Last Updated: June 19, 2019

Miko

"What do you mean, she's gone out with Wheeljack?" I groaned, stomping my foot. "I was hoping to have a zombie movie marathon!"

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"And what makes you think she would have enjoyed that?" he asked, grinning. I threw him a dirty look.

I've just been so busy lately with Bulkhead and school, I haven't been able to spend any time with my best friend. Yeah, school had been keeping me from Hope.

But detention and a big fat zero on grades, Raf had explained, led to summer school. A whole month of hot, sticky classrooms with the same boring lectures about the stupid constitution or how an atoms electrons bond.

Nope! Not for me.

Bulkhead and I were already planning on a beach bash with the others. Of course, Hope had wings. Could she even swim with them? My brain was wrapped around with the thought as I grumbled to myself.

"They should be back by now." Ratchet stated, a servo to his chin. "They have been gone for about three hours. It is almost too late to be out."

"Oh, well." Jack teased me, poking a finger onto my forehead. "No zombie marathon."

"Watch yourself, Jackie boy." I snapped before an evil grin came over my face. "You are my next pick for someone to watch it with me."

"Why not Raf?" Jack yelped, pointing to the young nerd who was in deep conversation with Optimus.

"He would wet his pants." That was the truth. The little twirp, no matter how much I liked him, was not the type I wanted to hang out with. He got scared too easily.

"And Hope wouldn't?" Jack pointed out.

"She never complains." I huffed, crossing my arms before stomping off and walking towards Bulkhead, who was casually leaning up against the wall, talking to Arcee.

"Can you watch the Zombie marathon with me, Bulk?" I asked. Arcee rolled her optics.

"Miko, I don't see the point in watching those scrappy films," she said with a laugh. "Don't you get enough action staying around us?"

"The Decepticons haven't done anything stupid for nearly a month! And the closest thing I've seen that's like a zombie is when we were in the shadow zone!" That was enough zombie for one day. Well, my entire life, I had promised myself. But I broke that promise two days later when a new episode of the Walking Dead came on.

"Be glad the Decepticons haven't tried anything!" Ratchet snapped from across the room, clearly listening in on our conversation. Old grumpy bot.

"But that means they are planning something, and I don't like the thought of that," Arcee said seriously. Bulkhead agreed by nodding his helm and reaching a hand out towards me. Quickly, I jumped on and let him place me on his shoulder.

"I agree. Though I must admit, I really miss pounding some dents into Decepticon scum." he grinned, throwing a punch to the air. I held onto his helm to keep myself from falling but kept a giant grin on my face.

"I can't wait to watch!" I chimed in. Bulkhead turned his helm a bit and gave me a stern look.

"Yeah, not happening. You would be here at the base, where it is safe."

Suddenly, there was a screeching alarm, and I covered my ears, desperately trying to block the noise out. Optimus turned from Raf, towards the screen to his left. Ratchet stood to his right. Wheeljack's voice came on.

"Boss bot? We might have a problem." Wheeljack said.

"How so?" Ratchet asked, an optic ridge raised. There was a loud explosion and Wheeljack cursed under his breath before saying,

"Con attack-"

"Is Hope okay?" I jumped up from Bulkheads shoulder. Ratchet held up a digit, silencing me.

"What are your coordinates?"

"Everywhere, right now. I can't give you specifics until we land-scrap!" he cursed. Everything went quiet suddenly as there was a loud explosion. The comm went fuzzy, and Bulkhead shook his head, cursing to himself before turning his head to me.

"I have a feeling we are about to get the action you were hoping for." he stated grimly.

Wheeljack

"Scrap!" I cursed angrily, hugging a sleeping Hope close to my chest plates. We had been flying peacefully for what only felt like a few mega-clicks.

Hope stirred in her peaceful sleep, and I shook her gently with one of my digits. I had to comm Optimus and the others. Behind us approached a very large Cybertronian signal. Hope opened her eyes sleepily and stared up at me in confusion.

"W-what's going on?" she mumbled, half yawning. I gently placed her down onto the seat parallel to mine.

"You'd better hold on, kid. We have company. Bad company." I grimaced at the look on her face. She was scared. I hated knowing she was. Why the scrap did this have to happen every time something good happened?

The sound of blasters sounded behind us. Switching the Jackhammer off of autopilot I twisted the controls and sent us sailing to the right, barely missing the energy blast.

Hope slid in the seat, desperately grabbing at something, anything, to hold onto as I had instructed her. Another blast came from behind, and I vented in frustration before coming the base.

"Boss bot? We might have a problem." I said through clenched denta.

"How so?" Ratchet asked, a small attitude in his voice. This wasn't the time for the grumpy bots attitude. Suddenly, the jackhammer jerked forward as one of the energy blasts hit the back, and an explosion erupted. I let out a sigh of relief.

The force field had activated just in time. But how many more hits could it take? Not many. Hope had her wings spread, flapping every time I jerked the controls this way and that, so she could keep her balance in the air.

"Con attack." I explained. I stood and hurried to the back of the Jackhammer, opening the container to my explosions. If the cons really thought they could attack and get away with it, they were mistaken.

Hope had followed me, and now she stood next to my ped, her wings spread in a semi-limp position as she stared up at me.

"What are we going to do?" she asked me. Up front, I noticed the scanner reading two other energon signals. With autopilot on again, the Jackhammer could dodge a few blasts, but I had to be fast. Attack then flee. It wasn't the wrecker way, but there was no way I was risking Hope's safety.

Ratchet seemed worried now. "What are your coordinates?"

We were moving hundreds of miles an hour over who knows where. "I can't give specifics until we land-Scrap!" I shouted as another blast hit the force field. It threw Hope off balance and she immediately flapped, sending her soaring into the air close to my head.

"What are we going to do?" she cried, clearly frightened. I grabbed the metal container and positioned it in front of me, then stared out towards the two flying Decepticons behind us. The third one was now nowhere in sight.

"Where did you go?" I muttered. I would have liked to scrap all three cons, but two is still better than none. Before the cons could blast at us again, I took the explosive around my waist and hit the activation button, the little light on the side turning green and flashing. I went to throw it, but hesitated.

What where the chances I would hit both of them, if one at all? Then, an idea hit me. Tossing the explosive out towards the cons, I also grabbed the metal container in my other servo, making sure to open it before twisting it around and lobbing it as hard as I could at the flying Decepticons.

Hope landed next to my ped, grabbing onto it as her hair whipped back and forth from the wind that entered from the outside.

Concentrating, I armed my blaster and just as the explosives spread out from the open container, gathering around the Decepticons, I fired. The blue blast hit one of the explosives, setting it off.

Boom!

The noise forced Hope to cover her ears and twist away to shield her eyes from the bright light.

I laughed, throwing my servos into the air. "Yes! Take that scum!" I laughed again and stared down at Hope to find the young femme smiling up at me. The Decepticons were now destroyed. Venting, I shook my helm as I looked around, my optics searching my surroundings. The sudden thought hit me.

Where was the third Cybertronian my radar picked up?

Hope folded her wings in, following my stare before glancing to her left and screaming, "Wheeljack!" Before I could blink, a large mass slammed into the Jackhammers force-field, breaking it immediately from the impact.

The Jackhammer shifted to the right and Hope stumbled. She let out a scream as she slipped out of the Jackhammers back and fell down towards the earth:

"HOPE!" My scream rang out as the Cybertronian hit the side of the ship again. A strange grinding noise filled the air, and within the next second, my beloved Jackhammer was also plummeting to the earth at top speed.

Hope

The air that hit me when I fell knocked the breath out of me, and for a short second, I failed at my desperate attempts to breathe. I gasped for breath and tried to focus on not dying, but my mind was a jumbled mess as I thought back to the decepticon that had caused me to fall.

How the heck could a dragon attack us!?

The Decepticon had the body of the reptilian mythological dragon. Only, made of metal.

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to breathe. An explosion from somewhere above me made me open them again, and panic surged through me. Wheeljack. The jackhammer. They were both falling towards the earth, the flying beast chasing after them.

I have to help! Was my only thought before I spread my wings. I had expected the jerk from the wind hitting my wings, so it didn't hurt so bad. But now, my focus was on the falling ship far ahead of me.

"Wheeljack!" I screamed as loud as I could, flapping harder.

I went lower and lower within every few hundred feet, knowing that he had to land somewhere nearby. I forced myself not to think of my Autobot friend crashing to his death. Shaking the thought out of my head, I searched the sky, frantically looking for the specks that had been there before.

NO, NO, NO! I couldn't see them anywhere! And where was the dragon? Shaking uncontrollably from the fear of what could happen to me and my friend, I forced myself to nose dive straight down, trying to hurry down to the ground.

At about one hundred feet in the air, I flapped, keeping myself in one place, searching all around me. Then, Eureka! Smoke sat in the distance. I landed nervously, making a soft tap onto the ground as I planter my feet on the soft grass.

I was in a freaking forest; just great. Taking a deep breath, I ran forward, ignoring the screaming of my weak muscles that were still sore from earlier today.

"Suck it up! Your friend needs you." I muttered the words over and over, chanting them in my thoughts as well.

A messy trail of destruction lay ahead, with trees knocked over to the side and dirt shoved to the surface from the impact. I slowly followed the trail, taking everything in. I didn't want to miss Wheeljack if he had fallen out of the Jackhammer, landing farther away from the actual aircraft.

Climbing over fallen down trees and going up and down through dirt holes and small hills, I spent about twenty minutes walking. The sky was turning dark. I had to find Wheeljack and somehow call the others. He was fine, I kept telling myself.

Wheeljack will know what to do.

Up ahead, I spotted the rubble. Smoke was coming from the sides of the Jackhammer, and its metal surface was dented and cracked to no end. How were we going to fix this?

"Wheeljack?" I yelled, sprinting forward.

"Wheeljack! Please be alright!" I whispered the last part to myself.

I stood outside of the opening, looking into the dark entrance of the ship. Fear crawled all over me as if it was a spider. What if the thing that attacked was inside, waiting to pounce? If Wheeljack was in there, wouldn't he have answered by now?

"Wheeljack?" I yelled again, finally taking a step to enter.

"Stop." My favorite bots familiar voice came from inside.

Slowly he walked out, a grimace placed on his face. Energon leaked down his sides and legs. A strange cut was along the side of his face.

"What?" Wheeljack snapped. I jumped at his harsh tone and took a step back involuntarily.

"A-are you okay?" I shook off his hateful tone.

"No. Do I look okay?" he snapped again. He was now outside of the ship and walking over to me. "You need to come with me, femme."

"W-what? How? Where is that dragon thing?" I sent the questions at him in flying speed, and he frowned.

"Stop talking. You need to come with me," he growled while turning. I felt my heart stop when he muttered, "annoying sparkling."

"What is your problem?" I snapped. Then I took a step back as he turned back to me. "I-I mean... I just want to know If you are okay. You don't have to be so mean. I thought we were friends."

Wheeljack snorted before taking one giant step towards me, a sneer on his face. "You thought wrong." Something inside me broke just then, at his words.

Something wasn't right. This wasn't the Wheeljack I knew. He was fine before the attack. What happened? I took a few steps back as he reached down towards me.

"Come here, femme!" he ordered, anger in his voice.

"N-not when you are like this. Y-you're scaring me, Wheeljack. Are you o-okay?" I asked breathlessly, jumping back as I dodged his attempt to pick me up.

Panic rose inside of me as he tried to grab me again.

"Frag, fleshy! Just-Gah!" A large body rammed into his so quick I had no time to blink. I yelped in surprise as the ground shook as the two bodies slammed to the ground. The second Cybertronian was partially a dirty green and black in color, and he was much larger than Wheeljack.

The con, or what I suspected he was since he attacked Wheeljack, punched my guardian in the face several times.

"S-stop!" I cried, running forward. "You're hurting him! S-stop it!" I screamed. Wheeljack shoved the Decepticon off of him and jumped on top, his katana in one hand.

But the deception, in one swift movement, kicked Wheeljack off of him and blasted his cannon as he was soaring in mid-air. I screamed as Wheeljack landed with a sickening thud, his body not moving.

My heart was slamming in my chest. My hands were sweaty and my throat felt dry as I stared at Wheeljack in fear. After what felt like ages, the Decepticon finally turned to me.

I froze.

"Sparkling-" it began, taking a step towards me.

"G-get away from me!" I cried out, turning and running. Suddenly, a large body tackled mine. I screamed as I landed on the ground hard, and my head slammed into the dirt. "Let me go!" I screamed, kicking. Where the heck did this human come from?

A large hand flipped me over where I was lying on my back, and one hand grabbed my wrists, pinning them above my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to look into my attacker's face.

"Look at me, love." the very familiar voice ordered firmly. I flinched at the touch of his other hand on my chin.

He yanked my chin up, to where I was staring straight up into his face. My eyes fluttered open and I gasped. It was him. The teenager that had been following me. What the heck did he have anything to do with this?

Suddenly, a thought hit me. I knew this teen was a Decepticon when I saw his form fizzle out of existence that first time. Like a holoform. There were only two Cybertronians here with me, and Wheeljack's holoform did not look this scary and domineering.

The teenager smiled, clearly enjoying my fear. "Putting the pieces of the puzzle together I see. Looks like I've caught you now. It just took some patience."

"Please let m-me go! W-wheeljack!" I called out to my guardian, who lay still not too far away.

"Oh, young femme. He can't help you. M.E.C.H will gladly pick him apart to see how he functions. You, on the other hand, will get to live. How much fun you will have with them."

The way he spoke made me shudder, and I thrashed around desperately under him, trying to break my wings free so I could knock him off of me and fly away.

But with his weight on top of me and my painful injuries from earlier that day, I was begining to grow weak.. So I lay there helplessly, tears threatening to fall down my face as the holoform's face twisted into a wicked smile.

"Don't worry, fleshy. Here-" he dug into his back pocket and I squeezed my eyes shut, "to help you calm." There was a painful prick in my neck. I screamed and tried one last time to push him off of me.

He let me do so, climbing off slowly and standing. Everything around me began to go blurry, and a wave of nausea came over me as I tried to stand. The teenager chuckled and his form suddenly disappeared.

The stomping of peds made the ground shake, and Wheeljack's lifeless body was dragged over to me. A large hand reached out to me. No! I flapped, soaring into the air, but my timing was off, and I fell lopsided right into the metal hand.

"Let's go, femme." A voice sang happily.

I shook my head as black spots filled my vision. I fell onto my side in his hand. Darkness hit me, and I let it consume me as I felt myself go limp.