Chapter 18

I awoke groggily by the noise of banging metal. A slight pressure behind my eyes welcomed me back into the world of the living, along with a light headache. I covered my ears in an attempt to block out the noise but, like before, the noise became too much for my senses. I slowly sat up on the couch, blinking, slightly disoriented and with a light pain pulsating inside my head. I clenched my eyes shut, pushing my palms at my eyes to help relieve the pressure.

God. Thinking. Go away. You hurt.

Priority for right now: Find somewhere else to sleep. Jeez was there a lot of noise, was someone having a construction party or something? I swear if I wake up to loud noises one more time I'll… do something. I can figure out an empty threat later.

I took a scrunched up blue blanket that was at my feet and placed it under my arm. Carefully, I rose using my crutch. I pocketed my phone on the table, and uncaringly patted down my hair.

The blue rod was in between the cushions, and after a moment's hesitation I grabbed it as well and put it into my other pocket.

I trudged down the stairs, looking briefly to my left to see Ratchet working on a weird white pod with wings. Kinda looked like a spaceship. Why is there a ship here? Forget it, later. Sleep now.

I walked down the hallway to the rest of the base, mind in that half-awake, half-asleep fog. Where's a bed? I think by the showers, or was it by the training room? Hey, why was I narrating to myself all the time?

As I approached the training room I heard loud noises. Grunting, ear scraping, metal clashing- God my ears! No!

Just go past. Quickly away. Pay no heed to the wicked deeds. You can scream in frustration later.

As I began walking past, I looked into the room to see green and white crashing together, a ball of green swinging, a white streak dogging. Slowly my mind began filling me in as the sleep ebbed away. The white Bot was Wheeljack (the real one), him and Bulkhead were sparring probably. No wait, that was a ball of metal, they were lobbing. Watching them pass it as they changed position was mesmerizing. My eyes flicked back and forth following the ball as they lobbed it. They each caught each others throws effortlessly, the time apart from one another having no effect on their skills. Bulkhead stepped in front of the door frame arms wide ready to catch, Wheeljack reeled back and threw the mass of metal. It launch over Bulk's hands though, and went over his head, gravity causing the ball to come back down.

Right towards me.

I screeched and launched myself out of the way, rolling on the floor before stopping. My heart was pounding and, as nearly dying will do, my sleepiness had completely disappeared.

"Rachel!" Bulkhead yelped in surprise, the distinct thud of his footsteps shook the ground and he leaned above me with a worried gaze. "Are you alright?!"

I laid my right hand on my chest trying to calm my beating heart.

"Yep. Just barely," I let out a relieved laugh. It was then I noticed in my hand was a still slightly extended rod that was slowly shrinking back. I hadn't even realized I had taken it out. I must have used it to help push me out of the way in time.

A worried low whirr snapped me away from my amazement. Bumblebee now stood next to Bulkhead, having come from the room, looking at me in concern.

I held out my hands placatingly towards Bee.

"I'm fine! Really, no harm no foul." I dusted myself off and tried my best to ignore the shaking in my limbs. Wheeljack was leaning against the door frame looking down at me, and for a second under his analyzing gaze, I became afraid again.

No, this is the real Wheeljack and there's nothing to fear.

Except getting crushed by the robo version of catch.

I found my crutch and slowly stood back up, rubbing my back where I had landed particularly hard. I bent down to pick up my dropped blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders to help stop my shivering, or at least help hide it.

"Well since I'm apparently completely awake now, what are you guys doing? Have you given Wheeljack the tour?" I asked, partially to fill myself in on what had happened while I was asleep, partially to change the subject away from myself, and partially to distract me from my body.

Bulkhead blinked, before nodding.

"Yeah, Miko showed him around. I'm surprised all the noise we were making didn't wake you up. You missed the whole welcome party!" He still had a worried look in his optics.

"Must have slept like the dead," I shrugged. It didn't escape my notice that the more I used the rod at a given point, the more tired I became. It gave me shivers thinking how the rod felt like it was sucking the energy out of me each use.

"Oh! Never introduced myself," I remembered, looking to Wheeljack. "I'm Rachel. It's an honor to meet you," I smiled.

The Bot smirked. "Name's Wheeljack, though I guess you already knew that." He nodded towards me, "that's quite a weapon you got there." There was an interested look in his optics. My smile turned into a grin.

"Want to take a look at it?" I asked. He considered for a moment before nodding. I tossed the rod over to him, and he caught it. He turned it this way and that as the rod slowly expanded in his servos. His optics turned and focused, trying to study it in detail. There was a long pause as he analyzed the weapon.

"What's it suppose to be?" He asked finally. He seemed slightly miffed he couldn't tell what it was.

"You're guess is as good as ours right now," I shrugged. "Ratchet hasn't figured it out. It sort of works like a Deception hunter, in that it can turn into anything you put your mind to, but it's not one." He gave back my rod after looking at it some more, apparently giving up, and the rod began reversing course to shrink in my hand.

"Yeah, I noticed the energy readings. Got some metal for using that thing. I could feel my energon depleting faster just holding onto it." My eyes widened.

What?

His energon was depleting faster just holding on to it? I knew it was emitting something, but it took energy too? Literally? What the hell was it doing to me then? It hadn't escaped my notice that I'd often feel tired after using the artifact, but was it really sapping my energy? How did that even work? I'd have to ask Ratchet later, for now though-

"What can I say? I think the death stick's growing on me," I let out a nervous chuckle. "It has saved my ass on more than one occasion." I quickly pocketed the rod and pushed the subject onto my to-do list.

"If you hadn't protected Miko with that…" Bulkhead growled at the memory. Miko would have been the hostage, but the events really wouldn't have changed. Not that I could say that.

"Hey," I said tersely to grab Bulkhead attention. "It's not your fault. No one could have known,"

Bee buzzed in agreement, speaking in those clicks and whirrs he does. Damn did I wish I could understand him. Bulkhead shook his head angrily to whatever was said.

"It's not the same. I should have known immediately that it wasn't Jackie!" Bulkhead suddenly swung his fist into the wall in frustration, leaving a cracked indent in the concrete. "I put everyone in danger."

Wheeljack laid a servo on his friends shoulder. "It happens to the best of us Bulk, you know that. Remember that time Pyro almost led a Con spy to our base and we winged a kiloton explosion?"

"Pyro was young. I should have seen it."

"And you did." Wheeljack slammed his hand onto Bulkheads back. "Now stop all this sappy scrap. You ain't going soft on me, are ya Bulk?"

That seemed to lift Bulkheads spiri-, uh, spark. Bee went to grab the lob, while Jackie and Bulkhead were starting to wrestle to bring back the lighthearted mood. A sudden idea came to me.

"Hey, if you guys are sparring, can I watch?" I asked hopefully. I could use a pointer or two on technique, and I was hoping if Wheeljack used his katanas, I could start learning how to properly wield my own… weapon, stick, rod, artifact thing. Hey, WSRAT? Nah, bad acronym.

Bulkhead hesitated.

"Uh- I don't think that's the best idea consid-"

"Please? I'll be careful, I swear! I'll even stay behind the glass," I said, pointing towards the thick glass window that viewed into the shooting range. Bulkhead still looked uncertain, and turned towards Jackie.

"I wanted to do some weapons sparring anyway," he shrugged. Yes! Come on Bulkhead, say yes.

Bulkhead rubbed the back of his head, looking down at me, then towards Bumblebee who still held the lob in his hands. He turned back to me, and nodded.

"Alright, I guess. But stay behind the glass."

"Super duper!" I beamed, going ahead and walking into the training room. I took the nearest catwalk, and began the slow climb up and over to the window. The bots at some point had switched to speaking to each other in Cybertronian, so I tune them out and let my mind wander.

You know, I think my foot's all healed up. It doesn't hurt when I put weight on it, and when I checked it yesterday, there was just a big clotted scab. I'd still need to be careful, meaning no going barefoot for righty. But if I had to, I think I could go without the crutch. Though, I've gotten really use to the crutch, it feels like I've had it forever.

Because you've had it since leaving the hospital last Friday.

1 week? Was that right? That means I was back home with my family, back to my normal, everyday life less than 2 weeks ago? So much has happened… first appearing here, then coming to terms with the situation (still working on that one), meeting the Autobots, Miko, Raf, Jack... then came the Scraplets, dealing with the government, and Makeshift, to finally get here at Wheeljack's arrival. So much had happened in such a short period of time, God, maybe that was the real reason I felt so drained.

I can't help but look in dred towards the future. If I'm already worn out now, how was I going to last? We haven't even gotten to Megatron's resurrection, let alone all that junk with dark energon.

A shiver went down my spine at the reminder. The thought of the agent of chaos and destruction lying beneath my feet right now…

I got to to the window, staring out to see that the firing range was much larger than I expected. It seems this area was once used for some kind of testing, as the walls were completely made of metal. I couldn't see the top from my vantage point. I guess the firing range was used as an overall weapons testing and sparring area, to my suprise. Bulkhead and Wheeljack faced each other inside the range, Bulkheads right servos switched to a mace-like weapon with glowing grooves, while Wheeljack took out his katanas.

I paid careful attention to Wheeljack's form. He had both his legs spread out to the distance of his hips, his left in front, slightly bent, while his right leg was straight. He gripped his katanas near where a hilt would normally be, and crossed his blades. I brought out the rod, copying Wheeljack's stance as best I could.

"Beep, Whirrrr!"

My back shot up in surprise, as I turned to see a visibly upset Bumblebee. I had forgot he was still in the room, he was so quiet. It was strange considering how much he talks when he gets his voice back. He didn't look happy, but I couldn't quite place his expression. Which is weird, and I know I shouldn't put human emotions on these guys, though I suppose I can because they were designed for audiences to be able to do so. That was besides the point, my point is it was weird how easily I could usually recognize the emotional states of an alien robot, which makes it note worthy when I couldn't.

"What?" I couldn't tell what he was upset or concerned about.

He buzzes lowly and points towards the rod.

"Wouldn't it be a good thing to learn to defend myself?" I ask. A loud buzzer noise sounded from Bee, like I had said the wrong answer on some game show. He shook his head, and pointed to himself. Then he began miming boxing some unseen enemy.

"I'm not trying to imply you guys can't protect us. That's not what this is. I just thought, you know, if I have this thing and it's stuck to me, might as well learn how to make it useful," I shrugged. "It just sort of hit me back when we were fighting against the Scraplets. I had no idea how to fight. How to use this weapon." I looked down at the rod in my hands. "When Makeshift reached down to grab Miko, I just swung around wildly. I could have serious hurt someone like that," I looked up into Bee's optics. Surely he understood the wish to be useful?

I looked back to the range to see Bulkhead swing his mace, Wheeljack jumping out of the way before diving in towards Bulkhead. To my surprise though, Bulkhead swung the flail, and a chain let the ball extended. Bulkhead attempted to use the chain to trap Wheeljack. He saw this coming, and ducked underneath the swing and fell back. The mace came back to attach to Bulk's hand, and the brute came charging forward. Wheeljack grinned, a face plate coming up as he too charged. Just before they met, Wheeljack used his katanas to push himself outside of Bulkhead, his katana stopping just before his neck.

Then I noticed Bulkhead's charged gun pointed at Wheeljack. Bee buzzed in agreement in the tactic. And here I thought Bulkhead was always the brute force kind of guy. Still, they ended with a tie. I decided to stay and watch for a little while longer.

13

I stayed watching as long as I could, before my headache decided to remind me it was still very present and currently was very angry at me for doing anything but sleep. Bee had already left at some point, so I decided to go back to the hangar to see if Ratchet was done with fixing Wheeljack's ship.

I was now very aware of the rod in my pocket. So, not only did this thing give off weird radiation that may or may not affect my health, but it also may or may not be literally sucking the life out of me. Well isn't that just grand!

I didn't have to use the thing, but it would be pretty handy to be able to use the weapon that can turn into anything and that's stuck to me. Maybe if I wear a hazmat suit at all times I could use it.

I entered the hangar and immediately noticed a familiar tan sedan. Then, I noticed a familiar suit-and-tie government agent talking to a familiar tall red and blue (handsome) Autobot leader. Fowler was standing on the second floor platform so he could be as close to eye-level as he could with Optimus.

"Hey, Agent Fowler!" I greeted. Fowler and Optimus looked down at me. "Prime," I greeted. Optimus nodded towards me. I went past them towards Ratchet who was working under Wheeljack's ship.

Might as well ask now, right?

"Hey Ratchet."

Ratchet shot up in surprise, hitting his head on the ship and dropping whatever tool he was using. He brought his servos to cradle his head, cursing under his breath. He slowly pulled out from under the ship to sit up, still cradling his head and shooting me a glare like a thousand scalpels.

"What?!"

"Uh, sorry there. Didn't think I'd startle you so bad." Eh. I was actually okay with it.

"Well you did. I'm very busy right now. If you're bored, go bother someone else." He got up and went to searching through a tool box near him.

"I was hoping to ask you about something Wheeljack said actually."

"Ask Bulkhead."

"It's about our mysterious artifact." That got his attention. I brought it out of my pocket, it's ethereal blue glow casting around me. He looked surprised.

"I let Wheeljack check it, and he said he couldn't figure it out either." Ratchet scoffed and rolled his eyes, as though that was obvious.

"Not done. Cause he said what he did notice was his energon depleting just holding onto it." Ratchet looked at me, and frowned. I raised my eyebrow, an open invitation for an explanation.

"Didn't I tell you it's effects on a human is unknown."

"You said it forms a bond with it's user. That it's heath effect is unknown. Also either you or someone else mentioned possible radiation," I frowned and crossed my arms, glaring at the Medic. "That it may or may not be sucking the literal life out of me is a very important point to note!"

"How did you even get a hold of it? It was to be monitored at all times to prevent such risks." Whoops.

"Well it worked out didn't it? If I didn't have it, Miko would of been nabbed by Makeshift," I considered the artifact in my hand. "It could be a useful tool."

"We don't know what it is." Ratchet dismissed.

"Well, we know it's stuck to me, and it's probably the cause of my lethargy." I looked at Ratchet unimpressed.

"Lethargy?" Ratchet asked. I nodded.

" Yes. I only recently put two and two together, but after using the rod, especially as a weapon, I became very tired. I thought it was just the adrenaline crash, but now I'm worried it really is the rod. Looking back, it would make sense. I was very tired by the end of my first night here. I had just used the rod as a flashlight, but when Bee took me through the groundbridge I just zonked right out. Then, when I used it as a bat against the Scraplets, and again, after using it against the fake Wheeljack. I became very tired after just one use, especially tired after two uses. Even today, I've had this really bad headache and I just feel… weak," I shrugged, and pulled the blanket closer to myself. It was a bit embarrassing admitting all this to Ratchet, but he was the doctor, and this did have to do with alien technology and health.

The hair on me suddenly went up and goosebumps spread down me, a red ray following the feeling. I looked up to see Ratchet aiming his health scanner right at me. Breach of privacy much? Shouldn't he have to ask for permission first? Ugh, whatever.

Ratchet looked to his arm to confirm the results and nodded, frown still on his face. He looked back at me, concern on his face.

"Go ahead and give it here Rachel," he said calmly. The sudden change in tone was jarring. I complied, handing over the artifact, a shiver running down my spine as I did so.

"Come on Doctor, don't leave me hanging," I forced out a chuckle. "What are the results?"

Ratchet looked at me. Really looked at me then. He closed his optics and sighed.

"You are correct in that the artifact runs by taking it's power from it's user, at least as far as I can tell. I assumed that, as humans have no Energon, what you would be able to do with it would be limited, or the artifact would have to get it's power from a different energon source. It did not occur to me that it would attempt to change to draw from an organic energy source." He looked down at the rod.

"Alright," I took a deep breath. "Is there anything else I should know?" I looked directly into his blue optics.

"...No."

I exhaled. "Okay."

"Try not to use it in the meantime, if you can stop yourself," Ratchet suggested as he turned back to Wheeljack's ship.

"I can't stay in one place forever Ratchet. I'm going to have to deal with the effects it has eventually, it's like you said. Bonded to me."

He nodded. "I know," he turned his head towards me, "I'll figure something out," he sighed again.

14

The space bridge closed behind us as we stood behind the two friends. No, brothers, saying their goodbyes. All too quickly Ratchet had finished patching up Wheeljack's ship and now he was ready to go as quickly as he came.

"There's room for two, Bulk, even with a backside like yours. Who knows who we might find out there- some of the old crew?" The older Mech looked at Bulkhead with a glint in his optics. Miko visibly deflated, curling into herself.

Bulkhead looked down thoughtfully, then looked over his shoulder at us. Miko rubbed her arm knowing full well what the obvious choice was. Bulk had known Jackie far longer than he'd ever been with or known Miko.

What were we in the eyes of these giants?

In the corner of my eye I saw the blue shining artifact on Arcee's hip. I tried to give a smile to Miko, but she wasn't paying attention to anything but the ground. Jack draped a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Bulkhead laughed, "Heh, sounds like fun Jackie…

But, my ties are here now, with them…", he nodded his head towards Miko, "with her." Miko looked up with joy and surprise. Wheeljack nodded, understanding, and looked over at the human.

"If anything happens to my favorite Wrecker, I'm coming after you." He smiled, as did Miko.

"I'll take good care of him," Miko beamed. She got out her phone. "Now, say cheese." She closed an eye and aimed the phone camera. I looked over to see a picture of the two mechs looking down at the phone.

With that, Wheeljack gave a generic lazy salute, and entered his ship. We stayed until we could no longer see it in the sky.

What were we in the eyes of these giants?


A/N: This story's still active. Didn't just drop it.

I really don't know what to say, but I've been really busy. I'll be frank, I'm a junior in Uni wanting to get into Med School, so this school year I'm going to be very busy. I started this chapter over a month ago and hit a writer's block. I know where I want to go, and even have some future chapters done, but it's filling in the parts I don't have thats difficult.

Still, considering this is my first fanfiction, I'm dedicated to seeing this through. I'll try my best to not go this long without a chapter again, but I can't promise they will be as scheduled (or what I passed off as scheduled) updates for awhile. My goal for right now, is at least a minimum of a chapter a month.

As usual, I reserve the right to edit if I see a mistake or error.

Criticism's? Questions? Theories? Want to just say Hi? Comments are appreciated!

Comments:

Ma-ki-Ji-ez: Thank you! Hopefully this chapter gave a little hint as to what might be going on, while still leaving a lot unanswered.

bajy: Thank you! And sorry, yes more chapters, hopefully with not as long a wait.

Best way to know when a new chapter is out is by following the story. I'll be updating chapter progress on Profile.

Also Note: I do not own Transformers Prime, or Transformers, just Rachel. Maybe she feels like it's been longer because I've been taking too long to update :/