Everything was beginning to spiral out of control. Nothing was as he had planned it! She had escaped. Yet there was good news. Her actions seemed to have convinced nearly all the Autobots of her guilt. Why else would she run? He grinned. Perhaps he wouldn't even need to get his servos dirty. Who to send though? It would need to be a small number and have the greatest impact on her. After all if could shatter her world a little more then she would be that much easier to control. That meant those pesky twins were out of the question. They were still to wrapped up in her to be of any use.

Using anyone that wasn't the least bit close to her wouldn't benefit his plans at all. It would be like sending a Decepticon after her. Meaningless. The Second and Third in Command were also off limits. They were needed for the everyday function of the Autobots. Why did she have to befriend mechs of such ranks? He nearly growled. That left the Security Director and his friend and that bonded couple, the ones that took care of her. If he could convince at the very minimum three of them to go and retrieve her, then it would be an easy victory for him.

He smiled. He would have to observe the four closely, but he already had an idea of who he wanted to send. From what he had heard the Security Director was paranoid. If he pushed the right buttons and painted the right picture, he was sure the mech would easily side with him. At the very least he wanted one of her former Guardians to bring her in. That would be the most devastating. Now, to gather information...

()()()

Metroplex was beyond livid. He could hear what the Autobots were saying about his Prime. They seemed to have forgotten that he was their base. It made him want to activate his holoform and wring their necks!

He kept his scanners closely on a few mechs. They were worse off then most seemed to realize. He needed to do something, and fast. At this rate, she would not even have a home to come back to.

I wasn't sure how long I had been passed out for, but when I came to, my body was stiff and sore. I groaned as I sat up. Memories flashed through my mind, causing me to cringe. Right. That happened. I ran a servo down my face plates, only a little surprised that I was still in a human form. So it seemed that I had my species mimicry ability. Good. It will make things easier on me for the time being.

I stood up and stretched, loosening the sore joints. I looked around absentmindedly. Looks like I ended up in a warehouse of sorts. Though it didn't look it had been used in awhile, despite the several shipping containers that sat about the room. Light was trickling in through the grimy windows near the second floor catwalk. It allowed me to see the room a little better, not that I needed it. I was no longer human. I might look like it, but I was no more human then a Pretender was.

I continued to look around until something caught my optic. I walked over. The floor was covered in a decent layer of dust. The only places that should be disturbed was where I had fallen and my footsteps. But here it was. It almost looked like something large had been dragged. I looked to my left. A large garage door was nestled into the wall. I looked to my right and almost jumped out of my psudo skin. There was a Cybertronian just lying there. Okay then.

I kept my steps light and quiet as I moved closer to the mech. I could see that he was injured. The neon green of his energon was a stark contrast to the white on his armor. He was hurt bad. I circled around, hoping that I could get a better idea of who it was. I stopped when I reached his face plates. My spark about stopped. I had found an offlined Decepticon and not just any Decepticon.

"Slag..." I cursed quietly. "It's Barricade..."

I just stood there staring at the unmoving mech. I shifted slightly, shuffling backwards, my optics never leaving his frame. I let my gaze sweep quickly over his frame, cringing as I took in the damage. He was is rough shape. I stopped my retreat and hesitantly stepped forward. He didn't react. I got a little braver and moved another step closer. Still nothing. Boldly, I walked up to him and laid a servo on his armor.

"What has left you in this state?" I whispered.

It was then I felt a tug at my spark. It wasn't often that I felt such things. I wasn't even sure I had really felt anything. It had been so faint. Closing my eyes, I focused on nothing but my spark. Releasing the mental binds on my power I pushed outward, sending a light shock wave of energy over Barricade. It wasn't anything much. It couldn't repair the damage. It was just a more in depth form of scanning. It was my preferred method of searching for injuries as there was no way to mask or hide and injury. It also allowed to me to test the strength the mech's spark and I wanted to see if his spark was in danger. Usually, I felt a light tug at my spark whenever a spark was endanger of doing one of two things: fading or splitting. I gasped as I felt his spark react to my energy pulse.

"Shit." I said, not even bothering to keep my voice down. His spark was splitting. That meant only one thing; He had been created out of another mech. Great. A reformatting. I removed my servo as I begun to feel movement. I looked him over again, ignoring the fact that he was waking up, if only a little. He was in rough shape. Even if I did safely divide the spark and frame, there was a good chance I wouldn't be able to the more severe injuries. It was gonna take a lot of energy to just separate the two of them. I sighed. I didn't know if this was gonna kill me or not, but I couldn't just leave them here to suffer.

Barricade shifted again, groaning this time. I placed my servo back on him and sent a small pulse through his systems, sending them into an induced stasis lock. That should keep him out for awhile. I pulled back, turned and made my way back to the door I had entered through. I set my suitcase beside the door, pulling it from the dust floor. I opened it, looking out to make sure that there was no one around.

When I was sure no one would see me leave, I walked out and pulled the door closed. I closed my eyes and concentrated, trying to locate an internet or 4G. Once I did I ran a quick GPS search to find my location and where the nearest town was. I needed to get quite a few things if I was going to fix him up enough to where the procedure would, hopefully, work. I was nervous. This wasn't my normal gig. The last time I did this I had my full spark, not the partial thing beating within my chest plates. I shook my head. No point in getting worked up about it. I was going to do this. If it killed me, well I guess I that was that. But to minimize the potential for that, I needed to get as many of the injuries fixed as I could before I divided the spark. Fortunately, the shipping containers could be used as material to help me form a new frame for the original half. It was easier then forming one from nothing. But as it was, I was running out of time.

I took off running, only stopped as a reached the first stop on my list; A U-haul depot. Now, to rent a pick-up or small van. It was easy enough to do. They didn't question me or harass me about credentials as much as I thought they were going to. The pick-up I got though, would do just fine. I hopped in and drove to the nearest hardware store. I picked up as many of the tools and equipment that I could get from there. The clerk looked at me funny, but I made up a sob story about losing most of my tools in a fire. Not only did the clerk express his sympathies, but he also gave me a decent discount. Not that I need him to. Metroplex had prepared a significant amount of funds for me to use. I continued on from one store to the next, getting more equipment and supplies. A couple of stops at the local Nappa and Autozone and I had gotten almost everything I needed. As I wasn't sure what to expect, I had to prepare for anything I could think of. It wasn't everything that I had hopped to find, but it was a rather large chunk of it.

I drove back to the warehouse, parking by the old loading bay entrance. The same one I suspected that Barricade had come through, if the energon stains were anything to go by. I scanned for any signals coming from the door. Thank Primus there was still electricity going to the building...I opened the door up just enough to get the truck through, then promptly shut it. No point in alerting the local authorities.

I unloaded as much as I could and set to work. It was going to turn out to be a long night. Thankfully, I had rented the truck for a few a few days and had had the foresight to invest in a bit of camping equipment. It would do me no good for anyone if I couldn't rest at some point. I set the cot up in an empty shipping container with a broken lock. This was the only one that would remain once I was through and would serve as a make shift quarters until I was finished with the repairs and figured out where to go from here. After I moved my suitcase into the shipping container I began to assess the mech's injuries. It was extensive, but nothing I couldn't handle, even in this form.

I shook my head and started working on the major repairs. It was gonna take me awhile to get him near stable. I would only be able to work a few hours today, as the light from the high windows was already fading. I don't want to use lamps or other lights in case it was spotted and someone came to investigate. The truck was out of sight, hidden inside the building. For now we were safe and I could concentrate on the task at servo.

I worked until I had no more light. Putting down my equipment, I returned to my temporary container home. I would finish the repairs tomorrow, if I got lucky.