Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers, I own the story. Any and all additional recognizable culture references, locations, songs, et cet, belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter 25: Protecting Innocence

"So, judging by what I saw back there in the piloting room, you are experiencing the classic case of an alpha-male battle, yes?"

Mextron turned away from the observation deck window and looked at Starscream, who had appeared behind him. Most of the other Decepticons were sleeping or on guard duty right now, but here the red and white Seeker was, talking to Mextron during one of his increasingly rare private moments.

"What does it matter to you?" Mextron asked.

"Oh, it's just amusing," Starscream said, "To see one of the alphas finally become an omega."

The older, taller robot came to stand beside Mextron and turned his red optics to the stars beyond the super thick glass roof. Mextron stared at him hard, trying to determine what the treacherous Seekers' desire was.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, it happens all the time," Starscream explained simply, turning to Mextron. "The second-in-command, such as my self, does not like the current leader, such as Megatron, and begins fighting. Smartmouth fights you all the time—"

"She is not my second-in-command; I'm not so stupid as to hold someone that will backstab me as my heir to leadership, like Megatron."

"Let me finish," Starscream chuckled. Mextron didn't like the sly smile on Starscream's face; when ever Starscream smiled, nothing good was about to happen.

"I fight Megatron all the time, or at least used to, until he wised up and began sending me out on mission after mission," Starscream went on, using that annoying high voice that made Mextron want to smash his face into the nearest bar. "But lately, someone else has taken my place to bash cranium units with: You."

Mextron raised an eye brow.

"You are a lot alike, you know; the tempers, the faces, the brutality to your enemies, the balance of leadership. The likings alone could strike quite a conflict, but there are key differences that threaten to cause you to blow each other to scrap: Megatron rules with force, you, with words. Megatron seeks eternal rule, you, for survival. Megatron will go through mechs like shock absorbers with little to no care. You prefer to keep your mechs alive and slowly cultivate them into true warriors, and if I may say that that is going quite well. Your finest example is that strange moth-mech, Flickword, was it? He was such a pathetic target when he first came to the Decepticons, but now look; he's rising through the ranks and even being called a new Blitzwing! A sane one, that is, like the original."

"What do you want, Starscream?" Mextron growled dangerously.

"I am merely sighing in relief at finally meeting someone I can relate to," Starscream assured, placing an arm across Mextron's shoulders. "Smartmouth never listens to me, and it just feels so good to have someone to talk to about the whole alpha-omega battle-augh!"

Starscream's sentence was cut off in a shout of surprise when Mextron seized the arm on his shoulders and flipped the Seeker completely over him self, slamming the Seeker on his back on the floor. Quickly, Mextron drew his sword and pointed it at the Seekers' throat, holding the arm still in the other hand to prevent escape.

"Don't think that just because I don't like him gives me a chance of helping you over throw him," Mextron growled. "I may despise him, and he may want nothing more than to see my Spark Chamber be converted into a refrigerator, but at this point in time he is the only thing keeping my fellow Decepticon Efforts and me alive. His protection keeps us breathing for another day, no matter how many of those breaths are used to calm ourselves down after a round of verbal abuse. He dies; we die, it's as simple as that. So I don't give a flying slag about your own petty wants and desires; Megatron will stay alive as long as he protects my charges."

Starscream's captured arm suddenly seized Mextron's own and flung him forward. Mextron was briefly surprised at the skillful move, but wiped it away quickly; Starscream was an experienced warrior, after all, and his cowardice had to be hiding something. Mextron rolled over and onto his feet as Starscream leapt to his own feet. The Seekers' jets activated in his feet and back, sending him shooting him up into the air.

"You think you can protect them?" Starscream snarled. "You think that he will continue protecting you? Boy…"

Starscream suddenly dove down and tackled Mextron, pinning him to the floor. Mextron's sword was knocked from his hand by a flailing jet wing and his hands were pinned down while Starscream sat on top of him.

"He will watch as you burn and laugh," Starscream hissed. "The instant he sees the perfect opportunity to kill you all, all you wretched, disgusting, Transformer-human hybrid abominations, he will take it and you will die. You are just well skilled mutts that he used to get his campaign started. You are nothing more than gross weapons to him at this point in time, and the only reason he 'protects' you is so that he may have the pleasure of killing you himself."

He released Mextron, shoving off of the smaller mech as he got to his feet. He walked away and picked up Mextron's sword, examining it as the young mech got to his feet. He stared at the sword, and did not turn to let Mextron see his face as he spoke, his voice changing from disgust to something strange and new… was it sympathy, admiration, or something all more personal?

He said slowly. "It's truly admirable how much you take care of your Efforts. You know, Smartmouth may always back talk you all the time, and while she hasn't exactly told me this without spilling energon on my head…" A small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "She really does like you."

He turned around, putting on a mask of disgust as he handed the sword back to Mextron.

"Keep that blade sharp," he warned, "All the easier it will be to slide it through Megatron's Spark Chamber when he has his arm cannon to your head."

With that, Starscream left the observation platform. Mextron stayed there for several more hours, staring at the sword in his hands.

- - - -

"What is the meaning of this, Mextron?" Smartmouth asked.

Mextron had called Ferrofluid, Skynet, Blitzwing, and Smartmouth to meet with him in the pilot room. At this time in the night, the pilot room was abandoned, giving them adequate privacy. Now they held a council all in human form.

"Starscream approached me tonight and warned me that Megatron was going to kill us all eventually, but that in itself is not what brought me here," Mextron said. "It's what he reminded me of: Cartwheel and Shadowleap. They are too young for this war and all they have ever known is conflict. It is too late for us to rehabilitate, but them… they are still young enough."

"What are you recommending, Mextron?" Ferrofluid inquired.

"I am recommending that at the first chance we get, we find the little ones a proper home to live normal lives in, away from the war."

Protests arose from the other Efforts, mostly at the impossibility of the idea.

"They love us too much to leave, you dolt!" Smartmouth said, but her insult held no hostility. "If you even suggest that they scram to become Jack and Jill living on the hill, they'll refuse! They have powers, they certainly don't look human enough to live in a human family, and Thundercracker and Skywarp would blow a gasket of you recommended such a thing!"

"I know," Mextron said, looking down sadly. "But remember the first time you killed your first human or Transformer? Do you remember the first time in battle when you were forced to watch your back at all times? Do you remember the nightmares that haunt you nearly every night, reminding you of the sins you've done that day? Do you really want the little ones to live such a life?"

Ferrofluid, Smartmouth, and Skynet were silent, but Blitzwing spoke up.

"Yes, I do remember," he said. "And if they can not handle it, then mayhap they do not belong in the army."

"That's my point!" Mextron snapped. "They're too young for war! They're children, for Primus' sake! They don't deserve any of that! They at least deserve the chance to live a life they haven't been forced into and choose for themselves. Or do you think we should make them dogs of war before they even learn the meaning of peace?"

At this, everyone was silent. They all loved Cartwheel and Shadowleap with all their Sparks, even Blitzwing. Something about their cute innocence and how well they dealt with the death around them made them more lovable than anyone else they knew. It is a natural reflex of older populations to take little ones under their wing and protect them from the evils of the world, as if protecting such innocence will immortalize them in some saintly tale. But now, they were realizing, that to protect the little ones under their wing, they may have to leave the little ones in a strangers' nest and lead the war hawks away.

"…What is your plan?" Smartmouth asked.

- - - -

Bumblebee would have never suspected the mech he had met as Alias' adopted, mind-wiped father, Dudbud, to have been a human at one time, much less a Breaker Laboratories scientist. He moved with the heavy stiffness of a Transformer, he smiled and spoke like a Transformer, he spoke fluent Cybertronian, and had even transformed from his tank-car Cybertronian hybrid mode to greet Bumblebee like a Transformer in the small, humble home outside a massive scrap yard. Bumblebee had taken all his will power not to all-out ask the mech if he truly did not know whether or not he had been a human at one time.

But something in Dudbud's optics… something in Alias' father's optics told Bumblebee that it was a façade. Something in those optics told Bumblebee plainly that the amnesia was faked and that he darn well remembered who and what he had been, but kept it hidden now because of who and what he was now: He was no longer Dr. Hoffman, a human scientist of Earth, but Dudbud, father of Alias. It was all a masquerade.

Bumblebee had told Dudbud about what had happened to Alias and see Dudbud's face turn from surprise, to terror, to confusion, and to a protective anger. But when it came to the part where Bumblebee told Dudbud of how Alias could help the Autobots, Dudbud had nodded and agreed to let Alias go.

"Her… abilities will be put to good use with you," Dudbud had said. "And who better to protect her than the Autobots?"

The words, then, had slipped out of Bumblebee's yellow mouth like they were sentient spirits seeking to possess another's mind and heart.

"The only thing that is not Transformer about you is your ability to lie," he said. "The only mechs I know who are this good at covering up their past are Decepticons."

To this, Dudbud had smirked in friendly amusement and replied, "Humans have always been good at lying. And if lying is what I had to do to keep my life here on Cybertron firm, then I think it is well worth it. Just do this for me: Protect Alias. Let her come back to me. She has a reluctance to fight like her Transformer father, Preceptor, Primus bless his deceased Spark, and she is traumatized still from my human death."

Bumblebee had promised this and had proceeded to transform into his Earthling car form and rendezvous with the star cruiser that Optimus' team was borrowing from the Cybertronian army to follow the Decepticons to Earth. They would have to return the ship, though, as Cybertron would need every available cruiser it had to patrol its skies, now that the Decepticon threat was back. They had taken off once it was assured that Alias was allowed to come, and Ratchet and Ironhide had went into a private room on the cruiser to begin the weapon upgrading on Becky and Josh. Optimus steered the ship with Alias and Benjamin as company, Sam left to his own devices, and Jazz and Prowl waited anxiously for their son and daughter to come out of their upgrading, leaving Bumblebee to park in the corner with his own thoughts, going over his meeting with Dudbud.

He cares about Alias so much, in spite of not being his daughter or even his species, Bumblebee thought. I almost lost Max in Transport City, and I just might loose him again, what, with Breaker Labs having him in custody and all. Hoffman—Dudbud cares so much about Alias… have I cared enough for Max? Have I ever told him how I love spotting his yellow head streak into the room on Grind? Have I ever told him how much I like the relief I feel after the worry of watching him do a skateboard trick? Have I ever told him how much I admired his balance, his recklessness, his grasp on his freedom? Have I ever told him how much I—

Suddenly, the ship shuddered as the engines shut down and the computers began whining for attention. Bumblebee, startled, began to transform.

"What's this?" Optimus asked, tapping at the ship's controls.

"A virus appears to be locking us out of our computers," Alias said in her little child's voice. She tilted her head to the side as she stared at the ceiling, as if listening to something. "One of our enemies is doing it: Either Decepticons or Breaker Labs."

"Breaker Labs," Optimus asked as Ratchet came out of the room where he and Ironhide were operating. "Well, how do we fix--?"

Ratchet suddenly began slamming his wrench multiple times on the control board, making both Alias and Optimus back up in surprise.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!" Ratchet bellowed.

The computer beeped meekly and, unbelievably, the method of "programming" worked and the virus left their computers, leaving them in operation. Everyone stared at Ratchet with something like admiration and fear as he turned and marched back into his operating room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Well," Sam muttered, "I'm sure glad that he's on our side."