Sorry this update took so long. I've been down in the dumps lately. And it isn't because of college either...I've got the college thing all worked out and it's going good. My grandpa died Thursday...and while it was a blessing because he was suffering...we still really miss him. My great-grandmother passed away three weeks ago so I was just starting to get over that, but it seems I have to begin the healing process all over again. Anyways, enough of my lamenting, you've been waiting for this chapter so I won't keep you from it any longer.

6. The Runaways

He figured they could call themselves runaways. But the Decepticon membership had increased so much over the last year and half that Megatron decided to split some of the Decepticons into groups, go around different parts of the city at night, and hang fliers promoting their organization. They had their comlinks synced with each other in case anybody got lost they could radio for help. They were going in groups of two and three around the city, Nightbird and Blackarachnia, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp, Sideways and Soundwave, and Megatron and Megabyte.

They had split the city into sectors. Nightbird and Blackarachnia were going through the shopping and entertainment centers, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp through the wealthier portion, Sideways and Soundwave through the middle class area, and Megatron and Megabyte through the poorer area, which happened to be the largest. And the task was pretty straightforward, go out and hang up or give out the fliers if one could until one didn't have any left. And that's how it went.

Each group had gone out that Friday after school had let out at the Academy. Each group hoped to be home before nightfall, and since the task was so simple, each group figured they could make that happen. They had told their parents that they would be hanging out until late so that they wouldn't worry. And most of the parents were okay with it since it was almost the end of their tenth year at the Academy. Most of them had wised up considerably, and starting their eleventh years, they would be focusing on their chosen career paths.

Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp had all chosen the same career path. They wanted to join the Cybertronian Air Force and fly combatively, expertly, and fast. Soundwave and Sideways were going into technological advancement to learn all they could about weapons, building new technologies, etc. Blackarachnia decided to take a career in science, while Nightbird chose a career in advanced martial arts. Megabyte chose a career in the medical field since she had always wanted to and Megatron chose one in politics and leadership. He was quite disgusted when he learned that Optimus Prime had chosen the same one.

Megatron knew that all of them would be learning how to fight as well, it was required on Cybertron. They had always had too in case of an attack. There gym classes had prepared them for it, but once they were in high school they started advanced military training. In order to graduate the Academy, one had to be expertly combative. Megatron knew that this would be valuable for the Decepticons. And he knew it was valuable that each of them were going into their specific careers. Diversity in talents was a key to victory.

And his plans and scheming CPU had been active lately trying to think of how he would go about conquering Cybertron. Even to him the whole idea of it sounded ridiculous, but it was something he wanted to achieve more than anything. He wanted revenge on society; he wanted to show everyone who didn't believe him that the corruption existed, that Cybertron was not perfect like Optimus portrayed it to be. And he knew that it was starting to become an unhealthy obsession.

"Hey Megatron, it's getting late and you're slowing us down," Megabyte stated suddenly, snapping him from his reverie.

"Sorry Megs…I was just thinking."

"You do that a lot," she said as she placed a flier on a streetlight.

Megatron glanced at the dwindling supply of fliers in his hand. He only had about ten left and darkness was quickly falling upon them. "Come on," he said as he began shoving the fliers into people's mailboxes, "This is a quick way to get rid of them so we can go home."

"Nice one," she exclaimed as she crossed the street and proceeded to do the same.

He watched her once he finished as she gracefully folded her last flier in half and placed it inside a mailbox. He felt at stab at his spark, knowing that he was going to miss her once eleventh year started. They wouldn't have the same classes anymore. He would be focusing on his and she would be focusing on hers. Over the next two years, both of them would be overloaded with so much information that they wouldn't have time to hang out. It was a stereotype that eleventh and twelfth year students had no life and slept with their books. Megatron knew that it would be a daunting task and one that he wasn't really looking forward too, he only hoped that he wouldn't be as busy as what he thought…and he hoped the same for Megabyte.

"How are things going with you and your dad?" he asked once she crossed back over to the side of the street that he was on.

She shrugged, "I can certainly complain, but whatever I've got a roof over my head. Come on, let's get home."

They started walking up the street the way they had come. In order to get home though, they had to go through a couple dark alleyways before they actually got back to the middle class area of the city. The alleyways were usually deserted at night, so neither Megatron nor Megabyte saw any reason to worry.

"How come you don't talk about your father much and what's going on at home?" Megatron inquired as they passed through one of the alleyways.

She sighed heavily and pursed her lips to the side as she searched for the right words to say. Finally she spoke, "There's no reason to. You don't talk about your foster home much."

Megatron wrinkled his nose, "Because there's nothing good to say. You know that."

She shrugged, "I'm not ready to completely tell the whole truth yet."

"Which brings me to another question…"

"Oh boy."

"That time last year during history class, when the teacher asked Optimus to do one of his speeches, why did you say you knew two students that were abused?"

"Because…" she hesitated, "I did."

"Who was the other one, besides me?"

"I promised them that I wouldn't tell."

"Megabyte…the rest of the people in that class weren't any of our friends and they were all Autobots. And I already know that none of them are anybody that you would associate with."

"I'll tell you later okay?"

"Megs, I tell you everything. You can trust me."

"I will tell you, just not right now."

"Why not? Whoever the person is that thinks they're being abused probably isn't. They probably just told you some sort of SOB story to make you believe them—

"Megatron! I know it's true!" she snapped, "Now learn how to be patient for Primus' sake. I'll tell you about it when I'm ready!"

Megatron saw he had made her mad and didn't pursue it any further. "Alright," he said, "I'll walk you home. You'll at least let me do that won't you?"

"I…guess so."

"Hold it kids."

Both Megatron and Megabyte turned to see a couple of older mechs standing a few feet behind them in the dark alleyway. They exchanged wary glances before taking a couple of cautious steps back. One of the mechs chuckled, "Come on now, you don't have to be afraid."

His friend laughed and took out a knife, "Yeah, just do what we say and there won't be any problems."

Megatron growled as he pulled Megabyte behind him, "What do you want?"

"Got any money on you…or anything else of value?"

"No—

"What about the femme?"

Megatron glanced back at Megabyte and she shook her head no. He turned back to the two mechs. "No," he said.

"Look punk," said the mech with the knife. He examined it briefly before continuing, "There's a lot of other mechs in this city that would love to get their hands on some young, virgin, femme flesh. And it's very hard to find a virgin now."

Megatron felt Megabyte suddenly squeeze his hand. "She's not one," he heard himself say, "So you better keep looking elsewhere."

"How do we know that you're not lying?"

Megabyte knew she had to do something. She let go of Megatron's hand and stepped out in front of him. She swallowed before she remarked, "Look you old fags, this bitch ain't going to tolerate no shit that you give her. I'm a lady and I don't like to talk about people I've slept with around two glitch heads such as yourselves. So you two leave us alone okay? We don't got nothing that you would want."

"Ah, f—k them bro, they aren't worth it."

The mech with the knife growled before he left the alleyway with his friend. Megabyte sighed relieved while Megatron grinned, "You know, you didn't have to say all that."

"Well…I didn't want to be taken either."

"I could've handled them if they tried anything," he remarked and then chuckled, "You sounded like some street whore."

"That's what I was going for."

"I know you haven't slept with anyone."

"Let's get moving in case those guys are still around," Megabyte suggested as she quickly turned towards the exit of the alleyway.

"Yeah, good idea," he replied as he followed after her. When they were a ways away from the alley, he asked, "So, where do you live?"

"About a fifteen minute walk from here. You can go home if you want."

Megatron shook his head, "Not after what happened at that alleyway."

She nodded, "Okay."

And they continued in silence. Megatron sighed and knew he should've been honest. That wasn't the first time he had been stuck in an alleyway like that before. He had been robbed and beaten, but he had since learned how to defend himself. No, he didn't carry any weapons, he didn't need any. Usually his brute force was enough to make anyone leave. The knife that the mech had pulled out hadn't scared him either. His own step-father had come after him with knives before; he knew how to stop those attacks.

He didn't want Megabyte involved though. He would protect her with his life before anyone or anything could harm her. He was almost happy she had chosen a profession as a medic. No he couldn't keep her from seeing the brutality of fighting, but he could keep her from being involved in the fighting itself. But he couldn't figure out why he was so protective of her. She had never tossed him aside; she had always made him her number one priority. Perhaps he was only doing the same.

Megabyte suddenly stopped in front of a small house and said, "This is it."

Megatron glanced around a bit surprised. He had always pictured Megabyte living in a nicer home than this. This one looked a little run down and rough around the edges, kind of like his home. The lights were on downstairs and there was also a light coming from an upstairs window. He noticed Megabyte looking at the upstairs window with a sullen look on her face. "Looks like dad's girlfriend is here again," she murmured.

"Don't like her?"

"Not really. Whenever she's over, dad gets drinking and stuff. But um, I'll see you later."

But before Megatron could say his goodbyes and before Megabyte could step towards the house, the front door burst open and a black mech emerged from inside the home. "Megabyte!" he yelled, "Where have you been?"

"Dad," she responded, "I told you I was going to be out with my friends until late."

"No you didn't," he snapped angrily.

Megabyte glanced over to Megatron, "You should…go."

Megatron nodded but before he could walk away, her father shouted, "Hold on a second, just who is he Megabyte?"

"My friend Megatron…I've told you about him."

"No you haven't! You don't tell me anything Megabyte."

A femme suddenly appeared behind him in the doorway. She placed an arm around him and said, "Honey, can't you just get rid of her for the night, like you usually do when I'm here?"

"I suppose," he answered, "But I need to teach her a lesson first to show her for not telling me where she was going."

"Okay, but hurry up," the femme remarked as she walked back inside.

Megabyte didn't have time to react as her father walked up to her and slapped her hard across the face. "That's what you get," he said, "Do it again, and next time you'll be lucky if you can crawl away. Do you understand?"

"Yes dad," she mumbled, trying to blink back the tears.

"What was that?" he asked, slapping her again, causing Megatron to wince.

"Yes sir," she answered loudly.

"Good. Now get your aft out of here and don't come back until Monday."

"Yes sir."

He kicked her before he went back inside and locked the door. Megabyte hesitantly looked to Megatron who was clenching his hands into tight fists. "You should've told me…" he remarked, anger seething through his circuits, "That the other person was you."

Megabyte turned away from him, tears threatening to spill out of her optics. She didn't know what to say, but she didn't want to stay around the house for too long in case her father came back out. She started to walk away and Megatron stopped her by saying, "Where are you going?"

"Out of view of my dad," she answered as she continued walking. She heard Megatron catch up to her and she glanced over at him as they turned a corner.

They ended up walking down a quiet street and no one was around. Megatron sighed heavily before he grabbed Megabyte's hand and stopped her. "Megabyte," he said, "I know it's hard to talk about…but I just want you to know that you don't have to be afraid to tell me anything. You can trust me; I would never, ever hurt you."

She turned and looked at him, tears still in her optics, "I know…I just didn't know how to tell you…"

"Well, now you don't have to worry about it. And a lot of things in the past that didn't make sense now are crystal clear. He's been treating you like that all your life hasn't he?"

Megabyte slowly nodded, "Yeah, but as I got older it got worse."

"I know that's what happened with me. Well, if he doesn't want you at home this weekend, where are you going to go?"

"I usually go over to Nightbird's or Blackarachnia's."

"Don't they ever wonder why you stay over so much?"

"Sometimes…but I just tell them I don't like my dad's girlfriend."

"How long have you been staying with them during the weekends?"

"For a year or two, and it's not every weekend...just most weekends."

"We should get our own place somewhere. Eleventh year the Academy starts paying the student to come."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"People would think we're sleeping together."

"We wouldn't be though…we could keep it a secret."

"Maybe then."

"Where are you going to go tonight?"

"I'm not sure. I'll stop by both places and see if I can spend at least tonight somewhere."

"Maybe you can come to my place. I wouldn't let my stepparents do anything to you."

"I'm not sure they could do anything worse to me than what my own father would."

"Well, let's try my place first then."

"Hopefully they don't kick you out either."

"Then we'll find somewhere else. Come on," he said as he started leading her to his house.

It took them about half an hour to get there. The sun had long since set by the time they got there and both Megatron and Megabyte were beginning to get tired from all the walking around they had done that evening. Hesitantly, Megatron led Megabyte up to the front door and he opened the door. His stepmother was watching a monitor in the living area, while his stepfather was typing on a computer.

"Evening Megatron," his stepmother said as she turned off the monitor, "Who's this?"

"Megabyte," he answered flatly.

His stepfather turned towards them with a grin, "Oh, so this is the infamous Megabyte that we hear so much about?"

He nodded, "Yeah…I was wondering if she could stay the night."

"I…don't know…" his stepmother began.

"Most certainly," his stepfather replied, "Make yourself at home Megabyte."

"Thank you sir," she remarked as she stepped further into the living area.

Megatron immediately took her upstairs to his room where he closed the door and told her she could sit wherever. She took a seat in the chair at his desk while he sat on his recharge berth. "Your stepparents seem really nice," she spoke.

"It's an act."

"It's pretty convincing."

Megatron shrugged, "Whatever, just as long as you don't see anything, I'd rather have you fall for their act."

"It'd be nice to have a real mother and father. I wonder how dad would be if my mother hadn't died. I don't think he would've become the mech that he is now."

"Same here, except I wish both of parents hadn't died," he said as he laid back and stared up at the ceiling, "My stepdad was almost too willing to let you stay the night…which isn't like him."

"Well, it's appreciated."

"Be careful."

"I will."

"And if you hear my stepparents making any sort of sexual noises during the night, I apologize. I've gotten used to hearing it, but I don't know if you are or not."

"Nope…I'll just try to tune it out if I do hear it."

After a couple more hours of talking and hanging out, Megatron's stepfather came up to tell Megatron that he needed to go to sleep. He also told Megabyte that she could sleep downstairs and he would show her where. After bidding Megatron a goodnight, Megabyte followed his stepfather out of the room and through a darkened home until they made it downstairs and to a small guest room.

"We don't use this room often," he said, "We usually don't have a lot of visitors."

"This is fine," she stated, "Thank you."

"You're welcome Megabyte."

She heard the door shut so she thought he had left and she sat down on the recharge berth. She nearly jumped out of her armor when she felt someone sit down next to her. Megabyte felt her tanks churn when she heard the door suddenly click, locked. "Y-You're not leaving?" she stammered.

He chuckled, "Not for a little while…lay down."

"B-But—

"Be quiet and do what I say."

She bolted from the recharge berth and ran over to the door, but it was locked so she couldn't get it open. She turned and pressed her back to the door only to see the mech walking towards her. "N-No…" she heard herself say, "Let me go!"

"This will be over as quickly as a bad dream," he said as he reached her.

Megabyte cringed when she felt his hand trace down her torso. "Stop it!" she shouted as she batted his hands away, "Just let me go, I won't stay here!"

He ignored her and grabbed her by the arm before dragging her back over to the recharge berth.

Megatron was trying to sleep, but he thought he heard Megabyte shouting. The guest room was right below his, so he decided he would check on her to make sure she was alright. He got up and slowly made his way to the guest room. By the time he got there, the shouting had stopped, but he thought he could hear his stepfather's groans from inside. Alarmed, he quickened his pace until he got to the door. Hesitantly he opened the door only to feel his tanks churn so violently he thought he would be sick.

His stepfather was sitting on the edge of the recharge berth; Megabyte was on her knees between his legs, his interface in her mouth. And Megatron could tell from the tears streaming down her face that Megabyte had not been a willing participant, especially by the way his stepfather was holding her head securely in place.

"Let her go!" he screamed as he ran into the room and ripped Megabyte away from his stepfather.

"M-Megatron!" he remarked surprised, "What are you doing in here? Why aren't you recharging?"

"What in the pit are you doing to Megabyte?" he yelled.

"It's none of your business," he answered as he put his armor back on, "Now get out."

But Megatron's anger got the best of him. He slammed his fist into his stepfather's face with all his might. But one punch wasn't enough. He kept punching his stepfather until his superior finally pushed him away. Megatron then grabbed Megabyte by the arm and ran out of the house with her, his stepfather screaming obscenities behind them.

Megatron didn't stop running until they reach the edge of the city and they couldn't run any further. Megabyte forced him to stop as she doubled over and threw up. Megatron held onto her numbly as she did so, and once she was done, she wiped her mouth and looked up at him, tears still streaming from her optics. "Why did he do that to me?" she demanded.

He grabbed a hold of her and held her against him, hugging her tightly. She sobbed into his chest, "I don't know how you can live with them."

"I'm not going back there, ever."

"I can't believe…I just can't…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

He hugged her tighter, "Are you alright?"

"I…I think so."

"Do you think you're alright enough to find a place to sleep?"

"Yeah…we could stay here."

Megatron glanced around. There was an abandoned building that they could take refuge in for the weekend. "Come on," he said as he took her hand and led her inside.

The building wasn't in that bad of shape, and after a little looking around, they managed to find a recharge berth that was big enough for both of them. They both laid down on it together and Megatron pulled Megabyte close to him. "I'm really sorry about what happened," he apologized.

"It wasn't your fault. You were just trying to help; neither of us knew that was going to happen."

"Still…"

"Let's just get some recharge."

"Alright…night Megs."

"Goodnight Megatron."

He watched her as she fell asleep. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to be the same after this.

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