"Alright, now that Raf is position, let's see if we can try to move this," Jack said as he glanced at Azura, Raf and Miko. "At least we will be able to determine just how heavy this thing is, and we will be able to move it without causing injury. Hopefully it will just fall onto this sky jack and not squish our feet."

Azura nodded as she lifts her hands to the orb and placed them on the surface. "Alright, well…I am ready, Jack." She was tempted to look over her shoulder to see what was happening. "I will try to not let myself get distracted."

"I know, Azura. I know." Jack smiled at her sympathetically and looked at Miko who was also ready. "Ready to get it off this thing?" Miko nodded affirmatively. "Okay, this is going to be heavy. So we will need to move it together. So a count of three. One. Two…" Jack paused as he heard the sound of glass cracking suddenly. The noise was so loud that it made him jump. He turned to see Optimus right by the window. Azura turned as well to see he was holding a missile in his hands, as he had just prevented it from destroying the museum. "That was close."

Azura paid little attention to Jack, as her optics spotted decepticon holding a rod in front of Optimus. Optimus had not noticed as he had been making sure the children were safe. Azura did not know who this con was, but she widened her optics. "Daddy, look out!" She knew her father may not hear her, but he turned back around to see the con holding the rod that was lit up with blue electricity. The red decepticon stabbed it into Optimus's neck, almost slamming him into the glass. "Daddy!"

Jack gasped as Azura stepped towards the edge of the sky jack quickly, and her sudden movement rocked the machine. "Woah, Azura, your weight almost knocked this over." Azura ignored Jack as she watched Optimus step forward in a daze and fell onto his chassis from the shock. "Just be careful."

Azura did not hear Jack at all as she watched in horror as the red decepticon jumped onto Optimus's back and stabbed the rod into the back of his neck. "Let him go…" She whimpered, wanting to shout and scream as tears well in her optics.

"Cons had to show up at this very moment," Rafael complained nervously.

"And they got Optimus." Jack frowned and looked at Azura before he grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "Look, Azura, we need to get the orb out of here." Azura whimpered and turned her head to look, but Jack gently made her look back at him. "Look at me, Azura! Do not watch, alright? You don't need to see what happens to Optimus at this moment. But I assure you he will be fine." Azura still seemed unsure and Jack gave her a smile. "Let's get the…" He paused as he noticed the other decepticon that had fired the missile was speeding towards the museum. That made Azura turn and stare at the headlights speeding towards them. "Come on, guys! We need to get this orb off, now!"

Azura did not want to, but she didn't was to disappoint Optimus either. She heard the sounds of someone running on the roof of the building, and guessed that it was Bulkhead. She walked back over to the orb and placed her hands on it to push. The four of them had began to push the orb, grunting and groaning while they put their might into it. Just as they felt the orb begin to move, they were alarmed the sound of a loud smash. Azura turned her head to see Bulkhead had been punched, and he had hit the red decepticon and both landed hard against the museum. And it caused the alarm to go off.

With the alarm going off, they quickly began pushing on the orb again, and within a few moments, the extractor rolled onto the sky jack with a heavy thud on the platform. Azura was relieved as this thing was indeed heavy. But she also wanted to get out of here. She made sure the jacket was adjusted enough that no one would notice she was different from the other kids, but she was now at greater risk of being spotted.

She looked at the window, and saw that Optimus was slowly getting back up. She smiled before it faded quickly as the red decepticon grabbed the rod and jumped at Optimus in an attempt to stab him again. But Optimus thankfully punched him away, and she was relieved to see he was okay. She gasped when Jack lowered the sky jack down, and she gripped the railing to keep herself from stumbling and falling. If her weight already almost caused this thing to tip, she did not want to cause any further inconvenience.

"Come on!" Miko points towards the hallway they had been bridged into. "Time to make our get away! I'll run ahead and you follow me. I might be able to find a way out of here."

"Shouldn't we wait for Ratchet?" Azura asked nervously, watching Miko climb off the sky jack and run down the hallway with Jack following her with the machine. "Um…I-I don't have a communication system…I think…so…"

"If the bots weren't busy dealing with the cons, they would inform Ratchet and have him send the bridge, Azura. We just got to find a way out of this museum." Jack glanced up worryingly as he kept his hand on the joystick to move the sky jack forward. "Just make sure you keep that Jacket on, Azura. We don't need the security guards paying too much attention to you through the cameras."

Raf was looking at Azura curiously as she just agreed with Jack. "I don't know about you, but if I was in your shoes and I kept getting told that I am not whole, I would be kind of upset about it." Azura nodded as she did feel that way. "I wonder when Ratchet is going to help you with that."

"I wish I knew as well, Raf. I really do. I just know it has to do with me and daddy." She looked ahead as Miko gestured for Jack to turn the sky jack down a right hallway and ran down to keep looking for a way out. "I hope that it will be soon, Raf. I want to…I haven't told them this…" Jack looked at Azura curiously as she began to spill something she has kept to herself. "I haven't…I am not sure if I should say sick, but I have been feeling different. I am not sure what it means." She grabbed the crystal around her neck. She looked at it, admiring the Cybertronian crystal with a smile and clutched it with her hand. "But I know that whenever I take this off, that feeling seems to turn uncomfortable. I am not sure if it means this thing has to be around my neck all the time or not."

Jack listened to her and pondered on it quietly before he responded. "I think you should tell Optimus about it. He's more knowledgeable about that sort of thing than us." He looked ahead as they round a corner, and they saw Miko had found a roller door and the controls for it. "I think Miko has found a way out."

Azura hoped that would be the case as Jack guides the sky jack towards the hallway as they hear the roller door rolling up. She hoped the exit was right there. Though they all see the reflection of a flashlight shining against the wall, and Jack stopped the sky jack and got off to get closer to the corner to peer around and listen. Azura and Raf follow him, though Azura remained hidden in case the guard would see them.

Miko was shocked she had been found by the guard as she was immediately nervous. "Uhh…what's up?" She definitely had nothing else to say than that.

The guard was not impressed as he turned off his flashlight and grabbed the girl's wrist. "Better come with me miss." He pulled her towards a door and forced her through it, walking in and closing the door behind him.

"Not good," Jack whispered as he frowned at the door. He could see the other roller door that seemed to be a quarter of a way up in the loading dock of the museum. "At least we can get out."

"And what about Miko?" Azura asked bluntly with a frown. "We can't just leave her here."

"I am not sure how we are going to get her out of there, Azura," Rafael said nervously before pointing at the sky jack. "Maybe we should just keep going, and…"

Raf paused as they heard the sound of footsteps walking towards the backdoor. Azura smiled as she saw the shape as she first thought it was Arcee. "Arcee!" Jack exclaimed as he and Raf began running towards the door.

However, Azura frowned as she realized that the shape of the legs and feet did not belong to Arcee. And when she saw the hand grab the bottom of the door, Azura knew immediately who it was. She gasped as she looked around for a moment before she ran behind the sky jack quickly before the roller door was forced upward, and she heard Rafael confirm who it was. It was Soundwave, and he was here to collect the extractor.

Jack and Raf step back from the deception as the faceless con looked at the two of them. Jack glanced over his shoulder to see Azura was not behind them. He was relieved and jumped as Soundwave walked into the hallway. "Uh…uhhh, just take the thing…don't hurt us…" Soundwave did not acknowledge Jack as he walked past the two boys, and both Jack and Raf glance at each other fearfully. "We could bring it out for you, Soundwave. You don't need to walk too far into the hallway."

Soundwave stopped and turned to Jack, seemingly curious as to why Jack was trying to prevent him from going down the hallway. He observed the two boys silently before pulling up an image of Azura on his visor. But it was an image of her before her outer membrane was removed. Jack and Raf were both surprised by the image and they glance at each other, which seemed to satisfy Soundwave's curiosity. But he was also curious to see if Optimus's daughter was here.

He crouched under the next roller door into the next hallway and spotted the energon extractor on the sky jack. He walked closer to it and grabbed it, satisfied that the mission was completed. He glanced around curiously for any sign of the sparkling. Azura could tell Soundwave was right next to the sky jack, and she kept herself pressed against the sky jack while she waited for him to walk away and leave the museum. She did not want to be taken right now.

Soundwave leaned suddenly and lowered his head, looking to see Azura hiding behind the sky jack. She gasped and ran from the decepticon quickly, looking at him with wide optics. Soundwave did consider grabbing the child, but it was not his mission. He simply took a picture of her, knowing she lost her outer membrane before he turned and walked out of the museum with the extractor. Azura was relieved as she slid to the ground against the wall, feeling better knowing Soundwave left her alone.

Jack and Raf ran over to her once Soundwave had left, and Jack knelt by her. "Are you okay?" She nodded while letting tears fall. "We need to go. Come on, before the security guard finds us and locks us in the room too." He grabbed her hand and felt how much she was trembling as she stood up. "Optimus will be right out there waiting to hug you."

That made Azura stand up quickly knowing that she could hug Optimus when she got out of the museum. "Alright…I need him…" Azura, Jack and Raf ran under the roller door to make their way to the exit. They stop as they see Soundwave still standing outside, watching them. Azura whimpered as she backed away nervously. "Why is he still here?"

Jack shook his head with a frown. "I am not sure, but keep your distance, Azura." Jack moved himself in front of Azura in case Soundwave tried to grab her. But it seemed he was just watching as he transformed into his jet, showing the harvester held on by a claw underneath the body, as he ascends from the ground with it. "I guess he was just watching curiously…maybe."

"But he knows what I look like without my membrane." Azura shivered as she was afraid of what could happen. "This is as bad as Mech finding out." She ducked under the last roller door to run out of the building with the two boys. "But I am not sticking around to find out if he comes back."

Jack and Raf did not have an argument there. They were determined to get away from the museum too, even though Miko was currently with the security guard. They both also saw how much faster Azura was than they were. She reached the end of the museum wall and ran around the corner a lot faster than the two of them, but they did not mind. She was determined to run over to Optimus as seeing him being attacked the way he was would have been extremely upsetting to her.

"Daddy!" Azura shouts as she ran towards Optimus. He had seen Soundwave ascending from the side of the museum, and had been worried Azura was with him. But Optimus was relieved once he saw her running towards him. She had her arms out towards him as she ran up to him. "I am so glad you're okay!"

Optimus leaned down to pick her up from the ground and the sparkling was quick to through her arms around his neck when he brought her closer to his chassis to cradle her. "And I am sorry you had to see that. I was taken off guard, unfortunately." He rubbed her back gently as she began to sob softly. "I am okay, Azura. As long as Soundwave did not hurt you as well."

She shook her head. "He did see though." She sniffled as Optimus glanced at her with a little bit of worry. "I tried hiding…but I picked a bad spot."

Optimus was about to respond when he heard Jack shouting. "The cons have the harvester!"

"And security has Miko!" Raf shouted to alert to them where Miko was.

"What?" Bulkhead was surprised by this fact and he frowned, glancing at the museum as he now knew where Miko was. "I'm going in after her."

Azura glanced at Bulkhead in surprise as she knew that was a bad idea. Optimus stepped forward to get in Bulkhead's way and place his hand on the wrecker's shoulder. "Bulkhead, Miko maybe detained, but she is safe from harm. And you already know that going after Miko will cause damage to that building. Damage that we have already unintentionally caused due to the decepticons."

Bulkhead grumbled a little as he looked at the museum with a frown before Azura's sniffling distracted him as he looked at her. "Aw…I guess you're right. I don't need to cause anyone else to get upset. Though she saw what Knockout had done to you."

Optimus nodded and looked at the museum entrance with a frown as she knew Arcee had left to chase down Breakdown and Knockout. "Arcee, return to our coordinates. The decepticons have the harvester. Pursuing Breakdown and Knockout won't achieve in retrieving the weapon. We are to head back to base to plan obtaining the device back from Starscream." Azura laid her head on Optimus shoulder as she listened to him speak through the com link. "Ratchet, we require a ground bridge."

Azura looked at his optics as they wait for the bridge to open. "I'm hungry."

Optimus looked at her in surprise when she informed him what she wanted. Optimus smiled and kissed her forehead. "And I will feed you when we get back. And I will find your Stitch toy for you to hug as well."

"I just want to hug you, daddy. I can hold my toy any other time." Azura smiled at him and kissed his cheek and snuggled against his neck as the bridge opened beside them. "But it's scary now…they have an energon harvester. I hope they don't use it on you. That would be horrible…and I would truly be an orphan."

Optimus's optics soften as he fully understood her feelings. He too was worried about the harvester, and if the harvester was to be used on him, he could potentially be killed from it as well. Nonetheless, they had to locate the harvester regardless of the risk. "I am afraid I cannot predict if it will happen or not, Azura. But finding it is a high priority to keep all of us safe. Including you."

Azura hated the idea of the harvester being turned on her. She just shivered as Optimus walked towards the bridge as Jack and Raf ran through before him. Arcee sped back to them to go through with Bulkhead and Bumblebee. They all were feeling rather disappointed that they were not able to retrieve the harvester as they had hoped. If they had left sooner without debating, maybe the outcome would be different. But there was no way to go back now.

Ratchet watched them walk through, and he noticed immediately that Miko was not present with them. "Where is Miko?"

"The security guard has her," Jack responded to the medic who seemed surprised. "He might have noticed that the orb is gone. So he might think that Miko can give him an answer…and the police might get involved."

"That is not good." Ratchet shook his head before he thought of something. "I guess that means we need to find the harvester quickly." He walked over to his desk to grab a few of his tools and some sheets of metal. "Especially since it could greatly benefit us with our short supply of energon." He looked towards Optimus as he heard Azura clapping her hands and saw Optimus had opened the panel of his chassis and brought out the fuel line to feed Azura. "Which could impact on you being able to feed her. And I am surprised you are feeding her now."

Optimus frowned a little at Ratchet. "Azura said she was hungry. And it is about the right time to feed her anyway. You should not be questioning me on that." Optimus walked over to the console and typed on the panel to bring up different locations of energon around the world. "Right now, we need to make it a point to patrol all the energon deposits in the world that might be considered unmineable."

"And we will try and contact Fowler to help with Miko," Jack said as he and Rafael try to reach the man.

"You've reached Special Agent William Fowler. I'm currently on an intensive training retreat…"

Azura smirked a little as hearing the voice mail when the boys tried reaching Fowler was somewhat amusing to her. Though she took her time drinking the low-grade energon as she wanted Optimus to remain on the base with her as long as possible. She knew he will want to go out and help the other autobots locate the harvester, but she really did not want him to. It might be considered selfish, but Azura did not feel like she was considering she just wanted her father to be safe.

"While Jack and Rafael remain here in trying to reach Agent Fowler, it will be up to us to locate the harvester." Optimus turned to Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee as the three stood listening to him. "I have located the different energon locations around the globe that are considered unmineable. In all likelihood, Starscream will use the harvester to gather as much energon as quickly as he can from these deposits. Approach with extreme caution. Starscream will not hesitate to turn the harvestor on anyone of us."

Arcee smirked at Optimus a little. "At least Azura is ensuring that you remain here to avoid that risk." Optimus smiled in amusement and glanced down at Azura, who was holding the fuel line rather tightly at the moment and she was frowning at Arcee. "Not that I blame her. She is extremely attached to you."

"As she should be," Ratchet said as he sat down on some boxes and began to work on something. "Sparklings will always be attached to their carrier and sire, though they're generally closer to their carrier. It is not surprising that Azura is very attached. Probably more so than most sparklings."

Optimus knew that was the case with Azura. Given her early years, it was not surprising that she was extremely attached to him. And he knew that she was taking her time feeding from him for the sake of keeping him here, but he did have a job to do. He could not just leave it to his autobots to handle it without him assisting. He knew that Azura struggled with that fact whenever he had to walk through the bridge without her. But he is a leader, and he has to make sacrifices, even when it comes to her.

Optimus intakes heavily and looks at the first set of coordinates before putting them into the bridge console and activating it. "Arcee, you will patrol to this set of coordinates first. Make sure that you proceed with caution. Do not engage on your own, and inform us as soon as you have a visual."

"Understood." Arcee turned and walked towards the vortex before transforming and speeding through it.

"I will go to the next set of coordinates," Bumblebee offered as he gestured to himself with confidence. "I will make sure to report as soon as I see anything. Hopefully it won't take long to find them."

Optimus nodded in acknowledgement to Bumblebee. "And make sure you do speed either, Bumblebee. Remember, the roads you are taking are used by humans as well." Bumblebee nodded as Optimus changed the coordinate location for the bridge while it was still open. "Good luck, Bee."

Bumblebee nodded and glanced at Raf who was watching with worry. "Don't worry, Raf. I will be back very soon to take you on in the game."

Raf smiled happily at Bee's reassurance. "I am going to hold you to that, Bee. Get back soon, and safe." Bumblebee chuckled before he transformed and sped through the vortex. "Hopefully we can get Miko out of that museum too."

Optimus closed the bridge for a moment and looked down at Azura as she was still feeding. He gently removed the jacket she was still wearing on her body and gave it to Jack before he grabbed her metal, Stitch toy to bring it to her. Azura smiled, even though she already said she would rather hug Optimus right now, and she grabbed a hold of the toy tightly against her. Though she was confused as to why he did not leave the bridge open for Bulkhead.

"Azura, I am sorry to have to do this to you, but you need to finish up feeding right now." Optimus had stopped the flow of the low-grade at the moment and she was drinking the last drops from the fuel line. She frowned immediately and shook her head. "I am sorry, but I have given you enough to not feel hunger for a little while."

"But…" Azura began before gasping as he removed the fuel line from her hands now that she finished. She stared in shock and shook her head. "You…you want to leave?"

"I need to help the other autobots, Azura. I know you want me to stay, and I understand. But the more of us are out there looking for Starscream and the energon harvester, the sooner we can retrieve it and keep it from killing any one of us. Do you understand?" Azura stared at him as tears fall down her face and she nodded quietly. "Good. I do love you, Azura. I will be back soon, and I will finish feeding you." She sniffled as he kissed her forehead and walked over to the platform to gently place her down. Though once she was on the platform, Azura sat down with a thump, making Optimus raise his eyebrow a little as she folded her arms with a frown. "You can help Jack and Raf reach Fowler."

Azura said nothing other that she was letting her tears fall silently right now. She wanted Optimus to stay, but she understood he needed to leave. She sniffled quietly and hugged the toy tightly, hoping that this would simply go by without any kind of incident. She would be very upset if something did happen as she didn't want to lose anyone else in her family. Cliffjumper hurt a lot, and it would hurt just as much if it were anyone else.

Optimus put the coordinates in for himself to head out to patrol. He looked at Azura, and he felt guilt knowing she was extremely upset he had to go, but he knew he couldn't just leave this to the other autobots. He looked at Bulkhead once he activated the ground bridge. "Bulkhead, it's best that you remain here…"

"So I can bust Miko out of the museum?" Bulkhead interrupts Optimus bluntly.

Optimus shook his head with a slight frown. "So you can help Ratchet. You maybe Miko's guardian, But she requires human assistance. Agent Fowler remains our best option." Bulkhead was still upset he could not help Miko. Optimus glanced at Azura and looked at Bulkhead. "Plus, an extra bot to keep an eye on Azura might be required, Bulkhead."

Bulkhead glanced at Azura and saw she was hiding her face against the toy, and looked back at Optimus as his leader walked towards the vortex before transforming and speeding through. Bulkhead sighed as he was irritated that he could not get Miko out of the museum, though he also knew that Optimus was right. She required human assistance, and he was definitely not a human. He would only cause more damage than good. And now he had to think on how to help Ratchet, and Azura as well.