A Debt to Repay.

Summary: Sequel to "Foreign Soil." Sam now has a debt to repay, and Starscream intends to collect on it.

A Debt to Repay.

Miles got out of his old beater car and set up his chair, with his camera, pencil and notebook nearby. He loved seeing the aircraft taking off from and coming into Nellis, and he loved trying to get interesting snaps of the craft. He also noted down times of arrival and departure, for Miles was also a UFO enthusiast, and anything he could identify was one to cross off the list of possible sightings. He didn't want IFO's interfering with any of his UFO sightings. He also secretly hoped to one day have an F-22 fighter pilot who could corroborate any sightings he made.

He'd been there around 30 minutes when he noticed one of the incoming F-22's was off course, and appeared to be heading in his direction. As it flew closer than anticipated, Miles grabbed his camera and snapped off some shots, looking forward to examining the shots in greater detail, but then the plane turned back his way, and Miles wondered if he was going to be in trouble.

His camera dropped from his fingers, forgotten, as the plane seemed to fold in half and begin to fragment. No, the pieces were still firmly attached he realised. It wasn't fragmenting so much as reconfiguring, from an F-22 aircraft to a tall robot, whose shoulders were the plane's wings, the cockpit folded down to make the chest, and the legs appearing to be part of the thrusters.

Miles ducked down behind his chair, fingers belatedly searching for his camera, when the robot addressed him.

"Are you Miles Benjamin Lancaster, friend of Samuel James Witwicky?"

"Uh, yes, that's me, but just call me Miles. Wait a minute, does Sam know you, and he never told me? I'm his best friend and he never told me?" Miles felt hurt and betrayed.

"I don't know him personally, but I have a good friend who has made his acquaintance. Don't get angry at his omission, Samuel James Witwicky came to the attention of his overt Military and covert operatives and had to sign an agreement not to tell anyone of his encounters.

"Covert operatives? Sam was visited by MIB's? Men in Black, a slang term for Government agents telling him to shut up or else," Miles clarified. The robot paused for a few minutes and said "I believe that is correct."

"Then he's forgiven, the MIB's aren't to be messed with," Miles said, quickly scanning the bushes in case any were concealed nearby. The robot noticed his movements.

"I scanned before I landed. We are not under any surveillance."

"That's a relief," Miles said. "As I said before, I'm Miles and I'm pleased to met you. Who are you, please, and where are you from?

"I am also pleased to meet you, Miles, my name is Thundercracker, and I am from the planet Cybertron. It's star is not visible from your world as we came via a wormhole anomaly, but we came from" - here he crouched, turned and pointed up into the sky - somewhere about that direction."

"So you are not of this world?" Miles asked.

"I am not of this world," Thundercracker confirmed. "I am what could be termed extraterrestrial in origin. I noticed you taking photos of me as I flew over, do you like my disguise mode? The plane?"

"I love the F-22!" Miles said. "It's our most advanced plane to date, and I love its sleek lines."

"I would like you to meet a few others of my kind. Would you like to come with me in my plane form?" he asked. "We could talk more about what your friend Sam can't tell you because of the MIB's."

"Wow, I'd love to, but I do want to be back today, I don't want to be abducted, my aunt would worry, and she's got me on a curfew." Thundercracker chuckled.

"I won't abduct you, you'll be back before it's dark." He converted to plane form and opened his dark canopy in invitation. "Can you get in without assistance? Should I move closer to your car?"

"If you don't mind me climbing in as our pilots do, no problem, but let me lock my stuff up first," he said, putting his chair, camera and notebook in his car's trunk, and locking up the car before pocketing the keys. He then approached Thundercracker and carefully put a light hand on one wing. He noticed the metal was slightly warm, as if he were sun warmed.

"Are you ready for me to come up?" he asked.

"Yes," Thundercracker said. Miles pulled himself up, twisting his butt on to the wing, then stood, being careful to only tread on the wing root, then grabbed on to the cockpit edge and pulled himself up and over into the cockpit. The canopy descended as Miles fastened the harness.

"No aerobatics for now, and don't touch the controls," Thundercracker said. "I do the flying."

"Yessir," Miles responded.

"Come now Miles, we are friends, are we not? I'm not addressed as sir by my friends. Call me Thundercracker, or TC if you prefer."

"Yes, yes, we are friends please, Thundercracker, uh TC, thank you!" Miles said.

"If you need something to hold onto, hold into the seat. You shouldn't need a flight suit today as we're only flying for a short time at a low altitude, but I'll source you a flight suit for later trips,"

"Gee thanks, TC!" Miles said excitedly.

Thundercracker gently took off, and as he did so, he send an encrypted com to Starscream.

'Mission accomplished, I have the Witwicky boy's friend. Get him some human food and drink please, I'm on my way.'

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Sam was at the mall with Mikaela, helping her load some of her purchases in 'Bee's trunk.

"I know it seems shallow to want to change my clothes so often, Sam, but as one of the popular girls, I have an image to upkeep."

Neither of them noticed a plane flying over, high enough not to be heard.

"That's okay, Mikaela, I'm just glad we got some compensation for what S7 put us through, plush hush money for the Mission City stuff. You deserve to treat yourself a little," Sam said. "I might have to get some new clothes too, the stuff I wore in Mission City is still wearable, just about, but looks a mess."

"You still kept those nasty things?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Hence why I need something new. Maybe you could help me shop for some?" he asked. They were so involved in their good natured bickering that neither of them saw the plane cruising above drip into a steep dive. Others around them did, and it was the cries of "Look" "It's heading for us" that made him look up and see the pointing fingers and phones raised to the sky.

Confused but remembering Niagara falls, he took a couple of steps back and looked up, to see the Seeker heading towards him. He took another step, this time forwards, as Starscream stopped in a direct hover 20ft above them and transformed. The crowd shrieked and jostled to get video footage, and Sam was hustled away from Bumblebee.

"Not again!" he cried, as Starscream spoke to him.

"You owe me a debt, Sam, and it's time to pay!" he cried. Sam froze and looked up as the crowd around him backed up, and that was all Starscream needed, He whipped one long arm down, seizing Sam in a grip that was firm but not painful. Sam yelled as he felt himself lifted up, then saw Starscream's canopy opening. Sam felt himself dumped unceremoniously in Starscream's cockpit, and again recalling Niagara, grabbed and put on the oxygen mask and then grabbing the helmet and jamming it on his head. He grabbed for the seat as he felt Starscream's cockpit angle upwards, than buck beneath him, and quickly harnessed himself in.

"You're quicker on the uptake this time, Sam," Starscream told him.

"That's because I have an idea what to expect this time!" Sam retorted.

"We need to stop off briefly at our Base on Earth to pick thinks up and give you a chance to speak to an old friend of yours, and then we'll go and you can pay your debt."

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Bumblebee transformed, heedless of the humans around him, arming his cannon and pointing it at the Seeker as it transformed back to plane form, and then did an almost straight-up launch into the air. Bumblebee was tempted to fire but realised he could harm Sam and that even if he didn't, a fall from that height would kill his fragile human friend. He dropped his cannon as Mikaela hissed at him.

"Bee, change back! You're attracting attention, and we need to tell Optimus about this!"He realised she was right, and saw phone screens turning his way. He let loose a low level electromagnetic pulse, enough to shut down the phones and wipe their memory cards, and converted back to car form. Mikaela ducked into the drivers seat while people tapped or shook their suddenly-dark phones, and they slipped away before anyone thought to blame them.

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It didn't take long for Starscream to reach his Base after picking Sam up from the town. The human felt Starscream tilt down and braced himself with his hands against the seat.

Starscream set down gently and lifted his canopy with a little hiss. Sam took off the oxygen mask and helmet, and swung his leg over the canopy, pausing as he saw a cheerful looking brown mech heading towards them.

"Greetings, Samuel James Witwicky, my name is Doctor Syn, and I am the Decepticon medic, thus the one who has to do the research and issue orders relating to the care and feeding of humans. You are our second human guest, come with me and I'll take you to the other."

Sam slid down Starscream's side and stood away, allowing the Seeker to transform with enough space to make it safer and cleaner for them both. Dr Syn crouched, holding out blunt but narrow -fingered hands out towards Sam in invitation.

"Okay, but you can just call me Sam," Sam said, wondering who the other human was as he climbed into the hands, he doubted Starscream was starting a menagerie of the life on Earth so wondered who the other human was. Some unfortunate random who'd been grabbed off the streets to keep him company, maybe? Sam climbed into the medic's hands, and he curled the fingers up as he rose and turned to enter the Base again, with Starscream just a step behind him.

They entered a room with monitors and lots of shiny metalwork. Sam's mouth dropped open in surprise as the mech carrying him turned and headed for a big raised metallic surface upon which sat his friend, Miles.

"Miles!" Sam cried out, getting up and stepping off the medic's hands, stumbling slightly as the medic tilted his hands. Miles saw him and raised a hand in greeting, his mouth full. Sam saw a pizza box, a MacDonald's bag and cup of soda, and some as-yet untouched bags of corn chips, granola, and packets of sweets and chocolates. A bottle of soda and water stood next to half a container of milk. Sam knew the container was likely to have been full before Miles got to it, he was fond of milk.

"What are you doing here?" he asked his friend.

"Hey Sam, you're not the only one who can have alien friends. These guys filled me in about you and Bumblebee. Don't worry, I forgive you for not telling me, TC told me you'd been told to shut up by the MIB's."

Sam had heard Miles talk about some of his UFO theories, including the MIB's, and had thought it had sounded far fetched, until, of course, he ran into Simmons and his Sector-7 goons, so he just nodded.

"Yeah, I don't want any more trouble with any of that sort," he said fervently. "Once was bad enough! Who's TC?"

"That would be me, human," said a mech who looked like Starscream but had a faint blue cast to his limbs. "I'm Thundercracker to my friends, or TC for short. Greetings, and welcome to our Base."

"I'm Sam," Sam said, not sure whether Thundercracker stating his name was an invitation to use it or not. He turned back to Miles.

"Having E.T friends comes with risks, they may not see things the same way. Have they told you yet how we met? Their version will be what they see as the truth, while I know what happened to me is my version. Both truthful, but seen from different points of view, so possibly in some ways seeming completely different as a result. I can only suggest not taking anything for granted, not even the truth, and staying polite. And don't tell anyone else, not even Carissima, and certainly not your UFO group friends. All it takes is one pair of loose lips, and your on the radar of the Government," Sam warned him.

"And that means risking the MIB's, got it!" Miles said, mimicking running a zipper along his mouth. "I don't want these guys captured and experimented on, or myself silenced, by means foul."

Sam decided not to warn Miles that someone like Lennox might visit with a non disclosure agreement for him to sign, it might spook him. He wished he could warn Miles more explicitly about the Decepticons being at war with the Autobots, and not generally showing any fondness for humans, but felt he'd best not elaborate as it could put Miles in danger.

"Sam, I need you to come with me, I'll bring you back in a minute,"Starscream asked, extending out his hands. Sam climbed into them warily, they were somewhat on the spiky side. The Seeker took him through a nearby door into a smaller room.

"This is my lab, Sam, and I need to talk to you about paying the debt you owe to me. First of all, let me apologise for your public and precipitous departure earlier, but at least you'll have plenty of witnesses and a reason to account for your absence for the next few days."

"That was all about giving me an obvious reason for my absence?" Sam asked.

"Of course," Starscream stated as if it were obvious, and maybe to him it was. "We could have taken you with a bit more subtlety, but that would have required you to be creative with your lying about your location, so we felt a showy abduction was the best option. We can't take a non-Earth alt without scanning one, so had to go with an F-22, but your Military know my alt, they know who and what I am, they can do the lying for you. There were about 50 people who witnessed what happened, it's now down to your country's Government to work out if they'll admit our existence, or cover it up. I suspect the latter."

"I'll need you to contact the Autobots in a few minutes, as otherwise we may have them at the gates of our Base threatening us if we don't let you go," Starscream told him. "You need to tell them you are now here willingly, to pay off your debt."

"Okay," Sam said "I'll do it, but I remind you that I agreed to this as long as the debt doesn't hurt my family, friends - and that does include Miles - the Autobots, my country, or my planet."

"Yes, that is already agreed," Starscream said. "Now, we should deal with your message to the Autobots first."

He took Sam over to a blank screen, which lit up. For a moment it was blank, but then it flickered, showing Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, who was holding Mikaela.

"Good timing, Starscream, we were about to contact you regarding the human boy Sam, who you brazenly kidnapped from his hometown. Are you well, Sam?"

"Yes, I'm alive and well, big guy, and so is Miles, who's befriended a mech called Thundercracker here. I owe Starscream a favour, which I told you about after he took me from the Niagara Falls, and he's calling it in."

"He owes me a debt, Autobots, and his repayment could benefit us all. I solemnly swear to you, I mean him no harm." Before anyone could say anything more, the connection was cut.

Optimus turned to Mikaela.

"I will send Bumblebee to scout around where we think the Decepticons have their Base, but if he's with Starscream, they'll probably be flying out, or even gone already, and we have no Autobots who can follow. We may be unable to do anything more than wait."