Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10

Scourge smiled under his facemask at Koji's enthusiastic greeting. The boy certainly sounded healthy. Healthy enough to get out of this place at least.

"Hello Koji, miss me?" Scourge asked in amusement.

"Didn't have time," Koji smiled.

"A whole week and you didn't have time to miss me?" Scourge asked, with mock hurt. Seeing Koji was enough to bring out the lighter side of himself that he hadn't even realized he had.

"A week?" Koji shook his head. "It's been a week? I must have lost track of time while I was asleep," he said more to himself than Scourge.

"How long were you asleep?" Scourge asked, suddenly very worried that Koji wasn't as far along in his recovery as he appeared to be.

"Since the Autobots got here I think. I remember a red one," Koji said thinking back to before he fell into that deep lasting sleep. "He looked kind of like you. He said some stuff, I don't remember what. I had a headache." Actually he had one now.

"Don't worry about that right now. We need to get you out of here before the Autobots realize I'm back," Scourge recommended.

"Uh sure... Do you know where my clothes are?" Koji looked down at his revealing hospital gown and blushed. It did nothing to hide the scars on his legs, which he had to admit were even worse than the one on his neck. Someone must have gotten artsy with a switchblade once. Koji looked disdainfully down at the zigzagging lines that ran down his legs like a mountain chain. Not a very pleasant reminder of his past.

"Don't they usually put those in closets or drawers?" Scourge asked about the clothes. There wasn't anything in this room that looked like it might be holding the boy's clothes.

"We really don't have time to look for them. You'll just have to make do with a sheet or something till we get to the ship. I picked up some clothes when I stopped for supplies yesterday." He'd figured Koji could use some new clothes anyway. The ones he had been wearing were getting a little ragged. And they had started to stink.

Koji reluctantly nodded and grabbed the sheet off the bed before wrapping it around him like a cloak. It wasn't going to be the inconspicuous of outfits but then again Scourge wasn't exactly the most inconspicuous of Transformers.

"This way," Scourge said leading Koji out toward the back hallways that were mostly only used by maintenance workers. Hopefully he'd have as much luck getting out as he did getting in.

Sideburn had been wandering aimlessly around the hospital for a good hour. After his conversation with Cerebros he needed some time to himself so he could think.

His best friend, who before now everyone had believed was dead, was not only still alive but possessed by a Cybertronian peace weapon. Either Sideburn's life had had just become a soap opera or this was a really messed up parody of The Mouse that Roared.

That wasn't the only thing that was bothering him though. Those scars on Koji's arms. Sideburn had always had a basic idea about what had happened to Dr. Onishi, but he had never allowed himself to think of what might have happened to Koji.

Sideburn stopped walking and let himself fall back against the wall. He really didn't want to think about what went on after Koji and his father were taken, but the scars on the boy's arms… Had Koji really tried to take his own life? Had things really gotten that bad? Maybe after his father died Koji hadn't seen the point in living. Maybe he thought they were just going to kill him too. Maybe he thought he could just save his captors the time and effort.

Whatever it was, Sideburn didn't know. But those scars were self-inflicted, he was sure of it.

Approaching footsteps made him look up. Standing twenty feet away was Scourge and Koji, looking just as surprised to see him as he was to see them.

Prowl couldn't help but wonder where his younger brother had gotten off to. He said he needed some time to himself but really, this was just getting ridiculous.

Prowl knew Sideburn had been in to see Koji, and from the slump of his brother's shoulders when he came out of the boy's room Prowl could guess things hadn't gone so well. So he had decided to give his little brother an hour to sulk and then drag him back to tell him exactly what happened when he spoke with Koji.

So caught up in his search for his brother, Prowl almost didn't see Optimus before he ran headlong into him.

"Whoa, careful," Optimus advised catching middle Autobot brother before he fell. "Anything wrong?" he asked setting Prowl back on his feet.

"I can't find Sideburn. He's been off sulking for over an hour. Usually he'll stay close to either X-brawn or I when he gets like this," Prowl explained.

"Really? He seemed fine when I last saw him. Any reason for the sudden mood change?"

"He went in to see Koji. I think he's upset Koji still doesn't recognize him." Strangely, Prowl noted, Optimus didn't deny the boy's identity.

"When was this?"

"An hour and a half ago, sir."

Optimus was hit with a sudden wave of dread for some reason. Knowing that they really had found Koji was heightening his protective instincts. "Go check on the boy. I'll look for Sideburn."

"Sir?" Prowl wondered at the commander's sudden change in temperament.

"Just go check on Koji," Optimus ordered before running off down the hallway, leaving a confused Prowl in his wake.

"He called him Koji," Prowl whispered to himself. So it was true. They'd finally found Koji.

Optimus didn't know why or how but he was certain that something was wrong. He felt… something. A chill in his circuits that he only ever got when an enemy was near. Warrior's instinct his creator had called it. Whatever it was it was screaming at him that something was very wrong.

Where would Sideburn have gone? They were all under strict orders not to leave the building without permission. So where would Sideburn have gone to be alone?

Optimus figured the maintenance halls would be a good place to start.

Prowl knew he was gripping the doorframe too hard when he felt his finger starting to sink into the metal, forming an imprint of his hand. This was bad. Koji's bed was empty and the boy was nowhere to be seen.

How could this have happened? Koji had all but been in a coma an hour ago. There was no way he just got up and walked out on his own. There was only one explanation.

"Optimus," Prowl said turning on his comm. "I think Scourge was here."

He heard Optimus give a solemn sigh on the other end of the link. "I think so too."

"Koji's gone," Prowl reported.

"And I've found Sideburn."

As the hospital planet faded into the distance, neither Scourge nor Koji could say they were sorry to see the last of it.

"Where are we going now?" Koji asked looking up at Scourge.

"Cybertron," Scourge answered, still watching the planet as if to reassure himself that the Autobot's weren't coming after them yet.

Koji's head whipped up in shock. "What? Isn't that where the Autobots live?"

"Yes, but it is also where Decepticon army is now based. I have a few old… acquaintances," Scourge decided was the right word for them, "that should be willing to help us"

Koji just nodded. Another issue was fighting for his attention right now. That blue Autobot they'd run into on the way out of the hospital. It was the one who came into his room just this morning. Earlier he had been too tired to really look at the transformer. But in that hallway, for just a second he could have sworn he knew the blue 'Bot.

For the first time Koji wondered about the time before the prison. Had he had friends? Family? A mother and a father? A home with more than thin metal walls that did nothing to keep out the cold? Maybe he'd had a real bed too, instead of the sleeping bag Mr. Ryoichi had given him to keep warm.

It wasn't until Scourge asked him if he was ok that he realized he had tears slipping silently down his face.

AN: R&R and all that good stuff.