A/N: Mwhaha. I love this chapter. Wait till you see what happens. -evil cackle- This story has some cool twists coming up.

Story Arc 3

Chapter 25

The black and purple f-15 took off from the spot where the femme sat as the red Lamborghini raced towards them. He wished that the Autobot would try to chase him and fight, but he knew that the mech would be more concerned about the human. He scanned the area ahead hoping that he'd find an Autobot since he was this close to their base.

"Did you find the femme, 'Warp?" Thundercracker's deep voice came over the radio.

"Yep."

"Did you get your stupid answer?" The Air Commander sounded bored.

"Yeah. She said she didn't want to hurt me." He still didn't quite understand why she did it, but she kept him and his wingmates from being slagged.

"Huh? Why not?" There was an incredulous tone of Starscream's snarky voice.

"Heh. Looks like 'Warp has better luck with the femmes than you ever will, 'Screamer." Thundercracker snickered.

"Shut up, TC."

Two blips showed up on Skywarp's radar, "You got two Autobots heading towards you."

"Finally some action. These stupid excursions you had to have 'Warp were extremely boring." The snarky voice's boredom seemed to lessen.

"They weren't stupid," Stupid Starscream. The black and purple jet wanted to know why the femme said that, was that a crime? "Oh. By the way, 'Screamer. You didn't damage the red one at all. He showed up while I was talking to her." He sneered into his com.

Thundercracker snickered again, "Aww, and you were bragging how you slagged him finally."

Skywarp was catching up to the two Autobots as they raced towards his wingmates, "I get first shots!"

"Lead them to us, 'Warp." Starscream ignored the ribbing from the other two.

"Nope. You two come to me. And you better make it quick or there will be no 'bots for you to play with," he smirked into the com.

"Frag you, 'Warp."

The black and purple jet teleported just behind the two cars and dropped two heat seeking missiles before soaring over the Autobots, "Mwhaha, I got first shots!" He taunted the other Seekers.

The two black and white's skidded across the highway, transforming and destroying the missiles. The jet banked and came around for another shot, "Hey, its their Second in Command. I bet I can take him out before either of you get here."

There were two sonic booms in the distance as Starscream and Thundercracker shot towards the fight. Skywarp took aim with his machine guns and sent out a volley at the two black and whites. Two missiles came for the jet, but he teleported out of the way, reappearing behind the Autobots. Unfortunately, they expected his move; and as Skywarp tried to pull up out of the strafe, he was hit with three photon blasts. He tumbled out of the sky, transforming and somersaulting back away from the Autobots. As he righted himself, his left wing was hit with another photon blast. He reeled back from the hit, sneering at the Autobot that shot him.

Starscream arrived and strafed the two with cluster bombs, causing them to run in opposite directions. Amid the confusion, Skywarp ran after the Autobot that bolted to his left. Through the smoke and debris, he saw the form of the other mech and ran to tackle him. He knocked the other mech backwards, but received a boot to his cockpit as the Autobot threw him off. He rolled bringing his machine gun up and sending a spray of bullets at the mech. The black and white somehow dodged the volleys as he ran up to the black and purple jet. Skywarp's head snapped back as he took a right hook from the Autobot. He staggered back rubbing his chin and glaring at the mech. The dust was settling and Skywarp was finally able to get a good look at the mech he was fighting. A vicious smirk played across his face as he dodged out of the way of the next punch. "Oh. It's you."

The black and white mech closed the space between them, but the wily jet teleported out of the way. Skywarp reappeared behind the Autobot and grabbed him from behind. The mech struggled against the jet's grip. The jet took great pleasure as he sneered into the audio receptor of the mech, "I know who you are,' he couldn't help smirking as the mech tried to fight him off. "I just visited your little friend." The mech stopped struggling for a moment as the jet's words sunk in, making Skywarp's smirk even wider. He was going to have fun with this one, "Yeah. She was all alone in the trees… not even worth the ammo."

Jazz growled with renewed strength. He grabbed Skywarp's arm and threw him over his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. He twisted the jet's arm painfully as he spun around, dropping his knee into Skywarp's cockpit, shattering the glass. The jet realized too late that his taunting of the Autobot was a bad idea. A very bad idea. He held his free arm up in vain trying to block the powerful punches from the angry mech. His right optic cracked as he was pummeled by the black and white mech, and he could taste energon in his mouth. He needed to get out from under the Autobot's fists before he lost consciousness. He accessed his teleportation program and blinked out of the grasp of his attacker.

Jazz spun around looking for the offending jet that had slipped through his grasp. The black and purple jet had managed to reappear next to the blue jet that had taken cover from fire by Prowl. He scanned the sky looking for the third vulture, but the yellow Lamborghini that had shown up shortly after the fight began was keeping the Air Commander busy. Jazz took aim at the two Seekers hiding behind the rocks. He walked forward and deliberatively sending round after round of photon shots at them. He nailed the black and purple jet again, putting a large hole in the nearly offlined mech. The blue jet tried to get in the way of Jazz and his fallen wingmate to protect him. Jazz kept firing at them as he closed the distance between them. The blue jet took several hits straight on, vainly protecting the other jet, before he fell to one knee and put an energon stained hand in the air trying to block another hit.

Prowl had stopped firing as he watched Jazz move on the two Decepticons. There was a icy glare to Jazz's visor that Prowl didn't like. He gave a quick glance behind him noting that Sunstreaker had the red jet in a headlock, but when he turned back, the blue jet was on a knee with his hand up trying to fend off Jazz's attack. Prowl got up and ran over to Jazz and the two fallen Seekers. Jazz stood over the two with his gun aimed at the barely conscious black and purple jet. The tactician didn't like this situation, "Jazz!" If he had heard his named called, he didn't show it. Prowl skidded next to him and pushed the muzzle of the gun away. "What are you doing?"

Jazz shrugged off Prowl's hand, "He killed Rachel."

Prowl and Thundercracker said in unison, "What?"

Jazz leveled his gun at the fallen Skywarp, "He killed Rachel."

Thundercracker realized what Skywarp had done and put both of his hands up, "No he didn't. He just wanted to ask her a question."

Prowl tried to take the gun away from Jazz but he threw off the tactician's hand again, "Jazz, don't do this. He could be telling the truth."

"He just wanted to ask a stupid question," Starscream choked out as Sunstreaker dragged the jet over to the others. The yellow warrior pushed the Air Commander to the ground, "He wanted to know why she warned us."

"They could be telling the truth, Jazz," Prowl tried to reason with him, "Let's take them back to the base for questioning."

Sunstreaker lifted his foot and shoved Starscream's head into the ground, rubbing his face into the sand, "Or we could leave the buzzards out here. They did attack 'Sides and the others this morning."

Prowl gave the yellow warrior an angry 'you're not helping any' glare before he turned back to Jazz, "Give me your gun, Jazz. Help me take them back."

Without looking at Prowl, Jazz turned the breach of his gun towards the tactician who took it gently. As the gun slid from Jazz's grasp, he backhanded the blue jet, forcing Prowl to grab Jazz's arm. "Stop it, Jazz."

Sunstreaker stepped off of the red jet and walked over to the others, worried that he'd have to restrain Jazz. He remembered how Jazz reacted the last time he thought Rachel was dead. He and Sideswipe had seen a side of Jazz that day at the warehouse that they never had before. He watched Prowl try to reason with Jazz. Maybe the vultures were telling the truth. The golden warrior opened the private link between him and Sideswipe, "Hey 'Sides? You have any luck finding her?"

"Yeah, I got her." Sideswipe answered back.

"Is she ok?"

"Yeah, just a little upset. We're taking a long drive and talking. Tell the others she's safe and sound and I'll bring her back home in a few hours."

Sunstreaker put his hand on Jazz's shoulder, "'Sides has her and she's ok." He could feel the tension lessen in the black and white mech's body. "He said she's just upset and he'll bring her back to the Ark later."

Prowl decided against taking the three Seekers back to base. Seeing how Jazz reacted, he didn't want another incident on the way back. He looked the blue jet directly in the optics, "Take your friends and get out of here."

The blue jet looked up at Prowl noting the look in his eyes and taking the hint that this was a one time only deal. "'Screamer. Help me get 'Warp up."

The red jet growled as he picked himself up and stumbled towards his wingmates. Thundercracker's optics didn't leave Prowl's as he grabbed one of Skywarp's arms, "Come on, Starscream. Move it."

Sunstreaker smirked watching the Seekers stumble off, before opening the channel with Sideswipe again, "Get her an energon lollypop and don't scare her with your driving."

"I've been driving under the speed limit and being a good little Lamborghini. Thank you very much, Sunshine," his twin retorted over the radio.

Prowl stood there and watched the jets leave as well, before turning to face Jazz, "What were you thinking?"

---------------------------------------------------

Starscream and Thundercracker held the broken Skywarp between them as they slowly made it back to Nemesis. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! We should just dump you here." Starscream tried to sound as snarky and irritated as ever, but there was sincere concern in his voice. They had their afterburners handed to them roughly by the Autobots, and he was not happy about losing a fight that should have been easy. They had roughed up three Autobots that morning with ease. That one Autobot. He'll get his revenge on that mech. No one messes with the Seekers like that and gets away with it.

Skywarp for the most part was quiet as he hung between his wingmates. He never expected that the Autobot would react like that. But now that he had time to think about it, the femme had begged him to kill her because she thought the mech was dead. And now he was going to pay for it. Heavily. Only two of the Constructicons had been seen since the base was cleared for habitation again. He hoped that his wingmates could find one of them to help repair him. He was fighting to stay conscious as the three limped back to base.

Starscream kept berating the black and purple jet, but neither Thundercracker nor Skywarp paid much attention to his ranting. Truthfully, the Air Commander was worried. Skywarp was losing a lot of energon and he was hoping they could find one of the repair mechs soon. They were nearing the still broken spire of the base and Starscream radioed their arrival and the need of a medic for Skywarp. He was given the ok to land and told to report straight to Hook's lab. "I'm serious here," he snapped back at the radio, "He's losing a lot of energon. Find one of those slagging Constructicons, now! That's an order!"

The voice crackled over the radio, "Go to Hook's lab. You'll be met by one of them there."

The Air Commander was going to shove his foot up someone's afterburner if he was being jerked around. "Just a little further, they're waiting for us."

The landing bay was still a disaster; a few scorch marks here and there from the brief battle that happened when the Autobots attacked. The main damage was from some type of explosive that was used. Starscream and Thundercracker landed gently trying to not jostle their wingmate too much. The blue jet looked around the bay and frowned, "I thought you said they were waiting for us."

"Supposedly they are at Hook's lab," even if there was someone there, Starscream was going to find the mech on the radio and rough him up.

The three made it down the only working elevator in the spire and walked towards the lab. Mixmaster was outside the lab looking none too pleased at seeing the three Seekers, "What the frag happened? I can't believe I'm going to have to waste my time repairing him."

To the surprise of Starscream and Thundercracker, the green and purple mech touched the panel that opened the door to the lab and motioned agitatedly for them to enter. They shuffled into the darkened lab with the angry mech following behind. "Over there." Mixmaster pointed to a berth to the right that had a dim light over it. "Come on, I don't have time to frag around here."

The jets laid their wingmate on the table and stepped out of the way of the irritated green and purple mech's way. Skywarp groaned as Mixmaster started repairs. The other Seekers glanced around the dimly lit lab. The walls were lined with numerous stasis units that were used for long distance space travel to reserve energy. Each one was lit from within by a murky and sickly green glow. The way the units were set up, it was impossible to tell if they were occupied or not. The two Seekers exchanged glances before opening up their private com link, "What in the Pit is going on in here." Thundercracker nearly whispered over the link.

"I have no idea. I didn't even know they moved these stasis pods from storage." Starscream was slightly peeved that no one had informed him about this. He was Second in Command after all, and he had been running the damaged base and the small raids as best he could with what resources they had. Yes, repairs were slow, but that was only because they had taken a serious hit by the attack and did not have as many mechs to work as they used to.

"It's a little creepy. Why are they glowing green? I could have sworn the units had clear windows."

"Stay here and don't either of you move, or I'll toss all three of you out of here," Mixmaster threatened the Seekers leveling a glare at the two standing mechs before moving into a darker part of the lab.

Starscream's optics narrowed. How dare that Constructicon tell him what to do. He was going to have words for him once he fixed Skywarp. Suddenly, there were two sets of footsteps coming back from the corner of the lab that Mixmaster disappeared to. The Seekers glanced at each other again. This whole situation was weird. Who else was in here and why didn't they come help repair their wingmate?

Mixmaster reappeared from the darkness followed by another familiar green and purple mech. Hook walked into the dim light surrounding the table where the black and purple Seeker lay, "Slag it. We don't have time to mess with you three."

Thundercracker optics went wide as he blurted out, "You were reported dead!"

Starscream pointed at the Constructicon. "How? What are you doing in here?"

A set of red optics shot an angry glare to the Air Commander, "Last I checked, this was my lab. If you have a problem with that you could always leave and take Skywarp with you."

Starscream pulled himself up jutting out his cockpit, "Just fix him."

"What were you three doing that he ended up this way?" Hook muttered as he worked.

"'Warp fragged off this one Autobot," Thundercracker answered getting an angry glare from Starscream.

"One Autobot did this you all of you?"

"No, one did that just to Skywarp. We fought off the others." Thundercracker got another glare from the Air Commander. "He said something about killing that femme and the Autobot flipped."

"Did he kill the human?" A voice crackled from the dark corner making both Seekers jump with surprise.

"I asked you a question, Starscream. Did he kill the human?"

Thundercracker was already on one knee; his fist over his spark and head bowed. Starscream looked incredulously from Thundercracker's kneeling form to the table where the two mechs worked on Skywarp. They didn't seem to find anything wrong with the voice in the corner. His air intakes sped up and he decided it was better to bow then assume it was some trick. He fell to one knee with his head bowed and thumped his chest with his fist.

"Starscream… Answer the question."

"No, sir. He did not kill the femme."

A tall and imposing black and silver mech stepped out of the darkness and glared at the two Seekers. They were absolutely useless in his optics. Another mech stepped out of the darkness to his left, adjusting a new blood red visor, and enjoying the moment as the Seekers knelt in fear and confusion.

"Starscream," the imposing mech sneered at his Air Commander. "I want that human dead. Do you understand me." It was more of a statement than a request.

Starscream bobbed his head once, not raising his optics from the place on the floor he stared at. "Yes, Megatron."