Obviously I still do not own anything other than my own characters.

0o0o0o0

It was easy to forget how fragile humans were. Emily, of course, was not an accurate representation of humans on average, she was slowly becoming a strange compromise between Cybertronian and human. Optimus was frustrated, not that he would ever show it, how much we were influencing humans in general. Now there was this small human that could petition for Cybertronian status if she really wanted to, it was an interesting concept.

It was this resourceful girl's reflexes that saved him from serious injury, she blasted what was-is?-Jazz, causing the shot to go wild and rip a hole in the plane. The air pressure sucked most of the humans out of the plane. Several smashed into the ragged edges with a crack of bone and a spray of arterial blood, injuries that Ratchet knew would most likely be fatal. Emily had managed to anchor herself as best she could with the little energy she still possessed, with her typical determination. Prowl and Sunstreaker transformed as carefully as they could to try and restrain Jazz but still ripped into the plane. Emily was jolted and flung out the plane, Prowl lunged to try and catch her, but she was gone. Ratchet's spark stuttered and hoped she could figure out how to work a parachute.

Sunstreaker had succeeded in tackling Jazz, so well in fact he tackled them right through what was left of the plane. Ratchet snarled and braced himself as Prowl moved to the cockpit to retrieve the pilots. He had just grabbed them when the plane finally folded itself and ripped apart. Ratchet flung a hand out and gripped onto the tactician's door wing as they flung themselves out of the plane nanoseconds before it crushed like a tin can.

It was lucky that they had been descending already or they may have incurred some injuries on their part. They both tucked and rolled, Prowl keeping the human pilots tight against his body to minimize damage. Ratchet could feel support struts strain against the force of their landing.

"Report," Prowl ordered the moment he was able to.

"I have no idea," he admitted uneasily, "Other than Sunstreaker has engaged Jazz, I do not know." He took the moment to check the comm. line only to find that Sunstreaker had disconnected it. Or is ignoring it. "Sunstreaker is not responding, most likely he is ignoring me."

Visions of bashing in the helm of the overgrown, yellow tin can danced at the edge of his thoughts while he listened and scanned the two soldiers they had saved. One had a broken arm and some other minor injuries that could wait, the other was worse off and had suffered a concussion as well as various broken bones. Still, it was survivable provided they reach civilization. "We can't drive as well in this sand, neither of us are built for it, which means the going will be slow until we can find a road. Riyadh is our best bet, but that still doesn't help us find Sunstreaker or the rest of the survivors."

"Sunstreaker is approximately 13.752 kilometres southeast of our current position. Once we confirm his location I can narrow down where the surviving human team may have landed." Ratchet could almost hear Prowl's processor working as he examined and ran scenarios and equations. He had known the tactician for far too long to doubt him now.

"You start off, I'll treat lieutenants Tyren and Forester and catch up with you."

Prowl nodded, "Very well, keep your comm. line open. We are not on friendly ground."

Ratchet nodded and turned to the injured pair, "Get going and find those scrap heads."

0o0o0o0

"Sunstreaker, stop it!" I shrieked as I was nearly dislodged while he attempted to literally disarm Not-Jazz, "We need a plan!"

"There is a-" he broke off with a grunt as Not-Jazz landed a solid kick that would have crushed rock on Sunny's knee, "-plan! Rip his fracking limbs off!" A twisted, feral grin was plastered on his face.

Um. Wow. Okay then you psychopath. Christ, where was 'Sides when you needed him to control his brother. "Yeah, I was gonna go for something a little more concrete. Seeing as if Jazz isn't in his body, he may be in someone else's. Therefore it would be more prudent of us to incapacitate him and for you to answer your fucking comm.!"

Sunstreaker exchanged a flurry of blows resulting in scratched paint, dented metal, and a splash of energon before he danced back out of reach.

"Primus, you sound more like Prowl every fragging time you open your mouth!"

"Thanks."

"Not a compliment. Now shut it!" He wrenched to the side and I lost my grip. I cursed with unsurprising vigour in English before moving on to French and the few Cybertronian curses I knew.

"You piece of fucking SHIT!" I howled and scrambled at the cords still attaching me to the yellow moron. I managed to grip onto them and twist around, planting my feet on Sunstreaker's back. Before I could be flung off again, I scrambled up his back to the plates that had the parachute stuck. I was hoping for a quick easy solution but no such luck, in fact, I probably would need a saw to get myself out at this point.

Or… I could just take the parachute off.

"Gah! I am so fucking dumb!" I snarled and struggled to detach the parachute from my body without falling or being swung around while Sunny beat the snot out of Not-Jazz. Suddenly I felt Sunstreaker crash into Not-Jazz and instead of trying to restrain him, the brilliant banana decided to flip the smaller mech over him. Normally this would be fucking cool and I would be so down to watch and enjoy the experience if I wasn't attached to the idiot. I could guess that Sunny had planned on pinning the mech, tragically Not-Jazz managed to plant himself and twist the dynamic, dysfunctional duo of Sunstreaker and Emily Fortis, flipping us in a very similar fashion.

"Jesus fuck," I gasped at a. The g-force, wow that was one head rush, full respect to astronauts man, and b. The truly amazing view of the ground flying past, and c. The very real possibility that Sunstreaker was probably going to squish me on impact. I heard said yellow twin curse and just moved his body. It was like watching water ripple, plates and metal shifting as quickly as possibly to swing his entire body around and plant his feet firmly in the sand. He then spun, and wasn't that just a joy, and kicked Not-Jazz back with a sinking squeal-thud of metal connecting, knocking the other 'Bot back a few steps. I promptly was yanked back, smacking into the mech's backplating.

Closing my eyes against the spinning, and the very real possibility that I might just puke on Sunstreaker, and wouldn't that be the icing on the cake for today. Not to mention it would herald a very swift and painful death via said vain Bot. Trying desperately to ignore the wild swinging I was currently undergoing I managed to restrain from clinging to Sunny, I had the sneaking suspicion that if I tried it would result in me losing she fingers or even an arm at the speed his plates and wires were shifting. I struggled to release the clasps on my parachute- and to think I actually thought there might not be enough!-before giving up and heating my hand up as hot as I could stand. Carefully I started to burn through the military-grade material, only it was a tad difficult to do while being swung around. Thankfully, Not-Jazz couldn't properly control the body and couldn't seem to be able to use most of his weapons, restricting the fight to hand to hand, for the most part. Unfortunately that included ducking, which resulting in my hand slipping and me-accidently I fucking swear-burning Sunstreaker.

"Frag you to the Pit!" He hissed through grit teeth and knocked Not-Jazz back a bit.

"Sorry, sorry!" I lamented and returned to the parachute. I was turning it to a disgusting goopy mess that smelled God-awful. Thankfully it took only a few seconds more till I could tear through it. Finally free, I grabbed and tightened my one handed grip on Sunstreaker as Not-Jazz launched himself back at the yellow front-liner. I hauled myself up onto Sunstreaker's shoulder, narrowly avoiding losing a hand between shifting metal as Sunny pushed Not-Jazz back a step. We had to immobilize him somehow, like-

The brilliant answer hit me like a freight train and with a grin I yelled at the yellow 'Bot, "Sunny! Remember when you tried to squish me?"

He grabbed Not-Jazz's shoulder and let out a very eloquent grunt which roughly translated into: But of course my dear girl. I do in fact recall when I rudely attempted to extinguish your very tiny little spark.

Give or take a dozen words. And most likely cursing about the nickname.

"Time for take two!" I cheered and ran down his arm as fast as I could to avoid falling. Thankfully both Not-Jazz and Sunstreaker were so surprised they froze for a second which was all I needed to get safely to Not-Jazz's shoulder. I let energy build up in my hand and as soon as I was close enough, I slammed it about where a temple might be on a Cybertronian, flooding his systems with foreign energy which reacted in a very similar way that Sunstreaker's had. Mainly with them overriding the systems and causing them to briefly shut down all non-essential functions for protection. Not-Jazz snarled in Cybertronian as he convulsed violently and collapsed into the sand taking me with him.

Yelping slightly I jumped off at the last moment and rolled how Michael had showed me in practice to avoid breaking anything. I slowly picked myself up from the sand and turned to face Sunstreaker.

"Winner! FATALITY!" I shouted and flung my arms up, ignoring the sharp twinge in my shoulder, ribs, arms, and body in general gave, "And now it's time for a nap."

Sunstreaker twitched, "I will never understand you apes."

"Homo sapiens sapiens Sunny dear. We're all evolved and shit."

"And yet." He snarked before giving a parting kick to Not-Jazz. "And don't slaggin' call me Sunny!"

Sighing, I let my hands fall and ignored his bitching, "Did you answer Ratchet yet?"

"How do you know it was Ratchet?" He asked, "Actually, how did you know anyone was contacting me?"

"Uh... Not sure actually? A good guess? Fuck if I know half the shit I do. As for it being Ratchet," I rolled my eyes, "I may be dumb but I am not stupid. Prowl has far too much dirt on you to ignore him, plus he could just throw you in the brig for the next month if you really pissed him off. The Hatchet on the other hand is simply a daily occurrence for you."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm gonna see if I can contact Prime. He should know about all… This."

"It's not my fault! It was an accident!"

"I didn't say it was!"

"You implied it!" I protested, "I didn't mean to!"

His engine revved as he snarled, "No one ever means to! You think Megatron meant to destroy Cybertron? He originally was fighting for equality between castes for fucks sake!"

The use of the human cursing was the largest sign here, one I promptly tried to ignore, "But I could-"

I watched him go icy cold, "No. Stop helping. You don't know what you're doing and you can't even control any of… It."

I hunched down and shoved my hands into my NEST jacket, "…sorry."

He vented sharply, opening and closing his mouth before gritting his teeth and turning his attention to contacting Optimus. I was beyond pissed and more then a little hurt and yet... I extended my energy-EM field thing and could vaguely feel frustration and a very faint apology in his EM field, which he promptly drew in with a glare.

I slowly sat down, trying to make it as quiet as possible so he wouldn't look down at me. The shorter front strands of hair I had had escaped my braid during this whole mess and were sticking to my face. Cringing at the feeling of being caked in sweat and dirt and sand, I carefully tucked them behind an ear before turning my attention to Not-Jazz.

It was an interesting situation, a soul- or spark in this case –being stuck in the wrong body. I sighed, Michael would have launched into a philosophical rant about the mere existence of souls. Trying to banish lieutenant Davies from my mind, I focused more on the mech in front of me. Closing my eyes, I extended my energy outwards and tuned it as best I could to pick up any spark signatures. Expanding my sight was becoming second nature now, after the coffee pot incident I had worked on it till I could properly scan things around me. Not like any of the Autobots could, and especially not like Ratchet, but it let me see things, and through things if required. I could see Sunstreaker the easiest because he was right in beside me and I was somewhat familiar with his spark. Surprisingly, I could see Prowl's not far and moving closer, he probably had calculated where Sunstreaker had fallen and was going from there. I could vaguely sense Ratchet but he was fuzzy, I was more familiar with Prowl's so I could 'see' his better? I guess?

Focus Fortis, I grumbled at myself and turned my energy back to Not-Jazz. His spark was abrasive and had a clear allegiance, Decepticon then, I catalogued. What I could not figure out was the strange links he seemed to have.

To clear this up: all Cybertronian's have very faint spark links to each other with varying intensities. Even I have a few myself, but they were very very faint in comparison to others. Mainly that is due to age and time spent with each person. Friend and comrade links are common and can be as weak as mine or as strong as a bondmates. Which is a whole 'nother can of worms of complicated that I actually know nothing about. Apparently it's strong and private and shit.

This was different. It was like he only had part of a spark, which still isn't right. He had a whole spark, but it was so entwined with the others it was basically only a part.

I dug a little deeper, looking for a name and trying not to pry too too deeply. I had just grasped a name when he flung an arm out at me, freaking me right out since I was pretty sure I just dropped the guy like a sack of rocks.

"Get. Out!" He roared as I did an awkward crab walk scramble backwards while Sunstreaker pounced back on the mech.

"I apologise, however it was necessary," I explained to the mech before turning to Sunny, "His name is Brawl. If that means anything to you. I'm useless remember."

The Lamborghini twitched, "Yeah. I guess it does."

The mech-Brawl-snarled in Cybertronian, and from what little I knew was not kind. Sunstreaker responded by first punching him in the face before lifting and slamming Brawl back into the ground and growling back.

The clicking chirrups were completely above my level, the whole language was fucked anyways. The smaller silver mech bucked trying to dislodge the larger mech, the frontliner refused to budge and pinned Brawl firmly to the ground despite the shifting sand. I stood up and slowly moved closer while pushing more escaped strands of hair out of my face. Seriously. I tie it back for one reason: to keep that shit out of my face. And what do I get? Hair. In my face. Constantly.

What a royal piss-off.

I made sure to stay out of reach of the Decepticon and moved around to put Sunstreaker between myself and the other mech. Said yellow Autobot felt the need to smack Brawl around.

"Cut it out. It's not his body anyways."

"Mute it kid," came the expected sour reply.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah great, except, I happen to know for a fact that Ratchet will lose his mind when he has to repair Jazz again because you smacked around the wrong body."

He gave me a deadpan stare and snorted, "Ratchet smacks us all around on a regular basis."

"Yeah but that's Ratchet. He's allowed. Hell, he smacks Optimus around just because. You," I pointed at the moronic lemon, "will get your ass handed to you."

The look he gave me was cold enough to give the sun frostbite. "Go suck on an exhaust pipe."

My nose crinkled at the look of disgust I gave him before harrumphing and peeling off my NEST jacket. Fucking hell it was hot out here. Speaking of, "Where are we?"

"Saudi Arabia."

"Oh. That's hot. Ha! Get it? Hot? It's hot outside?" I cackled.

Sunstreaker refused to deign that comment with a response.

I snickered a little longer before it sunk in, "Wait. Saudi Arabia? Are you serious?"

"If only I wasn't. Do you have any idea what all this fragging sand is going to do to my paint job?" Sunstreaker growled. Both Brawl and I rolled our eyes.

"Yeah but that's not what I'm getting at. Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East right by Egypt. Remember who else was last seen in Egypt? Only Megatron and Starscream along the supporters they had at the time. And now we are to. Except with less support 'cause everyone else is on the other side of the world. Away from us. As in not here. Except for Ratchet and Prowl. And possibly some of the squad that survived, if they survived, I'm a little more durable and all and-"

"Would you just mute it! Primus, you never shut up."

I frowned slightly up at him, "But-"

"No."

I opened my mouth.

"I said no!" he snapped.

I inhaled.

"What did I say!"

"I haven't said anything, for fucks sake, Sunstreaker!"

"Good, now don't."

"But I-"

"Vector Sigma! I said to shut the frag up!"

I positively fumed with all the rage of an active volcano, and promptly remembered I wasn't talking to the fucking yellow idiot anyways. Fuck him. Fuck him, fuck this, and just fuck it all in general.

"Don't know what I'm doing," I grumbled, "I'll show him, I'll short out his circuitry out of spite the prick."

Sunstreaker vented harshly, spraying me with sand in the process, which was a dick move I might add. "Just can it squishie."

I flipped him off and draped my jacket over my head to try and keep the wicked burn I could feel at bay. I took a deep breath, held it, and slowly released. The only reason I was offended and angry was because he was right. Completely true, I should not be involved in a now intergalactic war, let alone trying to help and "contribute. I am only a human, a barely legal human at that, I shouldn't be messing around with this shit. It was dangerous, I could hurt someone or I could get hurt. Which was significantly lower on my list then it should be now that I think on it. Then again, Lennox is absolute shit at it anyways. He is constantly giving 'Hide a conniption with his disregard for his own safety.

Sighing I sat down in the sand, Sunstreaker's shadow was a little too close to an annoyed Decepticon for me to justify its benefits, and waited.

And then burst out laughing.

"Primus and all his acolytes, what now!"

"I actually, for real, almost said 'at least it can't get any worse!'" I damn near howled with mirth, "Can you believe that!? I almost said that out loud! Fuck me sideways!"

Sunstreaker turned his attention back to the mech under him but let out a small huff of laughter and smirked a little bit.