She watched as the giant ship was lowered into a part of her lab. Without being buried into the ground it was even bigger than Shuri had initially thought. Easily it could fit three big families without much issue. But it was also easier to see that the ship was damaged. Some of the panels were missing completely or had jagged edges from where two parts of a panel were ripped apart from each other when the bottom of the ship's hull dragged against the ground.

Looking up at Wheeljack, she had to wonder if the alien could fix it all by themselves. Creating panels to replace those missing or smoothing out the edges to make it easier to attach the new panels to. She could offer her help after all. It would give her a good reason to see it up close without having to resort to spying through the cameras or seaking in her lab in the dead of night.

"I could help you repair your ship. Extra useful in getting in the smaller places." Shuri said. "Plus having someone else helping will make the work go faster."

"You just want to see how Jackhammer works." Wheeljack said, still watching as their ship was gently placed down.

"That's part of the reason. But I do want to know more about you and your culture. Like for instance, are you a robot? Because if you are, you're way beyond what humans have created so far."

"I'm not quite what you humans call a robot, kid. But to save you the long winded explanation, Cybertronians are made up of living metal."

"Living metal?" She questioned, trying to wrap her head around the phrase. While it would had never crossed her mind that an alien looking like a robot could be a living thing, human's could only imagine so much when creating stories about the unknown. "So on Cybertron, you have metal that you can create each other from?"

"Guess so. I'm not a medic, so I won't be able to explain it like any of them.Like I said, best explanation I can give without any confusion kid." Wheeljack said, moving towards the Jackhammer.

Shuri followed behind him. She still hadn't gotten an answer from the alien robot about them getting her help. "So would you want my help?"

"Sure. Wouldn't hurt to get Jackhammer repaired up as soon as I can. Don't want the others worrying about me." They said, checking over the damage of the hull. She took a look as well, seeing that there was more rooms to the chip besides what she saw earlier.

"Are they close by or are they still on Cybertron?" She asked. She pressed a gloved hand to the hull, noticing that it had gotten a lot cooler. At least it wouldn't burn her body that badly if she accidently fell down again.

As she climbed into the hull, checking out the inside of the ship, Wheeljack answered her. "There are a few that are on Earth, watching over you humans in case of an attack that your heroes can't deal with by themselves. But the rest are on Cybertron, rebuilding the planet and forming a new government."

"So you were returning here? To visit those who are Earth?"

"Nope. I only stayed on Cybertron long enough to help fix the giant space bridge and then left. Doesn't feel like home after the fighting and destroying the planet four million years ago."

Shuri didn't know what to say to that. Even with the brief description that Wheeljack gave about what happened on their home planet, it didn't sound all that pleasant. She knew she shouldn't push the subject getting the gut feeling that they wouldn't answer her. (Like when the doctors insist she talk about what happened, even though they lived through the Snap themselves.)

They didn't say all that much to each other after that. Instead they took in all the damage, marking down where it needed to be repaired and where things needed to be redone to fix the ship. In the back of her mind, Shuri took many notes of the ship, wanting to see if she could incorporate any of it into future designs.

It wasn't until one of the guards stationed to watch over the two of them said something about the time that she realized how much time had gone by. Looking through where the windshield use to be, she saw that it was extremely dark outside. Even more was the dinner that the kitchen staff probably sent down to make sure she ate was sitting near the ship.

Making her way through the broken windshield with a single leap, Shuri made her way towards her dinner. She could write down her notes and give her mind and body a break at the same time. With one of the chairs that were stashed in the lab, she quietly ate her dinner and made notes on her phone. Occasionally she would looked up to see Wheeljack still working on the ship.

The way they moved as they started to smooth out parts of the hull was so fluid that Shuri had no doubt in her mind that what they said to her about living metal made sense. Still she couldn't get the full in depth answer she needed to understand fully from them. She wanted to understand how Cybertronians as a species. How their bodies worked, how they were created and anything else relevant.

She wanted to know everything that appeared to be machine, but functioned in the mind like a human.

As she was about to take the last bite of her meal, Wheeljack came over to her. There was a few spots where their paint job was scratched off and a few dents that she knew was there before, but otherwise appeared to be fine. They held a cube in their hands, the top of it glowing a soft blue.

"Looks like we can get started on this after we're both done refueling. Shouldn't take us more than a few days to get her back to her old self." Wheeljack said.

"That's good news. Hopefully that'll give me enough time to start creating designs from what I've seen of the Jackhammer. You have no idea what this'll do for future technology for us humans."

"I can understand as an engineer. But you humans have come such a long way in technology since the last time I was here. Guess I understand now why Ratchet was so impressed by Raf on one of our missions."

"Raf would be a human?" Shuri questioned.

"Yeah. Knew his way around computers that left both me and Ratchet impressed a lot of the time. Good kid though. He might be around your age." Wheeljack said. They then pressed the cube to their mouth, the blue glow lighting up their face. "But I was more impressed by Miko since she could head to head with any of us. You actually remind me a bit of her actually."

Shuri looked away from the alien, suddenly feeling sad. The way that they talked about their human friends made a twisted feeling in her gut appear. She hoped that Wheeljack's friends were alive, but knowing what happened with the Snap, it was likely that the both of them were gone. "Hopefully they're still here."

"What's that supposed to mean" There was an edge to Wheeljack's voice as they said that. Like they would do anything to protect their friends from whatever Shuri might have done to them. Still Shuri knew that they would come to this topic eventually. She just wish she didn't have to give them the news that their friends might possibly be gone. Including the Cybertronians here on Earth.

"I mean they might not be alive. You don't know what happened a few weeks ago?"

"I don't, I was travelling back here. Tell me what happened?"

"There was an attack here on Earth by an alien called Thanos. My brother and the group of heroes tried to stop him. But.." She paused for a moment, wondering how she should phrase the part, "But they couldn't stop him when he had all the Infinity Stones in his hands."

"What did he do?"

Thanos caused something that we've been calling the Snap. It caused half of the universe to disappear. Just turn to dust with no way to stop it."

She looked back up Wheeljack. She saw the shock in their eyes and on their face. There was a hint of other emotions, but the shock was the one that she could see clearly. Shuri made no move to towards them. Wheeljack needed space for news that was literally Earth shattering.

She was the same when learning about what happened to T'challa. Nobody could get near for a few after knowing what happened to her brother. (Even though she was desperate for someone to hold her so close and tight that her shattered heart could piece itself back together by force.)

When they slowly sat down on the floor, she finally moved. She saw the way Wheeljack placed their hands on his face. Like they were trying to force their emotions back. Slowly and as gently as she could, she placed a hand on their leg.

When they looked through parted fingers, she gave them a soft smile. "I can look through the data base for each country to see if they're still alive. The least I can do for dropping this kind of news on you."

"You know kid," Wheeljack let out a tired sigh, "I'm sure you mean well. But I need some time to process this news. Can we just fix the Jackhammer? Please?"

"Of course. Still would you like me to look for their names during my downtime?"

"I guess. Just give me time if you do find anything that's not good?"

She gave them another soft smile. "You have my word Wheeljack."

They stayed like this for a few more minutes.Then they went back to working on the Jackhammer. Smoothing out the edges and taking down more measurements. The amount of vibranium that they would need to complete this was going to set a new record for Shuri. Though it wasn't in that much demand like before, so she doubt her mother or anyone else will scold her for it.

They continued well into the night. Until Shuri felt herself curling up in the huge chairs, her eyes feeling heavier and heavier as the minutes passed by. Silently she watched Wheeljack continued to work, wondering if they would need to sleep soon.

Still she leaned her head against the arm of the chair, the plush feeling of it being softer than any bed she had ever slept it. She was so tired by this point that she didn't notice Wheeljack placed something over her to keep her warm.

_________________________________

Well that was quite the chapter to write. Especially for dropping that kind of news on Wheeljack. I expect he wouldn't know about that kind of news since he's traveling all by himself in space and he didn't die from the Snap either. Still there's enough wiggle room for hope for Wheeljack, so don't expect the worst for Miko or Raf.

Hopefully it was a good chapter to read! :)