So, hey guys. I am so sorry this took so long to update. I haven't had the time to sit down and watch TF:P in order to know what's going on. I attempted to write this chapter without the help of the episode and just by reading the summary on the tfwiki. It didn't work. But I managed to write it yesterday, and didn't get the chance to update it until today because it got late and I was tired - and my mother and grandmother came down with the flu badly. Grandma wanted to throw up and mom was throwing up all morning. I hope I don't get it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

16 - Almost Feeling Like Prey - 16

The trip was long and quiet, but I couldn't make myself break the silence. I watched the stars go by and absentmindedly examined my servos and digits as time seemed to lose its purpose. Over and over I would count the five digits I had on each servo and look over all the scars that I had received either in the med bay or during battle. I knew my frame was riddled with scratches and scars, and it made me wonder if, if there was a slight chance I was going to survive this war, when we got Cybertron back…that I would be able to give myself a new paintjob—just so I didn't look like I had just been dragged down the road.

Wishful thinking. Prime still had to see me and decide if I was to live or not.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, the Solar System's farthest-out planet, Pluto, came into view. I watched it lazily as we passed it by. Excitement started to grow within me when we passed Jupiter and had to dodge our way through the asteroid belt. Quickly we made our way past Mars, and found ourselves rocketing towards the blue and green planet known as Earth.

My spark fluttered at the thought of being home and so close to Bumblebee. Nobody would understand how much I missed him, and I yearned to be with him.

Quickly, Ultra Magnus had the ship descend down through the atmosphere. "Ultra Magnus, sir, steer towards that sector of land there," I suggested, pointing towards the state of Nevada. "That was where I last saw members of Team Prime."

Magnus looked at me, but then steered the ship towards Nevada. I sat back as he used the ships scanners to scan for any Autobots on the ground. One signature popped up as we got closer to the ground, and it was located just inside the California side of the border between Cali and Nevada. Magnus steered the ship over to the area the signature was in, and soon we were close enough to the ground that I could see the highway we were flying over.

So the Autobot was on the move?

A speck appeared on the horizon, and quickly began growing larger by the second. In a matter of nanokliks, I could make out the shape of a very familiar two-wheeler and her human partner. "Arcee and Jack," I whispered with a relieved smile. So they were still okay.

We overshot them, and Magnus was forced to turn the ship around. Once the ship was facing them again, I caught a glimpse of them. Arcee had slammed on her breaks and her right side was facing us. Jack was staring at us wide-eyed. Magnus gently landed the ship, and left it on once he 'put it in park', so to speak.

"Come with me," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," I said respectfully, getting to my pedes. I understood his logic. If I was left without someone to watch me, I would have the chance to either sabotage the ship or commandeer it and get the heck out of dodge. But I didn't want to do that, anyway.

I followed him over to the part of the floor that would lower down through the floor and out through the bottom of the ship. I stood to his right and slightly behind him as the hatch opened and we were lowered down. A great deal of steam and other chemicals were released, clouding our view of Arcee and Jack.

Ultra Magnus strode forward with purpose, and I followed closely behind, trying to ignore how my arms were beginning to ache due to how heavy the stasis cuffs were. We stepped out of the steam in time to see Arcee put her blasters away with a relieved look on her face. "Jack, I don't think we're going to need that key card," she said. "Meet Ultra Magnus."

Jack didn't say anything. Arcee was eager to see someone of such rank, though. "No one's seen or heard from you since Cybertron went dark. How did you find your way to Earth?" she asked.

"Soldier, we may not be on Cybertron, but military protocol remains," Magnus stated bluntly.

"My apologies," Arcee said quickly, standing at attention. "Sir."

"Sir?" Jack asked.

"Advise the native lifeform to correct its tone as well," Magnus said gruffly, putting his fists on his hips.

That upset me a little. As Arcee bent down to explain who Magnus was to a severely displeased Jack, I stepped up beside Magnus and addressed him. "Ultra Magnus, sir, that 'it' is called a 'human', and he's a he, not an it," I said firmly. "I mean no disrespect, sir, but that human is a good friend of mine." The response I got was a glare.

"As for your broader question," Magnus said as soon as Arcee was done explaining. "I searched the stars for fellow Autobots but returned to Cybertron in hopes that I would find some there. I met up with the Dinobots, and stayed with them until sensors picked up a strong energy burst leading to this planet. During my time on Cybertron, I picked up this femme and decided that it would be better for Optimus Prime to judge her for her crimes as a Decepticon than it would be for me to do so."

All eyes and optics were suddenly on me. "Hi," was all I could muster up to say.

"Upon my arrival, it became apparent that this planet had been invaded. My scanners also detected Autobot life signals, yours being in closest proximity to my location."

"Signals, as in plural?" Jack asked, slightly excited. "…sir." he added.

"Six total," Magnus confirmed.

"Out of eight," Jack sighed.

Arcee looked down at him. "Jack, that doesn't necessarily mean what you're thinking," she said. "Autobots can't be detected if they're shielded."

Arcee explained what had happened during the time I had been on Cybertron, fighting to survive, and my spark plummeted when she said that Jack and her hadn't heard from the others since they had to evacuate the base. I felt so bad for them.

But before she could explain any more, the sound of a jet engine reached our audios. My wings drooped as my processor blanked with terror. The engine didn't sound like it belonged to Megatron, but it sure sounded like Starscream's.

Slowly, as one, we all turned and looked up. A pitch black jet descended from the skies and transformed, landing on the road. The mech was tall and intimidating, with a large wingspan. I felt teeny before him.

The sound of transformation suddenly reached my audios and I watched in wonder as the mech shrunk as he continued to walk, becoming smaller and smaller until he was about as tall as Bulkhead, and his armor turned from black to blue, white, and gold. His helm became domed in shape, and his red optics turned orange. He came to a stop before us, and my jaw dropped.

"Mirage?" I exclaimed in incredulity. I couldn't believe my optics. I hadn't seen him since before the war when I helped Knock Out mend his arm. I never expected him to join the war, I expected him to have fled to the stars along with all the other neutrals.

Mirage studied me for a few seconds before a small smirk appeared on his lips. "Ah, the femme medic. What a coincidence meeting you here. I heard you built yourself quite the reputation on the battlefield."

My black lips pulled back in a grimace. "Yeah. It's not something I'm proud of."

"Did you see any of the others, Mirage?" Arcee asked hopefully.

The blue mech nodded once. "Indeed. I spotted Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Miko near an identified Decepticon mine. I believe they were planning to blow it up."

"How far away are they?" Magnus asked.

"They are about one hundred klicks east of here, sir," Mirage replied.

"Good, let's load up and go pick them up before they get themselves into any trouble," Magnus said, turning back to the ramp. I followed close behind him, the stasis cuffs around my wrists beginning to cause strain on my shoulder joints. Once inside, I sat down on my seat.

As Magnus fired up the engines and we lifted off, I turned to look a Mirage. "So…how did you change your robot-form like you did back there?" I asked.

"That is classified information to you at this moment," he said roughly. "You are a Decepticon. I cannot tell you."

His words were harsh, and I knew he meant them to be harsh. I just found it slightly hard to handle them since the last time I saw him he had been so…nice.

The ship flew quickly towards the Decepticon's mine, and the sun set just as quickly. We came across the mine, and I was shocked at the sight of the huge metal dragon that was crawling up out of what looked to be the remains of the mine Mirage told us about.

Magnus fired up the ship's cannons and he fired two plasma bursts at the dragon before veering away from it. Magnus banked sharply, causing us passengers to hold onto the things closest to us to keep us from being thrown off our feet (or in my case: my seat).

We flew up behind the two running bots, and after passing over them, Magnus slowed the ship and lowered the ramp. I heard it drag until it rose back up, and Magnus put the ship into overdrive, causing it to shoot away from the scene.

Casually, I looked over at the two newest passengers and saw Wheeljack pointing a blaster at us. Until he realized who was in the ship with them.

"Hey," Jack greeted.

"Jack!" Miko cried at the same time Bulkhead said, "Arcee!"

He put Miko down and she ran over to Jack, jumping him with a hug as Bulkhead nearly crushed Arcee in a bear hug of his own. My spark wobbled at the sight, though I was happy for them. I just wanted a hug too. I was a very huggable person before I was shot by that Vehicon.

After Bulkhead put Arcee down, Wheeljack said, "Thanks for the save."

"Thank the Commander," Arcee said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, drawing attention to Magnus' large form sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Soldiers," Magnus greeted.

"You," Wheeljack said.

"Ultra Magnus?" Bulkhead sounded shocked. "It's an honour."

"It's an honour, sir," Magnus corrected.

Wheeljack looked down at Arcee. "I guess blowing that mine made us pretty easy to spot," he said.

"Mirage already had a bead on you," she said, nodding over to the sophisticated mech. "Care to tell us what exactly is nipping at our tailpipes?" They walked over a wall of computers.

"We think it's a robot dragon," Miko said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Or a Cybertronian reptile…" Jack inputed.

Suddenly, the ship listed to the left and Magnus said, "Brace yourselves!" The ship began to shake roughly and I gripped the sides of my seat tightly with my legs.

Magnus flew us through clouds and at strange angles in hopes to evade the robo-dragon that the computers said was hot on our heels. We managed to get behind it, and Magnus shot at it a few more times, though only one set hit the dragon. He kept shooting at it until it flew into a cloud bank and disappeared. We followed it in.

We saw no trace of it for several seconds before it suddenly rose up in front of us and heaved a great fireball in our direction. Magnus tried to steer the ship away from it, but it hit the ship. The ship began to make some pretty disturbing noises.

"Left engine has been hit," Magnus reported.

I struggled against my stasis cuffs, wishing they were off more than ever. "Let me loose, set me free," I said. "I can go out there and distract it for you guys so you can get away!"

"Not a chance," Magnus said gruffly. "No matter how much you express the desire to switch sides, I do not trust you enough to free you from your bonds."

I sighed and looked down.

The dragon circled behind us and continued to shoot fire our way. The ship went into a nosedive in hopes to pick up speed, but the dinosaur latched onto the ship, causing it to quake.

"It's right on top of us," Jack said right before the dragon peeked its head down in front of the front viewscreen and roared.

Despite myself and all I had been through, I found myself screaming in fear along with Jack and Miko. Magnus suddenly pushed the ship into a steeper nosedive and flew it into a canyon, causing me to slide forward off my seat and onto the floor, where my kneeguards caused me to skid and then tumble across the deck until I crashed into a console below the front viewscreen. I looked up at the seat I had just been sitting in and saw Mirage bracing himself against its back.

Magnus bashed the side of the ship into the canyon wall before flying through a pillar of rock in hopes to get the dragon off. The ship listed dangerously several times before we were flying straight up and then upside down.

With a mighty shutter, Magnus bashed the dragon into a hill of rock sticking up out of the ground, and it was wrenched from the top of the ship and left to lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the canyon as we flew away as fast as we could.

We were tense the entire ride to our next destination, which was out in the middle of another desert. The sun was beginning to rise as we approached what appeared to be a ship with three figures outside of it. By then I had managed to get to my pedes again, thank goodness, and I recognised one of the figures right away.

Bumblebee!

My spark sang for joy at the sight of my son.

Slowly, we landed, kicking up much dust as we did so. We all scrambled to get onto the ramp before it lowered—and it was a tight squeeze. Once on the ground, Miko ran out and swooped up the smallest of the three figures, Raf. The three humans had a joyous reunion as Ratchet said, "You're all alive," almost breathlessly.

Bumblebee twittered something quietly once we had all gotten off the ramp, and he caught sight of me. He squealed for joy and rushed me, swooping me up much like Miko did to Raf, and spun me around several times as he gave me a strong hug. "Danni!" he exclaimed. "You survived!"

"That I did, my little Bumblebee," I said, reaching up with both hands in order to cup his face.

"Ultra Magnus?" Ratchet questioned.

"Doctor," Magnus returned simply.

I smiled. "I'm liking the colour-switch, 'Bee," I praised.

"Yeah," Arcee said, showing her first smile in my direction since she laid eyes on me. "If I switched my colours, I'd be pink."

"As much as you wouldn't really appreciate it from me, Arcee, I think pink would look good on you," I said.

Her reply was an unimpressed look.

The sound of another jet engine reached my audios and I looked up. Magnus transformed both his servos into blasters and ran forward to attack, but Arcee whirled and stopped him. "That's Agent Fowler," she said. "He's one of us!"

The jet landed and out climbed Ms. Darby as well as Agent Fowler. Sobbing, Ms. Darby rushed over to Jack and hugged him tightly. "It's okay, Mom, I'm fine," Jack said before pushing Miko forward to be hugged by the woman.

"The only Autobot signatures Ultra Magnus was able to pick up are all standing right here," Arcee told Fowler.

"Maybe his scanners are faulty," Wheeljack suggested grimly.

"Prime and the kid's still unaccounted for," Bulkhead said sadly.

"Smokescreen bridged out unaccompanied, only Prime knows where," Ratchet piped up. "And Optimus remained behind to destroy the GroundBridge, to ensure that everyone else…made it to safety."

"I…watched the base go down," Fowler said sadly. "No one or thing walked out of there.

"Not that we could see," June added.

"Even if Prime survived, I'm not sure if we can wait for him to show up—not with Megatron holding our planet hostage from his high and mighty perch at Darkmount," Fowler explained.

"Oh, so he now has a fortress now, doesn't he?" I growled, not bothering to hide the venom in my voice.

Magnus walked forward. "I would be inclined to agree with the native lifeform," he said. "We must stop Megatron—with or without Optimus Prime."

The sense of finality hung over the group, making the air heavy with silence. There was silence until Fowler looked up at me. "So now can someone tell me why we have a Decepticon in our midst?"

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