Have you noticed that they never seem to stay dead for long?

Shockwave worked quickly. He had promised Megatron that the femme would be fully operational in five cycles. If the mechaniod had been able to sweat he would have. Three deca-cycles had past and the femme wasn't showing any signs of improvement.

Moving plates of armor aside he reached her protoform. Like most other femmes she was built smaller than a mech. They were intended to work in the cities as administrators and tacticians, not as combat warriors. He studied the mass of damage under the chest plating. The femme's large upper chassis was thicker and designed to protect the vulnerable spark within.

Shockwave dug his fingers into the grooves of the light armor, searching for a latch that would expose her spark. A pulse of electricity arched from the armor to his hand. Snatching his hand away he rubbed at the scorch mark left behind.

The lab doors slid open behind him. Hard foot falls caused him to turn. Megatron's cold red optics glared at him. Fear snaked through Shockwave's processor. He was glad he didn't have a face to betray his emotions.

"Report."

"The procedure is more complicated than I expected, Lord Megatron. Her body is rigged with numerous traps."

"How much longer, Shockwave?"

The purple mech controlled the shiver of terror caused by Megatron's quiet anger.

"Four deca-cycles."

Megatron's optics narrowed. "Can it be done sooner?"

"No, my lord." Shockwave replied bracing for his leader's fury.

Instead of hitting his minion Megatron scowled at the femme. It would be easier just to let her pass into Oblivion, but then again she had a great deal of potential as well as a deep well of hatred for the Autobots. He had plans for her.

"Continue repairs. I want her functional for when I return."

"You're leaving, Lord Megatron?"

"Yes. Optimus Prime has located a new energy source and we're going to take it from him. You, Shockwave, will remain behind to safeguard Cybertron."

"Yes, my lord." He bowed.

The silver tyrant nodded once and left the lab. Shockwave waited until he could no longer hear Megatron's footsteps before turning back to the femme on the table. He had known that an expedition had been arranged. It was hard not to notice when the Nemesis was teeming with activity.

A sigh escaped his vocalisers as he picked up his tools again. He'd get the femme commander back on her feet if it was the last thing he did, even if it was to save his own chassis from Megatron's fury.

Pain lanced through Firefly's CPU and caused a dark throbbing through her head. Her engine lurched powerfully as her systems started rebooting. Air-intake valves snapped open and her body shuddered. Tingles appeared to flow from her spark down her limbs. Her chassis continued to shake as support systems and hydraulics powered up.

A pained cry emerged from her throat. The unfamiliar sensation of terror filled Firefly as she realized she was blind; environmental sensors were off-line and her optics were unresponsive.

She cut off her terrified scream incase it attracted undesirable company. In her extremely vulnerable state she couldn't risk making a target of herself. Reduced to using only her audio sensors to determine her location, Firefly stopped moving and listened but she couldn't seem to hear anything over the whoosh of her vents. Where was she? Still on the battlefield?

Surely they wouldn't have left here there. She was far too important to be left behind like some useless debris, wasn't she?

Forcing her fear aside Firefly analyzed what she remembered. The battle, fighting Sideswipe, Megatron's arrival, the gun shot and pain. Was she dead? No. If she was dead it wouldn't hurt.

Her air-intakes glitched as a set of hands roved over her chassis. Scavengers.

"Whoever you are, get away from me." She ordered. Her voice was startlingly soft and raspy.

She heard a rumble of complaint as the hands ranged up to her head. She tried to struggle but the tingles in her limbs turned severely painful and other than the pain her body refused to move. Slowly her optics came on-line. Her vision was blurry for a moment as she recalibrated the lenses. A large purple head with one optic looked down at her.

"Shockwave." She croaked in semi-relief. "Where am I?"

"In my lab. You were damaged in your last battle."

"Why can't I move?"

"I placed several neural inhibitors along your spinal column."

"Why would you do that?" Firefly demanded. She was paralyzed, unable to move an inch. The inhibitors blocked any sort of electrical command from her cerebral processor, rendering her terrifyingly defenseless and at the mercy of Shockwave.

"It was necessary to complete your repairs. The neural inhibitors allowed me to get passed all the traps you had installed."

"If you are finished, then remove them and release me."

The purple head nodded once started disengaging the paralyzing agents. When he was finished and she was able to move again, Firefly ripped the last of the monitoring leads off her body and jumped from the table. She prowled around the room, exercising her hydraulics and readjusting to the sensations of movement. Shockwave kept out of her way.

She strode to a window and gazed out over the city. Decaying spires reached for the red-streaked sky, dark streets that hid any number of evilness spread beneath them. Several areas of the fortress were under construction. She knew this place, she had once been a proud citizen in its dark heart. "Helex." Firefly turned to Shockwave. "Where's Megatron?"

"Gone. He left in search of a new energy source."

"How long ago?"

"Three thousand vorn." Shockwave answered.

Firefly gaped. "Three thousand vorn? Who did he take with him?"

"Most of the Decepticons." He replied vaguely.

"Who did he take in my place?" She demanded fiercely.

Shockwave hesitated. "Starscream."

Firefly bit back her cry of outrage. She could just imagine the look on the Seekers face when Megatron chose him. She could almost imagine that it was Starscream who pulled the trigger that day with Sideswipe. She vented her anger on some very breakable looking instruments lying on a table. Shockwave quickly stepped in and rescued the most valuable of his tools. When she had calmed down slightly she refocused on Shockwave.

"Did any of my officers join him?"

The purple mech looked up from locking his prized pieces away. "No. Some chose to stay, the others were discharged."

"Where are they now?"

"Anywhere they could find a posting, it's not my job to keep track of wayward soldiers."

Firefly shoved Shockwave up against the bench and grasped the exposed wires in his neck. She leaned close. "Where are they?"

The mech squirmed but Firefly kept her grip. "As far as I know they went separate ways. Only one I know about is Barricade. He was dismissed from the Decepticon army altogether. You'll have to figure out what happened to the others on your own."

"Dismissed? Why?"

"He was a traitor."

Firefly yanked on the pipe, Shockwave tensed. "Never. Where is he?"

"Release me and I'll help you find him."

Firefly glared at him for a moment before letting go of his neck and moving back. Shockwave checked his neck and faced her; with a gesture he motioned her out of the room. Taking the lead Firefly headed for the control room. From there she should be able to call up any information she wanted, that is if it hadn't already been sent to the archives.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"Just after you were shipped here for repairs."

Firefly scowled. If it was that long ago then the details may have already been logged in the archives. "If I cannot locate him I will remove all your hydraulics and make you run a training circuit with Sharkticons chasing you."

The sound of numerous footsteps caught Firefly's attention. Looking over her shoulder at Shockwave she saw that he was now followed by several heavily armed guards, the looks on their faces told her everything. Turning completely she planted her hands on her hips.

"You couldn't take care of me yourself so you had to call in back up? You're pathetic Shockwave."

The blocky head jerked and the mechs rushed forward. Firefly knew she was at a disadvantage; they had electro-shock staffs and she only had her hands, there were five of them and only one of her. She tried to keep them all in front of her, but they weren't cooperating.

Facing all five stocky mechs Firefly decided that she'd faced tougher odds. Like that time outside Simfur when her force was surrounded by Autobots. But unlike that time she had no one watching her back and no weapons whatsoever.

The five mechs stood around her posturing, trying to make her attack first and reveal a weakness in her defenses. She wouldn't disappoint them, except that she had no weaknesses.

Darting forward she slammed her fist into one of the mech's heads, cracking an optic and denting his face plates. He staggered and fell against the wall. Swinging around, she dodged a blow from another and dropped into a crouch, taking her attackers legs out with a swift kick. The air near her head crackled as a shock-staff past next to her audios. Jerking her head to the side she shoved her elbow backwards to collide with the mechs chest. Spinning on her toes she slammed the heel of her palm into his face.

A sharp electric currant ran up her back, severing all connection between her circuits and rendering her immobile. She wavered on her feet before toppling to the side. Large hands caught her roughly, wrenched her into a standing position and spun with her.

Shockwave now stood infront of her, even without a face he managed to give off a very satisfied appearance. Just infront of him was a grey and blue armored mech holding a sparking shock-staff, his grin was predatory.

"That wasn't very clever Firefly." Shockwave said. He looked at the grey mech. "Good work Axer. Now take her to her quarters."

The mech nodded and stalked past her. The one holding her shook her forcefully before following. She heard Shockwave's voice call out as she got further away.

"Don't worry, Commander; the paralysis won't last too long. When it rubs off maybe you will be open to reason."

Firefly paced her prison angrily. She should have known better than to trust Shockwave to honor his word. Picking up a decoration, she hurled it against the door wishing it was the purple head instead.

The shards tinkled to the floor as the main entry slid open. Shockwave entered followed by Axer and two others. Firefly glared at them as they approached but stood her ground. She wouldn't bow to anyone. Shockwave must have read the rebellion in her face.

"I see you are not yet ready to follow my orders."

"I only follow Megatron's orders."

"Lord Megatron made me Guardian of Cybertron. My orders are his orders."

"In that case, I still reject your leadership."

Firefly detected Shockwave's irritation despite his lack of a face, behind him Axer scowled.

"I see you still need to learn respect for his lordship's wishes."

"On the contrary, I have great respect for Lord Megatron's wishes. I just don't care for yours."

A growl emerged from Axer's vocalizer. Shockwave silenced him with a wave of his hand. "If you persist in defying me I will have no choice but to return you to how I found you."

Firefly glared hatefully at the purple cyclops. She had received approximately 65,264,514 death threats, on and off the battlefield, from Autobots and Decepticons. But Shockwave's was one she would take seriously, he didn't make idle threats.

"What do you want from me?" She growled.

The triumph she couldn't see on Shockwave was clearly shown on Axer's face and that of his flunkies. Firefly tamped down her growing rage to listen.

"I'm glad you finally see sense. It would be a pity to waste your potential." His voice was dripping with superiority. "As one of Lord Megatron's highest ranking officers before your off-lining you have the experience to lead the soldiers he left behind. Thus you will stand as leader until Megatron's return and rid Cybertron of its Autobot infestation.

"Optimus Prime didn't take all of his Autobots with him? Who was left behind?" Something tingled in Firefly's spark, she squashed it.

Shockwave shrugged. "Basic resistance forces, small pockets of rebels and I believe a squad of female Autobots."

Immediately Firefly's suppressed anger joined with her age old grudge, turning her optics into flaming crimson lenses. One of the guards stepped back slightly. Satisfaction rolled off Shockwave in waves.

"I can provide you with information on where to find the rebels, but only if you agree to my terms."

Firefly was silent. If she agreed there was potentially no limit to what Shockwave could demand from her, it was well known that she wanted to destroy Elita-1 and her team of femmes and would do just about anything to achieve that goal. Could she afford to let a chance like this slip through her fingers, even if it did mean working with Shockwave?

"What are your terms?"

She saw the triumph in the purple frame even though his voice was kept meticulously even. "I will choose and direct your missions. Each endeavor will be complete with the aid of mechs chosen by me. You will report to me after every mission. While on base you will not leave your quarters unless I have summoned you."

Firefly regarded him seriously across the room. "So you will control every decision while I'm out hunting and you are my jailer while I'm here."

"That's a very negative way to look at it but yes. You will answer to me for everything."

"Hmm, what about the left over Decepticons? What am I to do with them?"

"You will train and treat them the way you did before Lord Megatron left."

"Why do you need me? You obviously have control of the planet."

Embarrassment and frustration filled Shockwave's posture even as he tried to hide it. "They are resistant."

"You mean, they don't like you. They won't fight for a mech who has only minimal field experience."

Firefly straightened and laughed. Shockwave's predicament lifted her spirits. She now had something to bargain with.

"New plan; I'll go back to my training and lead the Decepticons in Megatron's name. I will even report to you, and consider any projects you want me to assist you with."

"I don't think so. My terms are the only ones that you will be living by."

"How about, I agree and you let me go."

"No. You agree and I won't kill you."

Firefly pursed her lips. This may just be tougher than she thought. He wouldn't really kill her, but he could make her existence as horrifying as the Pit was expected to be.

"Give me your answer Firefly." Shockwave demanded.

"Can I think about it?"

"What is there to think about? You either work for me or you die." He was getting frustrated.

"That gives me very little room for choice…fine, I'll join you but you had better make it worthwhile."

"Worthwhile? Surely your life is worth keeping."

"Only sometimes." Firefly muttered quietly, then said louder. "What now?"

"Now, you wait here until I need you."

Firefly saluted him mockingly and turned her back on the group.

What did you think, please review and let me know.

TammyCat