Author's Notes:

Sckid, AlphaSigma, Lisa of the Anime Fan Team: Sorry I made you wait!

Sinead: Thankees darling. I enjoy playing with canon.

Tristar: You would be correct about the two voices.

DapperCrapper: Glad you like the concept. You'll be seeing a lot of it from me.

Wolfgirl: Actually, I begin to see your point. However, I'll go ahead and say that Prowl is as doomed in this AU as he was in the cartoon. (cries)

KisaraCrystal: Well, I hope you don't mind that it's a doomed romance. Sorry!

Chapter 3: Two Decepticon Prongs

Starscream and Skywarp hovered above the city of Detroit with identical looks of disgust. "This place is a dump." Starscream muttered.

Skywarp nodded vigorously in agreement. He was afraid of this place as well, but he knew better than to admit that to Starscream. Skywarp had an almost puppy-like loyalty to his creator, but that was because he knew that Starscream was the strongest mech around. He was useful to Starscream, thus Starscream protected him. He wouldn't do anything to damage his standing with his creator.

"Skywarp, I want you to stir up some trouble in the city." Starscream said suddenly.

"Wh--wh-what?" Skywarp stuttered.

"You heard me." Starscream snapped. "Cause those Autobots some trouble." Skywarp nodded. "I gu-gu-guess I can do that."

"You will do that." Starscream said.

Skywarp nodded, internally wondering how the Pit he was supposed to cause trouble. He flew off toward the southern end of the city, but he wasn't really concentrating on where he was going. It was as he was flying that it came to him how he could carry out Starscream's orders. He smiled evilly.

Prowl watched the ducks in the pond circle slowly. He was fascinated by these semi-aquatic organics. It was not the first time he'd seen organics other than Companions. Earth's creatures were not terribly unique, but no matter what the planet, Prowl enjoyed the wild life.

"Wow, it's an Autobot!"

The shrill voices of children greeted his audio receptors. He sighed and his Handler began to transform. Whenever anyone started to raise a ruckus about him being an Autobot, Prowl got out of the area fast. He'd already seen what a mob could do. He still didn't think that Prime realized how lucky he'd been when he'd heard those sirens the other day. A few more moments with those teenage girls and the Autobots might have been out a leader.

It wasn't the sonic boom that alerted Prowl to the possibility of trouble, it was the screams of the children who had been moving toward him. He whirled around to see them all laying on the ground, two of them crying in terror. He ran over and knelt beside one of the kids. "Are you alright little one?"

The child nodded. "That plane tried to take off our heads!"

Prowl looked up. The plane was a Harrier jet done in purple and black. He'd never seen a human plane with that coloration. His Handler called up his scanner. The signal he was getting sealed the deal. "Prowl to Prime."

Across the city Prime's head cocked. "Yes Prowl?"

"I think we've got a problem in the Park. I've detected a Cybertronian life signal out here. It's a plane." Prowl explained.

Optimus frowned. "Not good. I'll alert the others." He jumped into his Handler.

Autobots didn't have flight capability.

Megatron watched the monitor with a sneer. Just the mech he needed, Starscream. The neurotic jet commander had about as much chance of getting what Megatron needed as the humans had of surviving a full onslaught from his forces. Not to mention that Megatron had his suspicions about how his entire left side was blown up.

Professor Sumdac walked into his lab just as Megatron grimaced. He looked at the monitor and gave a gasp of surprise. "What is this?!"

Megatron was quick to capitalize on the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the human. "That is a dastardly Decepticon named Starscream. He will try to destroy your city."

Sumdac began to flutter around the room aimlessly. Megatron decided that he still had to wait until his new soldiers were online.

Optimus arrived on the scene just in time to see the Harrier jet make another pass at Prowl. The Autobot leader had heard the explosions blocks away. He'd discovered that humans respected the sirens built into his vehicle mode and got out of the way when he came through. "Bumblebee, Bulkhead, where are you?"

"We're coming in. You're right, those sirens work like a charm." Bumblebee answered.

"I can hear explosions Boss-bot. What's going on?" Bulkhead asked.

"It looks like a jet Decepticon." Optimus answered. "Right now he's harassing Prowl, but I don't know how long we have before he gets serious."

On the other end of the connection Bumblebee-Companion smacked his forehead against the wheel of his vehicle mode Handler. "Boss-bot, we're maintenance 'bots. Sure, we can take out some weird nano-roach thing, but this is a gods honest Decepticon we're talking about!"

Bulkhead scratched his head. "Prime, I agree with Bee. The last time we tried to fight the Decepticons, we barely survived."

Prime sighed as he drove up to Prowl. "I know, but we're the only ones on this planet that can take on a Decepticon. It's us or nothing."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee couldn't argue with that. Ratchet made his first comment. "First leader-like thing you've said all day."

Optimus-Companion jumped out of his Handler. "Thanks Ratchet." he muttered.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing Ratchet." he said louder. Just then the jet came right at him. Prime-Handler was mid-transformation as was the jet, and both Autobot and Decepticon realized it too late.

Prowl cringed when he heard the resulting crash and crunch. Optimus Prime-Handler and the Decepticon jet Handler were laying on the ground in a jumble of metal limbs. "I knew this would happen!" the jet screeched annoyingly. "I should have stayed in the ship! I should have run faster when Starscream asked for volunteers!"

Prime snorted. "Yeah, I wish you did too! Now get off!"

The jet jumped up, but his left leg was still wrapped around Prime's right arm. Prime was wrenched up and there was a crack. Prime hissed in pain as he felt his shoulder joint pop. The jet looked back, his Companion finally making an appearance. Optimus recognized him from an old vid. "Wait a breem, that's Starscream!"

The Decepticon looked back. "That's right!" he said as he jetted off. Good thing he was a quick thinker. What could cause more chaos than several Starscreams at once?

Ratchet glared at Optimus. "This is a pretty superficial wound. It'll hurt you for a day or so, but after that you'll be fine."

Prime nodded and gestured to the others. "Anyone else injured?"

Bumblebee tried not to giggle while looking at Prime. He had arrived on the scene just as the collision happened. "Nah, no one else had a run in with the jet."

Prowl gave his comrade a dirty look. "This is serious Bumblebee. Optimus' strange accident aside, we have a major problem."

Optimus looked up at Ratchet. "I'm never going to live it down am I?"

"Probably not." Ratchet answered. "But if Bumblebee gives you trouble, just remind him about that time he pulled a muscle in his Companion's back getting out of the bathing stall. He limped into the med bay with his Companion stark naked."

Bumblebee perked up at his name. "Hey!"

Bulkhead scratched his head. "What I wanna know is why the guy tried to say that his name was Starscream. I saw that vid with you Optimus. Starscream has dark hair not purple hair."

Optimus' head whipped around. "You're right!"

"Then who was the clown that ran amuck in the park?" Sari asked. She was perched on Bumblebee's other shoulder. "If he wasn't this Starscream guy, then who was he?"

Optimus glanced to the sky. "We'll need to find out. This could turn ugly fast if there's more than one Decepticon on Earth."

"He's right." Ratchet said. "We need to get to the bottom of this, and fast."

Bumblebee-Companion slid down his Handler's arm. "How're we going to find him?"

Ratchet walked over to the monitor at the side of the med bay. His Handler rapidly typed in a few commands. "We find em with this."

The monitor showed a topographical map of the Detroit area. There were three flashing dots, two of which were moving. "Those two moving dots are the Decepticons. We're the stationary one."

"Of course." Optimus murmured. "The life scanner."

"But I thought the humans' signals would cause too much noise." Prowl said.

Ratchet shook his head. "No. These scanners look for the signals from the Handler portion of the being."

"Cool." Sari breathed.

"Okay, they're currently flying above Lake Erie. They'll be outside of the range in a few minutes." Ratchet said.

"We'll just have to keep an eye on the scanner." Optimus said. "We must be able to head off future attacks. Next time, we won't get off so -" He stood and jostled his injured shoulder. "Lightly."

Sari laid in her bed that night, thinking about the Autobots. They were her new friends, and she wanted to help them out. She could look up some of her dad's properties to see if any were still undeveloped. She could set up electricity and water using her personal bank account so that they could have the basics. Hopefully it would be within the Detroit city limits. She wanted to be able to visit them whenever she could.

Sari rolled over and stared out at the stars. She wondered what it was like living on a world where it was okay to be a machine. She tried to imagine what Cybertron was like. Was a technological paradise? "Dad would love it then." she muttered to herself.

Or maybe it was just one huge city. Bumblebee had mentioned how it was strange to see open farmland, but then again Bulkhead had told her that he was a farm boy. She smiled to herself. The idea of a machine being a farm boy was sort of funny. She had asked what he grew and he explained that he grew the food that the Companions ate. He also told her about raising the animals that Cybertronians ate. Six-legged cattle and three-eyed sheep were fun to imagine too.

Then she started thinking about each of them individually. Bumblebee was nice enough. He was bouncy and sunny like his name. Sari liked his youth and enthusiasm. Bumblebee was the kind of guy that she would like to hang out with on a Friday night. She'd never had a real friend before. The robots that her father insisted on her playing with were all well and good, but they were still robots. None of them had the cognitive capabilities of a sentient being. Bumblebee was the first sentient friend she'd ever had.

Bulkhead was a teddy bear of a guy. He was jovial and seemed slow-witted. However, Sari had discovered pretty quickly that he was not so dim as he seemed. He was a good friend too. She was glad that she had him and Bumblebee now. Bee was good for a night on the town, but Bulkhead was better for relaxing time. Bee had no off switch while Bulkhead radiated calmness.

Ratchet was as crotchety as they came, but she liked him. He was the grandfather she never had. Isaac had been around forty when he had taken her in, so she'd never known grandparents. She imagined that Ratchet acted like a grandpa, even though most of the grandpas she'd seen were a good bit nicer than he was.

Then there was Prowl. He was . . . Well, he wasn't really tall, but he was dark and silent. Something about him drew her in, and she wasn't sure what. It was hard for her to say since she had no social skills really. She'd never been on a date, she'd never even had a crush on a boy. Well, she guessed, now she had completely bypassed boys. She had a crush on a man. An alien, half-robotic, God-knows-how-old man, but a man none the less.

Lastly, there was Optimus. She was still a little unsure about him. He was calm, somewhat remote, and she guessed, a bit shy. However, she knew that it was the shyness of someone who didn't like being around a lot of people or someone who was uncomfortable in his own skin, but rather the shyness of someone who was inherently modest. Optimus didn't revel in his celebrity, he seemed to not like it. He didn't like the teenage girls and women - some of his fans weren't that young - drooling over him.

Sari grinned. She didn't blame the girls. She had the feeling that if she hadn't started crushing on Prowl she'd be crushing on Prime. He was very handsome, and he was pretty easy to get along with the two times that they'd hung out.

In all, she really liked the Autobots. As her eyelids finally began to close, she smiled. It was nice to have friends.

Matthew James Stone had been a police officer. He'd graduated in the top twenty-fifth percentile of his class in both high school and college where he had majored in criminal justice. He had a loving family and a steady girlfriend. His career was off to a good start, and his superiors were optimistic about his future. He was twenty-six years old and ready for the rest of his life.

Then he was killed on duty.

His family and friends mourned deeply. His fellow officers lamented the loss of a great cop. But before they could even perform the autopsy required on murders and other violent deaths, the morgue robot "misplaced" the body.

Only the permanent resident of Isaac Sumdac's lab knew where the body disappeared to. The first of his soldiers was finally ready. At the stroke of midnight, the new creature woke, the first of a new army.

Except that Megatron lost control almost immediately. High within the tower Megatron screamed out his rage. The creature barely heard as he stepped out into the night. He growled. He didn't remember what this place was. He barely remembered how to be a sentient being.

A human-sized head and a great reptilian skull were raised into the night, and screamed out his confusion.