A sunny afternoon. A beautiful sun in the sky, crystal clear skies with a touch of baby blue, and an open road in a grassy plain. It was quite the atmosphere that Trailbreaker and Sunset Shimmer found absolutely relaxing. Right now, the two of them were parked near a campsite, with a perfect view across the crystal clear lake. Sunset Shimmer just sat on a rock near the water, while Trailbreaker sat on the one next to her and gazed out as well. Trees full of life were home for several squirrels and birds, fish were happily jumping across the lake, and across the lake, they could see a family of bears moving towards the water to get their lunch.

"Its been so long since I've been somewhere else... I can't believe I almost forgot how beautiful the planet is sometimes," Sunset gasped in awe.

Trailbreaker smiled as he watched the little cub jump and bounce around, and nuzzle her mother.

"Are all animal's babies adorable as the ones I'm looking at now?" The old veteran asked. "Because I'm not sure anything can top it."

Sunset chuckled. "Just wait until you see puppies and kittens, I'm sure your mind will be changed almost instantly.

"Yeah, maybe," Trailbreaker laughed.

As the two of them stared off into the lake, Sunset's legs slowly moved side to side, in a kicking motion. She leaned forward, looking at her reflection in the lake. The cleaned up face, the beautiful woven hair, and that smile... she still had that friendly smile that let her friends know that things would be okay when the situation was bad.

"Sunset, tell me something. Are you sure you know where your friends are?"

"I do, believe me. I've looked online, I've checked MyStable, SnapGab, everything. I know where they are."

"That's good. Don't want to go off on a mission without knowing where you're going, I've made that mistake before," Trailbreaker commented.

"You have?"

"Oh yeah, lots of times. I remember in the Great War, me and my squad had to go on an Energon supply run, whoo boy, going without the coordinates, not a good idea... we were understandably lost..." Trailbreaker chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "And, well, lets just say a few hours later, we were chewed out by our superiors, and then attacked by Decepticons."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, but it was a learning experience. We're beyond that now," Trailbreaker nodded, slowly kicking his leg into the water, watching it make little waves that went in all directions.

"Yeah..."

"Do you know what you're going to say to your friends when you finally find them?" Trailbreaker asked.

"I'm not sure. I think my first thing is, honestly, apologize to them for not staying in touch like I should have," Sunset frowned in her reflection, "I'm a bad friend..."

"You're not a bad friend."

"Yes, I am."

"Sunset, if you were a bad friend, you wouldn't be regretting not talking to them or seeing them. You still care for them, and that to me, is a sign that you still love them."

Sunset smiled, turning her head to the visor-eyed Autobot.

"Thanks."

Trailbreaker smiled back and patted her head, making her giggle.

"I do hope they'll be accepting of you coming back. They haven't seen you in years, surely they would like to see you," Trailbreaker spoke. "And I certainly know Jazz, and Sideswipe, and everyone else would love to see them again."

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, they would, wouldn't they... You think I should have invited them to come?"

"Yes," Trailbreaker said, bluntly.

"Oh... sorry," Sunset shrunk.

"Don't tell me, tell them. Or, at least when we're back on the road again. Or better yet... call them when you get there, and get the girls to video-chat with them," he said, sparking an idea.

"Trailbreaker, you're a genius!"

Trailbreaker shrugged.

"I'm not a genius, I just think with simple logic."

---

"Repeat everything you just told me... now."

Shatter and Dropkick both shivered a bit, Tempest insisting them to repeat back the events that they had been through.

"Well, we um... we might have, you know..." Dropkick stammered.

"Blown, up, their... home?" Shatter finished.

The deceased Autobot's eyes glared down at the triple-changers, Tempest coldly scowling at them from inside.

"Look, we know we screwed up this capture, but you know there will be plenty of other people we can--Ow ow ow ow!"

Tempest's hand yanked on Dropkick's face, pulling his face right up into her own, and hissed.

"I need a hostage if this plan is going to work! Destroying homes with the residents inside are not going to solve our mission, and neither is failing to capture someone who was unarmed!" Tempest yelled, glaring at Blackout.

"Its not my fault she had Hound, and there were military coming around on me!" Blackout protested.

Tempest let go of Dropkick's face, pushing him away from her body. Dropkick rubbed at his face, trying to straighten himself out after Tempest's steel grip.

"Hey, hey, we'll find someone!" Grubber called out, looking up at Tempest from behind. "I want your body fixed just as much as you do! You look like a rejected piece of jelly just wrapped in Tesla coils, and you know you don't want a wheelchair!"

Tempest veered around and slammed her foot into the ground, now glaring at Grubber.

"I don't care who stands in my way, Autobot or Decepticon, nothing is going to keep me from getting my body back! Tell Shockblast to send Vehicons out to capture more, and tell them not to kill them! If they do, then I'll be the one next in line for killing..."

Grubber gave a quick wave and ran as fast as he could, going to alert the scientist. Tempest stood straight, watching him leave and she took a deep breath and sighed. "One hostage, out of three people, and you two couldn't capture one..."

While the triple-changers were getting more and more chewing out from Tempest, Cyberwarp watched her continue to berate them from a few bamboo trees.

The jet thought long and hard about the situation at hand. As brutal as the attacks sounded, she desperately wanted to see if anyone was still alive. What they were doing was wrong, and she couldn't stand it! Well if they weren't going to check for survivors, then she would!

Sneaking away without anyone watching, she snuck off into the silo where the Groundbridge was set. After checking if anyone else was nearby, she flicked the controls on, and began setting the coordinates. But just as she was about to leave--

"Where are you going?"

Cyberwarp nearly flinched and let out a ghastly shriek. But when she turned back, she saw Skyjack and Spacewarp just idly sitting and watching as she was about to leave.

"Promise me you won't tell Tempest, or any of the others?"

"Of course," Skyjack nodded.

"I promise," Spacewarp replied, calmly.

"Look, what we're doing... its wrong. I know Tempest's plans require to find a hostage but... I just can't sit here knowing that perhaps everyone at... at that home in Oklahoma is just... gone."

"So, what are you doing then?" Spacewarp asked.

Cyberwarp sighed and with a straight face, she said, "I'm going to look for survivors."

"What!?" Skyjack shouted. "Do you really think anyone could have survived that? What if they're all dead?"

"And if they're not? They could still be alive!"

"With a dozen rockets right in their face, I don't think any human could survive that," Spacewarp shook her head.

"Maybe they did... maybe they didn't. But I'm going, and I'm going to find out for myself. I have to. Something just doesn't feel right..." Cyberwarp said. "And I don't care what any of you say, I'm going and you can't stop me."

Skyjack patted the shoulder of her sibling, and gave her a sweet and kind smile on her face.

"We're not gonna stand in your way. And we won't let Tempest know. Just contact us when you're ready to return, but be warned, it could be awhile, depending on if Shockblast doesn't use the terminal in here."

Cyberwarp nodded.

"Understood."

She pounded her fist onto the control to turn on the Groundbridge, and soon a green portal began to glow. Once it opened, she paced towards it, her body creating a shadow on the ground as she stood in front of it.

"Good luck, navigator!"

Cyberwarp waved at them, and then like a cloud of dust in a magician's act, she was gone.

As she got to the other side, she found herself standing in a big hot desert. Mountains, some small plant-life and cacti surrounding her, including a few creatures here and there.

"Okay, I'm here. Where am I?"

"You're standing in the state of Texas. You just got to get to Oklahoma, and back where you are."

"How come?" Cyberwarp asked, concerned.

"Thanks to our lackluster technology, we can't exactly beam everywhere on the planet. We only have a limited range of where we can groundbridge our buddies, and you're in range. Go off into Texas, you'll be off the grid."

"Understood. I'll just fly and be back. Cyberwarp, out."

She put one foot after the other, beginning to walk. Then slowly, that walk began to turn into a run. And in a matter of seconds she jumped into the air and transformed into her vehicle mode. Her entire body flipped around and converted into her Cybertronian jet form and she took off for the clouds.

Her flight was roughly a few hours or so, but thankfully she made it all the way over to Oklahoma. Now all she had to do was find the exact coordinates where Shatter and Dropkick visited. Surely it shouldn't have been far?

Well luckily the sight of a giant explosion mark in the middle of a farmland was enough to give away the location. She zipped down, and started to land towards the ground, the spinning helicopter blades in her vehicle mode spinning rapidly.

As she got a few inches to the ground, she flipped herself around and transformed into her robot form. She stuck a knee out, and made a fist into the ground as she landed, keeping herself up instead of falling over. Tilting her head up, she looked at the remains of the once beautiful house. More broken bricks, ashes, broken pieces of plywood, it was all in shambles! At least the big red barn was still standing, but it too had received some similar damage. She couldn't believe her optics. She had faced true destruction during the war of Cybertron, but she didn't want to believe it'd be brought back here on Earth! Especially from her own kind, she just couldn't!

"No... no no no no no..." Cyberwarp muttered. "Please... there has to be someone still alive!"

What could she do? There was no way she could see through this smoldering mess! But wait; the camera drones! The hovering cameras she used for spying and surveillance, why didn't she think of this before?

Opening up a hatch on her arm, she pulled out both metallic orbs and threw them into the air. The cameras transformed from the metallic balls they were, and opened up its camera lenses and focusing eyes.

"Hopefully there is still someone alive out here," Cyberwarp distressed.

As the drones flew up to begin their search, the twin turned her attention to the barn. It was a big barn, that was for sure. Barely any damage it hit from the explosion which she couldn't comprehend given how close the barn was to the house. But she could see that it wasn't entirely stable; there had been several amount of walls torn off and away, including some holes in the roof for that matter.

She paced over to the huge barn doors, and using her fingertips, she slided the doors open to get a look inside. As she checked, she could see the inside of the barn wasn't too shabby looking. There were certainly some padlocks and fences inside, obviously meant for holding some farm animals (not that the place even had farm animals to home), along with some piles of hay in some of the pens.

To her left, she saw something of particular interest. A wooden table that had a few pieces of circuit boards and parts strewn about, sitting next to an old computer dating back from the 90s. There was a jar full pf pennies, some candy bars laying on the desk next to the keyboard, and next to the desk was a shelf that had some more parts and tools sitting on them.

And as she looked forward, she saw something that took center stage of the barn; a very rusted, old pickup truck. The paint was faded, the front grille guard was hanging over like it was about to fall off, a headlight was busted, and much more. In addition, as she bent forward and gazed at the grille, she could see a small silver emblem in the center of the grille, all scratched up. And on the doors of the pickup, there was faded images of a heart and diamond graphic, colored in blue and pink. The tires were deflated, tailgate and hood were punched in like someone dented them with a sledgehammer, and the tailgate was punched in as well.

She looked up at the top of the hood, seeing some of the collected dust and faded paint sit on top of the punched in hood. Her hand slowly reached down and wiped away at some of the dust, her hands creating some scratching sounds as she moved it. But as she did, she could hear the gasp of fear. She was so shocked she nearly jumped up and hit her head on the loft above. But wait, where did the sound come from? She wasn't alone in here, no sirree.

As she walked around, cautiously stepping over some of the expensive equipment and parts, she began to look around. Was someone in here? Was someone hiding from the attack, or even worse, hiding from Shatter and Dropkick from earlier that day?

She turned her gaze to the hayloft above, and watched as some of the hay started to jiggle and writhe around. But she didn't bump it to cause it. No, there was something up there? There was. Someone was up there! Using the rockets in her boots, she flew herself up a few inches, granting her a better look. She indeed could see there was something wriggling and hiding in there.

She moved her face a little closer, trying to get a better eye. Somehow, through some of the pieces of straw she was able to see a scared face underneath, shaking and trembling in fear. The sight of the scared creature made her frown and look in awe.

"Hey there... are you hiding in there?" Cyberwarp asked, softly.

The creature hiding didn't reply.

"Its okay... I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk to you. Are you under there...?"

The Decepticon waited patiently for some form of response. Either by simply talking or coming out, she waited. But she didn't get anything. No movements, no response, no nothing. Perhaps another approach would get whoever was hiding out of there?

"I know you're scared. I would be too. But its okay. You don't have to be scared..." Cyberwarp cooed, as she backed up, giving some distance between her and whoever was hiding in the hay. "And to show you that I'm serious, I'm gonna back away now. And if you're comfortable with coming out, just... just do."

She waited again. Maybe now whoever was hiding would come out and say hello. And finally, someone did come out. Slowly out of the hay, was a little boy covered in bruises and scratches, crawling carefully out of the hay with a scared look. He moved slowly, taking stance in case he would have to run again. This gave Cyberwarp a chance to take a full look at the scared child. This poor kid hiding up in the loft of barn, probably having gotten up there when Shatter and Dropkick arrived.

"Who are you?" Cyberwarp smiled, trying to give a friendly look to the child.

Once again, no reply. Slowly, but nicely, she hovered closer to the loft, but not to quick as to scare him. She looked at him, still keeping that friendly smile on her face. She looked like the face of a mother, there when a child needed most.

"M... Max..."

Cyberwarp blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"My... n-name is... Max..."

Cyberwarp's glance kept focused, nodding all the while.

"Max... I like that," Cyberwarp cooed. She slowly moved her hand up, opening up her palm in attempt to properly shake his hand if she could. "I'm Cyberwarp."

Betamax looked carefully to her hand, seeing the open fingers. He could see she was trying to open up a hand to possibly shake, but what if she was tricking him? No way he could just put his hand out to this giant robot that just wandered into the barn. So with no movements, he just kept his hands holding onto the loft boards, unwilling to move them from where they were.

Thankfully Cyberwarp was not one to berate someone for not giving proper introductions, so she just kindly removed her hand away in attempt to not scare him some more. She let out a sigh and she looked at Betamax in the eyes.

"Are you hiding?"

Betamax didn't reply, but just stared blankly at her face.

"I didn't scare you... did I?" Cyberwarp asked.

He shook his head slowly.

"Did someone come here and scare you?"

Betamax nodded. "Mmmhmm..."

"Did you see any cars? Red and blue, maybe?"

The child nodded again, making Cyberwarp sigh in sadness.

"Aww... I'm so sorry..."

Cyberwarp's hand slowly went up and she patted Betamax's head. Betamax nearly gasped at the touch, but she still allowed her to softly pat him.

"I know who those cars were," Cyberwarp whispered. "And I'm not going to let them hurt you..."

Betamax slowly looked up to the Decepticon. "Why are you here...?"

Looking him dead in the eye, Cyberwarp humbly said, "Because I know who those cars were, and what they did here was wrong. I wanted to see if anyone was alive and... you don't know how happy it makes me to see that someone like you has made it out okay."

Betamax slowly backed away, hearing her sudden change in tone.

"Wait, wait! I said I wouldn't hurt you, and I mean it. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," Cyberwarp placed her hand over her spark. "Please..."

"No... I can't! Mommy's dead, and so is Mama! I have no one!"

"That's not true..."

"How do you know?" Betamax cried.

Cyberwarp moved closer and gave the most friendly and heart-felt smile she could.

"You can talk to me, can't you?"

Betamax hadn't really thought of that. But still, this was a complete stranger, a nobody who just showed up from out of nowhere on the farm property. And as nice as she was, he still continued to remember the common rule; don't talk to strangers. But this one showed up right after his home was blown to bits, and his moms gone...

Questioning every ounce of his morals and lessons he was taught, he paced slowly towards Cyberwarp, and Cyberwarp backed up so he could get a little closer without making him scared. Once he was close enough, she slowly moved her hands towards him, about to pick him up. Betamax raised his arms up, allowing Cyberwarp to carefully pick him up and bring him close so she could look closer, face to face.

"Its okay. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you..." Cyberwarp said, holding him close. "Never again..."

She patted his back, and watched as he rest his head on her breast plate, his eyes slowly falling asleep. Cyberwarp smiled and she patted him again, holding him carefully in her arms. Then with a free hand, she pressed it against her audio receptor, making contact.

"Skyjack, are you there?"

"Skyjack's here, Cyberwarp. What's going on, is there anyone alive?"

"You're not going to believe this. I found someone, someone survived!"

"Really? Who?"

"A child! His name's Betamax, he survived the explosion! I'm bringing him back."

"What!? You can't do that, what if Tempest finds out? Also, you don't know anything about taking care of a child!"

"Not to sound hasty, but tell that to the thousands of data files, hours, and surveillance footage I've captured in Hawaii with tons of families interactions, behaviors, and other forms of information."

"... Okay." Skyjack simply said, not even sure if she was going to win the argument. "But again, what if Tempest finds out? And for that matter, how are you going to take care of that kid?"

"I've told you already, she won't know. And if she does, then its not her business," Cyberwarp said with a strict reaction.

"Oh!" Skyjack yelped, shocked at her twin's sudden barking. "Geez, okay, calm down. Just stay calm, okay? Now look, if you're going to babysit some kid, you need some help."

Cyberwarp knew her sister couldn't see it, but she nodded anyway. "I know. But if its all clear, I'm going to head back to Texas so you can pick me up. Let me know you're ready to pick me up."

"I will. And you tell me when you get your mother board back here, I don't know when Shockblast will use the terminal."

"Loud and clear. Cyberwarp, out. Next stop, Honolulu!"

Cradling him close, she looked down. Betamax had fallen fast asleep, his head now using her chest plate like a pillow. Not that she minded, watching him sleep was admittedly adorable. She patted his head as he slept, and she carefully moved him in her arms, so she could hold him with one arm. With her free arm, she pushed the doors open and she walked back outside, closing the doors behind her, leaving the rusted truck inside the barn.

The truck just sat, idly alone. The sounds of a quick transformation and jet engine taking off for the air was barely audible outside, but just enough for the sound to travel inside.

Like a flick of a light switch, the headlights of the truck blared on, hitting the closed barn doors. No driver inside to turn them on, they came on on their own. Inside of the cabin, several knobs and buttons flicked on the controls, and the radio turned itself on...

The truck's entire body began to vibrate and shake as it started to turn itself on, and slowly, the truck began to rise up. The wheels that just laid lip began to inflate with the helium it needed, no longer flat and smoldering. The back end of the tailgate that was punched in, began to buff itself out until it was nice and perfectly aligned right, the sound of clanking metal pushing out from behind. The doors that were dented and slammed in, like someone punched it hard with a support beam began to buff out as well, until it was back into perfect shape.

The rear view mirrors on the sides of the trucks slowly swiveled and adjusted until they were set perfectly straight, in the non-existent driver's view. The front hood of the truck slowly began to force itself from digging into the engine, until it was perfectly smooth and flat, covering the engine inside. Lastly, the grille began to fight against its squeezed formation until it was all straightened out, looking as normal as it should have been, all the while the lights on the side shoved themselves back into their proper places.

More metal moved around, creating loud clanking and grinding sounds as the truck got itself back together in proper shape. The truck that was just sitting there lifeless without a care, was now active and ready. With no more actions in mind, the engine just kept on growling, an audible revving sound coming from the engine, until its wheels began to move and drive on its own...

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Old Friends Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 49 Minutes