Hidden in the Dark

Chapter 10

Slinking through the shadows, hiding from view, a young bot watched the market with large optics. She watched everbot's move, waiting for an opportunity to catch.

Minutes passed. Still crouched down, ready to pounce. Soon, an opportunity showed itself, as clear as the day. She got ready in her crouched sprinting mode. A small shadow ran across, snatching her opportunity.

The Shadow snatched something from the cart, causing the vendor to cause uproar. Just like the domino effect, the vendor's uproar spread throughout the whole market. All was now hunting the little thief. Including her.

She slinked away from the crowd and followed the trail of the shadow. The Shadow took multiple turns on different streets but it ended up back on the street it started. She smiled to herself. The Shadow knew it was being followed.

She kept to the shadows of people, buildings, and carts. She tracked the shadow into a narrow alley. She smiled ruefully. Alleys are always almost dead ends. She dragged her claws against the side of the dump. The shadow turned around, getting in a defensive stance.

"Who's there?" She stepped out into the middle of the alley, using the ray of light to hide her faceplates and cast a long shadow over the Shadow.

"Someone you don't want to mess with," she snarled lowly. A collective sound of pedes stopped behind her and she spun around.

"There! That glitch who stole one of my cubes!" a dark blue mech yelled, pointing at the Shadow.

"And that Pit-spawn wrecked my shop 7 vorns ago!" a purple femme with black accents yelled, point at her.

"Scrap," both took off running further into the alley, followed by a very angry mob. They reached the end of the alley and turned around. All they could see was the mob coming closer, and closer. They looked at each other. Green and blue tie dye optics meet a clashing red, blue, and green optics. They nodded at each other and continued running towards the wall.

Using the running boost, she launched herself at the wall and started scrambling up, frantically searching for any crook in the wall that can be used as grip. She looked to her left and she saw nothing. No sign of the Shadow. Lasers rained down the mob, causing chaos amongst the bots.

She looked up and saw a fluttering Shadow, shooting red lasers. On the Shadow's back where what seems like wing. Fluttering wings. The Shadow lowered itself to her height.

"Grab on!" the Shadow shouted, offering her a hand. She looked hesitantly at the outstretched hand. Strangers were never nice. If they were, they usually expected something in return.

"Grab on!" the Shadow shouted more urgently this time, "Do you want the mob to get you!" she looked down at the mob. They were actually starting to find things to lodge into the way, making a dodgy ladder. She looked at the Shadow's optics again. They were sincere. She grabbed on the hand firmly. The Shadow smiled brightly.

"Trust me ok?" she nodded, "Let go!" so launched herself off the wall and her left arm was flailing in the air. Her servo was meet with a smaller servo. She looked up and the Shadow was smiling at her. She looked down and she saw they were getting higher and higher, away from the mob.

"I told you!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soundwave optics onlined. Flashbacks, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Thank Primus this was a good. She sat up and surveyed her surroundings. To her right was the medical storage and desk. Ratchet was slumped over on the desk with his servos cushioning his helm. It was such a cute sight she couldn't help but snap a silent picture. That one was going into her memory files. The only light available light was the table lamp and another source of light emitting from behind the desk wall..

Laserbeak lay on the berth above her, twitching in her sleep. She looked down at her frame and saw that it was mostly repaired. There were cracks here and there but overall, she was in good condition. She tried to swing her legs to the side of the berth to find that her legs just wouldn't budge. No matter what she did, her legs stayed exactly where it was.

She silently huffed and scooched her aft to the right, one human inch at a time. One of the scooches however, made a creak, a rather loud one and she looked around frantically. Ratchet grumbled something in his recharge and turned his head to the other side.

Her legs dangled from the berth, her pedes itching to touch the firm ground. She gently lifted her aft from the berth and slid herself, pede first. Her pedes touched the cool from ground and she sighed. It's been too long, way too long.

She looked down at the ground let go. Her legs crumbled beneath her weight instantly. She stretched out her arms to catch herself. She paused in a very awkward position, her knees inches from hitting the ground. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, her gaze fixed on Ratchet. She rested her head against the ground, listening for any vibrations.

She lifted her head slowly, her movements echoed in her audio receptors. She reached up to grab the edge of the berth with her servos. She gently lifted herself up, her left knee as support for her right leg to lift her lower body up. She stood with her back to Ratchet and vented.

She quickly spun 90 degrees and clutched the chair that Ratchet was sitting in. Her legs wobbled like jelly, threatening to collapse any second. She inverted her knees together and spread her peds out. She took small steps, pressing her knees together to keep her weight up as she made her way out of the medbay.

She leaned down and rested her servos against her knees as she vented,

Energon Levels: Low

She ignored her HUD and looked around the dark base. She could faintly make out outlines of frames slumped against each other. A small light colored frame was leaning against the wall with a big dark colored frame leaning against it. They were definitely mechs. The dark colored mech was cradling something in it's servos.

A tall mech was sitting with his back straight against the wall, his servos resting in his lap. To his right was a slim frame, Arcee leaning against a crate with her charge in her servos. On the floor was a mech with racing stripes, Bumblebee, leaning his helm against Arcee's leg. He too, had his charge in his servos.

She looked to her left and saw Optimus Prime with his helm resting against the computer screen. His arms rested beside as he slumped against the computer. She shook her head. How the Prime recharged standing was beyond her. She snapped another picture and added that to her memory files.

She made her way back to the medbay, step by step, pede by pede. She was halfway back to her berth when Ratchet stirred in his sleep and began to online. As quickly as she could, she made a quiet dash, the quietest dash she ever managed in her life onto the berth and lied down in less than 30 human seconds.

She lay as still as possible and listened. She heard a stretch with a pop and a chair being pushed back. Pedesteps headed towards her. Her spark pounded so wildly she wouldn't be surprised if Ratchet heard it, too. Ratchet's figure loomed over her and she shut her optics tight.

Pedesteps stepped away from her berth, and she vented. That was close, too close. What would the Autobots think if they found her, the ex Decepticon Communications Officer snooping around their base at night?!

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her helm and offlined her optics, forcing herself to go back to recharge.