Hi! Sorry I haven't updated in so long, I forgot! To Autobot-Bre: Thanks! Don't worry, it's OK. Okee dokey then, I shall see-eth thine reviewing Fanfiction self soon! To Knockout'sFanGirl: Me too, although I've never eaten any pie except chocolate pudding pie. I'd love to see a pie tree though… I shall! To Blackhooves: Heh heh heh, yes, pie trees. Interesting, very interesting indeed, these lime pies of keys… I'll take a look at the story that you speak of. Thank you! To Autobot-Mayday: Ok, I shall! And now, on with this chappy-ter!

I sunk to my knees in surprise, able to feel the freezing ice through my snow-suit. So. I was going with ShortCircuit?! To say 'hi' to Starscream?!

"W-why am I coming… with you guys?" I stammered, dazed. In answer, ShortCircuit jumped on my shoulders and slithered down to my back, reattaching her many nerve-wires. COLD!

"I no can fly with no you," she reminded me in head-phone mode, "And I is 'assigned' to flying Decepticon. So I is no good if no can fly." I remembered what she'd told me about the 'Cons who'd been deemed "useless," and I shuddered.

I would help ShortCircuit prove that 'defects' like her were just as good as any Cybertronian! Then maybe Megatron wouldn't want them dead.

"Ok," I replied, "I'll do what I can. But, ya' know, my parents are gonna notice if I go missing." Frenzy cocked his head to one side, "So?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sooo, they might call the police and organize a search or something. The real police," I added to Barricade, who simply said, "Hmmm." Decepticon of many words, that one.

I thought about the predicament, knowing that the 'Cons wouldn't really care whether I had my parents permission to leave or not.

"How long will I be away?" I asked, "An hour? A couple days? I mean, I can hide this," – I pointed to the long scratch from Frenzy's ninja star that he'd thrown when we first met – "and I can hide ShortCircuit from them, but I can't hide any lack-of-being-home that this job might require."

I didn't mention school, because honestly? Who cares? I'd much rather be hanging out with alien robots than dealing with homework and quizzes. Still, the teachers would want an explanation if I was absent for too long.

After a couple minutes, it was decided that ShortCircuit and I would go and be introduced to her new 'partner' Starscream today, return home, and would report back to the 'Cons whenever we were told to.

It would be a lot better than being trapped with them 24/7, so we agreed. I also recorded my voice so that Freefel could replay it to our parents if they wondered where I was. If they thought that they heard me, they'd assume that I must be nearby and, therefore, at home.

Some recorded bits were: "I'm fine," "I'm staying outside a bit longer," "I'll just have a sandwich," etc. If there was some answer to a question our parents might ask 'me,' then Freefel could try to imitate my voice. (I've been told that we sound very similar on the phone.)

Freefel didn't want to stay behind, but we really didn't have much of a choice. I hesitantly climbed into the backseat of Barricade's vehicle mode, feeling like a criminal being taken away to the police station.

Frenzy sat on the seat next to me, and I hysterically thought, 'Oh goodie! Another prisoner! Ha ha ha!' My delirious thought quickly ended as Barricade drove out of our back yard, right over the snow angels we'd made to cover his previous tire-tracks.

...Now they looked like snow-angel roadkill.

After several minutes of driving, we arrived near a forest, near a clearing with giant metal telephone-wire tower-thingies. (I dunno what they're called.) I was allowed to get out, and Barricade drove into the forest through a small dirt path.

I had to make sweep the ground with a big stick to cover up his tracks. It was better than making more snow angels, I suppose.

All four of us hid in the forest as we waited for Starscream to arrive. It got kinda boring after a while, so I had a snowball fight with a tree. Since I have horrible aim, the tree was winning. Yeah, I know, it's pathetic.

Frenzy apparently thought that my lack of skill was amusing, because he started laughing. I growled at him, and the little 'Con threw a pinecone at my head. When I threw one at Frenzy (and missed), he laughed even more.

Barricade however, seemed rather angry at me for tossing a pinecone at his diminutive partner, so I apologized, not wanting the bigger 'Con to step on me or something. In reply, Frenzy threw another pinecone at me.

And thus, the pinecone wars began…

After several minutes of climbing trees, practicing flying, and having pinecones thrown at me (I wasn't allowed to throw any back) I heard Barricade announce, "Quiet. Starscream is approaching."

I looked up and saw, through the trees, an incredibly fast fighter plane flying toward the nearby clearing, which bordered the forest that we were hiding in.

Oh goodie. Nowhere for me to hide if things went wrong.

Dun dun dunnnn! Not a very good cliffhanger, I know. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to update soon!