"She pulls me in enough to keep me guessing,"

»«

As per his promise to Ratchet, Megatron left them, for the most part, unsupervised. Even the Vehicons stationed at the doorway were moved down the hall, still in sight, but not close enough to pick up anything should they be listening. The warlord himself had returned to Shockwave and Knock Out to confirm that Klindeston had been returned to his original location, and that the progress of the Omega Lock was nearly complete. Soon, Megatron mused, both planets could finally be his.

But there was a consequence he was reluctant to take into account. He saved Dana, gave her the ability to be mobile once more, yet now he intended to destroy her planet. She would not be able to survive on a Cyberformed Earth, and in addition she would be rendered the last human to exist in this universe.

Perhaps he could spare Earth, and instead revive Cybertron. Then, he supposed, he could use both outcomes to his political advantage. Megatron, the tyrant, finding the compassion in his spark to spare an entire planet of organic beings. Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, having worked his men tirelessly to find a solution, now revives Cybertron and restore it to its former glory.

Yes, he reluctantly agreed. That outcome was most satisfactory. Shockwave's work, for both Dana and Cybertron, would not be in vain.

The scientist in question was silently working to put the synthetic energon formula to its intended purpose, Megatron watching, but not truly taking in what Shockwave was doing, with equal silence. He was too busy keeping track of time, thinking of the medic and his human, and what they could possibly be discussing. Would she be angry to know that the Autobot had donated his skills to further the Decepticon agenda? Would she be grateful that he had donated a part of his spark - the shard itself having been given back to the donor after the piece they needed was cut off - to enable her to walk again?

He also tried to puzzle out the relationship. For an Autobot, one with immense Cybertronian pride no less, to give up a part of himself for a human, they must be close. Not intimate, no, Megatron could never see them cross that line, but certainly a level of care for one another that transcended mere partnership. Friendship? Familial?

What made her so special that Ratchet would abandon his own Autobot morals in order to simply converse with her? Heal her, even?

Megatron asked himself another question, but it was silly. It crossed the line he himself had put between them, not thinking that for either Autobot or human it would be possible. It was even ridiculous, as the femme Arcee and the human Jack, though close, were clearly not more than friends. The annoying human girl and Bulkhead the oaf were just the same. The little one and the silent scout, well, guessing by how the latter reacted to the poisoning of the former, they were close.

But close enough to donate their sparks? It was a little difficult to believe. Perhaps, but only if completely necessary. Though he presumed Dana's predicament could be perceived as necessary to her guardian.

His processor almost couldn't form the entirety of the question into a coherent thought. There was no logic, no clear indicators, of it being the case. In addition, it was just so improbable and, quite frankly, impossible that the answer to the question itself seemed obvious, yet there was so much doubt cast in his processor that even the self-assured Megatron could not just simply come up with it.

Does he love her?

"Lord Megatron!" The vocalizers if the Vehicon that came bursting into the room screeched, yanking the warlord out of his private thoughts and into the real world, forcing him to pay attention.

"What is it that you could possibly want?!" He snarled in return, servo curling. Anger heated up his frame; he hated being interrupted.

"The prisoners have escaped, sir!" The Vehicon continued, too stupid to realize he angered his master.

Megatron paused for a moment, at first in disbelief of what he just heard.

"What?"

»«

"Just give me the wheel, Ratchet!"

"You have no idea where you are going! I know where the nearest console is, and I can't have you taking corners at 120 miles per hour!"

Dana huffed, her knuckles white as she gripped his steering wheel anyways, feeling a sense of panic, adrenaline, and thrills. "How can you concentrate on driving and navigating at the same time?"

"It helps when you let me concentrate!" He snapped back, suddenly slamming on the brakes, tires screeching and smoking as he almost missed the corner, turning and feeling just how close the wall was to his paint. Dana grunted as she was thrown to the side, however her seatbelt consciously tightened and held her snug into the seat so she didn't bash her head into the window.

"There!" Dana pointed at the console. Her seatbelt loosened and came undone, Ratchet slowing to a stop and opening his door, his human jumping out just before he completely stopped and moving to give him transforming space.

Ratchet quickly made his way to the console and began tapping buttons, hearing the Nemesis alarms blare as the Decepticons realized their Autobot prisoners were missing. The medic silently hoped Soundwave wasn't tapped in, not wanting to run the risk of getting shut down before he had the chance to contact Optimus.

Dana felt the shooting pains run up her legs again as she limped over to her guardian, figuring that the lack of them moving had something to do with it. She hoped the pains would eventually fade away to nothing.

"This is Autobot Ratchet to Autobot base, does somebody read me?" Ratchet spoke into the console. "Optimus? Arcee?"

"Loud and clear, Ratchet." Arcee replied, relief and worry interlaced in her voice.

"Good, now listen to me, I need to be quick." Ratchet looked around, speaking hurriedly. "Megatron has rebuilt the Omega Lock, and I'm guessing he is planning to Cyberform Earth."

Dana frowned as she listened, leaning against the wall as she waiting for Ratchet to finish. While she was admittedly grateful that Megatron saw the need to fix her spine, he was turning around and destroying her planet, her home. And that - all pun fiercely intended - she would never stand for.

"I'm deactivating the ship's shielding." Ratchet continued. "So you can lock onto my coordinates and bridge here. Hopefully, Soundwave doesn't manage to reactivate them before you have the time."

"Understood, old friend." Now it was Optimus who was speaking. "We are ready when you are."

Ratchet tapped a few more buttons before turning to his charge, scooping her up and transforming back into his ambulance form, speeding away with no other plan in mind but to find the team when they bridged onto the warship.

"What's the plan?" Dana asked as she shifted to get herself comfortable in the seat. "We've got to do something if we want to help the team."

"We'll think of something, but as of right now - scrap!" Ratchet braked to avoid Megatron's fury, the Decepticon leader slamming his pede down, Dana seizing Ratchet's wheel and taking a hard right, which left the warmonger just inches away from the medic's hood. The human girl slammed on the gas, peeling away.

"Dana!"

"My reflexes are faster than yours, admit it!" She shouted, turning his wheel and taking a left. "And besides, it's basic physics! Smaller organisms experience time faster than larger ones! It's why humans have a hard time swatting flies, we move in slow motion to them!"

"What?! But we don't - "

"You move slow enough, just let me drive!" She swerved again to avoid Vehicons, Ratchet eventually letting her take full control over what she could, finding that she was better at this than he first thought.

Dana managed to make to more turns before the shrill sound of a jet in flight made Ratchet's spark stop, the medic tilting his rearview mirror to see what was coming up from behind them.

"What is that?" Dana asked, her grip tightening a little more. It occurred to Ratchet that she may have never seen Megatron's alternate mode before, but he couldn't recall.

Megatron angrily sped toward the getaway ambulance, transforming in mid air and stomping on his hood for good this time, his heel digging into the metal, feeling some satisfaction in punishing the medic for what he did.

"Get, out!" Ratchet grunted, ejecting Dana from the seat. "And run!"

Dana took off for the side of the hallway, feeling more pains up her legs and along her spine, unable to do more than a hobble-jog. She glanced back in time to see Ratchet do a full-reverse once Megatron lifted his leg, the medic transforming and attempting to attack the Decepticon.

"Keep going, Dana!" Ratchet ordered. "Hide somewhere!"

His charge backed up when she realized his plan, which was suicidal at best. Ratchet ran at Megatron, servos becoming fists as he tried to give him a solid punch in the face, unable to react in time as Megatron caught the attack, and threw him against the wall.

"Stop!" Dana shouted, the clash of metal ringing in her ears. Her legs continued to be nothing but painful, the girl limping towards the two titans. Megatron used his other servo to further pin Ratchet against the wall, snarling.

"You think you're so clever, don't you, Autobot?" He sneered, ignoring Ratchet's grunts of pain as his neck cables slowly began to pinch off. "Using your little unsupervised time to try and get away? Unfortunately for you, I only let the conversation be unsupervised, not your whereabouts."

Ratchet tried to struggle, but the energon cut off from his processor made things difficult, his optics retracing as his movements became weaker, watching in horror as Megatron simply stared at him, having no clear intentions of sparing him.

"Enough!" Came the shriek of a scared, pained, and tired human girl. Megatron loosened his grip in surprise as his red optics turned to look at the human beside them, noting how her legs shook, and the way she limped as she stepped closer to them.

"Put him down, Megatron." She ordered, not a single hint of fear in her voice.

Ratchet felt a sense of panic take over. She had just ordered Megatron; there was no way this would end well-

Megatron seethed, taking a brief moment to decide which outcome he preferred most, satisfying his physical, angry urge by throwing Ratchet across the hallway, letting the medic slid to the floor and cough as fresh energon flooded his processing systems.

"So, this is what I get for helping you." The warlord stalked over to the human, who stood her ground. "Instead of being grateful, you betray me, and try to escape!"

"Don't guilt trip me like that." Dana reprimanded, her hands curled into fists, legs still shaking. Tears pricked at her eyes from the pain, but she refused to cry, not wanting the warlord to see. "You plan to annihilate my entire planet! How am I supposed to be grateful when you truly have no consideration for me?"

Megatron gazed at her, not really sure what to say. The blare of the Nemesis alarms were becoming annoying, and in his peripheral vision he noted several Vehicons poised and ready to strike, Ratchet still on the ground recovering from their scuffle.

"I do not plan on Cyberforming Earth." He finally spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. One wrong thing, and his men would see him as soft; Starscream for certain would use his own words against him. "But, this Omega Lock will be used to the Decepticon advantage, whether you or the medic like it or not." He glared slightly, still feeling the sting of her betrayal to him. He had at least expected some kind of decency from her, but she was proving to be an Autobot sympathizer.

He looked at the human femme before him, the way she stood, without fear. That was what he wanted, but there was something different. She no longer thought they were playing a game, having fun. Dana had finally realized this was war. And she had chosen her side long ago.

They would never go back to what they once were. He could never be amused by her human antics, her stupid bravery, any longer. There was none of that now, only a woman who would never cross the line, test the boundaries, between her dumb luck and his patience. She knew where she stood with him, and he to her. There was no use trying to get the playful fire teased out from her pain and suffering. She had morphed, become stronger, and with that strength she tossed her fascination with him aside and now analyzed him like he was the enemy. He was the enemy.

"Take them away." He snapped to the Vehicons. "Put the Autobot in chains before you leave them in the cell. I don't want any more escape attempts from the both of them!"

"Yes, lord Megatron." The lead Vehicon answered, several of them picking up Ratchet and dragging him off, Dana finally leaning against the wall, defeated by the pain in her legs. Megatron gave the Vehicon only a stern glare before allowing it to pick her up and carry her off with her guardian.

While she looked away, the warlord continued looking at her, silently screaming in frustration. He could still feel his own fascination with her remain, wanting to understand how she was so unafraid. Nothing to lose no longer counted for her reason, because he felt there was something more. He wanted to see her as the same, as the enemy, but she wasn't. Perhaps it was his desire to fix her, or their primary encounters, which made him so interested. The Decepticon felt cursed, unable to shake off the way she stood, how her eyes shone brightly against the light and she did not waver.

Why tore at him so violently he wanted to punch a hole in the wall. He wanted the answers, and he wanted them now.

She wasn't afraid. She has never been afraid. Why?

The warlord turned to stalk back to his room, wanting some peace and quiet to brew in his troubling thoughts.

Then the Autobots attacked.