The sun was shining brightly on the forest clearing. The trees were tall enough to hide the giant Transformers, who were sitting around waiting for the Mini-cons to bring Rad through the warp gate. His piping hot breakfast was on a tarp with a small cube of energon to give him the energy that the human food wouldn't. Rad's surprised face was worth the dust that blew around, getting into joints and under armor.
"What's all this?"
"A reward for my pet," Megatron replied with a genuine smile.
"Are those…enchiladas?" Rad asked, his face taking on a predatory expression.
Leader One nodded. "You last said Mexican, so…Is it adequate?"
"Looks good, but taste is far more important."
Rad sat down and took in a forkful. He was quite pleased.
"Mm, spicy." He took another bite, chewing slowly. "This is delicious. Who made it?"
Swindle shyly raised his hand. "I did."
"Good job. But why?"
"Why what?" Cyclonus asked.
"Why go to all this trouble?"
"It's no trouble!" Leader One argued. "You haven't eaten human food in a while. We haven't had the chance to practice cooking in a long time."
Rad shrugged, eating again. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal, washing down the spice with sweet, rust sprinkled energon. He settled back when he was done, looking around. His gaze landed on a stream. He gestured at it, and Megatron nodded encouragingly.
The youngling stripped his skirt off and took a nice, cool dip with the Mini-cons in the water as the Transformers chatted. A splash fight erupted, and they all found themselves laughing as they relaxed. It didn't last long, though, as most trips to Earth didn't.
Rad pulled his skirt on and hid in a tree, his body camouflaging to the foliage. There was no sign of Carlos or Alexis as the Autobots aimed their weapons at the Decepticons. Megatron's pleasant mood was gone.
"What are you doing here?" Optimus demanded harshly.
"Well, we were enjoying the weather," Starscream growled as his companions' weapons charged.
"Did you get a Mini-con signal?" Hot Shot asked.
"We were enjoying the weather," Wheeljack asserted, glaring hotly at Hot Shot.
"With Rad?" Red Alert guessed, tilting his head as he stared at the clean plate.
"What I do with my pet is none of your concern," Megatron said tersely.
"Stop calling him that!" Hot Shot exclaimed. "He is a human being! He has thoughts and feelings and a will of his own! He is not a pet!"
"We are getting nowhere. Let's go back to base, sir," Demolisher said grimly.
Megatron grunted, glancing at Rad briefly. Rad nodded and the Decepticons warped away with their Mini-cons, leaving the boy hidden away. The Autobots relaxed.
"Can you believe that? Enjoying the weather my aft!" Hot Shot muttered. Rad felt his temper stir, but he stayed still and silent.
"They clearly made this trip for Rad," Red Alert said as he gestured at the empty plate.
"How long are they going to keep him?" Optimus sighed. "It's been a year. Almost to the day. And we haven't seen him for months."
"They aren't sparkless," Scavenger said. "When I was there, we treated him like a Mini-con. And he was changing a lot. I told you how Starscream saved his life. We might have to ask them about Carlos and Alexis. They can't catch their breath again."
"Ask the 'Cons for help?" Blurr asked coldly.
"But it's for the kids," Sideswipe pointed out.
"What about Rad?" Hot Shot demanded. "He's a kid, too! And he's stuck in their Primus-forsaken base! What do we do? We need to get him out of there!"
Scavenger said nothing. He had offered to take Rad back to Earth with him when he'd rejoined the Autobots, but the boy had, very sadly, looked at him with large, green eyes.
"I don't belong there anymore. Tell Optimus and the others I said hi."
Scavenger reported to Optimus what he'd said, and all the Autobots rallied around a cry of manipulation and brainwashing. By they hadn't seen him.
The boy had been growing metal out of his skin, patches of silver standing out on his increasingly pale flesh. He had recently just got his sight back and his eyes were completely green and glowing. Starscream had tweaked his collar to get oxygen to what remained of his organic tissue, which was more and more rapidly shrinking. Scavenger would never forget the rattling gasps from the poor creature as Starscream reported that his lungs were deteriorating at a scary pace.
"Imagine starving with your intake system, but without overheating."
Scavenger pursed his lips. "I told you he didn't want to leave."
"That's what those creeps make him think!" Hot Shot shouted.
Scavenger stomped his foot. "You keep saying that! You say that about their Mini-cons, too! But have you noticed that they don't try to escape?" Silence ensued for a good minute. The mech intook heavily. "Look, I lived with them for a while. They aren't so different from us. They think what they're doing is right. I've heard their story, and they had a right to revolt. Maybe not fight us for so long. But revolting was the only way they could change anything."
Optimus looked tired. "What's your point?"
"You can't hide the truth forever," Rad replied, making them jump. "That's his whole point. You pretend you're the high and mighty Autobots who can do no wrong. But the way the Decepticons were treated by the Council was wrong in itself. If Carlos and Alexis are changing like I did, they will find out. And it would be better if you were there to answer their questions. Honestly."
"Rad?" Hot Shot asked excitedly. "Where are you?"
The boy hesitated then dropped to the ground. Every optic was on him, taking in his appearance. Scavenger nodded solemnly.
"Breathing better?"
"Don't need to breathe anymore. Oxygen, anyway. Just need to stay cool enough. Not so hard where I live."
"Why aren't you with Megatron?" Red Alert asked.
"I don't need to be. He trusts me to come home."
"Earth is your home."
"It was. But do I look like it is anymore?"
"What did they do to you?" Blurr asked in wonder.
"Same thing you did to Carlos and Alexis."
"We did nothing to them. We don't understand why it's happening," Optimus said in frustration.
"It's from being around your spark energy. My DNA is more prone to it than the others'. That and I didn't get daily breaks from it by going home once Megatron got me."
"You've studied it."
"Starscream has. He likes stuff like that."
Red Alert nodded. "Skyfire talked of him. They taught each other much."
"Are we seriously pretending that this is normal?" Sideswipe asked blankly.
"Can't be any weirder than living on the moon," Rad replied, looking up. "I should be getting back. But first, tell me how much pain they're in."
Red Alert looked uncomfortable. "They don't talk much."
"Yeah, I remember that. I'll try to bring by some things to help with the breathing problem and I'll have Starscream make some of that pain medicine. I gotta go home now."
"Stay here," Hot Shot begged.
"I've got to go home."
"Please?"
Rad shook his head. "Bye."
With that, he warped back home. The Autobots stared at where he'd been.
"I told you," Scavenger said softly.