"God, three days on the road really puts a sore on your ass."
Jack stretched out after hopping off his trusty two wheeler, who transformed and stretched as well. "You think that's bad? Imagine how I feel." Arcee said and Jack chuckled as he dropped his arms.
The two began to walk down the road in silence, simply enjoying the peace and quiet that was occasionally interrupted by the wind howling around them.
"You know, I never thought I'd miss the arguing of Miko and Starscream this much." Jack broke the silence with a sad smile on his face. Arcee grew a faint one on her face plates as well, glad her partner was lightening the mood.
"Yea...it's pretty quiet without those two."
"You think we'll ever find our way back to them...it seems like everything is just lost at this point." Jack mumbled as he gazed into the sun slowly setting ahead of them. "There's still hope, Jack. As long as we're hidden from Unicron, there's always hop—" a ship whirred straight over their head quickly and Arcee stopped, standing in front of Jack and aiming her blasters.
"Stay behind me." She said quietly to him, but Jack was loaded up, ready to fight if he had to like Amal had taught him. They both watched the ship landed slowly, a panel at the bottom slowly coming out with a Cybertronian figure appearing.
Arcee gasped quietly while lowering her blasters. She turned to her human companion as the figure stepped off, slowly approaching them. "Like I said Jack—" Jack lowered his fists, relaxing his muscles as he saw the tension from Arcee leave her.
"—there's always hope."
She turned and motioned to the Cybertronian.
"Meet Ultra Magnus."
~
Amal stared at the computers in front of her, sliding down in the roll-y chair from the frustration she was experiencing. "Amalgamous." She sighed and pressed her fingers to her forehead while shutting her eyes.
"What, Optimus?"
"Perhaps you should sleep." The Prime suggested while appearing next to her. Amal shook her head. "I'm not sleeping until I can pinpoint everybody's location." She told Optimus.
The Autobot leader shook his head. "That would be very unwise." He told her and she sighed. "Yea, I know. I don't care though. Unicron hunting us with a pack of dogs basically. He could pinpoint us at any second, so I need to make sure I find them first before—"
Amal was cut off when the Prime swiftly picked her up sideways, turning with her and carrying her to one of the bedrooms that was in the lab. Amal was silenced out of shock for a few seconds before she relaxed, resting her head on Optimus's shoulders.
"You suck."
"I know." The Prime simply said as he entered the bedroom and set her on the bed. Amal adjusted her self so she could look up at Optimus and it wasn't till then did she realize how tired she actually was.
"Thanks Optimus mom...no, that doesn't work. Hmmm...mom-timus? No, that's shit..." Optimus smiled lightly as she though hard. "Opti-mom! That's it!" The blonde haired girl said excitedly with a giggle.
"Are you done?" The Prime asked teasingly. "Maybe for now." Amal told him before her smile faded. "Why're you doing this Optimus?"
"What do you mean?"
"Caring for me so much? It's not your job."
Optimus's smile slowly faded into a look of guilt. His mouth opened but he couldn't find the words to come out. "Because...it's what I promised." Amal's eyes widened slightly as she realized what he meant and she thought about it for a moment with a painful feeling in her.
"Goodnight, Optimus." She said simply before rolling over to face the wall on the other side. Optimus got up with a guilty feeling in his gut and walked toward the door.
"Goodnight Amal."
And he shut off the lights and closed the door behind him, leaving the girl to rest, with sniffles and muffled sobs filling the air as soon as it went quiet.
~
"Miko! No phones!"
"I'm playing a game! It's already downloaded!" The black and pink haired girl told her guardian. "Oh...sorry. Guess I'm just tense because of all of this."
"It's okay. Just don't yell at me, I'm sensitive, I'll cry Bulkhead."
The green Autobot chuckled as he continued down the road. "Yea yea, I know." He said, suddenly seeing a cave just down the road. "Hey, there's a good spot to rest for a bit." He said, going off road to get to it. "Cool. I need to stretch my legs. They're cramped." Miko said as Bulkhead drove into the cave.
The Japanese girl hopped out before Bulkhead transformed, moving his body to adjust everything. "Oh, that feels good." He said as he moved his neck cables. Miko cracked her back while swinging her legs around to get them working again.
"This cave is kinda creepy. It makes me feel like that—"
"You're not the only ones here?" A voice said from the shadows.