A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews guys. I still wasn't expecting to have this many by now... maybe just a couple from my loyal friend Kimmieh-chan. After all, I guess it was her that really made me write this... and the plot bunnies dancing in my head. Oh well, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers

Summary: Abandoned by the Decepticons until she can prove herself again, Alice decides to go against Megatron to find a way for peace. To do so, she accidently enlists the help of Leo Spitz. Can they put the past aside and find a way to attempt to end the Cybertronian War?

Rating: T

Before It's Too Late

Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call NEST right now and tell them where you are." Leo ordered.

"I've found a way to end the war." Alice complied. Leo stared at her, dumbstruck.

xXx

"What do you mean you've found a way to end the war?" Leo spluttered. "This war is never going to end – Egypt was proof of that. Optimus and Megatron... the Autobots and Decepticons... they're just too different." He folded his arms. "Why should I believe you anyway? You're a Decepticon... the whole... deception thing..."

"Leo, I want to end this war." Alice insisted. "It's been going on for millions of years, and there isn't really any point to it anymore. There must be more technologically advanced ways on Cybertron to create energy for sparklings to stop them dying. I need to speak to Sam about something... he might be the only one who can and will help me because he has all of the knowledge of The All Spark."

"Do you seriously think I'm going to let you anywhere near Sam?" Leo asked and unfolded his arms. His right hand hovered over the call button on his phone.

"How are you going to stop me, Leo?" Alice asked, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. "By the time NEST get here, I'll be long gone."

"No." Leo scoffed. "After your first attack here and Egypt, Bumblebee isn't leaving Sam's side. He'll take you out and there won't be any need for NEST to get here except to pick up the pieces."

"Fine." Alice huffed. "If I can't get near Sam, you'll have to talk to him for me."

"Wait? What?" Leo cried. "I'm not going to ask Sam questions for you! I can't go and start questioning him randomly about transformer history! He'll freak out and then he'll want to know why I'm asking him and I don't think 'general curiosity' will cover it!"

"Okay then." Alice leaned forward and smirked. "I'll kill you if you don't do it. How's that for motivation, Leo?"

"Oh..."

xXx

Leo knocked on the door to his and Sam's dorm room. Alice was lurking around the corner at the end of the hall, her eyes fixed on Leo. She was making sure he didn't drop any hints to Sam that she was here. If he did, it was likely she wouldn't escape the building without having to fight Bumblebee. Leo knocked again, this time louder. Sam answered the door, looking extremely annoyed and dishevelled.

"Leo, you said you would be gone for the night." Sam scowled, glancing back into the room then at Leo. "What the hell do you want?"

"I... was just wondering if I could ask you some questions about Cybertron and stuff." Leo replied nervously.

"You want to ask me this now? Why now? Couldn't it wait?" Sam demanded.

"No, because I know I'll forget if I don't ask you now." Leo responded. "So... can I ask you now?"

"If you leave straight afterwards." Sam agreed, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him. He folded his arms and stared at Leo. "What made you think about this stuff anyway? Weren't you out getting pizza with Sharsky and Fassbinder?"

"They... don't really seem to want to hang out with me." Leo confessed, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "I think it's because we disappeared for a few days and I came back all matey with you and then I didn't tell them where I had been or anything."

"That might be it..." Sam said thoughtfully. "You know that you can't tell them anything, right?"

"Of course I know that." Leo sighed. "So. Cybertron."

"Yes."

"I was just wondering if there was some sort of activation energy thingy hidden somewhere on Earth." Leo shrugged. "It just crossed my mind whilst I was eating, y'know, like the Matrix could bring Optimus back. Could we use it to revive other transformers if there was something like that?"

"I'm not really sure..." Sam said, rubbing his chin. "But something sticks out in my mind... I want to say... the Amazon... South America... that kind of area. I think there's something about ruins of ancient temples and some sort of power source... something that was kept hidden because it was activation energy for something... something the Autobots and the Decepticons didn't want activated."

"Any idea what it is?" Leo asked.

"No." Sam replied. "I can't be more precise than that – it's like The All Spark doesn't want me to know about it... maybe I'll talk to Optimus Prime and see if he knows anything about it..."

"Erm..." Leo glanced at Alice, who was shaking her head and making motions with her hand across her throat, telling him to cut the conversation off. If Sam spoke to Optimus Prime, he might figure out what she was trying to do. "Nah, don't worry about it. You've told me enough. I was just curious about it. I don't need to know all the gory details."

"Oh, well, if you're sure." Sam shrugged.

"I'm sure." Leo nodded. "Have fun with Mikaela and don't worry – I'll crash at someone else tonight, to give both of you some alone time."

"Oh, thanks." Sam said, watching Leo dash off down the hallway and disappear around the corner, half skidding. Leo grabbed Alice by the arm and dragged her out of Hamilton Hall, heading for the college grounds. The sky was darkening, though parts of it were illuminated by the city lights as Leo dragged Alice towards the entrance to the college.

"Leo, where are we going?" Alice asked.

"Away from here." Leo replied. "Sam is clearly going to be wondering why I was asking him those questions, and he'll probably tell Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a lot smarter than Sam and will probably be able to work out that I'm not asking them purely out of interest – he'll know that someone is looking for something, and the fact that I asked him and a transformer didn't will prove that it's a Decepticon."

"So why are you coming with me?" Alice asked, planting her feet firmly on the ground, forcing Leo to stop and look at her. "Shouldn't you stay here and convince them you didn't just help out a Decepticon? Autobots tend not to like it when you do that."

"If I stay here, I'll be subjected to even more questioning by the Autobots – maybe even Optimus Prime – and, I know what Sam said, you don't. You need me. I'm not going to give you the information so you can just run away and plot to destroy Earth." Leo insisted. "I'm going with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid and if you do, I'll take you out."

"Please, don't make me laugh."

"I won't." Leo grinned. "Anyway, you're going to need me – you're not human, Alice. Some of the things you do are going to stick out like a sore thumb. You're going to need me to communicate with people for you and... people don't take to kindly to other people with mechanical arms." Leo gestured to her arm, which was mechanical again.

"Oh no!" Alice tucked it behind her back and glared at him. "I don't even know why it keeps doing that! I know that after Mikaela hit me with the car I couldn't transform, but this is the second time this has happened – I think I need to see someone who can fix it, but Decepticons have never been too big on fixing each other up..."

"How about Ratchet?"

"He's an Autobot."

"Are you sure there aren't any Decepticon medics?"

"Well, there's Scalpel but none of them will help me anyway."

"Why not?"

"It's a long story."

"We've got time."

"Okay, I'll give you the short version – Megatron banished me from the Decepticon ranks until I get these 'crazy' ideas for peace out of my head and fix myself up. Only then am I allowed to make any contact with the Decepticons." Alice explained. "I'm not going to get these ideas out of my head – I'm going to follow them through."

"What, you're going to South America – that's where Sam said to go – to find this activation energy and then you're going to take it back to Cybertron to revive the planet?" Leo asked.

"Something like that." Alice's eyes dropped to the floor. When Leo found out what she was really going to do with the activation energy, he wasn't going to like it. If he tried to stop her in any way, she would kill him. Never had anyone been so close to finding peace in the Cybertronian War, no matter how shocking the means to get peace were.

"Well then I'm definitely coming with you." Leo insisted. "You're going to save the world from this war, and I want in. I didn't get anything out of Egypt... except for a hell of a lot of sand... well, and a big load of government cash but that isn't the point. I want some of the glory. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot and a scaredy cat. For once in my life I just want people to respect me."

"That's a very human thing." Alice observed. "Y'know – doing it for the glory."

"So can I come with you?" Leo asked.

"I guess you might be useful sometimes..." Alice said thoughtfully. "If you out serve your purpose, I can just kill you and dump the body somewhere."

"..."

"That was a joke, silly."

"You're jokes aren't funny." Leo snapped. "So, where to first?"

"I guess we have to go to South America." Alice shrugged. "Did he give you a proper location or anything?"

"I'm pretty sure he mentioned the Amazon." Leo said, rubbing his chin.

"The Amazon is pretty big."

"Then we better start looking as soon as we get to South America."

"This doesn't mean that I like you."

"Same here, Alice. I'm only here to make sure you don't do anything really typical of Decepticons."

"Well, killing you would be a start." She smirked.

"Can we please get away from the subject of my death?" Leo scowled.

xXx

"What did Leo want?" Mikaela asked, snuggling against Sam's shoulder.

"Something to do with Cybertronian tech." Sam replied, sighing and leaning back against the railings. "He was acting kinda weird though. He kept glancing around the corner, like someone was watching him and he was checking if they were still there."

"I'm sure it was nothing." Mikaela said.

"I'm not." Sam frowned. "What would make him ask questions like that? I know he's curious about it all after Egypt, but why not ask Bumblebee about some sort of power source like that. Why did he ask me?"

"Maybe he's still freaked out by the transformers and wanted to talk to a human." Mikaela sighed impatiently. "Look – if you want to sit here and talk about Leo all night, I'm going to leave. We need to talk about us."

"Can I at least get Bumblebee to tail him?" Sam pleaded.

"Fine." Mikaela snapped. "But afterwards, we're talking about Egypt – you still haven't said those words, and I want to know why."

A/N: This chapter was up later than I expected, mainly because of unforeseen circumstances and it's not slash, so it takes forever for me to write it :)

I love your reviews guys! Keep them coming, and this time I'll try to reply to some of them – I just get so caught up in writing that I forget to respond to them! :D

I Caught Myself