Disclaimer: I own nothing of Transformers, nor am I in any way affiliated with it's creators! Only the story! ;)

Let's see what's cooking!


.:Chapter 7:.

The early morning air was fresh, warm, and welcoming.

Leanne smiled as she basked in the morning sunlight. She wasn't entirely sure if she was allowed to leave her quarters, but she wasn't going to let that stop her unless they walked up with guns. She opened her eyes and looked out to the grounds of the civilian barracks. Clean cut green grass, nice tall trees and birdlife. … extraordinarily expansive reinforced cement sidewalks.

Leanne's smile turned into a grin. After a good few hours sleep, and more than one cigarette actually, she'd managed to mellow out after the whole affair. She was still in shock, still completely unable to comprehend what was going on. But she'd concluded that no one knew any more than she did and no one was going to figure anything out with her being a nervous wreck. Admittedly, she hoped they could figure everything out soon, but there was really no telling how long it could take. And she wasn't an idiot. She knew better than to assume there was going to be a quick, easy answer to this.

She sighed, looking at the cigarette pack that Ironhide had generously given to her. She'd already smoked most of it. There were only three left. She chuckled. "So much for quitting," she mused.

"Yeah well, you got time, I'm sure."

Leanne jumped lightly at the voice to her right and looked to see Sam walking up to her, a smile on his face as he shook his head. She huffed lightly and smiled herself. "Yeah, yeah, I guess you got a point," she said, shoving the pack back in her pocket. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked.

Sam grinned. "What's sleep? I don't even know anymore," he chided, standing next to her and putting his hands in his pockets. "Ah, I'm on an internal timer thing. As soon as light hits the horizon my brain just jumps up and ready." He looked to her. "What are you doing up? I'd think after all that excitement yesterday you'd be pretty wiped out."

Leanne shrugged at that. "Eh, I guess my body's had enough sleep for the time being," she said with her own grin. "So, that being said, what about that tour you promised me?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

Sam chuckled. "Well, sounds like a plan. You want coffee first though?"

Leanne jumped in place. "Oh, I would love some!"

XoXoX

"And that's the grassy area that they leave open for the Autobots to do their solar power thing, cuz they can just absorb energy right from the sun too, it's pretty wicked. And just beyond that, about a quarter mile down is the Dirt track. It's not really a track, it's more like a dirt lot where the Autobots can just do whatever without worrying about breaking something or hurting someone," Sam said, taking a bit of his fries before pointing back to the area. "And what's real fun is we have competitions and stuff down there all the time- think monster truck rally, but with monster trucks that can get up and jump on each other and hop from pile to pile and throw each other into the mud. It's great!" He chuckled and munched on his fries, looking to Leanne.

Leanne laughed, shaking her head. It was lunchtime and Sam had managed to take her through most of Diego Garcia. After their trip for coffee, he'd taken her first though the exclusively human portion, cordoned off only for humans; barracks, mess hall, relaxation and workout facilities, training facilities and shooting ranges. Then to the exclusively Autobot portion of the base, consisting of barracks, their own version of a mess hall, charging areas, testing and training areas, and their own larger scale shooting ranges. Then on to the combined portions, areas where both human and Autobot coexisted in various functions; pretty much the same as both secluded portions, but just with the understanding that there were large metal people tromping around with little flesh people. These areas included a combined mess hall, combined training and weapons testing area, and combined shooting ranges. The only other areas left to see were the offices, which existed primarily as a shared space between Autobot and N.E.S.T. personnel, coupled with the medical facilities that had all three sectors, being human, Autobot, and coed, and then the outer grounds of Diego Garcia, consisting of sprawling island and beachfront with both unused and secluded portions, for whatever purpose one might need. The last section, which Leanne was quite excited to see, was the Racetrack; a section of road encircling the whole island which served the same function for Autobots as a running track for humans. They used it when in Alt form to keep their on-road skills up to par.

Leanne finally sighed. She was absolutely, one hundred percent impressed. "I'm really happy I got to see this place, even if it is under these circumstances!" she said, taking a swig of her soda.

Sam smiled. "I'm happy you like the place. It's our little slice of heaven out here." He looked out to the greenery, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. "We can all just be ourselves here without any problems. At least the Autobots anyway. It's really the only place on our planet that's built for them, even if it is a bit small."

Leanne looked to the grassy area, looking at several cars seemingly parked in no particular order or sectioning. She smiled as she saw one transformer in their bi-pedal form, just sprawled out on the grass with their servos under their head. "I'm glad we've made a place for them here," she said quietly.

Sam looked to her and nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. Especially with so many that have shown up."

Leanne looked to him, picking at her fries. "How many are there anyway? Autobots? Here?" she asked, munching on a fry slowly as she eyed him.

Sam took a deep breath. He looked at her then chuckled. "I'd be lying if I said I don't know the exact number. It's three hundred ninety eight," he said, taking a drink of his soda.

Leanne's eyes widened. "Damn, that many?"

Sam smiled. "And counting."

Leanne tilted her head to the side. "Meaning? Are there more in transit?" she asked curiously.

Sam nodded slightly before leaning back against the table. "You could say that," he said with a smirk.

Leanne lowered her eyebrows at that and took a breath to spout a challenge question when they heard a panging noise from inside the coed mess hall. They both turned and saw two Autobots bending down to pick up whatever had been dropped and talking to one another in cybertronian. Leanne looked back to Sam and went to ask about the apparent increasing of the Autobot population when another question popped into her head. "Wait… do transformers eat like we do?" she asked, looking back down to her plate, then back into the mess hall to the various transformers about and sitting at the extra large metal tables made specifically for them.

"Well, they do ingest stuff, kind of like us, but they don't have to actually eat on a regular basis," Sam said with a shrug. "It's more like they eat what they need at any given time, like when their bodies are lacking in a particular mineral or element or something. Like when you get the urge to eat broccoli because you're deficient in potassium or something, same difference."

"Oh really?" Leanne said, looking back to him.

"Yeah, definitely. In this mess hall and their specific one, they stock random stuff that they might be deficient in, like say spare metal, lubricants, fluids, all different kinds of minerals, refined or just jumbled together. It's pretty cool." Sam nodded lightly, crossing his legs as he spread out a bit.

"They'll just eat it up?" Leanne said with a half-smile, finding the notion funny, even if it was true.

"Oh yeah," Sam said, waving his hand, "they'll literally just munch on it. Like if they need some copper, and we have some random copper wire that we aren't going to use anymore, they'll just eat it like Twizzlers, it's great!" he said with a grin.

Leanne laughed. "Oh my gosh! Are you serious?" she asked incredulously, leaning her elbows on the table.

"Oh yeah! I'm not kidding!" Sam said, leaning up and turning back to the table. "They'll literally just munch on random stuff, and it's the strangest thing ever, because to them this is perfectly normal, but to you and me," he pointed to the napkin dispenser at the center of the table, "its like me pulling out a napkin and just eating it mid-conversation."

Leanne doubled over the table as her laughing increased. "Holy shit, man!" she said through her wheezing.

"Yeah, seriously!" Sam said with a grin. "In fact, one of my favorite moments ever was when Optimus Prime popped a light bulb in his mouth!"

"What!" Leanne yelled, jumping slightly at her own loudness.

Sam nodded with a grin. "Oh yeah! We were in one of the trash rooms, and its not like garbage trash, its like old metal, tools, guns, spare parts, old light-bulbs and stuff, and I don't remember now why we were there, we were looking for something for Ratchet I think, like someone threw an old tool away that he still needed or something- but we were in here looking right, it's me, Epps, Optimus, Ironhide and Bee right, and we're just sifting through stuff, moving boxes around, opening crates and stuff. So, Optimus and Bee open this one crate and it's full of old light bulbs, like those big giant warehouse light bulbs, all used, so they're there to be trashed eventually, right. So Bee just sort of moves on, and we're still looking, all talking about whatever, the dust in the room and how did this random thing of Ratchet's get thrown away, whatever. Bee looks over at Optimus because he's still looking at the light bulbs. I look over too, and he has one in his hand and he's just, like, looking at it, like, intensely examining this giant light bulb."

Leanne couldn't help but giggle. It was already funny to her and he wasn't even at the good part.

"So Bee just sort of cocks his head and makes a noise at him, I tilt my head cuz I'm confused right, and about when I'm gonna say something, Optimus moves this bulb to his nose and sniffs it. I'm just… really confused at this point." Sam made a face and tilted his head, mimicking the way he'd looked that day. "And, I'm looking at him like he's just sniffed an earthworm, right, and right when I go to say something again, he just tilts his head, pops the thing in his mouth and starts chewing."

Leanne covered her mouth, trying not to be too loud with her laugher.

Sam grinned and shook his head. "I was soooo stunned that for a moment I just stared at him. The thing is, when he did that, the light bulb made a popping noise, and everyone looked at him. He actually didn't notice for like a whole five seconds and was just chewing this light bulb like bubble bum. When he finally noticed, he stopped for a second, looked at everyone, and just went, 'What?' like he had no idea why we were all looking at him like that." Sam snickered and ran his hands over his face. "Epps just made this face and went, 'Did you just eat a light bulb?!' and I just died! I just keeled over laughing, Bee right next to me, and Ironhide's over in his corner just bent over, he is pretty much doing that silent, painful laughter, cuz he wasn't making a peep!"

Leanne finally crossed her arms on the table and hung her head, already at the point of that silent painful laughter herself.

Sam was shaking his head. It had been a long time since he'd told this story. The event from two years prior was still so vivid in his mind it felt like it happened yesterday. "And it was so funny too, because, he was soo confused as to why we were all laughing! He literally had no idea why we thought it was so funny! He just looked at us like we were weird and rolled his optics. The best part!" Sam held a finger up, "he continued to eat the light bulbs! He ate like three more of them, without even thinking about it!"

If Leanne hadn't already been on the table she would have been on the floor. This was one of the best stories she had heard in a long time.

Sam finally sighed and leaned his elbows on the table. "It was great! Ironhide finally managed to get over and ask why he was doing it, and apparently there was some gas in the bulb that his system determined he needed, something for his optics actually. So he just started eating them!" he said with a laugh. "They actually took that case of light bulbs back into the med bay and Ratchet still has some of them left. It's usually something only the older bots seem to need though, and not all that often."

Leanne smiled and looked to Sam in combined amusement and amazement. "That is so awesome!"

Sam chuckled quietly and crossed his arms on the table. "Yeah, it's pretty cool actually. Funny or not, its pretty neat." He too a long drink of his soda then sat up and stretched his arms over his head. "So! You ready to go sign your life away yet?" he asked with a smile.

Leanne wiped her eyes and ran a hand through her bangs. "Ha! I wondered when you were gonna ask! In fact, I thought that was where you were going to take me this morning, actually," she admitted.

Sam shrugged. "Well, I could have, but I thought it would be nicer to take you on a tour first. They're probably waiting for us, but, you know, I don't always follow protocol." He grinned.

Leanne raised her eyebrows at that. "… am I gonna get in trouble?"

Sam snickered. "Nah!" He stood and grabbed his tray. "Probably not."

The walk to the offices was short enough, since they were practically around the corner. Leanne got another eye-full, seeing as the noontime training session was in progress. It was so interesting on her part to see all the soldiers and Autobots working together and talking tactics. They got to the offices and started down the hallways, all of them extra wide and towering several stories. Leanne looked down to the walkways and saw portions that were denoted with yellow and black stripes, almost like safety lanes. They happened to be the portions she and Sam were walking on.

"For humans," Sam said with a smile.

Leanne looked to Sam quickly then back to the colored paths. She smiled. "Ha! That's cool!"

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, it's a precautionary thing really."

They made it to one office in particular and Leanne looked at the plaque. She then looked further up and noticed another larger one. "Oh! They have one at human height and one at transformer height!" she said with a grin.

Sam grinned. "Yep!" He pointed to a smoothly contoured panel close to the plaque then gestured up to a matching large scale one next to the larger plaque. "Same with the doorbells." He pushed the big red button on the panel, an electronic chime ringing through the speaker.

Static played through the speaker for a moment before a voice rang through. "Its about time, Sam," came Optimus Prime's voice, resonating with a hint of amusement.

Leanne looked to the plaque. She had been so distracted by looking at everything she had forgotten to read it. She giggled lightly, Sam's story still fresh in her head.

Sam looked to her and put a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion, a feigned serious expression on his face. "Between you and me," he said sneakily as the door opened.

She made a serious face and winked, biting back a smirk. Sam entered the doorway and she followed close behind. The first thing to catch her attention was a massive desk with a crisscross set of stairs on its front. She then looked to the left and saw a large set of metal shelves mounted on the wall in the corner. She looked to the immediate right and saw a massive set of metal filing cabinets with what looked like extra strong drawers and a security pad on each drawer. She raised her eyebrows, impressed, then turned back to the desk as she heard Optimus' baritone voice ringing into the room.

"We were beginning to worry. Lennox surmised she took to the water and swam," he said, a small smile on his faceplates as he crossed his servos.

Leanne couldn't help but smile herself, noticing Lennox walking up the edge of the desk and looking down at them with a smirk. "Nah! If I jumped ship now, I wouldn't get to be a part of the fun now would I!" she chided.

Lennox laughed and waved for them to come up.

Leanne followed behind Sam and looked around like a curious child when they got to the top. Optimus' desk had a smaller, human sized desk popped up in the corner, though from the looks of the seams tracing around it's edges, it could fold into the rest of the desk as if it was never there. She looked and saw that the desk was rather bare, saving a few large rectangular sheets in the corner that looked like a mix between hard plastic or flimsy metal. She then glanced to the shelves in the far corner and noticed several items that looked rather like they were there more for personal preference or decoration, the most notable being a complete Model T car and what looked like a massive globe of the earth, all lat and long lines and country dividing lines etched in detail.

"Gifts, from a few kind friends," came Optimus' deep voice in the room.

She raised her eyebrows and jumped lightly as she realized she'd been looking around unabashedly. "Heh! Sorry!" she said with an apologetic smile.

Optimus' faceplates contorted in what could only be a kind expression. "No need to apologize! I am glad my office makes a good impression," he said.

Leanne looked to her feet and shrugged, not sure if she was embarrassed or being uncharacteristically shy. "Well, yeah, it sure does," she said, looking back up brightly. "It's a lot homier than I would have imagined. But it is very nice!"

Sam cut in with a laugh. "Yep! He's learned from the best of us!" he said, stretching his arms up as he looked at Optimus with a smug expression.

Optimus rolled his optics, though his expression seemed in good humor.

Leanne couldn't help but think about how interesting it was to see the Autobot leader actually do something so human. Her smile turned more thoughtful for a moment, but she managed to shake it off in time to see Lennox heading to the desk.

"Okay, time to get to business," he said, gesturing to the metal chair pulled out for her.

Leanne nodded, glancing up without thinking, catching Optimus optics for a split second as she started for the chair. She suddenly felt nervous, as if the tour was just something to soften her up for a hard blow. She sat in the chair and leaned forward, crossing her arms on the desk. She looked up to Lennox who took the seat opposite her. "So. What do I have to do?" she asked, trying to get her mind into the right gear.

Lennox crossed his own arms on the desk, clasping his hands as he looked up at her, the seriousness broken by sudden understanding. "Well, really, you just have to sign some papers. Legal wavers, permissions and acknowledgments. But the real reason we have to sit down like this is more for a personal spin on the whole deal." He took a deep breath and tapped his thumbs together. "To be fair, what few situations we've been in with civilians haven't been quite so comfortable… or so calm. And you do happen to be a special case. So really, this isn't quite the norm." He glanced to Sam, who stood at the end of the desk with his arms crossed, and to the side, not really far enough to actually see Optimus standing behind him, his towering form commanding yet calm with his own servos crossed. He looked back to her. "This is really more for your understanding, and to clarify everything, on your end and ours."

Leanne looked him in the eyes, resolve strengthening in her mind. She then looked to Sam, his expression soft and serious at the same time, then to Optimus, his optics calm and his features stoic.

She never thought she'd be looking at these people through anything other than a television screen.

Leanne took a deep breath and finally looked down. "So you're saying we need to have a heart to heart?" she asked, serious despite the phrase.

Lennox nodded. "Yeah. I think its necessary given your circumstances. After all… You've lost your home, your things, and you've been attacked by hostile alien robots without provocation." He looked up to her. "You've handled it pretty well. Strangely well. And while we don't want to cast you with suspicion… you have to understand how unusual that is on our end." His demeanor was serious but honest at the same time. "Decepticons… are alive and well. And they are trickier than we'd like."

Leanne fought the urge to swallow the sudden nervous lump in her throat. They weren't sure if she was really a civilian or some sort of Decepticon ploy. She looked down, trying to process that thought. Her mind drifted back to her memories of Anna-Lee. She had seemed so innocent… so real. She really couldn't blame them.

She looked up, her eyes steely with resolve. "I can understand your point of view, Commander," she said, her own words surprising her with their steadiness. "I will tell you this much… If you ever feel the need to restrain me or contain me, I will not fight. If you think your safety and the safety of this base is at risk, I will not object to you doing what you need to do, even if that means I'm locked in a solid room without the light of day. But I will also say this…" she looked back down to the metal desk and suddenly felt the stinging in her eyes again. The emotion from the other night, the nameless feeling made of confusion and helplessness, welled suddenly and threatened to overrun her. But she blinked and clasped her hands together tighter. "I am not a Decepticon. Nor am I in league with them. I have never met one, or seen one, or dealt with one, other than Anna-Lee. I have never had anything to do with the transformers or their affairs. I know nothing more than what I've experienced, what I've seen in the news, and what I have learned in the last few hours." She looked up to Lennox's eyes, and tried to convey her sincerity with her gaze. "I… am just a normal person. As normal as any other person with a day job, a car and a cat." Her lips quirked up at that and she looked back down. She was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. She closed her eyes and shook her head, finally running her hands over her hair. "I don't know what's going on," she said quietly. "I don't know what's happening to me, or why. And I don't know, even with this apparent overabundance of Energon, however it got in me, how I can be of any use to you or the Decepticons."

Optimus regarded the human Femme carefully, his sensors and optics taking in all the information they could gather. Her heart rate, her pheromone levels, her body language, her wordage and vocal tones; it all pointed to her honesty. She was telling the truth, to the best of her knowledge. His optics clicked as he blinked, his processor recovering the memory from just last night, looking at the glow elicited from her blood. It had only been a drop, but the yield indicated such a concentration of Energon that she shouldn't even be breathing. She shouldn't be alive. Ratchet's reaction after the fact, after everyone was gone and turned in for the night… his utter inability to process what he'd seen. It was actually unnerving, even to himself. And that didn't sit well in his spark. Optimus looked back the Femme as he took a deep breath through his intakes. This is either bigger than we all think… or so simple we can't even fathom the explanation, he thought.

Leanne sighed and finally looked back up, her shoulders feeling suddenly heavier. She clenched her teeth and resisted the urge to wipe her eyes. "Do what you need to do. Say what you need to say. But all I know… is that I know nothing. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but that's the truth."

Lennox returned her gaze for several moments, not blinking or uttering a word. Sam was quiet on his end and the only real sound was the clicking of Optimus' optics. Lennox then sighed himself and looked down, reaching for the thin leather binder at his left and opening it, revealing a small stack of official looking documents. He pulled the pen out of the center and opened it, then laid it down on the papers. He met her gaze again and nodded. "Thank you for your honesty, Leanne." He then looked back to the papers and clasped his hands again. "Now, what I have to say, as hard as it may be to hear, is that we don't know anything either. Right now, we're just following a trail. But, from past experience, I can tell you that we have a knack for figuring everything out eventually. If not at first, then right in the nick of time," he said, a small smile quirking his lips as he leveled his eyes back to hers.

Leanne smiled at that. "Yeah. So I've heard."

Lennox nodded, then sat back in the chair. "The only other things I'm obligated to inform you of is that you will be in our custody until this is figured out and dealt with, no matter how long it takes," he said, looking slightly like he felt sorry for that statement. "And you will be," he paused, "under surveillance until deemed unnecessary. Anywhere on this base and in it's waters we will be able to see you." He looked at her meaningfully, the expression seeming like an apology mixed with a gentle warning.

Leanne leaned back herself, looking to the desk in thought. She completely understood and was hardly surprised by that statement. If she was at all, it was only that they hadn't mentioned it sooner.

She then took a deep breath and chewed on the inside of her lip. As she let it out slowly, she realized just how little he was saying. Her mind ran over his words… and the fact that he hadn't looked her in the eyes when he'd said them. He's not telling me everything… she thought. She blinked, successfully resisting the urge to look up at Lennox' face. But really, is it a surprise? she thought. She looked up only slightly, eyeing the papers she was expected to sign. I guess the real question is, do I trust them?... She then smiled lightly. Heh, some heart to heart… though maybe it was just mine… they obviously know theirs.

She scratched the back of her neck and huffed theatrically. "Well, you know what?" She glanced up, seeing eyes and a set of optics aimed on her. "Just keep the cameras out of my bathroom and I'll be perfectly okay."

XoXoX

He was quiet. The only sound was the clicking of his optics and the slight creaking of his digits as he clenched his fists. He resisted the urge to sigh through his intakes, though out of nervousness or annoyance he wasn't sure. Starscream narrowed his optics again and glanced to the side, his trine mates Thundercracker and Skywarp looking as on edge as he felt. Megatron did not normally force anyone to wait on him while he gathered his thoughts. His norm was to yell at everyone to flee his presence and proceed to wreck the place before calling them back in with some brilliant plan and insistence that someone clean up the mess he'd made.

But not this time. This time he was quiet. Very quiet.

Starscream had been sure it was just momentary at first, but after a few minutes it was clear that something seemed to be weighing on Megatron's processor. He finally shook his head, hearing his trine mates turn to him in response. He cycled a breath through his intakes and looked to Megatron to speak- only to see the brilliant red optics of the larger mech already on him. He blinked his optics and shut his mouth with a snap.

Megatron eyed him for several moments, his unwavering gaze piercing, as if he were searching Starscream's optics for something. Finally, he narrowed his optics and turned back to the panel he'd been staring at. "Do you remember… when we first met… Starscream?" he asked quietly.

Starscream straightened and felt his optics widen. That had been the last thing he'd expected to hear from Megatron's mouth. He looked to the floor as the memories came flying back to his processor…

Not so long after the beginning of the war. A scientific facility, old and outdated, but steadfast and strong, nestled in orbit among the stars… a still alive if not strife-ridden Cybertron filling the viewports. A generator housing several lifetime's worth of knowledge and effort. A takeover, violent and fiery. A split second decision… that changed everything.

Starscream blinked, looking back up to his leader's visage. "Yes. I remember."

Megatron was quiet again. He raised a servo and touched the screen on the panel he'd been staring at for close to an hour. "And do you remember… your position when we first met? Your title, your purpose?" he asked, using a digit to move between windows on the screen.

Starscream's optics narrowed minutely, his fists tightening just a fraction. "Why does that-"

"Do you, or do you not?" Megatron interrupted, his voice holding that edge within the quiet that was not to be toyed with.

Starscream was quiet himself for a moment. "… Yes," he answered simply. More memories flooded his processor, more phantoms from a long lost past.

Megatron's optics remained glued to the screen, his digit moving rhythmically through the selections of whatever he had displayed. "Good."

Starscream raised an optic ridge and resisted the urge to huff angrily. The quiet was bad enough, but now with cryptic questions? He actually found himself wishing Megatron would continue with his normal loud self. It was far more appealing than him dredging up long dead and… painful history. His spark bristled with the audacity of it. You have no right… he thought venomously, knowing better than to utter a whisper of it out loud.

"Come here, Starscream," Megatron commanded quietly.

Starscream blinked in surprise yet again. The tone had almost seemed… gentle. But he knew better. He huffed quietly through his vents and started over, his senses coming to life, waiting for the unexpected; a blow from out of nowhere, a sudden outburst of yelling, even an EMP pulse. But nothing happened as he came to stand next to Megatron. He looked to Megatron's face and felt a curious confusion coming to him. Megatron looked thoughtful. So much so that even the millennia of war and anger and hatred seemed far away from his sharp features.

It was almost frightening.

"Do you recognize these?" Megatron suddenly asked, as if he did not notice his second in command staring at his faceplates as if they were suddenly a foreign object.

Starscream stood straighter and looked to the panel. He felt his optics widen as they alighted on something as old as the memories he'd just experienced. His practiced gaze swept over the familiar lines, pathways, number's and notations. Megatron used his digit to move to another window and another image of calculations and formulas came to view. They were looking at schematics. And not just any schematics.

He couldn't help himself as he leaned over the panel, gripping it for support. "Where…. where did you find these?" he asked in astonishment.

Megatron was quiet again, leaving the window up for a moment before swiping it aside to be replaced with a new one, then doing it yet again, leaving each window up long enough for Starscream to scour every inch as if he were looking at long lost relatives. "I found them in the farthest reaches of my memory banks," he said simply.

Starscream looked in shock. "What?! What do you mean?"

Megatron kept his optics on the screen. "You told me, back then, so long ago, that it would be foolish to destroy these schematics, these files. And you were right. Or, you would have been, had I had the intention of completely destroying them."

Starscream wasn't sure if his spark could handle this. Megatron had actually just said- spoken out loud- that he, Starscream, had been right. While he followed the statement up with a conflicting comment, it was still something that was completely and utterly surreal.

"Before ordering the destruction of these files, I committed them to my memory banks, stored every single one of them away, safe and sound. I knew it would have been unwise to let something like these be completely wiped out of existence. Though, I have always been far too preoccupied to retrieve them and put them back into use." Megatron finally leveled his optics on Starscream's, his expression unreadable. "And you are going to use them, Starscream."

Starscream's mouth fell open. "… eeeh, what?" He didn't mean to sound slightly stupid, but he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Megatron had suddenly blown a fuse.

"No, not in the way you think," Megatron said, seeming to understand Starscream's unasked question. "I understand we have no resources, no equipment and no numbers to do anything of which these are originally intended. I need you to use these in a different way."

Starscream shut his mouth slowly and looked back at the schematics. He honestly had no idea what Megatron was getting at. He shook his head, looking back to say as much.

"I need you to use these to refresh your memory, my most trusted second…"

Starscream went still and felt his optic ridges draw down in utter confusion.

"I need you to tell me… how to spontaneously generate Energon."

XxXxX


Blind trust, anyone? Scheming and plotting anyone? Any thoughts?

Let me know! ;3