Sorry this took me so long to update, you guys. (I know you're probably been waiting with bated breath. … At least I hope you have….) School's started back up for me and I have a job now too that admittedly has very good hours but does have a strong tendency of tiring me out. I get home from that and I kinda just wanna collapse on the couch and binge watch 'Justice League' on Netflix. And then the homework. *groans* Can somebody please explain to me why I have to take a speech class to graduate from college when I took/did speech for 2 ½ years in high school?

Anyway, here's the update! Please note that Optimus gets maybe… slightly out of character here? I know a lot of people will probably hate me for this, but all I can say is to me it makes sense because we're dealing with the fact that Hunter has been kidnapped. And I challenge anyone who has kids or younger siblings or even someone who's just happens to be a naturally protective person (like me) to not feel the way Optimus does here and not at least want to do what Optimus does and almost does. You don't mess with kids, people. You just don't do it. I will say however that I toned down Prime's darkness here. When I tried to write him as dark as I had it planned at first it just didn't feel at all natural. You're welcome.

So enjoy!

AllSpark Princess—Oh, Prime's still angry, but he's not as angry and dark as I was warning you guys about. But he's still fairly dark. And angry. Rightfully so.

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

Todd Burns; Changing Tides

17

Ω Ubi partibus Rules Mutatio Ω

(When the Rules Change)

"Nooo!" With a horrified scream, Optimus bolted upright in his berth, coolant dripping from his faceplate and trickling down his armor. His chest plate heaved with heavy vents. Slowly the Prime began to calm down and realize that what he'd just witnessed and felt had been only a dream. But the hard truth was he had awoken from a nightmare only to come back into a living Hell. It had been a week and Hunter was still missing. The nightmare—watching Hunter be tortured and hearing her screams and her cries for him—had been bad enough, but not knowing where his daughter was or what was happening to her (for all he knew, what he'd witnessed in his dream could actually be happening to her) was far worse than anything he'd ever felt.

Probably what terrified Optimus the most was the fact that he couldn't feel Hunter. Ever since he'd awoken her dormant spark with his a little more than a year ago, he'd been able to sense Hunter no matter the distance between them through their spark-link. He could typically sense her location (or at least find it with ease) and, more importantly, he could feel her emotion and current state of health. But for reason beyond his comprehension, he couldn't anymore. It wasn't that the connection wasn't there—he could definitely still feel Hunter—but he knew that the sensation in their link wasn't real. It hadn't changed at all. It had stayed the same since the moment Hunter had gotten in the car and left: sad, pained, disappointed, and a bit numb. Of course, these weren't nice feelings anyway, but it didn't feel any worse than that—it still felt like Hunter was for most intents and purposes just fine when the Prime knew good and well that she wasn't. And as for trying to follow the link to see where it took him, it didn't go anywhere. He could feel definite distance, but whenever he moved, wherever he moved, however far he moved, it never changed. It stayed the same.

Why? Why did the spark-link never change? Why could he feel nothing else but that—why hadn't he been able to feel when she was in trouble? What had happened? And a bigger question yet: could Hunter feel him? Optimus hoped to Primus she could at least feel him—he hated to think of her trapped somewhere far away, alone, not being able to feel the reassurance he tried his hardest to send through their bond, even when he was anything but reassured himself. The Autobot's processor was a broken record. All he could think of and hear anymore were Hunter's screams and cries for him over the phone as she had tried her hardest to fight off her abductors. She had needed him. More than at any other time in her life she had needed him there beside her at the moment and he hadn't been there. He'd been hundreds of miles away from her, with little to no clue of where she was.

Optimus' logic told him it wasn't his fault—he couldn't have known—but his spark said differently, and he felt incredibly guilty because of it. It kept him up—forced him to stay awake. He'd used that to try his best to find Hunt. In the past days since her abduction he'd driven countless miles, day and night, trying to feel something in his spark that said he was getting closer. He'd stood before the computers for hours at a time trying to find some semblance of her energy signature even in the most remote location on this globe. Everything he'd done had come up dry. That only made him feel more guilty and that in turn on pushed him to try harder.

In all honest, this was the first time he'd powered down in days and only because Ratchet had forced him to get some rest while the rest of the team had promised to keep up the search. The Prime hadn't much cared how exhausted he was or his mental or physical—all he wanted was to find Hunter. He knew she needed him! But when everyone else had pointed out that he wouldn't be any good to anyone much less Hunter if he was dead on his feet, Optimus had reluctantly agreed to retire to his quarters and try to relax for a while.

And then the nightmares had come and now he was here, sitting in his berth with his head held helplessly in his hands because he could do nothing expect wonder and worry about Hunter. She was out there somewhere, needing him, wanting him, and he couldn't go to her! It tore him apart. Little by little, Optimus could feel his spark breaking into a million pieces, and it was getting harder and harder to try and hold it together. He had to find Hunter—he had to!

"Ah, you're awake I see."

By all rights the Prime should have been startled by the sudden voice, but he was so exhausted and so drained in every possible way he couldn't find the strength to be so. Instead he tediously raised his weary head to see Atlas standing there in the open door of his room. "Yes," he stated, hanging his head again. "I find it difficult to recharge."

"I have no doubt," Atlas stated, his usual rapid-fire tongue seeming to have slowed down some. "I don't believe I'd be able to find the luxury of sleep myself if I were in your shoes… metaphorically speaking of course." When Optimus said nothing the Hybrid added. "Your medic instructed me to check in on you—he seems rather worried for you as does the rest of your team and the human children."

Optimus said nothing for a long time, but when he finally spoke again, his voice was strained and broken. "Why, Atlas?" he questioned so softly that had he been talking to anyone but a Hybrid he wouldn't have been heard.

Atlas could do nothing but stand there in confusion and stare at the Prime. He'd been asked a question, but how could he possible answer a question he didn't know the meaning to? "Why what, may I ask?"

"You know Hunter and I share a physical bond between our sparks," Optimus replied by way of answer. "We can sense each other—feel one another through it." He slowly looked up, faceplate twisted and riddled with excruciating, emotional pain. "So why then was I not able to sense Hunter's distress?" he finally asked. "Why couldn't I feel it? We would not be in this position now if I had: Hunter would not be missing—I could have gone to her had I been able to sense her. Why was I not able?"

Sighing heavily, Atlas scratched the back of his helm and leaned against the door frame. That wasn't an easy question. By all rights nothing should go wrong with a spark-link, especially when it was a strong and enduring as the one possessed by Optimus and Hunter. "TO be perfectly candid with you, Prime," he stated after a moment, "I'm not entirely sure." And that's when it hit him. "Unless…."

Optimus raised an optic-ridge in confusion. "Unless what, Atlas?"

"I have heard tales of a spark-link being tampered with in order to alter the information being sent through it," the good Doctor explained.

"Tampered with?" Optimus repeated, looking just as confused. "What do you mean?"

"Think of it as a wire-tap," Atlas simplified it. "You have a line—in this case the spark-link—that is shared between two beings—you and Huntress—that helps to relay information between the two of them. But then an outside force comes in and finds a way to tap into that line to gain the information as well or, in this case, change it."

Optimus brows furrowed deeply at this information. "You mean to say you believe that someone or something has found a way to alter the bond Hunter and I share so that I can no longer sense her as I could before?"

A sharp nod. "Precisely! Of course I never imagined such tales were true, I thought they were just that—tall tales—but I can't think of any other way to explain it. And I very much suspect that whoever altered your bond is the same person behind our dear Fuser's disappearance."

"I believe you are correct, Atlas," Optimus conceded with a nod. "But it still doesn't explain who these people are and why they did this."

"No," Atlas agreed glumly. "Unfortunately it does not."

/Prime!/ Fowler's voice suddenly rang out through the base. Now, in all reality Prime's berth room was the one that was the farthest from the main room of the base but that didn't seem to matter with Fowler's voice. It was one of those voices that carried—unhampered by walls or anything else that stood in its way. Normally that was a bad thing. Hearing Fowler's voice howling for him was enough to make the Prime literally cringe, curse under his breath, and disappear. But not today.

Quickly standing, the Prime all but streaked out of his room and down the hall, Atlas following closely behind. They both barreled into the main room of the base.

Ratchet was at the computer, speaking to Fowler over the com-link. "I'm afraid Optimus isn't available at the moment, Agent Fowler," he was reporting. "He's obtaining some much needed rest and…"

"Not anymore, old friend," Optimus cut him off.

Ratchet turned around with wide optics. "Optimus!" he exclaimed. "You shouldn't be up—you should be I power down: you need to rest."

"I can rest when Hunter is found, Ratchet," Optimus practically snapped. He turned his soul attention back to the com-link and Fowler's icon on the computer screen. "Agent Fowler, have you found anything?"

/Yeah, I have,/ Fowler answered over the com-link. /Took quite a bit of digging but I finally turned up some interesting facts. Your girl was right, Prime. This so called Trent Jacobs is actually named Cody Philips a con artist with a rap-sheet a mile long. Cody Philips is just one of his many aliases, though he's never played the roll of a Social Service worker before./

"Have you discovered anything more?"

/Yeah, right before he showed up to play Social Service worker he'd just been taken to prison for grand larceny. He was awaiting sentencing but then someone posted bail. Musta been somebody pretty important too 'cuz his bail was just shy of a million dollars, and I can tell you it sure as Uncle Sam's beard tell ya it wasn't one of his family./

"Then who?" Atlas questioned.

/Don't know. Bail was posted anonymously./

"Well, that's certainly helpful," Ratchet mumbled sarcastically.

"Agent Fowler, have you discovered anything as to where we might possibly find this man?" Optimus asked. Cody Philips was the last person to see Hunter before she had disappeared and he had been the one to take her to wherever she'd been at the time of her abduction. The person who hired him had to have been the one who posted his bail. If they were going to get any solid clues at this point, they would have to come from Cody.

/He's a gambler,/ the answer came. /According to what I can find he's a regular in Vegas—he's always on the strip./

"Then that is where we begin our search," Optimus declared. The Autobot commander then turned to Ratchet and questioned, "Where are the others?"

"Out on patrol," the medic answered.

"Bridge them all back." The scowl on the Prime's face deepened. "We are going to Las Vegas."

Hours later;

This was it. The last casino on the list of casinos that Philips frequented Fowler had sent them. If he wasn't in there, they were back to square one.

Optimus' holoform sat in the driver's seat of his vehicular mode and stared out the windshield at the building. A strange feeling lingered over his spark; a feeling that was a mixture of pain, fear, desperation, anger, and even vengeance. It was a dark sensation—something he wasn't used to… but he didn't care. In fact he had stopped caring about much of anything the moment he'd discovered the adoption story was a cover for Hunter's abduction. He'd stopped caring even less about much of anything when he realized that their spark-bond had been tapped and compromised to make it seem as though she was perfectly fine when she wasn't. And he wasn't going to care about much of anything until she was safely back in his arms.

Still staring at the casino doors, Optimus released a low, rumbling growl as he thought about what could possibly be behind those doors. This man they were searching for—this… Cody Philips—had played a part in taking her away from him. For the man's own sake he had better not have been in that building because if he was he was going to pay for what he had done. Dearly. The Prime would rip his aft apart. And once he was finished with Cody, he would go after anyone else who had been involved or was fool enough to stand in his way. He would teach them all that no one ever tampered with a Cybertronian's young, no matter the age. Especially not a Prime's!

Without thinking, Optimus reached up and clutched at the wolf head necklace lying against his chest beneath his shirt, knowing that, somewhere out there, the other half was waiting to be reunited with it; that Hunter was waiting to be reunited with him. "I'm coming, My Shooting Star," he silently called out to her. "I'm coming and I will find you. I promise." With that, the Prime opened the door of his cab and his holoform stepped out into the night and began advancing towards the doors. Behind him, he heard the doors of his team's alternate modes open then slam shut and was aware of their presence as they followed closely behind him. "I realize that we are all here for the same cause," he stated, not stopping, or slowing down, or even looking back over his shoulder to address them all, "and that we all want the same outcome. However, I make one request."

"Just name it, O.P.," Epps replied, voicing the opinion of everyone. This was Optimus' battle more than it was anyone of theirs'—he deserved to choose how it would be carried out.

The Prime's holoform's face suddenly darkened to the point that it even would have made Megatron quiver in fear and he bared his teeth in a snarl. "I want Cody Philips first."

Walking through the doors and then pausing in the foyer, they all waited as Epps went up to the security guards to speak with them. "Hey, fellas," the man greeted the guards, "we're here lookin' for somebody." He took out his phone and pulled up a picture of Philips before holding it out to them to see. "You seen this guy come in here tonight?"

Both of the guards studied the picture before nodding. "Yep, he's here," one answered.

"Where?" Optimus rumbled, coming forward.

The guards raised their eyebrows a bit in surprise by how vicious this man sounded, but they answered him anyway. "Blackjack table, near the back."

Optimus nodded his thanks before immediately turning away and storming into the casino, the others following closely after him.

"Yeah," Epps remarked, patting one of the guards on the shoulder, "you might want to start gettin' people outta here, guys. It's about to storm. Seriously, start moving people out—you don't want them to be in here during this." Never had truer words been spoken.

"Cody Philips!" a thunderous voice boomed out through the casino.

The young brown-haired, brown-eyed man nearly jumped a mile out of his seat. He spun around to see a group of men and a woman helping the security guards clear out the casino. And in the midst of all the exiting and not-too-happy people standing right before him was a tall, muscular man with thick black hair, a mustache, and freakishly blue eyes glowering right at him as though he could smote him with fire and brimstone. After a moment he recognized the figure. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "I know you! You're…."

"Yes, I am," Optimus quickly cut him off, coming closer to the Blackjack table. He made his way around to the opposite side of the table, picking up Cody's cards as he went by and leafing through them. He tried not to think of all the memories of all the card games Hunter had taught and played with him, poker being one of them. Sitting down in a chair across from Cody, Optimus continued to flip through the cards, shaking his head and tsking his tongue. "You do not seem to have a very noteworthy hand here, son," he remarked, shaking his head. The disguised Cybertronian looked up at the young man and neatly stacked the cards. "In fact I would say that you're…" he tore the cards in half and let them drop to the table top again, "… out of luck."

With one eyebrow raised, Cody stared at the ripped cards before looking back up to see Optimus standing, massive hands splayed on the table on either side of him and supporting all of his weight as he leaned across the table to where he was at near eye level with him. "What are you doing here?" Philips finally asked.

The ghost of a smile just graced the holoform's lips even as something dangerous gleamed in his eyes. "I've come here to inquire something of you," Optimus replied, voice still pleasant sounding for the moment.

"What's that?"

All at once, the Prime's entire demeanor changed. The mask of pleasantness immediately vanished and was replaced with a dark, foreboding shadow that seemed to loom over the entire room like a great thunderhead. An understated but vicious, primal rumble started deep within his massive chest. Though splayed flat on the tabletop, the holoform's hands seemed to grip onto the table with a stranglehold anyway. Team Prime, Epps, and Will exchanged glances, all knowing that look. All pit was about to break loose. Glaring threateningly into Cody's brown eyes with his own bright blue ones, Optimus leaned in a little bit closer and he growled with great restraint, "Where. Is. My daughter?"

For a long time Cody was quiet not quite sure of what to say. Finally he shook his head. "I-I don't know what you mean, man," he responded as passively as he could.

Optimus' glare hardened. "Do not lie to me, Philips," he hissed. "You have already lied to me and if you try to do it again it will not end well for you—I assure you."

"I don't know where she is," Philips stated adamantly.

"I told you to not lie to me."

"I'm not, man! I don't know where she is! Look, all I was supposed to do was get the brat and take her to a designated location so's my employers could pick her up and I could get my money. My role was done after that." The young man suddenly smirked and snorted as he shook his head. "Let me tell ya though, that girl of yours almost wasn't worth the trouble to get the money. I swear she was gonna kill me before I knocked her out with that sleeping dust stuff they gave me."

"Maybe she should've," Lennox snarled under his breath. Epps nodded his agreement.

"The point is, man, I don't know where she is, so I got nothin' more to say to you. Now I was right in the middle of winnin' some big bucks before you came in and interrupted my game so make like a tree and leave!" The man turned back to look at his shredded cards, stared at them a moment, then shrugged and reached over to the spot next to him and picked up that hand. He whistled. This hand was even better than the one he previously had! He shuffled the cards around a bit and then paused, feeling an ominous presence right next to him. Slowly he looked up to see Optimus standing right over the top of him, eyes boring down into him He foolishly decided to glare back at the Cybertronian. "Hey, I already told you I don't know where your brat is. Screw off!" Philips was about to figure out how big of a moron he really was.

Optimus temper flared. As if deceiving them all by posing as a Social Service worker in order to take Hunter away wasn't bad enough, this deplorable excuse for a human being had the nerve to mouth off to him? He was not getting away with that! Without warning, Optimus reeled a leg back and swung it forward, vehemently kicking the stool out from underneath Cody. "Hrah!"

"Ahh!" Cody smacked his nose against the side of the blackjack table as he crashed to the floor. Cursing and screaming in agony, the young man held his gushing nose and curled into the fetal position. "My nose! My nose!" He glared up at the towering holoform. "The hell is your problem, man?!"

"I have numerous problems," Optimus snarled, "many of which occupy my thoughts constantly. But one that I never suspected to be one of these is the fact of my daughter being stolen away from me. And unfortunately for you, Cody Philips, you are very much a central part of that problem." The Prime reached down, seized the man by the front of his shirt, and slammed him back against the Blackjack table bending him over it and getting in his face. "I am going to ask you once more," he rumbled. "Where is my daughter?!"

"I don't know! I swear on my grandma's grave I don't know!" Philips was really starting to get scared now.

"If you do not know where she is then where did you take her? Where was your rendezvous?!" Optimus quickly shook him, causing Philips to slam the back of his head against the table.

"Ah! Fuck! Man, I can't tell you! The people who hired me said they'd kill me if they found out I ever talked. I'm too young to die, man!"

Optimus fell silent for a moment, processing this. Then without warning he jerked Philips up so that he was standing and began dragging him towards the exit, ignoring the young man's struggling and pleas to let him go, as well as the shocked expressions from Epps, Lennox, and his team. Dragging Cody out of the casino and over to his semi-truck form and forced him into the cab. He slammed the door behind him.

"Hey!" Philips hit the floorboards of the truck with a heavy thud. Getting up as quickly as he could, the con artist lunged back towards the door only to find it locked. He started panicking. The young man desperately pawed and grabbed at the lock in an attempt to unlock it. It didn't work. He then tried forcing the door open, first with his shoulder, and when that didn't work, his feet. The door wouldn't budge. Then he tried breaking out the window. That was even less effective. Panting heavily and beads of sweat rolling down his head, Cody started hyperventilating. This wasn't good. This really, really, really, really, really, really, really wasn't good! Suddenly a hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Yi!" Philips yelped and jumped in his seat before he was forced back into it. Wide-eyed he looked over to see Optimus' holoform in the driver's seat. He gulped.

"I highly suggest you buckle in," Prime informed the man darkly. "I need you in speaking condition when we arrive and with the mood I am currently in I do not believe this will be a smooth ride." And with that the Prime threw it into reverse, whipped out of the parking space, and peeled out of the parking lot. Everyone else make it out of the casino just in time to see Optimus' rear lights disappear down the street.

"Come on, let's go!" Lennox exclaimed, running towards Bulkhead's alternate form. "We gotta make sure Prime doesn't do anything he'll regret later!"

"You don't think Big 'Bot actually do anything… un-Prime-like do ya, Will?" Epps questioned with great concern as both he and Will buckled themselves into Bulkhead's seats.

"I honestly don't know, Epps," Will sighed heavily. "I can only imagine what I'd do if I was in Prime's shoes and…. If Philips took Annabelle away from me like he took Hunter from Prime I can honestly say I'd be sitting on death row."

Cody could do nothing but sit silent and motionless in the seat. Occasionally he'd peek over at Optimus out of the corner of his eye, but the moment the Prime looked in his direction he'd immediately look away again. He didn't want to do anything to set this guy off more than he already had. As it was Philips was waiting to be thrown through the windshield, run over, backed up over, and run over again. Luckily that didn't happen. However, it wouldn't be long before Cody would actually be wishing that had happened.

Trying to avoid as much of the traffic as he could, Optimus drove practically to the other side of Las Vegas before he finally came upon an overpass that was under construction. Ignoring the signs, lights, and cones he blew right through them and up to the top of the arch before parking. That's when he finally unlocked his doors. His holoform reached over, seized Philips by the sleeve of his jacket, and pulled him out of the passenger seat, across the center console of his cab, and out the door to the ground.

"Ugh!" Cody hit the pavement and laid there, too afraid to get up. Slowly raising his head, he looked up with horror-filled eyes at the very large and very pissed off man standing over him. "H-Hey," he gulped. Voice quivering, "d-don't kill me, man! Don't kill me!"

Optimus said nothing, which only scared Philips more. His already boarder-line murderous glare deepened and the Prime quickly snatched up one of Cody's ankles and started to drag him towards the edge of the construction site. Not hesitating, the Prime quickly whipped the young man out over the edge and dangled him there.

Cody screamed, eyes locked on the freeway teeming with cars quite a distance below them. Flailing his arms around, the young man tried to find something to grab onto, but nothing was close enough and he didn't have enough strength to reach up and snag the arm holding him in mid-air. "Come on, man!" he shrieked. "Come on, man, don't do this! Please don't do this! Please!"

"Now I have had it up to here!" Optimus declared, baring his teeth. "Enough with the lies! Enough with the attitude and resistance! I do not care what the people who hired you warned you of—you listen to what I have to say. Tell me what I want to know or you—as my daughter would say—become pavement paint." To emphasize his point Optimus looked down towards the freeway and speeding cars below, swinging Cody a bit to further his point. His point made, Optimus lifted the young man up higher so that they could be eye-to-eye. "Now," he rumbled calmly but still tensely enough to signal that no b.s. would be tolerated, "let us try this again. "Where was the rendezvous point?"

"I already told you I can't tell you," Cody quivered. "They find out I talk, they'll kill me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Optimus had briefly loosened his grip on the con artist's leg, allowing him to slide through his hand and drop a bit before snagging him back up again. It was enough to bring tears to Philips' eyes.

"I highly suggest you stop worrying about people who are not even here and start worrying about me considering I am the one holding you above a freeway," Optimus pointed out. "Where was the rendezvous point?"

"A-an old warehouse in South Dakota," Philips quivered out. "I-I don't have the coordinates for it on me right now, bu-but I can get 'em to you, man! I swear I can! I swear!"

Optimus nodded slowly. "Good. Now answer me this: who hired you?"

Philips eyes bulged out and his jaw locked shut in sheer horror. This guy was expecting him to give up the name of the woman who'd hired him?! He was already dead for telling him about the rendezvous point! How could he give up his employer.

Optimus' glare narrowed. "My arm seems to be growing tired," he commented almost innocently. Loosening his grip again, the Prime allowed Cody's ankle to slip further in his grasp.

"Ahh! Okay! Okay!" the con artist panted. "Luna! She said her name's Luna, but that's all I know about her I swear! That and the fact that she's got some kinda magic powers or somethin' like that, but that's it! I don't know anymore!"

"I believe you," Optimus murmured. "And now my final question."

"Aw, come on, dude, please! I don't have anything more to tell you! Please just put me down! Please?"

"When you tell me why," the Prime replied. It was at this point that the holoform's eyes began to glisten with the hint of tears. Optimus gritted his teeth to try and keep his emotions in check. "Why?" he repeated, voice hardly above a hoarse whisper. "Why did you agree to this? Why did you take my daughter away from me?"

"It… it wasn't personal, dude," Cody admitted softly, almost sheepishly. "It was just money and a get outta jail card, I swear."

Optimus growled deeply, his chest tightening in sheer rage. That reasoning almost made it worse than if it was personal! Hunter—his beautiful shooting star so full of life and love—had literally been nothing more than a dollar sign to this man—a piece of expensive merchandise. Cody had basically sold her for a dollar amount! Was that all her life was worth? The Prime understood that Philips wouldn't feel as strongly towards Hunter as he did himself and wouldn't see her value in the same light or to the same extent but nevertheless Hunter was a living, breathing, sentient being! Did this man not have a single shred of common decency to not treat her like a cash cow?! Was he that perverse?!

Prime had never felt this angry in all his life. The idea of Philips stealing Hunter away and trading her for money burned him up inside so badly that it ached. The things he wanted to do to this man. The things he wanted to do to the people who had hired him for this! Optimus wasn't just angry, he was enraged, and he had absolutely no idea how to deal with it. It was so out of his nature and so frightening because of it. And yet, for the moment, it felt so right and natural, which in all reality made it even more terrifying. But no terrifying enough to stop the Prime from considering letting Cody go. It would be simple enough. All he'd have to do was loosen his grip just enough for the young man to slip through his fingers and watch him plummet towards the pavement and oncoming traffic below. It would be so quick. So easy. So satisfying.

"I could do it," the muttered word's passed Optimus lips before he knew what he was saying. "I could drop you right here."

Cody's eyes widened and he squeaked, "What?!"

"You stole my daughter from me," Optimus continued, his voice sounding dazed, as though he wasn't really there. "You stole her and sold her as if she was a commodity, and did you ever even think twice about it? Wonder what you were doing—what you were destroying?"

"Yes!" Cody shrieked, flailing around in desperation again. "Yes! Yes, I did okay?! I thought about it! I-I thought about it!"

"No you didn't!" Optimus snapped, voice accusatory. "If you had you would have realized just how revolting and immoral what you were doing was and you never would have gone through with it. But you didn't care! You looked at my daughter—my precious little girl—and all you saw was payment! Money! You didn't see the amazing miracle that she is—you didn't care!"

"Okay! Okay you're right! I didn't care, all right?! I didn't care! I just wanted the money, man, that's all—just the money! I'm a scumbag, okay? I'm a sleazy scumbag who deserves to rot in jail! Just please don't hurt me, man!"

"I would be in the right. I would be in every possible right to drop you here after what you did to Hunter."

"No! No, no, no! Come on, man, please don't do this! Please don't do this, man! Please!"

"I could do it," Optimus repeated, more to himself this time. "A part of me longs to do it." He held out Philips a bit more and slowly began to loosen his grip and let the screaming con artist slide through his fingers when he suddenly had the phantom sensation of a gentle but strong hand on his shoulder. The Prime knew whose hand it was: Hunter's. The Autobot felt a brief pang of guilt stab through his spark. "But it is not me," he whispered. "And it is not what Hunter would want." With that, Optimus turned away from the drop off and threw Philips to the ground.

"Oof! Ugh! Ack!" Philips rolled down the incline a ways before finally managing to stop himself. Still trembling, the young man groaned and slowly pushed himself up onto all fours. A boot stomped down right in front of him and he looked timidly up into the Prime' face once again. He gulped.

Kneeling down from his substantial holoform height, Optimus seized Cody's jaw in one hand and stuck his face in his. "Now," he rumbled, "about those coordinates."

By the time of rest of the team had managed to catch up with Optimus they saw Cody, who looked as white as a sheet, running as fast as his legs could go down the overpass and disappearing into the night. They pulled up just behind the Prime's idling alternate mode. A little further up the arch they could see Optimus' holoform spotlighted in the big rig's headlights. His back was to them and it didn't appear as though he'd be turning to acknowledge them anytime soon.

Undoing his seatbelt, Will slipped out of Bulkhead's cab. "You guys stay here," he told the others. "I think this needs to be a father-to-father situation." The others all voice various agreements and the man advanced up the overpass, coming to a standstill a few feet behind the catatonic holoform. "Prime?"

"I managed to acquire the information I was looking for," Optimus responded, still not looking back. "It took some negotiating, but I managed to make Philips talk."

"Great," Lennox praised. "Did this "negotiating" take form in the act of dangling the kid over the side there?" The Major motioned towards the drop off.

It was then Optimus looked back at Will with a questioning gaze. "How did…"

"'Cuz it's exactly what I woulda done," the man interrupted, already knowing the question. "But, knowin' me, I probably woulda dropped the bastard after he squealed."

A look of shame came over the Prime's face and he turned away again, gaze shifting down towards the pavement below. "I wanted to," he murmured, just loud enough to be heard. "I wanted to drop him so badly it hurt."

"So why didn't you?"

"Because it was not me. And if that weren't enough, it was not what Hunter would have wanted me to do. And despite the rage I feel, despite the longing for vengeance, I cannot allow myself to disappoint her." The Prime hung his head. "I feel… ashamed, Major," he confessed softly. "I feel ashamed that I feel this way: ashamed that I even considered harming a human being."

Sighing, Will came forward and placed a friendly, consoling hand on the holoform's shoulder. "Look, Optimus," he stated, "I've known you for a while now and I like to think we're pretty good friends. I know how you try to hold yourself above the common rabble—not because you think you're better than they are, but because you need to. You're a leader and you need to set an example. You've done a great job at this, and you've done a great job of not letting your emotions take control of you. But the truth is, Prime, you can only do that for so long before you finally have to give a little."

Optimus looked over at him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying you have to—or even should—give in completely to what you're feeling," Lennox explained. "But you shouldn't beat yourself up for feeling this way. You're only… well, I can't really say "human" here can I? You're only conscious, Prime. You wouldn't be living if you didn't feel like this. And to be perfectly honest, right now you've got the best excuse in the book for feeling the way you do right now." The man's face suddenly became grave. "Optimus, I get where you're at. Annabelle is the most precious thing in the world to me; she's my princess. And if anybody took her from me I'd skin 'em alive and ask questions later. Optimus, Hunter is your kid, and when people screw with your kids the rules naturally change."

"So you do not believe that what I wanted to do to Philips was wrong then?"

"Not in the least bit. What was wrong was lettin' 'im run off before the rest of us could get here to rip him apart." A ploy of humor that didn't seem to do much.

Optimus looked away once more and the silence seeped in again before he turned back to meet Lennox's gaze. "He sold her, Will." The whisper was so full of pain and fury that you couldn't tell where one ended and one began. "Philips took Hunter from me and made money off of her. I realize he was paid to abduct her, but for all intents and purposes he sold her. He sold her!"

"Well there sure as hell better be a return policy in whatever contract he signed," Lennox rumbled. "'Cuz we're gettin' her back!"

"Yes," Optimus agreed, looking away again. His gaze traveled to his chest as he reached up and gently pressed a couple fingers to the wolf's head on his necklace. A fiery determination began to burn within the deepest parts of his spark. No matter what it took, no matter how long it took, no matter where it took him, Optimus was bringing Hunter home again. Even if he had to go through hell and back. "Yes we will."

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