Does your cat chew on plastic too, or is it just mine?

As the Saleen slowed next to Mikaela's house, the girl stilled, seeing her father working on a car in the garage. She gasped in surprise, "Great... He wasn't supposed to be here…" Out of curiosity, Blacklight popped his head up to take a look as well.

Mikaela's father had been bent, leaning over inside the engine bay of the car he was working on when he'd heard the unearthly roar of what sounded like a car. He stopped what he was doing and turned his head to look, seeing a police cruiser. He had to look twice when he spied Mikaela sitting in the driver's seat of said police cruiser. He stood completely erect and put his hands on his hips, giving her a dubious glare.

Mikaela saw his body language, knew she was in trouble and smiled shyly at him over the steering wheel, all the while inside she was feeling nothing but dread. How was she going to explain this?

Miles was sitting in the passenger seat and covering his face, doing his best not to laugh. Mikaela glared over at him which only made him laugh harder. "I want to see how you're gonna explain this one," He smirked. "Hey dad, guess, what! I'm a cop!" he joked to her. He popped his door open.

"By the look on your father's face, I think I'm going to join Miles on this one…" Barricade said with an inward laugh as her engine shut down.

"Both of you shut up. I'm thinking…" Mikaela said with a snide rise in her voice, she then tongued her cheek as she considered what her father would do in the past when he did find out. She hadn't come up with any answer before… and had no answers now.

"Why not just tell him the truth …" Barricade sneered knowing full well how that would go.

"Mikaela," he said in a warning tone as the cruiser driver side door clicked opened. Why exactly, did she get out of the driver side door of a police cruiser? He didn't even care who the young man was with her right now. He looked at the car he'd been working on, then back at her. He'd been busted because she hadn't expected her home and figured he could tinker on the car for a few days and get it out of the garage before she had come home. He hadn't told her, but it was going to be hers. He'd parked it on the second side of the garage. He had it up on ramps.

He hadn't told her he was coming back because he wanted to surprise her. Little did he know what surprise was now only a few feet from him…

Mikaela stared at her father. Her father only stared back. He watched her as she stood up outside of the Mustang, his eyes constantly going from her and the cruiser.

"Hi daddy!" she said a little loudly, nervousness lacing her voice.

He looked at her, then pointedly at the Mustang, but hadn't said anything else. She knew that look. He wanted an explanation.

"Dad, I can explain!"

He raised a brow, deciding this would be interesting to hear… "Oh really?" he said sarcastically, "This should be a very interesting story."

'Oh, it very much is," Miles said with a grin.

"You know how they say that some cars are meant for a person?" she asked, her eyes going from glaring at Miles to her father, changing into a sly smile.

"Yeah…?" he drawled suspiciously.

Mikaela patted Barricade's fender with a big smile, "Well this one was meant for me!"

"A cruiser?"

"I know, right! Isn't it pretty?" she said quickly, faking excitement, "And a Saleen Mustang!"

"Don't you think they will get just a little…" he stopped when one curious question came to him, "Where the fuck did you get it?"

Mikaela shot Barricade a look, thinking up a good lie, but none would come, "She found me?" Truth.

He was no stranger to people referring to the cars as he's and she's, so it did not dawn on him that Mikaela was speaking like she was because of the Mustang's actual gender. "Found you, how?" he asked. "Did you get arrested?"

"What? God, no!" Mikaela denied. Truth again.

Mark scratched the back of his head in confusion, "So tell me why the cops aren't looking for it?"

This time Miles spoke with a half shrug, "It was totaled." Half-truth. The car she had copied had been totaled.

"It looks mint." Mark replied, eyeing both Miles and Mikaela with rising suspicion.

"Amazing, huh?"

Suddenly he got the image of Christine in his head and remembered how the car could fix itself. He looked the Mustang over. "Very…"

The Mustang was beautiful; he had to admit. It was shiny, not a dent on it. It screamed danger even with the police decals and light bar. It may have been the Setina push bar on the front of it. Curious, he walked up to Barricade and ran his hand down her. Of course, he admired the car, not even realizing he was petting an alien. He swore the body of the car vibrated under his hand. Peeking down into the interior, he jerked his head back when suddenly the windows went black. His eyes went right to Mikaela who only shrugged in answer. He continued to look down the car, seeing the 'To Punish and Enslave…' and stopped, tilting his head, "Is that some sort of sick joke?"

"Cute, isn't it? I like it. Fits her personality like a glove."

"Listen Mikaela, it's a nice car and all, but I can't have a police cruiser in my garage. The cops are gonna be looking for it. Did you steal it?"

Mikaela gave him a glare. Did he really think she could get away with stealing a cop car? "Dad, I did not steal the car."

"Where are the keys?"

She shrugged at his question, "There aren't any, why?"

"We're taking it back to where it belongs." He walked to it and went to lift up on the handle, but the doors locked on him. He drew his hand quickly away.

"No." A baritone voice came from the car.

He suddenly backed up from the car, his brows furrowing in not only curiosity but confusion. His eyes darted from it to Mikaela and back. It sure wasn't her voice. Was it the kid's she was with? "Who said that?"

"Me." Barricade replied curtly.

"Me? Who's me?"

"I am," the voice responded. "I have claimed your garage as my territory. So, out with you… and whatever that thing is you're working on."

Mark frowned, automatically replying to whoever was talking. "You leave. I paid for my garage."

"Tuh, not in your wildest dreams, puny human,"

Maybe it was the 'puny human' comment that made him realize he had answered the car. Wait, the car? he wrinkled his nose a bit and looked back at Mikaela, "It can talk? Does it have one of those smart computers?"

Much, much smarter. Mikaela squirmed, "She, dad, she. Sure," she answered. Eh, truth enough.

Barricade remained silent, watching Mikaela's father. She still wasn't sure what to make of him. Mikaela had told her about him, but she'd kept them separate.

"It must be worth a fortune… Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Surprise, daddy!" Mikaela smiled timidly.

In the middle of the desert, things weren't looking any better for Starscream, and they were about to look a lot worse. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. He'd still been avoiding Shockwave – so far, Shockwave had behaved within Starscream's guidelines, but that didn't make Starscream any more comfortable that Shockwave wouldn't do anything. He knew him way too well. Suffice it to say, Starscream was on edge because of his presence.

Shockwave had been meandering the base, listening to others talk. He was learning a thing or two about what was going on and how things were being run. So far, nothing had really piqued his interest enough to act on it. That was until he started toward another room. He heard someone talking about Barricade, but they referred to the hunter as a 'she'. He listened intently, hiding off to the side so he wouldn't be noticed. His optic glanced toward where he knew Starscream was and then back toward the corner of the door. The black one, thinking he heard a noise, looked over toward the door then looked at his brother while he prattled on.

"What are you doing there?" Astrotrain asked as he saw Shockwave. Shockwave moved from the door, "Listening. I'm going to find Starscream."

Runamuck had heard Shockwave's voice, looking to the door to see Astrotrain and gave him a quizzical look. Astrotrain shrugged, "He was listening to you. What were you guys talking about?"

Runabout remembered this was how Barricade found out about Soundwave. "Aw, shit, not again… 'Screamer's gonna kill us…" he scoffed.

"I think maim is more like it," Runamuck corrected.

"I blame you."

"Wasn't me this time, it was you!"

"No way, all you!"

"We are in some deep slag…" both got up and darted for the door, yelling at the same time, "STARSCREAM!"

In Tranquility, Mark moved to the front fender, eyeing the purple face on it. "What's that symbol?"

"Which one?" Mikaela looked as well.

"This here?" he pointed where the Decepticon symbol shined proudly. He'd never seen such a design, especially on a cop car. The face seemed to be evil and pointy, not something one would expect to find on a car like this, but then again, neither was the 'To Punish and Enslave'.

Mikaela looked and then looked to her father. "That… well that's a Decepticon symbol." She shrugged as if it were nothing.

Mark's eyes went to Mikaela, and he raised a brow, "And what's a Decepticon?"

"I'm a Decepticon." The baritone voice replied.

"Okay, who the hell is talking?"

"Me. I am. I'm an alien disguised as a police car. Surprise."

Both of Mark's eyebrows hit his hairline, and he gave a low whistle. He was going to pretend he didn't just hear that. It had to have been the car's programming, since Mikaela said it was a talking car.

The twins ran for dear life, pushing past Shockwave and even trying to trip him in their efforts to get to their leader before he did. They found Starscream in his office fiddling with something. They interrupted his tinkering, "'Screamer, Shockwave's on his way to talk to you!"

Starscream looked up, raising an optic ridge as they appeared panicked. "Why?"

Before they could answer, Shockwave appeared in the doorway. They deliberately blocked him from entering. Both were shaking their heads vigorously.

"Starscream," Shockwave started. The Seeker looked up at him, then to the twins who were still shaking their heads. He looked to the two, "Shut the door,"

Shockwave reached to stop the door, "Starscream, what else haven't you told me?"

Seeing the actions of the twins, the leader looked to them, holding up a hand to Shockwave for him to wait. The mech frowned at them. He heard Shockwave's voice, "Starscream, answer me!"

"Who do you think you are, Shockwave? They were clearly here first, and what they have to say is private, let go of my door."

Both twins turned to Shockwave and grabbed his hand and started prying at it, forcing him to let go. "You just totally got ninja'ed," Runabout laughed. Runamuck clearly had a vicious one-up grin on his face as the door continued to close, which pissed Shockwave off.

In Tranquility, things were still edgy about a police cruiser in the front of a garage and there was still no clear answer as to why.

Mikaela stepped up to agree with Barricade. It was now or never. He'd either accept it or he wouldn't. "She is a Decepticon, dad. Her name is Barricade."

"So, you've named it too?"

"I didn't name her."

Mikaela glanced at the room Barricade would have to transform in the garage and seeing the car in there, she knew it would inhibit her, she nodded toward it, "Is there any way we can move that out of the garage?"

"Why?"

"Seeing is believing." Mikaela answered, "Besides, she needs room,"

"Decepticom or whatever it is you said, or not, the ass-end of that car ain't that wide, it'll fit,"

"Decepticon, dad. She needs room to move around. Plus, I think the Sparklings are gonna end up getting fidgety being cooped up inside of her. Trust me, you do not want fidgety, bouncy Sparklings running around, you'll regret it."

"Mikaela, what is going on? What are you talking about?" Mark was really beginning to feel uncomfortable with his daughter's strange and evasive answers.

"He knows!"

Concerned, Starscream tilted his head in question. "Knows what?"

"About Barricade…" was the almost whispered reply from Runabout.

Starscream frowned at the news. Hopefully, they weren't telling him what he thought they were telling him. "What do you mean, precisely?"

"We were kinda talking about her and he… um… heard," This time it was Runamuck. He looked like he was ready to bolt. "Astrotrain caught him hiding on the other side of the door."

That was not what he wanted to hear right now. Starscream thumbed his nose plates. With an annoyed rush of air through his vents he waved the twins off, "You two are going to be the death of me…" Both turned and opened the door. Just as it did, Shockwave was still standing there, a glare in his optic. "Primus, what! What do you want now?"

Shockwave stepped in and pressed the button to close the door. His grin grew wide as it cut him and Starscream off from the rest of the base. He eyed Starscream up and down with a smirk. "I just heard something most interesting."

Avoiding the subject, Starscream answered, "There's a lot of interesting things going on. Different planet, different rules."

"When were you going to tell me there was a living femme?" Shockwave asked, curiously, "Actually, how did it come about?"

Starscream looked at Shockwave as dread thrummed in his Spark. Shockwave watched actual fear cross the leader's features; he smirked, "So it's true…"

Trying his best to conceal his worry, Starscream frowned. "So, what if it is…?"

"That's grand news, is it not? A living femme… Seeing as you said the Allspark was destroyed…" Shockwave trailed off.

Starscream's optics flared at the look on Shockwave's features, "Say whatever you like, act however you choose, but the second you or anyone else tries to touch her, you're dead." The Seeker stood angrily. "And frankly it's none of your business."

"I make it my business to know everything."

"Not anymore you don't. You have no authority here." The Seeker headed for the door which Shockwave was still standing in front of. "Move," he demanded.

"Have you used your position as leader and mated with her?"

"That's none of your business, either." Starscream glowered. "Move, I said,"

"Hopefully someone has put her to good use, then." Shockwave watched him go, taking note of Starscream's reaction. He was very protective of her. Obviously, there was a lot more going on and he was going to find out what.

"She's not a fucking tool!" Starscream spat, barely hearing Shockwave's comment as he stomped away.

"I'm going to go with 'Shockwave found out about Barricade', what do you think?" Astrotrain commented as he looked toward Starscream.

"I'm thinking you're right," Blitzwing replied.

"We are in for it with him being here."

"You got that right."

In the garage, Mark was slowly coming to terms with what Mikaela was telling him. "Mikaela," He started, turning to her, "There reaches a point when I realize something more is going on. Now, I have to tell you, I thought you have been having parties or whatever and that was the reason for the disaster in the house, but I don't think its parties anymore."

"It's not parties, dad." The girl leaned back on Barricade's hood, trying to think of the best way to explain to her father what has been going on in his absence. "Alright, you wanna know? You might want to sit down for this and move the car, because you won't believe me if I tell you, hell, you don't believe me, and I already told you. I wouldn't fault you though, I wouldn't believe me either."

Mark threw the rag, gave her a funny look before getting into the old Chevelle, and backed it out of the garage, parking it along the wall of the house instead. He shut the engine down and looked at the Mustang, "This had better be good,"

"It's out of this world, man." Miles gave a chuckle.

Mikaela patted the roof of the car and Barricade's engine roared to life. Mark watched hesitatingly as the car pulled into the garage with no driver parked and the garage door began lowering. "I take it that it drives itself too?"

At that Mikaela smiled, leading her father into the garage, "Well, yeah."

"I get the feeling this is gonna be wild,"

Miles stepped in as well, standing off to the side. Mark noticed small red lights peering out of the darkened windows, "What is that? It's like the third time I have seen it."

"First, you gotta promise you won't tell a soul about this. Its National Security stuff and Barricade would probably step on you if the government doesn't lock you in a loony bin first."

The 'National Security' caught his attention more than Barricade 'stepping' on anyone. "National Security? What have you been doing while at college?"

"I… I haven't been at college. That was a lie," she admitted. "It was a cover,"

Now Mark was starting to get angry, but more worried as it seemed his daughter was involved in something she shouldn't have been. "Cover for What? What have you been doing?"

"Promise me, and I'll tell you everything,"

"Fine… I promise," he drawled, seeing how this would be the only way he was going to get any answers from her. He was curious where Mikaela was going with her vague answers. "Tell me what you've been up to with cover stories and why it's a matter of National Security."

Mikaela bit her lip, "Well… you remember when you told me of the big-bad-evil-scary robots in Mission City?"

"Stop right there…" he pointed at her, "It was proven to be bullshit. They said something about government robots going awry. Come to find out it was a military exercise that went wrong."

"Well, they were half right…" she looked down and then back to her father, her expression was meaningful, "I didn't tell you, and I know I should have, but… I was there when it happened,"

Mark's jaw dropped and he became angry at her. Not so much that she didn't tell him, but the fact she was in such danger, and he wasn't there to protect her. "What? What do you mean you 'were there'? Why didn't you tell me about that?"

Mikaela sighed, "I couldn't. I told you, National Security stuff,"

"So how does all this fit with you ending up in a partly-right-AWOL-robot-fight and then with a talking, driving itself police Mustang?"

"Promise not to freak out?"

At this, Mark hiked a brow, "No…"

"Well, she wasn't lying. She's an alien disguised as a cop car." Mikaela sighed, "Don't freak out, okay?" Mikaela looked to Barricade, "Why not let Blacklight out," she offered. Mark only nodded hesitantly as the window of the car began to lower and something stuck what appeared to be a head out and looked right at him. It was silver and black and seemed very interested in its surroundings.

The more it began climbing out, the more Mark stepped back, "Mikaela… what is that?"

"That's Blacklight." Mikaela bit her lip as she watched her father and Blacklight. "It's okay, he won't hurt you, dad."

"What is that? Is that what was talking and driving?"

"No, 'Cade was. He's a robotic organism. He's a Sparkling."

"Sparkling? The hell is a Sparkling?"

"A baby,"

"It looks hungry… what's a robotic organism anyway?"

"I'm not hungry, I'm bored," Blacklight suddenly spoke, watching the man.

Mikaela glanced at the Sparkling, his feet touching the ground next to Barricade. He still held onto her door as he looked around. He hadn't been here for a real long time. "His um… kind?" she shrugged as she watched him.

Mark backed up another step, eyeing Blacklight suspiciously. The thing – or what Mikaela referred to as a Sparkling – seemed more detailed than any human could do and its lines, markings and such were… well, they were foreign, but then again, he hadn't been really keeping up in news with robots. "It talks too? Where did it come from?"

"He dad, Blacklight is a he."

"He came from even bigger robotic organisms," Miles piped with his tongue to his lip.

Mark's eyes went a little wider. Bigger? "What do you mean? How much bigger?"

"How tall you think Starscream is?" Mikaela glanced at Miles who shrugged. He never measured the Seeker. "30 feet, roundabout?"

Miles nodded. "Barricade is shorter than him,"

By now, Mark was trying to reel his mind around what was being said. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second. You're telling me that thing right there is a baby?"

"That thing is called a Sparkling. Yes, he's an…" she glanced back at Barricade then to her father once more, "infant."

"Who's infant?" Mark almost croaked.

Mikaela point at Barricade, "Hers."

Seeing all of this around meant she was into something deep. "I… I'm not following." Mark replied.

Mikaela watched Blacklight make his way around the garage, "They're um… visiting."

"From where?" He watched the robot wondering how it was some kind of baby. His mind could only come up with so many solutions as to how one ends up with a robot as intricate as this one. He was expecting her to say the local University.

Mikaela stepped up close, touching Blacklight on the shoulder. "Space."

At that, he stopped his musings, wanting to make sure he heard what she had just said. "What?"

"I told you, they're aliens, dad."

"Aliens…?" stopped and gave her the most disbelieving look, "Like 'we-come-in-peace' aliens?"

"No. Like we-came-to-take-over-your-world aliens," Mark heard the car say. He kind of chuckled, thinking it was a joke.

With a shake of his head, he was wondering what both of these kids were going on about. "Well if they have mommy and daddy robots, where are they? Why aren't they with them?"

Barricade answered the man in a way that would change his life forever. Mark's face paled as his eyes went to the Mustang as it started making a dark, strange sound. The sound seemed to continue, and he felt himself backing away. He watched the Mustang break apart and change before his very eyes. He couldn't take his eyes from it as legs appeared and metal moved over it while arms and what appeared to be a head appeared. He gasped at the sight. The creature seemed to kneel, being too tall to be in the garage. It looked right at him with deep red optics. He stared, it stared.

"Boo!" Barricade suddenly said and Mark panicked, reaching for something, anything he could protect himself with. Unfortunately, his in his aimless grasping, he would be protecting himself with an oil funnel. He looked at it, frowned and threw it, realizing it was no match for this… this thing. His eyes wandered over it's form. As he stared, he took in the details of it. The arms were decorated with what was once on the door and the shoulders were decorated with protrusions, each holding what appeared to be a tire. Somewhere, the being was blinking red and blue once in a while. His eyes met Barricade's optics once again as realization hit him and he felt himself get real small, "…Mikaela?"

Mikaela watched the two. She could tell her father was scared. "Daddy, meet Barricade. Barricade, meet my dad."

At the Autobot base, those who had been keeping a keen eye on what was going on with Starscream and Shockwave finally had news to report on the situation, although it was sooner than expected.

"Shockwave has arrived on Earth." Prowl shut the door behind him, looking up to his leader.

Optimus folded his hands across his desk after he had set down the datapad he was reading. He shook his head. "I thought he wasn't due for a week or so?"

"I don't know about how they did it, I just know he was seen along with many other Decepticons by Mirage."

"I imagine Starscream's life is about to get a lot more difficult."

"I agree. I suggest all Autobots steer clear of Starscream's base until we can talk to him."

"He's likely going to be very edgy." Optimus noted, "It may be a good idea to send someone to get information. He may want to remain close by Shockwave to watch him."

"I can see if I can get Barricade alone. She can give me some information."

"Very well, make it so, Prowl," Optimus answered with a nod. He didn't know what Starscream was going to do with Shockwave, and he wanted to talk to him about it, but he knew now wasn't the time.

"Sir," Prowl nodded and turned for the door.

Soundwave remained watching Shockwave and the new arrivals. She could immediately tell that something wasn't as it should be. It hadn't taken her long to realize none of them had downloaded Starscream's information like they should have. This put her on alert.

"Soundwave," Shockwave walked up to the telepath with a smirk, "I hear Starscream failed to tell me some things."

"Commander Starscream is the leader, he tells what he wishes others to know,"

"I found out anyway. He should keep a muzzle on those idiotic twins," the ex-commander stated, "How much do you know about Barricade's… gender?"

Soundwave didn't even move her head to look at him, watching him through her visor alone, "Soundwave knows enough,"

"So, you also know that Barricade is a femme… how interesting." He then became sly, "Tell me, has Starscream been putting her to good… use?"

Soundwave did not answer him. Instead, she looked over at Rumble with concern, who was still acting funny as of late.

This only made Shockwave even more suspicious of Soundwave. He turned away from the defiant telepath and walked away, accessing his private line that even Soundwave couldn't pick up on, "Find out everything you can about Barricade."

"Will do!" came a reply. Shockwave glanced back to see if Soundwave had picked up on the transmission. He saw her look at him. He would need to keep a closer eye on her and see if she reports anything to Starscream. The last thing he wanted was for Starscream's forces to know what he was up to.

Soundwave eyed Shockwave curiously. She picked up some kind of transmission signal from him, but it was too short for her to get a fix on it or determine if it really was a transmission of some sort. Narrowing her optics suspiciously at him, she wondered if she should take a chance and persuade that Autobot youngling to give up any information he had on Shockwave.

"It's fucking huge, Mikaela! What the fuck did you bring into my home?" Immediately he became upset that Mikaela would even bring something like this home with her. Mikaela stood up and he quickly looked at her then back to Barricade.

"It's okay dad! She's a soldier," The girl moved around Barricade who watched her and stepped closer to her father, "As long as you don't threaten her, she won't hurt you…" she glanced back at the femme then to her father, "I don't think,"

The femme refused to comment, though she smirked at his fear. With a flash from her chest, three other small robots bound from her and hit the ground in front of her. Mark watched them, "'You don't think'?" he echoed, staring at the femme, "The world isn't being taken over by robots, my garage is! Get them out of here!"

The femme stared at him. "This garage is my territory, it belongs to me,"

"You can't go around taking people's garage, man!" Mark tried to defend. "Get out!"

There was a low toned growl from Barricade and Mark immediately submitted to the large Decepticon. "Oh?" Barricade lowered until her face was close to him. "How about you make me move," she challenged.

Mikaela watched her father and Barricade. Out of the side of her eye, she caught Sonar moving from behind the femme, as she had found great interest in Mark. She made her way from her femme creator's side and was now standing near him. The little femme stood up as high as she could, looking at him and even reached out and poked him. Mark had barely seen her approach, and then looked down when she was closer. He began trying to move away from her, even trying to slap her away – which was a slight mistake to do in front of mommy robot.

Barricade growled and suddenly reached out and snared the Sparkling, taking her away roughly, as she did so, she flicked a claw, tapping him enough to push him backwards, showing him she meant business. She glared down at the human, "You do not touch my Sparkling."

Mark thought about it a long while. The house looking like it did. Things torn. He suspected something was going on, but robots from space certainly was not on the list of likely suspects. He figured he would ask just to be sure, "H-how long have they been at the house?"

Mikaela got a shy smirk, "Blacklight and Barricade were here for a long while and then they went to Starscream's base."

"Who's Star…scream?" Mark asked hesitantly.

"My jet," Miles spoke up. "And the leader of the Decepticons,"

Mark gave Miles and skeptical look. "Y-your what? Jet…?"

"Yup. 30 foot tall, flying, crazy, F-22 Raptor."

"F-22 What?"

"You know, military aircraft. He's in my name too," Miles answered with a wiggle of the brows.

Mark's face turned from shock to almost emotionless as he considered that. "How do you get a multi-million dollar military jet in your name?"

"He had it made," Miles laughed. "Told the military they could 'suck his thruster'. It was awesome."

Skywarp and Thundercracker were both becoming worried for their Trine-mate as they watched him. They could feel his uneasiness and knew it wouldn't go away anytime soon. They had been at the other side of the base when they felt his uneasiness tick up a notch. They waited until he'd gone into Barricade's quarters and followed him, locking the door behind them. "What is wrong with you, youngling?"

Starscream glanced over his shoulder slightly at Thundercracker, "Stop calling me that… And what do you mean?"

"Come on, we can tell you're edgy. Do you need to be so uptight? You remind us of Prowl. One of him is enough."

Starscream looked away from his Trine, "He knows about Barricade."

"It was gonna come out at some point anyway," Skywarp said. "You know she'll be fine. Stop worrying. How'd he find out so quickly?"

"The twins were talking, and he overheard."

"They seem to be good at that," Skywarp noted.

"Hopefully he leaves it alone and doesn't find out about her or Soundwave." Starscream nodded toward Thundercracker, "Primus as my witness, I don't need the slagstorm that would bring…"

"Soundwave would make quick work of him…" Thundercracker noted.

Skywarp nodded, agreeing. "In fact, our entire army would, 'Screamer. Just relax, huh?"

Thundercracker frowned. "Hopefully in the most painful way they could," she added.

The med bay had been closed up for hours. Several times did others outside hear arguing, complaining or sometimes loud crashing. All they knew was that all of the Constructicons all were in there and it was sometimes best not to ask.

Hook demanded that his team be looked at and until then, they were not allowed out of the med bay. The Seeker had been watching Shockwave and his minions for a while. They reminded him of Cybertron in their actions, which annoyed him. The Constructicon leader took Starscream aside, something he didn't normally do.

"Something is wrong with the other Constructicons,"

"Well, yeah, you're down one, guess that would pose a problem," Starscream replied with sarcasm.

"No, they're not acting as they should." Hook told him with a huff, "They're overly pushy and just not themselves,"

"Give them a few days to come around." Starscream nodded and looked across the horizon at the setting sun, "I will give them all a few days. If they don't straighten up, I'm going to do something about it. Until then, only observe and interfere when necessary."

"Very well, sir," Hook nodded.

"Barricade is no longer on the Decepticon base," Jazz said as she transformed and stood.

"How did you find this out?" Prowl asked with a raised optic ridge. He looked up from the data pad to Jazz' optics. He'd been looking in to how to get Barricade away from the Decepticon base without alerting Shockwave.

"I'm a spy, that's what spies do… we spy." Jazz grinned.

"Where is she then, little spy?"

"Uh… that much I'm not certain."

"Not a very good spy then," Prowl remarked, looking back down at the pad he was working with.

Starscream entered the quarters of Skywarp and Thundercracker and he stopped when he saw something very unusual. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he figured he would ask anyway. He approached the mech and squatted. Leaning down to look him in the optic, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?"

Starscream glanced up and down his body and then back to his optics, "Tell me, I don't even want to try to guess,"

Skywarp moved slightly and brought his feet down, pushing himself back upright, from where he'd been standing on his hands. He looked down at the still crouching Seeker. "Shockwave being here must have done something to your processors, youngling…"

Starscream stood and bumped Skywarp in the forehead with his hand, "Not at all… and stop calling me that! There is just no rhyme or reason to you… your actions – your existence!"

"Come on, 'Screamer… you know I don't function on rhymes and reasons. I just do."

"No... you function in the world of wrongology… Thanks for the distraction."

"It wasn't for your benefit, but you're welcome anyway."

As night drew closer, Mark came to the conclusion the visitors that had taken over his garage had no intentions of leaving and he wasn't about to argue with them. He had left the garage and headed up to get a shower and such before dinner. "Don't destroy my shit," he said as he disappeared.

Mikaela watched him leave. "Man, I hope you guys learn to get along…"

"I'll crush him if we don't. Simple,"

"Seriously, 'Cade. You can't kill my dad."

"Sure, I can. It's easy."

"That would make me have to send you to a junk yard to be squished too."

"You'd have to get me there first, puny human," the femme replied with an I-dare-you-to-try-it smirk.

"I'm sure it can be arranged…" Mikaela grinned at the femme and patted her on the lower arm. "I know some people. Pretty sure they can carry you kicking and screaming."

Mikaela remained in the garage with Miles for a time longer before they both also headed into the house, leaving Barricade with her Sparklings to get reacquainted with her garage.

Imagine that pulling up to your garage...