"Are you down to be a distraction, baby?
But don't distract me, let me ask you, baby
Do you, do you, do you do you wanna be
A distraction, baby?"

»«

Dana pressed a little harder on Ratchet's gas pedal, the medic making a sound of protest as she manually caused him to speed up, carefully climbing from 50 miles per hour to 80.

"I thought this was a relaxing drive!" He protested over her laughter.

"It's not like you're really doing anything." She pointed out, carefully adjusting his wheel every so often to stay on the right side of the road. "Besides, I'm wearing my seatbelt, and in a sentient car. You'll save me if something goes wrong."

"You're putting a lot of faith in an old mech." He grumbled, noticing her let off the gas and take her hands away from his wheel, a silent indicator that it was his turn to take control.

Dana sat back in the driver's seat, a hand out of his window and playing with the air current as it blew through her fingers. Ratchet began slowing down to a leisurely fifty miles per hour, despite the fact Nevada law allotted people to go 70 mph on a divided county road.

He tilted his mirror to look at his charge, noticing her eyes were closed and a relaxed smile on her face. For once she looked peaceful, not nearly as energized as she usually was when looking for trouble. The wind was blowing her hair back and tickling parts of his interior, but it was subtle and nothing to worry about.

"Are you going to change the color any time soon?" He broke the silence. Her hand went to the blue streak in her hair, and she pulled it down so she could look at it.

"I was thinking orange, like you, but it would clash with my scrubs." She gestured to her red colored uniform. "I was going to keep it this shade of blue . . . But I think the shade of your optics is really pretty. I've been hunting for a similar color."

The medic was both surprised and flattered. "Uh . . . Thanks." He had no idea what else to say to that. "How long have you been looking?"

"When I've been off work and not at base for about, oh, a week?" She shrugged. "There are some sites online that let you mix colors and they send you your own custom shade, but it's a little on the spendy side; and I'm trying to save as much as I can for college."

"So you can be a travel nurse."

"Yup." She confirmed, shifting and stretching her legs a little, careful not to press on his pedals. "I'm graduating in five months; I've already heard from a few schools that I've been accepted, and I know of two that have given me a scholarship."

He paused for a moment to slow down at a stop sign, checking all three other ways before continuing. "Do you . . . Know where you want to go?"

"I'm still deciding." She admitted. "While I'm excited for school, I'm not excited about the transition to adulthood. I still kind of want to be a kid, you know? Not have too many responsibilities."

"Yeah, I know." Ratchet scoffed. "Don't worry, you'll forever be a child in my optics."

"Even after I get old and wrinkly?" She teased.

Her guardian paused again. "Well, maybe then."

The ambulance fell silent, the two of them silently trying to change the subject, knowing it was a bleak one.

"I'm going to be working almost every day this upcoming week." Dana finally said. "So we won't be able to do much but call each other."

"As long as it keeps you out of trouble, I don't care what you do." Ratchet countered, causing her to laugh again.

"Oh come on. I'm getting better."

"Only because you're not there. Trust me, I still triple check the Groundbridge when it opens." Ratchet sounded on the verge of a rant. "You're this close to giving me an energon embolic stroke."

"Aw, Ratchet. You know it's only because you care." She cooed, patting his wheel. "I worry about you too, and you know it."

Ratchet moved his side mirror this time as indication that he was looking at her. "Trust me, I know. My 'voicemail' as you call it is still full from all those times you called after my synthetic energon incident."

"You've kept all those?" She asked incredulously.

"Not intentionally." He was quick to defend himself. "I just haven't gotten around to deleting them."

"Don't worry," she laughed, "I still have your messages too!" She took out her phone.

"Please don't play them.

"I'm gonna play them."

"Dana," he whined, just as she hit the "play" button on.

"I forgot to tell you I went on this drive once-"

"Dana!" He yelled, but that didn't stop her from laughing so hard she began to tear up, the medic grumbling and pouting on the way back to base.

»«

Over the next week Dana got call after call from Ratchet about this, that, and the other. The first was about Wheeljack, and though the human girl was quite thrilled about the Wrecker coming back, it was clear Ratchet was not. Then it was Airachnid and her Insecticon, the former of which nearly killed Arcee and the latter killed by Megatron. Finally, MECH has show their ugly, masked faces again, and this time it was with what Ratchet called a "pathetic mockery of a Cybertronian" destroying military bases and almost killing Agent Fowler.

Meanwhile, Dana was pulling hard shifts with Nurse Darby, bouncing from ER to neurology and at one point even the neo-natal care unit, Ratchet getting a long, hard cry over the phone as she told him about the premature twins that only lasted a few hours in the incubator.

By the end of the last hour of her last day, Dana was done. She needed something to distract herself, or else she felt she might just wither away as the sadness ate at her.

"Welcome back." Ratchet greeted her as she entered the base, acting a bit more gentle than usual.

"Hey." She replied, wanting nothing more than to just bury her face in a tablet and forget everything about humans, for once. "Have you compiled a new lesson for me?"

Her guardian nodded. "Yes. It's already in your tablet and ready to go."

"Thanks." Sitting in her usual chair, she curled up and opened the tablet. After a moment, she looked around. "Wait . . . Where is everyone?"

"They're out on a mission." Ratchet answered, tapping away at his computer. "Bulkhead managed to destroy the Decepticon warship-"

"He totally trashed it!" Miko interrupted.

Ratchet frowned. "Yes. Anyways, they are using this moment to utilize the spark extractor against the Decepticons. This war may end soon enough . . ."

"Except you reported a surge of dark energon." Jack pointed out. "That could mean anything, good or bad."

"Since its got something to do with dark energon, I'm thinking it's bad." Miko supplied.

"I haven't heard back from Optimus, so we will see." Ratchet told them, and then it fell silent again, Dana returning to her tablet, absorbing what she could about the Cybertronian processor.

"Team is down." Agent Fowler came over the intercom, jerking her from her reading. "Requesting med-evac."

"I am on my way!" Ratchet said immediately, activating the Groundbridge. "All of you stay here." He said to the kids. "I mean it."

Dana sat her tablet down, standing and standing at the edge of the catwalk with the other three kids. She looked worriedly into the vortex.

What had happened to Team Prime?

»«

"I have never encountered this form of stasis lock before." Ratchet looked at the screen with a puzzled expression, his charge leaning over the rails beside them.

"Stasis usually means sleep, right?" She said, looking at the Autobots. "They don't look asleep."

"They might be." Ratchet frowned. "Or they can hear everything we're saying. I don't know."

"In other news, the 'cons are making a beeline across the Atlantic, and headed straight towards North America!" Agent Fowler announced, coming to stand next to Dana.

"Wait, we can track them?" Jack asked.

"Why aren't they cloaked, like usual?" Rafael added, looking just as confused as the rest of them.

Agent Fowler shook his head. "None of this makes a lick of sense. The 'cons has us in their crosshairs, but they just took off!"

"They even bailed on that spark-extractor thingy!" Miko chimed in.

They were all right. The Decepticons weren't cloaked, they had no interest in the Autobots, and their ship had magically repaired itself and was fully functional again. Whatever Megatron had done, with the Dark energon no less, it was causing heaps of trouble for both them and the Autobots.

"Wait, if the ship isn't cloaked, maybe the communication relays are open." Jack looked at his fellow humans, hoping one of them would catch on to what he was saying and help bounce off an idea. Ratchet immediately figured it out.

"Are you suggesting we just call Megatron and ask him what's going on up there?!" The medic demanded.

The three humans shrugged, and in disbelief the Autobot turned to look at his charge.

Dana shrugged. "If you're too shy, I can do it."

"No way." Came the immediate reply from both Ratchet and Agent Fowler, the former of which speaking again.

"I'll make the call." Ratchet huffed, walking over to the other monitors while Jack, Miko, and Raf ran up the stairs to join Dana and Fowler. The older girl seemed a bit disappointed, but she simply waited silently and patiently for Ratchet to call.

"Autobot Outpost Omega One to the Decepticon warship." Ratchet spoke the moment Megatron's comlink signal came online. "Megatron, please respond. Megatron?"

There was static for some time, and then a beep to indicate that someone was responding.

It was not Megatron.

"Megatron has been relieved of his command."

Dana felt her heart nearly stop. Relieved of his command? Did that mean . . .

"Who is this?" Ratchet inquired.

"Who is this?!" The anonymous Cybertronian responded. It was like a terrible game of "wrong number."

Ratchet frowned. "Have you taken control of the Decepticon vessel?"

"I am the vessel. Any Cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized." The ship then sent them pictures of several Decepticon warriors, Vehicons and Insecticons alike, all frozen in the same form of stasis as the Autobots. In a sense, it was comforting to know that they weren't the only ones in this predicament.

"What is your mission?" Ratchet inquired.

"Priority One - decrypt Iacon database and recover Decepticon technology."

"For what purpose?" The Autobot demanded.

There was a long pause, and then the screen went dead with another beep, the ship having cut the communication link.

Dana stared at it for a second. "It hung up."

"Rude!" Miko snapped, crossing her arms.

"Rude?!" Agent Fowler snapped. "There is a Decepticon warship running around, collecting weapons of mass destruction!"

"We've got to stop it." Dana interjected. "Or at least do something about this."

"You're completely out of your element." Her guardian argued. "The quick recovery and sudden autonomy of the ship indicates that Megatron must have used dark energon to fuel the warship. It's far too dangerous."

"If it's fueled by dark energon, we can dump it, right?" Jack questioned.

Ratchet paused. "Well . . . I suppose that's true."

"Why just stop at dumping the Dark energon?" Rafael asked. "We could sneak aboard the ship, and also download the Iacon database, so Optimus can decode it."

The medic looked as if he had been enlightened. "Ingenious. I will go infiltrate the Decepticon warship!"

"Not ingenious." Jack stated.

"If the warship can neutralise an entire warship of Decepticons, and remotely put Team Prime in a stasis lock, it will do the same to you." Dana added.

"But that tub had me dead to rights, and I'm still breathing." Agent Fowler pointed out.

Ratchet sighed, giving his charge a little glare, as if she had purposefully orchestrated this so she could have a chance to sneak onto the Decepticon warship.

"Very well. Agent Fowler, you will infiltrate the warship, and download the Iacon database, as well as get rid of the Dark energon in the ship's systems. But, in order to do that, you will need a compatible drive." The medic turned back to his computers and pulled out the Cybertronian equivalent of a flash drive, handing it to the Agent.

"A what now?" Agent Fowler asked as he was given the drive.

Rafael grinned. "He's going to need tech support."

"And back-up." Miko piped up, gesturing to the three other humans.

Dana looked at her guardian. "I promise I won't cause any trouble."

Ratchet still looked unhappy. "At the first sign of trouble, I'm bridging you back."

She shrugged. "Fair enough. But I welcome a good distraction." She winked with a grin, feeling the ever-welcome rush of adrenalin as he found the ship's coordinates and activated the Groundbridge.

This is going to be exciting.

»«

Hey guys! Once again I apologize for the chapter and how close it is to the actual episode it's based off of. I hope you guys remain patient, because we still have quite a few mock chapters to get through before it deviates some more. I know it's a bit of a disappointment, and I feel your pain; I'm just as bored as you guys probably are, honestly.

But! I have high hopes for this book and really hope it's all worth it by the time we get to the good stuff.