"Scrap," Bulkhead muttered, clearing his throat.

I immediately waved my hands frantically, ushering him to stop. "Bulkhead, no!" I whisper shouted. I knew those two had a history, and there was no way we could give ourselves away to the enemy now.

"He'll recognize your voice," Ratchet agreed.

"I can make it lower," Bulkhead said, getting as low as he could. (Which, considering his voice was already low, wasn't very much.) "Higher?" He shrugged his shoulder pads as Ratchet gave him a look.

"He would recognize mine as well," the medic sighed. The three of us all cast glances at the poor scout, who gave us a mute look that said "seriously?". 

Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee's optics swung over to where I sat on my guardian. I made a face and held up my hands. "Are there any femme Vehicons?" I told them with the most sarcasm I could muster.

The two mechs blinked and looked at each other with amused glances. Ratchet looked at me, then back at the two of them, then back to me. Finally, he turned his helm sharply to the others and jabbed a digit at them, his faceplate annoyed and angry.

"Absolutely not," he growled, taking a protective step backwards. 

The green and yellow mechs looked at each other again, before both of them held up their servos in mock innocence. My face flushed in embarrassment, once again, over Ratchet's protective and sweet behavior towards me. It was obvious to the others how much he really did care for me, and that could get pretty awkward if they knew how I really felt. I tucked some stray strands of my short, silver hair behind my ear nervously as the Bots quickly came up with a solution.

"This is.. SpaceBridge control....," I heard Agent Fowler say over the commlink. "Situation normal."

I held in another breath, as I'm sure the others did as well.

"Normal?" came the Decepticon's, Breakdown, voice. "Are you sure about that?"

"We were just.. calibrating the subsystems and we had a.. surge!" Agent Fowler explained nervously. "But it's fine now! How are you?"

I clapped a hand over my mouth, to hold back a laugh or a gasp, I wasn't sure. The tense and shocked silence covered everyone like a thick blanket, from where I was and back at base as well. I let out a relieved sigh, as did my guardian, when Breakdown answered rather calmly, ending it in what seemed like a compliment.

"I cannot believe you said that," I giggled over the comm. 

"Oh, believe me, are mouths were all gaping wide open at the stupidity," Miko answered sarcastically. I heard the Agent chuckle nervously and smiled in amusement.

"That was too close," Bulkhead moaned, hunching his shoulder pads dramatically. Bee seemed to laugh, slapping his comrade on the backside and saying something cheerfully.

I giggled once more and turned my head to my guardian. He was paying close attention to the console in front of him, but I could see a hint of a grin on his derma. Funny, I seemed to notice these things a lot more now. A lot more than the others did, too. I reached up and tapped his neck cables instead of his helm. He jumped slightly at my touch, his optics widening slightly. He cleared his throat quietly as he turned his helm, and I saw a little bit of blue color on his faceplate. I quickly drew my hand away, a blush returning to my own face as I stuttered.

"U-Uh.. sorry.." I gulped back the silly nervousness in my throat. "I was just wondering.. after we get Optimus back, and we will," I added confidently, "will things.. go back to normal?"

He scoffed. "Define normal. I highly doubt the Decepticons will put a halt to their plans just because Optimus Prime returned."

I frowned, looking away. "True. That kind of thing does seem to be my normal now," I sighed.

Ratchet's optics blinked once, his expression turning to one of concern. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

My eyes continued to stay glued down to my hands. "Yeah.. I just wish... I don't know, that I could go a while without people getting attacked or hurt." I finally turned my gaze back up into his vibrant blue optics. "Don't get me wrong, you guys are my family now, and I don't want to leave.. I just-" I sighed again shakily, my voice hitching in my throat. Great, now I was on the verge of crying. "I just want something good to happen to us for once. Without something bad happening before that, I mean." I wiped my eyes as my head turned away. "I wanna do something enjoyable.. have fun."

My guardian remained silent, unsure of how to console me.

"But I guess that's out of the question," I muttered, hiding my face in my hair the best I could.

I couldn't see, but Ratchet glanced around to the others, making sure they were occupied with their own conversation. Once that was confirmed, his helm turned back to me and he lifted his servos, his digits reaching out gently. Slowly, he brushed my silver bangs out of my eyes so that he could see me, and forcing me to look up in the process. Tears were still welled up in the corners of my eyes as I pouted huffily at him, not wanting him to look at me right now. The corners of his derma turned up amusedly as his digits gently caressed my chin.

"You still want to go for that drive, don't you?" he asked, almost playfully.

My eyes flickered away, my lips still pouting. "Yeah, I do." However, I was smiling on the inside.

One digit tapped at my cheek, much to my surprise, and he chuckled. "Don't fret over that. I said I would drive, didn't I?"

Instinctively, my hand went up and held his digit. I nuzzled it happily, my smile returning to me. "You did," I laughed.

His own smile turned warm as he drew his servo away, his helm turning back to the screen. He didn't say anything more, but he didn't need to. I was already confident that he meant what he said. I was confident that he wanted to enjoy himself too, at least for a little while. I pressed my hands to my chest to try and calm the overwhelming emotions in my chest, only some of which I could identify. Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes and grew hopeful.

"We're being attacked by some kind of.. giant bot-beetle!!" came Jack's voice over the commlink, lined with panic and distress.

"An Insecticon!" Ratchet gasped in horror. I shuddered next to him.

"A WHAT?" June shouted anxiously from the base. 

"What are Decepticons doing on Cybertron?" Raf asked, his voice surprisingly calm despite its shakiness.

"A few remained, in stasis," Ratchet explained worriedly. "Sentries. Should the.. enemy return."

"We can't go in there and help them," I muttered anxiously, my eyes flicking over to the colorful mass of GroundBridge.

We all heard shots over the comm, before Arcee shouted, "Jack, GO!"

"Seriously?" was his frightened reply.

"Without Arcee?" June said worriedly. "She's his guide!"

"No, Nurse Darby," Ratchet corrected, shaking his helm. "Arcee is his backup. The key card is his guide."

My heart beating wildly in my chest, I realized I was getting to afraid. I clapped my hands over my ears, trying to take deep, calming breaths, but they came out more like panic. I squeezed my eyes shut and hunched my back. I could feel the panic attack rising, something that hadn't happened to me in over a year.

Please, not now...

I felt warm metal digits stroke my hair gently, and even though I couldn't hear, I knew Ratchet was calling my name. I took a few more deep breaths, in, out, in, out. Finally, thankfully, my chest seemed to be released and my heart slowed down. My breathing became normal, and my hands slowly left my ears. I opened my eyes and gazed at Ratchet's worried faceplate, giving him a shaky smile of assurance. He deflated in relief, his servo about to reach away, but I turned my body, grabbing one digit and hugging it. He sighed, letting me do as I pleased, as he turned to the others. I heard a distressed cry from Jack, and all our attention turned to him.

"What is it, Jack?"

"Scraplets!" he screamed.

"What's a scraplet?" I asked nervously, and I could hear June ask the same question over the commlink.

"Why did it have to be Scraplets?!" Bulkhead groaned.

The medic looked at them in panic. "If they chew through Vector Sigma before the Matrix fully reloads-"

"Ah, so Vector Sigma is more than legend."

A chill went through my entire body at the coming sound of the smooth, threatening voice, and the steady thump of heavy pedesteps. I had no need to turn and see the approaching mech, for my guardian, along with the others, turned sharply to face their coming opponent. I took one look at the ripped, silver titan, and gasped in terror. My eyes locked onto the cold, blazing red optics and his twisted, sharp derma curved up in a cruel smirk, and my heart stopped beating. I didn't need to ask, or even think, to know who this Decepticon was. I shrunk back in fear atop of Ratchet as the dangerous mech took a few steps forward. 

Megatron.

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YAY YAY YAY!! ANOTHER CHAPTER OUT!!

@Infinitywriter2000 this is for you! I hope you like it! You better hurry if you wanna be the first one to comment! ;P ;P :)

Thank you guys for reading! 

Bye!

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