"'Parting is such sweet sorrow'," Mikaela intoned, and grinned at Ratchet and Ironhide once the blue Corvette was out of sight. Maggie had decided against getting a ride from either of them, just in case they happen to 'get lost' on the way to the airport, she'd joked.

Ironhide crossed his arms and gave Mikaela a disapproving frown, which didn't appear to phase her at all. "Hmph. She'll only be gone five days."

Ratchet looked puzzled. "How can sorrow be sweet?"

"It's just a silly Shakespeare quote, Ratchet. Never mind."

"Oh."

Jazz nodded. "I've read his stuff. That guy was kinda morbid."

Sam grinned up at him. "Hey, if I went on a trip, would you miss me, too?"

"Hell, no. I'd be going with you." Jazz declared, though his gaze darted toward his fellow Autobots. "Hey, Ratchet. Gonna call Maggie on her cell phone every hour?"

"Certainly not. That would annoy her," Ratchet answered, with an aloof expression. Mornings and evenings will be sufficient, in his estimation.

"Well, yeah. That'd be the point of it."

Ironhide gave Jazz a smack, for himself and Ratchet.

"Hey, don't mess up my paint," Jazz protested.

Sam looked over at Mikaela. They were joking, as usual, but there seemed to be an underlying tension, too. "What's going on?" he asked, point-blank. "Is there any more news about Starscream?"

They all looked at Ratchet, who shook his head. "I haven't sensed anything specific," he told them. "Only a vague feeling of...unease. I cannot explain it further at this time; it could be the result of a number of things."

Sam tried to look on the bright side. "Hey, no news is good news, right?"

"How can no--" Ratchet broke off when Jazz jabbed his fingers against Ratchet's side. "Yes, of course, Sam."

"Well, until we know more, we'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open, like Optimus said," Mikaela spoke up, leaning against Bumblebee's foot.

"Yeah..." Sam rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm gonna ask my parents if I can sleep over here for a few days. Better do it now, while it's still kinda early."

"Ok, sure, Sam." Jazz nodded and transformed to his Aston car mode.

"Thanks, Jazz. See you all later." Sam waved, hopped into the passenger seat, and Jazz sped away.

"I'll be at Mikaela's house at night, if she wants me to." Bumblebee looked down at her.

"Yes, please." She smiled at him. "But right now I really need to do some grocery shopping. That ok, Bee?"

"Of course, Mikaela." Bumblebee quickly changed into the Camaro; he'd never pass up a chance to spend time with her, whatever she was doing. He drove off as soon as she was in and buckled up.

"Hmph. Maybe we should go to that city. Las Vegas, they call it," Ironhide said, examining the new cannon attached to his right arm. Three million volts was a decent improvement, so far.

"No... There are too many people there, and too much street traffic. We're safer here, away from such risks." Ratchet looked to the East, frowning slightly, before going back inside the base with Ironhide.

"...filth-y...inx...ens...ins-sects..."

"Give it another blast," a voice ordered. "And keep it docile. I'll be right back."

Frenzy shrieked with badly strained vocal processors as the scaldingly cold wave of white mist engulfed him, and thrashed about madly, as he always did. To do otherwise would be giving up, admitting defeat. That was something he would never do, no matter how much torture these insects...these humans inflicted on him. Sometimes he could hear one or two of them laugh, mocking the noises he made and gloating over the complete control they had over him.

Frenzy. That was his name. Not N.B.E. three, as they continually called him. He must remember that. Frenzy!

Those same humans were usually careful to keep his energy levels low, but usually not so low that he was able to go into stasis for some respite. No, he'd often been online when they removed sections of his body to study and perform various tests on, then reattached them. They also found and removed all of his weapons, sometimes literally cutting them out of him, including every razor-sharp disc. That constant freezing they inflicted on him also prevented his severely damaged systems from self-repairing properly.

Frenzy weakly lifted his head, his optics again drawn to the even more vicious taunt of the humans. Brief flashes of memories were all he could retrieve without draining what was left of his reserve energy. Tiny, disjointed snippets of his partner. His...friend?

"B-B-Black-out..."

They'd been a team on this world, trying to find something. Something very important...but he could no longer recall what that was.

A few more fragments were retrieved, this time of Blackout's capture. Frenzy didn't know exactly how they'd lured Blackout out of hiding. The only thing he was aware of was that he'd been the bait in the humans' trap. If Frenzy hadn't been in near-lockdown at the time, he might have been able to send out a warning. Instead, Blackout had been frozen, and taken to this prison. He was still intact when he was brought in.

Not anymore.

Now he was completely dismantled. Each and every one of his hundreds of parts was kept separate, in clear, glass-like containers -- and placed on shelves that covered the entire wall, a display to be stared at. Even his head had been taken apart, right down to his optics. Frenzy turned away from that horrific sight and sank down onto the floor of his small cell, waiting for whatever painful ordeal was in store for him next. There was nothing else for him to do. For now.

This used to be fun, Maggie reflected, sitting on a bench to rest her feet, and listening to snatches of conversations around her. It was basically the same as all the other expos she'd attended in the past three years. There were the usual debates over which gaming systems perform the best. Speculation on what hot new 'toys' the rich yuppy parents might buy for their kids for Christmas later. Etc, etc. Corporate executive types were forever trying to figure out which were the best prospects to invest in. Before she'd been amused by the circus-like atmosphere; now she just found it all incredibly tedious.

A lot of the people she'd met so far here just seemed so pretentious, it almost made her grind her teeth. It didn't help that three guys had tried to pick her up yesterday alone, when she was stuck in a huge line with Glen, waiting to register the four-day pass. As if.

She'd almost told one obnoxious jerk that she already had a 'boyfriend'. Two, in fact...sometimes at the same time, even. The look on his face would have been priceless, but she kept her cool and he eventually moved on to someone else. Glen would have gotten a kick out of it, though. Maybe if it happens again...

And speaking of Glen; Maggie pulled out her cell phone and called him, instead of trying to locate him in this noisy mob. "Hey, Glen. It's Maggie."

"Yo, Autobot Queen," he said, rather loudly to her ears.

"Glen!" Autobot Queen? Good grief, when did he come up with that absurd nickname? "Don't broadcast!"

"Oh, don't worry. We're all checking out some awesome new speakers. Nobody's payin' attention."

"I hope so... Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I'm heading back to our hotel now. I'll see you later."

"Sure thing, A.Q.!"

"Bye..." Maggie rolled her eyes and put the phone back in her purse, then went outside and took a taxi to the hotel. In three days this will be over, and she'll be free to fly back to California, and home.

Back in her room, she pulled a cd from her personal stack and got it playing. Kicking off her high heels and plopping down on the bed, she looked through the room service menu.

So lately, been wondering
Who will be there to take my place
When I'm gone, you'll need love
To light the shadows on your face

God, that song's actually really---depressing, Maggie thought with a frown. It reminded her of a few things she'd been determined not to think about. Until now. Her mood went rapidly downhill as she continued listening. What the hell did I get myself into?

"Hey, Maggie." Glen was at her door a couple hours later, knocking loudly. "Open up! You awake in there?"

"Yes! Hold on!" she called back, taking a couple deep breaths to compose herself before going to the door. Please..don't let there be cops chasing after him... Maggie almost crossed her fingers, before opening the door. "All right, what happened, Glen?"

"You're not gonna believe it!" He practically bounced into the room, saying something about getting someone's autograph. She couldn't quite catch the person's name; he was talking way too fast. Glen was so excited, he even did that funny little hip-hop dance he'd invented. "Man, this place is da bomb!"

Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares

"Geez! What the hell kinda song is that?" Glen went over and stopped the cd, then turned and looked at her. "Ok, who killed your dog?"

"You know I don't have a dog." She sat down on the edge of the bed. Do I really look that bad? "It's something that I did, Glen. I...I'm going through a 'negative phase', as you've called it," she hedged, still trying to sort it all out in her head.

Glen clapped a hand to his forehead in dismay. "Damn, girl, I thought you were over that for good now." He dragged a chair over and parked himself in it. "Ok, let's hear it. What's it about this time?"

"Ratchet, and Ironhide," Maggie reluctantly confessed, sighing dejectedly.

Glen gave her a bug-eyed, confounded look. "Say what??"

Maggie looked down at her clasped hands, hesitating for a long moment. It probably wasn't the best time for this, but she really needed to get some things off her chest, and Glen was the one she usually talked to about her problems. "Have you ever gotten the feeling that...like, we're just possessions to them?"

"You're kidding, right? Two great guys that just happen to worship you?"

"Worship?" She almost laughed at that absurdity. "Do you have any idea how conceited that sounds, Glen?"

"Whatever." He shrugged. "I just call it like I see it."

"But the point is that they're not really 'guys'!" she exclaimed, trying to put some serious misgivings into simple terms for him, so she didn't come off sounding like a shrink. "They're not human. It can be so easy to forget that sometimes, when they're using their holoforms...but the fact remains that they are aliens. Highly advanced robotic aliens."

"Okay...Yeah... So what?"

"'So what'?" Maggie repeated, astonished. Why did he have to be so flippant all the time? "Glen, don't you get it? We're talking about beings that are millions of years old, and will probably live millions more. And we've only known them for about six months now. Six months! That's nothing to them. Maybe we're nothing to them, too, other than some form of entertainment." There. She said it.

"That's a load of bull. You know they don't think like that. " He crossed his arms, giving her a majorly vexed look. "I've got eyes and ears, ya know. I've seen how it's been between you and them. Same thing with Sam and Mikaela. You gotta know by now that they're crazy about you."

"What I know is that they like sex, a lot," Maggie said bluntly. Great... Now she felt like a slut on top of everything else. "They like the novelty of it."

"And again, so what? Hell, I'd like sex, too, if I was getting any." Glen paused. Damn, that wasn't supposed to come out like that. "Why're you dumpin' all over them for that?"

"I'm not! I'm just saying...why me? They could get that from anyone, really."

"Now that's just plain dumb. Hell, they obviously know a good thing when they see it," Glen insisted. "They'd never find anyone better, anyway. So there."

Maggie couldn't help but smile at that bit of nonsense. "Liar. You're just saying that because you're my friend."

"Ok, fine." Time for some reverse-psychology, he thought. "You go ahead and shut down on 'em. Break their hearts, crush their feelings, all that. I'll let 'em mope for a week or so, then take 'em out on the town and see what happens. With those holos they use, I'll be beating the chicks off of 'em with a stick."

"What? No!" Maggie instantly objected. "Don't you dare!"

"A-ha!" Glen crowed. "Gotchya!"

"Ooh!" Maggie practically growled at him, raking her fingers through her hair. "You can be so...illogical sometimes!"

"What the hell's logic got to do with this? Love ain't like rocket science. You gotta quit trying to make things so complicated and just go with your feelings, the way they do.

And I know they've made you happy. Or have you been faking it all this time for some crazy reason?"

"No, of course I'm haven't!" Maggie closed her eyes a moment, feeling oddly drained as she leaned back on her elbows on the bed. These kind of talks with Glen can be exhaustingly therapeutic. "...and, yes, they've been wonderful," she conceded, blushing slightly as some very pleasant memories came to mind.

"Ok, good...good." Glen nodded. He kinda enjoyed really deep conversations like this, but dinner would be nice, too. "You feelin' better now?"

"Yes, I do, actually," Maggie said, sitting up again and smiling at him. "Thanks for letting me vent on you, Glen."

"Better me than them! You'd have 'em thinking you picked up a virus or somethin' here."

"Oh, I'd believe that!" Maggie laughed. "Ratchet would want to do a thorough examination."

"I bet you'd enjoy that," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, stop it!" She blushed furiously now, but had to wonder, though, if Sam or Mikaela had had the same doubts. And if so, how did they resolve them? They were both obviously perfectly happy with their relationships. Maybe they've decided to just take it one day at a time. There wasn't anything wrong with that, really. After all, who knows what might happen tomorrow, or next week. A big earthquake could strike, or-- Oh, hell, Glen's right. I do think too much sometimes. Maggie shook her head at herself. That really has got to stop.

Glen bounced up from the chair and grabbed the phone book. "Tell ya what. I'll order us up some Kung Pao chicken, and we can do some yoga while we wait for it."

"Oh, no..." Maggie groaned, covering her eyes as she fell backward onto the bed. "Yoga is so boring, Glen!"

"Hey, yoga is crucial! That's some massive negativity we need to disperse." He picked out a decent-sounding restaurant and ordered three different items.

"And a large Coke!"

"And a large Coke," Glen repeated, and gave the hotel address and room number. "Ok, it'll be here in about thirty. Until then, it's yoga time."

"Okay... Oh, wait!" She practically jumped up from the bed when her cell phone rang. "That would be Ratchet."

Glen snickered at how fast she reacted. "Girl, you are so off the market."

"Glen!" Maggie waved a hand in his direction before answering the phone.

"'Glen!'," he mimicked, giving her a 'V' sign before going back to his room to dig out his new-age-music-for-yoga cd.

"What possible reason we might have to follow you?" Shockwave interrupted, arms crossed and his single red optic fixed on Starscream. The last to respond to the message, it was an inconvenience to him; being forced to leave Cybertron and follow the other Decepticons to this thoroughly worthless planet. "You say your team is dead. Both the Cube and Megatron have been lost to us forever. Your latest mission has been another complete failure."

Thundercracker stood in front of the other Seekers, watching with discussion with amusement.

Starscream shot his rival a venomous look. It would have been so must easier to simply challenge Shockwave outright, but he couldn't trust the others not to interfere. Especially Soundwave. "It was the humans who aided the Autobots in destroying Megatron, as well as the others!"

"Puny life-forms that I could crush beneath my feet?" Shockwave was patently skeptical of the humans' threat.

"Small they may be, but there are billions of them on that planet," Starscream retorted. "They have also--"

"We should return to our own world," Dirge broke in, shifting restlessly on his feet and ignoring Starscream's annoyance. "Why bother with what pitiful few Autobots are left, and an insignificant race?"

"The Autobot resistance has been eliminated from Cybertron," Shockwave added. "Optimus Prime and his remaining followers are of no concern to us."

"Is the technology they've stolen from us of no concern as well?" growled Starscream.

Sixshot came forward at that. "Stolen? How?"

So now they're interested in hearing my report... A little embellishment was in order."As I was trying to say, it was the humans who destroyed Megatron. But only after he had been kept prisoner for hundreds of meta-cycles. They also conducted several cruel experiments upon him!"

A scrabbling sound was heard, and Soundwave pulled aside one of his chest plates to allow an infuriated Ravage out.

"Megatron was tortured?? How dare they!" Ravage snarled. "They must die for this!"

"Oh, they have dared much. These humans have used the knowledge they've stolen to develop weaponry very similar to ours." Starscream almost smiled as he added even more fuel to Ravage's lust for revenge. "Not only that, but these humans are insanely acquisitive creatures. They chose to destroy the All-Spark, willfully, rather than return it to us, it's rightful owners!"

"For that, too, they must all die!" Thunderblast declared, glancing around at the others to gauge their reactions. Several were nodding in agreement.

"They'll soon find out the punishment for their crimes!" Shortround seconded, daring anyone to contradict him, which, for once, they didn't.

"And if the humans had surrendered the Cube instead of resisting, you would despise them for their cowardice," Thundercracker drolly remarked. Behind him, Skywarp made a small, amused sound when Thunderblast and Shortround both glared.

Ravage hissed at Thundercracker, then at the other Deceptions assembled. "Megatron must be avenged!!"

"He will be," Sixshot stated. He personally was eager for the chance to kill more Autobots, especially Optimus Prime.

"I agree," Soundwave said, taking Ravage's side over Shockwave's. "We cannot ignore this insult."

Shockwave glanced curiously at Soundwave, who rarely let one of his underlings dictate his actions. Then again, Ravage was in a rare state of wrath, due to Starscream's instigating. It had spread through the others, as if it were a contagion. That was, undoubtedly, exactly what Starscream had intended.

"When are we leaving, then?" Ramjet asked, bored with all of the talking.

"Immediately. If there are no objections, of course." Starscream looked around; nearly every was now voicing support of this new mission to exterminate the humans, although Thundercracker looked less than pleased with it. His gaze met Shockwave's, who was the last holdout.

Shockwave stared back, nodding slightly in acknowledgment of Starscream's tactics. A journey to Earth was inevitable now. He would simply bide his time and wait for Starscream to make a mistake, like he always does. "I have no objections."

"Excellent." Starscream opened a direct link to all of them and supplied the coordinates to Earth, then gave the order to depart. Finally, he was in a position to command.

While the others were transforming to their travel forms, Soundwave approached Starscream. "What became of Frenzy?"

"The humans must have captured and destroyed him," he replied dismissively. "Now prepare to leave."

"Yes... Lord Starscream." Annoyed, Soundwave put extra emphasis on the title, as if implying it did not belong to Starscream, which earned him a dark scowl. He ignored it and rejoined the others. Let them obsess over the humans and the Autobots. His first priority on Earth will be to find Frenzy; he was fairly certain he would have sensed his friend's demise. But what sort of condition might he be in now, on that primitive world?

This wasn't something he could normally speak of to other Decepticons, though. Most of them had nothing but contempt for genuine loyalty and friendship. However, if Starscream was to be believed, Frenzy will be in need of more repairs then he would be able to provide.

He opened a private line and sent a message of his own, to Hook.

'Gotta keep running...' Sam repeated that over and over in his head as he sprinted down the street. A few feet ahead of him, the helicopter monster landed, deadly sharp blades spinning from one of it's hands, aimed right at him.

'No...nonono..."

He somehow managed to dodge those blades and made it past the 'copter thing, running again. But another giant gray Decepticon appeared, swooping down to land and block his path. 'Shit, how many of them are there??'

He cowered between two cars as explosions burst all around him, shaking the ground. By some miracle, the fiery blasts missed him. A voice shouted at him then, saying something about a building. He was on his feet and running again, faster and faster. There it was, just a few yards away. The building with the statues. Twenty feet...ten...five.. He threw himself through the doors, barely pausing to catch his breath, and rushed to the stairs, taking it two steps at a time.

Sam looked up; he was over halfway there, but the stairs were endless now, the top of them remained just out of reach. He put more speed into his climbing, but it was futile. It was as if he was running in place. His legs were getting tired, his lungs burning, and each step was slower than the last one.

There was a monster right behind him. He could hear it smashing it's way through the wooden staircase to get to him. It was catching up fast, almost on his heels. 'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...' His foot caught on a step, and he flung his free arm out, trying to catch his balance and still keep a tight grip on the Cube. No matter what, he must not drop the Cube.

The next thing Sam knew he was falling, falling for what felt like an eternity, screaming until he was hoarse. A giant metal hand suddenly appeared and caught him, saving him from certain death on the pavement below.

'Thanks..." he started to say as he looked up, expecting to see Optimus' kind blue optics. Instead, blood-red ones glared malevolently at him.

"Maggot!" Megatron sneered, fingers closing tightly to crush the life out of him.

"Nooo!" Sam screamed, struggling desperately against the inescapable grip.

"Sam?" A distant voice called, and something banged into his side, almost bruising his ribs. "Sam?"

"Wha--!! Where am I??" Sam jerked upright and looked around wildly, his heart still pounding. Shit! That seemed so real! He wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead and looked over at the clock. It wasn't even midnight yet, but that nightmare seemed to last several hours.

Jazz was crouched next to him. "You're at our base. Remember?"

"Yeah..." He nodded, then sank back down in the sleeping bag.

"Bad dream, huh?" Jazz tilted his head, concerned by Sam's pallor. "You ok?"

Sam nodded slightly, still a little freaked and no way near ready to try to go back to sleep. "It was him. Megatron," he said, rubbing stinging eyes. "I've spent months trying to block it all from my mind."

"Yeah. I deleted a little bit from my memory bank, too," Jazz somberly told him.

Oh, crap.. Sam groaned, remembering what had happened to Jazz at Megatron's hands. He couldn't even begin to imagine how agonizing that had to have been, being torn in half...

"Sorry... Didn't mean to bring it up."

"Hey, don't worry about it, " Jazz assured him. "Sometimes it's better to talk about things, ya know?"

"I guess..." Sam shrugged, staring up at the silver Autobot.

"Well, that's what I read, anyway." He shrugged, tapping his metallic fingers on the floor. Holoforms made it so much easier for them to connect with their humans. Jazz moved back and transformed. "Got enough room for two in there?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam quickly unzipped the side of the sleeping bag. Jazz's holoform slipped in next to him, and two arms wrapped around him. He smiled and gratefully reciprocated, feeling a lot safer now. "Thanks..for sticking around."

Jazz smiled, zipping the bag back up for him. "No problem, Sam. I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Promise?" Sam asked, starting to drift off already.

"I promise, Sam."

"Thanks...love you..." he whispered, as he slipped into a deep, and peaceful this time, sleep.

"Yeah... Same here," Jazz said, a little gruffly, and kept his holoform activated the rest of the night.