Songs used - Chapter Title: Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites by Skrillex.

Hot Wings - Will. I. Am, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway.

Theme of Carmina and Soundwave: Finding Out True Love is Blind - Louis XIV

His face then deconstructed, and for the first time Alexis was able to get a clear look of how exactly he switched faces. Portions quickly folded, tucked out of sight, and the larger sections compressed against the rotating stump underneath his helmet. Unfortunately, it took the form the black face once more, leading Alexis to believe that he had no control over which 'personality' assumed hold. As soon as all it's required functional parts assembled, the face grinned down at them with an innocence that remind Alexis of a child, a demented one. He kneeled, beginning with a voice of a much higher pitch.

"Oooh zon't worry ladies, ve'll have so much fun aboard zhe Nemesis." His grin twisted in a way that made Alexis bristle yet she held her ground, falling back into an old psychological memo she'd read in a book once about the clinically insane, and how not to flee from them once they were prone to reacting with instincts to chase whatever ran from them. She didn't know if that'd apply to a giant alien robot, but she'd just have to roll with it.

"I really don't like the sound of that." Lani said softly from near-under Starscream's heel. He flicked his attention to her, ultimately making her regret speaking up.

"Don't hide from me!" He wheezed a hysterical chuckle. "Jou have nozhing to worry about now zhat I don't have orders to destroy jou!" He reached out for her, stopping when she squealed and slapped his finger before darting under Starscream's foot and out the other side with a fury. She reappeared on the other side, rubbing her hand from slapping his metal digit so hard. His grin faltered, for a fraction of a second, before it stretched in the Human term of 'ear-to-ear'. "Oh zhat's not very nice! HAHAHAAAH!" His face deconstructed, replaced with the red one soon after.

"Do zhat again and I'll wring jou of zhe red liquid jou're full of!"

It then switched again, black to the one that bore the face of a Halloween decorative, the wind hardly hushing out his giggling. "Jou don't vant zhat do jou~?"

"Oh SHIT." Carmina swore quietly from behind 'Screamer's ankle. "We came all the way here to be a giant PMSing robot's tea party dolls?"

"No, I won't allow it. Come, enough of this." Starscream nearly booted Blitzwing in the chest, causing the child-like persona to retreat with a pouting frown. Starscream then dropped down to lower his hand to the ground, Alexis scrambled onto it in relief. At this point there was no place she felt safer at the moment. She motioned for the others, to which Lani was first to board, and a reluctant Carmina after. She instantly gravitated to Alexis abdomen, making the older woman chuckle out of embarrassment for her.

The insane persona, now having been deprived of a source of entertainment, was replaced with even tempered, blue, solemn one from before. He tagged close behind the seeker, his monocle adjusting once he aimed it skyward. "Zhis weather is very peculiar. Zhose storm clouds are not a naturval formation, itz almost as if zhey're forced to manifest."

"Thank you for clarifying the obvious, Blitzwing. Let it not slip your mind that you and Knock Out will be punished for your insolence displayed here today. That will be dealt with immediately."

Lani noticed the other metal giant slouched, obviously in dismay to hear that he too would be chastised. He was frightening, yet with a strange factor of admiration in his facade. Though Lani agreed with Alexis' alien companion, that it was uncalled for, what he did. At the moment, she exchanged eye-catch with Carmina, both equally dubious of whether they were going to vomit out of pure fear or excitement. Or both. Lani's instincts were screeching for her to run, even if it meant doing a Leap of Faith out of the hand of the creature she sat in now. Ultimately, the more she dwelled on it, the more she realized that the fear that surfaced before when she encountered the red vehicle was crawling it's way back from the edge's of her consciousness now that the action had subsided and her current predicament was now able to be fully absorbed. Her eyes felt hot, and when she felt pressure on her back, she lifted her face to see Alexis watching her in concern, yet she fully understood why the girl had sudden become upset.

"It's going to be okay, Lani." Alexis said gently, wiping away the trickling tear that chilled Lani's cheek with the sting of the summer storm winds.

As the woman with reddish brown hair sat back in Starscream's palm, her eyes dropped to her lap after Lani gave her a confident smile. The insecurity Alexis felt was very much a normal reaction when she realized the gravity of her mistakes. Her heart thundered against her chest and her blood pressure had yet to cease causing her to have a dizzy spell. She was scared, not because of Starscream, or the rumble she was just in with her friends, but because of the state of affairs her friends were in now. Their very essence was in mortal danger, and she'd foolishly allowed them into Knock Out's doors. It was supposed to be Starscream to pick them up, not Knock Out. And Lani certainly wasn't predicted to just follow them without saying something. The girl obviously had picked up their urgency, and she didn't appeal to surprises very well as a child, it hadn't changed since. Alexis wondered she could've planned this for another day, to prevent this all from happening. She then asked herself if there was a matter of time before Lani became overwhelmed with curiosity at the disappearances of Carmina and herself. True, she couldn't have held the secret off forever, and after this day, should they survive with the unpredictable Decepticons, she'd have to make it very clear that revealing any of this anybody outside of themselves, was absolutely forbidden. In a way, Alexis felt as if she were betraying the Autobots. 'Fraternizing with the Enemy', as one could put it. She could only reimburse herself with the ill-comforting thought that she'd reveal all that went on aboard the Nemesis after today. Particularly to speak in Optimus in private about Starscream's meeting with her the night after she left the base and headed for the hotel with Rolltide.

The subtle giggles of Lani and Carmina pulled her back to reality, and she glanced past Starscream only to fight off the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. Blitzwing's black face was back again, and this time he was silently endearing the women with silly expressions over the seeker's shoulder.

What a ham… Alexis thought when she finally sniggered into her palm, catching Starscream's attention. She could smile apologetically as he looked over his shoulder plate at the dust colored Decepticon with detest all over his features. Blitzwing broke away before Starscream could open his mouth, screaming with laughter. Starscream could only look on in untarnished disgust.

Carmina was cupping her face, her eyes misty from holding back her own obnoxious laughter at the robot's legitimate inanity. And Lani remained sprawled onto her side, laughing more than she had in a long while. Alexis had finally gotten through her trills of mirth that made her stomach ache so, surprised at Lani and Carmina for temporarily forgetting their fears. Perhaps it did them a little good to do so.

"Look zhey're laughing!" The impractical persona claimed, his figure tight as he returned to inspect the charge in the seeker's hands and cutting his progression to the lift off. Ultimately making the gray, red, and silver Transformer growl. "Jou actually find me funny?" He sounded electrified, finding it hard to restrain himself from yanking the Humans he found adorable from his commanding officer's servos. Starscream personally found it amazing that he even attempted to restrain himself.

"Haven't you heard, Blitzwing? When Humans aren't being terrified by that brute of a third persona of yours, they're easily amused." Starscream sniffed, surprised at the vindictive jealousy laced in his tone. It was because that he'd made Alexis laugh, not the seeker.

"Well," Lani said after sat forward, looking up at him with a ingenuous interest twinkling in her eye, her body language incasing once more to a subdued state. "He has a point, me and my friends laugh at anything at times, be it mild violence or not. To be honest, the last thing I expected to find amusing was a giant robot." She allowed herself to let a quiet chuckle, then her smile shrank to a small curvature of the cheeks.

"How dare jou laugh at me! Pathetic fleshling!" The fiery personality sudden appeared, hot air hissing between the chip in his dental plate, causing a faint whistling sound. He was pushed back into the helm when the black face fought for control again.

"Jou know, jou're da first Human to say zhat to me! Aund no screaming or running eizher!" He practically squealed, causing Alexis and Carmina to jump, unsure of what to make of it. They swapped nervous smiles, both angling their heads up at the Transformer with equally cocked brows.

"The hell?" Carmina barked through a guffaw when he leapt off out of sight only to shuffle across the dirt with an obnoxious metallic humming.

"It's best not to give that particular personality of his too much attention." Starscream warned rather flatly. "He is very quarrelsome and dangerous despite this humorous display he's giving you now. He's what you Humans consider a 'Nutjob'."

"Who isn't these days?" Carmina stated.

"Point taken." Replied the seeker.

"So he has MPD?" Alexis looked up to him, rather concerned about this revelation, she'd rather he confirm it for her though.

"Yes." He answered.

"So how many personalities does he have exactly? And how did it happen?" Carmina's eyes were as wide as tennis balls once they arrived to the glowing shaft that had an apparent anchoring effect on the ship. She retreated further into his servo, backing against his grasping digit.

"He was experimented on by Blackairachnia... Not to be confused with Airachnid," He added quickly. "She has long since been destroyed, but as a side-effect of her poor mechanical knowledge, it's caused him to malfunction and display multiple personalities, each demanded a face of their own, and now they are integrated within the same rotation stump on his neck. Neither more pleasant that the other. Whether or not you'd consider it lucky, but he only has three, which all have names besides his title. The one who you see now is Random. The quietest of the trio who is also the base personality, is Icy. Lastly, the savage you saw earlier was Hothead."

"Lovely." Carmina rolled her eyes.

Just as Starscream set foot on the platform, the heavy thudding of Blitzwing's boots caught their attention, finding that it was Icy now back in control, and from the looks of it, relieved to be. Thunder banged through the valley, causing all of them to jump at the sound, only Carmina giving a shout which she soon felt embarrassed about.

TRANSFORMERS

None of the crew had a thing to say about the sudden influx of Human visitors to the Decepticon warship. Yet some managed to escape Starscream's unruly gaze just enough to send questioning stares his way. Again, he'd covered the Humans with his clawed servos in order to deter their red, pupil less optics.

Alexis could hardly allow herself to relax, however, even with the bridge silent besides the steady tapping of Soundwave's digit-tips on the console before him, constantly relaying information that was of no interest to the Humans.

"This place, yup." Carmina nodded fearfully. "This is what I imagined Hell to look like."

"Why, thank you." Starscream nodded to her sarcastically.

Rolling his optics before she could respond, Starscream approached Soundwave from behind, to which the purplish Decepticon turned to address his presence. His shoulder sagged the instant he saw the other two Humans, lifting his head sharply back up at the officer.

"Don't give me that look, you were aware that only one was to appear today, only, a minor accident occurred." He said.

"What look?" Lani whispered to Alexis, who could only offer a smile.

Alexis turned to Starscream, tapping on his forefinger to get his attention. "It was our fault she got caught in this mess. When you sent Knock Out to pick us up; without telling me, by the way… We weren't aware she was going to follow us…" Alexis turned to her long time friend, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, Lani. I hated keeping it secret from you, but maybe this was for the better that you found out. Just, please, let me make this very clear, do not speak of this to anyone."

"Why would I, Alexis? Do you know how stupid and crazy I'd look in front of people for proclaiming the existence of giant robots? They'd lock me in the Nut House." Lani tittered with a hint of anguish, still very much afraid of her helplessness to the great metal beasts at the moment. She lifted her head to smile at the seeker who only raised a brow at her. "Besides, I like this one and that three-faced one already."

"Don't allow yourself to become comfortable, girl." Said Starscream bitterly. "We are not the Autobots."

"Who?" Lani then looked between him and Alexis, to which the brunette slapped a hand to her face.

"Apparently I'm going to be a dictionary today… Later, Lani. Later."

"How long, how loooong, with this keep goin' on?" Soundwave's exterior stereos crackled.

"Oh, silence." Starscream piped, releasing the Humans from his hands onto the work place that Soundwave had stationed himself. The only retort the purple digitgrade Decepticon could manage was an utterly flabbergasted slouch in his posture. More along the lines of 'you gotta be kidding me.'

"Watch them briefly and take leave until I return. I must unfortunately deal with two very large bots acting like children today." Starscream departed despite Alexis' plea for him not to just drop them away with the resentful Transformer.

"Yeah sure, leave me with the sexy robot!" Carmina yelled his way, but the doors had already shut, leaving them to the quiet blips and droning of the ship. She'd earned looks from both of her friends, including the faceless mechanical sentient. She only dropped onto her haunches, glowering up at him when she found he was tickled by her comment.

"Oh shut up." She murmured at Lani's runs of quiet laughter. She switched her attention to him when he exhaled a low, long, grunt. It was chillingly deep, and it wasn't from any known recording. Alexis raised her brows.

Did he just try to speak…? Or was he trying to laugh?

"I didn't actually mean it, it was sarcasm." Carmina said up to him, monotone.

He only shrugged, as if accepting that false compliment with no effect on his ego.

Tempted by nothing other than her own intrigued nature, Lani stood, carefully traversing the holographic illuminated keys to close the gap between her and his rapid moving hand. Like someone pulled a plug, his twitching movements came to a dead halt, and he watched with cold glare behind his faceplate as she reached out like a Human child would, stroking the side of his servo-digit.

She smiled humbly as he made no attempt to brush her away, had Starscream not given the orders to watch them, he probably would've popped her like a grape. She was being so simply ginger with it, like it'd hurt him if she made contact.

"He doesn't feel textured like the other one did." Lani said innocently. "He's not as cold either… Fingers are warm from moving them so fast?" She tilted her head up at him with the question aimed at no one in particular, retreating when she got the overwhelming feeling he was staring at her, or glaring.

"Sheesh, lighten up buddy." Carmina muttered at him while Lani slunk her back over to where she and Alexis clustered.

"Sheesh, lighten up Baby." Soundwave repeated, although with slight altercations. Ultimately making Carmina blubber at him, dumbfounded and flustered.

Alexis hid a small smile. "Looks like you have a boyfriend." She said with no particular intent to tease, especially when the massive Decepticon shot his reflective plate in her direction, delivering what she would've taken to be a dirty look.

"Oh shut it, Alexis." The girl bemoaned, she lifted her hand from her face, sighing at him with a less-than-enthusiastic expression. "That was for the 'sexy' comment wasn't it?"

However, Soundwave had fallen back into his eerie silence, only giving a half-hearted cock of the head and returning to his occupancy.

"I wouldn't become too close with these Transformers Carmina, Lani…" Alexis shook her head, having no regard that one of them happened to be with ear-shot. "They aren't the friendly kind."

"Then why are we here?" Lani asked, innocently enough, her gaze still fixed on the metal giant.

"Lani, this wasn't a planned outcome. You were supposed to be distracted so Carmina here could conquer the fear she had of them, well, slight fear... She's met one before, but it was small, my size. I had planned to meet with Starscream, the one who carried us here. Though he sent Knock Out to take his place. Carmina wanted to tag along, that's all. This wasn't supposed to happen… But I guess the extra didn't add much harm…" She rolled her shoulders as if to comfort herself. "These Robots haven't touched you yet, because they've been given specific orders not to harm us, thanks to Starscream and the friendship I have with him… Trust me, the explanation on that scenario would take hours to tell."

"So, they're bad guys?" Carmina asked plainly, having already delved in above her head and finding the thought of freaking a useless idea. It was to start, where would it have gotten her exactly? Perhaps squished.

"In terms yes. These Transformers are not kind, gentle, or even the nearest sweet towards Humans when they aren't given orders to demonstrate otherwise. Especially Soundwave towards me. I… I had destroyed his face, out of defense of a friend whom he almost put an end to. It was more luck than anything, but I managed to crush his face with a boulder with some help from a little Transformer called a Mini-Con… He hates me. These guys operate under the title of "Decepticons", while the others, whom we can trust, are called 'Autobots'." Alexis said firmly, flicking her eyes up at Soundwave to glare at him when he halted in his operations briefly, as if to listen in. Not like it mattered anyway. "They are cruel; ruthless, they've killed Humans before. In countless numbers. It doesn't matter to them- Most, of them," She corrected before continuing. "Women, children, they've killed them all. Trust me, with all the recorded proof of their past attacks on Human cities, our government tries to cover these national incidents up. It's a profane scenery that you don't want to watch take place. Their intentions are to control Earth and it's inhabited intelligent race, their leader wants far more though." She quieted, leaving the others to think on her words. "These guys may seem, cool. But they're a far cry from it."

"… What, uh, what about that Starscream character? He seems… Snobby, but, safe." Carmina was now nervous again having heard this newfound information, and she chewed her lower lip softly.

"Starscream, I will admit, is different. He never attacked us when we were children even when the Decepticons tried to pull fast ones, in fact he never found is the least bit interesting until he aligned himself with the Autobots for a short time… Fights broke out plenty of times in the base when he didn't want to play along with the Autobots "Everybody Pulls Their Weight" gig. Me, Rad, Carlos, Fred and Billy, we all worked hard to get him to become friends with us and even made gifts. He ended up becoming attached to me in particular because I was so resilient against his turn downs." She laughed quietly at the memory. "When things turned hectic however, he abandoned the Autobots and went back to his old ways… Yet he still retained some kind of positive outcome from his short time batting for the other team. He's always been a bit, uptight, and aloof, and most certainly lazy to some extent but he's never been entirely a burden."

"Sounds like you too were close," Lani noted the fondness in Alexis voice. Making the woman flush when she too became aware of it too late. "It's okay Alexis. It's your life, you're still my friend." She said softly.

Alexis couldn't help but break into a wide smile at the younger woman, she'd always been positive. Reminded her much of herself, maybe someone even better than herself. That kind of innocent purity was scarce.

"I don't even want to know how you two got it on." Carmina rolled her eyes, making her friend scowl.

"Don't be stupid Carmina." Alexis said bitterly.

"Just trying to lighten the mood." She said, suddenly tired.

"Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow." Came the voice of Tucker.

All three women turned to stare up at the stealth operative, mouths agape. Lani was first to break into a hysterical fit, Carmina having fallen to her knees with a series of muffled laughs, coming out as shortly spaced puffs through her fingers. Alexis only remained with arms across her bust, cheeks a faint cherry red and her figure stiffly aggressive.

"How I wish a real Master Chief was here to kick your big metal butt right now. Then we'd really have nothing to worry about, you cruel thing." Carmina bit out her words, finding the remark simultaneously funny as her amity.

Soundwave 'said' nothing.

TRANSFORMERS

Within the hour that Jack arrived, it was late in the day with the sun just touching the rim of the canyon borders, Raf and Miko having already arrived and decided to help his mother around for some exercise when she begun complaining of built up fluid within her feet and ankles. Rachet overseeing their activities with a wary eye to ensure his patient didn't suffer any unneeded stress. He smiled at the medic who looked his way with no return friendly expression, not to be intentionally rude, but he was busy monitoring a patient, something Rachet took with in-depth passion. "I brought what I could salvage," He stated as he dismounted Arcee, allowing her to undergo the metamorphosis that turned her into the slick Autobot she was. "Surprise, the Xbox and PS3 were still there." He said with a chuckle and his mother rolled her eyes.

"Nothing… Else?" She huffed, her lungs still very much tired.

"They didn't take your jewelry… Uh let's see, we still have your fine China, all the family heirlooms were intact. I find it weird, but mostly the fridge was raided, and the TV was stolen along with a couple of my PS3 games, but otherwise, nothing. I dunno, I guess they were just a hurry… Some of your clothes were scattered everywhere. I brought you clean clothes too." He said in a distracted tone, now discovering the oddity that was the robbers would pass on such potential goldmines.

"Possible. Or they just took what they found to be amusing for keeps, not exactly an attempt for profiting off their thieved goods." Rachet suggested quietly.

Jack nodded in agreement, turning to make his way for Bulkhead who was still awaiting for him to remove the cargo from his seats and trunk. "Sorry Bulkhead," Jack said with a smile, he then looked over his shoulder to see that the other two children had hoisted his mother back to bed. "Hey Raf, Miko? Could you help? The sooner we get this stuff out, the sooner Bulkhead can get out of this vehicle form."

"Sure!" Was Raf's response, rushing ahead of the taller teen to catch the box that Jack was about to pass off.

"Miko? Please?" Jack said calmly, giving her a sincere look.

It was a short moment before she returned it with a soft smile, nodding.

TRANSFORMERS

It was forty minutes later, that Optimus returned to base, leaving Rachet feeling secretively foolish for not regard the subtle beep of intruding vehicles on the base perimeter for a moment, since it too surprised him to see his arrival with the other Autobots.

"Still nothing?" Arcee asked from her spot behind Jack, occasionally watching him pass by.

"Our attempts to discover the identity of June's attacker have left us unrewarded yet again." He replied with a subtle shake of the head. "It seems this person of interest is as what Alexis called, a "spook." He or she sticks true to their nature, it seems."

She nodded with a disappointed expression. "We'll find out what's going on. We've heard nothing back from Fowler yet, like yesterday."

TRANSFORMERS

It was short time later that they'd finished unpacking poor Bulkhead, allowing him to return to his Robot Mode. Jack aided his mother in cleaning herself up by wiping her face with a packet of fresh wipes, and gently brushing her slightly matted black hair, which he offered to wash with warm water and shampoo in a bucket later.

"Hey guys, check this out."

All had turned their attention to the 12 year old settled on the floor near the stairwell, his laptop resting on his thighs. His expression was freaked as he looked to the Autobots and turned his laptop outward to show them a picture from an article. "It reads: Mysterious Black Figure Blurs It's Way Through Jasper, Nevada City Limits."

The picture was indeed fuzzy, but it was nothing the diminutive computer wiz couldn't clean up. The figure was tall, at least 10' feet at the shoulder telling from the comparison of the startled bystander in the image as well. It didn't seem to have a face, until Jack approached and noticed it's burning aubergine eyes.

"What in the world?" He muttered, taking the computer gingerly from the boy's hands, he scrolled down on the page, then began to read the article aloud.

"Whether this is an unexplained hoax, or a wide-spread paranormal anomaly, Jasper authorities have been flooded by on going calls of a strange black and ungainly thin figure fleeing through the streets along with the current cases of ongoing robberies, the most recently the house of a 16 year old boy… That's gotta be me they're talking about." He looked up to Transformers, brows furrowed with eyes wide. Arcee nodded, ushering him to continue.

"Described by some as tall, frail in appearance, but muscular, the culprit sweeps the streets mostly during the evening twilight hours, between 6:00 PM and 12:00 AM. Some people dismiss it as a crime spree by a creature who is the production of several bored teenagers in a costume rig, others, have more outlandish ideas of what the creature might be. From beings of mythical lore, to tie-ins of predicted events from Earth's historical documentaries. No one has yet to be killed in any of these crimes, but the rate of their executions is increasing, several eye-witnesses being women. It is unclear of why this estranged being continues to reveal itself to women in the night, but it's further been described as having all of the traits being listed above, along something of a… Mechanical origin… It's body is mostly black, shiny, and some say segmented. It's face is white, with purple glowing eyes." Jack looked sick.

TRANSFORMERS

Alexis walked, Lani close behind. They hugged the walls of the ship corridors, Alexis retracing the direction by poor memory alone to the medical bay where frank bangs were previously heard before Starscream returned. He'd released a warning to any who dare lay a servo on the Humans so that they could dilly about without worrying. it wasn't like they were going to walk into the nearest Decepticon shower room at any point. Carmina, surprisingly - or rather not actually - chose to remain on her perch atop the altar near Soundwave whom she'd become comfortable around, for the most part.

She gasped to find the med-bay door ajar, peering around the corner with the results of those assailing bangs coming to her eyes. It was Knock Out, and Blitzwing. Both in dreadful conditions. Starscream had explained their punishments to be swift, but Alexis hadn't the slightest clue she'd find them like this. It was almost tear-jerking to her when she heard the red Transformer groan wistfully. Sparks shot from an unknown source in his shoulder in a slow rhythm, and his head remained lopped to the side as if his spinal support had been broken. She took Lani's hand, pressing it to the door entry point.

"Lani stay here okay?" She said with a faint command in her voice.

The Acaster girl did as she was told, silently watching her new science fiction fascinations with a grieving cast.

Alexis was careful to approach the gaunt doctor, afraid to catch the rebulk of his pent rage for his damaged body. With a hand twisting the seam of her shirt, she shivered at no actual chill, and her skin pimpled faintly. "Knock Out?" She nearly squeaked. Remaining still when the mech's red optics flicked towards the sound of her voice, the menacing ire in them stronger than ever. He was furious.

"Oh god Knock Out. I'm so, so sorry." She said just above a whisper. "This is all my fault."

"Wha…?" He now sounded confused at her fretting.

"If I hadn't asked for Starscream to come pick us up… You wouldn't have ended up like this. You wouldn't have gotten shot at, in a fight… I was too stupid to open my mouth and say anything to Starscream when I should've jumped him the first moment I got." She shook her head.

"…"

"I…. I'd like to repay you any way I can. You may be a Decepticon, but from experience with Starscream and Optimus' words, I've learned to give everyone a chance."

"Shut up." Knock Out grumbled bitterly. "Don't feed me that nonsense. It's not even your fault. If it wasn't for… That dusty buzzard, I would've just had a smooth ride back up here instead of being on the edge of faltering like this." He tried to point to an unconscious Blitzwing, the triple-changer's "Icy" and "Random" faces lay a state of semi-assembly, both being partially visible like his axis beneath them had turned loose from the beating. Neither of their optics glowed to show a sign of being active. A lens atop his helmeted head was frayed. His impressive size aside, even he prove not a match for an angered Starscream. Alexis leered at this. She was all too aware that he'd been made a fool in front of her and her friends, at least, to him he was. Mostly, this was caused by her. These blows too sadistic and malicious to have been conjured from a simple "punishment" tardy. It was like he was possessed by Megatron himself in order for this to happen.

"Besides," Knock Out wheezed. "In what, exact way, would you repay me for my services?"

"I don't know…" Alexis said honestly.

"Figures." He smiled an ugly smile, leaning against the console behind him.

"I'm sorry Knock Out. I can't do anything because I'm some little 'meatball.' But I have to do something to repay you, I mean, you've acted as a babysitter for me, tolerated my presence… You acted as a chaperone today. I've got some major kiss-ups to do." She smiled up at him, now having wandered close enough to stand by his pointed foot.

"You want to repay me?" He dropped his head, almost effortless in the motion. A brow was raised as he looked at her but he held no smile. "Stop trying to befriend me. I don't care for Humans, is that clear? You're pests to me and mere amusement, nothing more. Particularly you. Maybe I should blame this on you, considering that bird brain's been supremely irritating to me for the past several days now since you showed up."

"I see," Alexis didn't bother to try and disguise the hurt intertwined with her words. "I'll stay away from you for now on then, keep interaction at a minimum-to-none ratio. Just, get better Knock Out. I can't really live with seeing you like this on my conscious."

"Should that bother me?"

"You got some nerve." Lani bleated from behind Alexis out of the blue, causing the girl to start. "You guys don't make any sense. Do you know how boring it'd be if you did take over the galaxy or whatever you want to do? So you killed the good guys who think what you're doing is wrong, big whoopee. Yet when there's no more butt to kick, then what are you going to do?" She shrugged violently, crossing her arms with a huff. "Besides, good always triumphs over evil. So you guys are royally screwed away. From what Alexis told me, you guys messed up your home just for this dumb war, really smooth may I say…"

"Lani enough." Alexis said sharply. She'd grown irritated with the girl's monologue.

"Huh. You think I didn't care what happened to Cybertron?" Knock Out retained the sarcasm in his voice but he was clearly vexed.

"Well apparently not, seeing as you just willingly blew it all to Kingdom Come." Lani snapped.

"It was the tail end of the war when I decided to join in Megatron's reign for dominance of the planet. It was fear that drove me… I had no faction in the beginning. I was just a bystander in the mayhem. A medical assistant. Arrogant as it is for you to come to the conclusion that none of us cared what happened to the planet, you're right about us destroying it. Lord Megatron ultimately regrets this outcome, and he wishes to restore it to order, his order…. May I say, that the Autobots helped us ravage it further by fighting back." He grunted with a shambling grin. "The Decepticons' attacks were intense, bloody, swift, and violent…" He looked down at his abdomen, finding it's brilliant red beaded with energon. "Those who refused died. I wasn't going to die just for some 'noble' cause."

"So you're a coward?" Alexis asked.

"I'm just a parry on the get-by," He tilted his head. "While down to it I'd like very much for this ridiculous destruction to end, as tiresome as it is, I really don't care for all the Autobots struggle for. Peace, universal equality, harmony… No matter what they do to try and preserve those silly notions, they never last. Even with the end of the Decepticon onslaught, another war 'll just spark down the road. Someone's gonna get selfish again… You get the drift." He shrugged his good shoulder, then winced at the action.

"Those possibilities are open down the road, but right now… This has got to stop." Alexis shook her head. "Even if it means a temporary peace, it's something we all deserve. Autobots, Decepticons, Humans…" She jabbed an accusing finger at him. "One side has to go down for this crap, and, it's not going to be the Autobots. I'll make that firm and crystal clear, Knock Out. You either man up, or go down with them. The wound is always ugly before it gets better. The Autobots aim for peace, yes, but peace needs to be fought for. It's a well known hypocritical nature throughout history. If you think a day doesn't go by without them regretting what they do to you guys, then you've got another thing coming."

"Is that so, Alexis?" Starscream's voice snaked it's way into their conversation, and his red optics now bled their evil light onto her. Yet she remained fearless of him, especially him. And she turned to face him without a flinch.

"Yes Starscream. Let us out of here, now. You're not the Starscream I know, you're some kind of phony. The real you is lost. You've no nobility like you did 24 years ago, you flee, backstab, and then you almost kill these two for what? Me?"

He chuckled at her voice when it began to waver.

"So causing me grief is funny to you?" She hiccupped.

"Oh dear Alexis… Why must you cry?" His expression then turned sorry. "Was it not you that promised yourself not to get close to any of the Decepticons here? Come to think of it, during our little excursion back in the canyons, you never did relay that I wasn't among those you wouldn't allow yourself to get close to." He circled her and Lani, who'd shuffled close to her and watched the seeker like a frightened mouse. He tapped his chin as he continued, looking down upon the battered fighter jet.

"I don't bask in your grief, Alexis. Yet I don't exactly… Feel sorry, for causing it either. If it's one thing I admired about you, it was your bravery. I also liked your determination, however I also found it bothersome when I myself couldn't muster it like you did during times of extreme action. Time to awaken from your little dream world, Alexis. This isn't a story where all who you meet shall come to befriend you, like some Human fairy tale. Far from it, dear…" He bent down to look her right in the face. Her expression was abashed, few tears streaked her cheeks while she listened to him. Her eyes held pure shock which in turn surprised him. She had indeed tried to hold her guard with them, yet she was weakened by her own nature, to care for others. "Allow me to help you, Alexis… You see, you walk among murderers here. Countless lives lost, numerous amounts of them Human. That attack in Los Angeles, I was present. Several Humans I wasted through those filthy city streets. Listening to their screams had never really been more satisfying."

"Then why don't you squash me?" She screamed suddenly, causing him to raise a brow and his smile fall into a taken aback look upon his face.

"You've gotten on my last nerves, at times Alexis. Were it not for our meetings during the reign of Unicron, right here and now I'd kill you. Curse you, girl. You embedded yourself in my spark like a scraplet does the hide of a Cybertronian…" He trailed off as he watched her, the metal of his servos grinding together as he clenched them so tight. Never feeling more angered at the moment, he did want to kill the accursed Human for her nonsense, yet that shred of him was the only, undying, reason she wasn't a pile of slop underneath his stabilizing servo. He'd find a way to expunge this feeling he had, no matter the cost. He needed to move on his life, without her. For her sake.

Alexis couldn't have expressed her feels more at the moment, in fact, she didn't know which felt stronger at the moment. The swells of disgust, nausea, anxiety, betrayal, fury, anguish all clenched her insides like a knife-fanged vice grip. The next move for it was to rip them out of her just as abruptly as it'd taken hold. With no desire to admit it, Alexis knew in the back of her mind that he was somewhat right. She shouldn't have treated them like friends, their disgusting pasts had all but been forgotten. She only hoped they'd repent for it, setting herself up for this to slash her again.

"You're an ass." Lani sudden piped up, frowning at the seeker through the quaking in her extremities. "Hard to believe she could l- care for such a horrible creature. You're lower and than low, I mean even Hell wouldn't take you."

"Oh I assure you little girl, I'm not so bad." He grinned. "It's Megatron who's the bad one."

"Whatever. Nice to know you don't give a flying hell for her. If you did, you wouldn't be doing this to her. Sometimes I wonder everyday if I'm living in a dream realm when I see black soulless people like you." She shook her head. "I'm still having to get your existence past me as it is. That alone is going to take some time, years even."

"So nice of you to regard us as people than machines."

"You act like machines when it comes to displaying acts of caring, so I don't see why I did such a thing. Maybe it's because you behave so much like Humans even though from I've gotten here today that you regard us so little as insects." Lani shot back.

"Ve can only regard jou as vhat jou are, Human." Said Icy, weakly.

"You shut up." Lani stabbed a finger at him. "You got your butt handed to you already, so you have no grounds to say anything."

"Vhat?" Snarled Hothead, even though his face didn't show, the lack of bright glowing from Icy's exposed optic showed that he was no longer in control, and the gears beneath his faces groaned as they tried to comply with the action of twisting the active face to the front, sparking slightly. "I'll rip out jour insides jou filthy vittle fleshy football!"

"Seems like your all words and no action." Lani sniffed. "You…"

It had come to her attention that a subtle banging was echoing through the room. It was deep, pulsing, in a tune.

"What in Primus…?" Starscream suddenly looked estranged. Alexis was silent during the entire confrontation, only staring at the floor with tears on the occasional downfall. Starscream glanced down at her, feeling the painful squeeze on his spark at her face.

"Vhat is zhat?" Icy had assumed control, sounding out his agony when the shifting connections beneath his faces protested the automatic motion of adjusting to the dominant visage.

The current matter no longer an instant issue to him, Starscream stalked out of the medical wing and hurried for the control room where the wretched sounds blared from. A cluster of workers outside the bridge doors all scattered when he pushed through, nearly knocking a few over.

"What in the name of Primus is going on?" He wailed when the doors entered, his jaw falling open at the sight that greeted him. Never had he thought Soundwave would goof off when there was no higher-up around.

"I wanna party!

(Oooooohuoaaay)

I wanna samba!

I wanna party!

I wanna samba!

I wanna party, and live my life!

(Live my liiiife~)

I wanna party! And flyyyy~"

"WHAT IS THIS RACKET?" The Decepticon Second in Command thundered as best he could over the music that deafened the entire bridge staff on board. Soundwave continued to bob and weave to the rhythm, hip thrusting briefly just to make Alexis' Human companion laugh whole-heartedly while she watched on from the console top, stopping in her own ridiculous display of dancing to do so. She then froze at the sight of the seeker in the shade of the overhang by the entry way, suddenly looking pale. And rightfully so…Starscream thought darkly, folding his hands behind his abdominal platting to stroll into the center of the bridge, sneering at the staff below who had also been enveloped by the music.

Carmina began to wave wildly at Soundwave to let him know he was about to moon walk right into the seeker and end up eviscerated in the aft. She covered her eyes with a muted 'doh' when he backed into him, jumping forward and turning mid air to confront the intruder, the irritating preppy music cutting from his audio exports immediately. His body language going slack, truly looking embarrassed and ashamed that he'd been caught letting loose, he slid away back towards the console. Looking to Carmina as if he were scolding her like 'give me some head warning next time!'

She only shrugged wordlessly at him along the lines of 'I did!'

"Refrain from acting so irresponsibly, Soundwave, or it won't be me you'll have to deal with for your foolishness." Starscream uttered under his air cycle, a warning at the communications expert. Assured he wouldn't walk in on such a horrid scene again, he redirected his attention to the workers down below who seemed to pout as the excitable air had left the atmosphere. "Let those words fall upon you all as well! Should I catch this despicable display of idiocy going on here in again, you all will be punished severely and deprived on energon for weeks to come!"

Carmina watched on from her new found hiding spot, behind the arm panel that Soundwave's fingers sprouted from, he seemed to have them cupped around her waist, not in a menacing or affectionate way, she wasn't even sure if it was an attempt to safeguard her, or a preparation to throw her, yet he remained still. The dark armored workers cowered at the screams of their temporary commanding officer, all scuttling back to their posts with hanging heads.

"Man," She said softly once Starscream slipped back out of the room to deal with whatever was happening with Lani and Alexis. She placed a hand on her chest in a feeble attempt to still her thundering heart. "He doesn't have a sense of humor or an ounce of "Get Down" in him does he?" She glanced at the purple Decepticon who shook his head slowly.

He'd fallen back into his stern and depression-able state from before, the screen in front of them glaring off his inky black mask. Carmina inwardly gasped once the light retreated to the opposite side of it, allowing her glimpse the shadow of a sloping human-like muzzle beneath. She couldn't define skin color, only dark patches were his 'eyes' would've been and a set furrowed black brow plates. In that split second she couldn't locate a mouth, and he glanced back over to her once he'd taken notice that she was staring at him. She rubbed the back of her arm when the girl felt heat rush her face. "Sorry I got you trouble. I guess Humans just tend to that a lot for you guys huh?"

He said nothing, shaking his head.

"I gotta give credit where it's due, and I must say you can cut a rug." She managed an awkward smile, blinking when he tilted his head.

"It's a term for 'you can dance really well'." She rolled her shoulders with a huff, slapping her arms to her sides and rubbing her sweaty palms against her dress carelessly. He bowed his head as if to say thanks, glancing over his shoulder to ensure that he wasn't being watched before returning to the extraction files he had yet to decompile. Carmina, now feeling low for the killed mood, sat on the edge of the console, slouching.

TRANSFORMERS

"What's the matter? Your head stuck?" Lani asked softly as she strolled away from a closed-up Alexis to respond to the fighter's moaning.

Try as he might to move an extension of his body, Blitzwing's condition was too battered to do anything really, he could only twitch from the propulsion of electrical currents caused by his neglected physical condition. He was in a great deal of agony every time one of his personalities assumed control, the systems in which Blackairachnia had malfunctioned unable to do as they were now forced to do.

"I have no interest in conversing vith jou, Human." Said Icy stubbornly before groaning shrilly.

"No, please, let me help. You sound like it hurts something awful. Maybe something's jammed and I can get it out. I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty." Lani moved forward, scaling the giant's arm carefully.

"Vhat can jou do? Zhe form of technology zhat I am constructed on is beyond jou're Human capabilities." He argued, crying out again when the parts that made up his three faces creaked and groaned with the grinding of the gears beneath. Lani stopped at his chest, surveying the layout of where she'd go from there. Not really giving herself time to think, she climbed the side of his helm, slipping very carefully on the edge of his chin plating, crouching once the rubbery bottom of her shoes managed to catch hold. At first glance, the project she confronted was daunting beyond words, making her want to eat her words from before about getting her hands dirty. She leaned down to peer beneath the curved sheet of metal that provided shelter for his personalities, slipping between them and yelping when the skirt of her dress tagged on the corner of it, careful not to rip it as she removed it.

Lani was now so close, she could smell all the burnt components, it was almost making her ill. She was now inches away from the face of Random, so close she could see his tiny optics slide across his glowing projection screens to watch her go past him. He hadn't assumed control of his body just yet, but was still very much aware of what was going on around him. Even though at first glance his sharp angled optics appeared emotionless, Lani could tell he was intense pain. His jaws locked shut as well, light poking through between them as they quivered violently from his convulsions. His optics crossed to watch her hand as it pressed between his eyes, she softly gasped when she found the texture to be entirely different from the hard plating on his cheeks. It was rubbery and not as cold as the rest of him. Lani felt the urge to scream when it slid underneath her palm, yanking her hand away to watch as it folded like material, creasing ever so slightly. Lani leaned back against the inside of the helm when she noticed his upper 'lip' vibrating with a strained clicking sound coming from inside his mouth. It then dawned on her that he was laughing her reaction to his 'skin' on the center of his face.

She ticked at him. "Oh hush. That just felt really gross and surprising is all. Now stop it, before you hurt yourself further."

Across the room, Alexis had moved to Knock Out, who watched her clean the drops of energon from his chest with a peace of seat cloth she found on the floor, obviously from one of his seats. "Get away from me, Human." He stated simply, too tired to really flick her away.

"No." She said shakily, seating herself on his thigh and sighing. "I'm not going to give up on him…"

"He's changed drastically in the last Twenty-four years, you're not going to get your old Starscream back. Peh, I can't believe he'd even take to that kind of relationship. With a fleshy no less. Disgusting."

"Maybe to you." She said quietly, leaning into his side and knowing full well it disturbed him.

"What is with you?"

She looked up at him, finding he was honestly lost with all this. "I like you, Knock Out. You're not as bad as you think you are. Sure you're a little narcissistic, but I know for a fact you haven't really killed any Humans…"

"Doesn't mean I can't change that." He snarled softly, sounding garbled with the thin line of energon dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"I know…" She dropped her head. "Still…" She patted his side lightly. "You've got so much potential to be something great, it's not even funny. At any point you could've disobeyed Starscream and not picked us up, but you did anyway, and you even protected us."

"…"

Lani found the cause of his inability. A shrapnel of metal from Hothead's cheek, no bigger than the woman, was lodged in an exposed cog between his demagnetized facial plates. "This is going to take some strength." She muttered to herself, looking to Hothead who's optic that was exposed through a cracked visor was watching her. "Uhm…" She tried to address him calmly. "I, don't really know how to say this… But you've got a large piece of metal stuck here." She winced when she heard the gears between them on a rotating arm screech as he tried to take over, mixed with Icy's screams that caught both Alexis' and Knock Out's attention. "No! No! Please, don't try to talk!"

The creaking stopped and she sighed with relief. "I promise I'll get this out, just please, none of you try to take the lead at the moment. I don't really mean to tell you what to do… But I just want to ask for your co-operation… Please?" She folded her hands to her chest consciously, looking into the single exposed optic with a tight lower lip. He then looked away from her, annoyed by her. Lani found relief that he took her seriously, and she moved between the two, jarring two fragments she assumed came from his visor and throwing them over her shoulder. A small sap of electricity caused her scream and yank her arm away from the fragment. It burned her nerves so fiercely that she collapsed to her knees. "Holy-Wow." She gagged, waiting for the spasms to subside. "That's- That isn't going to work." She gasped. "I can't work in just the light of your optics either, doesn't this helmet come off or something…?"

"It does." Icy said through what sounded like panting. "Jou must release it manually however, since I am… Incapable of doing so."

"Where can I do that?" Lani sighed, forcing herself to stand and fall against Hothead's cheek, where he emitted an irritable growl that rumbled through her whole body. "Sorry." She said submissively and lifted herself off him as best she could, still feeling quite weak from the blow.

"Between zhe faces of Random und Hothead… Zhere's is a pressure activated panel, I must press down on it in order for zhe helmet to release it's magnetic hold on my cranium. Normally I do not use zhis panel because it causes a horrible sting at times. But I doubt zhat it vill cause anymore trauma zhen vhat I'm alveady going zhrough."

"I'll make it quick." Lani said quietly, gingerly tapping a finger to another portion of Hothead to ensure she wouldn't be nailed by more electricity. When she found she wasn't be shocked witless, she scaled the side of his face, ignoring his angered protest to have a Human climbing on him. "Please work with me here big guy…" She said to him in a sorry tone. His jaws whined harshly but no vocals came as the synthesizer wasn't aligned to a general power source.

"I think I found it!" She called out, her voice echoing inside his helm. Her hand slid across an irregularly smooth elongated panel at the lip of where his helmet sealed his braincase. Reeling back, she slapped it so hard that her hand hurt, ducking when it a hiss of hot air nearly incinerated her entire face. It sounded like an iceberg on the hull of a ship as it slid forward with the release of it's clamps. She could feel the Decepticon dip his head and allowed herself to fall when she heard metal grind against metal. The harsh ship lights greeted her eyes with the clatter of his helmet on the deck. Her pupils screamed, having become briefly accustomed to the darkness of his helm and forcing her to sit for several moments and rub her eyes until they adjusted.

"Now zhen- remove zhe source of my misery with haste. I have no ability to help you at zhis point." Blitzwing groaned, feeling no relief to have the top part of his processor exposed.

"You got it." Said Lani. She reproached the item of interest with caution, dabbing it with her finger and yelping as it sent a punch of electricity through her again. "F-… Gee-Whiz!" She could almost cry as she kneeled abruptly. "It's lodged in some really high power source, I keep getting shocked here!"

"Move Human." Knock Out's shadow fell over her, his face serious as Alexis sat upon his shoulder to watch. Ignoring the mild buzz he received, he yanked the fragment from it's resting place. Blitzwing's heads had begun to spin uncontrollably, his Icy personality yelping as it did. Lani retreated with haste to his shoulder, afraid of getting ground up into the fighter's rotating systems. Now dizzy, the triple changer's head finally slowed, having gone through the locked and back building reels that needed to be depressurized and released.

Instantly, Random, eager to assume control, appeared. "Ohh my! Vhat a ride!" He then guffawed, making the women shake their heads. "Zhat was fun, can we do it again?"

"No!" Icy proclaimed almost instantaneously. "Zhat was horrific." Unable to twist his neck around and look at the medical officer, he sighed. "Knock Out, are jou capable of… Repairing me?" He sounded humiliated to ask.

Knock Out's sarcastic smirk returned. "Why of course! … As soon as I'm done repairing myself. Which I'm allowed to do, by the way, at the end of the week."

"Jou backstabbing little sissy automobile! Repair me zhis instant!" Hothead roared. "Or I'll make sure jou're so badly melted by zhe time I'm zhrough, not even zhe great Lord Megatron vill be able to identify jou! Zhen I'll discard zhat pathetic child's toy of a body into a pit of scraplets!"

"A lotta of talk, for someone who can't even flick an earth insect right now~" Knock Out said as he strolled around to the jet's front, twirling a wrench that he picked up off the surgical table beside him in the process.

"Knock Out, take it easy." Alexis said softly, causing him to roll his optics. "Please?"

"You think the 'magic' of that word is going to keep on chugging?" He crossed his arms.

"Yes." She replied with an honest smile.

"… Your happiness sickens me."

"I'm sure it does. How about this… I get Starscream to let up on your punishment, and you'll repair Blitzwing."

"I like her!" Shouted Random. "We've only met an hour ago and she's alvready taken a liking to me! Ahahahahah~!"

"Yeah, I'll let you think that." Alexis said with a smaller smile, she looked down at Lani who was walking around to Blitzwing's face, offering the multi-personality one of her gentle smiles.

"Sorry I couldn't remove it. I guess being a creature comprised mostly of water has it's drawbacks…"

"Jou got that right! You inferior insect!" Lani cringed away from the red tinted metal face with a gap in his upper dental plate.

"Okay I think that's enough." Alexis said quickly, her words almost ordering Knock Out to lift Lani from the floor and out of the triple-changer's line of vision.

"Hey! Drop zhat sorry Human back down here! I vhasn't finished vith her!" Hothead demanded.

"What exactly is it you're going to accomplish by yelling at her you moron!" Alexis shouted back from Knock Out's shoulder, fed up with the insults. "Unless you are going to kiss and make up, forget it."

"That'll be a revolting spectacle." Knock Out snorted.

"Not as much as your face." Lani shot back, giggling at his dirty look. "Hey, the door was open, I went for it."

"Next time I'll be sure to shut it on you." He rumbled.

This had sent Random into a fit of giggles.