Ratchet looked even more frustrated as he tended to Arcee's light wounds. Her face was hard and upset, and the others all held disappointed expressions. Jack was down by his guardian, while I was at the pedes of mine.

"You weren't able to determine the Decepticons location?" the medic growled. "Or if Optimus was even aboard ship?!"

I... couldn't confirm," the femme said sharply, turning her helm.

Bulkhead suddenly rattled, his optics angry. The wrecker turned with a growl and smashed something on the console next to him. His servo lifted to reveal destroyed equipment.

"Bulkhead-!"

"What?!" Bulkhead interrupted angrily. "You needed that?! The only thing I need is our head honcho back!"

"It wasn't your fault," Jack assured his guardian.

"If any of us had needed saving," she argued, "Optimus would have found a way. I didn't. Simple as that."

Agent Fowler appeared at the screen and shouted at my guardian angrily, scolding them for the amount of wounded from the attack. He ended it with a threat, one that made me shiver.

"But.. where would you go?" I asked dreadfully, clasping my hands together, a nervous habit.

"Who knows?!" Ratchet shouted, now furious. Maybe they'll ship us off to an island! Or shoot us off into space! Wouldn't that be a welcome relief?!"

I knew he couldn't really mean it, or at least, I hoped. Either way, it hurt to hear him say those things. I knew he wasn't angry with me, exactly, but my kind was only adding to his problems right now. He probably couldn't help but feel notorious towards me, and the other kids. I looked down at the ground, shuffling my feet and putting my hands behind my back. I blinked away tears, hoping my guardian wouldn't see me now.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, stopping an argument between the troubled Autobots. "Aren't we overlooking one positive? No one's talking about what the Cons just got their claws on."

"Yes, we managed to allow them to acquire a POWER SOURCE for their GroundBridge!" Ratchet roared, turning to them sharply and waving his arms angrily.

"And how exactly would that be a positive?" Arcee snapped, her servo on her hip.

"We let them finish building their SpaceBridge," Jack continued, unfazed. "So that we can commandeer it, and use it to send me to Cybertron."

I jumped from where I was standing, surprised. Miko expressed that it was a good idea, and I silently agreed. The Autobots seemed skeptical, not liking it, but Jack argued that they didn't have much of a choice anymore.

Ratchet was still shouting angrily, but I wasn't really listening anymore. I sighed, bringing my hands to my arms. I started to feel a chill, and then something was squeezing at my chest. It felt like anger.

But a moment after it was there, it was gone.

Taking a deep breath, I jogged over to where Ratchet had moved, placing a hand on his pede. He glanced down at me, for only a second, before looking away without a hint of softness. I cringed, but kept my hand where it remained. He was angry. He just needed time.

"So the SpaceBridge could be anywhere on earth!" Jack observed.

"Like trying to find a servo in a scrapyard," Bulk growled, his voice lowered.

"Then maybe we better start looking," Arcee said, softening slightly.

"But the fact remains," Ratchet interjected. "We do not know what the Decepticons have in store for Optimus. Or if he's truly safe from harm."

I could hear the hurt and regret in his voice at the last part, and stroked his pede again to let him know I was here. I felt even more pushed to help, but how. Ratchet didn't move, his optics downcast.

——————————————————————————————————————

Ratchet was once again working on the GroundBridge, and I was once again leaning on the rail, watching. He had made no conversation with me, like he normally did when he was working. (If you could call me talking and him adding or answering every know and then a conversation.) It made me upset, and I cursed myself for feeling hurt. My heart ached for him, but right now wasn't the time to be begging for his attention.

Maybe I clung too him to much anyway.

Ratchet turned from his monitor suddenly and looked over to Raf. "Rafael, it seems I would require your assistance after all," he called after the boy.

Raf perked up from the couch where he was sitting, getting excited. "What do you need me to do?!"

"Go get one of your toy cars," he instructed. "I'm going to use it as a test subject for the G- SpaceBridge range."

The boy nodded frantically, shooting up and racing away, looking for his backpack. I turned my head back to my guardian, who was making a few more adjustments. My face softened into a smile and I leaned forward on the railing.

"Do you think it will work?" I asked quietly.

He finally looked over to me, which made my spirits lift. "We can't be certain until we try. If it does, we won't need to go with Jack's dangerous idea of a strategy."

I chuckled, resisting the urge to reach out and stroke his chest chassis. "It would be a lot easier. I really hope we accomplish this," I added after a pause, my head turning to the boy as he ran back, holding a controller and a black and green race car.

"Test subject ready?" He asked firmly.

Raf nodded and set it down, turning its wheels to prove that it was. "Check. Long range GPS activated."

"I have doubts whether my recalibration have extended GroundBridge range," Ratchet said, turning to the switch. "But, there is only one way to find out."

Unfortunately, the car barely made it half way through the portal before crackling and popping on its back, smoke rising from the engine. My heart sank and Ratchet shook his helm with a sigh.

"It was only the first try!" Raf tried to assure him, and I nodded in agreement.

"No, Rafael," he sighed, on one knee plate with his arm resting over the other. "It was pure folly. I misguided act of desperation." He stood back up, turning slowly. "It takes eons to master SpaceBridge engineering. And no one is more accomplished than the Decepticons," he finished with a growl.

Raf tried his best to cheer him up with an analogy from school, one that made my heart melt at his sweetness. Unfortunately, Ratchet didn't take it the way he had meant it, and only yelled at him. Raf jerked back, sad and frightened, mumbled something about alone time, and walked away.

"Ratchet!" I said, feeling sorry for the boy. "He was trying to help!"

He turned to me sharply, his optics narrowed. "And who are you to lecture me?! This whole mess is taking away my time and resources, and you feel the need to scold me for doing so?!" He inches closer with every word, swinging his servos around angrily as he spoke.

I flinched, backing away in fear and regret. "That's not what I was trying.."

"Why don't you go and make yourself useful and head to the human area!" He spat, pointing in that direction. "I don't need of want your help!"

My hands flew to my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes. My chest felt like it was being crushed and I trembled as he glared at me furiously. I stood there for a few moments, my eyes wide with shock and horror, before I turned on one heel and ran over to the human couch as fast as my legs would carry me, which was surprisingly fast. I sat down with my back to him, hugging my knees and breathing heavily for a few moments.

The tears flew down from my eyes and I cried silently. That was the first time I had ever seen him like that, towards me. You won't believe how much it hurt, how much my heart cried too that day. I sobbed into my legs quietly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing me.

Little did I know, he had heard me. And his faceplate had fallen to one of pure regret and pain.

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Well, that was a crappy chapter. I took a lot from the episodes and then the ending was sad... ugh I needed to write it but didn't really want to.

I can't wait to get to the part I actually have an IDEA about. Hurry up, chapters.

Anyway, see ya.

*waves*