Author's Note:

"speech"

'thought'

"Comm. Talk"

"Cybertronian"

-Flightless- = Linebreak

Alexis never thought something like this could ever happen; but a lot can change in twenty-four hours... All across the globe a strange occurrence had affected a tenth of the world's population. Whatever the cause, any unlucky individual that was in close contact of a vehicle at time have now been transformed into giant robots? The entire world is in an uproar and panic is spreading. In order to stop the public from panicking, the United Nation have put together plan. All people under the strange condition are to be brought to these protected facilities, (one in each continent) along with their machine counterparts until a cure can be made. Releasing a drawn out sigh, Alexis waits among the hundreds to be put in one of these 'camps'. The vehicles that everyone is merged with are in another area for storage, including Alexis's dreaded jet. Helpless is all she can feel for the time being as these strange people start taking their names and details.

Every so often, Alexis would think back to what happened to her at the air force museum. When she first work up, she had somehow already separated from the jet only to find her entire body still covered in a thin plating of armour with a visor covering her eyes, but also to find herself completely surrounded by soldiers with their weapons pointed directly at her. From there, she dragged off along with the Nighthawk to this recently constructed area at Hoover Dam. Alexis pushed her thoughts away as she looked at the people confining everyone here. So far, Alexis could only tell that we're three types of people here. First and most predominantly; the guards. With their dark gray uniform and weapons on standby, Alexis could only hope that they are there for show. Second was the white coated scientists; only a few of them walked by. Third and last of all; the ones those are in charge, the Officers. At least Alexis thought they are; they obviously looked out place with their flashy suits. Only thing the guards and scientists had in common however were the logos on their uniform "S7". Things get weirder by the second.

Alexis scrunches the form in hands, twisting it just a little so she can vent out the stress that is slowly building up inside her. She is moments away from the front of the line that leads to the desk. She tries to sneak a peek of what is happening at the desk but the people in front block her view. Strange that she is a short arse now but can become 30ft metal monster at a moment's notice... As her turn nears, the man before her is taken away by the guards to a passage on the right hand side. The man seated at the desk, quite possibly in his mid 40s with a greying hairline creeping in gestures for her to come forward. The butterflies in her stomach increase as she walks towards him. Without even looking up from his paperwork, the man pushes the glasses higher on his nose and holds out his hand.

"Form please." Alexis places the rolled up and crumbled piece of paper in his hand causing the gentlemen to look up little. He grimaces as he unrolls the paper and reaches for a fresh sheet of paper.

"Name is Alexis Witwacky." The feeling of painful nerves washed away, being replaced with nothing but annoyance.

"It's Witwicky..." 'I guess some things never change.'

"Whatever." While tapping his finger on the table, he marks of some boxes. "This says here that you are combined with a jet fighter... Yet it states here that you are a nurse? How long have you been serving the Air Force miss?" His pulls out another form and starts to write down it.

"I'm not part of Air force... I'm a just a nurse." He stops writing as if pausing for her to continue. This did not look good from where Alexis is at. Alexis was about to explain until the man stared at her fully for the first time.

"What the hell is a civilian doing with air force property?" Everyone was staring at her now until one of the guards came up to them and handed another form to aged gentleman. "Decommissioned air force property sir; we got this one from the national museum at Dayton." While reading the new form, the man repositioned his glasses again and glanced up at Alexis. She didn't know what creeped her out the most; how quick this man mood swings are or how a thin frail man with geeky glasses can roar out like that. Mr. Temper sighed as he stamped out and stapled the forms and handed them to her. "Normally I would send you off to the Secured Sector but seeing as you can't fly. You will be joining the other ladies in the Public Housing. Head for the left exit, you will be seated down and the presentation will start shortly."

Without much warning, two guards appeared either side of her and lead her to left exit. Heading down the long corridor did not do much for Alexis at the moment as the anxiety creeped back inside. She must be strong; everything will work out for the best. Perhaps this is all a dream and she wake up back at home. Or she is still back at the air force museum, lying under a pile of rubble slowly dying... Right now, Alexis just wanted to be alone, to mope in her self-pity but the chances of privacy look like they are out the window at the moment. They reached an enormous hall filled with thousands of chairs steadily being filled with others like herself. The guards directed her to a seat and turned back the way they came. Sitting down by herself, Alexis looked around her to see an odd barricade dividing the hall into two sections... One side for the men and the other for the women. Most people choose to sit down and wait for whatever is about happen while others opt to clumping together in groups. Alexis turned to see a little group slowly forming nearby her. She couldn't help but eardrop but most of the discussion was pretty much more of the same as what other people are talking about. What's going on? What did I do to be sent into isolation? Why are they separating us like this?

Time felt like it slowed down to an eternity until Alexis noticed some activity happening on stage. By the looks of it; everyone has been seated and slowly the entire hall once loud and bustling, is now reduced to silence when a gaunt woman in the grey suit walked up to the platform. Once she reached the middle of the stage, she directed her stare overhead as if she were evaluating everyone.

"As you all probably know by now, you have been sent here for the public's safety and for your own." Straight to the point, at least there is some form of honesty here.

"It is important for all of you to know that there are rules that must be followed accordingly. If you are given an instruction by any of our personnel or security, you must comply. Any form of refusal will result in minor restrictions in leisure or confined to solitary confinement." A small outburst from the crowd as the woman goes on with her speech without batting an eyelash.

A young man, maybe even her age group rose up from the throng of people. "You have no right to do this to us!" Guards immediately head towards him. Right until this moment, whatever the woman was going on about was going to be completely ignored. Alexis was surprised however when the man's body was quickly covered in a blue metal plating. In a matter of moments, he was head to toe in sharp armour, his dark blonde completely covered with only his face being exposed. Foolishly the young man tried to take a swing at one of the guards only to have gotten himself zapped by a taser gun. Once he was down, the guards picked him up and took him away while the crowd slowly quieted down.

For a while the woman at the platform paused and just stared in the direction where the protestor has been taken away until turning back towards the seated audience and continued on as nothing occurred.

"From this point on, there is no contact with the opposite sex. From time to time, you will be asked to do various tasks and tests with our staff. Most importantly, under no circumstance is anyone allowed to walk around without their ID cards. This information is needed for our personnel and security to identify you. Remember the government still has your best interests in mind and we are doing everything we can to help you. That concludes the end of this presentation; ladies please take the exit on the left; gentlemen, the one on your right. Our personnel will show you to your rooms. Thank you." Devoid of any emotion, the woman walks off stage. Slowly everyone got up from their seats and was directed out by security. A part of Alexis wanted to scream her head off and run away but was restrained by thought of what the guards might do to her. Probably the same thing they had done to that protestor. A sense of dread takes place as Alexis walks among the masses. All she can do now is blame herself. After all, she was the one who made the bet...

-Flightless-

The Ark will never be same as it used to be. Though its structure remained the same as the day of its construction, the mechs and femmes that used to dwell within its corridors have long since been claimed as casualties of war. It's been so long since the Golden Age, the betrayal of his brother and the destruction of the Allspark. But now there may be some form of hope of survival for Cybertron. Optimus Prime entered the command centre and headed towards his second-in-command. His men immediately stood at attention when he entered the room. Giving them the gesture to be at ease, they returned to work while he waited for a report. The mech before him continued to jolt down information in his data pad, while he gave orders to the mechs at the control boards. His door wing apparatus on his back twitched slightly when he regarded his leader. "The science division has sent in their report Optimus; not much has changed."

Optimus Prime headed for the central holo-projector that was currently displaying their destination. The great blue green planet turned in the holographic light showing several points of interest. "Has Perceptor pin pointed the energy's trajectory?" His second walked up beside him activated the holo-projector to zoom in. "At the moment, all we can say is the energy has scattered."

"I still think we should move closer to the planet."

"We would risk detection by the planet inhabitants which is highly illogical."

"Everything is illogical to you, Prowl. We waste time right now waiting on our afts and it's only a matter of time until the decepticons make their move." The large black mech shifted his weight from one ped to the other. Bristling with large cannons and displaying more scared armour than anyone on the Ark. Ironhide, the Autobot weapon specialist regarded his close friend with what could be called as a calculated look. Even though they are close friends, Ironhide and Optimus usually don't see optic to optic.

"Optimus, this truce with the cons ended when Starscream made his first move. There is no reason for us to hold back now." That much was true and the ship's hull still bears the mark where Starscream sent his strike force to cripple them. That setback sent them three deca-cycles behind schedule and to think it all start when their sensors picked up the strange energy pulse. It was later found out the Allspark 'residue' has been travelling through a series of wormholes till now.

"Prowl is right, Ironhide. We can't risk giving away our position to the decepticons or the natives of this planet." With that said, Optimus turned his attention to the holo-projector. Prowl glances at Ironhide with a look of satisfaction while Ironhide releases a hiss from his air vents. "However." With one word, both mechs turn their attention to their leader. "Ironhide does have a point. We cannot allow the decepticons to have a complete pedhold on this planet..." Ironhide chuckles and elbows his comrade which only made Prowl more annoyed.

"So what do we do now, Optimus?" Ironhide walks up and stands beside his leader and friend by the holo-projector. "We advance towards the planet but we will keep the maximum distance from the planet's radar. We will send scouts on planet side to gather information on the situation. Those that are sent down will have to disperse themselves in the society and blend in; this includes looking up their global interconnected networks."

"The inhabitants of this planet call it the Internet or the World Wide Web..." Prowl activated the holo-projector's side panel and soon, another section is revealed displaying various bits of information from the said network.

Suddenly a hiss of static emits from the speakers by the wall. "Sorry to interrupt but you may want to look at the sensor display. We are picking another signal." A voice filtered out of the speaker with a slight hiss during the transmission. Using his data pad, Prowl allows the holo-projector to focus on the signal's wavelength pattern. The mass of light protons shoot about erratically to create a continuous wave of patterns that made up the signal. All three mech stared at the mass of stringed light get tangled and untangled. They are not scientists but it is plain to see that it either their equipment is not functioning properly or it's something the scanners have never picked up before.

"It could be Allspark Residue energy." Prowl entered the codes on the data pad and made the holo-projector zoom into the image and bringing into full view, the strange wavelength of energy hovered above everyone. The voice crack across the speakers again. "Actually the signal is a different kind of energy reading... but we can't get a fix where it is or what it is. But it's defiantly Cybertronian..."

"Decepticons?" Optimus Prime spark sank; to think what the Decepticons are planning to do on the planet or what do they hope to achieve with the scattered Allspark energy. "Unlikely; the scanners would have picked up Decepticons signatures but something could be blocking the signal." Maybe there could still be a chance.

"Wheeljack, see if you can indentify that signal."

"You got it Optimus." The voice over the speaker went out.

"In the meantime we press forward; we must reach that planet and find out what is happening down there." It's taken this long to finally find the Allspark residue but the question still remains unanswered in Optimus Primes CPU. If Megatron chased after the dying embers of the Cybertronian artefact, where is he now? Could he already be there waiting for them to come so that he may strike at them. Or has Megatron already harnessed the power of the Allspark and created the ultimate weapon. Releasing a hiss from his hydraulic system and dwelling on the sinking feeling in his spark chamber, Optimus could only hope that they were not too late.