A/N: Real close to the end here...just wait a little longer, readers. :)

Mirage found Soundwave bent over two of his symbiotes. Rumble and Frenzy.

From what the Autobot could see, both appeared to be alive, if a bit battered. Strange. Dinobots usually crush everything in their way. Unless it wasn't Dinobots? But who could have done the damage then?

That didn't matter at the moment. Mirage stepped forward, gun out and ready.

"Don't move." A gun barrel pressed against the back of Soundwave's helm. "Stop moving."

Sighing internally, the Decepticon TIC did exactly that. Rumble and Frenzy were both stable enough to wait for more care. Stupid of him to assume Mirage would have been with the Dinobots, especially knowing the mech's personal dislike of them.

Careless. He had been careless all day. Underestimating the Dinobots, even though he knew better than to underestimate any Autobot. His twin cassettes could have been lost, thanks to that carelessness.

Only chance had saved them. And something else, Soundwave wasn't quite sure. Because there were clear signs of a severe bashing, like one a Dinobot would deliver, but the twins still lived. Normally, a Dinobot would have just slaughtered them and go on without a care. Why were they still alive, his twins?

Not that he wasn't grateful...but why?

Loud clanging echoed through the hallway. Before long, the Dinobots entered into both Mirage's and Soundwave's sight. Slag, by then. was up and limping. Swoop assisted him, despite Slag's protest, Snarl on the other side. Sludge grinned. And Grimlock...Grimlock looked beat-up and was covered in energon, but was strangely happy, carrying the human in two balanced servos.

Soundwave's visor swung up to meet the Dinobots, surprising Mirage enough to hit him on the back of the helm. Soundwave ignored the hit, continuing to look at the group of clearly triumphant mechs.

"Who: Damaged Rumble and Frenzy?" The Dinobots shuffled among themselves, until the Triceratops, looking sheepish for some reason, spoke up. "Me Slag did."

Soundwave couldn't help it. He flinched. Of all the Dinobots, Slag was the one who had the least scruples of tearing a bot apart. But the twins had survived the mech, which only made the entire situation more curious. "Query: Why?" He hated asking mechs, any mechs, questions, because normally he was the one with all the answers. This time, the roles had been flipped and he didn't like that at all.

The human gulped, quiet noise clearly heard in the now silent hallway. "Because of me," The human hurried to explain, clearly knowing that such an answer wouldn't be enough for Soundwave. "I know they're not my friends and all, but I didn't want them to get hurt. Even if you ordered them to be nice to me, they were still nice anyway. They didn't deserve to die because they pissed off Slag." A half-hearted laugh escaped the human. "I know how easy that is to do."

The human shuffled its feet and looked down, unwilling to meet the Decepticon's gaze any longer. The next words it spoke were barely a whisper. "Megatron doesn't look too good right now, in the control room, if you want to know."

Soundwave considered his options. And made his choice. "Third hallway. Last door."

"What?" Soundwave explained, "Exit: Third hallway, last door." Now the human looked just as confused as the Dinobots did a few moments before. He was pretty sure Mirage looked much the same. "...Why are you telling us this?" Soundwave shook his helm carefully, as not to set off the Autobot behind him. "Not telling: Autobots. Am telling: Human." "Still, why me?"

The Decepticon didn't really want to speak of this before the enemy, but...it was either that, or leave the human completely clueless for his reasoning and possibly mistaking his mercy for affection of the human, which he certainly did not feel for anyone aside form his cassettes. "Owe: Debt. Debt: Spared cassettes. Soundwave: Pay off debt."

Thankfully, the human was smart enough that he didn't have to further explain and embarrass himself more. It nodded. "If that's the case...I accept your payment. Come on guys, let's go."

And so they left. Mirage looked at him suspiciously for a few moments, but then nodded and left with the Dinobots.

Good. Now he could go back to fixing the twins.

"Me no understand." Swoop finally said, once we had left the Nemesis far behind. (In some kind of escape pod. It seems Soundwave was a prepared kinda guy, since it even had the Autobot base coordinates already programmed in.)

"That's ok. Cuz I can ex-" "No, human, I will explain." Mirage cut me off. I raised an eyebrow, but sat back in Grimlock's servos and waited for his reasoning. "Oaths of fulfilling debt used to be very valuable in pre-war Cybertron. It seems Soundwave still has some amount of honor to declare one so. Even to a human."

"Would he do for Autobots?" Swoop asked, shifting slightly to make more room for Slag to sleep. "No, he would not because Autobots are his enemies. A human is not directly an enemy to the Decepticons, so he could do such." Mirage sat back, smug about explaining the real world to clueless Dinobots. At least, that's how came off to me. It explained a few things, this debt thing, but it wasn't quite right.

"I think it's more to it than that." Mirage looked at me, mouth open to refute me, but I held a finger up to stop him. "Wait, let me speak first before you start poking holes in my theories." I took a deep breath. "Sure, the oath thing might have been part of it, but I think most of this was one simple fact: What would you do with a load of wild predators in your house?" Confused, Mirage blinked. "Pardon?"

"No, really, answer the question. What would you do with a load of wild predators in your house that could kill you any moment?" "Kill them, of course." "What if you couldn't?" I pressed. "What if you had no weapons and they had attacked the rest of your housemates?" Mirage hesitated. He knew that somehow I was luring him into a trap, but answered anyway. "I would leave the house or make sure they left the house."

"And that's it." I pointed at the Mirage, fully aware of how much attention the Dinobots were paying me at the moment. "That's why Soundwave let us go. He was trapped with a group of dangerous mechs that had quite clearly beat the crap out of his commander, by their smug faces, and could kill him any moment they wished. It wasn't worth attempting to trap the Dinobots again when it was clear they would just get out and kill even more mechs."

I continued. "But there was an Autobot there. A Dinobot might not question a Decepticon letting them go, but an Autobot definitely would. What to do, then? Use a long vanished custom appealing to the good ol' days, appeal to the sense of honor your enemies hold near and dear, and you wouldn't even be trying to deny a clearly obvious connection of some sort to two minions. Make 'em see what you want them to see, and kick the animals out of your house so you can start fixing it up."

Mirage appeared to be in shock, with the way his jaw was hanging. The Dinobots were similarly in awe. "That why like Kendra. Kendra smarter than Autobots." Snarl announced. "Aw, thanks. That's nice of you, Snarl. You guys got it?" Snarl huffed. "Us may not be Autobots, but us not stupid."

I put my hands out in supplication. "Not saying that, Snarl. It would just be mean of me to attempt to teach something that could help you guys with the Autobots and not make sure you got it." Sludge spoke up. "You mean...you Kendra teach Dinobots be smart like you Kendra?"

"Of course. You're my friends, aren't you?" All of the Dinobots (except Slag, who was sleeping) grinned. "Teach us lots!" Swoop chirped, blue optics looking hopefully into my eyes. "Of course."

I smirked, hearing a slight groan come from Mirage. "I'll teach you everything I know." And you'll need that, with Autobots and Decepticons alike.