Sorry for the long delay in getting this next chapter out; I was hospitalized briefly, but now I can go back to the stories. :-)

In case you were wondering what happened with Knockout after he lost the relic in the tunnel, here it is! Needless to say, Megatron was not too happy.

Also: I had to change the ending slightly to this story. Many thanks to LuisJM for pointing out that the Decepticons did not have the polarity gauntlet in Season 2. :-)

"Knockout, I grow increasingly tired of your failures," said Megatron, as he stood over the cowering Decepticon medic. "Once again, you have failed to retrieve an Iacon relic. I send you off with a platoon of Starscream's better-trained Vehicons, and you return to me not only empty handed, but without a platoon!"

"Perhaps you would care to explain to me the cause of this disastrous mission?" His red eyes glared at Knockout, while Starscream stood beside his master, enjoying every minute of this delicious dress down.

"My lord, I can assure you, I had extracted the relic from the tunnel wall. I had it in my servo!"

"Then, you are telling me you lost it?!"

"No! No! Of course not. It was…ripped out of my digits by some flying bot I'd never seen before, flying at an enormous rate of speed!"

"A flying bot? In that tiny tunnel?" Scoffed Starscream. "What kind of fools do you take us for? No bot flying in alt mode could fit in there! My lord Megatron, this is ridiculous."

"No! It's true," retorted Knockout. "A flying bot, only not in alt mode; it flew from jets out of its pedes and servos. But this was not a normal size bot. It was smaller, much smaller. I'd say, human-sized."

"A human-size bot?! There is no such thing!" said Starscream.

"Well, this one was! I saw it with my own optics! After it snatched the relic out of my servo it took off on its way out of the tunnel. I transformed and sped after it. But it got away from me."

"And what of your Vehicons?" asked Megatron angrily.

"They were all destroyed, my lord. Broken up, into dozens of small parts."

"By whom?" demanded Megatron.

"Not by the Autobots. Their ground bridge appeared, but they showed up too late for the destruction of the Vehicons. By this small bot, I assume."

"By the small…? Ridiculous! How in the world could a human-sized bot take on and destroy twelve of my better-trained Vehicons?" Jeered Starscream. "You speak nonsense!"

"Well thank you for your very valuable post-mortem analysis, Starscream!" yelled Knockout. "You weren't there!"

"Silence!" Said Megatron, ending the argument. "Starscream, the Vehicon parts were recovered. Try to determine in what manner they were attacked, and how they were destroyed. It may indeed prove Knockout's theory. If true, then we have a new enemy in our midst.

Annoyed by this seeming measly task, yet acquiescing to his master, Starscream bowed, "Very well, my lord."

"Knockout – you will assist Starscream in this analysis, and give me your medical opinion on how the Vehicons were killed. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my lord," replied the medical bot. Starscream stole a sideways glance and smirk at Knockout, pleased to hear that the medical bot will be reporting to him.

"When you are done, Starscream, find a way of – inviting – this little bot to the Nemesis. I would very much like to meet it."

Starscream looked up at Megatron and smiled. "Very good, master. I shall arrange an audience."


Team Prime assembled around Optimus as he opened the relic container that Sari had retrieved. All were anxious to learn which one it was, and what its capabilities were.

Optimus examined it. "This class-A weapon was designed by Solus Prime to render its wearer invisible."

"Is it one of the thirteen?" asked Ratchet.

"No, this was one of her earlier creations," he explained. "Nevertheless, it's quite effective in its own right.

"It almost looks like the Phase Shifter," said Smokescreen.

"It works in a similar way," said Optimus. "When I was Orion Pax working at the Iacon Vaults, I remember reading how Solus Prime designed this relic to manipulate photons around its wearer. Here, try it." And he handed the relic to Smokescreen.

Smoke put it on his arm and turned the dial. At first, his image wavered, then, only his outline was visible, until finally he disappeared entirely.

"Fascinating," said Arcee. She reached over to where Smokescreen was standing and touched his chassis. "So I can feel you, even though I can't see you. Would be interesting if you wore both this and the phase shifter."

"Heh! Then I'd really be undetectable!" Smoke responded. He turned the dial back and reappeared.

"Quite a useful tool," said Ratchet. "Glad you managed to snatch it out of Knockout's servo, Sari!"

"My pleasure!" she smiled.


Frustrated and bored, Miko sat outside on the front steps of Memorial High School. "Where is he?" She wondered. She walked around on the sidewalk and got on her phone. "Hey Bulkhead, I've been waiting here forever! What's your 20?"

"Sorry, Miko. I'm stuck in a traffic jam."

"A traffic jam? In Jasper?"

"Yeah, lots of cars on the road, for some reason. I'll get there as soon as I can."

"OK," she sighed, and walking back to the school entrance, she plopped back down on the steps. Just then, a van pulled up, and two men in black suits and sunglasses got out. Looking around to make sure there were no witnesses, they walked up to her.

"Miko Nakadai?"

"Who wants to know?"

One of the men took out a neural tranquilizer and shot her in the chest. She collapsed in front of them. They picked her up and quickly took off with her in the van.

A half hour later, Bulkhead finally arrived. "OK Miko, I'm here. Miko? Miko?"


At the Autobot's base, Ratchet received a frantic call from Bulkhead.

"Ratchet! I can't find Miko!"

"Bulkhead? What do you mean?" replied the old bot from the ground bridge console.

"I got to school to pick her up after detention. I was late because of a traffic jam. By the time I got here, she was nowhere to be found!"

Jack overheard the conversation and walked up. "Ratchet? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Bulkhead was supposed to pick Miko up after she got out of detention, but by the time he got there, she was missing."

Jack got on his phone and tried calling her, but got her voice mail. "Miko, this is Jack. Bulkhead was going to pick you up, but you weren't there. Where are you? Please call back." He then hung up.

"Bulkhead, come back to base," said Ratchet. "We'll try to figure this out."

Just then, Jack's phone rang. It was from Miko! He answered. "Miko! Where are…?"

It wasn't Miko that was on the other line, however. Instead, it was a man with a slight Russian accent.

"Hello, Jack. I'm afraid Miko cannot respond to your call right now. Rest assured, she is in no danger at the moment."

"What? Who is this?" Jack motioned to Ratchet to patch his phone call to the base's speakers.

"My name is General Levichev. I must say, it was quite an undertaking, arranging that traffic jam in a small town like Jasper. A success nonetheless. But we're not here to talk about traffic. I understand that Miko recently went on a little adventure in India."

Jack was shocked that he knew of the recent mission! "India? What are you talking about?!" By now all of Team Prime was in the main area listening to the conversation.

"Let's not play games, Jack. I happen to know that Miko was riding the train from Mumbra to Diva Junction dressed as a local student, so please don't insult my intelligence."

"What do you want with her?" he demanded.

"Oh, it's not really Miko that I am interested in, Jack, as much as the companion that was with her. A remarkable being! Capable of transforming from human to robot, taking on so many Decepticons, and flying! Now, tell me Jack, was that little robot by any chance one of your Autobot friends?"

Jack's eyes opened wide. He turned and looked at Sari, who with the entire group was becoming extremely worried for Miko's safety. Everyone started wondering: who is this, and how did he know about the India trip? Raf was on his laptop, frantically trying to see if he could trace the location of the phone call.

Jack struggled to keep his cool. "What is it you want, Levichev?" he asked.

Levichev chuckled. "My boy, I would think that is obvious. I want an exchange. You hand over the human-sized Autobot, and Miko will be returned to you safe and sound."

Jack's jaw tightened "I want to talk to Miko!" he demanded.

"All in good time, Jack, all in good time. First, let's discuss my terms, shall we?"

"Fine," said Jack. "But before we discuss terms, I want to know with whom I am dealing. "

"My apologies, Jack. We are MECH."

June gasped, remembering the experience she and Jack had with MECH, and Airachnid. Sari exchanged glances with Optimus; she'd heard about MECH since arriving in this dimension, and gotten a briefing from Arcee, but this was her first experience with them.


Knockout, Starscream and Soundwave were listening in on the conversation between General Levichev and Jack.

"Excellent, Soundwave," said Starscream. "We let this MECH character do the work for us. Then, when that little bot makes its appearance, we swoop down and snatch it up."

"And you let me have a look at those plasma thrusters on its pedes and servos," said Knockout. "I'd like to have those for myself."

"You will do no such thing!" spat Starscream. "We deliver this little bot to Megatron. That is our mission. Only he decides what is done with it!"

"Alright, fine!" replied Knockout, rolling his eyes. "But I've got dibs on what's left!"

"Once the Autobots are ready to meet up with this Levichev character, Soundwave will dispatch Laserbeak to monitor all activities. When we are ready, we will bridge down and grab the bot."

"And just how do you plan to acquire the little thing from MECH and the Autobots?" asked Knockout.

"Oh, that won't be any trouble at all," replied Starscream.

Knockout was incredulous. "I suppose you've accounted for this new bot's abilities? What powers it has? Just what do you expect - it will just hand itself over to us? It will fight back, you know."

"Oh, you haven't heard our previous intercepts?" responded Starscream with a sly look and a snicker.

"Previous intercepts?"

Starscream turned to Soundwave, who played back a previous conversation that Levichev had with the MECH board.

"Just how do you propose transporting this being, General?"

"As part of the terms I negotiate with the Autobots, I will tell them that the bot must be brought to us in human form. If she shows up in robot form, the deal will be declared off and the Japanese girl will be immediately killed. And to make doubly sure it is able to be subdued, I am demanding that the bot-in-human form be surrendered to us in stasis cuffs."

"So, you are saying, in human form, in stasis cuffs, she will be much easier to control?"

"Precisely. As always, MECH will achieve greatness."

"So you see, Knockout, the little bot will be in human form, and in stasis cuffs," smiled Starscream. "There's absolutely no way it can fight back."

"I see," said Knockout, rubbing his chin and smirking. "And you are sure, Starscream, that this little bot will be rendered harmless in stasis cuffs?"

Starscream sputtered, "But, of course! How could it not?!"

So it appears that Sari has more than one group after her, and the two are competing at the same time! Will the Autobots agree to MECH's terms in order to get Miko back safe and sound (so they say), and if so, will this exchange go as planned? Or will Laserbeak be watching an Autobot rescue attempt? We shall see!

Another question, for Starscream: could Knockout be right in questioning whether Sari is helpless in stasis cuffs? ;-)

Please review!