A/N: Wow this site was down for ages! And I got so much writing done and couldn't post it! I'll be posting a chapter a day here until you're caught up with AO3. Which may be just a couple days, maybe a few days? Depends on if I complete a chapter today. My writing is going to slow down, though, cause I'm returning to NOT writing at work. I'm getting too absorbed. My body needs breaks from my desk. My brain needs breaks. Burnout is something I want to avoid. As well as being fired. And also feeling like I'm shirking my duties on my own self. My boss is fine with me writing on the job, but I'm noticing I'm getting too absorbed for my personal liking. I'm pulling away for the phone just fine, but I missed a couple door chimes and spent two days tied to my desk and not dusting. I screwed my dusting schedule all up and will need to get it back on track this next week. Keep those pesky dust mites away.

As a note, I AM cross-posting this story on AO3. So if this site goes down again, you can find it over there with the same title under the category Transformers - Prime. You can find the next chapter there already if you wish, or you can wait until tomorrow when I post it here, assuming the site doesn't go down again. Who even knows with this place? I'm surprised anyone got an ETA from them at all during all that. I'm debating about moving just everything over there.

Chapter 7: A Day in the Life

Early morning was perhaps my favorite time of day. The only other bot who seemed to wake up with the sun was Optimus and sometimes we would work in companionable silence, but often he would disappear from the tent to patrol the base. At least, on a day no one else was required to be up at the crack of dawn. I suspected there would be less crack of dawn departures now that we had a more immediate form of transportation. Though others would still take dawn patrol, I was sure.

This morning was different. While I had more work to do pinpointing artifacts, I had made a list and was chipping away at it, this morning had been designated specifically toward starting some proper combat training. No one was awake yet to do it, but I still had left the tent to the practice field to do some stuff on my own.

I gusted air through my systems slowly as I moved through some old forms I had learned many years ago, when I had been a teenager on the cusp of adulthood taking karate classes. I had felt the need to learn how to defend myself as I had started to attract the attention of the wrong kind of men—men much older than me who had no business looking at a 16-17 year old and trying to convince her to partake in sexual pleasures with them. I had been sheltered, but somehow not naive enough to believe I would never have to potentially fight someone over it. The lessons had paid off eventually and perhaps they played a part in why I wasn't dead now.

That was a slightly troubling thought to have when I was trying to calm my mind from its tendency to be anxious whenever there was a reason to be anxious. So I shifted my thoughts to focus solely on my movements, pulling from my memories the katas I had learned and wishing not for the first time in my life that I had been able to complete the training course all the way to the end. That was a dangerous line of thought, too, so I shut it out.

It was hard keeping my mind quiet without the help of music. I remembered Bulkhead playing music while in bot mode for Miko once in the show and wondered if I could do that. Even if I could, I didn't know how. So for now I just kept having to pull my mind off its straying paths back to what I was doing with my body.

The sunrise was mildly distracting. The thoughts of how nice it would've been to share it with my sister over a cup of tea were more so. When the sun hit the clouds just right to put a purple hue on a cloud, I paused my movements to appreciate it. And mourn for a moment the absence of the one who instilled that appreciation so deeply within me. I doubted I would ever not feel that pain, but someday it might be easier to bear.

I wiped my optics as the sensors in wings picked up Optimus's presence approaching. Coming this way on his morning patrol, presumably. I cycled air through my systems as I let myself feel the emotion instead of fighting it like I had previously done. Then, I imagined it leaving my body with the air as I gusted it out. As I remembered it being described in a Star Wars book once when a Jedi Master was guiding their pupil about emotions and then again when I learned Conscious Discipline. Such useful things the Jedi had, it turned out.

Optimus approached me shortly after I had my emotions back to a stable place. I looked up at him.

"Mornin' Boss Bot," I said, having taken a more casual tone with him since that day on the beach. And he had allowed it. I suspected it reminded him of Jazz and perhaps he missed having someone around who treated him as something besides just a Prime.

"Shadebreaker," Optimus greeted. "Enjoying the sunrise?"

"What's left of it," I answered, motioning toward the sun that was almost over the horizon now. The purple hue was lingering, but was slowly being replaced by the yellow light typically seen past the sunrise. "And reminiscing a little while I practice some old katas I once learned. My sister would've had me sitting and drinking tea to enjoy it with rather than working, but…I never claimed to have healthy habits. She was the one good about things like that. I was the one who got up and went and never quite learned how to start a day slowly. Even if I do know there's merit to it."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Optimus said.

"It's not exactly like I've told you any of my life story," I said dryly. "Just small hints at some of my trauma." I spread my fingers out, moving hands out in an arch as if making a rainbow. "I had a brother, too. And a mom. And a grandma."

"No father?" Optimus asked.

"Not an involved one," I replied with a shrug. "Divorced when I was young. Abandoned when I was a little older." I shrugged a little. "I had a couple people I adopted as father figures, though."

Optimus chuckled a bit. "Do the parental figures not do the adopting on Earth?"

"Hmm, well, officially, yes," I replied. "But this was nothing legal. And a couple of them even adopted me back."

Optimus chuckled again.

I grinned at that, glad to bring a couple chuckles to the Autobot leader.

"I must continue my patrol, but it is nice to see you in good spirits," Optimus said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You too," I replied.

I watched Optimus leave for a minute, wondering for a moment if Elita-1 existed in this reality and, if so, where she might be. If she did, Optimus probably missed her as much as I missed my fiancée. At least he had a chance of seeing her again, though. The only chance I had was if similar happened to him and I didn't want that for him.

I sighed at that thought and looked back at the fleeting sunrise—it was but a few minutes away from being over. There I go. Ruining those good spirits with thoughts as fast as the remaining colors on the clouds.

I went back to my katas and breathing to refind my center. Trying not to think about how my fiancée probably felt. If he was alive. If my movements were a little more violent and angry than before, there was no one here to notice anyways.

It was midday when I returned to the tent, tired and sore from a long and hard training with Arcee and Bumblebee. Bulkhead and Optimus had also joined but only for me to send them off to investigate the location of the Spark Extractor. They had not returned yet but neither had they called for backup.

"Welcome back," Ratchet said. He looked me over. "You didn't consume any Energon this morning, did you? Your Energon levels are extremely low."

"Um," I said, scratching my cheek a bit.

"Shadebreaker," Arcee said firmly. "Do you mean to tell me we just did a long and hard training session on a low tank?"

"Mmmaayyybbbeee?" I said, wings shifting.

Ratchet made a noise of frustration while Arcee gave me a withering glare. She looked at Ratchet and then back at me and seemed to weigh her options. Then she waved a hand.

"Good luck with Ratchet," she said and then walked out of the tent. She had joined me in order to have Ratchet give her some pain killers, but clearly she wasn't in enough pain to stick around for his wrath.

I peeked over at Ratchet and knew from his look that I was in for a lecture. Strongly worded and firm as hell. My wings lowered and I bowed my helm.

"I hope you don't make a habit of skipping meals," Ratchet said sternly, crossing his arms.

"Only breakfast, and only sometimes," I replied quietly.

I heard Ratchet shift and chanced a peek at him to see he had uncrossed his arms and was looking at me. He sighed and moved toward where we kept the Energon cubes right now, up and safe from potential mishaps with humans who entered the tent.

"Even so, you shouldn't be skipping any," he said, his tone less harsh.

"I know, Ratchet," I said. "I don't usually. I wake up extremely early and I usually time how long I'm awake before grabbing breakfast. When I was human, my body wouldn't accept food until I'd been awake for so many hours, so it's a habit born out of that. If I left home before those hours passed, it just meant I went without breakfast and, if I could, had a snack at some point before lunch. Eventually it became I had to have that snack whether I had breakfast or not, so…" I shrugged a little, accepting the cube he'd brought me as I spoke without looking at him.

"It became a careful timing and balancing act for when and how much I ate each time at that point." I continued. "I couldn't eat if I wasn't hungry, but I had to eat within a certain time of bedtime or I'd wake up feeling bad from going too long without food and then have to wait even longer to eat or I'd just throw it back up. Yet if I waited too long, I'd throw up cause my body reacted so terribly to going without. I found out the hard way once. Carefully monitored my habits ever since. This morning was a slip up, that's all. I usually sit and work on the artifact locations or learning Cy-Stan in the mornings and I went to the practice field to get a headstart on battle practice and watch the sunrise instead. I forgot about breakfast cause I went and changed my routine."

I look into the energon in the cube, looking at the little flakes of minerals Ratchet had apparently mixed in it. I hadn't expected that. It was a nice touch. Thoughtful. Kind. It made me think of my fiancée again. The little thoughtful gestures he did when I needed food now but he still wanted me to enjoy it. Damn it. Now I was about to cry again.

Scratch that. I was crying.

"Shade'..." Ratchet said, sounding surprised and troubled. "I-I didn't…" He looked confused as I wiped my optics.

"It's not you," I said. "You didn't make me cry. I mean…you did, but you didn't? It's not your fault I mean."

Ratchet looked confused, then he reached out and wiped a tear from the cheek I wasn't already wiping. "Bad memories?" He asked softly.

I leaned a bit into his touch. It was gentle and soothing. Like his had been. More tears fell. I couldn't help it. "N-no," I said. "Good ones. Your little touch with the energon, the minerals for taste," I held the cube up a bit. "It just reminded me of my fiancée."

"Fiancée?" Ratchet asked.

I looked up, intending to explain, but I recognized the faraway look on his face as him being internally connected to the internet to do so himself.

"Oh," he said as his optics brightened, the small movements of his thumb on my cheek pausing. "Oh…" He looked heartbroken for me. "I'm so sorry." His hand dropped from my cheek.

"Don't be," I said, taking his hand in my free one before it fell completely to his side. "Don't be. They are good memories, even if it hurts that they are just memories now." I gusted air through my systems. "I appreciate the gesture. Don't stop doing small, kind gestures. They help. They're reassuring. Even if it doesn't seem like it right now. I'm doing way better right now than I expected to when I saw how upset you were I skipped breakfast."

"I'm glad," Ratchet said. He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. "We will navigate how to handle your eating habits together, alright?"

"Alright," I said, grateful. "First I should probably just try having breakfast when I wake up."

"First you drink that cube before I shove it down your throat for you," Ratchet gruffed.

He wasn't quite as gentle as my fiancée had been.

"Alright, geez," I said, though I found myself more amused than intimated.

Maybe because I knew he didn't mean it. At least, I didn't think he did. He might give it to me via IV, though. I let go of his hand to focus on my energon. I took a sip and was surprised just how good it tasted. I looked at it with admiration.

"I do know more than just medicine and building Ground Bridges," Ratchet said, looking amused.

"Well," I said. "Isn't that something?" I took another sip, feeling myself melt a little bit.

Ratchet shook his helm at me as he moved away to do some work. I just stood there, entirely focused on the delicious energon. Fanfiction writers speculated that energon could be made more delicious with minerals sprinkled in, but I never imagined I would ever discover it to be true and get to experience it myself. My wings gave a happy little flutter as I sipped at it again.

I had moved from standing around drinking my energon to working some more on pinpointing where more of the artifacts were when Optimus called for pick up. I didn't even look up when I lifted a hand to open a portal for them to come home through.

Optimus and Bulkhead came through and that's when I looked up to check on them as my portal closed. They both sported minor injuries and Bulkhead looked tired. Nothing readily stood out as to the reason they were gone so long without even calling for backup. Bulkhead even appeared to be holding the artifact in question in his hand.

"You guys were gone for a while," I commented carefully. My wings shifted. Ratchet had stepped out, leaving me alone. If this wasn't them somehow and were shape shifters who had gotten the comcode…

"Your location was a little off," Bulkhead said, a little defensive. "And then the 'Cons showed up and gave us the run around."

"Off?" I asked and then pushed some of my datapads aside, looking for the ones with the information still pulled up about the Spark Extractor. I took my information gathering skills seriously and being wrong was an affront. "But…off?" I repeated.

"At ease, Shadebreaker," Optimus said, likely seeing how I was getting worked up. "It was only off by a small margin. And we were still able to retrieve the Extractor." He motioned to the device in Bulkhead's hand.

"Yeah, no need to freak out," Bulkhead said. "I didn't mean to sound angry. I thought you were grilling us."

My wings shifted. "I was concerned is all," I replied. "But if I was off, I did something wrong in my calculations. I apologize. I will do better with the rest."

I didn't look up, but I had heard Optimus approaching my work space, so it didn't entirely startle me when he placed his hand on my shoulder, but I still jumped a little.

"I am sure you will, Shadebreaker," he said. "You have been extraordinarily accurate in the locations of all the others. I am certain you will not lead us into nothing."

I sighed, relaxing. "Right," I said. "I don't need to be anxious. You're not about to fire me cause I wasn't one hundred percent on target."

"Indeed," Optimus said. Then he motioned toward Bulkhead. "We also got a little waylaid by a new friend."

Confused, I looked at Bulkhead, then looked at Optimus. "Do you need me to call Ratchet? Cause that's just Bulkhead."

"Oh, uh," Bulkhead said and then turned around.

"Heya!" said a smaller mech with a face mask and fins on the side of his face that lit up when he spoke, waving from where he was stuck to Bulkhead.

My mouth fell slightly ajar. I blinked, wondering if my optics were playing tricks on me without my visor and hoping it would be fixed soon. "I take it the 'Cons had the Polarity Gauntlet on them?" I asked dryly.

"You could say that," the mech that I was more than certain was Wheeljack said in an unmistakeable accent. I wasn't sure what accent it was, never had identified it, but it was an accent that I had once just dubbed the "Wheeljack accent." "I'm Wheeljack, by the way! Nice to meet you! Did you say Ratchet's here? It'll be nice to see that old mech!"

I took the mech in for a moment. He was decidedly much smaller than the Wheeljack from the show—much closer to the Wheeljack of continuities in which he was much more similar to his original G1 counterpart. Did this mean he was an inventor and a scientist rather than a Wrecker? And he seemed excited to see Ratchet, more evidence of being more science and less guns. Well, he probably made guns. Another difference for the notes.

"Eh, why are you looking at me like that?" Wheeljack asked.

I shook my helm. "Don't worry about it," I said, not sure if Optimus wanted to let any and every Autobot that arrived in on my knowledge base. "Considering how we might get you unstuck." It was enough of a cover, if it came out in a rather Wreck-Gar like way, and not entirely untrue. "Did you guys happen to get the Polarity Gauntlet?"

"Unfortunately no," Optimus said. "But I'm sure between Ratchet and Wheeljack a solution can be found."

Hopefully not an explosive one, I thought, wondering how true the mech's reputation in my home reality for his knack for blowing up, well, everything he touched was.

"What are we going to do with this thing?" Bulkhead asked, holding up the Spark Extractor as he glanced back at us.

Optimus, Wheeljack and I all looked at it.

"I vote we destroy it," I said, some venom in my voice. "It's a vicious and cruel weapon that has no business existing. It's an unfair kind of weapon. And if the 'Cons got it back from us…" I knew I didn't have to finish that sentence.

"I say we study it," Wheeljack said, looking all too eager in my opinion.

I waved a hand in dismissal, making a noise not unlike Ratchet's disgruntled grunt as I turned back around to my work. "I've seen enough of it to know it shouldn't exist and has no purpose to serve to warrant keeping it."

"Well, how do you know?" Wheeljack asked.

No one answered him, but I knew Optimus got my message loud and clear.

"What if the 'Cons have more of them?" Bulkhead asked tentatively.

My wings stiffened and I paused my work. "Then it would warrant knowing how to counteract its effects," I said carefully. "But even getting there would be extremely dangerous. It's a Spark Extractor. What do you think it does?"

"Uh, extract sparks?" Bulkhead asked.

"Ah, we can shut it off before it succeeds so we can figure out how to interrupt it," Wheeljack said.

"And who are you gonna test it on to determine if there's even a window of time to do that in?" I asked. "Whose life are you gonna risk, Wheeljack? Yours? Mine? Bulkhead's? Optimus's?"

"Uh," Wheeljack said, and his voice told me my point was made.

I collected several of my data pads. "I'm going for some air," I said and turned to go without looking at the new guy.

I expected Optimus to stop me, so it surprised me that he didn't. Once I was out of the tent, I paused and cycled some air through my systems. I glanced around to see Ratchet returning from the docks with Bumblebee and Arcee with some supplies. Ordinarily I would go help them, but I didn't want to return to the tent, so I went the other way, transforming in order to get to the beach faster.

Wheeljack watched the angry femme leave in mild perplexion. "What's her problem?"

"I'll tell you what her problem is," Bulkhead said, sounding angry himself. "You were suggesting testing a weapon on us without knowing if it would kill us or not."

"Shadebreaker has…strong feelings about experimentation," Optimus told him. "Her past is…troubled. But she is not wrong. Testing on yourself or your fellow bots with dangerous weapons will not be tolerated. We cannot risk the wellbeing of anyone on this team on such a small chance at an advantage. Am I understood, Wheeljack?"

"Crystal, Prime," Wheeljack said, fins flashing. "But, uh, what're we gonna do if the 'Cons do have more of these things?"

"We will have to figure that out without putting our sparks at risk," Optimus said.

"Does that mean we're destroying it?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yes, Bulkhead," Optimus said. "I believe that is for the best."

"What's for the best now?" Arcee asked as she walked into the tent just before Bumblebee. She paused. "What am I seeing?"

"Polarity Gauntlet," Bulkhead replied.

Bumblebee whirled sympathetically as he moved further in so that Ratchet could join them.

"Ratchet! Just the mech I wanted to see!" Wheeljack said enthusiastically.

"Wheeljack? What have you gotten yourself into? And why did it look like Shadebreaker was storming off angry? What did you say to her?" Ratchet asked.

"Why do you think it was me?" Wheeljack asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Because no one else has managed to make her scowl like that in the months since she's arrived," Ratchet said, placing his load down by the door. "Not even when I upset her. And I upset her pretty good."

"All I did was suggest we test the Spark Extractor out to see if we could interrupt it," Wheeljack said, motioning to the device in Bulkhead's hand.

Ratchet slammed a hand into his face.

"You suggested what now?!" Arcee asked, incensed herself. "No wonder she stormed off."

"Wheeljack, you can't just…" Ratchet groaned.

"Relax," Wheeljack said. "Prime's already told me no. We're gonna destroy it instead."

"Why not use it?" Arcee asked.

"It is too dangerous a weapon to risk it," Optimus shook his helm. "I am not risking an Autobot getting caught by it or it falling back into Decepticon hands."

"Now that we've established that, can we work on getting me unstuck? I'm cramping here," Wheeljack complained, squirming a bit.

Ratchet sighed. "Alright, let's see what we got," he said, taking out his scanner.

While he and Wheeljack discussed the results of the scan and possible solutions, Bumblebee and Arcee did their best to keep Bulkhead entertained with card games since he was stuck sitting in makeshift medbay with them. Optimus, meanwhile, saw to the destruction of the Spark Extractor before slipping out of the tent to attend meetings with liaisons. Shadebreaker had expressed to him a desire to take on some of those responsibilities, but in the interest of keeping her from taking on more than she could chew he had declined for the time being with the promise that in time she would be allowed to do so, once she had less learning on her plate.

Ratchet and Wheeljack worked for several hours on a solution before they finally found one, but find one they did. Both stuck mechs were highly relieved to be unstuck. Bulkhead and the others beat a hasty retreat from the tent, not wanting to be present if Ratchet went ballistic on Wheeljack over pissing Shadebreaker off. They knew he'd not gone as hard on her about the missed energon as he would've on them and they had their ideas about why.

"Great!" Wheeljack said, rotating his shoulder joints their full rotation. "Now that that's done, wanna help me examine some stuff I found on Eberron?"

"Not right now, Wheeljack," Ratchet said, crossing his arms. "Right now we're going to talk about you and what you are and aren't going to be allowed to do while you're part of this team. Especially around Shadebreaker."

"Come on, doc," Wheeljack said. "It's science! I test everything! You know that! Everyone knows that!"

"Sure, everyone who knows you," Ratchet said, waving a hand. "But that's besides the point, Wheeljack. Shadebreaker's been through enough and enough she worries about without adding wondering if her friends are gonna be experimented on by an ally to that number. You can't just waltz in here and act like live experimentation on living creatures is ok. It's against the Autobot code. I honestly can't believe you've gone this far without getting that thoroughly into your cranium." He tapped the side of his helm for emphasis.

"Ok, I get it," Wheeljack said. "I was merely trying to help. It seems like we're in a tight spot here. Sometimes tight spots mean the rules loosen up a bit, you know?"

"Not with Optimus," Ratchet said. "And not with me, not with this. And you will certainly never bring it up around Shade' ever again or I will rearrange your parts. Do you understand?" He emphasized his point by waving a wrench at the mech.

Wheeljack waved his hands in front of him, looking very nervous. "Ok, ok, I read you Ratchet," he said. "I won't mention experimenting on living beings in front of your femme ever again. Promise."

"She's not my femme," Ratchet said.

"Sure she ain't, doc," Wheeljack said, looking amused now. "But you're awful protective of her."

"She's been through a lot," Ratchet said, not looking at Wheeljack. "I'm just looking out for her while she recovers, that's all."

"She seems plenty recovered to me, doc," Wheeljack said, highly amused.

Ratchet huffed. "Whatever, you wouldn't understand," he said and moved toward the energon cabinet. He grabbed out three cubes and passed one to Wheeljack. He hesitated a moment before subspacing the other two. "I'll be back, don't wait up." He headed toward the tent flap.

Wheeljack just chuckled, thinking his old friend was merely in a strong stage of denial.

I was sitting in the sand at the beach when Ratchet found me, surrounded by the myriad of datapads I had commandeered for my task of pinpointing exact location. It was like having multiple tabs open but I could look at more than two at a time without separating them into tiny as heck windows. They were all safely placed on a tarp some humans had kindly provided at one point when I'd come out here to work once before. It helped protect them from the sand.

"Were you planning on staying out here all night?" Ratchet asked, walking up to stand next to me.

I glanced up at him. "I mean I was gonna have to come back for some energon soon," I said. "I was just trying to convince myself to do so."

Ratchet sighed at that and then sat down next to me. "No need. I brought the energon to you." He held a cube out to me.

"Why thank you," I said, smiling at him as I accepted it. "I may stay out here now. It's just as safe as the tent. Haven't slept under the stars since those first nights here and I couldn't exactly enjoy those ones." My wings stretched out a bit and then relaxed again.

"Hmm," Ratchet hummed, taking out a cube of energon for himself.

I took a sip of the energon and was disappointed by the lack of tasty minerals in it. I didn't say anything, though. I knew our supplies were still limited even if our energon gathering was a little easier now. I couldn't start expecting Ratchet to mix minerals in everytime he got me my energon for me.

"So, I heard what happened with Wheeljack," Ratchet said carefully, as if afraid bringing it up would have me flying off the handle.

I sighed heavily, wings lowering. "Yeah?" I asked. I was silent for a moment, sipping my energon to buy time. "You know, I always expected Wheeljack to be one I got along with. I mean, in my reality he has something of a reputation for his creations exploding for the first prototype or two. Or otherwise going haywire. But he was always depicted as good natured and cheerful."

"He is, for the most part," Ratchet said and I gave him a look that said "really?" "He just has a hard time understanding where his limits are sometimes. He's always been willing to push the envelope, but if he knows the rules are hard fast, he will follow them. Most of the time. At least, he will listen to me about it."

"So I won't wake up one day to him holding the Spark Extractor over me or one of you if Optimus says no?" I asked doubtfully.

"Well, Optimus destroyed the Extractor so he doesn't even have the option to disobey," Ratchet said.

"What about standing over me wanting to take me apart to understand my portals?" I asked.

"Wheeljack would never do that," Ratchet said, sounding very sure and waving his free hand. "I've known him since long before the war. He's never enjoyed cutting into a bot. It's why he's an inventor and not a medic. He was med caste like I was, that's how we knew each other. We studied together under the same mech. But he hated the surgical aspect of it. He preferred working on tools and weapons."

"Well," I said, looking back at my datapads. "Good to know he has some limits of his own." I sipped my energon.

We sat in companionable silence as we consumed our energon, both looking at my datapads scattered on the tarp for a while.

"So, made any progress on locating any more artifacts?" Ratchet asked, motioning toward the datapads.

"I have pinpointed the Tox-En and Apex Armor now," I replied. "And one of what is referred to as Omega Keys, though I have doubts regarding those. In multiple ways, but mostly if I can locate all of them. Only two really had a solid indicator of location. One is not currently on Earth."

"Omega Keys?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge. "The only Omega Key I know of is Omega Supreme. And he's back on Cybertron."

I chuckled. "That's what the games called him, too," I said, taking a mental note. "The show pulled the Omega Keys out of nowhere as the way to restore Cybertron and a way to Cyberform other planets. Remains to be seen if they exist. We should at least investigate the location I pinpointed to determine if they do. It will at least tell me if it's worth combing through the images to find enough information to locate the other two. As long as a particular bot is out there, the fourth will remain safe as long as he does….as long as my information about them is accurate to this timeline."

"What bot is that?" Ratchet asked.

"Ever hear of Smokescreen?" I asked.

"Can't say I have," Ratchet said.

I shrugged. "Doesn't rule it out. None of you knew of him in the show until he showed up," I said. "I never really liked the idea. But that was the Transformers fan in me more than the practical or realistic side of me. I wasn't thinking of it as everything being real, just from a story perspective and the original source material. The AllSpark was always what was supposed to restore Cybertron. I was angry the creators had seemed to forget about it. It was an inconsistency and the writer in me raged about it for quite a while. Like, the whole reason you bots came to Earth in every other continuity was to find the AllSpark. Without it, it seemed like you were just here for no reason."

"Well, it was our search for the AllSpark that brought us here," Ratchet said. "We've had no luck finding it, I don't know if it's even here. We've no way of leaving planet, though. And Optimus won't leave until we know Megatron will follow."

"Hmm," I hummed thoughtfully. "He followed you off every other planet. What makes you think he'll stay on this one?"

Ratchet sighed. "Does it matter? We can't leave."

My wings shifted. "May I ask what happened to the Ark anyways?" I asked.

"You don't know?" Ratchet asked.

I shook my helm. "There's a gap between the books I read and the show. By the time the show started it was just the group of you that were here when I got here, including Cliff' for a brief stint—all of one or two episodes." I made a disgruntled face. "There was a book that bridged the gap, but I had just learned of its existence shortly before ending up here so I don't know whether it would've answered that question or not."

"The Quintessons disabled it when we encountered them on Aquatron," Ratchet replied. "We were forced to scatter in smaller vessels afterwards and our ship was destroyed upon arrival to Earth, stranding us here."

"Ooohh," I said.

"And Megatron and Optimus both seem convinced the AllSpark is here," Ratchet said. "Somewhere."

"It was here in most continuities," I said. "Most it had to be found, anyways. I've been gathering the different locations in a document dedicated to it, but it's harder to pinpoint locations when timeframes are different in different ones. Some took place in the distant past for example. Landscapes change. Humans could interfere. Etc. I don't have a lot to go off of. I was going to present what I have to Optimus on it soon regardless if I get anymore progress. Starting somewhere is still somewhere." My wings shifted. "In the show it was on a different planet. But I may have already checked it when no one was looking. My portals are quite handy. It wasn't there."

"That was reckless," Ratchet said.

"I know," I said. "But I was anxious. And angry. Wheeljack really upset me and when I am angry I need to be productive or I stew and stewing is not good. This is good and all, but it doesn't get the angry energy out." I waved at the datapads as I spoke and then rested my free hand on my knee. "I had already kinda snapped at the mech, I didn't need to risk lashing out at someone not responsible for my emotion or feeling tempted to punch him or something. He's a bot. Being violent with a fellow bot is not something I want to do. So I did something I thought would be most productive. Sucks that it turned out to be a wild goose chase. Guess not all of my information is good. Unless Megatron already got it, I guess. But I feel like Megatron would've called Optimus to gloat about his victory if he had." I picked up a datapad and then put it down. "As he was prone to do in the books."

"Hmm," Ratchet hummed in agreement.

"And there was no evidence of anyone having been there before," I said. "Nothing that was there in the show was there. I searched the whole dang place. Asked the locals. Nothing. They seemed like they hadn't even seen a Cybertronian before. It was…an interesting experience."

"How did you do all that in a few hours?" Ratchet asked.

"My portals can go through time," I said, lifting my free hand and flexing my fingers. "I just portalled back around the same time I left. No one was the wiser. Except maybe the people monitoring the readouts caused by my portalling within the shielding. Optimus probably knows I've been gone and back. I'm sure he'll have words about it to me. And I'm not gonna hide it from him or anything. I know it was reckless and I know I will get a lecture and I will hate it. But I think it would be more reckless at this point to go back and stop myself. It would risk a paradox or a time loop or whatever would happen to go back in time and meet myself. And then Vector would have to step in. Don't think that's how I want to get my next meeting with dear old dad."

Ratchet shook his helm at me. "You knew all this and you still did it," he said.

"Well, I didn't think of it at the time I did it," I said. "Only after I portalled and was actively looking. At which point, if I was going to get lectured, might as well have it be for something. Except it's still kinda for nothing cause I went and still came back empty handed." I sighed.

"And here I thought the twins were bad," Ratchet said. "At least they have each other to back them up and combat training."

"Hey! I have some now," I said. "And I would've portalled back if necessary. It was mostly a reconnaissance mission. And, I mean, I did get information. Information that my information isn't all accurate. Not sure how to feel about it."

Ratchet reached over and rubbed my knee. "We've survived just fine without your information just fine up until now."

"Yeah, but-"

"Up," Ratchet interrupted me. "If you're about to say it's all you're good for, don't. We've told you already. Your worth lies more than just in your information."

"Sure Ratchet," I said. "And the sky isn't blue."

Ratchet gave me a withering look.

"I'll believe you in time," I assured him. "It takes time for me to believe anyone sees me as more than what I can give them. It took me a while to truly see it with my fiancée even, and I saw it with him faster than anyone else. Especially after what happened with S- an old friend of mine."

Ratchet was silent for a moment, considering me. "What happened?"

"You ever have a friend you thought was your best friend and considered a sister, but they did nothing but lie and manipulate and use you for their own ends?" I asked. "And treated you like shit? But you put up with it because they're like your sister, they don't mean to hurt you, they just had a messed up upbringing. And you keep making excuses even though you've tried talking to them and they won't change and then someday they just abandon you and you're left to face everything they've done both to you and others without the wool there to cover it up and it just hurts and you have to make the choice to stop accepting their surface level apologies as a way for them to keep hurting you. And accept that for all their words that they never saw you the same way you saw them and they find it acceptable to lie and manipulate and that's not the kind of people you want in your life because you don't find it acceptable so even though it hurts you shut them down when they do eventually apologize. I mean, it was a half ass apology, like they always were, but…it was a bit better than others had been. Still reeked of manipulation, though. Still couldn't trust it."

Ratchet was silent for a long time. Then he lifted his hand as if wanting to touch my face, but then thought better of it. "That's why it upset you so much when I kept your relation to Vector from you, isn't it?"

I nodded. "If it had been her, it would've been something she did simply because she just didn't care. Or she was waiting to use it on me to manipulate me into doing something I didn't really want to do. She did that a lot. And I let her. I let her manipulate me. I let her get away with lying to me many times. I called her out on it many times, too, but it never helped, so I let it slide a lot to avoid fights. She'd promise never to lie again only to turn around and do it again. And then gaslight me about it, trying to say because we talked about it that it never happened." I scoffed at that. "As if that's how it works. Water under the bridge only stays under the bridge if behavior changes. And it never did with her.

"That's why I can only focus on this so long." I continued, waving at the datapads. "So many of my memories regarding the show are connected to her. We met because of Transformers. It was our biggest thing together. Not all of those memories are bad, but not all of them are good either. It is, actually, the source of one of the worst cases of lying and manipulation she pulled on me. I'd rather not go into details. I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone and while she's not my friend and she wouldn't know, I'm still a person of my word."

"I understand," Ratchet said, placing his hand on my shoulder and giving a reassuring squeeze. "I hope you know I didn't keep it from you because I didn't care or because I wanted to use it against you."

"I know, Ratchet," I said, placing my free hand over his. "You're not that kind of mech. I appreciate that about you. You just wanted to have more information. Kinda like how I've been pinpointing each relic before telling Optimus where they are, even roughly. Main difference is, I can pinpoint them more accurately. You were relying on random luck."

Ratchet looked a little sheepish at that. "That's fair," he said. He downed the rest of his energon. Then he looked at me. "Are you going to be ok out here by yourself? I can stay."

I smiled over at him, though I could tell it didn't quite reach my optics. It never did if the subject of my old friend came up. "I'll be ok, Ratchet," I said softly. "Thank you, though." I squeezed his hand slightly. "I appreciate your concern. I truly do."

Ratchet smiled back and I could tell he was troubled. Whether by the idea of leaving me or by what I had revealed to him about my past or both, I wasn't sure. Or maybe by the simple fact I didn't want to return to the tent.

"Really, Ratchet," I said. "I will be ok. It's been almost three years since I last talked to that friend. I'm not fully healed yet. I don't know if I ever truly will be. It was a thirteen year long thing. But I'm not about to keel over just cause I talked about it. I'm not gonna run off and do more reckless recon on my own. I'm healed enough that talking about that won't send into some kind of mental breakdown. It's not nearly as fresh as…the other stuff."

Ratchet sighed, looking at least a little relieved. "Good," he said softly. "I'll still stay if you need me to, though."

"I mean, if you want to stay you can," I said, optics sparkling a little. "If it'll make you feel better not to leave me alone out here all night. But I chose the beach because the ocean soothes me. The water soothes me. Always has. Mom used to call me her water bug. While I can't swim anymore, just being in the vicinity of water is nice."

"That makes one of us," Ratchet said dryly, turning to eye the ocean.

"You don't like it?" I asked, grinning a little bit in amusement.

Ratchet huffed. "It's not that I don't like it," he said. "But it can lead to rust without proper after care. And it's not like we have proper showers yet."

"There's a hose," I said, shrugging. "It works. Not the easiest, but it works."

Ratchet grumbled.

"We'll have proper showers before you know it," I said. "I saw the building's almost done. The medbay one is almost done, too."

Ratchet just sighed. "And then I suppose you'll be wading in the water with reckless abandon."

"You already know me so well," I said, optics sparkling in amusement.

Ratchet looked the very opposite of amused.