Issues

Darklight8121

Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be mine.

A.N. :This bunny hit with the added punch of a freight train. I thought those things couldn't get licenses. Ouch.

Wheeljack sat comfortably in his lab floor. There were examination tables, stools, chairs and other surfaces that he could sit on but the floor just seemed to help conduct his train of thought.

Mikaela was wandering around his lab freely. Examining things here, sticking her hands into that there. Hmm, she could get hurt doing that.

"Mikaela? Please do not put your hands into those devices. Some contain fluids and elements that could easily eat the flesh from your body. I do not relish the thought of explaining that to Ratchet."

Blue eyes flash from across his lab in a mock glare but the young woman listened to him. It was a miracle that she had not taken up with the medic. The girl could take apart and put mechanical things back together with ease but she had turned down the opportunity to learn full Cybertronian Medicine. Instead, she had taken a job at a motorcycle shop and tried to go back to her real life.

Unfortunately, that plan had backfired with the arrival of the Fallen and the chaos that had ensued. As Sam's spark mate she had been brought to Diego Garcia for further protection along with Sam's parents.

Yet she still turned down offers from the military to learn… Ahhhh. That was it, wasn't it? The offers were from the military and not from Ratchet. "Mikaela?" he asked quietly

"Hmmmm?" She hummed back at him. Her attention was on one of his more unstable pieces of work. Thankfully she was abiding by his 'No touching' rule.

"Why didn't you take up lessons with Ratchet or the military?" At his query she froze. Her face neutral but her heartbeat gave away her trepidation. Though not as much as it would have. Lennox must be teaching her to control her body.

"Ratchet didn't ask me." She replied stiffly. She turned fully towards him. He was sitting with one knee bent upwards and an arm resting on top of it. His other leg was bent inwards towards his body. It was such a human pose that she couldn't help but smile at him. So human-like despite his alien appearance.

Seven fingers on his right hand, six on his left. Face covered by a heavy shield mask constantly. But it didn't matter. His eyes told all she needed to know about his state of mind. She thought about the phrase 'The eyes are the windows into a person's soul.' It was true with him.

Now they were soft with a certain understanding in them. "And the military?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and turned away from him. "It doesn't feel right with me. You know since… well, you know."

And know, he did. Unsurprisingly, Ratchet had been incredibly fussy about who he had as his students and had taken time and care in who he taught. The humans, on the other hand, had simply taken their newfound knowledge and in turn taught others. Ratchet had been furious and had refused to teach anyone else when he had found out. However, the damage had already been done. Those who he had taught had been given sixty three percent of training before Ratchet and Prime had shut down the project; and (as with dealing with humans the Autobots had discovered) what they didn't know they were incredibly apt to figure out on their own.

Thankfully, Ratchet had not taught any of the humans anything to do with repairing weapons. Prime had been particularly insistent on that point. With good reason, as the 'Bots knew now.

It hadn't really been the human students fault really. When faced with a court-martial and a dishonorable discharge and possible treason, the men and women had no choice but to give up all knowledge that had been entrusted to them. The situation had put everyone in an uncomfortable position. Prime had not faulted the soldiers for following orders but had to remain firm in his reprimand. Lennox had been embarrassed and furious by the power play that had cut both himself and General Morshower out of the equation yet still put them in the path of the diplomatic disaster.

Wheeljack wondered what Mikarela thought of the military. Her words and actions spoke of disapproval but here she was, on a military base out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Surrounded by military people, protocol and everything. He also knew he would never ask.

"Wheeljack? What will you guys do about Major Lennox? He's really not going to be replaced is he?"

From what Wheeljack had learned Lennox was still in hot water for tricking Liaison Galloway out of a plane and ignoring a direct order from an official. This incident with Ratchet had simply put Lennox in further trouble and was quickly becoming obvious that he would most likely be replaced with someone more apt to following orders from outside sources.

In private, Lennox had already asked Optimus Prime if he could offer any amnesty from the Cybertronian Government if things came to a head. Prime hadn't promised anything but had stated he would do all that he could for Will Lennox.

"Major Lennox is a grown man and fully capable of caring for himself." Wheeljack started but paused. Mikaela had stiffened and turned further away from him. Possibly insulted? "But he is a very valuable asset… and a good friend. Galloway is messing with the wrong human. I can assure you of that."

Ironhide and Wheeljack had both agreed that if the Major wished it they would ensure no one would touch him until Prime had exhausted all avenues of diplomacy. Then they would badger the hell out of Prime until Lennox was claimed as one of their own. The others had agreed on this issue. William Lennox had proven his loyalty to the Autobots on more than one occasion.

With this hidden message Mikaela had turned and smiled at him in understanding. She was an observant human. Clever and sharp. Though he would have to get used to her being so… emotive? Her thought processes were tied in closely with her emotions. It was taking some getting used to but he was slowly making headway. She also had no problem explaining things to him. His questions rarely put her off.

He was fond of this little human. She was all fire and snark. A little unsure and fearful at first but she was coming along nicely. He could understand why Bumblebee was so attached to his humans and their family units.

"Hey 'Jack? I just had a thought what if we…" Mikaela interrupted his thoughts and began explaining her idea.

Later that evening, everyone heard the feminine squeal and masculine laughter that came from the beach where Sam and Mikaela had walked down to after dinner. Bumblebee had explained that Sam had wanted 'ambience' and had taken full advantage of the full moon and beaches to do so.

Wheeljack heard a groan from Ron Witwicky and an excited gasp from his wife.

"Oh! Yes! Now I have a wedding to plan!" the older woman cheered. Ron simply snorted and told his wife that the catering had best be better than the military base's food. The resulting slap had a few soldiers laughing and running at the same time.

Wheeljack and Mikaela were working in his lab once again. He had found that the mechanic was a bit of a natural at some of his work. It had been a few months since Sam's proposal and the young woman had continued her education with the inventor. Mikaela even understood some of his more complex theories. He had even begun teaching her basic field medical repairs. Nothing that she couldn't claim to have figured out on her own with her knowledge of mechanics. Normally she was brilliant in her work but today she seemed to be distracted.

This time Wheeljack was watching the young woman nervously wire the wrong parts together. Quickly before she could turn the device on, the inventor stepped up and pulled her back away from the device. The likelihood of it blowing up was not very high but given his track record he wasn't going to chance it.

"Now Mikaela, what is wrong with you today? You have been both distracted and riled. If you persist in this frame of mind then I will have to ask you to leave." The inventor joked. He was only half serious, he knew she needed her space but also knew that she needed to focus on her work.

He had begun his admonition before he had even set the young woman down. When he had finished speaking he was busily undoing her hard work. Incorrect work. But she had worked hard on it darn it!

Mikaela stood there for a few seconds watching the taller robot easily undo her work. For some reason his corrections today stung worse than usual. Indignation, anger, shame, fear, uncertainty, irritation and nervousness all collided within the brunette and the resulting headache led to her next act.

Wheeljack yelped in pain when a hammer hit his vocal indicators. Those units were multifunctional! Sensitive to heat, sound and light that served as an advanced set of 'eyes' and 'ears' as well as indicators for his speech; the units were super sensitive and that girl just hit one!

Turning he was just in time to see another tool flash before him then make contact right between his optics. He simply blinked at her, the force of her blow had nothing on Ratchet but the fact that she had hurled a weapon at him stung.

"What is wrong with me? What is wrong? Gee, I wonder. Lets see, I'm getting married in less than a week, I have to make sure my dress is fitted correctly, my bride's maids dresses are not in yet, the caterer is calling damn near daily to get that military clearance, the decorations are ugly as hell and I have to put up with it because Sam's parents are paying for them, flowers are damn near impossible to get on a remote island military base and those that can come have to be checked by customs and military officials, my guest list has been pared down to the bare minimum and I have been told I STILL have cut more people out of it and now I have a giant fucking robot telling me that if I make one more mistake I'm going to be kicked out of the one place that I am comfortable in. The one fraggin' place that I can relax and just enjoy myself and YOU decide you can't handle ME anymore? YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU CAN JUST GO AND SLAG YOURSELF! I CAN'T HANDLE YOU ANYMORE!"

With those final words Mikaela screeched and hurled a large wrench at a set of pipes running along the walls of his lab. With a BANG! it collided with one and fell to the floor. In the meantime Wheeljack had stared at the young woman as she ranted and then stalked off. Several minutes after she left he was still staring after her.

"Did I say something wrong?" he finally murmured.

Three days later Mikaela found herself wandering the base looking for her friend. Wheeljack had left her alone since her outburst and once Mikaela had a chance to cool off she realized that she had sorely abused her friend and needed to apologize.

The sun had set an hours ago and yet Mikaela found she couldn't just walk away from this. She really needed to apologize to Wheeljack. She had already visited the Autobot hanger and his lab. She had peeked into the Med-bay and subsequently been chased out by Ratchet and still hadn't found him.

Gnawing on her lower lip, Mikaela walked through the night. She knew he went on drives to clear out his processor. Only his type of driving would have him banned from normal roads. He preferred stunt driving to regular highway driving. Honestly she couldn't blame him. With his alt. form who would not want to take advantage of it?

As if he heard her thoughts, Wheeljack screeched into view. A Bugatti Veyron, black and midnight blue that Mikaela couldn't help but lust over, the mech had lucked out when he had scanned that automobile. The color didn't suit him but was gorgeous regardless.

He must have caught her on his scanners because he sat there on the deserted pavement idling quietly. The darkness had totally enveloped her but her form must have lit up his heat sensors like the fourth of July. She slowly made her way over towards him but when he charged her she froze. Racing towards her at well over a hundred miles an hour Wheeljack suddenly braked and spun sliding past by only a foot. Once behind her he dropped back out of gear and revved his engine.

Mikaela knew what this meant. It was a challenge of sorts. She wanted to talk then she would have to talk on his terms. Could she handle him? With a smile and a confident feeling Mikaela moved towards Wheeljack. He revved his engine and charged her again only to stop as fast as he started. He repeated this action until she reached him then started to jerk back away from her, refusing to let her in. Suddenly Wheeljack pulled away from her to go around the young woman. Before he was able to get past Mikaela threw all caution to the wind and jumped onto his hood and grabbed a hold.

Wheeljack revved again in warning but the young woman simply smiled and tightened her grip. He took off suddenly, accelerating sharply and Mikaela felt the rush of adrenaline and fear with the wind. Still, she held on trusting in his abilities. Just as quickly as he started he decelerated and popped open the drivers side door. Mikaela jumped off and slipped into the butter soft seats inside.

The door shut with a slam and the seatbelt clicked into place. Mikaela simply put her hands on the center console and the door handle, knowing better than to put her hands on the steering wheel. As expected Wheeljack raced forward into 140 mph before she had any time to process the move.

"I'm sorry Wheeljack. There is no excuse for the way I treated you. I'm sorry I threw that hammer at you."

The car went into a controlled tailspin that left them facing the way they had come. Gunning it again Wheeljack refused to answer. He headed towards the Autobot training grounds. Few humans could stand riding inside of an Autobot inside this course. Major Lennox and Sam were so far the only ones capable of riding with all of the Autobots and still function rationally fully and completely after completing the course. Sam didn't have the choice and Lennox loved the challenge.

Several minutes passed. As Wheeljack blasted through the obstacle course with speed and grace. Hitting insane speeds and dropping into dangerous curves with abandon. Mikaela held on and simply waited. Some time later Wheeljack stopped his insane stunt diving long enough to race through a tunnel course. The young woman took a deep breath and continued her apology.

"I may be getting married but that is no excuse for how I treated you. My actions and words were wrong. I am sorry."

With a rev of a powerful engine the Veyron slid to a stop and idled. Mikaela realized that they had completed the whole course in what was probably a record amount of time. Suddenly the car started shaking. After a few seconds Mikaela heard a strange warbling and choking sound from the engine and realized that Wheeljack was shaking with suppressed mirth. He was laughing!

With a frown Mikaela sat back in the seat and crossed her arms. "I don't see what is so funny."

With an explosion of mirth Wheeljack laughed long and loud. Finally he pulled himself together to speak. "Mikaela, I'm sorry I wasn't laughing at you. Well, I was but I wasn't… well… you see. Ah-ha, I'm not helping my case here am I?"

With a glare that had deepened with every word that he had spoken the young woman simply ground out a curt, "What do you think?"

The mech sent a gust of cool air through his vents in the approximation of a sigh. "I am sorry Mikaela. I was laughing because I had forgiven you as soon as you did it. You were-are stressed… as you proved with your words in the lab. I was also laughing because I just shattered Sideswipe's record with a human and he sent me a rather impolite message when I registered it in the training record log. Your anger is justified though."

Mikaela sat there for a few moments trying to hold onto her irritation but found that she couldn't, the emotion slipped through her fingers like water. She huffed in mock irritation and uncrossed her arms.

"So how badly did you break his record?" she asked a few moments later. With a happy rev he started his engine again and moved back towards the base all the while regaling her with tales of his driving skill. Soon the young woman was laughing again, relaxed and happy.

Looking up, Mikaela realized that he was taking her to the human barracks. "Wheeljack?"

"Yes, Mikaela?" he rumbled. The only other transformer that could do that better than him was Optimus. Wheeljack just had the deep but gentle voice for it. Ironhide just came off sounding pissed and Ratchet sounded condescending.

"I'm not really tired… can we go to your lab and work for a while. I need to wind down."

A few seconds passed before he replied. "Mikaela, you do realize that it is nearly dawn? I would not want you to lose any valuable…"

"Are you saying this outta real concern or are you just worried Ratchet will offline you when he sees me in you lab later on tomorrow? Asleep on a table covered up?" She crossed her arms again and glared at his dash. The seat beneath her vibrated. It was his way of showing irritation.

"I will have you know that I care very deeply about your health." She smiled when she caught the sound of him mumbling "And my own." But he turned around and headed towards his lab. She would be exhausted later but it would be worth it just to let go and relax. Totally worth it.

It was almost 0900 hours when the message blared across all of the Transformers open Comm.

: LEVEL FIVE EMERGENCY! ALL AUTOBOTS EMERGENCY GUARDIAN PROTOCOLS ADVI…:

Before the message had even gotten half finished every Autobot was in motion. All were racing towards the humans closest to Wheeljack's lab. Ironhide was leaping cars and planes to get to Lennox. Optimus went into a baseball slide to cover block several government officials and slammed his hand around Galloway burying his fingers knuckle deep into the earth. Skids had launched himself at Simmons and Mudflap was balled up around Leo. Bumblebee was, of course, racing away with Sam as fast as his wheels could carry him.

KABOOM!!!!

Unfortunately there weren't enough Autobots to save everyone. Many died in the first explosion. The second killed many more.

BOOM!!!

The fiery explosions had sent shrapnel and other pieces of burning materials flying through the air. Ratchet had gotten as close as possible and had been able to shield Epps and a few new recruits from the blasts. His optics however were trained on what was left of the lab. Wheeljack hadn't finished his message and there was no locator beacon signal coming from inside the accident site. Had his friend survived?

KAAAA-BOOM!!

A third explosion rocked the island. Ironhide had been the closest to the site. Now he was up and staggering towards the others, Lennox and two others in his hands. The heat and concussive forces proving to be too much for the humans. He moved towards Optimus and handed over his human charges.

Prime looked up at his Weapons Officer in slight confusion. It was very strange for Ironhide to give up his charge at a time like this.

BOOM!

Another explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Ironhide went to one knee roaring in anger. "What in the Pit is causing all of these explosions?!" No one could answer him though as most were busy ducking and dodging more fiery shrapnel.

With a roar Ironhide turned towards the inferno and raced towards it. Optimus half stood bellowing after him. "Ironhide! Stand down! Ironhide! No! Ironhide STOP!"

Ironhide ignored the orders though and continued into chaos. Soon they lost sight of the older mech. Several minutes passed and everyone waited anxiously for him to return. The human fire trucks and emergency vehicles had rushed to the scene but they could do little but insure the fire didn't spread and pull survivors out of the fall out zone. Another smaller explosion sent the humans scurrying backwards.

Suddenly they all saw Ironhide race back towards them carrying something. He had… Primus it was what was left of Wheeljack! Ratchet raced forward scanning both mechs in disbelief. Ironhide had some parts that were on fire but he was already being hosed down by the humans. Wheeljack on the other hand…

The mech was blackened, no legs and his arms mostly gone. His head was in pieces but that was no real problem. Probably the engineer had backed up his memory files and personality core recently in a drive he kept stored in his Spark chamber and as far as he could tell the chamber hadn't been breached. Stupid inventor reinforcing his Spark chamber himself! Probably saved his life on more than one occasion though…

:Jolt! If there isn't any more explosions I want your aft in the med bay now! … Belay that! I want you to go through every mech and insure they are not seriously injured. Starting with Optimus. And if he gives you any slag then I'm giving you Medical Override Code Falcon 465983-7123. Abuse it if necessary!:

:Sir, what about Ironhide?:

:Ironhide has to take what is left of that glitched up, virus infected, jury rigged, fragged up motherboard moron to the Med Bay. I can handle him. Now move!:

Ratchet was already moving towards his Med bay. Ironhide right behind him. Tuning one audio towards the mech behind him he would have smiled at all the names Ironhide was coming up for Wheeljack if his situation wasn't so dire. True, every Energon line had been cauterized by the fire but he had to be stabilized and soon.

This day just got even longer.

He had to make a decision on his actions. Many of them. Some were automatic, like the emergency comm. Others had to be activated. Backing up his memory and personality cores. Sending alerts to his nanites to relocate to his Spark Chamber for protection and to help facilitate healing around the chamber. But the main one had to do with the creature in his hands.

The organic creature had no chance of survival. If he continued to hold it then the femme would die a slower death. Certainly. Yet his processors told him of one possible way she would survive. But with an organic?

He would also be taking away everything she had if they survived. She had a Spark Mate and within solar cycles she would be going to their Bonding ceremony. He would be stealing all that from her. He could not give her the choice. He had to decide. A dangerous move that could kill them both. Better to let her die quickly than that.

He didn't want to die.

As the flames erupted around them reaching temperatures that were already impossible to gauge the femme screamed in agony. Her coverings were on fire, her hair was beginning to melt and her eyes sought his optics. Fear. She was afraid and was looking to him for comfort.

Without even realizing it he found he had disengaged the locks in his chest and was opening his Spark Chamber. He had a reinforced Spark Chamber. Hopefully, that would be enough for them both.

Darkness.

Pain fear pain burning darkness agony fear excruciating someone fear hot pain hot pain black please no hot burning hot dark throbbing dark burning fear help someone please pain no no burning HELP fear darkness agony help help HELP PLEASE HELP!

Suddenly it was gone. All of it. Where…? Did it matter? Pain was gone. No pain, no burning. Warm but comfortable. Cared for. The feeling of someone(thing?) embracing them. Caressing them. Touching intimately. All over, all around. All...inside?!? Someone was inside? How? Why? No! No! Nonononononono! Get out! No! Out! Not inside! I refuse!

Pain excruciating fear hot dark pain hot pain please no hot black burning hot throbbing burning fear NO! Please no! Help!

Reaching grasping begging screaming for that other. Make it go away. Come back. Yes. Yes. I take it back! I submit! I consent! NO! PLEASE! HELP!

Warm, gentle. Apprehension. What? No. Should not be any fear here… good here. Safe here. Submit. I submit. I won't refuse you. Don't send me back please. Anything. Safe. Tickled. Something crawling on, around, inside of. Fine. Don't care. Touch how you want. No pain here. Something cradles them again. Inside again. Resists, then relaxes. Don't care. Better here. Who with?

'Together.'

Well yes. We are together but who are you? Who…who am I?

'No matter. We are together. Always. Yes?'

If I say no I will feel pain again, right? I said no before… and was hurt.

'Cannot be together if we cannot BE together. Pain, death, darkness apart. Comfort, healing, safe together. Always. Yes?'

Yes. Always.