Author's Notes: I decided for this fic I'm going to have all the chapter names start with the letter H. Why? Because I get bored easily! Hah! Anyway, glad to be posting chapter 2 of this fic. I hope you are all enjoying this story. Please review, favorite, and follow to see more :)

Trigger Warning: Cybertronian drug reference.

Chapter 2

High

Mikaela gulped down her cup of water as they continued to drive down the lonely desert road. She didn't think anything could make her happy while she was being kidnapped by a Decepticon and driven to what was likely her own execution, but the water tasted better than she could ever remember water tasting. She didn't realize just how thirsty she had gotten on her walk to Bakersfield.

As she was eating her taco, some of the beef and lettuce fell onto the floor of Swindle's alt mode, and he hit the brakes hard. Mikaela hit her knee on the glove box and glared at the screens displaying their location hoping Swindle could see her disapproving gaze.

"Hey! Do that again and I'll throw you into the deepest hole I can find and bury you!" Swindle snapped angrily.

Mikaela flinched, but after a moment of thinking about what he said, she got a devilish grin on her face. She ate the rest of her taco, and then she dug around in the bag and found the little packets of hot sauce. With a slight chuckle, she emptied the hot sauce all over Swindle's seats and controls!

"Hey! What did I tell you, flesh bag!?" Swindle yelled furiously.

"That you were going to sell me to Megatron," Mikaela said calmly; her smile never wavering, "My fate is the same no matter what I do; I'm going to die. If you kill me, however, you won't get paid. So, until we get to the Decepticons, you're just going to have to put up with me."

"Get out!" Swindle shouted; his patience wearing thin.

"Why? So you can step on me?" Mikaela challenged.

"No! So I can drink some high grade and forget you exist!" Swindle explained curtly.

Mikaela knew she was pushing her luck, and by Decepticon standards this mech seemed almost reasonable, so she did as she was told and exited the vehicle. When she got out, Swindle drove off the road and transformed into his robot mode. Mikaela had never seen what Swindle actually looked like, and was a little surprised by what she saw. His yellow armor and black internal metal and circuitry made him look a little like Bumblebee. He was kind of short like Bumblebee, too. Of course, that was where the similarities ended. This mech didn't have door wings, and his facial features were more expressive than Bumblebee's; almost like a human.

What struck her the most though was his optics. Mikaela understood that Autobots had blue optics and Decepticons had red, with few exceptions. Swindle, however, had large purple optics. She had never seen purple optics on any Cybertronian before, and she wondered if something happened to Swindle to make them look like that, or if it was a natural optic color on Cybertron.

Swindle pulled a cube of energon out of his subspace, and then a small red gas can. He added the contents of the gas can into the cube and swished it around to stir. He gulped it down, and instantly his entire body relaxed and a wide smile formed on his face plate.

"Ah, much better," Swindle sighed contentedly, "By the way doll, you're cleanin' my seats if you ever wanna taste food and water again. I don't think Megatron would notice if your tongue was missing…"

Mikaela gulped, realizing just how far she had overstepped her boundaries. Swindle might've sounded like a 1930s gangster from a Looney Tunes short, but she could tell from the way he acted and the way he looked at her that she shouldn't mess with him.

"Um, Swindle?" Mikaela spoke up after a few minutes of tense silence when she noticed Swindle's limbs were twitching, "What did you put in that energon?"

"Never you mind," Swindle replied evasively, "Suffice it to say though that I probably won't be gettin' back on the road for a few hours. You might as well sit yourself down in the sand and rest for a while. We're not goin' anywhere."

"You're drunk?" Mikaela asked accusingly.

"In human terms it's more like high," Swindle clarified, "By the way, in a few minutes I might start thrashin' around, so you should probably give me some space."

"Gladly," Mikaela said immediately, "How about I go to Bakersfield? That should give you all the space you need."

"Cute," Swindle replied dryly, "Just stand by that cactus over there. I'll be back for you when I come down. Oh, I can feel the charge already! Hurry! Go, go!"

Mikaela practically ran to where Swindle told her to go and stood a few inches away from a large cactus with big spiny needles. She wondered if such a thing could hurt a Cybertronian, and laughed as she imagined Swindle sitting on the cactus and yelling out in pain as he hopped around trying to get the needles out.

After a few minutes she saw what Swindle was talking about when he said thrashing. Actually, she wasn't sure if that was how she would describe it or not. Swindle's body contorted as he transformed into vehicle mode and back into robot mode repeatedly. She could hear his engine revving in both forms, and every now and then she heard a mechanical laugh.

This was perfect. Mikaela decided that while Swindle was distracted she would take this opportunity to escape. Hopefully she could get to a phone in time to warn the Autobots. Unfortunately, that would mean calling Sam…

Swindle sat on the cool sand as night fell over the desert. He hadn't gotten that over-energized in deca-orns. He had bought the petrol-based additive on a moon base he had visited a few orns prior. Normally he wouldn't buy an expensive luxury item like that for himself, but on an organic planet there weren't a lot of customers to push his wares onto. Besides, that human was really irritating! He had to admit he liked her gutsy attitude on some level, but he wasn't a fan of merchandise mouthing off to him and pouring unknown liquids on his seats.

His half-dazed thoughts were cut short when he got a comm signal. He groaned, but knew he better answer it in case it was something or someone important.

/Swindle here.../ Swindle slurred as he tried to focus his processor.

/It's Vortex. Onslaught has a new mission for you,/ Vortex informed him, /You have to go to Boston, now! The boss has put out a hit on two Autobots, and it's your job to take care of them. 500 creds for each lifeless frame you bring back. Don't take any parts for yourself. Onslaught wants them as intact as possible./

/Got it,/ Swindle said as he wrote down the details on a data pad, /Who are my targets?/

/Their names are Mudflap and Skids,/ Vortex informed him, /They're combiners, and also split-spark twins./

/Well that should make my job easier,/ Swindle commented, /If I kill one, the other one will die instantly. Anything else I should know?/

/Yeah, wear audio dampeners,/ Vortex replied wryly, /Remember what Starscream sounded like after Optimus Prime damaged his vocalizer in the battle of Nuon?/

/I remember,/ Swindle replied with a shudder, /He sounded like nails scraping over protoform./

/Yeah, well imagine that with Jazz's accent, and you have Mudflap and Skids,/ Vortex said with an amused chuckle.

/Great.../ Swindle groused, /It's a good thing I've still got some P-27 in my subspace./

/Oh, yeah? How much you selling it for?/ Vortex asked eagerly.

The next few minutes were spent in negotiations between Swindle and Vortex over the price of his energon additive. Vortex didn't mind paying whatever price Swindle wanted, but he knew his combiner brother well. Vortex knew Swindle liked the art of negotiation more than the money itself, so Vortex wore him down in price just to make him happy. Vortex and Swindle were 2 of 5 mechs that could combine to form a gestalt. They weren't as famous or as effective as Devastator, but at least none of them had wrecking balls as part of their motif.

Swindle signed off with Vortex, pleased with the deal he'd made and happy at the prospect of making even more money after he took down two Autobots for Onslaught. One thing he was surprised by over the course of the conversation was when Vortex informed him of Megatron's whereabouts. As it turned out Megatron and his elite forces were somewhere in Africa. That...was a long way from North America.

The Decepti-con-artist sighed and squared his shoulder guards; resolute that he would get every deal done he set out to do. He would kill the Autobots, deliver the additive to Vortex, and sell the human to Megatron in Africa. He was sure he could do it all...until he noticed something important he'd missed before…

The human was gone.

Mikaela had walked for two hours to find a town, and another half hour to find a pay phone. She was surprised any place still had such devices when everyone had cell phones. She wished she still had her cell phone, but she sold it to another student a while back when she was trying to earn money to pay for her dorm room. In hindsight, that was a mistake.

She dug around in her pockets for money to put in the pay phone. She had enough for a 2 minute call, so she would have to talk fast. She dialed Sam's number and hoped he answered for her. She had to tell him to warn the Autobots about Swindle.

Ring.

Ring.

"Hello?" Sam's voice on the other end of the phone was such a welcome sound it didn't even matter to her that they had broken up on bad terms.

"Sam! It's me, Mikaela! Listen, I need to tell you-"

Click.

"What the…?" Mikaela let go of the phone in shock and took a few deep breaths.

Sam hung up on her. He heard her voice and hung up on her!

"Sam Witwicky, you are a coward!" Mikaela shouted as she slammed the pay phone back in its holder, "You can save the world but you're afraid of an awkward conversation!? I hope you get your finger stuck in a car door!"

"Somethin' wrong, baby?" She heard an ominously familiar voice, and turned around to see a familiar '89 Jeep Wrangler Islander.

"I, uh…" Mikaela was frozen in place. She wanted to run, but realized she had nowhere to go.

"You know babe, it's rude to run out on a mech when he's in a compromised position. I think someone owes me an apology," Swindle said in a condescending tone of voice as he flashed his headlights as a signal for her to get in.

"He hung up on me," Mikaela suddenly said, no longer caring that she was talking to her captor, "I needed Sam's help, and he hung up on me. What did I ever see in him? He's such a coward! He was never honest with me! If he didn't want to be my boyfriend anymore, then why couldn't he just tell me? If I wasn't making him happy, then why couldn't he just tell me?"

"You don't really want honesty," Swindle replied bluntly, "Honesty would be if your boyfriend said 'Hey babe, I think you're hot, but I want another girlfriend and also be allowed to frag you too. That okay?' Yeah, I doubt that's what you wanted to hear."

"I knew things weren't the same between us after he went to college," Mikaela said morosely, "We tried to make it work, but we were leading separate lives. He was going places, and I was just trying to keep my dad sober so the bike repair shop didn't go under. I thought if I reached for new heights too that maybe...maybe he would...Sam was the first guy to see past my looks and see the real me. He saw the way I worked on his car and didn't automatically think I was going to destroy it. Every other guy treated me like an accessory, but not Sam. I don't want to care what he thinks, but I can't help it. I loved him, and now he thinks I'm garbage!"

"So Sam won't come for you if Megatron tries to ransom you off?" Swindle asked intently.

"I don't know," Mikaela replied miserably, "What am I doing with my life? My aunt doesn't even know I'm coming. If she doesn't take me in, then I have nowhere else I can live. What did I do to deserve this?"

Swindle didn't know if he was actually feeling bad for the human femme or if he was just overcharged, but he didn't like seeing her like this. It just didn't look right on such a strong-willed pain in the aft.

"Hey, come on sugar, cheer up," Swindle said in a fake cheerful voice as he opened his passenger side door, "Believe it or not, I know what you're goin' through. You think it's easy bein' a Cybertronian durin' a time of war? I was just a merchant before the whole world went to the pit. I tried to stay neutral so I could sell to both sides, but it wasn't that simple. When Helex was invaded (that was where I lived at the time), I had a choice to make; Autobot or Decepticon."

"Why did you pick the Decepticons?" Mikaela asked despite herself.

"Because some of my business dealings were shady," Swindle replied shamelessly, "The Autobots would've never allowed me to continue on the way I was, but the Decepticons were willin' to turn a blind optic to everythin' so long as I had the goods they wanted. I sold everythin' from drugs to spare parts to femmes to weapons that had been illegal for deca-vorns. I survived because everybody needed what I had. If you wanna survive, you have to become invaluable. It sounds to me like you were kicked to the curb because you stopped bein' useful. Stick with me babe, and I'll see to it you're never thrown away again."

"Why would you help me?" Mikaela asked skeptically.

"Why else? Profit," Swindle replied honestly, "Get in. We're goin' to Boston. You can help me with a little side project there. You do your job, and I'll see to it you get a cut."

"What's the job?" Mikaela asked as she stood in front of his door; still wary of getting in again.

"I've got somethin' important for two Autobots named Mudflap and Skids," Swindle explained, "Help me find them, and I'll deliver the goods to them. No one else can know. I can't afford to be seen makin' deals with Autobots, but they know you so you're a good go-between."

"And what about selling me to Megatron?" Mikaela asked skeptically.

"We'll worry about tomorrow when it comes," Swindle replied evasively, "Just get into me. Just do one job with me, and if you're any good I might keep you around for a while as a silent partner. Emphasis on silent."

Mikaela scoffed but realized she had little choice in the matter. This seemed like the ultimate irony to her. She had tried so hard to escape only to wind up going back to Swindle willingly. She hated working with a Decepticon, even to help out the Autobots, but she knew she had nowhere else to go. At least with Swindle she had a place to sleep.

Swindle had his plans fall apart in front of him when he realized Mikaela was worthless to Megatron, but the con-mech was nothing if not adaptable. He decided that since Mikaela wouldn't be useful as merchandise, he would instead use her as bait. He would kill Mudflap and Skids after Mikaela lured them out into the open. Oh, and Mikaela would get a cut alright...a literal one.