"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."

~Ernest Hemingway

>>•<<

Starscream approached the fallen carefully, his wings down in a submissive stance, shoulders hunched as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

"Ah . . . L-lord . . . Jack-"

"Don't refer to me by that name." The boy growled, turning from his place at the monitors to glare at the Decepticon. "I've been thinking of adopting a new one, one more fitting for my position of power."

"And, ah, have you thought of one?" Starscream asked, trying his hardest to not make his voice crack.

"No." Jack turned back to the monitors, reading each one. He had set course for the Autobot base, and he was anticipating reaching it within the next hour. There, he would decimate it, and be rid of the Autobots in one fell swoop. And then, once they were taken care of . . . "But I have been considering one."

Starscream took the bait, knowing all too well that Jack was doing this just to keep himself oriented in a position of authority. "Oh? May I hear what it is? My lord?" He added the last part quickly.

"Considering I defeated Megatron, it only makes sense that I should take on a name holding more power than his. I read his file; he used to also have a pathetic name. D-16. And I think I will follow in his footsteps. But I will not make the mistake of lowering myself like he did. No, I will adopt the name Megatronus, and I will keep it as such."

"Popular name these days." Starscream muttered under his breath, but then straightened as Jack- Megatronus growled, clearly having either heard him or at least sensed that he had said something. "It is a fitting name indeed!" He showered him with praise, knowing he probably looked as pathetic as he felt. "You, more powerful than Megatron, harbinger of power! Megatronus himself would tremble before you-"

"That's enough grovelling." The new warlord snapped. "I can't believe Megatron kept you alive after all these years. I heard about Dreadwing; what a terrible mistake he made."

"Ah . . ." Starscream let out a nervous laugh, but said nothing else.

"I assume you have a report for me?" Jack- Megatronus questioned. "Otherwise you'd have no reason to approach me."

"Well . . . The new Omega Lock is almost complete. W-we just need a few more parts-"

"What?" Came the resulting hiss, Stascream cowering as Megatronus turned to glare at him. "There is a new Omega Lock under construction?!" Anger made the young Cybertronian's energon boil. "And what exactly were you planning to do with it, hmm? Try to form my planet once again?!"

"N-no!" Starscream lied, scampering back. "It was going to be used to reanimate our planet-"

"Do not take me for a fool, Starscream." His red optics blazed. "I know that Megatron had always been obsessed with taking over Earth. Halt all operations on that accursed Omega Lock! In fact, I want you to start deconstruction of it, this instant!"

The Seeker's wings drooped again. "But, my lord," he spoke reluctantly. "What about our planet?"

"I could care less for your scrapyard of a planet." Megatronus snarled, stalking towards the cowering second. "Deconstruct the Omega Lock, or I will have your spark!"

"U-understood. I will send out the message right away." Starscream scampered off, leaving the fallen Cybertronian in the bridge.

Megatronus straightened, returning to the monitors to check the progress of the Nemesis' course. He gasped in pain as his spark throbbed, grunting and clutching his chest plates as he waited for the episode to pass, gritting his denta. He was lucky Starscream had left when he did, he didn't need that particular Decepticon to know of any weaknesses of his.

"Charge the weapon." He ordered the Vehicons. "I want to be able to fire immediately, as soon as we are in line with the Autobot base. I want to catch them by surprise."

"Yes sir." A Vehicon answered, tapping buttons.

Megatronus refocused on the course, a nasty grin spreading across his face. First, the Autobots will fall. And then, the disposal of the Decepticons should be easy. He wanted to kill enough of them that they would never think of returning to Earth again, if he could not kill them all.

Perhaps I will start with Starscream. He thought, sneering into the monitors. And then, Shockwave will pay for what he did to me.

Not once did he think about Miko or Rafael.

>>•<<

"Once he reaches that Autobot base, we are doomed!" Starscream lamented to his comrades in secret, the energon storage compartment providing the secrecy they needed. "Not only will he kill us all, but he is halting all operations on the Omega Lock! Our planet will never survive!"

"He doesn't even care about our planet!" Knock Out added.

"So, now Jack has made his loyalties clear." Shockwave noted. "He is neither Decepticon, nor Autobot. He is simply using us."

"He goes by Megatronus now." Starscream muttered. "Killing our master has made him feel so high and mighty he decided to adopt a new name."

"I say we mutiny." Knock Out said urgently. "He can't take us all at once. And we have Predaking stalking around somewhere, perhaps he could help us!"

"Do not become too drastic." Shockwave posited. "We do not want to create a bigger problem for ourselves. The Predacon is another matter entirely; one we do not want to believe he is in charge."

"We can all probably defeat Jack- Megatronus, but not the Predacon!" Starscream clarified. "Ugh! Has anyone happened to have found that blasted human female yet?!"

"I have the entire ship working on it." Knock Out sounded excited. "And I have traps set! Safe ones, of course. Nothing that will harm her."

Starscream huffed. "But she hasn't been found?"

"I'm afraid not." Knock Out observed his digit tips. "Otherwise I'd have her right here. Is she not even aware that her son is now a tyrant aboard this ship?"

"I'm guessing not." Starscream murmured. "But perhaps we could tell her? If she knows then perhaps she will stop fighting with us."

"But we're Decepticons! She'll never believe us!" Knock Out huffed, clearly out of ideas.

Soundwave then stepped forward, his visor lighting up as a voice emitted from his speakers.

"Autobots, roll out!"

Starscream perked. "Excellent idea, Soundwave! If she won't listen to us, she will listen to them!"

"But Megatronus is going to annihilate them all!" Knock Out replied frantically.

"Then we must warn them." Shockwave remained cool and composed- as one does when they lack emotion processors.

Soundwave's visor glowed again, this time signalling that he was contacting someone- Optimus Prime.

"Let's just hope they listen to us." Knock Out muttered.

>>•<<

Fowler sighed as he leaned against Optimus' steering wheel, gazing out his driver-side window. "I'm sorry you guys have to move again a third time."

"Do not be sorry, Agent Fowler." Optimus reassured him. "Jack turning his back to us and becoming a Decepticon was unprecedented, and it only makes sense that we should move locations, lest he try to destroy our previous base."

"Also, why didn't you guys just Groundbridge away?" The agent asked.

"If the Decepticons raid our facility, this way they will not be able to look into the Groundbridge history and know exactly where we went."

"But you destroyed the Groundbridge, and emptied out all of your supplies."

"I will not try to underestimate Soundwave, Agent Fowler." The Prime replied. "This way is most safe for all of us."

Shovel drifted toward the other side of the road, still exhausted and drained from his fight with Predaking. An ambulance quickly drove next to him, gently guiding him back to the right side of the road.

"Careful, Shovel." Ratchet scolded, but his voice was soft. "You could accidentally hit someone going the other direction."

Bulkhead and Wheeljack drove with the injured Ultra Magnus between them, the commander occasionally groaning in pain, but he soldiered through it.

"You gonna be okay, chief?" Wheeljack asked.

"I'll be fine." Came the gruff reply. "My back strut is just a little cramped, that is all."

Optimus slowed in confusion as his comlink beeped, signalling a call from someone- Soundwave. He frowned, a curious grunt escaping him.

"What is it, Prime?"

"I am getting a comlink call from Soundwave. It has a pre-message: warning."

Fowler frowned. "Well, I'd open it, personally."

Optimus paused and gave it some thought before he opened the comlink, only he broadcasted it to all of the Autobots. "What is it, Soundwave?"

"Thank the Allspark!" Came the reply from Starscream; clearly Soundwave had also made his broadcast public. "Optimus Prime, you and your team need to get out of your base immediately! Jack is piloting our warship directly to you, and he is going to destroy it!"

"We are already gone, Starscream." Optimus replied. "The possibility of that scenario had not escaped us."

"Why are you warning us anyways?" Arcee asked suspiciously. "Don't you want our tailpipes turned to dust?"

"While that particular outcome would be most satisfying, we've got bigger problems. And . . ." Starscream was really reluctant to say it, a big sigh and a mumble escaping him. "We need your help."

"Oh well that's just rich!" Smokescreen laughed. "The Decepticons, needing our help?"

"You don't understand! Here, let me explain." Starscream wanted to blast that rookie to shreds, but it would have to wait. "Your precious 'Jack' no longer goes by that name; he has demanded we all call him Megatronus."

"What?" Miko sounded horrified.

"On top of that, we . . . we were constructing a new Omega Lock under Megatron's orders to cyberform Earth and reconstruct Cybertron, but Megatronus has ordered its deconstruction! And that Lock may be our one last shot in saving our planet, after you so helpfully destroyed the last one, Optimus Prime."

The Autobots were stunned to silence. The Decepticons were building a new Omega Lock? But how?

'How are you doing this?" Ratchet questioned, almost wanting to call Starscream's bluff.

"That can be saved for later. In fact, we were just now trying to construct a plan on how to kidnap you, medic, before our master was so unceremoniously disposed of."

Optimus was suddenly very aware of the weight of Megatron in his trailer.

"But that isn't the last of it!" Starscream continued. "That human woman, the maternal unit of Jack? She's still alive."

"LIAR!" Fowler pounded on Optimus Prime's steering wheel, earning a grunt from the Cybertronian. "I saw Megatron kill her!!"

"As did I!" Arcee snarled, clearly just as unhappy.

"You better have a good explanation, Starscream." Wheeljack growled. "Or else I'm gonna blow you and your lying mouth to pieces."

"It's the truth!" Starscream pleaded, praying that Optimus didn't cut off the comlink.

"It really is." Knock Out said in support. Though he was a Decepticon, he certainly was more trustworthy than Starscream; hopefully that would be just enough to have the Autobots believe them.

"When Megatron shot at her, Soundwave opened a Groundbridge below her, allowing her to drop through while it made it look like our master had turned her to dust!" Starscream explained as quickly as he could. "We were hoping to use her either as another experiment or some kind of bargaining chip for later."

"So where is she?" Arcee snapped.

"We lost her."

"You lost her?!" Came the collective shout of several Autobots.

"She somehow snuck off when we went to use her as a bargaining chip against Jack!" Knock Out explained. "We've been trying to track her down, but she's managed to evade us!"

"And we believe that she is unaware of her son's mindset." Shockwave added. "In addition, she may not believe us if we told her."

"And so we were hoping that one of you could sneak aboard the ship, find her, and tell her. She would believe one of you Autobots more than any of us." Starscream concluded. "We wish to form a sort of alliance. Help us get the human, get rid of Jack, finish the Omega Lock, and deal with the Predacon."

"Wait, wait, wait. You want us to help you with the Predacon?" Smokescreen sounded disbelieving.

"Yes." Starscream groaned. "He is another problem we need to take care of. We had you destroy the other Predacons, and now we need your help-"

"You planned for us to get rid of the Predacons for you?!" Ratchet exploded. "It was by your doings all along?!"

"That was before we had other issues that made us want to align with you!" Starscream replied defensively. "Believe me, if we had any idea that our entire plan would end up in the scrap yard, we wouldn't have gone through with it!"

"Shovel lost a hand thanks to you!" Ratchet snapped. "Forget any alliance if you Decepticons aren't willing to make sacrifices for yourselves!"

Starscream looked at his other Decepticons, at loss for words.

An unexpected voice broke the silence. "They . . . Could help us." Rafael said slowly, timidly. "They could help fix our sparks."

The line was silent again, Ratchet sputtering a response.

"That's preposterous!"

"Is there something wrong with your spark?" Shockwave inquired, instantly becoming curious.

"Yes! They have Decepticon shards in them!" Ratchet snapped. "As soon as we get to the new base and I am set up, we will operate!"

"What about our shards?!" Knock Out cried.

"Boo-hoo. Should have thought of that before giving it up now shouldn't you've?" Ratchet huffed. "After releasing the shards we will replace them with one of our own, for stability."

"Do you have the tools for such an operation?" Shockwave doubted it.

"Well, yes. Sort of. No." Ratchet huff.

"How about this: we give you the tools you need, and Knock Out will go and assist. In return, one of you will need to sneak aboard the Nemesis and track down the human female, and Ratchet will help us complete the synthetic energon formula, which is vital if the Omega Lock is to be used." Starscream negotiated. "And together, we will deal with Megatronus and the Predacon."

"But who do we have that could possibly sneak around on the ship without Jack noticing them?" Bulkhead wondered.

It was silent, but Arcee knew the answer.

"Optimus, if I get caught, I won't be able to face him." The pain in her voice was real.  "He's still my partner, regardless of what he's done."

"I know. But you are the smallest and most agile of us all." Optimus replied gently. "And June will trust you the most. I know it is asking much from you; but Jack also needs you, Arcee. Whether he knows it or not."

"Is it settled, then?" Starscream asks impatiently.

After a long silence, Arcee sighed. "Yes."

"Good. Once you are settled at your new base, contact us again. We will be ready for you." With that, Starscream had Soundwave cut the com link, the Decepticons staring at one another in silence.

History, they felt, was about to be made.