Redemption

by Macx

Summary:

story is based on a prior story in my Arc called Remember My Name:

In his dimension Jay Davison died a long time ago, leaving a fragment of his self in Soundwave's processor. Now, flung into an alternate world, he meets this particular human again. As with all dimensional travel, things aren't easy. Especially when Soundwave and all his symbionts have gone through some changes as well

It all started with an innocent remark, a remark made by Samantha, and Soundwave was strangely affected by it. Samantha had come back a few weeks after the end of the war, though Soundwave wasn't sure it was really over. Too much was still coming in small aftershocks. He didn't know. The tension was still there and, if possible, was even worse than before. That had been when Sam had reappeared, suddenly popping up on Cybertron and hanging out with him and his cassettes. Soundwave, always a loner of sorts except for his cassettes, was somehow glad for her company. Samantha dragged him out of his morose thoughts, especially about those who had died. Too many.....
"You need a change of scenery."
Soundwave looked down and into the calm, serene eyes of his humanoid friend. A friend, yes. Before he had met Jay Davison he hadn't known that he could be really friends with a humanoid life form. The thought of Jay evoked a painful stab in his fuel pump. Even now, decades later, he was still feeling the loss.
"Change of scenery?" he repeated.
"Yes. Get out of here," she made a grand gesture to encompass Cybertron, "meet new people, see different faces ....... You need a vacation!"
"I don't see the sense behind this .... 'vacation'."
She grinned at his tone of voice. "It's not a dirty word, my friend. It's just another phrasing for relaxation. You are tense, you are jumpy, you are morose!"
He wanted to protest, but he knew it was in vain. Sam was the most reliable mood detector he knew and though he still had no idea what or who she really was, she was more or less a psychologist, psychiatrist and an open ear on legs in one. He had found himself talking to her about things he had never even told his cassettes. She was an easy person to be around and he had readily accepted her companionship. Not that it would have been easy to get rid of her anyway. If Samantha decided to be somewhere, she was there and no one could remove her. On top of that, the cassettes loved her and hanging out with her was a regular occasion. She wasn't a real humanoid in their opinion. Part of Sam was metal, though the weirdest kind of metal Soundwave had ever seen. It was flexible, it moved and she controlled what it shaped. And it was part of her body structure.
Megatron mostly ignored Soundwave's new friend, even refraining from calling her his
'pet'. Samantha wouldn't mind being called this because it glanced off her shields, but it would bug Soundwave, something he'd never openly confess to. Otherwise, Samantha could move freely and most of the time she was 'invisible' to the humans and Autobots around her. It was an ability Soundwave was unable to explain, but it was as if no one saw her, though she was plainly visible.
He sighed now. Maybe she was right. Maybe he needed to really get away from it all, especially his memories. Memories of personal losses and still lingering pain from a severed link to a cassette. Buzzsaw was dead, killed in the last battle, and the link still hurt, sending out phantom pains.
Samantha took that as her cue and smiled. "I have a vacation proposition," she began.
He shot her a look. She returned the look and Soundwave knew if he wanted to survive being friends with her he'd better say yes.
"Vacation sounds fun!" Frenzy called and jumped off the cargo box he'd been sitting on.
Soundwave sighed again. "Where?" he simply asked.
"A nice planet I stumbled upon. It's called Melan. Just the right place to unwind."
He shot her a puzzled look, but just shrugged.
"It's a deal then!" Samantha gave him another of her patented looks of satisfaction.
"Deal," he echoed.
The cassettes cheered.

* * *

The whole operation had been set up for weeks. The goal of it was to catch the most elusive drug and slavery lord in the sector, someone who had been daring enough to set up his headquarters on Cybertron and work right under their noses. He had come here long before Lancer had ever met Rodimus Prime, but even though Cybertron was shutting down operations -- in secret and one after another -- they had yet to get a hold of this man. Countless prior 'assaults' on his hide-out had gone awry, the main target always fleeing. Tonight it would be different.
Rodimus hid in the shadows of the building, his attention drawn to the warehouse at the space port that they knew was the drug lord's base of operations. He wondered how he could have gone on and on with his business even with the new security systems and the constant checks Ultra Magnus was doing. No ship came in here without Magnus asking for a detailed report and receiving it within a few hours. And warehouses had been checked as well! Rodimus knew what was in each and every one of them down to the last screw behind the file cabinet! But this one..... He shook his head. No one could explain it.
Lancer was on the other side of the building, much closer, and doing her own checking. Their target was here, though she was puzzled by the way his life force registered. They didn't know much about Daniel Young, except for the chunks of useless information everyone had. He was from Earth, he ran the most successful slave and drug ring there was right now, and no one really knew how he looked. He evaded capture and assassination attempts with ease and popped up where no one expected him. Lancer frowned and checked the life reading again. She didn't know why, couldn't put her finger on it, but something about it disturbed her greatly. Her mind was going through the information again and again, coming up with and discharging theories about Young over and over. Maybe he was a shape-shifter..... But then again, why would a shape-shifter be in this business? Why would a shape-shifter still be alive and not a Convert? And Young was definitely no Convert. Rodimus had, the last time when they had missed Young, taken a reading and the man in question was definitely no mutant......
And then it happened.
Lancer flinched for a micro-second as her over-sensitive senses picked up a flood of new life force, which quickly separated into individuals, all of different strength.
And one of them read nearly the same as Young!
Rodimus sent, picking up on her confusion and the images of something unforeseen happening.
And they moved.

* * *

In another dimension, Optimus Prime tried to find out what had gone wrong. A few minutes ago he had been alerted to the fact that something had disturbed the already messed-up doorway system and right now he was trying to figure out what it had been. It wasn't easy. He was still new at this and he knew that there was no one to train his new ability. Rodimus was experiencing the same dilemma, but he at least had experience with Interface links, so he was adapting quicker. Since Rodimus wasn't here, Optimus had to work this problem out alone.
And he did.
"Damn," he cursed softly in the emptiness of his office.
Something had hit a mass disturbance spot and had gone right through -- crossing dimensions! And since Optimus had Ralyk's knowledge concerning dimensional cross-rips and weakened barriers he knew exactly where they had gone. Now he only had to find out who they were. While he initiated a check on who had left Cybertron lately, he also called Midnight. They had to go over there and get them home.

* * *

Samantha was confused for a moment, then her eyes widened as she picked up something she hadn't felt in .... a very long time. She looked around, her mind peripherally registering that she was in a warehouse, that she wasn't alone and that this was definitely not where they had intended to go. She should never have trusted into that Space Bridge...... And then she was shocked once more as she identified who was with her -- and in what form, but she came over the shock quickly, mainly because the one she had felt appeared.
"You?"
The speaker was maybe in his late thirties, at least he looked like it, and dressed in an expensive business suit which couldn't hide completely that it was also made for more than just body clothing. This suit was a multi-purpose cloth, intended to be both for representation but also protection. Sam knew the material. She was wearing the same. Dark hair crowned his head and pale, grey eyes narrowed at her.
"Danyan," she whispered.
"So it is you," he growled. "Come to mess up my life again?"
Samantha gave a sad smile, though her whole body was tense and ready to move if he made any, ever so small, threatening gesture. "You can do that by yourself."
He sneered.
"What is it this time?" she asked.
"Nothing you can arrest me for!" he triumphed. "Because it's confined to this dimension!"
So her first instinct had been right, Samantha realized. They had crossed dimensions, and in the process her friends had experienced a bit of change.
"Who is this dude?" Rumble asked, stepping forward and giving Danyan a suspicious look.
"An old enemy," Sam answered calmly.
Danyan did a little bow, never taking his eyes off her though. "Why, thank you!"
"Give it up, Danyan," she said.
"Not yet," the man said and smiled. "You don't know whom you're up against, Ken. You never knew." He laughed. "And I never knew why the Council sent you of all to hunt me down."
"You know why. You are a menace -- even to yourself!"
He sneered again. "And poor little you has to deal with this menace." He laughed.
A faint aura appeared around his body and Frenzy shot the man a nervous look. Whatever was going on here was turning worse by the minute.
"I have power," Danyan went on. "More power than you could imagine, but then, you never were the one to appreciate power -- and wealth." His smile became seductive. "You never appreciated what I could have offered you."
"I don't need this kind of power. Not at that price. You need help and the Council wants to give it; with no strings attached."
"How chivalrous," he laughed. "But I don't need help. Least of all the Council's! You know what they will do? Strip me down to my original self!" The aura strengthened and a ball of pure white light appeared in his left hand. "No thank you," he whispered. "I have my life here and you have no jurisdiction!"
"Give up," Samantha said calmly. "Don't make it any worse than it already is."
"You think it can get worse?" he asked. "Well, you must have a good imagination. The Council will hang me for what I have done." He shook his head. "You won't get me alive, Ken." With that he threw the ball of light at them.
"Down!" Frenzy yelled, hitting the floor hard.
That was also the moment part of the wall caved in and something big appeared. Samantha didn't have time to identify the newcomers, she was too busy keeping the energy balls off her, simultaneously checking that her friends weren't in the way.
Danyan hissed angrily and another ball of light materialized in his hands. Sam felt her inner self react and the wings spread behind her, her energy rising with the adrenaline level. She shot her own ball of energy at him, but it flowed around him without inflicting any harm.
"Is that all you can come up with?" Danyan mocked and lifted his hand. The cold sparkle of the ball reflected off the windows around them. "Now it's my turn."
"Uh-oh," Rumble muttered from his position on the floor.
Before he could throw the ball of light, two energy streams hit him, this time directly, and he screamed in annoyance. Sam looked briefly to where it had come from and was surprised, though only slightly. Then she concentrated on Danyan again.

 

Lancer was pissed off. Not only was this operation going down the hill, the drug lord in question also seemed to be a mutant and no one had known it! This was unacceptable intelligence work! This was no intelligence at work at all. When it was over she'd have a word with the one responsible! Right now she had a problem to deal with, and it wasn't just a small one.
The young mutant was partly fanged and her eyes were glowing brightly. She had yet to go into full rage. She attacked again. Daniel Young, or at least the man they thought of as Daniel Young, stood motionlessly in the energy streams. The energy was bouncing off what seemed to be a shield and hitting stuff all over the room, just not the target. There was an expression on his face that Lancer didn't like. It was as if he let them hold him, just for the fun of it, until he decided just how to escape.
"He's shielded!" someone yelled.
Lancer's mind registered the additional people in the room, part of her wondering who they were and how the hell they had arrived from one second to another, the rest of her concentrating fiercely on taking out her enemy.
And then the woman who had thrown her own fireworks at the drug lord walked slowly toward him. She didn't mind the angry and dangerous energy crackling all around her, not the least bit perturbed by Lancer's snarling state and ignoring Rodimus completely.
"I know what you're planning, Danyan, but it won't work. They know you," she now said.
Lancer was still Lancer enough to register that the woman didn't look human as well. There were large, gleaming wings on her back, her hands were claws and the hair..... Lancer was confused for a second. Then she rammed up a shield against the confusion, reprimanding herself for getting distracted, and concentrated on her target once more. A low growl escaped her lips.
Young -- or Danyan how he was called by the stranger -- laughed coldly. "So what?" With that he raised both hands and threw two balls of light.
Everyone ducked.
"Enough!" the woman thundered and Lancer was so surprised by the power in her voice that, for a brief moment, she nearly reverted back into her human state. The woman stepped toward Danyan, who watched her with an amused and superior glint in his eyes. "You won't get away this time!" she vowed.
"But I will," he only said and then, in front of their astounded eyes, he transformed into a wispy shadow. The spirit chuckled and then .... jumped through the window. 'Passing through' was a better term, since no glass shattered. The shadow whisked away.
"Damnit!" the woman cursed, hands clenched into fists, wings shaking.
Rodimus was the first to get his senses together. He leveled his gun at the new-arrivals, most of them human or humanoid, but some were animals. Lancer felt his confusion mingle with hers. The woman met his gaze with a calm that was even more unnerving than an attack would have been. Lancer, still angry and wishing for nothing more than something to mangle and tear apart because of their latest failure, approached and joined her partner.
"Hey, that's....Ow!" one of the group, a dark-haired teenager, behind the woman exclaimed, quickly cut off by an elbow in the ribs by the blond.
"Shut up!" the blond hissed.
They exchanged glares.
"Who are you?" Lancer asked, voice more or less a growl.
"My name is Samantha," the woman answered calmly, her wings folding back and her whole body changing subtly into nothing more than a human dressed in a casual jeans and T-shirt outfit. Rodimus confusion rose even more because the clothes seemed to flow like a living being until they were the right shape and size!

Lancer didn't know. She only knew that this Samantha person read the same energy life force as Daniel Young.
Then her eyes fell on the others and she decided to post-pone further questions. This was getting weird.
"I think we have to talk," Rodimus only said and smiled down the length of his gun.
Samantha simply shrugged.

* * *

Danyan seethed with anger. Not only had he lost the merchandise, he had also been confronted with an old enemy. Shekendra! He hissed dangerously. He had had to leave everything in his base of operations as well! A long time ago he had been able to transport even the most solid object while being a spirit, but now ... He looked at his shaking hands and felt cold with fear. He had used too much of his power and now he was feeling the after-effects.
"I'll get you for that!" he growled, addressing the empty air.
There was not only wounded pride involved in this; there was also Shekendra. She was the enemy and had to be destroyed! How had she found him here anyway? She couldn't cross dimensions, could she? He was pretty sure she couldn't.
Then why was she here?
And how?
It didn't really matter. He already had a plan as to how to get to her. He might not be powerful enough to last in a one-on-one battle, but he had a way to weaken her considerably -- emotionally!
But first he had to feed.
Walking into the freight room of his ship, a ship registered to another name and located right between all the other ships were it was hidden in plain sight. A nine feet long capsule was located there and inside the capsule was one of the few slaves Danyan had kept for himself and not delivered to the Jabez. He kept her because of her useful powers. When stimulated, her emotional display doubled or tripled, feeding him. Deactivating the capsule's stasis lock he opened the door and smiled at the woman, who now woke up.
"Hello, darling," he breathed, revealing his canines.

* * *

Midnight shook his head and suppressed a sigh. This was getting a regular occasion, though this time he could be glad it wasn't a Gambler kidnapping. Ralyk had taken care of them once and for all.
"The moment you think everything has quieted down...." he muttered and heard Steve chuckle. "You know that there is a fifty-fifty chance that we'll end up human again," the Sentinel continued. "And you'll be a mass of energy again."
Steve shrugged. "Wasn't so bad last time."
"Sez you."
His partner only grinned.
Midnight looked at their companions, their back-up, and Nightmare nodded. He was ready, for whatever. Mel, dressed in a specially for her constructed exo-suit, did the same. Midnight let Steve phase into him, then initiated Gating.
The world they knew disappeared around them.

* * *

Rodimus regarded their visitors with a puzzled frown, unable to make up his mind about them. They had herded them back to the command center and locked them up in one of the observation rooms, which were the most secure rooms anywhere on the planet, with exception maybe of the personal offices and quarters of the inner circle members. None of them had overly protested much and this was partly eerie, especially since some members of this group were either too silent -- as in speaking not at all -- or animals who displayed a disturbing amount of intelligence for their appearance. And Samantha, the only person they knew by name, was the most normal of all, though she had looked the most abnormal of all mere hours ago. Rodimus couldn't get rid of the image. Metal, bat-like wings, metal claws and a tail. The reptilian eyes and pointed ears, and the surreal look to her hair. All in all Samantha had looked like a female humanoid in battle armor, though the metal had seemed flexible and seemed to 'flow' around her, bending and reshaping, but never losing its steely look. Now she was just another human.
And then there was the rest of them. First of all there was the unusually silent part, a tall man with absolutely black hair, dressed in black jeans, a black leather jacket and a white shirt. He was wearing black boots and his eyes were hidden by sun-glasses, though Rodimus had no idea why he would wear them still and not take them off. There was no sun-light here! And he hadn't said a single word, though Sam had exchanged glances with him now and then, which made Rodimus suspicious. His suspicion might be confirmed soon the time Jazz got here with a detector. He also seemed to be more or less a figure of authority concerning the rest of the rag-tag team because a look from him broke up bouts of complaints within a second.
The most complaints came from the two apparent teenagers, though even here Rodimus wasn't sure they were real teenagers. They just looked young and sometimes behaved like it. One was dark-haired, his long hair bound into a pony tail, grey eyes expressing annoyance. The other was blond and, completely the opposite to his friend, had his hair very short and standing on end on his head while his temples were shaven so short there couldn't be a quarter inch left! Both were tanned, though not to the extreme, just to show that they went out into the sun a lot; both were dressed in their own assembly of frayed-on-the-edges jeans, leather or jeans jacket and tennis boots. The dark-haired was wearing a baseball cap. To the outside they really looked like teenagers.
And then there were the animals. One was, without a doubt, a large cat. It looked like a panther, though it was larger, had longer legs and appeared very slender. It lay in one corner and watched everything with an incredible calm. On the back of a chair sat what had to be a bad cross between a buzzard and an eagle, colored in all shades of rusty brown to sand, apparently resting. And then there was .... whatever it was. It had to be a bat, but it looked a bit off for one. It had large ears, equally large eyes and the snout was more that of a cat. The body was covered in dense, short fur and the wings were a leathery skin. It had little gripping claws at the 'wrist' of the wing and it had a tail, to top that. A bat with a tail! It liked sitting on top of the baseball cap of one of the teenagers. The boy was mostly glancing at it with acid in his eyes, but, and that was what unnerved Rodimus so much, only returned the glances with a smug look. It was definitely not a normal animal!
The door opened and Optimus stepped in, his face unreadable, followed by Lancer. She sent Rodimus the silent message that Optimus had heard about the failed assault and the appearance of the strangers. Of course he had. The older Autobot had picked up on getting the news even before it was leaking and Rodimus congratulated himself silently for getting him this far. Lancer activated the scanner and pointed it at their visitors. Seconds later she snarled angrily.
"What...?" Rodimus asked in confusion, picking up on his mate's sudden emotional whirlpool of anger and rage.
"Telepath!" she spat.
Rodimus looked at the small group, then at the scanner, then at one individual. Telepath! But not a Convert......
Thank goodness he was already in one of the safe rooms! He couldn't scan them from here.
"Is he scanning?" Optimus asked.
Lancer shook her head, still angry. They should have checked sooner! He had been outside the room for too long! Who knew what he had picked up!
"We have to interrogate them," Rodimus decided, a silent, nagging knowledge beating in the back of his mind. Something about their visitors was familiar! But what?
"What keeps him from scanning anyone who goes inside?" Optimus asked practically.
"Nothing," was the answer and none of them liked it very much.
Inside the room a low-level fight broke out. It was more a 'getting-rid-of-the-bat' fight, though .... The dark-haired teen was finally sick of the smug animal on his head and tried to peel it off, but it wasn't that easy to remove. His friend, or whatever, started to smirk, then chuckled and was finally leaning against the wall, fighting bouts of rising hilarity.
"That's not funny!" the other one hissed angrily. "I want to see you with a bat on your hat!"
That did it. The blond broke down laughing. The dark-haired glared at the bat on his cap and finally threw it on the table. The bat let go of the cap and, with a few flaps of its wings, settled down on his shoulder. He gave a wail and turned to the silent man, who was watching them with no expression at all.
"Do something!" he demanded.
The man raised an eyebrow over the rims of his glasses. "Do what?"
It was the first time he had spoken, but something in Rodimus jolted and his memories raced. He knew him! But how? He couldn't remember a human like this and he was sure that if he had ever met him, he would not have erased him from memory!
"Anything!" the teenager wailed. "He won't listen to me!" He pointed at the grinning bat. Small, pointed teeth showed in that grin, but the grin disappeared the moment he looked at the animal.
A smile tugged at the man's lips. "I think you are handling it well...."
Samantha smiled as well, equally trying to hide it when the annoyed teenager glared at her.
"Oh, just great!" he complained. "I thought it was supposed to be a vacation!"
Rodimus ears perked up. Vacation?
"It was planned that way, yes," Sam agreed.
"And what went wrong to get us to this .... dump?"
She shrugged. "It would be a lot to explain, but let me say it this way: we took the wrong turn."
The teen slumped into a chair, looking frustrated. He had apparently forgotten about the bat on his shoulder. "Yeah, great! I hope you know how to get us back!"
Samantha didn't answer and he sighed.
"Leaving the wrong turn aside, why do we look like this anyway?" the blond asked, looking more or less composed again.
Rodimus and Lancer exchanged glances. Neither of them liked the way that had sounded. It reminded both of them of something from the recent past. And from Optimus' stoic look, he was thinking the same. Not again......
Samantha smiled. "I have no idea, but it suits you." She patted the black cat, which gave a soft purr.
Both teens made 'yeah, sure' noises, giving the man a silent, pleading look.
"And to top it all, we had to run into him," the dark-haired mumbled. "I dunno about you guys, but I don't think this is our place anymore and I hate to think what they think....."
"It isn't," the man said and the eerie calm voice gave Rodimus another jolt. His memories jogged.
"You sure?" the blond asked.
He nodded. "He is not the person we know."
Rodimus felt cold. Had the telepath scanned him?
"And who was that other dude anyway? The one with the light show...." the blond now demanded of Samantha.
"Someone I'd rather not have met here," she answered.
"I think it's time to go in," Rodimus decided and made for the door. His voice held a strange note and Lancer gave him a frown. She didn't get anything from him through the link, except for the strange hunch that this was more than they thought.
he told her.
She did.

Lancer glanced at the surveillance monitor again. She had met some of the other dimension's Autobots and Decepticons in human form, but this man looked like none of them.
They walked into the room.
Optimus stayed where he was for a second, then nodded and followed.

 

Samantha had already worked out what had gone wrong and she cursed herself for not taking this into addition! They were in another dimension, of course! No doubt about it. A twin dimension. The only explanation she could come up with was the severely weakened fabric of space that they had flown through. It was a result of the last battle in this war and the doorways. She should have known better than to tap into their energy source! Sam had no idea why Soundwave and his cassettes had turned organic, but she would work on it later. Right now it might even be the best since she couldn't be sure that Autobots and Decepticons were allies on this version of Cybertron.
Watching Rumble and Frenzy squabble and Ratbat sitting on Rumble's head with the biggest grin a bat could have, she had to smile. They were taking it well and from what she picked up from Soundwave, he had no problems either. Ravage took it with an incredible stoicism and Laserbeak made no comments at all. They didn't suffer from sensory overload and they also showed no disgust. Of course, Soundwave had had a mind link with Jay and when the human had died, a lot had been transferred into the Decepticon. He had changed profoundly regarding his opinion concerning humans and Sam knew that this was one of the major factors at play here. In a way, being human was no different condition than being a robot with a human's mind still lingering in his memory circuits.
And then the door opened. Sam showed no reaction to the two robots she recognized immediately. One she had met in person all those decades ago when Jay had died, the other she had seen from afar on the other Cybertron. The woman accompanying them immediately launched a series of alarms inside her, setting her on guard. She had seen this woman in the warehouse and she had seen what she was. And the woman had seen pat of what she was. Not a good thing.
The squabbles died down immediately and Sam more felt than heard a soft rumble from Ravage. Laserbeak's eyes fixed on the Autobots, but he didn't move. Sam also felt a reaction from Soundwave and knew that they ad to play it careful now.
"You are from a different dimension," Rodimus Prime said without preamble and Sam had to smile slightly.
"Yes," she answered. She noticed how the woman kept an eye on Soundwave and she didn't like it. This would be tricky.
"The dimension with the doorways?" Rodimus asked.
She nodded. Good work, my friend, she congratulated him. Then again, she knew of accidents like this happening in the past. It should have given me more clues! she silently berated herself.
"A doorway gone rogue?" Optimus Prime now wanted to know.
"Not directly."
"Ralyk?"
Soundwave winced and Ravage gave a hiss. Sam felt their reaction to the name and she couldn't really blame them. The last battle had taken them all down with it and the post-war problems were sometimes even worse than before. Trauma was a too mild word for what the Cybertronians had suffered.
"Ralyk no longer exists," she stated calmly.
That drew a reaction out of the woman and Rodimus. They stared at her in unified surprise.
"Ralyk is dead," Samantha added.
"I think we need a few more explanations," Optimus decided. "Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us how you got here and who you are?"
Sam sighed. She didn't have all the details of what had happened on Cybertron and Soundwave was reluctant to go all the way and tell her, but she knew enough.
"First of all, we didn't mean to come here," she said. "It was never the intention. We were on the way to a vacation, to get away from what is going on on Cybertron right now."
The blonde woman raised an eyebrow and looked at Rodimus. Sam ignored it more or less.
"I didn't take into account that the fabric of space and the doorway connections are pretty much messed up since Ralyk .... went ... and we jumped here."
"Into the warehouse."
She nodded. "Yes." She was silent for a moment. "I don't think you know me in this dimension. I'm actually pretty sure of it."
Rodimus Prime' optics fixed on Soundwave and Sam realized that there was knowledge dawning there. He had seen too many human-turned Cybertronians not to guess and guess good. The whole entourage around them didn't help hiding the fact either.
"But I know you," the Autobot said calmly.
It drew a surprised look from Optimus, but he didn't say a thing. Just like Soundwave, who simply returned the look, unfazed by the words. Rumble and Frenzy looked alarmed and Sam felt their adrenaline level rising.
"Soundwave," Rodimus then said into the silence of the room.
Optimus Prime's optics fixed like two icy cubes on the smaller human, but Soundwave didn't even flinch. He simply sat there, a pool of absolute control and calmness.
Sam sighed deeply. This had gone from tricky to disaster in one leap and she just hoped that it wouldn't go to catastrophic in a flash.

 

Rodimus didn't know how he had guessed, but it had suddenly come to his mind. And it fit! Ratbat, Ravage, Frenzy, Rumble and either Buzzsaw or Laserbeak. And a telepath in their midst who never moved a muscle and whose facial expression were limited to a minimum.
And he's on vacation? the next thoughts came unbidden to his mind.
Samantha's expression had changed from wary to fierce determination mixed with protectiveness and Rodimus wondered what the connection between those two was.
"Yes," the strange woman confirmed his guess. "And I hope you'll leave your weapons where they are. We didn't come here as enemies. It was an accident."
"Is it also an accident that you know Daniel Young?" Lancer asked, voice taut and controlled. Rodimus felt simmering anger and extreme suspicion sloshing through the link.
Samantha sighed. "Yes. I didn't even know he was still alive. He disappeared a very long time ago."
"Do I smell a connection there?"
"Yes, you do," Samantha confirmed, not even evading Lancer's frigid stare. The mutant was completely pissed by what had happened, but she kept her temper in check -- though with incredible willpower. "Danyan, or Daniel Young as he calls himself here, is of the same origin as I am. He left our realm a long time ago to live in this world, though he left in a hurry and everyone you ask will deny his existence." Samantha sighed deeply. "He has been declared a renegade because of his actions."
"Because he left your home realm?" Rodimus asked, slightly confused by what she was explaining.
"No." The woman shook her head. "Not because of that. You can leave whenever you want to, but you have to know that once you have left, you can't return. It's a decision that affects your entire future." Samantha gave her a humorless smile. "Our laws and regulations are quite strict. You decide, you live with it. One reason why I decided to leave and use my powers to help instead of only watching. I never fit in and when I was old enough to make the decision I left. But that's not what this is all about. This is about Danyan. He was declared a renegade because he didn't fit into this world. He tried to manipulate, to force, to destroy if he couldn't get what he wanted. He gave life to the legends of my kind, because that's all we are where I come from: legends."
"And that legend is?" Rodimus prodded.
"That we live off others, their life energy."
"And it's true?" Lancer wanted to know, her voice as frigid as her stare.
Samantha nodded. "Sadly so. We can take human lives, but it's not necessary for survival." She glanced at them and added, "I've never done it before."
"But Danyan has."
"Yes. He made a sport of it; playing with humans. And that was the moment he was declared a renegade. The Council contacted me and told me to find him, to get him back to our world so he could be tried. He always escaped because he never stayed his ....self... for long, only as long as he needed to accomplish his task. Then he became human again and I lost his trace. He also stopped his killings, making it harder for me to track him down. I've been hunting him for .... years now, but couldn't get a hold of him long enough for the Council to send someone to get him back. Finally he disappeared completely and the last years were quiet."
Rodimus noticed the slight hesitation when it came to the time period and made a mental note to dig deeper into this.
"And now he's here and running the most elusive drug and slavery ring," he said instead.
Samantha sighed deeply. "Danyan has always been attracted to power, though as what he is --" Rodimus made another note of the fact that Samantha didn't mention her race's name, "-- he can't harness raw energies and use them. That is one reason why he was for hire, for everyone who can pay his price. Then he discovered a way to get these energies another way. Drugs."
Lancer's eyes narrowed. "In what way do drugs help?"
"A drug addict experiences different emotions while he is on a rush and my kind can feed off them..... Raw emotions, unenhanced by drugs, are even better." She looked disgusted at her own race's preferences. "You see, when one of us changes shape massively in rapid succession, the natural energy reservoirs in the body are depleted and it takes time to refill them -- naturally. But there are also other ways, artificial ways. Danyan decided it was worth to try this ... way. And he became an addict."
"What ... like a drug addict?" Rodimus asked in surprise.
"In a way," Samantha confessed, "it's even worse. Drug addicts get only a short burst of dreams and well-feeling from drugs, but the energy Danyan ..... consumes ..... it lasts until it is used. This way he's not going through a cycle of withdrawal."
"Where does he get this energy from?" Lancer asked. "Can he pick up emotions from all around him?"
Sam shook her head. "No. He needs enhanced emotions; extremes."
"Slaves," Rodimus muttered, utterly disgusted.
"Fear, anger, hatred ..... pain." Sam stopped as she saw their expressions.
Lancer sent in fury.
Yes, Young had connections to them since he was probably one of their best suppliers. And now they also had the main reason why. It wasn't the profit..... it was the prospect of emotional outbreaks to feed on. More disgust rose inside him as he looked at the smaller human. She was just like his Danyan, maybe feeding off them right now, off their anger! Rodimus squelched those feelings immediately.
"How do we stop him?" Optimus now asked, his voice as neutral as they came.
"Difficult," Sam confessed. "My kind can pass through solid objects and he has grown quite powerful concerning his shielding and blasting."
Pass through solid objects! Rodimus gave a strange look and Samantha smiled slightly.
"Yes, I can do it too."
"But you didn't do it when we locked you in here."
She shrugged. "Why should I? I'm not the enemy here. If I could help it, I'd go back right now and have some peace and relaxation."
Rodimus looked at Soundwave, still trying to figure out how he, of all robots, could be on a vacation with a being like Samantha!
"I could help you hunt him down," Sam now proposed.
Lancer frowned.
"With no strings attached," Sam added. "Except for a favor: don't treat my friends as criminals. Neither of them is here as an enemy."
"Maybe," Optimus said coolly. "But what keeps him from scanning us?"
One of the two teenagers -- he suspected it was Rumble -- shot him a sharp look. "We are not spies either. I dunno what the Decepticons over here are like, but at home we have a peace agreement!"
"I don't scan," Soundwave now said with his eerily calm voice.
"But you are a telepath!" Lancer snarled.
He met her slightly glowing eyes. "I always was. My form doesn't change that."
So much was true, Rodimus had to confess. And Soundwave had yet to show an inclination to use his telepathic powers on them.
"If we let you run around here, it will be restricted freedom," he then decided. "With a tracking device attached to each and every one. If you remove it, it blows."
Frenzy's face flushed angrily, but he didn't say anything.
"And you," he looked at Soundwave, "will get a constant guard."
"Aw, man!" Rumble muttered.
"Accepted," Soundwave only said.
Lancer's still frigid stare came to rest on Samantha. "And you will get a debriefing about this Danyan character."
"My pleasure," she replied.
And that was settled then.

* * *

Soundwave had only slight problems with the fact that he was human. He was coping with the increased sensory perception just fine, mainly because being linked to Cyberspace enhanced your sensory perception a tenfold and having experienced a human mind inside of his did a lot to help as well. His cassettes had drawn their easy acceptance as organic beings from him, though Rumble griped about being so small, which was also a slight annoyance for Soundwave. Rumble had been a small robot and now he was an even smaller human. Soundwave's biggest problem for him was the missing link to Cyberspace itself, though. It disturbed him a bit because since his birth he had been linked to this intriguing world. His telepathic powers were no more difficult to handle and suppress than usually. His shields were up and he didn't pick up anything from the people around him, and he wouldn't open up this tightly controlled barrier unless a dire emergency came along. The links to his 'children' were there, the one to the animals stronger than to Rumble or Frenzy. As usual.
That they had landed in the middle of an enemy camp was more or less a problem, but one he worked on with only half his mind. The other half was busy analyzing what he saw. This was Cybertron, but also not the Cybertron he knew. It was fascinating and also dangerous. Rumble and Frenzy followed him, arguing about something he didn't listen into, Rumble trying to shove Ratbat off his shoulder. The bat held on. Ravage was at Sam's side and Laserbeak had decided to settle down between the big cat's shoulder blades.
All of them had been equipped with small, watch-like wristbands which were nothing other than tracking devices. Lancer watched them like a hawk, especially him, and Rodimus didn't look too pleased to have them here either. Optimus had disappeared to do whatever he had to do. Soundwave had not probed either of them. Right now they were on their way to where Soundwave would be introduced to his 'bodyguard'. He didn't like it, but he had to accept it.
The room they were ushered into looked like a meeting room. There were two people in the room, both humans, one female, one male. Both were dressed in EDC uniforms.
"Rodimus, Lancer," the female greeted them, nodding. Soundwave identified her as Captain Marissa Fairborne. She had lived in his dimension as well.
Rodimus nodded. "Thank you for coming here."
The man turned to look at them and Soundwave felt his stomach freeze. The face was hauntingly familiar down to the very last pore. Pale, blue eyes fell on him and Soundwave froze even more.
"Captain Davison will be your company for the time you are here," Rodimus said, but most of it went by him. Soundwave only stared, glad his eyes were hidden by the sunglasses. "If you so much as probe a fly on the wall, you are back in the isolation room."
Rodimus became aware of Soundwave's reaction a second later. The human Decepticon simply stood there like rooted to the spot, his face drained of every drop of color, hands slowly unclenching out of tight fists. He was forcefully trying to relax. Rumble and Frenzy gaped and made no secret of it, but they didn't look like death on legs! Ravage simply rumbled something and Ratbat nervously shook his wings. Or wasn't it nervousness? Samantha looked composed, but there was a sad expression in her eyes.
What was going on here?
Captain Davison simply nodded, already knowing his assignment. "I'll keep an eye on him," he told Rodimus. "And I think taking him out of here might be a first step." He looked at Soundwave, who nodded slowly and followed the EDC captain like a puppet.
"Aw, darn...." Rumble moaned when they were gone, shaking his head. "It had to be him."
"Of all the people..." Frenzy agreed with a sigh.
Lancer's eyes narrowed. "What?" she demanded. "Of all the people what?"
The two teenagers looked at Sam for help, but her sad expression only amplified their apparent anguish. Still the woman looked at their 'hosts'.
"Is there a reason why it had to be Captain Davison?"
Marissa frowned but didn't say a word. Rodimus frowned as well, but out of different reasons.
"He is the best to keep a telepath in line," he finally answered.
"He is one himself?" Frenzy gawked.
"No, quite the opposite. Captain Davison has the ability to neutralize telepaths when close to them."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "I see. Still, he was the worst person to be chosen."
"Why?" Lancer asked sharply.
"Because in our dimension Captain Davison is dead."
Lancer's eyes narrowed again. "Your friend killed him?" Her voice was icy.
Sam's sadness rose while the cassettes made protesting sounds. "No. Jay died while mind-linked to Soundwave. They were very close friends for over fifteen years. Soundwave still feels the pain."
Now it was Rodimus' turn to stare. Friends? Soundwave had been friends with a human?!
"I think this calls for some more explanations," he decided.
Sam nodded reluctantly. "Didn't you mention a debriefing anyway?"
It was a hint that she didn't want the cassettes to be cooped up here longer than necessary.
"I know when I'm not wanted," Rumble muttered and unsuccessfully tried to get Rabat off his shoulder.
"You know the rules," Rodimus told them. "Captain Fairborne will be your boss for this stay and you'll check in with her every hour or you'll have a whole squad after you in a flash."
Frenzy looked close to sticking out his tongue at him, but he refrained from doing so. Marissa herded them out of the room, shooting Rodimus and Lancer a 'I'll get you for this' look, then they were alone.
"Now....." Rodimus started.
It turned out to be a long debriefing.

* * *

Rumble kicked at a piece of debris and it flew straight across the empty space and hit the next building with a loud bang. Ratbat sat on his shoulder like a stuffed toy, looking morosely at the mistreated piece of metal. They had been able to get rid of Captain Fairborne after communication devices had been handed out to them to check in. Every hour on the hour, she had told them. Otherwise, the brig. Frenzy sat on a metal cargo box, leaning against the box stacked up behind him. They were outside the building they had been held in for such a long time, not knowing what to do. An hour ago they would have gone off to explore and investigate, but now .... Ravage and Laserbeak had disappeared to explore nevertheless.
"Bummer," Frenzy muttered, chewing on some gum he had found in a pocket of his jeans jacket. He didn't puzzle about where it had come from. It would only give him a headache.
"Yeah," Rumble agreed. "What now?"
His brother shrugged. They both had no idea what to do and neither of them could check on Soundwave anyway. They had no idea where he had been taken to and they had no two-way telepathic link.
"Maybe we should look around," Frenzy finally said. "I mean, they never said we couldn't go anywhere."
Rumble nodded, adjusted his bat-infested jacket and looked around.
"A shopping center?" he then asked, slightly surprised.
Frenzy followed his line of sight, shrugged and both walked off toward the large complex. Why not?

* * *

Danyan had his target.
He moved.

* * *

Soundwave had taken a look around the building and its outside, always trailed by his 'bodyguard'. He tried to keep his mind on the job, which was currently to act like he wasn't a threat and keep his telepathic shields up. The second task was no problem at all. The first was ... a matter of perception. He was a communications specialist but he was also a spy. It was a second nature to him to take in his surroundings. The main problem though was that he was constantly aware of Jay Davison. Fifteen years of knowing his dimensional twin had fine-tuned Soundwave to receiving even the slightest wave from the EDC Captain. He didn't need to see him to know where he was and what his expression was like. Soundwave inhaled deeply.

He slowly opened his hold on Jay's mind. It dissolved into a myriad of sparks, swirling all around him; beautiful life. Then the sparks faded.
He was hit by emptiness, by absolute blackness and an icy cold.
Death.
Taken away.
A wound ripped open.
How could he feel so much pain?
Jay's mind dissolving.
Nothingness.
He screamed in emotional agony and the cry echoed in Cyberspace for a long time.

Soundwave felt a tremor running through him and he tried to banish those age-old memories, but they flooded his waking mind unbidden and every time they grew stronger. He was experiencing massive flashbacks and it took every ounce of willpower not to give in to them, to let them to the surface.
Captain Jay Davison gave him an odd look, but since Soundwave was not inclined to talk to him, he simply kept his silence as well.

 

James 'Jay' Davison had never met a person like this man before. He had been briefed on him, knew that he was a Decepticon turned human and that he was a strong telepath. He knew that he came from a different dimension and that in this dimension, Decepticons were allies. What he didn't know was why Soundwave was reacting to him the way he did. Jay had noticed the first reaction to him, the complete loss of color in his face, the tense posture, but he had no explanation for it. When the silence was getting to him, he finally broke it.
"What is the matter?"
Jay had never been one to beat around the bush, which had sometimes gotten him into more trouble than it had been worth. Now it evoked a reaction as well. Soundwave stopped, his shoulder's growing even more rigid. He turned and looked at him. His face was a mask and Jay wished he could see the eyes. It was hard to hide emotions in your eyes. Maybe that was why he wore the glasses....
"The matter?" Soundwave asked.
The voice was not as emotionless as the face and Jay heard a fine tremor in it.
"What is it? My profession? My abilities? The fact we're linked at the hip while you are here?" Jay clarified.
This time the reaction could be seen. A muscle in Soundwave's cheek twitched. For the first time in his life Jay wished he were telepathic.
"No."
"No, what?!" Jay exclaimed, forgetting his EDC diplomatic training. This was getting on his nerves! "Damnit, do I have to pull answers out of your nose, or what?"
Soundwave's jaw worked, then he turned and walked away. Jay cursed softly, most of all the other's stubbornness, and followed.
"It is me, right?" he pressed on.
Another twitch.
Jay inhaled deeply, trying to get his EDC training straight and be calm. It was difficult.
"And what is it about me?" He had a sudden insight. "Do I exist in your dimension."
For a second he thought Soundwave was going to faint. He drained again, though didn't change his expression. So that was it. His twin and Soundwave had met in the other dimension. Now he only had to find out how. Before he could, Soundwave suddenly tensed. Jay turned and discovered someone walking toward them, a human. He was smiling pleasantly, but the expression in his eyes was lethal.
"Say hello to Samantha from me," the stranger said.
And then all hell broke loose.

* * *

Rumble and Frenzy were enjoying themselves; Rumble a bit less than his brother because he had Ratbat on his shoulder and the damned little fluff-ball was gripping the fabric of his jacket and looking at everything with wide-eyed interest. And he was using the links between all cassettes to let Rumble have a share of his excitement.
"Aw, come on and cut it out!" he hissed when Ratbat's eyes lingered on the flashing neon sign of a video arcade. "We are not going. And we won't raid the food store either!"
Frenzy grinned at his brother's predicament. He had no idea why Ratbat had chosen Rumble as his 'carrier vessel', but he enjoyed it.
"Speaking of food ..... I think I'm hungry."
Rumble rolled his eyes. "Great. That means going back to the Autobots and beg for something. I, for my part, won't do it!"
Frenzy sighed. Rumble was right. But where would they find something to eat? Stealing came to mind, but that would mean drawing attention to themselves if they got caught and Soundwave had told them not to get out of line. Lost in thought and trying to figure out what they could do, Rumble didn't even feel Ratbat get off his shoulder and he didn't see him glide toward an unattended basket either.
Ratbat was hungry and he was getting slightly cranky now. He wanted food and in this basket was food. He looked at the items and tried eating something rather good-smelling.
"What the.... hey!" someone exclaimed.
The next moment he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted. He hung on to his dinner and stared into the face of an angry female human.
"What the hell are you?" the female asked, annoyed.
Rumble and Frenzy had discovered their brother's excursion into the unknown depths of a shopping basket and came to his rescue.
"Geez!" Rumble hissed and glared at Ratbat. "Can't take you anywhere!"
"Is that your pet, young man?" the woman asked, still annoyed.
"Uhm, yeah." Rumble consciously battled with his less civilized side and also the telepathic response he got from Ratbat concerning the 'pet', and then added, "Sorry."
"Maybe a leash would help."
Ratbat hissed.
"What is it anyway?" the woman wanted to know, examining the winged creature.
That was the moment the communicator beeped and demanded their attention. Frenzy whipped his out and immediately punched a line open. Marissa Fairborne's face appeared on the small display.
"Just checking that you didn't give the device to someone else," she told them since visual contact had not been in demand before.
Frenzy grimaced. "Hey, we are not running off, lady, okay?"
"Where are the others?" Fairborne simply asked.
Frenzy shoved the communicator under Rumble's nose and his brother barely refrained from sticking out his tongue once more.
"Where's the bat?" the EDC Captain wanted to know.
"Here." Frenzy held the micro-camera so that it picked up Ratbat hanging in the woman's grasp, managing to look mortally embarrassed.
"What is going on?" Fairborne demanded sharply.
"The bat, or whatever it is, attacked my shopping, Marissa," the woman said, drawing surprised looks out of all three cassettes and Captain Fairborne.
"Carly?"
'Carly?' Frenzy mouthed silently to Rumble who only shrugged in confusion. They both knew their Carly Witwicky, but this one looked a lot older than the one they knew, and their Carly was approaching seventy! Well, their Carly had also traveled a lot in space and was physically about fifty-five.
"Hello, Marissa. Do those three belong to you?"
"No, I'm just watching them. They are visiting."
Carly dumped Ratbat into Rumble's arms. "Well, not a good way to behave for visitors," she admonished the two.
"I guess he was hungry," Rumble muttered and almost subconsciously set his animal brother on his shoulder.
"You could try buying."
Frenzy sighed. "We could try looking for money first," he muttered. "Listen, we're sorry and I guess we gotta go before Miss EDC here gets the squad on us." He shot the small vid screen an annoyed look.
Carly smiled a bit, then handed the fruit Ratbat had claimed over to the bat. "Here."
Ratbat's ears perked up and his tail wagged slightly. Carly's smile broadened.
"Listen, you two, since you are visiting here and also Marissa's protégés or whatever, how about something to eat at the command center?" Carly offered.
Rumble shook his head. "I dunno. Not a good idea," he said slowly.
"Why?"
"I don't think we are friends here."
Carly frowned. "Here? Where do you come from?"
Frenzy shot his brother a panicked look. "We gotta go!" he hissed and grabbed his arm, pulling him away.
"Thanks again," Rumble managed, then he was shoved out of the mall by his blonde brother.
Carly frowned deeply. Here? Not exactly friends. She decided to pay Marissa a visit -- now.

* * *

Sam had told Rodimus and Lancer everything she could about Danyan and she knew they would do everything to stop him. Still, she had a bad feeling concerning his sudden disappearance, but maybe she was just hypersensitive. She had also felt that both wanted to know more about what had happened in the other dimension, but they refrained from asking now. Danyan was the bigger concern.
Lancer nodded at Rodimus. "Now we know his tricks. Next time we'll be ready. And I know there will be a next time!"
Suddenly Sam's senses began to tingle. She was no mutant in the sense of the word. Her powers were natural and could not be picked up by the device Lancer had used earlier. She had known that there had been watchers while they had been in the room and she had felt the electronic waves probe her and Soundwave. That was how they had determined that he was a telepath. The tingling was like an alarm, set off by the only one person it was tuned to now: Soundwave. Sam concentrated, trying to find out what was going on.

 

Rodimus became aware of Sam's odd expression and was immediately alert. Something was wrong. He saw her eyes turn a shade more animalistic and he thought he saw a faint aura around her. By the way Lancer tensed he knew he was right. Both of them had had to realize that they were facing something unknown to them in their dimension and that the didn't know a lot about Sam, except for what she had told them. Her powers could not be read on the scanner and it unnerved Lancer to no end that this woman was an unknown variable.
Suddenly Sam's eyes turned all reptilian and wings burst out of her back. "No!" she hissed. The 'liquid' metal flowed around her and before anyone could react, she jumped -- through the wall.
Both their confusion and surprise lasted for only a split second, then Lancer was out of the room and scanning madly for the life force of their 'guest'. Sam was so different from everyone else that it was easy. Rodimus followed his mate without a comment.

* * *

Soundwave cried out in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his mid-section where the claws had struck him. The creature gave a howl of triumph and lashed out once more, catching him on the shoulder and flinging him into the next wall. Jay Davison saw Soundwave break down like puppet whose strings had been cut, the wounds bleeding all over the place. He reached for his weapon and fired continuously at the attacker, but it was no use.
Suddenly there was a rush of air and something large and winged descended onto the creature like an avenging angel. Jay lost only a micro-second gaping at Samantha, then hurried over to where Soundwave lay.
"Oh no," he muttered in desperation as he had a first good look at the wounds.
Soundwave's injuries were severe. The stomach wound was bleeding, as were numerous cuts all over his body. The shirt was already soaked and he looked very, very pale. Somehow his glasses were still on his face, though they were askew. Jay removed them without thinking about it.
Everything had happened so fast. The attack had been aimed at both of them, but Soundwave had shoved him out of the way and taken the first brunt. The attacker had shifted form throughout it and turned into something vaguely resembling a human being. Jay had seen wings and blue skin and fangs, and large claws had ripped into Soundwave. Then the transformation had started again and the creature was suddenly a shapeless cloud of energy.
"Soundwave?" he asked, touching the limp form. He didn't want to imagine what internal injuries there might be, adding to the visible ones.
Jay had had medical first aid training and he knew what to do, but this was severe! Soundwave opened his eyes. Jay was stunned for a second when he looked into a pair of icy blue eyes. They were filled with incredible pain, but not all physical.
"You are alive," Soundwave managed. "Good."
Jay tore himself out of the hypnotic gaze. He didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more worried. He tentatively reached out and tried to staunch the blood flow, which made Soundwave wince and groan slightly. Jay bit his lower lip.
"Oh, shit! I have to slow down the bleeding," he told Soundwave. "It will hurt."
Something roared and thrashed in the background. Jay looked over his shoulder and gaped at Lancer, who had somehow arrived here as well, fully fanged and currently involved in trying to pin the creature down. He forcibly turned his attention back to Soundwave, who was growing even more pale. Pushing down on the wound, he evoked another groan from injured Decepticon. He groped for his communicator and finally got it out. Before he could set off a call for medical help, Rodimus Prime arrived. The young Prime took in the battle happening in the background, the blood-smeared EDC Captain and the freely bleeding man on the ground. His call to First Aid went out a micro-second later.

 

Samantha had arrived at the scene within a flash. She was not yet sure what would await her, but when she finally saw it, she became mad. Well, at first she was shocked, then angry, the anger working into fury, then raging madness.
"Danyan!" she howled.
The wispy creature that was Danyan whirled around. "Well, hello," he purred. "How nice of you that you could make it." His claws flashed and were suddenly quite real and very much made of metal.
"You made a mistake," she growled, her whole appearance shifting with her mood. Her claws were out fully now, as was her tail. The wings glinted razor-sharp and energy crackled around her body, her hair nothing but an illusion right now. It curled around her in impossible ways. "You hurt my friend!"
"I will kill you," Danyan hissed. "I will scatter your very last molecule over the seven plains!"
He raised his hands and the energy appeared again. A lightning bolt sped at Samantha, who didn't move. She raised a hand, deflecting the bolt.
"You have relied on alien power too long, Danyan," Samantha said coolly. "Else you'd remember that this weak display of psychic energy can't harm me." She became peripherally aware of Lancer appearing, fully fanged and ready for battle. She smiled dimly.
Danyan bristled and his eyes glowed red. "Weak?" he raged. "This time I will utterly destroy you, Shekendra!"
And then all hell exploded.

* * *

Midnight arrived in the other dimension with no troubles. As he had feared, he was human again and Steve was an energy matter inside him. His partner chuckled slightly and remarked that this was actually not so bad at all and no different from being completely phased. Mel was her normal self and Nightmare was his robot self. The Gatekeeper smiled down at Midnight and Mel made an inviting gesture to get up on the equine's back. Midnight did so and then looked around.
"Okay, let's get to the command center and....." He stopped, squinted and then sighed. "Scratch that. Let's just wait for the big guy over there to stop staring and announce our presence to one of the Primes."
And Ultra Magnus did just that a second later.

* * *

Samantha had forgotten everything around her, even that she was not exactly on safe grounds here. She was displaying all her powers and when this was over, she'd be as weak power-wise as a new-born. If either Lancer or Rodimus decided to take her out then, she'd have no power to defend herself. But it didn't matter. Danyan had hurt one of those she had chosen as her closer friends, one she cared about like she had cared about Jay, and in a way Soundwave was Jay. Her whole energy and concentration was focused on the man in front of her as she countered every strike and blow with one of her own.
Lancer was helping her weaken Danyan through her own attacks and Sam appreciated the help. She was more powerful than Danyan because he was relying on something he had stolen, psychic power that was not his own, while she was using what was hers and what she had honed over the years. Drawing all her power into one blow she shot a ball of energy at the man in front of her. Danyan was thrown back against the wall and gave a groan of pain. He was solidifying more and gave Lancer an even better target. The mutant snarled and her eyes glowed like beacons.
"You chose wrong to take psychic food," Samantha taunted him. "You know that strong negative emotions, though they nourish, vaporize as battle energy within a few blows."
With red glowing eyes Danyan erupted into a firing frenzy, but Samantha and Lancer dodged every single one of them. Danyan screamed in rage and one of his energy bolts went wide, hitting the window of the closest building ..... traveling along the reflective surface, then shattering it -- outwards! --, raining glass shreds on the ground and on Rodimus who was standing just below. The Autobot went for cover.
"I had never thought you would be foolish enough to believe that you could escape me," Samantha said coldly.
"I know I can," Danyan called. "For I walk with the power of a god!"
"You act with the power of the foolish," Sam informed him, claws stretched, wings vibrating with power. "And you are dead!"
Lancer launched an attack right at that moment and caught Danyan off guard. As he turned to retaliate, Sam exploded into pure, white energy. The energy lashed out and surrounded him.

 

Lancer felt the energy -- alive and filled with painful rage. It sucked up everything around it and she stumbled away as it came to close, brushing past her with a greed she had never felt before. She heard a scream from within the crackling mass of incredible power, but she had no idea who it had been. Samantha or Danyan.
Moving cautiously back toward where Jay was still trying to administer first aid to Soundwave, she still kept an eye on the battle. Her energy-happy nature was stilled for the very first time, her instincts telling her that one touch, one drop of that energy would kill her. It was so surprising to know it that she was almost frightened by it. Almost.
And then the cloud of energy bunched together, solidifying and finally transforming into Samantha. She looked almost like the human she had appeared to them at first. Her eyes were still reptilian and her surreal hair revealed the pointed ears. And she was in her 'armor'. She walked over to them with controlled, measured steps. Lancer thought she heard energy crackle with every step the woman made.
Jay didn't even look up when she stepped beside him, her somewhat cold eyes taking in the injuries. It was the same instant First Aid and a human medical team arrived. The Protectobot didn't even transform, simply opened his rear doors so that the human medics could roll Soundwave in. Lancer kept a close eye on Samantha while Rodimus scanned the area for remains of Danyan. There were none. First Aid drove off and Samantha started to follow.
"He is dead?" Lancer asked into the silence.
Sam's gaze chilled even her. Lancer had a few, good patented stares and looks, but this .... this was more than inhuman. This look could kill without eye beams lancing out!
"He made a mistake," Samantha said, her voice alien and clearly a barometer of her temper. She was tightly, tightly controlled right now and the wrong comment would make her blow. "He hurt a friend." And then she walked off.
Rodimus stared after her. "Now that's what I'd call an Ice Queen."
Lancer watched the woman walk off. "Handle with care," she muttered.

* * *

Rumble and Frenzy had grudgingly gone back to the complex and now sulked in the chairs of Marissa's office. Ratbat was happily chewing on a fruit while Marissa gave them all angry looks.
"I thought you had promised to stay out of trouble!" the Captain told them.
"We did," Frenzy grumbled.
"And what is that?" Marissa asked, pointing at Ratbat's dinner.
"Hey, she gave it to us, lady!" Rumble protested. "We didn't steal it!"
Marissa shot them 'yeah, right' looks.
"I did," a voice from the door said and Marissa was surprised to see Carly. The wife of the former Ambassador to Cybertron rarely paid them a visit here, though it had gotten better lately.
Rumble and Frenzy looked drawn between mortification and teenage pouting.
"I gave them the apple," Carly told Marissa. "Since their little pet had already chewed on it."
Ratbat gave an indignant muttered. He was no pet!
"And now I'd like to know what's really going on here," Carly added.
Marissa shot a look at her two visitors. "Before we answer that question, I want to know where your two other pals are."
Frenzy looked mockingly at her. "I thought you had applied tracers."
Captain Fairborne's eyes flashed once. "I had. And from the readings on the display they should be strewn all over the place in little chunks because the tracers are destroyed. They took them off!"
Rumble smirked. "And they didn't detonate?" he asked sweetly.
Marissa gave him a cold look. "You are walking a fine edge, young man...."
Suddenly the three cassettes tensed, their eyes growing wide. There was a second of absolute stillness to them, their eyes so wide with what Marissa identified as shock that she thought their eyeballs would fall out, then both erupted from the chairs and darted out of the office. Ratbat gave a squawk and hung on to Rumble's jacket.
"What the....?!" Marissa exclaimed, then she ran after them, Carly in tow.

* * *

"Never a dull moment," Midnight sighed and shrugged at Rodimus.
The Autobot leader smiled. Midnight had been brought straight to his office by Ultra Magnus, but since he and Lancer had been out, Optimus had taken care of their visitors. Midnight looked his usual, human self and Rodimus knew they'd see him evading female humans soon.
"Would be boring otherwise, wouldn't it?" he chuckled. Then he turned serious. "Say, how did you come here without Ralyk's help?"
It was a straight-forward question, but it had an unexpected effect on the three visitors. Midnight's face darkened visibly, as did Nightmare's. Mel only laid a supporting hand on her friend's leg. Rodimus wondered why she didn't take the exo-suit helmet off, but then again .... why should she? Still, he was immensely curious about it.
"You know about it?" Midnight asked neutraly.
"Samantha mentioned something like it but she didn't tell us the whole story," Lancer said. "How much time has passed since we last met?"
"About 14 years," Midnight sighed and it drew startled looks from Lancer and Rodimus. "The Tji wars are over but everything else has just begun."
"What happened? How are the others?" Lancer asked. She had met few people from the other dimension she was truly worried about and even fewer she'd call a friend. Midnight obviously knew whom she was talking about, though.
"Rodimus, our Rodimus is fine, as is Shanygn. They have completed their Interface by phasing about 12 years ago. They had their hard times and nearly lost the other on a few occasions..." Midnight sighed and decided to let that subject drop. It was too unpleasant to remember. "The whole Council is okay in fact, disregarding a trauma here or there...."
"But...." Rodimus prodded.
The Sentinel leader hesitated a moment. "Ralyk had started to change our circuitry long before we even became aware of what was going on. Shortly before it ... died.... it activated these circuits. It gave me the ability to jump within doorways, to use their energy links, to locate them and so on. That's how I got here," Midnight told them. "I can do what Ralyk did when using doorways. I'm constantly aware of the network, though not consciously."
Lancer's eyes narrowed. It didn't sound like a gift to her, but she could be wrong. "What about the others?"
"They have different or partly the same abilities. All parts of Ralyk in a way."
"How did it die?" Rodimus wanted to know. "I always thought this thing was so invincible...."
"Ralyk was strong. And it didn't get killed." Midnight hesitated. "It committed suicide and took every single Tji with it."
"And half of Cybertron," Nightmare growled.
There was a short silence.
"I think," Rodimus said slowly, "you better start from the beginning."
Midnight nodded. "But I want to know how Soundwave is first. After that we have all the time in the world."
Rodimus made a short call to med bay which told them that Soundwave was out of surgery and had woken for a few minutes, but would need a lot of rest. It also meant that Midnight and company had to stay for a few more days. Soundwave was in no condition to travel, so they got quarters assigned. Nightmare and Mel decided that they would have a look around while Midnight would relate the tale, which made Midnight grimace, though he didn't protest. Lancer looked at them and a fine smile played around her lips.
"Twin or double?" she asked.
Nightmare was momentarily confused. "Huh?"
Mel chuckled. "Double."
"Mel...?" Nightmare asked, even more confused.
Lancer led them down the corridor and then toward some empty guest quarters. "Double bed," she announced.
Nightmare's face lit with embarrassment. "Oh." Then he shifted down to his human form.
Lancer grinned. She had already expected it -- somehow. She only too clearly remembered what had happened the last time and how she had talked to Melissa.
"Clothes are in the closet. If you need anything else ...." she started, unable to hide her smirk.
Nightmare grimaced. "Thank you," he only said, then she closed the door.
She heard Rodimus' laughter in her mind as she thought of those two. But she also felt the silent question as to what kept Melissa from taking off the helmet.....
Had she been a fly on the wall right now, she would have seen. Mel loosened the helmet and the connections came off with a soft snapping sound. She tossed the exo-suit helmet onto the couch and shook her hair free. Then she got rid of the suit.
"Nice," she said as she looked around, though her main attention was on Nightmare.
"Very," he said, making no move to get dressed.
Mel smiled. "We are not here for fun, you know."
"We could change that," he teased.
The young woman smiled. "Business first, darling."
Nightmare managed a pout but let her go. He knew she was right. They were here on official business.
"So, where do we start being official?" he wanted to know.
"You could start by dressing," Mel answered, giving him a leer.
Nightmare smiled, then went over to the closet and through the rather small assortment of clothes. Soon after that they were on their way to have a look around.

 

In the meantime, Lancer had walked back to where Rodimus and Midnight still talked. Rodimus had shifted down to human size, maybe to make it easier for the Sentinel, though Midnight had not shown any sign of being troubled by his smaller size. Rodi had been host enough to organize Midnight something to drink.
The history and the result of the war, as well as the immediate future of their twin dimension's Cybertron made for quite a tale. It was as ugly and grim as it was full of opportunities for the future. The Tji were gone, except for a few which were hunted down now. Megatron's small group of Decepticons was happily doing this. Cybertron was under reconstruction, as was Vector Sigma.
"Any idea whether or not you can restore it?" Rodimus asked. His feelings toward their own version of Vector Sigma were rather mixed.
"No clue. Everyone's doing their best."
Sphere had worked through her own trauma. Megatron and she were an item, though nobody spoke it out loud and both never ever showed any signs in public.
"For real?" Lancer asked, surprised. The last time she had met Sphere, the female Key had told her that this relationship was on and off and that Megatron mainly behaved like a jerk.
Midnight shrugged. "Very interesting relationship which I won't comment about. It helps both of them, though." He shrugged again. "And it's very tight."
He also told them about Nebulos and though neither of them knew about the planet from their dimension, both were shocked by what had happened to it. It had been an innocent world in a cruel war waged against a superior enemy with a lot of advantages and it had suffered. Relationships to Earth were strained a bit and both sides worked on finding a middle way now.
"How ..." Rodimus struggled with the words. "How is Daniel and the rest of the family?"
Midnight's eyes rested on the young Autobot, knowing fully well what this meant to him. "Daniel and Kimberly are fine. He's currently fighting his own little war with a hyper-active teenage daughter. Spike and Carly..." He hesitated. "Spike was exposed to the same radiation that killed the Nebulans."
Rodimus blanched. "He's....."
"No, he's alive, but his body had to be ... replaced."
"Replaced?" Lancer echoed tonelessly. She had met the Witwickys only once when she had visited the other dimension.
"Cybernetics."
"Oh ...no...."
Midnight pasted a smile on his lips. "He's doing fine with it. Both do."
"And Mel?"
Midnight sighed and decided to tell the whole story concerning this and delivered another blow.
"And I thought we had problems," Rodimus muttered almost to himself.
"What Ralyk did was for both Mel and Nightmare's best," the Sentinel told them seriously. "Nightmare might not have survived losing her. He blamed himself for her blindness a long time and when Ralyk started to change us, to activate our circuits, it also apparently decided to make up to Nightmare for hurting Mel."
"It turned her into a friggin' mutant!" Lancer snarled. "Not exactly a gift!"
Midnight smiled sadly. "In your dimension, no. In ours, yes. It's one of the few good things happening to us at the end of the war. Well, at least one of the better ones."
Rodimus tried to see it with Midnight's eyes and finally nodded. Yes, it was. After the devastation of the war, small gifts were welcome. It meant happiness for two people and it was more than many could hope for.
"So," he said with a cheery grin and trying to banish those dark images, "how's your love life?"
Midnight nearly choked on his soft drink while Lancer sighed deeply, mentally congratulating Rodimus on another unexpected delivery.

* * *

He was hit.
He tumbled out of control.
The ground came up to meet him.
Circuits tore.
His body screamed in pain and his circuits were sending out agonizing impulses.

Silence.

Pain.
He was alone.
He was dying.
Help me?

Silence.

Something inside of him convulsed.
He screamed.

Someone was with him.
A friend.
Help me? Please?

Pale blue eyes regarded him.
Friend.......
Agonizing pain.
Help in the form of an enemy.
Hatred turned into friendship.
Friendship turned to dust. Forceful separation.

He screamed again and memories became more vivid, the nightmares more real.

Distress at the memory of the accident.
Looking forward to meeting him every time.
The time in the mountains.
Friendship.
Taken away by his own kind.
Decepticons killed him!
Emotional pain.

He flinched away from the memories, but they pressed on. In his torment, battling the memories from decades ago, he felt someone else with him again.
Guiding....
Calming....
Close.....
Help me?
Shhhhhh.....

* * *

Carly shook her head as she looked at the assembled group of humans and animals. Marissa had briefed her on what had happened and who these people were while they had followed the two teenagers. The hospital was not very far away and they had already been expected. Marissa had been called away soon and now Carly was alone with the small group. Rodimus had been here briefly and had then received a call from Optimus, which had also concerned Lancer.
Decepticon cassettes! She couldn't believe it. She had expected them to be different .... somehow. More like Decepticons she knew -- more ruthless in a way. Then again, her universe had taken a vastly different turn at a specific point.
Ravage lifted his head as she walked closer and she tensed. The cat-eyes followed her movements, but he didn't threaten her.
"It's okay," a soft voice said and she discovered Samantha. "None of them will harm you."
Well, half of them were asleep anyway. Rumble had curled up on the two-seat couch and Carly suspected he'd have a cramped neck when he woke. Ratbat had chosen the open jacket to curl up in, looking like a fluff ball. Frenzy had somehow managed to rearrange himself in a one seater, looking uncomfortable but also asleep. Laserbeak occupied the back rest of a chair and Ravage lay in front of the two-seater.
"Is he okay?" Carly asked, more out of politeness than real worry. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to care about a Decepticon like Soundwave.
"He'll pull through." Sam smiled, also politely.
Ratbat yawned and extracted himself from the warmth of the jacket cave he had made. He discovered Carly and his ears perked up. He flapped over to her, landing on the desk in front of her and looking up with those big, puppy dog eyes. Carly found herself smiling involuntarily.
"He says thank you for the apple," Samantha suddenly said.
"Says ...."
"The animals are telepathic in a very limited way. It is and always was their only means of communications. Don't worry," Sam added as she saw Carly's face, "they don't read thoughts, only exchange them between each other."
"And you."
"Yes, and me."
Carly nodded and then came up with an excuse to leave. She had to get a bit of distance between herself and the Decepticons. She was already halfway out of the building, still thinking about their visitors, when she nearly bumped into someone. She looked up to apologize and her eyes widened.
"Hi Carly," Melissa Witwicky said, smiling hesitantly.
"Melissa!" she whispered.
Carly didn't know whether to be shocked or surprised. She knew who Mel was and where she came from. They had talked long last time and it had disturbed her and her husband more than she had wanted to confess at he time that Mel was her daughter in another universe. A universe where Daniel was also still alive. Mel was accompanied by a ruggedly handsome looking man with dark eyes and dark hair.
"What.... what happened to you?!" she then blurted, still more in shock.
Melissa looked like the woman she had met not so long ago, but she had changed nevertheless. The most prominent change were the wires implanted in her face. A thin wire ran around each eye, apparently attached to the bone structure, going up her temples and eyebrows. Her eyes held a close to empty look. There were small knots adorning the wire, which seemed to be in the skin, not lying on it.
"An accident," the younger woman said.
Carly couldn't do anything but stare. "Accident?"
Mel smiled. "Yes. Long story." She took the hand of the man, who was suddenly very tense.
Carly got her act together. "Do you have time for a coffee? I think Spike would like to meet you as well..."
Mel's face turned serious. "Are you sure?"
Carly nodded. "Yes. You helped us a lot, believe me. So.... how about it? Both of you are invited." There was a hopeful note in her voice.
Melissa finally nodded and Carly smiled.

* * *

Captain James Davison had spent an hour in med bay getting a thorough check, which the medics had insisted upon. He felt fine, he had told them, and was finally discharged. He had cleaned up a bit, but he still looked messy. The white EDC uniform was covered with blood -- Soundwave's blood. The human Decepticon was out of surgery and it looked serious. He had lost a lot of blood. Davison still puzzled about the behavior of the Decepticon as he walked down the corridor and passed the waiting area. He glanced into the open room out of habit and discovered the other Cons, half of them asleep.
"Are you okay?"
He looked around and nearly collided with the woman who had accompanied them. Samantha was her name, he remembered.
"Uhm, yeah." He saw something like sorrow mixed with sadness in her eyes and sighed. "What is it about me?"
Samantha raised an eyebrow.
"Don't evade me too!" Jay growled. "Soundwave was bad enough! I found out as much as that I'm existing in your dimension as well, so what is wrong? Why did he turn into a sheet when he saw me?!"
Jay had had it. First the weird telepath, then the attack, now this woman looking at him like Soundwave had.
"Come," she said and guided him toward some chairs outside the waiting area and a few feet away from the door. The hospital was rather quiet right now and only a few nurses and doctors passed by. "You are correct that we know you from where we come from."
"And?"
"Your dimensional twin never joined the EDC. He lived a vastly different life," Sam began to explain. "He had a rather eventless desk-job, a wife and kids. The Decepticons destroyed his life within a second, killing his family."
Jay's eyebrows rose. He wasn't married and had yet to find a steady girl-friend who didn't complain about his 'dangerous job' or that he lived for his work and was on constant call.
"It was an accident," Sam went on. "Galvatron attacked a mall to divert the Autobots from his flight and the building collapsed, killing not only Jay's family but also a dozen or more others. Jay was devastated and moved into the mountains. That's when we met. I tried to be a friend." She smiled a bit. "And then Soundwave crashed into the woods. Needless to say Jay wasn't thrilled and all he wanted to see was his enemy die. It didn't happen the way he had imagined it though and he ended up saving Soundwave's life. They became friends."
"Ah." It was hard for Jay to imagine how you could become friends with a Decepticon, but so be it. He still didn't understand Soundwave's reaction, though. "And what does it have to do with me?"
"The Jay Davison I know was killed about 20 years my time ago," Sam told him. "Motormaster and his Stunticons attacked the town and he was down there shopping. He was run over and severely injured." She sighed. "Soundwave .... well, Jay was comatose and Soundwave did the only thing he could think of: mind link. He wanted to talk to Jay ......"
Davison stared.
"Jay died while they were mind-linked. I know that Soundwave tried to hold him, but Jay didn't want to spend the rest of his life cooped up in a robot body. So Soundwave let him go -- had to let him go. It had quite an .... effect on him. It initiated a fundamental change."
The EDC Captain tried to find the words but failed. Finally he shook his head. "I'd never have imagined...."
"I know. That's why he reacted the way he did. Soundwave still kind of blames himself for Jay's death. Part of Jay's mind was fused with his and when he saw you ...."
"Old wounds," Jay muttered.
"Yes."
"Sheesh! And I had to be the only one to be able to block a telepath!" Jay sighed.
"Yes. I don't know whether it was fate or just bad luck for him."
The EDC Captain grimaced. He grimaced again as he looked at his uniform. "I've to change, but I'll be back in a few hours."
"Resuming your duty?" Sam asked with a fine smile.
"Yes. He's still a telepath."
She nodded and then watched him go, her mind reaching out for Soundwave's, doing what she had done since he had come out of surgery -- fighting nightmares.

* * *

Twelve hours after the incident, things were slowly getting back to normal. At least more or less. Soundwave was awake, though not very much responsive, but his friends were allowed to visit. The doctors had banned Ravage and Laserbeak out of the medical unit, though, demanding that animals stay outside. It had taken Sam a lot of patience to convince Ravage not to chew on the doctor in question. Ratbat had been hiding under Rumble's jacket and had been able to slip in this way.
"How do you feel?" Frenzy wanted to know. Soundwave was so pale! His eyes lay deep and fine lines of pain were edged around his mouth. "Are you in pain?"
"No. No pain." Soundwave seemed to search for a word. "But I feel lousy."
That drew an honest and relieved smile from the two teenagers and Ratbat gave a happy purr -- or something coming close to a purr anyway. Samantha stood in one corner of the room and smiled softly, her mind keeping close track of Soundwave's very familiar one. She knew he was still confused and his mind kept presenting him those moments of agony when he had been injured. And when the pain-killers wore off he'd feel small reminders of it again.
she heard him in her mind.
she told him.

Sam knew exactly who Soundwave was talking about and she knew that it was hard for him to even mention the name. she answered.
Soundwave closed his eyes, feeling tired. Frenzy gave Rumble's ribs a quick elbow and the two left. Samantha stayed, still mind-linked.
Soundwave whispered in her mind.

She smiled.
She came closer to the bed and he opened his eyes again. Sam met his gaze and held it. She was weak right now, all her powers gone in this one fight. She still had energies stored in her body, but they would not be released until a dire emergency came along. Right now she used tiny parts of them to hold her appearance. It wouldn't do to shape into her natural body.

Soundwave's statement let her sigh. It had been terribly bad. She had nearly, very nearly lost the fight, but her determination to kill the one who had dared to harm her friend had driven her past her own limits. In a way she had entered a different level because of it, but the price had been high. And from Soundwave's expression he knew what price it was. It was the downside of the standing mind-link she maintained. Some things drifted over.

He nodded slowly, but he wasn't convinced.
Samantha watched him drift off into sleep and sighed again.

* * *

Jay didn't know whether he should be here, but he wanted to talk to Soundwave after what he had heard. And Captain Fairborne had told him that he was still assigned as a shield for the telepath, even while he was in hospital. Jay sighed silently. It meant spending the time in his vicinity as long as they took to get Soundwave into a specially prepared room for telepaths, which could take the next day.
He was not dressed in his EDC uniform as he entered the med bay and asked for the room the Decepticon was lying in. The nurse told him, nodding as he also showed her his ID card, just in case. Jay walked down the corridor and then hesitated in front of the closed door. Finally he got his courage together, telling himself that he had a job to do and that he better start now before the Decepticon began reading minds.
Soundwave was propped up in the bed. Ravage lay under the bed and Jay knew that the doctors had protested long and hard against this 'predator' scaring away the nurses, but Rodimus had finally told them that the cat would stay. There was no keeping him out anyway. Ravage would find a way. As Jay walked in, Ravage lifted his head and his strange cat-eyes regarded him. Jay thought he saw recognition there and shivered. Soundwave's eyes snapped open and Davison was confronted with the icy blue color for a second time. The eye color was very intense, but it also was a barometer of emotions. Right now the emotions shifted from confusion to realization to fear mixed with dread.
"Hi," Jay greeted him, trying to sound normal but failing.
Soundwave's face was expressionless but he was clearly wishing he could be somewhere else.
"I guess we'll be roomies until they transfer you to another room," Jay went on and closed the door behind him. "You won't even know I'm here."
He could have bit his lip after that. Sure he'd know Jay was here!
"Erm, but I guess I can also wait outside," the EDC Captain mumbled.
Ravage growled and he looked at the big cat. The panther -- or whatever -- rose gracefully and approached him, and Jay froze. The animal was large enough that its shoulder nearly reached up to Jay's hip! Ravage brushed his head against the man's limp hand. Then he gave him a push toward one of the chairs in the room.
"Ahm...." Jay made, unable to think of what to do. Calling for help was a bit extreme and instinct told him not to even ponder wrestling his way out of the room. "I really think I should ..... be ... outside..."
Soundwave's troubled eyes met his. "You have a duty to fulfill," the Decepticon said and it was more than he had ever said to Jay.
"I can do that outside," Davison hurried to tell him.
Soundwave briefly closed his eyes and winced a bit. He was obviously experiencing the down-side of pain-killers -- when they wore off it was hell.
"No," he then said, voice laced with pain, mostly emotional. "Stay."
"Really?" Jay asked doubtfully, forgetting the insistent cat prowling around him.
"My reaction was ... extreme," Soundwave managed, obviously hard pressed to get this out in the open. "I .... apologize."
Jay shook his head. "No, no. I didn't know and you were confronted with ....uhm .... a ghost."
Soundwave flinched.
"Samantha told me," Jay added softly. "I asked .... well ... demanded to know what the hell was going on."
"I see." The Decepticon's gaze wavered a bit.
"We are not the same," Jay Davison told him, "and I'll never be able to come close to understanding what you two shared. I know it was a friendship built on hatred and misunderstanding in the beginning, which changed and changed you with it." Jay inhaled deeply. "And I wish there was someone else to take over my place, but there isn't."
"I know. Your talent is unique."
Jay tilted his head. Something was missing here. Somehow the sentence sounded incomplete. There should be a 'but' involved. Slow realization crept over him and his eyes widened.
"But I'm not blocking you," he whispered and had to sit down after all.
A smile tugged at Soundwave's lips. "That's what you said."
"But it's true, right? How? I mean, I'm able to block the strongest telepath when I'm near him!" Jay shook his head.
"You block mutants. I am not a mutant. My telepathic powers belong to me whether I'm a robot or a human."
Jay still stared, then sputtered into laughter. No one knew this fact!
"And I don't scan," Soundwave added calmly. "Not without reason or order. I have neither here."
Jay chuckled once more. "We better keep that a secret," he grinned. "Everyone would flip if they knew."
Soundwave's smile grew a bit. "I guess so."
Ravage purred in satisfaction and took his place under the bed again.

* * *

"She gives me the creeps!"
Lancer paced up and down and Rodimus thought that if she kept on doing it, their living quarters would soon feature a ditch.
"Samantha is alien and she is powerful," he agreed.
Lancer snarled and her eyes glowed a bit. "She is dangerous! Her energy.... it's lethal."
"Energy in these amounts is usually deadly," he tried to calm her down. "I mean, she killed one of her own within minutes."
"Exactly! She is lethal! And I know she is not what she seems!" Lancer resumed her pacing, hand clenching and unclenching. "She lives off the same emotions this Danyan did!"
"Well, not exactly..."
Lancer growled and he saw her fangs extend a bit. She was really agitated about this. "I don't care about her explanations concerning energy being substitute food! She depleted her body when she did those shape-changes and she even told us what this invokes! She needs psychic food to keep her energy household straight! She'll hunt now!"
Rodimus chewed on his lower lip. He had felt Samantha's power as well, her barely controlled energies, her cold determination to keep her friend safe at all costs.
"So, what do want me to do? Give her a bodyguard? If she feeds on emotions, what will keep her from feeding on her guard?"
Lancer snarled and a low rumble rose in her chest. "I'll personally keep an eye on her!" she hissed.
"I don't think..."
"Yes, you don't think!" she snapped. "That's your problem!"
"Lancer, if her energies are deadly for you and if she feeds on extreme emotions, you'll just play into her hands!" he told her forcefully.
She fanged even more and her horns rose slightly. She was really freaked out by Samantha, mainly, Rodimus knew, because there was nothing Lancer would be able to do against her if the alien woman decided to move against them. Attacking her with energy lances would have no effect, drawing energy out of her would kill Lancer when the first drop of Sam's energy hit her body and Lancer's emotions would only feed her. Finally Lancer calmed down, forcing herself to relax. Rodimus walked over and gently touched her shoulder.
"We'll keep an eye on her, restrict her access...."
A growl.
"And I won't lock her up either. We don't need her annoyed and hungry. Hungry, if she really is that hungry, is enough."
Lancer's eyes flashed, but she didn't say anything. She was not feeling very much better about the subject, but at least she didn't pace any more. Rodimus smiled slightly. Well, a little victory. At least until Lancer gave a growl and simply left the quarters. He sighed and shook his head, deciding to give Lancer some time to calm down.

* * *

Rumble and Frenzy had started to enjoy their stay and regarded it as the promised vacation. Marissa Fairborne had had another talk with Rodimus and Optimus, and the two Decepticons had been handed limited credit cards so that incidents like the one with Ratbat would not repeat themselves. Going back to the mall and exploring again, the two teenagers had discovered the adventurous sport of rollerblading. Both had bought rollerblades with their cards and had learned quickly how to use them.
Ratbat had decided to skip this whirling around in circles and, for the first time, took off by himself. Rumble couldn't be more relieved. Ratbat landed on the backpack containing their 'supplies' first and nosed through the contents. He found something small and light enough to carry and took off.
About twenty minutes later, Carly Witwicky was witness to a small, black ball of wings and hair making a crash dive onto her front porch. Something went 'whouff', then 'squish'.
Mel and Nightmare had visited the Witwickys daily while they had been here and Carly had always hung at her 'daughter's' lips to hear more. It was like she was living another life for that short time, a life where happier times had happened. She heard about Dana, Mel's niece, about Kim's second, failed pregnancy, Spike's accident, Mel's own accident and her love for Nightmare. For Carly it was nothing new that a robot and a human fell in love, so she had accepted Nightmare quite easily as a life mate for her 'daughter'. What she couldn't accept right away were the changes in Mel's body, starting with the Net implant, though it helped her see, down to her mutated cells. She had to come to terms with it though and she didn't press on about what exactly it meant.
At the time of the crash, Carly had been in her kitchen, making some coffee, and she now walked out, her eyes widening as she saw a familiar bat-like being trying to get up. She lifted the little animal which had cannonballed down and wrinkled her nose when she discovered that Ratbat was smeared with tomato pulp. The bat gave a pitiful moan, looking sadly at what had once been a rather big tomato. Carly sighed and carried him inside for come cleaning.
A minute later Spike darted into the house because he heard a wail, followed by pitiful whimpering.

* * *

One week after the incident Soundwave was released from hospital with the strong advice to take it easy and not overdo it. Midnight had done a few more jumps back and forth to give the others an idea what was going on and he was expected back any hour now. They would depart the next morning.
Samantha had spent most of the time either with the cassettes and keeping them out of trouble or in her quarters. She evaded Lancer and Lancer didn't complain much. Both women knew the other was a danger and both didn't want to end up blasting the other by accident because of high-strung nerves. And Samantha's were high-strung to the limit. Her body demanded food and giving it the usual energy didn't work any more. She had given more in the fight than she had ever believed possible and her own nature was catching up with her. She also knew that taking psychic food here would most likely draw unwanted attention since Lancer was watching her like a hawk anyway. They didn't trust her as far as they could throw Cybertron and she wasn't even offended. Samantha herself didn't trust one of her own race.
While in her quarters, Sam chose to relax and give her body the demanded time in her natural shape. She wasn't an energy creature as most would likely suspect when they had watched the fight. She was a shape-changer with a definite basic form, but she could transform into pure energy for a battle. And she also wasn't what Soundwave had seen when she had visited him on Cybertron for the first time, though it came pretty close in shape.
Samantha sighed and her eyes caught her image in the mirror. She was still humanoid, but that was where the human part ended. Her hair reached down her back to her thighs and when she moved, it moved as if it had a life of its own. It still looked surreal to a degree. It had a bluish-black color, as had her eyebrows. Her skin was light blue and her eyes were red with an even deeper red iris and a black, cat-like pupil. They looked reptilian all in all, though. The eyes were slanted. Her face was narrow and held a few sharp angled, her cheek bones higher than the normal human's. It could be called almost beautiful.
She now wore a black, skintight something that appeared like an armor -- full body-armor to be precise, with only the hands and the head free. But then again it could have been some kind of leather, too, because it didn't make metallic sounds. It appeared to flow around her body with every move. The armor wasn't part of her but something that took her away from her own race. It had been an accidental joining between a mindless, metallic life-form and her energy body, and instead of killing her the joining had given her this symbiont. It was controlled by her mind on a sub-conscious level and fed off her energies. A pair of leathery wings was on her back.
Samantha was a demon, at least that was what most of the names other races had given her went down to. Another she had heard was vampire. Both names were right to a degree and totally wrong as well.
Suddenly she whirled around, wings spreading immediately, as she felt someone in her room. It was Soundwave. Confused and slightly angry that she hadn't heard him, she folded her wings, not even trying to shift back into the form of Samantha he knew. It was a sign of her weakened state that she had not heard him.
"You are hungry," Soundwave said calmly.
"I'm relaxing," she answered and heard a growl in her voice. She cursed herself for it.
"You won't last any longer if you don't feed."
Samantha frowned a him. "I'm fine. You should be resting."
He raised an eyebrow. "Compared to you I'm okay."
Soundwave's mind touched hers and made an offer.
Samantha couldn't believe it.
he whispered.
She swallowed. She knew she did, but..... Soundwave calmly met her eyes and she knew she'd do it. She had to feed, one way or the other.....

* * *

Lancer prowled around the complex, nerves taut and part of her simply hoping for a fight to release her nervous energy. Samantha truly gave her the creeps and her very inner self reacted to the alien woman. Just looking at her wanted her to do nothing but release her demon and take her apart. This reaction was the same she had when confronted with a Jabez and she couldn't explain it. Samantha radiated danger, but so did other creatures as well. Still, Lancer's instincts screamed and raged and she had a hard time keeping herself calm and sensible. She never could stay herself, though, fanging ever so slightly.
Calm down, calm down, she told herself over and over again. She's dangerous, but she is not the enemy.
But how did she know that. Samantha had confessed to her race being some kind of psychic vampire! Danyan had fed off the slaves' and pre-Converts' fears and pain! Lancer felt disgust rise inside of her and the burning desire to rip something apart. Danyan had been with the slaves throughout the conversion, feeding, and had played this sick game over and over again, supplying innocents for more food.
Lancer's eyes glowed white. How she would have loved to gut him herself!
Danyan had been even worse than every slave lord she knew. Slave lords did it for money, he had done it for his own pleasure. And Samantha was just the same.
Then she discovered her. Lancer's temper boiled and she hissed a growl. Just looking at this ... creature made her hair stand on end!
"Showing your real face now?" she snarled.
Samantha turned and Lancer had to hold on to her not to flinch back. She cursed her own reaction at the sight, which was a mixture of remembered fear and pure rage. Samantha was a demon. There was only this one description for her.
"I never hid it," the demon said.
Lancer clenched and unclenched her claws. "Looking for a victim?"
"I have no victims. I am not Danyan."
Lancer's horns shot up and her tail swished behind her like a whip ready to strike. "You feed of other's emotions!" she roared. "You are a vampire!"
Sam faced her calmly. "I don't deny that. I need it to replenish my energies, but I don't feed off negative emotions. I don't inflict pain and fear just to nourish me."
"Tell it to someone who is more susceptible to your lies! You are no better!"
"I don't lie. Don't you think I could have fed off your emotions while you were around me? I can feel your hatred and rage, but I don't want it. Negative emotions are what turn us into addicts. They are like a shot, but they don't last." She spread her claws. "I didn't survive this long by taking what isn't given to me voluntarily."
Lancer fanged more. "I'll give you a voluntary does," she snarled, voice almost unintelligible. She had started to crouch down and was ready to spring. Part of her was still in control enough to tell her that this was suicide because if Sam blaster her with her energy, it would kill her instantly, but she didn't care anymore.
/Lancer, no!/
Rodimus' cry echoed through her mind and she roared at him, daring him to stop her.
Samantha looked at the young Autobot in his human form, not moving at all. She didn't even look battle-ready. Suddenly something black appeared and stepped lithely between them. It was Ravage. He looked at Lancer, completely unafraid.
"Ravage, no," Sam said softly.
The big cat growled.
Rodimus walked over to his life mate, arms spread. "Lancer, no, it won't solve anything."
"It will solve her pesterous presence here!" she roared. "This ... creature is a menace! It feeds on us!"
"I don't feed on you." Sam shifted slowly back into her human appearance. "I never take without asking. Never."
"You were drained when you left the battle field," Rodimus addressed her. "Where did you find your food?"
She hesitated and Lancer's hiss sounded triumphant.
"That is my business."
Lancer roared again and only Rodimus desperate voice in her mind was holding her now. "How many did you feed off?!"
Sam didn't answer.
"You better have an answer," Rodimus said, sounding strained.
"She gave you one," a new voice said and Lancer's head whipped around, her brightly lit eyes fixing on Soundwave.
Rodimus looked at the Decepticon, then at Samantha who merely returned his look completely unfazed. His mind made leaps and came up with a guess that just couldn't be..... Lancer growled.
/Lancer.../
/A psychic vampire and a telepath!/ she roared in his mind.
/I know. And they are not the enemy/
/How do you know!?/ she demanded.
/They could have struck at us if they had wanted to/ Rodimus told her, realizing it himself just now. /Neither of them did/
/That's no reason to let her continue to live!/
/You can't kill her!/
/Watch me/ The last was a barely intelligible growl.
/Lancer, no!/
Samantha gave a sigh. "Do you really want to fight me or do you want to get rid of your own pent-up anger?" she asked reasonably. "I understand this anger because of what I am and we will be gone by tomorrow. I haven't done anything so far, I didn't hurt you, and if I could, I'd never have come here."
Lancer's growl was one of uncertainty. Rodimus walked even closer to her, ready to keep he from jumping the other woman even if it meant getting slashed up himself. Soundwave joined the demon-vampire and Sam glanced at him. Rodimus thought he saw questioning uncertainty flash in her eyes for a second, then she faced them again. Could both of them really.... Soundwave?!
Lancer picked up on his thoughts through her fading haze of anger and gave a surprised grunt.
/Maybe she did feed off someone/ Rodimus sent. /And not of his anger, pain or fear..../
Lancer blinked.
/And if I'm right, it is her personal business/
She blinked again, more anger fading away, though the itching feeling she had when simply being around Samantha stayed.
"I'm going back to my room," Sam now announced levely and turned to walk back. Her steps were measured as she disappeared inside the building.
Ravage gave a questioning growl, then walked back into the shadows, followed by Soundwave.
"Lancer...."
She hissed at him. "Don't start! Whatever or whoever she fed on, she is still dangerous!"
"I know. Even for you."
She flashed him an icy look and walked off into the opposite direction.

* * *

The next morning Midnight touched down smoothly and let Steve exit. He had discovered how to prevent his body from shifting every time he came here and though it took a lot of will-power to keep his molecules from rearranging themselves and simultaneously not losing track of where he wanted to go, he managed. He was already greeted by a whole team of people. Rumble and Frenzy had their hands stuffed in their pockets and looked like typical teenagers and Ratbat's smug presence on Rumble's shoulder always drew an amused smile from Midnight. Ravage was as always at Sam's side and Laserbeak sat between the cat's shoulder blades. Soundwave looked as impassive as always and Sam was simply Sam. Midnight had taken Mel and Nightmare back when he had jumped the last time since there was no more trouble to be expected. They had said good-bye to the Witwickys the day before.
Their farewell party consisted of Lancer and Rodimus, as well as Captain Jay Davison. Lancer kept an eye on Samantha, never relaxing for a moment.
"Everybody ready?" Midnight asked.
They nodded. The Sentinel turned to Rodimus.
"Well, let's hope these accidents will decline in the future when we work out how to control the messed-up doorway system and lock the weak spots."
Rodimus nodded. "Until then, you are always welcome." He smiled.
"Same goes for our dimension."
They gathered everyone together and Midnight automatically began to search for an opening. It was like a second nature to him. Then he Gated.

* * *

The next morning Midnight touched down smoothly and let Steve exit. He had discovered how to prevent his body from shifting every time he came here and though it took a lot of will-power to keep his molecules from rearranging themselves and simultaneously not losing track of where he wanted to go, he managed. He was already greeted by a whole team of people. Rumble and Frenzy had their hands stuffed in their pockets and looked like typical teenagers and Ratbat's smug presence on Rumble's shoulder always drew an amused smile from Midnight. Ravage was as always at Sam's side and Laserbeak sat between the cat's shoulder blades. Soundwave looked as impassive as always and Sam was simply Sam. Midnight had taken Mel and Nightmare back when he had jumped the last time since there was no more trouble to be expected. They had said good-bye to the Witwickys the day before.
Their farewell party consisted of Lancer and Rodimus, as well as Captain Jay Davison. Lancer kept an eye on Samantha, never relaxing for a moment.
"Everybody ready?" Midnight asked.
They nodded. The Sentinel turned to Rodimus.
"Well, let's hope these accidents will decline in the future when we work out how to control the messed-up doorway system and lock the weak spots."
Rodimus nodded. "Until then, you are always welcome." He smiled.
"Same goes for our dimension."
They gathered everyone together and Midnight automatically began to search for an opening. It was like a second nature to him. Then he Gated.

* * *

Being home had never felt so good and so boringly familiar in one, especially for Rumble and Frenzy. Being human had been fun, in their opinion, though being a robot again had rid Rumble of Ratbat's company. Soundwave had been checked by Skywolf, just to be sure, but his structure had not been damaged and the deep wounds from his human form had disappeared.
So had Samantha.
Soundwave walked along the deserted streets around South Port, the former command center of the allied forces which had had to be moved somewhere else because of the devastation that had raged here. Only because it had been constructed to withstand such an assault had the robots inside survived the last attack. He knew where to go and he knew what he would find.
Being back in a robot body had not changed much for him, except give him the advantage of having a completely expressionless face again. His emotions were as before -- as changed as they had been since being in contact with Jay. He had no problems dealing with them, though now he had something new to ponder, an emotion unknown to him.
Sam stood inside what had once been the conference center. The East wall was missing and the floor protruded like a platform. She was in her basic form, the winged, blue-skinned demon and stood almost motionless. As Soundwave closed the distance, one of her wings twitched. Otherwise there was no reaction. The Deception communications specialist stopped beside her, looking over the devastated landscape.
"I am sorry," Samantha finally said.
He shot her a questioning look.
"For overwhelming you." Sam sighed and met his eyes. "You were defenseless. The hunger ... the instinct ...."
"You needed it."
"I didn't need to feed on you, of all people!" she hissed. "And it didn't have to be this way! It's not how it normally goes!"
"How does it 'go normally'?" he inquired.
"I feed, I return the favor by giving pleasure and then I leave."
Soundwave analyzed this for a moment. "I see no difference."
She growled angrily. "First of all I never have physical intercourse with my donors! Second, I never leave them with a clear memory of what happened! And third, I don't assault people like this, demanding to a point where they can't say no!" Her wings vibrated and her eyes glowed angrily. Snarls escaped her.
"I could have said no."
"No, you couldn't! My race gives off pheromones that render the donor helpless for the feeding! You were trapped in your own desires!" Rage coursed through her and she buried her claws in the floor as she sank down, wrapping her wings around her. "You were a victim and I had sworn myself never to take from victims, only from willing donors!" The floor tore under her mutilations.
Soundwave looked at her, his mind reaching out for her. He rarely did it, communicating through the link she had with him not the other way around. He had told Jay the truth. He didn't scan or probe actively, only if he had to. Now he had to.
/You did not force me/
Sam didn't answer, but Soundwave was privy to some of her feelings. She thought of her actions as inexcusable, that she was filthy and not better than Danyan. She had not fed of pain, but she had forced the emotions nevertheless.
She finally looked up. "I've to go," she said and walked off.
Soundwave looked at the smaller figure, still keeping the link open and then did the only thing he knew would most likely hold her. He knew he couldn't physically restrain her because she could go transparent and slip away, but her mind was something different. He threw his memories of the encounter at her mind, stopping her dead in her tracks. Sam's wings trembled, as did her whole body as her mind answered those memories with memories of her own.
"No!" she groaned. "It can't be!"
Soundwave kept the link open and the assault going. Sam went down to her knees and roared in denial. She tried to close down the link, but it didn't work. Her head whipped around the reptilian eyes fixed on her 'tormentor'. Her hair moved spasmodically and she hissed and growled in fury.
"Stop it!!" she cried.
/I enjoyed it, Samantha/
Her body trembled and she looked more demonic than ever. "Because I made you enjoy it!" she screamed in desperation.
Soundwave walked over to where her trembling form crouched on the floor and knelt down.
/You didn't/
Sam whimpered slightly.
/I knew your nature. I knew what you were/ Soundwave reached out, but didn't touch her.
She looked at him.
/I would do it again, Samantha/
"Not if I can help it," she whispered, her claws touching his index finger and he helped her to her feet.
A smile passed over his visor. "Why?" he asked out aloud.
Samantha stared at him. "You can't mean this...."
"Why?" he repeated again.
"But...."
"You are a shape-shifter," Soundwave stated.
Sam nodded, feeling numb. "Shifting shape means I have to feed," she said weakly.
"Yes."
She licked her dry lips. "Soundwave...."
"Change shape."
It wasn't an order, simply a suggestion and Sam found her body only too willing to do it. She still looked like her demon self, just as a robot now, including the long, dark hair. Soundwave got to his feet, holding her hand as if to prevent her from flying away. Samantha trembled a bit, still feeling his 'assault' echo and bounce around her head. She felt need, need amplified by the slight hunger from the energy usage. She was not roaringly hungry, just feeling an appetite. She wanted to still it.
"Are you sure?" she whispered.
"Yes."
She smiled, canines sparkling in the meager light of the stars.

* * *

* * *

Rodimus lay in bed, Lancer at his side, staring at the ceiling. Part of him was busy thinking about preventive measures concerning the weakened fabric of the two dimensions, while another found the idea of maybe getting a vacation away from the stress in a completely different dimension not so bad. There were a few people he'd love to see again and he knew Lancer felt he same, though he also knew that if Lancer, Silhouette and Shanygn got together the male society had to duck. He grinned. Well....
Lancer moved sleepily. She had quieted down considerably since Samantha had disappeared and he was glad that was over. True, Samantha was a lethal and dangerous creature, but she had not harmed anybody throughout her stay here. Which brought him to Soundwave and he was hard pressed to see those two as lovers. Soundwave? Emotions? Well, maybe some, but enough for a psychic vampire to feed on?
Then again, life was full of surprises. Maybe his imagination had just found its limit. He grinned, then went back to considering this vacation.......

Series this work belongs to:

• « Part 6 of the The Maelstrom Crossovers series