Author's note. Big thanks to ZabuzasGirl and Akirisan_X for their great suggestions, they were a big help.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

Megatron watched as his pets tried valiantly to calm down their over emotional Creators. He'd graciously allowed them to contact them, with the promise they wouldn't reveal anything about the ongoing search for Minicons or the transformers. He'd warned them there'd be dire consequences if they disobeyed.

But so far, they really hadn't had a chance to even try to disobey him, their Creators were barely allowing them to get a word out.

"Rad baby, I've been so worried about you."

"Alexis darling, what's been happening, please tell us your okay."

"Carlos, you look so thin, are you not eating right there?"

It pretty much continued down this vein, with the Creators, mainly the females, firing off questions at their offspring. However, they weren't giving them a chance to answer, instead asking even more ridiculous ones. And it was really starting to grate on his nerves.

"Madre, we're fine, don't worry."

"No dad, I'm okay, really."

"Mom, please don't cry, everything going to be alright."

"Primus, how long are they going to do that," Megatron muttered to himself, this was getting tedious.

Honestly, if they didn't move onto a different topic soon, he'd do it for them. But before he could do anything, a new voice suddenly speak.

"May I speak to Rad, Carlos and Alexis?"

It was Detective Carling, the human he'd spoken with about an hour ago. Well, perhaps he'd knock some sense into these silly, hysterical humans. At least he was calm and collected when he spoke, unlike them.

There was garbled agreement from the numerous humans, he couldn't see them as the screen was facing the kids but he could hear them. He could hear their very annoying voices.

"Thank you," Carling now said, apparently facing the kids now.

"Kids, my name is Detective David Carling, you can call me David."

"Hello David," Alexis said with a small smile, looking relived to be talking to someone sensible.

"We're pleased to meet you."

"I'm very pleased to meet you at long last," he replied, a smile in his tone.

"I've been hearing a lot about you."

"I'll bet," Carlos muttered to Rad who grimaced.

"Everyone's been very worried, as you just heard," Carling continued briskly.

"It's lucky you...contacted us."

"Eh, yeah," Carlos said with a small grin. "Ah, we didn't have much to do with that though, it was pretty out of the blue."

"Yeah, we just got told we were talking to you guys and...that was it," Rad added.

"He's a very domineering personality?" Carling questioned, and Megatron sneered at the way the human was fishing for information.

Well to be fair, he'd heard much worse attempts. It would be interesting to see how much this human got out of those kids. He'd be keeping a close optic on what those kids gave away.

"Boy is he," Carlos said with a laugh, avoiding Megatron's gimlet gaze.

"Goes mental if anyone does anything without his say so."

Rad nudged Carlos and the Spanish boy quickly said.

"But uh, he does let us do fun stuff sometimes."

He shot Megatron a nervous look and received a smirk in return.

"Oh like what?" Carling said curiously.

"Um, just different stuff," Alexis now said cautiously. "Like he once let us have some fun outside."

"Yeah man, that was really cool," Carlos said with a grin, remembering being taken out onto the moon's surface.

Megatron suddenly heard a frantic sounding whispering and he guessed that someone was telling Carling something. Perhaps they'd agreed to let him speak to the children so that the facts could be ascertained more easily. They certainly weren't getting anywhere with their jabbering.

"Kids, I need to ask you some serious questions," came the calm voice of the detective.

"Will you be allowed to answer?"

They all glanced at Megatron and he gave them a stern look. They focused again on the screen and Rad said softly.

"We'll let you know if we can't say something."

"Alright, that's fine," Carling said smoothly. "Now kids, your...captor mentioned that he'd punished you a few times. What did he mean by that?"

The kids glanced at Megatron but he simply shrugged. They could say what they wanted about that.

"Well he uh, grounded us a few times," Rad began cautiously. "That meant locking us up in a...empty room with nothing to do for a while."

"For a long time," Carling asked shrewdly and the kids shrugged.

"It's sort of hard to tell time here but it was only ever a few hours at most," Rad said lightly, deciding not to mention the fact they'd also been starved a couple of times as well.

"Did he ever punish you physically?" Carling asked gently and Megatron heard several female gasps coming from the screen.

The kids winced slightly at this question, no doubt remembering their most severe punishment when he'd given them bare bottomed spanking. He idly wondered whether they'd reveal that little detail.

"Yes, he did," Rad said quietly. "When we'd done something really bad like try to escape, he spanked all three of us."

Megatron heard more gasps and a few cries of outrage. And he was pretty sure someone cried out, "That awful man."

"It wasn't that bad," Carlos quickly said before his parents could start ranting about the unfair treatment.

"I mean, we were a bit sore for a while but it's not like he ever beat us."

"Are you sure about that?" Carling said shrewdly and Megatron saw Rad look a little guilty.

This caused the Decepticon leader to scowl that had been an accident.

"This wasn't him," Rad said, indicating his still slightly bruised face.

"I had an accident, I was running and this bit of equipment whacked into me. He made sure I got some treatment for that."

Despite Rad's assurances, there was still a lot of angry muttering going on and someone said.

"Rad, you don't have to lie, you can tell us if you were hurt deliberately."

"I wasn't dad, honest," Rad said earnestly to someone Megatron assumed was his Sire.

"Really, it was my own fault for charging into it."

Megatron guessed that nobody was very convinced by this statement but it seemed they didn't want to dwell on it. He heard a sigh and then Carling asked.

"Alright, if you're sure Rad."

There was another sigh and then he said softly.

"Alexis, am I to understand you're in an all male environment?"

"Yes," she answered softly, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Have you been treated in any way that's inappropriate?"

Alexis briefly thought of the times Megatron and kissed her and when he'd spanked her unclothed rear. But then again, he had closed his optics when she and the boys had been forced to bathe naked and after that, provided swim wear. And he'd never touched her in a sexual way either.

"No, none of them have touched me," she said firmly, Starscream and the others had definitely never done something like that.

"And any time I was...spanked, I was still clothed."

"Oh baby," a female wailed, making Megatron wince.

Damn, how did they manage it?

"How could they do something like that, you're just a little girl."

"Mom, I'm not little girl," Alexis protested with a groan. "I can take care of myself."

She glanced at her friends, sitting either side of her and grinned. Slinging her arms around them, she said.

"Besides, I've got these guys to protect me."

"Well, that's something," Carling said with a laugh.

"Alexis, are you sure your okay, with all those horrible men?" the female voice questioned.

"Horrible men?" Megatron questioned softly, though only the kids heard him.

"I'm fine, really," Alexis insisted. "Some of them are quite nice."

"Alexis, you know what we've told you about strange men...," a new male voice now began.

"I know dad but really, none of them are interested," Alexis assured him. "I know it must be hard for you to believe that but it's true. If you were here, you'd understand."

"Lexie," her Sire said with a heavy sigh. "I don't understand and that's what I hate most. You can't tell me anything and it means my mind goes crazy with horrific scenarios."

"I'm sorry," Alexis said tearfully. "But I promise you, I'm absolutely fine, really."

"Darling," her male Creator said with a loud sigh.

Megatron was starting to get bored with the way this conversation was going. It would have been easier for him to send these ridiculous humans a message from their kids, an electronic one. There was no need for all this nonsense, they were basically repeating themselves.

"Well, I'm happy to hear you kids are okay," Carling now said in an encouraging tone.

"But the most important we'd all like to know is, how can we get you kids home?"

The kids again looked at each other and then Megatron. They then looked sadly back at the screen.

"I don't know how we can get home," Rad said softly before looking straight at Megatron.

"Are you going to let us go anytime soon?"

"No," Megatron said curtly.

The kids looked sadly back at the screen, they hadn't expected him to say anything different. However, their parents didn't take this news so well.

"Want does he want?" one wailed brokenly. "Is it money, what?"

"No mom, he doesn't want anything like that," Rad said tiredly. "He doesn't want anything from any of you guys."

"Everyone has their price," Carling said slowly and Carlos chuckled.

"Trust me, you don't have anything he wants, and chances are he wouldn't let us go anyway."

"Is the group your with traffickers or dealers?" Carling suddenly asked and the kids stared at him before shaking their heads.

Megatron was a little confused by the question, though he was pretty sure he was neither of those things. He'd look up the references later.

"They're not involved in anything like that," Alexis said firmly before adding. "And he's not planning on selling us."

This cool statement was met by a certain amount of alarm, but thankfully they calmed down.

"I'm relieved to hear that," Carling said grimly. "You understand I had to ask."

"It's okay, we know how much your trying to help us," Alexis replied with a soft smile.

"Yeah, we're sorry we can't be of better help," Carlos added.

"But ya know...,"

He waved his hand in Megatron's direction, causing the Decepticon to roll his optics.

"I understand," the detective said smoothly. "But we're still going to do everything we can to get you kids home."

"Thanks you," Alexis said gratefully as the boys nodded.

"Now," Carling said in a voice that was both teasing and serious.

"I don't suppose there's any way you could give us a clue as to your whereabouts?"

At this point, Megatron sneered. Even if those children gave them a hint like 'we've got a really great view from where we are', it would do the detective no good. He could search all the surrounding mountains to his heart's content, he'd never find them. Although even if the kids outright revealed where they were, again, there was nothing to be done.

Though if they did say that they'd quickly find themselves over his knee with sore bottoms.

"We're not allowed to," Rad now said unhappily. "But it wouldn't matter, you can't reach us. And...we don't want you wasting your time and stuff trying to look for us."

"Are you that far away?" Carling asked quietly and Rad smiled sardonically.

"We are very far away."

"Alright," Carling started to say but at that point one of the fathers said angrily.

"Is bastard going to show his face at all?"

"Dad," Rad said hurriedly, seeing the look of anger on Megatron's face.

"Don't say that."

"You don't want him to show his face," Carlos added. "Seriously, we'd been in a lot of trouble."

"Why can't we see him Carlos?" his mother asked. "He's not afraid?"

"No, trust me, he isn't Madre," Carlos assured her. "But...damn, I can't explain, just...just trust me."

"I think we'll have to," Carling said grimly, more to the parents than the kids.

He shot the kids a small smile and said.

"Well, just so you know, we won't be giving up, no matter how long it takes, you'll get home someday."

"Thank you," Alexis said with an almost tearful smile. "At least we got to see you all."

"Yeah, and you know we're not...well, we're okay," Carlos said with his own smile.

"Don't worry too much about us," Rad said gently. "We know this doesn't look good but we are fine, I promise."

There was a scattered murmur of reply from their Creators, but Megatron wasn't listening. He'd decided that he'd been generous enough and it was time to get back to business. So he took a couple of steps forward and before the kids could say anything, switched off the connection.

The kids stared at him, mouths open in shock. And then they got their voices back.

"Why you'd do that?"

"Dude, you didn't give us any warning."

"I didn't get to say goodbye."

"You'd have taken a ridiculous amount of time to just say goodbye," Megatron sneered, marching over to pick them up.

"You didn't need to cut us off just like that," Alexis said angrily.

"You've no idea how worried our parents are, they think you selling us on the black market or something."

"Selling you?" Megatron questioned as he took them out of the room.

"As sex slaves," Carlos said grimly. "It happens sometimes."

"But your mere children," Megatron said in confusing.

They gave him sad, grim looks as Rad said quietly.

"Some people like kids."

"Hmm," Megatron murmured softly, catching the boy's meaning.

That did sound horrible.

But he still didn't feel at all guilty about cutting the kids off and as they continued to protest, felt his temper rise. Eventually, he snapped.

"Silence you little brats."

They fell silent but kept glaring at them. This annoyed him so much that he marched straight to the Throne Room and headed for the empty. Dumping them inside, he closed it with a bang and snarled.

"You three can stay there until you've learned to be more grateful."

And he marched away without another word.

Back on Earth

"So Sideways, how do you think we can rescue Optimus and the kids?" Hot Shot asked his new friend seriously.

Sideways nodded, he was sitting at table with the other Autobots. After his rescue of the Minicon, the Autobots had accepted him as a friend and let him into his base. He'd then convinced them that he was no friend of the Decepticons and they'd eagerly accepted his offer to retrieve their leader.

"I have a small Warp Gate," Sideways said quietly. "It can take me across small distances and I can use it anywhere. The only catch is, I can only use it twice every few cycles as it needs time to regain power after being used. Basically, I can Warp somewhere and the back again.

"Just how far can it take you?" Red Alert questioned and Sideways named a distance that was still quite impressive.

"Wow, that's something," Smokescreen said, very impressed.

Sideways nodded before adding.

"The other thing is, I can only carry one passenger. Well, I could manage more than one Minicon, but if I'm to rescue your leader, I'd have to go alone so we can come back."

"What about the kids?" Hot Shot asked.

"I...could take them as well," Sideways said slowly.

"But I must be frank, if I am to go on this mission, Optimus Prime would have to be my priority."

"But the kids...?" Hot Shot began but Sideways held up a hand.

"I'm not saying I won't rescue them if I have the chance," he explained gently.

"But while Megatron has your leader, he has power over all of you. And as I understand, while the children's situation is unfortunate, at least their imprisonment is not entirely intolerable."

"So you wouldn't risk going after the kids until you've got Optimus?" Red Alert said shrewdly.

Sideways nodded slowly.

"If they're with Megatron, I won't be able to risk it but I will certainly try and find them. But I will have to go for Optimus first."

"I suppose that's the best we hope for," Smokescreen said sadly.

"Thank you so much for doing this, we're sorry for putting so much pressure on you."

"It's alright, I'm glad to help," Sideways said even as he inwardly smiled.

This was all going perfectly.

Alexis's POV

Alexis sighed as she lay on the soft cloth. She couldn't believe Megatron's attitude. Okay, so he had let them see and talk to their parents so they could reassure them. But then he'd simply cut them off, meaning they hadn't had a chance to say goodbye. Why did he have to be so confusing?

The boys had been taken away by Cyclonus and Demolisher, apparently, Megatron had ordered this. Well, at least they weren't going to go hungry this night. She hoped Starscream would come soon, she really needed some company, she felt so depressed at the moment.

She looked up as she heard approaching footsteps and eagerly looked up, hoping it was her guardian.

"Starscream," she cried happily as he entered the room.

"Alexis," he said with a wide smile, coming straight over to her, opening the cage and lifting her out.

"Are you well?"

"I'm very well, now that your here," she said with a grin, hugging his thumb tightly.

He chuckled but then frowned.

"Where's your necklace?"

She gasped as she remembered it.

"Oh Starscream," she said, now upset again.

"Megatron found it and took it away, I don't know when I'm going to get it back."

Starscream didn't look at all happy about this but when he saw how distressed she was, smiled. Stroking her lightly, he said.

"Don't worry, Alexis. Once Megatron's gotten over the fact, he'll likely return your necklace. You just have to be patient."

"Okay," Alexis said softly, smiling up at him again and he smiled too.

A thought suddenly struck her. When Optimus and Megatron told her how interface and courtship worked, neither of them had mentioned how Sparklings were formed. Surely Starscream wouldn't mind answering her questions on the subject.

"Starscream, can I ask you something?" she said brightly and he nodded, not suspecting a thing.

"Where do transformer babies come from?"

"Where do...whu?" Starscream said in utter disbelief.

Right outside the door, came the sound of heavy laughter as the poor red Seeker stuttered. And Alexis realised that Megatron had been listening right outside the Throne Room door.

To be continued

Author's note. Alexis has questions and she wants some answers but does she go to far when she asks Megatron? Find out next time, until then.