I came awake slowly, stretching with a loud hum of content under Leo's warm body.

"You're awake early." He calmly noted, his fingers tracing soft patterns on the skin on my side. "Still an hour or so before our usual roll out time."

"So are you." I shivered under his touch. "Speaking of, where are we going now?"

"I'm...not sure myself dear one." He frowned a little. "I wish we had time to get some more answers." He sighed and rolled off of me and got to his feet.

Now that he wasn't my blanket anymore, I started shivering again. This time because I was cold. That pretty much forced me to get up and dressed.

"You want to do what?" Hide suddenly roared from outside.

Leo and I looked at each other curiously and left our tent and found the large Bot staring at Prime in astonishment, and to my surprise...horror. Not the oh shit I'm scared kind of horror either, more like a Raph stuck with Mikey in a room and the younger turtle is bored kinda horror.

"Have you lost your fraggin' mind?"

"What's got him in a tizzy?" I asked Jazz, wiping the sleep from my eyes as I walked up.

Jazz shook his head in rueful disbelief. "It seems tha Boss Bot wants to call in some back up."

"Oh? That's a good thing in this case...right?"

"'Pends on tha backup."

"The Dinobots? You want to call in the Dinobots?" Hide asked incredulously.

"Aw come on Hide." Sides' grinned. "They aren't that bad."

"Grimlock didn't confuse you with a chew toy! And that was your fault anyway!"

Sides gave him that completely fake as hell innocent look you see a lot on practical jokers. "How was I supposed to know that if I dumped energon on you and told him you were a walking snackbar that he would believe me?"

I tried not to laugh, and failed as a few quiet snorts came out.

"Because he is dumb as a stump!"

I raised my brow. "Oh, he doesn't get apple falling far from the tree...but he knows dumb as a stump?"

Hide glared at me and Sides cracked up. Jazz just looked away trying to hide his grin.

"Vicky...I don't think that's helping right now." Leo told me. But our bond told me something else...he was trying not to laugh too.

"Calm yourself Ironhide." Prime spoke up. Then he got a mischievous look in his eye. "I will make sure he does not mistake you for another chew toy."

I lost it.

"And here I was thinking Prime didn't know how to make a joke." Mikey chuckled as he joined us.

Hide stomped off, muttering under his breath and blowing up a few innocent trees in the process.

Needless to say everyone was up after that outburst, so we packed up a bit early and stowed everything away. It was when the last few tents were being tied down when Adam went to go start his vehicle up. He looked still half asleep when he was about to slide into his seat, but he was wide awake a moment later when an air horn went of, very loudly and right in his face. His eyes grew wide as he stumbled backwards, then fell over before looking around a little befuddled.

Mikey, with a big smirk on his face, calmly slipped inside of Bee where Caitlin was already waiting.

Leo shook his head and sighed as Ari helped Adam back to his feet again. "I'm not so sure them two hanging out is going to go well."

"Shut up fearless." Raph grumbled. "Personally, I'm happy he found someone beside me to prank all the damn time."

.

.

The stalker was growing closer, running along faster than any living being could in his new state, and his tireless effort was soon rewarded. He could feel their presence just a few miles away. A snarl found it's way on his face in angry anticipation to repay that turtle for what he did. For ripping his life away and sending him into the pits of hell. A hell he was going to share with the woman who caused his obsession. That would be his ultimate revenge, to take what was rightfully his again and destroy the freak that took her from him. Ty may have thought he won for now, but the stalker once known as Jeff would prove him wrong.

He stopped, confused a moment, as he felt his target start to move away. His eyes narrowed in slight irritation. They had moved out earlier than expected, but no matter. They would have to stop and rest again, he didn't. He was beyond the need to rest.

Still, he didn't want to lose the ground. So when he caught sight of another vehicle pulling up, a small research vehicle by the looks of it. Probably sent to figure out what had happened to the volcano earlier. A smile found it's way onto that undead face now as he walked in front of it so the headlights could catch sight of him, and it slowed as predicted before stopping.

The driver's door opened and a local stepped out, calling questioningly to him as he approached. The stalker had no interest in what was being asked, the only interest he had was the vehicle. The scientist noticed too late that something was wrong, when a pale hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat to be exact. Then he crushed the windpipe easily and dropped the dying man.

His companion came around the vehicle then, swinging something at Jeff. It hit him with a thud and the wraith calmly turned before catching the arm as the weapon came in again, and ripped the offending arm off. He ignored the man now as he joined his dying comrade on the ground, screaming in pain and bleeding out.

Soon the research vehicle was in motion again, now following the Autobots and their allies.

.

.

Leo was still in a cuddle mood a little as we rode along a few hours later. Leo was sitting in the passenger side, with me in his lap and leaned against him. Hide had to scoot his seat all the way back to make room for the both of us to fit though. I wasn't sure if he was still a little perturbed over the fact we were cut off from each other in the bond yesterday, or if it was something more. I know I was wanting as much time as I could with him...for obvious reasons.

"So. Where do we have to go to get the Dinobots Hide?" I asked. It was too quiet for me in that cab. Hide was still in grumpy mood from earlier, and Leo and I were...thinking of things. I still really couldn't accept the fact he would be taken from me, and he was just as unhappy about it. I couldn't help the tears of anger that formed in my eyes every time I even thought about it, like now. I understood why he accepted, but I couldn't help but feeling the way I did. Why did we have to make this sacrifice so everyone else could live happy lives. Mine never would be happy again without him.

Leo just sighed as his arms tightened around me. He wasn't going to say anything, because there was nothing he could say.

"We have to go to the mainland first." Hide answered.

"For what?"

Hide grumbled a little to himself before he answered. "You could call them Dinobot snacks. We need to stock up on some before we go."

-Yeah! And they are shaped like Ironhide energon cookies!- Sides cackled over the comm. -I made the form myself!-

"Why you little..." Hide promptly swerved and slammed into Sides.

"And here we go again." Leo muttered quietly to me and I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"Why in the world do you need snacks for them anyway?" I asked amused instead.

He was quiet a long moment, then finally said "So they don't try to eat me again."

"Ah...I see..." I bit my lip harder.

-Leo, do you speak Japanese too or is it just the fairy tails and stuff you like?- Mikey then broke in using Bee's comm.

"I've studied it. Been a long while since I've actually had to use it though."

"I didn't know you spoke Japanese." I muttered.

"You never asked, or looked." He smiled at me. "Why did you want to know Mikey?"

-Um...because I'm thinking that the natives are pissed. There's something on the local radio about Mt. Ontake. But I don't understand enough to make heads or tails of what they are babbling about.-

"Turn the radio on please, Hide."

The large grumpy Bot complied and soon the cabin was filled with the sound of a radio host talking away. Leo quietly listened and I was slightly amazed that I could understand it, because he was feeding me what was being said as Leo struggled to focus on the rusty talent. I looked at him stupefied when I also picked up silently while I was in that corner of his noggin that he also spoke all dialects spoken in China. "Good lord Leo why stop there? You still got Korean to learn...and Vietnamese..."

"Father helped me dear one. After he died...I didn't feel like learning any more languages."

"Oh."

"Now hush, I'm trying to listen."

I stuck my tongue out at him and got the predictable eyeroll before he turned his attention back to the radio. It wasn't the radio host talking now, but someone else. "...is an outrage. First the vandilation of our landscape and then the murder of the research team sent out to investigate. Whoever was responsible for this will be caught and brought to justice." Apparently he was someone who was involved with the legal system...yay.

"Wait...did he say murder?"

"Shush!" Leo snapped at me as his eyes narrowed while staring hard at the radio.

Now the radio host was back on. "If anyone has any information regarding these events, they are encouraged to step forward. The violent nature of these murders is alarming and officials believe that a third murder may be connected, though it is uncertain at this moment at how. Another body was just found near Kochi by the abandoned research vehicle and the victim's vehicle is now missing. It is a blue-" Leo reached over and turned the radio off.

-Well?- Mikey asked. -Did anyone see us?-

"No Mikey, not as far as I can tell. But that's not what's worrying me."

"There was a couple of researchers found murdered out there." I quietly added.

-Seriously?-

"Very." Leo said firmly. "And a third was found not to long ago near a city we passed. The body was found with the murdered pair's car."

-That's not leading up to anything good Leo.- Donnie broke into the conversation. -And if someone can put us there, it's going to make Will and his team look really bad.-

"See what you can do to keep that from happening."

-He makes it sound like that's the easiest thing in the world.- Donnie grumbled.

-But what do we do in the meantime?- Raph asked.

"Hope it's just a freak coincidence and move on." Leo answered. "I'm not sure how much time we have left, and I'm not going to waste it trying to figure something out that we aren't even sure involves us."

The conversation turned to other things by then, but it still worried Leo. And you didn't have to be inside his head to know it either. He knew that when these "freak coincidences" happen around him, it's usually not a coincidence. He was unsettled when we reached base and loaded up our gear even as the NEST team stored the bigger items again. Will and Epps used that time and went to investigate how in the hell Jeff had managed to follow when he had been left behind in the hospital base, under heavy guard.

The answer to that wasn't very surprising. "He totally flipped his lid." Epps told us when they came back. "Took a nurse hostage and forced his way out. Then stole one of the MP cars and killed the woman." Epps' eyes grew flat. "He threw her body out of the car while being chased and a few MPs wrecked trying not to hit it."

"Then apparently Screamer picked him up, car and all." Will finished. "They lost him after that."

Ty shook his head. "Then I'm satisfied with what I did. I admit I struggled with kicking him off the ledge like that."

Leo laid a calming hand on his son's shoulder in understanding. "The decision to take someone's life should never be an easy one to make son. In this case it may have been justified, who knows how many others he would have harmed if he was allowed to live."

The younger turtle just gave a quiet nod before turning and went to go find Cindy. When he did find her, he held her close to him for a long while, only breaking that hold when Jetfire rolled onto the runway so they could strap themselves down and not slide down the plane in the upward takeoff pitch.

I settled down myself, once again making my little cozy nest, and seriously hoping this flight would go smoother than the last one. But I also felt a little unnerved. The whole murder thing was still getting to me a little. Something was screaming at me that it indeed had something to do with us, but I'd be damned if I could figure it out.

.

.

The stalker snarled when it reached the runway. He had just missed them. Black eyes watched as Jetfire lifted into the air. He would have to follow. His body crackled and a pair of black wings made of the dark energy that allowed him to live again. Those batlike wings flared a moment before they were put to use. He wouldn't be as fast as the departing plane, but eventually he would catch up to them again. They had to rest, he didn't.