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Ok, just to let people know if you do not already, this fic is just as chock full of sexual tension and humor as the movie. So if something offends your sensibilities, or lack there of; please feel free to never read this again. No wax off my armor...

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. But if I could, I would so own Prime. Mmmmm...

*Slaps self*

Chapter 01

It was always quiet on the cliff at night. Not many people used this place as a make out spot anymore. Most of the teenagers were always at the lake these days. Ellie smiled as she leaned back on the hood of her royal blue Saturn. Even though it had been her first car, she found it hard to give up.

She still lived in the same house she had moved into after she graduated from high school, drove the same car and came to this same spot every Friday night to enjoy the stars. Most people called her stubborn, but she had learned the comfort of routine and the air of dependability it brought. It had been that same dependability that had convinced Sam Witwickey's parents that she was a good babysitter. That job had supplied her with a steady flow of income when she was still in school. She had to admit though, that Sam's father was reluctant to part with more money that he thought was necessary. His wife called him cheap. Though, Judy would more often than not slip an extra twenty dollars or so into her pocket to make up for her husbands frugality.

Eloise Murdock smiled as she remembered back through all the trouble Sam had put her through. The kid could manipulate his father like no body's business. He had even gotten his dad to pay her more by telling him that a couple of neighborhood kids had stuck bologna all over Ellie's car. In truth, Sam and his friend Miles had done it as a joke, but he made up for it even if he didn’t tell the whole truth. Who knew that bologna could eat the paint off of a car? Though Ellie had a feeling that Sam did it just so she could get her car repainted. The old gray it had originally made it look like an old granny car. Royal blue looked much better on a Saturn anyway.

Ellie smiled as she leaned back, putting her hands behind her head. She closed her eyes as she heard someone driving up the road. In fact, it sounded like a lot of people. Four vehicles in all pulled onto the cliff. She tilted her head as the strange assortment pulled up near her. To her left, a bold red and blue semi had parked itself, to her right; a yellow EMV Hummer with a black GMC Top Kick had come to a stop. Last was a custom ’08 bright yellow Camaro that pulled up beside her car. For a moment, everything was quiet, then the doors to the yellow Camaro opened and two younger people got out. A young woman had stepped out of the passenger side. She was quite pretty with her dark hair in a ponytail. Out of the driver’s side stepped out the same boy who had slapped bologna all over her car all those years ago.

Ellie’s face split into a grin when she watched Sam come around and lock hands with the pretty girl. “Hey Ellie,” he waved with his free hand, his smile meeting hers. “Ellie, this is Mikaela, my girlfriend.” The tension in Mikaela’s face seemed to lessen when Sam stated that.

“Hey!” Ellie greeted them both with a wave of her hand as she slid off the hood of her car to stand in front of them. Now that she was on the ground, Ellie was a few inches shorter than Sam. “My little Sam is growing up,” Ellie mock sniffed. “I used to baby-sit this kid when he was younger.” Mikaela sniggered into her hand, watching as Sam became uncomfortable that his old babysitter was talking to his girlfriend. He only hoped that she wouldn’t embarrass him too much. Ellie smiled. “So what have you been up to lately?” She watched as Sam and Mikaela both just shrugged their shoulders in unison and said, “Nothing,” with a rather peculiar look in their eyes.

“Nothing?” Ellie could hardly believe that. “Ok, then what in the world is this?” Sam seemed a little uncomfortable as Ellie swept her arm around to indicate the three other vehicles that had driven with them. “They shy or do you have something weird going on?” Mikaela could swear that Sam was shrinking as Ellie stared him down, using that same look his mother had given him only a few weeks ago when Sam had to explain what had happened. Mikaela only hoped that she would not try to take Sam to the hospital as his parents had.

Ellie shook her head. “At least you hang out with people with good taste in cars,” She said looking the black Top Kick over with a critical eye. “Are they glued to their seats or are they gonna come out and say hello?” She watched as Sam started to squirm on his feet as she walked around to the driver’s side of the black truck, moving to knock on the door.

Sam stuttered something unintelligible, not sure how he should go about explaining. On one hand he knew that the government wanted the Autobots to remain unseen, but on the other hand he didn’t want Ellie to think that he was snubbing her. “Wait, um…their sleeping! Yea, right. They like to come out and sleep under the stars on the weekends. It’s kind of a trucker thing,” Sam shrugged, proud of himself for thinking on his feet. Ellie shook her head. What was she getting so upset about? She did the same exact thing last weekend and didn’t wake up until nearly noon. She really started to hate PMS at the moment. “What happened to your leg?” Sam had noticed the slight limp as Ellie walked back to her car.

“It took it in for maintenance and they botched the knee.” Ellie sat on her bumper and pulled up her left pant leg to reveal a titanium alloy prosthetic leg. She demonstrated by twitching the muscles that sent the signal through electrodes that told the knee joint to move, showing them how it froze up just before it was fully extended. “It’s really annoying and the repair shop has refused to fix it,” she shrugged, “Insurance won’t cover it either, so I’m stuck with this thing until I can fix it.”

Mikaela studied the rather bare looking prosthetic limb. It reminded her of how the Autobot’s legs were constructed. “How did you loose it?” Sam smiled, shaking his head.

“I didn’t,” was Ellie’s simple answer. “I just don’t have anything below my left mid-femur.” Ellie’s simple answer was the same every time someone asked her what had happened. She never considered herself handicapped. She was just born without her left leg. “But I still have just enough left to kick anyone’s ass.”

The Autobots shared a silent chuckle. They had been watching the scene unfold quietly, exchanging comments between themselves. “I’m starting to like this human,” Iron Hide stated gruffly.

“You would,” Ratchet quipped. “Though, I still find it curious how individuals of this species can be born missing limbs. Very puzzling.” Prime harrumphed in agreement, watching Sam interact with the older female. “Though the sudden mood swing is understandable since she is entering the end of her monthly…”

“Ratchet,” Prime stopped his CMO with a withering sigh. “We already understand human reproductive cycles enough to know what is going on.” Ratchet acquiesced with a chuckle. He supposed that he was being a tad too informative.

“Wow, this is a lot better than the one you used to have.” Sam stood up as Ellie lowered her pant leg. “I remember you having to take that thing off every time you sat down.” Mikaela leaned back on Bumblebee as Sam and Ellie talked about when Sam was young. She could see why Sam’s parents liked her. She had even taken up for Sam when he had gotten into trouble. Yea, Sam had been spoiled.

"I haven't heard much from you," Ellie had directed her question to Mikaela. "How did you two meet?"

Bumblebee listened as Sam and Mikaela spoke of how they had met. Obviously they left out the part about meeting the Autobots, nearly getting killed by the Decepticons and the resulting battle that had brought downtown Crescent City to a stand still. All things considered, it was still true enough to not be called an outright lie. "The female seems to be a good friend of Sam's," ventured the little yellow Camaro, relaxing as his human laughed. The little mech waited until Mikaela reached in to his cab for her phone to turn his radio on. He tuned his dial until it hit on the station playing 'Photograph' by Nickleback.

Mikaela smiled. "Thanks, Bee," she whispered, checking her messages. Nothing important, though both she and Sam were waiting for word on their applications to the University of Oregon. Both had high hopes and big dreams for their time after graduation, which was less than two weeks away.

Mikaela trotted back around as Ellie started running her hand over Bumblebee's hood. "Beautiful car, Sam. Though I don’t want to know how long it took to get your dad to fork over his half." Sam had to stifle a laugh. She had no idea. Sam glanced at his three friends as Ellie bent down to examine the interior of Bumblebee, mouthing a silent apology. He knew that the remaining Autobots spent precious little time together as it was.

Bumblebee was with him and Mikaela all the time, Iron Hide had opted to stay with Captain Lennox and his family. Sam had heard from the weapons specialist that Lennox and his wife were expecting their second child in the fall. He had complained about Mrs. Lennox's questionable decision to conceive said child in his back seat. He had warned Bumblebee not to let Sam and Mikaela in his back seat alone, not wanting the youngest of them to be scarred for life.

Ratchet had taken up residence at the local EMS dispatch. No one seemed to have caught on yet, though he would be seen with one particular female EMT quite often. Iron Hide teased the medic jokingly about it from time to time. Ratchet hadn't transformed in front of her, however he had admitted to speaking with her on occasion.

Prime, however, had taken to driving through the country side, sticking to the back roads as he took in the beauty of his adopted home. He returned his response to Sam in the form of a blinking headlight. It was alright that they could not transform. They were together, that was all that mattered.

Eloise stretched and yawned wide. It was nearing eleven and she felt tired enough to finely go to bed. "See you two around." Sam and Mikaela responded similarly as Ellie slid into her car and started it up. Sam didn't relax until he could no longer see Ellie's tail lights in the dark.

Sam smiled as the four vehicles parked around him transformed so that he could look at his friends face to face. It had been weeks since he had seen either Prime or Ratchet and nearly a month since he had spoken to Iron Hide. He knew that Mikaela had missed them as well. The four Autobots seemed to relax as they settled on the ground in one position or another. Bumblebee was laying on his back, staring up at the sky as Prime leaned his back against a small hill, his optics looking out over Tranquility below. Iron Hide was complaining about Ratchet trying to sit on his foot as he sprawled out on the ground. Neither bot was satisfied until they sat on opposite sides of the cliff. Apparently Iron Hide was still sore at Ratchet after the medic had teased him about Captain Lennox's antics in his back seat.

Sam ignored Ratchet and Iron Hide's bickering as he watched Optimus cast silent optics upwards towards the moonless sky. Prime had been waiting for any kind of response to his transmission, but so far, silence had been the only thing he had received. Mikaela moved to Prime's hand, placing her delicate fingers on his, offering silent comfort. The Autobot leader looked down at the human female, his unmasked face pulling into a smile of thanks. "Penny for your thoughts, Optimus?" Prime sighed as he looked up again, then over to his weapons master as he again warned his scout never to let the two 'Horny little meat bags' into his back seat without supervision, or a pair of straight jackets. Bumblebee stayed silent, switching his radio on to an oldies station playing Ella Fitzgerald's 'Let's Do It', grinning as he watched Iron Hide's face drop. Prime actually chuckled at the sight of Iron Hide dividing his shock between Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee. Sam was the only one who managed to look uncomfortable, though that look vanished when Mikaela wrapped her arms around him and gave Iron Hide a sultry raspberry.

Iron Hide made a disgusted noise as Sam and Mikaela started laughing with their arms wrapped around each other. Bumblebee looked unaffected by their apparent 'Christening' of his back seat. Prime knew that Bumblebee extended his protection to Mikaela now and had known that there were few safe places for the two to mate that would not be disturbed by nosy parents or brainless jocks. Trent had made it his mission to try and get Mikaela back from Sam, though all he did was get himself into trouble when he tried to slash Bumblebee's tires. The little car had honked so loud that the boy had jumped back onto the hood of another truck, scratching a deep gouge in the paint with his pocket knife. With all the noise of the car alarms going off, it wasn't long before the owner of that truck found out who had scratched his baby.

Bumblebee had been quite satisfied with himself when Trent had been arrested for defacing private property and for carrying a weapon onto school grounds. The yellow Autobot found it slightly ironic that it was now Trent who had the juvenile record that would follow him for the rest of his life. Prime let his laughter join in with the other's as he took his eyes off of his weapons master and returned them to the skies. His optics registered the change before human eyes could. In the distance, off to the north-west, no less than four pin pricks of light had become visible, long tails of light streaming from them as they entered the Earth's atmosphere.


Oh, Yes! I went there![/b]

Two thumbs, way way up! You, are extremely good. I'm jealous.

Thanks

Post some more.

I like

Slight confusion of perspective though, as the story begins from Ellies point of view (awesome character by the way, like the whole "cybernetic" thing) and then moves seamlessly to Sam/the autobots perspective. Intentional?

Even so, very cool so far. Can't wait for the next installment. Speaking of which ijuintekka, wheres the next chapter!?!? I'm getting impatient.....

I've hit a wall. But I've just finished planning it out til the end. So hopefully I'll get plenty written soon. Though I am going on vacation in three days so I'll try to atleast get one chapter done by then.

Also I organized things by Chapter and added a quick chapter reference... coming soon.

I transfer between POVs because I found that the story is incomplete when told from only one POV. And if I was as organized as ijuintekka, I would have had this whole thing written in a week. lol

Chapter 02

Eloise lived just outside Tranquility, twenty miles north-west of the cliff she loved to frequent. Her house was a small one story flat that sat on the road leading toward Portland. The night returned to its stillness as Ellie turned off the engine and stepped out of her car. A few steps and a jingle of her keys and she was inside, locking out the warmth of the late spring evening. As soon as she entered her house, she turned down the thermostat to a crisp seventy-two degrees before beginning her evening ritual before bed. She was totally engrossed in the task that she failed to notice that the darkness outside had disappeared as though the sun had been thrown high into the sky.

She was brought out of her trance when she started noticing the vibration under her feet. Going to the window, she pulled back the curtains just in time to be thrown to the ground as something massive hit the hills in the country side behind her house. For a few moments, Ellie was thrown around like she was inside a pinball machine. It almost felt like someone had put her into a paint shaker. The intense noise was suddenly replaced by an eerie silence. Pulling herself to her feet on an indiscriminate piece of over turned furniture, Ellie fished around in the cabinet for a flashlight.

Slowly, she stepped outside into the darkness, shining the light in front of her as she walked to the area where the objects had fallen. At first she had thought it was a plane crash and she had grabbed her cell phone and had already had the number dialed and her finger on the send button. Slowly she crept to the edge of the small crater. The air was still thick with dust, but she heard something strange coming from the crater. It sounded like clicking and whirring of metal and hydraulics working.

"Hello?" Ellie looked down into the first crater. The sound stopped as quickly as it started and she suddenly had a sickening feeling as a dark shape rose through the dust. It just kept growing taller and taller until it took up her entire field of vision. Then it looked at her. 'It has eyes?' She thought to herself, backing up as slowly as she could, not wanting to present herself as a target. But it was already too late and she knew it. The figure was already reaching for her with long, thin fingers. The strength in that hand was terrifying as those fingers closed around her waist in a none too gentle grip, lifting her off of the ground.

Within moments she was level with her captor, its eyes glowing what she felt was a hate filled red. The thing seemed to observe her for a moment, before its metallic maw drew back into a sickening impression of a grin. "Oh, God..." Ellie whispered, staring into those eyes. The being seemed to vibrate with laughter. It was laughing!

"Thank you, human." The voice sounded like nails being drawn down a chalk board. "However, Starscream will suffice." Ellie barely had a moment to comprehend what had happened before three more beings the size of the one holding her stepped out of the other craters, their eyes drawn to the figure hyperventilating in Starscream's hand. Two were of the same design as Starscream, wide at the shoulders and narrow at the waist with long talon like fingers. Their faces were twisted into varying degrees of grotesque amusement as Ellie tried to pull herself out of Starscream's grip. The fourth of the group seemed to remain detached from the entire situation, almost as though it were thinking hard.

"What is your designation?" Ellie jumped, not sure if she were trapped in some kind of nightmare or if the pizza she ate was coming back to haunt her. 'My designation?' She asked herself, not sure what it was asking. Its dead pan voice made it difficult to gage the meaning. Was he joking or serious? "What is your designation, flesh creature?"

"Eloise...Murdock," she answered, shrinking back as the dead pan mech leaned in for a better look. The next few seconds the tall beings seemed to converse in some sort of high pitched signal. There seemed to be a great deal of information exchanged between the beings as Starscream kept a tight grip on her waist.

"This flesh creature does not match the physical characteristics of the one you call 'Sam Witwicky', Starscream." The being holding her seemed to grow angry and his grip threatened to crush her.

"You will address me as Lord Starscream, Soundwave!" For a moment his optics flared dangerously at his subordinate.

"What...what do you want with Sam?" The question brought Starscream out of his murderous stare, his grip loosening until Ellie could breathe.

"You know whom we seek?" It asked, putting its face mere inches from Ellie's. Ellie gulped, on the verge of passing out.

"Maybe..." Starscream looked about ready to crush her. "That depends on what you want him for." Ellie stuttered out quickly, still not daring to look away from Starscream. This answer only served to amuse him.

"Soundwave? How long has it been since Ravage has had a play thing?"



"Wow, they landed out in the middle of no where," Mikaela commented, watching the smoke rising from the craters. They were the only people on the road this late at night for a good reason. Those around the area knew what had happened the last time objects came crashing toward the earth. Crescent City had almost been destroyed in the resulting battle. Most still would not accept the idea of alien beings living with them. Those people were more comfortable pointing their fingers at people who had not benefited one bit from the conflict. It was still hard for Sam and Mikaela to accept at times, but they just forgot that the autonomous robotic beings were not human.

The road began to curve toward the smoking craters, their view still not any better. The fact that there was no moonlight made it difficult to determine where the craters were, but a faint red glow in the dust cloud served to lead them straight toward them. Sam hoped that the four were Autobots. Since Optimus had sent the message nearly a year ago, Sam had been excited to meet more of the Autobots friends. He knew he shouldn't be getting this excited but the prospect was just too good not to think about.

Prime scanned for electronic identification signatures over and over again. He could not assume that because he could not read them that they were Decpticons. They could be Autobots who shut their EIDs off to avoid attention from enemies, or they could have been afraid that the transmission was a trap. The universe seemed so unfriendly to Autobots that the latter seemed more acceptable. Though when Optimus saw the red tinged light, his processor froze. He knew those shapes. He remembered the triangular shaped bodies as the Seekers from Cybertron, and more specifically; Starscream.

His processor was trying to build a strategy when he heard the scream. "Slag!" Iron Hide's hard bark put into words what Optimus was feeling. The Autobots poured on the speed as they heard the maniacal laughter of the three Seekers. As the Autobots drew closer, they could see a smaller form at the feet of the four Decpticons. It seemed to have something in its mouth, something with reddish brown hair and a look of utter horror on her face.

"Bumblebee! Stay back with Sam and Mikaela," Optimus ordered as he transformed while still speeding at nearly one hundred miles per hour. Iron Hide and Ratchet followed suit, leaving Bumblebee and the two teenagers. Sam opened the door, his eyes adjusting to the poor light. To the left of the warring mechs was a small house with a car port at the side. Under the car port was a navy blue Saturn he knew well. He recognized the voice of the woman screaming as three more mechs came rushing toward her. This was Ellie's house.

As Sam and Mikaela watched, Optimus led the charge, determined to shock the five Decpticons into dropping their human victim and concentrate on them. Ravage, resembling a monstrous feline had the woman by her left leg, dragging her bodily behind the three seekers to his master. The woman was clawing at the ground, looking for any purchase that would allow her to pull back. She found one in the root of a nearby tree and hung on for dear life as Ravage jerked his head from side to side, trying to dislodge his prey. Her grip was tenuous as the ground shook as the towering mechs around her got close enough for melee combat, their fists pummeling the three avian like mechs with frightening ferocity.

Ellie brought her right foot up and smashed it against the head of the monster holding her by her prosthetic leg. Apparently, it did not know that it was not her leg, because it seemed puzzled as to why she was not shrieking in pain. As she kicked it again in the face, it growled and pulled harder on her leg, Ellie's grip slipping on the root. "Let go of me!" Her foot connected with what she perceived as his eye, and the orb shattered in its socket. The beast yowled in pain, but would not let her leg out of its grip. Desperate to get away and to not be stepped on as the tallest of the mechs slammed its foot down not three feet from her head, Ellie swung her left arm around the root as she undid the buckles and straps that kept her prosthetic leg on.

Moments that seemed like hours passed before she could get the straps undone and the monster holding on to her went tumbling back into the crater from its own momentum like a person on the loosing end of a game of tug-of-war. Her left leg now useless, thanks to the beast's jaws, Ellie crawled to her right foot and started trying to hop out of the battle. She was stopped short as a talon like foot slammed to the ground in front of her, its owner regarding her with a sickening grin. Ellie dove forward as it reached for her. The large mech looked down around its feet as though it were chasing a roach rather than a human. The other mechs seemed to notice his trouble, one of them looking as though steam were issuing from where its ears should be. "Thundercracker! Stop playing with the human and kill it already!" Ellie eeped as the foot came down a mere six inches from her head.

Iron Hide had already given himself over to the battle. It had been far too long since he had had a valid reason for discharging his arm cannons and he gladly made up for lost time punching holes in Skywarp's black and purple shell. The bot fell to the ground, sending the humans off balance. Ellie nearly had her other leg crushed as she lost her balance and fell underneath the high arched heel of Thundercracker's foot. The mech seemed confused for a moment, looking around before he issued a howl of pain, his foot dripping a glowing blue substance that seemed to steam as it touched the ground. The blue Seeker hopped on one foot as the energon continued to pour out of the secondary line feeding the hydraulics in its ankle, its prey forgotten.

Ratchet dove forward, scooping the frightened female up before Ravage had a second chance with her. The Autobot ignored the human's curses and futile beating of his fingers as he carried her to Bumblebee as fast as his legs could carry him. "Ellie...ELLIE!" Ratchet's raised voice stopped any remaining resistance from the female. She seemed amazed that the being knew her name. Ratchet sighed and brought his volume down to normal levels. "Please understand that I mean no harm to you," Ratchet was relieved that the woman only nodded dumbly. He was not surprised to find that she was only half conscious. Though she had enough mental capacity left while her 'Fight or Flight' response was active to understand what he was telling her. "Stay with Sam and Mikaela, please," he added. Though his words were lost as Ellie passed out in his hands.

Optimus brought his foot back, punting the charge of Soundwave into the hands of its master. He knew that in the face of an all out battle that Starscream was a coward. The Seeker may have been a brilliant strategist and schemer, but in a fair fight he was useless. Self preservation seemed to have been given a priority over other functions. Including ensuring the safety of those under his command. "Retreat!" Iron Hide seemed to find the declaration amusing because he started throwing insults, none of which were repeatable in civilized company, at the retreating Decepticons. Soundwave gathered his charge in its crevice before transforming into a blue variation of a Naval CH-46D Sea Knight dual rotor helicopter, chasing after its cowardly brethren.

"Figures they wouldn't stay to play," grumbled Iron Hide, waving a dismissive hand at the retreating forms.

"At least we got to her before Ravage made her into a chew toy," Ratchet sounded relieved as he waved the other two mechs over to where he had the female laid down on the ground. "She managed to sever Thundercracker's secondary fuel line. Contact with the energon rendered her unconscious but she will not suffer any lasting damage."

"I told you I liked the human," Iron Hide seemed proud of the small female as he took a look at her prone form on the ground. "Lucky little thing, though. She could have been a sticky smear with those fragging idiots dancing like frightened protoforms."

Prime nodded, watching as Ratchet examined the female with a sensitive digit on her abdomen. "She has not been significantly damaged internally; however I am not comfortable with that gash on her right thigh." Ratchet reached into his side panel where he removed a reel of nearly invisible thread. His right hand transformed into a small long fingered hand. "Mikaela, please remove her jeans. I need access to close the gash before infection sets in." Mikaela forcefully turned Sam around before she did as Ratchet asked her to. Sam was left facing Bumblebee, sticking his hands in his pockets and whistling softly with is eyes skyward.

"I still find the act of suturing wounds fascinating," Ratchet seemed to like to speak to his audience as he worked on closing the long gash caused by a careless swipe of Ravage's paw. "The way human skin knits itself together by extending fibers to secure the opening closed is an ingenious use of resources." The medic seemed content to be the only one talking, his optics focused on the task at hand.

Nearly fifteen minutes had passed before the medic made the final stitch and cut the excess thread, leaving a rather beautifully small stitched strip about six inches long. "Beautiful, if I don't say so myself."

"You just did..." Iron hide commented dryly, earning him a reproving glance from the medic.

"I will let her wake in your cab then, Iron Hide. She will most likely be in a great deal of pain both from the cut and from the slight burns sustained from her contact with energon." Ratchet smiled when Iron Hide backed down, grumbling to himself as only diesel engine could. "Good, Sam, Mikaela, would you mind sitting the young lady in my cab? I have some water and Ibuprofen in the compartments and shall be able to..."

"Alright, already!" Iron Hide exclaimed. "Just get her in there before Ratchet reads off the dinner menu." Sam was the worst at controlling his amusement as he and Mikaela with Prime's help slid Ellie into Ratchet's cab. He let the two banter. None of their arguments came to blows, thankfully. Though they were a way for his soldiers to blow off steam. They treated each other like brothers, right down to their nit-picking. He chuckled as Iron Hide crossed his arms over his chest, looking all the world like the most bored bot in the universe. Though he could not hide the fact that he was watching how Sam and Mikaela were handling Ellie. "Easy with her leg, Sam," he rumbled. Despite his rough demeanor, the bot cared.

There is one curse word here, but it's mild and spoken in humor. If anyone feints, don't say I didn't warn you.


Sam lay back in his seat watching the country side fly by. Mikaela was already fast asleep, her head lying on his shoulder, their arms entwined. Bumblebee played a soft rock station on low volume, hoping to get Sam to follow his girlfriend into recharge. In all honesty, the small scout was worried about his human. It had been nearly a year since the battle in Mission City, and Sam still had nightmares periodically. Sam thought he could hide it from his friends but if Mikaela noticed, then Bee noticed. Sam thought he could hide the bags under his eyes when his nightmares got the better of him. He even thought he could hide the shaking of his hands from Bee. Those hands that had pushed the Cube into Megatron's spark were still unhealed. Bee could feel the ridges that had been burnt into the boy’s hands when he gripped his steering wheel to still their shaking.

Sam watched Ratchet driving beside them, his mind going to the slightly older woman sleeping in his cab. He wondered how she would react to her current situation. And to the fact that her car had been totaled along with half of her house in the fight. She might not be too thrilled. Sam smiled despite his exhaustion, thinking about all the ways she could melt down in Ratchet's cab. If she did, then Iron Hide would have a new passenger. That thought brought a low chuckle from Sam's throat. If anything, she and Iron Hide would make fast friends. Being the daughter of a Tanker had its advantages. Including knowing how to shoot everything from a small 9mm to a 30aut if the situation warranted it. That and curse well enough to send a sailor into a sputtering fit.

Which if Sam and Bumblebee read lips, they would know exactly the kind of obscenities being were tossed around in Ratchet's cab at the moment. His patient had awakened and was now grilling the medic on how in the world it could be driving without someone at the wheel. Apparently, Ratchet had given a rather snide answer, because Ellie had just called him a smart ass. Bumblebee was laughing softly over the music. Ratchet was asking the other Autobots if they would mind transporting a rather curious, handsy and lewd patient. Curious because Ellie was asking every question under the sun as her steel trap mind came to bear on the situation. Handsy because she was making sure to feel every inch of Ratchet's interior as though she could chaise out the gremlin behind the controls. And lewd because she was determined to test out exactly how learned Ratchet was in Human languages.

The only response the medic got was a few amused laughs and one growl that sounded an awful lot like 'wimp' from a certain weapons specialist. Ellie was sprawled out on the seat of Ratchet's cab, her hands behind her head. She had actually managed to be quiet for a few minutes, her mind working on the answers Ratchet had given her. "So let me get this straight," she started, her right foot tapping on the opposite door. "You are self governing mechanical organisms from a far off planet, exiled to this world because the world you came from has been taken over by these Decepicons, right?"

Ratchet voiced an affirmative. "And up until a year ago you had been chasing this All-Spark from time immemorial to restore life to said planet?" Ratchet again voiced an affirmative. He had to admit that the human caught on fast. The only thing he had told her was that he and his fellow Autobots had been on the planet for about a year and that they had fought to obtain the All-Spark to give their species a fighting chance, and she had pieced the rest together from that. "And this All-Spark...I assume it was destroyed if you are still here." That last part was a statement, and again Ratchet had to admit that she was right. The female seemed to lay there for several more minutes. Ratchet could have sworn he could hear the gears in her head turning through all this time.

Ellie sat up and looked down at the small yellow Camero following beside them. The windows were tinted on the smaller vehicle, but she could see Mikaela slumped over in the seat and Sam's hand with hers, the fingers of which could not decide whether to stay open or to close. The movement was short lived, but it had happened. Ellie sat in the driver's seat, her eyes scanning over the brilliantly colored semi ahead of the pack, then to the large GMC Top Kick trailing behind. Ratchet watched the human female for the long few minutes she was quietly thinking, wondering if she were drifting back off to sleep. But her eyes remained wide open as they drifted upward to the dark, star-lit sky above them. The cab was quiet except for the odd bump in the road and even then that did little to pierce the noiselessness that filled the interior of Ratchet.

There seemed to be a question forming on the tip of her tongue, but she let it disappear into the silence. Instead she focused on the other Autobots in the convoy. Her eyes scanned from front to rear, watching the four of them closely. Ratchet had to admit that it was slightly unnerving. "So you guys are bipedal, right?"

"Yes, our bodies are amazingly like yours in their basic design," Ratchet offered, thankful for the break in the silence.

"And you transform into basically anything that you can comfortably compress your bodies into without squishing anything important?"

"Yes, I could not transform, comfortably into anything smaller any more than Optimus Prime or Iron Hide could. Bumblebee is slightly smaller and therefore able to transform into more compact modes of transportation." Ratchet offered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Wow. I would hope not," Ellie's face split into a manic smile. "I would hate it if I had to shove my head up my ass just to transform."

Apparently, Ratchet had kept his channel open to the other Autobots, because he could all of a sudden hear Iron Hide's deep laughter floating across his processor followed by Prime's more conservative chuckle. "I think she's got you all figured out, Ratchet!" The other three were revving their engines in laughter, Iron Hide's lights flickering as he could barely contain his amusement at Ellie's observation. Bumblebee scoffed but stayed silent, preferring instead to play 'Figured you out' by Nickleback, playing some of the lewder verses for Ratchet who promptly closed the channel and just grumbled about not using pain killers the next time one of them was dinged.

Iron Hide kept laughing, his frame bobbing up and down as though he were driving over five foot deep pot holes. "I'll take her off your processor, Ratchet. She seems pretty healthy."

"And let you corrupt her more than she already is?" Ratchet seemed incredulous at this. "No, absolutely not. Besides, I would never let a half dressed young woman within twenty feet of your cab. There's no telling what your twisted little spark would come up with." Bumblebee did laugh this time as Iron Hide sputtered at the insinuation.

"I'm not that diabolical and you know it!" It almost sounded like Iron Hide was sulking better than any human teenager. Ratchet secretly grinned at this, listening as Iron Hide revved his engine in indignation. “Just because Sarah gets a few Bloody Maries in her for her anniversary...UGH! You try getting steam cleaned afterwards!"

"I get cleaned out quite regularly, Iron Hide. It is quite nice." Ratchet replied rather haughtily. "At least I don't smell like stale gram crackers."

"Then why don't you tell Grace to stop trying to feed them to me!" Optimus could not help but be amused. Grace, Captain Lennox's young daughter had gotten into the habit of sharing her cookies and crackers with the bulky Autobot. All the others thought it sweet of the young girl, however Iron Hide did not agree. The crackers after all attracted rodents like squirrels into his engine compartment. The giant mech was terrified of the little creatures, bemoaning about how they could chew right through his cables and render him useless. Iron Hide knew better, of course. But Primus forbid if he told the others how much it warmed his spark when the young human girl went through such effort to make sure he was happy. It was one of the reasons he never told Sara.

****

The dim desk lamp threw the entire room into stark shadow. The boundaries of light and dark seemed to form geometric patterns that reminded the occupant of several film noir movies he had seen when he was younger. The older man sat as his desk, leaned over several photographs taken just under an hour ago by a low orbiting satellite. The fact that the pictures were taken in an area so rural that there were no street lights did nothing to help to bring out any real details. What did help were the flashes from explosions and several blue glowing globules that looked a lot like glowing blue blood.

Defense Secretary Keller sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose where his glasses had made small divots in his skin from continuously pushing them back up. Keller had been in this position for the last half hour, staring at one frame in particular. The light from the explosions had come to a bright crescendo, making the darkness of night almost as bright as day. He could make out several mechs he knew personally. Optimus was wielding a wickedly curved sword that had sprouted from his forearm, hacking away at several gun placements on one of the three raptor like mechs. These three had been dubbed the 'Triplets' by Maggie, who was now the head of the Defense Department's annalists. The dull gray one in on the outskirts of the skirmish was Starscream, Keller knew that for sure. His two doppelgangers were a mystery to him as was the tallest of the four. This new one seemed to have discharged a type of sound wave weapon that distorted the air around its trajectory.

Within this picture he could see, along with the bots, a lone human. The human was fending off a rather large looking feline. Keller knew that this was no cat from the way its eyes glowed molten crimson. It had the woman by one of her legs. Whoever this woman was had probably lost that leg already. The area around her seemed in utter chaos as the Autobots tried not to step on her or tried to maneuver themselves to get the mechanical feline away from her. The Decepticons, however were not so cautious and were stomping their feet with little care as to what they stepped on.

Keller flipped to the last picture taken before the darkness over took the area again. The largest of the new arrivals was watching as the medic, Ratchet, if he recalled correctly, carried the woman away from the battle. It seemed to be committing the woman's features to memory before it transformed into a Sea Knight helicopter, following its comrades in their escape. John Keller took his glasses off, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had just been informed, via email that Lennox was on his way to a secluded spot several miles north of Tranquility. The United States military needed to be kept abreast of the situation. If Decepticons had come back to earth, they needed to know why. Everything down to the minutest twitch needed to be reported, triple checked for accuracy and tracked to the most minute detail.

Keller had no reason to believe that Optimus Prime would lie, or even that the Autobot leader was capable of lying, but he also wanted to know everything about everything that was going on. Like it or not, the Autbots were guests on this planet and their continued protection rested on their forthright cooperation with the United States government. Though Keller stopped just short of informing the President. There was no need until the matter was cleared up. The leader of the Free World had taken to denying even to himself the existence of the Autbots. He had even refused to meet them, stating that he had other pressing matters that required his attention. Though Keller suspected that it had everything to do with meeting beings that were more powerful than he thought he was in his wildest dreams. Let the military handle the important matters, the President could rest assured that no matter what happened that the Ding-Dong supply would not run out.[/b]

Is the rating perhaps chasing people away?

It's just very hard to get comments. =(

Shoot me a comment, guys. Even if it's to tell me I suck.


Captain Lennox hopped down from the hummer, surveying the scene in front of him. Optimus had just finished his transformation and stood to the side while Iron Hide stood to the Autobot leader’s left. At the moment he looked as surly as ever crossing his arms over his chest and making an exaggerated effort to not look at Ratchet. The medic was just now pulling up to the clearing, his passenger side door opening. At the exact same time Bumblebee pulled up with Sam and Mikaela who promptly helped a young woman from Ratchet’s cab before the medic transformed and stood to Optimus’ right, Bumblebee taking up a position just behind Iron Hide.

Right behind Captain Lennox’s vehicle, another large hummer stopped, throwing dirt and gravel. Out of this vehicle stepped a rather burly looking Major, his salt and pepper gray hair stark against the green of his uniform. His face looked like weathered leather, deep wrinkles creasing the skin on either side of his eyes and mouth. He wore ribbons that denoted his service in Vietnam, Korea and the Gulf War along with other honors along side the crest that showed his achievements within the Army. From the passenger side of the hummer, bounded a rather severe looking Air Force Commander. Where the Major was smiling, his wife was stoic. She too wore numerous medals and ribbons, her ginger hair cut short and the straight backed posture of a professional solder. Not even first sight of the Autobots was enough to crack her demeanor. Not until, however, she spotted her daughter being helped by Sam and Mikaela as Ratchet re-checked the bandage on her right leg.

“Ellie!” The Commander took off at a full tilt run toward her daughter as her husband struggled behind. The cane in his hand may have marked him as a recent knee replacement patient, but he did not let that keep him back from wrapping his long arms around his wife and daughter as they shared a rather un-military like family reunion. “What happened? Where is your leg? Is that blood?” The questions poured out faster than could be answered as Ellie’s mother bombarded Ratchet with thank yous and kisses to the Autobot’s face.

“Erm…thank you, Commander Murdock.” It turned out that the stiff demeanor was only a put on. The two were the same as any doting parent, absolutely annoying! Ratchet stood up, quite happy to let Ellie's parents annoy the young woman to insanity with questions and hugs. Though their demeanor soon iced over again as soon as Captain Lennox came over to them, shaking Sam's hand hard enough dislodge him from Mikaela.

"I see you're keeping out of trouble..." The joke brought a blush from the boy and an eye roll from Mikaela, though she too was smiling. "And you must be Eloise Murdock..." Lennox paused as he looked at the shredded state of her jeans and the fact that she was not bleeding from where her left leg had been missing. She also had several oblong burns on her arms, though they looked to be nothing too serious. "Everyone make it alright, Ratchet?" Was it Will's imagination, or was Ratchet trying to rub lipstick off of his cheek?

"Sam and Mikaela were uninjured, however Eloise had to have a gash in her right leg sutured closed. Considering all she has been through in such a short time, she is surprisingly unharmed." Ratchet's 'tell it like it is' statement seemed to leave Ellie's parents unruffled. Though Ellie did wince slightly as her arm was gripped tighter by her mother. The two remained silent as Optimus knelt to get himself on eye level with Captain Lennox.

"It is good to see you, Captain. However I had hoped this meeting would have been arranged on better circumstances." The Autobot leader's eyes seemed to dim for a moment before coming back to their glowing blue. "Starscream has returned along with the rest of his Seekers. He has seemed to have been able to convince Soundwave to accompany him. Soundwave is loyal only to Megatron and would never follow Starscream unless Megatron's revival was in the deal."

"So how eager are these Decepticons to start their old antics?" Lennox looked about ready to fall over. Starscream was a pain in the rear end. Now there were two more like him and another that looked to be as powerful as Megatron. He was reminded of his own lapse of courage when Blackout had reappeared. 'We are so dead...'

"That would depend on how fast they are able to repair the damage they had taken." Ratchet seemed to smile at this, looking at Iron Hide with a barely concealed chuckle. "I doubt that Soundwave, talented as he is at repairing his fellow Decepticons, would have the ability to repair the damage to both Thundercracker and Skywarp in less than a week."

Iron Hide chuckled, drawing the human's attention his way. "Ellie severed a secondary fuel line to Thundercracker's foot when he tried to step on her." Ellie's mother made a rather un-Commander like squeak, her eyes growing wide. "There is little chance that they will be able to get the pnumatics working with more than a few minutes without Energon flowing into them." He laughed even harder at the confused looks on Sam and Mikaela's faces. "Ellie, here, has bought us quite a bit of time to prepare. I can see where you got your bravery from, Sam, other than your mother, of course." The entire group burst out laughing as an SUV pulled up to the surrounded clearing.

"Get the hell off of me! I want to see my son!" The Autobots turned their heads in unison, shrinking back from the oncoming Witwickey parents. It seemed that Judy Witwickey had made a reputation with the Autobots. Iron Hide started grumbling to himself as Optimus Prime made himself ready to take what ever the two would throw at him.

"Judy, I'm sure there is a good reason..."

"Oh hush! There is no good reason for him to be out so late at night!"

"It's Friday!"

"I don't care if it's Judgement Day! I don't want my son to get his ass flattened by rude robots!" Judy huffed as she stepped up to Sam, her cheeks red as she brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Oh, thank heavans your alright!" Judy wrapped her arms around her son, squeezing every last ounce of dignity out of him.

"Mom...Mom! Mikaela's here. Were all alright. STOP FRISKING ME!"

"I'm sorry, Sam. It's just been a weird night..." Judy sighed, her eyes going to Optimus who jumped slightly at the sudden attention.

"Good evening, Mrs. Witwickey." He attempted, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to shrink himself and crawl under a nearby rock. "I assure you that I have kept Sam out of any danger. Ratchet and Bumblebee stayed with him and Mikaela to make sure..."

"I know, I know." Judy waved her hand, sighing as she rubbed her head. "I worry about him, that's all."

"That's more than enough," Ron grumbled, turning toward Bumblebee. "Thank you for taking care of my son, Bumblebee. It's just with him going off to college next year...well, you know how it is."

Optimus sighed, stepping back to allow the Witwickey parents to make sure Sam and Mikaela were alright. With the way Judy was fussing over Mikaela one would think that the two had already been bonded. Optimus shifted his feet. In a way, the two had already bonded, though none of the Autobots wanted to be the ones to tell Judy that. Optimus especially.

"We got so worried when the police came to the house." Judy rushed, taking her son's head in her hands and turning it this way and that to make sure he was truly alright. Sam had long since stopped fighting and wore a petulant expression that he directed toward both Ellie and Mikaela. Though the two women were busy laughing themselves silly until Judy started talking again. "He was asking about you Sam. He seemed really egar to get his hands on you for some reason, he never would say. We were afraid that something had happened because he looked about ready to eat Mojo."

Sam stiffened, staring hard at his mother. "What did he look like?" Judy stopped, looking at Ron as though to confirm the officers description.

"Well...he was about...average height, average...he was just average." Ron sighed. "Why?"

"Well...there was something strange on the side of his car," Judy said slowly, taping her chin with her hand. "Instead of 'To serve and protect', it was 'To Punish and Enslave." Judy shrugged. "Maybe it was someone's idea of a prank and he thought Sam did it."

Sam and Captain Lennox's eyes met, Sam shaking his head. "No way..."

"Barricade," Iron Hide growled, charging his weapons as though he expected the Decepticon to pop up out of the trees at any second. Optimus exchanged a quick word with Bumblebee who immediately transformed into his alternate form and sped out of the clearing, leaving two very confused sets of parents.

"Who is 'Barricade'?" Judy voiced the question, looking side long at Optimus.

Sam exchanged a look with Mikaela, seeing his anxiety reflected back at him. "Mom, remember when I told you how Bumblebee beat the crap out of a cop car that tried to run me and Mikaela over? That was Barricade." Judy turned a few shades paler, her husband scrunched his face up in disbelief, mouthing a 'Police car' at Sam. "Yea, cop car. Really nasty too. I think he had this little pipsqueak with him but he was destroyed at the dam. I think that's why he wants to get to me, because I killed his partner and Megatron."

"And that is why the President and Defense Secretary Keller have ordered that all of us be put into protective custody." As soon as this left Captain Lennox's mouth, Judy and Ron started protesting, using everything from 'Who's going to feed Mojo?' to 'I still haven't gotten my gardens the way I want them!'. Lennox raised his hands to quiet the two down. "I said all of US. That includes me, my wife and daughter."

"Wait a minute," Ellie decided to make herself part of the particularly one sided conversation. "When Starscream was talking to me, he was asking if I knew where Sam was. Why couldn't they just look up his address in Google or something and go with that?"

"Because we made sure that no one could do that again since that is what got you into trouble in the first place." Captain Lennox snapped to attention as did Major and Commander Murdock, all three saluting Secretary Keller. "At ease..." Keller huffed, holding up one finger to forestall any questions. "Whew...The United States Government made it virtually impossible for anyone to find out where either Captain Lennox or the Witwickey's are located. Though it seems that these Decepticons have tried to circumvent our efforts at protecting you." Keller looked pointedly at Ellie. "And what relation might you be to Sam?"

"I used to baby-sit him," Ellie ignored Mikaela's giggles as she poked Sam in the ribs. "And I've pissed off their kitty and severed the fuel line to tweedle-dumb's foot."

"To say the least," Ratchet grunted as Iron Hide elbowed him in the side, his face filled with humor.

"Told you I liked her," Iron Hide chortled, his engine revving at the incredulous looks he received from Ellie's parents.

****

"Sit still, Thundercracker!" Scarscream bellowed, laughing as Soundwave missed with his plasma laser and almost welded Thundercracker's ankle to the table. "How pathetic! One of the Seekers taken down by a flesh creature and a rock!"

Thundercracker rolled his optics, gritting his dental apparatus in pain as Soundwave set to repairing the delicate valves and connections that supplied the pneumatics in his ankle joint with energy and lubricant. The systems had frozen so that the jet had to be forced out of his alternate transformation so that he could lay flat for the repairs. The only thing that kept his aft to the table was the image of that fleshling femme's broken body under his feet. Thundercracker swore roughly, earning him a reproving glance from Starscream.

Since Starscream had taken over command of the Decepticons, his insults and snide comments had more than doubled. It seemed that he would save these for when his underlings had to be repaired from the damage that was sustained when the Commander would flee from battle rather than make on the spot improvisations to his plans. Brilliant as he was at scheming, planning, and backstabbing; the Seeker had no business commanding anything more than a clean-up crew.

"And what would you do in my stead, oh fearless leader?" Thundercracker sneered at the look on Starscream's face. "Would you perhaps have turned and run the moment the female detached her own leg or brandished the rock?" Thundercracker knew that he was playing with plasma speaking to Starscream as he was, but he was sick of the lead Seeker's constant insults and biting retorts. "Perhaps you could warn us next time you wish to retreat so that we can scream like scared protoforms accordingly!"

Skywarp sat on the sidelines, preferring to watch rather than participate in the massacre about to happen. Soundwave, however brandished his arch wielder menacingly, glaring at the two Decepticons. "Fighting will not help our situation, Starscream." The new Commander snarled but bit his glossa. Now was not the time to, even kindly remind Soundwave of the proper way to address him. "We must wait until more arrive. We will not be able to combat the Autobots and fleshlings combined."

Starscream backed down, grumbling to himself in irritation. Tired of the scene, he turned his back on his subjects, casting his optics instead on the darkened coastline of Oregon. Had Starscream had his way, he would be broadcasting the Decepticon homing beacon loud enough for any bot within 30,000 light years to hear and have the entire armada come crashing down on this insignificant dirt ball. Starscream was deep in his own musings when he received a rather curious transmission. His mouth snaked up in a smile that would have made Death himself run screaming. There was only one kind of bot that had this particular type of beacon.

"Skywarp." The younger Seeker jumped at the sudden sound. "Accompany me on a 'rescue' mission." The way Starscream said 'rescue' piqued Skywarp's interest. "Now that the All-Spark has been destroyed and Vector Sigma has been disabled, there is only one way to produce new Decepticons." Skywarp's grin mirrored that of his Commander. "However, the first is mine..."

Very good stuff so far. I envy your talent at producing such intricate descriptions, and lots of little observations unrelated to the story that I would never think of putting in. I'm looking forward to reading the rest. More Skywarp please. =D

I do believe that was encouragement! (Yes I am shallow. )

And I told you this story was going to be filled with as much sexual tension as the movie. So if you feel your self blushing, consider yourself warned.

Dim optics focused through the darkness, the Autobot’s sensors alerting it to its proximity to a large gravitational well. Systems that had been off lined in favor of conserving energy booted back up. Slowly, neglected systems came to bear upon the azure jewel that floated in the eleven planet system; third in line from the middle-aged, yellow sun. The message sent out a deca-cycle and three orns ago was traced to a stretch of land in the northern hemisphere on the western shore near the foot hills of a vast mountain range that stretched from north to south, splitting the continent in two.

In the pre-dawn light, the Autobot could see the lights of the streets and buildings lacing through the darkness like silicon caught in a magnetic dampener; glistening like energon droplets. Near one of the smaller clusters of lights was where the signal had originated, and was also where the mech had locked onto for guidance. Slowly, the Autobot slipped into the planet's gravitational pull, feeling its speed increasing. Suddenly, it hit the outer layers of atmosphere, its momentum slowly to nearly half in less than a second. The uncomfortable feeling of friction heating covered its hull as it plummeted through the atmosphere in a controlled crash. Pulling all power from her scanners to her shields, she nudged herself as she fought against turbulence and wind.

Literal milli-seconds after hitting the hard ground, every scanner was operational and running at above-normal capacity. What they found, however, made the energon freeze in her conduits. She quickly made up for her fear with a smirk, setting one hand on her left hip to play up her femininity. "Well, well, well...I see one of you had the decency to die." In the time it took for Starscream to look mock insulted, Chromia was already formulating the best way to smear his gears across the barren ground.

The Seeker put his hands on his narrow hips, managing to look like a scolding parent. "Now, Chromia. Is that any way to treat those who wish to help you?" A clicking sound issued from the Decepticon's throat as he shook his head, a sigh issuing from his vocalizer in the form of static. His optics roved freely over the femme's form. Like her name, her body was covered in a hardened chrome, making the femme sparkle under the starlight. She had a form very similar to the females of earth, she had rounded curves where the males were boxy and rotund, though without her armor she looked quite bare. Her face was softer, a hint of a smile on her other wise humorless face. And just like any other mech, she had a personality all her own.

Starscream had known of Chromia for a long time. Being Elita-1's 2IC, she was renowned for her brilliant tactical skills and leadership abilities and her sheer love of combat. In fact, it had been rumored that to Chromia, the pleasure taken in spark-joining, was comparable if not surpassed by the pleasure taken in battle. Starscream could almost see the sparkling that the two of them could create. Bold and powerful as he imagined himself to be coupled with its dame's love of tearing mechs down to their sparks would make a formidable combination indeed. The hard part was 'convincing' Chromia to hold said sparkling until it could sustain itself in its own body. Though that was where Soundwave's new toy came into play.

Chromia divided her attention between the two Seekers. Skywarp may have been the younger of the trio but she knew better than to underestimate his fighting abilities. There was a certain gleam to his and Starscreams optics that did not sit well with the femme and she silently prayed to Primus for the Autobots to get their afts in gear and get her out of this. She may have been itching for a fight but what these two wanted had nothing to do with defeat or victory. It had everything to do with domination and desperation. Starscream and the previous two traits never went well together. 'Come on Optimus...'

"So how exactly do two out of three idiots get it into their processors that they can just use any femme that comes their way?" Chromia knew that she had to keep these two talking to buy herself some time. Keep them talking and keep them distracted at least until the Autobots arrived. If they arrived.

****

Optimus revved his engine irritably as Iron Hide nearly kissed his rear bumper again. He had been like this since they had received the unique code broadcast by the lone Autobot. Iron Hide had deciphered it immediately as Chromia's ID and was practically running over Optimus' back tires to get to her, because along with her ID were the IDs of two more mechs. Both male and both Decepticon. Optimus knew that once the weapons specalist had the Decepticons in his sights there would be no holding back for him.

Chromia was his bond mate, and he was very possessive of her. He had even threatened Elita-1 with deactivation if she put his mate in any danger. It was an empty threat, Chromia was adept at putting herself in danger without Elita-1's help. Like her mate, Chromia took a 'shoot first, ask questions later' attitude. And more often than not, the femme would have to be pulled by her wires out of a scrap before she took too many hits to be pieced back together. Battle seemed to be more for her than others. Almost like foreplay for her and Iron Hide since they would disappear for nearly a cycle after a particularly nasty fight. Optimus sighed as Iron Hide came close to nudging him again. Sam, Mikaela and Ellie would be first hand witnesses to the Cybertronian version of the 'birds and bees' if Chromia and Iron Hide got too drawn into each other. Mikaela might take it the wrong way since love between Transformers was much more...physical than between humans.

The Autobot leader nearly sighed with relief when he saw the battle that had erupted between Chromia and the two Seekers. Apparently Ellie's stunt with Thundercracker's foot had the Decepticon flyer out of commission for even this. Chromia was in the middle of wrestling a very 'motivated' Skywarp to the ground, holding him at arms length and smashing his chest in with her fist. It seemed the youngest of the Seekers couldn't get any breaks. Though Starscream was busy lining up a shot to Chromia's back with a long barreled weapon of some kind, and the sight of it put Iron Hide over the edge. The bulky Autobot transformed while still in motion and unleashed several missiles toward a very surprised Starscream.

The new Commander of the Decepticons gave a rather undignified screech as he dove out of the way of the missiles, his arm still extended with the strange weapon. That same look was on his face as Iron Hide tackled him to the ground, rolling the Seeker under his body. The two grappled together as Ratchet took on Skywarp after Chromia got tired of beating the screaming seeker into a whimpering paste. The fight was halted when a shock wave passed through the area, sounding almost like someone had fired off a cannon full of koosh balls.

Iron Hide hit the ground with a resounding thud, his body still. The Decepticon's order to 'Retreat!' was largely ignored as the Autobot's converged on Iron Hide's prone form. The ornery Autobot was conscious, at least if Optimus read the fact that his optics were still alight right. Though as soon as Ratchet came close, the weapons specialist started mumbling something. It was hard to tell what he was saying since his vocalizer would not work properly but what ever it was, Ratchet could bet that it would have stung his audio receptors. Then Chromia was beside him and the mumbling took on another tone altogether. "Oh, Iron Hide," she started, her optics taking on a mischievous glint. "You know I hate it when you lie still."

Bumblebee snorted into his fist at the look on Iron Hide's face. It seemed that if he was not getting ribbed by Ratchet, his own mate was taking up the slack. His eyes narrowed into daggers, only making the femme laugh even harder. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?" Chromia laughed as she sat back on her knees. "How long until he comes out of this and we have to run for our lives?"

Ratchet chuckled, scanning Iron Hide one last time. "The effects should wear off in about three breems or so," Ratchet smiled, using their native time measurements in case Chromia had not had the chance to do the calculations herself. Though it seemed that she had enough time to study earth languages enough to speak fluent English. "Though I suggest we find a way to move him before Starscream gathers the courage to come back and finish what he started, what ever that might be."

Chromia snorted, fixing the medic with a withering stare. "Oh, I know exactly what the little Seeker wanted. He wanted exclusive rights!" Iron Hide would have hopped to his feet if he were able but instead all he was capable of was a meager grunt and a shudder of his joints.

"Exclusive rights to what?" Ratchet swiveled his head so fast the pneumatics whined in protest. Sam looked from Ratchet to the new Autobot, his face taking on that priceless look of total bewilderment. Mikaela had stepped up from behind Bumblebee to whisper something in Sam's ear. The look of bewilderment changed to understanding then straight to disgust. "Eww! He wanted...that's just...I mean...robots...can...um...dude." Sam looked exhausted at trying to think his way around what Mikaela had just told him.

"It's not Robot, Sam. The correct term is Mech." Ratchet's voice took on the tone of one explaining something simple to a child. "And yes we can reproduce without Vector Sigma or the All-Spark. It is just that it takes much longer and consumes much more energy that we could not afford to waste."

"But you can now?" Sam seemed to have found his voice again. "I mean, you have the help of the government and a whole new home," Sam spread his hands. "No reason you guys can't...oof!"

"Sam, I think they can decide for themselves where and when they make whoopee!" Ellie said as she smacked Sam on the back of the head with an out stretched hand. "And they do not need you poking into their affairs...interesting as they are," she gave Optimus a wink as she balanced herself on a crutch. The Autobot leader shifted, not quite sure how to take Ellie's comment. Perhaps he should just take it as it was and thank Primus she had prevented Sam from questioning their methods of reproduction.

"Indeed," Ratchet shook his head, pondering how they would move the large mech, or if they should move him at all. Fortunately he was relieved of the need as Iron Hide regained control of his facilities shortly after, issuing a low growl from his chest. His vocal processor seemed to be slow on the mend, so he just demonstrated his relief by pouncing on a surprised Chromia who issued a squeak of delight.

"Oh god! This is like walking in on my parents!" Sam turned away, shielding his eyes and ears. "Gahh! Autobot Nookie! Weird!" Mikaela and Ellie were busy laughing at Sam who was busy trying to ignore Chromia's laughter and squeals as much as the other Autobots who were slowly backing away from the scene shaking their heads. Keller only turned his back on the two, mumbling something about how impossible it was for him to get away from rambunctious couples.

"What exactly was that weapon that Starscream shot Iron Hide with?" Keller hoped to distract himself and Optimus from the rather heated reunion between the two bonded mates. And too, if it could be used to incapacitate an Autobot in that manner then it could do much worse to their technology.

"I believe it worked something like your EMP, although it rendered Iron Hide incapable of moving or even speaking for nearly ten minutes. Starscream planned to use the weapon on Chromia, the femme...interacting with Iron Hide." Ratchet explained as he walked over to the Defense Secretary's motorcade. The ground shook slightly as Chromia turned the tables on her bonded and landed on him.

"Woah! Who else feels like they just subscribed to the Autobot Spice channel?" If Ratchet had eyes, he would be rolling them right about now. Sam's feeble attempts at tuning the two out were not helping as Ellie continued with her commentary. "Get a room, you two! Preferably one with padded walls."

"Gah! Their worse than you!" Sam's parents, who had annoyed themselves a ride with the Defense Secretary, stood with their mouths agape at the sight and that Sam had just compared the noise being made to their late night sessions. "At least Autobots don't have headboards," Sam mumbled as Mikaela tried not to laugh at the looks on his parents faces.

"You sound about the same," Mikaela whispered into Sam's ear, making the boy blush. The fact that she was pulling on the belt loops of his pants was getting Sam distracted on something else entirely. It seemed as though Iron Hide could inspire the most surprising of things by his indiscretion. Mikaela started dragging Sam by his pants away from his parents and behind Bumblebees' foot. The little yellow mech chuckled, shaking his head at the two young adults.

This did not escape Ratchet however, and he turned around to regard Iron Hide and Chromia just as they were about to initiate Spark-Joining. "Iron Hide...any further and I will reverse the polarity of your Spark Chamber!" Iron Hide stopped, casting a murderous glare at Ratchet as though to say 'You wouldn't dare!' The look on Ratchet's face however, said that he would. Iron Hide seemed to wilt under the gaze, taking his hand away from Chromia's spark chamber. "Good, now help Chromia up so that we can get back to somewhere safe and have a look at your systems."

For once, Iron Hide put up no fuss as he did as he was told, Ratchet's threat still fresh on his processor. If there was one thing that any mech avoided, it was pissing Ratchet off. He would do exactly as he threatened to if he was ignored. And the thought of never being able to Spark-Join again had put a dampener on Iron Hide's need for his bonded. The two walked up to where Prime was busy talking to the Defense Secretary, their glares nearly powerful enough to melt steel. Iron Hide still seemed to have difficulty speaking, though his vocal processors seemed to have healed part way because he was mumbling a stream of curses in Cybertronian in Ratchet's direction.

"Sam! What are you two doing behind Bumblebee?" Keller and Prime were startled out of their conversation as Judy Witwickey rounded Bumblebee's foot to find her son smiling innocently at her with Mikaela standing in front of him. "Don't give me that look! Why are you holding Mikaela in front of you?" Judy followed the two as Sam backpedaled with Mikaela held in front of him as Bumblebee transformed quickly.

"Honestly, mom, we weren't doing anything!" Sam sputtered as he backed up to the passenger side door of Bumblebee. He didn't add that they couldn't do anything with every one and their mother out there to see them. Though that did not stop Sam's body from thinking otherwise. Bumblebee quickly opened the passenger side door and let Sam and Mikaela slip in, locking it behind them before Judy could grasp the handle. The little Camero sped off along with Iron Hide and the rest of the Autobots as they headed off for a near by abandoned military base they were given for their use.

Judy stood still as Ron came up behind her, trying to hide the fact that he would have high-fived Sam if his wife was not there. Judy took a deep breath, releasing it in shaky sigh. "My Sam...He’s not a little boy anymore, is he?"

Ron smiled, putting his arm around his wife's waist. "Nope..." was all he trusted himself to say at the moment.

"Oh, at least he's not gay!" Judy said, practically jumping up and down. "He slept with Mikaela! My little boy is becoming a man!" Ron hid his laughter with his fist. At least this was one dilemma solved.

Shallow? Maybe that's a bit harsh. We are only human, we all want to know people enjoy what we do. :p

WARNING: This may get explicit, but I have kept things technical enough not to get smutty. Two words, Autobot Nookie!


“Oh these curtains are all wrong!” Judy threw the material away from her in disgust. “I am so glad that you never served in the military, Ron. At least you still know that green does not go with everything.” Ron had long since sat down in the arm chair, watching his wife complain about everything in the small barrack they had been given to live in. The building was nice if narrow. Every wall was white-washed into bland hell, the floors worn gray wood that felt as smooth as stone under their bare feet. Judy had immediately enacted her ‘no shoes’ rule when Sam had walked in with muddy feet after the sky had opened up not ten minutes after the entire party had gotten back.

“Ron, what do you think? Does this couch look better in this corner or next to these windows?” Ron quirked an eyebrow, the difference between the two locations was a meager three inches.

“The windows dear, you can see better when you read.” This seemed to satisfy his wife who bustled off to find something else to move around. Ron sat back, his head lying back on the chair. He and Judy needed to get to sleep soon, but Judy would not rest until she had every molecule in this room exactly as she wanted it. That and she wanted Sam to sleep in the same barrack as they did even though there was no room. Ron had given up trying to reason with the woman and just expected her to pass out from sheer exhaustion and sleep where ever she fell.

The lights in the other barracks across the way from them had gone out half-an-hour ago. Ron would not tell Judy that Sam had moved into those barracks with Mikaela. The fact that Bumblebee glanced over that way every few minutes or so was not lost on his father. He was distracted by Judy falling face first on the couch, snoring noisily through the cushions. Ron chuckled and picked his wife up and put her into their bed or beds rather, since they had needed to push two beds together to make something larger for them both to sleep in. The thin mattress squeaked as they lay down, Ron’s eyes closing almost immediately after hitting the pillow.
Mikaela smiled softly to herself, her hair plastered to her neck as she lay on Sam's chest, listening to the gentle sound of his breathing and the beat of his heart. For the past few months she could swear she could feel a slight charge run through her fingers when she touched him over his breast bone. It was odd and yet it seemed totally natural to have Sam be something like his guardian. She had laid on Bumblebee's chest many times and had felt the same charge running through her fingers when she had dipped them below his armor just over his spark. Sam would not say it, but Mikaela knew that the battle in Mission City a year ago had affected him more than he let on. The scars on his hands were only one sign.

Mikaela's eyes drifted to the window, watching the rain as it fell in a steady drive. She knew that the Autobots were meeting with the new arrival, which was quite possibly irritable already from being interrupted mid-coitus by Ratchet's prude adherence to human codes of modesty. Either that or the medic enjoyed getting Iron Hide's goat. Mikaela smiled as she raised herself to the window and looked out toward the lights on the far side of the base. The Autobots along with Chromia were standing under a tall sheltered awning with several members of the Defense Secretary's staff, talking in low voices. It seemed that Keller was prepared to pull as many all niters as it took to make sure that every new arrival was documented and tracked. It seemed Keller had pulled a lot of strings with Congress enacting the Transformer Registration Initiative, making it an offense if any of the Non-Biological Entities coming to earth did not register with any governing body in the U.N. Keller had also gifted the Autobots with the use of this base, all 550 acres of it to use as they saw fit.

It was really good of Keller to do so since along with the acreage, the base also had a no-fly zone of nearly ten miles all around which made it impossible for anyone to come peeking into the Autobot's affairs. Mikaela looked down as Sam stirred, his eyes opening slightly, a smile creeping onto his face. "This is a good view," he smiled, his hand caressing her side. Her left hand trailed down to his chest, smiling as small tendrils of energy caressed her fingertips. "Something on your mind, 'Kayla?"

Mikaela sighed, watching Bumblebee for a moment before looking back down at Sam, molding herself to his side as he pulled the covers over the both of them. Sam noticed where Mikaela's eyes wandered, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "You and Bumblebee are good friends, right," she probed carefully, not meeting Sam's eyes as she played with the energy that met her fingers.

"Yea, Bee's like my best bud." Sam smiled, his hand covering Mikaela's as he pressed it to his chest. "And he considers himself your protector and friend, too." Sam smiled as Mikaela shifted against his side. "I think he likes you the same as you like him," he ventured cautiously. "I wanted to ask you, but he said that you should come to it yourself. If you never did, he would be cool with it." Sam felt Mikaela smile against his chest, her thumb brushing across the top of his hand. He waited as she sorted her feelings in her mind, feeling the slight flush that came over her face as her mind wandered.

Mikaela couldn't speak yet. She almost expected to hear Sam tell her it was a joke, that it was silly for her to love him and Bumblebee at the same time. But when all she heard was silence, she looked into Sam's eyes, seeing her smile reflected back at her. So it was true that Sam had feelings for Bumblebee as well. The thought sent a warm tremor through her body. "But, how would we...be together?" The question made her feel a little stupid, but she had been wondering ever since she had discovered that she saw Bumblebee as more than just Sam's Camero.

"Well, Bee told me about a few ways. One would be if we touched his Spark. He said it would feel pretty good, but you would definitely not be able to take his...well, the best word for it would be 'transfer cable'," Sam laughed at Mikaela's expression. "Yea...when he showed it to me, I got a little jealous." Mikaela let out a snort, poking Sam in the ribs. "Yea, it looks a lot like a human's, except it has prongs." Mikaela had to bury her face in Sam's shoulder to keep from laughing too hard.

"Prongs? What does it plug into?" Mikaela remembered earlier with Iron Hide and Chromia. "You mean it goes to the same place? You mean the femmes have a...a..."

"An access port," Sam finished. "Yea, it goes to the same place and from what he told me, it feels the same too." Sam watched Mikaela's face take on an incredulous look of wonder. "I know, their more like us than I thought. But there's another way too."

"And?" Mikaela asked, rolling her eyes as Sam just grinned at her, drawing it out as long as possible.

"He has a hologram, I think it's called. It's pretty solid, and he can feel through it. Bee said he was working on it for months to get it right." Sam smiled. "He asked me if it was alright, but I think you should be the one making the call," Sam asked, quirking his eye brows. "Do you want to? Tomorrow after they take my parents back to get a few things from the house?" Sam left out a pleading 'Please?' simply because he didn't want to sound too overly excited. Bee had been pestering him for more than a month with 'Does this look alright?' every few days. Sam sighed with relief when Mikaela nodded; finely laying his head back down. Mikaela lay next to him, her eyes finely drifting closed.

Sam stayed awake for a little while longer as the meeting between the Autobots and the Defense Secretary was adjourned. Bumblebee came to rest beside their barrack, transforming in front of the door to stand guard. Optimus headed off for a well deserved recharge under a smaller awning that would protect him from the rain. The Autobot leader transformed into his alternate mode, booting up the needed programs as they ran system checks before they put him into a similar state as when a computer was set to hibernate. Ratchet did the same, satisfied that neither Iron Hide nor Chromia had suffered any lasting damage from Starscream's weapon. He watched as the weapons specialist walked off with Chromia into the darkness. The two seemed to disappear into the driving rain, leaving the medic to slip into recharge.

******************

Sam started at the low rumble of thunder, his eyes drifting to the clock by his and Mikaela's bedside. It read three in the morning. Sam groaned, he had only been asleep for about two hours and he felt groggy after being awakened again.

Slowly, Sam disengaged himself from Mikaela and stepped to the window. He leaned on the frame, watching the rain pound the dry ground into thick mud. Normally he would have found the sound soothing, but his ears seemed to pick up every splash of the water on the ground and every little tap of the water on the roof of the barrack. He had even found that it was possible to count every rain drop and calculate how much rain was being dumped on the area. Sam rubbed his face, breathing deep of the cool, damp air. It was raining at nearly three inches per hour, and judging by the puddles already forming around the barrack, it had been raining this hard for nearly two and a half hours. Lennox called it a 'gully washer', referring to how the gullies and streams would be over flowing right about now.

Thunder rolled in the distance, seeming to stretch forever before fading into the patter of the rain drops on the wet ground. Sam closed his eyes and listened, concentrating on every sound. He found that if he concentrated hard enough, he could hear just about everything going on around him. Most of the time his brain tuned it all out to prevent a sensory overload. But he let it all in. The rain on the ground and roof of his and his parent's barracks. The sound of the thunder rolling through the wet air, infusing every cell in his body with its dull rumble. The tickle of the wind as it gently blew across the ground, cooling and soothing the ground from the blistering heat of the day. The grunts and groans of passion in the distance...

Sam opened his eyes, furrowing his brows. That wasn't normal. His first thought was that his parents were breaking in the new home, but they were nothing like him and Mikaela. They were the most prudish people he knew. Ellie was asleep in her barrack, so it wasn't her. Keller was old; any thought of him doing anything remotely similar to what he was hearing made him shiver. The only two people that were not accounted for were Iron Hide and Chromia. Sam rolled his eyes, sending the bluish light around the window frame. A slow smile crept up on his face. He could test his eyesight and find something to rib the rough Autobot about from now until forever. Horny little meat bag indeed.

Sam squinted his eyes, trying to find how to make the picture clearer. The only thing he got was a headache and the strange feeling that he looked like he was having trouble on the toilet. Forcing it wasn't working. Sam sighed, staring out in the distance, focusing only on the rain and haze. He felt a familiar tickle at the corners of his eyes that always meant something was happening. The first time he had this feeling was when he was trying to watch the teacher write on the black board. Of course, his eyes had not glowed, but he did get a few people asking when he got his contacts. That had been the first sign that something strange was going on in more than just his hands.

The haze lifted, the optical illusion of water hanging in the air gone as his eyes tracked every single rain drop as it fell from the sky. It was like putting a picture in to Photoshop and sharpening it until every detail was outlined in black and standing out boldly. But instead of confusing the eye and screwing up the picture, it brought everything into focus. His eyes could jump from one drop of rain to the next, tracking its trajectory and possible sites where it might land based on wind speed, direction and humidity. Filtering out the rain drops entirely, Sam could see twin gems of energy in the distance. It took a moment before his eyes could gather enough light from the surrounding area and displayed the scene as clear as day.

The twin gems were the sparks of Iron Hide and Chromia. The notion that they were blinking came from the fact that they were moving against one another on the flooded desert floor. It seemed that Autobots could not kiss in the normal sense like humans, but they were just as intimate. Chromia had thrown her head back, arching her spine as she gave Iron Hide access to the sensitive circuitry that ran from under her jaw down to the edge of her armor where her collar bone would be if she were human. Sam watched as Iron Hide gently rubbed his mouth and nose along the exposed circuitry, the night lit up with the transfer of energy. Iron Hide's fingers were tracing electric patterns around the creases in Chromia's armor, making the femme writhe in agonizing pleasure under the weapons specialist.

Sam watched, completely entranced as Iron Hide opened Chromia's spark containment chamber, using his hands to gently caress the glowing star within her chest. He could almost hear the femme's cries as the two were lit up by a pulse of light from Chromia's spark. Sam grinned when he realized what had happened, watching as Iron Hide linked the two of them together with a transfer cable. Sam's jaw dropped. He remembered what Bumblebee had told him about Transformers as they got older. 'More information is transferred between mating couples when those couples are older and have spent more time together. The transfer cable needs to grow to accommodate the exchange of increasing amounts of information.' Apparently Iron Hide and Chromia had been bonded for several million years. That would explain a lot. And he was among the oldest, even older than Optimus Prime.

Iron Hide opened his spark containment chamber, lowering his body onto Chromia's until their sparks shone as one. There seemed to be a huge amount of energy being transferred between the two as their bodies moved together in a rhythm familiar to any being on earth. The joined sparks seemed to pulse as one being Chromia's hands clutched the armor on Iron Hide's back, looking as though she would shred through it as her cries got loud enough for normal people to hear. Apparently they would be the local 'noisy' couple every one complained about but secretly wanted to be like. The two must have been working each other into a frenzy during the night, because it only took a few minutes before their Sparks emitted a blinding light as they both roared into the night. It almost sounded to Sam like the shows on Discovery featuring Lion prides during mating season.

The night seemed to fall back to the patternless rhythm of falling rain and rolling thunder, Sam's eyes returning to their dark hazel. He had been so enthralled with the two Autobots in the distance that he did not hear Mikaela walk up behind him. She too had heard the cries, smirking as Iron Hide inspired Sam yet again. She reached around his body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, causing Sam to stiffen in surprise. "Iron Hide will grind you into mud if he knew you were watching him." Mikaela teased, laughing when the color rose on Sam's cheeks. "Besides...you can show me what you saw." Sam stood at attention then, turning around and covering Mikaela's lips with his, smiling into the kiss.

"That depends on if you have all night," he chuckled at her smile as she pressed her body close to his.

"We have all the time in the world..."

<=o Oh my.

Can you think about Sam and Mikaela without thinking about them 'together'? I am giving warnings before each installment, so if someone gets offended, then it's their own dang fault.

When is the next chapter coming up?

This isn't graphic, nore have my other chapters been. It's just that we all have our minds in the gutter, HEHEHE. Anyway, Iron Hide and Bumblebee get theirs. Enjoy


Ellie shielded her eyes as the sun poured in through the uncovered window. The young woman groaned and rolled to her side, sitting up as a large Deuce-and-a-half pulled up into the central area between the barracks. Ellie was about to pull the pillow over her head when she heard someone pounding at the front door. Groaning loudly, Ellie stood on her right leg and used the crutch to walk over to the window, heaving it open with an irritated shove. She gave the Captain with his fist raised at her door a look that would have peeled the paint off of Iron Hide. “Wrong door,” she grunted, staring blearily at the army Captain. The men on her door step stopped talking and stared at the woman in the window. Ellie was clad in nothing more than a sports bra and a pair of boxers, both an alarming shade of lavender that clashed violently with her ginger colored hair.

“Next door,” she pointed to the left of her barrack where Ron and Judy Witwickey were already standing on the steps, snickering into their fists. Her father was already on his way toward the two when he spotted Ellie leaning out of the window clad in nothing but underwear. His eyes settled on the men ogling at his daughter and their Captain doing the same.

Ellie closed the window as her father exploded at the Captain. Major Bert Murdock was not someone who angered easily but when it happened, you prayed you were not the one to set him off. The sound of Major Murdock blowing out the ear drums of several Privates woke nearly the entire base. Optimus and Ratchet had snapped up from stasis, transforming in record time with cannons locked and primed, whining with pent up energy waiting to be discharged. The two Autobots looked at each other as the door opened to the barrack and a fully dressed Ellie came out, her hair pulled in to a messy, short pony tail on the back of her head. “Dad…” Ellie spoke softly, feeling the ground shake as two more Autobots came onto the scene. Optimus waved his hand, telling Iron Hide and Chromia to stand down. “Let them get their work done so they can get out of here without wetting themselves,” Ellie referred to the fact that the Captain and every one of his Privates were staring at the Autobots with a mixture of wonder and absolute fright.

Bert looked over his shoulder, chuckling. “Sorry about that, Optimus. Didn’t mean to startle you.” The Privates looked at each other. Startle them? "You heard the lady!" Bert boomed again, pointing toward the Witwickey parents standing on the steps, looking like they were about laugh themselves silly. "GO!"

Ellie laughed as the half dozen Privates and their Captain shot off a quick 'Yessir!' before they scurried off. "Daddy? Can you help me down the stairs?" How could Bert refuse his daughter? He steadied her as best he could as she carefully climbed down the stairs. He did make a face at her clothing; her jeans still torn half way up the left leg and frayed where Ellie had knotted the material to keep it from unraveling. Her right pant leg was still sliced open, though it did not sport the blood stains that had nearly driven her mother into a fit.

"Don't worry, dad. Sarah and Iron Hide promised to take me into town today and get some new clothes," Ellie smiled, demonstrating by sticking her finger through a large hole in her shirt. "I think these have had it."

"Alright, sweetie. Your mother and I have to report to Secretary Keller in a couple of hours, so you might not be able to reach me on my phone," the tough Major smiled softly, kissing his daughter on the cheek, scratching her with is stubble. "Iron Hide," he called out, making his way toward the large black Autobot.

"Yes, Major Murdock?" Iron Hide had to kneel to keep Bert from having to crane his neck up too high. Bert shifted his cane slightly, grunting at the soreness in his knees.

"Call me Burt. Rank's not needed among friends." The weathered face smiled brightly, making Iron Hide chuckle. "Me and Margie, Ellie's mother, might be gone for a couple of days. Keep an eye on my daughter, will you? But don't be too obvious...I might be a Major, but she's the tougher one."

Iron Hide laughed and extended his hand to the Major who took hold of one of the thick fingers. "I shall watch over Ellie. And believe me, I have seen how well she can handle herself. I foresee no problems." Bert nodded as he smartly jammed his hat onto his head, the Major insignia shining brightly in the morning sun. He turned around as swiftly as he could and slowly walked back to his wife, who was dressed smartly in her best dress uniform. Her dark ginger hair was pulled into a tight bun, making the Commander look stern and hard. She smiled, however when her husband came up to her, probably ribbing him about his outburst. The two went back into their barrack to await the chopper that would take them to the Secretary's temporary offices in Seattle.

The door to the last barrack opened and a strawberry blond toddler came shooting out, her arms wide as the smile on her face. "Ine Hide! Ine Hide!" She squealed giggling as the large mech scooped her up in one hand, bringing her close to his face. The entire scene was absolutely precious.

"Grace, good morning," greeted the stern Autobot, though the smile on his face seemed totally out of place except to the few that had known him when he was much younger. "Did you sleep well during the storm?" Optimus smiled as he stood back. That soft smile and voice were the same Iron Hide used when Bumblebee was just a youngling.

"Ya huh. But it sounded like monsters fighting. It was scary." Grace didn't notice the death glare that Iron Hide was casting toward Bumblebee who was sprawled out on the ground, laying flat on his front and doing his best not to laugh. Optimus found it difficult not to smile at the child's unintentional observation. "Mommy and daddy were laughing at it, too." That was all it took for Bumblebee to guffaw, dust billowing from his face as his air intakes convulsed in his laughter. And it didn't help either that Chromia was chuckling softly behind him, earning her a dark look from Iron Hide. The femme only regarded her mate with an amused twinkle in her optics, her vocalizer emitting a burst of static that sounded like a snort.

"Oh good. It's 'Rib Iron Hide Day'." Iron Hide groaned as Sam and Mikaela stepped around a thrashing Bumblebee who could not hold in his laughter, filling the air with fast clicks that sounded like a Geiger counter gone wild. "I do want to thank you for the inspiration though," Mikaela wagged her eyebrows at Iron Hide who groaned as though he were in pain.

"Go to your father, sweetie," Sarah finely exited the house, waddling down the steps with her husband's help as she slung her purse over her shoulder. "I think Iron Hide needs a break." The big mech gave her a look of such gratitude that Optimus was hard pressed not to start giggling. That would certainly not do for the leader of the Autobots to start giggling like Grace was as she was scooped up by her father. Will reached up and picked his daughter out of Iron Hide's hand, letting her sit on his shoulders.

"You take good care of them, Iron Hide," Will called out as Iron Hide transformed and opened his doors. He crouched low on his suspension to allow Sarah to get in without swinging her let over her hips. Ellie reached in through Iron Hide to guide Sarah in, Iron Hide adjusting the seat to allow Sarah to sit comfortably.

"You do remember who you are talking to?" The irritability in Iron Hide's voice made the Captain grin. "Nothing will happen to Sarah or Ellie without my express say so."

"Just don't let your thoughts wander," Mikaela called out, laughing as Iron Hide made a sound like someone had pulled the choke on his engine.

"I will have YOU know that I am capable of thinking of more than rutting at the first opportunity!" Ratchet snorted derisively, sending the rest of the Autobots into fits of laughter as the black Top Kick drove off, his engine revving irritably.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Bumblebee eyed the couple cautiously as they set up the soap and cold water a few feet from his tires. He was quite grateful for the offered wash since the previous night's rains had splattered his sides and tires with a thick coating of mud which had now dried hard. It was getting uncomfortable, what he was sure humans would call 'itchy' and Bumblebee was wondering what the slag was taking so long. The yellow mech watched as Sam passed in front of his headlights again for the third time. Mikaela had disappeared behind him several minutes ago and he was starting to get suspicious.

Bumblebee released a hiss from his hydraulics as he felt the soapy sponge on his rear fender. Sam was on his left side, hosing him down so that the dried mud slid off onto the ground, making him shudder. The water pressure was just enough for it's purpose, yet too weak to stimulate him much more than a fleeting caress. A few minutes of this treatment and Bumblebee was a bundle of frustrated wires. He let out a whine as Mikaela slowly came around to his left side with the sponge, trailing little bubbles along his frame. The sensation was intoxicating as the bubbles were followed by the water washing them off before they dried on his paint.

Thirty minutes and Mikaela had just finished with his rear end, though Bumblebee was far from complaining. Sam was casting lust filled stares at Mikaela grinning into the morning heat. Mikaela did something that made Sam gulp, his adam's apple bobbing up and down on his throat. The pheromones he was putting off were nearly suffocating. Another set of pheromones were catching his sensors as the wind shifted. He began to recognize those as Mikaela's and he committed their exact chemical make up to his memory. She smelled like lavender and ginger mixed with rose petals, which complemented Sam's sandalwood and clover perfectly. He was familiar with the concept of individuals of the human species scents changing when they became emotionally attached to another individual. But what he found confused his CPU.

Sam's scent was beginning to take on a rather inorganic flair. Most males his age exuded a musky odor exuded from scent glands under the arms and inner thighs. Sam however, was not producing as much of the pheromone as he was a type of chemical attractant that mimicked pheromones to such a degree that it took less to gain the desired effect. It was strange, though Bumblebee's attention was grabbed as he felt something soft and pliant pressed against his rear window. Bumblebee directed every one of his sensors to that area and nearly shook himself out of his armor. The thermals showed a picture of oranges and pinks in the form of Mikaela, naked and pressed against the wet metal of his armor.

"M...Mik...Mikaela?" Bumblebee's voice squeaked uncontrollably as he turned all his sensors on the sight and recorded everything, every delicious mille-second. Mikaela smiled as she used her body like the sponge, smearing the soap around the windows as the sponge in her hands washed his top. She could feel the minute shudders run through his frame as she slowly washed him. Sam still had that grin on his face as he turned a gentle stream of water onto Mikaela, washing the soap suds as much from Bumblebee as well as Mikalea. An audible groan issued from the yellow mech, making the two young adults grin.

"You alright, Bumblebee," Mikaela asked as innocently as she could, continuing to wash the Autobot in slow circles. The moan she got in response made her laugh out loud. "Do you want me to continue?" Mikaela stepped away from Bumblebee, the sponge dripping in her hand. "Tell me what you want."

Bumblebee was speechless. For the first time since his vocalizer was repaired by the All Spark, he found he had nothing to say. Was she asking him what he hoped she was asking him? Was this just a tease meant to get Sam aroused? Bumblebee watched Sam as the young man pointed the hose up into the air, coating the three of them in a gentle mist to stave off the heat of the day. His smile was warm as he watched Mikaela and although his body was aroused, he was keeping his distance from Mikaela and the Autobot. "I..." He started, wondering if his vocalizer had gone on the fritz again. Finding his voice, he continued, "I want you to wash me...just like you were." Bumblebee nearly panted. "Please..."

"Ok..." Mikaela smiled as she stepped up to Bumblebee again, rubbing the sponge along the left side of his hood, washing as slow as she could. Bumblebee shuddered again, wondering what he must have done to deserve something this wonderful. And whether or not he could do it again, because this was coming close to the fantasies that filled his CPU when he sat up during the long nights. He thanked Primus as Mikaela stepped to his front, leaning over his hood to cover it in long strokes of her soapy sponge. Mikaela smiled as she was greeted with another moan, this time accompanied by a shudder that coursed through his entire frame.

Sam took that as his cue and started spraying Bee's hood, surprising the mech enough to make him leap on his tires. He muttered a soft apology which Mikaela brushed off. "Oh, don't worry, Bee. 'Kaela will get me back later." Bee tried to get his mind off of Sam's innuendo, but it was difficult when the young man was spraying water on both he and Mikaela until they both were soaking wet and shivering at the temperature difference between the cold water and the hot air.

All too soon, Mikaela had finished washing Bee, Sam turning the water off to allow his armor to dry in record time. Bumblebee was working on calming down, when he felt something cold on his hood. Mikaela and Sam both seemed to have taken advantage the speed of his drying and started applying a coat of wax. Both started at opposite sides of his hood and worked their way back, making lazy circles over his paint. Bumblebee was convinced that the two were trying to torture him. They were going entirely too slow but Primus forbid they leave any streaks on his paint. Their fingers got the rags into every crevice on his armor and my the time they were finished, Bumblebee was whining with every caress.

"There." Mikaela threw town the rag, dusting her hands off as she admired the shine of Bumblebee's armor. "Like looking into the sun," she smiled, patting Bumblebee's hood. "You definitely needed a good wash. It was getting hard to see what color you were." Without another word, Mikaela stepped behind Bumblebee to the pile of her clothing.

Bumblebee was in utter shock, standing stock still as his CPU tried to understand what had happened. He had been so keyed up for the last half hour that he almost overloaded. Now, Mikaela was getting dressed as though nothing had happened at all. "Now for your interior." Bumblebee nearly overloaded as Mikaela opened his door and sat on his driver's seat with a bottle of Armorall in one hand and a rag in the other. "We need to get every inch of you clean and shiny. Wouldn't do to get too dirty, would it?" Bumblebee sighed as Mikaela started wiping his dashboard with the rag.

'Thank you, Primus!'

Just out of curiosity, is it going to be like this all the way through?

Nope...I just figured I could have a little fun. But next chapter is not going to be fluffy in anyway. But I will give you three guesses as to who is arriving next and the first one doesn't count...

Ok, fluff aside, it starts getting a little faster paced from now on.

Optimus Prime's systems powered up as soon as the morning light hit his armor under the temporary shed that had been built. Ratchet was some twenty feet away, just beginning his startup routines, emitting an audible groan as his sensors took note of how cold it was. Days in the high foot hills of the northern Rockies were hot and dry, but the nights and mornings were cool and damp as was evidenced by the thin sheen of dew on his and Optimus' armor.

Iron Hide was waking to the right of the two, grumbling about his armor getting water spots on it. Chromia, who had taken the form of a sparkling silver Mitsubishi Concept CT MIEV, grumbled about being woken up by Iron Hide's grumbling. "Then go shake it off. I'm trying to sleep in...IRON HIDE!!!" The mech in question chuckled with satisfaction as Chromia was now dripping with the dew water he had shaken off. "Are you happy, now?"

Iron Hide harrumphed, settling on his suspension. The mech sighed in contentment as Chromia got up and walked off. Not paying attention, Iron Hide slipped back into recharge. It felt good to have nothing pressing to do immediately. No Decepticons to fight, no crisis to avert. Unless one considered Chromia using a water hose to thoroughly soak Iron Hide with the highest pressure a crisis. The resulting scream from the large Autobot woke the entire base to two mechs wrestling in the mud trying to gain control of the water hose.

"I do believe that I have not had to deal with antics such as this since the Twins were still younglings," Ratchet chuckled, backing up slightly as a rather large mud pie came sailing his direction. "What do you think, Optimus? Do we step in or let them learn the hard way?"

The Autobot leader chuckled, driving a few dozen feet away from the growing mud pit. "Let them be. I have not heard Iron Hide laugh for a long time and would not want to be the one to break up his fun. Even if he will be trying to get mud out of every crevice for the next vorn." The two watched Iron Hide and Chromia laughing, the water hose forgotten as each tried to get the other as dirty as possible. The two had taken to scooping up large hand fulls of mud, flinging them at each other. Most of the mud balls went into open areas, some splatting up against buildings harmlessly. Chromia picked up a rather large ball of half dried mud, aimed carefully and threw with all her strength straight at Iron Hide's face.

The bulky Autobot ducked at the last moment, laughing at Chromia's aim when the femme gasped, her hand over her mouth in a very human gesture of shock. Iron Hide turned around and felt his energon go cold. "oh, Slag..." Both bots backed up slowly as Ratchet transformed, his entire front end, legs and part of his arms covered in thick mud. His face was hard as he took two steps toward the two retreating mechs. "She threw it!"

"What?! You ducked!"

You're the one with the aim of a half-built protoform!"

Iron Hide and Chromia had descended into arguing over who was at fault and failed to notice that Ratched had gained control of the water hose. "I see you two are not going to wash anytime soon," the medic droned as he brought the water to bear on the two Autobots. Both were frozen to the spot, afraid to move or protest as the ice cold water made its way into their armor. "I will save myself the work of mowing the turf that is sure to grow inside both of you unless you get that mud out of your chassis. And I refuse to prune any trees that decide to grow out of your armor." Ratchet smiled, narrowing his optics as he increased the pressure and shoved the water hose down the main structural void in Iron Hide's torso. "And Primus help me if either of you turn into a compost heap because I will use what is left of you to grow corn. At least the corn will have the 'ears' to listen to Medics who tell them not to get into dirt filled with micro-organisms that would make short work of your energon conduits."

"You know," Sam startled Optimus who had been engrossed in watching Ratchet hose Iron Hide and Chromia down. "it could have been a lot worse."

"I fail to see how, Sam. If these two knew about half of the organisms trying to feed off of their pneumatic actuators, their processors would fry in their brain cases."

"Oh yea. It could have been a lot worse, Ratchet. They could have been two giant monkeys."

"Again, I fail to see your point."

"What do monkeys throw, Ratchet?"

The Autobot Medic did a quick Internet search, a low chuckle bubbling from his chest as his engine revved in humor. "Yes, I do feel like that poor zoo keeper getting pummeled with Chimpanzee excrement." The slightly confused look on Sam's face brought forth more amused chuckles from the Medic. "You Tube. You humans have the most interesting ways of entertaining each other. Some clips, I will admit are questionable, but informative none the less." Iron Hide had taken to crossing his arms over his chest, tapping one foot irritably in the mud around them as Ratchet finished hosing the two off. "There, I managed to get both of you relatively clean. You will submit yourselves for a scan in two day's time to ensure that nothing has taken a liking to your systems." That last part was an order and the two Autobots agreed, sulking off to dry their soaked systems.

"Ah, speaking of monkey poo, Lennox has arranged for me and Mikaela to finish our last few weeks of school on base." Sam made a face by sticking his finger in his mouth, mock gagging himself. "As if I need something else trying to pound my brain into a bowl of gray jelly."

"Mmmm...my favorite flavor: Moan and groan with just a hint of procrastination." Mikaela came out of their shared barrack carrying the Calculus book they were using to study with. "You know what will happen if you do not pass this test, Sam. Your mother will force you to move into their barrack. With no computer, no peace, no quiet."

"Gah!" Sam fell backwards onto the ground, rubbing his face with his hands. "Any more of that book and my head will explode!"

"Come on, Sam. Calculus isn't that hard if you just stop trying to force your brain out of your butt." Mikaela plopped the book onto Sam's belly, making him huff.

"I'm not kidding, Mikaela. I have a headache as big as Prime's left lug nut!" The Autobot leader literally scoffed, sounding like a radio emitting a burst of static.

Mikaela rolled her eyes, plopping down on the ground next to Sam. "You know you are going to have to tell someone about the headaches," she said softly. "and the shaking and the scars and the nightmares." Sam's only response was to groan with his arms over his eyes. "Either you do," Mikaela lowered her voice to a low whisper, "or I will."

This got Sam to open his eyes. He looked over Mikaela's face, noting that there was nothing amusing about her expression. Prime watched the exchange with slight amusement. He wondered if he had anything that qualified as a 'lug nut' in his entire body and whether it was in the location the phrase suggested it was. Though, despite the low voices, he was able to hear the one sided conversation. His curiosity was piqued at the mention of scars and shaking. What was Sam hiding from them? Ever since the battle in Mission City, Sam had been followed and pestered about every symptom no matter how mundane. Ratchet had, as Sam put it, 'Snipe Scanned' him at every opportunity, making the boy irritable. It was quite amusing when Sam had wrapped his torso in aluminum foil to hinder Ratchet's quick scans. The medic had been in a foul mood all that week and it got worse when Sam decided to accessorize by making himself a tin-foil top hat.

Of course, Ratchet had not built himself the medical facility he now boasted. The only thing that remained was their actual quarters and those were being put on hold by the sheer amount of metal needed to construct such a structure and the question of how to hide such a structure once finished. The United States may have been wealthy compared to most other nations but being an open government meant that they had to justify every penny spent, especially with a war going on. Though the conflict seemed to be winding down as both sides lost their fire for producing mass casualties, the task of making relations better with all involved was taxing the government with midnight sessions and constant revisions to already heavily revised bills. Defense Secretary Keller was being pulled in two directions at once on good days. Right now he had to split his time between his Portland office and the main office in D.C. Ellie's parents were with the Secretary as he debriefed the top brass of every branch of the military of the reality of what they were facing. And the fact that the Autobots had been given Asylum status meant that he had that much more paperwork for each one that showed up.

Optimus sighed as Sam got up and marched over to the Autobot CMO, gritting his teeth as he announced that he would like Ratchet to give him a full physical. Mikaela's goading had worked. Sam would rather tell Ratchet himself than have someone else get everyone all upset over nothing. The young man looked as though he was walking to his own execution, trudging behind Ratchet as the medic led them over to a hanger big enough to fit the Goodyear blimp into. Prime looked back at Mikaela, watching her read from the open book, thumping her fingers on her forehead as she held her hair out of the way. Despite Mikaela looking like 'arm candy', she was actually quite smart. Calculus was one of her best subjects along with Physics and Advanced English. Ratchet had even had Mikaela help him put together most of the equipment in his lab and had even gotten started in the second set of labs that were meant to be Wheel-Jack's once he made it to Earth. Optimus smiled, things would get interesting pretty quickly with the inventor on the base.
Ratchet stood at the entrance to his lab, watching as Sam climbed up onto the human sized exam table right next to the Autobot sized one in the middle of his med-bay. "Before we begin, Sam, may I ask what suddenly convinced you that you needed a full physical," Ratchet asked as he walked over to the table, manipulating a control to bring up the low safety bars on either side of the bed before raising it up to a level Ratchet could work with. "Because if this has anything to do with bringing Bumblebee into your relationship with Mikaela, you aught to know you have nothing to fear physically from such a decision."

Sam scoffed, his train of thought thrown completely off course, crashing down a ravine before exploding into flames. "No, it's got nothing to do with that." Sam half expected Ratchet to launch into a lecture about maintaining certain mores and codes and some such muckety muck.

"Do not misunderstand me, Sam. I do not mean to dissuade you from your decision. What you, Mikaela and Bumblebee do is your own business and is not our place to judge." This was getting off course from what Sam wanted to talk about, but he welcomed the distraction. "What you have is nothing new to us, Sam. The feelings between you three are mutual and strong. So long as none are harmed within this relationship then you have nothing to fear from us. Your parents, however, are a different matter. Though I highly doubt that you would confide something of this nature in them. After all most humans seem to hold relationships between pairs higher than those between three or more." Ratchet seemed to catch himself as he was about to launch into an explanation of bonding between mechs. "Excuse me, but you wanted to speak to me about something other than your personal life?"

So much for the distraction. Sam sighed, the headache threatening to turn into a migraine unless he got this off of his shoulders. "Yea...gimme a sec," Sam sighed as he relaxed, feeling the pain in his temples fade away into nothing. He sighed, his eyes closed as he savored the feeling for a few seconds. "I noticed this a few weeks ago. It's like I opened a flood gate, or something. At first it was hard to deal with all the...information. But it's getting easier. Now it hurts if I try to force it down." Ratchet was about to ask what the slag the boy was talking about when Sam opened his eyes, azure meeting sky blue in total silence.

Ratchet opened his mouth to say something, but clicked his jaw shut with a metallic clang. "Stay still, perfectly still," the medic commanded as he briskly walked over to a set of machines to Sam's immediate right, the med-bay filled with their hum as they powered on. Ratchet stayed behind the machines for a good five minutes. Suddenly he walked over to a second area to activate the equipment there. He felt a familiar tingling wash over him. It felt like Ratchet's scans, but much more powerful, feeling like something warm pressing against his chest. The discomfort built until it suddenly alleviated, leaving Sam to sigh in relief. "What other symptoms have you noticed over the past few weeks? Have you had any changes in appetite? Cravings for odd things, decrease in urination or bowel movements?"

Sam listened, his eyebrows raising. "Well...yea. I don't go to the bathroom that much anymore. I think the last time I took a piss was...three days ago. And what exactly do you mean by 'craving odd things'?" Sam followed the medic around with his eyes, noticing that he was now talking to himself in Cybertronian, sounding like guttural curses grinding themselves between two big rocks. "I swallowed a couple of pennies a few weeks ago. I haven't seen them since." Sam started, noticing how Ratchet stopped what he was doing, watching him with narrowed optics before going back to grumbling again. "And when my dad was cutting the metal tubes for the fountain in our back yard...I, er, ate the metal shavings. I don't know why, it just seemed like a really good idea at the time." Sam decided to play dumb to get Ratchet to stop pacing between machines and grumbling. "What? Do I have a metal glob blocking me up? Am I about to shoot a metal turd the size of a cannon ball out, or something?"

Ratchet snorted, his nostrils flaring almost until the plates of his face came apart. "Hardly, Sam. All of that metal you have been consuming has been going toward replacing the calcium as the main material for your bones and inner structures. I do not know how you have been going through these changes without me noticing or even having any outward symptoms other than your eyes, or rather optics coming online. The headaches are being caused by you shutting your optics off and forcing your eyes to work when they are being slowly dismantled by your body. Do not ask me how this is all happening, because I am having trouble understanding it myself."

Sam laid there, staring at the medic, his brain feeling slow on the uptake. "Are you saying...that my body is, well changing? Into what?" Ratchet stayed quiet for a few more minutes before he turned a large monitor around so that Sam could have a good view at what Ratchet had been studying.

"This is the scan I just took of your internals. There should be a heart, lungs, intestines and such in your body cavity. However as you can see, they are MIA at the moment. What you have 'acquired' instead is a pump not unlike ours. Your pump seems to have borrowed it's designs from your own systems, which are quite efficient at their use of energy. The blood that should be flowing through your body has shifted into something like the energon that flows through our systems. This is the means by which your body is slowly exchanging metal for organics and why you have not needed to take in as much water as you normally would." Ratchet pointed toward where the scan would normally show the shape of his bowels. "You have a tank here as well. Your intestines, at least what they are now are dedicated to manufacturing energon with the food you have been taking in. The only reason your body seems to need water or normal food right now is to give it a means with which to carry the exchanged wastes out of your body. Even the cells of your body have started to change. For example, you have two kinds of cells that live on your bones. Ostioclasts and Ostioblasts. As their names describe, one builds bone another destroys bone. These seem to have become similar to the nanites that populate our bodies. They are facilitating the exchange going on as we speak." Ratchet shook his head, looking tired all of a sudden.

"We seem to be walking into uncharted territory with every second. I will not know definitively what is going on until the process that has started, finishes. This may take as long as a few years or as little as a few months. But I will ask you to be as forthright with me about any and everything that is going on. There are so many things that could have and should have gone wrong that it frightens me that you have kept all of this to yourself." The medic sighed again. "You do know that everyone involved will have to be informed of your...condition? I need them to observe you constantly in case the changes take an unfavorable turn."

Sam had done his best to turn three shades lighter than pale as Ratchet explained everything to him. This had turned out to be far more than just the checkup and reprimand for not telling him about all the little things he had been expecting. Sam laid back, trying to think of the best way to tell his parents when he felt like someone had just shoved a stereo into his head and turned it on full volume. "Autobots! Battle stations, we are under attack!" Optimus' voice grated into his skull with all the subtlety of a rampaging hippo. The med-bay shuddered as a pair of large feet landed on the ground. Ratchet lowered his bed, ordering the boy to the back of the med-bay as he charged out of the doors, the lights flickering and finely going dark as the sound of Starscreams cackle filtered in.

Sam barely had time to ponder his current situation when Ellie and Mikaela were bodily thrown into the med-bay, the doors slamming shut again. The click of the locking mechanism echoed through out the hanger making the darkness that much more profound. Through the sounds of heated battle outside, Sam could hear two people making their way through the pitch blackness. Their whispers filtered into his ears, recognizing their voices immediately. “Mikaela? Ellie? I'm back here.” The two women ran as fast as they could, Mikaela embracing Sam as soon as she could feel him. “What's going on out there?”

Mikaela was still carrying the Calculus book under her arm, clutching it as though her life depended on protecting it. “Starscream just dropped out of nowhere with the other two and Soundwave.” Both girls winced as the shockwave of a large explosion shook the med-bay. “They just started shooting.” The three stayed in utter silence for a few moments, listening to the muffled shouts and explosions, suddenly wishing to be anywhere but where they were.

Sam shuddered, noticing that Ellie was staring at his eyes, one brow up above the other. “Sam, did you know your high beams are on?” Sam laughed, explaining as best as he understood what Ratchet had told him. He stopped in mid sentence when something occurred to him. He nearly hit himself for not asking this before.

“Are my parents alright?” He tried not to read into their expressions, not liking the looks he was getting. Mikaela and Ellie looked like they weren't sure of the ground under their feet anymore.

“We don't know, Sam.” Mikaela shook her head. “I think they were in the mess hall on the other side of the base having breakfast with the Lennox's. You know how they like to get up early.” Mikaela smiled, running her hands through Sam's hair. “Don't worry, they're probably safer than we are.”

Sam nodded, wondering just how safe they were in the med-bay. It didn't look that much different than a regular air hangar, even with the extra supports wielded to it's frame. That didn't bother him as much as the equipment hanging from the supports did. Transformer sized equipment that would hurt like a muther if it fell on any body part. That point was driven home when the monitor that Ratchet had shown Sam not ten minutes ago swung awkwardly when one of the combatants outside toppled to the ground. The three inched their way back toward the patient beds. Ratchet never allowed himself to use these beds since they were strictly for patients. This was one of the places that Ratchet forbade anyone to wander around in. The reason was secured under a tarp at the very back. If one was just giving the patient ward a cursory glance, one would miss the large form concealed in material that was identical in color to the military green that covered the crates of the more sensitive parts used for repairs.

Sam let go of Mikaela's hand and went around the stacked crates, his hand pressing against the coarse fabric. What he felt underneath brought back the heart break he had felt more than a year ago. He remembered Prime cradling the two halves of Jazz's body with the tenderness a father reserves for his own children. It appeared that this had been Ratchet's little obsession these past months. The medic knew that he could not possibly revive Jazz after his spark had left him, but that had not prevented him from trying. Sam smiled. This was Ratchet in a nutshell; never giving up on any of his patients. Even after death.

Leaning up against Jazz's body was another, smaller object wrapped in the same canvas. It looked like an oddly misshapen pyramid about two feet tall. And it was calling out. There were no words, just a feeling of urgency that made the hairs on his arm stand on end. Sam unwrapped the package, gasping softly. Two more sets of hands joined his, touching the shard as though it were a relic of some holy deity gifted to them for safe keeping. Their reverence was broken when a new explosion rocked the base, ripping the north side away along with half of the roof. Sam's ears rang, his vision clouding with the sudden explosion of light from the morning sun. He vaguely felt Ellie pulling him toward where she had managed to drag up a portion of the canvas under Jazz's arm. He didn't fight as he was shoved underneath, the sunlight blocked out as she and Mikaela secured the canvas again.

The air under the material was oddly musty almost to the point of choking. All three kept themselves huddled in the crook of Jazz's arm, making sure to make as little noise as possible as the world outside continued to erupt in gunfire an explosions. It became obvious from the sounds that the Autobots were trying desperately to take the fight elsewhere, but Starscream seemed to feel their desperation and stayed put, blasting everything in the vicinity to flush out what the Autobots were trying to protect. It seemed like hours that they were huddled under that canvas, listening to the shouts of the Autobots as they tried to coordinate their efforts against the four Decepticons. Sam held his head as the chatter from the five Autobots filtered into his head, making him feel like he was in a room crowded with people who were afraid of not being heard.

'Watch your back, Iron Hide. Thundercracker is taking aim.'

'Chromia, circle around the med-bay and see if you can get a couple of shots in on Soundwave.'

'Just pinch the line closed, Ratchet. I can fight with one arm. Just keep shooting!'

'Prime, any word on how the others are holding up? Were they able to get the Lennox's and Sam's parents into the underground bunker?'

'I believe so, Bumblebee. But we will not know for certain until this is over.'

Sam could feel the uncertainty in Prime's voice and it tore at his heart. He suddenly wished that Jazz was still with them. His presence would make the battle a much cleaner six against four. That and Sam still missed his urban euphemisms. He seemed to be the first to learn about a new culture, the first to make himself one of the guys. The first to speak in a fashion that was familiar and comforting, even if his first words were 'What's happenin' little bitches.' It still brought a smile to his face every time he thought about it. Sam reached up with one of his hands and placed it on Jazz's side where he knew his spark chamber was.

Mikaela was watching Sam, her face becoming sympathetic as he placed her hand on Sam's for comfort. Ellie watched the two. She was listening to the sounds outside, her ears driven to near deafness at all the noise. Bullets, missiles, energy discharges and anything not nailed down flew over their heads. All three heard the missile before it hit and were able to duck further into the shelter of Jazz's armor as the explosion ripped apart what was left of the med-bay. The canvas was ripped away, their eyes assailed with daylight again and then abruptly put out as the crates that had been stacked in front of them fell over, covering them in splintered wood and metal parts. Most were small enough not to injure but it covered them completely in twisted metal.

In the silent chaos, all three had reached out to grab one another, each of their hands falling on the shard of the All-Spark. As they reached out to steady themselves on the body of Jazz, their world exploded into white.



It seemed too much to expect Starscream to move away from the bunkers and med-bay. At least what was left of them. Starscream and his fellow seekers seemed Pit-bent on destroying as much of the base as they could, starting with the living areas. Prime was thankful that only a small contingent of human solders called the base home, making the chances of one of them being killed that much smaller. But what worried him the most, was what was taking refuge inside the tattered remains of the med-bay. Sam, Mikaela and Ellie were hiding inside, hopefully some where out of sight and protected against the volley of bullets and missiles that came in seeming endless supply from the four Decepticons.

In between doing spot repairs on his fellow Autobots and doing his share to drive off the four Decepticons, Ratchet was busy running scans over what was left of his med-bay. The Autobot medic may have been a pacifist, but when someone messed with his ability to effectively treat his patients, he became a warrior to be reckoned with. To Ratchet, the moment he did so much as give a being a simple scan, be they mech or organic, their aft was his until their dying breath. He felt such toward Sam, Mikaela and Ellie, all of whom had received treatment for wounds from the old medic. Ratchet would continue to scan the area at the rear of his med-bay until the battle was over.

At the moment, he could 'see' that the three humans were huddled together under the canvas that protected the body of Jazz from prying eyes. He silently commended them for their intelligence. Jazz's armor would protect them from the worst of the explosions and the canvas would make sure that the Decepticons didn't get any bright ideas about taking one of them hostage. And it seemed that they had the fore sight to take the remaining piece of the All-Spark with them in hiding. Even now they tried desperately to defend the Autobot's hope of somehow rebuilding. If he were human, this would have brought a tear to Ratchet's eye.

Iron Hide aimed his one good cannon toward Soundwave, throwing the telepath off balance long enough to keep him from firing on Bumblebee who was getting a secondary fuel line spliced back into it's conduit. 'Hide's left arm hung at his side, the gears that made up the human equevilant of the rotator cup were fused from a close call with a magnesium tipped missile shot from Thundercracker's hand. He was lucky that was all that was damaged. Iron Hide tried not to think of what would have happened if Chromia had not warned him of the seekers intentions. Just one more reason why he was grateful he had Chromia to watch his back again. He had missed the old days when the two of them would go out on patrol together, itching for a fight. Of course, Ratchet would be ready with something heavy to hit both of them over the head with when they came back with even so much as a scratch in their paint.

His optics went to the med-bay, scanning over the area with this sensors. He was not designed for accurate detection of life forms, but he could tell that the three humans were huddled in the back of the building. Major Murdock had charged him with his daughter's protection three days ago, and Iron Hide would not fail in his task. The young woman had figured out quickly what Iron Hide had been asked to do, and it had annoyed her to no end that the weapons specialist was being tapped as her body guard. She had argued with him at length when she and Sarah had returned from their shopping trip. "I'm not some friggin' invalid! I can take care of myself!" She had reiterated the point over and over again the next day when ever Iron Hide was near, making the old mech wish he had a fraction of Bumblebee's spying ability.

But the evening previous, Ellie had grown to accept Iron Hide's presence. Much like one accepts the presence of a large boil on their back side until they can get rid of it. Iron Hide would have laughed if Ellie had not retorted to his observation of her exhaustion. He had requested that she return to her barracks to recharge because she looked like she needed it. And it was getting close to midnight. She had smiled and shook her head, waving her hand as she left for her barracks. "Good night, daddy," she had quipped back at him, meaning for it to irk him. But the statement had touched something deep within the old mech. He remembered when Bumblebee was still very young, too young to wear any armor. His over large optics had stared up at him with almost blinding reverence as he had put the little mech into his recharge berth, staying with him until his optics had shut off and his systems went into recharge mode. Iron Hide would never admit it to anyone, but he missed those times. He missed them terribly.

Bumblebee waited patiently as one of the small fuel lines running parallel to his spine was repaired, watching the movements of the others in case one of the Decepticons thought to sneak up on one of the Autobots. As soon as Ratchet tucked the line back into its protective casing, his cannons were out and pounding away at Skywarp. Bumblebee's designation was spy and recon, not out right melee. But where his mates were concerned, he would charge straight into the Pit without a single piece of armor or weapon on him. Mikaela and Sam were hiding inside the med-bay, and he would protect them until the moment he ceased to function. His processor brought memories of the first time Mikaela had told him that the feelings the mech had for her were mutual. It had warmed his spark to near overload when she had approved of his hologram, and even let him touch her. Sam had stayed back and allowed the two to get to know each other before he had climbed into the Camaro and helped Bumblebee give Mikaela the best day of her life.

The memory faded as Starscream managed to get close enough to the med-bay to launch a missile at point blank range into it's interior, twisting the remaining supports like warm plastic. The Decepticon had enough time to register the form of Jazz before the fallen Autobot reached up with one hand and 'pulled' at another missile launched from Skywarp, guiding it straight into Starscream's chest.

The four Decepticons seemed glued to the spot as Jazz stood to his full height, his gun metal gray armor reflecting the mid-morning sun as though his skin were mirrored. His magnetic generators charged on full, Jazz lifted his hand, activating them at the exact frequency that Starscream's processes ran under. The screech from the lead seeker sounded like metal twisting in on itself as the mech staggered to his feet, the pain near the point of insanity. He didn't even bother with words as he transformed and put as much distance from himself and Jazz as possible, the other three following suit, leaving the battle field eerily silent and still.

The five Autobots stared in numb disbelief as Jazz turned toward them, a huge grin on his face. "Damn, Prime. I know I'm hot but you can stop undressing me with your eyes." Iron Hide, couldn't believe what he was seeing, his mouth opening and closing as though he were a fish gulping for air. Prime reached out for the Saboteur, a hand closing on his shoulder before he brought Jazz crashing against him in a tight embrace, almost not believing what his sensors were telling him. Several choked clicks issued from Ratchet's vocabulator as he put his hand on Jazz's shoulder, holding as tight as he could in case this vision were to disappear.

"Watch yourself, the three little ones are out cold. They deserve to rest after all they've done," Jazz smiled down at the three humans unconcious between his feet. All three were sprawled out as though they had fallen from a standing position, their clothing in tatters from the heat of the blast. Their forms were covered in metal bits remaining from Ratchet's stash of parts. They seemed to have no injuries, their skin unblemished by either burn or cut. But there was one other thing missing from the scene. The shard of the All-Spark was no where to be found.

I think yu guys are doing a hell of a job here. Very interesting and a lot like the movie. Keep it up!

Thankies!

I adore the movie and the effort they put into relaunching the franchise, so I want to stay as true to it as possible. With a tiny bit of artistic license thrown in for spice.