Silence. The only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart. Stay still... Stay still... Slow, heavy footsteps behind me. Good thing I was hiding behind a boulder.
  Stay still.
  ...
  "Open fire!"
  SHIT!
  I somersaulted away from the boulder as an electric shock rattled it to pieces. I rolled to a stand and booked across the floor, trying to find the safety area. Thre was gunfire all around me. A black figure leapt over my head and landed in front of me, gears rumbling.
  "Oh fuck!" I tripped in surprise and slid under the legs, slamming my head on the ground. The figure turned around and aimed a cannon at me. I coughed and scrabbled away, barely escaping a fiery blue blast. "Calm down, assfuck!" I screamed, leaping behind another rock and ducking down. I tasted blood on my lips.
  "No! If this were a real fight, you think I would 'calm down'?!" the thing shouted. I shoved my middle finger into the air.
  "You guys never let us go into the damn fights anyway!" I yelled, getting back to my feet.
  "And this is why." Ironhide came around with his usual pissy attitude and retracted his cannons. "You could never stand in a real fight like that."
  "Hey, I took Barricade AND Cyclonus down, didn't I?" I said, wiping the blood from my chin. I'd busted my bottom lip when I hit my head.
  "Actually, no. You had beginner's luck with Barricade when you stabbed his leg, and you had a vehicle when you knocked Cyclonus down." Ironhide tilted his head. "Without those, you wouldn't've had a chance."
  I glared at him.
  "Shut up."
  Nikki came over with an icepack. "Thanks," I commended, holding the pack to my lip.
  "No problem," she said.
  "Where's Sam?" I asked, glancing around. "I didn't see him come in this morning."
  "He's out running errands with Bumblebee," Nikki reported.
  Probably hooding with Mikaela, I thought bitterly. Hooding was a word I made up a while back. It was basically making out on a car hood, which Sam and Mikaela did alot.
  "Let's go get ice cream," I suggested, looking up at Ironhide and the now-approaching Ratchet.
  "That sounds good," Nikki added.
  "I'll take you," Ratchet offered, already transforming into a Hummer.
  "Thanks, Ratchet." I glanced up at Ironhide. "Aren't you coming?" He stuck his lip up and turned his head. I shrugged. "Fine. I'll just go enjoy all the rocky road there for myself." I put one foot up to get in.
  "I picked up some Decepticon transmissions earlier," the black Autobot declared lowly. I smirked, but didn't let him see. "Maybe I should come with you."
  "That would be a really good idea," I chirped. He transformed into hisGMC Topkick alt mode and popped the passenger's door. I waved to Nikki and hopped to Ironhide.
  "I hate you," he muttered after he'd shut the door.
  "If you hated me, you wouldn't let me inside."