AN: I got nothin' to say, so on to the disclaimer.

Neither I nor brave kid own Transformers Prime, Beast Wars, Beast Wars II, or Beast Wars Neo.

Starscream ruffled his black feathers, some torn or burned from his brawl with Lio Convoy, deep in thought. A little girl – a fragging tiny human femme – had bested him. With a flash of light. Now, it was no secret even to the Maximals that Starscream's optics were better suited for darkness, but how could a human possibly know his weakness for bright light?

"Wazzpinator think Three-Head mad."

Starscream flexed his injured wing, inspecting the ragged gashes where Galvatron's talons had cut him. "Whatever gave you that impression?"

The green, yellow, and black Predacon cocked his helm. "Wazzpinator not understand."

Buzz Saw entered, Terrorsaur following close behind. "Wazzpinator never understand," Buzz Saw replied, mimicking Waspinator's vocal quirk.

"As to be expected," Terrorsaur squawked.

Starscream merely ignored his subordinates. I'll get even… no matter if it kills me.

Pulling himself up into one of the many oak trees in the base, Jack got up on optic level with Apache. "The Predacon base… it's a warship, right?" he asked, settling on a thick bow as his current perch. The brown and white medic replied in the affirmative. "The Cons' headquarters was one, too."

Rattrap snorted from across the room. "We know that, kid." He strode over, feeling a little off-put by the fact that he had to look up to meet the human's gaze. Primus, he hated being short. "Not like we're descended from the Autobots or sumthin'," he scoffed.

Narrowing his eyes at the implied insult, Jack retorted, "Just making sure I have it right."

Before Rattrap could make another biting remark, Apache interrupted, "If you want a history lesson, Jack, you could always ask Lio."

All of Jack's confidence evaporated instantly. "You- you sure? He's bound to be busy, being leader and all." His voice had cracked as he was speaking. It wasn't that he was afraid of the towering Maximal, just that he didn't feel totally comfortable around him. There was just something about Lio Convoy that made one anxious.

A short bark of laughter emanated from Apache's vocorder. "Intimidated, are we?" Jack's face flushed pink as Rattrap started laughing too. "Don't worry," Apache continued, "he has that effect on most."

"He ain't gonna say no," Rattrap pointed out. Jack still looked flustered at the thought of speaking with Lio. Rattrap chuckled and reached out to grab the teen.

"Hey!" Jack couldn't avoid the servo fast enough and quickly found himself in a loose but steadfast grip. "Put me down."

"Nah, don't feel like it. 'Sides, ya want a history lesson, don't ya? Lio can tell it better than any of us."

"I'm starting to think I was right to not like you very much from the beginning."

"Y'know, kid, I was just thinkin' the same thing."

Miko rifled through the pictures on her phone. One of Bulkhead, one of him and Jackie, one of the fresco in Greece… even one of Soundwave. "I miss you, Bulk," she whispered fiercely, staring at the picture of her guardian rocking out to Slash Monkey, Raf, Bee, and Jack dancing in the background, Arcee looking on amusedly. "I miss all you guys."

Carefully shutting her phone and putting it to the side, Miko looked across the room at her backpack. Some things never change… She still had school in just over an hour. If she were back home, she'd be leaving for Tokyo two weeks from now, seeing as the school year was almost over.

With a frustrated groan, she realized she'd left her science book at base. Finals were today, and she had planned to study last-minute as she walked to school.

Walking to school… It seemed like such a foreign concept, given she'd had rides to and from that hell-hole with Bulkhead for almost the whole year. She missed that. She missed spending time at base and antagonizing Docbot until he was ready to burst. She missed getting detention and breaking out to find her Wrecker friend waiting at the curb. She was surprised to find she even missed her host parents and their constant questioning of her whereabouts.

She might have had her parents and Jasper in this dimension, something she thought she wanted a while back, but now she just wished things could be normal, could go back to the way they were.

She just wanted to go home.

Even so, Miko knew there'd be certain things she'd miss about this Shadowzone – Polar Claw and his funny Russian accent, having her parents here, not having to worry about leaving and not being able to come back…

"Miko, where are my keys?!" Shirako's voice came muffled through the locked door of Miko's bedroom, but the accusing tone was still clear.

"I didn't touch them!" she yelled back, grabbing her backpack by the strap and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Where are they, then?"

Miko flipped the deadbolt and pulled open the door, almost walking into her older brother. "On the table, where you left them."

"I was just there, Mikoto," Shirako hastened. Miko bristled at the use of her full name.

"I didn't touch your stupid keys, Shirako!" she shouted in his face. "Get over it!" She stormed around him, heading for the door.

"I know you took my keys," came the mutinous mutter, "now to find out where you put them…"

I'm not going to miss him.

Miko was on her way out of the school building with Raf and Jack when her cellphone rang. The number didn't show up on the screen when she checked it. Shrugging, she answered it. "Hello?"

"I will meet you outside of Jasper, alright?"

"Polar Claw?" Miko asked, incredulous. "How did you get my number?"

"Apache looked it up," the Maximal replied almost guiltily. "That is being okay with you?"

Miko pretended to think for a minute. Polar Claw's sharp whine of concern defeated all thoughts of letting him hang. "Yeah, that's fine." A heavy sigh of relief came through the cellphone's speakers. "Where Main Street meets the desert, at mile marker 23?"

"That is the place."

"I should be there in ten minutes," the Japanese teen assured him. She glanced over her shoulder at her two companions, who were watching her uncomfortably. Jack rubbed the back of his head in that impatient, yet reluctant way of his. He obviously wanted to get going. "What about Raf and Jack?"

"Lio and Stampy are being here as well."

"Lio?"

"Airazor is on patrol with Break, and Rattrap is being… hmm, how you say… difficult?"

"I'll let them know," Miko promised. She suddenly remembered the CD she had shoved in her backpack before she'd left. "I found a new Slash Monkey album for us to listen to when we get to base."

"That is great, Miko!" Polar Claw exclaimed with clear delight. "But please, do not be pranking Apache with it again."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Feigned innocence dripped off the spunky girl's reply. Snapping her phone closed, she cut off the connection before the Maximal could object, and slid it into her pocket. She took off running down the sidewalk, drawing a surprised exclamation from Jack. "Come on, guys, the Maximals are waiting for us!"

The bat-like Predacon sat on the building's roof, dangling his legs over the side. A Cruellock drone went up to him and asked how long they were going to wait.

"Until we are ready to rock, we will wait," he snapped, irritatedly pushing Ratbat's wing out of his faceplate. The deployer was always too close. Ratbat squeaked before moving over on his master's shoulder.

The multicolored drone looked confused. "And exactly when will we be ready to rock?"

"When I say so, you incompetent pile of scrapmetal!" Soundwave gazed up into the skies. "Where are you, Maximals? Lio Convoy?" He signaled for Ratbat to do a sweep around the power plant, and when the bat returned, was disappointed. "Here, kitty…" Still the Maximals did not show up. Soundwave propped an arm up on his leg and rested his chin on it. "What, suddenly I'm not important enough for you do-gooders to notice?" A gray speck appeared in the blue sky overhead. Ratbat squawked a warning, causing Soundwave to look up. "Finally!" He stood, turning to face the mass of Cruellock drones behind him.

"So… are we ready to rock now?"

Soundwave transformed – the unexpected action vaulted Ratbat off his shoulder – and hovered in the air. A grin spread across his beast mode face as he abruptly dove down on the human power plant. "Come on, the show's about to start!"

Ten minutes later…

"What do you mean it was just a passing jet?! I got all worked up for nothing."

An hour later…

"Let's see: I've blown up half the joint, sent the humans running for their lives, gotten all the energy we need, and still the Maximals haven't shown up. Do I need to attempt to usurp Galvatron before they come and stop me?"

Half an hour later…

Soundwave was hanging upside down from a crossbeam in beast mode, waiting for some kind of opposition. His wingtips were brushing the ground, sending bursts of information about the Cruellock drones' movements about the area every few seconds. Strong vibrations appeared on his right side, too light to belong to one of the drones.

Still, the Predacon did not move. Whoever it was would come to him in time.

Less than a minute had passed before he got his wish.

It was the Maximals! They had actually come!

Well, there was only three of them, plus two humans, but still, they were Maximals.

"Soundwave," Airazor shouted, "surrender and leave!"

"Not until I've trashed you like a rock star in a hotel room."

The human on Polar Claw's back peeked at Soundwave curiously, while the one at Airazor's side just ignored him. Rattrap looked less than pleased that the humans were there.

Soundwave let go of the crossbeam and transformed. The display was quite dramatic. He met the honey gaze of the girl perched on Polar Claw. "You're the human who beat Starscream," he stated matter-of-factly. "I like your style." He held out his servos to show the Maximals he wasn't holding any weapons. "Since I've been here all day waiting for you to show up, how about I just take sixty percent of the energy I've already collected and leave? Easier on all of us that way."

"Don't think so, Pred," Rattrap spat. "You'll leave with nothin'."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Soundwave grinned and called to his deployer. Ratbat swooped down and changed into guitar mode, landing safely in Soundwave's servos. The Predacon strummed a chord softly and the Maximals strained to hear it. As they had concentrated on identifying what their opponent was doing, their senses were being more concentrated on sound. When Soundwave slammed a shrill note on Ratbat's strings, both Maximals and humans alike covered their ears in pain.

"What's the matter?" Soundwave crowed. "Can't face the music?!" A maniacal cackle tore from him at his own wit. He played another note, happily watching the two humans cry out and double over in a vain attempt to block the noise.

Airazor covered her audio receptors, shouting into her commlink, "Apache, we could use some help!"

"What's that noise? Hold on, are you fighting Soundwave? I've developed a tactic for such an occasion, would you care to try it?"

Utterly humiliated, Soundwave clutched Ratbat to his chestplate as he stalked to the command center. The Maximals had turned his sonic attacks – his music – against him. He had been defeated by his own genius.

Starscream watched in glee as Soundwave gave his report, anticipating the communications specialist to be chewed out just as he had been earlier.

What a disappointment it was to hear Galvatron merely growl, "See that it does not happen again."