Remarkable, I've updated two stories in one weekend. Oh well. If I have the time I'll update the other two that I'm writing next weekend. Just so you people's know, spring break is only 10 school days away!

Chapter Sixteen: Homecoming

Early the next morning, Megatron was awake and planning his escape from the forensic laboratory. The last thing he was going to do was spend a day being dissected…if the scientists could dissect him. He was nothing more than a ghost right now, an apparition that had a body that could be felt and seen, but it was dead. It was complicated how the afterlife worked, but it worked wonders when it pleased. And Megatron was quite certain what he was going to do. He had a gun, in fact he had missiles. He would aim his guns at the security cameras and shoot them out before he would transform and blow the garage to smithereens, only then would he take his leave. The decepticon leader knew he would have to lay low the rest of the day since the police would be searching everywhere for him, but he figured he could find someplace to hide…and he would have to hide quickly. Megatron's vehicle forms were useless to him still; all he could do was fly in his robot form. But he figured he could spend the day using his telepathic link with Mercy to locate her and when night rolled around he would go and free her from whatever prison she was being kept in. Running a quick search on the internet, Megatron discovered that the state they were in, Pennsylvania, was a leader in the number prisons in the United States.

"Whatever United States means," thought the decepticon leader.

From what Megatron read, Pennsylvania contained nine federal prisons—he figured that meant government—and twenty-eight state prisons, but that didn't include local, town, or county prisons. Megatron thought about it for a minute. Due to the nature of the crime Mercy was accused of, she was most likely in one of the federal or state prisons, and if he could locate one in the area he was in, wherever he was, then perhaps he could get a hold of Mercy and find out if she was there or not. It sure would make his life easier if things proved to be that simple…he just had to get out of the forensic laboratory first. And he was sick of waiting.

There were four security cameras in the garage alone, one in each corner. Megatron wasn't worried about the rest that were probably outside the building. The blasts from his missiles would take care of those. Slowly, so anyone monitoring the cameras would not detect, he swiveled his guns around to point at one of the cameras. There was a single shot before the camera exploded and shards of it fell to the floor. Megatron made quick work of the other cameras as well. Abruptly he transformed into his robot form and proceeded to launch a missile through the garage door creating an explosion of purple, fire, smoke, debris, and dirt. He quickly flew through the hole he had created in the door and went on with launching one missile after another into the laboratory until it was engulfed in smoke, flame, and ruin. Before the smoke could begin to clear though, Megatron hastily made his escape.

He flew high into the sky and luckily for him it was a cloudy and overcast day. The decepticon leader could hide among the clouds until he found a place to temporarily stay until nightfall when he would go and locate Mercy. As he flew above the detection of the human eye, he scanned the ground for any place close to the town that he was in where he could take cover. He wanted to stay in a parking lot in his vehicle form, but everyone knew what his car form looked like. And his jet mode was much too small for him to take refuge in at any airport, if there was one. Suddenly he remembered something and wanted to slap himself mentally. He could go invisible. That meant he could spend the day looking for Mercy instead of waiting, and to Megatron that sounded so much better. He figured all he had to do was tap into the news reports being broadcasted by the humans. Humans were not a smart species, from the news reports he had watched with Mercy about the murder of Brenna they tended to give out very detailed information. And since Mercy had just been arrested and charged with the murder of Brenna, it was going to be all over the headlines…and possibly the location of the prison that she was being held in would be given.

Megatron figured he could do the best job where there was a lot of human activity and a place where he could easily pick up one of the news frequencies. And when he saw a building with a large satellite on top he figured that was a pretty good clue that something was broadcasted out of their. Especially since he spotted a human with a camera walking inside. Going invisible, he landed on the ground and followed the man inside the building. From all the bustling going on inside the place he could tell that it was a news station and all he had to do was listen in to whatever they said about Mercy. Walking around the station though, he found a studio with a sign above the door that was illuminated in red and said in capital letters, RECORDING.

Of course Megatron paid no mind to the sign as he opened the door and walked in. No one noticed and he stood over towards the back of the studio as he listened to the reporter talk. Apparently the broadcast was just starting as he listened to the reporter say, "…our top story this morning is the arrest of Mercy LeCroix that took place late yesterday morning right here in the outskirts of Indiana, Pennsylvania. Mercy was discovered by Shawn Lewis who was walking through his forest when he discovered the runaway girl hiding out in his woods. He immediately notified authorities who apprehended Mercy and formally charged her with the murder of Brenna Meyers. She was then taken to the State Correctional Institution located here in Indiana, Pennsylvania on Pine Grove Road…"

Megatron smirked, such stupid, stupid humans.

"The Institution is for youth's who have committed crimes similar to those committed by Mercy and the prison has maximum security," continued the reporter.

The decepticon leader watched as the reporter paused briefly and then said a bit surprised, "We have some breaking news, it—it appears the forensic laboratory where Mercy's car was taken has just been attacked and is in complete…ruin. The car belonging to Mercy is also missing—

Megatron took that as his cue to leave. As he exited the studio and the news station, he could hear emergency vehicles obviously headed in the direction of the laboratory he had just blown up. The decepticon leader knew that with Mercy's "car" missing that there would be even tighter security around her. That was unless he provided a distraction for her as well. That would allow him to help her escape. This was all a game to him, toying with the human law enforcement, but he found it to be quite pleasurable.

And he couldn't figure out why, but he was extremely eager to have Mercy back…in his arms.

Mercy sat in her dark cell staring down at the floor where a small patch of sunlight hit the floor. It was striped because of the bars that blocked the sun in the window. She felt so confined…there was just no way she could get out of here. And she didn't know how Megatron could ever find her…if he was looking. He was probably so fed up with her that he was just going to let her sit there and rot and find some other way to make it back into the living. And she had a feeling now that Megatron had changed her the way he did, she'd never be normal.

What if they found her guilty of murdering Brenna and gave her the death penalty? The electric chair wouldn't kill her. Her body would probably feed off the electric waves from the chair. And what if they decided to give her the lethal injection? That definitely wouldn't work on her. But if they gave her life in prison, they would slowly start to observe that she didn't eat, that she didn't go to the bathroom, and that she didn't age. Then questions would come and finally they would send her to a doctor, and when the doctor didn't find anything wrong with her, they would send her to a scientist…and then they would discover her true secret. That she really wasn't human at all. And Mercy doubted that they would believe her when she told them that she used to be human, that was until she met Megatron.

She sighed. She was scheduled for more questioning later on today. According to the time on her internal clock it was 7:32am. And since the sun was shining in her window she figured her cell was on the eastern side of the building.

If this was how the rest of her life was going to be, with unadorned concrete walls and black and white the only colors she had to paint with, just what would happen? She couldn't draw out the rest of her life because this was the only way it was going to be. Mercy would live in a world of ash and gray…the prison would be her own void of emptiness that Megatron had warned her about. She would become prisoner to herself and ripped away from the world. And that was the last thing she wanted, a life of nothingness. Perhaps, from the very beginning, she had just been trying to break away from the boring and repetitive routine of her life.

Keys rattled outside her door and she looked up as a guard opened her door and said gruffly, "Come along Mercy."

Mercy stood, she hated the orange jumpsuit she was wearing, and went over to the door where the officer took her arms behind her back and handcuffed her. She sighed feeling so helpless and angry…what was she now, some kind of animal? He then took her by the shoulder and then pushed her forward. Mercy then began walking figuring it was time for her questioning…although it was awfully early. It wouldn't make sense for them to question her this early, unless they had known she was awake, but there weren't any security cameras in her room…that couldn't have been the case, unless something else was up.

The officer took her to the questioning room where a man in a suit was waiting. He removed the cuffs from Mercy's wrists and told her to take a seat, which she did. The officer then left the room, where he shut the door, but kept guard outside. The man looked up at her, he appeared to be in his thirties, and he had sandy colored hair and a pinstripe suit. He was rather good looking, but Mercy just wanted to leave the room.

"I take it you're Mercy LeCroix," the man said and then added, "I'm Mark Sullivan."

"Are you my lawyer?" she asked.

"Yes actually. I have every intention of making sure you're proven innocent."

Mercy glanced away from him and remarked, "Good luck with that."

"Just what happened the night of the murder? Were you at Brenna's house?"

There was a knock at the door suddenly before a couple officers burst into the room and looked angrily to Mercy before saying, "Excuse me Mr. Sullivan, we need to speak to Mercy privately."

Mark simply nodded his head and left the room. One of the officers took his seat while another stood beside him. The seated officer asked, "Where is your car?"

"My car?" she inquired confused.

"The forensic laboratory we took it to was bombed this morning and destroyed, your car is missing, do you know any reason as to why this happened?" the standing officer asked in a calmer voice.

Mercy plastered a look of complete shock on her face even though it was fake, "Bombed?"

"Yes bombed, did you have anything to do with it?"

"No, how could I? I was here."

"You didn't have any bombs in the car did you?"

"No!" Mercy growled, "I'm sick of you idiots blaming me for things I didn't do! Take me back to my cell now; I don't have to be questioned if I don't want to."

The seated officer slammed his fist down on the table, "Not until I—we are through with you."

"I suppose then I can use police brutality against you in court!" she shouted.

The officer stood, his chair falling over as he did so and he whispered in a deadly low voice, "Alright you can go back to your cell, but you haven't seen the last of me, do you understand?"

She glared right on back as she said, "Oh you bet I have."

The other officer quickly intervened and took Mercy back to her cell and locked the door. She sat back down on her cot and glared at the wall. She hated this place, oh how she hated this place. If they didn't start believing her soon, there was going to be a burning. And she would watch as everyone burned to ash and then she would make her escape.

Plus if she had luck on her side, maybe, just maybe she could find Megatron again, whether he wanted to find her or not.

Megatron didn't feel like walking so he slowly flew, combing the streets looking for Pine Grove Road. He kept telling himself that the only reason why he was so determined to find Mercy was because he needed to collect her energy so he could be brought back among the living. But a little voice in the back of his head was telling him otherwise, that the real reason he was so determined to find her was because he cared. The last thing he wanted to do was listen to that voice, he knew the moment he was back among the living and the instant he could leave this mud ball of a planet would be the best thing for him. And he refused to let any sort of voice begin to tell him that he couldn't leave Mercy behind and that he had to either take her with him or not even leave at all.

He growled under his breath. Nothing, not even some femme, some girl would prevent him from getting what he wanted. The universe would be his, and when it was, he would rule it the way it should be ruled. And perhaps, maybe he would settle down with a femme and produce heirs…but why would he need heirs if he was going to live forever? Just what was the use of settling down if he could have all the femmes he wanted anyway? But what if his thoughts got the best of him and he decided he only wanted…Mercy?

The decepticon leader quickly shook his head and resumed his search for Pine Grove Road. And it wasn't long before he came across a street sign that read Pine Grove Rd. He began flying down that road and he ended up going down it for about a mile and a half before he came across the prison. He recognized it because of the tall fence with barbed wire curled at the top and security guards with guns posted all over the place. Figuring he was close enough, he decided he would try and get a hold of Mercy through his telepathic link. He hovered around the prison as he did so, trying to pinpoint any weaknesses within the security system.

"Mercy…"

Mercy was shocked when she suddenly heard the decepticon leader call her name in her head. Was he looking for her? Did he care, oh did he care?

"Megatron? Where are you? I heard what happened over at the lab…I'm guessing that was your doing."

Megatron was relieved when he received Mercy's reply…and it surprised him when he felt a tinge of happiness erupt in his abdomen. He shoved it aside before it had the chance to spread.

"I'm outside the prison, where's your cell?"

"All I know is that it's on the eastern side of the building."

"Alright, and just so you know, your guess about what happened to the lab was correct. I was not about to stay there a moment longer. I figured I'd just make my leave…interesting."

"Interesting indeed, but I'm receiving the blame for it."

"What? Why are they blaming you? Aren't you under their constant visual?"

"They think I had bombs in the car—you."

"Humans are so stupid it disgusts me. Do you have a window in your cell?"

"Yes."

"Are you in your cell at the moment?"

"Yes."

"In that case I'm going to come around and peer into windows until I find you."

"Why are you trying to find me?"

"How else can I break you out of this place?"

"You mean you're going to free me?"

"Whatever made you think that I wasn't going to?"

She didn't reply and Megatron went on to say, "Mercy…how am I supposed to make it back amongst the living without you? Is there something else bothering you, something else that you haven't mentioned to me? I've noticed you've been more withdrawn and wrapped up in your thoughts lately."

"I've noticed the same about you."

Megatron didn't know what to say…she wasn't supposed to have noticed. And suddenly he realized he was comforting her, something that was against his rules. He didn't comfort anybody, but yet this wasn't the first time he comforted Mercy. Whatever it was, the girl was severely affecting him and he wasn't so sure if he could just ignore it like he had been or if he should just confront his emotions and tell Mercy his thoughts. He closed his telepathic link as he thought it over. But, just what would he tell Mercy? "You're not the girl I thought you were and I've been having these thoughts…these feelings about you. And you're always on my mind. I hate you Mercy, but I don't know what's going on."

The decepticon leader knew he couldn't tell her that last part only because he wasn't sure himself whether or not it was true. He didn't hate her. Megatron had already come to that realization. The only thing he was trying to do now was isolate himself from the thoughts that he was having, along with the feelings, and attempt to carry on as if nothing was bothering him.

Opening his telepathic link he continued on a new subject, "Nonetheless, I am going to locate you and get you out of there tonight. After that we will head back to your hometown and you will take up a disguise. From there we will try to find the person who killed Brenna."

Mercy felt stun run cold through her circuits. Had Megatron really just said that? Was some sort of new change coming over him? He never used to be this nice to her, but why now? What had she done to convince him? Was it because she showed him her memories? She didn't know, but she had to ask, "You don't believe I killed Brenna anymore?"

"No I don't."

"Why?"

"I shouldn't because of all the times you've lied to me, but perhaps everyone deserves a second chance."

"Thank you Megatron."

He didn't reply and Mercy believed he was flying around trying to locate her cell. That was until there was a tap at her window, but she didn't see anyone there. Slowly though a figure began to ink in and she recognized it as Megatron's familiar form.

"Primus, orange is not your color. Do you have your clothes with you?"

"No. They confiscated everything but my undergarments. I don't know where they are."

"I'll find you something then. We can't have you running around in that, it's an obvious give away."

"Alright."

"I'll be back later on tonight to get you out of here. Until then, Mercy."

"Until tonight, Megatron."

And he disappeared and Mercy felt alone all over again. She could hardly wait for tonight to come and she prayed she wouldn't have to deal with that officer again.

Megatron headed back towards Indiana to find a store so he could hopefully find Mercy something to wear. He browsed about the town for a few minutes until he found a clothing store and he wanted to kick himself when he realized that he didn't remember to get Mercy's sizes. That left him to guess everything. And he wasn't going to get her anything spectacular either.

Luckily the store wasn't very busy and he went directly to the women's section where he picked out a pair of gray sweatpants he figured would fit Mercy and then found a dark blue hoodie with some sort of symbol on it that he didn't recognize or cared to recognize. Megatron stored these items in his subspace and figured he should try to find a hardware store and perhaps get a chain or a soldering utensil so he could either pull out or melt the bars over Mercy's window. He left the clothing store without detection and it wasn't long until he found a hardware store and shoplifted a few items he figured would all be beneficial.

And he was ready for tonight.

It was completely pitch black outside when Mercy heard a tap against the bars of her window. She looked over and saw Megatron outside and he motioned for her not to look at him and pretend she was asleep incase one of the guards came by. Mercy did as he requested and went over to her cot and laid down on it, feigning sleep as she listened to Megatron work outside. It was every now and then she would hear a clink against the bars, but other than that he was very quiet. Suddenly she heard a loud bang and the ground vibrated a bit.

"What was that?"

"I set a bomb way over on the other side of the building. More will go off periodically to keep the guards away from this section of the prison."

"You like to blow things up, don't you?"

"Yes, it's very enjoyable."

Mercy smirked and then she heard metal groaning as if it were under stress until there was a pop. She looked over to see Megatron had removed the bars to the window though she wasn't sure how. But now he had to do away with the window. Suddenly there was a bigger explosion, a bit closer than the first one, and the vibrations from it knocked out the window in Mercy's room. She grinned sitting up. "Nice idea," she exclaimed.

"Come on, we haven't got much time," Megatron said.

Mercy went over to the window, but it was so high above her head she couldn't even jump up to it. Megatron noticed and leaned inside and extended his arm down to her as far as he could. 

Mercy was able to reach his hand and grabbed hold of it and he pulled up to the window and helped her through it. It was then Mercy saw the blow torch lying on the ground along with the two metal bars that had been over her window. Apparently he had melted them and pulled them out. Mercy sat in the window, looking at Megatron, taking the moment a little more romantically than she should have. Just a day without the other had proven to be hard enough. Mercy had missed him. And Megatron glumly admitted to himself that he had missed her as well. Her helped her out of the window and pulled her tightly in his arms and hugged her saying, "Promise me you won't let the police catch you again."

She smiled, "I promise."

"Good," he replied, "Hold on to me for a minute."

Mercy didn't know if he meant that he needed to be held or if he wanted her to hold him, she just didn't know what he meant as she slid her arms around his neck and held. He suddenly let her go and Mercy gripped him tighter, using the tips of his feet to remain standing and to keep from hanging in midair. He took out a device from his subspace and programmed it before setting it in the window sill. Mercy didn't have to look twice to realize it was a bomb. He then gripped her by the waist and then quickly flew off away from the prison. He was going to make sure they were out of Indiana, Pennsylvania before he took to his car mode and let Mercy change from her prison suit.

When they were a few miles out of Indiana and on an abandoned dirt road, Megatron landed and let Mercy free from his grasp. He handed her the clothes he had shoplifted and said, "Hurry up and change, it won't be long until the police are after us again. We need to get you a disguise."

"Oh…how wonderful, now don't look," she stated and waited until he turned around before she stripped out of her prison suit and put on the sweatpants and the hoodie. The hoodie was a little big, along with the sweatpants, but they would do until Mercy could get some better clothes, "Okay, you can look."

Megatron turned back around and glanced at the prison suit before saying, "Burn that, we don't want anyone finding it."

Mercy waded her orange suit into a small ball and took it in both hands and incinerated it. She didn't stop until every last thread was ash. Megatron then transformed into his car mode and told Mercy to get in, which she did. Once she was in, he let his engine roar to life and headed off down the road.

The girl smiled, "Since you can control your vehicle modes again, I'm going to take a little nap."

Megatron was in disbelief, he had managed to collect enough energy to control his vehicle forms again. And as he thought back, he realized there had been a lot of positive energy between him and Mercy that day allowing him to collect a sufficient suppy of energy.

And as he drove Mercy back home he couldn't help but think that perhaps it wouldn't be long now until he could go home, to his real home, himself.

So ends this chapter. Now there are ten more chapters to write and this story will be done. No kidding either, I've got the rest of this story all planned out. Thankies to everyone who has been reviewing, I appreciate it. Please leave a review on your way out!