No matter what

by LucyDandaelion

Every sentient being possesses the capacity for change. But sometimes it takes a helping factor to induce a change. Will this factor be able to change Megatron, the Decepticons at all and influence the outcome of the war? *Takes place after Megatron has been buried under tons of rocks inside an energon mine*

7. A face

Soundwave was intrigued. Not only has the human obviously found out about or was at least suspecting the nature of what has changed her physical form, but she also managed to hide her research from him for quite some time. Now, the silent mech followed the stream of information Fave was trying to grasp while walking straight to the science lab she was researching in. Right now, she was turning the database upside down in an attempt to find out more about Primus and the creation of cybertronian life. She seemed to have searched everything in order to get an extensive picture: historical records, scientific entries, literature even. Right now though, she was taking a break to study a visual file.

Soundwave reached the lab. He knew the woman was aware of being observed by him, so she wasn't startled at all when the silent mech entered. She did not even turn away from the monitor which was displaying a breathtaking picture of Cybertron.

Of a living Cybertron.

Soundwave joined her at the console and waited, staring at his home planet himself. He remembered it vividly as if it had been only yesterday. The glorious buildings, the infrastructure, the technology, the landscapes like the sea of rust, the impressive capitols Kaon and Iacon, the Well of Allsparks. He remembered his brethren in a time when he had not need to distinguish Autobot from Decepticon, but he also recalled the high council, the social problems such as the inequality among the classes and the corruption. He remembered being one of the lower-class Bots, meeting Megatron and being utterly consumed by the gladiator's visions. Then, the conflict escalated, the war began and with it came the destruction of his home. The moment their planet's core shut down eventually, not being able to bear any more fighting…

Soundwave shut down the image abruptly, almost angrily, and replaced it with one showing the current state of Cybertron, reminding him harshly of the present. Fave took a moment, not interrupting the silence for a while. There were emotions she had to deal with as well but those were originated by memories and feelings which were not her own. Soundwave on the other hand…

She turned around eventually to look at the silent mech.

'Is that why you do not speak?' she asked softly.

Again, Soundwave found himself fascinated by the human's intelligence. Or intuition. Whatever it was, it was good. He nodded.

'Indeed. The day Cybertron went dark I made the vow of silence. I vowed not to speak or make any other sound by using my own voice until the day Cybertron will power up again.'

Fave looked up at him in surprise. 'So, there IS a way to revive Cybertron? I did not stumble upon any information pointing in that direction, to something that might be able to revive a whole planet. What is it? What can bring Cybertron back to live?', she asked excitedly.

'Unknown,' Soundwave simply answered, surprising the woman again.

Soundwave truly did not know but that has not deterred him from making the vow nonetheless. It was the only thing the Decepticon was allowing himself to believe in. Their ancestors knew many secrets, they had much more advanced technology at their disposal than what he considered modern tech. There surely must be a way.

'You have placed a subroutine while searching the database which has triggered a silent alarm', he explained, changing the uncomfortable subject, 'It would have made the ship decloak if I had not fixed the problem. I even believed we had an intruder on board.'

'What?!' Fave paled and stuttered: 'I…I did not realize…'

'You have been able to mask your presence in the cybersystem quite good, I give you credit for that. However, you only have begun to learn so you may cause serious damage if you continue to access the ship's systems without supervision. I need not be present at any time, but I need to see what you are doing if problems arise. Thus, I hereby forbid you to mask your presence in the cybersystems on this ship outside our lessons.'

'Yes. Understood,' Fave swallowed hard, 'Sorry, Wave!' she waited for the silent mech to continue but he obviously was done scolding her, so, looking at the monitor again, she asked instead: 'Did you know?'

The purple mech knew what she was talking about right away. 'That you seem to be our lord's sparkling? Fave, everyone on the Nemesis knows', Soundwave answered a little amused due to the woman's puzzled expression, 'but no one talks about it in order to prevent themselves from being beaten to death by our leader. I advise you to do the same. Being… punished by our master is an experience everyone wishes to avoid. Except for Starscream as it seems.'

'The commander truly seems to be lord Megatron's favorite punching bag for some reason,' Fave grimaced pitifully, 'I wonder how he became second in command… But do not change the subject! How is it that I had to figure it out while everyone already knew from the beginning?'

'We didn't,' Soundwave responded, 'Not from the beginning. It was a theory which no one believed in. It still is a theory after all for something like this never happened before. You have been forced upon our master. He did not wish for a sparkling, especially not for a weak and pitiful human one.'

Fave made a face and placed her hand over her spark dramatically. 'Ouch.'

Soundwave did not imply in any way that he did not mean it. After Fave has disappeared for days, taken by the Autobots, no one believed to see her again so soon, yet alone her trying to escape the enemy. She was a human after all. The Autobots were protecting humankind while the Decepticons were attempting to claim earth and its rich energon deposits for their own, regardless of any damage they might inflict upon humanity. Granted, as well as the Autobots, they try not to reveal themselves in order to prevent military steps on the side of the fleshlings. Humans may be small and weak but their weapons, especially if they decided to unite their forces, could cause serious damage to the Nemesis. But in the end, humankind will be conquered, there was no doubt about that. Fave knew that but she returned regardless. On her own!

'I will now show you how you caused the alarm. Pay close attention so that this won't happen again.'

Fave complied and focused on what Soundwave was showing her, wincing now and then when she realized her missteps earlier. Soundwave, while simultaneously explaining things, answered Fave's questions about Primus and Cybertron and many other things she has not been able to fully comprehend during her hidden research.

'I want to go there, Wave! I want to see Cybertron with my own eyes!'

Soundwave recalled how much he has been taken aback when the human invaded the cybersystems he has been in alone from the beginning of his function for the first time. With the vow of silence, it has been the first time he actually talked to someone since Cybertron shut down. He did not even realize back then, that he had talked to her until lord Megatron interfered. He wondered when did 'Wave' start to enjoy their lessons… and their conversations.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Starscream almost died of laughter when seeing how Fave tried to land on a tree's branch for the umpteen time, missing and hitting every single branch other than the one she has attempted to reach on her way down until she hit the ground. After she has claimed that she always landed exactly where she intended to, a statement which the experienced seeker knew was a lie, he ordered her to land on a branch to prove her claims, not knowing how much it would brighten his day.

"Nope. You missed."

"You think?", came a painful groan from somewhere below a pile of leaves. It was dark already, but the seeker still was able to spot her easily due to her bright blue optics. Fave reappeared with a smirk, covered in small branches, leaves and dirt. She was wearing her battle dress for the first time which Knockout has constructed for her in order to make many things easier. In fact, they all were equipped with additional armor parts so why not her? It has been made from a dark silver material that was both, supple and robust and it kept her warm during flight. And because the doctor crafted it, it has not been enough to be only expedient of course, but it also had to look good. The seeker rolled his optics while remembering the pride with which the red mech has presented it to the impressed woman. It was one piece of tightly fitting material, covering almost the whole of her body, except for her hands, her feet and her head. Tightly fitting, knee-high, robust and silver boots with purple stripes on their sides fit perfectly to the as well purple protectors on her elbows and on her shoulders as well to the silver belt around her hip. A tiny silver earring on the tip of her right ear, serving her as a COMM link, rounded out the dress. The seeker wondered if the doctor chose those colors on purpose. Had their master seen the dress already?

"Good thing that I tamed my hair before leaving the Nemesis for a flight", she mused while trying to clean the dress on the surface so that Knockout would be less inclined to kill her, "If I didn't, I would have hung myself with them several times by now."

"I may be enjoying your hilarious attempts to improve your landing skills but in case you think this is only for my entertainment, you are wrong. Not only is it making a weak impression on a possible enemy, but it also endangers your life. If you got shot from the sky one day, and believe me you will when I begin to exercise attack and evasive maneuvers with you, you need to at least land properly to avoid further injuries or to hide from an attacker."

"I got it the first time you told me that, Starscream," she smirked, "I'm not doing this on purpose you know. It is much less fun than it may seem."

The silver seeker shook his helm, transformed and sped off again, followed by the young woman. He was circling this area with his student for quite some time now, playing hide and seek of sorts. As a matter of fact, she was good in hiding for she was small and flew very fast and precisely considering she only started to take flight lessons. She was talented but seeking things still seemed to be a problem. Or maybe he should reiterate some theoretical things about…

Fave stopped midair suddenly, just above a curious looking rock formation. The seeker stopped as well. Yes, he thought, it's getting warmer… "Is something wrong?" he asked innocently.

She pointed her hand in direction of the rocks. "Is that possibly an energon deposit?"

"You tell me."

She frowned at the seeker, then chuckled. "You knew it was here the whole time! And here I was beginning to wonder why we kept flying around China's mountains for hours now.

"And I was wondering what took you so long."

She laughed. She did that a lot lately, especially when flying with the seeker. "That is not fair, Starscream! It's dark, I barely can see my surroundings. And, if I see correctly, this is a very small deposit. You sure know of its location for much longer, but it would seem it's not even worth the time to mine here."

"You never have been in desperate need of energon, Fave. If you had been, you wouldn't say something like that so carelessly. But you are right. This deposit actually is too small to even bring the drilling inventory down here. But to know its location is an advantage nevertheless, just in case of emergency. It is also monitored in case the Autobots uncover it as well."

"Would you give me a moment?", the woman asked but she did not give the commander the opportunity to answer when she sped off to the ground. The seeker huffed angrily. Maybe he should again explain the chain of command to the human! However, he couldn't remember the last time he had the freedom to fly around this extensively. It reminded him of his time as the leader of the seeker armada back on Cybertron. How they have been admired for being the ones to find the much-needed energy sources and for their flying skills. Then the war came to him and to his seekers and he lost one after another, even Skywarp and Thundercracker. The Vehicons on the Nemesis were no seeker material at all. Too dumb and they were not enjoying flying the way Starscream and his former seekers did. Fave on the other hand…

…just came back from where the energon deposit was located with a small piece of energon in her tiny hand. Starscream frowned.

"Well, that should do the trick… for an hour or so."

She smirked. "I don't want to refine it. I want to keep it as a memory to my first energon discovery!"

"I don't know if that counts", the seeker retorted, "let's not forget I needed to push you for hours to spot the deposit."

"It counts", Fave decided and placed the energon shard in one of her belt's pockets, then looked up to the seeker mischievously. "Do we race back to the ship?"

"Of course we do", the commander said, glad he could hide his smirk while being in his jet mode, "you shall always be reminded that you are learning from the fastest seeker in the universe."

"Just you wait," she threatened, "one day, I will pass you in a flash."

"Not happening."

"and I will tell everyone that the student finally has surpassed his master!"

"Definitely not happening."

They pushed their thrusters, well, at least one of them did, and chased away. Of course, Starscream did not leave Fave far behind. She was still an amateur. Talented, but a beginner though and if she fell to the ground from this height, there wouldn't be much left of her and the less was left of her, the lesser would be left of him after his own master surpassed his beating skills. He recalled that he himself has not been allowed to fly alone at the beginning. Back on Cybertron, some recruits had disregarded that strict order and scrapped themselves. He had sneaked off himself a few times as well, like every young cadet of course, but he was the best flyer ever, even his mentor had admitted that once, AND he was kinda attached to his own life.

The silver seeker enjoyed the flight and even more the memories it triggered. It reminded him of better times and of his own skills. He has almost forgotten about them while being humiliated repeatedly under Megatron's command. He was a damn good seeker and the best flyer. Starscream felt a confidence he thought has been long gone. Hard to believe it took a human girl to remind him of that.

oooooooooooooooooooo

How was it possible, that Starscream and Soundwave alike kept briefing him on Fave's progress in dealing with cybersystems and during flight lessons on one hand and on the other she was failing him so miserably during combat training?

Megatron observed the woman seeking cover in order to prevent being hit by the blaster fire the Vehicon was so graciously gifting her with. The warlord was no idiot. He did not expect the most difficult maneuvers or her to kick the trooper's aft. Her task has been easy: to hit her attacker in the back once in order to pass to the next exercise. He wanted her to do so many times but right now, he would be surprised if she hit the Vehicon even once who seemed to have the time of his function right now. The training room was filled with debris, all potential hiding places. It should be easy to sneak from one spot to another, especially being as small as her, passing the Vehicon that way and hitting him. But every time she tried to do so, she either missed or exposed herself before she could even take aim.

"Enough!" Megatron hollered, "Get back to your station, soldier!"

The Vehicon bowed and rushed out of the room, undoubtedly intending to tell everyone about the 'training'.

"Fave! To me. Now!"

The miserable human peeked out from her hiding place before leaving it flying yet ducked as if she expected to be hit by Megatron himself. Gladly she has not been whining the whole training even after being hit several times during the exercises. She was tough. Even now, leaking energon from a multitude of minor injuries, she tried the best she could to hide she was in pain. The warlord liked that.

"Do you have an explanation for THIS?"

"I do…", she had to clear her throat", I do not, my lord."

Megatron was confused. He had expected her to perform better than what he just witnessed. He knew of her strong wish to defend herself, to be able to handle things on her own, and not to hide behind someone's back. He has seen her in action on the infected vessel, he knew what she was able to bear and what she was capable of, he knew there was potential! So, why does she perform so poorly even after several training sessions? At least the combat dress made by Knockout seemed to be indestructible.

"You disappoint me."

"I know, my lord", she answered, trying to speak up loud and clear instead of whispering frustrated, "I am sorry."

The hulking mech growled. "I do not want to hear apologies, I want progress! Next time you better be in better shape or so help me Primus, I will be the one shooting at you. Have I made myself clear?"

She nodded and waited for more… motivation to come, but Megatron was done obviously.

"You are dismissed. Get out of my sight!"

She made a face, turned around and left as fast as she dared.

Megatron remained in the training room which was a mess. He had to admit, he wasn't utterly disappointed for what he has feared the most during her trip to the Autobot's shelter did not occurred: She did not choose to stay with them. To keep her from the reach of his sworn enemies was the reason he had taken her to his ship in the first place. He still did not know enough about the nature of their bound rather than the rumors that already been spread. A sparkling! Ridiculous! And dangerous, if it proved to be the case. He wouldn't be able to kill her if necessary. He has not even been able to leave her in the desert to die on her own! She could be used as an effective shield against him and yet, that cursed bond has been most likely the reason why she returned. She couldn't be that stupid as not to realize the better place for her would have been to stay with the Autobots. Yet again, she escaped and above all: in a somewhat deceptive way.

Maybe I shall consider her as a valued advantage instead of fearing her to be my weak point, the warlord thought. She was an intelligent being and she knew about the Decepticon cause from their shared memories, from what she has been told and from what she has learned on her own so far. Regardless, she came back. However, the Decepticon leader wasn't convinced that to be her final decision. Did she truly wish to be here or was it only due to the bond beckoning her to him as it did him to her?

But why bother oneself with questions, that cannot be answered right now? He shall think of another line of training instead. The current one obviously wasn't working out the way he desired. But one thing was utterly clear: If she was to stay with the Decepticons, she was not allowed to be a burden in any way… or to bring shame upon him.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Knockout looked through his microscope and admitted to himself to be fascinated. Now that he knew more about human physiology, he realized how unique Fave's cells truly were. Right now, he was inspecting a small structure that seemed to be the source of her being able to transform.

"Like a tiny little t-cog in every cell. Insane!", the medic whispered and shook his helm. He looked over to a console, where Breakdown and Fave were playing a video game. What a sight that was as well! The hulking brute and a little human girl both holding a controller and running around in a virtual world as two so-called dragons. On top of that, Sparks was flying around the both of them while following his eponym on the screen excitedly. The medic would have joined them, but after he has fixed the woman who has returned from another training session with lord Megatron, something Knockout did not envy her for in the slightest, the scientist in him felt the urgent need to check some theories on the human's specific biology.

"Cynder, watch it!" Breakdown complained growling, "Roaar! Because of you that giant golem blew us into oblivion again! Can't you stay closer to me!?"

Fave had to hold tears of laughter. "Breakdown, we are chained to one another! Cynder cannot stay closer to Spyro than right now! We have to work as a team!"

Knockout did not even try to hide his amusement as he crossed his arms. Right after Fave came back from the training room, covered in her own energon, she took her small bottle and gulped almost half of the content at once, scowling like a bad-day-having Insecticon. So, the blue mech asked her if she wanted to shoot at something to ease the frustration. When seeing the game Breakdown and Knockout had secretly downloaded from the human's so-called internet, her face has brightened and after the medic wrapped her in several bandages, the distraction took place successfully. Now, the blue mech was more intrigued by the game than Fave was.

"Hey Sparks, catch!" Knockout called and threw a piece of scrap metal he did not need any longer in the air. It still was making him shiver hearing the noise the golden Scraplet made while devouring the meal in a matter of seconds and it also startled Breakdown, making him jump and missing the chance to hit the big bad golem so that Fave was scolding him now.

"What is going on in here?"

The three of them winced when realizing Starscream has entered sick bay without anyone noticing him. Sparks only tilted his head to the side innocently.

"When did you come in here?", Knockout asked confused, trying to hide the monitor together with Breakdown but it was useless.

"What?! Are you serious? Maybe you would have heard if not being distracted by… whatever is that?" he asked disturbed while pointing at the frozen screen displaying 'game over'.

"Don't tell us you never took a peek into some human programs", Breakdown asked, "everyone does, pretending not to."

The seeker snorted loudly. "I feel no need to waste my time with human means of entertainment. No offence Fave."

"None taken." She waved a hand but whimpered softly when she felt little pain rushing through it. Starscream noticed her reaction. "I though lord Megatron is taking it easy on you so that you can have training every day instead of waiting for you to recover every time."

"I guess he does but today I think I made him more furious than usual."

"Her wounds are healing fast, as usual, "Knockout shrugged off, then asked suspiciously: "Why are you here Starscream?"
"We have detected a vessel with a Decepticon identification beacon on earth's surface. It seems it crash landed recently so lord Megatron wants us to investigate or better yet, bring one of our brethren to the Nemesis."

"If we detected the ship, the Autobots most likely did as well", Breakdown said with a grin, making his fists strike each other "we should join the party as fast as possible!"

"That's why I'm here, Breakdown", Starscream said, rolling his optics, "You and Knockout will join me and some Vehicons to investigate the crash site. Fave, you will join us as well but there may be indeed Autobots on site." He gazed on her with a firm expression. "Is that going to be a problem?"

She returned the gaze in puzzlement. "Why should it?"

Starscream raised one of his eyebrows lightly surprised, then shrugged. "Never mind. Transform at once and hurry up. We will leave right after you get dressed."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Starscream, Knockout, Breakdown and the few Vehicons accompanying them searched the large dark forest for quite some time now but there was still no sign of a vessel at all.

"This fog is starting to affect my systems already", Knockout complained, "the coordinates must be incorrect! If there has been a crash landing, we would have discovered something by now!"

Starscream was equally frustrated, so he reached to his COMM. "Soundwave, are you certain you provided us with the correct coordinates?"

The seeker only got static, which confused them all. "Soundwave? Do you copy? Starscream to the Nemesis?" He waited but no one answered. "Is anyone receiving me?"

"My COMM isn't working either", Breakdown growled, "The vessel must be around here somewhere after all, scrambling communication."
"Agreed", Starscream turned towards his troops, "We will split to cover more ground. Breakdown, you will lead the Vehicons. Knockout, you are with me. If anyone finds something, we shoot an energon blast towards the sky, so we may find one another. If we find nothing, we shall meet within an hour right here. You there! "the seeker pointed a digit at one of the Vehicons, "You will take flight and return to the Nemesis. Brief lord Megatron on the situation here."

The Vehicon nodded, transformed and sped away while Breakdown left with the rest of the troopers.

Knockout grabbed his prod tighter and followed Starscream deeper into the wood.

"Why would anyone activate a scrambling node after a crash landing? Nobody would be able to find the crash site yet alone to come to the rescue. Something is wrong."

"We will see", Starscream said with an unusual expression on his faceplates, "I hope Fave remains covered as I instructed. A shame we did not take her with us after all. Her COMM may be down like ours but she still has another mean to contact our ship."

"Soundwave", Knockout nodded, "maybe she tried to contact us as well by now and thus contacted him after realizing the COMM went down."

"Maybe, but we do not know for certain."

"Maybe we should go back to where we left her for guard duty to BE certain."

"No", Starscream decided, "she will be fine on her own. If she were in danger, she would have drawn our attention somehow by now. However, we do not know who we are dealing with and you do remember how we reacted to a human among our ranks the first time, right?"

Knockout giggled. "Yeah, we should tell the newbie about her in a gentle manner first before …

Knockout got distracted when Starscream powered up his blasters all of the sudden. "Do you hear that?", the seeker asked.

Knockout listened closely and nodded. "I hear the roar of an engine close by. And since we just left Breakdown and the others quite some time ago, it can only belong to the Decepticon we are looking for…"

"…or to an Autobot", Starscream clarified. He took point and gestured to the medic to follow him slowly. They approached the sound of revving engines again and again until they got close enough to have a visual.

"Ready your prod, Knockout", Starscream chuckled, aiming silently for the Autobot on site who seemed to be in distress, being held back by something that looked like webbing of sorts. The seeker shot.

Arcee, being freed unexpectantly, bumped into the closest tree and shook her helm in dizziness. However, it did not deter her from piping up with obvious panic in her voice. "What has taken you so long? Doesn't matter! Arachnid is here! She is chasing after Jack, we must hurry to…"

She froze when realizing she was facing the readied blasters of Starscream and the electrical prod of Knockout, both with a menacing grin.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Jack couldn't run any longer. He was exhausted and worried out of his mind for Acree's safety. Arachnid may have said she would leave the femme alone so that she could witness his death first before being killed herself but what was the word of a Decepticon worth? Nothing! He jumped over a fallen tree and hid behind it, seeking cover and trying to calm down his strongly beating heart. Did he throw her off?

His heart skipped a beat when he heard several peds on the ground, getting closer. How could he possibly believe to evade the giant spider? But maybe she would just pass him by, overlook him if he simply remained silent enough. So, he tried not to make any noise, not to move and even not to breathe and it really was a miracle that he remained silent even when a giant spider leg dug to the ground right before him, followed by the rest of Arachnid's chassis. The Decepticon slowly sneaked away over him, hissing silently in excitement like a hunting dog who was trying to pick up a scent. He already wanted to sigh in relieve but the femme stopped suddenly. Seconds passed with only silent calls of distant owls to be heard. Then, Arachnid bowed her head abruptly and stared right at the boy who cried out in horror.

"There you are, my Jack!", she chuckled darkly when Jack hastened to his feet and ran away again. "You are making this too easy!"

But even Arachnid's patience has run low, so she chased after the boy, enjoying how she made the boy tremble in desperation. Being exhausted from the haunt and too afraid to think straight, Jack turned around to see how far the spider was behind and thus stumbled over a root. He fell to the ground hard and crossed his arms before him in a useless attempt to defend himself. Arachnid's laughter echoed through the air but suddenly, blaster fire hit her in the side, taking her off guard and throwing her into the dark wood in a high arch.

"Arcee!" Jack cried out in great relieve, expecting to see his partner but facing a well-known but nevertheless differently-looking young woman instead.

"I hate to disappoint", Fave said while helping him to his feet hastily.

"You! What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain", she cut the boy off while looking over her shoulder with worry, "I need you to run!" She pushed him a little. "RUN!"

She grabbed his arm harshly and started to run. She has been able to overpower the giant spider only because she has not been expected but she did not want to expose herself to more danger for Starscream will have her head if finding out that she left her post after she has spotted the boy in the forest, followed by Arachnid.

The young woman reached for her earring. "Starscream! I may have found the one we were looking for though I strongly suspect she will not be coming with me if I kindly ask her to." She waited a moment while running as fast as the boy was able to.

"Did you just call Starscream!", Jack said dumbfounded, "what on earth…"

"Schht! Quiet!", she shushed the boy angrily, "Starscream, respond!" She frowned. "Knockout? Breakdown? Where the hell are you guys!"

Both humans heard the roar of the enraged Con, chasing after them and getting closer fast.

"Scrap, this will not do!", she looked around but found nothing to be an appropriate hiding place. Reluctantly, she prepared to take flight although she did not want the boy or anyone else to know about any of her abilities.

"Do not let go, do you understand?! Hang on to me tight!" The poor teenager could not even start to comprehend what she was about to do when she wrapped her arms around his chest from behind and jumped. She rushed passed the trees for a while to get some distance between them and Arachnid and then intended to speed away sky high when a sudden burst of energy was fired into the air, hitting a Vehicon that way not far from her position who obviously intended to take flight as well. She stopped right at the height of the treetops and watched the trooper fall limb from the sky.

"What was that?", she whispered in shock and ducked back. That energy was nothing like the energon blaster fire she was used to, but it blew the unfortunate Vehicon off course nevertheless, disabled him even. Jack tried to say something, but Fave covered his mouth in order to silence him when she heard the female Decepticon pass them on the ground right below them. They remained like that until some time has passed and silence returned to the dark foggy forest. She sank back to the ground and released the boy from her grip.

"Starscream", she tried again but much quieter this time. "In case anyone is receiving me: someone or something is hiding in the wood. I just saw how it blew one of the Vehicons from the sky. Be cautious! I…"

"Ehm, Fave…"

Not Jack but the sound of weapons powering up startled her, making her spin around. They were surrounded by humans and it took only a moment for Fave to recognize them… as MECH.

"You! That's unexpected", she stated with hardly suppressed rage in her voice, "I strongly advise you to lower your weapons at once or else I will feel forced to inflict pain on you." She stared them down. "I will not retreat like the Autobots did."

She noticed how Jack swallowed hard, but she did not know whether it was because of her words or due to the dire-looking situation. "You will not be warned again."

Of course, she knew they were in danger. These men must have been following Jack the whole time, so they most likely have seen her flying and firing at the Decepticon earlier. Thus, they knew of her abilities and because she has seen a Vehicon falling from the sky like a pretty shooting star only minutes ago she was quite sure MECH somehow knew about cybertronian weak spots as well. These weapons were most likely able to incapacitate her, regardless of her new dress or skills. She had to move quickly.

First, she passed Jack in a flash, faster than the men could follow. She grabbed the boy and dashed him quite some distance away, out of danger, hoping that she did not break any bones.

"Run!" She cried at the youth.

"Open fire!" one of the men shouted and suddenly the air was filled with an electrical crackle which made a shiver run down her spine. She hoped both, to be able to hold them off so that Jack could escape and to make them shoot long enough for Starscream and the others to locate her in this firework. She moved from one spot to another, using fallen trees and rocks to hide behind them but unfortunately, there were far too many attackers at once to evade them all. Eventually, one shot found his way to its target, bringing her to her knees and making her cry out in pain.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Why do I have to carry her!", Knockout huffed, "She is scratching my finish! Breakdown will have to buff me for hours when we return!"

To captivate Arcee, they had to knock her out together for she has been desperately trying to get away from them in order to save her human appendage from the Decepticon called Arachnid. Right now, her wrists were tightly bound within clamps and Knockout was carrying her limb shape over his shoulder plating unceremoniously.

"Stop whining, would you!", Starscream retorted for what he believed to be the fourth or fifth time, "Just imagine lord Megatron's joy when we bring him an Autobot! He will be more than pleased but right now we do not have the means to transport her to the Nemesis. So, stop complaining. It's not like she is particularly heavy."

Knockout rumbled deeply but complied by changing the subject. "Do you know this Arachnid, Starscream?"

"I do, unfortunately", the seeker answered with a grave voice, "believe me, you will not like her. She is arrogant, devious and repellent. But, truth to be told, she once has been a loyal servant to our master and very talented in… extracting information from whomever she interrogated."

"Hm, right now she seems to be indulging her new passion: hunting humans. I would be delighted if not for a particular recent member of…"
"I know", Starscream cut the medic off harshly. "We must find her before Arachnid gets the chance to lay her filthy hands on Fave first. But with the COMM still down, we will have to do so the old-fashioned way." The seeker stopped and looked up. "Or maybe it is time to search the area from above."

"You cannot leave me alone!", Knockout contradicted him, "I have no means to contact you in case of emergency! Breakdown is gone as well! Above all, you can't possibly leave me alone with an Autobot!"

"You mean with one single chained and defenseless Autobot with no means to call for backup?" The commander raised his eyebrows in amusement, "I think you can handle…"

Both of them jumped back and Knockout even dropped his prisoner to the ground that way when they stumbled over the Vehicons Starscream has sent away for scouting with Breakdown earlier. The medic examined one of them right away and sighed. "They are ok, but something has hit them pretty hard. It will take a while until they regain consciousness." The red mech looked around, suddenly raising his voice a bit. "Where is Breakdown?!"

The two Decepticons looked after their brute but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"Is that Arachnid's doing?" Knockout asked through clenched teeth, "because if that's the case…"

"That was not Arachnid", came the weak voice of Arcee who was coming back to her senses again, "that was MECH."

Starscream scowled at her, displeased by her awakening, but asked nevertheless: "MECH? What is MECH? Tell me immediately!"

"Fave already told us about them, Starscream! Those technology hunting freaks who even attacked the Autobots and tried to remove Bumblebee's t-cog?"

"Ouh well! I like them already!"

"Idiot!" Knockout shouted at his commander unabashed, "that human scum might be gutting Breakdown as we speak! And what about Fave? What do you think they intend to use her for if they found her?"

Starscream growled angrily due to the medic's tone. "We will have to call for backup in order to erase them from existence!"

"Really?! You want to explain to lord Megatron how a bunch of humans were able to knock out a whole troop of Vehicons and capture our brute? What do you think he will tell us? What do you think he will do to us when learning about Fave being captured as well?"

Arcee has followed their verbal fight attentively, confused and frowning. "You do not have time to argue over that!" she interfered, "the COMM isn't working out here, you must have found out about that by now. In order to call for backup, you need to get out of the scrambling node's radius emanating from Arachnid's ship and by the time you did that, MECH will have Breakdown dismantled and…" she dared to add: "Fave interrogated!" Both Decepticons looked at each other quickly.

"I know the location of her ship!", the blue femme offered through clenched teeth, "I will show you on condition that you help me free Jack."

Both mechs rumbled reluctantly but they knew there was no other way right now. Starscream took the key to the clamp of their prisoner but before releasing Arcee, he warned her with a deep growl: "Take a good look at those, Autobot", he gestured to the Vehicons, "You will not be able to free your human pet on your own. So, don't even think about stabbing us in the back!"

If looks could kill…

"I am no Starscream", the femme retorted darkly as the clamp fell off her wrists.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave woke up with a groan. Her movements made her cellmate jump from his resting spot and hasting over to her. "Fave? Fave! Wake up. Are you alright?"

"Jack?" she said hoarsely, "Where are we?" She opened her eyes and realized the boy wasn't sitting next to her as expected, but standing behind the bars of his own little cell. She found herself in a similar predicament although the bars imprisoning her obviously were made from a more robust material.

"Are you alright?" she asked the boy who nodded.

"Yeah, so far."

She looked around slowly, exploring her surroundings. They must have been taken to one of MECH's bases which seemed to be one huge abandoned warehouse. One corner of the building was being used as a parking spot for vehicles and helicopters while the other side appeared to serve as the technical base of operation. MECH has placed a multitude of monitors there and many other strange looking equipment. It was all high tech, that much Fave realized but what really made her gasp was the mech pinned to the wall right behind those monitors.

"Breakdown?", she whispered confused, "Jack. What happened?"

The young man took a deep breath. "Right after you throw me what felt like a whole mile into the wood, I tried to run away to contact the Autobots. But MECH found me nevertheless and it seems they overpowered you too. They brought us here, to the edge of the forest. The Con has been brought here only minutes ago."

"I don't get it", she murmured, looking the blue mech over for serious injuries, but she has not been studying cybertronian biology nor did anyone told her to do so anyway, so she wasn't sure what knocked the brute out, "I mean: first you were chased by Arachnid who seems to be the one who crash landed earlier this day. At the same time, MECH is crawling through the same forest as we were like a bunch of Scraplets! This can hardly be a coincidence."

"It isn't."

The humans spun around. A man entered the warehouse and his soldiers closed the gates right behind him. He was a huge guy, dressed like a high-ranking soldier with scars all over his face. But the face was telling much more about him than the injuries. It was battle-hardened, strict and lack any sign of empathy or mercy.

"Silas!" Jack almost spat the name as if it had a terrible taste.

Silas ignored the boy and eyed the woman instead with fascination. "Fave, is it?" She gave him no answer, but dared to peek over to Breakdown, hoping he would jump to his peds suddenly and wreck this place.

"Don't worry, you are save from him. He will not be able to get up any time soon. Though, if I were you I wouldn't count on the Autobots either." He made a gesture to his soldiers to leave him with the prisoners alone.

"I must admit though, I did not expect the lure to work out this well but the appearance of the Decepticons forced me to change my plans. In my favor as it seems. Now I have not only caught the one I was looking for but a Bot to study as well.

The little time Fave has been spending with Decepticons and her ability to grasp tricky situations quickly provided her with a sudden revelation.

"You are working together with this Arachnid, aren't you! The Con wants Jack for some reason and you have been after Arcee to use her as a lab rat to learn more about cybertronian tech."
Silas smirked. "Yes. And no. I actually used Arachnid's assistance to lure the object of my desires to me, but it wasn't Arcee I was after, but you."

Fave narrowed her eyes. "You used Jack as bait, regardless of what Arachnid might have done to him? The Con would have most likely killed him, you know that…"

"I hoped Jack would distract the spider creep so that we would be able to focus on our own goals. The Decepticon told us we could keep what would be left of the one called Arcee after she finished her, but I did not want to take any risks."

Fave started to shiver in anger. She let out a yell, transformed and intended to break free from the cell but the moment her energon blast hit the grids, an electrical crackle rushed through her cell, followed by an explosion of light and energy. She felt the same pain that tantalized her when the MECH soldiers attacked her in the forest earlier but this time, she held back another scream, wrapped her arms around herself and waited for the pain to ebb away. She felt a part of her energon reserves gone.

"Impressive", Silas stared at the woman with utter but unpitying fascination. "Whatever happened to you, it will surely provide me with the edge I need to execute my ambitious plan."

She hissed through clenched teeth. "What do you want from me?"

Silas moved toward her cell fearlessly. "I want to possess the means to be everywhere at once." He approached her and every step getting him closer to her was making Fave the more trembling in fury. "I want to be here and the next moment just around the globe. I wish for the possibility to access every region on earth, every building whenever I see fit or whatever my intentions."

Her eye's widened in realization.

"Imagine what could be done with that technology. Not even will I have control over an army of giant autonomous robots but the means to send them to whatever location at any time I want. I will pose a threat to everyone, to every country, to every government. No one would see MECH coming." The smile of a convinced fanatic spread over his scarred face. "I will dictate the new world order."

The wrath she had felt when she found out about the death of her beloved family was back again. Back then, she had been in desperate need of a face. A face to put all the hate and the blame on, someone she could hunt down and take revenge against. While being on the graveyard, kneeling in front of her family's remaining, those sick feelings have taken root into her soul deeply, poisoning her very thoughts but she has believed she has gotten passed that. She could not have been more wrong, and now she feared that new dark side of her even more as she spat out the following words.

"Just keep dreaming, Silas. Reality however will provide you with what you deserve." She looked him straight in the eyes and the wrath inside her made her own blue eyes glow brightly, coldly. "I will not cooperate. I will not spill any information about the ground bridge or any other things of interest to you. In fact, I promise you this: Someday, somehow when you won't see it coming…", she lowered her voice to a point only Silas could hear her and whispered dangerously, …"I will kill you."