Once inside the base, Jade glanced at Backdraft, who was standing in front of the main console. "We have to go help Bullet." she stated, giving Backdraft a meaningful look. Mic looked up from his computer console. "Oh, why?" he went back to typing. "Because, he's out there all alone. He was leading the Decepticons away from the spacebridge. That's why." she replied. "You're the one who left him out there on his own, you go help him." the white camaro mech replied, in an uninterested tone. Backdraft glanced at her, and the femme shivered slightly. As if he was imagining all the dark and painful things he could do to her. She didn't like it, and instead glanced at Scythe as the green mech walked in. "Scythe, please. We need to go help Bullet. He's out there, and I don't know if he's still with the Decepticons, fightiong them, hiding out, or where he is." she said.

The green mech held up a hand, and gave her a look that said "calm down." "Where did you see him last?" he asked, tone calm. "It was... he was leading the Decepticons away from the spacebridge, so I could get away. And Backdraft, too." she shot the darkly-colored seeker a look. He gave it right back. "I didn't need help from anyone. I got away just fine." he said, as though offended anyone would accuse him of requiring their help. "If you want tyo help him so bad, feel free to fly ouyt there. You're the one who left him there." he refolded his arms. "That's what I told her." mic muttered from behind his console. Jade glared at him, but he didn't see it. "Please, Backdraft? We could really use your expertise as a flier. And you are part of this team, right?" Jade asked. "I don't have to do anything, and you don't tell me what to do, femme." he replied darkly. Scythe held up a hand, giving Jade a look for stating it so rudely. "Please. We could use your help. And, Bullet is one of the two people who rescued you, after all." he said.

Backdraft stalked over to him, standing slightly taller (by about two inches) than the dragon transformer. "I don't owe your little... troupe anything." he cast a glance at Jade again, and narrowed his optics, visible in their close proximity, at Scythe. "I could have waited a few hundred more years to be rescued by my people, I didn't ask for your help. So don't go assuming things about me." he stalked towards the door, only to find Razer and Dusk standing there. "They did rescue you, and there is no denying you owe the seeker and the Megatron- pretender your life." Razer stated. Backdraft growled softly under his breath. "What, do you deny that without their help you would not be here? that... we would not have you back, old friend?" the reddish-brown and black flier tilted his head. Backdraft sighed. He hated it when his trinemates did that to him. "Oh allrighht. I'll get the computer to find him." he snarked, jabbing a cpouple buttons on the console. "There, see?" he poked a thick finger at the viewscreen. It showed a silvery colored mech flying towards the base. "No sign of the Decepticons, or the autobots." he folded his arms and spared Scythe a sidelong glance. "Happy?"

scythe ducked his head in a type of bow. "Yes, thank you." he activated his comm. "Bullet, this is scythe, please respond." after a long moment, the silver mech onscreen raised a hand to his helmet. "Bullet here, are Jade and the new guy back at base yet?" Backdraft bristled at the comment. "My name is not "new guy." he grated. Dusk walked up, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He glared at the appendage, and removed it, giving the jet a somewhat hurt look. "Yes, they are here and they are unharmed. What is your status?" scythe asked. "I'm perfectly fine, thanks. I gave the Decepticons the slip about ten miles back. I'm on my way back to base right now."

"Roger, Syus out." the dragon closed the comm line and turned to the others. "Bullet will be back soon. Perthaps we should get everyone together for a meeting and exchange information." he suggested. Razer nodded. "And if I may," Jade put in, still with Starscream's voice "I'd like to get my original paint joba back, and my voice also. It's just a little annoying sounding like that whiny, screechy, snarky little seeker brat Starscream." she folded her arms. "You're telling me." Mic mutterred. Jade shot him a sarcastic "Seriously?" look. He shrugged, as though silently saying "What? I'm just saying." Jade rolled her optics and shook her head slightly, like she was replying "Whatever." Backdraft perked an optic ridge. "Do they all do that?" he asked Razer, who shrugged silently, as though saying "I don't know. Backdraft snorted in disgust and headed for the door to the rest of the base "Whatever. I'm getting refueled and cleaned up. Call me when the boy scouts want to have a meeting." he jerked a thumb towards Scythe, then was gone.

"Wow." Jade breathed after he had dissapeared. "Is he allways like that?" she asked. Razer simply nodded. "Hm." the femme looked towards the door he had dissapeared through. Then blinked as it opened to reveal a stunned-looking little black car. Gobee walked in with s tunned look, round optics, and rather shaky. "Ah, I see you've met our newest addition, Backdraft." Scythe said, amusement coloring his tone. Jade snickered. Dusk turned away with a smile. "Come on Jade, let's get you back to being you." She led the starscream-lookalike out of the room, leaving Razer, Scythe, Mic, and Gobee.

A few minutes later, Bullet landed, glancing around quickly before he put his hand flat against the sensor panel, which looked like any ordinary rock. The chime sounded inside the base, and Razer pressed a button on the console. The door slid open, and the silver Megatron mimic walked in. He looked around the darkened corridor which led to the base, wondering if anyone ever took the notion to lurk up there in the darkness. He shruggede it off, even though he felt like he was being watched. A tiny security camera swiveled to follow his movement. Inside the base, Razer opened the inner door, resetting the security camera that had been spying on Bullet. Scythe turned to greet him. "Welcome back." he nodded. Backdraft mumbled from one side and dissapeared into the edges of the room, which were masked by the darkness. THe Dragon wondered when he had reappeared, and if he had ever left at all. He shrugged it off.

Bullet watched him go, then after a minute asked "Did Jade make it back okay?" Scythe nodded. "Yes, she is with Dusk." The silver mech nodded. "Good." then after a moment added "I should probably go get my colors put back the way they're suppoed to look." he looked sown at his sidepanels, which were Megatron-red intead of bullet-blue. "And get my canon put back in it's right place." he looked at his arm where the armcannon was supposed to be. Instead, it was on the other arm, identical to Megatron. The cavern door swished open, and Jade, Dusk, Windstriker, and Wyldkat walked through. Winstriker grinned. "Back to normal. Although..." the purple a-10 Thunderbolt have Jade a considering look. "Normalcy *is* relative, especially for you." she snickered. "Hah ha. Byte me." Jade deadpanned, pretending not to be amused.

"Now, now, ladies." Wyldkat chirped from behind them "We should be thankful we're back at base in one peice." the steel-blue carfemme smiled. "Agreed." Dusk sounded honestly thankful for their safety. She glanced around. "Say, where is Backdraft?" she asked. Needle popped up from behind the computer. "Got the satellite link totally fixed." he wiped off his hands. "And he went thattaway." he pointed towards the shadows. "Tattletail." Gobbe remarked huffily. He actually preferred the black and orange seeker to be nowhere any of them could see him. Or be the target of his snarky comments or glares. Dusk followed his gaze, and Backdraft reappeared from the shadows. "You called?" He glanced at Gobee who took an involuntary step backwards. Scythe looked at the assembled groups. "Is everyone present?" he said. Bullet did a mental headcount. Scythe, Himself, Razer, Dusk, Backdraft, Mic, Needle, Gobee, windstriker, Jade, and Wyldkay. "Yup, we're all here." he said. Scythe nodded and walked over to the computer.

"Good, then we can start. First off..." he pressed a button, bringing up an image of the Transmognifier, only an image created from a bunch of lines rather than an actual image. "This is the device that brought us to this dimension..." he started. "I don't believe it." Backdraft said under his breath, tone amazed. He thought the deivce had been lost millenia age. Scythe looked over his shoulder at the seeker. "I presume you know something about this device and it's function?" he asked. "Well, I..." Backdraft walked over next to where the green dragon-former was standing. "I don't know much, but that," he pointed to the device, "is almost a, how would your people put it, a ledgend?" he looked at the image. "It was supposedly lost millenia ago, on Cybertron. But how did it find it's way here?" hgew looked over at Scythe. The green dragon ruffled his wings slightly. That jet's gaze was cold. "I don't know, I was hoping you could tell us." He looked back at the f-18. Backdraft's optic roidges went up. "Me? why, I don't know anything about that device."

"That's not what Razer and Dusk told us." scythe said, deciding to state it nicely before anyone else on his team could say it any ruder. "They did?" backdraft looked at Dusk and Raqzer, then back at Scythe. "I'm sorry to dissapoint you, but I don't know anything about the device, aside from that it can turn Transformers into fleshies, and vice versa." he shrugged. Scythe nodded. "We know that."

"Yeah, from experience." Windstriker put in from the edge of the lighted area. The femmejet was leaning against a rock outcropping. Backdraft glanced at her, then turned and looked. "Really?" his tone was disbelieving, slightly amazed, even. He looked at the assembled group. "you mean, you all are... squishies?" he asked. Mic snorted. "We prefer to be called humans." Backdraft nodded. "My apologies. Hue-manns." Winstriker rolled her optics to look at Jade who silently shushed her. The seeker was trying to get her purple friend not to make Star Trek references (aloud, at least) about how other species's pronounced the word. She leaned over so Winstriker could lean over to her and whisper "He says it like a ferengi."

"Shh!" Jade shushed. Scythe heard and turned. "You have something to add?"

"No, nope." both femmes said almost at the same time. "Nothing to add." Jade shook her head and Winstriker pretended to be comtemplating the ceiling rocks.

Scythe regaurded them both for a second, then turned back to Backdraft. "We were under the impression." he flicked a glance to Dusk in the background "That you had knowledge on how the device works, and that you could help us return to our home-dimension." he said evenly. Backdraft spread his hands, as though powerless. "I'm sorry, but I don't have that information. I wish I did, it would be a great place to hide out from the Decepticons." In the background Jade muffled a moan. "No wonder the device had been hidden", she thought.

Bullet stood up and silently walked out. The look on his face said what everyone was thinking. They had been had,. Tricked into rescuing someone who wasn't able to help them, just someone Razer and Dusk wanted back, and the group had been their pawn the entire time, rescuing their "friend" for the fliers. Heaven only knew if this guy was a crimnal or something. They had been used. Mic stood, practiucally snarling. "You mean to tell me..." he pointed this near-shout at Razer "That you sent them to Cybertron to rescue one of your friends just because you wanted him rescued! I'll bet you knew the entire time he had no knowledge on how to get us back home, Didn't you!"

"Mic, calm down." Scythe held up a hand, but the white camaro continued, stalking forward as he ranted. "You used us to play your little... your henchmen! Your little pawns! You wanted someone to break into.. whats-his-name's prison and rescue one of your friends, and you just had to find just the right the SUCKERS to do it for you!"

Razer said nothing, but his visage darkened. "We had no idea Backdraft didn't know. We honestly though he knew about the function and capabilities of the device-"

"Liar!" Mic practically roared.

"Enough." Scythe got between them, mere inches from his friend. If the camaro mech wanted to attack Razerr or Dusk, he would have to attack the dragon-bot first. "It doesn't matter, mic. We will find our way home. With or without them." he paused, waiting for Mic's anger to subside. But the camaro still glared daggers at the darkly colored flier, and also cast his death-glare at Backdraft, who's face was blank. He didn't seem angry or threatened by the camaro's ire. "I'm sorry." Razer amended. "For what it is worth, Our third trine member was studying the device for a time. We were under the impression he knew what it could do." he cast his optics to the floor. We shall do everything in our power to help you return home."

Mic glared for a minute longer, then spat "Whatever." and stalked through the door.

Wyldkat started to follow, but Scythe stopped her. "No, let him go cool off. He needs time to mull this over." he glanced at Razer and Backdraft, who were nearly side by side, and then looked back at his group. "We need to start finding another way to reopen that doorway from this world to our own." he stated.

"If I may." Dusk voiced softly from the side. "Um, Razer and I were once scientists, perhaps we can use the base's computer to figure out what the energy readings were, and how this... vortes, you called it? how this anomoly was created, and find a way to make another one to return you to your home." Scythe nodded. "That would be best." he simply said. He let his offended tone say anything else that needed said for him. Jade watched the exchange from next to Gobee, heads going back and forth like they were watching a game of ping pong. Scythe walked out, and Needle was whispering to Windstriker aboout something. Neither of them seemed to happy about this new development, either.

End Notes:

Sorry, I seem to have lost the previous version of the end notes, oops. Anyway, here's my notes. I just wanted to say that 1: this wasn't quite the scene I had picked out from my headspace.

2. Mic is becoming less like the friend I modeled him after and more like a fictional character (what I want him to be), and I wanted to say that cause I don't want to insult my friend. Mic is way way WAY different. Wow. Just... I honestly don't know what happenned there. lol.

3. I can't find the fic the arguing scene was supposed to be based off of. It was a fiction snippet, written for the fanchar100 prompt "Blame". I can't find the hard copy (notebook paper copy) either. That's just wierd. It's really really short, though. So it shouldn't be that much trouble to retype. I just don't remember exactly how the scene went at all. darn. Oh well.

4. Wow, the team's first fight. Wouldya lookee there! This scene was very hard to write, though. I wanted to have everyone talking and arguing all at once, but my Mic-muse wouldn't go for it. The chara has enough ammo as it was, and I tend to write following my muses rather than a plotted storyline. So writing this is somewhat of an adventure and discovery, as it is for the readers.

5. I need a beta-reader. Slaggit all. I'm tired of missing stuff, then going back and discovering mistakes while reading, even when I give the finished fic a once-over before posting it. I just get so eager to get it up so people can read it. But since nobody has read this fic, and it looks like nobody is interested, I guess I have time.

Well, I need to go gather some bunnies for the next chapter.

You will also see peices of fanchar100 fiction "Down to Earth" and "Walking on a Wire" later. *grin*. My humor-bunnies pop up out of nowhere sometimes. I might have parts of "sunrise" in there as well. I'll probably rewrite them so I can count them towards my total wordcount. Heh.

Questions, comments, and reviews welcomed! Flames will be used to fry random Decepticons on an open spit. :-p