Summery: Cybertron is split. In the Southern Hemisphere of Cybertron, the Decepticons whom are ruled by Megatron have control. They own slaves, who are treated as animals. The Autobots are in the North, and they believe in equality. It is ruled that if slaves are able to escape the Decepticons and head to the north, the 'Cons can't go and get them back. But, the slaves have to cross through neutral territory, some of whom would gladly bring them back. But many of them will help smuggle the slaves north.

I do not own Transformers! I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement.

"Soundwave" "Barricade" "Shockwave"

The femmeling ran through the crystals in the park she was at. "Hydrostorm! Hydrostorm!" She called, looking around for her brother. "Hydrostorm?" Like it had been for a while, no answer.

"Come oooooon! Hydrostorm!" She called. When she once again didn't get an answer, she huffed and the seven-year-old stomped her pede. "Carrier says it's time to go! Come out of hiding!" She waited for her brother to come out or reply, but Hydrostorm did neither.

"Fine!" She huffed again, crossing her arms. "Stay hiding, but Carrier and Creator will be mad at you!" She turned and went back to her creators, Sunspot and Windfall.

Sunspot, a yellow and red seeker femme, looked at her daughter. "Skyline, where's your brother?"

Skyline looked up at her. "I called and called, but he wouldn't answer.

Windfall, a slivery-white mech, frowned. "Why didn't he?"

"I dunno..." Skyline said, shrugging a tiny bit.

Sunspot picked Skyline up and she cuddled into her carrier. "Let's go find him." She said, and began walking with Windfall to where Skyline and Hydrostorm had been playing hide and seek...

-00000-

Hydrostorm twisted his servos around, attempting to undo the bonds on his wrists, but was unable to free himself. He gave up, sighing through the gag in his mouth. He knew that Skyline would be looking for him by now, and that when she didn't find him, she would go tell their creators that he wasn't coming out of hiding... Though it was because he wasn't there. He was currently being transported in the alt. mode of a mech... What was his designation? Astrotrain? Hydrostorm couldn't remember what the mech was called.

He perked up a tiny bit when they stopped, but was afraid of where he was now. The back of the mech's alt. mode opened and a mech came in, grabbing the mechling and carrying him out.

Hydrostorm struggled. "'et 'e 'o!" He said through the gag.

The mech carrying him chuckled quietly as the mech behind him transformed. "You can't get away, though I believe you know that already." HHydrostorm glared at him silently.

"Bonecrusher, what will you do with the mechling?" The purple mech asked.

"That is none of your concern, Astrotrain." Bonecrusher said as he started to walk away.

Astrotrain watched him walk away, frowning a bit. He did not believe Bonecrusher's story that the mechling was a fugitive slave...

-00000-

"And what is your mechling's designation?"

"Hydrostorm." Sunspot said, playing with her digits. Windfall, whom was sitting beside her on the couch, wrapped and arm around her shoulders.

Prowl nodded from where he sat in a chair across from the couple, having come into the neutral territory to solve this case. "What does he look like?"

"Red with yellow servos and silver pedes. And he has yellow optics like mine." Sunspot said.

"Do you have a picture of him I can see?"

Windfall nodded, going to grab a picture and came back, giving it to Prowl. "Here..."

Prowl looked at the picture of Hydrostorm before subspacing it. "How old is Hydrostorm?"

"He's twelve." Windfall said.

Prowl nodded. "Sunspot and Windfall... Is there any reason why Hydrostorm would run away?"

Sunspot looked shocked. "He... He... He would never run away!"

Prowl nodded, holding up his servos slowly. "I apologize. But the question was necessary to ask."

Windfall held Sunspot close to him. "We understand."

Prowl nodded again, beginning to rise. "I will do my best to find your mechling... But if he hasn't run away... There is a place he may be where I am unable to go search for him."

Sunspot's optics widened. "N-No! He can't be there!"

"Why would they take our mechling?" Windfall added.

Prowl looked at them solemnly. "Slave catchers have recently been kidnapping free bots and selling them into slavery. Their target is turning to unattended young bots because young slaves will be able to work longer..."

Sunspot trembled a bit at his words.

"I will leave now..." Prowl said, seeing his words, despite being true, had upset Sunspot so much. "I will call you when I have any information about your son's capture..."

Windfall nodded. "Thank you..."

-00000-

Hydrostorm looked silently at the door, not really sure how to react right now. He could hear a mech speaking outside, and could every so often hear a bot call out a bid... He had been brought to a slave auction by his captor, Bonecrusher, and was now waiting for his turn to when he would be brought up onto the stage to be sold...

A femme sitting behind him was humming faintly, trying to comfort the whimpering sparkling in her arms. He paid a little bit of attention to her, the song calming him down slightly.

The door opened and another mech as well as Bonecrusher walked in. The strange mech grabbed the femme's arm and none-to-gently yanked her to her pedes. "Come on." He growled.

The femme silently walked out, not trying to struggle.

Bonecrusher grabbed Hydrostorm. "You're next."

"Let me go." Hydrostorm said, seeing as his gag was off.

Bunecrusher chuckled darkly and pulled him out of the room. They entered a much larger room, and on the one edge was a stage while a group of Cybertronians-both mech and femme-were gathered in front of it. The strange mech that had taken the femme out of the room quickly pulled her sparkling away from her.

"No!" The femme cried, trying to grab the sparkling back, but two mechs held her back as the strange mech walked over to the auctioneer. "Give him back!"

"How much will a bot pay for a healthy sparkling such as this one?" The auctioneer asked the crowd. Instantly there were prices called out, and Hydrostorm felt sick to his tanks as he watched. The bids kept getting higher, the group ignoring the femme's sobs and pleads. Finally the sparkling was sold to a femme and the carrier of it was dragged away.

Bonecrusher pulled the mechling up to the stage, standing him beside the auctioneer.

"Now, I have a fine young mechling here. Who will he be sold to?" The auctioneer asked.

-00000-

Hydrostorm was now being dragged down a road, his new 'master' leading him along. 3,565 credits... That's how much was spent on him... And Hydrostorm once again wished he was back with his family when he heard what he was going to have to do for the rest of his life...

"Soundwave, do you think there is any way that we can stop these slave catchers?"

"We can try, Barricade... But no matter what, as long as there's slavery, we will be unable to stop them."

"Come on, Soundwave! There must be something we can do to stop them!"

"Stop being irrational, Barricade. If there was anything we could do, we would have stopped them already."

"Wow, irrational. Congratulations, Shockwave, you learned a new word."

"Barricade, Shockwave, silence. We must find a way to end slavery first to stop the slave catchers..."

"But... There is now true way to end slavery, unless..."

"... Unless we kill Megatron..."