Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney. Transformers and all related characters are the property of Hasbro.

The Transformers used will be a mixture of Generation 1, Beast Wars, the IDW Comics series (which is fantastic, by the way), the Aligned Continuity (The Prime and Robots in Disguise TV series and the Fall of Cybertron and War for Cybertron video games), and a smattering of The Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron) and Animated.


We were going nowhere fast! Okay, technically, we were going to a location about twenty miles outside of Nowhere, Oklahoma, but we were still clocking in at over a hundred miles an hour. The roads had been cleared, thanks to Agent Fowler, and we had a clear stretch of highway to where the battle royale with the Decpeticons was happening.

My name is Kim Possible. I'm a Global Justice agent on detached assignment with Unit E, and I was about to take my aggressions out on some Decepticon creeps! The only problem was, it seemed like Megatron had pulled out all the stops.

"The Decepticon warship, the Nemesis, was spotted," Ironhide said as we rocketed down the road. "And it looks like Megatron's got all hands on deck. The Seekers, Blitzwing and Lugnut, maybe even the Constructicons! And if those guys are there, we have big trouble!"

I nodded. I'd read about the Constructicons in the files Optimus Prime had given me. They had once been the most gifted engineers on Cybertron and, inspired by the legends of one of the Thirteen called Nexus Prime, decided to see if they could make themselves like that mythical figure.

Nexus Prime could split himself into five component parts, at least according to The Covenant of Primus, and each of those pieces had its own robot mode and personality. Nexus would willingly separate without fear of losing himself, and his parts would recombine without fear of losing their individuality. Again, this is all according to legend.

Long story short, the Constructicons altered themselves so they could physically and mentally combine. The results weren't what they expected. They created the gestalt process and became the first combiner team, but their merged form is basically a walking weapon of mass destruction. If Devastator was there, we would really be in for it.

Ironhide continued his impromptu briefing. "We're there in full force, kid! You and me are gonna be the last ones to arrive. Prime, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Sideways got there first, followed by Kup, Ratchet, Bumblebee and Windblade."

My eyes went wide. "Wow. Ratchet's there?"

"Hey, the doc can hold his own," Ironhide told me. "And that's not all. The Maximals are there, and we have some heavy hitters who should already be in the fight. So don't worry about the Constructicons. If they're doing their thing, the Dinobots can take them down."

I smiled. The Dinobots, as the name implied, could transform into robot dinosaurs. And their leader Grimlock was well known for his battle prowess. It looked like I would get to blow off some steam after all.

"What do we know about where the Driver's being held?" That was what all the fuss was about; a device called the TransMetal Driver, created by another one of the Thirteen, Quintus Prime.

"The stasis pod that's giving off the Driver's energy signature looks like it's being held in a bunker at a Sector Seven depot outside of Nowhere."

I cringed. Sector Seven meant Seymour Simmons. That guy was the ultimate weasel! When I turned seventeen, some lowlife creep set up a website counting down to the day I turned eighteen. Legal. It turned out that Simmons was one of the guys who watched it almost religiously, a fact he proudly told me when I met him during one of my first GJ training missions. I so wanted to give that guy a bloody nose, especially after he kept oggling me in my uniform.

But Sector Seven brought up more problems. Unit E was the US Government's main arm for dealing with extraterrestrials in general, and Cybertronians in particular. Sector Seven was supposed to work in conjunction with Unit E as a technological research arm. Agent Simmons seemed to think he was the one in charge of the whole thing. From what Spike told me, Simmons and Agent Fowler bucked heads on an almost weekly basis, and have come close to actually throwing punches more than once.

"Let me guess. Simmons and his band of merry men found the Driver and, instead of letting Agent Fowler know like he was supposed to, decided to shuttle it around to get under Fowler's and Megatron's respective radars?"

"That's the gist of it," the old Autobot confirmed. "Simmons has never liked Fowler all that much, and he's hated us since Bumblebee 'accidently' sprung a coolant leak on him."

I laughed. "Go, Bee!" I enjoyed the laugh, and the image that went with it. Then I put it all to the back of my mind. It was mission time. No more thinking about Mech, about Ron, and about the fact that the man I loved probably wanted to see me take a long walk off a short pier. No, now it was me against alien robot killing machines.

Me against bad guys. Good against evil. Finally, something simple. It's funny how the simple can get real complex real quick.

I didn't wait for Ironhide to come to a stop. I powered up my power suit, feeling the material turn into a metallic construct around me, cocooning me in its power and protection. I unbuckled my seatbelt, flung the door open, and dashed out onto the blacktop before my helmet had fully deployed. Ironhide transformed and got his weapons online a split second later.

I did a quick glance over the battlefield, getting my bearings. Starscream and his goons were buzzing overhead trying to get a bead on Windblade, and I could see that nut job Blitzwing having a rematch with my Headmaster friend Sideways. Hopefully this time 'Ways wouldn't go for a joyride on Blitzwing's jet mode and go in for a crash landing.

Lugnut, a gargantuan Decepticon with an almost fanatical allegiance to Megatron, was taking on a robot triceratops, one of the Dinobots, and was getting sprayed with fire courtesy of said Dinobot. Clearly this was Slag.

I heard a screech from overhead. A robot pteranadon (which was actually a pterosaur, not a dinosaur), had joined Winblade in her dogfight with the Seekers. Swoop was the name of the Dinobot flier, so that left three Dinobots unnaccounted for, as well as Optimus Prime, Megatron, the Maximals, Bumbleebee, Ratchet, Kup and the Constructicons. But that wasn't what concerned me.

I looked over at the main structure all the fighting was happening in front of; a combination bunker/office building, and I didn't see the objective. I switched on my visor's scan function, searching for the unique energy signature of the TransMetal Driver. The Autobots had the Decepticons busy, and I knew that even with my power suit, I wasn't in the same league. The best thing I could do was find the stasis pod with the Driver, and radio the loacation back to the Ark so I could get Teletraan-1 to open up a ground bridge.

Of course the building was shielded. "Paranoid much?" I muttered under my breath. Leave it to Simmons to make an already impossible sitch even worse. I put my head down and charged forward, hoping that I was a small enough target to keep me off of the 'Cons targeting scanners. The last thing I needed was an energy blast to the head.

The Sector Seven building was fifty feet away and getting closer. Fortunately for me, my suit increased my speed. Unfortunately for me, a blast from out of nowhere caught me off guard and threw me to the hard pavement.

When I looked up I saw a blue van decked out with broadcasting equipment come to a screeching halt. There was a Decepticon symbol on the front of the grille. The air was filled with the grinding sound of transformation, and the van broke apart and reconfigured until I was confronted by a big blue bot with a huge cannon on his shoulder.

His face reminded me a little of the Decepticon symbol, and he had a chest plate that looked like the front of an old cassette tape player. There was what looked like the tape deck itself, complete with stop, play, rewind and fast forwards buttons beneath it. On the deck door itself was a Decepticon symbol.

How do I know what a tape deck looks like, you ask? My dad kept his old Walkman, even after it had long since become obsolete, just so my brothers and I could see how far technology had come in the last few decades. Besides, I've seen Guardians of the Galaxy.

"You are the human called Kimberly Anne Possible," it said in a monotone yet heavily digitized voice.

"And you're the Decepticon called Soundwave," I said. The Decepticon communications and spy master. Great. He also had his own private army at his beckon call. All he had to do was press a button on his left shoulder, which he had just done.

His chest plate/tape deck door opened, and a rectangular object that looked like an old school blue cassette tape without the spools, came flying out, followed by a grey one.

The blue one transformed into a humanoid shape just a head shorter than me, and the grey one turned into some kind of wildcat. "Rumble, Ravage, eject," Soundwave said. "Operation: Human Extinction."

"With pleasure, boss," the blue 'bot said. His arms transformed into pile drivers. "You hear that, toots? It's time to see if you meat bags have your own AllSpark."

The two cassette minions charged at me, and I powered up my suit. Energy blades deployed from my forearms, and I used them to swat Ravage away when he pounced at me. The cat may have been the fiercest of the two, but I was more worried about Rumble living up to his name and trying to cause a massive earthquake.

The scanners in my visor came to life, giving me Rumble's tech specs. According to the info Teletraan-1 had downloaded into my suit's onboard computer, Rumble wasn't all that smart. Actually, Ravage was a lot smarter than his fellow Mini-Con was. An idiot with power was a dangerous thing.

Rumble was poised to start an earthquake, so I retracted one of my blades and fired off a stun pulse at his left pile driver. "Not so fast!"

"You're a feisty one, aint'cha?" Rumble said in that nasally street punk voice of his. "Cute, ain't it, Ravage? The fleshling thinks she can rumble with Rumble!"

Ugh. That had to be the lamenst self referential joke I'd ever heard, and I'd heard a lot of them over the years. I took a few more pot shots at him, trying to get him mad. One thing I've learned is that when the dumb ones get mad, they get sloppy. And when they get sloppy they defeat themselves. If I was lucky, I could get Rumble to take himself and his feline friend out of the fight for me.

I fired off two more stun blasts; one at each Mini-Con. Ravage hissed and charged at me, and I dived off to the side. Ravage missed me by inches. I fired off another volley at Rumble, and he cocked one of his pile drivers back like a fist. He took a punch with me, and I ducked. He wound up clocking Ravage instead.

That seriously ticked off the cat. But instead of going after Rumble, he went after me. Like I said, Ravage was the smarter of the two. Fortunatley, Rumble was dumber than I gave him credit for. I'd lured them into the entrance of a concrete bunker. When Rumble decked Ravage, he sent the cat flying into one of the support beams, and broke it. One more hit should do it.

"You have a twin, right, Rumble?" I asked, remembering the files on Soundwave's cronies. There was another 'bot who looked just like Rumble, except he was black and red. "Imagine how much scrap Frenzy is going to give you when he finds out you got your can handed to you by a fleshling!"

That did it. Rumble let out a war cry and charged at me. I jumped out of the way, and he rammed right into Ravage, and sent them both into the damaged support, which completely buckled. The whole structure came down on the Mini-Cons' heads.

I grinned behind my faceplate. "As Ron would say, booyah!" I switched my heads up display to scan for the Driver again. It was just fifty feet to the west. Right in the midst of the giant robot smack down. Well, no one said this job was going to be easy.

Making sure my shields (I was so glad my new suit had shields) were up and at full power, I ran headlong into the chaos. I hoped that Soundwave wouldn't see me and send any more of his pets after me. Those two were hard enough. Dealing with Frenzy, Laserbeak and Ratbat might be more than I could handle.

A massive explosion on my left nearly sent me flying. It was a blast from Megatron's arm cannon. He and Prime were resuming their dance from the last battle. I hate to say it, but I was glad Optimus was handling Megatron right now. I'm not ashamed to admit that the Decepticon leader had given me more than a few nightmares since that first encounter.

I scanned the battlefield. Sideways was having a go with Soundwave. I just hoped 'Ways wouldn't get in over his head again like he did with Blitzwing, who was currently getting a lesson in Wrecker style fighting from Bulkhead.

I saw a giant robotic T-rex and a familiar deinonychus sinking their teeth into Lugnut alongside Slag. It looked like Grimlock and the Maximal called Dinobot had their hands, or in this case jaws, full. That was good. That meant Lugnut wouldn't hit me with that Punch of Kill Everything again.

Rhinox and Rattrap were also in the thick of it, in their robot modes, with guns blazing. That was something else I'd noticed about this fight. The Autobots weren't using their built in weaponry; they were using heand weapons. I saw Ironhide with a huge blaster rifle, and I thought I saw Kup using a couple of pistols.

I didn't see Bee or Ratchet, but that didn't mean anything. What worried me was the lack of Constructicons. The last thing I needed was to get stepped on by a psychotic combiner. I needed to get the Driver and get out of there!

I continued running, but was stopped by blaster fire in front of me. "And just where do you think you're going?" a female voice dripping with malevolence said. I looked up and saw a female form Seeker. She was dark blue and purple, but had a smirk on her face that reminded me of Starscream.

"Slipstream, I presume." I primed my energy blades. I wasn't sure if they could cut through her armor, but I was going to put on a good show.

"And you're the human my idiot brother told me about. You don't look so tough."

"Looks can be deceiving," I said. I was so glad my faceplate hid the huge grin I had. If it hadn't, then it would have tipped Slipstream off before 'Bee could make his move.

An enrgon blast nailed the fem flier in the back, sending her flying face first into the ground. "Thanks for the save!" I said. Bumblebee gave me a thumbs up and ran back into the fracas, leaving me with Starscream's twin sister.

Yes, Transformers can have twins. It comes from a spark splitting when they emerge from the Well of All Sparks on Cybertron. The AllSpark exists in the Well, as do automated facilities that produce protoforms to house the new sparks. Supposedly Primus himself created the protoform factories. That would explain why, when the energon shortage on Cybertron got really bad, they stopped producing more protoforms, and why new sparks stopped emerging from the AllSpark.

Starscream and Slipstream were one example of this twin spark thing, as were Rumble and Frenzy. From what Ratchet told me, it wasn't that rare of an occurance. There were even a couple of 'bots back on Cybertron who weren't just split sparks, but a split protoform. They could combine into a single 'bot without having to go through the gestalt process. That would be something to see.

There were other 'bots who viewed themselves as siblings without being a split spark. In that case, they had emerged from the Well at the same time. I had read about a couple of Autobot Racers named Sideswipe and Sunstreaker who were brothers in that way.

Before you ask, the other Seekers weren't related to Starscream. They had similar body types because they were Seekers. They were all reformatted to look that way when they got the job. I guess it was the Seeker equivalent of a uniform.

I shook myself out of my musings. I had to get my head back in the game if I wanted to keep it attached to me. "The Driver. Focus on the Driver." The coast was as clear as it was going to get. The fighting had shifted away from the far bunker, but I still had Slipstream to worry about.

"At least your voice doesn't sound like nails down a chalkboard."

She rolled her optics. "Trust me, his voice is the least of his flaws. Just knowing that our sparks used to be one and the same makes me ill."

Sibling rivalry. I could work with that. I mean, I'd been dealing with it since the Tweebs were old enough to get under my skin. "And he's the Air Commander while you're stuck being his underling." I fired off a few blasts to keep her attention.

"If you're trying to make me lose focus just because I hate my brother, it won't work," Slipstream said with a sneer. "I've been living with that since before your species dragged itself out of the primordial soup that spawned you!"

"Then if I told you that, when I first saw you, I thought that Screamy was coming to pay me another visit, it wouldn't tweak you off? I mean, you so look alike!"

That did it. Slipstream let out a feral scream and fired her arm cannons into the air. "I'm nothing like him! I don't look like him and I don't sound like him!"

"But you sure throw a temper tantrum like him!" I amped up the power on my blasters and fired right at her head. I couldn't do a lot of damage, but I could at least scramble her main processor for a few minutes. Hopefully that would be all I needed.

Wow. Compared to Slipstream and Starscream, I had a downright awesome relationship with my brothers. Maybe it was because they were just irritating and not psychotic. I got the feeling that, if their sparks weren't linked, Starscream and Slipstream would have scrapped each other millennia ago.

I took off running, letting the suit increase my speed to that of a cheetah in full sprint. I was ten feet from the bunker when I heard something that made my blood freeze.

"Destroy the human!" Megatron ordered. He then fired a blast at me, hitting the ground behind me and sending me flying. I came to a rolling stop five feet from the bunker, and my ears were seriously ringing.

I shook my head, trying to get my vision to clear. I looked up just in time to see Optimus hit Megatron with an uppercut that sent the Decepticon leader flying.

I struggled to get to my feet. I had to get to the Driver, or the stasis pod, or whatever it was. I had to get to it, and get it back to the Ark. It was up to me. The Autobots and Maximals had to keep the 'Cons busy. It was my job.

Needless to say, I had a concussion. A bad one. That's why I was so single minded about the whole thing, and why I didn't even think to call in help. Actually, a lot of the ringing in my ears was my helmet radio going. I was getting pinged by Sideways and Bulkhead.

I ran sluggishly forward, not really sure where I was going, just knowing that I had to get there. Explosions went off all around me. I didn't know if it was energon blasts, or if I was imagining it. At that point, it could have been either.

My foot hit a jagged piece of concrete and I hit the ground face first. I rolled on my back just in time to see a big green form running up to me. Time had slowed down. Bulkhead looked like he was moving through air as thick as molasses.

He was calling to someone. To me? I didn't know. I was so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. I needed to stay focused. Then I remembered the the suit's medical functions.

"Medical scan," I said. I'm surprised I didn't slur it. The suit said something, but I wasn't sure what. I felt pressure in my head diminishing as the suit did whatever it did to treat my injuries.

I heard more shouting. I looked up. I thought I saw Megatron taking aim at Bulkhead, who was now right in front of me. Then I heard another voice shout out what sounded like Bulkhead's name. Then there was thunder, followed by screaming and more thunder. Bulkhead moved just in time for me to see Sideways explode.

Then there was nothing.


I don't know how long I was out. One minute I was in a sci-fi summer blockbuster, then I was in a hospital bed. Nurse Darby was there checking my vitals when I came to.

"Where?" I tried to say.

"Stay still," June said. "You've suffered some nasty head trauma. If it wasn't for that helmet, you'd probably have a massive skull fracture. As it is, you have a nasty concussion."

"That would explain why I feel so sick to my stomach," I groaned. "Are we still in Nowhere?"

"You're back in Jasper," June said. "You've been out for the last two hours."

I tried to turn my head, but then the room started to spin. That was when I really felt like I was going to throw up.

"Try not to move."

"You should have said that sooner," I moaned. "What happened with the mission? I thought I saw Sideways..."

June closed her eyes and was silent. That so wasn't a good sign.

"Is he dead?" June stayed quiet. "June, please tell me. Is Sideways dead?"

"He's in stasis lock," another voice said. It belonged to Spike Witwicky. Spike came into the room and took a seat by my hospital bed. "He took a hit from Megatron's fusion cannon, saving you and Bulkhead in the process. It's bad."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. For a Cybertronian, being in stasis lock was like a human being in a coma. I wiped my eyes, realizing that I'd cried more in the last few days than I had in the last six years. That wasn't hard since I hadn't let myself cry at all during that time. Of course, it could have been from the concussion.

"Is Windblade all right?" I knew the answer to that before I asked the question. Of course she wasn't. She loved Sideways. She would be a wreck now. The look on Spike's face confirmed that. "And the objective?"

"Don't worry about that right now, Kim," Spike said. "The Decepticons didn't get it. That's all you need to know."

"It sounds like we didn't get it, either."

"Like I said, Kim, don't worry about it. Just get some rest."


Sleeping in a hospital is hard enough, but trying to sleep in a hospital when you have a concussion is even worse. You get woken up hourly to make sure that you know who you are and where you are. Add in the periodic checks on my vitals, and I think I maybe slept for two hours total that night.

I had thought about getting up and going to Ron's room, but I figured the nurses would stop that really quick, especially since he'd had surgery earlier that day to replace his left knee. Remember how I said that Mech had broken almost every bone in Ron's body? Well, his left knee was completely ruined. Mech had put a bullet through Ron's knee to try to force him to use his powers. The only reason he was on his feet in Lowerton was because of the Circuit Breaker suit he'd been forced into. Yet another reason I hated Silas and his cronies so much.

It was probably for the best that I couldn't go see Ron right then. I doubt I would have been able to keep from saying something I shouldn't. The last thing I needed was to blurt out my undying love to Ron when I was that concussed. He would have a hard enough time believing that when I didn't have head trauma.

So I laid there and stared at the ceiling. I answered the nurses' questions, and did what a good patient does. In the morning my mom came to take me home. I insisted on going to see Spike and Agent Fowler first.

"Not happening," Mom said to me. "You have head trauma, and I'm a neurosurgeon. I'm also your mother. You are not winning this fight, young lady! You are going back to the townhouse and you are going to rest. End of story."

I was either smart enough to listen, or too tired to fight. Take your pick on which one is the truth.


The rest of the day was uneventful. There was a lot of sleeping, and a lot of my mom checking up on me. I had to go back to the base later so the doctors could look me over. I wasn't cleared for active field duty yet, but I could get back to work in another day or two. Just what I didn't need was more downtime. And more time without knowing what had happened after I blacked out, or how Sideways was.

Two days later I was back at the Ark. I was in civilian clothes. Despite my medical clearance to go back to light duty, Agent Fowler wasn't taking any chances. I was allowed to visit the Ark, but no missions and no work. All I could do was check in on Sideways, which was what I was more interested in anyway.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I saw when I got to the repair bay. Sideways' legs were severed, and there was a huge hole going through the left side of his back all the way through to his chest. His head was on a separate table and it looked like it was smashed to pieces.

Next to the wreckage was a holographic image of a sphere of energy. You know those globes you can get at novelty stores that have electricity surging in them? It looked like that. There was what looked like waves of lightning running over the surface, and in the center was a mass of smaller spheres that pulsed like a heartbeat. A very slow heartbeat.

This was, in a way, the real Sideways. This was his spark; his immortal soul. It was still pulsing, so that was a good thing, but from the readings I saw on the diagnostic machines Sideways was hooked up to, he was hanging on by a thread.

Windblade was sitting beside her fallen love. Her eyes were closed and her head was bowed. It looked like she was sleeping, or powered down. She looked up when she heard me approach.

"How is he?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"He's in deep stasis lock," Windblade said. "The blast missed his spark, but it did a lot of damage to his internal systems. And it turns out that when Mech rebuilt him, they messed up his locking chip. So even though he's in stasis lock, his spark is still getting weaker. Ratchet put him on emergency life support, but at this point, not even a stasis pod will help."

I was about to say something when the door opened and a bedraggled looking Bulkhead came lumbering through. There was a look of deep shame on his face. Before he could come to Sideways' bedside, Windblade jumped up and stopped him.

"Here to watch the 'Con die?" she demanded. "Or are you going to finish the job?"

Bulkhead's shoulders slumped and his eyes closed. "Neither one." He held out his right hand and opened it. When Windblade saw what he was holding, she backed down.

"I'm... I'm sorry..."

Bulkhead gently embraced Windblade. "I'm the one who's sorry, Windy. He saved my skid plate after I treated him like scrap." The Wrecker released his friend and walked over to his dying teammate. "This is long overdue. I hope you wake up so you can see it, and so I can apologize to your face." Bulkhead placed what he was holding on the undamaged side of Sideways' chest. It was an Autobot symbol.


When I got to the bridge, the mood was just as somber. Bumblebee was sitting off to the side, and the car doors jutting out of his back were sagging. Optimus was standing, staring at a computer screen, and everyone else was just sitting there. No one said anything when I came in.

Bumblebee looked over at me and let out a few beeps. I'd learned to understand Bee's chirps and beeps in the time I'd been with the Autobots, so I didn't need anyone to translate for me anymore.

"I was just there," I said. "No change."

"How about you?" Kup asked. "You looked like you got your cranial unit mangled pretty good."

"Nasty concussion," I said. "No skull fractures and no brain damage. I'll be cleared for active duty soon." Kup lifted me up to the main console and set me down. "So what did I miss? What happened to the Driver?"

The whole bridge was quiet except for the background hum of the Ark's systems. No one said anything for what felt like an eternity. I was about to speak up when Optimus finally turned around.

Even though I couldn't see most of his face because of his mouth plate, I could tell he didn't look good. His eyes, which were usually a bright blue, had faded. His broad shoulders were slumped, and he wasn't standing as tall.

"There was no Driver," he said in an exhausted sounding voice. "Its energies had been transferred to a new vessel; one that was housed within the antique stasis pod."

Optimus went back to the computer and keyed in a series of commands on the holographic controls. The room went dark, and was then filled with various images from the location of the Section Seven outpost.

"We had deployed a dozen sky spy satellites to the combat zone," Optimus said. "We were hoping to use the data they recorded to get a lead on where the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis, is currently hiding. While they did not achieve that goal, we were able to use them to make a full record of the mission. This, Kim, is what happened after you were rendered unconscious..."


I saw Megatron's blast rip through Sideways. His head was blown off just as his chest exploded. Bulkhead took a hit to the left arm, blowing it off. Ratchet and Windblade were there within seconds to get me and the wounded Autobots out of there. The picture changed to a close up of Megatron's face.

"Well now, it seems like you're down one Wrecker, a false Headmaster, and your new human pet. Optimus, my old friend, when will you learn that when you play with me, your toys get broken?"

Optimus didn't take Megatron's bait. "There's no reason for this, Megatron. Leave now and we won't seek retribution for our fallen comrades."

Ironhide came up beside his leader. "Speak for yourself, Prime! I've got more than a few friends who've been sent back to the AllSpark because of the 'Cons! I say we take our ton of steel right from their hides right now!"

Any retort Megatron might have had was cut off by another series of explosions coming from the bunker I had been heading for. It was stepped on. The image zoomed out, revealing a towering green and purple form. One leg and foot was made from a bulldozer, the other a cement truck. As the image moved up, my heart began to pound. This was what I had been afraid of. This was Devastator.

"Objective located," the behemoth announced in a voice with a heavy echo.

"Excellent, Devastator," Megatron gloated. "Yet again, Optimus Prime, it would seem that you and your Autobots have failed! I will have this weapon, and use it against you right here and now!"

The playback paused.

"Megatron didn't know what the TransMetal Driver was for?" I asked.

"To be fair," Arcee said, "neither did we."

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps that translated to, "We still don't know." Optimus resumed the playback.

Before Megatron could make a move or issue an order, something under Devastator's cement truck foot started to glow. Then it exploded, sending the combiner flying back and splitting into his six component 'bots.

Out of the wreckage of the bunker came a loud scream. It was primal and shrill, and it burrowed deep into my soul. This was the scream of something feeling terror and intense pain. And when I saw what made that scream, well, let's just say no monster movie I ever see from this point on will ever scare me like that did.

It was the size of a large car, and had more legs than I could count. It was a mish mash of metal and some kind of insect looking armor. Actually, it kind of looked like a mutant pill bug mixed with a tank, and it had more legs than a millipede. And its eyes... it had so many eyes!

It let out another scream and collapsed to the ground. Then it started to change. There was a grinding sound like the Autobots made when they transformed, but it was slow and labored. It sounded like someone trying to drive a stick shift and grinding the gears down to nothing.

The armor plating retracted and rearranged, and some of the legs folded up onto the thing's back. Others joined together into limbs. The freaky monster had turned into an even freakier black and gold robot. Its eyes, I think there were four of them, were glowing a dark purple. Then it started making a weird noise. Optimus again stopped playback.

"Teletraan-1," he said, "activate linguistic protocols and translate from Golden Age Iacon dialect Cybertronian to modern American English. Restart from last time index." Optimus turned to me. "Our actual language is one that would be incomprehensible to you."

The recording went back to when the thing started making noise. Now it was speaking. The voice was higher pitched than Arcee's or Windblade's, but not as bad as Starscream. I also got a better look at the creature's body. It was a she, was definitely Cybertronian, and she was glowing. The energy readings Teletraan-1 was showing were identical to those of the TransMetal Driver.

"Prime!" she shrieked. "I want the damned Prime!"

I looked over at Optimus, who was remaining still. The female Cybertronian continued.

"He did this to me! He made me into this!" The cyber creature collapsed and clutched at her throat. She started to gasp for air.

Her eyes began to glow brightly and sweep over the area, bathing the landscape in a violet beam. There was a small flash twelve feet away from her, then she started to glow again.

"She scanned an organic lifeform," Optimus said as the creature in the playback began to shift and change. "Not even the Maximals and Predacons can do that. They rely on separate DNA scanners to acquire lifeform data, and their critical recovery technology to replicate and adapt biomatter for their beast modes. She was able to scan the DNA of her new form directly, and adapt it to her T-cog, life support systems and to her superstructure."

When the glow was gone, a giant cybernetic spider was in its place. Now its shell was black and red, and there was a little purple in there as well. She was still a jumble of organic and machine parts, and her transformation back to robot mode sounded just as difficult as it had before.

"Impressive," Megatron sneered. "She is some sort of techno-organic creature. And she's taken the form of a black widow arachnid."

In the recording, Optimus ignored his enemy's remark. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Where's the Prime?" the creature demanded again. This time she only had two eyes, and they were red as blood. There was the hourglass marking of a black widow spider on the armor plating around her hips, all eight spider legs were hanging off her back, and a gold and black battle helmet rested on her head. "He's the one who did this to me! Where is Sentinel Prime?!"

"By Primus," the Optimus in the recording said. His face plate opened and retracted, revealing a mouth wide open with shock and surprise. "Ariel? Can it be you?"

"Not Ariel," the creature replied. "No one calls me that! I'm Elita-1!" She looked down at herself. "I was Elita-1."

"Ariel, it's me! It's Orion Pax!"

"No." Ariel, or Elita-1, looked at Optimus in confusion. "No. Orion's an archivist, not a soldier."

"I was reformatted, Ariel, just as you were. You've... been gone a long time."

"How long?"

"Over nine million stellar cycles."

Elita-1 stumbled back. Optimus went to catch her, but she kept him at arm's length. "No," was all she said.

"And Sentinel Prime is long since dead."

"Yes," Megatron said, finally playing his hand. "And your dear Orion is now the Prime. He is Optimus Prime! And as such, he now bears the guilt for the crimes of his predecessors! Your transformation into this abomination is now HIS FAULT!"

"No!" Optimus exclaimed. "While it is true that I am Prime now, I had no knowledge of what happened to you. Had I known, I would have found you! I would have tried to help you!"

"You're... Prime?" Elita-1's eyes narrowed. "A Prime did this to me, and a Prime is going to pay!"

"Ariel..."

"No! I'm not Ariel! I'm not even Elita-1 anymore!" She glanced over to Megatron. "What did you say I was? A black widow arachnid?" The fem bot sneered. "BlackArachnia. I like the sound of that. And you, Optimus Prime, are going to pay for what happened to me!"

There was a flash of light, then the playback stopped and the lights came back up. "She hit us all with some kind of cyber venom," Arcee said. "We were knocked offline, and when we woke up, Optimus had deep gouges in his armor. I guess BlackArachnia tried to rip him apart, but didn't realize that when he was reformatted into a soldier, his plating was reinforced."

"Lucky for him," Kup said. "And lucky for us that the Decepticons were knocked offline the same time we were. When we all came to, we weren't up to continuing the fight."

"And you don't know where she is now?" I asked.

"No," Optimus said slowly. "In her techno-organic state, BlackArachnia is invisible to our scanners. But that also means that she is also invisible to those of the Decepticons."


I stayed at the Ark longer than I intended to. I wanted to do something for Windblade and Optimus, but I didn't know what. You'd think that I would be the one to talk to when you lose someone, or when a lost love comes back and doesn't want to have anything to do with you, but I wasn't. I was starting to realize that. Instead, I decided to go to the repair bay and check in on Sideways. Visiting a sick or injured friend was something I was good at. Unfortunately for me, I walked in on a fight.

Windblade was shouting, screaming, at Optimus Prime. "You're a Prime! You have the Matrix of Leadership; the hilt of the Star Saber and an artifact of Solus Prime herself! You're the Living Prime, beloved of Primus! You can save him! You can heal him!"

Optimus stood there, silently taking Windblade's abuse. Never once did he do anything to silence her, and never once did he speak up for himself. He let Windblade get it out of her system.

"You're a Prime!" she said again, weaker. She held up her fists as if to pound on Optimus' chest plate, but she didn't. Instead she fell into her leader, and he embraced her.

"I know how you feel, Windblade. I truly do. But the Matrix doesn't work like that. And if Solus Prime herself were here right now, she would tell you not to put your faith in her. She would tell you to put your faith in Ratchet and your fellow 'bots." Optimus took Windblade by the shoulders and shifted her so he could look her in the optics. "I know your people revere the Thirteen Primes, but they were as flawed as the rest of us. Again, something Solus herself would tell you herself if she were here."

Windblade looked down at the floor, then up at her leader. There was a look of shame and embarrassment on her face. "Optimus, I..."

"It's all right, Windblade. You're hurting right now, and you were expressing that hurt. But like I said, put your faith in your friends, and in Sideways. A lesser 'bot would have expired long before now. He's fighting, and you must do the same. He needs you, Windblade. And if it is time for Sideways to rejoin the AllSpark, take solace that there will come a time when you are reunited in the light of Primus. Until that day, till all are one, we must keep living."

Windblade nodded. "Till all are one," she repeated, and headed off towards the repair bay. Optimus leaned up against the wall and slumped over. He had been putting on a brave front for Windblade, but I could tell that he was hurting as bad as she was.

"That was a nice sentiment. 'Till all are one.' I like that."

Optimus looked down at me. "It was something that Thirteen would say to rally the other Primes."

I folded my arms and looked up at the Autobot leader. "You talk about the ancient Primes as if you knew them."

"I did, in a sense." Optimus stood up straight, and the windows on his chest opened outward like doors. An inner plate, under the windows, opened upward like a hatch, revealing a golden orb with what looked like a pair of silver handles jutting out from the side. Within the globe was a glowing blue crystal.

"It's beautiful," I said in awe.

"This is the Matrix of Leadership," Optimus explained. "Despite what the Camiens believe, it was never the hilt of Prima's Star Saber, and was not forged by Solus Prime. It is a vessel. The crystal it contains is the distilled essence of Primus, and the combined wisdom of the Thirteen Primes. I am the first modern Prime to bear it, and as such, I have access to the accumulated wisdom of the ancients."

Optimus closed his chest cavity. "The Primes were not perfect. Prima believed that, as the first created, he was always in the right. Vector Prime could not always discern where in time he was since past, present, and future existed simultaneously for him, and the chronicler who wrote The Covenant of Primus didn't always pay as close attention to what was going on around him as he should have."

That didn't make sense to me. "How can someone writing down what was happening around him not know what's going on around him?"

Optimus chuckled. "Arrogance. He was so sure of his powers of observation that he stopped using them. Eventually, all of the Primes would pay the price of their own hubris. Some died, some vanished, and some went into hiding."

"And some hid their names," I said. I was really curious about the chronicler and Thirteen. I wanted to know who they were.

Optimus turned to walk off. "They had their reasons."


"Now what?" When I got back to base later that afternoon, I saw a Global Justice hypersonic transport sitting on the runway. I had been in contact with Dr. Director since I started this assignment, sending her mission briefings. I didn't tell her everything, of course. I mean, I couldn't.

There was a lot of stuff I'd seen, like the Autobots, that were so classified that I didn't think the president had the proper security clearance to know about them. But on the flip side, there was a lot of GJ intel that I didn't share with Unit E. In both cases, I only passed on what was relevant, like the fact that Mech might have people in GJ, and that they had synthodrone technology. I had this fear in the back of my head that I was going to be pulled from this assignment. If that happened...

When I walked into Agent Fowler's office, I walked in on a fight that made the battle against the Decepticons a few days ago look like a playground spat. On one side you had Spike, Agent Fowler, and June, and on the other was Dr. Director and Will Du.

"Agent Possible, you're out of uniform," Dr. Director said when she saw me.

I looked down at my clothes; a button up black shirt and matching slacks. It wasn't the suits I normally wore around here, but it would work in a pinch if I got the clearance to go back to work.

"Agent Possible's been on light duty following an injury during a field operation," Spike said. He was so not in a good mood.

"I'm glad you're here, Agent," Dr. Director continued. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

I closed the office door and took a seat. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Will let out a disgusting chuckle. "Spoken like a true amateur," he sneered. "We're here to take your prisoners into custody, and to find out why you didn't see fit to tell us that Shego and your loser ex-sidekick were still alive."


Next chapter: Kim vs Global Justice.

Author's Note: Okay, this took a lot longer to get out than I thought it would. Let's just blame it on real life and leave it at that. Some of the stuff that's been going down with me lately is something you'd see in a sitcom, and not in a good way.

But this story continues! Thanks you for your patience.