Hello! Been awhile, hasn't it? We're on to the next part of "Darkness Rising, Part 1"!

I promised you Miko-cuteness, and so Miko-cuteness you shall have!

Enough chatter, my dears! Let's roll out!


"Stop squirming, will you? We're almost there!" the raspy voice coming out of the radio startled Sierra once more.

"What are you even looking at?" Starscream asked, "Autotroopers can't fly. We're safe now!"

The girl frowned and pulled her knees to her chest. "Are you sure?" she squeaked, barely audibly.

"It would be inconcei-" Starscream didn't finish the word. He broke off sharply, reminded of Skywarp and his insufferable obsession with the word "inconceivable".

Sierra didn't want to anger the massive being in whom she sat, but she could not help peeking over her shoulder again. "What is an Autotrooper? Are they some elite government group?" Her eye caught a helicopter following a short distance away. She hoped it was a friendly. "And what are you? If...if you don't mind my asking."

Starscream groaned. "I'll explain everything later, alright kid?"

Abruptly, the helicopter opened fire on the Raptor, sending him into a panicked barrel roll to avoid the sabot rounds. He cursed viciously, then winced, hoping he hadn't left any channels open.

If Megatron were to catch him swearing like that, and if front of a human child...well, he had bigger problems at the moment but the worry still nagged at him.

"Hang on tight, we're diving!" he warned Sierra.

The human dug her fingernails into the armrests of the seat, squeezing her eyes shut as her stomach attempted to exit through her esophagus. The helicopter followed close behind, spraying bullets at the Seeker's wings. Without warning, an MQ9 Reaper came screaming in from the side and intercepted the fire, forcing the helicopter back.

"Friend of yours?" Sierra gasped.

"Family," Starscream corrected.

Soundwave drove the Apache helicopter further away, releasing a sonic wave. The green air vehicle wheeled about and made for the ground, attempting to get underneath the two Decepticons. Starscream beat him to it.

"Hang on!"

Sierra was really starting to hate that phrase.

The sound of metal crashing and roaring ended and once more she found herself in the open air, held in one metal hand and feeling violently ill.

"Soundwave will keep the chopper off our backs for a minute. I'm putting you down." the Decepticon explained. He dropped from the sky to gracefully land beside a highway bridge, and ducked beneath it. He was not without witnesses.


Mikoto Nakadai loved paint.

She liked the feel of it between her fingers and the way it left color everywhere. She dipped her small digits into a can of red—she smirked a little at the idea of using the "unpatriotic color".

Miko brushed one hand against the cement of the underpass, trailing her fingers along every crack, every seam, every tiny imperfection in the rock. Her other hand reached for a can of lilac purple and she began to make the vague shape of a sunset. Miko hummed happily. She couldn't hear it, but she felt her throat vibrate and knew the sounds were there. Reds, purples, deep magentas all took shapes under her attentions until the wall of the underpass was alive with color.

The little girl leaned back and wiped the sweat from her brow, leaving a carnelian stain. With a wide smile, she began to make smaller, finer drawings underneath the picture in scarlet. Geometric designs decorated the stone, glyphs that Jack said meant "sun", "moon", and "hungry". Well, maybe not that last one.

Miko looked down at her rumbling stomach and decided that she would have to finish soon. She added the finishing touches to her masterpiece: Japanese characters that spelled out the phrase that Jack's grandmother, Rani, had taught them: "When spiders unite, they can tie up a lion".

Her smile was shaken suddenly as the ground shook beneath her feet. Miko looked around, black pigtails whipping back and forth. Her eyes widened as a slim silver figure landed in a crouch and deposited the disoriented figure of Sierra Cody to the ground. Its mouth moved—Miko thought it looked like it was saying "Hide", and it turned away from them. A second giant with what looked like blades on its back landed, knocking Miko off her feet, and the silver one darted forward to intercept it.

Whoa! Miko signed as Starscream landed a flurry of light punches only to be sent helm over pedes with one mighty blow. The air commander landed back upright and skidded to a halt, taking a moment to wipe a trickle of energon from his faceplate before charging back into the fray.

A sonic shockwave staggered them both as Soundwave transformed in midair and landed on the Autotrooper's shoulders. His momentum brought them both to the ground as the younger Decepticon threw a punch powerful enough to send sparks flying from the drone's mask. The Autobot struggled feebly, but succumbed, sending out a distress call as it went offline.

The spy threw his arms into the air in a "field goal" pose, and his visor displayed the words "K.O.!", announced by an authoritative voice. His celebration was short-lived.

Two more helicopters soon took the place of the second, transforming in seconds and ready to fight. Sierra grabbed Miko's hand and dragged her to the end of the tunnel, hoping to find shelter. One of the drones caught sight of them and gave chase immediately.

There were no places to hide in the underpass; Sierra glared at the giant and bent over to shelter Miko with her own body. The ungainly creature reached out one hand to seize the girls...and was tackled by Soundwave, who rammed him into the wall. The Autotrooper fell with a crash, with most of the sunset mural now on his chassis instead of the underpass.

The spy glanced from the ruined painting to the little girl who was still covered in the same colors, and hung his helm. He made a fist over his spark chamber and circled it clockwise twice. Sorry.

The artist beamed and moved her sideways hand up from the palm of her other hand twice. It's alright.

For a mech with no face, Soundwave looked relieved. The Autotrooper at his pedes began to stir, and Soundwave made a snap decision.

The steely white Decepticon crouched in front of the two girl and held his hands out coaxingly.

"What are you?" Sierra whispered.

In response, the theme music from "The X-Files" began playing from the visor, along with the picture of the Enterprise from "Star Trek". The reactions were mixed.

Miko clapped her hands and bounced up and down with excitement. And Pilar Esquivel said that only babies believed in aliens!

Sierra, on the other hand, had a hand to her chest in an attempt to not hyperventilate. "Aliens." she deadpanned. "Aliens are real. Ohhhh crud, crud, crud, crud!"

Sierra's life was officially out-of-control.

As the Autotrooper behind them began to push itself upright, Soundwave lost patience and scooped the two humans up into his arms. He turned to where Starscream had just put a rocket through the helm of the other trooper and held Sierra out towards him.

"It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!" his visor read.

Starscream looked down at the humans and sighed. "Knockout is going to have a fit!"

He transformed and Soundwave deposited Sierra into his cockpit, neither wanting to subject the highschooler to the vertigo of before. As the restraints wound around her, Sierra tried unsuccessfully to move past the cognitive roadblock set in place by the fact that aliens were real. She squeaked in surprise as the jet took off, with Soundwave carrying Miko behind them.

"Where are you taking us?" she asked, steadying her voice.

"Home," her rescuer said shortly. Sierra began to protest, but was quickly cut off. "My home, not yours."

Starscream said little else the entire flight. He was trying to convince himself that this wasn't a really bad idea, and that no one would have a problem with adding two more fleshlings to the fold. After all, he reasoned, there hadn't been a problem when Airachnid and Breakdown adopted June, and everyone loved Pax!

His more pragmatic side quashed the optimism with the cold observation that June had been an orphan and Pax was born a Decepticon. The red-head in his cockpit and the itty-bitty artist in Soundwave's probably had homes and families, and someone was bound to miss them if they disappeared.

More concerning was Sierra's suspicion that the Autotroopers knew where she lived and might target her loved ones. Not, of course, that the little human had any idea what an Autotrooper was. She still suspected her own government of wrongdoing...not that she would have been too far off in her guess.

Almost unconsciously, Starscream found himself checking his internal temperatures and pressure gauges to ensure that his passenger was comfortable. She was so fragile, this human, and yet she risked her life to protect the smaller one from the Autobots. She was a protector, just like him. He couldn't wait to get back to the Nemesis to show her to Skywarp—a cold, dead feeling washed over the young mech as he remembered why he couldn't.

It wasn't the first time it had happened, either. When experimenting in the lab, he still found himself holding a beaker behind him, "Here, 'Warp. Put this with the others."

But Skywarp never answered. Because Skywarp was dead, and he didn't even have the closure of a body to mourn. Cruelly, his subconscious began pointing out the similarities between his younger brother and the humans he was supposed to protect.

Shut up! Shut up! He vainly tried to block out his own voice. She isn't 'Warp, she's a hapless, helpless organic!

The organic in question piped up suddenly. "Thanks. For earlier, I mean."

Starscream grunted noncommittally and continued to fly, relieved by the sight of a Ground Bridge forming in midair. At least Soundwave was thinking clearly: Starscream had been prepared to fly all the way back to the Nemesis himself! The thought occurred to him suddenly as he and his companion flew through the vortex.

How in the name of the Thirteen am I going to explain this to Megatron?!


Jack couldn't concentrate.

He shoved his datapad away with a huff and rolled off the bunk. His mother threw him a sympathetic look.

"I know you're worried, sweetspark. You just need to trust Lord Megatron's judgment."

After sighting the Autobot drones at the K.O. Burger, Breakdown had called for an immediate Ground Bridge, barely escaping their pursuer. He hadn't even stopped to let Jack out when he transformed, passing the dizzy boy to Knockout.

"What's going on?" his old friend asked, but the roughened mech didn't even stop to answer.

He pelted down the bridge until he came to navigation, shouting, "Autobot activity in town!" Megatron frowned. Of all the times for Starscream to have gone off on his own!

"Soundwave! Go find Starscream!" he commanded, "I cannot help but feel that he's going to need backup."

He turned back to Breakdown. "Report," he said.

The soldier explained that he and Jack had gone to drive his little friend Sierra home from work, as they always did on Fridays, but that two Autotroopers were patrolling the streets next to the drive-in.

"They saw me, Lord Megatron," Breakdown groaned, "And what's worse: they saw Jack."

The collected Decepticons on the bridge stiffened. "And if they trace him to the school," Megatron slowly reasoned, "They will discover who his friends are and who can be used against us. They will target anyone perceived as our ally."

He whirled to the com and hailed Soundwave. "Addendum to previous orders," he said tersely, "If you should find the humans known as Sierra or Mikoto, bring them to the ship for their own safety!"

He strode back to Knock Out and Jack, who had been joined by June when the shouting started.

"What's going on, Lord Megatron?" the woman asked.

"Pax Minor was seen by an Autobot while he was with Breakdown," the titan grimly replied. "I fear you will have to withdraw him from school for his own protection."

June clenched her fists to keep them from trembling. It might look strange to other humans to pull her son out of school in the middle of the year, but she was not going to risk losing another family member. Especially not her own son.

"As you wish, Lord Megatron," she said softly.

"But exams are coming up!" the boy protested.

"The matter is not up for debate," Megatron said sternly, "You are not going back until we no longer have to worry about Autobots stalking the town!"

Jack wasn't satisfied. "My friends are in that town, aren't they in danger too? And what about Sierra? That Autobot saw her talking to me!"

June started. She knew Sierra Cody's parents: they ran a secret soup kitchen in Jasper for those who couldn't—or wouldn't—buy the government-issued credit-card. With food sales dropping, it was entirely possible that the troopers had been sent to find the charity and shut it down, rather than look for Decepticons. Jack was right: Sierra was in danger.

Megatron did not shy away from the boy's accusing gaze.

"I can't hide up here if the rest of my people are stuck down there with them!"

"Jackson."

Pax winced at the tone.

"I never asked you to agree with this decision. I am asking you to trust me," the Decepticon leader chided.

A klaxon from the bridge warned of a sudden energon reading from somewhere in Alaska. "Breakdown, with me," Megatron ordered, "Knock Out, when the others return they may need medical attention. See to it that Starscream does not manage to slip away without a tune-up this time!" A Ground Bridge opened as the two prepared to move out.

"Be careful, Dad," June called. Breakdown offered a half-hearted smile. "Sure, Junebug. Anything for you."

Airachnid's going to kill me. He thought as they entered the Bridge.