Hello! Lnzy1 here! Thanks for reading this far and supporting this fic. I have some awesome stuff planned for this story and hope you all stick around to enjoy it! Now, if you're reading this I would like to alert you that this is a double update so if you haven't read Ch. For What It's Worth...go read that before this otherwise you'll be sorly confused. Thanks!

Chapter three: Searching…

Far from the drama unfolding upon the Decepticon mother ship, seventeen sectors away aboard another space transportation shuttle as it began reemerging from a warp gate a young Mech's senses went crazy.

"The fourth!" He bellowed over the ship wide comm. "The fourth has been located! You guys get your sorry afts in here!"

Turning off the power and leaning away from the microphone, Daiga smiled to himself. Waiting patiently in his seat, he began humming to himself. A few moments later the doors to the room hiss open and a large red Mech stepped through.

"You! How in the pit do you keep getting in here?!" The enraged Mech demanded pointing an accusatory finger at the younger Bot. "I thought Prowl confined you to your quarters!"

Daiga smirked. "You keep forgetting old timer- I'm a key!"

The red Mech's face didn't budge at this revelation. "I know. It's the only reason I haven't tossed you out the garbage shoot yet!"

"You should be happy Ironhide," Daiga told him. "I just picked up the fourth key's signature! It's not too far away either."

Ironhide straightened and glared at Daiga. "Let me guess, about seventeen sectors that way?" Ironhide pointed behind him. Daiga's grinning face faded. "Yeah…how'd you know?"

The older Mech's face turned stern. "We picked up a Decepticon ship on our long range scanners after following a Warp Gate signature about twenty breems ago."

There was a heavy pregnant pause. "So then Zandrex got to it first," Daiga replied slowly. "Slaggit all. How does he keep doing that?"

Ironhide made his way over to Daiga, shaking his head. "Perceptor said something about a possibility being that he possesses a larger piece of the Artifact then you or the others."

Daiga, put his hands behind his head and leaned back in the chair. "That doesn't seem very fair…"

Growling, Ironhide kicked the front of the chair, causing it to topple backwards. With a cry of surprise, Daiga fell back and hit the floor. Looking up, daggers in his topics, the young Mech glared at Ironhide.

"What was that for?"

Ironhide regarded him a moment before smirking. "You were wide open, I couldn't resist. Now get your aft back in your room!"

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'How do we find the other keys?' Madelyn asked dubiously, looking over at her mentor's face. They stood on the observation deck of the Decepticon's Mother ship, the Dias Morga, Madelyn seated on his shoulder. Before them the universe spread out in all its infinity, stars blinking brightly at them, almost tauntingly.

'It's hard to explain,' Zandrex replied. 'If they are within range you can sense them. If they are close enough you can speak to them through the internal link.'

'So we're expected to find two microscopic needles in an infinite hey stack…' She concluded. 'How long did it take you to find me?'

Zandrex smiled and looked over at the human seated on his shoulder. 'Not as long as you think. I could sense your presence on the planet, the general area, but as for your exact position, that took the most time. I essentially chose one direction and turned around if your signature faded and started over.'

'Is that why you screamed at me?' Madelyn asked recalling the time in which the voice grew so loud in her mind that it had caused her to collapse in pain.

Zandrex shifted slightly as if embarrassed at the recollection. 'I was frustrated. If I'd known it would have harmed you I-'

'You're too apologetic,' Madelyn cut him off. 'You don't have to apologize to me for anything. I know now you were just following orders. Even if you abducted me, I'm glad it was you and not Shockwave or some other drone. Don't worry about it. We'll get out of this together, just wait and see.'

Zandrex continued to stare at Madelyn, surprised at her words of confidence. Only a few breems prior she had been in tears, scared, confused, and distraught yet now she seemed calm-almost confident. Madelyn turned to meet Zandrex's gaze…and smiled. For a long moment the black Mech was silent with bemusement. Finally, he smiled back.

'Thank you Madelyn,' He said sincerely. 'I have missed conversing with someone as an equal rather then as slave to Master.'

'You're welcome,' Madelyn replied. 'So one more time…how exactly do we find the other keys?'

Zandrex couldn't suppress his laugh.

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"All of the pieces are in place Prime," A Mech said, easily the shortest of the group, with black and white armor with a red ceremonial crest donning his forehead. "What is our next move?"

"It is a difficult situation," Replied a voice, seated in a large high backed chair at the head of the table. A glowing hologram of the solar grid with their current position marked shown cheerfully before the gathered council. "With all four keys now located, we are at a standstill. We no longer have the advantage."

"We are not at a disadvantage either," Pointed out a familiar Red armored Mech, Ironhide.

"Nevertheless," The black and white Mech said. "Zandrex is easily the most opposing of the keys. Neither Daiga nor Groove are any sort of match for him, even together."

"He's had more time to integrate his powers acquired from the Artifact shard into his systems then the others," The Prime replied thoughtfully. "If Daiga or Groove could learn their abilities as well as Zandrex had learned his, we would most certainly regain the advantage." Turning to Ironhide he asked, "Do we know anything about the fourth?"

Ironhide sighed. "All that they could tell me was that the shard was inside a living host."

"Not very helpful intelligence," The black and white Mech replied distastefully. "At least Groove was able to tell us a vague description of Daiga when we were searching for him. How are we to retrieve the fourth if we don't know what to look for? Optimus?"

"It is discouraging, but we cannot loose hope," Optimus Prime said standing. Walking around the table he pointed to their position. "We are roughly ten sectors away from Dias Morga. Based on the fact they haven't changed position, this tells us their long range scanners must still be offline from our last battle. We will use this to our advantage. Their short range reaches roughly three sectors, plenty of room for Daiga and Groove to make internal contact with the fourth key. We will call Ultra Magnus and the Valladus for reinforcements."

Catching on, the black and white Mech gapped at his leader. "Sir, do you plan to siege Dias Morga?"

Without meeting his gaze Optimus Prime replied, "Yes Prowl. That's exactly what I intend to do."

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Following Zandrex's directions was proving…difficult. Mostly because he himself was having trouble putting action into words which proved even more problematic when every comparison he used to explain something really only applied to a being of mechanical origins, not organics.

'Megatron better not expect me to be able to find the others anytime soon,' Madelyn thought bitterly. 'Because at this rate I'd have better chance of jumping off ship and randomly floating around space…'

'It is also possible you are actually doing it correctly and that they are simply too far away to connect with,' Zandrex added encouragingly. 'Don't expect everything to suddenly become second nature to you. It took me a very long time to understand any of my abilities.'

'So I'm gonna be an old lady by the time I get this…' Madelyn replied sadly before perking up. 'What do you mean by 'abilities'?'

'As I understand it,' Zandrex explained. 'Each of us who host a piece if the Artifact, making us keys, gain certain abilities. Some are shared while others are unique to the host. For example, we all can link internally and sense one another, but only I can manipulate technology.'

'Wassat mean?' Madelyn asked. 'Manipulating technology…?"

Zandrex reached up to his shoulder and, gently plucking her up, place Madelyn onto the ground. 'I'll show you.'

Madelyn watched with interest as Zandrex walked over to a computer counsel, one of many inside the observation deck, and smashed his hand into the controls. Madelyn sucked in breath at Zandrex's action but remained silent about it. With a grunt, Zandrex pulled his arm out, hand full of wires. Sparks flew from within the computer and the wires suddenly sprang to life, wrapping around Zandrex's fist like constricting snakes. The metal bodies of the wires began to melt into his fist and with a final jerk; he pulled his arm free of the whole mess. In his hands, the blob of metal began to shift and change, becoming solid once again. Turning back to Madelyn, he bent down and presented the newly reformed object in his fist.

'What is it?' She asked, unsure. With a smile, he pushed a small button atop the device. Madelyn face lit up as a soft soothing, and very familiar, melody drifted from within. 'A music box!'

Zandrex smiled. 'I heard this song when I first entered your mind.'

Listening quietly to the music playing, Madelyn sucked in a breath. 'It's…this is the song my mom use to sing to me…when I was really little. She sang this to me when I was in hospital after…'

When Madelyn fell silent, Zandrex peered down at her. 'What is it?'

Madelyn sat there silently crying with tears freely forming and falling down her face.

'Have I upset you?' Zandrex asked, concerned.

'No,' She told him, wiping away a stray tear. 'I just miss my home is all.'

Before Zandrex could reply a new voice made its presence know.

"Keeping the organic entertained Zandrex?" Said a new Mech as he entered the deck, door hissing behind him. He was slightly taller then Zandrex, though by far more intimidating. He had wings of some sort extruded from his shoulder blades and thin narrow cannons attached to each arm. His face, like many of the Mechs Madelyn had encountered, was encased in a helmet, black in his case. His eyes were like glowing rubies, not like the dark yellow ones of Shockwave or the bloodlust red of Megatron. "Shouldn't you be searching for the others?"

Zandrex turned to face the newcomer and quickly got down to one knee. "Lord Starscream." Remembering herself, Madelyn followed Zandrex's example. She heard the Decepticon snort.

"If I recall," Starscream said dangerously. "Megatron forbid you from using your powers unless directly commanded. Isn't that so?"

Zandrex's face tightened. "…it is my Lord."

Starscream's smirk deepened. "How to punish you then..?"

'No!' Madelyn said within her mind. 'He can't! You didn't do anything!'

'Do nothing Madelyn,' Zandrex forbid. 'I can take care of myself. Remain still.'

'But-'

'No!' The strength of the command made Madelyn flinch in physical pain. 'Starscream may not be as ruthless as Megatron but he is just as ambitious and just as dangerous. He is second in command of the entire Decepticon faction, second only to Megatron. Do not cross him. Understood?'

'Yes sir…'

Walking over to Zandrex's bowing form; Starscream reached out and grabbed the back of the black Mech's head, smashing it into the floor with such force, Madelyn felt the ground beneath her jump. Startled by the sudden violence, Madelyn scrambled away from the two.

"What could I do to make you remember your place?" Starscream asked, twisting Zandrex's face deeper into the floor. Madelyn sucked in a breath, alerting Starscream to her presence. Turning sharply to her, the winged Decepticon grinned. "Well, well, well…What do we have here?"

Madelyn, scrambled to regain her footing and quickly returned to a bowing position. Ignoring the display of submission, Starscream grabbed Madelyn, roughly.

"Perhaps the lesson would be better learned if," Starscream mused. "The little one was to take the punishment instead."

"Lord Starscream! Plea-"

Madelyn screamed as pain shot through her lower half, Starscream's fingers gripping her hard.

"Madelyn!" Zandrex cried aloud. "Lord Starscream, stop!"

"Why should I?" Starscream replied.

"You're hurting her!"

"Oh?" Starscream sneered. "If this is the extent of her endurance she will not last very long."

Suddenly the entire ship shuttered violently and Starscream was barely able to keep upright. Zandrex fell to the ground, gripping onto anything to steady himself. The alarms blared on and a mechanical sounding voice spoke over the intercom.

"All personnel to battle stations. Autobot fleet detected, I repeat Autobot Fleet detected. All personnel to battle stations."

Cursing, Starscream allowed Madelyn to fall from his grip before running towards the door and disappearing down the hall. Zandrex reached out desperately and caught the girl.

'Are you hurt?' Zandrex asked quickly, looking her over for any signs of injuries. She didn't reply. Shaking terribly, Madelyn reached out and gripped Zandrex's thumb, burying her face into the metal and began to cry. 'Oh Madelyn…I'm so sorry…'

Holding her to his chest sympathetically, Zandrex stood and looked out the window. A large ship less then a sector away loomed in his vision like some ominous vulture, weaponry firing straight at them. Though he feared the repercussions his actions would produce, he knew what needed to be done…