Twisted Glimpse

by ForgottenAlias

A sequel to Word's Unspoken. We see Soundwave and Rhea's relationship grow as she slowly adapts to a Cybertronian body. Earth and Cybertron are allies and old prejudices are fading. But if everything is looking up, who is Steven? A military man seemingly unconnected to our familiar Bots who is haunted by nightmares that slowly start to seep into the waking world.

16. Chapter 16

Author's Notes: Ok ya'll! We have finally arrived at one of my favorite chapters! Early publishing to make up for all of my late ones recently. But mostly I am to excited to share this chapter, mostly because it makes me laugh endlessly. We get to see (after a brief life changing decision in Steven's world in the middle) how Soundwave intends to start bridging the gap between himself and Rhea's own culture. Without giving too much away, there will be hijinks. And sorry in advanced for how insanely long this chapter is. I couldn't find a good place to break it up.

Favorites and follows would be loved, and comments are welcome as always! Please enjoy this one!

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Date: December, 18th 2020

Soundwave

It was almost done, even with an ever-busy schedule and Laserbeak's constant remarks to distract him every step of the way. The task itself hadn't taken him long, it was truly just a matter of finding the time. And getting over the mental hurdle of accepting all the project meant for him.

'I do not like it,' Laserbeak said. It was not the first time he shared that sentiment.

'Your opinion is noted. But I will feel better if I see this through,' Soundwave huffed back.

Laserbeak was privy to the code on the screen, and he shuttered.

'It is just a test,' Soundwave pointed out.

'An uncomfortable one,' Laserbeak retorted.

Rhea had been through a million times worse. He didn't have any right to be nervous. But he was. Moreover, she had forgiven him years ago for the most egregious mistake of his entire life. Long before he could even think about forgiving himself. Yet she still was changing for him. When they melded their Fields… he had felt her resolve. Her want to make him happy, no matter the cost. It was extremely flattering, when it didn't make him feel tremendous guilt.

'Rhea found a way to wander the streets of Kaon as a human, risking life and limb in the process… And now she is doing so in a Cybertronian form. This is not even comparable to that sacrifice.'

The Autobot archive in Iacon was not exactly where he wanted to be, but it had the information he required for this little side project of his. When he, a Decepticon Lord had asked for access to the files, he was met with understandable suspicion. But he had assured those in charge the data he required was unremarkable. And comparatively, it was. This had nothing to do with the war or getting one over on the Autobots. This was for his own personal understanding, and nothing in the Decepticon mainframe had anything similar. Hence why he had the need for it here.

He had been allowed temporary access under two conditions. One: He had to actually physically be in the archive in Iacon so his activities could be monitored. He was fine with that. He could complete his project even if it wasn't in more familiar working conditions. But the second condition: An Autobot rep would need to see what he was doing to make sure it was as innocent as he claimed.

Annoying, but really that wasn't bad either. Embarrassing at most. There was always a chance the rep they sent had not seen these files either and they wouldn't know what he was up to.

The door to the archive's hall slid open and shut behind him, announcing he now had company. Technically, he already had company in the form of many suspicious Autobot archivists, but they had kept their distance.

The energy field of his Autobot chaperone brushed his own, and he had to stop working to inwardly grimace.

"Whatcha up to?" Arcee said with a hum of mild curiosity.

"Conducting research," Soundwave answered vaguely, though his secrecy was not guaranteed to last much longer, especially with her. Arcee was an Autobot who would recognize the code and know immediately.

And as he suspected, and feared, she looked over his shoulder to read the code. At first, she was confused, "Holoforms? Why bother with those? If I recall correctly, you blew up the secret on Earth in spectacular fashion. Why bother adding anything to your alt mode now?"

"I will not be adding anything to my alt mode," Soundwave vented.

He saw her arched brow ridge clear enough even in his peripheral. She looked back at the screen. "You made one… Why is it so detailed? Mine wasn't even this… OH." And the fragger then cracked a sinister smile. "You finally taking my advice? You're going down there."

"Very observant of you," Soundwave said as coldly as he could, "It is just an experiment. A fact-finding mission only."

"Well, it has to be more than that," Arcee complained, "If this is what I think it is, which I am just going to assume it is, then you'll need more than this. Rhea has done way more to integrate into our culture. And you throwing together an Energon based hologram is the lowest bar you can hurdle."

Soundwave fought the urge to shout, "Then by all means, Autobot. If you are so wise as it pertains to Earth customs, why do you not come along?"

Arcee opened her own terminal next to his, and that was finally enough for him to pause his work, "You didn't even have to ask. I intend to."

Soundwave jolted at that right away. The invitation had been anything but genuine. But he realized she was absolutely serious as she pulled up her own preexisting human coded holoform and started modifying it. A once helmet clade and faceless avatar made to ride on her motorcycle mode to placate curious humans now had more detail. She made it so it was no longer only tied to her alt mode but could be autonomous. "You said it best. I know way more than you do about this. I lived on Earth for years. I drove those streets. Plus," she gave him a sideways smirk, "I kind of want to see you squirm."

'The absolute audacity of this Autobot,' hissed Laserbeak.

'It is… far from ideal, but in a round about way, she is correct,' Soundwave acknowledged between them. 'I will not require help. It is only research. But she could prove useful, if only to observe how she interacts with the local population.'

"Will Rhea be joining us on this outing?" Arcee assumed.

"No," Soundwave said very quickly.

Arcee paused her own work to glance at him with a growing grin. "She doesn't know you're even doing this, does she?"

"I would prefer it if you maintained that status quo until the experiment is complete," Soundwave growled.

"I think I can manage that. I assume it's because you don't want to make an aft of yourself in front of her on her planet?"

"Come to whatever conclusion benefits your narrative, Autobot," Soundwave said sharply, "I have my own reasons for keeping this reconnaissance low key."

And then the relative quiet of the archive fled when the door opened again, two cackling idiots making their way inside. And Soundwave knew both idiots. One he was still debating whether he would kill or not. Why was Bumblebee and fragging Jazz here?

"There you two are," Arcee said with a smile and a wave for them to join them. She was behind this. He wasn't surprised.

Bumblebee stopped mid joke when he spotted them, blinking at Soundwave in confusion. "Ok, so I did hear the briefing right. What was it you needed here Soundwave?"

Jazz shook his helm in disappointment of his fellow Autobots as he fully stepped on Bumblebee's query in favor of his own, "They let him have access? Why even bother having security?"

"It's only level one access," Bumblebee said in defense of their decision to let one of the Decepticon Lords into the archive.

"To him, that's maximum clearance in less than a few keystrokes. I should fragging know! We had more than a few run ins in each other's security networks during the war," Jazz pointed out. Then his smug faceplates were smiling at Soundwave, "For instance, would ya let me have any type of passive access to the Con Mainframe?"

"No," Soundwave answered, faster and sharper than he had wanted to.

"I rest my case," Jazz said to Bumblebee. But then he was on Soundwave's other side with that annoying energy aura of his. Soundwave retreated against his own plating to escape his stink. "Human stuff? I admit I don't know much about the little guys. Other than that pretty girl of yours is one of 'em. What's this about?"

"Holoforms?" Bumblebee realized as he himself read over the code. Soundwave was now crowded on all sides by Autobots. "You are making a human holoform?"

"We're taking a field trip to Earth," Arcee said merrily to her colleagues.

Soundwave was trying very hard to stay stationed at the monitor, but he was now tempted to just give this up and come back when these three weren't there to bug him. This had been exactly the worst-case scenario for this mission.

Bumblebee's optics grew wide with new forged wonder. "Like, not just in vehicle form? You're both going to walk around? Where are you going? What are ya going to do?" Then he hesitated, something else occurring to him in that moment. Soundwave inwardly grimaced, hoping he would not voice it out loud. "You're trying to experience what Rhea does, aren't you?"

Of course, Soundwave could not rely on the naive bot to ever keep his mouth plates shut. He decided to just let silence be his answer. He was already mortified. No need to dig himself a deeper pit to lay in. Bumblebee pushed in closer to get a better look, "Did you design this form? It looks really good."

"It is an amalgamation of multiple files. Mostly from recent human military records," Soundwave answered as simply as he could. He hadn't really cared much for how his human avatar would look. As long as it was average and could blend into a crowd.

Bumblebee then jumped onto Arcee's personal work, "Saydee looks great! Weird not seeing it with a helmet."

Soundwave fought the urge to roll his optics. Of course, they would give Arcee's avatar a human name.

"I took some creative liberties," Arcee snickered.

"Rhea and the kids going to show us around?" Bumblebee assumed.

"No," Soundwave grumbled, but then paused before asking, "Us?"

Bumblebee beamed at him, "Well yeah. I'm not passing something like this up. And we need to make sure not to tell Agent Fowler, because I don't think we ever mentioned this in any of the Concurrence agreements."

He was technically correct. This was in direct violation of the 'open disguise' laws they agreed to with the Concurrence. While in vehicle mode, all Cybertronians on Earth could not hide their Energon or life signals. That was so the Concurrence's surveillance could tell them apart from normal vehicles. Basically, they weren't supposed to hide in any way. And pretending to be human was even more hidden than being a vehicle, so this would not be allowed. Not that the Concurrence knew it was something they could do. Soundwave intended to keep it that way.

"You have tinted windows, Bee," Arcee pointed out, "You never had a holoform avatar."

"So? Am I not allowed to make one?"

"From scratch?" Soundwave hissed, "That would take a good bit of time."

"Probably more than a good bit," Arcee carried on laughing, "He doesn't know what he's doing."

"How hard could it be?" Bumblebee shrugged as he opened his own terminal. "Two arms, two legs, a head… How do I open the right file to download the schematics?"

With a growl of growing irritation, Soundwave downloaded his completed work into his systems so he could open a new file. "I will do it for you. I do not have time to wait." Because the longer he stalled, the more news of this project would spread. He didn't need that.

"Cool! Thanks," Bumblebee cheerfully pulled up a chair to watch. "Can the holoform wear yellow?"

And then Jazz, who had been suspiciously quiet up until this moment, pulled up his own terminal. Soundwave fully stopped to glare at him, "What are you doing?"

Jazz gave him far too much of an innocent shrug, "I've never been to Earth before. I figure on the down low as one of the locals would be the best way to do it."

"This is not a recreational outing," Soundwave snarled, "And you may all treat it as such if you so desire. I am no longer interested in botsitting you on Earth." He closed the terminal to the sound of Bumblebee's disappointed groan.

"No worries," Arcee assured Soundwave, even patting his shoulder plating as he passed to storm off, "Changing your whole identity is hard. I get if you're too scared to even try. But jeeze, could you imagine doing it permanently? Like, if you were suddenly a completely different species, thrown into their culture after only knowing what we know our whole lives? Gosh, that would be crazy. Good thing we don't have to deal with that struggle. But before you go Soundwave, remind me, when was Rhea's next Cyberformation test? Didn't want to miss it."

Soundwave ground his denta, now stopped in the archive's door. He could feel every pair of Autobot optics on his back, waiting. He was sure Arcee was still smirking. Without another word, he returned to the terminal and reopened Bumblebee's avatar. And yes, Arcee was indeed grinning.

---

Date: Present day, September 29th 2021

Steven

He couldn't stop shifting in the cold doctor's office. And every nervous movement on his part ruffled the stiff paper under him where he sat on the examination table, waiting for the doctor. He stupidly let it slip to his commander Briggs, that he was struggling to sleep. Not like it was hard to guess considering his appearance. But he was given an order to get a check over by the doctors in the base hospital. His boss had finally forced his hand. Now he was here, mostly against his will.

But at the same time, there was a very small part of him that was relieved. With more sleep, he would stop hallucinating. He hoped so anyway. He would be more focused on finding Rhea and carrying on his daily work without risk to any expensive military equipment.

It would all be worth it, if he played this right. Downplayed his crazy tendencies, up sold his lack of sleep and stress from work and Rhea going missing. He had endured the normal physical tests and had to tune out the doctor flirting with his nurse in the opposite hall. It would all be worth it.

The door opened, and even despite trying to be ready for it, it still startled him.

And in walked one of the hospital doctors, still wearing an obnoxious grin from whatever nonsense he was up to in the hall. Dr. Norris. Of course he would get him. The hotrod driving, bright red haired flirt of a doctor who was well known around base for the pompous attitude. Steven intended to use his usual indifference to his benefit and slide by this visit without raising alarms.

With Steven's chart casually tucked under his arm, Dr. Norris came in, gave him a wink, and shut the door behind him, trapping them both. "Commander Welker," he said with a grin. "My lovely assistant who tended to your vitals informed me you dropped some weight since your last physical. And your blood pressure is alarming, to say the least… Care to share what brings you in today? I assume it is related."

Steven cleared his throat, probably for the third time in that minute. He also tried to stop slouching on the table when he realized he had been. "My commander ordered this physical. I have been struggling to sleep. That's all."

Dr. Norris glanced his chart, appearing aloof as always. But then his thin manicured brow rose, making Steven's heart wilt. What was written in that chart? How devastating to his career would it be? What kind of man would Rhea have to come back to if he didn't have the military or an income?

"Did Nurse Brian mention anything about your vitals as he was taking them?" he asked, rather critically.

Steven grimaced. The larger male nurse had in fact brought it up, mostly because he had been horrified. "He mentioned them."

"I only ask, because they are terrible. How the hell have you managed to drop five pounds in a week? Your heartrate and blood pressure are so terrible I half expected to walk into you passed out face first onto the floor."

Steven cleared his throat again, "It has been a troubling few weeks. If I could just get more sleep…"

"Sleeplessness is to be expected, considering your home troubles. Your commander gave you time off, no? Why haven't you taken him up on that?" Dr. Norris demanded with his nose still in his chart.

"Work keeps my mind busy," Steven explained. It wasn't really a lie.

Dr. Norris made a popping sound with his lips, finally glancing over the chart to fix Steven with a condescending look. He would have been offended if this wasn't just this doctor's personality. "When was the last time you got some shut eye?"

Steven had to force himself to be honest. This was fine. It was important, and not suspicious. "Three days ago, I got around two hours. I think."

"Not healthy," Dr. Norris sang between tisks. As if Steven couldn't have guessed that. "And you're flying drones on that sleep schedule? Fantastic idea. Real smart on your commander's part… But hey, it ain't my money. I could recommend a good therapist to-"

"No," Steven interrupted. Inwardly, he winced right away. That had been too bold.

Dr. Norris rolled his eyes. "Well, that really binds my hands I'm afraid. Anything else you care to share, and I can attempt to help before you shoot it down?"

Steven cleared his throat again. He couldn't mention the now daily hallucinations. Absolutely not. But… A hint couldn't hurt. "When I do sleep, I have nightmares. They started the same night," he had to take a deep breath to prepare for the incoming sentence, "The same night my girlfriend, left. In these dreams, I'm being tortured by monsters. It hasn't exactly been the best incentive to sleep."

The doctor hummed thoughtfully, "Well, I'm no therapist, but that sounds like stress to me. Stress all mixed in with your weight loss. Crappy combo. As much as nightmares suck, getting your internal clock reset is the best way to deal with stress. And then gain that weight back. You are looking thin as hell. I don't care how you do it. Start eating out every day and asked for the unhealthiest thing on the menu."

That sounded like a horrible prospect. Going out to eat by himself. Without Rhea. Seated alone in some restaurant. Christ.

Dr. Norris pulled out a prescription paper and scratched out something. "As for the sleep, I'm prescribing Ambien, and a bunch of it. It'll knock you out, nightmares be damned."

Steven nodded. This had actually worked. He got what he wanted, and that was drugs to knock him out each night. They may even be strong enough for him to not have the nightmares at all.

"Oh, and one more thing," the doctor said, almost as an afterthought, "You're going to take your commander's advice and take a week off, but now I'm ordering it under medical advisement."

Crap. That hadn't been part of the plan. But Steven decided to not fight it this time. He had to take the good with the bad. Now, he had time to catch up on sleep, and of course dive deeper into looking for Rhea. He could expand the search and drive out to the adjacent towns. "Ok," Steven managed to acknowledge.

"Fabulous," Dr. Norris said with a grin. He handed off the prescription paper and directed him out of the exam room and towards the check out and in hospital pharmacy. Nurse Brian gave Steven a worried look as he passed by. But the focus thankfully left him soon enough as Dr. Norris not so subtly grabbed his nurse assistance's butt. Brian grinned back lustfully, and they both carried on their flirting as if Steven hadn't even been there to interrupt it. Obnoxious show of public affection aside, Steven wasn't the focal point anymore. They were off to grope each other in an exam room and weren't going to report Steven to his commanding officer to have him discharged.

He stood in line waiting for his new meds to be filled, trying to find peace in his forced vacation. In that rare peaceful pause free of hallucinations, he heard a sudden argument break out in the room behind the pharmacy.

He recognized the voice of Dr. Combs, and then that of his own Commander, General Bragg, and another Commander. He felt his already questionable blood pressure spike in real time as he assumed this was about him. That was, until he heard the name 'Corporal Ben' drop in the argument. The kid he had spotted on his drone floating out to sea about a week ago. But he had thought the young man had been recovering. To glean more information, he listened in. It wasn't hard to, the door to the room the three were arguing in was wide open.

"When I said he was cleared from further medical intervention, this is NOT what I had in mind at all!" He heard Dr. Combs roar.

"I disagree Doctor. You said he was medically cleared," said the other Commander with a growl. "You also insisted because of his continued amnesia, he was unfit for military service. I wholeheartedly agree. This is the next obvious course of action."

"Throw him out? That's the next 'obvious course of action' to you?" Combs hissed right back.

"And what would you recommend? He is getting discharged, and he does not require further medical intervention, so he can't stay on base or in the hospital anymore. It would be a waste of funding and resources."

"All family filed in his subscription paperwork haven't answered our calls or have been able to be located in this whole damn time," General Bragg huffed in frustration, "General Coleman, if we discharge him now, with his affairs and bank info still being processed through the American Embassy in Germany where he was stationed, he'll be on the streets."

General Coleman groaned, "This isn't just my choice, this is from higher up."

"And it's a stupid choice!" Dr. Combs snapped back. "That overseas paperwork can take months to go through even in the best circumstances! But now we must take into account the tribunal they formed to investigate his strange disappearance! You want this kid to be on the streets that long with no access to his military pension and amnesia on top of everything else! You think he'll last long?!"

"It's the final word," Coleman said curtly, "If you can find him a place willing to take him in here, fine. But otherwise, we drop him off at the front gate."

Steven's brain was still fuzzy from lack of sleep, so he could only numbly stare at the open door feeling hollow after hearing the grim news. So much for saving the kid's life. The argument carried on, but he was no longer listening. He had a hard time not placing himself in Ben's unfortunate shoes. If these meds didn't work, and Steven was still unable to function, it was only a matter of time before he was booted from service as well. But at least he had decades of money and a generous pension waiting for him at the end of that road. Ben would only access his own funds after it was passed through about a million bureaucratic hang ups, and he still wouldn't have much to show for it for only a few years in.

Steven forced his focus away from the room, deciding there wasn't much else he could do for the kid anyway. He had his own problems after all- Oh no…

The young soldier in question sat not far away in the waiting room, fully in ear shot of the meeting determining his fate. No longer clothed in hospital garb, he sat in his uniform and dog tags, the only things he had to his name. His usual happy go lucky nature was on hold as he listened to the argument in silence.

Steven had no idea what he would say to the young man, but he found himself wandering away from the pharmacy regardless and approached him. "Corporal Ben Gilvezan," he greeted.

The kid looked up, taken a little off guard by his assigned designation. Steven assumed it would be strange hearing a name you couldn't recall owning, but having the world insist it was yours. Interestingly, Ben smiled at him warmly despite the circumstances. Considering everything going on, he didn't have any obligation to be so cheerful. "Commander Welker! Nice to see you again. What brings you here? Checking on more losers you fished out of the ocean?"

"No, this trip regarded myself."

Ben's expression fell. "Oh, dang, hope you're alright."

Really? The kid had no bright future, but he was worried about Steven? How had he lasted so long in military service with that kind of optimistic attitude? "It was just a routine exam," he explained away. He considered asking if Ben had heard anything of that argument, but he didn't bother. Of course he had heard it. Basically, the whole first and second floor of the hospital had. Dr. Combs' voice could travel. "What do you plan on doing from here?" he asked instead.

Ben sighed as he leaned back in the waiting room chair, "I'm not too worried about it. Just wait for the paperwork they say I have to go through. Also, they are looking into my whole crazy maritime adventure. I guess to make sure I didn't abandon my post. I hope I didn't anyway… Not like I could recall even if I did. But they may dig up more info I could go by. In the meantime, General Coleman said there was a shelter in town that would take me in. I'll probably pick up an odd job someplace. I mean, I don't exactly recall what my skills are, so that may take a little time. But hey, glass half full, I don't remember what my dislikes are either, so the world's my oyster!"

"That is, idiotically naive," Steven admitted. That was also too harsh to say to the poor kid so down on his luck, but a lack of sleep had eroded his mental filter.

But somehow maintaining a beacon of absurd positivity, Ben just laughed at the observation. "Yeah, probably. But again, if I was always an idiot, I guess I wouldn't know. It'll be one hell of an adventure finding myself. I'm sure I'll pick up a few good friends to have my back along the way. If they don't mind dealing with my dumb ass."

The argument in the background muffled. Someone had taken the initiative to close the door and give the surrounding military hospital some peace. Despite the sudden quiet, Steven was reeling inside. Recent memory of the letter burning the back of his brain like someone was putting out a cigarette in his gray matter. That letter he wrote himself told him to 'find the idiot.' His worsening insanity aside, he was convinced the idiot in question was this kid. Well, he found him. Now what was he meant to do with him? Save his life, then send him out into the world without a penny to his name or any prospects of a fighting chance at a normal life? Was it really his business? He supposed, it became his business when he chose to save his life.

"Wait here a moment," he ordered Ben. He marched off before Ben could question him. Steven arrived at the door to the Doctor and two General's argument and let himself in. His arrival jarred the shouting to a sudden stop as they all turned to take him in.

"Welker?" Bragg said in relative confusion.

Steven nodded to his commanding officer before stating to the room, "I'm sorry for the intrusion, and overhearing, though it was hard not to. But if it would be approved, I am willing to house Corporal Gilvezan until his affairs are in order."

---

Date: December 20th 2020

Soundwave

Over the short human decade, few times had Earth ever been daunting to him purely on sight. But as he locked onto its familiar coordinates, he found himself very uneasy. There was literally no point in being nervous. This was just an experiment. And a very low risk one at that. Holoforms were absolutely nothing new to his species. And as much as it pained him to admit it, and only to himself in his head, Jazz was right. They used them often to scout out other worlds and blend in before committing to landing down in their natural, massive forms.

Rhea did risk much more each time they tested her Cybertronian body. Now that Autoclave and Shockwave had pooled their collective knowledge, that risk was lowered, but it was never zero. Plus, When Rhea transferred her mind and soul, it was really her. She felt everything, heard, saw, and experienced being Cybertronian and had from the first test. Cybertronian holoforms were very limited. He would be able to feel, but to a very restricted degree. He would still have all his Cybertronian systems and scanners and advantages, but just through a shorter, disguised holographic semi physical form. This was nothing by comparison. Hence why it would be easy. He told himself that, anyway.

Now all that was left was to pick a place to wander… With his whole unfortunate company of Autobots in tow. With Arcee there, he would be on edge. Add Bumblebee, and he would be irritated but at the very least amused. Jazz was the x factor he would not be able to tolerate. But he was there, excitedly chatting with Bumblebee about this or that regarding their view.

As per his condition, they had bridged far from any of their human wards. He also made sure to use a Decepticon based Groundbridge to warp in. The Concurrence would have a harder time seeing anything of the Decepticon's on their scanners. The Autobots had never bothered hiding their activities from the human government, but Soundwave didn't want the nosy organization involved in this thought experiment. It broke about every one of their endless rules.

He hadn't really cared where on Earth they would go, so Arcee picked a place. Some local human gathering space in a state called Minnesota. She said it should be quiet enough. It probably didn't matter where they went. But wherever they ended up, Soundwave had requested their humans not accompany them. It was a stipulation for the Autobots being allowed to come, and to keep their mouth plates shut. Just as them tagging along was a stipulation for him to use their holoform schematics at all.

Their human wards would be too busy to notice their absence anyway. Rhea and Raf had been personally called by the Concurrence leader Shawn to help his team with another strange transmission emitting from Earth, possibly from the trapped and exiled Prime, Megatronus. So much for hoping the ancient Prime had starved into permanent stasis.

Soundwave had been wary of Rhea's involvement, but they weren't working to free him. They intended to locate his dimension and possibly close it for good. This was due to the fact the most recent transmission sent out was similar to the one once blasted out ten orbital cycles, causing the whole Autobot Prison ship The Alchemor to crash land. Because of its similarity to that incident, all nearby Cybertronian vessels had been grounded. As it happened, Thunderblast and Clobber were one of those ships, now stuck on Earth, waiting to get the all clear to head back out. It was plenty to distract the humans.

Putting aside the understandable reason for Rhea's absence, he didn't want Rhea knowing he was doing this. She would want to be with him. She would insist upon it. He so desperately wanted her there. But that would be proving Arcee right. He could do this alone. He also had Laserbeak… Or, more or less, he had Laserbeak.

'I will be vigilant in watching your proper chassis until you return, Master,' Laserbeak promised.

Gazing down from their rooftop vantage point over the human city, Soundwave was feeling his Spark twisting in its chamber. 'It is not too late for me to put together an avatar for you too,' He offered.

'Absolutely not,' Laserbeak asserted, as if Soundwave had just suggested he try to take an oil bath in molten metal. 'I have no desire whatsoever and still do not grasp why you are going through this exercise. Rhea is becoming Cybertronian. We are not becoming human. Thankfully so. I would never mentally recover if I knew that was even a possibility. It will be bad enough I will be experiencing the feedback through you.'

'I am not 'becoming' human,' Soundwave reminded him.

'Again, thankfully so.'

'But, I want to at least see things from her perspective… I think it will help me understand better.'

'The Autobot Arcee has corrupted your judgment,' Laserbeak snorted.

'Possibly,' Soundwave agreed as he knelt, not wanting to be spotted by the humans below. 'But this will be fine. It is nothing I can't handle.'

'Unnecessary,' Laserbeak vented.

'Rhea has done beyond this in equivalent. I should know what it's like in kind… We both should.'

'Whatever you say, Master. Just be aware, I am perfectly comfortable being a hypocrite if the alternative is… this.'

"What a nifty little place," Jazz said, already grating on Soundwave's nerves as he loomed over the tall building's edge beside him. "Scrap, these humans can cram into an area… What's this city called?"

Arcee and Bumblebee exited the portal and it swirled into nothing behind them. "Bloomington. I picked it at random." Arcee insisted. It was an odd detail for her to include, but Soundwave was far too preoccupied with his nerves to think much of it. She was also pulling something small from her subspace. Again, Soundwave didn't care to find out what she had brought along on the venture.

"They always this festive?" Jazz hummed.

"It's a popular holiday soon," Bumblebee answered this time. "I forget which. I know the Rescue Bots in Maine celebrate it every year with the Burnes family… That reminds me, why didn't we go to Griffin Rock? It probably would have been simpler." and that question was aimed at Arcee just as she was dropping whatever she had brought off the building and onto the ground.

She looked around at her company, and Soundwave was quick to note the smallest smirk she was failing to hide. He couldn't decide what it meant because her field was flat to her plating. "I don't know. This place just called to me."

Her suspicious nature aside, Soundwave decided it was about time to get this over with. Which was not a great way to conceptualize this experiment, considering its significance.

He activated the holoform protocol. Shutting down certain systems to engage with the holographic drone, his sight faded to darkness.

And then he was looking up at himself, his perspective at the level of his own peds. His optics were hidden behind his visor band, but his body above was kneeling and still. Already, he was uncomfortable.

'Unsettling,' Laserbeak noted with an inward shutter he was able to still feel through the bond. The perspective had done nothing to affect their connection. He wasn't sure if anything really could.

He looked down from his new perception and saw dark human hands. Just as the avatar was meant to look. He could see around it, not limited to a human's perspective even when in the avatar. His normal scanner readings told him the temperature was cold, so his avatar gave the illusion of wearing a dark brown coat over its simple long clothes. He didn't feel that cold beyond what he was used to in his actual body.

"What in the pits?" He heard Bumblebee snicker with a giddy glee. He turned, or rather, his holoform did. He saw the Autobots, much as he was, in varying levels of stillness. Optics dark or closed. But a human with black skin and a far to childish smile was standing there now. He was turning around himself, admiring his yellow jacket and stomping his human boots. Bumblebee looked thoroughly impressed.

Another form materialized. A human female, tan skin, slicked back short hair and sharper features. The motorcycle get up was replaced with baggy clothes to ward off the assumed cold. The human depiction of Arcee gave herself a quick once over, shrugged, but otherwise seemed happier to watch Bumblebee admire his new form, leaning against her own ped.

And then the final member of their fake human company arrived from the air. Tall, dark, and dressed in white with dark shades and a smile. Jazz glanced between his hands and his true face above him. "Trippy as the pits." He said with a laugh. He even tested the holoform's capabilities by knocking on his own ped. It made contact, managing a solid interaction. Good, so they were working at least.

"When can we show these off to the kids?" Bumblebee demanded as he spun around just to watch his yellow coat twirl.

"Later," Soundwave snapped, hearing it come from his avatar's mouth and finding that very unnerving.

'It looked as strange as it felt,' Laserbeak promised from his vantage point still docked on Soundwave's actual torso.

Ignoring that, Soundwave continued to address the flaunting Autobot. He had started to try catching the snow that was falling in his holohuman's hands. "Recall my condition to not inform them-"

"Arcee, look!" Bumblebee pointed to the woolly hair on his head, that had started to collect a down of white ice crystals. "It made a hat!"

Arcee's holoform snorted a laugh before walking over to ruffle the snow from his fake hair. "I hardly would even guess you aren't human myself."

Bumblebee swatted at the snow above him, then tried to catch them on his human tongue. "I see Raf doing this when he Groundbridges to snowy places!" He informed them all, his mouth still hung open. "I don't know why, but it looks funny."

"We going down now?" Jazz demanded. His human self had its hands in his pockets and was already poised on the edge of the building, ready to jump down. "I wanna see and talk to the locals."

"Talk?" Soundwave echoed with a snarl, "We are to maintain a low profile. There will be as little human interaction as possible."

"I thought humans talked to each other," Jazz pointed out with a pout, eyeing a good place to land. "Plus, we look the part. No one will suspect a thing."

Soundwave glanced Bumblebee, who was giggling to himself and now rolling around in the accumulated snow. Arcee hurried over, remarkably well adapted to mimicking human movement as she snatched Jazz by the back of his coat before he could dive off. "Hey show off, not smart. You want to fit in? Don't jump off the building and superhero land in the street. This fall is fatal for the locals."

Pouting, Jazz stepped back from the ledge.

Soundwave glanced down into the street as well. It was odd, how much more a distance it was from this new perspective. He spotted an alley off the path between buildings, hidden well enough other humans wouldn't notice them materialize out of thin air. He readjusted the coordinates and loaded the protocols once more. Darkness, then he was reoriented on ground level in the shadow of the structure. The other's followed his example.

Arcee was picking up whatever she had let drop from the roof and stuffing it away in her holoform's coat. Bumblebee found more stuff to amuse himself. Namely, a stray feline who hissed the moment they appeared. "You guys, look, it's what Miko has at her house in Tokyo! These things are usually so fragging small! I can pick it up in both hands now!" The cat bolted before he could even try, and he had been ready to attempt it.

Soundwave ignored the Autobots, all snickering and having a grand old time. He was now staring at the street ahead, the many humans hurrying past and hunkered down in coats against the cold. Fog huffed from under scarves and talking mouths… Scrap! The condensation cloud immitted from most Earth life forms while in a colder climate. He had forgot to add that detail. Their human forms imitated breathing, (he didn't feel it, it was strictly aesthetic) but they would fail to produce similar puffs of frozen condensation when speaking, or 'breathing.' What else did he not think to add? Would it give them away?

"No time like the present. Let's roll out," Arcee encouraged, giving Soundwave's fake shoulder an encouraging bump. He sort of registered the touch. Mostly through a secondary proximity sensor. It was muted, and barely registered. Not exactly 'authentically human.' Not that he would know, even if it were. He also couldn't tell if Arcee was being genuine, or, had some other hidden agenda behind that smile.

Jazz sauntered out onto the sidewalk and gazed up at the looming human buildings. "Love it already!" And like the true idiot he was, he zeroed in on the first human he spotted. A woman, maybe Rhea's age, seated at a bus stop and scrolling on her phone. "Hey pretty thang. I'm new to the area. Any place you recommend sightseeing?"

She blinked at him, looked him up and down, then put her phone away, "Where you from?"

"Off world," he said with a shrug. "Just taking in the sights. So far, I like what I see," And he even lowered his shades to wink at her.

She laughed, probably assuming he was joking. Soundwave also noted her temperature rising under her coat. "Downtown's fun… I'm going bar hopping later after work. Here," she scribbled a series of numbers on a scrap paper she pulled from her purse then handed it to him. "Call me after six. I'll show you around."

He glanced at the paper, crumpled it, but repeated the sequence out loud perfectly. "Already committed to memory. I know an important number when I see one."

Her blood flushed to her face again. She even winked back at him before boarding the bus that arrived.

Jazz waved her off, but soon was under the smoldering glare of Arcee. "Delete the comm. Right now."

"But-" he started to protest with a scowl.

"You and she are about a million light years apart in expectations for what you'll be doing after she gets off work."

"So? You think that was the first organic alien I've flirted with?" Jazz retorted.

"I don't even want to think about it," Arcee huffed, Soundwave now painfully aware how none of them were producing fog as they supposedly exhaled. "Come on guys. Before Jazz breaks any more Sparks… Or hearts in this case."

She started down the sidewalk, seeming confident in her destination despite claiming she had picked the city at random. Bumblebee finally emerged behind Soundwave, who was still hesitating in the entrance to the alleyway. Bumblebee had collected a human's arm worth of snow into packed balls and was determined to carry them. Soundwave left him and Jazz to trail Arcee, his scanners on their highest setting so he could sense as much of the environment as he could.

'Return soon, Master… But remain vigilant on Jazz. And inform me if he or the other Autobot's accidently break the Treaty on this journey. I have my blasters idle and locked on Jazz's Spark.'

Soundwave just nodded to himself, not in the mood for jokes.

'I wasn't joking,' was Laserbeak's parting comment before he refocused on the human city.

He didn't even like crowds on Cybertron. The unfamiliarity of the environment did not help his already present anxiety. He cranked up his holoform's audios to better maintain vigilance of those chatting around him. It gave him some peace of mind.

He stopped short, because Arcee had. She was giving him an amused look that made him instantly defensive.

"What?" He growled.

"I can hear your audio feedback," She explained.

"I would assume so. It is set high. Humans in proximity still won't be able to detect it," He assured her.

"Not why I mentioned it, though it's loud enough I'd be surprised if they couldn't," she snickered. When he just stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate, she gave him a shrug, "I just thought, the point of this exercise, was to try to experience what a human does… Human's don't have super hearing."

"It's not 'super,'" Soundwave pointed out. It was his average hearing. And sight, and sensors… Ok. Point taken. He might as well have been tromping down the sidewalk in his normal chassis.

"But it's yours," she said.

"What do you recommend?" He vented. Again, annoyed no fog was produced by the action.

"I've turned mine way down," She said, "Same with my visuals. And proximity scanners."

Soundwave didn't feel his holoform frowned, but it did, because he would be if it were his real faceplates. "How low have you set them?"

"At least down to ten across the board."

Soundwave couldn't hide his horror. Cybertronians could adjust their senses, save for their pain receptors, which could only be medically deactivated by outside intervention. Usually, his species could walk around casually with audio, visual and magnetic field set to 50% capacity. For enhanced sensory input, and depending on build and specialty, it could be tuned up to at least 70% before becoming uncomfortable. Soundwave was a leader and an ex Gladiator who specialized in surveillance and espionage work for eons, so he was most comfortable around 85%. And that was just his everyday setting.

Now, they were all cranked to maximum, and he was just ok to ignore the processor ache the extreme input was causing.

But again, annoyingly, she was right. This was far from the human experience. 10%... sounded about accurate. So, he turned it all down.

And the world may as well have been drowned in shadow and cold silence. He instantly tuned it all back up on instinct. Arcee grinned at him. She could hear the audio feedback again.

Maybe he would try 30%. That was probably… fine.

35.

He'll start with 40.

He couldn't make out the individual ice crystals falling from the upper atmosphere anymore. They were just white flakes slowly piling into Bumblebee's fake hair. The colors dulled to a depressing level. The air flow from the cars in the street became hard to determine. He could still make out the individual voices of most everyone up and down the city block… humans couldn't do that.

With a determined growl, because he was annoyed he was struggling with this and the Autobot wasn't, he pressed the settings farther down. Primus, how did Rhea not bump into other humans just walking down the street? The world was so dark and undefined.

He couldn't manage to get farther below 34%. The Autobot was at 10 fragging percent. HOW?

But now the smug Autobot seemed satisfied, and she carried on. He found himself struggling to catch up. The elevation of the ground was unreliable… He was trying to read it with his holoform's peds alone. And the holoform had limited sensation. That probably evened it all out. Rhea would be able to feel the world… he couldn't right now. 34% would even out to a human equivalent with what he was working with. He convinced himself of that, anyway.

He needed to distract himself, but he also needed to focus. Don't fall forward. Don't bump into any humans. Don't appear out of place.

The day was already gray from the snow clouds, and now his sight was abysmal. How was he going to see when night fell?

Something slammed into his back, forcing him forward and his whole system went into a panic. He hadn't even meant to revert all his sensors back up, but he did it the moment something infiltrated his personal area. And of course, that something was Bumblebee. Due to dampening his senses, he hadn't been ready, not even hearing it coming. That was not a comfortable sensation.

He turned that discomfort into a much more useful emotion. Anger. And he aimed it all at the childish, snickering Autobot as he stuttered out an apology for the collision. But before Soundwave could demand an explanation or shove the Autobot's holoform into the street in the path of oncoming traffic, Bumblebee vented a gasp and ducked away. Soundwave's awareness was at least improved due to his sensory settings returning to normal, so he had warning this time. He slapped the projectile before it could crash into him. No way to shoot it down before impact. Holoforms weren't armed.

Even though he intercepted it, the projectile still exploded. Instead of fire and shrapnel, it was ice crystals that powdered Soundwave's fake body the moment his hand smacked it into wet slush. Jazz and Bumblebee were hurling their collected balls of snow at each other, and Soundwave had been caught in the crossfire.

"Stop!" Soundwave hissed at them both, "You're making fools of yourselves and drawing unnecessary attention to us!"

Bumblebee and Jazz stalled their epic battle of ice and laughter to give him a glance. "It's fine Soundwave," Bumblebee insisted, and he was still smiling, "I see Miko and Jack do this all the time when they are in the snow. It's a human thing."

With a sustained glare aimed at the two fools, he got back to his original self-appointed challenge by turning his senses back down. This time, he kept it at 40%.

It was still terrible. Following Arcee, who appeared on a mission marching through the human city with a destination only she knew. He didn't care if they ended up anywhere. He could only focus on the right now and seeing through the now thicker snowfall. He had turned it lower, because Arcee beating him on this bugged him endlessly.

Studying the city was harder now. Things moved too quickly to really appreciate them. Human faces blurred together. He couldn't reliably log any in long term, or even short-term memory. Some things stuck out. He picked out the oddities. Obviously bright cars, swerving through the slickening streets among the gray and black and white of the other vehicles. More humans than he expected had a dog, walking alongside them and chained to them with a rope. Most of the dogs he observed were remarkably similar to Thunderblast's pet in basic demeanor. But those here on the streets were far more well behaved. They also exhaled with heavy pants, making fog their holoforms could not replicate…

'Master,' Laserbeak moaned, sounding absolutely miserable. 'I am not inclined to ask this favor, but please at least partially close the Bond. With everything happening on your end, I feel like I am going to crawl out of my plating.'

Fair enough. His poor minicon didn't ask for this. He obliged Laserbeak's request and closed all but their mental link for direct conversation, after sending an apologetic pulse first.

This was fine. He was getting used to it. He still hated it, but he was adapting. He found himself falling back on old habits to get him through it, and that was to listen. He absorbed audibly all he could at least close to him. He couldn't pick out the background noise as usual, but it was something to focus on.

They were stopped amongst a crowd. Arcee was waiting for a stoplight. Soundwave was listening to a human man talking on his phone about getting his taxes done early because he would be damned if they audited him again. On his left, a woman spoke with another lady. The two shared the same skin pigment; they were either related or from a similar ethnic background. They were talking about starting on the food for a wedding, technically in a different dialect from the man on the phone, but Soundwave could still understand them just the same.

He felt drowned in the crowd, but being so close, he could at least focus on their words…

"Have I ever asked how many languages Rhea knows?" Arcee asked absolutely out of nowhere. No, not nowhere. He found her casually looking at the two women as they carried on planning their upcoming event.

He had to think about that. It was easy to forget, but humans shared an assortment of languages. His translator worked wonders to piece it all together in nanokliks. But, "Her main language is English. She knows Cybertronian, of course. She is at least conversational in Laserbeak's binary code."

Arcee continued to look at the two women, long enough where if they turned to notice, it would probably be considered rude. He had a sinking feeling where this question was headed.

"It occurs to me… humans don't have universal translators," her human eyes glanced him from the side, "I'm going to turn mine off. More human like, right? English is the local dialect; I'll stick with that."

No. There was no way he would turn off his translator. He was already basically blind and unbalanced and half deaf. He needed to understand the information he was gleaning. And now that he was focused on it, the women talking about the wedding were not the only ones having a conversation outside of English. There were smaller, louder humans waiting on the same sidewalk for the light to turn. Children. A group of them were talking in a different dialect. He still understood them.

Arcee was looking at him expectantly. He only frowned as she shrugged. "No pressure. I totally get it. It's already hard for me… If you need to lean on your Cybertronian advantages, no big deal."

She was testing him. Of course, she was. And the unspoken, not so subtle challenge got under his plating back on the rooftop where he abandoned Laserbeak and his real body. Fine. He didn't need it.

He went into his language files, only left Cybertronian and English active, and shut down all the rest.

The now laughing women's conversation dropped into total gibberish. The pack of children carried on in a rush of odd vowels and sounds. This clipped ability was more painful than he was ready for. He wasn't used to not knowing what was being said around him. He was missing vital context.

"Havaee jahaaj!"one of the children shouted to their similarly sized associates. They jumped up and down in the snow and pointed skyward. "Aasamaan kee or dekho!"

No matter how hard he tried, he understood none of that. But context soon came in the form of a rumbling in the ground. A few other humans glanced up, so Soundwave followed the example. Under normal circumstances, he would have heard the jets coming from miles away. But they were screaming overhead and out of sight within moments, much to the delight of the group of children as they continued to babble in their unknown language. If they had intended to drop bombs or open fire on the crowded streets, he wouldn't have known until it was too late.

"Wonder if that was Jetfire?" Bumblebee said. "He lives on Earth off and on." He sounded like he was joking, but now Soundwave wasn't sure. He could only see the blurry contrails left behind in the sky. Had that been Cybertronians, or just Earth arial vehicles? He had no way of knowing. That was the worst experience so far. Not being able to pick out his people amongst the objects. He had dimmed his magnetic field; he could barely sense the three Autobots around him. Glancing around at the many honking cars and trucks… So, this was what it felt like to be a human with the knowledge a technologically advanced alien race could hide in plain sight. It was unsettling.

"Where are we going?" Bumblebee finally felt like asking of their prompt to leader. They crossed the road with the pack of humans… Soundwave noticed there were somehow more humans here. Hopefully they would get out of this growing crowd.

"A place I wanted to see. I looked it up before we started moving…" She explained, though didn't mention what that place would entail or how far it was from their current location.

"You going by your navigational HUD?" Bumblebee asked, "Not very human of you," he teased, much as she had been doing to Soundwave this whole outing. Soundwave hadn't thought the younger bot had been paying attention. Well, at least somebot was on his side.

Arcee glanced back with a wry smirk, "I'm pretending I have a cell phone. Miko can't get anywhere without hers."

Clever. She found a reasonable work around for that cheat. His mental maps of the city didn't do him much good though. He still didn't know where they were going.

"Hey, those look familiar, eh?" Jaz snickered, slapping Bumblebee a few times to get his attention and pointing across the opposite street.

Soundwave had heard some commotion, though muffled. But now they were closer, and the single distorted human voice became clear above all others. Obnoxiously clear. A man with unkempt facial hair and a disheveled coat stood on a crate while shouting into a loudspeaker, "Get off our planet!" he hissed. The warped signage he wielded and shook over the passing crowd depicted the familiar sigils of the Decepticons and Autobots, both crossed out with black paint. "They're growing in numbers, Minnesota! Make peace with your God, ma'am! Sir? How do you know your car isn't one of them?! Fight for our world America!" Mostly, every human carried on as if he were just whistling wind howling for attention. But there were a few lurking near him. Some were reading something else he had posted, which Soundwave couldn't see from his vantage point, or they were dropping money into a jar at the man's feet.

"Imm'a talk to him," Jazz said behind a big smirk.

Both Arcee and Bumblebee snatched him by either arm before he could commit to that idiotic plan.

"He's clearly having a bad day, let's not dampen it further," Bumblebee pleaded.

"He would slap you with his anti-bot sign and you would totally deserve it," Arcee pointed out.

"Come on, nobot here isn't curious? Like, does he not have a job? IS this his job? Which bot hurt him so bad," Jaz carried on, almost losing it with laughter.

"Ya know, as chaotic as that sounds, this was supposed to be an observational thing we hijacked from Soundwave," Bumblebee said, even though he too was still grinning along with Jazz's antics. "Maybe we not draw that kind of attention to ourselves… Soundwave, how about you take the lead for… Soundwave?"

He wasn't exactly listening to them anymore. He had retreated from their small group, finding a somewhat quiet stretch of sidewalk away from the flow of foot traffic. He would just collect himself. Then he could carry on.

But now all he could think about was Rhea. She had done this equivalent on Cybertron and was fine. He could do it too. What she did was far more challenging, she had put her actual body at risk. What if her bubble had broken? Or she was crushed. But she made it all the way to downtown Kaon and hadn't turned back, all without his help. She wouldn't have had to do that if he hadn't set those parameters. If she hadn't needed a reason to go search out Autoclave in Starscream's stronghold. She must have been horrified. But she didn't stop.

If he couldn't handle this stupid outing, how could he accompany her on Earth based recreations, so she didn't have to go alone?

"You ok?" Bumblebee was asking him, in his face and line of sight.

Soundwave just stared at him. He didn't have to answer. He couldn't find his voice.

Bumblebee's strange human face pursed his lips, then he looked to the others, "Um, I think we should call it a day. Let's find a place out of sight to disengage the holoforms and head back…"

"What, why? I'm having fun," Jazz complained.

Of course, Jazz was enjoying himself. Everybot here was fine, accept Soundwave. And now Bumblebee knew it and pitied him for it.

Soundwave pushed past Bumblebee's concern, and his holoform. He would carry on… At least he would match the same distance Rhea traveled in a Cybertronian city as a human. Maybe doing so would free him from a fraction of the guilt he carried for making her feel like she had to do that.

That resolve started to crumble when they arrived at the destination Arcee was interested in seeing. The crowd had not thinned. It had only grown in ludicrous numbers. They were all fighting against the traffic to converge on a massive structure. At least massive to a human standard. But, as he was sharing that perspective currently…

Humans and dogs were everywhere, and cars clogged the streets. Screaming, shouting, honking, flashing lights, bells, singing. Without Soundwave's higher senses, he couldn't differentiate any of it. He had to fight against every instinct he had to return his senses to normal.

"Arcee?" Bumblebee said as they stood taking in the intimidating structure. "Where are we?"

Arcee shrugged her human shoulders, "A mall, or at least I think that's what they are called. Miko likes them. Humans go here to shop, eat, hang out. Ya know, human stuff. Thought it was a good place to try."

Bumblebee gained a far-off look. He was probably looking something up. Soundwave didn't really care. He was trying hard to just keep it together. His eyes cleared, and he gave Arcee a pursed look. "Cee… The internet says this is the largest mall of its kind in the whole country. At the busiest time of year."

Jazz was just casually smiling with his hands in his coat pocket as he gazed to Arcee. Soundwave on the other hand was now actively glaring at her.

Her human face fained total ignorance, "Really? Wow, what a coincidence. I guess I see how the holiday would make it busy… But are we still going? I want to see what's inside."

Soundwave felt like a total fool as he realized what the Autobot had been up to. There had been no way she had been comfortable doing this exercise. Dampening her Cybertronian senses to bait him to do the same and seeking out the most horrid place she could on this side of the planet. And he had stepped right into the charade, because no matter how uncomfortable she was inside, it was apparently a small price to pay to assure he was as miserable as possible.

But backing out was never an option, even considering this new revelation. He had never been under any false pretenses he would enjoy this. So, he stormed past them to join the oblivious crowd. Maybe they were following him, he couldn't really pick out their holoform's individual steps from all the other white noise. But a quick glance behind himself confirmed they were.

It was an odd dichotomy, having Arcee and the other two fools here. And only after walking through the packed entrance amid shoving humans, he quietly acknowledged he preferred them there. Even though Arcee had planned this. Despite their Autobot affiliation. Others of his kind were here. He wasn't a single imposter who had no idea how to fit in amongst a sea of aliens.

Under a metal arch there was a concrete courtyard with individual packs of humans. Street performers and singers. There was even another disheveled human screaming about the evils of hidden aliens. A touch ironic, but that wasn't for them to know as Soundwave trekked by quickly. Dogs were here too. Thunderblast was not alone in her appreciation for the quadrupedal species.

Soundwave jolted from his spiraling panic when a proximity warning blared. An arm had wrapped around one of his holoform's. It was Arcee. "You're walking too fast. It's making you stick out. People are looking," She decided to tell him with a smile. Had that been true? Probably not. But he did slow his pace just in case. She was also pulling Bumblebee along. He was busy looking up at the tall ceilings like an idiot. Soundwave had lost sight of Jazz. Good. In spite of his previous want for other Cybertronians to be present, he could do without that one. "This is fun. We should try this again tomorrow. How about Tokyo? Miko is always talking about how great that is… Oh! We should buy something. That will make us look the part," Arcee encouraged their little tourist group.

"And how do you intend to do that?" Bumblebee asked.

Arcee rolled her eyes, "What? Nobot else thought to bring along human currency?" She fished into her jacket and produced a foldable carrier. Soundwave knew Rhea had one too. Most of their humans had it. A wallet, he was certain it was called. So that was what Arcee had pulled from her subspace and dropped on the ground…

"And where in Primus name did you get that?" Bumblebee said.

"Jack. Duh. I just didn't mention why I needed it and promised to explain later," She snickered.

"Do whatever you please," Soundwave huffed as he attempted to maintain his pace with the flow of foot traffic. He was now hyper aware of his speed. "I am only here to observe."

"Lots of minicons about," Came Jazz's observation. He had snuck back into their proximity without Soundwave noticing. Much was their status quo through the war. "Or, whatever the little humans are called."

"Kids," Arcee explained, "They make them in a crazy process you don't want to know the details of."

Jazz looked beyond his shades at her with an offended huff, "I already said I've been around loads of organic and non-organic species. It can't be any more whack than the process some species use to procreate. Take this one group I was hangin' with for a while. Not even organic but not biomechanical like us. They was a shapeshiftin' lot made up of a mix of different crystalline structures and light particles. Injected the building blocks of their 'offspring' into the ground of an unsuspecting organic world and said offspring would zap the life force from it until they burst out all ready to take on the universe. Can the humans top that?"

And on the tail end of that alien anatomy lesson, Arcee pulled them all off the path. Soundwave was grateful to be out of the crowd, at least somewhat. But she was headed for a collection of screaming humans with intense interest. More of these kids. Jazz's previous observation was astute. They were very reminiscent of minicons. It was far from the first time Soundwave had a similar observation, but this was the closest he had been to a swarm of them.

The older humans had at least fifty of the little things corralled into a fenced off area where they were playing or shouting or tackling each other. All as their human wards/spawners watched them. Or they scrolled through their phones and occasionally glanced up to make sure their little human clone was still alive in the brawl. They were the epitome of chaotic. Like a small swarm of Dark Energon driven Scraplets.

"I can't believe Jack wants one of these," Arcee laughed.

"He does?" Bumblebee gasped.

"He says his girlfriend does. I guess we just can't see the benefit. The kids were way older than these ones when we met them, thank Primus."

"That's crazy to think about," Bumblebee said with a shutter. "Imagine, one of our humans, making a little human. And it like, looks sort of like them? Weird."

"Each is own," Jazz said with a shrug, "Not judgin' from my end. Whatever gets ya through the grind of life."

Soundwave just settled on watching the small hoard as the Autobots swapped commentary. His focus found a human woman around the same age as Rhea. She had two of her spawn with her. As energized as the one that could walk was, the woman was less so. But she was still smiling through her clear exhaustion. Her other little human was so remarkably small, Soundwave almost missed them through the bundle of blankets strapped to her chest. It was reminiscent of Laserbeak's docking port. But unlike the well armored and flight ready minicon, this little creature was utterly defenseless. It looked as if it had just been created no more than a few months previous. It was odd to consider Rhea had been that small once.

The woman knelt so she could pull off the coat of her slightly larger spawn before they could join in the chaotic fray. "You did really well with Santa. So, you can play until daddy calls and we meet him for dinner," The woman explained to the child who was making the process of shedding her coat difficult as she bounced up and down on blinking sneakers.

"Then ice cream!" the little girl insisted, still bouncing which bobbed the round glasses on her face.

Her ward, mother, sighed, "Yep. Daddy did say that in front of you. So yes, ice cream."

With a triumphant shout the little girl charged into the horde of other kids, abandoning her mother and sibling.

The mother collected the shed coat left on the ground and wandered with her smaller one, finding a rare seat not very far from Soundwave's observing party. She sat, sighed deeply, then peeked at her child strapped to her chest. Its tiny face was relaxed, eyes closed and mouth agape. Sleeping. She wrapped her arms around it in a gentle embrace and settled back to watch her older one chase down a boy of a similar age in the kid pit.

"Rhea ever talk about wanting one?" Arcee asked.

Soundwave turned a little too quickly to face the Autobot. He had expected her smug sneer, but taking in her flat expression, he wasn't sure if that was worse.

"No. She has never mentioned such a desire to me," he said.

Arcee shrugged and returned her gaze onto the kids, "I guess that's lucky, for her mostly. I mean, what would you actually do if she did?"

"Let's go see other stuff!" Bumblebee was quickly yanking at them both. "You said you wanted to buy stuff, Cee. I want to see what you settle on!" He was grinning, but he was also dripping anxiety from his field. Even with senses stunted Soundwave recognized it. He was trying to distract from the trajectory of that conversation.

"I'm sensing tension," Soundwave heard Jazz whisper to Bumblebee.

"Yep, and we are going to avoid it at all costs," Bumblebee grumbled.

Soundwave didn't acknowledge that he heard them. He stopped looking at Arcee too.

Thankfully, Arcee didn't push it. She wandered, her own curiosity seeming to outshine her desire to torment him. She of course managed to track down a human garment that had the Autobot emblem on it and found it amusing enough to buy it with her borrowed currency. Soundwave gained at least a bit of satisfaction as she fumbled with figuring out the right amount. "Not from around here," she offered to the human she was buying the garment from, and it was somewhat convincing. She wasn't daunted by the set back. She plopped the human hat onto her head and snickered with her fellow Autobots.

How was this so easy for them?

He was no longer observing much of anything. He pulled away from their little merry huddle to find a place to hide. He still had about twenty kliks worth of distance he had to wander to match what Rhea managed in Kaon.

Had Rhea ever eluded she wanted to have children? He had never even thought to ask. He hadn't asked about a good deal of human related necessities. But perhaps it was a good thing he hadn't in this one instance, because Arcee was correct. What would he do if Rhea desired such a thing?

Bumblebee was talking to his back, but he didn't feel like listening.

---

Autobot Hanger, Nevada

Rhea

She was glaring at the screen, silently demanding the most recent series of codes to give up its secrets.

Raf arrived with the promised coffee and sat in the adjacent chair, "What I miss?" he hummed between sips.

Rhea angrily sipped at her beverage, "Just a whole lot of static… This is so much harder without using my translator… Ancient Prime or not, they couldn't have made it as easy as Soundwave's old message. I managed to unravel that SOS when I was seventeen. How is this harder?"

"At least the burst Megatronus sent out this time didn't crash any spaceships… We sent this most recent one to Shawn, right? His team wanted to look at it too."

"The more the merrier…" Rhea grumbled, "We may be losing our touch."

"WHAT?!" Miko's gasp entered the room before her fabulously dressed self did. "Our two nerds are admitting defeat. So, the world really is ending!" She flopped down onto the couch as Jack and two Cybertronians entered through their respectively sized doors. Thunderblast and Clobber. And of course D the dog, who was still 'undercover' according to Thunderblast. Right, they were grounded on Earth until they got the go ahead to join in the search for those still missing. It wasn't smart for any smaller vessels to wander in any part of space now. Not alone, anyway. Plus, with Megatronus' info burst around Earth, it risked bringing down their ship.

"I'm surprised Shawn isn't joining us here," Jack admitted from the couch. He sounded a little irritated, but Rhea was too busy to figure out why.

Miko laughed out loud, for some reason amused by his comment. "Very true! Rhea isn't wearing her skin much these days, let along here on Earth to hang out with. You would think he would jump on the chance."

Raf sighed from his place next to Rhea. Then finally, a silence fell over the hanger, only interrupted by Thunderblast's hushed chatter to Clobber, something about continued tweaks to D's defensive armor.

It was a tense silence. Something Rhea had come to recognize thanks to her years of feed back therapy. Something was up among the humans around her. And only after giving a glance in one of the many reflective monitors she was currently stationed at did she note it. Miko motioning to Rhea's back, and Jack's glare flung right back in response.

She fully turned around in her chair, "Wait, is this about me?" she demanded.

Miko threw up her arms in celebration, "She finally noticed!"

Jack proceeded to throw a couch cushion at Miko. Only after it hit its mark did he proceed to address Rhea. "It's more about Shawn, to be honest. You've been busy on Cybertron for the past few months, I didn't want to bother you with it."

Rhea rose a brow, "Bother me with what?"

Miko groaned loudly, head falling back in frustration, "Shawn's into you, girl! I get you have blinders on when it comes to this sort of thing but how have you not noticed?"

Rhea was fully taken aback by the absurdity of the accusation. "No he doesn't," she insisted quickly, "Why would you even think that? We are just work colleagues, and occasional coffee buddies."

"And he invites you to dinner whenever you're planet side," Miko pointed out, "Insists on paying every time."

"He has gone above and beyond to build a friendship with you, even going behind our backs to do it," Jack added, far less amused then Miko was.

"He's the head of the Concurrence and I am the human representative to the Decepticons," Rhea reminded them just as fast.

"And I'm one of the human representatives for the Autobots," Jack said curtly, "I don't think I spend a quarter of the time with this guy as he has arranged to be with you. And when I do see him, it's because I'm with you."

Now Rhea hesitated. She had to reframe her interactions with the man over the past year. "No… I mean, it's always been casual."

Raf sighed again, and turned from his own work to jump in, "Didn't he invite you on a getaway vacation to Europe as a Christmas gift? A sort of last hoorah for you being human?"

"He invited all of us, right?"

Raf shot her a pointed look, "Christmas is less than a week away. I have yet to receive the invite."

"Same," Miko said.

"Me either," Jack added.

Rhea clicked her teeth. "Crap," she leaned hard into the back of her chair and groaned. "Well, this makes everything awkward, doesn't it? Do you guys think Soundwave has noticed?"

Miko snorted a laugh, "Absolutely not. If there is anyone in the universe more clueless then you are when it comes to this kind of thing, it's Soundwave."

Rhea exhaled a little too long. Well, at the very least, the delicate relations between the Concurrence and one of the Decepticon Lords was not suddenly tense. She would assure it stayed that way the next time she found the time to let Shawn down gently. Or, talk to him about it and find out if it was even how he felt. She had always assumed Shawn was just an awkward dork like she was. She wasn't fully convinced that wasn't still the case. She hoped so anyway. Her friends were right. She was terrible at this.

"Well, thanks for pointing it out, I guess. Now let's never talk about it again," Rhea groaned as she closed her laptop, already aware continuing to work was out of the question.

"Topic change from potential awkward interactions? Great idea," Raf snickered.

"I've got one," Jack offered, and Rhea was happy to see the tension leave his shoulders too. It must have been on his mind for a while. "I haven't heard from Arcee all day. And you guys want to hear something odd? She asked for my wallet this morning. I almost don't want to know why."

"Internet shopping spree?" Miko assumed, "May want to peek at your credit card report."

Jack rolled his eyes, "And what in the world would she even buy? I'm just assuming she's planting some sort of defensive tech in it. She already did that to my bike. And my gun."

"I like human stuff, so I would use money to buy things!" Thunderblast intoned. She was snooping into the Autobot terminal and failing to get past the passcode. "But apparently, I'm banned from accessing your internet, again! All because I 'don't know what the hell I'm doing' according to that loser Fowler. Duh, hence why I'm learning through experience. If I want to read up on humanity, that's my Primus given right!"

"You were in the Pentagon database, Thunderblast," Jack reminded her with a sigh.

"Only because your word for that shape sounded like Lord Megatron. As a Con, I had to investigate." She huffed right back.

Raf's cell phone rang, and he almost didn't answer it in favor of his and Rhea's collective project he had returned his attention to. But a glance at the caller ID changed his mind. "Hey, Bee. What's up?"

Rhea just tuned into Thunderblast as she insisted to Jack there was nothing wrong with adding Cybertronian tech to an organic ward. In fact, she had already done so for D, and he was even more of a devastating force of nature because of it. She also tapped D's thick metal collar with it's simple golden Decepticon emblem on the front to emphasize the point. Rhea always guessed there was weaponry built into that collar, but it was good to have confirmation, just so she didn't touch it.

"I'm sorry, what is going on?" Raf demanded into his phone.

Alright, that didn't sound good. Rhea finally abandoned her worrying over her eventual awkward conversation with Shawn to instead look back at Raf. His face was absolutely flummoxed. Miko sat up, and even Thunderblast stopped her snooping to listen.

But Raf wasn't immediately helpful to satiate their collective curiosity. He just staired blankly at the wall, utterly stupefied, "That's a thing you guys can do?"

"what's up?" Miko demanded.

Raf pulled away the phone from his ear and switched it to speaker phone, so he didn't have to reiterate whatever Bumblebee was reporting.

'You know the thing Arcee could project while in vehicle mode that looked like a human rider?' Bumblebee's voice said through the speaker.

"Yeah?" Raf said, very hesitantly.

'Well… yeah, we can make them even more real to blend in. Interesting tech, I'll have to show you how we do it. BUT that's not why I'm calling. And technically, I'm breaking a promise to Soundwave by calling… Rhea isn't with you, right?"

And now everyone was looking at her, Raf openly wincing as he clearly regretted putting the phone on speaker.

"If she was, what isn't she supposed to hear?" Rhea snapped.

'Ah scrap,' Bumblebee vented with a hollow snicker.

She stood by Raf to better reach the phone, "What is going on? Start talking."

'Ok, so, we are using holoforms, the tech I just mentioned. It was just supposed to be an experiment, but I think it's too much for Soundwave to handle, but he's too stubborn to stop it. And Arcee is having too much fun egging him on. I wanted Jack to call her and have her knock it off or call her back to base for some random tasks so I can get him alone and convince him to leave."

"I'm still confused," Miko admitted as she shoved her way into hovering over the phone, "You are like, human?"

"It's a semi physical hologram," Clobber intoned over them, "Like a drone made of high charged Energon particles… Not really popular on our side, since disguise amongst other species is more an Autobot thing."

"Wait," Thunderblast gasped as she seemed to finally catch up, "You guys are all pretending to be human, stomping around a human city? Without me?! That is some scrap I want to do!"

'It's supposed to be a secret!' Bumblebee insisted.

"Why though?" Rhea demanded, crossing her arms as if he would be able to see her rising annoyance.

Bumblebee audibly vented a sigh, 'Well, putting aside this is probably breaking about one hundred Concurrence rules, I realize now this is something Soundwave wanted to do for you. When he was first downloading the specs in Iacon, I didn't think of that. My bad.'

"Where are you guys?" Jack was now asking. He looked equally irritated. She assumed it was at Arcee.

Bumblebee hesitated, but after he sighed again, he admitted, "It's a big mall in Minnesota."

Raf startled, "Mall of America? Why go there? And right before Christmas no less?"

'Yeah, Arcee's idea,' Bumblebee admitted.

"I'm going to kill her," Jack growled, already yanking his phone from his bag and dialing her number.

"Wait on that," Rhea told him before he could pull her contact info up, "Bumblebee, send your exact coordinates. We're coming there."

'Just, don't tell Soundwave I snitched,' Bumblebee chuckled nervously.

Coordinates appeared on the monitor. Rhea committed them to memory before heading to the Groundbridge hub in the next building over.

"Wait! I'm coming too!" Thunderblast insisted Clobber stumbling after her and D giving chase.

"You have a human suit too?" Rhea grumbled.

Thunderblast pouted, "No! It's something we have to design and then incorporate into our systems! I didn't even think about it! But I should have! And Sovereign Soundwave does it without me! I feel betrayed! I thought it was against Fowler's dumb rules about unregistered disguises!"

"It is," Raf insisted as he too hurried outside after them, "In fact, I think this is worse than the disguised as cars and jets the Concurrence set up. There is nothing in the database about you guys being able to look like humans."

"Probably why it's on the down low," Miko snickered. She was actively reapplying her makeup as she shuffle ran in her heeled boots.

"Then we keep it that way until we collect the bots," Jack grumbled, trying Arcee's number once more. The first two attempts had failed to go through. "Really, is she trying to piss off a Con lord enough to reignite the damn war? Is peace just boring to her?" he continued to gripe.

They arrived in the Ground and Spacebridge hub and found Ratchet at his usual work. The older Cybertronian gave them all an odd look as their mixed group burst in. After giving Thunderblast a suspicious glance, he looked down at the humans, "Do I even want to know?"

"You don't," Rhea assured him before typing the coordinates into the Groundbridge.

Miko leaned against Ratchet's ped casually, "You just stay here and keep Fowler from asking any questions. So, the less you know the better."

"They are going?" Ratchet made sure to ask and pointed accusingly at Thunderblast and Clobber.

Rhea looked up at them. Clobber was begging for them to stay behind, but Thunderblast looked ready to transform and fly through the bridge the second it would open. "Actually, they are."

"What?" Clobber whimpered.

Rhea turned from the monitor to address their group, "The Concurrence will know when the Groundbridge opens in a major human city. Hell, they may already know if the bots used one to get there in the first place. But Shawn already knows Thunderblast is crazy," She paused to look up at the Con general. Thunderblast shrugged as if in agreement, "And thanks to Fowler's insistence, Clobber is street legal. As long as they aren't trying to hide, them being there wouldn't break any rules. They can be a great distraction from the Concurrence officers in the area," She looked up to Clobber hopefully, "You have your license with you, right?"

"Um, yes? It's hanging from my rear mirror," Clobber admitted with a squeak, poking at a place on her chest.

Then she squealed again as Thunderblast grasped her in a hug, "Gah! Yes! This is going to be great! I never get to go to the cities! D! You get to show us around!"

Her dog barked wildly, oblivious to the situation but just matching his master's excitement.

"Minnesota in the winter," Jack reminded the room before they could rush to the portal. He threw coats at everyone he retrieved from the closest lockers. "I don't feel like ending this day with a trip to the hospital for frostbite."

Rhea didn't complain, silently zipping herself up in the coat before jumping back into activating the Bridge.

Miko frowned at the plain coat that would soon cover her elaborate fashion choices that day. "I think I would rather freeze."

"Oh really?" Raf said with a grin as he pulled on the military grade coat, "You ok to die from the cold before you see what the Bot's look like as humans?"

Miko moaned and pulled on the coat, "Lucky my curiosity is stronger than my pride to wear this horrid thing… The second we get into that mall I'm getting something better. As long as none of my fans recognize me."

"With Thunderblast and Clobber warping into the center of town?" Raf laughed, "I doubt anyone is going to be looking at you, Miko."

"How about we not Bridge right into the city center," Jack suggested. "Ya know, to give people time to not panic."

Rhea nodded. Their ridiculous rescue plan was as ready as it would get. She activated the Bridge to the sound of Ratchet's tired vent. "Optimus, why did you abandon me with all these lunatics?" He grumbled to the air.

Rhea left him to work out those details with the late Prime's memory. She hurried into the portal with her band close behind. It looked like Megatronus' latest frequency would have to wait.

And at once, she recalled why she didn't go out much, this time of year, especially.

She hadn't had time or the forethought to grab her noise canceling headphones. The crowd was already suffocating even as they stood hidden in an alley to avoid people noticing them Bridge in. She felt her brain pounding.

"You ok?" Jack was asking somewhere in the distance, despite him standing right next to her.

"Let's just find the bots," Rhea huffed, breathing through her rising anxiety.

And that was when the second Bridge opened after theirs closed. This one not at all hidden, but bursting open on the sidewalk before them. People gasped in alarm and shuffled backwards as Clobber's large, armored vehicle mode drove out onto the road, D stuck out her front window riding shotgun. "Sorry, excuse me," Clobber's voice squeaked as she found a place around the panicked drivers on the road.

Then fulfilling her role as the distraction, a Cybertronian jet came flying out of the portal, curved in the air before transforming into Thunderblast with a dramatic flutter of her wings. Those who hadn't just run were standing stupefied or snapping phone cameras and pointing. Thunderblast waved one of the Autobot Energon scanners she must have swiped from Ratchet's workstation, "No need to fear, my small human friends! I'm here on official Cybertronian business! We'll be out of your way in a moment!"

Cars pulled away if they were physically able to avoid the clearly Cybertronian vehicle rolling after the massive bot as she strolled down the road, all as Clobber continued to apologize to every car they passed.

That was their cue. Rhea hurried out onto the now cleared sidewalk, trying hard not to slip on the slush from Thunderblast's massive ped prints. And as she assumed, the Concurrence vehicles were not far. A line of them, already parked around the area, all hurried onto the road to stalk after the two mysteriously appearing Cons and their massive group of curious followers.

"They are already here?" Jack gasped as he watched the Concurrence vehicles give chase, "how did they know? I thought Bee said they covered their tracks?"

"Apparently not well enough," Raf huffed, looking at a human sized scanner of his own, "My only question: which signal do we follow?" There are four large Cybertronian Life signal's down the opposite direction, but there are four much smaller ones in the mall up ahead, and those are moving."

"It'll be the smaller ones," Thunderblast called back, having heard their conversation as she pretended to scan for nothing, "At least if you want to talk to them as holoforms. Their real bodies are the larger signal, but they will be lights out on that side."

'Rhea!?' Laserbeak's voice came through the translator with a tone of utter relief, 'I am so glad you have come to rescue me! Master is being hysterical and refuses to see reason! I am with his real chassis at the following coordinates, but he has some sort of point to prove that escapes me!'

"And he isn't listening now?" She assumed when Soundwave failed to answer to the commentary.

'Because I demanded he shut the Bond! I could not take the feedback!' Laserbeak explained.

"Hang in there, I'll go get him, then we can get out of here." Rhea promised, just as the jets above started roaring.

Thunderblast was already looking up and smiling as the lead jet circled, but she was busy talking to the humans around her peds, "Yeah, it's probably just a cash of Energon tectonic activity brought closer to the surface. Nothing to worry about… We can suck it out, no big deal… Oh yeah, that's my dog riding shotgun in my Conjunx Clobber over there. He's on official Decepticon business too. Don't know what I'd do without them both. My own personal muscle… Oh hold on, we have company."

And the jet above finally came swooping down past the buildings. It transformed in an unoccupied square before the Decepticon, much to the surprise, delight, terror of those around them. D snarled from Clobber's window, which she quickly had to roll up so he didn't lunge out to attack the airborne Autobot as he landed to loom over Thunderblast. Now the Concurrence agents really weren't happy, many calling in even more back up. Rhea and her small band's Groundbridge opening was long forgotten when faced with the bot spectacle unfolding on the sidewalk.

The newcomer was Jetfire, eyeing Thunderblast and Clobber very suspiciously as his team continued to lap the sky above.

Thunderblast threw out both servos, as if she were considering embracing him, "If it isn't my favorite traitor! Starscream's always asking about you! Where have you been, you goody goody bot?"

Jetfire seemed very hesitant to be standing among so many gawking humans, but he suffered it as he maintained his standoff with Thunderblast, "We read two Con's life signals in a heavily populated area. That warranted investigation."

"Three, Con life signals," Thunderblast corrected him and pointed to the frantic barking dog inside Clobber, "But that aside, are you suggesting we are a threat? I'm offended! We are here on official business! Plus, I'm not allowed to stroll around the home world of one of the greatest Con's to ever live?"

When Jetfire only staired confused, Thunderblast again pointed to D.

"What official business?" Jetfire demanded.

"Energon readings of course! Wouldn't want it leaking to the surface and hurting the poor locals!" Thunderblast insisted, looking around to the listening crowd. A few people even glanced the manholes and cracks in the street to assure nothing blue was bubbling up.

Jetfire gave her another suspicious look before pulling out a scanner of his own, "Here! Let me point it out," Thunderblast volunteered before he could discover there was nothing to see. She threw a servo around his shoulder and wings, making him ready to either pull away or punch her. But then she whispered, pointing to his scanner, "Don't look, but we have Concurrence company. I'm here as a distraction, to come make sure you're Autobot buddies are ok," she hummed between them.

Jetfire paused, maintaining his optics on the blank scanner screen. And then he must have spotted Reha and the others in the crowd, because his comm came on in Rhea's translator, /What's going on?/

"No idea to be honest," She whispered back, "But, I would be very grateful if you could keep the Concurrence off us until we can sneak back out."

His expression pursed, eyeing Thunderblast's cheesy grin, and maybe even the Concurrence disguised trucks. "I can't let a Con, let alone two, roam around in the streets without supervision. I'm not going anywhere until you head out," he snapped as he shoved Thunderblast off him. But he also stood in the way of the small human band so the Concurrence agents across the street were less likely to spot them.

Rhea gave him a nod of appreciation as she and the others hurried across the street with a large huddle of humans trying to get out of the alien drama. Many others stayed, maybe expecting a fight and had their phone cameras ready.

Agents were already moving in to grill the Cybertronian group.

Rhea heard Clobber squeak as a group of kids had taken the time to notice the Decepticon emblem on her front grill, "Are you one of them too?" One bold girl asked.

"Um, yeah… Hi?" Clobber whispered. "I like your red helm attachment," She tried to say casually of the girl's Christmas hat.

"Glad to see our bots making friends," Miko snickered as they hurried into the courtyard of the massive mall.

Raf led their way, hiding his scanner in his coat. "So, this will get us close, but it just occurs to me that we don't know what they will look like? Like, are they totally human looking? Will they still have their emblems on? I assume not."

It didn't take them long to find out. Not far into the hoard of people, which Rhea had to breathe deep to make her way through, Raf stopped dead to look around. Rhea did so too, somewhat in vain. He was right. Who exactly were they looking for? The bots but just human sized? She imagined that would attract attention of its own.

But the people of the massive cathedral to capitalism, once happy to finish their last-minute holiday shopping, were quickly filing out. News of the bots outside was spreading. Some people intended to get far from any possible trouble, while others were desperate to witness it.

Among the few stragglers, Rhea couldn't help but focus on a small group of young to middle aged humans, all sort of huddled and laughing, save for one. A Mediterranean looking man who looked like he was in pain and actively disassociating from the other three. The single female of the group wore a red Autobot hat. Call it a hunch…

Raf was the first to approach them. So, her hunch was spot on.

The shortest of the group, a mid-twenties black man with a short but fluffy afro and yellow and black coat noticed them first. His expression was off, cycling through a torrent of emotions that ranged from relief to worry then back to joy. "Kids?" Bumblebee's voice coming from the young human was utterly jarring.

The others quickly turned. The most noticeable of the group being the tall and seemingly oldest, who instantly locked eyes with Rhea and was horror stricken.

"Kids?" Jack echoed with a nervous laugh, "Bee, if that's you, you can hardly talk in this form. You look younger than I do."

The young human, Bumblebee, smiled in a sort of flustered way as Raf approached to gawk at him. "How and… how? This is so freaking cool, you never said you can do this."

"It eats up a scrap ton of Energon," Arcee's voice offered from the single woman as she shrugged, "Not exactly practical in the long term."

"Oh, that's trippy as hell," Jack said after realizing it was her. But his wonder didn't last long and he gave her a pointed look, "So… What are you guys up to?" And the question was loaded, Arcee seeming to sense it.

She just laughed. She took off the hat and plopped it onto her human partner's head. "Shopping. Here, I got you something." And she even offered his wallet back.

"A present bought with my own money? Jee, thanks Cee," Jack said, but his annoyance was already gone in leu of him being impressed with the whole concept.

"We're trying to see through the perspective of a human," Arcee further explained. "So far, it's been very educational. More so for some of us than others."

"And you chose a mall? The largest one, one week before Christmas?" Jack said in total exasperation, "Arcee, that is like, death con five of humanity. Not exactly easy mode. You couldn't have like, walked in a park? Maybe gone to the library?"

"Go big, right?" she shrugged.

"We are making one of these human suits for Bulkhead right when we get back!" Miko demanded, basically jumping on the group. Though she eyed the tall dark-skinned man in shades.

"Jazz," The man greeted with a grin, "Nice to kick it down on your side of the size scale for a bit."

Why the flirtatious bot she met in the Iacon shooting range was among the group, Rhea couldn't even guess. She was wholly focused on the totally silent human now actively avoiding her gaze. She approached him regardless, his body giving an odd little twitch. Maybe it was a flinch? It didn't really look like a normal one if that was what it was.

"Soundwave?" She said carefully.

The human man's steely gray eyes shifted along the floor, settling on her feet, "Yes," his familiar low voice acknowledged.

It sort of made her heart flutter, though she couldn't really explain why. Instead, she got closer, her hand rising before she could really determine where it was going. As if sensing her intentions, the human Soundwave offered his hand. She touched it. He was more than a hologram. She knew that. Arcee had been wearing a real hat. But it still was odd to confirm. She gently enveloped his hand, his 'skin' hotter than what it should be and having a sort of static charge. Like he had a burning fever that needed immediate medical attention.

She shifted under his gaze, and finally caught it. He gave up to look at her. "Neat?" She offered, maybe to break the tension.

His stone face thawed, and he gave her the ghost of a smile, "Who gave me away?"

She tried to decide how best to phrase this, or who she would throw under the bus, "I overheard it," she reported vaguely. "So, am I allowed to ask questions?" The strange human with Soundwave's voice and mannerisms nodded. "Why not tell me?"

She had a hard time reading his expression in this form. It was an exaggerated attempt at embarrassment, maybe? Or just how a Cybertronian would normally express such a thing with their metal face. "It, is hard to explain, here." He finally settled on.

"Let's go somewhere else then. Someplace quiet. And less conspicuous, considering the circumstances," she took him by the arm, amazed she didn't slip through the illusion. She felt him clinging to her in kind as she led them away from the center of the massive building.

"What circumstances are we talking about?" Arcee asked as they all followed along, "Are we that obvious?"

"The Concurrence knows you're here," Raf explained, though still poked at Bumblebee's human arm every once and a while to make sure he was still physical.

Soundwave's avatar gave another exaggerated expression of surprise, "That's impossible. I masked the energy output as we Bridged in. I have also assured the holoform's Energon signatures are dampened."

"Well, however they managed it, they still know," Jack sighed flatly, "They are outside right now, and were stationed around the area before we even got here."

"We should have a little time to play with," Rhea added, "Right now they will be plenty distracted with three bots and a dog outside."

Bumblebee snickered, "So that's what all the commotion is about. I was hoping it wasn't connected to us."

Even more reason to put distance between the entrance and themselves. Rhea found the first (of three) Starbucks in the mall and pulled Soundwave inside with their large band trailing behind. Under normal conditions, the coffee chain attached to the book shop Barns and Noble would have been packed. But with word of Thunderblast and Jetfire's antics outside, a good number of people had vacated to bear witness to the alien hijinks or escape potential tragedy. Rhea just hoped poor Clobber was holding her own.

She got a drink she didn't intend to consume, if only to make their stay more inconspicuous. The whole time, Soundwave remained silent, but never untethered himself from her arm. With him in one hand and a steaming cup of something in her other, Rhea led them to a little corner of the café. The others sat nearby, but with Jack, Raf, and Miko there to facilitate, she wasn't worried about the Autobots.

"So, wanna talk about it?" she tried again, holding onto his 'hands' across the small table. Those strange gray eyes were busy studying their intertwined fingers.

"It is a thought experiment," he said, and didn't even sound convinced himself.

"For what?"

His lips twitched. Maybe he was considering frowning but thought better of it. Though he did finally manage to look her in the eyes. "I was curious. But moreover, I was expounding on possible solutions to any shortcomings I may have, between us."

She arched a brow, "So then this is about the sex thing?"

Interestingly, he chuckled at her dead pan delivery, "It is a factor. One of many. It does not matter. The experiment was a failure in my opinion."

She reached up her free hand and touched his face. He didn't comment, waiting for her to explain herself, "Still feels like you're here. How is that a failure?"

His thumb caressed the back of her hand and his lips pursed with the hint of frustration, "I can't feel you. Not as I would like. The holoform's sensory input is limited. And what I can deduce is all my normal readings and sensors. Which, I have turned down in an attempt to replicate a human experience."

"It's still impressive," she offered, "Would have fooled me if I hadn't been looking for you."

"But does it feel, real?" he countered.

Her fingers caressed his cheek, testing the too warm texture of the illusion. "No. It really doesn't," She admitted. What her fingers brushed was not flesh. If she closed her eyes, she would think she was stroking a flat and very staticky blanket draped over a space heater. "But that doesn't matter. You aren't human. Why try faking it?"

Those gray eyes were laced with pain, "And you are not Cybertronian."

"So, then what do you recommend?" her hand dropped back down to interlock their fingers again.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I am lost."

"Well, not exactly," she offered in a lighthearted way, "I found you. Even if I had to brave last minute Christmas shoppers to do it."

Another wisp of a smile blipped across his human face before it disappeared. He reverted his gaze back down, watching the steam rise from her untouched drink.

Some sort of banter from the next table over drew Rhea's focus away. Jack was annoyed, while Miko laughed so hard she didn't have enough air left to make any sound. The Holoform of Jazz had sauntered up to the counter to put his apparently famous "Jazz swagger' onto the unsuspecting young man in an apron. It only took a few smooth words, and the young barista was blushing.

"Some among us, are more skilled in this task than I have proven to be," Soundwave added with a sigh. "I have just managed to survive it. The Autobots are somehow thriving within the arbitrary parameters set for this experiment. Parameters I set myself. You would think I could handle it." Again, he locked their gaze, and this time he was struggling to hide his embarrassment. "To be completely candid, I felt guilty for you traversing Kaon without me. To feel as though you had to. I wanted to see what it would be like, to be in a similar state. And I could not do what you felt like you had to, because of me."

"We need to stop doing this to each other," she asserted gently, "Going behind the other's back to prove some sort of point or get info we could just freaking ask each other about. I get we're Cons, and that's what the whole movement is sort of known for. But this time around, how about we make an exception to the rule," She tapped his chin a little to fix his drooping expression. "Let's start over. Hello, I'm Rhea. I'm 29 years old. I'm a human with autism and an alien husband. And I would really like to learn how to be Cybertronian, because my alien husband being happy makes me happy. What about you?"

She was taking from a conversation they had a very long time ago, basically around the time they met. She assumed he recalled it after she spoke, because his odd gray eyes gained a knowing glint. Then the side of his lips turned up in an amused grin, "I'm Soundwave. One of the Lord's of the Decepticons of the Cybertronian race. And, I also want to make my Conjunx happy, even though the thought of being human confounds me. I don't want her to leave that part of her behind as she changes to benefit me."

"Great, we are on the same page. Then we can work our way up from here."

He was silent a moment, hopefully considering the concept. "I want you to help me understand the nuances of humanity. Even aspects which utterly elude me. I want to find a way to experience them, for you."

She squeezed his warm staticky hands, "Deal. We'll figure something out… Autoclave even mentioned a potential for a sort of reverse Cyberformation. We could always get you a human avatar."

She couldn't tell if he was amused with the concept or horrified. But he still appeared cheerier than he was before, so it was a win.

Raf's chair squealed on the tile floor, and he leaned back, looking bashful, "I'm trying not to overhear, but I may have something to contribute."

"Shoot," Rhea said. Not like it was hard to eavesdrop in the small and somewhat quiet space.

"Like you said. Autoclave said after you're Cyberformation is done being tested, he was going to switch and sort of do the same thing but in reverse. Like, a Cybertronian going into an organic avatar? But before that he would have to run simulations and other junk? I happened to mention that concept to Doc Green and Frankie on Griffin Rock. Would you believe it if they said they already had something like that?"

At first, she was as confused as Soundwave, though for totally different reasons. He wasn't that familiar with the Rescue Bots or their human associates on the small Maine island, but Rhea had stayed in touch since they met as teenagers. Cody Burns had taken up his dad's mantel and became police Chief while Frankie Green was focused on following her own dad's legacy of science. But admittedly, with everything going on the past year, she hadn't texted them much. It was a good thing Raf was on top of things. "What is it they have?"

Raf made a confusing gesture with his hands, sort of orbiting around his head dramatically, "A simulation. Or a virtual reality thing. It started out small, but the bots up in Maine apparently had like, this bet, so I'm assuming it was between Hotshot and Wedge. But they wanted to see who could last the longest as a human, or some odd nuance of that subject. And so, they expanded this already impressive virtual world to have a near perfect human experience, and also made it so a bot could link into it."

Rhea took a moment to digest that. She glanced back at Soundwave, but he was still unreadable. She turned back to Raf, "How did it go for them?"

Raf cracked a smile, "They both logged out of the system five minutes into the experiment. Hotshot felt that, and I quote, "breathing sucks too much." And Wedge was to freaked out by how skin felt. But that's just those two. Unsurprisingly, Blades and Whirl had a blast. Now Danny goes into the program with them every other Friday so she can make them taste different things. Mostly desserts."

That, actually was a great idea. It was something she hadn't even considered to be possible so soon. But here she was, not surprised they had the tech already invented on Griffin Rock.

She looked back to Soundwave, who had yet to contribute his own inner thoughts on the subject. "Could that be an option?"

His lips twitched again. She finally gaged he was nervous, but was trying hard to hide it, "If I could study the technology first… Yes. I would be intrigued."

"I'll contact Frankie about it. Thank's Raf," she said.

They actually had a work around this? She understood Soundwave's apprehension, but again, probably not for the same reasons he was worrying over. This Holoform experiment had left him spent, and it was not an actual 'authentic' human experience. This virtual world sounded like it was as close to the real thing as they could get without actually growing a human body in a test tube and downloading his mind into it.

As for Rhea's worry, she was more concerned with the technical side of the concept. As the Griffin Rock father daughter science duo often said, 'Griffin Rock tech has this bad habit for being unpredictably temperamental on a good day, and thoughtfully murderous on a bad.'

But hey, if Whirl and Blades had worked all the bugs out of the system in the name of tasting all humanity's sweets had to offer… She was excited about the idea. Soundwave had asked her what she was missing, and she had given him a few examples, all rather predictable. But now, she had thought of so many more. The nuances of humanity people didn't tend to thing to hard about. She wanted him to have food she cooked. She wanted him to feel the waves of the ocean. She wanted him to know how she felt.

'Master, there is a potential for a proximity breach,' Laserbeak's voice yelped in her ear, and she assumed in Soundwave's too. It appeared the thought experiment was put on hold for the moment.

Soundwave's human self straightened, now very serious and alert, "Elaborate."

'I detect an Energon feedback scanner on the streets below the building you're and the Autobot's chassis are disengaged. Shall I switch from reconnaissance to defensive?'

"It's the Concurrence," Rhea explained. Or at least she assumed so. They had tracked backwards to the bots, wherever their real bodies were parked. "Better to avoid a conflict, so maybe lay back before you start firing," But before she could report the news to the others, her phone rang. She had to pull her hands from Soundwave so she could retrieve it from her back pocket. It was exactly who she feared. And now, after having the enlightening conversation with Jack and the others earlier that day, this would be more awkward than it ever had been before.

She tried to sound as normal as possible as she answered the call with a probably too enthusiastic "Hi Shawn! What can I do for you?"

Everyone of their party, both human and masquerading humans, turned from their table to gape at her. She tried to not let that make her even more anxious as she heard Shawn fumble on the other line.

'Um, hey, sorry to bother you, Rhea. I know you and Rapheal were working on that frequency today… and that should take priority… Really, I don't even know if it's a big deal, my phone has been blowing up with my agents in the Midwest… Sorry, I'm rambling. But I have to ask if there were any prior authorizations, with Thunderblast, scouting Energon. In like, the middle of a human city?"

She watched Soundwave's stone expression as she quietly panicked, trying to best mimic a normal laugh. She would laugh in this situation, right? It felt like she herself forgot how to human in this instance. But now everyone of their group was looking at her with growing worry, around the time she said, 'Hi Shawn.'

"Whaaat? Well I sure hope not! But, I can't say it's totally out of the realm of possibility for our girl, Thunderblast… That's right, they are stuck on Earth right now, aren't they? Um, now that I think about it, she did mention something about scouting for Energon. Said she was board… Never mentioned a city though. I'll get to the bottom of it, no worries. I'll call her comm right now."

She stuttered out a friendly goodbye and hung up. Everyone/everybot was waiting for her to get off the phone. "We need to wrap this up. Like, now. The Concurrence is closing in on your real body's. And now Shawn is involved."

"We'll need a place to disengage the Holoforms," Bumblebee said, "Otherwise, it'll be a little strange to say the least. May catch a few looks."

"Bathroom trip!" Miko suggested, jumping up from the table as conspicuously as possible. It was a better idea then any. Rhea led Soundwave from the table and through the rows of bookshelves and reached the family restroom, waiting until they weren't noticed before they all packed inside.

Jack locked the door and quickly spun around to Arcee and the others, "You guys can clear out when you shut these down?"

"Yep, we'll Bridge out the second we get back," Bumblebee promised.

"Gotta love this place…" Jazz said through a smile. "Pretty place, prettier people. Gonna come back in my real duds and see who else I can chat up," And on the last syllable, his whole-body sort of disintegrated. Not in a gory way. More like its collective atoms decided to all do their own thing and each individual molecule floated off into the air until every whisp of him vanished.

"Thanks for picking us up, Jack," Arcee said, "And you're right, I need to tone it down. Promise, that'll start now." And on the end of her maybe sincere promise, her own form followed Jazz's example and vanished into the air.

"See you guys back at base," Bumblebee said with a little wave. But he jolted before he could commit to disassembling into nothing, "Wait! Raf, I meant to ask. Is it normal for humans to throw snow at each other?"

Raf was only a little confused by the random question, "A snowball fight? Um, yeah, that's not strange. People do it all the time."

"Ha!" Bumblebee cheered, pointing triumphant at Soundwave, "Told ya! Totally normal human thing!" And then he vanished, starting from his pointed finger until his victorious smile was no more but blue particles blinking from existence.

Rhea felt Soundwave's electric hand squeeze hers. "I want to continue this conversation," he said quickly.

She nodded, "Meet me at my apartment. However you choose to show up is up to you."

He brushed his other hand along her face gently. He appeared like he wanted to say more. But her hand closed onto itself as his fingers vanished from her grasp. He disappeared like the others in silence, leaving the four humans in the large single room bathroom.

Raf sort of laughed, "Yeah, I guess that would have drawn a little attention if they did it out in the café."

"I bet Bulk would be a big construction worker looking guy," Miko intoned, "With like, a beer gut, and a hard hat. And if not, I'm putting in that request."

And on that note, they all hurried back outside. Rhea could only hope the Concurrence wasn't giving Thunderblast too hard of a time, or the other way around. But they were further delayed when Miko stopped them so she could buy a 'proper' jacket in the first glitzy shop she found. Now armed with a feathery lined gem studded thing that looked not at all warm for the outside conditions, they left the mall to find a very impressive crowd gathered towards the front.

Only thanks to Jack's larger build were they able to shove through. And as was expected, there were about fifty men in black suits trying, mostly failing, to keep the curious people at bay. And Thunderblast and Jetfire were in the middle of the angry men's focus. Jetfire was on one knee joint, trying to pacify the suited man who appeared in some level of authority among the others. Thunderblast, on the other hand, had her arm readouts open to the Concurrence agreement, and was midway reading through it.

"And it says here, on page forty-three, subsection fifteen, that, and I quote! 'Any and all Cybertronian entities unregistered with the Registrant Division, must do so effective immediately after landing in a regulated area, but only after gaining permission from that restricted area's landing representee.' And we've already established me and Clobber are registered, and of course the goody goody Autobot wannabe over there is. That brings us to section ten of page seventy two-" she swiped up on the screen to find the exact passage, "Here! Right here, it says, 'All registered Cybertronian entities may move freely in public human authorized space, IF that Cybertronian entity has determined a reasonable threat of otherworldly activity in the previously mentioned human designated area.' And I already told you suits, I got a blip from what could have been an Energon leak! I don't care if you didn't get that same blip. Maybe tune your scanners up! Not my fault you suck at your jobs."

Thunderblast had gained a relative amount of on-the-spot support for her claim to be in the city. Save for a disheveled man with an anti-Bot sign absolutely losing his mind on the other street, basically everyone watching was shouting their own opinions at the collection of shadowy government men. Many had their phones open, scrolling through the Concurrence documents and adding more stipulations to further justify the three giant's sudden arrival.

Ironically enough, Clobber, whom Rhea had been most concerned about in this exact scenario, was relatively calm. She was still in her armored vehicle mode, but she was also surrounded by a gathering of people of all sorts. The children having convinced her to roll down the window a while ago and were now all petting a very attention drunk D. Somehow, she had also gained a gift in the form of a Christmas wreath placed on her grill, probably from one of her many sudden admirers as she went down the list of Cybertronian history.

"The original Primes had successfully defeated, or at least, contained Unicron, but they had been corrupted by His dark aura, and they turned against each other. Save for Prime 13, who kind of just skidded by unfazed, lucky bot. But that corruption even turned the lovers Solus Prime and Megatronus against each other, and he killed her in self-defense, and then exiled himself because he was so sad about what happened… But I think it was the wake up call they all sort of needed to realize they were no longer fit to rule, and many gave up their Prime powers into the All Spark to lead normal lives among those who would emerge… Anyway, that was the end of the age of Primes. That brings us to the Great Cataclysm-" Her audience was captivated.

Deciding there was no good time to intervene, Rhea pulled up the hood of her coat and hustled forward. She flashed her badge the moment one of the men almost stopped her, "Shawn Berger informed me of the situation. I'll take it from here."

The sharply dressed man glared at her but didn't get in her way further. "Get them out of here. It's been established there is no danger from Energon exposure," He snapped.

She didn't argue. Really not any point, considering they got what they needed. Rhea waved Thunderblast, Clobber, and Jetfire over. Thunderblast gave the men whom she was schooling in their own code a smug look before heading Rhea's way. However, as a subscriber to utter chaos and pettiness, she did add rather loudly over her wing, "Alright, whatever you say buddies. I hope your subpar tech is right and there isn't a toxicity threat to the city… Sorry folks, I tried!"

The following boos aimed the suited men's direction was right on cue. The people around them jeered, reaching out and begging her to stay. The Concurrence agents would have quite a mess to clean up, Rhea sort of felt bad.

"Sorry, we have to go," Clobber informed her group, basically all of younger audience she gained groaning in disappointment. Her passenger door opened and a sullen D jumped in. "Thanks for cheering me up though… And, um, merry… Christmas? Right? Yeah, that." She drove over just as Jetfire knelt to Rhea and the others.

"Did you get everything settled?" he asked, though kept it cryptic so those glaring suited men couldn't infer much.

She nodded, hoping he understood her conveyed thank you.

He mirrored her nod, though added, "But I would like to know the details. Anything this much of a cluster frag is bound to be an amusing story." And then ever the diplomatic Autobot, he managed to convince the crowd to at least back away so he could jump up and transform, taking back to the sky and flying after his team.

"I am getting a holoform, and we are coming back," Thunderblast informed their group as they headed for a cleared spot on the sidewalk the Concurrence agreed would be the best place for them to Bridge away. Now they were just waiting for Ratchet to get clearance to send one. And here Rhea thought they had wanted them out as soon as possible.

"So, you sure made friends," Miko said to Clobber as she took in the sight of her Christmas additions.

"It was sweet of the locals," Thunderblast agreed when Clobber could only laugh nervously, "The suits started surrounding us, and my poor Clobber started having a panic attack. Then a bunch of people worked their tiny charm to distract her while I was busy dealing with the idiots."

"It was a nice visit," Clobber admitted quietly. Though she stopped when her group started calling after her, begging she transform before she go.

"You don't have to," Thunderblast assured her. She then gave those at her feet a pursed expression, "She doesn't like to in front of humans, or really any other organic species. For some reason she thinks she scares them."

According to the assurance of Clobber's new posse, they had been told the same thing, but were insistent. With a very deep vent, Clobber shifted to her peds with D sat in her hands. Her fearful and expectant look of dread melted away when those chanting humans cheered. She maintained her shy little smile, leaning into Thunderblast who patted her shoulder, "I'm proud of ya babe."

The Green vortex burst open, finally. Thunderblast waved to her adoring fans, gave the men in suits a customary Cybertronian insult with a similar vibe as the middle finger, then vanished into the portal back to the Autobot base. Clobber was far more reserved, and polite, as she and D went through. Rhea could only hope her coat's hood had done the heavy work of keeping her face from appearing on any online forums tonight.

The vortex swirled out behind them, and they were greeted with Ratchet's tired stare, "We have about twenty calls from the Concurrence. I didn't feel like answering. But now Fowler is calling. Just a reminder, this was his day off. The only one he gets in a month. He made sure to remind me of that fact a good few times."

"Yeah," Jack sighed, "I'll take care of that."

Ratchet scoffed before turning back to his workstation, "Good. Because I have no intention to."

The large hanger doors burst open, startling Rhea and Ratchet equally.

It was Bumblebee and the others, back to their normal giant selves. Well, not all of them. Soundwave wasn't with them.

"That was awesome!" Bumblebee insisted with his normal excitable smile, "Next time, you guys are taking us somewhere!"

"Were did you design those forms!?" Miko demanded before anything else was said. "We need to make one for Bulkhead right now!"

"Iacon," Arcee said, "Soundwave's idea," interestingly, she caught Rhea's gaze before adding, "But he didn't come back with us. Didn't say where he was going after Bridging us back either… Have to admit, he handled it better than I thought he would, even with me trying to sabotage him every step of the way. You can go ahead and share that with him, I have a feeling he doesn't want to talk to me. And a win is a win on his part, no matter how trivial."

She probably wasn't wrong. Though the opposite hanger opened before Rhea could acknowledge it.

"Someone say my name?" Bulkhead asked, big helm peeking in.

Miko pointed at him a little too aggressively, and it even made him jump, "You and me, Iacon, right now!"

"Um, what? Why? Miko, don't you need an air suit?" He started to protest as Miko was already typing into the Spacebridge.

"Thunderblast?" Miko pleaded.

"Gotcha covered Firecracker," Thunderblast said and dropped the human hamster ball onto the floor for her to use.

The portal opened, the system already protesting from overuse. Ratchet vented loudly, "You know, just because we have synthetic Energon, does not mean it is an easy compound to synthesize! Energon doesn't just bubble out of the ground to feed your joy rides back and forth-"

"Gotcha, Ratchet," Miko interrupted after activating the bubble around her and rolling it behind Bulkhead, all but bullying him towards the new portal, "Energon doesn't grow on trees, use alien tech responsibly, bla bla bla, other old robot talking points. We'll be right back. Bulk, let's go get you a human suit!"

"Wait, what?" Bulkhead stammered but vanished into the portal moments before Miko.

Ratchet's helm found the palm of his hand, "It's like I'm talking into a void. Maybe I'll try out a vow of silence? People would listen to me about the same amount."

Jazz, who patted Ratchet on the shoulder as he walked for the portal, gave the group a parting smile, "I'll supervise. And no worries, Ratch, some of us still care what ya have to say. Some of the time."

"If I could ask a final favor," Rhea sighed to the already annoyed Ratchet, "A bridge back to North Carolina would be nice. Unless one of you would like to drive me."

Faced with a ten-day cross-country road trip, Ratchet was happy to oblige at least her Bridge request.