Hi everyone. I'm so sorry about the massive wait but life has been hectic and my writers block has been so damn bad. So please excuse the lateness and badness of this chappie.

It's been driving me nuts because I've had no idea what to write. But I got it done (finally), so I hope you enjoy it.

Shanghai, 7:27pm. Usually this city would have been amazing; what with the lights and everything but at this point in time I wasn't here to admire the skyline. Across the river the main city was still bustling with life and from where I was I could hear the car horns and the sounds of traffic.

The Decepticon signal which we had located was in the downtown, more industrial region of city, across the bridge from the main action which was a minor miracle. Decepticon encounters were never pretty and we were lucky to get away with just injuries at times. Over the past two years about ten NEST soldiers had been lost, more than three quarters of the team injured and five had quit. There had been no Autobot fatalities as of yet, but all of them had been injured in some way. The worst injury that I had received was when I was caught in an explosion and hadn't managed to conjure my shield in time. I had suffered minor burns and a fractured wrist as well as a bruised ego.

"Alright, the evacuation is nearly complete" I said into my head set. On the occasions when Decepticons were sighted in populated areas we always needed a cover story. Taking advantage of the factories we covered up our presence in the form of a toxic spill, effectively evacuating the area. Somewhere, someone would be sealing off the Chinese airspace and monitoring the evacuation. I myself was perched on a rooftop, stealth mode activated so I couldn't be seen or heard, watching as the citizens were herded out.

Over the past two years, I had managed to train my abilities somewhat. My force fields were stronger than ever and I could keep them up for ages depending on how heavy an attack it was. My mind-reading had been improved, so I wasn't constantly hearing people's thoughts and getting a headache. I had also discovered a few new abilities, such as telekinesis, mind control, which I never used, teleportation and my favourite, Stealth mode, which was basically the next level up from invisibility. Stealth mode allowed me to go unseen, unheard and allowed me to go through solids, although the last one took up a lot of energy and was pretty risky so I never used it. The worst of my abilities though was the visions. I had no warning of when they would arrive, what I would see and how they would affect me. I had had one once that had knocked me out for three days so everyone was very wary now.

As the last few people were evacuated I nimbly leapt down from the roof, landing in a neat crouched position. My stealth mode flickered then went out as I slowly stood up. I adjusted my helmet which had come lose when I had jumped down and tightened the strap under my chin, being careful not to trap my hair. If it wasn't for the microphone that came with the helmet I wouldn't wear it but my telepathic abilities only went so far and the microphone was so much easier to use in a fire fight as it didn't require concentration.

A tiny coo over to my right caught my attention and I twisted my head so I could see the small Asian child standing a few meters away. It was a little boy, probably only around 4 or 5 years old at the most. He was staring at me as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Um…Hi" I said, unsure of whether he could speak English or not. He didn't respond and just kept on staring at me. "Where are your parents?"

Still no response so I tried again "Parents? Mama? Papa?"

The little boy seemed to understand that and he pointed to somewhere behind him. I looked back and saw two middle aged people carrying a few bags down the stairs from their apartment. Taking the little boys hand I led him back over to them.

"Excuse me" I said

The women turned to me, then saw that I was holding her sons hand and smiled in relief. She held out her hand to him.

"Thank you" she nodded her head to me "You with soldiers?"

"Yes" I replied "you need to leave now"

The women looked at me in confusion, not understanding what I meant.

"You have to hurry. Dangerous here now" She seemed to get that and nodded again. She took her sons hand and picked up a bag from the ground. I made sure that the family had gone before turning around again. I jumped and nearly screamed when I bumped into someone standing behind me.

"For the love of God Ratchet. No sneaking up on me" I glared at the medic who smiled. In holoform he wasn't much taller than me, with well brushed platinum blond hair, a well-trimmed goatee and the usual piercing blue eyes.

"My mistake. We need you over at the assembly point now" with that his holo flickered and disappeared.

"Remind me where that was again" I muttered "jokes I know. Aw man, I'm talking to myself"

Closing my eyes I visualised where I needed to go and concentrated. A buzzing sensation ran through my body as the All Spark stirred and presented me with the power that I needed for a quick teleport. The buzzing turned into waves of warmth, followed by a sudden massive burst of energy. When I opened my eyes again I was standing just behind Major Lennox.

"Have no fear, Ally is here" I said, grinning as he jumped and turned to face me "Sorry, I got waylaid by a really cute kid then Ratchet snuck up on me and nearly gave me a heart attack"

Lennox rolled his eyes but smiled anyway "Very nice Ally. I need you to debrief the team while I go sort out some last minute details"

I nodded quickly and stepped round him so I was in front of a group of soldiers. Some I recognised and others were unfamiliar, newbies to the world of NEST.

"Alright peoples listen up" I said, switching my persona immediately from crazy chick to 'I'm in charge so you'd better not give me any crap' "I know a few of you are new to this and others just need reminding, yes I'm looking at you Ben. What we're doing now is top secret and highly dangerous and one wrong move up against one of these things will leave you either dead or severely injured" a few nervous glances "I'm not trying to scare you, just inform. Now, you'll already have been given a brief idea of what we're dealing with here but I'm just going to go over it again in more detail" I looked around at the soldiers quickly "at 0605 hours a Decepticon signal was located in the downtown district of Shanghai. The cover story this time is a toxic spill and the area had to be evacuated for search and rescue. This one makes six enemy contacts in eight months and it's really important that we don't let this get out in the public eye. Can I have a show of hands of first timers?"

About six hands went up and I nodded in agreement "great. I trust you've been given a proper debriefing of rules and weapons"

Nods and I smile "perfect. Okay people let's get a move on. Nathan, Ben, go find Sideswipe, he's been looking for you, Fig speak in English and take the newbies over to Epps. Charlie, Anthony, Craig just do whatever you guys do without blowing everything up, Brett go to Ratchet and make sure all your gears sorted. The rest of you get your gear and get into position. Go, go, go"

The soldiers moved off in various directions to complete the jobs I had given them leaving me standing by myself, feeling very awkward. A small beeping from my headset made me jump and I quickly checked the incoming transmission.

"Go ahead Screamer"

"I'm just coming into land now. Scans show that it might not just be one Decepticon that we'll be dealing with"

"Can you tell how many?" I asked

"Not yet" I looked up as the F-22 flew overhead "Am I clear to land?"

"Go ahead"

There was the sound of parts whirring, clanking and shifting and about three seconds later the ground shook slightly as Starscream landed just in front of me. He straightened up to his full height and looked around slowly.

"Nice place" he said

"Was that sarcastic?"

"Yes"

Phew, well that's that. Hopefully the next chapter won't take me as long. I have a camp all of next week so don't expect an update before then.

Toodles