So... it's been a while. I know it doesn't mean much after so long, but I'm still going to apologize to anyone who's been patient enough to wait this long for this chapter. I still love this story, and I've actually rewritten this chapter several times. This is the only one I've found I'm somewhat satisfied with, so here I finally post it. Basically, don't expect to have to wait so long for the next chapter...

And thank you all for the reviews! You have everyone who reviewed my story to thank for this chapter. They basically renewed my love for it, just by re-reading the reviews.

I don't own transformers. If I did, the fourth movie wouldn't exist and the third would have gone far differently. Heads would roll, and the fandom would not have been attacked in such a horrific way. I hope you enjoy it.

Standing with my arms raised and water dripping from my fingers, shivering and completely in shock, I had to admit that my mind was a lot more clear. And under any other circumstances, I'm sure it would have been hilarious to see me get a bucket of cold water dumped on me. But luckily, right now, no one was laughing.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked, wiping my face dry.

"Your processor activity has nearly stabilized. I believe it was." Ratchet informed, dead serious.

"No objections, really? This can't be healthy. Can't I get, pneumonia or something?" I asked, getting increasingly more irritated. Honestly, I believe I have every right to be a bit cranky right now.

"Pneumonia is a human illness. Until we have energon, you need to remain vigilant and do not attempt recharging." Ratchet warned me. "Keep him awake." He turned to Bumblebee with the same tone.

"How long will it take?" Dad asked, putting the bucket down beside him. "This is going to work, isn't it?"

"Samuel will be fine." Ratchet brushed off. "But his processors are now acting too highly without a sufficient amount of energon. You're going to feel lightheaded soon." He looked to me. "And before we land, you have to wear that. Our intentions are to avoid contact with humans until the Allspark is located, but if we are spotted, you are still human to them. And humans don't return from the moon in street cloths." He was motioning to my other suit, which had been in the was before. Dad had brought it out with the bucket and now handed it over. I didn't bother to put it on yet, but slung it over my shoulder.

"Is that everything?" I asked. A space suit and a nice wake-up call. What else do I need?

"Yes." Bumblebee changed the subject quickly, "Sunny and Sides are on their way here. They're going to remain here with you to guard and keep you updated on our progress, alright?"

"Absolutely." Mom sighed in relief. "Those other ones, the evil ones-"

"Decepticons."

"-they're going to follow you all, though, aren't they?"

"More than likely, they will. But I wouldn't put it past them to keep an optic on you two for an opening. It wouldn't be the first time they've used you two to get to Samuel and us." Bumblebee nodded.

From out of nowhere, a deep humming sound filled the air faintly. Ratchet looked the direction we'd come.

"They're preparing for liftoff." He announced. "Come on."

Mom threw herself on my in a hug, ignoring my soaked cloths, while Ratchet transformed to drive back. "Stay safe, Sammy. And if you die, I will bring you back to kill you myself."

"Thanks... I guess." I waited it out until she finally let me go. Dad clapped my shoulder.

"Go on already, time's a-wasting. If you do get caught, call Will or me up. We can try and help, at least." He insisted. Bumblebee transformed and popped the driver's side open.

"We will." I promised, hesitating.

I didn't want to come here in the first place, but if I hadn't, I never would have met them. And if that never happened, then where would I be now? Back in my room, on Earth, probably asleep. Mom and Dad would be complaining about my teenager habits; letting my grades slip, sleeping all the time, acting sick for the first time in my life... We wouldn't have any idea what was really going on with me.

Now I'm going back to Earth, only it's in a way I never really expected. Sneaking onto the surface with a bunch of aliens to the place where I was 'born'.

Shaking my head, I slipped in and shut the door. Ratchet was already inside by the time we went speeding into 'Moon Base Three'. We went directly to a room where everyone was sitting down and either strapped in or holding on. Bumblebee joined them as the noises coming from the ship changed. Everyone seemed rather nervous about take-off, and I can certainly vouch for the squeeze feeling I got as we started to lurch upwards. I squinted my eyes shut in preparation, but by the time we stabilized, the head rush I associated with takeoff from Earth never came.

"Another successful takeoff." Someone congratulated.

"That's eight in a row." Sideswipe agreed, unstrapping himself.

"You all are hilarious." Prowl glared. "How do you calculate trajectory on this thing? How is Teletraan-1 even integrated into this thing, Bumblebee?"

Bee let out a sigh and stood up. I shifted my balance on his shoulder while he went to take over for Prowl.

"Are we going straight for Diego Garcia?" He asked, sitting down where Prowl just stood from. He must usually be the one to drive the ship.

"We'll land in the Pacific." Optimus instructed. "Even with Maggie watching for us, I have no doubt the government has their eyes on the skies over Diego Garcia especially. But I want to come as close to the continent as possible. We'll drive as far as we can before taking to the water."

"And how are we getting through that way?" I wondered. Can one of them transform into a big boat, or what? I don't know exactly where this island is, but from how Mom's always fawned over how surprising it was that I was sent to the states to get adopted, it's a good distance.

"I'm looking to bring in some assistance. If William and Maggie have returned, I'm sure some of our other old allies are back too." Optimus pointed to the monitor. "Ironhide, I want you to search whatever records you can get into to find some familiar names. I want their positions and locations."

"Maggie?" I frowned, confused. Who's that?

"Lennox's contact in MM." Bumblebee filled me in. "Remember, when he came back with a window for us to land?"

"Oh." Yeah, I remember the name being mentioned now. Vaguely, though; it hadn't seemed that important at the time. "How do you know her?"

"She was a scientist at NEST." Ratchet filled in. "One of it's founding members, along with William. William, Robert, Maggie, and Glen."

"Speaking of Bobby, I've found him." Ironhide brought our attention- all but Bumblebee, who was still setting up a landing course to the surface -to the monitor again. "He's still hanging around Will in the Moon Colonization project now. He's a backup, ready to fly up to the moon on a moment's notice to help out or to replace someone. Him and a few of the other soldiers are there too."

"Soldiers?" I frowned again. Will and Bobby as soldiers? Would that have made Dad a soldier too, since he's on the same project?

"Right." Ratchet nodded to me, before looking to the screen again. "Who else are you running searches on right now?"

"Mikaela, Simmons, Leo, and Galloway."

"Galloway? Oh, Primus, tell me he isn't back too." Sideswipe moaned.

"Now way that guy's back. Tell me he isn't." Sunstreaker mirrored his brother.

"Director Galloway would not be a favorable choice." Optimus allowed, "But that would be another familiar name we can ready for. We're looking for something we can work with. As a last resort, we'll barter our way onto a passing ship. Approaching the island from underwater would allow for minimum chances of being detected, but it isn't favorable."

"I just got a hit on Mikaela." Ironhide announced.

"Banes?" I asked. Haven't we already established she's back? Only kid in school I wasn't completely distrustful of, even if she is way out of my league. We don't mingle much, but in the few instances we do, she doesn't seem that reluctant to me either. You know, right before she goes back to forgetting I even exist.

Bet she remembers my name now. Bet the entire country remembers the name of the first kid to live on the moon.

"Of course." Ironhide nodded, pulling up several windows. "She's still in school, senior year. Same school Samuel's been pulled out of. She won't be much help on this mission."

"I didn't think so." Optimus nodded. "You can move past Mikaela, I'm sure she and Samuel are already familiar with each other."

"Kinda." I rubbed my neck.

"Galloway." Ironhide brought up another yellow-flashing tab. Every time the computer locates one of the names, it gives a silent notification in the corner. It's working pretty quickly, at least.

"Oh, great." Sunstreaker sighed. But he went ignored.

"His files are all classified, but he definitely works for the government. What I can find on him is that he's made several trips to Diego Garcia during his career, and he's got a permanent office in the Pentagon."

"NEST doesn't exist anymore, but S-7's probably been resurrected." Sideswipe jabbed darkly.

"I'm sure it isn't that bad." Optimus insisted. "But they would have kept some division relating to us. Just in case, or to at the very least know what to look out for should any Cybertronian return. Artifacts we've left behind, watching for the Decepticons."

"And Galloway's in charge." Sideswipe moaned. "He hates us! Now we've got to deal with that again."

"That's a demon for another day." Optimus insisted. "Have you found anything on the other two yet?"

"Leo's failed to accomplish anything yet. I've found a birth certificate and school records in Nevada, and a mention in a local news paper for hacking the school's system to illegally raise his grade."

"Of course."

"And Simmons isn't with the government at all. He's working with a national news network as a foreign correspondent, with basically the same reputation. He's openly admitted to hoping to find alien artifacts while he's in India." Ironhide laughed. "Say's he's already got some, but the government doesn't pay him any mind."

"Is he in India now?" Optimus asked immediately.

"Actually, yeah. There have been some weird stuff going on with a technology plant Nagercoil and the surrounding area. He's been doing some pieces on these events, and apparently it's a big deal. This company is a big part of some sort of device sold in America, and the last couple of years the technology used and manufactured there has been going crazy." Ironhide summed up, reading an article. "Technology in every radio tower and major business has been acting strange all along the tip of India, but none of the ships sailing outward seem affected."

"The Allspark." Prowl stated like it was the answer to everything. I just shook my head in disbelief.

"If this Allspark is what creates energon and sparks, then what could it have to do with that?" I don't really see the correlation. Messing with technology hundreds of miles away? Is that even possible?

"The Allspark has been known to have a certain..." Ratchet tried to find the word.

"Clairvoyance." Prowl supplied. Ratchet nodded.

"It's been known to have a certain clairvoyance about the future and the interworkings of the present. It obviously sparked you at the perfect time when it was most likely that you'd cross our paths, and it had to have had a hand in insuring your passage on this trip. It more than likely caused the disruptions in that particular area to attract notice from another that we know. The Allspark couldn't be behind it all; reincarnation in organic creatures has never been explored or investigated, but I highly doubt the All spark had any hand in all of their rebirths." Optimus stared at the colored map that accompanied the article. The bolder spots were where the technology was glitchiest.

"But it's definitely behind this." Prowl nodded.

Bumblebee seemed to finish whatever he was doing, looking to the screen when no one else said anything. He then projected his monitor to the larger screen with a diagram of the Earth's location and our position now.

"There's a hurricane at Hawaii now, so we have to come in from the other direction. Which means it will take us several hours to move into position with the right rotation." Bumblebee mused, zooming in and following along the red-line path he'd created. "But we'll land off the coast of China. We can get to Nagercoil quickly enough."

"Good." Optimus mused. "We need to contact Simmons, then, and prepare him. I have faith that he'll take our side again."

"He was the first to turn." Ratchet stated gravelly.

"He doesn't work for the government, there's no chance he'd already know about us... or the conditions in which we left." Optimus sighed. "He will help us."

Once again, curiosity at what they were all avoiding peaked in my mind. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point, it doesn't change the situation, but the more it came up then the more I want to know.

I sat up straight, finding the courage to ask. They don't want to answer, that much is obvious, but this is something I feel I should know.

But before I could ask, a head rush hit me. Sitting up right was suddenly similar to laying in bed for hours and suddenly jumping out and running around the house. I put my head in my hands as I waited for it to pass.

"Are you alright?" Bumblebee took me down off his shoulder. He sounded real worried, so I nodded. That only made it worse, so I clutched my eyes shut.

"The effects of running at a regular pace with an energon-deficiency are starting to catch up to him." Ratchet provided, not too concerned with it. "He'll be fine."

"Thanks for your concern." I mused, looking up at Ratchet with an irritated look.

"A little dizziness is the least of my concerns at the moment, Samuel." Ratchet responded calmly. "Right now, you're facing a dozen dry circuits, damage to every one of your primary processing relays, underdeveloped sensors, and eighty-two broken connections in your spark chamber. And that isn't the half of it."

"I don't know what any of that means. You do know that, right?" I blinked, a bit cranky. Bumblebee rubbed the top of my head, but it didn't work in calming me down as well as it had before.

"You are aware of what a stroke is, correct?" I nodded. Grandpa- Mom's dad -died of a stroke when I was six. "What's happening to you is similar, only much slower and to someone about as far into their development as a very young child. Sensory relays you should have developed by now never initiated their beginning connections because of the lack of energon. I can only hope development will resume as normal once we have the Allspark."

"There have been cases of energon-deficiencies back before the war, haven't there?" Prowl asked.

"Yes, but very rarely have I seen a sparkling that's never even tasted energon." Ratchet shook his head. "Only once before."

"But she survived." Optimus pointed out. "After you got ahold of her, she continued growth as per normal. There have been nearly no lasting effects, after those first few decacycles."

Ratchet smiled and nodded. "Arcee is a fighter. She'd initiated her descent to spark-arrest before she got help too."

"I didn't know that about Arcee." Sideswipe was completely sidetracked. "I mean, I knew you two knew each other before the war, but that far back?"

Ratchet nodded. "I have faith that Samuel will turn out as well as she did, but not until we have the Allspark."

"And we will." Optimus nodded to Bumblebee and me. Then he turned to Ironhide. "Keep digging into Simmons's history. When you feel you've found enough, initiate contact and notify me. I want to run an analysis on this secret sector of the government Galloway is involved in."

"What do you expect us to do?" Sunstreaker asked. "Just wait until we land, twiddling our thumbs?"

"Study the traffic in the Indian Ocean and find the first ten best paths for us to take if Simmons proves to be of no help in getting us there. And identify some modern alternative forms for us. We need proper disguise before being seen by the public. Prowl, I want you to help me." Optimus completely ignored us, save for a nod as he settled in to start his task.

Bumblebee fiddled with the smaller side-monitor he'd been using before standing up. He didn't put me back on his shoulder as he took us out of the room. From what I've noticed of this scouting ship, there's only three or four rooms. That one seems to be the main one, with another room with a large monitor to which Optimus and Prowl went into to start their search. But Bumblebee took me to the room we'd passed when we first brought Mom and Dad in to introduce to all the other Autobots.

The door was open somewhat with a table in plain sight. On top, where he set me down, was an old beanie chair pushed up against the wall with a set of black shelves beside it. The shelves were full of knick-knacks like books and playing cards, an old cookie tin that definitely didn't have cookies inside, and a few model cars.

"Your stuff." I was caught staring. But Bumblebee was on the other side of the room, sifting through a drawer for something. "I hope we've already established, I was fond of you. Not like I could throw it all out, but I hated leaving it there to see every day."

"So I basically had my own room in here?" I asked, joking. He smiled at me briefly before going elbow-deep into the drawer again. Something heavy rolled along the bottom.

"Something like that."

While he searched for whatever it is he's looking for, I walked over to the dusty human-stuff. It felt kind of like intruding to be investigating someone else's stuff like this, but technically I guess it's mine. Is it really, though? Do I actually have any right to call any of this stuff mine?

I sat down in the beanie chair, and Bumblebee looked up quickly. I tensed, ready to get out, but he just smiled and went back into the drawer.

"Got it!" he raised his arm successfully, something gripped in his fist.

"What?" I asked, leaning forward. It sure smells dusty and old, and I kind of hope he doesn't still have a crazy sentimentality towards this chair- and maybe a few of the other things -because it's a century old. I hope we can bring in a little bit of a newer model.

"This." He walked over with a grin and set it down between us. I stared, but still couldn't quite figure it out. It's about the size of a trashcan lid, the kind you put out by the road, and a similar shape. Almost like some sort of warped pyramid with a hole in the middle, it's kind of like a melted cookie too. But it's shiny and black, and obviously has more of a purpose than looking weird.

"Which is..." I looked up at him again. "You've got to help me out here."

"You've been interested in your previous life, so I thought I'd show you. I haven't taken these pictures out in probably about a vorn, so I hope it still works alright." He reached forward to rotate it. He found a switch on the side to turn it on. The first image that popped up made me jump and lean back in the fossil chair. He chuckled.

It was a 3-dimensional picture of my face. I looked different, though. Probably older, and I had a pretty unhappy face. Whoever took this 'picture', I certainly had a bone to pick with.

"Okay..." I stared. So that's what I'll look like when I'm older? Wait, no. That isn't. By the time I'm that age, I'll probably look more like them and not so human. I can't even imagine what it'll be like.

"To weird for right now?" He asked. I shrugged.

"No, I just wasn't expecting... such a big head." It's a head shot, making my head as enlarged as Will's had been on the screen earlier.

"You've always had a big head."

I stuck out my tongue, and he chuckled. The image changed to the next, which was of Optimus and the twins. One of the twins- I couldn't really tell since they look so similar to each other, but different from what I'm used to -was giving Prime bunny ears while they posed for the picture. Bumblebee didn't linger on that one, not finding it that interesting. The next one was of both of us. Bumblebee was mostly just a bust, grinning for the camera while I stood on his shoulder, leaning against the side of his head and smiling with him. I was obviously pretty relaxed with them, at least enough that it carried over and made me relax around them so quickly now.

He lingered long enough on that one to take it in before moving on to the next. The next three pictures were of us again in various positions. In one of them, I was clearly angry for some reason and he was laughing. Upon closer inspection, my hair and clothing looked wet.

Then there was another picture without me in it. It was just Bumblebee, looking pointedly away from the camera while crossing his arms. This one was a little tilted and the subject was clearly the Santa hat Bumblebee was wearing.

"You took that one." Bumblebee supplied before moving on.

It was fascinating to see myself in so many positions, even with some Autobots I don't recognize, when I don't remember ever being there or doing that. It's like I'm looking at pictures of myself while I have amnesia. Pretty soon, Bumblebee got distracted in describing one prank the two of us pulled off on Prowl, which wasn't received well. The picture that's up showed Prowl hanging me in the air by the back of my shirt while I covered my head with a look of fear. Prowl looked positively evil... with a bright pink butterfly painted on his forehead.

"Sounds to me like everything was going pretty well." I mused after the punchline. Bumblebee was grinning at the next picture; me in a graduation cap with a bored face, posing in the most stereotypical position possible.

"I guess it was." Bumblebee agreed, and turned the pictures off. I'd remained in the fossil chair the whole time because when I tried to stand up earlier, I got real dizzy again and had to sit back down.

"Then what went wrong?" I wondered. I'd seen pictures of Will in there too, along with a few other humans that seemed rather out of place. One was somewhat familiar, who Bee explained to be Epps. I've only seen him a few times during training for this trip, but I've never really talked to him. But nevertheless, everyone in the pictures seemed to get along pretty well with the Autobots. But they all talk like when they left the planet, no one was very happy with them.

He held still for a moment before looking over at me.

"Does it have anything to do with my death? I know it isn't really that important now, and I know you guys feel real bad about it, but I kind of want to know. What happened?" I stared at him.

He didn't speak for a moment, the door wings on his back sinking slightly.

"It really isn't as bad as the government made it out to be." He stated. "Absolutely, it's something we accept the blame for and we deserved to face consequences for, but exile was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. The government's never really liked us or trusted us, so they took it as an opportunity to be rid of us. But not all of the humans at the time had fallen for the government's side of the story. William still held faith in us, as did your parents and Mikaela. So it isn't as bad as it seems."

"Then why do you all avoid talking about it?" I asked.

"We all have ghosts in our closest, and this one is in mine." He stated. "And, it definitely goes farther back than your death, but it's not really..."

"What?" I wanted to know. Maybe it isn't really my place, but... if it's my death than how is it not?

"It's all about where you were when it happened." He sighed. "The Decepticons kidnapped you often enough, that's nothing new. And I've always managed to get you back. One rescue mission just didn't go quite as planned."

"Bumblebee! Samuel!" Ratchet yelled at us from down the hall. "I need to run some more diagnostics! You better not be falling asleep in there again!"

I stood up, letting Bumblebee off the hook then. But as soon as I did, I had to cradle my head. A headache was starting to form with these head rushes, and I just can't wait until this all ends.

He scooped me up. "Better not keep him waiting."

"Yeah." I agreed, waiting for the head rush to pass again.

So I hope the chapter was worth a nearly two year wait. There's no way it was, I'll be the first to admit, but there it is. More to come, and I really hope I haven't turned you all away from reviewing. Honestly, this chapter is completely up because of the reviews. Thanks, for anyone who's stuck with it this long!

R&R, please.