14. Confession

"If you're going to make a habit of this, I'm going to start billing you," Ratchet muttered, though his tone lacked the bite that would indicate he was seriously perturbed. Instead, he carefully knelt down in front of Allison as she watched Wheeljack's retreating back re-enter the building.

"What would you spend the money on? A really big wrench?" It wasn't a serious question, but she wanted to poke him anyway.

Ratchet scowled. "I might. I have need of one, especially after Wheeljack melted down my last one."

His response made her frown, thinking back to earlier. Wheeljack's behavior had been… odd. It was a complete reversal of the evasive, indifferent Autobot from before, but now he was… attentive. He really was the Wheeljack she remembered for so long, she realized with a pang. The emotional whiplash of the last few weeks left her feeling mentally spent. Something about what he had said bothered her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There were a lot of things bothering her, but most paramount was his insistence that he had to protect her. She'd never wanted to be someone who required protection, especially when they had much more critical issues they had to focus on.

Like the fact that their enemy was now hunting for them to start, and Allison had the sick feeling that it was largely her fault. If she'd never sought Wheeljack out, he would have never been distracted enough to let the energon cube fail. The perfect conditions to draw the Decepticons to Earth would have never existed, and they would be safe. So ultimately, was she responsible for all of them being in danger now? It made her anxious to think about, but up until this point none of them had pointed this out. Wheeljack seemingly blamed himself, and she wasn't sure how. Her worries were in danger of running away from her into a darker place, so the fact that Ratchet was deadpan staring at her was actually a somewhat helpful distraction.

"Are you scanning me?" Allison ventured, catching on to what was likely happening, putting previous thoughts away for the time being. She'd noticed Ratchet doing something similar before, and had a hunch she knew what was happening at the time.

Ratchet blinked, frowning. "You're seriously injured," he replied, and Allison wasn't quite sure what he was doing as he placed what Allison had come to recognize as an energon cube on the ground next to him. She took his response as a yes, even though he technically wasn't confirming it.

"Bumblebee took me to a hospital."

"Bumblebee took you to a—" Ratchet parroted back what she said, a flabbergasted mockery of her own words before he stopped. "—Of course he did." Allison wondered if Ratchet was offended, but he didn't show it.

Allison looked down, feeling the weight of something sick and heavy press down on her. She was suddenly struck with the need to tell him everything that happened, like something about Ratchet made her want to trauma dump everything onto him.

"Lie down." Such a command immediately knocked Allison out of her own head and back into the real world. Ratchet was gesturing with some sort of long, glowing tool at her, and it seemed like he needed more surface area for what was supposed to happen. That was what she hoped at any rate.

"What, why?"

"This will go faster if you do."

Sensing that wasting more time would be a mistake, Allison positioned her bag again to try and get comfortable on the concrete block she was laying on. She didn't exactly enjoy being on her back like this, especially after the night she'd had. Something about it made her feel especially vulnerable and in danger now, even if Ratchet wasn't the robot she should be worried about.

It seemed this was going to take a while, and as Ratchet began to pass the glowing end of the stick—or tool—or whatever it was over her, she tried to focus on not making the time awkward. If she'd been unconscious before, she wasn't subjected to the silence and relative boredom of whatever this process was. She wasn't sure if something was supposed to be happening, but she didn't feel like anything was changing.

To pass the time Allison started talking before she was even aware of what she was saying. She told Ratchet everything, not sparing any detail: the way Rumble had been waiting for her since last night, seemingly unaware of what he was waiting for, but that didn't matter. She told him that when he seemed to realize what was wrong with her, and that she'd been around them, it had almost sparked a level of bloodlust within him that hadn't hit the surface yet. There wasn't really a detail that was spared, and maybe she thought Ratchet needed to know for the context of her injuries, but she went through the sequence of events like they were burned into every cell of her body. Ratchet did not react in any visible way, though Allison wasn't watching him closely enough to tell. She was too focused staring straight up at the sky, unaware of what the subtle movements of his mouth or brow meant as he worked.

After spilling everything out, including the specific details of how they threw her around, Ratchet finally made a noise in response; a deep rattling sound in his throat somewhere and it made her finally glance up at his face. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he seemed strained. The noise sure suggested something dark and unpleasant, and his eyes, while bright, had gone disturbingly pale in color that they were almost white.

"No better than rust vermin," Ratchet growled, though Allison didn't know what a rust vermin was, she suspected he was trying to say that the Decepticons were animals. She wished she understood more about their war to have a better idea of what had happened between them… but it was probably too late.

Seconds later Allison realized at some point she'd closed her eyes and didn't remember doing so. She was suddenly very tired, but Ratchet was still talking.

"Wheeljack's choice was sound. The further away from us you were, the better." Ratchet said. "Though now it seems that it would be safer for you to remain with us." His inflection did not insinuate any particular attitude about this observation, but Allison could not avoid the inevitable guilt. She didn't know how Ratchet sensed this, but he did. "And before you apologize for that too, it's the right thing to do. End of discussion."

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Allison said, closing her eyes again. She really was starting to feel incredibly fatigued, and part of her wondered if it was related to whatever Ratchet was doing. He'd been passing the glowing wand over her for… how long now?

"There will be less reason for the Decepticons to cause problems elsewhere if you are with us," Ratchet said matter-of-factly. This is the most efficient way to ensure your safety while minimizing further damage." His voice had gotten real low and quiet, and for a moment Allison wondered if this was as close to affection as she was going to get from him.

"I don't think they were after me," Allison repeated, for maybe the third time that night. It was comforting in a way, to convince herself that in the scheme of things she didn't really matter.

"No, but they will go through you to get what they want, quite literally in your case. Which means, in a way, you've become a target." Ratchet said, and she wondered how that was supposed to be helpful. "The Decepticons will do whatever it takes to get what they're after, and that includes dangling you over a pit of sharkticons if they thought it would be effective."

"I noticed," Allison muttered, when a thought occurred to her. "If they really are that ruthless and single-minded, does this put my dad at risk? He's not involved in any of this. He doesn't even know where I am right now." She hoped that the fact that he lived elsewhere, far outside the city and away from the confrontation meant that they wouldn't even notice him. Surely there was no value in going after a separate human that had no knowledge of what's going on…

"While we cannot rule that out completely, I don't see any tactical value in them searching for someone who knows even less than you do. They will be more direct, and chasing a human is not what they're after, even if you happen to get in the way. No offense."

"Maybe he has no value to them, but he does to me. Is there a way to at least keep an eye out? You know, just for my peace of mind? Only, without making it obvious…" She realized she was trailing off, too exhausted at this point to keep her thoughts together and wanting nothing more than to shut her eyes and sleep.

"Fortunately for you, stealth is kind of our specialty." His expression softened a bit. "I understand your concern, Allison. And the Decepticons have been acting unpredictably recently. Which is why Wheeljack and I discussed this before we left. I already have Teletraan-1 monitoring all emergency frequencies in addition to running regular precautionary scans around your father's location. If a Decepticon gets anywhere near your father, we'll know about it. I know it's not exactly a guarantee, but we'll do everything we can to keep him safe."

That was the best answer she was going to get. Allison smiled at this, the action sluggish but genuine nonetheless. There was a sense of familiarity that was beginning to form, as if this moment was comforting, even if she'd been unconscious at the time. She felt more at ease around them, ironically more with Ratchet than most of them, maybe because she'd spent more time with him in a setting where he'd been caring for her. It was this sense of peace that allowed her to finally shut her eyes for a moment, enjoying the quiet after the storm and the way the exhaustion pulled her body down. Ratchet wasn't as talkative as she'd come to learn, and Allison likened this to his age and maturity. For the time being this suited her fine.

When Wheeljack returned inside, the other three Autobots in the room went dead silent. It was almost as if they were in the middle of a conversation they didn't want him to hear.

"Out with it. You don't got anything to say I haven't already told myself." Needless to say, Wheeljack was not in the mood for games. Considering it was Bumblebee who went behind his back in the first place, it was only fitting to round on him first. "So, you wanna tell me what happened?"

The scout's expression darkened, and he frowned. "Aside from the obvious I told you so, Allison got jumped by Rumble, but I managed to stop him before he could get to her. Then Soundwave showed up and jumped me."

Wheeljack frowned. "I just saw her, it looks to me like he did get to her."

"She's alive, Wheeljack. You need to concentrate on that." Bumblebee's tone softened considerably. Wheeljack wasn't exactly looking forward to continuing the argument in the circumstances, because that wasn't what was important.

Sunstreaker looked to the side, pointedly. "Thanks to us," he muttered, unhelpfully. He was leaning against a rusted steel pillar in the middle of the building, and it was a marvel it was able to support his weight.

Wheeljack shook his head. "And I'm grateful, trust me. Look, what I'm trying to say is, thanks."

"Really? That's a weird way to go about it," Sunstreaker growled again. "Keeping secrets and giving us zero information about what's going on—" Sideswipe shook his head at him urgently in a bid to keep him quiet, and immediately Sunstreaker stopped his current train of thought. "You told Bumblebee, but we're always kept in the dark because no one trusts us." He finally added.

Bumblebee shifted, looking uncomfortable now.. "Technically he didn't…" He vented air, the action uncertain and tense. "Sunstreaker, this isn't helping, but I get it. Things got… scary."

Wheeljack walked to the smaller Autobot scout and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you didn't listen to me, for once."

"Hey, there's a first for everything, right?" He winced.

"And we do trust you, but the fewer who knew about her, the better. Bumblebee wasn't supposed to find out, but he did." Wheeljack said, rounding back on the others. "Frankly, I'm impressed. You guys went up against Soundwave and didn't get put into intensive care."

"Eh, it was three against one and a half, it was no big deal." Sunstreaker finally brightened at this, finding the discussion of wanton damage and carnage far more appealing. "Fragger ran with his tail between his legs."

"No big deal?" It was clearly Sideswipe's turn to protest. "It was Soundwave, bro! You weren't even there for most of the fight!"

"Yeah, because I was too busy saving your human—" Sunstreaker finally stood away from the column, punching a fist into his palm for emphasis. "You're lucky I got there when I did to stop him from turning you two into graying piles of scrap." It was obvious a sibling squabble was brewing, and Wheeljack was about to interject with a gruff warning to stop it before it started, but Bumblebee interrupted them instead.

"Ah, let's not get carried away." Wheeljack noticed Bumblebee was rubbing at his chassis where he'd earlier seen the buckling damage. That was going to require extensive repair and possibly even patching, though it luckily looked like it hadn't ruptured any energon fuel lines. He was growing concerned about the energon situation and what he was going to do in the future.

Bumblebee finally met Wheeljack's optics, and the engineer stated pointedly. "From the top."

A fairly detailed retelling of the events followed, at least from the scout's perspective, though Wheeljack knew it was going to lack some critical details. Bumblebee had been watching the area for some time until apparently Rumble made his presence known in Allison's workplace. He could not really comprehend what that was like for her, within the confines of a human structure, especially if she was alone. By the time Bumblebee knew something was wrong, the Decepticon had already chased her out of the building and had her pinned on the ground. If the scout hadn't been there…

Wheeljack already found himself reflexively squeezing his fists as Bumblebee recounted Soundwave's arrival, and the ensuing fight that had driven Allison away. He seemed to stumble over the fact that Allison had apparently tried to help him when the Decepticon got the upper-hand, which explained Bumblebee's limp. He was proud of her resourcefulness. Bumblebee seemed hesitant and guilty of this part of the story and that she felt the need to try and save him. It would be best if she didn't make a habit of it, because she may not be so lucky again.

From that point there were a lot of gaps in the events as Bumblebee lost track of where Allison had gone, though it would seem the destruction left behind in an urban mall was evidence enough of where Soundwave's minicons had chased her. That was where the fight had ended and Soundwave fled, but not before Ravage had left a parting gift. Wheeljack hadn't seen the wound on her, because she was clearly hiding it. It was maybe a good thing he couldn't see it, because he might have lost his cool. Not at her of course, but he found himself growing angrier and angrier at the reality he had forced her into.

The twins occasionally chimed in to laud their perceived achievements in the efforts to keep her safe and fight off the Decepticon communications lieutenant. Wheeljack followed intently, finding his systems growing hot with anger as the events unfolded, because he knew that the scale of such brutality was not something Allison would have been prepared for.

This was exactly why he'd wanted her kept away. Now, it would seem the magnitude of destruction was going to be hard to explain away, and sooner or later their cover was going to be blown entirely. That was assuming it hadn't been already and they just weren't aware of the fallout yet. Optimus Prime was not going to be pleased, and Wheeljack did not look forward to his return.

"Now it's our turn to ask a question." Sunstreaker finally spoke after a moment of quiet, and Wheeljack vented in frustration, knowing what was coming next. "The human. How, and more importantly why?" Instinctively Wheeljack growled at the Autobot's insinuations, knowing he was belittling her agency and importance to him…

Sideswipe nodded, unaware of the engineer's internal dilemma. "I think you owe us that much, 'Jack. We did stick our necks out for her." The nickname made him bristle, briefly, but it was not worth mentioning.

Ultimately they were right. It was time to come clean. "Fair enough," Wheeljack said, and he crossed his arms in discomfort. "It goes back a little while. A few deca-cycles, in earth years."

"Please don't tell me it imprinted on you..." Sunstreaker's interruption only served to further sour Wheeljack's mood, because he was speaking nonsense just for the sake of being sensational.

"Of course not. They don't work like that. She doesn't, anyway. Look, point is, she kinda maybe ran into me when she was a child and saw me borrowing some of their energy. Time passes, she finds me again, there was an accident, and, long story short, the accident somehow created an energon surge and now she has it inside her."

"And before you ask," Bumblebee interrupted. "No, it's not a good thing. She's not benefitting from it in any way." He raised his arms out, gesturing. "Clearly."

The twins looked genuinely disappointed, as if the interaction between energon and an incompatible organic life form would garner something amazing and they were missing out. "Quite the opposite. It really hurt her, and now the Decepticons are aware of her because of my mistake."

"Ah, I see. So it's all your fault," Sunstreaker said, unhelpfully, pointing his finger at Wheeljack. "So that's where you've been getting energon, huh? Why didn't you just say you were farming it from the humans?"

"When you say it like that you make it sound…well, yes technically it might be…" Wheeljack paused, thinking of an answer. "Plausible deniability. If anything went wrong, it would be on me, no one else."

"Wait," Sideswipe chirped, as if suddenly catching up to the rest of the conversation. "You're telling me we could have had a squishy friend to hang out with for how long ?" He looked genuinely distraught by this missed opportunity, hands in the air as if grasping for something that had slipped away.

"No. " Sunstreaker snapped, angrily, cutting off his brother's line of thought. "Well, Wheeljack, things did go wrong and now we gotta be on the lookout to make sure we haven't stepped on it or left it out at night."

"Stop calling Allison an it, Sunstreaker," Bumblebee hissed.

"Oh frag off, you're biased because you love humans. This planet has really corrupted your processor—"

"—Enough." Wheeljack finally bellowed, his larger size allowing the lower register of his vocalizer to carry and the conversation immediately stopped and everyone froze. The anger was immediately jettisoned from the room as quickly as it ignited, and this arguing back and forth was unproductive. He was angry enough as it was by Sunstreaker's callous attitude, but he wasn't going to let the younger Autobot drag him down into the trenches of a fight. "We're all alive."

Sideswipe was frowning, his optics cast down and his body language suggested that he felt stung that his words had possibly incited further argument. His brow plates furrowed. "What's happening with the human, now? She's clearly at risk by herself but she's not exactly in any less danger being around us."

"Tried keeping her away already. It didn't matter, obviously," Wheeljack said. "The problem is the energon, and until we find a long-term solution she needs to stay with us for her safety. Ratchet and I can get it out of her, but apparently it comes back." Wheeljack's thoughts darkened, realizing the gravity of this and what it almost cost. "The 'Cons followed it looking for one of us." Now he was determined to fix it.

Sunstreaker grimaced, perhaps something finally sinking in for him as his optics glimmered with something that looked like guilt. He tried to hide it with an uneasy tilt of his helm, looking pointedly at Bumblebee. Something was bothering him, but he wasn't going to share it. "How long did you know about this?"

"Not that much longer than you. I found out more subtly though."

"Prime's pet keeping all the secrets, huh?"

Bumblebee chose not to respond, a subtle shift in his face indicating what he was thinking without words, but he wisely decided to let it go. Sunstreaker would have whatever fits he needed to get it out of his system, but he was going to have to get over it eventually.

"I'll scout ahead," Bumblebee finally said, before transforming and leaving in a hurry. It was obvious Sunstreaker had gotten to him, but they would sort it out. They always did.

"You two do the same. Split up. Use alternate routes," Wheeljack said, pointing after Bumblebee. It was almost like the scout's retreat had taken all the heat out of the room with him, because the twins straightened up and did as instructed. Soon it was just Wheeljack left alone, and he remained there to absorb the evening's events for a moment.

Ratchet's timing was exquisite, because he chose that exact time to cut in, though rather than do it in person, he entered into Wheeljack's headspace with a subtle shifting of presence. "She slipped into recharge. We can add that to our growing list of unfortunate side effects."

"Likely the energon transfer is sapping her metabolic energy. Not a good sign. Though she's probably also exhausted if the evening's events are to be believed."

"I need to properly assess her injuries, but I need her awake for that." Ratchet paused, a sense of subtle panic and anger slipping in through their connection and Wheeljack internally flinched at the feeling. That did not bode well. "She told me everything. There's a lot you should probably hear."

"I got caught up on what happened from Bumblebee and the twins…" Wheeljack thought back to how dejected Bumblebee seemed, and it was something he'd not witnessed in the scout in a long time. Even Sunstreaker appeared haunted by something, and while Sideswipe had unsurprisingly been more empathetic, he didn't seem as disturbed as the other two. Perhaps he hadn't exactly seen what they did. "Though I guess there's a lot they couldn't tell me."

Sunstreaker was the one who had found her pinned by Ravage, so it stood to reason he'd seen that part of the attack take place. Maybe the prickly Autobot was more bothered than he was letting on. Sunstreaker would never admit it though, because he was stubborn, but it would be enough.

"It seems Soundwave's little alloy pox cretins rather enjoyed picking on someone closer to their size…" The subtext behind what Ratchet was saying was…troubling, though his observation was maybe indelicate. Even so, it was something Wheeljack already assumed from what he did know. "That's going to be a problem."

"...I know…" Wheeljack fretted. "One problem at a time, eh?"

"We should get moving. I've subspaced the cube to mask the signal, so now that we're dark is as good a time as any."

"Right. The other three have scouted ahead. I'll… come wake her." Wheeljack did not like the idea of handling her while she was asleep, but disturbing her wasn't exactly a more desired alternative. Ratchet apparently made the choice for him.

"No need. I already did." Wheeljack was certain that went over well, as Ratchet sounded mildly annoyed. He was already making his way back outside to see what was going on, and expected to see more commotion. He was surprised that Ratchet was still knelt on the ground, looking down at a very disgruntled and clearly exhausted human trying to sit up.

"Hey kid, we have to move you," Wheeljack said delicately, his voice low as he tapped Ratchet out to take his place kneeling at her side. His mood was dampened by the circumstances, and the burden of responsibility he now felt on his shoulders. He wasn't suited for this…

"Not a kid…" Allison mumbled, optics barely open as she fought with gravity to stay upright. Wheeljack reasoned she likely was not going to remember this even happening when she was more coherent, and he almost chuckled at her defiance if not for the sobering reality. She at least seemed aware enough that he was there, so he tentatively raised a hand to try and guide her off the stone she had chosen as an impromptu berth.

"A kid to me." Wheeljack paused, wincing internally as he realized how he sounded. He sounded like Ratchet, and that wasn't an enticing thought. "Need to get down or I'm gonna have to carry ya."

"I got it," She groused, seemingly a shred more aware of what was going on as she sat up and scooted to the edge. The problem was she miscalculated the distance between herself and the ground, and Wheeljack saw it just in time to stop her from dropping straight to the dirt in a tired lump. He managed to catch her in his palms as he quickly reached out, and she flopped forward with barely a reaction.

"Sorry…" she said, voice muffled. "I'm awake." Wheeljack panicked for a moment, the weight of her there brutally calling forward a memory he had buried: the memory of her prior time in his hands, though decidedly less okay, and very close to death. Something throbbed painfully in his internals and a small whimper escaped him before he could suppress it. It was a good thing she couldn't hear the nervous thrum that had started to reverberate through his body. The weight of Ratchet's firm hand on his shoulder allowed him the clarity to cycle air through his overheating systems to calm them.

It was only several seconds later, but it felt like an eternity before he could focus. "I need you to hang in there for just a moment, okay? Can you stand for me?"

"I'm tired, not incapacitated. I can stand." Allison snapped, though the source of her attitude was less malicious than it was impatient. Wheeljack lowered his hands close to the ground and Allison rolled over onto her side, lazily sliding down until her feet touched the dirt. "See?" She said, groggily, though she sounded a bit more coherent. "Standing."

Wheeljack risked a small chuckle, the action largely involuntarily though it probably sounded patronizing. "Good job." That probably sounded even worse, but Allison did not comment on it. She seemed as if she was more focused on waiting for whatever he intended to do. So rather than waste more time, he took several steps back to ensure he had plenty of space and dropped into his vehicle form. There was a moment where she suddenly turned back towards the stone blocks with a sense of urgency, and he realized she left her bag behind.

Ratchet huffed, retrieving it before handing it down to the human at his feet. Allison murmured her thanks at him, her eyes widening a bit as she saw the medic transform. Wheeljack realized Ratchet's was only alt-mode from the group that she'd yet to see.

"An ambulance. I get it." She said, and there was a trace of genuine amusement in her words as she clutched the bag to her body. "It's subtle." It was immediately obvious she was blithely making fun of him, but thankfully the older Autobot took it in stride.

"At least my alt-mode is useful. " Ratchet's tone was lacking the characteristic bite to it. He was growing fond of Allison. Wheeljack knew the spectrum of his moods all too well. "Let's leave before we have Decepticons up our afts."

Allison tentatively approached Wheeljack's flank, and he opened the door for her to get in. Her actions we slow, and he noted she still tried to keep her body small as she sat down in the passenger side seat. He anticipated her next move before even she did, knowing she would instinctively try to close the door on her own so he did it for her. This time, he did not forget a seatbelt. He wasn't going to forget that again. Allison paused when her hand hovered over it, clearly thinking, but she didn't comment on it.

Her attempts at avoiding touching him at all costs were short-lived, as it wasn't long before she was slumped sideways and fast asleep. There was nothing she would touch that would be uncomfortable to him, but he understood why she did it. All he cared about in that moment was that she was secure. He could worry about the rest later.

Ratchet began to drive away, satisfied. "Try not to run into any Decepticons this time. Please. For me." They would also split up and use alternate routes. It would draw less attention to them that way. That meant Ratchet and Wheeljack would be traveling separately. "My spark can't take much more of this." It was a joke, but Ratchet added after a moment of quiet. "And neither can yours." He knew what the medic was referring to.

"Right. All is quiet on that front. If I run into any 'Cons, you'll be the first to hear about it." Wheeljack returned to the road, turning to travel in the opposite direction of Ratchet as they parted ways.

"Reassuring."

Wheeljack had no idea how they were going to manage this. Optimus Prime really wasn't going to be happy with them.