The further Bumblebee drove, the more guilty he felt. How could he have not noticed her absence long enough for her to have wandered this far? But if Steeljaw was the one responsible for his daughter's pain, then that mutt had given his last howl.

The feeling guiding him was what Bumblebee could only describe as a bond that only they shared. Sideswipe understood that perfectly, feeling the same thing with his twin brother Sunstreaker. The pair were keeping in touch much better than they had in a long time since they'd been reunited and reconciled on Earth six months prior, and whenever Sunstreaker called up on the holo-screen, Flashdrive and Sunstreaker's charge Starstrike could have a chance to talk. Flashdrive loved showing her friend all of the sculptures she made out of scrap metal.

The pull led him, Sideswipe and Strongarm along the coastline and into a wooded area. In fact, it was only a few miles from where Bumblebee had given birth to Flashdrive only a few months prior. He paused at a clearing, dotted with picnic tables and several large boulders; a rest stop for humans traveling long-distances. He made a quick search for humans, and then transformed into bot mode. "Flashdrive?" He called softly. "...Flashdrive, please answer me...!"

A sound caught his attention, and he saw a little hand peeking out from between a few of the boulders. "Hold on Sweetspark, I'm coming!" He called.

He ran over to her, followed closely by Sideswipe and Strongarm. His optics went wide and he gave a sharp gasp as he saw his daughter, lying on the ground with energon all over her and in a puddle underneath her. "Sweet Solus Prime...!"

"Oh...Oh that's nasty...!" Sideswipe whimpered, swallowing hard to try to force down the sudden wave of nausea washing over him.

Bumblebee reached down slowly. "What hurts? Are you bleeding?" He asked, trying to sound calm and gentle despite panic wanting to take over.

Flashdrive shook her head. She opened her mouth a little, and then with a cry, heaved up some more energon. "I-It won't stop coming back up...!" She cried, her chassis trembling. "H-Help me...!"

Bumblebee's fears were quelled a little bit. She wasn't attacked and bleeding out, but she still shouldn't be puking up energon, especially this much in comparison to her size. "We're gonna get you home and cleaned up, okay...? How'd you get out here...?"

"I-I don't know! I was just sitting at home and then...Everything was spinning and I was here and...And-"

"Shh shh shh..." Bumblebee picked her up, holding her closely to his chest. "It's okay...You're gonna be okay, I promise..."

"Sir..." Strongarm murmured. "How can you hold her when she's covered in energon like that?"

Bumblebee smirked. "It's a parenting thing, you wouldn't understand." He replied. "Fixit, get us a groundbridge ASAP, and get ready to examine Flashdrive...She's really ill."

Of course, Lieutenant.

Flashdrive swallowed hard, resting her head on his shoulder plate. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. We'll get this figured out and get you feeling better..."

The Groundbridge appeared after a moment, and Bumblebee hurried through it, reemerging in the Scrapyard. Flashdrive continued to tremble, giving little sobs. "Try not to cry, that'll only make you feel worse, alright Sweetspark...?"

Flashdrive nodded, giving a sniffle.

Bumblebee wouldn't put his daughter down, instead sitting down on the trailer where Fixit could reach her.

"That's just nasty..." Grimlock murmured. "You're gonna need a bath, Bee."

Bumblebee chuckled. "Yeah...But it's not like I've never gotten energon on my hands."

Flashdrive's sniffling faded as she snuggled with her parent, her little fingers tracing down his windshield. Bumblebee took a towel from Denny and wiped himself and Flashdrive off, trying very carefully not to shake the little bot around.

"Well... I have good news and bad news." Fixit explained after several minutes of scanning the virocon.

"Bad news first, Fixit..." Bumblebee requested.

"I am picking up traces of CN24 in her system. This would explain her disorientation and vomiting, her systems are still too underdeveloped to handle and demetabolize the chemical."

"CN24..." Strongarm's eyes narrowed. "...That's a chemical commonly found in High Grade Energon. It gives you that buzzing feeling in their processor."

"Exactly. The good news is that her vomiting has managed to get most of the chemical out of her systems, but it'll probably be a day or two before she's fully back to normal. The bad news is... I have absolutely no idea how she could have gotten it into her system in the first place."

"We don't keep High Grade here in the Scrapyard." Bumblebee expressed. "And until now she's never really left the yard except for when she fled into the desert..."

Flashdrive's optics opened a little bit. "D-Daddy... I don't know what happened..."

"It's gonna be okay, Sweetspark. Just rest, okay? You'll feel better."

A sudden beeping from the Command Center attracted their attention, and Fixit quickly rolled back up the ramp to investigate. "An incoming ship, Sir. And a pod of some sort has just entered Earth's atmosphere. Estimated landing trajectory is... The northern rural area of Crown City."

Bumblebee sighed. "Alright...Sideswipe, Strongarm, head for the pod's estimated landing location and ensure all humans are clear of the area. And please, try to keep this civil for once..."

The pair crossed their arms as they glared at one another, but gave nods before transforming and driving away to their assignment.

"I would suggest less than fifteen minutes before the Mayor of Crown City calls inquiring about the pod's presence." Drift informed.

Bumblebee groaned, putting a hand to his helm as he shook it. "Don't remind me..."

Ever since the Autobots had informed Crown City of their presence on Earth, they had given the mayor a communicator that would connect to the Command Center in case of an "extra-terrestrial emergency." So far, most of the reports they'd gotten from him were false alarms, and Bumblebee was beginning to wonder whether the decision was a good one.

The Lieutenant got up again, rocking back and forth slowly as Flashdrive started to fall asleep in his arms.

His optics looked up, however, as he heard something come in overhead, and as the cloaking pulled back, he recognized the ship. "Prime Force One... Well, I knew it was only a matter of time..."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Planetary Impact Imminent.

"I KNOW THAT!"

The mech's fingers were tightly grasped around the controls as the pod shook about. "Come on...Come on!"

His companion was once again sitting with her hands clasped over her mouth, not allowing herself to utter a sound. She trusted her friend, but his frustrated, panicked shouts at the pod's computer weren't helping her frightened trembling. She could see the surface getting closer and closer, the swirls of white disappearing past them and uncovering the green and blue scape below.

"I see it!" The mech replied as she used one hand to point in front of them. "Come on...! Just get past the settlement...!"

Planetary Impact-

"SHUT UP!!!!"

The femme gave a gasp as her companion grabbed her, pulling her into his arms and wrapping the wings from his back around the two of them. They were going to crash, and he wanted to keep her as insulated as possible.

"H-Hold on, Tate!" He informed, and she placed her helm against his chestplate as he put one hand on the back of her helm.

The entire pod slammed into the surface with a loud crack, and she struggled like never before to keep her mouth shut and to remain silent as they tumbled helm-over-heel-struts over and over. The mech clung onto her, being tossed around as they spun, but more determined to defend the smaller bot in his arms.

Finally, after several moments, the pod came to a sudden halt as it rolled into something, and the mech grunted as he was slammed into the front view port. His systems went silent, and his helm really hurt when he rebooted.

"Answer me...!" The femme whimpered, her hands on his helm and her worried optics staring into his.

"I-I'm okay, Tate... I'm okay..." He rasped, giving a moan as he attempted to move. "Ah...! No, not okay...Can't fit in this slagged thing...!"

Tate gave a sigh of relief, and then looked out the cracked view port. "...We are trapped in here."

"Right...I can't use my claws to cut us out in this position...You're gonna have to blast us out."

"What? N-No, I can't! I...Don't want to..."

"Hey, take it easy." He pulled her closer to him as she began to twitch and her limbs jerk about. "Easy...I'm in your sphere. I'll be fine. Just real quick and sharp, okay?"

Tate looked uncertain, but gave a nod, shifting position so that she was facing the port. "...Okay..."

She closed her optics for a moment, and then opened her mouth.