The Viehcon's grip was tight around her body and waist. It was staring to hurt. Her eyes had had time to adjust to the dark metal hallways. He sharply turned right, making her whole-body jerk, and entered another room, that was clearly some sort of containment chamber. No windows, dimly lit, clearly made to depress someone.

There were also, three other cons in the room. Two of them looked very similar to the viehcon that was currently gripping Nya in his fist, only they were purple not silver; she had seen a few of them in the halls. The last con was a very large mech. His paint job was blue/gray color, and a single beady yellow was staring at her.

"This her?" The Blue/gray one asked, his voice rough and he was clearly already done with this job.

He had already known he was put in charge of watching Nya while she was a captive. Word spread quickly around the ship, and two of the viehcons had offered him help. But it was pretty obvious that they were mostly curious. Humans were a rare occurrence on the warship.

"Yes," the Silver Viehcon mumbled.

"Put her down and go get your eye fixed, Apex. We'll watch her." Said the blue/gray con.

Nya was thrown to the ground. It hurt, but at least the viehcon had tried to be gentle. She tired to pull herself to her feet but another sudden spasm of pain forced her to quickly lean on the wall, and eventually she slid back down to the floor. She looked up at the three titans standing over her (the silver one had left), waiting for them to do there worst. One of the viehcons leaned down and reached for her. She flinched turning away, waiting for the blow, but instead she just felt a small tug on her hair. She opened her eyes, the viehcon was playing with her hair?

"So, this is what a human looks like up close?" said the viehcon. "I didn't think it would be so soft."

"Be careful, Tyo. You can't be too careful around humans." Said the blue/gray one.

"Oh, come on Breakdown. What is it going to do? Break it's fangs while biting me?" said the viehcon, that was apparently named Tyo.

"Did you not see Apex's injuries?" Said the other Viehcon.

"You honestly think that this little thing did that?" said Tyo.

"Never underestimate a human Tyo. They don't look like much, but they're surprising." Said the Large mech, that was named Breakdown.

He glared mistrustingly at Nya, with his single eye. Nya quickly guessed that he must have had a history with her species. It was probably a human that took his eye.

"Well, it's only one human not a whole team. Besides we rarely get a chance to look at them this close." Said Tyo.

Nya just sat there, not minding the conversation they were having or the viehcons poking her. Until he went a little too close to her face, she gently pushed his talon away. Her chest was hurt again so she didn't try to threaten him. Not like she could do much at the moment. She did have one more shot in her hand gun, but she wasn't going to waste it. Thankfully the viehcon got the hint and went back to playing with her hair.

"This is going to be a long day." She thought.

Starscream was standing in the, much smaller then excepted, Autobot base, his wrists in stasis-cuffs, his wings clamped and weapon systems temperately turn off. He didn't like his current situation, but was fine with it as long as the autobots removed everything and turned his weapons back on when they left for the exchange.

He glanced at his right. There were six organic eyes slowly watching him. Starscream knew that the autobots had humans close. Heck, that's why he came to them, knowing that they wouldn't leave an innocent human in danger. He had seen some of them from far off, but he didn't realize that they were human sparklings. Why would they be involved in war? Shouldn't they be focused on their education? However, these questions didn't really matter to him, he only wished they would stop staring at him.

"Just to be clear, you met this Nya by chance, when you crashed onto her property and she repaired your injuries?" Ratchet questioned.

"I was in a recent tangle with Arachnid after she split from the decepticons. I fled in hurry, and was going to try and contact you for help. However, stasis-lock was faster to claim me. I crashed in Nya's yard and he used her technical know-how with earthling jets to repair me." Starscream answered.

Bulkhead burst out laughing, clearly mocking Starscream, "And were supposed to believe that? That it was her choice to save you? That you didn't threaten her? What kind of being, human or cybertronian, would save you, a decepticon, willingly?"

"One that didn't care about my past, and could see past my flaws." Starscream answered.

"Oh, that's rich. You mean one that doesn't know about all the lives you've taken." Arcee snapped.

"And you're so innocent?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arcee's hand quickly shifted to a laser gun and she aimed it at his head.

"You decimate hundreds of viehcon drones weekly. What's so different about me taking the life of an autobot and you killing one of them? They both technically have sparks."

Arcee's enegron was boiling in her tubes. She wanted so desperately to shoot this scoundrel, and avenge her lost partner. At this point she was so tempted. How could he stand there and say his death was no different to a drone's? She was standing there holding a gun to his head yet he didn't even give her the satisfaction of watching him cower. This just made her want to send a blot of blazing hot plasma through his head even more.

"Arcee." Optimus spoke up, drawing the femme's attention.

She glanced at Opitmus then at her human partner, before slowly pulling away from the prisoner. She would have killed him if they weren't here.

"It doesn't matter. That poor girl will run in fear as soon as she knows your history." Arcee muttered.

"Nya worked in armed forces. She understood that sometimes in battle lives would be lost, either by your hand or the enemies. She would not be too shocked, if she didn't already know." Starscream thought to himself.

"Now, when they captured her, did they give you any coordinates? Some place to negotiate." Ratchet asked.

"Yes, they connected me not long after her capture. They sent coordinates and time for some kind of tradeoff." Starscream answered.

"What do they want from you?" The black-haired human asked.

"I'm not sure. They said something about access codes. However, I'm not certain of what they truly desire from me." Starscream answered.

"Are we sure it's not to use as a punching bag?" Bulkhead suggested. Bumblebee laughed beepaly in agreement.

"I honestly don't hope so…I've had enough of Megatron's fist."

The room, seemed to freeze for a moment. Everyone had known that Starscream's allegiance to Megatron and the decepticons, had always been questionable. They never questioned why though. However, the confirmation that Starscream had been indeed beaten gave his actions a whole new meaning.

"Starscream…" Optimus started; however, he was quickly cut off by, that sound of someone entering the base through a small human elevator.

"PRIME!" shouted another human voice.

Starscream cringed, as the human became visible. He had seen this human before; he had tortured him, actually. Agent fowler. Starscream hoped that he didn't hold what humans called grudges.

"There has beenn…" Agent Fowler's voice drifted off when he noticed the current situation, "Uhm…Am I interrupting something?"

"No, Agent Fowler, is there an issue?"

"Not interrupting? We're currently doing my interrogation, not that I enjoy it, but we do need to finish this up before the meeting to save Nya! Sure, with a ground bridge it takes only a moment to get there, but still! We don't have time for this! Every klik we waste here, is a klik that Megatron could be torturing her!" Starscream ranted inside.

"Well… it appears that the cons are working on something near Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina." Agent Fowler continued.

If Starscream's wings weren't clamped that would have perked up. That was the area that the seeker commander gave him. That's where Nya was. He lifted his head and started to listen intently at the conversation between Optimus and Agent Fowler, hoping that Agent Fowler had some information on possible human hostages.

Arcee quickly noticed seeker's interest, "You know something about this?"

Starscream turned to Arcee, and soon discovered that he had everyone's attention.

"Starscream?" Optimus questioned.

"Mt. Mitchell is where I'm suppose to trade off for Nya. I believe that the disturbance that Agent Fowler has detected, might be them preparing."

"Preparing for what?" one of the human sparklings asked.

"For me."

Nya was wrapped in chains that were hung from the ceiling of a large cave that was carved out of the mountain side. Workers were everywhere mining out strange blue crystals. She wasn't struggling, as the drop from where she was hanging would surely cause major injury, if not death. She was trying to remain calm as an episode would not help at the moment. Not an easy task, while currently being over 20 feet above the ground, and surrounded by multiple, heavily armed, evil, alien robots. She tried closing her eyes and forgetting she was here.

"You should open your optics Human. If you want to ever, wish to see that traitor alive again." Spoke a gravelly voice.

Nya open her eyes and saw the dark silver titan, Megatron, staring at her. She may have been intimated when they first met, but know all she felt for him was pure malice. She glared at him, her deep forest eyes burning with hate.

Megatron broke into a fit of dark metallic laughter, "If you think that looking at me like that would intimate me. Your efforts are futile. I have stared down enemies much more frighting than you. Devastator Maximus, gladiators of Kaon, insecticons, and other enemies your feeble human mind could never even imagine."

Nya started to snicker.

"What do you fine so humorous? You are currently chained up and surrounded."

"Wow, for someone who talk such a big game, you suck at being at leader."

Megatron Stared at her. His face filled with confusion, but his optics clearly offended.

Nya smirked, "Let me explain. A leader is something that can rally around and trust. People will stay in line if you just listen to them. Only leaders who are desperate resort to beating their people into line, A.K.A a poor leader."

Megatron grabbed the chain holding Nya violently, and brought her close to his face. Using his large scarlet twitching optics to stabbed through her soul, "You would be wise to hold your tongue human. The only reason I am even keeping you alive is to lure Starscream here. I have no issue with having your blood on my servos." He let go to the chain, and left; heavy footsteps following him.

Her chest was heaving for air, a cold sweat suddenly coated her brow and the blood in her veins ran wild. She was now swaying back and forth on the chain. She would be lying if that didn't frighten her. She hung there. Silently wishing that Starscream wouldn't do something stupid.

Bumblebee optics zoomed in, and refocused. He scanned over the large cavern, searching for any signs of human life. He optics quickly sensed a human body signature, and zoomed in once more. Just as Starscream had described, a young adult human femme with dark hair. His optics returned to the normal settings and he rejoined to the rest of the autobots.

"He telling the truth?" Arcee asked when Bumblebee rejoined the group, in the brush they took cover in.

Bumblebee musically beeped, confirming what he had seen. Arcee, was clearly disappointed.

"If you wanted me to be lying. Then you'll be disappointed." Starscream said, he was on the ground, his hands still in stasis-cuffs and his wings in a clamp.

"Shut your trap." Arcee said.

Starscream turned away. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, his body tensed and flinched away out of habit. Scared that he was about to get beating. The hand was quickly and calmly removed. He looked up to see the tall figure of the Autobot leader.

"While, I didn't expect this situation, Starscream. I didn't believe that you would lie about this." Spoke Optimus.

"Uhm…thank you sir." He murmured.

Optimus nodded and walked away. Ratchet was on the ground looking at some scanners, when Optimus approached him.

"Did you witness his reaction?" Optimus asked.

"Yes, I did. For him to flinch that way when you approached him…the beatings must have been frequent occurrences."

Optimus nodded. It deeply saddened him, that someone who he use to hold in such high regard would resort to harsh physical punishments. "I do believe we should begin."

Giving a nod, Ratchet came up to Starscream and removed the clamp and cuffs.

"You know the plan. Walk out, pretend to be alone and surrender." Ratchet said.

"I know what I'm doing. But what will you do?" Starscream said, as he stretched his wings and rubbed his wrists.

"That's need to know." Arcee said.

Starscream rolled his eyes and took to the sky. Determined to save Nya.

Time was up. Nya hung in the air. The atmosphere around her had grown tense, with anticipation. All the viehcons had halted their work, and the higher ups went still. Silence hung in the air like a sick, blinding fog. Nya prayed that Starscream wasn't coming. She prayed that he stayed away; stayed safe.

One by one the seconds slowly passed. Nya's nerves grew more and more unsteady and her chest began to ache. All of it was not helping her heart. This silence was long and painful.

"Uhm…do we have the time right?" A shiny ruby red decepticon, asked. Nya thought that he could play the love doctor on any dating reality-show.

"Soundwave?" Megatron turned to the decepticon equivalent of Slenderman. He only slowly nodded in reply.

"So, either he's late or he's not coming." The ruby red decepticon said.

The tense Silence was quickly replaced with one of awkwardness. Nya could hear the viehcons around her, whisper and shrug to each other. All of them clearly confused. She felt some kind of relief. Sure, she was probably going to die but who eventually doesn't. At least Starscream was going to be safe.

"Wait! Look!" Shouted one of the viehcons.

Nya quickly looked up. The sound of a jet engine rang in her ears and echoed off of the walls of the cavern. Soon a small dark figure stood out from the blue sky, like a black star. It swerved through the clouds, and towards the ground. Its form broke, and landed was a slim figure of a winged robot, that began to approach on foot. Nya stomach dropped, she recognized him even from far off.

Starscream slowly approached. His optics were immediately drawn to Nya. The sight of her hanging; she looked so small, so frail. It made him furious. He had never seen the true cruelty of the decepticons to creatures they considered below them in this way; it was never done to anyone that he had come to care for. He couldn't stand it.

"Ah, Starscream. I honestly didn't think that you would come. Either this parasite has bewitched you, or you're even more of a fool then I previously thought." Megatron cackled.

Starscream stared at the Silver titan. His chassis gleamed in the sun, as his gravelly voice thundered through the air. Once that voice would have sent fear shuddering through his own spark, but now…Now he only felt pure malice. All Megatron had done to him he could forget, but he would never forget what Megatron did to her.

"Enough talking! I've come to bargan! What do you want for Nya?" Starscream shouted.

"Nya? Since when do you care enough for a human to know its name?" The Golden and blue Decepticon that had kidnapped her. Starscream remember that Optimus Prime said his name was Dreadwing.

"What do you want?" Starscream ignored the question.

"Access codes." Megatron spoke.

"To what?"

"Don't play dumb! You know what I am talking about! The access codes to the several encrypted files currently in the nemesis' databanks, that you left behind when you abandoned the decepticons."

"Are you sure I made those?"

"Stop your tricks," Megatron raised his fusion cannon and aimed it at Nya, "The access codes! Now! If you want your little pet to live."

Starscream optics narrowed, "Where?"

Megatron nodded to Dreadwing, signaling the commander. Dreadwing led Starscream so one of the smaller monitors, that were linked to the decepticons' database. The files popped up on to the screen.

"No funny business." Knockout said, in a singsong voice.

Starscream rolled his eyes and approached the monitor. He recognized the files, he had forgot about them, and gave the codes. Now it was up to the autobots…whatever they were doing.

Arcee was perched atop of on one of the many ledges in the cavern. She had a perfect view of the spectacle below. All of Megatron's top soldiers, were here, Dreadwing, Knockout, Breakdown, Soundwave; he wasn't messing around. Her pale indigo optics finally saw her target. She still hadn't believed Starscream until she saw Nya.

"Arcee, have you located the target?" Ratchet asked through her commlink.

"Affirmative." She answered back.

"Can you reach her?"

"I can try. I just need your distraction."

"Get as close as you can. We still need a few more moments."

"Roger."

Arcee, quickly and quietly, made her way down the ledges.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee were hidden behind cover on the far left of the cavern. Watching the seen.

Bulkhead glanced up and saw that Arcee was mobilizing. That plan was that they would attack last second, Arcee would break the chain, and either he or Bumblebee would catch Nya in the vehicle mode. A human would have a much lower chance of surviving a possible battle field full of laser fire than a bot, even if they worked in the military.

Bumblebee too noticed Arcee. He beeped in wonder.

"No, not yet. We need to wait for Prime's signal." Bulkhead answered.

Bumblebee beeped again.

"No, I don't know exactly when…"

"MEGATRON!"

The whole room rang with the sound of the shout. Everyone quickly turned. Slowly walking towards them, was Optimus Prime.

"Ah, Optimus," He shot a glance at Starscream, that could have killed him, "I should have known that Starscream would have turned to you human loving Autobots, for help."

"Megatron. Let the girl go. Do not involve her in the quarrels of you and your enemies." Optimus prime spoke.

"This doesn't concern you Optimus. Leave now and I will let you go unharmed."

"The harm you do to me is not my main concern."

"It should be." Megatron's cannon began to charge.

Suddenly Arcee leaped from her hiding place, nearby. She tackled Megatron, her guns blazing. All peace went out the window. Gun fire erupted around them. Arcee Rolled behind for rocks and began to counter fire. Her energon boiled in her tubes, and her face grimaced. She was ticked. Sure, she had stopped Megatron from shooting Nya, but she missed the chain, that was holding her. The plan was free Nya and get her away from the fight. But that didn't happen, and now an innocent human woman was trapped on a Cybertronian battlefield. Just great.

Starscream managed to duck under some kind of cover. He was frightened and confused. Nya was currently caught in the crossfire, and he didn't know who to shoot at. If he shot at the decepticons, he would immediately be considered allied with the autobots, and the crew would surely be instructed to kill him on site; if they weren't already. If he fired onto the autobots, they might leave him and Nya to die.

He glanced up at Nya. She was swaying on the chain Laser fire all around her, some shots coming dangerously close to her. The fear and panic on her face was visible. His spark dropped. He did this to her. He let her get captured. She saved his life. She was kind to him. The least he could have done was keep her safe. He would take being wanted over her being dead.

A look of determination, determination to keep her safe, washed upon his face and took to the air. Left. Right. down. Twist. He seeker years coming back to him. He rained down laser fire on the decepticon troops, yet still careful to not hit any of the stray energon crystals that have yet to be mined. One by one viehcon soldiers dropped to the ground, either offline or seriously injured. He stayed relatively close to Nya taking out any fire that was too close, but this wouldn't last forever he needed to get her out of the danger.

Bumblebee was standing nearly directly under Nya. He didn't want to put her in the hands of an autoboot, but it would be better than her staying where she was.

"Starscream to Bumblebee, Get ready. I'm taking out the chain."

Nya was surrounded by bright, burning hot lasers. Lasers! They didn't say anything about this in training. Then again, they didn't know about giant alien robots either. The booming sound of jet engine zoomed overhead. At least she got to see Starscream in action. She was really impressed, no wonder he was a high-ranking commander.

Starscream suddenly swerved and to her shock, split the chain with his left wing. The rest of it began to loosen and unwrap around her body as she began to plummet, towards the rock-hard ground. She closed her eyes; she didn't want to watch herself die. Suddenly a large yellow robot came out of nowhere. He leaped up and transformed around Nya.

Her body jolted as it came to a sudden stop and she opened her eyes. To her surprise she was currently siting in the passenger's side of a black and yellow muscle car. That was currently swerving throughout the hordes of giant purple robot feet.

Nya grabbed the nearby seat belt, "Are you one of them? Did Starscream call you?" She quickly asked.

The muscle car beeped several musical notes, in reply.

"Uhh…I hope that's a yes."

Starscream watched as Bumblebee managed to get Nya out of danger. He would never be able to express the gratitude he had for the autobot scout at that moment.

Suddenly something came crashing out of the sky, and struck him on his left wing. The world around him was quickly twisted and blurred as he was sent into a tail spin. His t-cog activated, switching him to his robot mode. His heels scraped against the black gravel of the ledge as he landed, in a crouched position. He glanced up panting, trying to help his internal system cool, from the sudden panic. Thankfully, his wing wasn't too damaged.

A golden and blue jet twisted in the air and activated his t-cog. The ground shook when he landed. Dreadwing.

Starscream grimaced, "Trying to slice my wing?! Not very honorable Dreadwing!"

Dreadwing Faced Starscream, Rage building up in his optics. "Honorable? You're talking to me about honor!? You!? I always knew that you were traitorous Starscream! But siding with the autobots! This will be your last mistake!"

Dreadwing drew his sword. Starscream readied his talons and missiles. He wasn't scared of Dreadwing; he couldn't do anything worse than what Megatron had done.

Dreadwing raised his sword and lunged at Starscream. Starscream easily slipped away from the blade, and behind Dreadwing, using his long black talons to slice his enemy's torso. He twisted around. His other servo, shifted to his blaster and with one quick movement fired into Dreadwing's back.

Dreadwing stumbled forward, partially to just being shot, and partially due to not expecting Starscream to be that fast. He quickly shook the blow off and turned back towards Starscream. The seeker stood there, the way he held himself, so confident, so strong, so fearless. Last he heard, Megatron had broken most of his fighting spirit. What had this human done to him?

Starscream stared Dreadwing down, waiting for his next move. He quickly ducked under Dreadwing's next swing before thrusting his heel into Dreadwing's torso, pushing him back. He slipped away again, his slender frame made it easier to move and harder to hit. Dreadwing realized that and put his sword away, balling his fists. Starscream extended his talons. The both stared each other down, and lunged.

Sparks flew, from clashing metal. Scrapes, grunts and shrieks, rang off the cavern walls. Paint was chipped and scratched. Armor plating, dented and cracked. Energon was drawn. Both combatants, were relentless; unwilling to lose. Talons scratched. Punches were thrown.

Dreadwing finally managed to grasp Starscream's left leg. His servo's jerks as he flung Starscream. The smaller seeker was sent flying into hard rock walls, before tumbling back down to the ground.

Starscream winced. Scrap that hurt. His frame made him more agile, but it wasn't all that protective. He was more susceptible to heavier hits. He opened his optics, only to see Dreadwing swinging his sword down in an attempt to cut, Starscream in half. Starscream quickly rolled out of the way, firing three laser shots, at Dreadwing. He needed to end this. Sure, he wasn't the best as running, but he needed to put some distance between him and Dreadwing. He swerved around, at the ledge's edge. He fired more shots aiming at Dreadwing's wings.

Dreadwing quickly spun around and rushed at Starscream. He was infuriated. Firing at a flier's wings, it was cheap, and dishonorable. Little did he know, this was what Starscream wanted.

Starscream, slipped to the side, making Dreadwing leap right off the ledge. Starscream fired once more at his wings. A mischievous smile spread across his faceplate, as he watched, Dreadwing's alt mode struggling to stay in the air, before taking a nose dive into the ground.

Starscream took off flying, back into the rest of the cavern. The Autobots were still in combat with the rest of the decepticon troops. Starscream, began to give them support from the air; he felt quite indebted to them after they saved Nya. But it wasn't enough. Most of the Autobots were pinned down, and greatly outnumbered. They needed to end this now.

He made a sharp turn close to the ground. The energon crystals vibrated, as he passed. Wait! The energon…

"Starscream to Optimus!" he shouted into his commlink.

"Starscream! What is the matter?" Optimus answered; Starscream was slightly surprised, honestly didn't think he'd answer.

"I need you to evacuate your team, immediately."

"May I know the reason?"

"I'll ignite the raw energon, blow the cavern. I'm going to end this."

"Understood."

He logged off his comm. He sped around the cavern, before looping around, and firing directly at the large energon crystal. A large blue explosion followed. With the first crystal blown, more and more crystals ignited, adding to the destruction. The bright blue flames, nipped at his tailpipe, as he flew threw a narrow tunnel to escape. (The main entrance, had collapsed) The tunnel was shaking. Rubble and dust were falling from the ceiling. They blinded him and dinged his armor.

Starscream felt a large wave of relief washed over him, as he exited the suffocating tunnel and into the cool blue sky. Which was quickly replaced with concern. He needed to see Nya. He needed to know if she was alright.

After a few moments of searching he quickly spotted, bumblebee. He was standing at the edge of a clearing in his robot mode, with a small human heat signature nearby. He flew down and landed. Nya was sitting and leaning on a nearby tree. She safe, clearly shaken, but safe. He started towards them.

"Starscream?" She spoke. She smiled, seeing him. Why wasn't she getting up?

"Nya!" He answered and started towards her.

Starscream was only a few steps away from her when suddenly a bright green swirling portal opened up next to him. Bulkhead jumped out and tackled him to the ground. Arcee quickly came into view as well, her blaster pointed right at his head. He didn't struggle, as the big green brute locked a clamp on his wings and slapped stasis-cuffs on his wrists; this was the deal.

He was set kneeling the ground Arcee's weapons pointed at him. They all heard a sudden click. And turned. There was Nya, pointing her hand gun at Arcee. Not a glyph of fear etched on her face.

"Let. Him. Go."

Megatron, entered the main deck of the nemesis. The stunt with Starscream's pet, had cost a large amount of the mining crew and one of their most productive mines. However, they still got what they wanted. The access codes were theirs.

"Soundwave!" He shouted, "Open those files! I need to know what we've gain or what we've lost."