Hey, I'm back with another story. This one is set about a year after the events of Beyond the Brink. if you haven't read my other stories you may want to check them out first. Hope you enjoy, please review!

Chapter 1

The planet Junkion

Thunder roared in the murky night sky, the dark red and grey clouds boiling and shifting. Every now and then a vivid fork of lightning would stab at the ground, illuminating the chaotic landscape below.

Rickety buildings towered over narrow streets. The roads were almost invisible under the piles of garbage everywhere. Scrap parts and rotting matter were strewn as far as the eye could see, and rivulets of filthy liquid wound their way through the heaps. Junkion was a planet where all broken, obsolete objects ended up. Low-lifes, fugitives and pirates with nowhere else to go made up most of the population. After all, no one in their right processor would come here unless they absolutely had to. Especially not now, with the plague of Sharkticons currently sweeping the planet's surface.

In the streets, the fighting raged. It had been going on for days now. Pirates, fugitives and dealers fought desperately against the hordes of wild Sharkticons, champing their teeth and decimating any unfortunate mechs who weren't fast enough with a blade or a bullet. Body parts were strewn everywhere, and doors and windows barricaded as the mechs searched desperately for shelter, killing each other in their desperation to get away.

To the eyes of any human, it must have looked like hell.

It certainly looked that way for Courtney Gable.

Not that she could see anything from her prison, but she could hear the chaos, and every now and then a huge BOOM shook the building she was being held in. The room she had been in for the past two days was high up in a tower, with rusty vents running along one side, open to the sky. The air stank, and she coughed periodically, choking and spluttering through her sobs.

Hers wasn't the only occupied cage. She was the only human though. All around her were clicks, whistles, rustling and groans, as well as strange languages unlike any she had ever heard.

Her clothes were streaked with filth, torn in several places. Her once glossy hair was matted to her head, caked in mud and blood. Blood was smeared on her cheeks and hands, and the thick ring around her neck had caused red sores where it chafed.

The food she had been given was some alien substance that tasted literally of shit. She kept vomiting it up, which had led to her being brutally beaten again and again.

She closed her eyes and thought of home, fresh tears falling. She was from Florida. One of the most popular girls in her school. Courtney Gable had it all - rich parents, top grades, designer clothes, pets, as well as over ten thousand followers on social media who lapped up her lavish lifestyle.

She was fifteen years old.

Amazingly, her phone hadn't been taken from her. She presumed it was so laughably primitive to her captors that they hadn't bothered to remove it. She pulled it out of her pocket, and with shaking fingers, she unlocked it.

The battery was four percent. No signal or internet, of course. She turned on the video function, setting it to selfie mode and lifting it to her tear-streaked face.

'Mom. Dad,' she whispered. 'I don't know if you'll ever s...see this. P...probably not. But… I just wanted to say I'm s..sorry..'

She wept helplessly. 'I'm sorry for being such a brat and not listening to you. And I'm sorry I ever did this. You w...won't even know where I went or what happened to m...me… I love you so much. I love you…'

She lost control, hunching over and sobbing. Another loud explosion rocked the building. The door to the holding room crashed open and Courtney flinched, scurrying to the back of her cage.

'This planet's fragged,' growled a voice. 'The Sharkticons are outta control. I'll load the ship with the stock, you prepare the co-ordinates. The Decepticons are on their way.'

'What? Why?'

'Don't know, don't care. We need to scram. I ain't built for taking on them bolt-buckets. Hurry up. Don't bother with the cheaper ones, not worth it.'

All light was suddenly blocked off as the hulking metal brute stopped in front of her container, and the mesh door was opened with a screeching of hinges. Courtney jammed herself into the back corner, raising her hands pleadingly. 'No, no…'

She was ignored, and grabbed roughly, dragged out and held aloft like a doll, her feet swinging perilously far from the floor. The huge green-grey mech narrowed his optics at her.

'I want to go home,' she sobbed. 'Please let me go home.'

'Shut up,' the pirate growled. 'You're going home alright. It's just a different one.' He grinned unpleasantly. 'You should think yourself lucky that…'

Suddenly his optics widened, and he stuttered to a halt, as behind him, there came the sound of a weapon beginning to charge.

'Put the human down nice and gently,' growled a voice.

Courtney's eyes widened in confusion, despite her terror. The voice was young, feminine and had a British accent, but it was undoubtedly a transformer.

The pirate turned, very slowly, and Courtney let out another squeak of fear.

The femme was huge, taller than the pirate. She had black and silver markings, a slender, streamlined shape, soaring pointed wings, and lethal-looking weapons along her arms. Her face was heart-shaped and would have been quite pretty if she wasn't looking so murderous. But the thing that filled Courtney with the most fear was the jagged insignia on the femme's breastplate – the mark of the Decepticons. Courtney had been a little girl when they had invaded Earth but she remembered enough to know they were most definitely the bad guys. A missile was pointing into the pirate's face, and Courtney swallowed in fear – if she was to fire that now, surely Courtney would be obliterated along with him.

The same thing seemed to have occurred to the pirate, and after a tense moment of silence he let out a mocking, rasping chuckle. 'After this one are you?' He squeezed his hand around Courtney's waist a little tighter, causing the human to whimper in pain. 'You think I'm just gonna hand it over?'

'Something like that,' said the femme softly, her amber optics narrowed.

'Hardline will be back any minute,' grunted the pirate. 'He's twice my size and I'd like to see you…'

The femme tilted her head. 'Oh! I think I've met him. Orange and black, weird horn things on his helmet, green optics?'

'Yeah,' said the pirate uneasily.

'Yeah, sorry, he's dead,' said the femme simply.

The pirate stared at her. 'You're bluffing.'

The femme opened her free hand, dropping a mangled spark to the floor, and the battered remains of the mech's faction badge, presumably ripped from his breastplate. The pirate cursed loudly, clenching his teeth. 'Slag you to the core, Decepti-BITCH!'

'He was easy.'

'I'll KILL you for that!'

She leaned in closer. 'Easy peasy. Now put the human down, and I'll let you leave alive. Make the right decision.'

Courtney's eyes were closed when her bare feet touched the cold, grimy floor, the pirate's hand releasing her. She opened them to find a glowing red laser aimed at her face, the femme now towering above her, her optics glowering. 'You. Into the corner, that corner, and don't move. Now.'

Courtney found herself stumbling backwards into the corner, her hands raised. She had fallen out of the frying pan into the fire – whatever the femme's plans for her, they couldn't be good.

The pirate, scowling, backed out of the door, the laser following him all the way. When he had disappeared from view, the femme give a dismissive roll of her optics. 'What a waste of energon.'

Suddenly there was a BANG and the femme stumbled forward with a yell of pain. The floor shook, almost causing Courtney to lose her balance. The pirate had run back into the room, his guns firing. 'DIE DECEPTICON!'

The femme had straightened up, grimacing and rubbing her wing where the bullet had made impact. 'Seriously?'

She spun round to face him. 'Fine, have it your way!'

Courtney clamped her hands tightly over her face, screwing her eyes shut as the two titans began to brawl, quivering in terror.

She heard roars of pain from the pirate, then something huge slammed into the wall, causing the alien creatures in the cages to twitch and squeal in alarm.

'I'm gonna SCRAP you, femme!'

Courtney opened one eye to see the femme pulling herself to her feet. 'You're making a mistake. Let me have the human, or…'

'NEVER!'

More deafening bangs and smashes… Courtney heard the pirate speaking again, grunting in exertion as if being shoved back. 'She's… mine… to sell. Not… unnnnngh…. yours!'

The femme spoke. 'Are you saying… ow… that you're not leaving without her?' CRASH.

'Go to the pit, Decepti-skank!' SMASH.

'Yes or no?'

'It's MY stock, fair and square! I'll DIE before you get your servos on it!

The femme's voice was low and soft as she replied, and Courtney felt an ice cold shiver run down her spine.

'OK.'

Then there was a noise like a whump – a low, thrumming sound that seemed to rush over Courtney like a wind. The room stopped shaking. She lowered her hands from her face.

The pirate mech had slumped to the floor, his head hanging low, groaning. The femme stood over him, her weapons charged and pointing down.

'Null ray. Cybertron's finest,' she said quietly. 'You had a chance to leave. That's more than what Starscream would have given you. As it happens, maybe this is for the best. One less scumbag to abduct helpless kids and rip them away from their homes.'

Courtney stared, her heart thudding in her ears.

The Junkion slowly raised his hands, looking up at his foe. 'Please, don't ki-'

But he never finished. Courtney flinched, sliding down the wall as the femme shot him rapidly once, twice, three times. As his body crumpled to the floor she was already ignoring him, stepping over the corpse, her footsteps shaking the ground as she stalked towards the terrified girl. Courtney curled into a ball as she approached.

The femme stood over her, emitting a sigh, then she crouched down, her long fingers gently prising the human away from the wall. The girl responded with quiet mews of fear, shaking her head, but the femme paid them no heed, and the girl felt herself being lifted upwards, crouched on the femme's palm.

'Hey. Come on, look at me.'

Shaking, Courtney opened her eyes. She made the mistake of peeking over the edge of the palm, and regretted it instantly. If she fell right now, or was dropped, she would die.

'Over here.'

Courtney reluctantly looked into the stare, her face illuminated by the light of the optics. The femme spoke, her face so close it was filling her field of vision.

'Are you Courtney Gable?'

She nodded, mute with fear… then scrambled back against the fingers as the femme's optics narrowed.

'You stupid, stupid girl! Have you any idea what sort of state your parents are in?'

Courtney gaped at her, lost for words. Eventually she squeaked 'My… parents?'

'Yes, your parents! They are completely beside themselves! What were you thinking? No, don't tell me.' The femme growled. 'Some invitation over the dark web for illegal space travel, but everyone's home in time for dinner.' Her lip components curled in contempt.

'They said they were an Earth-based company,' whispered Courtney, her insides seeming to shrivel as the giant Decepticon glared at her.

'For fuck's sake, don't they teach you about online scams at school?'

Courtney sat, frozen.

'Well?'

She nodded hurriedly. The femme sighed. 'And they took payment, I bet.'

'Ten thousand dollars,' Courtney squeaked. 'Please, please don't tell my dad!'

'Your actions have very nearly cost your parents their daughter!'

'I'm sorry!'

'It's because of idiots like you that I'm having to tackle this trafficking problem halfway across the galaxy. You do know no one on Earth is capable of rescuing you? No governments will pay ransoms, NASA are staying out of it, the Autobots have washed their hands of it. And this is all over the news, and STILL you trot along in response to some glitzy online ad promising… what? Human teleportation?'

Courtney nodded timidly. The femme sighed exasperatedly. 'Doesn't exist. Completely fake. Will you PLEASE spread the word when you get home, to other morons like you?'

'You… you're taking me home?'

The femme glared at her, then nodded. 'You are never, ever going to pull a stunt like this again, you hear?'

The human girl dissolved into tears, crying helplessly. After a moment, the Decepticon brought her closer to her chest, her features softening.. 'Sshhh… Alright. It's alright. I've got you.'

Alexis cradled the sobbing girl close to her, shushing her, yet already her mind was elsewhere. She had to move, and fast, this area was crawling with Sharkticons. She raised a hand to her com link. 'Ground units, report.'

'Blackout here,' came the gruff reply. 'We've made it to the eastern sector, near the pits. Got new intel on the location of the defective protoform sphere. If we can get through, we can cut the power and stop these monsters from multiplying. But I gotta be honest Alexis, some air support would be pretty handy.'

'Working on it,' she muttered, beginning to move back down the dark corridor the way she had come. 'You don't want to shut it off too early anyway, not before Starscream's done negotiating.'

Blackout grunted. 'What are you doing?'

'Just overseeing the secondary foot patrols,' she lied, stepping over the corpse of the big orange mech she had dispatched earlier.

There was a suspicious pause over the feed. 'Kind of a lowly job for you, isn't it?'

'What can I say, Blackout. I've never been afraid to get my hands dirty. I'll join you when I get the nod from the top.'

She cut the feed, but no sooner had she done so, her com link buzzed again. She opened it.

'Alexis. Where are you?'

It was Starscream, and Alexis grimaced. She had been counting on him being too busy to check up on her. 'At the pits, near the…'

'You are such a dreadful liar.' His voice was tinged with amusement. 'You're rescuing that little maggot, aren't you?'

She strode around a corner and almost collided with a stooped grey and blue mech, who took one look at her raised weapons and backed off, his hands in the air. 'Woah! Nothing to see here, miss! Nothing at all!'

Alexis scowled at him, stamping forwards and watching him scurry off in the opposite direction. 'If by that you mean the girl, then yes, you caught me. Those smugglers won't be bothering vulnerable species anymore.'

There was a pause, and in her mind's eye Alexis swore she could sense Starscream sitting up straighter. 'Wait… does that mean…'

'Yes,' replied Alexis calmly. 'I was left with no choice.'

Starscream chuckled evilly over the link. 'Did you enjoy it?'

'No!'

His grin was palpable over the feed. 'I bet you did.'

'Starscream, weren't you here to offer a bargain to stop this massacre? How have you got time to be checking up on me?'

'I've always got time for you,' he said with mock hurt. 'The rag-tag rabble this planet calls a council is fleeing to this location as we speak. When they've agreed to my terms Blackout's unit will disable the protoform sphere.'

'Sounds like you've got everything under control,' said Alexis, glancing down at her trembling cargo. 'I'll just…'

'Not so fast,' drawled Starscream. 'Find somewhere to put your little scraplet, and you can take her back to Earth when this is finished.'

Courtney looked up as the Decepticon femme sighed. She glanced down. 'Change of plan.'

The human girl huddled against the breastplate, still cocooned inside the fingers as the femme swung off the main corridor into what looked like a storage room. More bangs and blasts shook the building. Alexis' optics narrowed and she walked along the rows of shelves, searching, until she exclaimed in triumph, pulling a rusty mesh cage off the shelf. She tilted her hand, letting the girl slide into the cage and closing the door. The girl's frightened eyes peeked through the mesh as she lifted it to optic level. 'It won't be for long, ok?'

Frenzy grinned happily. He'd never been authorised to man this particular weapon before – a huge plasma cannon mounted on a central, swinging axis. The blast would melt a Sharkticon's core – but there was a knack to it, you had to wait for the moment when it's lethal jaws were open wide, leaving its insides vulnerable. His good mood was stoked by the fact that so far he had killed thirteen, and Rumble had only managed eight. 'Heh heh heh,' he chuckled, as beside him, his brother glared. 'Better up your game, Rumble!'

'Some of us have been stuck in a cell for however many cycles,' replied his brother grumpily. 'I'm outta practise.'

Something hit the ground behind them both and they whirled around, to be met with the sight of a filthy, terror-stricken human girl inside a cage. 'What the…?'

Beyond the cage was a pair of slender legs, and their gazes travelled upwards to see Alexis looking down at them. 'Hey guys. How's shooting? Got a little job for you both.'

Rumble glared at her. 'Yeah, because we're not busy here or anything.'

Alexis unleashed her ray over their heads and they flinched, spinning round to see a writhing Sharkticon that had almost pounced on them. Another laser blast into the vulnerable plating near its eyes and it slumped down, the razor sharp jaws gaping to the sky.

'You're welcome,' said Alexis calmly. 'Look, I need to go and help the others and this planet is a bit short on safe spaces. Can you look after this human for me, please? I've put her behind your guns, you won't need to watch her. It shouldn't be for long.'

'Yeah, no pro-…'

Rumble cut across his brother. 'This isn't part of our objective. Why should we take on extra work?'

Frenzy glanced at him. 'Well, technically we're outranked by…'

'Don't say my name,' said Alexis sharply. Frenzy looked up, and she glanced meaningfully down at the human. Her voice came over their com links. 'I don't want any news of a Decepticon called Alexis getting back to Earth. Got it?'

Rumble glared at her. 'I got my job to do, and that's all I'm doing.'

She looked back at him. 'Don't be a dick, Rumble.'

She took off with a roar of booster fire, the draft ruffling the human girl's hair. Rumble glared after her, but Frenzy cuffed his arm. 'C'mon, I hear more of them behind that ridge. And you're still five behind!'

Starscream lounged in the wide chair, barely managing to hide his distaste at his surroundings. The huge hall was bordered with grimy windows overlooking the city, and in the distance skyscraper-sized piles of scrap metal loomed through the foggy air. The thunder was still rumbling outside. The walls were scabbed with rust, useless relics jumbled into corners.

The Decepticon leader was flanked by his wingbrothers, standing either side of his chair, their arms crossed behind their broad backs.

Opposite him a mech lay slumped forward, his helmet touching the table, arms flung out. Every now and then there was a low, despondent moan.

Starscream shot an unimpressed glance at Thundercracker, who was trying not to laugh. He answered with a shrug. The jet leaned forwards, trying again.

'What's your answer, Ragknut?'

The mech moaned petulantly again and slumped backwards, putting a hand over his optics. His armour was cheap and superficially flashy. His helmet sported gold prongs, though the plating was starting to flake off. Thundercracker rubbed his chin, watching him. There was a word… a word back on Earth the humans had for someone like this. What was it…

The mech known as Ragknut flopped his hands onto the table, regarding them sullenly. Douche, Thundercracker thought to himself, nodding. That was the word. If Alexis were here right now, she would definitely be referring to this loser as a douche.

'Look…' the mech known as Ragknut dragged a hand across his optics languidly. 'Okay… yeah. I guess I could use some help.'

Starscream raised his eyebrows. 'Well this is a breakthrough. It only took thousands of mechs going offline and the massacre of your... council…' - the last word dripped with disdain - '...to admit you might be in need of assistance.'

'Look, when I put out the distress call I wasn't counting on the Decepticons to come! I mean, for crying out loud, you've got better things to do, right?'

'Have we?' Starscream looked to his brothers, surprised. 'Oh. Well. In that case, we'd better get on with those better things…'

He rose from his seat. Ragknut flung out a hand. 'No, no! Don't go!'

The Decepticon leader slowly sat back down. 'Ragknut, stop wasting my time. This plague will ravage your entire planet. I mean, I have to be honest, I'm not sure of the appeal of this charming place…'

Ragknut shot him a disgruntled look. 'Not everywhere can be as shiny as your precious Cybertron,' he whinged. 'The waste has to end up somewhere.'

'Yes, but it's not only waste you are so nobly harbouring here, is it?' said Starscream drily.

Ragknut looked back, sullen once more. 'Mostly waste.'

'Hm, but you also make a tidy profit on scrap metal and repurposed parts. I've accessed your client logs and transactions for the past fifteen mega-cycles.'

'You can't do that!'

'Turns out I can,' said Starscream casually, as Skywarp passed him a datapad. 'Let's bypass the temper tantrums, shall we, and get to the pressing matter at hand. You have an out-of-control influx of deranged Sharkticons dessimmating the landscape and killing all they come across. Not many mechs here have the armour or weapons to be able to survive. Now, our sources tell us that the problem lies with…'

'An out-of-control protoform sphere,' said Ragknut heavily. 'We already knew that. We can't shut if off.'

'Yes. Perhaps the lesson to be learned here, is if you find sophisticated broken tech, you seek professional advice before trying to renovate it.'

Ragknut raised his optics skywards moodily, muttering to himself. Starscream slid the datapad across the table. 'Pledge fifteen percent of your scrap profits to the Decepticons. And I want any scandium or terbium you come across as well. I have some good uses lined up for them.'

Ragknut stared at him. 'That's not fair!'

'Why? You clearly don't spend the credits on decor. Or quality armour for that matter. How about twenty percent?'

'You've just raised it...That's not how bargaining works!'

Starscream got to his feet. 'I'm getting bored. Thundercracker, ready everyone for departure.'

'Wait… WAIT!' Ragknut stood up. 'If I pledge… are you saying… can you stop all of this? The Sharkticons, the sphere…?'

Starscream looked at him. 'Thirty percent.'

There was a BOOM in the street below, and the sounds of screams mingled with champing of razor sharp teeth.

Ragknut tossed the datapad back, his signature glowing on the screen. The jet picked it up, glancing at it. 'Excellent decision. Your first, I take it, as the last remaining council member? At least today has done wonders for your career.'

Ragknut flopped moodily back into his seat, snatching a cube of cloudy low-grade. 'Look, just promise me you'll sort this. It might take you a few cycles…'

Starscream lowered a hand from his com-link. 'Hm? Oh, no it's done.'

Ragknut stared. 'What?'

'It's done,' said Starscream calmly. 'The moment you signed. The sphere has been shut down, my mechs are dismantling it. The Sharkticon problem should be sorted in a few kliks. Hive mind, you see. Means we can transmit a virus through their mainframes and disable them. I know an Autobot with experience in these matters.'

They strode out of the chamber, leaving a stunned Ragknut slumped in his seat, staring after them. The glow of the signature on the datapad lit Starscream's face from below as he broke into a broad grin. 'Get everyone back to the ship.'

The main mess hall on board the Decepticon transport vessel echoed with deafening laughter and chatter. Junkion was a vanishing spot in the distance as they made their way home. High grade energon was being thrown back en masse. Thundercracker stood at the front of the hall, his arms raised. 'THIRTY PERCENT!' he bellowed to the crowd, and was answered with a roar of laughter and cheers.

Alexis appeared in the doorway, peering through the crowd, then made her way over to the wingbrothers, who were leaning on the high table, clashing cubes together in celebration.

'Hey, here she is!' Skywarp slid a cube over to her. 'How goes it, sweetspark?'

Alexis had taken the cube, carefully laying down an assortment of objects. One of them, a boxy shape, was covered in a tarpaulin, and Skywarp quirked an eyebrow at it. 'Hey, Skywarp. Do you know anywhere quieter on this ship? Why didn't we come here in something bigger, like the Portent II?'

Skywarp shrugged, and Thundercracker leaned over, grinning. 'And why would you want somewhere private?'

His fingers slid across the table, dancing tantalisingly near the tarpaulin. Alexis laid a protective hand around it. 'Just want to collect my… HEY!'

'A-ha!' Thundercracker had snatched the tarpaulin away, with the air of a magician performing a magic trick. Underneath, still in the mesh cage, Courtney cowered. 'Thought so!'

Alexis glared at him. 'You'll scare her!'

'I knew it, I knew you came along because of some pity mission,' chuckled the second in command. 'All that trouble for one tiny organic?' He leaned in close, watching the human girl curl up tight. 'Yeah, she is a scared little thing isn't she?'

Alexis switched to Cybertronian. 'I want to see what she knows. She was duped by some dark-web site promising space travel, but it's an abduction racket. Besides, do I even need a reason? Have you forgotten I'm a human too?'

'These days, yeah,' said Thundercracker, swigging from his cube. 'Anyone who met you now would never guess.'

Alexis did a double take, disturbed. 'Really?'

Just then another deafening shout rang out across the hall, mechs cheering and whooping… which could only mean one thing. Starscream had entered the hall. Alexis looked down, meeting the frightened girl's gaze, then casting about for the tarpaulin. 'Skywarp, where's the cover?'

'What cover?' said Skywarp innocently.

Alexis narrowed her optics at him. 'Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face! Where is it?'

Skywarp turned to his brother. 'Thundercracker, have you seen a cover?'

The pair of them were overloaded, she realised. In a mischievous mood. Normally that would be fine, but Alexis was aware of poor Courtney, trembling beneath them. Thundercracker was smirking, pretending to think. 'Why no, I don't believe I have…'

'Seriously, you too Thundercracker?'

Then a hand clamped onto her shoulder, and a familiar voice growled in her ear. 'Hello my love. How was your rescue mission?'

Shit. Alexis had clapped her hand over the cage. She smiled and turned, tilting Starscream's face away from the table towards her. 'I flew with Dirge and Thrust, though there wasn't much to do in the end, thanks to Blackout's expertise.'

Starscream's grin widened, and he leaned closer. 'You're avoiding my question,' he murmured. 'It's so cute to watch you try to distract me…'

Alexis sighed. 'Ok, yes. Look, I've got the human, I want to speak to her, but she's not very forthcoming right now…'

She looked down at the table-top and her spark lurched - the cage was gone.

'This human?' asked Starscream, and she looked up to find him smiling at her, holding the cage with a white-as-a-sheet Courtney inside it. As she lunged to snatch it, he lifted it out of her reach, addressing the human girl. 'Well, well. I hear you were lured away from Earth by a ridiculous trick a sparkling wouldn't fall for.'

'Starscream, she's traumatised enough as it is!'

He ignored her. 'So, human, what have we learned?' asked the jet sardonically, smirking through the bars at a near hysterical Courtney.

'Give her back. She's only fifteen!'

Starscream tsked. 'I'm not going to hurt her.' He moved the cage closer to his face. 'What's her name?'

Alexis sighed again, realising to argue would be useless. 'Courtney.'

'Courtney,' repeated Starscream, with a soft, low voice like poisonous honey. 'Child, look at me. Stop crying. Now.'

He snapped his fingers. Alexis watched, stunned, as Courtney wiped her eyes, taking huge, heaving breaths.

'That's better. Do you know who I am?'

She nodded, her eyes huge.

'Good, then you know I have no time for your species. If it was up to me you would be light-years across the galaxy by now.' Courtney had started to sob once more, and he snapped his fingers again, making her jump. 'STOP THAT. Pull yourself together. Your species is tiny, and weak, and stupid. You need to stay where you belong, and thank the stars every single day that you were rescued. You swear to me that you will provide any information you can to my Consort.' - he inclined his head towards Alexis - '...before she takes you home to your simpering, grateful parents. Are we clear?'

Another mute, fearful nod.

Starscream smiled. 'Good girl.'

The air was warm, the sun almost out of sight. The jet hovered over the quiet hilltop, checking her signal dampeners and scanning the terrain, before transforming smoothly and landing on the grass with a soft thud.

Long fingers lowered the human girl onto the ground. Courtney breathed in the air of home, and took a deep, shuddering breath. She turned to look up at the Decepticon, her amber optics glowing through the dusk.

After a moment of silence, the jet spoke. 'Obviously you are to say nothing of anything that has happened.'

The girl shivered, hanging her head. Alexis sighed.

'Maybe that's a bit too much to ask. At least don't mention my name. You don't know my name, right?'

Courtney shook her head. 'Whoever you are… th… thank you.'

The Decepticon sank down onto one knee. One huge hand lowered. 'I charged your phone on the way back.'

After a pause, the girl took the tiny rectangle from the tip of the index finger. 'Thanks.'

She looked up into the glowing optics as the jet spoke again. 'Courtney. I want you to contact me if you remember anything else about your abduction. OK? You'll find me in the phone, under the codename Jane.'

Courtney nodded. 'Can I contact you about anything else?'

Alexis tilted her head. 'You've got your parents, your friends…'

'Not that many friends,' said Courtney quietly. 'Not proper ones.'

Alexis frowned. 'What? I've seen your online profiles, you're seriously popular.'

She was dying to tell the girl about her boring childhood in England, catching the bus into the village with Sari at weekends and buying cheap nail polish and a burger. Alexis' life as a teen girl had been a million miles from the life of Courtney. The human girl shrugged. 'I guess.'

A finger descended, gently lifting her chin.'Which one is your house?'

Courtney turned and pointed through the trees. A slanted roof was visible, a light on in the top window. Alexis' spark ached at the sight of the little human beacon shining through the dark. The conversation with Thundercracker came back to her.

'Have you forgotten I'm a human too?'

'These days, yeah. Anyone who met you now would never guess.'

She mentally shook herself. 'Right, go on. Go home.'

She watched the girl run across the grass towards the house, and transformed, rocketing into the night sky and out into space.