Note: I recently saw Fistful of Energon. I'm surprised about something. A little bit of my guess was actually right!

Number 4

Blackarachnia landed the ship in a forested area a few miles south of the city of Detroit. Starscream stepped out of the ship and took in the thick forest surrounding them, looking annoyed at the choice of location. "Why did you land us here?" he demanded, turning to glare at her as she stepped out of the ship.

She stopped and folded her arms, leaning her back against the hull of the ship. "Because only an idiot would have landed in the city," she replied. "Do you know what would have happened if we had landed there? The Autobots would have been all over us before you could say Primus."

"So?" he asked. "I thought that's what you wanted."

She gave him a correcting look. "No that's not what I wanted," she told him. "I have a better idea on how to get that key. I don't want them to come to us. I want to come to them. When they are least expecting it." she pointed at his face, sighting down the fragment glowing on his forehead. "I don't want them to know about it until I have what I want."

"And when do you think they'll least expect it?" he asked, facing her. "The Elite Guard probably told them what happened by now. This won't be easy, you know."

"Since when do you care about easy?" she asked.

"Since I don't feel like being put into stasis lock again," he replied.

"Oh you mean because of these?" she asked, holding something up and jangling them in her hand.

Starscream's optics widened with recognition. He was hoping he'd never see those things again. "How did you get those?" he demanded.

She smiled at him. "I've had them," she replied, tossing the cuffs up and down in her hand. "I figured I'd put the to good use on some Autobots once we got here." she held them with both hands now and walked over to him. "Unless you want me to use them on a certain big mouth."

He stepped back from her, putting up his hands. "Un no need for that," he said, nervously. The last thing he wanted was her to slap those things back on him.

"Then shut up and let me think!" she snapped.

Bumblebee and Sari arrived back at the warehouse a half hour later. As soon as Sari exited the yellow Autobot he transformed and the two ran into the base to find Prime.

The only bots they found were Ratchet and Bulkhead. "Where's Prime?" Bumblebee asked the old medic.

Ratchet looked up from what he was doing and replied. "He left," he replied. "He said he had something important to do."

"What could possibly be so important?" Bumblebee asked.

"I don't know," Ratchet replied, going back to working on his arm. His old war wound was acting up again. "Why don't you ask him when he comes back?"

Bee sighed and he and Sari stepped out of the room. "I guess you'll just have to wait to tell him," Sari said.

"I guess so," he agreed. "But then again it might not have been them. Maybe it was just a falling star?"

"It was more than that," said a voice.

Bumblebee looked up. "Who's there?" he called out.

"It's just me," Prowl said, stepping out of the shadows.

"What do you want, Prowl?" Bee asked.

The ninja bot folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "I don't want anything from you," he told the yellow mech. "I'm just correcting you about the light you saw earlier. I know that that it was them."

"How do you know?"

Now Prowl did look at him. "Because I saw it too," he replied. "It was the ship. I can recognize the shape of an escape pod easily. Especially one from an Elite Guard ship." he looked away again. "They've returned and it won't be long before they come here."

"So what do you suggest we do, Prowl?" Bumblebee asked. "Go out and find them? I don't know about you but this bot's not going to go Decepticon hunting if he doesn't have to."

"I never said you had to," Prowl replied, looking back at him.

"You weren't?"

"I was referring to myself," Prowl told him, his expression the most serious Bumblebee had seen in a long time. "I believe I know what to do about this."

"What are you saying?" Sari wanted to know.

He looked down at the little girl. "I am going to look for them."

"What?" Bumblebee explained in disbelief. "You can't go after them by yourself!"

"That is of no concern to you," Prowl told him. He pointed at the yellow mech. "When Optimus returns and if he asks where I am tell him I went out to do something but I'll return as soon as I'm done."

"Okay, I guess, but-"

Before he could utter another word, Prowl was gone.

Starsscream listened to Blackarachnia try to lay out a plan to him, watching her toss those stasis cuffs up and down in her hand. He did not like the fact that she had kept them but he couldn't do anything about it right then. He'd wait for his chance to take them away from her but for now he'd play her game and try his best to pay attention to what she was saying.

"Okay so here's what I was thinking we could do," she said, leaning against the side of the ship and tossing the cuff. "The human girl is always hanging around with the other Autobots all the time so trying to kidnap her is out of the question."

"So what do you plan on doing?" he asked her. "You can't kidnap her and you don't want to fight the Autobot's to get the key. So far this doesn't seem like you had it planned out."

She shot him a glare. "That's why I have you," she said. "I figured you could use that fine processor of yours to come up with something that doesn't involve attacking Autobot's for no reason."

"No reason?" he demanded. 'They arrested me! I feel I am justified to attack them!"

"So you can end up in another pair of these?" she asked, shoving the cuffs into his face.

He pushed her hand side. "Get those things out of my face!" he ordered. "I won't be so careless this time."

She stepped back. "You always say that and then you wind up doing the same things over and over," she told him. "Do you even learn from your mistakes?"

"Of course I learn from my mistakes," he shot back. "I didn't keep trying to get rid of Megatron the same way, you know. I tried something new and this-" he grabbed the cuffs from her hand and shook them in her face angrily. 'This is what wound up happening!" he gave her a look. "But of course you already know that part."

Indeed she did. "You see what I mean?" she asked.

"But it wasn't my fault!" he shouted. "They came at me not the other way around! All I wanted to do was leave and-"

"If I recall correctly, you shot Ultra Magnus first," she pointed out.

He looked away, poking his two index fingers against each other. Caught. "Well they would have attacked me anyway," he said feebly.

"Right," she said, smirking. "and the Autobots would have kicked you while you were down as well." then she laughed.

He glared at her. "And I could have flown off by now and left you here-"

"So why didn't you?"

He threw the cuffs back at her. She caught them easily. "Let's just say I gain more from having backup then going off by myself."

"Yeah, I'll back you up all right," she muttered. "I'll back your back right into a tree..." she shook her head, scattering the thought. Where did that come from all of a sudden?

"So let's go back to square one, shall we?" Starscream asked, leaning against the ship. "The Autobots human friend has a key and you want the key. You need me to help you get that key but you don't want to attack them to get it because you think they'd be able to defeat us." he snorted at the thought. He'd taken out all five of those Autobot's by himself already. "So how exactly do you plan on having us do this?"

Blackarachnia sighed, relieved that Starscream had gotten her back on her former train of thought. "All right," she said. "I don't exactly have the whole thing planned out at the moment so let's both think of something that would be satisfactory to both of us."

"And if it involves attacking the Autobot's directly?" he asked her.

She glared at him, not liking his smile. "We'll cross that space bridge when we come to it," she said.

Blitzwing, having not found a single fragment, finally returned to the Decepticons hidden base. He knew Megatron wouldn't be happy with his report but that was the least of his worries. Something was bothering him though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He glanced up at the sky before heading inside, his mind going back to the memory of the ship he'd spotted. He didn't know why it was bothering him so much but something told him it was important.

As he stepped into the base he weighed telling Megatron about it and decided not to. If it turned out to be something to worry about he'd deal with it himself. There was no need to bother Megatron with it. The Decepticon commander had other, more important, things to worry about. The triple changer would soon find out that Megatron was already one step ahead of him in that matter.

"Megatron," Blitzwing said, stepping into the darkened control room, totally ignoring the glassed in area to his left that housed Sari's father, Professor Issac Sumdac. "I regret too say zat I vas unable to find the source of zat signal."

Megatron looked over at the triple changer. Blitzwing's head currently sported his icy blue face. The most calm of his three personalities and the most sane as well as the most intelligent. "Didn't I tell you not to come back until you found something?" he asked him, sounding angry.

"Sir," Blitzwing began, holding up his hands in a helpless gesture. "I looked everywhere for ze source. I could not find a single fragment." his face then switched over to Random. His most insane personality. He help up something. A giant metal sign or some sort. "Except zis shiny green billboard with ze happy dancing toothbrush!"

Megatron gave the triple changer a hard look. The face returned to Cold. "Aside from zat I found nothing."

The gray Decepticon turned from him. "Maybe we're looking in the wrong places," he said. "and maybe we should be worrying about something else. Something more important."

"Vat do you mean?" Blitzwing asked, confused.

Megatron smiled, his optics on the bases computer screen. "If you had been here earlier you would have overheard a very interesting conversation."

"About vat?"

"It seems our old friend Starscream has escaped from the Elite Guard," Megatron explained. "and he's coming back here."

Blitzwings face changed from Cold to Angry, the red face and the most hot headed of his three personalities. "Say ze vord and I vill crush him!" he exclaimed.

"Let's not be hasty," Megatron said, putting out his arm to keep the unpredictable triple changer in line. "A plan is already in motion."

Blitzwing's face returned to Cold. "And vat is zat?"

The Decepticon commander. "I've already sent somebody you know to go after them."

"Zem?"

"Oh yes I forgot to tell you," Megatron said. Megatron leaned against the console and touched his fingers together. "It seems our little halfling decided to spring him. Now not only is the traitor loose but she's the one responsible."

Blitwing's face changed to Angry again. "I knew it vas a bad idea to let her join us in the first place!" he shouted. He smacked his fist against his palm. "Let me at zem! I vill pound zem both into slag!"

"No," his Superior said firmly. He smiled cunningly. "I've got something else in mind for our traitorous pair."

"Ratchet, I need to borrow the EMP." the sound of a voice behind him made the medic jump and turn around, holding up his giant magnets in a defensive position. When he saw it was only the ninja Autobot Prowl he sighed with relief. "I wish you wouldn't do that, Prowl." he said.

"Sorry," the other mech said.

Rarchet turned from him and went back to working on damage to his let arm. His war wound was still acting up. "Now what was it that you wanted again?" he asked.

"I need to borrow the EMP," Prowl said repeated himself.

Ratchet looked at him searchingly. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the message we received from the Elite Guard would it?" he asked.

Prowl wouldn't look at him. "Well," he said, looking embarressed. "You could say that."

The medic made a face. "You're not thinking of going after those two by yourself are you?"

"Why not?"

"For one thing that would be a foolish thing to do and for another they would have to be here to do it and-" Ratchet stopped, the look on his face changing. He quickly figured it out. "They've returned haven't they?"

Prowl nodded.

"So that's what Bumblebee and Sari wanted to tell Prime," the medic frowned. "You know Starscream is dangerous by himself. If he and the spider are working together it won't make things any easier."

'That's why I want to use the EMP," Prowl told him. "If I can use it on those two-"

"No can do, kid," Ratchet cut him off, putting up a hand. "We don't need you running off and getting killed. You can only use the EMP on one person at a time and it takes awhile to recharge it after it's used."

"That's not true," Prowl said. "Lockdown was able to use it constantly-"

"Lockdown also didn't know how to use it properly and could have killed somebody with it," the medic cut him off again. "The answer is no and that's final."

"Fine, fine," Prowl said, putting up his hands. "I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice."

"What do you-" that's as far as Ratchet got with his sentence. The next instant a bit black foot contacted with his face and knocked him over. A colorful star burst filled his vison and seconds before he blacked out he felt somebody yanking something off his arm.

For a moment Prowl stood there staring at Ratchet's unconscious form on the stone floor of their base. He had not wanted to do that but Ratchet had given him no choice. He needed the EMP to get this done and he didn't need anybody else to know about it. "I'm sorry," he said, attaching the device to his own arm. "But you gave me no choice and this is something I have to do on my own."

He heard the big double doors opening and looked over his shoulder. Somebody was coming. Quickly he vanished into the shadows of the darkened base and jumped out the side window before anyone could see him.

Prime had returned from his walk feeling no better. Though he hadn't really had anything important to do he wasn't about to tell the others that. He'd let them think he was off doing something worthwhile. All he could think about was Elita-1 now Blackarachnia helping Starscream escape from the Elite Guard. Though he kept telling himself that she was a Decepticon now and thus saving her comrade could be justified he did not feel that way at all. He still thought that maybe some of her old self was still there but... after all this time..

Who am I kidding? he thought, shaking his head. She's not herself anymore. She's a whole different person now. I should just give up on her. It's not like she'll- all thoughts of the femme vanished when he spotted Ratchet lying on the floor.

"Ratchet!" he exclaimed, running over to the Autobot medic and helping him into a sitting position. He smacked the older bot's face, trying to rouse him.

Ratchet groaned and light returned to his optics. "Prime?" he said.

"What happened?" Optimus asked worriedly. "Was it a Decepticon?"

"No," the medic repleid, sitting up on his own, and putting his hand on his head. "It was Prowl."

"What?!" Prime exclaimed, shocked that Prowl would do such a thing. "Why would Prowl do something like this?"

"He didn't want you to know this but he wanted to go after Starscream and Blackarachnia on his own," Ratchet replied.

"By himself!? What gave him that idea? Doesn't he know that that's the worst thing to do?!"

Ratchet could only shake his head. "He's going to find out for himself soon enough."

"I'm going after him," Prime said immediately on his feet again.

The old medic grabbed his leg. "No, Prime," he said.

Optimus looked down at him. "Why not?"

"Because this is something he feels he must deal with himself," he explained. Ratchet got back up and looked the younger mech in the eyes. "I'm not sure why Prowl feels he must go after them by himself but he must have a good reason. This might end up being the most foolish thing he has ever done but if it is, it's best to let him figure it out for himself than to tell him."

The younger mech decided to trust the old vetran. "I hope you're right," Prime said but he didn't feel any better.

"So what do you plan on doing in the meantime?" Starscream wanted to know. "I mean we can't just sit around here doing nothing. We could search for AllSpark fragments until you come up with something."

"We could," she agreed. "But the chances of us running into Autobots are pretty high if we do such a thing."

Starscream shrugged. "What's wrong with that?" he asked. "We might just get lucky and not even need a backup plan to get that key." he smiled at her knowingly. "Especially if that human is with them."

He was right about that and she knew it. "If it happens that way it happens," she said, shrugging. "and we'll do it your way."

He gave her a satisfied look. Finally he was going to have something go his way. Just you wait, Autobots. You'll pay for what you did to me same with you Megatron. He looked up at the sky. I'll enjoy defeating you both.

"One more thing," Blackarachnia said after a moment.

"What?" Starscream asked, looking back at her.

She tossed the cuffs up and down in her hands. She asked. "If I hadn't of been there would you have been able to get out of these on your own?"

He gave her a confused look. She was bringing up that subject again? "What makes you ask that all of a sudden?" he wanted to know.

She shrugged and caught them. "I'm just curious."

"Well," he said taking them from her and looking at them carefully. A smile slowly crept on his face as the All-Spark fragment on his forehead lit up. "Yes, yes I could have."

"How do you know that?" she asked, her face full of curiosity. Go ahead and say it.

He looked back at her. "Let's just said," he said twirling them on his index finger. "I know how to pick locks."

"Really?" she asked. She reached out and took them back. "Why don't we test that out then?"

"What?" Before he could protest she grabbed his arms and slapped them back on his wrists. He stared at her in shock for a moment then shouted angrily. "Why you no good widow! You tricked me!"

She folded her arms and smirked, taking a step back. "Don't blame me," she said. "You're the one who was bragging. Now let's see you try."

He glared at her. "When I get out of these you're going to regret this," he snapped, yanking on them.

"Less talk and more escape," she shot back. "If you can do it this could prove useful."

He stopped. "How?"

She smiled, showing her fangs. "It'll help us both from staying that way."

Ah so she did have another reason besides being a smart aleck. "So that's it," he said. "Well who am I do deny you such a pleasure? For a moment I thought you might have had some other reason for this."

He was being sarcastic and she didn't appreciate it. She stepped toward him again and yanked his arms down so he leaned toward her. "I hope you don't think that's funny because it isn't," she growled. "Just get this done so we can leave."

"He smiled at her. "My pleasure," he said. The next instant he snapped them onto her wrists. "But just remember, you started it."

She looked down at her wrists as he started laughing. She looked up at him angrily. Her leg came from somewhere he wasn't expecting and the next instant he was on the ground withering in pain. "That's what you get for thinking you can outsmart a widow," she said, looking down at him.

"Cheap shotter!" he shouted.

"Cheap shotter yourself," she shot back. "Now get these off me or I won't be so gentle next time!"

He winced when she raised her leg again. "Fine," he conceded.

She smirked at him. "Now that wasn't so hard was it?" she asked.

Her only response was a hateful glare.

A/N

Having seen Fistful Of Energon I decided I will still continue this story if you want me to. I'm not sure what other people call Blitzwing's three personalities but I call them Cold, Angry, and Random. Yeah Random is the most used for the crazy face and it fits as for the other two... well I'll just keep calling them what I call them. Also I apologize for any OOCness at any part in this chapter and for the fact that near the end my mind started going into Gutterland. I'll try not to let that happen again.