Author's note. And so we reveal the canon character I hinted at from last chapter. He will probably come as a bit of a surprise, not least cause I've never used him before. But I think he deserves a chance, especially as I don't think others use him very often.

Read on to find out who he is.

With thanks to Tristar for her OC Slipswitch.

With thanks to Illusion224 for her OC Quakebreaker.

You may notice I've actually based Quakebreaker's description on Animated Bulkhead.

Enjoy and please review.

After leaving Frost Burner to deal with the Femme child, Megatron continued to the Control room. It wasn't long until he was greeted by two Mechs.

The first was heavily built and clearly meant for manual labour. He was shorter than Megatron but his build was bigger with massive arms and legs that could carry heavy loads. His colour scheme was a mostly a dark green with black bands on his limbs. His favourite weapon wasn't a blaster, rather, he used a massive ball and chain to wreak havoc.

Not many could lift this weapon, meaning it was very difficult to take it off him.

The second Mech was taller and was a Tetra Jet. His expression was unrevealingly neutral, making it hard to tell what he was thinking. He was a fairly uniform blue colour that was a shade lighter than Thundercracker's colour scheme.

His name was Slipswitch and he was what humans would call a nihilist, someone who believed everyone dies in the end but he would choose when he and others dies. As such, he was a ruthless killer who could utterly destroy a target if he so wished. Megatron was pleased to have such a Mech on his side.

The only thing about Slipswitch was that he rarely spoke, in fact, he only spoke to his Trine brothers and his Seeker lover Acid Storm.

As Megatron came closer, both Mechs bowed and Quakebreaker spoke.

"Lord Megatron, we're honoured by your presence."

Megatron smirked and said.

"Indeed, I was met by that young waster Frost Burner."

"He was on guard duty and informed us of your arrival," Quakebreaker said respectively as the three Mechs headed into the Control Room.

They took seats at a conference table that also had a large screen and the bulky green Mech spoke again.

"Shockwave informed us of your desire to recruit new soldiers to take back to Earth."

Megatron nodded.

"Yes, for starters I am in need of a new Elite Trine."

Slipswitch raised an optic brow as Quakebreaker said.

"They were terminated?"

"No," Megatron growled, optics flashing.

"They deserted to the Autobots."

The whole room seemed to drop a few degrees in temperature. For a moment, Quakebreaker could not say anything, he was too shocked. That and the fact Megatron's hot simmering temper did not allow for speech.

But then Megatron smiled and said.

"I will ensure that they pay dearly for their treachery. But for now, I need a new Trine and I also want to bring some others back to Earth. I will not allow Optimus Prime any advantage, not matter how small."

"We understand sir," Quakebreaker said seriously.

"And we already have some suggestions as to who would be good candidates."

Megatron nodded again and settled back in his chair to hear what his minion had to say.

Meanwhile, Aurora huddled in the small dank cell she had been placed in. It was a fairly average size with a bench against the opposite wall from the door where you could either sit or lie down. The young Femme was currently sitting with her legs drawn up and her chin resting on her knees.

She was silently cursing her luck, of all the things to happen. And she had to admit she'd sort of brought this on herself.

She should have followed Megatron at a much greater distance, and then he wouldn't have caught her so easily. Not to mention, she should have comm'd the base to let the others no Megatron himself was abroad.

But no, she thought she could handle it herself and look where it had got her. Stuck in a filthy Decepticon cell by a leering Mech who was barely a few Yorns older than her. She tried not to think about the fact this was probably a mostly Mech base.

It was rare for a base on either side to be of completely mixed gender, they usually leaned towards one or the other. Not that being in a base of enemy Femmes was much better, it was just enemy Mechs seemed to have a harder time controlling themselves.

She sighed once again, remembering how she'd raced out of the Autobot Femme base with not even a single warning as to where she was going. The truth was, she'd just needed some space away from everyone else. She ignored the warnings about doing this, not only was she a young Femme but she didn't yet have an alt mode.

It wasn't fair, it was so hard to choose one, and none of them really seemed to fit her.

"If I get out of this, I'm find something, anything that fits me," she said quietly. "I'll even head over to Earth to find something if I have to."

Moving to Earth wasn't such a bad idea, she'd heard it was a wonderful place, full of resources and you didn't need to be constantly looking over your shoulder. Unfortunately, not just anyone could go, first off you needed some way of getting there. The Space Bridge was your best bit as it was in a fixed place, you didn't need to hire it or fuel it up.

Of course, the only problem with that was guarded by Shockwave and his minions, so it wasn't really a viable option for a lone Femme. And besides, she'd need a very good reason to go to Earth in the first place, Earth's inhabitants didn't want the whole of Cybertron coming to live on their planet. This was why the Autobot leader Optimus Prime didn't ask everyone to come.

As for the Decepticons, well, only Megatron could say who went where and he wanted a strong force to remain on Cybertron. Not that she was about to ask him for permission to go, that would just be silly

But before she could brood further, she heard a sound coming from outside her cell.

She tensed, wondering if someone was coming for her. But no, the sound passed by her door, though she could still hear it quite well. Curious, she silently leapt of the bench and rushed over to listen at the door.

"Quit struggling brat, or you'll get more than a beating."

She heard the sound of a door being opened, it sounded like the one right next to her. There's was a loud thud followed by a muffled sound of pain. The door was then slammed shut and whoever was outside said.

"Stay in there and keep quiet."

There was then footsteps that slowly faded away. She relaxed, only then realising how tense she had been.

But her curiosity as to who was in the other cell was aroused. So she went over to the wall separating them and examined it. To her delight, there was a few very small holes near the bottom. And though she wouldn't be able to look through them, she should be able to talk to whoever was in the next cell.

"Hello?" she called softly. "Is someone there?"

There was a sound of someone moving and then she heard a slight scraping near to the place where she was. And then a voice spoke.

"I am here, who is there?"

"Um, my name's Aurora," she replied softly, a little taken about by the young sounding voice.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Wheelie, which I give to you freely."

"Hi Wheelie," she said with a smile, he sounded funny but nice.

"What are you in for?"

"Decepticon's Energon I take, big mistake," was Wheelie's reply.

"Oh," Aurora said softly, he must be one of those who lived on the streets. There was no other reason for a kid like him to be stealing from the Cons if he had a family.

"Where do you come from?" she now asked.

"Here, there, everywhere."

She giggled, this Meching was really making her laugh. Suddenly, the situation didn't seem so bad.

On Earth.

Skywarp's POV.

Skywarp heaved a great sigh as he and Starscream carefully cleaned up Thundercracker. His mate was sad and that sadness was affecting Skywarp. What was worse, he was thinking about their Bonding night in a new and not very nice light.

Both of them now knew why Starscream had been reluctant to interface with them and why he had avoided becoming overcharged at their party. And why he had trembled as they slowly stripped each other.

That Fragger Megatron had done this, he had made Starscream scared to interface. Starscream liked his Trine but had only experienced pain and fear with interfacing. So a part of him was afraid he'd see his beloved Trine in that terrible light. That's why he'd been so afraid.

But thankfully, it hadn't turned out like that. He and Thundercracker, unknowingly, had soon nullified his fear with their kind words and actions. They'd encouraged him to take the led with Thundercracker with Skywarp massaging his wings and back from behind.

Skywarp had then gently interfaced with him and he'd moaned so loudly, almost as though he'd been releasing some inner demon. And then had come the moment when he'd allowed both to interface with him and it had been glorious.

Skywarp had later lamented on the fact they should have done this earlier.

But never mind, they'd had plenty of encounters after that, each as good as the last. Though he was usually up for it, Starscream maintained the right to decline and they weren't to pester him if this happened. They respected this and soon enough he'd join them in their berth,

But Skywarp was starting to feel that they'd never all interface together again, not if Starscream remained in this state. And what about Megatron if he got his claws on their Trine leader. Well, it just didn't bare thinking about.

"He's looking nice and shiny now, isn't he Starscream?" Skywarp now said aloud to his Trine leader who nodded seriously.

"Yes, he is Skywarp, very nice and shiny," Starscream replied, still with that strange child's voice.

"Thank you, Starscream,! Thundercracker said kindly, stroking Starscream's cheek.

"Can we take him out for a flight later?" Skywarp asked his Spark mate.

"It might help him feel better."

"I'll see what Ratchet says," Thundercracker replied.

"We'd probably need to take Skyfire with us."

"That's okay, he seems cool," Skywarp said with a mental shrug.

"As long as he takes care of Starscream, I don't mind."

Thundercracker chuckled.

"I think that is the one thing we never have to worry about Warp."

And that was saying something.

Author's note. We're still on Cybertron for the next chapter but this time at the Autobot Femme Base. As they prepare to send some of their number to Earth, how does the news that Aurora had gone missing go? Find out next time.