"Alright then. Let's roll out!" she said as she transformed and started out.

I mentally facepalmed as I followed. It hurt a little to transform but it was so worth it. We were out searching the town for a few megacycles.

"Blue, did find anything-" Arcee was cut off by another voice.

"Arcee, it's you!" a girl with orange hair exclaimed as she ran up to us.

"Claire! I thought you were working," Arcee said excitedly.

"I got off early. What brings you out here? This a friend of yours?" the girl asked with a smile, turning to me.

I stayed still and silent, not exactly sure how to handle this. I didn't know if the girl knew about us being Cybertronians or if she just knew Arcee's holoform. Arcee laughed nervously and turned to me.

"Yeah, uh...she's kinda more like my sister. Blue, meet Claire and Claire, meet Blue!"

I smiled to myself. The orange haired girl smiled and waved.

"Nice to meet you, Blue!" she said.
"Likewise, Claire," I replied.
"So what brings you out here?" she asked Arcee.

"Oh, um, we're tracking down a small police looking car," Arcee replied.

Claire pointed down the alley.

"A few cars pulled it over a few minutes ago, took it off down that alleyway," she answered.

"Alright, thanks Claire!" my friend said.

"So when are you going to tell me what you really are?" Claire asked with a smirk.

"Someday, Claire, if you get on my good side," Arcee replied with a laugh.

"Alright then, you big nerd. I'll see you later. It was nice meeting you, Blue!" she said, waving at us as she walked away.

Arcee transformed and looked down the alley. I did the same.

"Blue, keep your guard up just in case. I don't like the look of this," she said.

"Right," I agreed.

We slowly walked around.
Suddenly, I heard Arcee yell "BLUE, LOOK OU-"

I turned around and saw her pinned by a web against the wall. I immediately took out my swords and ran over.

"BLUE NO!" Arcee exclaimed.

I stopped and before I could ask what was wrong, a web came flying at me and pinned me to the ground. Soldiers dressed in black surrounded us.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we caught a nice catch today, boys," someone said.

"Silas, what did you do to Strongarm?" Arcee growled.

"Same thing I'm going to do with you," he replied with a smirk, looking back and forth between us.

Scrap. If only I could alert base.

"You're gonna regret this! The others will come and then we'll kick your aft!" I yelled at him.

"So you needed her help again, huh?" Arcee asked.

The Silas guy walked between Arcee and me. He pulled out a small remote and a weird crystal.

"No. After years of study and engineering, we managed to craft our own webs. We also added a few extra features," he replied before pressing a button on the remote.

A painful shock of electricity came from the web. I closed my optics and cringed at the pain. I was sure I would pass out since I still wasn't fully healed from my last battle with StarScream.

"Blue, where are you?" I heard Optimus ask over the comm.

The electricity stopped and I managed to wiggle my arm free just enough to comm him back.

"I'm...in an alley..." I replied before another shock of electricity jolted through my body.

When I heard fighting and the electricity stopped, I opened my optics. Optimus fought Silas until they retreated. I was too weak to even try to cut myself loose, let alone try to grab my swords. I glanced over at Arcee and saw that her optics were dark.

No...
My sparkmate cut me free and helped me stand.
"Are you alright?" he asked, holding me close.

I could only nod as I wrapped my arms around him and hid my face in his neck. My chest was hurting again, which was part of the reason why I didn't want to talk.

"Don't worry, I'm here," he said as I felt him move, probably to cut Arcee down.

I can't believe she's gone, just like that. I never would've expected a bot like her to go out not fighting.

I couldn't stop thinking about my lost friend...my sister. I struggled to hold back tears. Optimus held me even closer.

"It's okay. It'll be okay," he told me.

I took a deep, shaky breath and looked up. Behind my sparkmate, I saw another tiny bot. I let go and walked over to it. I picked the bot up and realized it was Strongarm. Her optics were dark as well.

Not her too.

I lowered my head and closed my optics. I felt somebot rub my back gently. I knew it was Optimus.

"I couldn't save them," I whispered.

"I know, but things will work out in the end like they always do and remember they will always be in our sparks," he told me.

Yeah but it's my fault. If I stopped to think before immediately going to free Arcee, then she might still be alive. I sighed.

Optimus looked at me in the optics.

"Don't do this, not this time. I know you are blaming yourself, so stop. Do you really think Arcee would let you blame yourself for her death?" he asked.

"No. Knowing her, she'd blame the guy that killed her," I replied with a small chuckle.

"It's just...hard whenever we lose one of our own. It seems like there's always one or more bots that are killed every year. I know it's the price of the war, but it sure is a million times harder when you're there and you know you should've done something different," I added as a few tears ran down my face.

"I know, trust me, but we can't go regretting what we have or have not done. We have to keep going, make the best of what we have before it's gone. How else are we to survive this war?" he told me.

"I know, you're right," I said softly.
He held me and let me cry a little longer.

"We should get back and have Ratchet make sure you're okay," he suggested quietly, looking at me.

I wiped my optics and nodded. He commed base for a ground bridge. We went through and I saw the others in the main room. Bee was playing with Bolt and Star was holding Cascade. Delirium was looking around like he lost something.

"Hey Blue, have you seen Arcee? I need to talk to her," he said as he came up to me.

I sighed and looked at him sadly.
"Blue, what's wrong? You okay?" he asked.
I closed my optics and looked away.

"She needs to get to the medbay," I heard Optimus reply.

"No...no, I'm...fine. I'm just...worn out," I managed to speak up.

"You also were just in a battle and still weak from what Starscream did to you. You need to go to the medbay," he said.

"Listen to him, Blue!" Star commanded from the couch.

Two against one? No fair.
I gave them a small smile.
"Fine, just for...a little," I said.

Optimus smiled back and led me to the medbay. When I got there, I coughed a little. He helped me on the bed.

"Ratchet, you have to help her," Optimus said before turning to me.

"I'll be right back, okay?" he commented.

I nodded before coughing again. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling so good.

"Yeehaw!" I heard someone exclaim.

I looked down at the ground and saw Natalie riding a cyber tarantula again. I chuckled as I watched them climb up the wall and onto the counter.

"Hey, Blue!" Nat greeted.
"Hi, Nat," I said back before coughing again.
"You don't sound too good," she mentioned.
"Yeah...I don't feel very...good either," I told her.

Ratchet came in and started running tests on me. Star came in a little while later. She sat at her desk and did stuff. After a few minutes, she turned to us.

"Where did the...um, spider come from?" she asked.

"I found him and decided to tame him. His name is Peter," Nat replied proudly, making me chuckle.

"Ah, okay. Just don't let it come near my work," Star said.

That was when Optimus returned.

"Hey Star, aren't you afraid of spiders?" he asked with a smirk.

"N-no, I just find them appalling," she replied.

He smirked and whispered something to Natalie, who smirked in return. I smiled and rolled my optics. Optimus nodded his head towards his sister before coming over to me. He held my hand.

"I love you," he said, kissing my hand.

"I...love you too," I said, managing a small smile after I coughed.

Man I feel like scrap.
"You're going to be okay," he told me.

"I know. You would get into a lot of trouble without me," I said with a smirk as I squeezed his hand gently.

I sure don't feel like I'm going to be okay, though.
He nodded.

"More trouble than I'm sure you could imagine," he said.

I chuckled softly before coughing again. He held my hand a little tighter.

"Good news. It's just a simple sickness, nothing major. You just need to rest, Blue. I've already started you on the necessary medication," Ratchet said as he came over.

I gave him a small smile.
If only Arcee was still here.

When Ratchet left, Optimus picked me up and carried me to our room. He set me down on the bed.

"Tell me if you need anything, okay?" he asked.

It would be great if you could bring Arcee and Strongarm back.

I nodded as I coughed again.

"I know you want them back. We all do but we have to focus on the present and the future. Arcee wouldn't want us to dwell on her death for too long," he said.

I nodded with a yawn and wrapped him in a hug. He held me as I closed my optics.

"Sleep well, beautiful," I heard him say.
I coughed softly one last time before falling asleep.

***Time Skip to morning brought to you by coughs***

I woke up the next morning feeling worse. However, I still got up. I went outside and climbed up to the top of the mountain. I sat down and watched the sunrise, even though my whole body ached. The cool air felt nice and started to help me relax after a bit. Suddenly I heard the alarms going off.

Well scrap.

I quickly climbed back down, almost falling in the process. I ran to the computers and checked the data. Optimus came over. I saw that Star had sent out an emergency distress signal. My sparkmate mobilized the others. I went as well. When we got to the location, I saw Megatron flying off with a Cyber Planet Key. The D-Cons started to surround us. I noticed Star standing up. I transformed and took out my swords as I coughed little.

I just had to get sick now.

After I fought off a few Cons before StarScream came over to me. I coughed again.

"Aw, are you sick, darling?" he asked with a smirk.
I glared at him.

"I'm not in the mood for any of your scrap today, bit brain, so let's get this over with quickly," I snapped at him.

I glanced over at Star and saw that she was passed out.

Slag. That's not good.

Starscream was actually smart for once and threw his sword into my shoulder. I staggered back. Optimus then came over.

"Have some respect," he said before stabbing StarScream, who grunted then retreated.

"I had him on the ropes," I told him with a small half smile.

He smiled back a little.

"I know but can't I protect you every once in awhile?" he asked as the Cons started to leave.

I was about to reply when I heard another blaster shot. I looked over to my right and saw a bot standing over a Decepticon. I stood up, slightly wincing from the pain. I walked over and greeted the new bot.

"Hey, I'm BlueStreak," I said with a small smile.
"Paradox," the blue and black bot replied.
I noticed she had teal optics.

"Nice to meet you. Would you like to come back to base with us?" I asked.

"Sure, but you know you're hurt," she replied after a moment.

I chuckled.
"Yeah, it happens a lot," I mentioned.

Paradox took out her med kit and fixed me up quickly. We walked back to the others. I saw Optimus hand Star over to Ratchet. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, temporarily blinding me. When I could see again, I turned around and saw two more bots. I walked over to them and recognized an old friend.

"Red Alert! What brings you here?" I asked.
"Flamesight and I came with a warning," he replied.
"A great evil is coming," the female bot added.

She was dark red with light red flames going up her arms and legs. She also had dark blue optics.

"A great evil? When? Where?" I asked.
They looked at each other.

"We cannot say but we hope to save some bots' lives," Red Alert said.

"Well, it's good to see you two again," Optimus said.
They gave him a small smile.
"Will you stay with us?" I asked.
"For a little bit," Flamesight replied.

"Alright, then we should head back to base," Optimus commented.

I nodded once and led them to the base. I showed them around. That's when I noticed Bee and Delirium weren't there.

Huh. Maybe they went on patrol.

"So...how long have you guys been on Earth?" Paradox asked.

"Many years," I replied with a chuckle.

I then saw Optimus walk out of the medbay, looking pretty upset.

Oh boy.

"Hey, do you mind coming with me to check on Star?" I asked our new friend.

She shrugged.
"Sure," she replied.

We walked into the medbay and saw Star looking sad.

"How are you doing?" I asked gently.

"Been better. Just found out the TSV grew from forty percent to sixty percent and it kinda sucks. Plus, Optimus is mad at me," she replied.

That's not good.
"Why? I'm sure it can't be that bad," I said.

"No, he's right to be mad. I made a stupid move. I made a deal with Megatron and it ended up being all for nothing. Megatron got the Key and it's my fault," she admitted.

"It's your fault; it's my fault; it's everyone's fault; who cares? We all make mistakes," I mentioned.

"I care! I messed up! I made a stupid move and all it gave me was a broken spark," she said before coughing hard.

"Like I said, we all mess up. We'll fix this one way or another. The important thing is what you learn from your mistakes," I told her as I put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked down and nodded.

"You're right. I just need to rest and then I'll try to amend for my mistake," she said.

"Good. Don't forget, you're not alone. We'll all help get the Cyber Planet Key back and the other three that Megatron stole, too," I mentioned.

She nodded and smiled before coughing again.
"I should rest," she said as she lied down.

"Paradox here will stay with you," I commented before leaving.

I went to the room I shared with Optimus.
"Hey, babe?" I asked.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked.
I sat on the bed.
"You still mad at her?" I asked.

"A little. She made a stupid move. I thought she was smarter than that. I thought she was smart enough to know not to ever make a deal with Megatron," he replied.

"Well can you really blame her? I mean, she is battling TSV and trust me, I know how she feels," I said, remembering when Star and I had switched bodies.

Good times, good times.

"I understand she's sick but that's not really a reason to hand the war over to Megatron," he replied.

I started coughing, reminding me that I was also sick.

"Do you even know why she did it?" I asked him after I finally stopped coughing.

He sighed.

"She thought Megatron might have Bee on his ship, so she tried to make a deal with him. Turns out he didn't," he replied.

So Bee's missing, then.

"I would've done the same for you. Granted, I would've done it a little differently but when it comes to the safety of our family, sometimes we have to make a deal with the devil, even if it turns out to be a mistake," I explained.

"I know, I would do the same for you, too. I'll go apologize in a minute. You need to go see Ratchet again. I don't want this getting worse," Optimus said.

I stood up and kissed his cheek.

"Alright. I will later," I told him with a small smile before walking out.

As I walked passed Orion's room, I heard a lot of movement inside.

"Orion?" I stopped and asked.

When I got no reply, I tried opening the door. However, it was locked. Thinking he might be in trouble, I took out my sword and cut the foot handle off. I usher open the door and gasped. Orion was dragging an unconscious Trident towards an open secret passageway.

"W-what are you doing?" I asked him slowly.

He stopped and turned around. His optics were glowing purple.

Well truck.

"I was going to wait but you've seen too much. Now your fate is sealed," he replied, dropping Trident and coming over to me.

He attacked with lightning quick speed and was able to stab his dagger into my side. I kicked him off before he could stab me again and took out my sword.

"Orion, please don't do this. I don't want to hurt you. I love you very much, my little Prime," I said, trying to hold back tears.

He looked between Trident and me a few times before running out. I sighed as I put my sword away. I looked out in the hall but he was gone. I coughed a little as I went over to Trident and knelt by his side. He was still alive. I walked down the passageway into the basement.

"Hello, is anyone there?" I heard somebot ask.

"Delirium? Is that you? Where are you?" I asked back.

"I'm down here. Bee's with me too. Get us out of here before Orion comes back," he replied.

So that's where Bee is.

I sneezed as I followed the voice. I knocked along the wall until I found a hollowed out space.

"Alright, stand back," I warned as I took out my blaster.

"Ok, just hurry," he said.

I blasted an opening in the wall. The dust settled and sure enough, Bee and Delirium were there.

"Star's going to be so happy to see both of you," I smiled before coughing a little.

"That's good. Let's get out of here, though. I can't stand being in here much longer," Delirium said.

I nodded once and led them out. We went to the medbay.

"Hey, Star. Look what the cyber cat dragged in," I said with a smile as we entered.

Paradox turned around from doing science stuff and smiled warmly. Star opened her optics and started to cry as she got up. She went over to them and wrapped them both in a hug. I coughed again and put my hand over the gash in my side. Paradox came over to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," I managed to reply.
She looked at me questioningly.

"If you say so. You know where to find me," she said with a shrug.

I gave her a small smile and nodded. She smiled back before returning to her work. Optimus then entered the medbay. He came up to me and looked at me worriedly.

"What happened? Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch," I replied before sneezing.

He smiled.

"I forgot how cute your sneeze was," he said before leading me to the table.

"Oh hush, flameboy," I retaliated with a small chuckle.

He smiled warmly again and sat by me as Ratchet fixed me up. Afterwards, Optimus helped me up and held me close.

"I love you," he said, kissing my nose.
I giggled a little before I started coughing.

"I'm going to go outside for a bit. I think I need some fresh air. I promise I won't go too far," I said after I recovered.

"Just be careful please and call me if you get in trouble," he said as he slowly let me go.

"Of course," I said before I gave him a kiss on the lips.

I smiled and walked outside. I climbed up the mountain again and sat on top. After a few minutes, Flamesight came up.

"Hey. BlueStreak, right?" she asked as she sat down next to me.

I nodded in reply.

"I heard about your friend, Arcee. I'm sorry," she said.

I remained silent and stared off into the distance.

"You still feel like it's your fault, huh? Believe me, I know the feeling," she mentioned.

I looked at her curiously.

"When I found out my dad had died, I felt like it was my fault. I don't even remember him, but I blamed myself for not being there. I then came to realize that if he hadn't sent me away, I would probably be dead, too. My point is that you shouldn't beat yourself up. There are some things out of our control but the most important thing is how we deal with it," she explained.

"Yeah, I know. Still, that helped. Thanks, Flame," I told her with a small smile.

She smiled back and we continued to watch our surroundings in silence. After a little bit, I noticed a motorcycle in the distance.

Could that be...no.

"I'm going to go check something out," I said as I stood up.

"Alrighty. I'm gonna go back inside. Be careful," Flamesight replied.

I gave her a smile and a nod before climbing back down the mountain. I transformed and drove over to the mysterious bike. There was a human nearby, so I stayed a good distance away and watched.

"Yes? Yes, sir, I'll be there as fast as I can," I heard the human say before driving off.

That sounded a lot like her...I'm going crazy.

"Blue, come back. I need help," Optimus whined over the comm.

"Alright, I'm coming. Where are you?" I asked as I drove back to base.

"In the training room stuck on a bench. Blue, where are you? I'm really stuck," he replied.

I chuckled.
"I'm coming," I told him as I got back to base.

I went straight into the training room and saw Optimus sitting on the bench.

"Alright, stand up," I instructed with a small smile.
"Don't laugh," he said before standing up.

The bench stuck to his butt. I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing. I cleared my throats before speaking.

"Come here. I'm going to try to pull it off," I said.
He came towards me.
"Help," he said, giving me a small half smile.

"Relax, you big cry baby," I told him as I grabbed the edges of the bench.

I started pulling as hard as I could.

"I'm not a cry baby, it is just weird and I don't want to be stuck if there is a battle," he replied.

That's debatable. It would be pretty funny if you had to stay back for a change.

"Another thing, we need to find a new hiding place for the glue so things like this don't happen again," Optimus added.

"Agreed," I said as I kept pulling as hard as I could.

"This is stuck on there good. We might need a saw to cut it off," I mentioned, smirking to myself.

Though I was struggling to get it off, I doubted we would actually need a saw. I was just trying to scare him a little bit.

"Wait what?! Please tell me you're joking," he said.
I laughed.

"Don't worry. It won't come to that...probably," I replied.

"It better not," he said.

I chuckled silently to myself. I tugged as hard as I could and finally it ripped off, though not all the glue came off with it. I stumbled back a little, but caught myself so I wouldn't fall. I set the bench back down.

"You might want to go rinse off," I suggested with a smile.

He smiled and nodded. Delirium came in laughing before he could leave.