Author's note. Sorry for the wait, hope everyone enjoys.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

When Elita woke, she felt warm and safe as someone held her close on a berth. For a moment, she simply sighed with pleasure as she snuggled against someone who was warm and holding her close. No alerts appeared in her processor warned her that she should wake up as quickly as possible so she half dozed.

"Mmm," she mumbled, as she tried snuggling closer, she just felt so good right now, she didn't want to wake up.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, we'll have to get up soon," a voice suddenly said very softly in her audio but she still didn't full register.

"A few more minutes," she moaned, her limbs were stiff, making her even more unwilling to get up, or even open her optics.

She heard a sigh and whoever it was, released their grip on her so that she rolled back onto her back. Before she could curl up into a ball, she felt something warm on her lips, pressing down gently. For a moment, she was surprised but then she kissed back automatically, even opening her mouth slightly.

As soon as this happened, a glossia slipped into her mouth and began to probe the inside. This made her groan and she started to fall asleep again as pleasure over took her. But then she felt the pleasurable kiss end, though whoever was kissing her was still very close. Their mouth moved over her cheek and down her neck to her right shoulder.

And that's when a sharp pain erupted between her neck and shoulder.

"Ouch," she cried, her optics snapping open with pain and shock.

She was greeted by the sight of Megatron, leaning over her with a smirk on his face. His fangs were bared but they retreated as he closed his mouth. She moved her hand up to touch the place where he'd bitten her, it was only slightly dented with no leaking Energon. However, she was still very annoyed about this.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded angrily.

"To wake you up?" he said with a shrug and a smug look on his face.

She scowled before saying.

"You could have woken me up the normal way...and why did you kiss me?"

"Because I felt like it?" Megatron replied smugly before rolling away from her.

For a moment, she was furious and she rolled away so that she was facing the opposite direction. But as she lay there fuming, a new thought struck her. Megatron was clearly attracted to her and though he'd stated there was no interfacing in the mines...he did have access to a shower here.

Not only that, there was a suitable berth, so no hard ground to deal with. Would he take advantage of this fact? But to her surprise, she wasn't as frightened of this prospect as she had been before, she just felt strange. Basically, she didn't know if she wanted him to take advantage of this safe house or not.

But before she could dwell on this more, she heard the sound of an Energon ration being opened, and she turned to see Megatron biting into one. So, she quickly took one out of her sub space, they'd need the energy for today. But as she consumed her ration, Megatron seemed to notice her nervousness and said softly.

"Are you worried about leaving this place?"

"A little," she admitted softly. "But that's not...I mean...I'm okay with going out now. I won't panic."

He cocked his head slightly.

"Then what is wrong?"

"I...," she began before biting her lip. "It's just...you said that first night...that...that no one interfaced in the mines."

Megatron raised an optic brow.

"Yes," he said softly, looking a little bemused. "What about it?"

"Well, you said that it was because you couldn't get clean," Elita explained, not sure why she was telling him this but needing an answer. "But...but here there's a berth and a shower so...I was just wondering..."

He stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head.

"There's another good reason," he said quietly. "Interfacing uses up energy, a lot of energy. We need every scrap we can get Elita, especially if we're going to fight our way out of here. So no, we won't be interfacing even though as you say, there's a berth and shower available."

"Oh," she said, half in relief, half in disappointment.

It really sucked having such conflicting emotions.

She turned back to finish her Energon ration, not noticing the slight smile on Megatron's face. He didn't say anything and simply tossed the remains to Meko who delightedly snuffled it up. Megatron snorted slightly, he wasn't sure if the Mecho Mole would survive the journey, though a part of him hoped it did since Elita liked it so much.

He was starting to get quite fond of the Femme, and wanted to bring her safely out of the mines. This had been his goal all along of course but the reasons for it had changed slightly. She wasn't just a highly valuable Autobot prisoner, she was becoming...something more. Though he still hadn't quite worked out what that was.

He relaxed back on the berth as Elita finished eating, and like him, tossed the remains to Meko. They would need to move soon, while they were still fresh. The creatures that dwelled down here didn't have normal night and day cycles. They slept when they needed it, which wasn't very often. So, perhaps if they were lucky, some would be sleeping as they passed but chances were, they wouldn't.

"Are you ready?" he said finally as he saw Elita was just sitting on the berth, smoothing down her armour.

"I...yes I am," she said, holding her chin high.

"Good," Megatron said softly before saying. "Let me see the weapons you have."

She took them out from sub space, a small blaster and a hand knife. Megatron eyed them critically, he'd probably been hoping for better weapons. But she'd lost her larger blaster when she'd fallen down the mines, so this was the best she had to offer. He eventually nodded, saying.

"They'll do, use the blaster first and only use that knife as a last resort. Don't be afraid to grab any weapons we find on the way, even if it's an abandoned piece of pipe."

"I will," Elita said firmly, feeling that heady sense of dread and energy when you prepared to go out into hostile territory.

It always left her a little shaky but thankfully, this normally disappeared once she was out there. Her trainer had told her this was good that she could get over her fear but she still needed to train herself out of being so affected before a fight. You could get attacked at any moment, which meant you couldn't waste time trying to get over your fear.

Her mother had told her it was fine to have fear as long as you didn't let it control you and that this was what her trainer was trying to tell her. If she let it affect her so much every time, it could develop into a problem. And in these times of War, she just couldn't afford to become a liability.

"Let's go," Megatron now said, gently taking her arm and leading her to the exit, Meko happily scurrying behind them.

Her breath caught as he opened it but nothing jumped out at them and there were no warning sounds to be heard. Megatron went out first, his optics darting everywhere as he examined the tunnel. But he seemed satisfied that there was nothing out there, so Elita was able to step out too.

She sadly watched as he closed up the safe house again, it had been good to feel safe secure again, even if it had only been for a short while.

She took hold of Megatron's arm, she thought it would be better if he could break away from her fast if they were attacked. Not to mention, she felt a lot better holding onto him, even if it made her look weak. He didn't object and they set off once again down a tunnel.

The first few hours were uneventful, they just walked steadily onwards. The only thing that was different was that Megatron took off his helmet, revealing a series of sensory panels. These could detect even tiny tremors in the surrounding walls and meant Megatron would know if an earthquake or rock fall was imminent.

He would also be able to sense anyone or anything approaching their position. The only downside was they couldn't talk as this could disrupt the sensory information coming in. It didn't matter too much as the long walking wasn't very conducive to conversation but Elita would have liked to have spoken to him once in a while.

But for now, she didn't want to do so until he indicated it was alright to do so.

Their first test came in the middle of the cycle, when they entered a huge cavern with a high ceiling that was shrouded in darkness. They stood on a ledge, staring at a metal walkway that bridged a deep looking pit. The walls glowed even more eerily with algae as moisture dripped down the walls.

Elita gasped softly at the sight, she'd never seen anything like it. Crystals grew in clumps, dotting the walls, the only thing of beauty in this desolate place. She wondered if they could use any of them, so her optics searched the different clusters as Megatron warily examined the new place they were in.

Suddenly, her optics fell on a patch of glittering blue and pink crystals, which if she knew anything about crystals, were a rare breed. They happened to be on the other side of the cavern, just below the metal bridge but she was sure they could reach it if Megatron was up for getting any.

As she turned to him, she saw he was replacing his helmet, apparently he would get overloaded with information in such a wide space. She knew a Mech that had something similar, so she didn't need to ask him why he was putting it back on. She lightly placed her hand on his arm, doing her best not to startle him.

He didn't jump, instead he turned to look at her questioningly. She pointed to where the crystals where, thus indicating they might be of interest to him. A thoughtful expression did cross his face but then he abruptly turned to her.

"We're not alone here, be ready."

Her optics widened in shock as she imagined they were about to be attack by Cannibals or Mutants. But he was already muttering quietly.

"I think we might have stumbled over a colony of Energy Leeches, right up there."

He jerked his head upwards as Elita whispered.

"And where you get Energy Leeches..."

"You get Rat Monsters," he finished as the sound of skittering could be heard echoing around the cavern.

"Ah," Elita gasped as she felt movement behind her but it was only Meko scurrying ahead of them, right over the bridge.

He stopped in places, snuffling around but finding no tasty snacks continued onwards. Elita could feel Megatron tense beside her, he was waiting for something to happen. But as Meko carried on, nothing happened, he made it to the other side. Megatron sighed softly as Meko started poking around for something to eat around the entrance to another tunnel.

"Maybe it'll be alright?" Elita said cautiously, hoping they could get across without a fight.

"Hmm," Megatron said, staring at the spot where Meko was.

He took a step forward and when nothing happened, took another.

"We will likely have to run for it," he said as they edged their way forward.

"But don't run until I say so, we don't want them coming down on us sooner than they have to."

She nodded as they started their way across the bridge. There was still a strange sound up above them but apart from that, everything was still. Elita stayed close to Megatron but didn't cling to him, if those creatures attacked, he'd need his arms free. But she really hoped that they weren't, she'd even forgotten about the rare crystals.

They were near the centre of the bridge when the first Energy Leech dropped down from the ceiling. Elita yelped and flinched away from it, before kicking as it squirmed in her direction, sending it flying down into the pit. But this was a signal for a whole hoard of them to come tumbling down, trying to latch onto the intruders.

Megatron snarled and swatted them away, he didn't want to start blasting yet, not in this cavern which would echo throughout the whole place. Some of them did manage to attach onto both of them but they grabbed them and flung them away before they could suck any Energon.

They were running now, trying to dodge all the falling Energy Leeches but they had more problems. Horrible screeches alerted them to a pack of Rat Monsters which were swarming down the cavern's walls, snapping and snarling at the two bots. Megatron cursed and drew his blasters and started firing precision shots right at them.

He hit several and they cried out death cries before falling down, their fellows rushing after them, to devour the dead rodents. But many more were coming and they weren't interested in the dead, they wanted the living, namely Megatron and Elita.

"Megatron!" Elita cried as several leapt at them, she had her blaster out and firing at them, her shots not as good as Megatron's but still felling many of them.

"Run for it," he yelled, now lashing out at those that had gotten too close.

She hesitated for just a moment but then run, she knew he couldn't be distracted by her. But the Rat Monsters chased after her, aiming for her legs, trying to bring her down. She cried out as one knocked into her and wildly slashed at it, feeling its hot fluid splatter her.

But it had spoiled her momentum and another slammed into her, sending her tumbling over the side. She clawed at the side, before coming to a stop because of a protruding piece of rock. The Rat Monster growled at her, slashing at her with their long, jagged claws and she fired up at them, which stopped them advancing on her.

But this wouldn't work for long, with enough numbers, they'd overwhelm them both. But as she continued to hold them off, she realised she was right by those rare crystals. And in a moment of madness, she harvested as many as she could grab and flung them into sub space.

When she looked up again, she had to duck as a Rat Monsters was sent squealing down past her, deep down into the pit. To her shock and relief, she saw Megatron leaning down, holding out a hand for her which she grabbed. With a hard yank, he pulled her up and together, they ran for it.

Megatron roared as they did so, feeling the creatures trying to follow and blasted the tunnel entrance behind them, causing a cave-in and stopping the Rat Monsters in their tracks. But they didn't stop, they kept running until finally, the fear and energy faded from their systems and they slowed to a walk.

"Well, that went better than I thought," Megatron grunted, clutching at an injury on his arm.

"Yeah," Elita gasped, still unable to believe that they had survived it.

"It did."

To be continued.

Author's note. Elita and Megatron run into more trouble in the next chapter but there's an added complication this time? What is it? Find out next time, until then.