Ratchet knew he didn't have a lot of time. He had to time this perfectly; otherwise the two Decepticons would notice him and he'd be a goner. He started by taking one step back. So far so good.

"You're pathetic, Starscream! A coward and a failure! Qualities unfit for a future Decepticon leader." Sideways mocked. Starscream growled.

"Banished from Cybertron, bounties by both factions, and letting a human girl slip through your servos! You're a disgrace to the Decepticon cause! Once I rid of Megatron and take my rightful place as ruler, you will be the first on my list of executions!" Starscream retaliated.

Sideways was quick to raise his gun. "Well once I get rid of a pesky little cyberfly, none of that will matter." FYI, I don't know if cyberflies really exist, I just thought it sounded cool. So yeah...

Sideways fired the gun, but Starscream quickly transformed and took to the skies. He made a loop around before aiming his weapons at Sideways and began firing.

Ratchet had to leap out of the way to avoid getting blown to pieces. He had to make his move now while they were preoccupied. He quickly transformed down to vehicle mode and sped off.

"Not so fast, Autobot!" Starscream called, preparing to fire at the retreating medic. A sudden shot from the ground forced him to stop though. His scanners indicated that they were not from Sideways, but rather-

"Hey Con! Stay away from him!" Sam shouted, her bazooka (combined from her guns) aimed at him with smoke coming out of the barrel. Barricade transformed next to her, weapons ablaze.

Ratchet slammed on his brakes and transformed.

"Sam! What are you doing? You're suppose to be at the checkpoint!" he yelled at her. The last thing he had ever wanted to do was put her in danger.

"I told you I wasn't leaving without you!" she retorted, never taking her eyes off of her target. Ratchet, not hiding his shock, turned to Barricade for verification.

"She's very persuasive." he simply said. He turned his attention back to the Cons, as did Ratchet.

"Well well, isn't this a surprise! It looks like we can follow through with our original plan after all, Starscream." Sideways said, quite pleased, their quarrel instantly forgotten. Starscream wore an identical smirk. Their quarrel was instantly forgotten.

"What plan?" Barricade demanded. Ratchet and Sam stayed quiet, fearing what the answer will be.

"Why you and the girl of course. What better way to appease Lord Megatron than to offer a traitor and a troublesome human." Starscream remarked snidely.

"Three against two? You guys don't stand a chance!" Sam shouted at them.

"Sam!" Ratchet hissed.

"Not too bright, are we?" Sideways mocked, stepping forward. "Let's look at the lineup shall we? On your side, you have a field medic, an injured scout, and a sick human girl. On our side, we have two highly skilled and extremely deadly Decepticon warriors. Now tell me again, Sam, where is our disadvantage exactly?"

Sam stuttered for a minute. He was right. They didn't stand a chance. There was no way and her mind was too foggy to think otherwise.

Sideways continued to step towards her. "That's right. Understand how futile it is to try and fight back. I was the one who showed you that long ago, wasn't I?"

Sam made no movement. Her breath was stuck in her throat. How do you breathe again? She completely forgot.

He didn't stop. "And you of all people know how determined I am. When I want something, I merely take it." As he reached forward to grab her, another grabbed his wrist and squeezed tightly. Sideways, caught off guard, tried to pull back but couldn't. He looked to see Barricade, his red optics blazing with fury. Ratchet wasn't that far behind him.

Sideways backed up with Barricade following him, not loosening his grip. Ratchet moved to stand in front of Sam, who still couldn't move. She had a look of fear on her face and was shaking slightly.

"You're not going anywhere near the girl, do you understand Sideways?" Barricade growled threateningly. The tone in his voice said he was dead serious.

Sideways composed himself quickly and shook off any trace of fear he had. "Are we being chivalrous now Barricade? You were raised to hate the Autobots, yet you fight with them, fight for them! You were born a Decepticon!" Sideways shouted.

"No one is born into their faction, they choose it!" Barricade shouted back.

"And you chose to side with the Decepticons!"

"That was a long time ago before this war destroyed our planet and everything on it! Both factions have lost side of what it was they were fighting for in the first place. Now that we're virtually homeless, what is there left to fight for? This war has been going nowhere for eons and I refuse to fight without proper cause."

Everyone was silent after Barricade's speech, even Sideways, but he felt Barricade waver slightly.

"So tell me, Barricade, where do your loyalties lie? Say we have found something to fight for, the complete control of Earth as an example, or even the restoration of Cybertron. Whom would you fight for?" Sideways asked.

Barricade hesitated slightly as he felt all eyes and optics on him. His pause was longer than it probably should be, but he wasn't quite sure himself. Where would he be if they finally had a goal. Would he continue with the Autobots or go back to the Decepticons? Well, he was never an Autobot to begin with; he was just aiding them as a neutral.

He didn't really like them or the humans either. But what about Sam? What would become of her if he went back? Why did he care in the first place? He had risked his very life to save her. Yet if he went back to his old ways, she would no doubt be a target.

"Barricade." a soft, weak voice called from behind him. He turned to see Sam shaking slightly, her eyes growing heavy. He was snapped back when she suddenly collapsed, her body was soaking wet from the rain, which was growing heavier.

"SAM!" Ratchet and Barricade shouted. Ratchet was quick to attend to her. "Her fever has worsened. We have to get her out of here!" Ratchet said quickly.

Barricade's grip loosened enough to where Sideways was able to yank his arm away from him. As he turned back, he was knocked over by Sideways, his gun pointed right at him. Starscream followed his lead and aimed his weapon at Ratchet, who held Sam close to him.

"None of you are going anywhere." Sideways said. "What does it matter if we bring back our prisoners dead or alive. In fact, it'd be much easier to just bring back trophies. What say you, Starscream?"

"Bringing back three dead bodies will surely bring Megatron joy. And knowing that your team will be there when we do is even better." Starscream replied.

Their weapons whirred to life, preparing to give the final shot.

Ratchet closed his optics while holding tightly to Sam, waiting for the final blow.

A distant engine was faintly heard in his audio receptors. Right as he looked up at Starscream's weapon, a blur of yellow knocked him over as he flew over and fell hard to the ground.

Ratchet, not believing his optics, turned to the now standing Sunstreaker, who was glaring daggers at the falling Seeker.

"Sunstreaker!" he shouted, for once relieved to see the twin.

"What?!" Sideways shouted. There was click behind him and he turned to face the barrel of Sideswipe's weapon.

"Put it away, Sideways." Sideswipe demanded coldly. Sideways, having no other option, subspaced his weapon and backed away from Barricade.

Sideswipe, not taking his weapon off of the Con, reached his servo out and grabbed Barricade's, helping him up.

"What are you two doing here? You were supposed to be with Optimus to stop Megatron." Barricade asked Sideswipe.

"After hearing Sam through our bondlink, we knew something was up." Sunstreaker replied. He walked over to Ratchet and knelt down to see Sam unconscious in his servos.

"What happened?" he asked Ratchet.

"Her fever spiked. She needs to go to a hospital." Ratchet replied. Sunstreaker nodded understanding and took her from him. He stood back up and began to gently nudge her with his finger.

She moaned, struggling to open her eyes. When she cracked him, she let her eyes adjust and saw Sunstreaker.

"Sunstreaker? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came back for you, idiot." he said gently.

Sideswipe looked to Ratchet. "Optimus and the others are on their way here. It seems Megatron had a change in course."

"What?" asked Barricade in disbelief.

"Ratchet, take Sam with you. Take her to the checkpoint." Sunstreaker handed Sam back to Ratchet, who nodded.

Barricade turned back to Sideways. "To answer your question, Sideways, it's still no." Sideways growled.

Barricade continued. "Even if we did find a way to restore Cybertron, I would still not fight for the Decepticons. However, that does not mean I'll side with the Autobots. Though I will aid them as a neutral. I've grown tired of this war and want nothing more to do with it. I don't care for the Autobots and I hate humans, but I will only get involved if Sam is threatened."

There was silence among the group. There was a short laugh from above them. To say they were all shocked, and maybe a little frightened, was an understatement.

" How noble but I have to say, I'm very disappointed about losing my best scout, Barricade." Megatron said, carelessly.

"Megatron!" Ratchet shouted as he tried to hide Sam. The twins stepped forward while Barricade took a step back.

"So you're the one who defected Barricade." he said mostly to himself, looking directly at the unconscious girl in Ratchet's servos. "She's becoming quite the topic of conversation for my men." he smirked. "I can see why Sideways was so obsessed."

Sideways said nothing. Instead he just glared at him.

"Lord Megatron, you've made it!" Starscream exclaimed.

"Silence Starscream! Your orders were to rendezvous with me at the coordinates that I sent you. Not dilly-dally with some stragglers and two traitors." Megatron snapped, causing Starscream to recoil. He turned his attention back to Barricade.

"It's a shame that my best scout has been reduced to nothing more than a pathetic neutral." He smirked as he raised his canon at Barricade. In his injured state, there was no way for him to get out of the way in time.

Megatron turned his focus back when he felt something come towards him. He barely had enough time to dodge when a shot came from beneath him. When he turned his attention back with full fury on his face, he was surprised to see whom it was that took the shot.

Sam, now fully conscious, had her gun raised at the evil warlord, one eye closed and panting heavily.

"Stay away from him." She panted, her gun shaking slightly.

"Sam…" Sunstreaker murmured. He knew how sick she was, how weak her body was getting, yet she was standing up to Megatron. He smiled slightly and then moved closer to Ratchet, who was still holding her in shock. He raised his own weapon at Megatron.

"You're not going anywhere near him." He threatened. Sam looked at the golden warrior in shock.

"Sunstreaker?" He didn't respond. Sideswipe took Ratchet's other side, also raising his weapon.

"Anyone who's willing to sacrifice themselves to protect you is okay with us." He looked over to her and smiled gently. "We got things covered here. You, Ratchet and Barricade need to get out of here."

"But you two can't-" Ratchet started but was interrupted by Sunstreaker.

"Optimus and the others are on their way." Sunstreaker said, never taking his optics off of Megatron, who was watching them intently.

Ratchet nodded. He transformed down with Sam settling in the passenger seat. The seatbelt snaked around her and held her.

"Wait Ratchet, we can't go!" Sam tried to get out but the seatbelt kept her in place.

"We have no choice Sam. Optimus and the others can hold them off while we escape. You can't fight in your current condition." He tried to reason with her, but he knew she had Nina's stubbornness, which he believed was the worst quality she could have gotten from her mother.

"You're right, Ratchet. I'd only be a liability to them." She said downheartedly.

The rain had started to let up by the time they reached the checkpoint, and Prowl and Jolt were waiting for them.

"What took you so long?" Jolt asked. Sam got out so Ratchet could transform.

"We had a minor setback." He replied.

"Where is Barricade?" Prowl asked. Sam noticeably flinched, but restrained herself.

"He stayed behind to help the others." Ratchet said. It was then that Jolt noticed Sam's condition.

"Sam, you're-"

"I know! I'm sick! I'm helpless and I can't help fight the Decepticons!" she snapped. Jolt slightly recoiled.

"Don't worry, it's a symptom of the fever. Her body wants to rest but she's fighting it, so she's a bit cranky." Ratchet said, earing him a death glare from Sam.

"I'll have a sedative ready-"

"No! I don't want to rest, I don't need it!" Sam interrupted Ratchet. "I want to be out there helping my twins and Barricade. If I keep running away, they're just going to keep coming after me."

"Sam, if you go out there in your current state, you're going to let them succeed." Prowl reasoned.

"I know, but-"

"Sam." She paused at Ratchets serious tone. "Please let us help you this time." Sam looked into Ratchets deep blue optics, searching for the meaning behind his words. She found it.

"Okay."

Hey guys, I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded! I've been battling school, writer's block, and family health problems. I may be a bit sporadic with the uploads, but we are nearing the end! Thanks for hanging in there!