You know when you take your jump drive and put it in another computer? Well… I had to retype this entire chapter because the information got screwed up. Frak! Well… that's what independent study classes are for mwahahaha!

Wah! My snowball fight in this isn't as cool as I wanted it to be! But my shoulder is going numb… I can't type anymore (yes I typed this chapter backwards).

Chapter 9:

Cautiously Diana sidled along the wall, every movement was a spy, every movement a betrayer. Her fingers were pink with numbness from holding the hard packed snow ball.

Stalker must've seen her breath before she looked because the next thing she knew she'd been hit squarely on the head

"Ouch! You nerd face!" Diana ducked and rolled from behind the wall and tossed her ammo at the Autobot.

Stalker dodged it easily, "Don't be sad, I'm only better at everything." He ducked his head just in time to dodge another ball. He sent another flurry of snowballs at the human, forcing her to duck for cover behind Mojo's Penthouse.

It was true, Stalker was physically better than her. But only in comparison of races. She glanced over at the Autobot as he dived behind a pile of snow to gather up more ammo. Her gaze strayed to the rooftop. Looking at the snow, she suddenly had a marvelous brain child!

This could work, she just needed to be as fast and accurate as possible. She scooped up the snow at her feet and started packing it together.

"I wouldn't get cocky if I were you knuckle head, wasn't it Optimus who said there's more to us than meets the eye?" she leaped out pf her hiding place and threw her first ball straight for Stalker and almost at the same time threw the other one for the roof. Stalker was so busy concentrating on her advancement that he didn't hear the sound of sliding snow. The 'Bot beeped in surprise when he was covered in a few feet of snow. He heard Diana laughing her head off as he tried to dig out of the ice.

A movement from the house caught Diana's eye and she realized Judi was about to stick her head outside.

When the adult stepped out into the cold she found her guest sitting on a pile of snow, "Would you like some hot cocoa, honey? You've been out playing for more than an hour."

Diana smiled as pleasantly as she could having a very pokey Autobot wriggling underneath your butt, "Yes, please." Judi stepped back inside, Diana started to stand.

"Oh!"

Diana sat back down heavily. Beep!

"I almost forgot, did you want marshmallows with it?"

"Yes!" Damn it woman my butt hurts!

As soon as the door clicked closed Diana yelped in surprise when she was tossed off by her partner.

"Ha! You owe me a date to the mall." Diana only now realized how soaking wet she was.

The snowflakes in the organic's black hair reminded Stalker of the night sky, "What?! I never submitted!"

"You were totally owned just now, what if that had been a ton of rocks falling on your head just now! Admit it!"

"But-!"

"No!"

The 'Bot growled, "Fine!" he kicked snow at her, "Be that way!"

Diana stood up straight and smiled, satisfied with her victory she opened her arms so that he could transform for her to carry inside. He shook his head and told her he wanted to do one more thing while outside. Diana frowned, wondering if she'd hurt his feelings.

Well whatever, pride goeth before the fall. Diana hurried inside, eager to take a hot shower and drink her cocoa.

O

Maliciously Frenzy shook off the ice collecting on his joints. Stupid mud ball of a planet! It wasn't cold enough to be a bother him it was just the ice. Outer space, now that was something cold. But it was more tolerable because water wasn't constantly clinging to your aft.

The attachment's search had been… a little less than productive. He spit silent curses at his vanished partner. It wasn't that Frenzy wasn't capable of tracking, it was that his alt mode wasn't exactly meant for travel. Several times he'd transformed and a passerby had picked him up and tried to take him home. It was a very bothersome nuisance.

Frenzy stopped in an alley and took note of his position. He was near the Witwicky residence. How perfect was that? He could see if his target was there and maybe even that little flee that had tackled him at the warehouse.

Eagerly Frenzy trekked across the street, he missed seeing the black ice and slid the rest of the way. The 'Con smacked into a telephone poll but shook off the impact.

He approached the home masking his signature. There were four units, two Autobots in the garage and two humans. Where was the third? Frenzy's vision switched to all the different type of scans he had in his arsenal but he couldn't detect the Autobot.

"Slag!" Frenzy's spark boiled with anger, the thought of a better attachment, an Autobot attachment at that, absolutely infuriated him.

"Why are you trying to offline me?"

Frenzy whipped around firing three blades and missed.

Stalker circled the 'Con, "Why?"

"You're an Autobot and I'm a Decepticon! Is there any other explanation?" the lighter colored entity pulled out his guns, all four eyes trained on Stalker.

"That's a very childish excuse." Stalker held up his hands indicating a ceasefire. Frenzy lowered his weapons but didn't put them away.

"Enlighten me, why exactly do you want to kill me." He was careful of what words he emphasized.

"…"

"I thought so." He looked at the house then back at Frenzy, "You should come inside and dry off, ice isn't good for the joints."

Frenzy lifted his guns at this, "N-not in y-your lifetime A-Autobot!"

Stalker shrugged, "Ok, but my invitation stands if you're ever back in the neighborhood." Suddenly his sleek dark frame shimmered and he vanished completely. If Frenzy had had a mouth it would've unhinged and dropped to the ground. Snow crunched and the 'Con saw footsteps appear in the snow as the 'Bot trotted back into the house. He heard the scrambling of claws against the house boards and the window on the second floor shut.

Beep beep!

A cop cruiser pulled up next to where Frenzy stood in plain sight and opened its passenger door.

"W-where the slag h-hhave you been?" Frenzy asked as he jumped into the front seat.

"None of your slaggin' business." Barricade growled, "Hmph, while you were running on silence Starscream told me to relay your new mission."

"What?! I haven't even f-finished the one I-I'm on now!" the attachment transformed into a radio that latched onto the dashboard.

"Your services are needed elsewhere, don't worry he's sending Thundercracker to hurry up and finish the job." Barricade snorted in annoyance when Frenzy's grip tightened hard enough to pinch him.

"Hey what is your problem?! I came back for you didn't I?!"

"Stalker b-better survive."

"What? Why?"

"I want to be the one to offline and salvage him."

Barricade decided not to concern himself with Frenzy's business.

"Am I correct in my scanning that that was a rare fembot in there?"

"What of it?"

"The scientist said he needed one to complete one of his experiments"

Frenzy snorted in disgust, "Why not just use the one he has now?"

"She's less than cooperative in an experiment unless it gives her more power."

"Ke, a least it'll be entertaining to watch her squeal in discomfort."

O

"Well that was smart Stalker…" The 'Bot snickered, the look on Frenzy's face when he'd activated his cloaking device had been priceless. Every Transformer was built uniquely, some with better toys than the other.

While he was wiggling with laughter he had a sudden addictive urge to hack. Hurriedly he went over and whacked his head on the wall.

It was like he'd knocked some stuck memory loose in his thought stream. It was of his partner, Shadow, being totally massacred by a certain Decepticon.

O

Ratchet felt much better by the time evening approached, he vocals weren't glitching anymore and his coordination was close to optimal. He decided he wanted to make a call.

"Ratchet to Sparkle."

There was a long pause before he got a response, "What can I do for you?"

"Where are you?"

"Well I'm obviously somewhere, Doctor, and while on that note: I'm busy."

"Busy?"

Another pause.

"Yes, busy."

"Busy with what?"

"Since when is a civilian's business the military's concern?" she snapped.

Ratchet was a little shocked at Sparkle's cold behavior, "I…I'm not calling you as a field medic. I didn't do anything to offend you last night, did I?" he asked worriedly.

"No no you were a real sweet spark actually, are you always that gentle with the fembots?" there it was, that bubbly teasing. Ratchet's spark fluttered warmly with embarrassment. What had he done??

"Offend who?" Ironhide found satisfaction that he'd startled the doctor. He crunched a drone part under his foot, "You guys didn't tell me you were having a party. Slag you're all having fun while I deal with baby spit up!" he growled.

Ratchet waved away the specialist while switching to his inner link, "Go talk to Arcee then, it was her idea I was just the overseer."

"Ahem. You're alright then?"

Sparkle laughed, but it wasn't a friendly laugh. It was almost maniacal.

"I have to go now Ratchet, let me know how Diana is doing ok?" the line was cut off before Ratchet could respond.

"Next time give an old friend a head's up when you're going to party." Ironhide kicked aside the mess of drones in annoyance. Ratchet ignored him, too concerned with Sparkle's change in behavior to care about the specialists' whining.

O

Optimus Prime was driving down on of the main city streets on his self proclaimed patrol when suddenly he received a broken up signal. He adjusted for triangulation and realized that it was coming from off planet side.

"This is Optimus Prime, state your situation."

"C…Pr….? This……ny. …re….ed!!"

"Make planet fall soldier, you're signal is breaking up." The voice was very familiar; Arcee had mentioned that her companions had decided to lag behind to study something of interest.

"Copy… pr….all."

A few minutes later two flaming streaks entered the atmosphere both containing an Autobot signature. Speaking of interesting studies, hot on their afts was a third comet and this time it wasn't a friendly.

"All units, roll out to the following location." Optimus sent the coordinates of where the two would eventually land and picked up speed.

O

Stalker paced the length of the room clicking in frustration. It wasn't helping his mood any that he was recounting the event of Shadow being torn into scrap metal over and over. He considered whacking his head again but decided against it. What worked once didn't always work again.

"Frag it!" the attachment went over to the wall and smacked his head against it. That left him with a resounding headache, he clenched his head stumbling around the room. He didn't notice Diana had entered.

"What's wrong Stalker? I can hear you pacing from the stairs."

Stalker hissed, clicked and warbled mechanical screeches most of which her human ears couldn't detect anyway.

"No hablo Cybertronian."

"It… it's the Decepticon… I just can't remember his name though! Slag!" the name was on the tip of his vocals but his memories were just too fragmented. He ignored the pain shooting through his CPU.

Diana watched him pace the room till she was dizzy, "Stalker you need to calm down… you know Ratchet said not to push your recovery." She made a grab for him but he shrugged her off.

"No no no no! It's important! I need to tell Optimus Prime of it n-!" Stalker twitched very hard suddenly, he struggled to stay standing but survival instinct kicked in and he went into emergency stasis mode.

"Stalker? Stalker!"

Diana practically flew down the stairs almost slamming into a wall as she beelined for the garage. She caught Bee and Arcee just about to leave.

"Stop! Stop you guys!" she grabbed Arcee's handles which she didn't take too kindly.

"What's wrong Diana?" Bumblebee asked, worry lining his voice.

"It's Stalker, I think something went terribly wrong with him! He was trying to remember something and suddenly he just conked out!"

"Frag, Bumblebee you go on ahead I'll stay here and get Ratchet." Arcee ignored her still painful hangover, "Well what're you waiting for? Go get him!"

O

"I'll send you both to Unicron's maw!" a huge menacing multi limbed Decepticon hissed in sheer hatred as he pursued the two Autobots who'd just destroyed half of the needed supplies they'd been gathering for planet fall.

"Go go go!" the two jettisoned off the satellite that was Earth's moon. The Decepticon leaped after them, bladed limbs aimed for Shadow who had to turn around to defend himself. His plasma rounds didn't make any direct hits and before he knew it the slightly smaller Decepticon was upon him, its bladed appendages piercing his armor as if it was organic flesh.

Stalker turned at his friend's wail of pain and shot several blades in a counter attack. All of them were deflected except for one and that created a deep gash where four eyes had been. Shadow took the moment of distraction to escape.

The 'Con screamed in utter rage and made a dive for the attachment but Shadow was faster. He transformed, folding his partner into his deepest compartment. Energon trailed in his wake, there wasn't a place in his armor that hadn't been pierced.

Stalker was getting drenched in his partner's fluids, "Shadow! What the frag are you doing?!"

"Making planet fall…"

"What?! You can't do that!"

"It's you who has to inform the commander of what we've found!"

"Shadow don't do it!"

A second Decepticon had joined the first, she was of a similar exoskeletall type and also much faster than him. She stopped pursuing when she managed to throw the fatally injured opponent off his safe telemetry.

"Stalker… my friend…"

In his last moments of consciousness Shadow managed to adjust himself to where he wouldn't be falling vertically. He could feel himself being peeled away by the atmosphere's friction.

Primus… send my friend to safety…

"SHADOW!!"

Nothingness…

Stalker braced himself for impact.

O

Consciousness was extremely difficult to maintain as Stalker clawed his way out of his partner's remains. The burning wreckage was nothing recognizable to its former glory. Stalker just sat there on the corpse, swaying a little as he tried to absorb the information of recent events. At first he didn't notice the movement above him.

Slowly, painfully he lifted his head and saw a life form he'd never encountered before. It jumped in fright when he looked at it and disappeared.

"W-wait… c-come back!" stumbling off of Shadow, Stalker struggled to climb out of the crater that had been created. He didn't want to be alone, all he cared about was getting away, getting away, that's all he wanted…

Several times he slid down a few feet, it was torture just to move his joints let alone scan anything. Pain threatened to overwhelm him with every little movement he made.

Once at the top he saw the creature was still moving away from him, "D-don't go! Please!"

Without warning the multi-limbed Decepticon dropped out of nowhere hissing at him Stalker squealed and fell back off the cliff in sheer terror…

O

"NOOOO!! Diana!! Shadow! Don't go near it! Get away now!!" Stalker warbled many times, flailing around when Ratchet tried to retstain the 'Bot without crushing him.

"What the hell is he saying?!" Diana was pushed back by Arcee to make room for Ratchet who was trying to calm the Autobot down.

"Soldier! You're alright! There's nothing happening! You just passed out from straining yourself d-." Ratchet flinched when the attachment clamped down with all his teeth and claws, "Calm." Ratchet pulled out a glowing rod, "Down!" he thrust one end behind Stalker's neck and the effects were immediate. The rod inserted energy dampeners into Stalker's system, causing the 'Bot to settle down immediately.

The 'Bot twitched a few times, his CPU felt like it was going to explode at any minute. His golden eyes fell on Diana who was partially hidden behind Arcee's sleek frame. Her face was lined with worry.

"I remember…" he looked up at Ratchet with bleary optics, "Relay a message for me…"

OOO

I have to be honest… the part with Shadow made me sniffle a little. Well, I shall see you all in the next chapter! Please leave a review before you click the 'x' button. Thanks in advance!