"I'm a man on a mission, straight ahead,
Less talk, more action, with no distractions"

»«

"Whoa." Dana spoke aloud as they entered the ship. "I knew everyone was frozen in place . . . but this is so weird."

"We're in." Agent Fowler spoke over his earpiece, the kids also able to hear him through theirs. Should any of them, even Fowler, be compromised, there would at least be four other people to speak to Ratchet.

"Good." The medic spoke. "You should be able to use any console to access the data core."

Dana raised an eyebrow. That seemed like rather poor planning on the Decepticon's part. What if they had a spy aboard their ship? Then they could access all the information they could ever want. Was anyone monitoring that stuff?

Soundwave. She realized. Duh.

They walked through the halls of the Nemesis, searching. The hallways were incredibly long and wide for them, making what would usually be a quick walk for a Cybertronian a good hike for the humans, Rafael stopping as they reached an intersection of hallways.

"H-here's one." He gulps, pointing.

The other humans jerked in surprise when they realized that, at the console, stood the Decepticon medic Knock Out. He remained frozen in place, even after Miko pounded on his pede.

"Doc Knock is knocked out!" She announced.

"Look." Rafael pointed. "The ship has already decoded two sets of coordinates." Right as he said it, there was a beep and a third set of coordinates popped up on the screen. "Three!"

"Lets get this over with." Agent Fowler announced, heading over to Knock Out and beginning to climb.

"Jack, Miko, if Agent Fowler and Raf are doing this, we should figure out how to dump the Dark energon." Dana spoke.

"I don't like the idea of splitting up. Especially with all these Decepticons on board." Jack countered, frowning as he watched Raf and Fowler make it to the top and plug in the data drive.

"Could we perhaps disable the ship from here?" Agent Fowler asked to both the listening Ratchet and the kids.

"You could disable the navigation module from there." Ratchet supplies helpfully. "By doing so it won't be able to figure out where it's going. That will at the very least delay it enough that we can come up with a better solution. Pull up the navigation menu!"

"There!" Rafael points, making to go to it before Agent Fowler stops him.

"Step aside, son." The Agent told him, heading over to where he indicated, pressing his hand on the button.

The Agent suddenly let out a cry of shock as he was electrocuted by the ship, stumbling briefly before he fell off the console at at the three kids' feet.

"Agent Fowler!" Jack shouted, Dana immediately bending down to check his pulse.

"Do not tamper with my systems!" The ship snarled. "Any Cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized!"

"He's alive." Dana announced to the other humans; despite Fowler passing out and falling what looked to be about ten feet, he still had a pulse. The human girl looked over her shoulder to see what looked like a camera scanning the area.

"It doesn't see us!" Miko sounded triumphant.

"Yet." Ratchet quipped back. "It must not be scanning for carbon-based lifeforms. But once it widens its search parameters . . ."

"We better get moving then." Dana stood. "If we can't disable the ship from here, we have to dump the energon. It's the only way."

"Follow the main ceiling conduits. They will lead you straight to the power core." Ratchet instructed.

After Rafael climbed back down from the console the four remaining humans began to run, using the conduits as their guide, passing both Vehicons and Insecticons alike. It didn't take long for them to reach the main power source, and when they did, an unexpected surprise awaited them.

"It seems like Megatron had the same idea." Jack noticed.

Dana walked toward the frozen warlord, looking up before she returned her gaze to her fellow humans.

"Going up." She said with a slight tease before she began climbing up Megatron's leg. It was both exciting and daunting to be this close to the Decepticon, even though he was frozen in stasis lock. She wondered what his reaction would be if he woke up and realized just how close she was.

Focus.

He was surprisingly easy to climb, his various moving parts sharp but easy to work with, Dana reaching his shoulder and carefully walking down his arm to the console, where his servo was wrapped around a lever, one she surmised would dump the Dark energon if pulled.

Jack slid down Megatron's arm and landed beside her, the two of them looking at each other with a nod before they tried to push against the Decepticon's sharp hand. Grunting with effort, neither of them could get it to budge.

"Come on . . ." She muttered. "Move!"

Miko and Rafael watched them from above with concern.

"I am infested with alien lifeforms!" The ship suddenly screamed, making everyone jump.

"Scrap!" Miko cried as one of the energon handlers suddenly came to life, targeting them. "Run!" She grabbed Raf's hand, jerking him away as the arm tried to attack them.

Dana stopped pushing. "We should call Ratchet."

"Not a good idea." Jack said. "It could put him in stasis lock, and then we would all be in trouble." The human watched as his friends were attacked. "I have an idea. You stay up there and keep pushing! If this plan works, it could save us a whole lot of time."

"What are you doing?!" She hissed.

"Going down." He replied, clambering back up Megatron's arm and climbing to the floor.

She rolled her eyes. You're crazier than me. She continued to push against the warlord's knuckles, growling. "Come on Megatron! Work with me!" Changing positions, she tried again, still not able to move the lever. Taking a moment to think, she cursed.

If she was going to move the lever, she would have to have enough strength to move Megatron's entire body. He was frozen stiff and attached to this lever; it would have been much easier if his joints were mobile. But no, she would have to shift his body in order to do that- and that was strength she couldn't ever hope to achieve. Not as a small human.

"Hey, over here!" Jack shouted, waving his arms and making himself some target.

"Jack, what are you doing?!" Dana shouted.

"Run!" Miko and Rafael told him.

The young man managed to avoid the first attack, bringing the energon handler closer to Megatron, backing up just a bit as he waited patiently for the second attack.

Dana paused in her pushing to watch, completely terrified and enthralled.

"Ha!" Jack shouted as he jumped past the arms of his attacker, the machine smashing into Megatron's leg full force, usurping his balance and causing the frozen warlord to fall backwards, pulling the lever down with him.

Jack watched with slight terror as the massive Megatron started falling down, barely able to get out of harm's way, Dana watching as her only way down fell to the floor, leaving her stranded on the console.

"Scrap." She muttered. The woman was distracted for only a moment as the purple veins of the ship were replaced with blue, the Dark energon being returned to its cube storage state, and with a hiss the cube presented itself to waiting hands.

"Critical power drain!" The ship shouted, heading towards Jack for one final attack, but falling short as it lost control. "I am in . . . Command. Prepare to be . . . Neutralized."

Dana sighed with relief as the arm began to return to its normal state, looking around for a way to get down. Everything seemed to be alright, until Megatron's once stiff arm fell down, the Decepticon groaning as he began to wake up.

"Dana!" Jack yelled at her, suddenly realizing her predicament.

"Just go! Run!" She shouted back. "I'll find a way down."

The three humans paused for a moment, then nodded, Miko giving her a worried expression before they left her with the barely conscious Megatron.

"Ratchet, fire up the Groundbridge!" Jack spoke into his communicator. "The Decepticons are waking up!"

Dana stood very still at the lever, trying to keep herself calm as Megatron opened his red optics, hoping her bargain would work. She wasn't terrified, per say, but rather incredibly excited. She was in his element now, and at his complete mercy.

Megatron sat up with a servo on his helm, opening his optics again and looking towards the lever. They widened in surprise when he saw the bright red human femme from before, her hands on her hips, blue strand of hair tucked behind her ear.

"Why am I not surprised?" He growled, standing to his full height. "You seem to be popping up at the most inconvenient of times."

She grinned at him. "For you, perhaps. But I didn't come here to dawdle or be captured."

The Decepticon bared his sharp dental at her, bemused by her sudden attempt at authority. "You are on my ship, at the hands of my mercy. How do you expect to escape capture?"

Her green eyes blazed, and he could tell he asked the right question. "I just saved your entire crew from being stuck in stasis lock for the rest of your time here on Earth, and perhaps Cybertron too. If I hadn't, who knows if the Decepticon cause would have still been functional with their leader in permanent stasis? You owe me."

He raised an optic ridge, remaining silent and letting her continue.

"All I'm asking is for a thirty second head start once I leave those doors." She points. "And I don't want to be touched by any of your goons. Once those thirty seconds are up, you can come after me, have me shot on sight, or stepped on. I don't care. But I get thirty Earth seconds to myself."

"You drive a hard bargain." Megatron couldn't hide his own amusement. She had no idea what thirty Earth seconds were to a Cybertronian - nothing. What was she going to do, hide from the Decepticons? Jump off the ship? "Very well, we have a deal, human. Thirty Earth seconds." He extended a servo out, offering for her to step on.

The human hesitated. She wasn't afraid, no, but slightly shocked that it worked. She was also a bit suspicious of the servo extended before her. He could very well just hold her, squish her, or throw her; but she sure wasn't going to jump. If she broke something vital, like a leg, there was no way she was getting off the ship.

Taking a breath, she stepped into his servo, carefully avoiding his long, sharp digits.

Megatron had no idea what holding a human would feel like, but he was surprised that they even had any weight to them at all. He expected their flesh bodies to feel less weighted than that of a Cybertronian of similar size, but no. And the human wasn't overly large either; she had bulk, but she was in no way disproportionate. It was . . . Odd.

"You seem to know who I am, human." He spoke as he took her to the doorway. "But I don't know who you are."

The human gave him a slight grin, keeping careful balance on his servo. "You can call me Dana. D-A-N-A, Dana."

"Well then," He knelt down at the door, having her slide of his servo, and then with a little roughness, he pushed her past the doorway. "Run, Dana. Run for as long as the thirty Earth seconds will allow you."

She did just that, the Decepticon's predatory instincts coming to life as he watched her bolt off, a twisted smile on his face as he put a digit to his audio receptor.

"Decepticons, leave the human femme alone. She is mine."

Ratchet looked toward the Groundbridge as Miko and Rafael came through with a barely conscious Fowler on their shoulders. His optics widened when he realized they were two short.

"Where is Dana?" He demanded. "And Jack?"

"Jack stayed behind to get the data drive." Rafael told him.

"And Dana got stuck with Megatron!" Miko added, the girl sounding just as worried as she looked.

"What?" Ratchet didn't ask for further explanation as he immediately ran into the Groundbridge, every worse possible scenario playing through his processor. His worst nightmare may have just come true.

Dana ran as fast as she could, cursing herself as she hit what would usually be the 2-minute running wall, now the 10-second wall, as she sprinted for Knock Out's console. Shockingly enough, the Vehicons and Insecticons just watched her run by, none of them doing anything to stop her. It was a good thing, though. Glancing at her watch, she only had fifteen seconds to make it to the Grounbridge. And she doubted Megatron would actually wait that long before stalking after her.

Her lungs burning, legs screaming, and vision spotty, she made it just in time to see Ratchet punch Knock Out to the ground, Jack stuck on the console with the data drive.

"Where is Dana?" Her guardian demanded.

"Here!" She wheezed, and he spun around, almost giving Jack whiplash.

"Thank the Allspark!" He opened his servo for her to crawl onto, Jack pulling her up.

"Run." She gasped. "Out of time . . . By seven seconds."

Her guardian didn't ask questions, just ran through the Groundbridge, the portal closing just as Megatron rounded the corner, the warlord able to see the last of it blink away.

"You let them escape?!" He snarled at Knock Out, looking up and realizing with horror that the ship had decoded four sets of coordinates. "With vital intelligence?!"

"M-my lord," Knock Out stuttered, holding his servos up. "He had the human, the human you didn't want us interfering with! I was just following orders!"

Megatron glared, but Knock Out was right. He has been foolish to give in to a selfish desire to hunt down the human himself. Next time, if there even was a next time, she would not be so lucky.

He would make sure of it.