Sugar.

"There's sugar on your soul

You're like no one I know

You're the life of another world

You swallow me whole

With just a mumbled hello

And it breaks my heart to love you,

It breaks my heart to love you"– Editors "Sugar".

Warnings: Violence, explicit language, controversial subjects.

Timing: Post season 2 finale, in my very own Beauty of the Beast Prime timeline.

Rating: M (possibly even MA).

Pairings: multiple.

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.

Breaking the Law.

"(…) So much for the golden future, I can't even start

I've had every promise broken, there's anger in my heart

you don't know what it's like, you don't have a clue

if you did you'd find yourselves doing the same thing too

Breaking the law, breaking the law

Breaking the law, breaking the law

Breaking the law, breaking the law

Breaking the law, breaking the law (…)" Judas Priest "Breaking the Law"

oOo

February 4th. Autobot base Omega - 3.

It was evening and the Autobot base was calm and quiet already. The humans were gone and most of the Autobots were either recharging or out. Jazz was spending his monitor duty watching some TV. Optimus lingered around finishing his day's work.

Outside storm was raging and waves were crashing on the rocky shore but inside was dry and warm. A wave of laughter from whatever sitcom Jazz was enjoying was disturbed by chiming of the communication console. Jazz immediately muted the show and glanced at who was insane enough to call at such an hour. It was Agent Fowler.

"OP, it's the Fowler calin'. Wanna answer this?" He called to his old friend and leader."

"Yes. If Agent Fowler is calling at such a late hour it must be important." Optimus rose and slowly walked over to Jazz.

"Prime!" Fowler's face appeared on the screen. The man was still in his office and looked dead tired.

"Yes Agent Fowler. What has happened?" Optimus approached the console to enter the camera range.

"I've been talking with General Brice about what you have found." Fowler spoke but his voice lacked the usual edge, it was replaced with tiredness. "The ceramic elements and the metal work can be elements of some electric installation and the General thinks that it must be high voltage lines."

"It is probable." Prime agreed. He too believed that such explanation was the most logical.

"I've spent last couple of hours looking for their smuggling routes and where all their 'production' could have surfaced, and I found nothing!"

"Perhaps they are not smuggling these elements but are building their base outside of United States borders?" Optimus asked. If all the items were not transported to US then they could not be found there. Instead they could have ended in entirely different location.

"I thought about it too. But if they were not smuggling it through our border then what would their agents be doing near it for so long?"

"That is a sound question." Optimus nodded.

"Maybe they're doin' somethin' else there?" Jazz interrupted.

"Maybe. But we still need to bust the MECH and these agents and facilities are our only trace." Fowler pointed out. "Whatever they're doing it can't be legal."

"And we still need to track these elements." Optimus agreed.

"My bet is that whatever they're doing it will, one way or another, be used against us."

"Indeed." Prime sounded as if he was about to sigh tiredly. "Thank you, Agent Fowler. I will contact Megatron now; he should know that we have reached a dead end."

"Hopefully not for long." Fowler smiled faintly and disconnected.

Optimus stared at the console for a moment not saying anything. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"You want me to call ol'Bucket?" Jazz asked.

"Yes."

oOo

Megatron was about it call it a day even despite that Soundwave seemed to consider it merely a late afternoon instead of an evening. The mech was definitely a 'night owl' as human called it and sometimes had to be ordered to just go to his quarters and recharge. Starscream on the other servo was an 'early bird' and usually went to rest first but also was the first to show in what was considered a morning on Nemesis.

Everyone else were somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, except for Knockout who was, more or less, a princess and had no schedule at all.

It was a gentle ping that made Soundwave to cease whatever he was doing. The silent mech displayed the caller's ID and Megatron sighed – he would have to stay here a moment later.

"Patch him trough." Megatron approached the console. Soundwave only nodded and opened the line.

"Megatron, I have spoken to Agent Fowler." Optimus started. "We have hit an obstacle."

"What kind of obstacle?" Megatron sighed a heavy vent.

Optimus told him shortly about what Fowler reported. Megatron listened and then furrowed his opticbrows.

"We must intensify our surveillance of these facilities." He decided. "We must find out what is happening to the produced items."

"It would be beneficial if it was done stealthily as to not alert MECH of our presence."

"Decepticons are experts in stealth." Megatron smirked. "You should focus on your own mechs' discretion, Prime."

"I am well aware of what your mechs are capable of." Prime narrowed his optics but resisted the urge to snap his mask shut. "Make sure they know their orders." With that the connection ended.

Megatron narrowed his optics and fought a growl. Instead he turned to Soundwave.

"You know what to do." He said.

Soundwave nodded once and detached his tentacles from the console.

"Not at this instance." Megatron stopped his most trusted subordinate.

Soundwave halted and stared at the Decepticon Leader through his visor.

"Yes, I know what Prime said. I'm not interested in the facility; we already know what they're doing. I'm interested in what happens with the insulators later." Megatron explained.

Soundwave nodded.

"And take your time. Prime was right when he said that in this case stealth takes precedence. We must not be discovered or else they'll hightail and all our efforts will be for nothing."

Soundwave nodded again. He understood perfectly.

"Might as well call it a night." Megatron decided. "I know I do." He added and marched out of the bridge, leaving Soundwave to his own devices.

oOo

Guatemalan facility. January 6th, barely past the midnight.

The observation spot was empty for the time being. When Soundwave received his orders the previous evening he recalled the current watching team. Now the place was occupied again. Soundwave stood in the middle of the area of flattened foliage where the previous team resided. He looked around but no one seemed to notice his arrival and send a guard to examine. The facility guards were not too keen on entering the shrubs; Soundwave knew that from the reports. That was, of course, a mistake and he was about to use it against the MECH.

The Spymaster looked down, at his feet two of his minions stood. One was small mech in the same greyish, indigo-blue tone as Soundwave; his bio-lights were intense blue, currently dimmed into mere lighter lines on his armour. The other was large feline like creature that seemed to melt into the shadows. There could have been a whisper uttered by the Communication Officer but it might have been a whisper of wind just as well. Both deployers looked up at their superior and nodded.

Soundwave knew that his orders would be followed. He left just as silently as he arrived, the only actual sign of his departure was the Groundbridge, but somehow it went unnoticed by anyone.

Ravage and Rumble observed the facility for a moment from their secured hiding spot.

"Soundwave was right, they are packing the trucks." Rumble whispered surprisingly silently.

"Ssssoundwave isss alrrwaysss right." Ravage hissed just as silently.

"You sure you can do this?" His partner asked. They would not have a second go at this.

"Yesss… "Ravage focused on the trucks. There were two of them – both large enough for him to hide inside. "Make sssurrre you can to."

Without more words they moved. Ravage didn't have to put that much effort into sneaking. He was melting with the shadows and the only good lights were around the facility's gate and the short dirt road leading out. Rumble had to make bigger effort but he too managed to stay hidden.

They stopped near the trucks. They were loaded but the drivers were nowhere around. Probably went inside to wait for the sunrise not wanting to drive at night where it was easy for an accident.

Ravage soundlessly sneaked into the chosen truck, Rumble followed him. It took perhaps five minutes, perhaps a little more before the small mech left the truck closing the back door. Then he crawled underneath and attached something, hiding it deep in the car's underbelly.

He was long gone before the drivers returned to their cars and left the site along with one extraordinary stowaway.

oOo

Mexico, the next day, not long before sunrise.

The team of Autobots poked their helms from the shrubs on the bushy hill that served as the observation spot. The facility looked abandoned at first sight but after taking a closer look it was obvious that it simply was the time of night when no one was too eager to be too active. That didn't mean that the buildings were not guarded, the security cameras were all over the place and the two lonesome guards that were left there at night could see everything on their screens.

Naturally that meant problems for the scouting team. Their objective was to search the place and the security guards along with the surveillance equipment stood in their way. Their only way was to go around the guards. And the only way to go around them was to keep them busy somehow.

"You've seen their electric distribution unit?" Wheeljack asked focusing his glare at the lonesome building.

"The small thingy at the side." Bulkhead nodded. "What with it?"

"There are two guards." Wheeljack added with a small smirk.

"Yeah?" Jazz stretched his neck too take a better look at the distribution unit. It was white box with typical markings for danger. It clearly seen better days but aside from being dirty and a bit crooked everything was all right with it. Or at least it looked like it was all right.

"Let's cut their light out." Wheeljack proposed.

"And how is that going to help us?" Bulkhead asked.

"Duh! They'll need to fix it and it's hard to do it without light. One will have to flash some light to the other one." Miko explained and almost made four adult mechs to jump. She wasn't supposed to be there.

"Miko!" Bulkhead hissed in whispering equivalent of yell. "What are you doing here?"

"I came along." The girl explained with her brightest of smiles on.

"Ya shouldn't be here, babe." Jazz looked down at the human.

"I'm a Wrecker, Jazz, where the boys go, I go." She declared. "Except for the boys' room." She added.

"You still shouldn't be here." Bulkhead insisted. "Does anyone know you're here?"

"Well…" Miko smiled again. "You know."

"Miko…" Bulkhead whined in resignation. He knew she was handful but he kind of hoped that the possibly only good part of her dating Bumblebee would be that she'd be busy hanging out with him while they were on missions.

He and 'Jackie were the first to admit that she was a Wrecker, she surely had the talents for that, but she was also a fragile human and he didn't want to see her hurt.

"Oy, focus on the task." She skipped to where she could see the facility from ignoring his worried face. "The sooner we're done, the sooner we're gone." She added knowing his train of thoughts.

"Babe's right." Jazz looked back at Bulkhead.

"Fine. But I still don't see how cutting off their power would help us." Bulkhead complained.

"No power, no cameras." Jazz summed up. "The guards need to fix the electricity so they go to the power box, one is fixin' the second is givin' him some light."

"I see one… two problems with that plan." Bulkhead showed two digits. "If there's no power, their computers will be dead." He counted the first digit. "And how you're going to cut the power off if the electric distributor is in the camera range?" He counted the second one.

"And they can have some back up too." Miko added.

"We just cut the power somewhere else." Wheeljack shrugged. For him it was no problem. "The line comes from somewhere. We cut it there. At the same time we do something here to so the guards will thing it's the problem on their side." He pointed at the electric box. "And when they leave, we go in. I don't think they have any computers here. When this place is rolling the temperatures are way too high for computers. You should know something about it."

"Hmm… what if they have an AC in the office?" Bulkhead pondered.

"Nah, no vents." Jazz shook his helm. "I've scouted the perimeter, no vents on any side."

"This place is obscure, it's a temporary thing." Wheeljack joined the Autobot Black Ops. Specialist. "They will use it and lose it."

"So, what's the plan?" Miko grinned devilishly – always the first to go.

oOo

The power went out and Jazz immediately sneaked in and opened the electric distributor box, switching off everything he could. It took him perhaps few seconds. The calm didn't last for too long but instead of two angry men in hurry he heard two sets of boots walking calmly. He quickly backed behind the building and released Miko from his chest compartment. The guards seemed bored and irritated by having to fix the electricity. It seemed that this happened before but then taking the state of the electric installation it probably wasn't such a big deal. It was obvious that this place was not built recently, but it had to have the wires laid recently and in a hurry. This place was an impromptu facility, Wheeljack was right; they would leave as soon as they were done here.

Miko immediately took off and sneaked into the building. The guards were busy with the box while the girl was snooping around. The loud clicking of the switches could be heard and the guards clearly figured out that this is more than just blown fuse. They were still trying the switches but it was clear that they were doing it only to be sure.

Jazz cursed silently, they would be back in soon and Miko hasn't return yet. Finally the guards gave in and walked back. Jazz was seriously considering taking actions when Miko patted his leg.

As silently as they came, they left. Jazz could be surprisingly silent when he wanted to.

oOo

They were back on the bushy hill in just few minutes. Bulkhead who stayed behind just in case and Wheeljack was already waiting.

"Well?" Bulkhead was the first to break the silence when Jazz set Miko back on the ground.

"Bulk was right, they have a computer." Miko kicked some dirt. "And it was off. I couldn't get in on without blowing our cover."

"Couldn't you just switch the screen off?" Bulkhead asked.

"Nah. A laptop. It was on the guard's desk and it was open, only off. Switching it on would take too much time and if I closed it they'd notice." She explained.

"Scrap." Wheeljack growled.

"Worry not. I didn't found any papers but I've seen their machines." Miko smirked. "And some of the stuff they work with."

"Thank Primus for small miracles." Jazz sighed.

"They have two long machines there. It was hard to tell with my light." She presented her phone's small LED flash. "But it looked like someone took a road roller and turned it inside out. They had bars of copper there and some copper wire but bare, without any plastic on it."

"A rolling mill." Wheeljack spared the facility a look. "No surprise then."

"All right, we've learn what we could." Jazz decided. "Let's go."

oOo

The Autobot Base. Moments later.

The Groundbridge opened in whirl of light and the three mechs marched back followed by one teenage girl. It was still night in Alaska but in Nevada it was an early morning, the time difference was two hours.

"Phew! That was one dirty job!" Miko peeped when she finally could see herself in decent light. "I must've accidently touch something greasy." She said and indeed, she had grease smudges on her shorts.

"MIKO!" It was June's voice. Miko's head immediately snapped up.

"Uh, Mrs D!" Miko's eyes grew round. She was staying with Bulk for a sleep over while Bumblebee was spending his time patrolling somewhere in Kuwait1).

"I thought you were preparing yourself for school." June exclaimed with sour face as she rested her hand on her still rather flat belly. "Not off-roading with Bulkhead and these two freewheeling Mavericks."

"Mrs D, I assure you, we weren't off-roading." Wheeljack flashed his own charming grin at the Nurse.

"An' I do not off-road." Jazz added. "Not havin' th' frame type for that."

That earned him a dagger like glare from the woman.

"We were at a secret mission." Wheeljack re-captured her attention.

"Yeah!" Miko cheerfully joined ignoring Bulkhead's groan of someone who knew it wouldn't end well. "We were breaking into MECH's secret facility!"

"WHAT?" June grabbed the rail with both hands and held it so tight that her knuckles turned white.

"Miko…" Bulkhead tried to stop his charge from causing any more damage.

"But don't worry. I'll still make it to school, I just need to change." Miko beamed. For her it all was fine, no one was hurt and no damage was done. Well, perhaps with exception of her clothes.

June glared at them for a moment and then her face relaxed. It seemed that she wasn't angry until it became clear that she was upset but also fainting. She slid gently to the catwalk's floor.

"MRS D!" Miko yelled and hurried up the stairs and to the unconscious woman.

"Aww!" Blaster who operated the Groundbridge looked at the woman whom he just had a conversation. "I'm calling to the A51."

"Awww, Bolts!" Wheeljack jumped to the catwalk and took a better look at June, who was now gently patted by Miko. "Call her doctor and open the 'bridge. I'll drive her there."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Bulkhead asked with worried face. Wheeljack was a sports frame after all; he didn't have much space inside.

"Yeah, I'm positive. It's better to be there than here. At least Ratchet won't weld my aft to the nearest wall." The mech explained and transformed.

"An' why would he do that?" Jazz asked taking June and Miko and gently lowering them to Wheeljack.

"He tends to do that a lot, lately." Wheeljack explained opening his doors. "I guess it's just such a phase."

Jazz didn't answer to that; instead he helped Miko to put June in the passenger seat. At the same time Bulkhead was calling Jack to tell him about his mother and Blaster was dialling the doctor while opening the Groundbridge at the same time.

oOo

Area 51's infirmary.

June slowly surfaced to the realm of living and found herself somewhere else than she recalled being. She knew she was in Autobot Base and this place looked nothing like it. She sighed; the bed and curtains could only mean one thing…

As if to confirm June's thoughts one of the curtains moved and her Doctor's head appeared. For a moment all kinds of thoughts flooded June's mind. She must've paled because the Doctor's eyes widened and she entered the tiny area fully.

"Before you will go into full panic attack, nothing happened." She said and sat at a small, round, metal stool that stood next to June's bed. "You're fine and still pregnant."

June felt as her colour flooded back to her face – she never realised that it was something someone could feel really.

"You have fainted, which in itself is nothing uncommon in pregnant women." The Doctor started to speak again. "But it should never be ignored, especially in your case."

"Do you know why I have fainted?" June asked, her voice sound normal but there was some worry in it.

"I was told you got angry, which in combination with your elevated BP could end up with passing out." The Doctor explained. "But every cloud has a silver lining. We've got a blood sample from you and I was just coming to see if you were awake already so I could discuss it with you."

"This fast?"

"You've been out for almost half an hour, clearly your body decided to rest for a moment." The Doctor informed. "And I've harassed our lab guy. It's basic tests actually."

"How bad is it?" June braced for the terrible news.

"There's no tragedy. But your levels are deteriorating." The Doctor revealed. "All in all it is not regular pregnancy and despite your best efforts it must drain you. Your mineral levels are low but it may be the doing of the 'Newspark'."

"Yes. In a Cybertronian it wouldn't be a problem but I am not." June agreed. "But Ratchet told me that it could be managed if the Newspark would be provided with building materials from my partner's tranfluid."

"Yes. I have spoken with doctor Ratchet about that as well. My best guess that the transmetal fluid does the trick but you still lose enough minerals because the baby is still looking for metals and siphons them from you." The Doctor leafed through the lab report she received. "And the results seem to confirm that. I must say that what doctor Ratchet said about Cybertronian gestation is fascinating and helpful."

"What should I do then?"

"You already changed your diet so the only solution right now, if we do not want to keep you under IV, is dietary supplements. Normally they're not the best thing because people take them needlessly and often overdose, but in your case they should do the trick. I will prescribe you the kinds that you need and then stick to our scheduled appointment."

"I see." June sighed tiredly.

"But you really should take good care of yourself. You are not taking this pregnancy well and straining yourself is not making it any better for you." The Doctor warned. "If you'll continue as you do now it can end up badly. Running around in a 'mother hen' mode is good for younger women without problematic and exotic pregnancies."

"They told you, didn't they?" June huffed.

"Yes. Your son is an adult and your charge is not that far behind him. Even if she does stupid things, she has some heavy duty back-up team that most people her age can't even dream of. Her exploits are not your concern now."

"Then what I'm about to do now?" June asked.

"Sit on your couch and pick names."

TBC.

1) Kuwait has a lot of expensive cars of all sorts. A sports car isn't that uncommon sight there so Bumblebee was more than well hidden.