Disclaimer: I wanted to ask Transformers to be mine last Valentine's day, but I was too afraid of the rejection. So, no, they are not mine, not even in the heart.

A/N: I recieved an email from my good friend, whom I have decided to call Death By Neckties to preserve her secret identity, containing an out line/one shot for this fiction and a demand that I adopt it. So I have fleshed it out into a multi chapter fic. This is based on the Prime continuity but it will never truel fit. Here it goes.

Arcee was frustrated. Really, really frustrated. How had a normal scouting mission gone so terribly wrong? It had been same as always, running routine routes, making sure everything was 'normal', but it hadn't been normal. Far from normal actually. About half way through her route she had noticed a strong energy signature a bit off the road and had discovered that the area was crawling with Decepticons.

They hadn't noticed her at first; she had made sure of that. They were up to something and she wanted to know what, she'd called in Bumblebee for back up, after all who better to find things out than their resident scout.

She didn't know when things had gone so wrong, but gone wrong they had. Again with the frustration.

::Ratchet! I need a ground bridge!:: she practically shouted over the comm. as she ducked behind a rock to escape the heavy fire. Static. "Bee, any luck?"

The scout ducked down behind the rock, "They must be jamming us." He buzzed.

"Scrap. We'll have to get outside their perimeter to call for a bridge."

He nodded.

Arcee glanced over the rock looking for some way, anyway, out. There! She spotted what looked like a weak spot in the 'Cons defenses. Fewer guards right in front of a pass in the cliff walls. "Follow me." She swung herself over the rock and ducked missile fire and plasma bolts gunning right for the pass, body in overdrive.

It was easy enough to break past the guards, between Bumblebee and herself they'd taken down all the soldiers in front of their escape route. They stood backed up against the rock wall cycling their vents heavily, trying to cool their systems.

"Think we…lost 'em." Arcee gasped.

"Not quite, Autobot."

"Oh slag." Bumblebee cursed, a rare occurrence for him, as he looked up.

Several Vehicons had them surrounded guns leveled at their heads. The two bots readied themselves for a fight to the finish. Arcee raised her arm blades as Bumblebee readied his fists—at this point it was either a close quarter fight or a guaranteed execution by firing squad.

So this is how it would end.

"Eat this!" Everyone, 'bots and 'cons alike looked around for the source for the exclamation. They didn't find it before the 'cons started dropping, granted the firing was a bit messy, missing as much as it hit, but it was taking down the Vehicons. Arcee and Bumblebee both took the opportunity to start attacking as well.

When the last 'Con went down Arcee became aware of a high pitched fan cycle above them. She looked up to find a small grey and silver face with a large pair of red optics staring down at them, upside down. "Hi." A youngling, she could tell by his voice if not his size and build from so far away, it was higher pitched than any adult mech's would be. He hadn't crawled from the Well of Allsparks yesterday, but he looked and sounded young…younger than any living Cybertronian should be.

"Hello." She said tentatively.

Bee looked equally weirded out as he waved a hello, with good reason, never having even seen a bot younger than himself.

"Who are you?" The youngling asked. He sounded familiar, Arcee decided. Why did he sound familiar?

"My name is Arcee," she replied calmly, "This is Bumblebee. Who are you?"

"Starscream" the youngling said softly.

"Uh, What?" Bumblebee buzzed, optics going wide.

"Starscream," the small seeker repeated, smiling.