A/n from Muse: For those who watch my journal and are not apart of the beexsam community...shakes head Don't ask. It was suppose to be a tension reliever from my shitty week of AnalTim and summer classes but the RP grew, as it usually does when it involves me. If the pairing doesn't scare you off (nothing too graphic mentioned) then its a fun and light read. You never know...

Chapter One: It's Only Funny Until...

Roleplay Fiction by Museofslytherin and technodoofus

Rated: Pg-13

Barricade was about as twitchy as Frenzy was, considering the pair was in the farming lands of northern California at the soldier's house, enduring the emotional reunion of the Autobots and their humans. To ensure they remained undetected, the transformers were ushered into a cramp storage facility called a barn that had been expanded to compensate for visiting Autobots but the human, Lennox, hadn't planned for the appearance of a still operational Barricade and a healed Frenzy. The retired Decepticon didn't like the situation, feeling exposed in this rural area, but he wouldn't give up time with his offspring and the unlikely human that brought it into existence. The powers of the Allspark still befuddled Barricade's processor but instead of letting it freeze up his systems, he merely dismissed it.

The mutterings of Frenzy refocused Barricade's optics on the scene before and he tilted his head in inquiry as he watched the lightweight hacker chase after his offspring, Ravage, in what the humans referred to as a "friendly game of tag". Whatever helps discharge that pent up energy of his, Barricade thought, maybe he'll stop tearing up my upholstery.

Meanwhile, not so far off from where Barricade watched his offspring, the other Autobots and humans were also looking on at the scene in amusement. Will Lennox watched as his daughter- well OTHER daughter, Cera, stood staring at the cows in amazement, as if they were the most interesting creatures on this side of the planet. "Hey Ironhide," Will looked over at the weapons specialist before continuing. "Cera is staring way too hard at those cows for comfort; think she's going to shoot them like she did the crows?"

Moments passed in silence as Ironhide performed simple scans, taking in his daughter's stance, gaze and other body signals, before answering, "Would that be a bad thing?" The tone was honest and disturbingly, dead serious.

Will sighed in exasperation, "Yes, that would be a bad thing if she plans to blow it up into a million pieces!" No sooner had the words left his mouth, than a loud explosion racked the whole farm, followed by a victorious battle cry.

Will's eyes narrowed, "You're dealing with it this time, Ironhide."

Maintaining the posture of a proud parent, Ironhide placated the human with a nod, as he had seen Will do with his mate, and walked over to his daughter and the crater where the bovine had once been. Apparently there were different classes of cows according to the humans: ones to eat and ones to keep alive. To be on the safe side, Ironhide figured he would have Cera put cows in the same classification as Chihuahuas, as pets.

Hearing the explosion, little Ravage had ended the fun program and adopted a seek shelter, namely behind his parental unit, aware of the fact that besides Barricade and Frenzy, he is considered an outsider to the rest of the Cybertronians and wouldn't doubt for a moment that the weak truce would evaporate.

He waited a few cycles of auditory scans and when no follow-up explosions came forth, the silver robot took a chance to look at the source of the noise. The weapons Autobot was talking to his offspring and pointing at a new hole. Wasn't there a hoofed animal there before? A cow or something similar? Ravage looked up at his 'father' and only got a simple shake of the head in disbelief.

A flash of silver caught his optics, as Frenzy bolted past him and restarted the tag game again, only for it to end quickly when they came across Bumblebee and Ravage's other creator, Sam Witwicky.

Sam smiled at Ravage, his second son. Although his relationship was faulty and his son was wary of him, Sam nonetheless tried to form at least a bond of friendship with the boy. "Hey Ravage, having fun?" Sam asked referring to the game of tag he had been playing with Frenzy.

Frenzy stood next to his ward, giving the human the evil eye. It was only under orders from Barricade that Frenzy didn't attempt to gouge Sam Witwicky's eyes out by now.

If Ravage had shirttails, he would be tugging on them out of nervousness when Sam addressed him. He knew he had nothing to fear from his human father but that didn't reassure the four-foot bot that Bumblebee wouldn't inflict damage somehow. Ravage, keeping the yellow Autobot in the corner of his optics, focused on his smaller father, answering respectively, "Yes, father." Noticing that his playmate's normal vibrations were becoming more noticeable and that the cool blue optics were focused on Sam, the youngest robot sharply nudged the hacker to break him out of his trance. "Um, we were actually going to, um, go out to the fields and, uh, use Frenzy's discs as target practice." Barricade's internal formatting berated the child for hesitating but some of Sam's personality quirks can't be completely erased.

Sam nodded, "Well that's cool, have fun and don't get hurt." He said honestly. He liked the boy, he really did, but he really didn't like being too close when Frenzy was around. The robot always looked like he wanted to murder him.

Frenzy began walking away from the group, preparing for the practice, all the while thinking up cruel images of what he would do to the pathetic fleshling if Megatron was still alive and in charge.

Meanwhile, as Ironhide was lecturing Cera about how her other creator did not appreciate her blowing up the other earth life, no matter what the excuse, she blocked him out when the words "target practice" reached her audio sensors. Without even waiting for Ironhide to finish speaking she ran over to Ravage and began jumping up and down excitedly, "Oh-oh, target practice!! Can I play?! Huh huh can I?!"

Ravage wasn't used to the role of authority, usually occupied by either of his creators or one of the other Cybertronians when in Sam's care, and he floundered when bombarded by the exuberant mini-jet. Red optics quickly scanned for an answer, landing on the most dangerous authority, the trigger-happy father, Ironhide. The weapons specialist had quickly adjusted to his daughter's new location and seeing whom she was with, started for them.

Barricade logically understood the situation and left his reclusive spot in the barn to come to his offspring's aide.

Shuffling in the direction of his approaching guardian, Ravage quickly glanced to Frenzy and back to the older child, "I guess if it's alright with Ironhide."

Cera quickly spun around, and ran over to her father. "Father! Can I pleeeeeeeeeease, please please play with Ravage and Frenzy?!" She asked in a sing-song voice, her eyes, wide in hope.

Will who had been watching the whole scenario from the beginning leaned against the side of the house, waiting for Ironhide's answer to their overly hype daughter. He grinned recalling the time when Cera had first became increasingly twitchy and hyped up for just about everything. Ironhide had immediately taken her to Ratchet to find out what was wrong, and was infuriated, to say the least, when they had figured out that Frenzy, the little pest, had downloaded "cookies" into Cera's system. And try as he might, Ratchet only managed to take out a few of the glitches, making Cera somewhat calmer, and had to admit solemnly that the other cookies were permanent and to just get used to it.

Ironhide gave a pretty good imitation of a disgruntled look to his daughter, recalling the episode with Frenzy and those accursed "cookies" that had Cera breaking the sound barrier in her robot form. Eyeing the diminutive Decepticon, he barely canceled the directive for his frame to shutter in disgust at what possible games the twisted Decepticons could think up to play but it would be nice for his child to have a distraction, one that spared the lives of the earth animals. "Yes, you can but as long as you stay within visual distance. Understood?"

"BWUAHA!", Cera cried out, pumping her fists in the air, "Understood father!" She saluted before crying out a series of thank you's. She began running toward Frenzy and did a flip in mid-air, transforming into her jet form, flying at about 60 mph before transforming back, and landing on her hands and knees on top of the little bot.

Frenzy let out a surprised squawk when the earth below him shook and the light was blocked replaced by an overly-hyper face staring down at him, and let out an indignant growl when the child had the gall to laugh at him and call him "squawker." It was times like these that Frenzy regretted the cookie incident.

Bumblebee laughed at the little Decepticon's situation, fully believing it was deserved.

A mix of an engine's low growl and the grinding noise of a large mechanical hand emanated from Barricade, as he picked up the laughter from the Autobot and had no compunction in shoving the Camaro, as he walked by to be with Ravage in support. "Silence your voice processor, young one. I will not have my subordinate mocked by the likes of you." He redirected his scanners to the group of small robots that were a distance away and already shooting alternately at the metal discs shot out by Frenzy. The cop car would have smirked if he had the lips when he overhead the human parent of Ravage verbally hold off a retort from the Autobot.

Sam sighed; he honestly couldn't stand the Decepticon. If it wasn't for Ravage's sake, he himself would have told off Barricade, but bit his tongue and used his energy to hold back Bumblebee who had looked like he was ready to pummel Barricade.

Frenzy growled in annoyance and satisfaction; annoyance at the fact that the spawn of the Autobot had yet to miss a disk, and satisfaction because Ravage also, had yet to miss.

It wasn't long before the competitive streaks of an inherent Decepticon and the daughter of a weapons specialist soon attracted an audience, the respective families cheering on their child. Ravage let out a squeak of surprise when a small fragment of shrapnel deflected from a hit disc embedded itself near one of the robot's optics, severing a wire far enough to cut off transmission and partially blinding him. As quickly as it started, the target practice was over when Ratchet was summoned to make the necessary repairs and inevitably had to shove the hovering Barricade out of the way.

Sam looked on worriedly, not that he had any doubts in Ratchet's abilities, but still his paternal instincts kicked in, as he watched the scene, biting his lip.

Cera pulled up beside Ratchet, "Is he going to be ok?" she asked worriedly, shocking most of the ones present at the scene.

Shooting a warning glance at Barricade's "he better be" threat, Ratchet carefully removed the shard of metal with steady patience and a minute tool extending from his fingertips. Magnifying the view by four times to ensure that there was nothing left, the medic replied absently with a 'yes', as he spot-welded the wiring back together and restored the insulation protecting the transmission lines. Ratchet pulled back from hovering over his small patient and after telling Ravage to restore power, was pleased to hear that his work was successful. "I believe that's why humans make their target discs out of clay and not metal: less casualties," he commented in an elderly fashion.

Sitting up, Ravage noticed all the gazes were focused on him and utilized his human father's habit of breaking tension with words, saying, "Sorry for worrying everyone." Looking at anything that wasn't the anticipated look of disappointment on Barricade's face for the apology, a sign of weakness, Ravage settled on the one who had worried about him in the first place, looking at Cera, "I guess you won."

"Meh, you got hurt, I call a do-over." She shrugged casually. "So you're feeling better, right?" Cera giggled, "If you want to blame anyone, blame squawker, he has bad aim." she turned to look at Frenzy, "You.phail.at.life. with a capital PH!"

Frenzy flicked a finger in her direction before stalking off, grumbling to himself.

Not having the bravado of either of his fathers, Ravage didn't make a snide comment in return but quickly righted himself to follow his closest companion, shouting over his plated shoulder, "He's my family and we can't have a 'do-over' without him." His towering creator shadowed him, since he found no other purpose in lingering with the Autobots.

Cera growled. "What a JERK. Gosh I didn't want to make him feel bad by rubbing it in his face that I won and that I am obviously superior to him!" She crossed her arms, "Loser," she muttered. "I'm going to go shoot some squirrels. They're scary."

"Cera," Ironhide admonished, "Leave the animals alone."

"B-but the squirrels!!!" She flailed her arms, "They're eviiiiil. They just stare at you, with like this hidden evil murderous...uh...rage! Go to and see how decieving they are! They're like small furry cuter versions of a Decepticon...well everything is cuter than a Decepticon..but still!:"

"The creatures of this world are not meant to be slaughtered for our amusement, Cera," Optimus ended the subject with his final decree. The tallest of the Autobots quietly watched the distancing Decepticons, with Barricade following closely behind Ravage in a shielding manner while the smaller bots talked between them. Optimus didn't think the violent Barricade was capable of benevolent actions, let alone parental ones. After the discovery of Sam's ability to successfully mate with and carry the offspring of a Cybertronian, with Mumble's birth, the Autobots became overly protective of the boy. And with good reason, as the presence of a new Autobot drew Barricade and Frenzy out of hiding and Optimus feared that they planned on using Sam as a production factory in creating a new Decepticon Army.

Optimus' fears were realized when Sam was kidnapped while Bee was on an assignment outside of California. Sam had been missing for several months, leaving the parents distraught despite the Decepticons' positive messages about Sam's well being sent to the Autobots on a weekly basis. Just before the Fall semester of college started, on the 14th week, a seemingly healthy Sam returned home with an unbelievable story. The Autobot leader feared that Sam's second 'child' would be conditioned by Barricade into another Megatron but was surprised when he received a communication wishing for a truce on the behalf of Sam's desire to see Ravage occasionally. Ten years later and a few squabbles endured, the truce is still maintained between the two sides.

Sam walked over to Optimus, "Hey, Optimus, when are Jazz and Mumble coming back from their mission down in Nevada?" He sighed sadly. It had been two months since he had seen his first-born son due to the scout mission he had been sent on with Jazz to see if they could find any other Autobots that might have gotten Optimus' message.

"In a few days. They need to recon. the Lake Tahoe area before returning to California." The red Autobot noticed the worry radiating off the teen and added, "Bumblebee should be keeping tabs on Mumble continuously, if I know him, at least when he's not trying to pick a fight with Barricade."

Sam smiled and nodded his head, "true..."

Meanwhile at the barn, Frenzy was pacing angrily his hands twitching, dying to claw something- or someone's optics out. His body shook in rage before he blasted one of the walls, which remained unharmed, other then a scorch mark. "I-I-I hate that g-g-gurl!!"

Ravage could only watch as the slender bot took out his rage on the barn, not wanting to be part of the collateral damage when Frenzy went into a red haze of destruction. "We don't need her, Frenzy, so don't let what she said get to you," he said from the sidelines.

Frenzy hissed, "B-b-but it's ANNOYING!" he screeched, putting emphasis on the "annoying" as he blasted a pile of hay in the far corner. "Wh-why can't I-I-I kill the little m-m-monster!" he looked up at Barricade imploringly.

"No. She may be a virus but has to be tolerated the few times we're here, if we wish to keep the truce. I can barely tolerate half the Autobots here but it must be done so that Ravage can visit with the human." Eyeing the smoldering pile of ash that use to be a hay pile, Barricade reconsidered, "Perhaps we can come to an agreement of Sam Witwicky visiting alone. The ten years of peace should be enough to prove our 'good intentions'." The last pair of words was sneered in remnant disgust. The actions he performed for the sake of his young spark.

Frenzy snarled, "Y-y-you know as well as I th-that Prime would n-n-not allow i-i-it!" he began pacing again, "H-h-he doesn't trust you, I overheard him mentioning it t-t-to the medic."

"Doesn't surprise me," the cop car responded evenly, rubbing Ravage's back with a curled finger and trying to ease the tension. His offspring no doubt felt torn between loyalty to Frenzy and wanting to bond with his human father.

Barricade held no files of hate for the boy but actually felt a tingle of admiration for him after hearing about his final acts with Megatron. Not even Optimus Prime, honored leader of the Autobots, had the nerve for what the human did but instead took the coward's way out by 'sacrificing' himself and destroying the Cube but leaving the others to face Megatron on their own.

"And I have no real inclination of tolerating that immature Autobot, Bumblebee, either, who I'm sure will not leave the human's side. Not after that last time," Barricade said cryptically as he settled his optics on Ravage.

Meanwhile, as the other Autobots were trying to enjoy the remainder of the reunion/barbeque, Cera and Ironhide stood off to the side, with Cera sitting under the large oak tree staring at the ground uncharacteristically silent for a long time before speaking up. "Daddy...do you think I'm sick?" she asked quietly.

Ironhide reflexively looked down at the oddity of his daughter's question. "No. Rachet would inform me if he found something in his initial scans every time the three of us meet. Why do you ask?"

"No, I mean mentally not physically...I've been doing some research, and according to the web, shooting innocent creatures for fun is wrong, and not normal..."

"That doesn't necessarily mean that there's something wrong with you. A lot of human children enjoy the burning of ants with a magnifying lens. It's a phase. As you get older, you will learn to respect all life, as I did when I was younger." Ironhide paraphrased what he had quickly skimmed on the net about this issue.

At this Cera perked up, "Oh well that's helpful...but still I feel so guilty. It's not like the creatures have ever done anything to deserve it. They're just there...minding their own business. After I blew up the cow today I thought of it's family...and I immediately regretted it, because I thought to myself, how would I feel if someone did that to someone I cared about. It wasn't a good feeling, I was very sad for some time after that but I got over it like I usually do."

He nodded, "These emotions are what develop your sense of respect towards life and what separates an Autobot from a Decepticon, who have no consideration for such things." Ironhide's tone shifted to conditioned disgust.

"Ah, but does that mean that there is a plausible chance that when Ravage grows older, he will lose respect towards life and turn into a Decepticon? After all, even though Sam is such a kind person, Ravage follows his father more than anything and he might develop his father's views."

Ironhide reproduced a sigh, "I don't know, little one. Barricade himself doesn't follow the standard protocols of a Decepticon. He has not out rightly harmed anyone of us, Autobot or human, and has kept us accurately informed on the whereabouts of Starscream. The fact that he is willing to allow Ravage to have contact with the others, especially Sam, has to say something about the unlikelihood of Ravage owing his allegiance to the Decepticons. All I can suggest is that we keep Ravage feeling welcomed, as well as the other two Decepticons, to prevent them from breaking the truce."

"I don't know why Ravage is cross with me, I was only trying to make him feel better about losing..." she crossed her arms, "Emotions are so troublesome...I'm glad I have them and wouldn't give them up, but sometimes they truly are more trouble then they're worth..."

The large torso of Ironhide vibrated with replicated laughter. "You'll learn to manage them soon. As for Ravage, I would guess that he doesn't appreciate others 'making fun' of his friends, especially to make him feel better. Other than Barricade, that Frenzy is the only constant companion the boy has; a lonely existence indeed. If you don't want Ravage upset with you, you must pay attention to who you insult." The Autobot really hoped that the Dr. Phil he was referencing knows what he's talking about.

Cera giggled, "You know what? I honestly don't like Dr. Phil, and yes I know you're referencing him, but when you say it instead of him it really helps. When he says it I want to beat him over the head with a rock. This little talk really helped sort things out, thank you." Cera said, standing up and jumping on top of Ironhide's shoulder, finding a comfortable sitting spot there.

"I'm glad," he said, tilting his head towards her to gently rest against her frame. It was a human trait of affection he had no problem copying. "Do you want to stay here or rejoin the group?"

Cera shook her head, purring slightly in content, "No, not yet I like it here."

Somewhere deep within, Ironhide hummed in agreement.

With the target practice scare quickly fading from sentient minds', Bumblebee once again did a systems check on Mumble, reassuring his circuits that his child was fine while away from his protective presence. Disregarding Jazz's snide comment of being a 'mother hen', Bee severed the link with the other Autobot and focused back on his human charge.

Sam, who had been resting against Bee's leg looked up, somehow knowing that Bee had just checked up on Mumble. "Mumble's okay I take it?" Sam asked hopefully. He didn't like being an overly protective or worrisome parent, but when it came to his kids he just couldn't help but want to make sure that they were okay every moment.

Bee replied with a nod, noticing Sam's hesitant demeanor and rubbed the boy's side gently with a single finger. The young robot was still amazed at Sam's ability to adapt to any situation, no matter how bizarre it was to the human mind. Granted, it had taken him, and even the Autobots, a couple of months to fully grasp the situation of a male human pregnant with an autonomous robotic organism. It was the older robots, primarily Optimus and Ratchet, that suggested the theory of the Allspark, with all its years of close human contact, had been aware enough of its eminent peril and had reacted in a self-preserving manner. With the close bond between guardian and charge, the Cube engendered Sam's body based on Bee's transforming capabilities when Autobot handed the boy the Allspark in Mission City, allowing him to safely have bio-mechanical children.

Bee didn't care about the why or the how, just so long as Sam was safe and healthy. Three and a half months later and Mumble was born, the Allspark's residual energy changed the boy's body allowing him to have their child naturally, as the humans called it. Unlike human children, Mumble was self-sufficient at birth and able to communicate immediately with Bee through Wi-Fi until he had mastered the English language in the next hour. Both Autobots and human were grateful, as they were unsure of the exact methods of caring for the hybrid child, never having encountered anything of this nature.

It would only be a few months later when a message from Ironhide, in something remotely similar to panic, told the Autobots of a repeat episode with Captain Lennox. Apparently Sam wasn't the only one affected by the Cube but Lennox was on a lesser degree, his bond with Ironhide not as strong as Sam and Bee's. Another fourteen weeks passed and Cera was born. It was more than the Autobots had expected after the destruction of the Allspark.

Sam sighed happily as Bee rubbed his side, as he got lost in his own thoughts. He remembered how he felt when he first realized he had been pregnant as if it had been yesterday. It was strange; he didn't get morning sickness like a normal human pregnancy did. It wasn't painful, just...weird, as the only word Sam could think of. His insides felt like they were twisting and turning. When he confronted Bee about it, Bee's answer freaked the hell out of him. After a simple scan Bumblebee remained silent for a few minutes before solemnly telling Sam that he had a living being inside him.

Sam's mouth dropped, he tried to laugh, thinking it was some twisted joke, but deep down he knew Bee wouldn't joke about something like this, and his fears were confirmed after a checkup with Ratchet. Sam remembered fainting after that and waking up several hours later, asking "why and how" over and over. Ratchet had given him his theory on how it happened and even Optimus had agreed. After that Sam somehow managed to accept it without as much protest as everyone would have thought, but he took it like a true Witwicky should.

However, his only fear were his parents. How would they handle the news? Simply thinking about it sent him trembling in fear. His mom would attempt to hurt Bee with the same bat she had threatened Sector 7 with and his father would be appalled. He didn't have to worry about it though since it was Optimus who volunteered to calmly break the news to his parents. As Sam had predicted it had not been pretty, and it was only under Optimus' strict orders that Sam had not been disowned and kicked out of the house. After Mumble was born things went from hectic to calm, Sam's parents accepted Mumble as their grandchild and even spoiled and coddled him whenever they could.

When the news of another child born under these strange circumstances and under the parentage of Ironhide and Will Lennox, no less, everyone couldn't help but silently laugh to themselves when Ironhide was around. No one was gutsy enough to mock the weapons specialist, especially when he was going to use the pregnancy as an excuse to use his cannons more often then not.

Movement near the barn caught Bee's optics and he watched sourly as Sam's other child came out of hiding, followed by Barricade and a weaving Frenzy. The yellow Autobot slowly tensed out of habit, as the trio approached him and Sam. Barricade stopped a short distance away, while Ravage continued his trek to stand close to Sam. Moments of heavy silence passed before the cop car voiced, "He wishes to spend time with you, Ladiesman Two-Seventeen." Bumblebee could have sworn on the Allspark itself that he could scan the teasing tone in Barricade's words, as he used the internet moniker the Decepticons had used to track down the human, as a loose nickname.

Sam rolled his eyes at the name that he was addressed by. "Would it kill you to call me Sam?" he sighed before grinning down at Ravage. "Alright, so what do you want to do?" he said as he stood up straight, stretching a bit to loosen up his muscles from being in the same position for so long.

Barricade closed the distance between him and the other Cybertronian, locking red and blue optics, "I don't think your guardian would care for it too much if I did. And besides, I enjoy the responses you make when I address you as such. Especially the ones when it was just you and me for those fourteen weeks." The Decepticon now directed his words at his one-time enemy, "I heard you were worried about Sam while in my care. Was it because you feared he would prefer me over you?" The red glow darkened in resemblance of lowered lids in self-satisfaction.

Channeling Sam's closeness into a calming code, Bumblebee fought the instinctive directive of letting his face guards slide into place for impending battle whenever a Decepticon was nearby. Especially Barricade. Optimus had Megatron and Bee had Barricade; equally matched and forever locked in battle it would seem. For once not succumbing to the taunt, Bee went the verbal route; "It was because of your generous care towards Sam that I don't render you into scrap, like I did last time."

Sam sighed and put his hand on his forehead in exasperation. It was a normal occurrence, the fathers of his children quarreling, but that didn't mean it never got any less annoying. Rolling his eyes once more Sam walked over to Ravage, and nodded his head in the direction of the nearby pond and began walking there, to spend time with his son alone without the fighting for once.

Scans confirming that the two were out of distance, Barricade shifted his programming to be less volatile, backing away from the Autobot. Looking down at the silver and sleek bot, he said, "Frenzy, keep an eye on them and make sure they don't over hear our conversation with Prime." Barricade redirected his sights back to Bumblebee, "We need to talk. Follow me." Without waiting for a response, he rotated his hip gears to point him in the direction of the Autobot leader.

Bumblebee nodded, and began walking towards Optimus, wondering what the Decepticon could possibly want that would involve both him and Prime. The more he thought about it, the more it dawned on him that Barricade might try to convince Optimus to let Sam visit him, or something as insane as that. Well Bumblebee's optics narrowed slightly, he'd be damned if the Decepticon would get to be a minute alone with his human.

The cop car experienced one of the rare times of gratefulness when the Autobot followed him without question. It happened again when he sighted Prime alone for once during the whole session of the gathering.

Coming to a halt in front of the tall soldier, Barricade simply stated, "Prime" in acknowledgement, waiting for permission to speak. The blue head of Optimus nodded and he continued, "I've been tracking Starscream's travels through Decepticon channels and he has re-entered the gravitational influence of this planet's star. I sense others with him but without confirmation codes expressly given I cannot confirm whom exactly. Should Starscream learn of Sam Witwicky and Will Lennox's "unique" gifts, I fear their lives maybe in danger, if not simply from revenge of causing Megatron's offline state. I suggest we keep the humans close for the time being and even the younglings until I can learn of Starscream's intentions."

Bumblebee's optics widened, he hadn't been expecting this. Sam, Lennox and the younglings were in danger. After years of peace, though he would never admit it, he had grown accustomed to the calmness and had truly put in the back of his memory circuits how difficult and hard war was. What feared him most however was the fact that he hadn't been keeping himself in top shape and now the realization that Starscream was returning; he was worried that when the time came he wouldn't be able to take care of his family.

Optimus caught the change in Bumblebee's demeanor and felt similarly. All the Autobots believed the war to be over with the destruction of the Allspark and the leader of the Decepticons. Apparently that would not be so. The leader centered his attention on the unlikely messenger, "And why should we trust your information? This could be nothing more than a Decepticon ploy because the last time Starscream was a leader, you were loyal to him."

Barricade waved a dismissive hand at the attack of his loyalties, "I'm loyal to the cause, not the leader. Starscream was the leader of the Decepticons at the time we came across the human spacecraft four decades ago. My mission parameters have changed. I exist to protect Ravage and Sam Witwicky by association. Should Starscream or any other Decepticon prove to be a threat, I will terminate them without hesitation."

Bumblebee's optics widened slightly at the Decepticon's words.

He had expected Barricade to protect his offspring, but to actually consider protecting Sam at any costs...well that surprised the young Autubot. Maybe he isn't such a cold sparkless jerk, Bumblebee thought.

The humming and purring of Optimus' internals were the only sounds emitted from the leader, as he dissected Barricade's information. Seeing the dedication of the Decepticon towards Ravage and his wants, the Autobot leader couldn't fault the validity of his words but as the humans say, old habits die hard. Barricade's compliance to the truce could merely be a survival tactic until reinforcements could arrive, such as now but Optimus couldn't compute a reason for being informed of Starscream's arrival. Looking between his youngest comrade and his unlikely ally, Optimus asked, "What do you suggest we do?"

Barricade was quick to respond, military strategy being his forte. "Ironhide and Bumblebee keep a twenty-four/seven vigil on their respective humans and sparklings. Jazz, as the more covert of the remaining Autobots, be assigned to Sam's parents while he's away at the university. Frenzy will stay with Ravage and they will stay with you Autobots while I infiltrate Starscream's forces to learn of his plans. I will relay any new information to Frenzy on the Decepticon wavelength in cryptic messages, as to give the appearance that I'm working on betraying you should it come to that. As you say, the last time Starscream was in charge, I was loyal to him; that should be enough cover to get me in."

Bumblebee nodded in agreement, although he didn't like the Decepticon by nature he couldn't help but admit that when it came to strategy, he truly was good at what he did.

A/n: RP between me and museofslytherin based off of this bit of fanart:

http://community. Museofslytherin (God bless her for her patience with my typos XD)

Muse:

1. Barricade
2. Ravage
3. Bee
4. Optimus Prime
5. Ratchet
6. Ironhide
7. Sarah Lennox
8. Trent
9. Scorponok (in future chapters)

Techno Doofus

1. Sam
2. Mumble
3. Cera
4. Jazz
5. Will
6. Frenzy
7. Annabelle Lennox
8. Starscream (in future chapters)