Watch Out for the Quiet Ones

Chapter 3

Breakshift stood at the computers, monitoring Bulkhead and Bumblebee's conditions, since they had just returned from their arctic expedition. She ignored the small banter between Bulkhead and Ratchet as she turned to face them, scanning the two to check the defrost process, nodding in satisfaction before turning her attention back to the screen.

A few minutes later Optimus orders Ratchet to open the groundbridge and as the medic pulls the lever, Optimus turns to face them, Arcee by his side, "Arcee and I will will return back to the arctic to seek the origins of our find." Optimus said and Ratchet picked up a data-pad, turning to face the two, "Only until your sensors sound. When you guys are ready, I'll give Breakshift the order to open a ground bridge. And, once your temperature drops below a certain point, system failures aren't likely--" He scanned the two, "They're imminent."

Hearing the roar of an engine, she turned slightly to see Bulkhead and Bumblebee arrive, letting out the humans. Ratchet groaned and turned to face Optimus, "Shouldn't they be in school?" The medic asked, his mood having gone sour and Miko smirked, "School? On a Saturday?" She began to walk past Ratchet and pointed up to him, "We have the whole weekend to spend with you." 

Breakshift lets out an inaudible sigh and she couldn't help but smile when Optimus said he'd bring Raf a snowball to make the boy happy. She shifted her gaze to the other two humans, Jack was playing a video game with Bumblebee while the girl just kicked out with her legs, letting out annoying sighs to display her boredom.

Venting softly, Breakshift deployed her creation to entertain Miko, who giggled as the little robotic bird flew around her head, letting out loud caws. ..:: Ejocx, please entertain Miko. I don't know how much of her I can tolerate today. ::.. The femme ordered her companion, who chirped and carried out her Master's orders. With a shake of her helm, she turned her attention back to the large screen in front of her, tapping away as Optimus and Arcee walked into the ground bridge. 

Breakshift jerks her servos away as the screen fades and alarms spring up in her processor as the ground bridge malfunctions. The irritated femme let out an inaudible hiss of frustration. Could things get any worse? She glanced at Ratchet, who appeared to be just as frustrated as she was, "Bulkhead! Bumblebee!" The red mech called to the other two remaining autobots, who slowly walked over.

The femme continued to tap away, trying to find out what was wrong with the system and she shakes her head, turning to Ratchet who sensed her frustration. "I don't know what's going on, Breakshift. Why don't you go entertain the humans, Raf is looking a little down." The two looked at Raf, who sat beside his older peers, head down with a sad look on his face before he walked away from the other two.  Breakshift watched the boy genius walk away before she vented softly.

Breakshift then nodded, calling for Ejocx to come back as she follows the small human. Upon hearing approaching footsteps, the boy looked up to see the visor of Breakshift looking down at him, "Oh, hey, Breakshift." The boy said, looking up at the femme with a small smile and the femme nodded, a smiley face popping up on her visor, making the small boy laugh.

"Could you do something for me?" The boy questioned and she nodded, "Could you pretend we're in the arctic? With the snow about to knock us over?" The boy asked and she thought it over before nodding again and the boy smiled, showing her the correct position to be in and they both took slow steps, "Temperatures sub-zero and dropping.." Raf imitates wind blowing, the two taking slow steps forward, "Got to get back to base." The boy said in a strained voice. 

Both of them froze hearing a loud 'clang' a few feet away and the two looked around, "Hello?" Raf called out and both of them looked up and Breakshift's energon ran cold. She shuddered as she stared at the tiny scraplet and slowly stepped back from it. Her sensors were on high alert, trying to determine the location of the other scraplets. She doubted the little pest was alone.

..:: Houston, we have a problem. ::.. Breakshift commed the mechs in the main room. ..:: What's wrong, Breakshift? ::.. Ratchet responded to the femme, after listening to the recording. ..:: Scraplets. ::.. The femme replied as Raf backed up against her pede. The scraplet skittered closer to the two, its optics on Raf who chuckled nervously, "Where did you come from?" 

The scraplet just moved closer and Raf stood up, letting out a laugh, "The Autobots never said anything about pets." Raf said and he glanced up at Breakshift, who frantically shook her helm at Raf. The scraplet's optics snapped toward her and the femme froze. Raf seemed to take no notice of the femme's plight and pulled out a piece of metal, which got the little pest's attention. The scraplet ran in a circle before stopping patiently in front of the boy, who then threw it.

Raf looked up at the frightened femme who stared at the Scraplet. He then looked horrified when the scraplet practically devoured the tiny piece of metal. "Oh god, oh no." Raf said as the scraplet turned its attention back to Breakshift, who seemed to snap out of it she saw the scraplet skitter closer to her and Raf picked up the little creature, "No, that's not food!" The boy exclaimed, clutching onto the scraplet to keep it from going after the normally calm and collected femme.

Raf then began to walk away to the main hangar as the scraplet's jaws were still whirring with life, staring dead on at Breakshift. The femme wisely kept her distance.

"Oh, we most definitely have a problem." She heard Ratchet say as they got closer to the main room. She shook her head as Ratchet explained why Scraplets were a danger to them then the scraplet started attacking and she sent her tentacles towards the little critter to shock it as Bumblebee tried to get it off of himself. 

The Autobots watched in shock as they watched Raf beat the thing to death and the others walked off after Bumblebee was scanned by his worried younger sister and their medic. Ratchet then tried to com Optimus after the sensors went off, but they didn't respond and Ratchet said he needed to repair the ground bridge before Optimus and Arcee perish.

After everyone paired off, it left Ratchet, Jack and Breakshift in the main room. "How's it going over there?" Jack asked after several minutes as Ratchet finished repairing the damaged conductors, "I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits but the ground bridge still won't receive power!" Ratchet said, his frustration with situation showing as Breakshift scanned the area. 

Her sensors soon went haywire and she froze, hearing clinking and she saw scraplets coming towards them. The femme tried to smack the little creatures away as she felt them dig into her armor, the femme holding up her reinforced armatures to keep them from reaching her chassis, or her helm. She waved her armatures frantically to get the pests off of them when they began to devour the meshing.

Jack started to use the fire extinguisher to deal with the pests, while Miko and Raf used some different objects as weapons to beat the scraplets. It took a good while till all the scraplets were down and out. Breakshift's helm laid back against the ground, her armature raised up and over her visor so her hidden orbs could take in the damage.

An inaudible groan came from the femme as she let her arm drop to her side, startling Bumblebee, who looked at her with worry. The extra armor she had yet to discard had been mostly devoured by the scraplets. The femme supposed she should thank them for that, she was looking to make her frame slimmer anyways. Her gladiator days were long gone, and she didn't feel as if she'd be leaving the base as much. Regardless, she'd rather have the choice to downgrade her armor on her own time. Not during an invasion of pests.

Breakshift's visor soon went offline after Bulkhead ran into the ground bridge, luring the scraplets away. Ratchet placed his arm over the two fallen bots who had gone unconscious. Once everyone was back through, Ratchet had the humans check over Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Breakshift, only Ratchet and Bulkhead remained awake. "Report Bio-circuitry status." Ratchet looked at Jack, who gave the medic a thumbs-up, "Levels are rising." 

After checking over the others, they gave a thumbs-up to the medic who leaned back against the wall. A scream was heard and everyone looked at Miko who started dancing around, thinking she had a spider on her.

"Did you just scream like a little girl?"

Word Count: 1499

Chapter 4, rewrite/edit in progress.