Being extremely focused, Azura felt the heat of the flame that she was able to create from her fingertips. She didn't create a huge flame, it was just enough to start burning through the webbing. She could hear Arcee struggling against the webbing that held her against the rock. She was desperate, as Airachnid was following Jack right now. Neither of them knew what was going to happen to Jack, but they both knew that they had to catch up to him to save him from the bot. Azura did wonder why Airachnid decided to go solo, but she guessed that Airachnid simply wanted to do her own thing, since the war no longer had an impact on her.

Arcee looked ahead with sad optics, gazing in the direction he had gone. She felt so sorry that he was involved in this. She was also feeling guilty that she even allowed Azura to come along, especially with how sick she had become so quickly in a short period of time. Arcee knew she was going to be in trouble when they get back, but she hoped that Optimus will listen. She knew being unable to reach the base wasn't necessarily her fault, but she could have gotten far enough away from the ship to reach the base.

"Azura, I'm so sorry." The sparkling looked at the femme to see Arcee looking down at the ground in defeat. "This is my fault. And I'm sorry, Jack. I never should have looked back. I should have…" She paused as she thought for a moment. "Kept driving."

It seemed Arcee realized something that she could do, and she pulled on the webbing with all her might. Azura watched her, and she was almost finished burning through the webbing. Arcee had not even noticed yet, as she was now too preoccupied with trying to get out of the webbing with all her might. And it seemed like whatever she had just thought of might be1 working.

"Wait, Arcee." The femme stopped and looked at Azura, widening her optics as she saw the sparkling burning through the webbing. Azura managed to burn enough to pull it off. "I can get you…uh, out…ah…" Azura felt another surge within her body, but it felt different. She grimaced as she tried to stand. "I think…I think I am…"

"Don't worry about me, Azura," Arcee quickly as she resumed pushing against the webbing hard. "I can get myself out of here. Just give me one moment." She flinched when Azura sneezed again suddenly, and instead of fire, bolts of electricity hit the ground and Azura felt onto her backside with a groan. "By the All Spark, it's like your system is going haywire right now…"

Azura rubbed her throat as she stood back up and stumbled over to Arcee. "I feel like that too…but I can still get you out, Arcee." She fell forward and caught herself on the rock and she looked at the web. "I only need to burn one piece."

Arcee shook her head. "You are only exerting more of your energy, Azura. Just stop, I can get out. I just need to push far enough to get my wheels, I'll be able to get out that way." Azura ignored Arcee as she formed a flame from her fingers again and began to burn the webbing. "Please, Azura. You need to stop. You are only hurting yourself if you continue. I know you want to help, but I can get out."

"Jack might be dead when you do. I don't want him to be hurt or killed cause of me not helping you." Arcee softened her expression as hearing Azura say that she might blame herself for not being able to help in time made her feel sad. Azura kept her optics on the webbing as she burned through it carefully so she wouldn't burn Arcee. "So I want to help you."

Arcee sighed gently, shifting her arm to feel the webbing loosening. "I get it, Azura. You are scared for him too, and I fully understand. I wish my own fear did not cloud my judgement. Because I would kept driving until we could contact the base, but I have been fearful of Airachnid since Tailgate." She looked at the webbing to see Azura was burning through it well. The webbing was made from a substance that was hard to burn, so it was taking time. "But don't feel like you should blame yourself. All this is my fault." Azura did not respond as she remained focused. "You don't need to burn the whole webbing, Azura. Once my arm is free, I can cut my way out of it easily and you can relax. But I will need to take you with me, because Airachnid could come back for you."

Azura knew that. She remained focused and she was happy that it was burning through. She didn't burn the whole way through as Arcee was able to pull her arm out easily when Azura got over halfway. She stepped back and fell back onto her backside with a huff and a groan. Arcee ripped the webbing off her body quickly and knelt by Azura.

The sparkling took deep intakes and she looked at Arcee with a slight smile. "At least…I can probably breath…ah…ah…I'm gonna sneeze again…" Azura grimaced and sneezed, shooting ice out inside of fire or electricity. Arcee managed to step aside from the blast, thought it still intrigued her. "Can we go?"

Arcee looked over Azura's body gently as she could see how weak and tired that the sparkling was. She sighed and transformed beside Azura. "Get on. I'll make sure to hold you while I drive through the forest. I don't expect you to be able to hang on tightly. Use me as leverage on getting to your feet."

Azura stared at Arcee for a moment before she shifting and grabbed the side of the bike to pull herself up on shaky legs. She swung her leg over and she felt Arcee grabbing her ankles and thighs with straps to keep her from falling off. She gripped the handles and she grimaced as she felt pain within her body, but she didn't make much noise.

Arcee could see that Azura was struggling, but she could not do anything right now as she sped away. She didn't speed as roughly as she had before, but still fast enough that she would be able to catch up to Jack and Airachnid. Arcee had to focus on finding Jack, and keeping an eye on Azura. Her illness had really gotten worse, and she was worried that it would take far longer for her to recover because of this incident. She knew that she would face consequences, but Jack should not. He had been very good with Azura.

Azura herself did feel nervous as she gripped the handlebars of the bike as Arcee sped between the trees. She was worried she would get thrown from her again and get an even worse metal burn to her arms and back. She could also feel more gurgling within her body, and she would warn Arcee if she was about to sneeze, as she did not control what element is projectiles from her mouth and nostrils. She certainly wouldn't want to injure Arcee unintentionally.

Right now, she was wondering what was happening right now with Jack and Airachnid. Jack was probably still running from Airachnid as best as he could. She could easily imagine how scary it would be for Jack, as this was a lot like a real life horror experience for him. It would be for her, if she was being chased by Airachnid too. The spider bot was terrifying to see, and even her voice was terrifying with how she speaks. Airachnid had not mercy in her body, and that was probably the most terrifying part of her.

Arcee slowed down as she had been following the tracks, and Azura frowned as she thought that Arcee was slowing because of Airachnid. "Looks like Jack has run back towards the ship." Azura widened her optics in surprise, as that seemed like the last place he should go. "Not sure why, unless Airachnid is pushing him towards her ship so she can kill him and add him to an empty space in her trophy case."

Azura stared at the ground, even though she could not see the tracks as Arcee turned to follow them back towards the ship. She hummed softly to herself before she spoke. "Well…I did see a stream of energon leaking from the ship, so maybe…maybe he could light it when Airachnid is not expecting it…I don't know."

"That would be ideal, if I am honest," Arcee responded bluntly as she would not hesitate to do that herself. "But don't get your hopes up. I will be hiding you somewhere safe before we even get close enough to the ship. I don't want you anywhere near her. She claims she loves sparklings, but I know Airachnid will not care about you."

Azura was not surprised by that at all. She didn't want to be near Airachnid at all. Plus, Azura felt like she could fall into recharge at any moment, but she would do her best to stay awake. She knew that she would be forgiven if she did fall into recharge with how horrible she was feeling. She was honestly yearning for Optimus silently, but she knew she would have to wait since they had to find and save Jack from Airachnid.

Azura did wonder what kind of Cybertronian Airachnid is though. She wasn't a Cybertronian like the autobots or decepticons, so Azura figured she was her kind of species. Maybe that was true, like the scraplets seemed to be their own species as well. She would certainly ask about it later, but that was going to have to wait. Azura groaned as the gurgling within her was starting to get worse, so she was distracted by the thought.

"Arcee…I'm about to…sneeze again…" Azura grimaced and shuddered as she felt burning again. "It's going to be fire again, I think…"

Azura immediately slowed to a stop, released her grip on Azura and transformed, though she held onto Azura gently. "Alright, don't fight it…" She looked in the direction of the ship while she felt Azura's trembling body. "At least it's not a strong burst." She looked down and she frowned as she noticed around the crystal was very hot, and that was not a good sign. She sneezed again, only for it to not be fire, but rather lava that instantly turned cold in the air. Arcee stared at the lava in surprise and shook her head. "Primus…I wish that the communication link wasn't scrambled."

Azura sniffled a little and coughed, and she gasped as she noticed energon spluttering from her mouth. "Um…we should go…I just coughed up energon…" She turned her head to look at Arcee, who was horrified. "I don't want to be here for much longer…"

"Scrap…alright…" Arcee transformed again and secured Azura's legs once she had finished transforming. "I hope you can forgive me for today, Azura." She sped ahead to keep following the tracks. "I really, really did not mean for any of this to happen."

"I know…it's okay…but I am not the one you must get forgiveness from," Azura responded weakly with another cough. "Daddy will…I am sure he will listen to your story, but…he won't be happy. I will forgive you, and I know he will too, but he won't be happy."

Arcee was well aware of that. She knew that she would get a stern talking to from both Optimus and Ratchet, given that Azura should have been taken back to the base by now. But there was little choice in the matter right now, as she had to keep Azura safe, and find Jack to ensure he would be safe. And she hoped that they were getting closer fast, as Arcee had been speeding through the forest for at least ten minutes by now.

She reached the trench after another few minutes and jumped over it just as they both see and hear an explosion in the distance from the ship. Azura widened her optics as this was something she had thought would happen, but didn't actually expect it to happen. She was immediately worried about Jack, as he could have easily been within the blast radius of that explosion, and he could be hurt. She did also hope that Airachnid could have been killed or severely injured by it.

"Scrap!" Arcee hissed as she picked up speed, turning as she had detected movement. "Azura, I am going to have to put you down very quickly, very shortly. I want you to brace yourself so that you are not alarmed when I do that. Do you understand me?" Azura nodded nervously with a whimper of fear. "Good. You are being very brave right now, Azura. It is okay."

Azura braced herself as Arcee had instructed. She was still nervous, as she didn't know what exactly Arcee intended on doing. But given that Arcee had picked up her speed, and that she didn't have time to hide her properly, meant that there wasn't much time at all. And Azura hoped that Arcee would be able to save Jack from Airachnid in time. Azura thought about creating some rain, but she didn't really have the energy for that either.

She gasped as she spotted a burning Airachnid in the trees ahead of them, and Arcee had seen her too, as the bot had shot webbing at Jack. With a swift, quick, but gentle movement, Arcee transformed briefly to place Azura down behind some boulders, and transformed again to speed towards Airachnid as the bot climbed down from it. Azura was relieved that she had not been put down so roughly, but she was curious to see what was happening.

She watched Arcee transforming and lunging forward, and the sound of metal clanging loudly together was enough for her to imagine the fight. Azura whimpered a little as she leaned against the boulders and looked away from the direction, and groaned before she began to purge again to the side. She didn't have much energon in her tank now, so it was just clear fluid she was purging from her tank. But it hurt to purge at the moment, and she let out a light sob as she knew she had to wait a bit more.

She ignored the sound of fighting nearby to try and focus on relaxing and calming herself down. She did wonder why this was happening though. She didn't know if this was truly due to the crystal becoming part of her body, but she did hope that Ratchet could give her medicine to help her body cope and recover from the illness. She placed her hand on her chassis as she could feel it was hot, and she felt the need to cool down.

She leaned her head back as she looked up at the stars while she blinked slowly, trying to keep herself from falling into recharge. Today was not the kind of day she had been hoping for. It should have been a quiet day, not a day where she faced a new enemy, and someone from Arcee's past. But things didn't always go the way that is anticipated, which Azura knew all too well, so she would just have to put up with it for a while longer.

As she had ignored the fighting, she did not know what Arcee had stopped fighting Airachnid, even though she was hoping that Arcee would be able to kill that bot. But Azura did have a feeling that Airachnid was not so easily killed. Especially since she survived an explosion from her ship, even if Jack had been able to create a fire to cause the ship to explode from the leaking energon. And if she could survive that, she was very strong.

"Azura?" Azura blinked and groaned, shaking her head and widening her optics as she saw Jack looking at her with worried eyes. "Are you feeling…okay? Or worse?"

Azura smiled at him as she was happy to see he was okay. "I feel better now that you are here, and safe, Jack." She lifts her hand, and he took her hand gently with a smile. "At least Arcee was able to keep you safe. But now I want to go home…" She glanced up as Arcee walked over and leaned down to pick her up. "I want daddy."

"I know." Arcee intakes heavily and opens the com link to the base now that the ship was destroyed. "Arcee to base, I need a ground bridge, Ratchet. And…I hope your medical bay is set up." Jack gazed at Arcee sadly as they knew that Ratchet and Optimus will want to know.

"I assume Azura's condition has worsened?" Ratchet responded curiously through the com link.

"Yeah…and…something else has happened…I have been unable to reach you for a while." Arcee's voice was full of guilt as she responded to Ratchet. "Optimus, I know you are listening, but I am so sorry. I should have found a way to contact you sooner."

She turned as she heard the vortex open beside her and Jack. "Get Azura to the base, Arcee. We can discuss what happened when you get back. Right now, Azura needs to be checked by Ratchet. Especially if she has worsened." Optimus sounded very worried, even if he was remaining calm.

Arcee sighed and walked towards the vortex with the boy. She did not respond to Optimus as she knew it was best that he and Ratchet see Azura for themselves. Azura whimpered softly as she stared at the vortex, waiting eagerly to get through there to see Optimus. She was excited to see him, even though it wouldn't be a happy moment, considering what has happened. But regardless of that, she was happy to see Optimus anytime.

When Arcee walked through the vortex, Optimus was standing in front of the bridge. His optics widen as soon as he saw Arcee and Azura. Arcee's chassis was still covered in dried purge from Azura, and Azura's body as well. And he saw the metal burns immediately, along with the energon droplets around her mouth that she had coughed up. He was very alarmed by what he has seen, and he immediately stepped forward to take Azura from Arcee and cradled her.

Azura smiled at him weakly as she snuggled against him. "Daddy…" She was very happy to be within his presence again. Though her smile faded quickly. "Uh oh…uh…I'm going to…ah…"

"Ratchet, get a bucket," Optimus said quickly, thinking that Azura was going to purge again.

"Oh, uh, she's going to sneeze." Optimus frowned and looked at Arcee as she spoke in a panic. "Hold away from you, she might sneeze out fire or…" Before she could finish, Azura sneezed, and boiling water shot out from her nostrils and mouth against Optimus's chassis and arm, making him flinch in surprise. "At least it was water this time."

Azura coughed and groaned, placing her hand on her neck. "Ow…"

"Bring her to the med bay, now!" Ratchet ordered sternly as he frowned in concern. Optimus nodded and turned to walk quickly towards the med bay with Ratchet. Arcee followed with the other autobots and children following as well. "Arcee, you have a lot of explaining to do. What in the All Spark happened?"

Arcee sighed deeply. "Well…just know that Jack is not responsible. I was irresponsible. It turns out, that signal you picked up, was a crash-landed ship, Ratchet. Airachnid's ship." Optimus turned his head and glanced at her in surprise as soon as she heard the bot's name. "I didn't know it was her ship at first…but when I did…I…I let my fear of the past cloud my judgement. It is why Azura has those metal burns…I sped too fast, and she fell off while I tried to get far enough from the ship to contact you."

Ratchet was frowning as he listened to Arcee. "And why did you not get further to contact us?" Arcee grimaced and looked away. "Oh…don't tell me you went looking for Airachnid, found her and now she knows about Azura's existence. And during that time, Azura's condition worsened, and she is now sneezing elements from her body. Have I pretty much summed it up?" Arcee nodded and Ratchet huffed. "Well…I must say…this is a massive disappointment on you, Arcee." Arcee had nothing more to say. She looked at Optimus's arms as she noticed that Azura was struggling to keep her optics open right now. "In fact…" Ratchet stopped and turned to face Arcee and the others. "Go and get yourself cleaned up while Optimus and I take care of Azura. We can discuss this later."

Arcee nodded as she understood before she turned around to walk away while Optimus and Ratchet continued making their way to the med bay. Optimus glanced down at his daughter as he saw how tired and weak she was. He did not know what was happening with her, but he did notice the heat radiating from her chassis around the crystal. That was concerning him a lot. Ratchet had informed him that a medication had been made for her, but Optimus hoped that it would still be effective for Azura. After all, she clearly needed it.

Upon entering the med bay, Optimus placed the sparkling onto the berth. She whimpered and tried to keep a hold of Optimus's hand, but she was not able to as she was too weak. Optimus felt guilty as he allowed her to leave. He looked at Ratchet as the medic began to scan her body. "Arcee is not the only one at fault, Ratchet." The medic glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "I did make the final decision to allow her to go."

"That might be true, but Arcee was responsible. And clearly, she showed she was not. Especially due to the fact she still has deeply, personal wounds surrounding Airachnid." Ratchet looked back at Azura as the sparkling whimpered and rubbed her neck a little. "Ah, it seems the infection was in its premature state when we detected it. This is a common infection. But it seems to be affecting her newly activated system the most."

Optimus was relieved to know that this was common, but he was still concerned. "I assume the system is connected to her creating elements through her mouth and…" He glanced at the sparkling's face with a frown. "New…nostrils?"

"It would seem so." Ratchet gently placed his hand on the crystal and pulled back quickly. "I am mostly concerned about that." He turned and walked over to his desk to grab a syringe to fill it with medicine. "I will apply something to her chassis to help soothe the heat that is coming from there. It is the infection affecting the crystal as well."

"And we thought it was from the crystal."

"It might have been triggered by it, but this infection is easily treatable. Now that I worked out what it is." Ratchet turned and walked over to the berth. "Azura." The sparkling opened her optics and blinked at him wearily. "Open your mouth." Azura grimaced for a moment before she opened her mouth and he placed the tip of the syringe and pushed the medicine in. She widened her optics and made a disgusted face. "Do not spit it out. I know it tastes bad, but it will help you."

Azura really did not want to swallow it, but she knew she had to. She glanced at Optimus and he gave her a stern expression, letting her know she had to. She whimpered and forced herself to swallow the medicine, shuddering in disgust as Ratchet removed the syringe from her mouth. "Ew…" She shook her head and looked at Ratchet. "Um…how often do I need that?"

"At least three times a day." She widened her optics and stared at him in disbelief. "It's necessary, Azura, you will be fine." Ratchet smiled at her as he knew very well that the medicine tasted horrible. "It won't be forever, just until the infection has been dealt with." Azura intakes heavily before she yawned as she felt her weariness take back over. "It is best that you recharge now, Azura."

Azura whimpered a little and let out some tears for a moment and looked at Optimus. "Airachnid knows I am your sparkling." Optimus frowned a little as he was not entirely surprised by that. "Um…I am not sure…but she…I almost burned her when I sneezed the first time…so…she might try and come after me."

"Which would not be surprising at all." Ratchet shook his head as he was unhappy by this as well. "Don't worry about Airachnid anymore, Azura. She cannot get to you while you are here. Airachnid's loyalty isn't necessarily the best, so I would be surprised if she goes back to Megatron. But I would not be surprised if she would do that only to benefit herself."

Optimus nodded in agreement. "At least you now have another ability." Azura smiled a little before she closed her optics. "Recharge easy, Azura." He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. "I do hope you were not lying to me this morning either, but that no longer matters. You are home, and you are safe."

"It is intriguing to me that the system that had been dormant this whole time has come alive," Ratchet commented as he looked at his scan results curiously. "I suspect it needed the crystal in order to activate, but I cannot be too sure." He turned to walk back to his desk to put the syringe down and picked up a cooling tool to activate it. It was a simple, rectangle tool with soft, orbs on the side that create a deep cooling sensation to cool the system when needed. "Regardless, you will have to keep a much closer eye on her, Optimus. And, this is going to maybe bother you, but I recommend that we lessen missions outside of the base as much as possible. At least, for yourself."

"You know that is not that simple, Ratchet. Being a leader, sitting back and not going through with things is not something that I should do. But…" He glanced down at Azura as she shifted and stuck her thumb into her mouth for a moment before she began to cough, and he saw energon sputtering from her mouth as she woke back up. "Does the infection cause this?"

Ratchet walked over immediately with concern, watching Azura cough and sputter energon, and he scanned her body once again. "Oh, I see…it seems that the extreme heat from the fire and water she was forced to release from her body, has actually caused internal metal burn."

Optimus frowned as he gently pats Azura's back as she whimpered and sniffled, frustrated that she had been woken up by herself. "How do you deal with that? I know lotions are applied to the metal burns, but you can't do that with an internal metal burn."

"No…which is going to be difficult…" Ratchet hummed a little before he gently placed the cooling took on Azura's chassis, making her glance down for a moment and close her optics again as she stopped coughing. "Hmm…give me a moment while you watch her. I think I can create something for her in the meantime."

Optimus hoped so, as an internal metal burn would have to feel terrible. He looked down at Azura and eyed off the metal burns on her arms and back before he walked away for a moment to get the ointment to apply to them himself. He did not want her to be uncomfortable, but he can tell that she was. Optimus was actually expecting her to have some rough nights ahead. She might be past the age of when Cybertronian parents go without recharge for a long time, but sick, infant sparklings will cause that no matter how old they were. And while Azura did not have that energy to be keeping him up from recharge right now, that was likely going to happen. But he would endure it to ensure she would be happy and well again.