EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Shadow, Eclipse, Jay, and Kristin, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I only own Camilla.

Forgiveness And Peace Found At Last

Camilla, Kristin, and Jay were enjoying some hot chocolate while sitting on the couch. "I can't believe it got so cold again after the stretch of warm days we had," the older woman said.

"At least the cold caught that bad guy off guard for you and your team to catch him, Aunt Camilla," Jay said with a smile.

"Yes," she said. "I'm so glad I brought a jacket with me otherwise I would have been in the same boat."

"And Ratchet would have had my hide for you not having the proper gear for the weather," Prowl said.

Kristin giggled. "Aw, come on, Prowl. Ratchet's not that bad," she said.

He smiled at her, playfully poking her side to make her giggle again. Jay smiled and snuggled into his aunt's side. "At least it's Spring Break this week," he said happily.

"That's true," Camilla said. "You kids earned a break after getting those good grades in your math, science, and history classes."

Perceptor, who was nearby, smiled. "You two did work hard to earn those grades," he said.

"And we had your help for science, which helped us out a lot," Kristin said with a smile.

"And then Bulkhead helped us out with math," Jay said. "And Soundwave helped out with history."

"Oh, yeah," Kristin said in agreement. "I wasn't so sure about my history test, but I was relieved to get an A minus at least."

"And you worked hard for that A minus," Camilla said with a smile. "While Soundwave, Bulkhead, and Perceptor tutored you guys and helped you study for those tests, you two put the effort in to get those good grades."

"She's right," Soundwave said, coming up to them, gently rubbing Kristin's head with one finger and doing the same with Jay and Camilla. "To think that almost four years ago, I had no idea that I would find peace thanks to a certain brunette and then a young boy and his aunt."

Camilla smiled. "If someone had told me three years ago that I would find my nephew and be working closely with the Autobots and former 'Cons, I'd have told them they were crazy," she admitted.

Jay giggled. "I think I would have said the same thing," he admitted. "Going from a not-so-good home to having a home, a real Dad, loving uncles and brothers, and finding my aunt...sometimes it feels kind of...kind of...,"

"Surreal?" Megatron supplied gently, having come in and caught what Jay had said.

"Yeah," the boy said in agreement.

"I know the feeling," Kristin said gently.

Just then, the alarms went off and they jumped with Jay running over to Kristin, who grabbed him in a hug, and Camilla standing up and pulling out her phone, transforming it into a stun gun. "What's that?" She called out over the noise, going over to Perceptor, who held out his hand to allow her to climb up and hold onto his thumb as he walked quickly to the base computers.

Soundwave scooped up Jay and Kristin gently and went over to the computer too, worried. "It's a new signal," Red Alert, who was at the computers said before he winced as his horns sparked a little. His optics widened and he began shaking a little, his horns sparking more. "Oh, no," he said as the signal popped up clear on the screen and they all felt shock fill them as the signal was one they all unfortunately recognized right away.

"Lockdown," Starscream said softly in horror, his armor rattling a bit as he shivered. Thundercracker and Skywarp immediately went over to him to hug him and comfort him. Even Megatron looked unnerved.

Nothing everyone becoming extremely on edge, Camilla looked up at Perceptor. "Who's Lockdown?" She asked, though she had a bad feeling she wouldn't like the answer if Red Alert's and Starscream's reactions were anything to go by.

"He's a bounty hunter," Optimus replied. "He is well known for being ruthless and will go after any large bounty for not only the monetary reward, but for souvenirs as well."

It was quiet for a moment. "I'm assuming from the way you said that, you mean something that causes his 'targets' pain," the lady spy said.

"You're correct," Knockout said with a shudder. "He takes special mods from his prey and keeps them as trophies or even uses them himself."

Kristin and Jay shivered in fear, to which Soundwave held them close to his chest just over his spark, hoping his sparkbeat would help them calm down a bit. Eclipse, who had just come in, jumped onto her father's shoulder. Ratchet, having grown used to his daughter jumping up on his shoulders, didn't flinch, but rather petted her head, seeing she was in her Nightfury form. "Daddy, whose signal is that?" She asked.

"A bounty hunter that we need to take care of," the medic said. "He might be here to join the rogue 'Cons."

"If he does join them, then we'll have even more problems to worry about," Arcee said, worry in her voice.

Optimus nodded. "Bumblebee, Arcee, Prowl, you three will join me for ground support. Starscream, can you and your brothers provide aerial support?"

"Yes, Prime," the seeker said immediately and his brothers nodded too.

"Let me come too, Optimus," Shadow said, ready to help.

He nodded as the femme's expertise with electrical weapons could come in as their trump card. "Ratchet, Knockout, have sick bay ready just in case," he said. "The rest of you be ready in case we need backup."

"Yes, sir," Bumblebee said as the others echoed his reply. Camilla looked at Jay, Kristin, and Eclipse and looked up at Perceptor, who glanced at her and caught on her train of thought.

"You know, I found some new rocks outside the base yesterday and was hoping to examine them more closely today," he said. The three children looked at him, eyes bright as they loved it when the scientist would share his geology findings with them. "I could use a few helpers," he continued with a smile.

That clinched it and the kids immediately went with him and Camilla as they headed for the lab.

Meanwhile, the others either headed out through the groundbridge or were standing by, ready to help if needed. Optimus led the team and it wasn't too long after that they came upon Lockdown's location.

Arcee noticed something and did a quick scan, which confirmed what she had noticed. "Bumblebee, do a scan on that ship, please?" She asked. "There's something off about it."

He did so and was surprised. "It's not guarded," he said. "Not even a proximity alarm."

Shadow did a scan herself, finding the same thing. "They're right, Optimus," she said. "This could be a trap."

"That's not like Lockdown," Starscream said in confusion. "Nor is not cloaking his ship. Something is off."

"Well, we better intercept him before he meets up with the rogues," Thundercracker said.

"Let's move forward, but keep your sensors alert," Optimus said as they moved closer, transforming and surrounding the ship just as Lockdown was coming out. Prowl noticed something seemed off about the bounty hunter and turned to Optimus.

"Something's off about him," he said.

Just then, Lockdown spotted them and he aimed his weapons at them. That was enough for them to move in.

To their surprise, the fight wasn't as difficult as they thought it would be. And it seemed that the bounty hunter wasn't even trying to fight them off. Having had enough, Prowl aimed a new weapon at Lockdown. It was an Energon pulse gun that could either stun an opponent to make them go into temporary paralysis or knock them out. Setting the dial to the knock out side, the Praxian aimed and fired.

The pulse hit Lockdown square in the chest and knocked him down, making him lose consciousness immediately. Shadow crept closer and nodded. "He's out," she said. "But...that battle was...odd."

"I agree with her," Skywarp said. "It was like...he wasn't even trying hard."

"Could we have simply caught him off guard?" Bumblebee said.

"Not likely," Starscream said. "He's pretty much impossible to catch off guard."

Still puzzled over what had happened, Arcee and Prowl tied Lockdown up and put him in Optimus' trailer before everyone headed back to base.

A couple hours later...

Lockdown felt his consciousness returning and he woke up, eyes opening as he felt like he couldn't move and glanced up to see his arms were chained over his head and his feet were chained to the wall behind him, giving him very little leeway to move. He noticed it looked like a brig and that was only confirmed when he saw both Optimus and Megatron standing before him.

The two were watching him and to their surprise, the bounty hunter let out an almost disappointed sigh and seemed to slump in his bindings. "I was hoping I wouldn't wake up," he mumbled softly, but they heard him loud and clear.

The two looked at each other. This didn't sound like the ruthless bounty hunter they had known Lockdown to be. He sounded more like...a broken mech. Megatron was concerned greatly. "Prime, I believe we should call Ratchet and Knockout to come examine him," he said. "He sounds like he might be getting ill."

Optimus nodded and called the two medics, who came at once and examined Lockdown, who didn't even move or say anything as they examined him and found the results shocking to even themselves.

The two came over to the two leaders. "Prime, Megatron, it's worse than we thought," Ratchet said.

"What is it, old friend?" Optimus said.

"Lockdown hasn't refueled or recharged in close to a month," the white-and-orange medic said.

"A month?!" Megatron said in shock.

Knockout nodded. "He's been using a substance that forces his body to stay awake to keep him going," he said.

"It's amazing that he's even able to function at this point!" Ratchet said, his worry evident.

Optimus made a decision right then. "Then we must help him," he said.

Megatron nodded in agreement. "Doctors, can you help him recover?" He asked. While he didn't care about Lockdown being a bounty hunter, he certainly wouldn't wish the mech's current state on anyone.

"We'll do our best," Knockout said as he and Ratchet immediately got to work to save the mech's life.

Hmm. Curious, yes? Read on! :)

GoldGuardian2418