Disclaimer: I don't own transformers, I don't even own a toy ;__; Though if I did own them, I would have at least a million Ultra Magnus toys and Scurge would be on traffic duty all the time =^-^=

A/N: That probably won't make much sense unless you saw 'The Test' and found Scurge as a traffic warden as funny as I did u.u Well .. last chapter -sniffle- Epilogue after this, and 'final thoughts'.

Sorry about the late update . ff.net didn't load the other day, then we moved, and then the phone company didn't change the line over n.n But my cd arrived! Woohoo! Only took 3 weeks :\

And now, revised =^-^=

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Zeheria: A sequel you say? –interested grin- I was thinking two, making this into a trilogy. But that's just my idea ^^; Oh, would you mind if the Autobots suddenly discovered a new earth drink called kolata? N.n

~*~*~*~

Last time: To recap .. Burn who wasn't even going to play a bigger part other than being mentioned has become a major character and is evil u.u X-Brawn is somewhat dead and Ultra Magnus is kinda dead too. Enter ... mysterious figure from the prologue and interlude!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[Well, that didn't work now, did it?] thought Ultra Magnus moodily, lying in much the same position as X-Brawn was. He had attempted to give the others systems a gentle jump start - to at least bring up a damage report … but of course it has a much longer and more scientific term .. but something had inevitably gone wrong, the jolt had been rejected and shot back into Magnus, frying his unstable systems completely.

[Smart move] grumbled X-Brawn, wondering how Sai was doing rather dully. With a hiss, his optics finally gave out and darkened to black.

Mentally, he sighed heavily.

At the top of the stairs, the doors opened and closed. Clanking footsteps descended and stopped in front of the two Autobots.

"I don't know why I'm doing this," complained a disturbingly familiar voice, accompanied by a metal box opening "Oh, right ... orders." A pause and hiss as a gas torch lit. A sharp pain shot through X-Brawn, jolting his fuzzily shutting down CPU back online to feel his mangled leg being beaten back into shape as it heated. "I suppose its worth it, though. Anything to use against Scurge is worth it." (A/N: In case its too abstract, Scurge has ordered our mysterious friend to get the Autobots back online since it was Burn's job to make sure they were offline. Make Burn look bad and such ... jus for Kit who was completely lost when she started pre-reading this chapter for me Oo) An evil chuckle, then a sigh. "Pity about the girl though, she's changed since she was with us last ... really was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

[Sai] snapped Ultra Magnus [S-A-I. SAI ... geez, is that so hard for you morons to comprehend? ... But what about her? Is she okay?]

The figure moved on from panel-beating to circuit repairing, ignoring the silent commentary. "Not that he can decide which one he hates more, of course," they complained as they worked. "The girl, she humiliates him by just walking away whenever he tried to capture her. But the new Decepticon ... well, let's just not go there." The figure creaked as it rose to its feet, leaving the Autobots optics off and systems frozen.

They moved onto Ultra Magnus, whose body was fine, and only needed a few circuits replaced and such and the like. "Of course, this is all irrelevant, isn't it. I'd say you have ... well, not very long to rescue your human friend. Once Megatron's done with the new kid, she's all Scurge's."

They stood, creaked and clanked off, mumbling to themselves. "Well ... that was easy."

~*~*~*~

Sai, meanwhile was having ... fun.

She had been allowed - so graciously - to be by Prowl and Sideburn, who were as dead as X-Brawn had been.

Megatron was busy pacing importantly, looking agitated. Scurge's expression was promising her a wide variety of splendid … activities ... once they were alone. And Burn ... well, Burn wasn't doing anything much.

She didn't look at any of them, instead, she stared at the dead chain in her hand, and beyond that, her fallen friends.

Yes, they may not have trusted each other, but they were friends in some sense. Like Burn ...

She was silent, thinking, then looked up at the Decepticons.

"How."

For a moment there was no response, then Scurge bit out

"We ... don't know. Instead of scanning the vehicle he was meant to, he scanned the human next to it. We can only ... theorize ... that it had something to do with having no protoform."

"Poor human," said Megatron reflectively, then shrugged. (A/N: I was reading an episode review and it mentioned how Megatron said the oil tanker Scurge scanned would make him stronger because of the oil inside. The comment was it painted a grisly picture if the thing being scanned was alive, as it appeared a part would be integrated into the new transformer ... or something like that. N.n)

Sai glanced at Burn, and then down again.

Mirage, of course, said nothing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

X-Brawn's systems booted up suddenly, his optics flickering on and focusing immediately on Ultra Magnus. A moment later, Magnus' did the same. They sat up in sync.

"Ow ... " commented the first "That hurt ..."

"Yeah ..."

Silence for a while as their systems did a mandatory check.

"X-Brawn ...?"

"Hmm?"

"Wasn't Burn a gift ... from you to Sai, to protect her?"

"Originally, yes ..."

"So how exactly is he ... a Decepticon?"

"Not entirely sure ..." A pause. "When did she start wearing that necklace of hers?"

A long pause.

"I don't know."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Megatron?" A shark's head peeked around the corner, inquiring of his masters whereabouts quietly. There was no answer, and just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a voice made him jump.

"And where exactly have -you- been?"

He twirled around to face Slapper, and scowled.

"I might ask you the same thing."

"You might, but you won't."

Silence.

"Oi! You two! Megatron's waiting for you in the control room ... move it."

Looking guilty, the two Predacons yeeped and twirled around to see Mega Octane, Scurge's second in command, glaring at them. Rather than be beaten into scrap metal, they scurried off to do as he commanded.

With a smirk, the Decepticon followed.

Not one of them noticed the small minicon-like Cybertronian computer disk left lying on the ground.

~*~*~*~*~

Sky-Byte, Slapper and Mega Octane entered the control room, followed by the rest of the Predacons and Decepticons. Each stood by their respective leader, and glared at the other group. Mirage stood exactly where he had the entire time, only his flickering optics gave any indication his spark was even still active.

Burn yawned, stretched, and tilted his head to one side.

"Sai-chan? Are you alive?"

"No." The one word she had spoken in half an hour was flat, almost dead. Prowl and Sideburn hadn't moved.

"Ah ... that sucks just a little." Scurge snickered, and her hand tightened on the tiny blade she had in her pocket.

No, it wouldn't do a thing against a giant - walking - and - talking - alien – soup-can … but what're you gonna do?

Megatron made an important coughing sound, and stood from his chair. He turned to the youngest Decepticon.

"Are you ready?" Sai's head jerked up at that.

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Burn inclined his head almost meekly, walking to stand in front of him.

Neither of them changed size, but the moment Megatron's hand gripped Burn's head, they were equal. Sai's eyes flickered with confusion as she watched, then widened as sparks began to fly around the human-like Decepticon, and his leader.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A crackling sound caught X-Brawn and Ultra Magnus by surprise. They ran down the corridor of the base faster, skidding to a halt in front of the control room.

Inside, their enemies stood watching passively as energy from Burn flowed up Megatron's hand into his systems, sparks flitting around. Mirage looked blank, and Sai rose to her feet, confused.

Slowly, Burn's figure began to flicker, like a bad TV signal. X-Brawn saw his brother's dead bodies as Magnus saw Sai. Slamming through the Predacons - who just stood there - Magnus grabbed her just as she was about to leap at Megatron. Burn's feet began to fade.

"Let me go!" she screamed, as the energy began to cause the paper lying around to burst into flames.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled back, as the noise increased and Burn's legs began to fade.

"He's killing him! Let me go! I have to help him!" She began struggling harder, almost slipping out of his grip as he fought to hold her without squishing her between two fingers.

"He's a Decepticon! He betrayed you!" yelled X-Brawn.

"He's my friend! Let me go! Megatron's going to kill him!"

The Predacons and Decepticons began to notice that the two Autobots were in the room, but made no move to attack as half of Burn's torso flickered. The noise, and wind increased as energy sparks flicked around, burning Sai's clothes and making small holes on the transformers.

Small energy waves began rippling outwards, causing the human to lose her footing while the cybertronians barely swayed.

"Burn!" she screamed, struggling. She broke free, making a break for the Decepticon in question. Of course, she tripped over Prowl and sprawled over his and his brothers body. A larger ripple moved outwards, throwing her back. "Stop it! You're going to kill him!"

Megatron ignored her, Burn flickering completely as X-Brawn leapt in front, powering up and acting as a shield when the main wave shot out, slamming him backwards but not over. With a final squeeze, Burn collapsed in on himself, a final burst of energy slamming up Megatron's arm and disappearing.

With an exaggerated and disturbingly cliché bad guy roar, Megatron slammed up through the roof and took off, not waiting to see half the room collapse in on his own troops.

And all through it, Mirage just stood there. Then, with a slow creak, he collapsed into pieces.

~*~*~*~

"BURN!" shrieked Sai, slamming past X-Brawn and over to the pile of clothes, ignoring the chunks of rocks showering down. Dazed, her Autobot friends watched as she collapsed to her knees, eyes wide at what was left of him. "Burn ... "

A large hunk of rock tumbled down the wall as a black hand crept out, pushing more off until Scurge could escape. One arm hung by just its wires, and his optics flickered dodgily. Chunks of his armor plating hung by strings, or were wedged in  odd places. Clumsily, he stomped over to where the girl kneeled, raising his sword with his good-ish arm over her head.

She stared up at him dully. "How could you ..."

"Easily," he snarled, pulling his arm back to strike ... and stopping abruptly as Magnus' arm cannon shoved past the cracked armor of his back and stopped an inch from his spark. No pain registered.

"Finish that swing," Magnus' voice was dark and predatory "And it will be the last thing your spark -ever- knows." A long, tense silence followed, and Scurge slowly lowered his blade.

"If not today, Autobot, then another. You won't be able to protect her forever."

"Go."

Scurge complied. He didn't look back to see if his troops - or the Predacons - still had functioning sparks.

Buried, not a single one of them blamed him.

~*~*~*~

"Their sparks still function," said X-Brawn a time later, rising from his brothers. "Mirage's too. Barely, but they should survive until we can get them back to headquarters." Ultra Magnus nodded, then looked over at Sai who hadn't moved an inch.

"Good ... but what about her?" X-Brawn was silent for a long time.

"I don't know," he admitted finally "Of course her body will survive ... but, I don't know if she will. I'd say yes, she's a lot stronger than she appears. But … she's also only human."

Ultra Magnus understood, and they watched her in silence. Physically she was fine, barely a scratch. But she -had- just seen her closest friend for the past ... long time ... destroyed by her best friends' greatest enemy.

Finally, he made his way over to her.

"...Sai? Are you okay?"

"Am I 'okay'?" she repeated coldly, then turned her face up to him. There were no tears on it. "I just saw Burn destroyed while you all stood by and watched - Autobot, Decepticon and Predacon alike ... not a single -one- of you made -any- move to help him." She stood, fists clenching, then exploded. "You let him die! You let my best friend die and you made me stand by and watch!" A tear finally fell, staining the ashes below her feet. "How could you! How could you make me do that!" More tears began falling, staining her cheeks, the ashes, the ground below. He reached out to her, and she slapped his hand away. "I hate you! I hate you!" With that, she turned and ran out the door, clutching the chain in her hand tighter. X-Brawn put his hand on Ultra Magnus' arm as he went to follow her. The latter turned to him questioningly.

"I can't get them back to the base on my own." Subtitle: Let her go.

"I'm sure you could manage." Subtitle: Let me follow.

"I can't." A pause, then "Prime will want to know you're okay." That comment was met by silence.

The subtitle?

There was none.

~*~*~*~

Author Of The Week: Pivot. [In particular, the POV fics, of which 'Mistranslated' is a part, and the first I read. Read them!! Its hard to find fics these days that are deep (not that i dont mind the humor ones, they are in general my favourites) but Pivot has achieved it perfectly. Read now! -commands it with her oO moro bar?]

I have only two recommendations this week, despite finding a million fics I fell in love with straight away.

One is 'Thoughts and Contemplations". [I decided it was time to check out some tf fics ^^; This one I love. Not that I really remember Demolisher, since Armada wasn't my favourite series, but I loved the way this was written. So many people write characters as being completely stable with no doubts, it was a great change -coughs a bit, guilty of it herself-]

The other is, of course, completely unrelated. "The Name Game". [Vwahaha ... Spike and Jet trying to name Ein. 'This coming from the guy who would name his hypothetical children Potato …']