"Come on!" Megatron turned to alt. mode, and so did Starscream. Traveling through air was faster, it was true, but the Autobots turned around corner after corner and kept on going, no matter how much the Decepticons chased after them. Nobody could see the Elite Guard ship and eventually, the Decepticons had lost the Autobots.

"WHERE is their base?" called Starscream.

"They have an invisible cloaking device," Megatron told him. "With our luck, we probably flew past it, long ago."

Megatron turned to robot mode, landed on the ground, and put his head in his hands.

"What…what should we do now?" asked Starscream, as he landed too.

"They've thrown us off their trail, Starscream." Megatron shook his head and turned to helicopter mode again; Starscream turned to jet mode and followed him back to base. "We must do the only thing we can do."

"Go home," said Starscream sadly, and they both did.

…

As soon as he and Starscream boarded the ship again, Megatron slowly made his way to his room. In the main monitor room everyone stared at him.

"What happened, my liege?" asked Shockwave.

"And where's Tomato?" added Blitzwing's Icy face.

"Like we care about that little brat," Blackarachnia said, rolling her optics. "He's so annoying."

Except for Shockwave, Tomato was the only one of his followers Megatron actually liked. After all, Starscream was smart but not loyal, Lugnut was loyal to the core but as dumb as a rock, Blitzwing was crazy, and Blackarachnia answered only to herself.

And so, Megatron was very angry when he heard Blackarachnia call Tomato a brat, but he wasn't in the mood for giving her a punishment right now. Maybe later. For now, he just wanted to go to bed. As soon as Megatron got to his room, he sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands.

This is all my fault, he thought. If only I'd caught Tomato in time…if only we hadn't lost the Autobots…it's all my fault. What kind of father am I?

The Autobots had taken Tomato. As he let the reality sink in, Megatron felt a single tear fall from his optic as he continued to wonder why he had allowed the enemy to take Tomato, the miniature Decepticon he had raised almost entirely by himself. He couldn't get the scene out of his CPU—Tomato being held still by Elite Guard members, his hands in heavy shackles, and being dragged back to their ship, screaming for help.

"Sir?" he heard someone say.

Megatron turned around, and it was Shockwave. Shockwave's Decepticon mode made him look relatively expressionless most of the time, but Megatron could tell he felt sad too. "Starscream told me what happened. I'm…very sorry for your loss."

"Why are you sorry?" Megatron mumbled, not taking his hands off his face. "It's not your fault."

"Please, don't blame yourself, my liege," Shockwave insisted, sitting down next to Megatron and taking his Master's head out of his hands. "It's the Autobots' fault, not yours. They are as horrible as they come."

"I didn't realize this until now, Shockwave, but…Tomato was my son," Megatron told his second, letting his devastation speak for him. "I taught him almost everything he knows. I showed him how to use his sword, his handgun, how to get through obstacles…I tried to do a good job raising him to be a warrior…but now look what I've gone and done."

"Listen to me, my Lord." Shockwave's voice sounded a little helpless. "I know you did all you could to save him. I know you care about him. You're not only a good Decepticon leader to us all, you were also a good father to Tomato."

"I don't think I've told you this but…one time, when Tomato was a lot younger, we'd just finished a solar cycle of training. Then on our way back…" Megatron's voice was constricted as he tried to hold tears back. "I told him he'd done a good job training…and he said, 'Thank you, Daddy.' It was the sweetest thing…he said it like I was his real father."

"You are his real father," Shockwave said. "His birth father only knew him for a short time, but you've known him for longer. And you are the one who raised him. You turned him into a fine young mech, too."

"Possibly." Megatron shrugged. "I know this might sound stupid, but I didn't know how much I would miss him…until he was gone."

"It doesn't sound stupid, my Lord." Shockwave put his arm around Megatron. "Lots of things are like that."

…

When Tomato came out of stasis, he was lying down on a gurney. His shackles were off, so he sat up quickly. Where was he?

Then he remembered getting captured earlier by those 'bots who called themselves the Elite Guard. It was so confusing, but there was nothing he could do. What did the Elite Guard want with him? He had never even met them before! What harm did he do to them?

Right at that moment, Ultra Magnus entered the room with Red Alert, one of the Elite Guard's doctors, and Perceptor, the Elite Guard's head scientist.

"Do what you will with me, Autobot scum!" Tomato hollered, optics shut, as soon as he saw them. "I'll never reveal a single bit of classified Decepticon information."

"Relax," Red Alert said, as he sat down next to Tomato. "We're not going to hurt you. You're home now, with your fellow Autobots."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Tomato glared at the three Autobots. "I'm a Decepticon warrior."

"No," Ultra Magnus whispered, running his fingers across the Decepticon stamp on Tomato's chestplate. "Dear Primus, no."

"That monster," said Red Alert quietly, shaking his head.

"What did he do to you?" asked Ultra Magnus. "Tell us what he did to you."

"What did you do to me?" cried Tomato in confusion. "Please, just tell me why I'm here!"

"I don't think he remembers," Perceptor said to Ultra Magnus and Red Alert, then turned to Tomato. "You see, Tomato…you were born on this ship. You were going on a spy mission with your father, he was a scout, you see. After your father didn't return, we went looking for him. By the time we found him, he was offline, but there was no sign of you."

"We searched for you for lunar cycles," added Ultra Magnus. "Megatron killed your father then captured you, didn't he?"

"You're lying." Tomato glared at them all. "Never trust an Autobot!"

"If that's what that warmonger told you, don't listen," Red Alert warned him. "It's just like Megatron to torture a sparkling like you. He hurt you, didn't he? Didn't he?"

"Lord Megatron treated me well," Tomato told them all angrily, staring down at his lap. "He punishes those who deserve it. I am loyal to my Master, and I have completed my training. I have pleased him with my courage in battle. I have worked hard to deserve the Decepticon insignia on my chestplate, of which I am gladly guilty."

"Please, Tomato, please snap out of it," Ultra Magnus pleaded. All three of them looked pretty panicked. "You're among friends here."

"I will never befriend an Autobot," Tomato insisted.

"Calm down," said Red Alert, as Tomato continued to glare at them, chestplate heaving. "We would never lie to you. You're one of ours."

"I am not one of yours!" Tomato yelled, jumping off of the gurney, burning-hot tears streaming from his optics. "You took me from my home! You're just as awful as Megatron says you are! All of you!"

"Tomato has been completely institutionalized, brainwashed," Ultra Magnus told the other two sadly.

"Yes, he has forgotten what it is like to live outside of Megatron's torture chamber," Perceptor agreed, shaking his head. "Come, take some oil, Tomato."

"I'm not thirsty," Tomato mumbled.

"You have to have fuel," Perceptor told him. "You need strength."

"Are you really being honest?" asked Tomato, looking up at all three of them. "Did I really live with the Elite Guard when I was a sparkling?"

"Why would we lie to you?" asked Ultra Magnus gently. "I know it will be hard to forget your past traumas, but if you try, you might be happy coming home."

"I don't want to come back," Tomato told them. "Megatron's ship, the Nemesis,is my home."

"Tomato, listen to me." Tomato looked into the optics of Red Alert, which were filling with tears. "I know Megatron has been awful to you, but you're home now. We all remember you. We all missed you. I'm the doctor who delivered you. I was good friends with your deceased father, our team's head scout. Where has our Tomato gone? Please, tell me he is not gone."

"What happened to my mother?" asked Tomato. "Is she still online?"

Red Alert shook his head sadly. "She did not survive your birth, I'm afraid."

"It's a miracle we found you," Perceptor told Tomato. "You were such a perfect sparkling."

"Oh," said Tomato quietly. "I…I guess I really do have Autobot programming, then."

"Yes, you do," Ultra Magnus told Tomato gently. "You just didn't know it."

Tomato had been biting his lip to bleeding as he tried to stop himself from crying, but at the Elite Guard leader's words he started sobbing uncontrollably, hands over his face. Ultra Magnus reached over and wrapped him up in a hug; Tomato tried to resist, but he just collapsed and let his tears fall.

…

By bedtime, the Elite Guard had set up a makeshift bedroom for Tomato in the storage room. Tomato was lying on this old wooden bed, staring at the ceiling. All that solar cycle, he'd had no appetite, he couldn't go half a megacycle without crying, and all he wanted was for everyone to just leave him alone.

Tomato got out of bed and stared at his reflection in the mirror on the wall, then looked down at his chest. By now the Autobots had taken away his weapons and slapped an Autobot sticker on top of his Decepticon stamp. Without even thinking, Tomato started sobbing harder than ever.

It was incomprehensible. As far back as he could remember, his whole life cycle, he had been a Decepticon. He'd always had an innate hatred for the Autobots. How could he be one of them? He didn't feel like an Autobot coming home to his family after being taken away for so long; he just felt like a lost Decepticon who had been taken away from the only family he had ever known.