Livewire: Chapter 10

Snow sprayed over Slag as Livewire skidded past, her wolf form tumbling in an uncontrolled somersault until the inertia from the throw slowed enough for her claws to dig into the ground, ending her roll with a jarring bounce that flattened her into the snow.

"You are such a green little thing." Airachnid, who had been mere steps behind her the entire fight, grabbed the scruff of Livewire's armor and hauled her to her feet with a strength one wouldn't guess could come from the femme's spindly frame. "You have potential, but it's painfully obvious you've never fought in your small existence. We may need to take a finer approach to your training."

Livewire shook the snow from her heated plating. "I warned you I wouldn't be any good."

"On the contrary, you're very good, a seed that merely needs to be shown how to bloom. If you follow my instructions exactly I guarantee with practice you will become a skilled fighter, just not as skilled as me of course. You would need several millennia to match my prowess."

Airachnid was lightning fast, nearly impossible to catch when she didn't want to be caught, yet brutal when she struck. Livewire had the scratches to prove how heavily the femme could land blows.

"I think that is enough for one day." Airachnid lifted her body on the spindly legs coming out of her shoulders, towering above Livewire and using them to step over her. "Come again tomorrow if you wish, but I need you to promise me something."

Livewire watched the as Airachnid looked at her over her shoulder, purple optics gleaming. Livewire wasn't entirely sure if she should trust Airachnid. There was something off putting despite her willingness to help and disclaimer to being a real Decepticon.

"As long as it doesn't involve baby animals or torture," Livewire joked, eliciting a smirk of amusement from Airachnid.

"Nothing of the sort. I only want your silence. I don't wish for the Autobots to know I'm here. You understand why, don't you? You're a smart 'bot."

Livewire did understand, more than she probably should. The purple symbol alone could be provoking to the Autobots who might jump to conclusions. Humans had become equally sensitive to Decepticons, taking up arms at the mere mention of them, or running away in fright. A part of her nagged it was a very bad idea not to tell anyone about the pseudo Decepticon hanging out just a few miles from the Ark. Then again, if Airachnid was driven away Livewire wouldn't be able to train anymore. She wasn't keen on becoming closer to being capable to fight in a war and forced into it as a result, but she found the exercise enjoyable and it gave her something semi productive to do. It was more like taking karate or practicing a physical sport. If Airachnid did become a problem Livewire was sure the Dinobots could handle her.

She wanted to give Airachnid the benefit of the doubt. After all, if the Autobots hadn't given Livewire any, where would she be now?

"I won't tell anyone, I don't see a need to."

"Very good. It has been a pleasure, little Dinobot." Airachnid took Grimlock's head that was hovering over her and placed her claw under his jaw. "You be a good now."

A low purr rumbled from the giant dinosaur and Livewire sucked in air. Dinobot. Airachnid had been lumping her with Grimlock and the others as if they were one in the same. They were similar, in a way. All of them transformed into creatures and were outcasts around the Autobots. She liked being around them because she found it easy to forget her problems for a while.

"Airachnid lady nice." Snarl said languidly next to her, the usually abrasive stegosaurus was nearly leaning his heavy girth mindlessly onto Livewire. He had crept up to the two and stood beside Livewire during the conversation as if wanting to get a closer look at Airachnid.

Livewire patted his head. "I'm heading back," she announced, turning on her heel.

To her surprise Grimlock pried his optics away from the retreating Airachnid and wished her goodbye in an uncannily airy voice that was unbecoming for a giant dinosaur. He sounded like a lovesick puppy.

The entrance to the Ark was void of activity. A heavy blanket of white covered the thrusters jutting from the mountain as it began to quietly snow. Livewire was surprised how much the area had transformed since the last time she had stepped outside. Snow wasn't entirely common where she used to live. Falling maybe once every five years and melting barely a minute after touching the ground. Her systems had cooled down enough that her armor rattled with spontaneous shivers. It turns out this body could get cold as well as hot.

She stepped into the Ark and shook the fresh snow from her armor, spraying the cold flakes about the corridor. A muffled grunt of distaste came from behind and she finally saw a red mech with flame decals adorning their chest plate standing just inside of the perpetually open bay door.

"Watch where you're spraying that!" The mech spit out bits of water and shook the ice off him like it was acid.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," she hastily apologized.

"Ah, man. Now I'm all wet." He shook his hand a couple more times, spraying her with melted snow. "Hey, you're that new 'bot that I've been hearing about, aren't you?"

Livewire wasn't well versed in transformer physiology, but she had a feeling this mech was rather young compared to the others.

"I suppose…I'm Livewire."

"That was it! I'm Hot Rod, it's nice to finally meet you."

An image of a hot wheels car leaving a trail of flames behind its speeding tires sprang to mind before she could stop it.

"You were waiting to meet me?" She asked after banishing the imagery.

"Yeah! Everyone's been acting all hush-hush since I got back from Canada. Talking about some new spark in the medical bay in critical condition. No one would tell me about much it. You are that bot. Right?"

Livewire conceived another mental image of every mech in the base huddled in small groups, talking about her in an unsettled manor. A nervousness crept through her plating and she wondered what they had been saying when she wasn't around. Probably nothing too flattering.

"I guess I am. I just got out of the medical bay today. I was starting to go out of my mind from boredom and cranky medics."

Hot Rod laughed. "Ratchet? Yeah, he can be a real stick in the mud sometimes, a huge jerk when he wants to be."

Hot Rod's voice lowered and he slyly suggested, "Say…do you want to help me with something?"

Despite her clear hesitation he leaned a little closer, dropping another octave. "I've been wanting to get back at Ratchet for a while. That guy has got it out for me and he kept you locked up for a while. What do you say we do a little…something to repay him?" A long, devious smile stretched across Hot Rod's face plates.

Livewire stood stiff in her bipedal mode, blocking Hot Rod from view while he bent on his knees unscrewing bolts in a grated vent parallel to the floor.

Livewire tilted her helm downward and spoke quietly. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What happens if we get caught?"

"That again? You said yourself you wanted to get back at Ratchet." Hot Rod pulled out a bolt and shifted to get at the one across from it.

Livewire leaned back against the wall. "Saying I want to do something doesn't mean I would actually do it. And even if he got on my nerves, he did save my life."

Hot Rod huffed. "How can you say you want to do something but not want go through with it? That's like saying you need energon but you don't want any."

"That's called starving yourself or being on a diet." Livewire took the bolt he silently offered and added it to the small collection she was cupping in her hand.

Hot Rod slipped his servos between the grate and tugged. It took three audio splitting tries for the old piece of metal to break free. Livewire looked nervously down both ends of the halls but the dusty interior remained lifeless.

Hot Rod held three round balls between his servos and grinned up at her. "I'm going to tie these up in his office. Be ready to run when I come back out." He disappeared into the vent on his hands and knees.

Livewire cycled heavily and took out her data pad and pretended to use in case anyone came tromping by. Silence reigned except for a slight creak every once in a while from the mountain shifting around the Ark. The silence bid her mind to wander, winding down from her spar with Airachnid and this new bot who had been adamant about using her as an excuse to do something to Ratchet.

Would it really be ok to live with the Autobots as a neutral? Half of her was torn. One part wanted to return to her human life as if it was still possible, and the other wanted to stay in the Ark. There wasn't really a place she belonged in either life - staying had a future that was just as clouded as leaving.

For the first time in a while she started to miss her fish, Orange Juice. She wished to go back in time where she could stretch out on the couch with the TV chattering in the background, a laptop balanced on her knees, a warm blanket, and her clownfish drifting at the front of his aquarium, watching her lounge after a long day at work. No, dwelling on the past and what couldn't be any more wasn't healthy. Her optics slowly refocused on the data pad in her hands, her logic processor eagerly helping her pull out of the fantasy.

Stupid. She wouldn't fit into an apartment and would be far too large to care for a tiny clownfish. Livewire had already decided to leave her life behind by not contacting her parents or any immediate family. She was dead. Her human body six feet underground. A living ghost…

"What er' you doing all the way way out here?"

Livewire jumped though she had seen Cliffjumper coming. Her sensors had alerted her to his presence but she had been too buys thinking.

"Something wrong?"

She shook her helm. "Not much, just killing some time. I thought I would find someplace quiet and there was no one here."

"A peculiar place to hang out even if it's for some peace and quiet."

She feigned ignorance and quickly realized he knew something was up. She would have to think fast. "I don't see why. Is there a rule against loitering in the halls?"

"No, but I did see a certain bot walk this way. One known for causing trouble. Did he convince you to come over here?"

Livewire hoped her poker face was solid. "Who?"

Cliffjumper pointed to the grate lying against the wall that was partially blocked from sight by her legs. "That wouldn't happen to have been there when you got here, would it?"

She looked down as if seeing it for the first time. "I see a lot of this ship disassembled in weird places. How should I know?"

Cliffjumper crossed his arms and gave her a very clear 'give it up' signal. Being a minibot, he was only a head or so taller than her. It made him less intimidating than the majority of the Autobots, but what he lacked in height he made up for with persistence.

"Come on. Don't make me force it out of you."

"Force what?" She faked.

"You're hiding something," he said at last. "I want to know what it is. Come on. Cough it up."

"I'm not a cat hacking up furballs," she retorted.

Livewire's processor raced. What she considered her slower human side won out over the strategic computerized part almost as if overriding it. "Alright," she vented dramatically. "You caught me. I wanted to read some dirty fiction without the hazard of having someone look over my shoulder. Happy?"

Cliffjumper instantaneously deflated and went slack jawed. "You-really?"

He couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Perfect. "You know. The organic kind. I was curious how humans do it. You know? Since its different."

She had no idea if transformers reproduced or how. She only hoped it would be just as taboo a subject to most bots as it was humans.

"Ah, well…" he cleared his throat with a cough and asked with disgusted curiosity. "That's a…"

"You want to see?" Livewire pushed the data pad towards Cliffjumper and prayed he wouldn't take it since she didn't have any literature remotely like what she described. "It's an interesting topic."

"No thanks." Cliffjumper carefully pushed the pad away with one servo as if just touching the device would give him a disease. "And nice try. What are you really doing in here?"

"I'm reading," she said persistently. At this point, all she could do was stall.

At that moment Hot Rod shot out of the vent and grabbed her wrist yelling, "Run!" before dragging her down the hallway at lightning speed.

Cliffjumper shouted as Livewire transformed mid run into wolf mode.

Hot Rod didn't question and jumped onto her back, hooking his fingers under the plating on her back. Livewire's speed increased and as the artificial wind whipped past her a cackle brewed in her vocoder that burst into a full on laugh so powerful it threatened to steal her breath and slow her down.

Hot Rod tapped her side. "Turn here!"

She obeyed, veering left and into yet another area she hadn't seen before. He directed her to a room and jumped off her back mid run. Livewire stopped inside; panting as Hot Rod manually closed the door behind them with a heave that shook the frame around it. He turned around and gave her an OK expression with his curled fingers. "Operation glitter bomb, success! Ratchet will be finding bits of plastic in his tools for weeks. Man you should have seen the mess it made, it was glorious."

Livewire burst out laughing from what might have been the equivalent of adrenaline. She transformed and doubled over clutching her sides. "I hope you know how much I had to embarrass myself to cover for you."

"It was worth it." Hot Rod grinned - especially when her voice cracked.

"Tell that to my dignity." She shoved him against the wall and he hit it harder than she expected and immediately felt bad. Just a little bit as loosened dirt and small pebbles rained down on him. "Sorry. Didn't think you would go sprawling."

"I didn't expect you to be able to shove that hard. Yeesh."

A small rock pinged against Livewire's helm and she looked up. The space looked like a partially constructed, or partially destroyed, part of the ship. Stone from the mountain protruded through a torn opening, creating a jagged door that might not have existed before the Ark's crash. A low groan echoed louder than the others she had heard and warning bells went off in her head.

"Hot Rod, move!"

He was still confused when she barreled into him, knocking the much taller mech over and out of the way of the collapsing ceiling. A giant boulder and a cascade of rock and dirt filled the room with dust.

"Unicron's claws! You've got to be kidding me!"

Livewire moved off him and brushed the dirt away from her armor. "Well, we're not dead," she stated and was awarded a scathing glare. He took her offered hand and she pulled him to his pedes.

Hot Rod went over the mess of rock, dirt, and twisted metal and swept it with his optics and frowned. "This is going to take forever to dig through."

Even as he complained Hot Rod whipped away dirt and grabbed a twisted piece of metal sticking from the mound that went all the way up to the ceiling. He yanked on it repeatedly, growing more frustrated with each tug and cursing strange phrases. Livewire rolled her optics and walked on his other side, gripping the same piece of metal and pulled with him. It took a considerable amount of strength for the steel to budge a fraction of an inch, and when it slid out a foot, dirt and rocks rolled down from the top of the mound to cover what they had just unearthed.

Hot Rod threw his hands into the air. "This is just great!"

Livewire stepped back and knew they weren't going to get out of this if they kept going at it the same way. "Why don't we ask for help?"

"No way!"

She deadpanned at his haughty remark and quickly growing agitation. "Do you want to be stuck in here all day?"

He crossed his arms and turned away like a frustrated child. "If I ask for help I'll never be able to live it down."

"Oh please." Livewire inwardly concentrated and tried to find the channel she had talked to Wheeljack through. There was a prompt that flashed across her HUD and when she entered it a glyph appeared and a familiar voice filtered through her audials only.

:Livewire?:

:Hey, Wheeljack.:

:I heard you were discharged earlier, are you feeling well?:

:Yeah, thanks, but that's not why I'm calling. I'm stuck with Hot Rod somewhere on the Ark.:

A chuckle filtered through the line. :He can drive the best bots crazy. Do you need an out? You can tell him I called you for an urgent upgrade.:

Livewire grinned. :We're kind of stuck in the same room because of a cave in. We can't exactly get out.:

There was a klik of silence and she waited with bated breath. He was probably going to yell at her.

:Are either of you damaged?: Wheeljack's tone had hardened, falling flat and serious much the same way it had a month ago.

She was secretly glad his temper hadn't blown. She hadn't seen him angry yet and didn't know what would trigger his ire or how violently he would react. :No, we're fine, we just can't get out. The door is blocked and when we try to dig out more junk just falls from the ceiling.:

:Stop digging and get away from it. Wait there until we can get you out. Let me know if anything changes.:

She promised to follow his instructions and the link went dead, the glyph on her HUD fading with the cut link commands.

Hot Rod was stacking old energon cubes in an odd formation when she came back to the present. "Help is coming. Wheeljack said to sit back and wait."

Hot Rod shifted the dirty old cube in his hands to perfectly line up with the one below it. "Did you really have to go and do that? I already have a couple ideas to get us out of here."

"I don't want to sit in here for who knows how long." Livewire walked across the room and made herself comfortable on a dusty chair. The room was in disarray. Tables and chairs were knocked about, control panels punched through by long ago fallen boulders, lights barely working casing an eerie atmosphere. Shards of glass decorated the floors from what was once a massive window now filled in with the mountain that had spilled into the room upon crashing. The space was rather large, about as big or bigger than the rec room. At the center of the room was a large chair sitting on a raised platform behind a half moon desk coated in dirt. She was confidant the other autoboots could get them out, so, curious, she got up and approached the relic.

Livewire sat herself in the chair that dwarfed her frame and ran her servos over the panel in front of her. Foreign glyphs like the one she occasionally saw on her HUD were engraved into the surface between buttons and dead screens. She brushed under the desk and paused when her fingers slipped into an indent. She twisted in her seat until she was sitting nearly upside down and tilted her head underneath. Her finger scrapped at the indent that was vaguely lit by her yellow optics. There were glyphs under there too.

"What are you doing?" Hot Rod called.

Livewire pressed her palm and splayed fingers on the underside of the desk for support and peaked out from under it. "Poking around. There's not much else to do," she told the mech who, judging by the clacking and grunting sounds, was still rearranging the empty old energon cubes.

"You could at least help."

"I did help. Why don't you just stop and wait?"

A frustrated yowl came from his direction followed by a clang. Livewire smirked and scooted back under the desk. She removed her supporting hand and was about to scrap more dust away when a blue light glowed from two different points and began to spread along in thin lines, taking on the shape of a square and branching out into a short, thick cylinder. When the twin lines of light connected, the shape parted and a light metallic object dropped into her hand.

Livewire scooted out and righted herself in the chair. It was almost pitch black in the room but her optics could pick out what looked like a marriage between a key and a USB drive. The end was round and there were clear points where it was supposed to plug into something. Not knowing what else to do with it, she tucked it into subspace and decided she would ask Wheeljack about it later. It might be something important, or it could just lead to a storage closet.

Livewire peered over the back of the chair to see Hot Rod lying on his back with his legs crossed in the air, resting against his energon cube pyramid.

"That's an attractive pose," she teased.

"I am pretty good looking, aren't I?" He grinned smugly at her.

Livewire rolled her optics before slumping into the chair. "Sure dude. About as attractive as a giant robot can get."

"You know it." He got up from the floor and leaned against the back of her chair. A field of static built in the air, pressing in on Livewire and making invisible hackles rise on her neck.

Livewire shot him a look she that she hoped translated to indifference despite the flush of nervousness that crept through her systems, especially if the queues she was picking up had any semblance to what would be going on if they were both human. Were transformers even interested in things like that? She had been jesting, and maybe he was too, and her monkey brain was thinking too hard.

"There's something on your face." Despite him pointing at her cheek she continued to stare him down, even going so far as crossing her arms and leaning stiffly away.

"Why don't you go and finish your Minecraft project. It might be a while before we're dug out."

Hot Rod frowned, but systematically relented and slunk back over to his project. "You're no fun," he grumbled and picked up a stray cube, adding it to his collection.

Livewire felt a little bad watching him mope silently over his work in dejection. "I heard the Decepticons have been raiding old mines."

A twisted piece of metal was stretched out and examined between Hot Rod's servos. "Yes," he said dully. "They've been hitting them sporadically across the planet. No one will tell me more than that. I do know there hasn't been a direct fight in a while. The Decepticons have been laying low. I think they're planning something."

Livewire was intrigued. "Do you have an idea about what?"

"Frag no. No one tells me anything." Hot Rod swung the metal bar down, cracking it against the ground and growling in disapproval when it bent under the pressure.

"That's annoying," she empathized.

"No kidding. They don't treat me as bad as Kup did…but the others, especially when Arcee is around, won't tell me squat." Hot Rod threw away the useless metal and slowly picked his way around the rubbish.

There was a small stretch of silence where Livewire sat with her pedes propped up on the panel and leaned across the arms of the chair, staring at the ceiling. "Hey, Hot Rod?"

"Hunn?" He drawled.

"What does it mean to be an Autobot?"

He widened an optic. "Seriously?"

She looked back at him over the side of the chair, her hardened expression a sharp contrast to his disbelief.

"Does it just mean you openly fight the Decepticons? Or is there a reason you wear that symbol?"

"How can you not know?" Hot Rod asked, disbelieving.

"I just came online, remember?" She had read what Autobots were about, but she wanted to hear it straight from the source.

"You mean you seriously just came online-online?"

"What do you mean?" Livewire wasn't aware of any different types of onlining other than becoming conscious for the first time. The definition fit her predicament well enough.

"Someone said your spark was found in a hidden vault on the Ark and they put it into a body."

It was her turn to be confused. No one had told her of that fabricated story.

"That was a lie, wasn't it? Those fraggers are always lying to me," Hot Rod said angrily.

Livewire was feeling similarly perturbed. It didn't make sense for the Autobots to be spreading a lie and she wondered who the culprit could be. "I didn't know there was a made up story about how I got here."

The cables in his arms tensed his optics narrowed. "I knew it. Where did you really come from?"

Livewire scrapped her finger against the dust on the side of the metal chair. "I don't know. I came online, here, in this body, inside Wheeljack's project. I can't say why or how. Nobody seems to know where my spark came from. I can't even say if it's real." The truth poured from her like a broken faucet despite her logic processor's feeble attempt to put on the breaks. The light in her optics dimmed and her gaze became listless.

Hot Rod sank, a sober expression taking over his suspicion. "You're right here and carrying on a conversation without prompts. You can't be a drone."

Livewire's spark pulsed and her optics wrenched away from the floor and back to Hot Rod.

"You wonder about things including where you came from and you saved me earlier from the falling rubble without thought. No bot without a real spark would do that. I'm sure the reason you're confused is because of your lost memories."

"But I didn't lose my memories."

He was surprised all over again. "You mean you're a new spark? How?"

"I don't know…" She didn't understand the difference. "I don't know anything about this spark, alright?"

Livewire kicked her legs around the chair and walked up Hot Rod. "Still, that's the most thoughtful thing you've said all day."

Her gaze was so intense that he leaned away.

"Yeah, well, it's dumb to think your spark is worth less just because you don't know where it comes from. And it doesn't matter if it's a new or old one."

Livewire kneeled next to him and before he could ask about her sudden proximity, she hugged him.

"What gives?! Are you going to gut my spark now? Whatever I said, I'm sorry!"

Livewire's frame rattled and her spark felt heavy, constricting as invisible tears pricked her optics.

"Are you ok? Did your processor get hit by a rock?" Hot Rod grabbed Livewire's arms and braced her as if afraid she would collapse on him. "Scrap! I'll comm. Ratchet and tell him he needs to hurry it up."

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

Livewire pulled away quickly, getting to her feet and putting space between them. She didn't know what had come over her, she was never a very touchy-feely person and he didn't seem to understand the action. "Sorry. I won't do that again."

The dumbfounded look he gave her made her feel hot and embarrassed. "Sorry. I don't know why, I just needed to hug someone and you were there. Ignore what just happened." She made a ridged retreat to the central chair and pulled her knees up to her chest, making herself small enough to be invisible to Hot Rod on the other side.

They fell into a silence where Livewire took out and fiddled with her data pad and Hot Rod laid sprawled on the floor with his optics offlined.

Livewire couldn't focus on the simple game, her mind kept trying to understand why she had been so impulsive earlier, hugging a bot she had just met merely because he said something she could relate to. Every minute she thought about it the more embarrassed she became. Not once had she patted someone on the back or rested a hand on their shoulder let alone spontaneously hugged them.

It was thirty minutes more before Hot Rod broke the silence. "You wanted to know what being an Autobot means?"

Livewire stayed silent, waiting for him to elaborate.

"I can't tell you why the older Autobots fight other than old wounds and deep grudges. I was born after the war started so I don't know what it's like on the other side except from the stories Kup has told me. And the aftermath of destruction I've seen. The Decepticons are ruthless in their methods and don't care who they kill. Friend or foe. For me being an Autobot means family and fighting to live."

Livewire soaked in his words and was surprised by how similar his predicament sounded. He was connected to the war on a deeper level than her, being brought up in the middle of it, but he was still an unwilling participant sucked into one side by merely being born.

They both fell quiet, listening to quiet hum that stretched throughout the ship. The silence wasn't uncomfortable and Livewire found herself falling into a meditative doze. She tried to think of what Hot Rod said about being an Autobot. Livewire didn't want to be part of the war, but it was obvious she would have to pick a side. It would be like being part of a mafia. Of course, it wasn't one, but she saw the principle to be the same. Picking a side meant she could stop wondering where she could belong while in this foreign body.

A groan came from the mech who had been laying prone for over an hour. "Arcee won't leave me alone. Even Ironhide won't give it a rest. They keep chewing my audials out."

Livewire peered around the large chair and came to the only logical conclusion. "Your comm. link?"

Hot Rod nodded, his optics staring up at the ceiling.

"Just turn it off," she said matter of fact.

"I can't turn it off. I can ignore them but the pinging won't stop. It's driving me crazy."

Livewire settled back into her sideways slump and wondered ashamedly why her comm. link wasn't lighting up. Wheeljack hadn't contacted her again and so far she assumed he was the only one who could connect with her directly. There weren't any other links she knew of. Alternately, she was glad no one was badgering her and felt lucky that Wheeljack trusted her enough to follow his instructions without checking in.

The data pad in her lap slipped and smacked her over the face and she jerked into a sitting position.

"Hey, it's moving." Hot Rod sat up and Livewire looked at the debris clogging the entrance. Grains of sand were falling off it and small clumps of dirt tumbled down the pile.

She sat up on her knees and clutched the back of the chair. "They're almost through? I didn't hear them digging."

"They've been at it for a while, trying to find a way to keep it from collapsing or worse," Hot Rod provided.

Twenty minutes later and Livewire started to hear muffled voices and debris began shifting at an alarming rate. She jumped off the chair and back up, Hot Rod following close behind. They looked at each other then back at the mound when a hole broke through the top portion. Dirt fell in an attempt to cover what had been excavated as a large tool that resembled a shovel forced its way through the hole. Detritus diverted around the rounded part of the shovel to pool at the lower portions of the mound. Another tool joined and a third as the hole steadily grew larger.

"Move it! All of you, out of the way!"

From the other side of the hole a minibot with blue armor and a yellow piece of kibble sweeping over his head crawled through.

"Huffer!" Hot Rod said happily.

"You're not dead? That's a first. You probably damaged something, didn't you?" Huffer muttered.

"Just get us out of here." Hot Rod demanded.

"Fine. Move it before the entrance collapses again and we all get stuck in here forever." Huffer escorted motioned them to come to him.

"After you." Livewire waved Hot Rod forward and he dropped to his hands and knees. "A little help?" Hot Rod was clawing his way through the dirt, his larger frame and chassis stuck in the opening.

Livewire grabbed his ankles and started shoving. She putt her pedes on either side of the mound for stability and pushed. "Maybe you could lose some weight," she ground out.

"I can't get fat," Hot Rot retorted.

There was a loud groan and a shout from the other side. "It's about to come down!"

Someone must have been yanking Hot Rod's from the otherwise because in one moment he was stuck, then the next he was flying into the hallway. Huffer replaced Hot Rod and reached in toward Livewire. She only saw him for a split second before the entrance collapsed, leaving her in darkness. Alone.

Livewire backed up, staring at the collapse. A small part of her was convinced they would leave her while another part vehemently thought the opposite.

:Report. What is your condition?: Wheeljack's voice cut through the silence so sharply that Livewire jumped.

:F-fine. I'm just stuck in here again.:

:Good. Keep away from the entrance. Don't worry. We'll get you out.:

She sat down and curled her knees to her chest.

:Hot Rod is making quite a noise out here…Arcee just backhanded him.: Livewire could hear Wheeljack chuckling. :It shouldn't take as long to get you out. It isn't necessary to make as big of an opening.:

Livewire put her chin to her knees and stared at the ground. She was still thinking about what Hot Rod said about the Autobots being a family. She wasn't sure how a military group could call themselves something like that.

:How are you holding up?:

Livewire responded. :I'm just waiting.:

:You sound annoyed. Want to tell me about it?:

She hesitated, then asked, :You said I don't have to fight Decepticons if I join the Autobots, right?:

:Certainly not. There are plenty of things that need to be done that don't involve being on the field.: His tone turned lighthearted. :I can get it in writing from Optimus if you'd like.:

Livewire couldn't help smiling. :I don't need a contract. What other things could I do that's not fighting?:

:Oh, you know. Surveillance, repairs, maintenance, and research to name a few. You could be my assistant if you wanted. There are a lot of options.:

If she took him up on being his assistant, then not much would change. She wasn't sure she wanted to be locked into working in his perpetually messy workshop. Despite enjoying helping him from time to time. It was a bit comforting to know there would be options.

A burst of dirt flew inside, and light filtered in from the hall. An excavator shovel pushed through the hole, making it larger and remained stationary to hold open the exit. Huffer reached through.

"Come on. We don't have all day."

Livewire took his hand he tugged her through like she weighed nothing.

Hands and arms flung around her and grabbed at any available limbs and pulled.

"Hey, you made it out alive," Hot Rod smirked.

Arcee grabbed the back Hot Rod as if grabbing an ear and yanked. "You're both idiots!"

The hallway was crowded with dirt covered mechs who looked none too happy to be there.

Livewire leaned backwards on bracing hands when there suddenly a pressure at her back and an offered hand at her front. She took it and allowed the owner to gently pull her to her feet.

"You aren't injured, are you?" It was Perceptor.

"No. Thanks for getting me out of there." She was stunned with surprise that Perceptor was there at all. Even more surprising was the volume of bots in the hallway.

The towering mech smiled. "Don't thank me, I was only allowed to watch…What on earth were you doing in there?"

"I know what. Those two bombed my office with a flaky earth substance that's gotten into every crack and crevice and ran here to hide from retribution only to get themselves trapped. Tell me if I'm wrong." Ratchet had his hands on his hips and a sour look directed at Livewire. Every small movement he made loosened flecks confetti that showered the ground.

Hot Rod broke away from Arcee. "She didn't do anything, I grabbed her on my way in here. Livewire doesn't know anything about that."

She raised an optic, wondering why he would cover for her.

"Oh? And Cliffjumper didn't see you two trapezing down the hallways together a few hours earlier? Only moments after my office was violated?"

"Livewire!" She was practically tackled by a fretting Bluestreak who shoved his way between her and Hot Rod. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone. I'm going to get into so much trouble, are you ok? I heard you might have been damaged when the entrance caved in. I was so worried!"

Ratchet cleared his throat and Bluestreak seemed to notice him for the first time. "I'm sorry Ratchet. Please forgive me for not watching her closer, I know you said she needed to have someone with her at all times, but she kept insisting she was fine and-"

Ratchet put a hand over his face and grimaced. "I'm not mad at you."

Hot Rod drew the attention back to himself. "That's right, this is all my fault."

Several mechs looked at him like he had grown a second head and Ratchet's skepticism drew his optics upward.

"Since Hot Rod is claiming responsibility, I will see his discipline." Prowl grabbed the younger mech's wrist in a lightning fast movement and pulled him to his side with both hands held behind his back. "You will come with me without complaint."

"Whatever," Hot Rod grunted. "By the way Ratchet. Nice look."

The medic growled then Arcee was in Hot Rod's face before anyone saw she had moved. "Everyone here spent a lot of time digging your carcass out of the rubble. Thank them."

Hot Rod stood as tall as he could with Prowl's death grip on his arms and matched Arcee's glower. "Thank you," he ground out, but not for her sake.

"Is everyone uninjured?" Optimus appeared, walking down the hallway with Jazz trailing behind him.

"The idiotic sparklings are fine." Ratchet gave Livewire a sharp look and she had the consciousness to give a sheepish smile.

"I'm not a sparkling anymore," Hot Rod muttered hotly.

"I'm glad to hear you're both safe. Please be more careful the next time you go exploring about the base." Optimus looked back and tapped Wheelack's shoulder.

The mech was kneeling on the floor and fiddling with cylindrical device with a radar dish attached to one end. The guts of the machine were spilled out at feet.

"Livewire is no longer trapped. Wheeljack." Optimus tapped him again and the inventor looked up.

"Oh! Darn. I wanted to test out my wave slicer." He abandoned his project and beamed down at her.

"Look at you. Not a scratch! I knew everything would work out fine."

Ratchet loomed behind her. "You are going to spend the rest of the cycle in my office. This is a medical order. Now move."

Livewire scurried out of the hallway toward the med bay, not wanting to embarrass herself further or deal with an irate Ratchet in a crowded hallway.