Like all fanfiction writers, I do not own Transformers (I do own my OCs though) and make no money off this what-so-ever.

Warning(s): Minor language

Chapter 10

Opal sighs softly, "I'm not gonna say I like the idea of you two being in the loop. But what's done is done and you're practically one of us now. You'll be targeted just as much as we are if The Initiative finds out - Rachel's probably already warned you about that - but there's no enclaves here on the west coast for you to flee to if things get hairy. That's what's got me worried. You're not cyborgs, you can't fight the shit they'll send at you. We can't take you two with us and we can't always be there to protect you and that's what's got me worried the most."

"We've survived worse," Mikaela murmurs.

"Still," Opal replies sadly, "I fear what that will mean for you two. With The Initiative, nothing's ever simple."

"We'll be fine," Mikaela offers reassuringly, "I promise."

"That's what one of Isabelle's allies said the day before he was murdered by an Initiative hit-man," Ira mutters sadly, "But if you feel that you can handle what's coming in the near future, then there's not much we can say but 'okay, just don't get yourselves killed'."

"Still," Opal adds, "We'd like some way for us to keep in contact with you should things get worse."

"We can go get a prepaid phone for you guys and add our phone numbers to the phone book," Mikaela replies excitedly, "We'll pay the bill and you guys can have an open communication line to us. It won't exactly be the most secure form of communication, but it's better than nothing."

Megan smiles at Mikaela, "You're a genius, you know that?"

Mikaela smiles back at Megan, "Me? A genius? No. I'm just practical."

"Good," Opal sighs mock dramatically, "We need more practical people on the team. I'm getting tired of Silvia's pranks and Will's failed inventions."

"Pranks?" Mikaela asks curiously, "And here I thought you guys were all hard asses."

"Don't tell anyone," Ira whispers mock conspiratorially, "It'd ruin our reputation."

We all crack up at that, laughing as though we were all normal people sharing a normal joke. "They'll be alright," The AllSpark whispers, "My children - your older brothers and sisters - will keep them safe."

I smile, "I know, it's just hard to not worry about them."

"I'll get the phone tonight and give it and the money to Rachel tomorrow morning," Mikaela announces after the laughter and joking dies down, "that way you'll be ready to head to Chicago the next day."

"Our employment is temporary," Ira replies, "so that actually works out pretty good for us."

"Everybody settle down," Opal yells as everybody crowds around her, eager to hear what she has to say, "Now I know this is going to come as a shock to some of you, but we're adding a new person to the team. Her name is Megan, she's an Arctic Moon survivor and I expect you to be on your best behavior for her. She's new and this is her first time being around other cyborgs since her escape."

"I knew it!" Silvia yells before turning to Jori with her hand out, "Now pay up!"

"Alright," Jori grumbles before handing her a bag of candy.

Opal smacks her palm into her face and groans loudly in frustration. "Oh don't worry," Megan murmurs reassuringly in her ear, "My guys used to make bets all the time."

"Still," Opal sighs, "it's not exactly something they should be doing in front of a newcomer."

"As long as they're making dumb bets and pulling even dumber pranks they're okay," Megan murmurs in reply, "I'd be more worried if they'd just suddenly stopped."

Opal laughs softly, "Something tells me you'll fit in just fine."

"Unfortunately we don't have another tent," Ira remarks, interrupting the two, "so you've got two choices at the moment: sharing a tent with someone or sleeping the back of the truck."

Opal groans once more in frustration while Megan just starts laughing at Ira's horrible timing.

"Here's what we've managed to glean from The Initiative's databases so far," Sonya remarks, "something's got The Initiative's board really, really pissed at Megan and her team."

"The board only gets mad at Megan's team when they botch a mission and blow their cover," Shana remarks curtly, "is there a possibility that Bethany's kidnapping was botched?"

"Considering that it is the only recent mission we've been able to pick up on," Sonya answers, "there is a high possibility."

Shana visibly relaxes a bit, "I want you and your team to look into the mission files and try to find anything that might give us a clue to where Bethany is now."

"Yes Shana!" Sonya barks eagerly before turning back to her laptop.

"Oh and while you're at it," Shana adds, "I want you to look into the stolen Arctic Moon files. Opal's bringing in an Arctic Moon survivor who's been searching for some of her old comrades and I'd like to have something to give her once she gets here."

"My greatest worry is that the data stolen in the February seventh raid on The Initiative will fall into the wrong hands - namely the Decepticons," Optimus rumbles worriedly, "after all, Soundwave was there. If he were to come across the data pertaining to Project: Cyber, it would have disastrous consequences for the cyborgs still outside of our protection."

"We'd have a third element to an already nasty war," Kaminari remarks, "the poor kids would be forced to pick a side and fight."

"Aren't they already doing that?" General Morshower asks pointedly.

"Precisely why we need to be more actively searching for these kids," Ironhide adds, "they have enough problems on their hands as it is."

"I don't really think there is a feasible way to keep them out of our mess," Major Lennox sighs, "We need to have their backs now while we still hold a small head-start over the Decpticons."

"We've been sifting through this data for hours," Dylan groans, "and so far we've found almost nothing that would remotely interest Lord Megatron. Sure there's the data from Nefarious, but nothing else has popped up."

Soundwave ignores his human's complaining and continues to search through the data. So far the only thing Lord Megatron would be interested in was the data on Project Nefarious, and Soundwave wasn't about to let Lord Megatron know about that just yet. Not while he was recovering from his last encounter with the Autobots and still somewhat vulnerable. That information could be shared at a later date, once their plans for this world succeeded.

"Data: located," Soundwave finally announces after a few moments of searching, "Human: unneeded. Orders: go rest."

"Yes sir," Dylan mumbles gratefully as he closes his laptop and gets up from the chair he's been sitting in for hours. Soundwave watches the human leave, his systems automatically picking apart the encryption used to secure a section of the stolen data. It takes only minutes to do what would have taken human hackers years to decode. The humans wouldn't take such pains to keep others from seeing the contents of this data if there wasn't something of great importance hidden within.

The data is what the humans would call "a gold mine": blueprints, technical data, personnel files and test subject files. The test subjects of this "Project: Cyber" will make good weapons for the Decepticon cause, given the right incentive. Lord Megatron will be pleased to hear of this.