bluestreak ran over to the medical slab and demagnetized it. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay; I just want to go home," Reese climbed into Bluestreak's open servos.

"Then without further ado," Bluestreak transformed around Reese, buckling her securely into the passenger's seat of his alt-mode. "Let's go!"

He peeled out of the med bay and down the corridor of the warship. Vehicon troopers came from every direction, firing energon blasts at Bluestreak. "Hang on tight!" He yelled, swerving back and forth to keep from being hit.

Reese braced herself inside the car, trying not to be thrown from side to side by Bluestreak's erratic motions. "Don't get sick," She thought to herself, trying to keep her eyes on the corridor ahead of them. The adrenaline, coupled with Bluestreaks' driving, was starting to get to her.

"Ratchet, I've got her! Get us out of here!" Bluestreak exclaimed over the comm link.

"I've locked onto your coordinates, give me just a moment," Ratchet's voice came in through Bluestreak's speakers.

A groundbridge swirled to life about 20 meters ahead of them, and Bluestreak floored it, speeding up considerably. Unfortunately, just as he was closing in, an insecticon dropped from the ceiling onto the roof of his vehicle mode. It screeched and shattered Bluestreak's windows with its claws. Reese screamed as she narrowly missed getting impaled by one of them.

"Slaggit!" Bluestreak cursed, trying to shake free from the insecticon's grasp.

"What's going on?" Optimus' voice came over the comm link, sounding concerned.

"Got a giant bug on top of me, and I can't shake it," Bluestreak grunted under the heavy load.

"Understood, I'm coming," Optimus said. Then, Reese watched as he stepped through the groundbridge, blasters ready. He shot several blue ion blasts at the insecticon, hitting it square in the face. The insecticon shrieked and let go, tumbling backwards off of Bluestreak's speeding form.

Bluestreak swerved right between the Prime's legs and through the groundbridge, screeching to a halt in the middle of the autobot base. Optimus followed a couple seconds later, and Ratchet powered down the bridge just in time to keep the pursuing Decepticons from getting through.

Reese almost immediately stumbled out of Bluestreak's alt-form, dropping to her knees in the middle of the floor. She breathed heavily, trying to calm her racing spark. So much had happened in the past couple minutes, and her mind and stomach were still reeling from it.

"Reese!" Bumblebee activated his holoform and ran over to the trembling girl, rubbing gentle circles on her back. "Are you okay?"

"Never… better…" Reese panted, closing her optics and trying to focus on the coldness of the tile concrete floor.

"Your face, it's leaking energon!" Bumblebee gasped as he saw the energon streaming down her cheek and dripping off her chin into a little puddle on the floor.

"That was a gift from Knockout," Reese sighed, wiping some of the energon off her face with the back of her hand.

"Let me take a look at that wound," Ratchet activated his holoform and crouched down in front of her, lifting her chin so he could see the gash better. His eyes darkened when he realized that the wound was where Reese's scar used to be. "He reopened your scar on purpose, didn't he."

"Yea…" Reese sighed, avoiding eye contact with Ratchet. "He wanted me to give away the location of the base, and when I refused, he did that. He was going to do the same thing on the other side, but Bluestreak stopped him just in time."

"Ratchet, do you think you can repair the damage without making the scar worse?" Optimus asked.

"I don't think so. I mean, I can repair it, but the damage is done. The wound is deep, and further scarring is inevitable."

Reese sighed deeply. That wasn't the news she was hoping to hear.

"I'm so sorry Reese," Bumblebee said sadly, placing a comforting hand on Reese's shoulder and squeezing it a little.

"It might heal better if you stay in your human form. Repairing the damage in your Cyberform would require soldering the wound shut, which wouldn't be ideal. Not to mention painful," Ratchet suggested.

"Ok…" Reese mumbled, allowing herself to shift from her cyberform to her human form. The wound looked much more graphic in this form, but as Ratchet had said, it would heal more cleanly.

"I'll call Nurse Darby to come dress the wound. It looks like it's probably going to need stitches, and I don't have enough human medical supplies to do that right now."

"Oh, okay…" Reese sighed again, wiping away more of the energon. The bandages on her hands were now completely saturated in the stuff.

"Here, let me help you get cleaned up. In the meantime, why don't you explain what happened," Bluestreak suggested, activating his holoform and leading Reese over to the med bay. As they walked in, Reese saw Bulkhead lying unconscious on the medical berth. Miko was by his side, looking quite upset.

"Bulkhead is still unconscious?!" Reese's heart broke for both Bulk and Miko. She had been gone long enough that she assumed he would have awoken by now.

"Don't worry, he's stable. Ratchet has been giving him the best of care. Now, go ahead and tell me what happened," Bluestreak diverted Reese's attention away from Bulkhead and back to him.

"Oh, uh… I was on my way back to base and Agent Fowler's car died. I tried calling Ratchet but I was stuck in the middle of the dead zone between here and Jasper, so the call wouldn't go through. I got out to try and look under the hood to see if I could do anything, but it was rainy and dark, and there was smoke coming out of the engine, so it was hard to see anything.

Then, my energon cloaking device short circuited from all the rain. I guess that's how the cons found me… I'm sorry, I should have been more careful…" Reese sat down on a large storage crate and stared at the floor.

"We are the ones who should be apologizing, not you! We feel awful that we couldn't keep you from getting taken," Bumblebee whirred, having deactivated his holoform and followed Reese to the med bay.

"I'm honestly surprised you guys even knew to come looking for me. Since I wasn't able to get a call to go through, I had no way of letting you know of my situation."

"Well, Chase got pretty worried when you were taking so long getting back, and when we saw your energon signature pop up on the sensors, we knew something was wrong." Bluestreak explained, activating his holoform and fishing around in a first aid kit for supplies to tend to Reese's wound until June could get there.

"Well, I'm glad you came when you did. If you hadn't, you wouldn't have known what happened and it probably would have taken longer for you to find me. I'm guessing I did enough damage to the ship's cloaking system for you all to find it?"

"Yea, Wheeljack, Chase, and I were searching with the Jackhammer, so we were able to get to you pretty quickly. How did you manage to get the ship's cloaking system to go down?" Bluestreak saturated a gauze with rubbing alcohol and wiped the gash on Reese's face, making her wince. "Sorry."

"It's fine. To be honest, it's kind of a long story, and I wasn't even sure it would work, but I managed to squeeze through a crack in the wall and find access to a bunch of the wiring for the control terminals. So I ripped a bunch of them out of the wall and basically did as much damage as I could.

"That was really resourceful. How did you manage to get into the wallspace to begin with, though? I can't imagine Knockout was letting you roam around on your own." Bee asked.

"I was being held in some kind of glass canister on one of the shelves. Knockout got called to do something for Megatron, so I took advantage of the opportunity and shifted around inside the canister enough for it to fall and crack. Then it was just a matter of breaking through the already cracked glass. I just got really lucky."

"You were magnetized to Knockout's examination table when I found you. What happened?" Bluestreak's optics darkened at the memory.

"Yea… Well when Knockout got back, he wasn't happy to find that I had escaped. I guess he just scanned the room for my energon signature, because it didn't take long for him to find me. I'm just glad you showed up when you did."

About this time, June drove into the base, and Wheeljack and Chase got back too. They all congregated in the medbay, much to Ratchet's annoyance.

"Reese! You're safe!" Chase ran over and sat down next to Reese on the supply crate, looking both concerned and relieved at the same time.

"Yea… thanks for coming to look for me," Reese smiled, brushing some hair behind her ear.

"How did you get that cut on your face?" Chase leaned forward to get a closer look.

"Knockout… It's a long story, one that I don't feel like repeating…" Reese flushed a little at how close Chase's face was to hers.

"Could you all stand back so I can work here?" Nurse Darby shooed everyone away from Reese and sat down in front of the girl, pulling out her medical suturing set. "I'm going to apply a topical anesthetic to numb the area, but this will probably sting a little bit, just a heads up."

"I understand…" Reese nodded. This was still probably better than Ratchet getting close to her face with a frame welder.

"Did anything else happen while you were on the warship? You were there for a while before we found you. I can't imagine that they would keep you hidden away on a shelf the whole time," Bluestreak folded his arms. He had a feeling Reese wasn't telling them everything that had happened.

Reese winced as June started stitching the wound on her face closed. "Well, Knockout ran a couple experiments, the last of which didn't go so well. I blacked out for a bit after that, and when I woke back up, Knockout was finishing up disposing of a dead insecticon named Hardshell. He said that a bot and a human killed it."

"That would be me. I was the one who killed Hardshell!" Miko piped up from where she sat next to Bulkhead. "He was the one who did this to Bulk. So, Wheeljack and I went and got our revenge."

"So it was you and Wheeljack? Huh, I wasn't expecting that one."

"Yea, the kid's a real pro. Used the weapons on the Jackhammer to snuff that bug like a true Wrecker," Wheeljack cracked a slight smile, glancing proudly over at Miko.

"You said one of the experiments didn't go so well. What happened?" Ratchet asked, changing the subject back to Reese.

"He was collecting an energon sample and accidentally took too much," Reese grimaced. Trying to talk while June was giving her stitches was difficult.

"Of course he would, that sorry excuse for a medic," Ratchet grumbled.

"When I woke up, I noticed that he had started an energon transfusion, and that he had bandaged up my hands too. I had injured them in a moment of panic…" Reese said a little awkwardly, still embarrassed by her irrational escape attempt.

"That's surprising, though I suppose that he was only doing it because he needed to keep you alive. I'm sorry you had to experience that." Bluestreak grunted, clearly getting angrier and angrier as he learned more about Reese's experience aboard the warship. "Did anything else happen?"

"Well… there was one other thing, and it kind of worries me the most. Knockout said Megatron had ordered him to come up with a device that would allow him to control my cybernetic enhancements."

"That is indeed concerning," Optimus stepped forward. Up until then he had been quietly listening from the background, but that bit of news was enough to get him to join the conversation. "Were you able to find out why Megatron would want to do such a thing?"

"No, not really. Knockout got called away shortly after that, so I didn't have a chance to ask." Reese purposefully left out the fact that she had backsassed Knockout and almost gotten herself in serious trouble. "I can only imagine that it would be to use me against you all in some way."

"Well it was a good thing we got you out of there when we did then," Bluestreak breathed a sigh of relief. "Now there's nothing to worry about."

"Not necessarily. While we may have rescued Reese, that doesn't change the fact that Megatron has some unknown plan for her. One that he deemed important enough to develop new technology for. He no longer has access to Reese, but he will likely continue developing the technology, in the chance that he ever finds her in his possession once more." Optimus warned.

"Well there is no way we are going to let the cons capture Reese again!" Bumblebee whirred angrily, clenching his fists in determination.

"We will need to be extra vigilant from now on. If the decepticons view her as an asset, they will likely try and come after her again."

"Don't tell me that I'm going to be forced to remain in the base again, like when I first met you guys," Reese groaned, leaning her head back without thinking and accidentally tugging on the thread June was using to suture her wound. "Ow!"

"Stop moving. I'm almost done," June scolded, cutting the medical grade thread and tying up the loose ends.

"No, I will not do that to you again. I apologize; I know that was very difficult for you. However, I do recommend that you don't go out alone. I think it would be wise for you to have one of us with you whenever you leave. At least for the time being. Does that sound fair?" Optimus suggested.

"Yea, I can understand that." Reese nodded, thankful that June had finally finished her work.

"Good, because I don't plan on letting you out of my sight anytime soon," Bluestreak ruffled Reese's hair playfully, but there was an unmistakable seriousness in his voice.

Everyone kept talking for a while, but Reese's eyes were rapidly growing heavier by the second, and she was no longer listening to what was being said around her. The excitement of the day was catching up to her and she found her head lolling forward.

"Hey, you good?" Chase asked, placing a hand on Reese's shoulder as she started to lean forward precariously.

"Mmhmm..." Reese hummed softly, leaning to the side and resting her head on Chase's shoulder. Had she been more awake, she probably would have been mortified by what she had just done, but in her very sleepy state, this thought didn't occur to her. She just closed her eyes, using Chase's shoulder as a pillow.

Chase's face went bright red as he looked down at Reese resting comfortably against him. He glanced up to see if anyone else noticed what had just happened, and he saw Wheeljack smirk and give him a thumbs up, which only made his face go even redder.

Bluestreak glanced down at the two, finally seeming to notice that Reese was no longer contributing to the conversation. "Huh, guess everything that happened today wore her out. I suppose I should take her back to her bed."

"That's okay, she's fine where she is. You'll wake her up if you move her," Chase said quickly. It was only after the words left his mouth that he realized what he had just said, and the flush in his face tripled in intensity.

At this, Wheeljack's smirk grew into a face-splitting grin. He slapped his thigh plating, practically doubling over in laughter. It was loud enough that Reese bolted upright, surprised by the sudden sound.

"Huh!? What's going on?" She sounded almost panicked.

"Whoa, it's alright. Wheeljack just found something funny that really wasn't," Chase said quickly, glaring daggers at Wheeljack.

"What was it?" Reese asked curiously, wondering what could have amused Wheeljack so much.

"Nothing of importance, don't worry about it," Chase waved his hand dismissively.

"Awww, but I want to knooooow," Reese whined childishly.

"I'll tell you later, kid. Why don't you head on to bed. You look like you're about to topple over," Wheeljack snorted, wiping coolant from his optics.

"Come on, why won't you tell me now?" Reese pouted, but Chase was already helping her to her feet.

"Come on Reese, I'll walk you back to your room." He said, gently pushing her out of the med bay.

"But I wanna know what made Wheeljack laugh…"

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't even funny." Chase assured, continuing to lead Reese to her room. He chanced a glance back at Wheeljack, only for the bot to wink at him and give him a huge grin. "I'll kill him if he breathes a word about this to Reese," Chase thought to himself, feeling the pink rise back up in his cheeks.

He led Reese down the long hallway that led to her room, stopping in front of her door. "Rest well, Reese. I'm glad you're back."

"Me too," Reese smiled sleepily, opening her door and slowly shuffling over to her bed. She didn't even bother to turn on the light. She dropped down onto it and was out almost immediately.

"Goodnight," Chase whispered, and with a soft smile, he closed her door.

Hope you enjoyed! I threw in some cute fluff at the end there and it made me all giddy XD. I love Reese and Chase so much. Anyhoo, let me know what you think. I love hearing from you all. Once again, sorry for the wait. With my job schedule, I can't promise that I will be able to get the next chapter out anytime soon, but rest assured, I will be working on it. I appreciate all of you. Blessings - Lucy