They were alone on board the Decepticon ship. There was no Bot backup. It was just three humans versus a whole army of bad guys.

And it looked like the bad guys were actually afraid of them.

Miko led the way, boots squeaking across the metal floors as she dashed straight down the middle of the corridor. She heard Jack and Raf behind her, mostly because Raf was squeaking out, "Miko—Miko, are you sure this is a good idea?" Jack was quiet for once, probably making sure they all stayed together. And that meant following Miko.

Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to run down a hallway chock full of Eradicons, but it couldn't have been any worse than going back—so that was the way she had gone, charging through the middle of them, hinging on more of that element of surprise.

And boy, were they surprised. The Eradicons, a hundred times Miko's size and outnumbering the human teens by at least a dozen, were scampering out of their way like a bunch of chickens. It was great—they were parting for her. Miko could only guess her reputation had finally gotten around or something.

One of the Eradicons didn't notice them immediately; a huge metal foot swung slowly toward Miko. She cried out and threw her hands up, like that would do any good—and then the Eradicon froze, balancing on the other foot as he looked around wildly at the ground beneath him. Miko yelled out "Ha!" and darted past him. Jack and Raf followed, and a moment later they were free of the Eradicons, who all just stood around watching them go.

Miko and the others rounded another bend in the corridor. "Find a door!" Jack ordered.

Miko didn't need him to tell her that. Even she couldn't keep running much longer. She headed for the first door on the right—it was already open, and a quick glance showed there was no one inside. "Come on!"

A moment later, all three of them were inside the room and leaning against the wall, panting. They might have been too short for the door controls, but at least they were out of sight. "Did you see that?" Miko demanded. "They just—" She waved one arm widely to imitate the Eradicons getting out of the way.

"Something's not right," Jack said seriously.

"Duh."

"Um…" Raf furrowed his brow at them. "Do the Decepticons normally know our names?"

Miko hadn't thought about that part. She shrugged. Jack frowned. "Soundwave could've…" he started, but he didn't even sound convinced enough to continue.

"What are we going to do?" Raf asked Jack.

Miko scoffed. "Easy. We find a comm and call in some wrecker expertise."

"After the way Ratchet was acting?" Jack pointed out. "No way."

"Have you got a better idea, fearless leader?"

"Shh."

Miko put a fist on her hip. "Did you just—"

"Quiet—listen!"

Heavy footsteps were coming steadily down the hallway outside. Miko fell silent and pressed her back against the wall. They shouldn't have tried to hide in a room at all—because when Breakdown entered, slow but sure, they were cornered. He came straight forward and crouched down between them and the door.

"What are you doing?" he ground out. It was the same question Knockout had asked them, but Breakdown sounded ticked.

Was he looking at her? Why was everyone mad at her? Jack and Raf were here too. "What do you think we're doing?" This was too freaky. All the Cons had lost their minds.

Breakdown jabbed a finger at her. Not even like he was threatening to squish her—who did he think he was, her dad? "You don't run from us when there's trouble. You know that." He glowered at Jack and Raf. Good—she was tired of being the one who got yelled at. Let them get in trouble. Whatever they were in trouble for. "You all know that."

"We… do?" Jack managed.

Miko blew out a breath, courage fading the longer Breakdown leaned over them. "Figures rule number one is don't run from the Con kidnapping," she grumbled. She glared up and used the last of her bravado with an announcement of, "Bulkhead is gonna kick your aft."

Whoa. The Decepticons really had all turned into a bunch of wimps. Breakdown actually looked like she'd hurt his feelings. He was practically pouting. "Fine. Be that way. Come on." He reached for them.

He was pretty lucky that Miko didn't have any superweapons on her right then. As it was, there was no way she could fight a wrecker-sized Con. This time, she didn't need Jack to pull her backwards as they scrambled for the corner. Raf got hidden entirely behind the two of them.

Breakdown sat back and stared at them blankly. At least he wasn't weirdly mad at them anymore. "What the frag," he muttered. And then he said, "Knockout? Something's wrong." He paused, presumably listening to his comm. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking." He frowned at them. "We're going back to the bridge. Are you going to walk, or am I going to carry you?"

Jack led the way. Miko and Raf walked behind him. Raf stuck close, but he looked more confused than scared anymore. Breakdown thundered along right behind them, a clear deterrent from any more running. The Eradicons were still there. They stood to one side and watched in restless silence, peering at Jack like they expected him to do a trick or something.

Miko finally broke the silence. "This is freaky."

Jack grimaced at her over his shoulder. "It's like it's not even the same…"

"Universe?" Raf suggested.

They both stared at him. "Spill it, Raf," Miko ordered.

"I don't know." He scrunched up his nose. "I was just thinking about the energy readings we were getting from that device before all this happened. The frequencies were all off. Ratchet said it was kind of like the shadow zone."

Miko pulled a face. "Well, we're not in the shadow zone."

"So where are we?" Jack asked quietly.

Wherever it was, Miko didn't like it. It was the weird kind of science fiction—not the awesome alien robots kind, but the complicated kind with too few explosions. What she wanted was to get back to Bulk, but just the thought of him being all cold and evil like Ratchet—or maybe not knowing who she was—well, she wasn't going to call him now.

She was so distracted by the idea that she ran right into Jack when he stopped. "Augh." She pressed a hand to her nose. "What was that for?"

Jack didn't answer. He was staring, mouth open, into the gigantic room ahead of them, where the rest of the Cons were gathered around something.

Someone, actually. Knockout stepped out of the way to reveal a human coming toward Miko and her friends at a half-jog.

"Jack!" she called. "Are you kids all right? Megatron told me what happened."

Jack's mouth closed. And then it opened again.

"Mom?"