Tʜᴇ ϙᴜᴀʀᴛᴇᴛS

"What is this anyway?" Miko asked poking at something. Pan glanced over to the girl before going back to having a staring contest with Raf. Jack sighed quietly to himself.

"Broken," Ratchet said, his voice slightly distance as he watched the screens, Don't touch," He told the girl who smirked at him behind his back as she eyed another "broken thing".

"Don't touch that either," Ratchet almost snapped at the girl, causing her to pout at him, her finger a millimeter away from touching the broken thing.

Jack shook his head at Miko as he looked to the lone bot in the base, "Is there anything in here we can touch?"

Raf and Pan broke their staring contest to grin, 'Other than ourselves and the floor?' Pan wrote, 'Nope.'

Raf laughed at her. And Pan giggled at his reaction to her joke.

An alert went off on Ratchets computer and the mech grunted in frustration.

"How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf asked the mech suddenly, which to his friends wasn't that sudden. They had been waiting for the youngest to finally ask the question, ever since they first arrived.

"Certainly not by choice," Ratchet huffed, "It was handed down from the previous tenants when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit." he grumbled before scowling as a whole bunch of bug alerts came up.

Raf looked to Pan who nodded to him with a smile, "I think I can fix that," Raf told Ratchet shyly as he brought out his laptop.

"Really?" Ratchet said a disbelieving chuckle left his derma, "You know this is complex technology, don't you? I mean it isn't a child's toy," he scoffed at Raf who just finished typing when the bot finished.

'Be prepared to eat your words,' Pan wrote and the mech looked at her curiously, not that he showed it.

"Now, try," Raf offered, making the bot glance at him before looking at the screen as all the alerts disappeared. Ratchet looked at the boy amazed as Pan grinned to Raf who smiled back to his friend, who was quickly becoming like a sister to him.

🛠️

"Ratchet, Bridge us back! Use the arrival coordinates now!" Optimus's voice said through the comms making the four humans pause in what they were doing to pass the time, to look up at the screens.

Jack moved to stand beside Miko who was sitting on the bar barrier as Pan and Raf joined them.

Ratchet hurriedly opened the ground bridge and the bots came speeding back into the base. Optimus was last to come through and he transformed in mid-air using his hand to twist as an explosion came through the bridge.

Pan shared a look with Raf, one thought going through their heads. Where was the bot they were looking for?

"Wow," Miko gasped amazed as the boys went, "Woah". Pan chuckled at them.

"Cutting it a bit close," Ratchet said, looking between them, "How about Cliffjumper?"

The bots looked at each other, Optimus was about to say something when a certain human got a little excited, "What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come with next time?" Miko fired at the bots, very energetically.

Pan and Raf winced as the bot's turned their gazes onto the Japanese girl.

"Look-" Arcee started to tell the girl off before Jack cut in.

"Hey, Miko, let's go see what the bots hide in their sock draws," Jack attempted to make up an excuse as he tugged the girl back.

"Seriously?" Miko asked, unimpressed as Jack pulled her towards the other two.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked the femme. The other bots looking at the crestfallen Arcee.

"Not Cliff. At least not anymore," Arcee folded her arms. "He was mutated, butchered like something from those 'con experiments during the war," Her anger grew, at least until she fell to the ground. Pan's eyes widened as Jack, and Miko rushed to the barrier with Pan and Raf slightly behind them.

"I'm fine, just dizzy," Arcee protested as Bumblebee helped her up.

"Robots who get dizzy?" Miko said out loud as she shared a look with Jack.

"Robots with emotions," Raf added, sharing a look with Pan.

"Robots who can die," Jack gulped finally.

Pan didn't have to "say" anything, as the three other humans each knew what she thinking. The look on her face saying everything that words could not.

Ratchet scanned Arcee, "Hum, what is this?" He gasped as Arcee held her servo up to show a purple splat of something simmering in the light against her blue armor.

Arcee peered at it, "Don't know. Cliff was covered in it, leaking it," She held her servo to her head.

"Go take a decontamination bath now," Ratchet demanded as he scrapped the goo off of her servo.

Pan pulled out her phone and gaped at the time, showing her phone to Jack who paled instantly as he brought out his own phone.

"Optimus, I hate to bug, but no bars," Jack said to the Autobot leader as he held his phone up while Bumblebee helped Arcee to the baths.

Raf gulped when he looked at the time on Pan's phone.

Optimus seemed to notice the human's panicking. " A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves," he said.

"Well, if I don't call my Mom like now I'm pretty sure the cops will be looking for me," Jack said panicking slightly.

'Try mine,' Pan wrote out, biting her lip nervously.

"Have you broken a law?" Optimus asked them.

Pan nodded, a small smile on her face as Raf elbowed her. Pan chuckled, showing she was joking.

"Uh, curfew. It's after 10," Jack said, shooting Pan a scowl to which she smiled innocently to.

Raf shared a look with Jack, "I better get home, too, or I'll be grounded for a year," he added.

"Earth customs. I hadn't considered. But the issue of your safety remains," Optimus said standing back up. "Bulkhead, accompany Miko home," Optimus told the green bot.

"Awesome! My host parents will freak!" Miko cheered. Bulkhead looked uneasy as he glanced at her.

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle form," Optimus added.

"Curbside duty. Got it," Bulkhead said with a small breath of relief.

Miko's excitement dulled, "Aw," She pouted, Pan and Raf chuckled at that.

"Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf," Optimus said. Bumblebee looked happy to be paired up with the boy, and Raf's face lit up in excitement.

"Ratchet-" Optimus asked.

"Busy," The medic replied quickly.

Optimus sighed, "You'll escort Panacea."

Ratchet snapped his helm towards the Prime and opened his intake to snap at the Prime before he stopped seeing the look on Pan's face. The girl was watching him like she knew what he was going to say. Like she could see that his spark wasn't in it. That she could see him.

"Fine," Ratchet grunted and Pan couldn't help but smile.

"Arcee, you'll accompany Jack," Optimus said to the bot who just came out of the baths.

"Still dizzy," Arcee said instantly.

"You're fine, says your physician," Ratchet told her, not even turning around to look at Arcee who shot him a glare before sighing in defeat.

Pan hid her grin at the two's interaction.

🛠️

Pan carefully slipped out of Ratchet's alt-mode, 'Thank you,' She wrote out.

Ratchet grunted in response before driving off.

Panacea shrugged at the mech's bad mood before heading inside to face the terror that she knew her mother was going to be. 

Chapter Twelve!

Ratchet, stop being a grump. You'll get used to Pan eventually.

This is the last of my pre written chapters so it's gonna take me a while to get a whole bunch more. And school restarts on Monday so updates will be slow when I go back.

Hope you enjoyed!
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