"I get the feeling just because,

Everything I touch isn't dark enough,

That this problem lies in me"

>><<

"Knock Out dropped from the map almost two hours ago," Agent Fowler reported to both Ultra Magnus and Megatron. "And, unfortunately . . . Kyra's spark signature followed him."

"That no good, slick-talking, pit-dam-" Ratchet bristled as Drift hushed him, the medic glaring at him before continuing his sentence. "I told her to not go out there, and she didn't listen! Now the two of them could be in front of the Fallen himself, and he will kill her!"

"You don't know that," Rodimus tried weakly, knowing it was a pathetic attempt to offer a silver lining. Megatron shot him a withering glare, and the Prime had to use his entire will to not flinch or back down. "You don't."

"Let's not sugar-coat this," Arcee crossed her arms, glaring at the young mech. "The Fallen, and any Decepticon will see her as some kind of perversion to the Cybertronian species. They won't allow her to live."

"Let's drop this," Ratchet said, venom coating his words. Arcee immediately shut her mouth, realizing her words, as true as they were, had probably offended him. "And instead focus on where they might be."

"Skywarp!" Soundwave played the recording of Starscream he had caught through the comlink Knock Out had wisely left open. The statement was obvious: they could be anywhere.

"That traitorous scum," Megatron growled softly, his optics glittering. "I should have ended his spark when I had the chance!"

"Our best course of action right now should be to continue what we are doing," Ultra Magnus interrupted. "So far, we have eliminated a few mines that are certainly not being used to fuel the Fallen's growing army. That means we have significantly narrowed our search, and may be able to find Knock Out and Kyra if we continue looking. Or, Knock Out may be able to reestablish communications."

The Autobots digested what he was saying, nodding slowly. Jack noticed his mother was pacing back and forth in agitation, worried for her adopted daughter. Kyra may not have been the perfect child - the terrible twos were horrific - but she still had been June's daughter.

Ratchet grit his denta in frustration, however he relented and nodded in understanding. Ultra Magnus was right; they had a better chance of finding Kyra if they kept looking. He was going to give that ridiculous excuse for a medic a piece of his mind the moment he laid his servos on him.

>><<

The Decepticon's base of operations looked very much like an American Civil War-era camp, with rudimentary shelters built up and tens of individuals packed into a limited space. Kyra could hear them greet or jeer at Knock Out, the medic receiving mixed feelings from his peers. The egotistical Decepticon just brushed them off, following Starscream as he was lead to the apex of the shelters, where what appeared to be a throne was settled.

Judging from the darkened sky, Knock Out assumed they had warped to the other side of the planet, into a vast desert that stretched for miles in either direction. He also recognized the shield generators scattered across the base, protected by guards, which most likely concealed their spark signatures. His red optics focused on the throne, and he wondered if Kyra could sense his spark nearly stopping in his chassis.

Seated upon it was a mech he had never seen before, but exhumed terrible power. Random objects appeared to float around him, his gaze dark and menacing when he looked upon the approaching mechs. His frame reminded him very much of Megatron, which made sense as the mech modeled himself strongly after the exiled Prime. Megatronus shifted in his throne and sat up a little taller, revealing a slender waist that was interrupted by jagged plates all across and down his body.

"My liege," Starscream bowed. "I have brought another recruit for our cause. Knock Out, the former medic which accompanied me during my . . . military tour of Earth. Please, cast aside any doubts he may have of your existence."

Chills ran down Kyra's spine when the ancient spoke. His voice held a rasp from millions of years of disuse, along with deep undertones that inflected his age and wisdom.

"He doubts no more," the Fallen rumbled, noting how Knock Out's armor clamped down tightly in response. "As many do not. Tell me, Cybertronian, why you have come to be my disciple?"

Knock Out, though a Decepticon, was a terrible liar.

"I, ah . . . have nothing better to do," he squeaked out, and when the Fallen straightened a little more and hissed in insult he quickly backpedaled a little. "I-I mean, I have been at a loss what to do! After all, I served under lord Megatron for quite some time -"

"And yet you defected to the Autobots once his defeat was over," Starscream pointed out, grinning wolfishly. It then occurred to Knock Out that the former second-in-command was not doing this because they were old friends. No . . . this was a revenge stunt. He would just have to outsmart the mech.

"What can I say?" He replied with a nervous chuckle. "I am a survivalist. And to be fair, after serving under your leadership for a time - due to you sabotaging lord Megatron's own health and attempting to end his spark multiple times - I thought it best to side with the Autobots instead of your insufferable attempt at leading. It was either lord Megatron, or no one at all."

The Fallen listened to them with slight amusement, watching the pair bicker like a cat deciding on which mouse to kill first.

Starscream stuttered. "What are you prattering about! I have only had lord Megatron's best interests in mind from the beginning!"

Knock Out rolled his optics. "You seem to forget I was the one monitoring the cortical psychic patch while Megatron picked apart your head. We all know you are perhaps the biggest survivalist of them all, Starscream."

The Seeker's wings drooped in embarrassment, Starscream darting a glance over at the Fallen, who was now staring intently at him. He struggled to form a coherent sentence, now suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Well, we all have our faults," he said nervously. "But, ah, perhaps we should put our differences aside for now, and instead focus on our common goal? Our new master wishes to be rid of Unicron, and who knows better of his location than us?"

"You lead him here?" It made sense, Kyra realized, when Knock Out asked the question. Starscream would have wanted to earn the Fallen's favor as quickly as possible, so he offered up the location of Unicron as compensation. How he would know Unicron was in Earth was beyond the medic, but he would not be shocked to learn that the traitor had read through the Nemesis records to find out.

"Of course I did!" Starscream sounded offended Knock Out would think otherwise. "He wishes to destroy Unicron once and for all, and I wish to see this wretched planet destroyed. So it is a win-win."

Knock Out held his glossa when he made to protest, instead nodding and providing a "Mm-hmm" as a response. He then turned to the Fallen, a question still pressing on his processor. "P-pardon my inquiry, but . . . ah, why do you need all of us?"

The Fallen stirred on his throne, gesturing with a clawed servo. "I know that this planet is protected by your natural enemies, the Autobots. They will most certainly retaliate once they learn of my plans, and I will need to focus all of my power on defeating the Chaos bringer. Therefore, you shall act as my guardians and ensure no one interferes with my work."

"O-of course. That sounds reasonable," Knock Out grimaced as the lie came out a little too strained. "I, ah, am not much of a warrior, but certainly a medic will come as reliable."

"Indeed," he did not like the way the Fallen was assessing him. "Starscream, make this medic at home at the designated medical bay. He will be useful in mending those who do not make a smooth atmospheric entry."

The Seeker bowed. "As you wish, my liege," he glared at Knock Out and silently told him to do the same, the medic bowing before following Starscream out of the Fallen's presence. Immediately he felt a little bit better, sighing softly in relief when the dangerous atmosphere lifted. The exiled Prime gave him the creeps.

As soon as Starscream showed him a place where he could "rest" for the night he ducked into a private shelter and took Kyra out. She looked a bit panicked, and he too seemed worried.

"We can't let them get away with this!" She hissed. "The Fallen, or whoever he is, needs to be stopped!"

"I am almost certain that is the Fallen," Knock Out replied grimly. "Unless it was some grand trick of the processor. But we can't take them all out alone. This was planned, probably months in advance before his arrival. They're going to be ready for any kind of attack, especially from the Autobots. But . . ." he looked at her. "Perhaps not from an organic on the inside."

"You think they don't know I'm here?" she asked.

The cherry Aston Martin shrugged. "Why would they? Why would a Decepticon have a human pet? No, that's more of an Autobot shtick."

Kyra crossed her arms, offended. "I am not a pet."

He waved a dismissive servo. "Regardless, I took a moment to observe their shield generators. They're fairly standard, which is why I think this was planned in advance. But, they are not without weakness." He looked at her. "If you can sneak over to one and reverse its energon supply, not only will that divert its fuel source away and kill it, but it should also cause the others to back up and short out. This is assuming they run on the same pipeline and do not have any sensors, which is unlikely. The sand would crust them up and cause problems, much like what it is doing to my seams!"

The techno-organic rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, how do I do that? Sneaking around shouldn't be too hard. It's being able to do what you said that's the problem."

Knock Out thought for a moment, then, with much self-restraint and a few words of self-encouragement, he began drawing in the dirt with a perfectly-pointed digit. "This is what most of the generator should look like. And somewhere around here," he pointed, "you should see a switch. Normally, it should just shut the one off, but like I said, if the piping is just cobbled together using scrap metal, it should cause the others to overload on energon. You might be safest staying near the the one you disable until the chaos dies down a little. It won't hurt you."

"Got it," she huffed, chewing her lip. "Alright. And this should reveal all of their spark signatures to the Autobots, right?"

"Indeed," he agreed. "And hopefully they'll stage a rescue."

Kyra took another deep breath. "Wish me luck, then."

>><<

It was even easier than Kyra expected to sneak over to one of the generators. For one, none of the Cybertronian's bothered to look down while they were guarding the shields, and for another, there were a lot of things which she could hide behind or under. Before long she had wedged herself between a few outer bits of the generator, which she assumed helped conduct the power and ultimately raised the shield.

"Alright, a switch. I'm looking for a switch," she muttered, looking around. It took a lot of wiggling, squirming, and nearly burning herself on a hot piece she did not realize existed before she located it.

It was fairly simple, and Knock Out's diagram actually proved to be quite accurate. She shimmied over to it and placed her hands on it, starting gentle and then slow turning it.

Unfortunately the generator began to whine as it lost power, the techno-organic cursing as the guards took notice and turned around. She quickly finished turning the switch as far as she could, her immense strength coming in handy and allowing her to even break it off when she was finished. There was no repairing it now.

Jumping down from her spot she quickly darted around and on a side where the guards would not see her, pressing herself against the generator as they first wondered what was going on, then blamed each other for something going wrong. Within thirty seconds she could hear the other generators start screaming as they overloaded with energon, chaos beginning to erupt through the camp.

"What is going on?!" Starscream demanded amidst the shouting. It did not take long for his sharp processor to piece together what was happening, the Seeker's voice becoming a few octaves higher. "Our shields have been compromised! We are under attack!!"

"Silence!" The Fallen's command rippled across the camp, and almost immediately everything still. Even Kyra did not dare move, despite everything telling her to make her way back to Knock Out immediately. Swallowing her fear, she slowly ensured everyone's optics were off of her before she slunk past the Decepticons and through a few crates of supplies.

Starscream's wings twitched in agitation. "S-surely, my lord," he flinched a touch when the Fallen stood, nervously laughing as he continued. "This is but a temporary setback, nothing that cannot be fixed."

He shut up when the Fallen glowered at him and instructed to be silent again with a growl. The objects around him began to orbit more rapidly in agitation, several Decepticons moving out of the way to avoid getting hit. "This is not just a random accident," he said, voice dripping with venom. "Our shield has not once suffered a malfunction nor a glitch. Therefore, it can only be assumed we have a traitor in our midst. Bring me the guards!"

Kyra had to stop as the Decepticons moved, watching the scene from her hiding spot, which was uncomfortably close to Starscream. Approximately sixteen Decepticons inched forward, cowering before the powerful entity. The objects came to a complete standstill, and that was even more eerie than when they had been moving. Kyra felt the equivalent of a cold hand wrapping around her, watching in terror and unable to look away.

"Tell me who did this, truthfully, and I will spare the rest," the Fallen growled, not in the mood for games. "Or else I will execute each and every one of you individually, and without mercy. Your choice."

>><<

"What is it? Have you found Kyra?!" Ratchet demanded the moment he stepped out of the Groundbridge. Rafael continued to change coordinates and bring everyone else back to base, Megatron already hovering over his third in command and observing the monitors.

"Somewhat. We have also found the base camp of the Fallen's recruited Decepticons," Megatron answered him, his optics glittering with steel. "And Kyra happens to be right in the middle of it."

"Her safety is first priority," the medic snapped. "We need to get her out of there!"

"Ratchet," Arcee turned to face him. "There are too many Decepticons. You would be dead the moment you stepped out of the Groundbridge, and none of us have any better odds of getting out of there alive. We have to come at this with stealth. Which I seem the only one capable of doing."

"I, actually, am very well-versed in stealth missions," Drift pointed out. "I would be more than ready to accompany you on a rescue mission."

"Soundwave would also be of immense assistance," Megatron gestured to the silent mech. "As he is an expert in covert operations and can utilize his Groundbridge mechanism for a quick getaway."

Ultra Magnus interrupted briefly. "This is still a very dangerous mission. If it is truly the Fallen, then any compromisation could result in your termination."

"We cannot afford to just sit around," Ratchet snarled back at him, his armor bristled in agitation. "My daughter's life is at stake!"

"Their base of operations is in the middle of the Sahara," Rafael announced, typing on his computer, "so you don't need to worry about any civilians getting caught up in the crossfire . . ."

Jack looked up at his guardian, worried. "Arcee . . . be safe."

The femme glanced at him, nodding. "Of course." It was not a promise, but it was better than what she could have said. They all knew the odds of this going smoothly were slim to none. But she was a capable Autobot, and he had faith in her abilities. She would bring Kyra back.

There was more commotion as Ratchet stepped toward the Groundbridge, Drift attempting to sway the medic to stay, but he was having none of it. The crass and stubborn Autobot was going, whether they liked it or not. They could all see he was emotionally compromised, but it would have been more dangerous to refuse Ratchet's involvement and then have him sneak off minutes later or make everyone miserable at base.

"I'm going," he snapped, and that was final.

Rafael deposited them about half a mile from the perimeter of the camp, the Autobots - and Soundwave - able to use the sand dunes to their advantage. They noticed immediately that the Decepticons had cleared out the dune in their camp, displacing the sand and depositing it on the outer dunes, which was rather dangerous for the intruders. One wrong step and they could sink down into the grains, or worse, alert the Decepticons to their location.

Ratchet narrowed his optics as he looked across the camp. They first settled on an intimidating figure, Arcee swearing as Drift voiced what they all came to realize.

"That's him," he murmured. "That's really the Fallen."

"We need to find Kyra and get her out of there," Ratchet hissed in agitation.

"Wait," Drift held his arm. "There's something going on."

Arcee looked back at the camp, her optics scanning the crowd that had gathered and where the Fallen was pacing, back and forth, and addressing several Decepticons that were lined up before him. Her armor bristled.

"It's an execution."

>><<

"No one is to blame for this?" The Fallen addressed the silent mechs and femmes before him, his voice like a knife under silk. He was angry, nay, livid, yet the guards at the malfunctioning generator were too scared to say anything. They would either die, or die. But perhaps it would be less painful if they said nothing at all.

Red optics gazed at each and every one of them, waiting to see if someone would crack. Finally, one of them caved, unable to take the pressure.

"M-my lord," he whimpered when the full focus of the Fallen settled on him, a suffocating cloud surrounding his body. "I-it was o-our generator that malfunctioned . . . b-but I swear to you! It-it wasn't our fault! It short-circuited somehow and caused all the other generators to die with it! Please, my liege, have mercy . . ."

The Fallen was not impressed by his blubbering and crying, instead stalking forward with murderous intent.

"Pardon my interruption," Starscream gazed at his new master, masking the terror in his optics. His desire for revenge trumped his fear for his own spark. "But it is rather coincidental that Knock Out, a known Autobot defect, has not even been here for ten minutes and something has gone wrong. Perhaps it is not the fault of the guards, but instead him somehow managing to tamper with our power grid?"

Kyra felt like a pile of rocks had settled in her stomach, her fingers frozen in place as they clutched the side of a shipping container she was hiding behind. That sleazy, no good weasel!

Of course it would be Starscream to double-cross one of his old comrades. Kyra could tell there had been some kind of tension between them, but she did not think it would lead to Starscream, who truly had no idea that Knock Out was somewhat involved, would pin the blame on the former medic. She cursed, trying to think of what to do.

"Then bring him to me," the Fallen growled. "And we shall see if he will confess. If not, I am more inclined to believe these incompetent guards are the reason we have been vulnerable!"

"O-of course, right away," Starscream quickly ordered the largest Decepticons he could find - Blackout and Bonecrusher - to retrieve the medic.

The Fallen pointed his clawed digits at the two guilty guards. "You, stay," he snarled. "The rest of you, out of my sight!"

They scampered away immediately, even Kyra having to resist the urge to run. She could see the unpredictable temper he carried, and though the objects from before were no longer in orbit around him, she had to assume it was because his concentration was solely focused on the task at hand. That in itself was terrifying.

"Get your hands off me, you brutes!" Knock Out struggled and squirmed as he was dragged to the center of the encampment and deposited before the Fallen. He brushed off his arms with a huff of annoyance and turned to face the ancient creature, forcing an easy-going smile on his face.

"So . . . you requested my presence?" He asked in unease.

He received a cold, hard glare. "Indeed," the Fallen rumbled. "It has come to my attention that you may be responsible for the destruction of our shield, alerting our presence to not only the Autobots, but to the natives of this planet."

"Moi?" Knock Out sounded offended. "But I just got here."

"We noticed," Starscream snapped. "And that is why we are inclined to believe you sabotaged our shield generators!"

"I'm a medic, not a mechanic," Knock Out pointed out.

"And a terrible liar," the Fallen hissed, slinking closer to Knock Out. The medic yelped and shrank back a little, something about the ancient's EM field making him extremely uncomfortable. "I can sense your attempt at deception, and it has not escaped me that you are an Autobot sympathizer. My presence on this planet is no secret, and it was only a matter of time before they found out about my plans. It only makes sense that they would send a spy to perhaps determine my true intentions, and sabotage my gathering."

Knock Out tried to shrink back, but an invisible force held him in place. The medic yelped when he realized the Fallen was focused solely on him, using his telekinetic powers to ensure the medic did not try to escape.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" He protested. "Like I said, I'm a survivor. I-It would be foolish of me to compromise that and get myself killed."

A ripple cascaded through the Fallen's armor, his agitation reaching an all-time high. He could sense Knock Out was lying, concealing the truth and trying to distract him from the questioning. He was certain now the two guards - though idiots - were innocent. But even the Fallen was not one to accuse without proof. All Knock Out needed to do was confess, and then he would met out the punishment.

Knock Out clutched his throat when he felt an increased pressure close around it, threatening to cut off his energon supply and possibly kill him.

"O-okay! Okay!" He grunted, squeaking in fear as the pressure increased and the Fallen glared even harder at him. "Y-you're right, it was -"

Kyra could not take it anymore. The Fallen terrified her, but she would not allow him to torture Knock Out and kill him. That would just be fulfilling one of Starscream's wishes, which she was repulsed by. Seeing that scumbag get satisfaction was something she was not willing to come to pass. And she would not let Knock Out suffer needlessly and die.

"Stop!" She shouted, running into view. "Stop, stop! It wasn't him! It was me!"

Several Decepticons lurched back in surprise, recoiling with snarls and hisses of displeasure. This automatic reaction allowed her to approach the Fallen, her arms spread to her sides and hands pointed up, the universal gesture for "stop." Her plan worked, as Knock Out was released from his telekinetic hold, though now it was because he was focused on her.

"What is this?" He snarled.

"Kyra," Ratchet moved to run to her, but Drift quickly tackled him down, placing a servo over his intake.

"Ratchet, listen to me," he hissed as the old 'bot began to squirm and protest, half afraid he would bite his servo. "If you go charging in there, you will be terminated. I don't know what Kyra thinks she's doing, but we can't just barge in. The Fallen is mad, and we don't want to make him any angrier."

"How did an organic make it past our shielding?" Starscream hissed, storming towards the vermin. "There isn't a civilization for miles!"

The Fallen raised a clawed servo, gesturing for the Seeker to pause. "I see. You brought a native to do your bidding," he bared his denta at Knock Out. "So, not only was it you who destroyed my base of operations, but this was premeditated."

"My liege, allow me to terminate this . . . insect," Starscream suggested.

"I am not human!" Kyra shouted, not wanting to be ignored. "I . . ." she paused, an insane idea coming to mind. "I am a Pretender!"

That earned her several more hisses, though now the Fallen seemed a bit more interested in what she had to say. His body turned toward her, now predominantly facing her instead of Knock Out.

"No Decepticon in their right mind would dress themselves as an inferior lifeform," one of them hissed behind her, however she ignored them. That did worry her; she did not take into account the fact that maybe the 'cons hated humans so much that the idea of a Pretender on their side would be repulsive.

"Pretender?" Starscream scoffed. "Lord Megatron never employed any of those kind. Prove it."

She met his challenging sneer with a glare, then raised her arm.

Knock Out had never actually seen her transform before, or even had the inclination to believe she possessed a T-cog. Being aware that she was part organic made the experience even more strange, as he watched her flesh fold away and become replaced with a fully functioning blaster, which he could see had all of the equipment necessary to fire energon bolts. He noticed the minute flinch of her facial expression, realizing it probably hurt.

Starscream stared in complete disbelief at the display, not having expected that at all. The Fallen's head tilted to one side, now even more intrigued by the creature before him. Pretenders were a rare occurrence, and never had he encountered one who was small enough to be an organic such as a human. But Starscream's earlier statement left him suspicious.

If she had arrived with Knock Out, he was almost certain she worked with the Autobots. Additionally, why had she not revealed herself earlier, during the introductions? He could assumed with accuracy that it was because she did not want to be found - because she was a liar.

What was she, then?

"I am not inclined to believe you," he said, watching her lower her arm in disbelief. "As you did not reveal yourself earlier. What are you hiding, Pretender?"

"I am hiding nothing!" She transformed her arm back into its regular form. But her agitation made it sloppy, the hybrid hissing when she knicked herself during the transformation process. Quickly gripping the cut she realized to her anger and horror that it had left a sizeable gash down her entire arm, one that hurt, and left red blood trickling down her arm.

They don't bleed red.

"I see," the Fallen hissed. "So you are not one of us after all."

He made to move his servo, but Starscream's cackling caused him to pause. The Seeker shifted so he was closer to Knock Out, who was still rubbing his neck and trying to come up with a plan to escape. This was bad, this was very bad.

"My liege, I do believe I know exactly what it is," he did not even deign her a pronoun, just reducing her to an object, and that made Kyra's blood boil. "Many cycles ago, while we were attempting to conquer this wretched planet and wipe out the Autobots, lord Megatron . . . became distracted. One of the Autobot's human pets had taken his interest, and though I believed he had done away with the silly organic when we were battling for the Omega Lock on Cybertron. But, that was not the case. He brought her aboard our ship and, well, now I see the resulting product of his obsession with the sack of flesh."

Kyra snarled. "I am Kyra," she snapped, "Daughter of Earth and Cybertron, and you will not insult my mother in that fashion, you lying piece of scrap!"

Her audience recoiled as they put two and two together, the Fallen growling as he gazed upon the sickening meld of human and Cybertronian. How had such a proud species fallen so far since his exile?

Starscream's wings stiffened in pride, clearly underestimating the hybrid. "Ah, so your carrier is that insufferable femme," he sneered. "Then who is the sire, if it is not the lecherous Megatron?"

She tilted her chin up. To her, there was nothing to be ashamed of in terms of her heritage. Her parents had done nothing wrong, and they were not to blame for the accident that caused her conception. It was not intentional, and she would not allow this mech to paint it that way.

"My mother was Dana, and my sire is Ratchet, an Autobot and medic," she declared. Her piercing green eyes left Starscream's annoying face and instead focused on the Fallen, noting his disgusted expression. She did not care. "When I was born, he had to chose: save the human he had known for so long and had come to care so much for, or save a baby he had just met, who was an unnatural, twisted version of two species that should never have happened. And he chose me, because he knew my mother would never forgive him for allowing me to die. You may insult my existence all you want, but you will not drag my creators into this."

Starscream rolled his optics. "How noble, defending their 'honor,'" he mocked her. "Regardless, you are an abomination that must be exterminated!"

With amazing speed and agility Kyra dodged his clawed hand as it swiped at her, landing perfectly on his arm. Ignoring his cry of surprise she ran forward, pausing and allowing her muscles to coil beneath her. Using his arm as a springboard she jumped, likely denting the armor she had leaped from, soaring into the air and cocking her fist back.

Her knuckles made contact at the exact point where his voicebox rested, the soft armor around it easily denting and caving in. The force of her punch caused the Seeker to stumble back, choking and sputtering as he immediately placed a servo over his damaged biomechanism.

Kyra felt herself falling, managing to catch herself on one of his legs before jumping to the ground. She now had everyone's attention, even the Fallen looking genuinely surprised, after the display of her immense strength.

"Shut up, Starscream," she snapped, turning away from him. Her hand and arm was cradled in her free one, leaking a mix of blood and energon where she had broken the skin and cracked a few of her organic and inorganic knuckles. The pain only made her angrier, as she experienced it with ten times as much intensity as a normal human. She had her lack of endorphins to thank for that.

Her audacity and strength had to be commended, though the Fallen did not believe that counteracted the truth of her origins. If anything, it was just a further demonstration of how dangerous this miscreation was. But, he would not kill her. No, perhaps she would be kept for his own amusement and morbid curiosity.

"Kyra!" Ratchet's scream echoed across the camp, Drift unable to hold on as his desperate kicks and wiggles forced him to let go. He reached out again but the medic slipped from his digits, making a desperate sprint for his daughter as the traitorous Starscream made one more wrong move.

The techno-organic gasped shortly, unable at first to comprehend what she was feeling as she was overwhelmed and briefly felt her vision white out. But, looking down, it was clear what had happened.

A sharp, grey claw slid out of her from behind, leaving a gaping hole where her abdomen and parts of her chest used to be. Starscream flicked the mixture of blood and energon from his digit, not even watching as the creature he had slaughtered slumped forward onto the ground.