After everyone was repaired, Rachel sits down to allow Ratchet to look her over. Jazz had showed her a way to cover her spark signature from the doc-bot, and Ratchet was not happy about that. However, it made it possible for Rachel to make sure Ratchet wasn't favoring her health. Ratchet mutters something, and Jazz bursts out in laughter. Broadwing holds back a snicker and Rachel only sighs. As Rachet scans her and gives her a small cube of energon, Rachel gazes at Cliffjumper, who was standing against a wall, gazing around. 

"So... What's your story?" She says, gaining his attention. He looks at her curiously, and she sips the energon, then explains. "Ya know, since you know about ours and all..." She gestures around with the cube of energon to everyone in the room, then sets it against her chest. He notices this and gives her a soft, sad smile. "Sure... It's really simple. After Cybertron fell, I was one of the first launched off planet in hopes to land somewhere and start an outpost like this one. However, nearly every planet I neared or landed on was already controlled by 'Cons."

Everyone in the room, that being Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack, listen closely. Ratchet even slows while he works and casts a quickly glance over his shoulder. "However, I did find one planet with a few survivors on it..." His optics dim as he lowers his head. "Unfortunately, the few of us that survived the ambush on the base were scattered... And that landed me here! I've gotta say, it's nice seeing some very familiar faces... And hearing one helped another even in death." His optics settle on Rachel on the last bit, and she sadly smiles back. Ratchet looks down at his servos, and everyone grows quiet.

"Way to go, ya big lug! You brought down the mood in everyone!"

Optics go wide in the entire base as a sound wave appears on screen, right over Rachel's spark. All eyes fall on the girl, then the screen as the voice appears again. 

"Wait, you all heard that?"

Rachel starts to stand, then her legs give out under her and her eyes swirl with dizziness. Ratchet, still in shock, doesn't see her begin to fall off the walkway, but luckily for the girl, a certain red mech was paying attention and easily catches her. "Easy there!" He says, and Rachel gazes up with a hand on her head. "Th-Thanks... Still tired from the battle I guess."

"Heh, yeah right. That's the understatement of the century." 

Finally, Ratchet speaks, the shock evident in his voice. 

"Jazz?"

"Yeah, doc?"

Ratchet's face brightens, despite the nickname, and he stutters. "I can't even begin to explain this! How are you..." Rachel feels Jazz shake his head, but he speaks before she can say anything. "Beats me. Last I checked, I was simply in Rachel's noggin. Wonder if you can hear him as well?"

At this, Arcee pipes in, walking over to the screens. "Hear who, Jazz?" Rachel smirks as she feels Broadwing enter her conscious mind. "I believe he is speaking of me, Arcee." His voice, deep and smooth, echoes through the base, and Rachel gazes at the screen. Her head was slightly pounding, but it was nice that Jazz could speak to everyone, and Broadwing could introduce himself. However, the girl closes her eyes and lays back in Cliffjumper's servo. He gazes at her in worry, and she waves her hand. "I finished the energon, I'm just resting now. Don't worry.... He'll... explain it more..." She points to the screen, then yawns.

Cliff nods and turns to the screen once more. Jazz certainly does explain, and he does it easily. "To put your processor at ease, doc, anytime she uses her powers, she gets weak. Energon helps, but after the amount she just put into it, she needs to rest. Don't worry too much, she's fine." Ratchet huffs, and crosses his arms. "I'll be the judge of that. Last I checked, you don't have a medical processor in your helm."

Jazz starts to speak, but thinks better of it. Making a joke about not having a processor in his helm would not be good right now. Broadwing nods at him, and with everyone not looking horrified yet, it seems their thoughts were not projected, just what they said.

So, Jazz decides to make the most of it.

"So, guys... Whatdya wanna know?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, what did you tell them, Jazz?" Rachel asks as she walks through the base. Everyone kept glancing at her with new found respect, and it seems like Jazz spilled a few beans while she was resting. It was the day after, and she was heading towards the kitchen for a refill on caffeine. 

'Nothin' ya need to worry 'bout, lil' lady.'

'He told them about you holding me off on your own, and everything else that you went through during Mission City.'

'Hey! That wasn't an invitation for you to snitch, Bigwing!'

Rachel sighs and keeps walking, ignoring the large ped that goes over her head. "Jazz.... I told you not to say anything. They didn't need to know all the de-" Wait...

Quickly, Rachel races to the kitchen. Making it in, she makes sure it's empty then slams the door shut. She quickly locks it and backs away from it. "Jazz! What exactly did you tell them?!" She whisper shouts, keeping her gaze on the door until her back finds a wall.

'Woah, woah! Chill out, lil' lady! I didn't spill 'bout bossbot! Calm yourself!'

Rachel takes multiple, rapid breaths before taking one long deep one. She sighs and holds her head. "Geez, Jazz. Lead with that next time!" Rachel can hear Broadwing huff, and she quickly confronts him, too. "Hey! You also could have said that as well! If you're going to snitch, add all the details!" Broadwing seems to think on this, slightly taken aback at the outburst at first. Jazz only gawks at her. He was certain she would have taken a side, but she scolded them both.

Just like...

Jazz snickers, and Rachel turns on him. "What's so funny?" He tries to cover it with a cough, and smirks. "Nothin'! You just remind me of someone..." Rachel glares at him, as if saying to finish the thought. The smirk turns sly. "The way you handled that just now... Just like a certain fire painted red and blue mech I know...." As soon as he finishes, her face lights up strawberry red. Surprisingly, she covers it quickly, and it fades...

Into a blue color instead.

An energon blush.

Calming once again, she blinks herself back into reality, waving away the other two in her mind. "Just... Shoo! Go cause havoc in the subconscious, will you?" She then sighs and lowers her head, reaching up to rub her forehead with a hand. The two had obeyed and left her alone for now, and she needed to think straight before going out there and-

"I hope Jazz did not say too much yesterday."

Rachel's head snaps up and her wide eyes fall directly on the holoform of Optimus Prime. He was tall, brown hair, blazing blue eyes and he was sporting boots, blue jeans and a plaid shirt with the sleeves folded up to his elbows. He had some sort of necklace on, and whatever it was lay under the shirt. Rachel sighs at Jazz screaming about her blush from her subconscious and mentally thanks Broadwing for slamming a clawed ped on the mech.

Rachel sighs and stands straighter. "Nah, he was just telling me everything. I-I was just making sure he didn't... lie." She huffs and walks over to him, grabbing the coffee pot next to him and pouring another cup. "Didn't hear you come in." She then reaches over and grabs the honey, pouring a bit into the cup. "How..." She stops, then lowers the honey back onto the counter. "How long have you been there?"

Optimus gazes at her carefully as she turns to look at him. They were extremely close, and he could feel that she was hiding something. He keeps this to himself and answers her. "Only for a moment. It was... difficult to get the door unlocked." He gestures to the door which held a smoldering red handle that gave off a slight hiss. "After you charged in here without a single word, we all grew worried and you did not answer any calls to you through the door."

Rachel's eyes suddenly widen as she realizes how much time had passed. It had been almost thirty minutes. She raises her hand to her face and brushes upward until it stops on her forehead. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to worry you guys! I just... I needed to..." She huffs again, and a warm hand rests on her back as she leans forward against the counter. She could hear Jazz sincerely apologizing in the back, but her heart was slightly beating at the fact that Optimus was rubbing her back.

"It's quite alright. We have seen this before, it was Jack, Miko, and Major Lennox who were worried the most." He lifts his hand as Rachel picks up her coffee and turns, leaning her back against the counter and bringing the mug of survival juice to her face. She takes a deep breath of the drink before sipping it. "After Ratchet was able to get a scan of you, he confirmed his suspicions and did his best to reassure them you were fine, and needed some time alone."

Rachel nods and takes another drink of her coffee. She leans against the Prime, her head resting on his shoulder. He's shocked at the sudden movement, but doesn't move. "Thank you...." She says after being quiet for some time. She rubs the mug slightly, then drinks from it again. "It's just.... There are some things I don't want to discuss yet, and Jazz had told you guys so much... I just thought..." The worry that was flowing from her worried Optimus, but he knew that she wouldn't tell him yet, as she just stated. However...

"Rachel, when the time feels right for you to tell us about whatever may be troubling you, please know that I am here." The girl gazes up at him, and he locks eyes with her. She gives him a smile. "You mean that, Prime?" He smiles back and nods his head. "Of course. You are part of this family, and that means we are all here for you." Rachel's smile widens, and Optimus feels his spark suddenly skip a beat.

And Rachel spots the ever so slight red rise in his cheeks, She holds in a gasp and covers it with a sigh. "Thank you... Again." She lowers her head to hide her blush, then realizes the way she was standing. Taking in a deep breath, she relaxes as she also comes to the realization that if he didn't like this, he would have moved or said something. Carefully, she sits up and takes another drink of her coffee. She then gazes at Optimus and smiles. "I guess we should walk out there and let them know I'm okay now...."

Optimus nods, and he stands straighter. As he starts to move and his eyes dim, Rachel suddenly turns to him. "Hey Optimus?" He quickly stops his power down and turns to her, eyes lighting up once more. "Yes, Rachel?" She steps forward, preparing to say something...

But she hesitates.

And during that hesitation, fate steps in.

Sirens blast through the base as Ratchet's voice echoes down the hall. "Optimus! We need you out here now! Decepticon activity has been spotted!" The Prime's face hardens, and Rachel nods. As his body dissipates, the girl dashes out of the kitchen, her clothes seemingly fading away into particles behind her until her battle armor is showing. It still held a few scrapes from the last battle, but otherwise it looked new.

As she reaches the hangar, Optimus transforms from his alt mode and offers her a servo. Rachel quickly climbs on and leaps up to his shoulder. She lands and turns to face the medic, and Will was standing next to him. On the screen, the face of a man appears, and a soundwave was next to it. "Agent Fowler, what is the situation?" The Prime speaks smoothly, not showing his concern at the aggressive nature of the Decepticons.

"It seems that they have found something of great interest and are speeding down the highways of Houston, Texas. They are causing major damage to civilians and we can't intervene because of how populated the area is currently. I need you guys to get in there, lure them out, and handle it!"

Rachel holds her tongue at the mans tone of voice, and Optimus gives her a sidelong glance. He holds in his vent of relief as she merely crosses her arms. "Understood, Agent Fowler. Can you give us a location that is clear of civilians we can take them to?" The man speaks quickly. "There's a forest nearby that has nothing for miles. Get them in there and take them out. Fowler, out."

Rachel quickly slides down Optimus' arm and he lifts it to the walkway. She jumps off and lands on it, then rushes over to the computers. Ratchet begins typing on his keyboard, and soon the ground bridge whirls to life. Ratchet turns to the Prime. "I've set the coordinates to land you on a side road that leads to the feeder road in front of them. I am tracking their movements to see what they are chasing, but I don't have a fix yet." His optics glance to Rachel, and the girl doesn't even look, but she shakes her head.

Optimus nods and turns to the team, who were all present. "Smokescreen, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Arcee, you will accompany me onto the highway. Bulkhead and Wheeljack, you will remain here until we can get them out of civilian line of sight and be ready for battle." When everyone nods and Bulkhead crashes a clenched servo against his other open, Optimus turns towards the catwalk, gazing at Lennox and Rachel. "I'll stay. May need to make a few calls to law enforcement to keep you guys in the clear." Ratchet pipes in after that. "Rachel is still recovering. Any form of strain on her powers could do more harm than good."

Optimus nods and the girl keeps working on the computers. "Autobots, transform, and roll out!" The main team transforms and speeds through the swirling vortex, and the Wreckers wait patiently next to it as it shuts down. Rachel continues working until a small envelope appears on her screen. Confused, she runs a diagnostic before attempting to open it...

Which triggers it to open... somehow...

All the screens in the room fizzle out for a moment, causing the medic to panic. "What? What happened?!" Before the girl can answer, they pop back online and video feed appears on Ratchet and Rachel's screens. A young man with spiked brown hair appears, sweating and gasping for air. "Ratchet! Rachel! Can you hear me?!"

"Rafael!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*thud*.....*thud*.....*thud*

oh don't worry, that's just me slamming my head on my desk.

because i nearly didn't get this chapter out due to writers block and my other two stories are now suffering the same fate.... Also college stuff was worked out, so if I can get the clouds out of my head and my head back up in the clouds, I'd be fine!

anyways, I'm going to sleep now.

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