TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Re:Animated

Rewrite of 'Grey Matter, Silver Lining'.At the same time as Megatron reawakens, a woman falls to earth and Sari manages to convince her father to let her become her nanny. Emma doesn't talk much, and certainly isn't saying she knows them from a cartoon! But when the All-Spark shatters, it makes her question everything . . .

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

All That Jazz

Now enter your watch woman,

I'll be your keeper for life as your guardian,

I'll be your warrior of care, your first warden,

I'll be your angel on call, I'll be on demand,

The greatest honor of all as your guardian . . .

— Alanis Morissette

The next day, Emma and Sari were forced to pack up their belongings and shift out, since Powell had already rented their rooms out.

Neither of the two girls were very impressed, even if the Autobots had given them a place to stay. Emma knew that if she was feeling upset, then it was nothing compared to how her charge must be feeling.

Memories of her conversation with Isaac were playing through Emma's mind as she packed up her room. She remembered how he had called Sari his greatest treasure. Emma also remembered how she had promised to look out for Sari.

I'm sorry, Isaac. She thought bitterly, as she pulled her suitcase on wheels across the room that she had grown quite fond of. I can't stop this from happening . . .

Capi met her at the door. "Em!" He exclaimed softly. "I just found out who's getting your room!" He whispered in her ear.

"What?!" She gasped, and then she shook her head. "The nerve . . . "

She left her suitcase by the elevator with Capi, and went into Sari's room, to find the little girl trying desperately to close her suitcase.

"Here." Emma said soothingly, going over to help her.

"This isn't fair!" Sari burst out, throwing her hands up in the air. "First my dad goes missing, and now I'm kicked out of my own home?! Why me?!" She sounded miserable.

"Sari, I know it's tough, but I promise you, that you and I will stay together." Emma said firmly, picking up Sari's suitcase for her. "Nobody can change that."

"Oh, I'm sure the chairman of the board would find a way, if he could!" Sari marched towards her door, not looking at where she was going. "What does that even mean?! They should just call him 'big jerk that thinks he's in charge of everything'!" She bumped into the man in question.

"Oh, I don't think I'm in charge, young lady, I know it." Porter C. Powell told her, smirking. "Now, hurry along! I am a busy man! I need this space for more research and development, in order to earn back what you lost the company when you were playing at president!"

Sari flushed angrily, glaring up at Powell. "Listen here, just because there's no record that I'm Isaac Sumdac's daughter, doesn't mean I'm not! He's my dad, and I don't care what you say!"

Emma came to stand beside Sari. She put her hand on the little girl's shoulder, and looked directly at Powell.

Her expression could have burned a hole through sheet metal, but her words and tone were icy cold.

"No real man would do what you are doing. You are nothing!"

But, her words were somewhat wasted on Powell.

"I don't negotiate with people that don't exist." Powell replied. "You're lucky that I let you two stay here last night. Oh, and by the way," he added to Sari. "Your robotic-dog and Tutor-Bot? They belong to this company - leave them." He told Sari, and she looked upset.

Emma guided Sari towards the door. "Come on. He'll learn at the end that he can't buy his way into Heaven!"

She hadn't gotten much sleep that night. She had been too upset. Having Prowl there for the whole night had actually … been a very big help. He had listened to her frustrations and fears, and offered to help her however he could.

She had come very close to telling him about the fact that she had a Cybertronian form.

She had ended up falling asleep right before she could, though.

But, Prowl had been there when she'd woken up, and would be meeting her and Sari down in the reception area, along with Bumblebee.

Emma and Sari walked towards the elevator, which suddenly opened to reveal a pale, dark-haired young man.

"You!" Sari gasped.

"That's right, lamer!" Henry Masterson exclaimed, leering down at her.

"Sari … who is that guy?" Emma whispered, even though she already knew. She just wanted to hear Sari's opinion of him.

"That's Henry Masterson, one of my dad's former employees who tried to take over the city and attacked Bulkhead." Sari whispered back, glaring up at Henry.

Emma eyed the man, as Henry went in to check out his new 'crib'. He then headed off down the hallway to chat with Powell about 'moolah'.

Emma and Sari, along with their suitcases, watched as the doors closed, and then they both sighed.

"Where's Capi?" Sari wanted to know present, and Emma just shrugged.

They arrived on the ground floor, and the elevator doors opened. They walked across the reception area, and ran into . . .

Yacinta eyed them both, and they eyed her back, as she watched them struggle with their suitcases and offered no help.

Sari finally gave up, and cried: "I could use a hand here!"

"How about two?" Said a voice, and she looked up to see Bumblebee standing there.

"Bee!" She cried happily, sounding very relieved to see him. She then noticed who else was standing nearby. "And, Prowl . . . " She trailed off and, realising that Yacinta was still listening, added: "I mean, sorry to not sound so enthusiastic, Prowl, but you were here when I went to bed and you were here when I woke up, since you stayed with Emma, so . . . " She shrugged, and somewhat enjoyed the look of shock that flashed across Yacinta's face. Sari then turned to the third Autobot who was there, and said: "Why are you here?"

Yacinta coughed, obviously thinking that Sari's statement was rude.

Jazz, however, just smiled, and said: "Thought you and Cool Cat could use an extra servo. H wanted to come, but she's on recon. today. You know how it is."

"No, not really." Sari responded honestly, as Bumblebee picked up her suitcase. "It's nice of you to be here, though." She was instantly feeling more comfortable, being in the company of the Autobots, even if she didn't actually know Jazz all that well.

Yacinta just rolled her eyes, and flounced off towards the elevators, past Powell who was on his way out, and past Emma who was talking to Capi. They were speaking in hushed tones, but then Emma's mouth dropped open and, as Prowl came over to her to take her suitcase for her, she said something to him that made him look shocked, and then he, Emma, and Capi were ushering Sari, Bumblebee, and Jazz out the door.

"Go, go, go!" Emma muttered.

"What's wrong?" Sari wanted to know, as Emma put her own suitcase into Jazz's alt. mode after she put Sari's suitcase into Bumblebee's alt. mode, before she chivvied Sari in after her suitcase.

"Let's just say," Prowl said wryly, as he transformed into his alt. mode, and Emma hastily tried to put her helmet on. "That Masterson and Yacinta aren't going to be getting the fully-furnished rooms that they were promised."

Sari's mouth dropped open, and then she turned to Capi, who gazed innocently at her out of the driver's side window of Jazz's alt. mode. Sari pointed at the tower, and then at Capi.

Capi nodded.

Sari mouthed the words 'no way'.

It's like when the bank made my dad work on Christmas Eve, so he took home his office chair as a Christmas present to himself. Emma thought, still struggling with her helmet, because her hands were shaking. Or, when you get fired unfairly and take home a pack of five highlighters, three ballpoint points, and a reem of photocopy paper . . .

And, that was when they heard a high-pitched shriek from somewhere inside the building.

"Drive!" Sari gasped, and Bumblebee immediately zipped out into the traffic, followed by Jazz - Capi hung out the window, like a dog, looking back.

Just then, Henry Masterson came flying out of one of the elevators, closely followed by Yacinta.

Masterson immediately stormed up to a stunned-looking Powell, and could easily be heard angrily saying that all of the stuff from his new crib had gone missing and demanding to know who was gonna ponify up the stolen goods.

Ponify? Emma and Prowl thought in unison.

Yacinta, meanwhile, had stormed outside, to where Emma had frozen in the process of putting her helmet on. "You!" She cried, pointing directly at Emma. "What did you do with all my new furniture?!" Her eyes were blazing.

"What — ?!"

"The bed! The desk! The bedside tables! Everything!"

"Oh, right, I'm sorry, but I put it all in my suitcase!" Emma exclaimed angrily, as she finally succeeded in getting her helmet on. "Get a life, Yacinta!" She added.

Yacinta had her fists clenched, and her eyes were flashing, as she said: "I don't need to hear that from some uneducated scrub from an upside down country, with no job and no identity, who can't even afford to buy her own furniture or keep a roof over the head of some bratty little nobody!"

Emma was frozen again by this stage, one hand on the handlebar of the motorbike that Prowl's alt. mode, and the other one grabbing onto the fabric of her black pants to stop herself from hitting the other woman.

There was so much wrong with what Yacinta had just said … what right did she have to say any of that?! Especially the part about Sari!

The pounding was back in her chest, and her throat felt constricted. Usually … she could form a comeback against Yacinta. But … today … today felt different.

Still, she had to say something!

"Do you really think that you will ever be the kind of woman who makes it in this world?" Yacinta suddenly added.

And that was when Prowl said the very last thing that either Emma or Yacinta was expecting him to say.

"Actually, she already is, but the same cannot be said for you."

Emma suddenly found that she was able to move then, and she swung her right leg over the seat of the motorcycle, and soon she and Prowl were weaving in and out of traffic, following Jazz and Bumblebee.

Emma was shaking still. When they reached a set of lights (they could see that Jazz and Bumblebee had pulled over on the other side of the lights, waiting for them), Emma managed to say: "D-did you really mean that?" She couldn't really speak very loudly at that point but, somehow, Prowl heard her.

"I did." He replied, just as softly but, somehow, she heard him.

Back at the base (which Jazz was heard to describe as a 'sweet digs'), Sari and Emma managed to get their stuff inside and into their rooms own the hallway.

"I shared a room with my sister for one week once." Emma commented, stopping in the doorway. "When they were putting the floorboards in."

"Really?" Sari glanced up at her. "What was it like?"

Emma thought about it. What should she say?

She said that I sang in my sleep?

It was my room, so how come it felt like I was renting?

We had different sleeping patterns - I went to bed early and she went to bed late - but, hey, now we've switched?

In the end, she just shrugged. "When Nanna was dying the following year, she stayed in my sister's room and my sister decided to sleep in the activity room. She could stay up late on the computer, and playing Jetset Radio Future on the X-Box."

"Smart move." Sari muttered, eyeing the room before them.

"Hey, Ratchef?" Emma suddenly called, leaning out of the doorway.

"Yes?" He leaned out of another doorway down the hall.

"What happened to the room that the All-Spark used to be in?" Emma wanted to know.

"Well … I was using it to store some things," the medic responded. "But . . . "

"Apparently, when we had that city-wide blackout on Halloween — " Capi began.

"It was not my fault!" Ratchet yelled. "So, it's unusable." He added, coming down the hallway and standing behind Emma and Sari. "Sorry, girls." He added, somewhat gruffly.

Emma and Sari both sighed.

And, that was when Capi decided to take matters into his own servos, and he went into the very middle of the room and began digging around in his sub-space drawer.

"This and this, ooh, that'll look nice!" He said, as he began throwing out various things. "Now, add some Cosmic Super-Dooper Glue . . . " He began applying some strange goo-like green stuff to various objects that needed it - the goo acted like an adhesive.

The other Autobots heard all of this and were quick to join them, watching as Capi quickly constructed a split-bedroom out of the furniture from back at the tower and some other things from nobody knew where.

"Ta-da!" He said finally, raising his trunk proudly.

Everybody stared.

Sari had the left side of the room. Her bed from home was up against the back wall, on the part of the room that was raised up slightly (complete with a little railed ramp - actually, there was railing all around that platform, even though it wasn't all that high) and she had some shelving for her books. She had never had bedside tables to begin with, but Capi had improvised by using some giant tires with what looked like ottomans placed into the middle to put some cool pink lamps on. Sari's desk was on the left wall, along with her laptop and desk computer, as well as some speakers. Her pink jukebox from the tower was to the right of her bed near the railing, and there was a standing traffic light that could be turned on and off via a remote next to a very large cabinet that turned out to be a wardrobe.

"I don't know where you want your posters and stuff," Capi explained, pointing his trunk at the small pile that was on Sari's bed. "But, they're over there."

She went over to them, taking brief note of the swing chair that was suspended from the ceiling on the non-raised part of the roo the jukebox, and idly flicked through the posters and pictures. She tried not to look at the pictures of her dad. "Hey, this isn't mine!" She said suddenly, holding up a particular poster.

"Oh, sorry, I grabbed that one for Em." Capi said, using his powers to levitate the poster over to Emma.

She and Bumblebee, who was standing next to her, had a look at it.

"Steve?" Emma read. "No, wait, that's St. Eve … some nightclub, maybe? It says: 'January 2151 is throwback month, and we're going all the way back to the twenty-first century - featuring music from artists such as Coldplay, Adele, Nickelback, Psy, Evanescence, Christina Aguilera, Cascada, Linkin Park, Girls Generation, Beyoncé, The Spice Girls, Asking Alexandria, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Simple Plan, AQUA, Ed Sheeran, Disturbed' - okay, so basically all the good stuff." Some of it doesn't sound very nightclub-y … not that I'd go! Me, at a nightclub?! No way!

I've never heard of half those artists. Sari thought, but she didn't say anything. They're a part of Emma's childhood, though. At least she knows where she comes from.

Bumblebee looked up from the poster. "What'dya do, steal it off a building?" He asked Capi.

"No, Bumblebee," Capi responded, in a way that meant 'yes'. He swept his trunk over to the right-hand side of the room. "Once we get some paint on the walls, it'll look alright over there."

They all looked at the right-hand side of the room. Like Sari's side, it was painted yellow, and so Emma was keen to see how it would look in a different colour.

That side of the room seemed to have a small secondary room in it - perhaps she could use it as a wardrobe? Above it was a semi-circular mezzanine, complete with a straight staircase leading up to it. Emma's bed from the tower was up there along with one bedside table and a stained-glass lamp, and her desk was up against the staircase with the second bedside table there. There was nothing on it yet.

"Where'd you get that slide from?" Bulkhead asked Capi, pointing to the slide that curved down from the mezzanine on the opposite side to the stairs (the side that was closest to Sari's side).

"It was floating around in sub-space." Capi replied. "Don't worry," he added, when Emma looked at him. "It's sturdy." He flew into the middle area, between the two recess walls on Sari's side and Emma's side. "Now, I want to get the flag of Switzerland to put in this small space here, in case you two ever start arguing again." He said, and Emma and Sari just looked at him.

Not long after Capi gave everybody who had ever been on any renovation show a run for their money (as Emma put it), Ratchet went into the TV room and saw about three seconds of the press conference with Optimus and Sentinel before being kicked out by Bumblebee and Bulkhead who wanted to watch cartoons with a suddenly very quiet Sari.

Emma sighed. "Can you keep an eye on them, please?" She asked Prowl quietly, as they and Jazz watched from near the roller door. "Those two … have good intentions, but, I don't think they're listening to her."

Prowl nodded, and then he thought of something. "Wait, where are you going to be?" Sari's not the only one who's probably upset by all this . . .

"I'm meeting with Fuchsia about a potential job," Emma said quietly, because she hadn't actually told Sari about that part yet - she just hoped that Bumblebee and Bulkhead could keep quiet about it. At least until she got past the inevitable probation period. "But, like I said, somebody needs to stay here and keep an eye on things." She turned, not looking forward to the walk that was to follow even though, according to Fuchsia's directions, it wasn't all that far . . .

Just then, Jazz (who had been quietly observing most of what was going on) spoke up. "Need a lift, Cool Cat?"

"Would you?" Emma asked him, unable to keep the relief out of her voice. "You don't mind?"

Jazz shook his head. "Not at all. I'll even wait to take you home." He transformed into his alt. mode. "Hop in." He added, opening the passenger-side door for her.

Glancing back at Prowl who, for some reason, didn't look too happy, Emma nodded towards Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who were talking about cooking something for Sari for lunch.

Prowl nodded, but he continued to watch as Emma and Capi drove away with Jazz.

Fuchsia was waiting for Emma in a part of the neighbourhood that Emma did in fact know … and, she wasn't alone.

"Oh, wait — " Emma froze in the process of getting out of the cool sports car that was Jazz's alt. mode. "No, wait a minute, I don't think — "

"Ah, you here!" The owner of Mamma Fuyano's called to Emma, and only the fact that the little Japanese woman looked like she could cover the distance between them before Emma got back in and shut the door convinced Emma to not try and escape.

She waited for the other two women to reach her.

"Stay with me, Capi." She whispered, and felt the little tapir, who was invisible, squeeze her shoulder reassuringly.

"Emma," Fuchsia said, smiling. "This is Michiko Fuyano, the owner of Mamma Fuyano's Japanese Restaurant."

Emma could only nod.

Fuyano looked at her with a piercing gaze. "You work in hospitality before?" She asked Emma suddenly.

Emma nodded again, and then swallowed. "B-back in Perth, I-I did w-work in t-two separate restaurants." She stammered, hoping that it sounded more impressive than it actually had been.

"You have references?" Fuyano wanted to know.

"Vicky and I are happy to be references." Fuchsia said quickly.

"Vicky?" Emma repeated, and then she sensed somebody beside her but, before she could react, that someone grabbed her arm.

"She means Officer Victoria Mackenzie!" A Japanese teenage girl with black pigtails and a pink fringe said, grinning at Emma. "I met her the other day, she's super nice! Hey, are you gonna be working for my host mother?! That is so cool!"

Emma just stared at a spot past Miko's left shoulder, unable to think of how to respond to the hyperactive teenager.

Fuyano sighed. "This Miko." She introduced the teenager to Emma, who had frozen again. "Miko, this Emma — "

Miko suddenly let out a gasp. Her dark brown eyes widened, and she suddenly reached around Emma with shaking hands.

"It-it's you!" She exclaimed. "I mean … you're here!" She suddenly grabbed onto Capi, much to Emma's shock.

Why had the tapir made himself visible?

She soon found out.

"I thought I recognised you." Capi said quietly.

In contrast, Miko's voice was rising. "And, I definitely recognised you!" She held him out in front of her. "This is so cool!"

"Y-you know each other?" Emma was confused.

Capi looked at her. "Well, yes and no. She was on that Japan Airlines plane that had to make an emergency landing in the water."

Emma gasped, understanding.

"That's right!" Miko reached into the shoulder bag that she was wearing, and pulled out a sketchbook. She showed Emma a rather cartoonish but still very good picture of Capi. "In between being told off for using my phone and then being told to use the brace position, I was drawing so much that day! See?"

Emma looked at the next picture, which she realised at once showed . . .

Sari and Blackarachnia? Emma thought, and exchanged a glance with Capi, before she turned to the next page . . .

"That one I had to draw from memory, because it all happened so fast." Miko explained casually, not seeming to realise that Emma now held the sketch book away from her in horror. "That aircraft nearly shot down our plane!"

"That's a Decepticon!" Emma cried, before she could stop herself, and Miko, Fuchsia, and Fuyano all looked at her. As cartoon-y as Miko's drawing was, that actually resonated more with Emma, and there was no mistaking that purple and aqua colour scheme.

"Oh, yeah," Miko sounded thoughtful. "I heard about them, and the Autobots . . . " She grinned again. "It all sounds so cool! You guys must know them, I know you do! Somebody who could save a plane-load of people," she smiled at Capi. "Must be an Autobot! One of the good guys!"

Emma and Capi exchanged a glance, and that was when Jazz, who had stayed silent up until now, said: "Cool Cat, mind if I take a look at that drawing of hers?"

Emma glanced behind her at the white car, and said: "Well, it's Miko's drawing, so . . . "

Miko's eyes had been growing wider and wider as this was taking place, and then they just about bugged out of her head as Jazz transformed to robot mode.

"This is Jazz." Capi introduced the white mech.

"He's one of the ones who came to Earth yesterday." Fuchsia whispered. "I recognise that slightly altered symbol . . . "

"They're the Elite Guard." Emma said quietly. "They're … like … umm … it's complicated. Ultra Magnus, for example, is the head honcho back on the Autobot's home planet of Cybertron."

Jazz, who had been examining Miko's drawing carefully, said: "That's right." He glanced at Emma. "Just checking to see if I can draw on any similarities between what you told H yesterday about the 'Cons." He said quietly. "Gotta build a bit of a report, you see."

"Why?" Miko said, before Emma could say anything. She put a hand on her hip. "Does that Ultra Magnus guy think that the Decepticons weren't here?! I've only been here for a few days and I know that they were! I'll tell him what I saw!"

"That enough, Miko!" Fuyano suddenly snapped. "You supposed to be helping Sam out in the restaurant, so go back!"

"Okay, okay!" Miko said hastily, stuffing her sketch book back into her shoulder bag. "But, I know what I saw! And, Emma," she added, smiling again all of a sudden. "I hope you get the job!"

"She has job." Fuyano said shortly, much to Emma's shock. "I call you tomorrow and make more arrangements." She told Emma, who suddenly had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you!" Emma cried, and she realised that her hands were shaking. "You have no idea how much I need this job!"

"I know." Fuyano informed her, waving her hand dismissively. "Fuchsia explained to me, why you need money. You are good, to take on Sumdac's daughter. Porter C. Powell is very greedy man. People like him have no place in good world. Isaac Sumdac is good man. I know him for many years. Was sad to hear about his disappearance. He'll be found."

Emma noddedz. Though she was thinking that Fuyano was just as honest as Miko, her worry about Isaac and the future meant that she did not trust herself to speak all of a sudden.

And, perhaps Jazz picked up on this, because he suggested that they 'take a breather to cruise around town for a few clicks'.

'A few clicks' turned into 'the rest of the day and the evening, too' but neither one of them actually seemed to mind.

Emma was shocked when she realised it, but … she'd somehow made a new friend.

Sari didn't know how to say that she wanted to be left alone, after Bumblebee and Bulkhead had been trying all day to … cheer her up?

She wasn't even sure how she was feeling. Why wouldn't they listen to her?!

"You know what they say," Bulkhead said, as he sat back in the couch in front of the TV. "TV makes the world go 'round!"

No, they don't. Sari thought, but she didn't say anything.

"Exactly!" Bumblebee agreed, as he pointed the remote at the TV and began flicking through stations. "We got late movies, top ten video countdown, bmx bird highlights … some really weird Korean language soap opera . . . "

However, about midway through the evening, after she stopped to briefly worry about Sari and then think about what Optimus and Sentinel were currently going through, another thought crossed Emma's mind.

"Hey, Jazz," she began, as she climbed out of his alt. mode after he had pulled over on a particular road that seemed to lead to the spot for the nightlife. "Does Ultra Magnus know where you … are … right … now . . . ?"

She had turned around as she was saying this, just as there was a slight flash of blue light, and suddenly Jazz's holoform was standing there.

It was tall (weren't they all?), and looked African-American. He had long dark hair in braids and a goatee, and was dressed in a white short-sleeved t-shirt with red and blue lines on it over a black long-sleeved shirt, white jeans, black and white sneakers, a white hat that resembled his helmet, black headphones and cool, clear blue glasses that looked like his visor.

The silver Autobot pendant hung from his neck, catching the lights from one of the nearby nightclubs.

Jazz was grinning. "Chill, Cool Cat - I told the big boss I was doing some recon. That's not a lie now, is it?" He winked at her.

She just about died.

"No, I guess it's not!" Capi replied cheerfully.

"You ever made this scene before?" Jazz went on, gesturing to a nearby nightclub.

Is that St. Eve's? Emma thought, as she shook her head. "N-no, never . . . " They had somehow found themselves in the line outside of the nightclub. "Hey, wait . . . " She was about to say that it probably wouldn't be possible for them to get in without identification - which she didn't have on her and Jazz didn't have full stop.

But, just then, they reached the security guard, and he calmly waved them through. "Have fun in the twenty-first century." Hey told them.

"How . . . ?" Emma blinked, as Jazz calmly led her inside of the venue.

"That was chill." He said casually.

Emma suddenly became aware that Capi was still on her shoulder, and she suddenly thought of something.

Had the tapir had something to do with why they had just been allowed to enter?

All thoughts of that flew out of her mind, however, when they got in there, however, because she actually knew the song that was playing!

Giving is good,

As long as you're getting,

What's driving you,

It's ambition and betting . . .

"I love this song!" She found herself saying.

"That's because you were around when they wrote it!" Capi replied.

"Capi, did you hypnotise the guy at the door?!" Emma wanted to know.

"What?!" He either couldn't hear her or was just pretending that he couldn't.

Emma suspected the latter.

But, before she could press the subject any further, Jazz was grabbing her hands and saying: "Less kill, more chill, Cool Cat!"

"You do actually my know my real name, don't you?" She started to say, but she soon found herself caught up in the music. She didn't know if she was actually dancing properly, but, it also didn't matter.

Jazz didn't care.

And, neither did Emma.

Boring! Honeybee thought, for the millionth time, as she watched the monitor. How did I end up on monitor duty?!

She then glanced around her - Ultra Magnus was Primus only knew where, Sentinel was investigating a reported Decepticon sighting, and Jazz was out doing the recon. that Honeybee had been doing until earlier on. She then pressed a button and brought up a split screen, smiling a bit now as she multitasked by keeping one optic on the monitor and one optic on the humans' TV stations that she now flicked through.

About an hour or so later, Emma was actually starting to find that she was starting to enjoy herself. She never would have thought that it was possible, being at a nightclub (with a cute guy!) and having fun. All those times she'd watched her sister go to places like The Foundry and The Flying Scotsman, and never once had she envisioned herself in her sister's place.

The fact that she knew every single song that was played because it was Throwback January was helpful.

If Mum and Nee-San couldseeme now! Emma thought, actually smiling to herself as she waited by the wall while Jazz went up to the DJ to request a song. Plus, Jazz has been on earth, what, just under two days? And, already he seems to be enjoying it! Even though he's here with me?! Wow! This is...I mean, I've never felt like this before! It's . . .She looked up, and saw Yacinta and her friends walking towards her. The worst nightever.

Jazz was making his way back through the crowd to where he'd left Emma, hoping that she hadn't decided to bail on him. He stopped, however, when he saw Emma being confronted by the girl from that morning (Yacinta, or something?), along with a few other girls.

Yacinta pointed to one of the other girls, a dark-skinned human, and then at Emma, before pointing up at the stage.

Jazz saw Emma turn towards the stage, and then glance through the crowd, looking for him. She spotted him, and their gazes met. Jazz saw that she looked positively mortified but that, at the same time, there was also a hint of underlying fire in her golden eyes ... she suddenly clenched her fists, looked squarely at Yacinta and said, loud enough for Jazz to hear her above all the noise: "Fine with me, but then you're going to withdraw your police report and leave Sari and me alone from now on!"

Yacint nodded firmly, and she and the dark-skinned girl began making their way up towards the stage, with Emma in tow, and the other girls behind her like some kind of an escort … whatever it was, there was no way that Emma could back out now.

Capi suddenly appeared on Jazz's shoulder.

"Yacinta wants her stuff back," the little tapir said. "She's convinced that Emma had something to do with it going missing, and she's even filed a police report … she'll withdraw the statement and back off if Emma can beat her friend, Larissa."

"Beat her at what?" Jazz wanted to know, as he tried to make sense of what he'd just been told.

"Singing." Capi replied, just as a huge cheer went up from the crowd, who had just been told about what they believed to be a friendly competition.

Jazz took note of how worried Emma looked, and then said to Capi: "So, how come you're not worrying?"

"Because Primus was more than a little bit kind to Em in the singing department. She just needs to believe in herself."

Ultra Magnus sighed. He had been trying to get in contact with Jazz for the last megacycle, and he hadn't had any luck.

He headed towards the main room of the ship, to ask Honeybee if she had heard anything.

Yacinta had forgotten to mention one fact - that her friend, Larissa, was studying at the music academy in Detroit. She was, to put it bluntly, good.

Very good.

She sang All For You by Janet Jackson, although Emma heard her admitting to Charlie that she only knew it because her teacher was a fan of the singer from the twenty-first century.

It was at this point that Emma realised that these women were only in here because she was, and only to get revenge on her for whatever they thought she had done to them.

This wasn't just about the missing furniture.

Shaking as she was, Emma managed to get to where she had to go, and the DJ, whose name was Melody according to her name badge, asked her what song she would like.

"We can turn any song into a music-only version, thanks to science!" She said proudly.

"Did you invent it?" Emma suddenly said, in her nervousness.

"No, but don't tell anyone." Melody winked.

Emma smiled, slightly, and that was when a completely random song that she knew how to sing flashed through her mind.

She didn't register that there was a male vocal part towards the end of the song. She was just focusing on getting up there and singing.

As the music started, Jazz watched Emma up onstage, wearing the headset with the microphone attached.

She wasn't looking at anything

and then the song started, and her expression changed.

So did the way that she'd been moving all evening. Before, she had been something hesitant, although she looked like she had been having fun.

But, now, she seemed to have gone into a different zone.

"Ooh, Evacuate The Dancefloor, by Cascada." Capi said, somewhat approvingly.

It probably didn't matter which song it was, because Jazz was half focusing on that and half focusing on the way that Emma was moving.

There was something … familiar, in the way that she was moving. She was able to sing and move like that at the same time, and . . .

"She's been learning circuit-su?" Jazz said suddenly.

He felt Capi move off of his shoulder, and sensed the tapir's gaze on him. "A lot of martial arts here on Earth here are similar." He said, over the music. Then: "Hey, do you know this song?"

"I do now." Jazz smiled, having downloaded the song via a connection with the internet already. He also knew why Capi was suddenly asking him that, which is why he was already moving, and ended up onstage as he was able to simultaneously link the microphone in his headset to the speakers in the nightclub, in time to sing the male vocal part.

There was a certain synchronicity in the way that Emma and Jazz were moving then, leaving no doubt in Jazz's mind that it was a hundred percent circuit-su that Emma had been learning, and nothing else.

Emma and Jazz stared at each other as the song finished, both of them breathing heavily. There was a moment of complete silence ... and then, almost everybody in the building began cheering, deciding on the clear winner of the contest!

Emma was back to being nervous, even as Jazz helped her down from the stage, and the camera-bots swarmed.

She also noticed that Yacinta and her friends were glaring at her, but, right then she didn't mind!

On the Elite guard Flagship, Ultra Magnus stared at the monitor, his aqua-blue optics unusually wide as he watched the live footage from inside the nightclub.

Honeybee, with her hand still frozen over the button, was beginning to regret surfing through the humans' television stations.

She watched as Ultra Magnus shook his head, and recognised the look on his face.

Honeybee swiftly made a call, which went straight to something called voice-mail, which she found out let her leave a message.

'Emma, if Jazz is with you, you need to tell him to come back to the Elite Guard flagship now!'

Prowl, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Sari, and Ratchet stared at the screen, unable to truly believe what they were seeing.

"Is that ... Emma?" Bulkhead blinked.

"Our Emma?" Bumblebee rubbed his optics, and then checked the screen again. Yup, that sure looked like her, and it sounded like her, but . . .

"What in Primus's name does she think she's doing?!" Ratchet was horrified.

"Having fun?" Sari suggested, sounding like she didn't particularly care.

"Turn that thing off, right now!" Ratchet ordered, and Bumblebee quickly switched back to Reincarnates Of The Sun. "She's in big trouble when she gets back here!" The medic added gruffly, stalking out of the room.

It may have been Ratchet's intention to scold Emma when she got back to the base - riding with Optimus, since she and Jazz had run into him and Sentinel on the way back.

But, about two seconds after Emma had jumped down from the fire truck (which instantly transformed back into Optimus), there was a yell from the direction of her and Sari's room.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT'S WHAT SHE'S BEEN DOING?!"

Emma was across the room and down the hallway in a second, to find Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl crowded around the closed roller door into the room.

Prowl glanced at her, and then walked off without a word.

Emma stared after him, unsure of what to make of that, before she turned and watched as Capi just phased through the solid door.

"Wow." Bumblebee was impressed. "So, we can add that to the list of things that he can do?"

"That and hypnosis." Emma mumbled, then knocked on the roller door to the room. She opened the roller door without waiting for an answer, and went inside. Bumblebee and Bulkhead exchanged a glance, and then followed her silently.

Sari was lying on her bed, and Capi was hovering nearby. She got up when Bumblebee and Bulkhead approached her. "What do you guys want?" She asked, irritably.

"Nothing." Bumblebee told her.

"We just wanted to know if you were okay." Bulkhead added.

"Okay?" Sari's cheeks turned pink, and she glared at them. "If I'm okay? My dad is missing, I lost control of his company, that Powell guy is going to destroy everything good he worked for," she was getting worked up by this stage, and Emma knew that the end result was coming. She perched on the end of Sari's bed, and waited. "I've been kicked out of the only home I've ever known and I don't even know if I exist and my nanny's been forced to get a job just so she and I can survive and you think I'm okay?!" She burst into tears.

Oh, Sari . . . Emma thought, tears in her own eyes now, as she moved so that she was sitting beside Sari and put her arms around her. Sari sobbed even harder, and buried her face in Emma's chest.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead exchanged a glance, and then assumed their holoforms. Bumblebee sat on Sari's left and put his arms around her from the front. Bulkhead perched behind them, and hugged all three of them from behind.

"Their eyes are leaking . . . " Bulkhead muttered.

"It's okay," Bumblebee said. "Sari, you let them leak us much as you need. You too, Em." He added. "We're here for you, and you're safe. So, whatever it is, you know you can always ... tell us." He finished, a bit awkwardly. "We'll listen."

"That's what family's for, Sari." Emma finished softly.

Sari sniffled against Emma's chest. "Thank you . . . " She murmured. "For everything." She added.

"We had to tell her." Bulkhead whispered to Emma.

"It's okay, I'm glad you did." Emma replied quietly. "Just look out for her while I'm at work, okay?"

Bulkhead and Bumblebee both nodded.

Emma thought about what working at Mamma Fuyano's was going to be like. Certainly not like being there as a patron … she recalled going there with Prowl, and just happened to glance up at that point . . .

Prowl was watching from the doorway and, when Emma looked up, they met each others gaze.

Prowl looked away, and then walked off, leaving Emma feeling very confused.

Am I unhappy about her being somewhere like that with another mech? Or … is it because I recognised how she was moving, and now I have no idea how to tell her that I know whoever her teacher is is really a Cybertronian?