Sunbeam ran through the cave, careful to not solicit much attention. Eventually, she came across a room from which she heard Miko talking angrily to someone. Sunbeam took the opportunity to enter the room and slam the con's head into a wall, knocking him out.
"Miko! Are you okay?" Sunbeam questioned as she began trying to free Miko from where she was dangling from a chain.
"I'm fine. He didn't get the chance to get to the torture part before you showed up," Miko assured Sunbeam, who nodded.
"Let's get out of here," she decided aloud.
"Not so fast," a decepticon said, aiming a missile at Miko and Sunbeam from its place on his arm.
"Starscream..." Miko grumbled in annoyance. "I thought you were dead."
"Who's your new friend?" Starscream questioned with a smirk.
"Friend?" Sunbeam's eyes sparkled at the word.
"Aaand we lost her..." Miko remarked after a moment of silence as Sunbeam stared off into space with that happy glow in her eye and Starscream stood there with pure confusion written all over his face.
"No matter! Now that I've lured an Autobot here, I can get some much needed answers," Starscream proclaimed, chaining Sunbeam and Miko up while Sunbeam had been distracted.
"Well this isn't going well..." Miko complained.
"Sorry...I got distracted...but don't worry! I'll get us outta here! I won't fall for his tricks again!" Sunbeam exclaimed furiously.
"How was he tricking you just now?" Miko questioned.
"I'm back. I hope you didn't miss me too much," Starscream remarked. Sunbeam let out a laugh.
"You'd know about missin' people, wouldn't you?!" She retorted with a grin. Miko giggled.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Starscream ordered.
"Calm down, bud, we're just kiddin'," Sunbeam said with a grin.
"Are you mocking me?!" Starscream yelled before grabbing a weapon similar to a human taser and shocking Sunbeam with it. She let out a short scream before clenching her mouth shut.
"Stop it!" Miko shouted.
"What, do you want a turn?" Starscream asked, turning his attention to Miko before Sunbeam kicked him into a wall.
"Don't even think about it, creep!" Sunbeam shouted.
"Why you!" Starscream yelled, enraged. He walked over and stabbed Sunbeam in the stomach area. "You're lucky I need you both alive!"
"Why do you need us alive?" Sunbeam asked, already beaten and worn out.
"Because I need information that you are going to give me. And if you don't, I'll kill your little human pet," Starscream threatened, leaning close to Sunbeam's face, giving her the perfect opportunity to headbutt him, which she gladly took. He let out a shout of pain and knelt to the ground. Sunbeam then climbed on his back and unlatched her chains from the ceiling before grabbing a blowtorch and using it to break Miko's chains. She made sure to then lock Starscream in the interrogation room as the two began to make their escape.
"You okay, Miko?" Sunbeam asked as they reached their arrival coordinates. Miko nodded.
"I'm fine," she replied. Sunbeam smiled and placed Miko gently on the ground. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Sunbeam replied with a nod. She began to say more, but didn't get any words out before passing out.
"That doesn't seem okay to me!" Miko shouted. She dug through her pockets before finding her phone and calling Ratchet.
"Where are you?!" Ratchet questioned.
"We're at our arrival coordinates. Can you open the ground bridge and pick us up?" Miko answered. "Also, Sunbeam is unconscious."
"Are you serious?!" Ratchet shouted. The ground bridge was opened almost immediately, and Ratchet helped Sunbeam through as Miko walked through and greeted Jack and Raf on the other side.
"What happened out there?" Jack asked.
"Are you okay, Miko?" Raf wondered aloud.
"I'm fine. But we got bigger problems than that. Starscream's back!" Miko announced.
"What?!" Ratchet, Jack, and Raf all shouted in unison.
"You heard it right! He's back, and he's lookin' for revenge!" Miko exclaimed, as if this was some interesting movie or show she was watching.
"I'm sending you kids home. We'll have to deal with this tomorrow," Ratchet decided aloud. He opened the ground bridge, and the trio of kids went back home. This allowed Ratchet to have no distractions while he fixed up Sunbeam.
The next morning, the kids arrived at the base early, as it was winter break. All three were relieved that Sunbeam was okay, but she hadn't woken up yet.
"Hey! Wake up, Sunbeam! C'mon, don't be lazy! I wanna show you something!" Miko exclaimed, trying to wake the bot.
"Cut it out!" Ratchet ordered, but the damage was already done. Sunbeam awoke and immediately sat up, before yelping and holding her wound that had been patched up. "Don't try to get up just yet!"
"Well that hurt," Sunbeam deadpanned.
"Of course it did! You're supposed to rest and heal!" Ratchet shouted.
"Hey! Look at your shoulder!" Miko insisted. Sunbeam looked confused, but did as she was told. On her shoulder, she found the Autobot symbol etched into it.
"No way!" She shouted in excitement. "Does this mean I'm gonna get to stay?! Like, for real?! You're not gonna send me back after I screwed up so bad?!"
"As enjoyable as that would be, I'm afraid not," Ratchet remarked. Sunbeam looked on the verge of tears.
"Hey! What're you crying for?!" Jack questioned.
"I'm sorry...I just...I'm so happy!" Sunbeam exclaimed, bawling into her hands. "I promise, I'm gonna do everything I can to earn it!"