Everything was falling apart.

"Kill one of the humans."

Thundercracker should have known they were at the crossroads when his holo-form malfunctioned and he was forced to leave Alexis for fear he would be discovered. By the time his human form stabilized, he was in the clutches of Starscream. Not long after that, both he and Alexis were thrown on the thrown room floor. The room cleared out while Starscream walked up the expansive steps and sat down on his thrown chair as he left Skywarp and Thundercracker at the bottom.

"Thundercracker," Starscream said too gently. "Didn't you hear what I commanded of you?"

Yes, he heard. He heard as Timothy, who was shielding Alexis and trying to calm her as she clamped down on his hand. He heard as Thundercracker, who was standing above and beyond the two, his optics seared on a version of his self as he maintained order among the division of his consciousness. Somewhere within the disarray, he realized that Starscream was speaking in Cybertronian. He didn't want Alexis to know what he had said. Thundercracker was far too perceptive and understood by the way Starscream preened and the cheerful tone of his voice that the Supreme Air Commander knew exactly who and what Timothy was. And now with the gleam in Starscream's optics and the hard press of his mouthpiece as he bent forward and waited to see what Thundercracker would do, TC found he was a prisoner of his own deception.

He had to do as he was ordered. For as deceptions went, just because he was found out did not mean that Starscream knew he knew, which meant for now, he had to see if he could use that as an advantage, for as little as time allowed.

As Thundercracker, he armed his blaster cannon and leveled down. After all the time he had spent with the human, with the months as Thundercracker and the more involved and intimate months as Timothy, he knew how Alexis would react and do. He had to time things just so. He had to fire the shot at just the right time, catching the girl off guard just enough that Timothy was able to throw her aside and take the blast himself. Oddly, as his holo-form went flying and the body fizzled and burned, the human Timothy didn't die right away. He lasted just long enough for Alexis to scream and run to him, just long enough for her to grab his hand, just long enough for her liquid-filled eyes to release and her forehead to press against his own. Just long enough for Timothy to savor the feel of her warmth and the haunting fragrance of her scent. For whatever happened next, no matter what outcome occurred, things would never be the same between them again.

With a crackle along his circuits and the blinding pulse of his spark, the connection between his holo-form collapsed and Thundercracker fell completely back into his mech form. All he heard was the sound of a human sobbing and the blinding shrill cackle of Starscream.

Starscream wasn't going to give him any time to think. After Thundercracker disposed of Timothy, he was ordered to the prisoner's cells. Alexis was in the same cell as the last time. Immediately, he saw that she was unconscious. Starscream and Skywarp were watching the human with interest, and it wasn't until he scanned the human that he knew why.

"She's been poisoned," Starscream revealed before TC finished his sensory scan.

"How?"

Starscream smiled, chuckling low.

"By me."

"Why?"

The Supreme Seeker huffed, his pleased manner slipping as his malicious nature barreled through. "She will live, if she gets the antidote."

"Give it to her," TC said firmly.

"Oh, I would. But you see..." He uncurled his hand. A small vile rested in the middle, tiny and missized. "It will take me exactly 78 seconds to reformat my servo for the injection. However, if we had a human around, we could save the female in a mere 47 seconds, just enough time to make sure her throat doesn't collapse on itself and her life cavity doesn't fail her."

The deception was over. Cornered and exposed, TC was left with no option but to activate his holo-form. Skywarp's optics flashed with surprise, amusement and then understanding. He was the one who had helped Thundercracker equip and build the thing, although he never knew the reason why. He did now.

Ignoring the nature of Starscream's explosive mood, and the questions from Skywarp, he grabbed the vile from Starscream, ran to Alexis, grabbed her arm and plunged the delivery device into her flesh, releasing the antidote into her system.

Her skin, which had turned a bluish purple, revived with life and replenishment. Her too still body stirred and moved, her hands going to her throat while she coughed and heaved, airy breaths brought into her chest as she inhaled quickly.

Alexis' eyes opened. Unable to look at her directly, he tried to move away from her before she focused on him completely. Thundercracker didn't move quickly enough. Her hand latched to his arm; she coughed a little more and sat up. Leaning against him, she breathed in and out.

"I had a horrible dream, Timothy," she said lowly, her words strained and her throat parched. Hearing her call him that again so soon and so close made revulsion for his actions and own self throttle him hard. He felt suffocated by her touch and overwhelmed by her presence. But he couldn't move. She pressed closer against him, her forehead finding his again, this time lingering as she weakly clung to him.

"How touching," Starscream belted out, causing Alexis to flinch back and turn toward the dominating voice. "But I have had enough of this slag. Tell the female who you are, Thundercracker, and make her believe it."

Confused and still out of it, Alexis' attention fell back to him. "You shot him." Alexis said with sudden clarity. Her already pale skin lost all its hue while she scrambled away and back. "Why are you doing this to me? What's so amusing about taking on the form of a dead man?" He knew she was trying to contain herself, but the tears fell despite her resolve. She wiped them away; her mouth trembled and her hands shook.

He forced himself to look at Alexis, immediately, she looked away. This was never how he wanted to tell her. This was never how he wanted her to find out. Starscream, the slaggard, had orchestrated a grand show, and now it was time for it to end.

"I am Timothy," he told her.

Alexis didn't believe him. He got up and walked to her, distressed when she was still unable to look at him. He bent down on his fleshy knees, hesitating momentarily as he sucked in an unnecessary gulp of air.

"I'll take care of you," he whispered, telling her those words he had promised long ago on that night when the beginning of her trust for Timothy started.

"Oh, my God," she covered her mouth and turned her head, crying silently as she shook harder. Now, Alexis believed him.

Thundercracker left her and the cell behind. Disabling the holo-form, he was to find Starscream directly in front of him. A clamped first came barreling toward him. It shattered unseen components and made his optics fizzle.

"You really thought you could deceive me... over a mere human female? Of all the Decepticons under my command, I have never been as disappointed with any of them as I am with you now. You revolt me," Starscream bitterly admonished, his vocals marred with ominous emotional intensity.

Skywarp tried to help Thundercracker up, but Starscream pushed him back.

"Have you anything to say? Anything to offer in your defense?"

"He was probably just curious about the humans, just wanted to know how it was between them."

Starscream turned to Skywarp. "Did I ask you to speak?"

The Seeker shook his head.

"Stop defending your wingmate and leave us."

Skywarp did as he was told.

Starscream bent down, his mouthpiece hovering near TC's audio receptors.

"Are you curious about what I plan to do with the female? Or, now that you are discovered is your diversion complete?"

"She was more than a diversion," Thundercracker finally spoke. Standing to his pediforms, he faced his commander. "And you will not harm her."

Starscream huffed at that. "I, my friend, will do whatever I want, both to her and to you. But for now, she can rot in the cell until our plans with Earth are through. That will give her time to think about her future." He sneered. Drawing close, he grabbed to Thundercracker's wing and brutally squeezed. "You will find that your regard for this human will be your penance for your betrayal. And when I am through with her, you will wish you could wipe your memory of her clean."

Starscream walked away, stopped after taking a couple of paces and turned back around as if he had forgotten something. This time his hand shot out, straight and edged, backhanding Thundercracker as seams shattered and Energon splattered.

He gave Alexis three days before he went to her. During that time, Thundercracker had to bribe and forcibly convince some of the prisoners' overseers to make sure she got more than just the minimum needed for her survival. Starscream quickly got wind of it and terminated the mechs that had assisted him, replacing them with more committed individuals.

Thundercracker was forced to dismantle the guards, destroy the security system and deploy a nasty virus that would keep Starscream and the security detail busy.

He didn't know how she would respond to seeing him again. But three days seemed to have been enough for her to think things through. And as Alexis looked at him when he made his request, her eyes searching his mech form for familiarity and her mouth set in a firm line; he knew where he stood.

"I am not going anywhere with you."

"Starscream has things planned for you, things I can't protect you from."

"I have thought about it for a long time now," she spoke as if she hadn't heard, her eyes latched to the space behind him, far and unseeing. "I understand now. Why you never told me certain things, like your rank, how you knew how to use my weapon when it wasn't a typical one, how you knew about what Starscream made me do, even when I didn't tell you that part. The silly things you did and how you didn't understand the simplest things. And you didn't even know what a hotdog was..." she laughed darkly. "And your name... Timothy Evan Charles... Timothy Charles... TC." She laughed again, this time at herself. "Did you leave me that last day on purpose? Did you want Starscream to capture me? What was the point of what you did? Did you use me to lead you to the other humans?" At the last question, her mouth trembled and her eyes welled with tears. She dropped her head, her fingers scratching against the dingy mattress below her body.

He should have had answers for her, but now wasn't the time to explain things.

"You need to come with me," he repeated, acutely aware of the passing time.

"I told you already, I am not going anywhere with you... ever again," she added with fervor. "You hurt and betrayed me, used me and because of you I will never truly trust anyone ever again." Alexis lifted her head, pushed the hair out of her face and stared at him unflinchingly. "I think you have done enough, don't you?"

Her words were soft yet sharp, and they dug through his receptors and made his digits clench with an emotion that he was unaccustomed to. But he was in control, the master of his emotions and the constructor of his organized passions and needs. Everything was in order and in its rightful place, everything acted upon and carried out as he always carefully planned. Or, it was until he met her. Now, as he looked at the small human who was defiant and frightened, her vibrant emotions escaping and dancing along the curve of her body and face, Thundercracker knew he would never be the same.