Broken Trust

Nanites=Bad

Jack rolled, ducking behind a large crate. His heart was pounding, pumping some much-needed adrenaline into his body. He pressed himself into the crate, trying to get some air into his lungs. He gripped the soft fabric of his shirt with a shaking hand, willing himself to still as he heard slow, loud footsteps draw near. Right now, he wished that it was a con that had him trapped.

-----------------------------------Hours Earlier--------------------------------

Miko poked the black pod, a curious expression on her face.

"Soooooo... what is it?" She asked, kicking it softly.

Bulkhead sighed and picked up his charge, lifting her away from the pod. Miko huffed, but didn't fight, feeling tired from all the running she had done nor half an hour earlier. The Autobots had gone after a signal that had popped up on the radar, and, as usual, she had tagged along without permission. And, as usual, Jack and Raf had followed.

They had been fine for most of the mission, up until the end, when the Decepticons had ambushed them. The kids were fine, but they were a little shaken, especially Jack. A con had managed to grab him while he was trying to reach Arcee. But a well delivered punch to the helm had the con dropping the frightened teen in an instant. Said teen was currently patting Arcee's leg, saying something that Miko couldn't quite make out.

Once she was a safe distance away, Bulkhead spoke.

"I don't know. No one does. We're gonna wait till the doc and Smokey gets back before we investigate further, just in case it turns out to be dangerous."

Miko huffed again but didn't protest. Space stuff could be really dangerous, and she would not be the one responsible for her friends getting hurt. Ratchet was going to be out for a few hours. Optimus had told him to take a break and to go alleviate the stress he was feeling, and Smokescreen had tagged along, just in case something happened, so she would try to be responsible, until she knew it was safe. She nodded, showing her understanding. Bulkhead gave her a relieved smile.

Wandering over to the couch, she plopped down and laid down, eyes drooping as she watched Raf play videogames. Slowly, her eyes shut, and she was asleep, oblivious to the large servos placing a soft blanket over her.

Unbeknownst to everyone, a small crack that had begun to form at the back of the pod widened, allowing tiny black bits of metal to scurry out. They changed colour, matching their environment. Slowly, they made their way to where the Energon for drinking was stored, climbing up the sides of four of the cubes and drilling into them. One by one they landed in the electric blue liquid, disappearing from sight. Just as the last one entered the last cube, the door opened, and a pair of dark grey servos picked up the cubes.

Jack leaned back on the arm of the couch, making sure his legs didn't hit Miko. He watched Bumblebee return from where ever he had gone, the yellow bot holding four bright blue cubes. Jack smiled softly. The bots had recently stripped an Energon mine, so they had plenty of the blue crystals to go around. Each bot grabbed a cube and began drinking, relaxed looks on their faces. Jack found himself feeling more relaxed as well, despite the events that had transpired earlier. He wasn't quite relaxed enough to sleep however, so he turned his attention to Raf's game, watching as the young boy rapidly tapped different buttons. He recognised the game, Mortal Combat, a quite gory fighting game. He thought Raf might be a bit too young to play it, but hey, he apparently never got to play games at home, so why not let him have some fun?

Bumblebee wandered over and also watched Raf play, beeping in surprise when Raf got a brutal fatality. Jack grimaced slightly. Fighting games like Mortal Combat had never been for him, he always felt bad for actually killing his opponent, which was probably why he always lost to Miko and Raf. But still, watching gave him something do.