Elsewhere, at the same time that Jack was getting his stickshift throttled by Arcee and Deathshine was exacting retribution upon Primus, we come upon Maria and Susan awash in the hazy atmosphere of a dive bar/nightclub where the two have drunk themselves silly, almost like they themselves were actual human college girls and not the Cybertronians that they indeed were. They didn't care about such trivialities. They loved getting drunk and burning up the dance floor, not to mention stringing guys along only to shoot them down. Well, not EVERY guy they came across but they loved toying with their prey before making the kill, so to speak, and despite being technically pregnant with the offspring of Knockout, they knew that they would only get drunk off of booze, the alcohol not in danger of disrupting their pregnancy, since they weren't human and knew that much they could do anything and everything that human females couldn't do while pregnant, and then there's that whole 2 year duration, as opposed to the 9 months that humans endured, or perhaps suffered through, as made evident by all the movies, tv, self-help books, and stories shared among their peers that they had been exposed to their whole life, before AND after they learned of themselves. It was back during their highschool graduation, long before they met Jack or any of the Cybertronians. It is what led them to have learn of their true selves, and this is that story.

Sitting at the edge of the bar, a glass half-full of a Blue Hurricane Martini, Susan swirled the ice around and watched as the partiers writhed around in what was little more than a mating dance made public, made human, sighing and looking over to her friend Maria, who looked back at her and said, "This brings back memories, wouldn't you say? It was a night like this when we learned about ourselves and who we really were wasn't it Susan?"

Susan replied, "Yeah it does. To think it's been that long already. 4 years huh? Such a small, insignificant amount of time for those such as us but still a wonder that we managed to come through all that unscathed. I can remember it so well, TOO well..."

*4 years ago, The Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada*

Maria was bumping and grinding her naughty bits into her dance partner, determined for some hardcore teasing, but she had no intent to please the man, she grinned as mischievously as a soul-sucking succubus and she was enjoying it. She knew how to play her conquests well before springing the trap and taking them back to her room and fucking them within an inch of their life, or so she liked to believe. It gave her a thrill much more than the mere act of sex could ever do. She had no idea where it came from but that she was always this way, it was like she really was the very nickname she earned back in high school by friends and enemies alike, 'Firebrand'. The name felt good to her, in the fact that she made sure to turn the heat up on her unsuspecting men AND women, before she shown her true nature and either milked or drilled the everliving hell out of them before leaving behind a note, usually consisting of, "You were so amazing last night, sorry I have to run but I'm a busy girl. Hope your life is a good one. Love, Maria."
Granted, she didn't always congratulate them, but she had ways of making even the worst lover give her the kind of sex she craved. Always carrying some form of aphrodisiac on her person to spike food and drink with after testing them out with a full round and then seeing whether she had to ensure the next several would be to her advantage or not.
She then abruptly stopped the ministrations of her dirty dancing and kicked this latest prey of hers hard in the balls, saying, "PERVERT! I DIDN'T SAY YOU COULD FUCK ME! I'm gonna call the cops on your ass for trying to do that to me you pig!"

She was just lying of course and was quite happy with it. She knew it was a dirty trick but it felt completely natural to her. Was she always this bad? This deceitful? She didn't really care too much if she was. She was just gonna find this guy again and make it up to him later. REALLY make it up to him in ways he couldn't comprehend would even be possible. She could make even someone she kicked in the balls, or kneed in the balls recover in such a way that it was unheard of unless you were either a follower of various underground sex health and medicine blogs and bought the various black market concoctions they listed in the various ads and articles, or were an alien with lots of unheard of technology at hand, whatever of the two you prefer.

The man fell over in intense pain, and said, "You whore! You're the one practially riding me up here. You're nothing but a slut that rips the rug out from under a man when he had surely found a sure thing. You'll die alone like that."

Maria scoffed and said, "As if LOSER! I can make any man and woman I want bend over backwards for me and they'll do it no questions asked! My best friend Susan is the same way. See that girl there drinking the Blue Hurricane? She was the one who taught me never to let a guy get too close, only dangling a carrot in front of him before jerking it away before he had a chance to shove it inside you and have his way. Girls stick together while guys bark at the door like the dogs they are! Are you saying you wanna bark for me little boy? Why not bark for mommy and prove to me how big of a man you are? Maybe then I'll let you inside my box of delight."

The man said, "Fuck off bitch. I'm not falling for that. You're the kind of filth that runs off as soon as you can because you're not satisfied in your life. You have to have one night stands as your only way of getting fulfillment from people. Well mark my words that you'll regret that lifestyle very soon. I'm going to find me a real woman if you don't mind."

Maria was shocked at this. She was only setting up a 3some with her, Susan, and this man but to be completely disrespected like this was more than she could bear, and said, "WELL FINE BUT WOMEN AREN'T GOING TO THROW THEMSELVES ON A LIGHTWEIGHT PUSSY LIKE YOU! YOU MOTHERFUCKING COCK-SUCKER!" She thought to herself, 'I'll enjoy ripping apart your asshole with my strapon tonight. You just wait, I'll find you and get my revenge on you you sexy, stupid bastard.'

She went to her hotel room to start getting ready for springing her trap. She was going to enjoy this one for sure, perhaps more than any other.

A few hours had passed, with Maria wondering where Susan was. It was unlike her to be out this late, at about 4 am. It was nothing to Maria, but Susan was a very methodical person, almost OCD about things in a way, who was always back asleep around 1:30 in the morning and never later. She then decided to go and see if she was still at the bar, no luck. She asked people if they saw anything suspicious, but nothing was said. She then decided to go look outside, calling her name out and becoming a little worried, and then she heard a scream, a scream of fear, a scream of anguish, a scream of death.

She bolted as fast as her feet would carry her until she reached the end of the alleyway, into a warehouse, and then she saw it. It was Susan, horribly mutilated, blood everywhere, and the man from the bar stabbing her repeatedly and raping her at the same time.

"I told you you'd regret this lifestyle of yours you slut. Now your friend has been killed by my hand and all because you had to play with my heart like this, just like all the others.", the man chuckled out as he seethed in a demonic rage.

Maria gasped, "O-others?!"

The man replied, "You hear about the murders of 40 people? The serial killer that they never caught? I'm that man. They were all women that did me wrong, and the ones that were closest to them, always me killing their friends and family to make them feel the utter despair and hatred I had when they dumped me for whatever reason they had to do so, before I killed them too. This is number 41, with you It'll be 42. Well, at least the ones that the police know about anyway! It's probably been more like 100 or more in reality! Hahahah... I also made a point to desecrate their corpses like this, for the final revenge against them for refusing my lust, my love, my feelings. Good riddance to trash such as them, wouldn't you say? This warehouse is where I've kept their bodies buried these last 3 years. Now it's your turn to die."

But that's when it happened, Maria felt a synapse fire off in her brain, a true snapping of her mind, which caused her to scream out and her eyes starting to burn like hell itself. Her body started glowing and as she screamed her body grew larger, very large in fact, to which this man was getting a little worried about, until a pair of red optics flashed and the muzzles of two flame throwers started up, as a an enraged, feminine voice called out, "I'm going to make you pay for your sins human! Burn for eternity in my flames and may Primus have mercy where you did not! May those you robbed the lives of torment you forever in the Inferno. I am Firebrand, and though Decepticon I may be, Mass genocide is never the answer to any problem you have. The death of innocents will not be tolerated!"

The entire warehouse lit up like a bonfire as Firebrand poured out her terrible vengance upon this building and the evil man who used it for his twisted destruction, him screaming as his body burned away, ridding the world of such a vile presence.

She then noticed a green light behind her after she carried out her justice, to which she turned and ran over to Susan's body, which had grown and started repairing itself, making it all apparent she was also a Cybertronian, with a modified Decepticon symbol, made to resemble the Autobot's, with tie-dye coloring instead of purple or red.

Firebrand said, "SUSAN?! It's me Maria! I'm not exactly the same on the outside anymore but it's me! Can you hear me?! Say something!"

Susan opened her eyes just wide enough and said, "Oh slag... *cough* I died for a minute there. Name's... Verdanti... I'll be ok Maria... Just let me rest some... As I repair myself ok? I'm not going... *wheeze* anywhere. I promise. Never again, never without you..."

Firebrand cried even harder as she held onto her newly transformed friend and screamed out as the fire behind her raged, cleansing the world of that man's evil.

*Back in the present*

Maria said, "Yep that was a pretty bad night for us both, but at least we learned about our true selves then. Come on girl and let's get back home ok?"

Susan said, "Ok sure. Maybe Deathshine can help you get Reverb in your berth."

Maria replied, "I suppose I can get with him and Nightrider in a threesome or something. Come on Verdanti!" Maria then assumes her Firebrand self, and goes into her vehicle mode, a heavily modified sports-car that firehouses of the time had started employing for smaller neighborhoods, with Firebrand's watercannon and missile launchers mounted on her roof and her flamethrowers mounted on her sidedoors, all of which folded up into herself and her lisence plate displayed both Autobot and Decepticon symbols being shown in the middle of a large fireball. Verdanti was a green Chevy Volt. The two of them then raced off towards Autobot base, unknown to them however, a silver and pink Porsche had mangaed to come up hear the names of the ones they mentioned and had seen them assume their Cybertronian selves, to which she said, "So they know my mom? I'll have to follow them and see if it really IS her. I really need her help right now."

She then quickly and steathily followed behind them.

*To be continued in chapter 38*