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On with the show!!!

"So bright…"

Soundwave was thrown into her first memory: Her activation.

He saw the child fall, tearing out the needles blood splattering lightly on the floor.

"Damn it, she's torn the cable too soon…"

He watched in silent disgust as the scientists removed her to the attached room, securing her down to the table. Her vectors were hanging limp, and pulling at her joints.

Soundwave sped forward, passing through her lessons, watching her interactions with the different people: specifically the one she came to call 'Papa.'

"Look Twenty Three, this is a map of the world. This America, your homeland, and the most important country in the world," he told her, smiling. She nodded, obviously filing away the information.

"Why Papa? Why is it the most important country?"

"This is the land of the free. This is your homeland," he stood, saluting comically, receiving no reaction from the girl, but keen eyes, ready to learn. Of course, she wouldn't know what was comical, as 'humor' had never been in her training program. She was to always take things at face value.

"What is 'free'?" she asked curiously. "I have no record of that word."

"Hmm," her Papa tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Freedom is to be able to live happy, knowing you're not living in fear. Freedom is liberation. Freedom is independence, being able to do what ever you may."

She blinked.

"Am I free?"

"What would you do if you were free?" he smiled at her, knowing the answer.

"Whatever you tell me," she replied dutifully.

"Good girl. There's your answer. You have the freedom to do what your heart desires: Obey, and serve your country."

"Are you the country?" she asked, confused. His words weren't making any sense.

"In a way, a country is it's people," he explained. She looked at the map again. It didn't look anything like people… "Do you understand?"

"Negative," she answered, frowning in frustration. She was failing him…

"Look, think of it this way… These are the areas people live in. Americans live in America. It's the people like you and me that matter, and as military, we have to protect their lives, therefore the areas they live in that sustain them. If there were all people, and no country, we'd all have no place to live. We'd suffer and die."

She nodded, and pulled the map closer, studying it. "I believe I understand. The people are the country. With no people, it would be barren land, without a country there could be no people… So we must protect America as a whole, from the other, less important countries. Am I correct?" she looked up hopefully.

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, kind of."

"So we should destroy the other countries?" she asked glaring at the patches on the map identified as 'Europe,' 'Asia' and 'Africa.'

"No!" he cried in surprise, staring at her, shocked. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"To strike first would prevent attack, correct?" she asked. "This is what I was taught by the General."

"Well, technically that tactic is sound, and I don't want to undermine whatever he's taught you, but these countries have people too."

"And the people must be destroyed, along with the country to exterminate the threat."

"What?"

"Because America is the most important country, as the land of the free."

"No, you've got it wrong. Their lives matter jut as much as ours," he had his hands out in front of him, trying to erase his mistake. "I'm just saying, if it comes to war, we may have to fight and kill to defend our country, but we shouldn't just go kill everyone Do you understand?"

She shook her head, a slight pain forming in her temples.

"Just… don't kill anyone unless you truly have to," he said, but a voice cut him off.

"Your time will have to be cut short today," a strict looking man in a white coat stormed in, dragging Papa out by the arm.

Twenty Three sat at the table, still glaring at Africa, as she heard raised voices from beyond the door.

"What the hell are you doing softening it up? Subject Twenty Three was designed to be a weapon, not a Green Peace activist. Dammit, if you keep this up, I'll make SURE you're reassigned."

"But she's-"

"Not she. It. I know you've gotten attached to it, I've heard it calling you Papa. It isn't kind, trying to humanize it."

"But-"

"No buts, or you're out of here."

She waited until one of the scientists came to fetch her, taking her for her physical.

Soundwave's eyes optics flashed in horror.

The young girl was taken to a white washed room, metal protrusions coming from the walls. Two scientists stood in a glass box, manning the controls. One had a clipboard.

"Twenty Three, I want you to use your vectors to hold onto each of these vices. We will be testing your resistance. Don't let go," the male instructed, the female flipping through a few sheets of paper.

"Yes, masters."

They looked to each other, amused.

"Ready to go. Level one," the female motioned to the other white-coat, and he flicked a few switches.

The metal vices were slowly pulled further apart.

"Resistance?"

"None," Twenty Three answered dutifully.

"Level Two…"

The blue and white mech was filled with pain, as he felt what she had, her body slowly being torn apart.

"Resistance?"

"Yes."

"About time," she smiled, making a tick on her clipboard. "Level Twelve."

He felt her bones cracking under the pressure.

"Resistance?"

"Yes. Minor internal damage caused."

Minor? This was agony!

"Level Thirteen."

Soundwave felt the skin tear as her vectors were pulled unnaturally far out.

He recoiled, tearing his mind out of hers, and fell to his knees.

What was that hell? He had never felt such pain… was this the doings of a human nervous system?

Slowly, he brought his optics online, still shivering, despite himself.

"Soundwave?" Twenty Three's voice caught his attention. He looked up, and noticed not only her, but all his cassettes were watching him cautiously.

"Your mind is in turmoil," she looked at him with concern. "Did you find anything of use?"

"I… Negative," he answered simply, his mind still reeling.

"Dad?" Frenzy put his hand on the mech's arm. "I haven't seen you this spooked since… well, ever!" He looked over at his girlfriend. "What did you see in there?"

"Confidential," he snapped, not even wanting to remember himself, much less relay the information.

"Soundwave…" Twenty Three bit her lip. "I'm sorry. But I have to make certain Mother isn't there anymore… I hate to put you through this, but I can't let anyone else get hurt… Please…"

The larger bot remained silent, trying to think of a way out of it, but knew he had to.

"I… suppose this could wait a couple of hours… So long as it is completed before I go offline. I could always return to my holding cell until you are ready to continue."

"Tee," Frenzy looked shocked. "I know you hate that place…"

"I'd hate the possibility of being used to kill you more," she replied sternly.

"I… watched you while you were in there…" he admitted. "It looked painful."

"Pain doesn't matter to me, Zee. Not when your lives are on the line. And it's not just you. My mother could have killed Dad… Then there's Cade, Screamer, TC and Warp. What would I do if I killed them? I'm not particularly close to Devestator or Bonecrusher, but I wouldn't want to kill ANY of the decepticons. And now your family is on the line as well. I refuse to put any one of you in danger. Hell, if mother got hold of me again, she could slag you all. She'd be able to tear Tripticon to pieces from the inside out. She could create more autobots, even stronger than the dinobots. This is serious, Zee…"

Frenzy bowed his head slightly in sadness, and gathered her in his arms.

"Sorry, Tee…'

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry Zee…"

"What for?" he asked, curiously.

"I didn't mean to snap… I'm just… I believe the word 'scared' is applicable."

Frenzy squeezed her tighter, being careful of her burnt shoulder, which despite himself, kind of grossed him out.

"It's okay…" he sighed. "I'm sure Dad can fix you…" he looked over at said robot, who was still looking slightly traumatized. "I hope…"

Soundwave got no more mind-searching done that day, and Twenty Three once again returned to her holding cell.

Rumble and Frenzy escorted her there, Frenzy holding her close, possessively.

"So this is where you've been the last week?" Rumble asked in distaste.

The room was bare, except for some restraints embedded in the wall. How… boring.

"I spent much of my life in this room. It has been modified several times for the experiments conducted on me," she informed him, deadpan. She preferred to block out all emotion from these memories.

"…Oh…" Rumble looked a little embarrassed, as Frenzy shot him a glare. "So… what are those things for?" he pointed to the metal restraints.

"You will see in a minute," she turned to her mate, and gave him a one armed hug, wrapping her vectors around him. This room made her extremely uneasy, and she desperately wanted comfort. "Love you Zee. I'll see you tomorrow," she kissed his cheek fondly. Frenzy glared at Rumble over her shoulder, who was gagging silently.

Ignoring his twin, he nosed his love, and whispered to her gently. "I'll be back for you first thing tomorrow. Try to get some decent sleep, babe… Be strong for me?"

He knew what she was like when she was in here… She seemed to completely shut down all emotions, and it scared him slightly. It was like she simply stopped being herself to get though the pain.

"I'll try. Night Zee," she let go of him, and walked over to the restraints, securing herself. She nodded at them. "Night Rumble… Tripticon… Power on."

Rumble shrieked in surprise as electric shocks coursed through her, rendering the young woman immobile.

"What the slag?" Rumble shouted, but Frenzy pulled him out of the room. "Goodnight babe," he bade her as he shut the door.

"What the hell was that?" Rumble hissed at his twin. "Did she just give the order to… electrify herself??"

"It's the only way to keep her out of action… She will return to this room every night until dad can fix her."

"Slag, Frenzy… Aren't those restraints enough without the shocks? They looked pretty secure to me…"

"Her vectors can change… They're made out of tiny metallic scales that move with her gravity or something. Megatron explained it a lot better. Anyway, she could easily break out of there if she wasn't paralyzed."

Rumble was silent. He hadn't heard Frenzy sound so dark in his life.

"You really care about her, don't you," he said, as they started walking back slowly.

"…Yeah…" he sighed sadly. "It goes both ways, though… she said that… if… if Dad couldn't fix her, she'd self-terminate to keep us safe."

Rumble looked over at his brother, mortified. Partially because of what he had said, but mostly because he was crying.

There was not one instance, in their entire existence that either of them had cried.

What do I do?

"Slag, Frenzy. It would be just like you to pick a girl with issues."

"Thanks for the attempt, Rumble, but it's not the time. I don't feel much like laughing."

This struck Rumble as even more wrong. When was Frenzy not up for a good laugh?

"Come on, Zee," he used the name Twenty Three had called him earlier, but was met with an exhausted punch in the gut.

"Dammit, Rumble. Don't call me that. Only Tee's allowed to call me that," he leaned on his brother, feeling like he was about to melt down. He hadn't recharged properly since Twenty Three had been hijacked by her mother, and had been taken to the autobots… He just couldn't sleep without her next to him.

"And you have to treat her with respect. Don't you dare call her Tee, that's my name for her. You call her by her full name, or make up one of your own."

"Why are you so defensive?" Rumble asked, still confused about the fact he was being so heavily leaned on.

"Because I have something to defend."

"Not from me," his brother argued, pulling him back to Soundwave's room.

"Maybe not…"

Rumble was talking quietly to Soundwave, watching his brother cautiously on the other side of the room. He was sitting completely still, watching Twenty Three in her containment room from Soundwave's console.

"He was never able to sit still for this long before… I'm worried, Soundwave," the cassette looked up at his creator.

"Understood. Situation: Difficult."

"Can't you just fix her?" Rumble begged. "You didn't even try again after that first time… Was it really that bad?"

"Affirmative."

"But you will try again, right?"

"Megatron commands it."

"Not just for Megatron though, right? This is killing Frenzy…" he looked up at his creator forlornly. "We gotta do something… He freaking cried, Soundwave," he whispered, careful that his brothers couldn't hear him.

Soundwave looked a little shocked.

"Intervention required…" he moved behind Frenzy, and looked at the screen, cringing slightly. Although slightly altered, this was the same room he had relived her experiment. He shuddered slightly, but remained resolved.

"Frenzy. Playback scenes of Twenty Three," he ordered.

"Huh?" Frenzy looked up in shock. "Uh… Okay. Any in particular?"

"Relevant scenes."

"To what?"

"To you."

Frenzy sighed. So Soundwave wanted to see how he'd gotten close to her? He supposed that was alright.

"I'm not going to show you any private stuff, and I'd appreciate you not digging into those memories when you're in her head either," he scowled slightly, and shrunk the current video of his mate down to a corner of the screen, so he could still keep an eye on her. He scrolled through the files, to get to the video footage of when she first arrived.

Of course, this was after the base was constructed. He found the right video, and pressed pay.

Frenzy and a freshly polished Barricade were walking down the hallway, laughing.

"And she did it?" Frenzy cackled.

"Thoroughly, and without question. I don't think I much mind this pet of yours, Frenzy, if I get free waxes."

"I hope you weren't too mean to her. Stupid girl."

"Why would I be mean?" he asked innocently. "Dare I say it, your pet did a good job."

"There she is now…" Frenzy said, spotting her down the hallway. "Hey Twenty Three! What are you doing?"

She saluted them happily.

"Master Frenzy! Master Barricade! Lord Starscream told me to stand here under this vent until I received further orders."

Frenzy looked up at the vent… "That's the wastage vent." Frenzy pointed out.

"Yes, Master, I helped build it."

"You know raw energon byproducts will pour on you if you stand there."

"Yes," she smiled at them openly.

"And they'll probably burn your human flesh?" Barricade pointed out helpfully.

"Most likely."

"Remind us again why you are standing here?"

Her smile faltered. "Lord Starscream told me to," she repeated.

"Until you receive other orders?" Barricade interjected.

"Correct."

Frenzy frowned. "Get out from under there."

She obeyed immediately. "Yes, sir. Are there any other orders, Masters?"

Frenzy looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Go outside and pick some flowers. Deliver them to Starscream."

"Yes sir!" she saluted, and set off.

"Idiot," Barricade shook his head.

"Totally," Frenzy snickered.

The footage flicked forward to Twenty Three handing over the flowers.

"What is this madness?" the seeker spat.

"Master Frenzy ordered me to deliver these to you, sir. Did I do a good job?" she smiled up at him.

He simply shot at them, disintegrating them right out of her hands.

She saluted him again. "Is there anything else you'd have me do, Lord Starscream?"

He glowered at her. "Go dig up some worms, you useless fleshwad. Don't come back until you have one thousand."

She jumped into action immediately.

Ratbat landed on the head of Frenzy's chair, and glared at him.

"You're mean to mum," he accused, sulking slightly.

"I was at first…" Frenzy sighed regretfully.

"She deserved it, for being so gullible," Ravage sniffed, but Frenzy rounded on him.

"She didn't deserve any of that! Do you know how much I regret pranking her? She didn't know any better, she was taught to just follow whatever orders she received. Those freaking humans," his fists were clenched and shaking in anger. "Some of the things they did to her… And they brainwashed her to just take it all…"

"You were not at fault," Soundwave reassured him. "You were uninformed."

"Frenzy… When have you ever regretted a prank?" Rumble looked concerned. "Twenty Three… she's changed you."

"It's not… like that…" he said weakly.

"You're turning into a stiff," Rumble accused.

"I'm not giving up pranking," he smiled weakly that the thought had even crossed his twins mind. "I just… regret doing anything hurtful towards her…"

"Hey, getting her to go pick flowers for Starscream? That's not gonna hurt anything but seeker-boy's pride," Rumble argued.

Frenzy shook his head, and sighed. Their confrontation by the riverside was not recorded. He smiled slowly: that was when he had received his first hug from her… Of course, at the time he had been seriously freaked out.

He showed them the footage of her delivering the worms to Starscream, and Megatron telling them both off.

"After he told her to go clean herself up, I followed her to the river…" he began, and Soundwave flicked him in the side of the head.

"Pervert."

"Hey, it's not like that!" Frenzy shouted, defending himself. "I just went to talk to her… Apologize for bossing her around. She was really upset when she found out we were deceiving her…"

"Wouldn't she have guessed? They were pretty stupid tasks."

"She spent most of her life in about three rooms. Her containment room, where she was left for solitary confinement whenever she was not needed, a training room, where she was tortured periodically, and the holding cell you saw earlier where they performed experiments on her. She didn't know anything, anything, about real life… She didn't have a drop of common sense in her."

"Well why were you so worried over her? If she didn't have any sense, she deserved everything that came to her," Rumble argued, and Rabat hissed at him.

Frenzy stalked over to his brother and punched him directly in the face.

"She got freaking raped in that same room she's in now. She hates everything that happened to her in there, and she chose to go back to keep us safe. Not just me, but every one of us," he spat. "If I hear you dis my girl again, I'll make you wish Soundwave never built you."

Rumble held his hands up in defense, knowing when to back off. He had rarely seen his twin so angry, and it had never been directed at him. "Hey, sorry bro… I didn't mean it."

Frenzy simply sighed again, and pulled up another picture.

"Maybe this will make you understand how much she cares about us…" he pressed play. "This was after Sector 7 used her to hurt Barricade and kill Blackout."

The cassettes and their creator watched in awe as she let her healing power flow into Barricade.

"Twenty Three," he sounded weak.

"Where's Blackout?"

…Silence…

"Black…out…"

She seemed to notice Astrotrain, and started shouting at him.

Even Ratbat seemed scared.

Soundwave was completely motionless. That raw emotion… it was mesmerizing.

All of a sudden, she was tearing him to pieces.

"Holy slag!" Rumble cried out, as she tore his limbs off, leaving him barely alive and completely defenseless.

"You insulted my Frenzy… You insulted me… You insulted Soundwave… Now you insult Blackout's memory. Everything you are is an insult, and I feel no regret in erasing you from this world, oh mistaken creation of mine," her eyes were cold as she delivered the final blow, tearing his spark straight out of his body.

"She… she just tore him apart," Ravage whispered in awe. He had never seen anything so… brutal. He was impressed.

"Explanation required," Soundwave interjected, a little confused.

"Huh?" Frenzy looked up at his father. "About what?"

He rewound the video to the precise point: "You insulted Soundwave…"

"Oh, she told me when she was talking to the seekers and Astrotrain, he called you a bore. She didn't take too kindly to it because I old her you were my creator."

Soundwave mulled over this information. She had defended his name even before she knew him… Nobody except his cassettes had ever tried to defend his honor. As a telepath, he was hated for his ability: Nobody liked a snoop. Not that he really cared what a bunch of lug-brains thought of him.

But stil…

Now he had to help her. Not just for Megatron or Frenzy either…

The next day, Soundwave went with the cassettes to free Twenty Three.

"Yo Zee," she called tiredly, unable to wave at him.

"Tripticon! Power off!" he shouted, running at his woman. Once released, she collapsed heavily onto him, and they both ended up sprawled on the floor.

"Tee, what happened, you're exhausted!" he crooned, worried. "Is this room getting a bit much for you?"

"I'm okay," she whispered. "Now you are with me."

"Emotional femmes," he teased, and she laughed weakly.

Soundwave stepped forward. "Are you ready to proceed?"

"Are you?" she asked him, concerned. She didn't want to harm Frenzy's Dad, and she had been unable to sleep most of the night due to guilt.

"Affirmative," he assured her. I will do my best for you.

Thank you, she sent back softly.

It took them most of the day, but Soundwave was convinced all of the seriously dangerous parts of the Allspark were gone.

He had to destroy only a few more parts, but the dangerous personality seemed gone, leaving the amazing abilities behind. Of course, there was always the chance a small part of the Allspark was concealing herself, but even then, she was unlikely to emerge, knowing she would be eradicated.

Tired out, but finally free, she took Frenzy outside, and lay on the grass, holding him tightly with her arm.

"Things are going to get better, Zee," she promised him. "I won't have to die now…"

He snuggled into her soft flesh, almost crying once again.

"I love you, Tee… I wouldn't have been able to stand life without you…"

"Yes you would," she said hollowly. "You have a family who loves you. You have people to live for."

"My family is yours, Tee," he kissed her cheek gently, leaning over to look into her eyes.

"You mean it?" she smiled.

"You said it when you first met them: The other cassettes are like your brothers. And Sounds could be a second Dad if you like."

"I only have one Father, Zee," she smiled at him. "I think I'll just be Soundwave's friend."

After spending most of the afternoon with Frenzy, she stepped away slightly, looking down at him.

"Zee, I gotta go talk to my Dad. You gonna stay the night with your family, or what?" she could feel his thoughts conflicting.

On one account, he had finally been reunited with his long lost creator and siblings, whom he hadn't seen for years. On the other hand, he wanted to stay with his mate. He was afraid he was going to lose her, these past few days, and it had been eating him up inside like a bad virus.

What to I do? He shuffled his feet, and looked up at her. "How long are you going to be?"

She shrugged. "Depends on Dad. I also wanted to see the others… How about I meet you back at Soundwave's. I know you want to hang with your family. You can decide where you want to bunk later."

"Thanks, babe…" he grinned. "Behave yourself," he laughed a little as she poked her tongue out.

"Look who's talking!"

With that, they each went their separate ways.

Now he wasn't overloading with worry for his mate, he could go show Rumble the air vent that lead straight into the seeker's rooms.

He still hadn't gotten back at Starscream for sleeping with his mate that time the Allspark took over.

"Hey Dad…"

"Ah, Twenty Three. You are feeling better then?" Megatron looked down at his tiny daughter, still amazed her small frame could have destroyed him.

"Much… Just a bit fatigued now," she grinned tiredly up at him. "I thought I better come see you first, before I visit the others, or hit the sack."

Megatron was pleased she had admitted to being tired out. He was trying to get her to break out of her 'programming' and it seemed it was working… It wasn't as if she was a whiner like Starscream or anything, but he didn't want to burn her out, not knowing much about her human bodies stamina.

"Good, good…" he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Is she gone?"

"We believe so… Her personality, anyway… I still have her memories, so I know part of her remains, but we believe it is not dangerous."

Megatron nodded. "Make sure you report any abnormalities to Soundwave or myself. I don't want you to get caught out again."

She nodded, and they were silent for a moment.

"Are you well?" she asked him awkwardly. "I was worried…"

"It takes more than that to kill me, little one," he smirked at her, knowing very well he could be dead at that moment if the Allspark hadn't held back.

"You don't hate me then?" her eyes seemed a little teary.

"Why would I?" Megatron asked, startled. He had not expected tears… "It wasn't you who attacked me."

She threw herself at her father, wrapping her vectors around his neck in a hug.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you…" she cried into him. "I love you, Dad… I promise I'll be a better daughter, I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I'm so sorry…"

Megatron simply blinked. He was not accustomed to this sort of thing.

"Silence, child. You are a better daughter than I could have asked for. Doubly so with the Allspark's powers. You can give me entire new troops… I am very pleased with you, for you have proven both your use and your loyalty to me…" he looked down at her fondly, knowing out of all his minions, only Twenty Three would be truly loyal until death. "You have still not chosen your reward, from designing our new energon harvesting machine… Have you made any decision?"

She bit her lip. "I haven't really been thinking about it… I sort of forgot. Sorry Dad… I'll ask Zee if he has any ideas tonight."

"You're not off to see him now?" he asked, a little surprised.

"I want to see the others… I've been with Zee most of the day. He could use some time with his family, anyway," she shrugged. "I'll see him tonight."

"Are you bored of him already?" He raised an optic ridge at her.

"What? No, where the slag did you get that idea from?" she looked appalled. "He's my mate, I'm not going to just get bored of him. I love him."

"Forgive me," apologized, not sounding very sorry. I suppose that would have been too good to be true. "You just haven't been spending much time with him lately. I thought you would have been more eager to see him." Phase One: Seed of Doubt.

"Dad, you're not ever going to get on to Phase Two. I can hear your thoughts," she frowned at him. "Why don't you like Frenzy?"

She felt panic rise in his mind.

What? How- when? Slag… Oh, slag…

"Don't worry Dad, I'm not going to start spying on you for Starscream or anything… just… don't try to sabotage me and Zee… I really love him. And…" she looked away. Unable to say the words out loud, she sent a tendril of her pain out to him, so he would understand. I don't think I could handle it if I was betrayed by both parents…

Slaggit… I didn't mean- How do I fix this?

She smiled, and he realized she'd just heard his regret.

"You just did," she jumped up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Dad."

She skipped off to visit Barricade, sure her Father would drop his plot.

Meanwhile, Frenzy and Rumble were sitting in the air vent above Starscream's room, waiting for him to leave. Rumble sniggered quietly rummaging through one of their cardboard boxes, and Frenzy shushed him.

"Shut up, idiot, he'll hear you!"

They remained still as he left the remains of an experiment: a cannon of some kind, on his work top and left without a second look.

They gave him a minute to clear the area, then grabbed out their materials, getting to work.

"Cade! Screamer!" Twenty Three grinned at them, walking into the rec room.

"Hey, what about us?" a voice asked from beside her.

"Oh, Hey Devestator! Bonecrusher, I didn't see you there," she waved at them, and the other mechs joined them.

"What's the haps?" she smiled at Barricade. "I've been out of the loop for a while…"

"What does that mean?" Devestator asked her curiously. "What's the haps?"

She shrugged. "Frenzy taught it to me. It's slang or something for 'what's been happening?'"

"Oh," he replied, completely cutting over Barricade, who had just opened his mouth. "Not much. We received a call from the autoscum. They wanted to see if you were okay."

"They did?" she asked, surprised. "Why?"

Starscream shot him a 'look.'

"They were probably looking for an excuse to find out information," he looked her in the eyes. She's spent too long with those idiots. We can't have her going autobot on us…

Twenty Three tried to evaluate the situation. She didn't want the others knowing she was a telepath just yet… But how could she reassure him?

"That… doesn't sound like them," she said slowly, and looked back to Starscream, a carefully confused expression on her face. "But I don't understand why they'd call. I really don't want anything to do with them. They probably just want their precious Allspark back to make them more dinobots."

Bonecrusher grunted. "Why'd you have to make those anyway. I heard they were the ones that took your arm."

"That wasn't me," she said, then grinned at Starscream. "Besides, I got an idea for a brand new arm."

"Hey, you can't have mine!" he said defensively and she laughed.

"Too big, lugnuts," the others blinked at her language. "I'm going to use that gun you made me."

"How?" he asked her, surprised. "I can change matter. I'll just have to adapt it, maybe with a few extra parts, but it'll be more useless than this stupid chunk of flesh." She twitched her shoulder for emphasis, making Devestator shudder.

"That's so gross…"

"What, you got something against organics?" she smirked at him.

"What? I… uh… no!" he looked cornered.

"Nice move, idiot. You made her angry. You'll end up just like Astrotrain now," Bonecrusher shoved him.

"Please don't kill me," Devestator's optics brightened in fear.

She just laughed. "I'm not going to kill ya. What would Dad say, if I kept culling down his troops?"

Devestator laughed uneasily, not feeling humored at all.

"What'd you come here for anyway?" Barricade asked her, curiously. "You didn't come all the way here to make Devestator empty his gas tank, right?"

She poked her tongue at him. "What, I can't come visit my friends now?"

He smiled. "Where's Frenzy?"

"With his family. I thought I'd give him some time alone with them. Besides, he just gets jealous when we all hang out together."

"I thought you didn't notice," Starscream observed her. Does he have a reason to be jealous? Why did she come here alone… Surely she wouldn't… Although it was the Allspark that time… But still, she has to see how much I like her. Perhaps I do have a chance…

"Of course I notice Zee gets jealous. He doesn't need to be though… I would never cheat on him. We talked about it, and he doesn't mind me talking to you. He trusts me."

Damn…

Sometimes reading minds was so useful…

"So your going to have a gun arm?" Barricade diverted an awkward conversation, to which she smiled in thanks.

"Yep. It was pretty well made, and it would be good to have a long range weapon on me at all times. Unless I have ammo, my vectors are pretty useless as projectiles," she explained.

"I could help you out with the attachment, if you like," Starscream offered. Maybe if I just got her alone more she'd fall for me…

"That's okay Screamer," she smiled uneasily. "I can use my mothers left over powers. It'll probably be more stable that way anyway."

"Why don't you just replace all your human parts?" Bonecrusher asked. "You'd be a lot stronger."

"Frenzy and Dad didn't want me to… Mum neither, but I think her reasons were more selfish," she sighed. "I'll just replace them as I lose them."

"Hopefully that won't be any time soon," Barricade poked her remaining arm gently.

She stood up, and stretched, bones cracking into place. Devestator made a grossed out face, and the others ignored him.

"Well, I should get back to Zee."

"Wait," Starscream picked her up gently. "I've got a new cannon I'm working on, I'd like to show it to you… It could prove to be better than the original weapon I gave you."

Twenty Three's eyes widened in excitement. "That's be great! Where to?" She asked.

"Well, they're in my quarters…" he mumbled.

"I'm going with you," Barricade glared at the seeker.

"You weren't invited," Starscream spat. Damnit, I just want to get her alone. Why is everyone out to get me?

"Hey Cade, I'll be okay," she patted his arm. "I'm just going to go check out the gun."

The black and white mech pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Only you would see nothing suspicious about getting invited back to a mech's room."

Bonecrusher and Devestator sniggered, as Starscream seemed to panic.

"Hey, it's not like that. She wants an upgrade," he defended. Hopefully an upgrade in the mate department as well.

"Starscream wont try anything, because he knows I can tear him to shreds," she said happily, reminding the jet of the fact. "Besides, I'm one hundred percent loyal to Frenzy, so nothing will happen."

Starscream seemed to deflate a little.

"Barricade can come if he wants," Starscream sighed, reminded he had no chance with her for now. "Let's go."

As the door closed behind them, Bonecrusher burst out laughing.

"What?" Devestator asked, not catching any jokes.

"She called Starscream 'lugnuts!'"

Before long, they were both cracking up.

Whoa, I just set up a prank...

Any guesses as to what it is:p

REVIEW!!

(You might get some left over treats, but most of them went to maiden-of-the-elements...

Shockwave got bored of cooking, so I had to bribe Soundwave)