Hey! I decided to add a little author's note in this chapter. I know my story has been pretty close to the series so far, but please be patient! I intend to make quite a few changes as my story progresses. I just happen to like some of the elements from the series and I want to give them my own twist.

Oh and I haven't been remembering to add this in previous chapters, but I do not own Transformers Prime! I would love too, but oh well. I do, however, lay claim to my character, Everon.

So please, I hate to ask but review! I love to work off critiques, and though I pretty much have my storyline down, I might take some small ideas too if you want to give any.

On with the story!

To say my night was restless would be an understatement. Though I did sleep, which was better than the previous night, my dreams had a morbid twist to them.

I kept replaying what happened with Cliff over and over again. It was so vivid I could have sworn it was real. But these dreams had one flaw. After they take him, I race after Cliff, somehow ending up in what I think is a cave. Blue crystals of energon can be seen glittering in the walls all around me, and up ahead, I see some prone form lying on the ground.

I immediately realize that it was Cliffjumper.

Running forward, I slide down on the ground beside him. I try to speak, but no words come out. As I begin to panic, the scene began to change. The blue crystals take on a purplish tint, illuminating the cavern in a pulsing, violet glow.

Cliff began to change as well. His wounds became more evident and jagged, and a purple substance began to leak from the wounds. Before I can respond, he moves to look at me.

"You left me," he growls. "You left me to die."

"I'm here now! I'll fix you, and I'll get Ratchet to help. You'll be fine…" But then an unnatural sound ripped from his lungs as he roared and lunged at me. I push back away from him. "Cliff! Stop this! Let me help you!"

"Too late," he grinds out, then, with a final lunge, everything goes black.

The next thing I know, my eyes pop open, only to be met by the harsh fluorescent lighting of the base. With a groan, I roll over onto my stomach and pull the pillow over my head. I was shaking slightly, heart racing, but I was too tired to really acknowledge it.

"Everon? Are you alright?"

I pull my head out from under the pillow in order to look at my concerned father who was kneeled down next to the platform I was sleeping on, placing him at eye level to me. With a forced smile, I reply, "I'm fine. Just a little restless."

I can tell that he knows that I'm not fine, but he doesn't press any further. "The others should be back soon with the humans. I take it that you might want to start getting ready soon."

"Alright." As he turns to walk away, my mind turns back to the energon in my dream. The crystals that turned from blue to purple. And I think of how Cliff was leaking, purple energon, much like what Arcee mentioned. "Dad, that substance, the one on Arcee, could it possibly be…" But my sentence is interrupted by Ratchet's cry of shock.

I rush over to watch as the remnants of the claw Bulkhead broke skittered across the floor, looking almost as if it were alive, straight towards Ratchet. It was jumping around, attacking him while he swung a steel pipe to try and crush it. The little machine merely ducked behind some screens and then sliced his microscope in half. "I needed that!" Ratchet cried out, obviously frustrated over the situation at hand. The claw then jumped into the air towards me. Just before it reached me, though, my dad expertly shot the claw out of midair. When the claw tried to stand back up, he merely stepped on it, effectively destroying the little death trap.

"And stay broken," Ratchet threatens to the little pile of scrap, as if he did anything even though it was my dad who stopped the claw.

"Aww," I cry out. "You should have let me have a go at it! It's not often we fight something that's even remotely close to my size!"

The look my dad and Ratchet gave me suggested that they thought I might not be right in the head at the moment.

"Now what could have caused that!" Ratchet asks, clearly bewildered at the moment.

"It has to be that substance that Cliff was leaking! The stuff on Arcee. That's what I was going to tell you Dad. I think it's some kind of mutated energon, one that brought this claw to life. One that brought back Cliff as a monster…"

"And I believe I know exactly which kind of energon it is," my dad tells me. "Dark energon…"

"An energon that can bring inanimate machines back to life…. It would also account for Cliffjumper's life signal popping back online," Ratchet mused. "But… dark energon? It's so scarce as to be virtually nonexistent! What would it be doing on Earth…"

"Take a wild guess," I suggest sarcastically.

"It was transported," my dad states. "By Megatron."

"For what purpose?"

"To conquer this planet by raising an army of the undead."

"Well," Ratchet continues, "Megatron will have to break quite a few toaster ovens. I mean, where on this world would he find that many Cybertronian dead."

My dad takes a moment to turn to me. "Everon, you might want to go get ready. The others should be here at any moment. Ratchet and I need to discuss some things."

"But…"

"Please, my daughter. We will talk later." His eyes are pleading to me to stand down from this, so I give a quick nod and rush towards my room. After quickly getting dressed and preening my hair and makeup, I make it back into the main room just in time to see Jack, Miko, and Raf pull in with their respective Bots. They all seemed to have been enjoying themselves based on their shouts of excitement, even Jack. This made me grin: perhaps he is finally accepting the Cybertronian half of my life. I could only hope it stays this way.

As the three newly arrived Bots shifted though, a clanking sound could be heard inside Bulkhead's chest. "Uhh…" He then opens his chassis only to pull out a guitar case.

"Sorry," Miko responds while taking the case from Bulkhead. "Must have left that in the backseat."

"Autobots," my dad announces, "Prepare to…" he hesitates, taking in the three new humans standing next to their respective guardians.

"Roll out?" Arcee suggests when Optimus doesn't finish.

"Remain here. Ratchet, you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside communications range for some time. So I'm putting you charge."

Looking to Bulkhead, Miko says, "Dude, you're biggest! You should be the boss."

"Umm… He never picks me."

"Last time Bulkhead was left in charge," I tell her and the kids, "I was four and somehow managed to ground bridge myself to Guatemala. My dad was not too pleased. Let's just say Bulk's lucky he found me."

Arcee decides to speak up at this moment. "Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing, babysitting is another!" Jack sighs and shakes his head, deciding not to even argue the babysitting point. "Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war."

"My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing is as sharp as ever!"

"For the moment," Optimus replies carefully, "it is only reconnaissance."

"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?" she questions.

"Arcee, much has changed in the last twenty four hours, and we all need to adapt." Looking behind him at our medic, he states, "Ratchet, bridge us out."

"Be careful!" I yell. "Both of you! Or by the all spark, I will kick both your afts!"

Optimus looks at me and gives a warm smile, while Ratchet merely scoffs but not in a harsh way. And with that, they walk into the open ground bridge.

"Okay, chief," Jack says, "So, uhh, what's on the activities list?"

With an exasperated look, Arcee responds, "I'm going on patrol."

"But Optimus told us to stay," Bulk chimes in.

"When you're in charge, you can call the shots. Bee, with me."

Seriously? the young scout bleeps as he walks towards her with slumped shoulders.

"Bulkhead," she continues, "you're in charge."

"Are you sure that's okay?" he asks. "I mean, after Guatemala and the incident in Canada."

"First off, no one is ever to mention the Canada incident!" I shout. "Never! Secondly, you could leave me in charge."

Raf leaned towards Jack an asked, "What happened in Canada?" He merely shrugged.

Arcee rolled her optics. "This from the girl who spent the last time she was in charge teaching Bulk, Bee, and Cliff what a prank is, and then initiated a prank war which ended very badly."

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Miko asked.

"Optimus and Ratchet ended up pink. And glittered."

"Hey now!" I said in my defense. "That paint bomb was meant for Cliffjumper and Bumblebee! Those two weren't supposed to be back from patrol yet."

With one last shake of the head, she says to Bulk, "Don't let her mess with the ground bridge controls." With that, she and Bee shifted and drove off through the base exit.

After watching them drive away, Bulk asks, "So, uh, what's on the activities list?"

"Ev could tell us what happened in Canada," Jack suggested. "Or not…"

His question was cut off by the high pitch squealing of Miko's amp as she adjusted the volume. "How 'bout… band practice!"

"But we're not a band!" Raf points out.

"Why so antisocial? C'mon Raf! You play anything?"

"Um…"

"Use your computer," I suggested. "It's how I used to write and create my music."

"You write?" Miko asked excitedly.

"Not really. A friend of mine did, but I supervised and made suggestions. I can't play any instruments, though."

"Jack?"

Sheepishly, he says, "I sometimes mess around on the harmonica." I roll my eyes at his response.

"Do I look like I do country? Just, cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming."

"Uhh…"

"Bulkhead! Percussion! We can go for a big industrial sound."

I chuckle a bit, adding in with a smirk, "Jack has played the drums since he was six. And he is awesome at it by the way."

"Seriously?" Miko asks. Turning to him, she continues, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Uhh…" Jack was looking a bit uncomfortable under Miko's harsh gaze, so he blurted out, "Everon can sing! Really well! And she used to take dance classes as well as martial arts!"

"Traitor!" I yell with a mock pout.

"You started it!" he countered.

"Both of you, zip it! Raf you're on keys and sound effects! Jack you're drums! Ev, lead vocals! Bulkhead is the roadie and bodyguard! D.I.Y.! We're a band. Now you all need to learn some songs. You guys listen. This one's a ballad. It's called "My Fist, Your Face'!" She then proceeds to strum what sounds like a random jumble of chords on her guitar.

Sadly, I recognized the song, and she was doing a rather better version than the original artists.

Soon, green, flashing lights for the proximity sensors could be seen. Of course, you couldn't hear them over Miko's excessive guitar strumming. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Bulk shouts over the noise.

"Oh come on," Miko gripes. "You can't handle raw power?"

"That's the proximity sensor!" I yell while running over to Bulk's outstretched hand. While he lifts me up, I yell, "Quick hide!"

The trio barely has time to scramble over behind Bulkhead's leg when Fowler comes out of the elevator. "Prime!"

"Here!" I yell.

"Not you Ever, your dad."

"Agent Fowler," Bulkhead greets. "Uhh, he's not here. Nobody's here! Except me of course."

"Well, where did he go?" my godfather pressed further. "Wait don't tell me: he's out pancaking a mini mall."

"Seriously, who has been messing with your coffee supply?" I ask him sarcastically. "Your usual charming self has been personified as of late."

"Now, I don't know what language you Bots speak on your planet…" Bulk steps to the left to cover the others who are trying to peek out from behind his leg. "…but Prime promised he would handle the Decepticons. And blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska is not what the word handle means in English…" all during his rant, Miko's guitar was making noise over the amps she was still plugged into.

Please, I think, Don't look at the cord. Just look away from the cord. I go as far as to make exaggerated and albeit a little rude mocking faces to keep his attention.

Unfortunately, it's not enough. "…so you tell Prime… Since when are you Bots electric?"

Scrap.

"Uhh… new… system… testing?" I offer.

Realizing the gig is up, the trio steps out from behind Bulk with Jack being the first to speak up to Fowler who immediately recognizes him. "Hey Mr. Fowler… How are you doing?"

Fowler looks at me in disbelief. "That is so not my fault."

"Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off the books this time. Wait: don't tell me. You're running a daycare center!"

While Bulk and I look at each other, trying to figure out what to say, Jack cuts in. "We're interns!"

"Student interns!" Raf adds.

"Earning extra credit in…"

"…Auto shop!" "Robotics!"

I smile grimly down at them from where I stand in Bulk's hand. "Nice try.."

Fowler begins to move down the stairs towards all of us as Bulk sits me down on the floor next to the trio. "Okay," Fowler says. "Let's move. I'm taking all three of you into federal custody. Everon included for the time being. It's for your own protection."

Before Fowler could reach us, however, a large metal foot blocking his path stopped him. "We're protecting them," Bulkhead proclaimed. "And you may be her godfather, but she's Optimus' daughter. And my little sister. So Ev stays here, too."

"Well maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon." He then picks up a standing landline telephone, aiming to make a call since cell phones did not work here.

"Don't use that phone, it's…" Bulk then reached forward and stuck his oversized finger into the phone, effectively stopping the call, but breaking the phone in the process. "…out of order."

"This isn't over big butt! Not by a long shot!" he then storms up the staircase towards the elevator, obviously leaving to find another way to contact his superiors.

Bulkhead and I merely sigh in frustration, knowing that things were not turning out very well. "At least we are not stuck in Guatemala…"

Not long after Fowler left, another alarm system went off, one that was much louder than the proximity sensors.

"My ears…" Raf complained.

"Scrap," I say as I climb the ladder to the platform next to the computer screens. "It's an S.O.S. signal."

As Bulkhead looked at the screen, he announced, "From Fowler!" Then, with a confused look on his face, he begins to look for a way to shut off the alarm. Soon however, the alarms just stopped, and I motioned Bulk to hold me in front of the screen.

"Did you trace it?" Raf asked.

After looking at the screen for a minute, I sigh. "The location scan was incomplete."

Bulk merely shrugs. "Oh well."

"Wait, seriously?"

"What? Fowler's a jerk."

"Whoa!" Jack interjects while I stand steaming in Bulk's hand. "Whether you like him or not, the Decepticons may have him!"

"And Agent Fowler knows your location!" Raf adds. "Our location…"

"And did we not just witness how fast Fowler backs down from a Bot? The Cons will totally make him squeal!" Miko says.

I chime in, trying not to raise my voice but failing miserably. "Not to mention that Fowler is my godfather! Grump or not, he is my family, which makes him your family too."

"But we lost the transmission!" Bulk says in his defense. "Fowler could be anywhere!"

"Maybe I can narrow it down," Raf suggested. "About five years ago, the government started micro-chipping it's agents. Like owners do with pets." Everyone just looks at him. "What? I saw it on T.V. Anyway, if I can hack my way onto the feds mainframe, I should be able to get a lock on his location."

"You know how to hack?" Miko asked incredulously. "But you're, like, two years old."

"Twelve. And a quarter." After typing away at his computer for a bit, Raf begins to spit out coordinates. "Latitude 39.5, longitude 116.9."

"Okay, wait here," Bulk orders.

"I'm coming with you," I announce as he moves to open the ground bridge.

"No, you're not. You're staying here and you're in charge."

"Bulk we don't have time for this. Fowler and the base's integrity are at risk. The Cons most likely have him on their warship, and you know I'm your best bet of finding him."

"Are you crazy? I am not going to take you anywhere near the Cons, let alone their warship! I don't care if you have every inch of that ship memorized! You. Are. Not. Going!"

"Wait," Jack says. "How does Ev know her way around the Cons' warship? I mean, did she memorize schematics or something?"

"Not now Jack," I ground out, still locked in a glaring contest with Bulkhead.

"Seriously? Can you stop putting off telling us already? What are you hiding, Ev? I can understand you not wanting to tell Miko or Raf, you just met them, but me? I've known you since we could walk! But lately, I'm beginning to wonder if I know you at all!"

"Do you want to know the truth, Jack!" I scream at him. "Well here's the truth. When I was seven, I didn't suddenly get transferred. I was kidnapped by Megatron and lived on his warship for five years before I managed to sneak off when I was twelve! Want to know why he took me? Not just because I was Optimus' kid! In a spark shock, you need two slivers from different sparks! Guess who the other half of my spark belongs to!"

Jack took a step back, clearly shocked. "Megatron…"

"Bingo! Oh, and the real reason the Bots don't want me near the Cons is that they're still afraid I might flip."

Bulkhead sounded shocked. "Everon, you know that's not true."

"Oh really? I've seen the looks you all give me. The way you dance around the subject of my capture and what happened there. You know they didn't hurt me. And you're all afraid I might go back, no matter how much I say that I'm loyal to the Autobot cause. So if you want to prove to me that you trust me, then take me with you to that warship so I can finally prove myself!"

By the end of my rant, my voice is shaking and tears are threatening to spill from my eyes. Bulkhead looks sadly down at me and says, "We have always loved and trusted you, Everon. If we did anything to seem otherwise, I can tell you that we are all so sorry." He sighs and then scoops me up while mumbling, "If Optimus flipped over Guatemala, he is going to rip out my spark over this one…"

Now calmer, I respond softly, "I wouldn't let him touch you, Bulk." He smiles at me, and I shout to the others as he sits me on his shoulder and heads towards the ground bridge, "Jack's in charge. We'll be back soon." And then we entered the portal.

After jumping through the portal, Bulk and I look around as he shouts, "Fowler!" Then I point straight ahead at our target. "Uh-oh. The whole Decepticon shebang."

There sat the Cons massive warship, hovering low to the ground and surrounded by cavern walls and the ground being patrolled by various troopers. "I told you he would be on the ship."

"I still hoped otherwise." He then made his way towards the ship, dodging behind rocks, as I balanced myself into a crouch on his shoulder. Unfortunately, a voice spoke up from behind us.

"Alright!" Miko whispered loudly. "What's the plan?"

"Miko!?" Bulk and I whisper loudly back. This was definitely not good. Not good at all.

Just then, a passing Vehicon trooper approached her and leveled a blaster towards her. "Oh," she responded. "Unwise."

"Miko get down!" I shout. She jumps over the rock she is next to and barely avoids getting shot. Immediately, I can feel Bulk grabbing me and sitting me rather roughly on the ground as he tackles the trooper. After some shared punches, Bulkhead has the trooper pinned to the ground.

Miko chooses this moment to try and 'help.' "Hold him still!" she says as she attempts to hit the trooper on the head with a rock she can barely lift. It doesn't really do anything. Bulk responds by scooping her up and tossing her lightly to the side.

I jog over to her and say, "I know it's frustrating, but the best way to help them focus is to focus on not getting squished."

"Kids!" Bulk yells. "Look away!"

"But…" she starts.

"Turn your head away!" I turn and cover my eyes, but Miko watches on as Bulk guts the Con before him, ripping out his circuits. She was in awe.

Once assuring our cover wasn't further blown, Bulk decides to radio for back up. "Arcee, Bumblebee, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Bulkhead."

"I have a situation…" he said nervously as I peered out around the corner of rock we were hiding behind.

"Bulkhead, they're children, humans. Just do whatever."

Once Bulk relayed the situation, Arcee was not too happy and skidding could be heard over the comm link. "You're where? Everon's where?!"

After a few minutes of waiting on the backup to arrive, Bulk speaks up. "What's taking Arcee and Bumblebee?"

"Just give them time, Bulk. They'll be here soon, and we can send Miko back."

"You do realize they are probably going to try to send you back, right?" he replies cautiously.

"Like I'd give them the option."

Miko cuts in. "Dude, the Cons could be putting the clamps on Fowler right now! Let's just storm the joint." As soon as she finished speaking, a ground bridge could be seen opening where we came through.

"Finally," I state. Unfortunately, it didn't let through the reinforcement we were expecting.

"Why don't those guys go hang with their own Bots?" Miko quips. "This is our one on one time." Bulk and I just sigh in frustration at our luck.

"Are your bones vibrating?" Raf asks Jack after they step through the portal. Then, the two look up to see the massive warship before them. And several Vehicon troopers aiming their blasters at them.

Bulk, Miko, and I could think of only one thing to say.

"Scrap."

Then after burying my face in my hands, I add, "This is so worse than the Canada incident..."