Starscream gave her a small chuckle. "And why would we do that?"
Sandra smirked.
"Because I know where your warship is and if someone doesn't return what belongs to me, I'll send a missile up there and blow it up." Sandra crossed her arms. "I'm sure it won't be too difficult, considering one of your people attacked a U.S. military base."
He shrugged and snatched Sandra up. "I could just kill you."
"Mmm." Sandra shook her head. "That's not a good idea, you see, I was using NASA's satellite to find this information. Once they find out I'm dead, they'll investigate the signal of my battery and find a giant warship. Your whole illegal operation would be exposed and obliterated. That's a lifetime jail sentence, buddy."
"Jail time." Starscream laughed. "That's funny. I'm just going to kill you."
"Oh, so you think you won't get jail for this?" Sandra rolled her eyes. "In that case, look forward to your ship being blown up around tomorrow morning. And no matter what kind of shields you have up, I assure you that we can break them. After all, it was the U.S. military skystrikers who destroyed Darkmount after the Autobots disabled the fusion cannons."
Starscream paused.
"Perhaps we should take this matter up to Lord Megatron." One of the vehicons suggested.
There was an explosion somewhere outside of the ship and Starscream glanced to the side. "Sounds like my predicon is tearing apart the Autobots."
He looked down at Sandra. "I wonder... Why don't I call off the beast and you call off your missiles."
"Why would I do that?"
"So your friends aren't killed." Starscream pointed out.
Sandra rolled her eyes. "They're just robots. If they built them once, I'm sure they can build them again."
Starscream blinked. "What?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Sandra glared. "I know you're stalling. You let me leave this ship with what I came for and I'll spare your warship. Do we have a deal?"
Starscream growled and tightened his grip on Sandra, making the girl gasp.
"Stop!" She hissed, scratching at his sharp fingers. "I will do it!"
"I think I overheard a conversation about your little box." Starscream said, not loosening his hold. "And I'm fairly certain Shockwave tossed it once he found out that it wasn't operational."
Sandra wheezed, her face turning red as she struggled for air.
"Commander Starscream." A vehicon spoke. "Megatron would not be pleased that you've offlined an Autobot pet he could use."
Starscream sighed. "Pity."
He tossed the human to one of the vehicons and lowered the ship's door to the ground. Sandra gasped for breath on the vehicon's palm and shakily pulled on her gloves.
Starscream looked around and grinned at the sound of battle. "No doubt my predicon is dealing with the Autobots now, per my orders. It was a challenge, but I managed to tame the savage beast."
"You're not wearing the armour to protect yourself from it?" A vehicon asked.
"From my beloved pet?" Starscream scoffed. "Of course not. In fact, it's getting rather hot in here."
He took off the armour and set it on a boulder before looking at Sandra, who was typing rapidly with her fingers on a keyboard only her glasses could see. To the Decepticons, it just looked like she was tapping her fingers on her legs.
"Tell me, human, which of the Autobots is your guardian?" Starscream demanded. "Then we'll know who to send your body off to after Lord Megatron disposes of you."
Sandra ignored him.
Starscream waited for a moment before glaring. "So?"
From behind them, Ultra Magnus's landing dock began to lift as the ship started up. Starscream whirled around in surprise.
"Who is doing that!?" He demanded, aiming his blaster at it.
A small form ran out from behind a rock and landed on the apex armour. Starscream whirled around again as it too began to shift. Miko grinned from inside of it.
"What's wrong, Screamer? Can't pick on a human your own size?" She smirked.
There was a roar from another direction and everyone turned again as the predicon emerged from the canyon. It's eyes darted around before launching itself at Miko.
She screamed and tried to run, but it quickly pounced.
The ship turned and began to fire at Starscream and the vehicons. Sandra yelped as she was dropped to the grond roughly. The ship dipped for a second before she typed faster, directing it to shoot at the cons and the predicon.
Miko stood up as the predicon grabbed the bone again and took off. She ran forward, attacking the vehicons as Ultra Magnus's ship rained fire on Starscream.
"Retreat!" Starscream screamed in panic, quickly transforming and flying away.
Miko walked over to Sandra and grinned. "We make a mean team."
Sandra huffed and sat down. "Let's avoid doing that anytime soon."
The Autobots ran over.
"They got away with the bone." Miko told them while Sandra landed Ultra Magnus's ship again.
"Hey, you brought your A game, kid." Wheeljack gave her a friendly punch to the shoulder. "Like a true Wrecker."
He smiled sadly. "And I want to remember us just like this. Before the rust sets in."
He turned away from them and transformed. Sandra stood up and frowned.
"Where is he going?" She and Miko asked at the same time.
Before Bulkhead cohld reply though, Sandra's knees buckled and she passed out.
"Sandra!?" Miko exclaimed, deactivating the armour and leaning over her worriedly.
Wheeljack heard the human and checked his mirrors, seeing his charge on the ground. Immediately, he turned back and sped up to them.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"I don't know!" Miko said, smacking the other girl to wake her up.
Wheeljack reached down and picked her up. "I'm taking the human back to base via groundbridge. I don't care if you think our energon stores are too low."
Ultra Magnus opened his mouth to respond, but Wheeljack transformed and sped off before the commander could get in a single word.
Wheeljack sent a groundbridge request to base and one opened up quickly after. He drove through.
"Wheeljack, what happened? Where are the others?" Arcee asked.
"They're taking the long way back in Magnus's ship. I'll explain later, but Sandra's hurt." Wheeljack told her.
"What?" Ratchet looked over. "What happened?"
"I said I'd explain later." Wheeljack grumbled as he handed her over.
"Looks like she had too much action and too little oxygen. She'll be fine." Ratchet said, setting her down on the couch.
"Good, because I just found another Decepticon hotspot in Taos, New Mexico." Agent Fowler walked over.
"Arcee, Wheeljack, you both take this since the others aren't back from their missions." Ratchet ordered.
"Not today, doc." Wheeljack groaned.
"You do not want me to abandon a complex equation to travel out of my comfort zone." Ratchet glared.
"Fine. Fine."
Sandra mumbled to herself in her sleep, making Jack and Raf glance at her.
"You think Miko is with Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus?" Raf asked.
"Yup."
"Makes sense." Raf returned his attention to the video game. "I was wondering what was taking so long with those sodas."
Sandra felt herself waking back up again and she struggled to stay that way. There was movement to her side and Sandra tried to look at it, but her vision was so blurry she couldn't even make out the color of the figure's hair.
"Awake again?" A male voice asked.
"Seems so." She mumbled, trying to sit up.
He stood up and helped, being careful to avoid the bandages stretching across her arm and shoulder.
"Are you the doctor?" She asked, trying to look around.
"No." He said. "My name is Leland Bishop. It was one of my company trucks that hit your car."
"Where are my parents?"
He frowned. "They're being evaluated by my top scientists. Both of them have suffered extensive brain damage. We're doing our best to help."
Sandra perked up. "This isn't a hospital?"
"You were originally in a hospital, but I brought your family here for better care." Mr. Bishop told her.
He moved the chair closer to the bed she was on and sat down. "I have a few questions. Do you remember your name?"
"Sandra Kayne." She answered immediately. "I'm eleven years old and I go to Northwood Elementary school."
Mr. Bishop smirked. "Good. You're brain is more than functional."
Sandra frowned. "Are my parents going to be okay?"
He set down his papers and sighed. "They're not in any danger of dying, but they're not likely to be the same as they used to be."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's focus on you for a minute, okay?" Mr. Bishop instructed. "Do you feel any pain?"
"No. Nor can I see anything."
Mr. Bishop nodded. "That's to be expected. Your eyes came in contact with a acidic substance."
Sandra tried to reach up and touch her face, but her right arm was being held firmly in place. So she reached up with her left hand, but her face was covered in bandages.
Her hand was pushed down gently. "There will be scaring, but with proper glasses, I'm sure we can give you sight again."
"We can't afford any of that." Sandra told him.
"That's fine. We've got it covered." He told her.
Sandra tried her hardest to glare. "You'll put my parents in debt, we can't-"
"My men were responsible for the wreck." Mr. Bishop interrupted. "So we're covering all costs and procedures, including the replacement of your spine."
"You replaced my spine!?" Sandra exclaimed quietly.
"You would have died if we didn't. Your injuries are far worse than your parents, but unlike them, we hope you'll make a full recovery." He told her.
"What did you mean that they weren't going to be the same?" Sandra asked.
Mr. Bishop sighed. "Do you know what the hippocampus is?"
"The part of the brain that stores memories." She answered.
"Yes, and the hippocampus of both of your parents were injured. They're not going to have an easy time learning new things or remembering new memories." He explained.
"They'll be stuck in the past."