Hoo boy! Get ready for this wild ride of a chapter.

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers and its characters. I only own Paige and Swiftblade.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Definitely not! I heard this guy stomped the competition. Or should I say crushed!"

"You mean the cars? What competition is a bunch of crushed cars?"

"You just don't understand the technicalities of the Monster Truck Rally!"

"Technicalities? Someone call the police - Miko's using big words!"

"Oh- you!"

Paige laughed, not caring if her voice echoed down the street. She was standing in the driveway of Jack's house, waiting for both Darby's to return home. It had taken her a bit to convince Swiftblade that she didn't need an escort and could simply walk the two blocks away. What would happen to her in two blocks anyway? Regardless, he had gone back to base and was waiting for her text to say she was done for the night.

She spotted movement down the street and coughed, quickly catching her breath. "H-Hey, I gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow!"

"See ya!"

The call ended and she shoved her phone in her pocket. She had opted to leave her shoulder pack and pistols at home for June Darby's peace of mind. There was no need to come into her home carrying weapons. She heard the woman was a nurse. She'd probably freak her out if she saw her pistols!

Jack came speeding up the driveway and stopped next to Paige, huffing with the exertion. "Hey, Paige… Do you know if my mom's home yet?"

"Nope, and I've been here for five minutes chatting with Miko." She shrugged nonchalantly and followed him as he opened the garage and began pushing his bicycle in.

"Arcee, is mom home yet? I didn't see her car."

"Hey, 'Cee." Paige gave a small wave as she followed him inside, stopping near the little table.

"Hi, Paige. And dunno. I just bridged from base to beat her here. Oh- and there's a package for you," Arcee responded.

Paige watched Jack set his bike against the wall and reach for the package standing up on the table. She eyed the handwritten 'JACK' in all caps with a curious eye. He tore open the package and dumped the contents onto the table. What looked like some kind of communicator clattered as it landed, the screen lit up in a purplish-pink hue and moving wavelength as someone spoke through it.

"Hello, Jack!"

Paige felt dread drop like a cement block into her stomach at hearing the familiar voice. She blanched, taking a step back and bumping into Arcee's leg after she had transformed. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. What have you done now, dad?

"Silas," Arcee scowled, not at all happy to hear the man's voice. Her hand came up to steady Paige, who looked rather pale as she stared wide-eyed at the device.

"Wh-whoa, wait… Silas? As in, MECH? They know where I live?" Jack asked in shock. He glanced at Paige and frowned when he took in the state of his friend. He reached out to grasp her hand and her eyes darted up to meet his. She relaxed slightly and gave his hand a grateful squeeze.

"We know things about your family that even you don't know. For example, do you know where your mother is?"

Jack's hand became clammy. "What did you-"

"Understand, Jack, we have no intention of hurting her. In fact, we'd like to reunite the two of you as soon as possible. I just need you, Arcee, and your friend to follow the GPS coordinates programmed into this communicator. They'll lead you to the temporary facility I set up."

Paige frowned, unease gnawing at her gut. Shit. He knows I'm here. That thing must have been on and recording since before we got here!

"Ratchet," Arcee whispered, trying to comm. base for backup. "Ratchet!" She suddenly cried out in pain, drawing the teens' attention to her as she gripped her head.

"Arcee?!" Jack let go of Paige's hand to check on his guardian. Paige scowled in growing frustration, regretting refusing her own guardian's offer for an escort.

"Did I not mention the communicator scrambles the signal and your brains? Any break in communication or attempt to reach the other Autobots and Miss Darby- Well, I wouldn't want to feel responsible for the outcome."

There was a little sound that suggested the communication on his end had stopped. But Paige highly doubted that he wasn't still listening to everything they said.

"W-We have to go rescue my mom," Jack said, panicking.

Paige clenched and unclenched her fists, glaring at the communicator with her lips pressed into a thin line. Oh, she was pissed. She swiped the device off the table and had half a mind to just bash the thing against the cement as hard as she could. But she couldn't. They needed it.

"Paige?" She turned at the sound of her name and realized they had been talking for a short bit, only to stop when they realized she was rather silent and looking extremely angry. When she met their concerned gazes with her angry one, Arcee blinked in surprise and Jack reeled back slightly. Neither expected her to look like she was about to go on a mission of revenge. "A-Are you-"

She cut Jack off by thrusting the communicator at him, forcing him to take hold of it. "Let's just go," she growled low, barely containing her anger within her voice. She snatched his helmet from the table and handed it to him as well.

Without another word, Arcee transformed and the teens mounted her. They then drove through town with Jack doing most of the driving, following the directions on the communicator. Most of the ride was silent, but Jack finally couldn't handle his emotions once they turned a corner.

"If anything happens to her because of my connection to all this, I-I-"

Paige tightened her grip on his waist, but it was Arcee who spoke. "Jack, MECH is only interested in me. Once they get what they want, they'll let your mom go."

"That's not exactly reassuring! You're family too."

Her grip tightened again as she felt a stab of guilt. They turned a corner and she lifted her head to see them approach some sort of factory. Once they slowed to a stop and Jack tucked the device away, guns were cocked and multiple red dots were pointed at them. She frowned but didn't move. She had no protection and no weapons. She was useless in this situation.

"So, what's the plan?" Jack asked quietly.

"The usual," Arcee answered and Paige made sure to keep her legs tucked and a tight hold on Jack's waist.

They rolled forward before Arcee lifted into a wheelie, tire screeching as she peeled out and took out a few soldiers as she drove past. The remaining soldiers opened fire and they drove into an open warehouse, out of the gunfire. Jack was quick to hop off Arcee once they stopped and pulled his helmet off, calling for his mother. Paige got off and froze, noticing an odd, very large shadow on the floor crawl out of sight.

"Looking for June?" They turned and Paige's eyes widened at the sight of a Cybertronian perched against the wall with what looked like metal spider legs attached to her back. "She's hanging out around here somewhere."

Arcee immediately transformed and glared at the bot. "Airachnid!" She was then suddenly shot and wrapped up in what looked like very thick webbing, keeping her from moving.

Jack ran to his guardian's side with Paige on his heels. "What's she doing here?!"

Paige didn't know who the bot was or her history with Arcee and Jack, but she didn't like the looks of the situation. She clenched her fists as she watched Airachnid slowly crawl to the ground while Silas and his soldiers entered the warehouse, surrounding the three of them. Her gaze flicked between her father and the bot, narrowing her eyes when the two did nothing but stare at her companions. Oh, don't tell me they're working together…

"Help them, please," Arcee pleaded with wide eyes, staring at Silas. "They're human like you! You can't let Airachnid-"

"A few human lives are a small price to pay for a miracle of science like yourself," Silas interrupted, smirking.

Paige frowned and then gasped as he looked at a soldier, and the soldier shot an electric pulse at Arcee. She screamed and then fell over, passing out. The brunette scowled as she glared at her father, who met her hard gaze with a displeased frown. She ignored what the spider-bot had said and stood completely still as her father ordered his men to search them. Four men walked over to them - two grabbed the communicator and cellphone from Jack while the other two grabbed Paige's arms and held her there. She clenched her fists tightly until she was sure her knuckles had turned white, hard glare fixed on the stern stare of her father.

"I'm still learning about humankind, but one thing is clear to me, Jack," Airachnid said as she stepped forward and knelt down in front of them. "You people care deeply about family. Therefore, the sweetest revenge I could possibly devise would be to make you watch as I take your family apart."

Jack cringed at her closeness before glaring back at her. "If you hurt my mother, I'll-"

"You remember how much I enjoy sport, don't you, Jack? So I'll give you the opportunity to save her. I've stashed her close by." She looked at something behind them but Paige didn't bother to turn around. "If you can rescue her before the stroke of twelve, I will let both of you go unharmed. Deal?"

"And if I can't?" Jack asked.

"What do you think?" She slowly stepped back behind Silas.

Jack ran forward and placed his fists against the man's chest, pleading with him. "Please, don't let her do this! You can let us go! W-we won't tell anyone!"

"Enough!" Paige scowled as she watched Silas shove Jack to the ground like he was a pest.

"Yes, Jack. Man up already." Airachnid blinked in mild surprise. "Six minutes!"

Jack got to his feet and glanced towards Paige. She simply shook her head, and he turned and ran out of the warehouse. She watched as the bot was quick to follow him, using her spider legs to move around with more stealth and ease.

Now alone, Silas and Paige stared at each other. Silence filled the room and the tension grew as the seconds ticked by on the monitor behind her. Even the soldiers shuffled uncomfortably at the tension they no doubt felt hanging in the air.

Finally, it was Silas who spoke first. "You have some explaining to do, young lady." His voice was stern, arms crossed over his chest as he frowned at her.

"So do you," Paige replied evenly, lifting her chin slightly to show that she wasn't afraid. "After all these years of leaving me in the dark, I find you experimenting on aliens."

"And I find out you've befriended these aliens behind my back." He dropped his arms and stepped closer to her, waving a hand and sending his soldiers scurrying off to do something. Even the two holding her had left. He stopped in front of her and frowned disapprovingly at her. "I bet you knew them before the mission with the DNGS, didn't you?"

Paige could see the soldiers moving about in the corner of her eyes and she heard metal scraping against the ground. They had moved Arcee onto a table and were starting up a saw to cut open the webs. "Yes, I did," she admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. "In fact, I knew them for several weeks by that point."

"Oh? And you never thought to tell me, why?"

"Because they're fighting their own war and aren't trying to drag us humans into it."

"There's always a war, Paige."

"Yeah, one you know nothing about," Paige scoffed, glaring at him. "Dad, you can't do this to them. They're living beings with minds and hearts that work the same as ours. They have feelings - emotions!"

"I know."

Paige blinked in shock, taking a step back at the lack of emotion in his voice. "What? You know? Then- why-"

"Paige, they're living machines. Think of the technological advancements we could make by studying them - creating them. We could crush our enemies and-"

"Your enemies."

Silas stared at his daughter, taking note of the anger in her forest-green eyes. She had dropped her arms now and her fists were clenched so tight they were shaking. He frowned at her, realization dawning on him. "You care for them."

"Yeah. I do."

He narrowed his eyes and she mirrored the action. "I don't have time to deal with you right now. Take her away and hold her somewhere." He watched as she seethed where she stood, barely containing her anger as two soldiers came up to grab her arms.

Paige grunted as she struggled in the soldiers' tight grasps, but couldn't do anything as they began guiding her out of the warehouse. The last thing she saw was the last of the webs being broken through. She scowled and allowed herself to be led away. She was taken to a different doorway and thrown inside. She landed on her knees with a grunt and quickly turned around, only for her world to go dark as the door was shut on her.

She blinked several times to try and adjust to the darkness, with no luck. She listened to the fading footsteps of the soldiers and she quickly got up to check the door. She felt around for the handle, but found that it was locked. She growled and slammed her fists against the door in a fit of anger, listening to the metal reverberate with the action. Sighing, she leaned against the door and slid down it until she sat with her back against it. There was no point in searching the room for a possible escape or weapon when she couldn't see anything. She'd be lucky if she didn't accidentally hurt herself on something.

She heard the sound of an engine speed by and she lifted her knees to hug them. She rested her forehead against them and closed her eyes. Please hurry, Arcee. She hoped Jack and his mother would be alright. She could hear the sounds of distant fighting and shouts. She groaned quietly. This sucks. I'm stuck in a box while my friends are in danger and I can't do anything about it. Even my dad doesn't want to deal with me right now.

The sound of helicopter rotors reached her ears and she tensed, wondering who they belonged to. Then she heard gunfire from the turrets on the helicopters. She frowned in confusion. I can't tell if that's a rescue or more trouble. She heard footsteps approaching and car engines starting up nearby. She moved away from the door and stood up, just in time for it to unlock and swing open to reveal Silas' stern face.

"We're leaving, Paige." He reached to grab her arm and she stumbled backwards, nearly tripping on something on the ground behind her. "Paige."

She clenched her fists and scowled openly at him. "No, dad. I'm staying with my friends."

He narrowed his eyes, his own hands clenching into fists with barely restrained frustration. "Paige, I don't have time to argue."

"Then go." She stood tall and met his hard gaze with her own. "Don't let me stop you from running away like a coward again." Pain suddenly erupted like a hot fire on the side of her face as her head snapped to the side. Tears stung her eyes and she clenched her fists and jaw against the pain.

"...Fine. I'll deal with you another day."

The sound of footsteps quickly retreating filled her ears, along with the fading vehicle engines. She didn't pay attention to them. She was left alone in the room they had thrown her in, the door wide open, and the cool night air tickling her tender cheek. She took a few moments to simply breathe, allowing her frayed nerves and anger to slowly recede. She closed her eyes and sniffed, reaching a hand up to gently cup her offended cheek. She couldn't believe he had actually struck her. Granted, she probably deserved it for the 'coward' comment, but he had never struck her since she was a child or outside of training.

It took her a few moments to realize the area was completely silent. There was no more fighting and even the helicopters had gone silent - or simply disappeared. She didn't know which one. She had half a mind to panic and think that she had been left behind, but quickly shut that thought down. Her friends would never leave her behind.

She wiped the few tears away that had escaped her eyes as footsteps approached from the side. She heard a gun being cocked and she looked over, seeing two soldiers she had never seen before. She finished wiping her eyes and slowly raised her hands in the air to show that she was no threat.

"Are you Paige?"

"Yessir."

They lowered their guns immediately and she slowly dropped her hands to her sides. "Come with us, miss. There's some people looking for you."

She nodded and followed them as they began walking away. She sniffled quietly and straightened her back as they rounded the corner of the building, where three helicopters were parked and just across from them sat Jack and his mother, with Agent Fowler standing in front of them. He was walking away looking a little disgruntled when he noticed their approach, and his demeanor changed. He dismissed the soldiers immediately and met her halfway as she walked towards him.

"Paige!" He grabbed her shoulders and checked her over for injuries, frowning at the red mark on her cheek. "I heard you were in the area but nobody knew where you were. What happened?"

She purposely turned her head to avoid his hand trying to gingerly touch her cheek. Her eyes flashed in the moonlight as she scowled at the ground. "I'm fine," she said in an even tone, trying and failing to hide the flaring anger in her tone.

"Paige… What happened?"

She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders sagging with the action. She recounted the events that she had bore witness to, but told him that Jack would be able to fill him in on the rest. "They locked me in another room until they were escaping. I said something that made him mad and he…" She pressed her lips into a thin line, but she didn't need to say it. They both knew she had been backhanded. "They left and I didn't see where they went."

Fowler sighed and grasped her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I think we should talk… Not now, but another day." She nodded silently and his hand slipped from her shoulder. "You better get moving. They've been worried about you." He walked around her without another word.

She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing her walk across the yard. The three of them - Jack, June, and Arcee - were talking when she approached, and they all turned when they noticed her.

"Paige!" Jack leaped to his feet and ran to wrap his arms around her, giving her a squeeze. She hugged him back for a moment, patting his back, before pulling away. "I'm so glad you're safe. We were worried they had taken you and- What happened to your face?"

She avoided his gaze with a frown. "It was just a small argument," she assured him. "I'm fine. Really." She lifted her gaze to him again, and then the other two. "What about you? And Arcee and your mom?"

"We're fine, kiddo," Arcee assured her, smiling a bit. Her words had the brunette sighing in relief.

"So? Who's the girl?"

Both teens turned to look at June as she looked between her son and Paige with raised, curious eyebrows.

Paige stepped forward and offered a small but apologetic smile. "Hi, Mrs. Darby. I'm Paige, Jack's classmate and friend. I joined the 'club' at the same time he did, so I know all about what's been going on."

"I see. And your parents know you've been staying out late?"

"M-Mom, I-"

Paige lifted her hand to stop Jack from speaking, her eyes never leaving June's. She gave a bitter smile, her cheek stinging with the action. "Sort of. He only knew about tonight."

June's brows knitted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Paige frowned and she clenched her fists tightly. "I'm sorry about everything that happened tonight, Mrs. Darby. I didn't have anything to do with it but… I still want to apologize for my dad's actions."

"...Your father is…?"

"The leader of the group who kidnapped you…" She hung her head in shame, feeling Jack's hand grip her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Paige… You don't need to apologize," Arcee tried to assure her.

"Maybe not, but he's my father and anything he does still makes me feel like it's inadvertently my fault!"

Her frustrated shout caused everyone to be stunned into silence. And then arms wrapped around her, causing her to gasp in shock when she realized it was June who was hugging her. She tried to say something but ended up clamping her mouth shut and hesitantly hugging back.

"I forgive you, Paige," the woman said softly, causing the brunette to squeeze her and hide her face in her shoulder.

A watery chuckle escaped Paige, feeling her body tremble in the woman's arms. The embrace just felt so familiar, like something she had lost. A mother's hug, she realized as her throat grew tight. "You're supposed to be the one that needs comforting," she joked, though her voice broke at the end. She felt another pair of arms around them and she realized Jack had joined the hug.

"I think that role can be shared," Jack responded, rubbing her back soothingly.

Paige smiled gratefully and accepted their comfort, feeling her nerves slowly relax. She even felt something metal pat her head, making her giggle at Arcee's attempt at offering comfort in that situation. She hummed in content and then reluctantly pulled out of the embrace. "I should text Blade and let him know I need a ride. Arcee can't carry all three of us." She pulled out her phone and began typing a text.

"Blade?" June asked curiously.

Paige flashed her a little smile. "Swiftblade is my Autobot guardian."

And there have it. Some angst with Paige and Silas, and June gets added to the group of humans who know the Autobots (and Decepticons) exist!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!