-bows many, many, many times- I'm so sorry about how late this update is! But life just kinda happened. Anyways- I hope you enjoy this newest chapter.


The Race Begins

"Optimus."

I turned away from the big computer, my eyes searching for the calling voice until finally they rested on Lennox. His face was urgent, a doting gaze held in his dark eyes. "Yes?" I asked, fully turning away from the other Autobots. Bumblebee stood to his feet, as well as Ratchet, deciding to flank me as we followed after the N.E.S.T. commander. We passed into another room of the base, and were met with a small group of other operatives, one of them being Epps. He greeted me with a nod, and I returned it, before stepping up to the metallic table that they were gathered around. Lennox reached up and flicked a switch to turn on a light, and then set a stack of manila folders onto the tabletop and fanned them out with a single hand.

"Those guys we've been looking for, we've found them."

"It's been months since we had any intel," Ratchet said. "How did something suddenly come up?"

Lennox's mouth slanted, and then he took the edge of the first folder and flipped it open, his face becoming solemn as a stack of pictures was revealed. Bumblebee, Ratchet and I all stiffened, our optics slightly widening. Every picture held that of a graphic scene, each taken from a different angle. A body was lying awkwardly on what looked to be a tiled floor, though it was hard to tell with the amount of blood that was spattered across the floor. Whoever it was, he was mangled, his face slashed and cut open to where he was beyond recognition, and the rest of his body matched. It was only his general shape that actually implied that he was human. "Do you know who this is?" Lennox asked.

"Determining that is impossible." I pointed out.

"That is Sergeant Harold Baker. Murdered in his home. His daughter and wife ended up the same way." Lennox reached over the folder and closed it again, and opened the next. A similar set of pictures to the first were displayed, and Epps explained that it was a collection of photos of Captain Emmett Curdey's body. He was displayed similarly, a horrific scene drenched in blood. "We have the other two's location. I think even with only two of them killed off like this, it's pretty safe to assume . . ."

"They worked for Perception, and Megatron." I recalled. They nodded, and I continued. "Megatron is having them killed off. But why?"

"We don't know."

". . . Maybe . . . They're the only ones that know how to work the Machine other than the Decepticons, right?" Bumblebee asked, and Lennox hesitated, before shrugging. "I guess they are. I mean, according to what we've learned so far, it was Dr. Tully that built it, and the rest of the guys helped. So . . . Yeah. They've got to be the only ones that know how the Machine works."

"Well, if they kill all of those guys, then they'd be the only ones that know how to work it." Bumblebee said. I caught on instantaneously to what he was saying, straightening to my full height and taking in a deep, almost surprised breath. "They are killing them off, to make sure that we cannot work the Machine ourselves after the passing of these two years."

"They're going to try to change back first." Epps breathed. "And they're already doing a good job of it."

"By the Allspark! If they change back first, they'd have two extra years to finish taking over Earth, without any of us to stand in their way." Ratchet exclaimed.

I pointed to the last two folders. "Are those the locations of Moses Ramsey and Dr. Tully?"

"We have Ramsey's location, just not Tully's. The last folder is a list of leads that we're still working on."

I turned around, leading both Ratchet and Prowl back into the other room. I could hear Lennox and Epps's footsteps following me as I moved, but it was Ratchet who spoke first. "What are you doing?"

"We're rounding up the Autobots. We have to beat the Decepticons to Captain Ramsey. If anyone knows the location as to where Dr. Tully may be, it is him. If we show up too late our chances of turning back into Cybertronians will be even less. We must win this race and find them first."

The Autobots stood to their feet as I walked in through the door, seeing the serious features that were splayed across my face.

"Autobots! Claim your weapons, and then your vehicles. When you are finished, let's roll out!"


4 hours later

"Do any of the teams have a sighting?"

"No, not yet . . ."

"Nope."

"All clear here, Optimus."

"Nothing yet."

"I've seen a raccoon pillage three different garbage cans, but no sign of Captain Ramsey."

"Wheeljack, would you stop goofing off?"

"Don't start anything now," I said quickly, a frown tugging at the corners of my lips, yet I held it back. "We must work together, and I will not tolerate any quarreling. Not today."

"Sorry, Optimus."

I placed the radio receiver back where it belonged, before sitting back on the seat and resting the lower half of my face in the cup of my hand, looking out the window. We had set ourselves in five separate teams strategically around Captain Ramsey's home, about the time where he should have gotten home from his job, according to the intel we had received. Yet he was late; and it was causing a stir among all of the Autobots. We all were uneasy, and even Lennox had begun to fidget. It was almost catching; my thumb habitually tapped on the edge of the steering wheel where my free hand rested, just waiting for a chance to start up the truck if needed. My optics looked back from the window at Lennox's finger, as he lined it up on the side of the handgun he was carrying. I immediately hoped that none of us had to use the weapons we carried, that this would go smooth enough that force would not be needed. I looked back out the window, and immediately straightened.

"I have a visual on Ramsey." Bumblebee's voice said, and I picked up the receiver, holding down the button to reply. "As do I. Wait until he gets in his home, and we will launch the mission."

"Rodger that."

I put the receiver down, and my hand slid over the handle of the door that would allow me to get out, looking to Lennox. He looked toward our target as he walked up the steps of his house and fumbled with his keys before finally unlocking the door and walking through. Then he nodded, at the same time as I did, and I opened the door, climbing down from the truck and out onto the street. I looked over to Iron Hide and Drift's direction, spotting their vehicle doors opening. We converged on the corner and then moved as one group, walking toward Captain Ramsey's home with the utmost determination possible. I led the way, taking up the front as we moved up to the steps and grouped together on his porch in front of the door. "While the other teams will be watching our backs from the outside," I said, gaining their attention for a short moment, "do not let your guards down."

"Understood."

My hand reached out of the pocket of my jacket, and placed a thumb on the doorbell, ringing it three times before standing back. From inside a single voice called, one I instantaneously recognized as our target's. "Coming, coming!" The doorknob jerked, and as the door opened the voice continued. "Good Lord . . . do you have any idea-" Ramsey laid his eyes on us, and they widened, his sentence stopping short before coming at last in worried and agitated tones. ". . . W-wh-what t-time it is . . . ?"

"Captain Moses Ramsey." I almost barked, my tones shifting at the sight of him. He cleared his throat, seeming to recognize my voice right away.

"D-do you . . . do you . . . w-want something?"

"You know full well what we want, slagball!" Iron Hide snarled, but I raised a hand, stopping his attempt to advance forward.

"We have come to speak with you. Nothing more. Yet if you refuse, we will have no choice but to take you from your home and interrogate you at base."

"M-my m-m-mother . . . s-she's upstairs, so . . . I guess it'd be okay i-if you . . . if you all come in . . ." Ramsey stammered, stepping back and looking up at me, his head having to tilt back in order to look into my eyes. He gesticulated for us to enter, pointing toward the living room. A female voice called down from the stairway that was off to the left, her tones tetchy. "Moses! Who was a-ringin' that bell?!"

"Just . . . some friends, Mom! They won't be here long!"

"Do you boys want some snacks?!"

"No, they don't want any snacks! I just said they won't be here long!"

"Well, excuse me!"

We filed into the room Captain Ramsey had pointed out to us while this seeming-to-be-an-argument went on, though none of us took a seat, not even the target himself. Lennox was the first to speak after a dominating silence, his voice carrying flippant tones. "So. You live with your mother?"

"S-she lives with me. There's a difference. W-what do you w-want, anyway? If this is about the changing you into humans thing, it wasn't my idea! We were told to do it, held against our wills . . . he threatened to murder us all."

"We want you to tell us where Dr. Joseph Tully is, Captain Ramsey." I said, my arms crossing over my chest. He flinched, his eyes widening.

"I can't tell you anything! If I open my lips . . . they'll come after me . . . Megatron and his lackeys . . ."

"Too late." Lennox said, stepping in and slapping the off-white folders onto the coffee table. The pictures of the mutilated bodies of Sergeant Baker and Captain Curdey spilled out in plain sight, and Ramsey's eyes widened, a hand covering his mouth, a stifled gag passing between the clamped fingers. "They're hunting your team down, Moses. It doesn't matter if you keep your mouth shut or you tell us anything. Without our help, you're going to die."

"I . . . I still can't tell you anything . . . I wouldn't even know where to begin telling you where he is . . ."

"You and I both know that's a bunch of bull, Moses. You were the closest to Tully. You of all people would know where he's hiding."

"He was the most paranoid man I'd ever met! Even if I knew, he'd have some way of making me keep my lips sealed!"

I paused again, looking to the others. I could tell they were getting frustrated, and this sorry excuse for an interrogation wasn't going anywhere very easily. I turned my optics back to look into his, my voice growing lower. "We have no desire to stoop to violent methods, Captain Curdey. We aren't fooled. You must tell us where Dr. Tully is hiding. We must become Cybertronians again, before the Decepticons. Or your world will share Cybertron's fate."

This made Captain Ramsey pause, his face changing within a single second, his eyes looking into mine uncertainly. A shudder ran through his body, and there was a long, short silence. When he spoke, I thought at last he would tell us where Dr. Tully was located. Yet, once again, his words disappointed me. ". . . No. I don't know where he is. I kggck—"

Something warmed spattered my cheek and my eyebrow, and to all of our horror, at the same time we looked down to view the hooked tip of a spear protruding through his sternum. Ramsey's mouth opened, and his mouth moved, struggling to speak, but all that came out was another spatter of red blood. His hands reached up for a second to grope the growing-crimson circle that was on his shirt, before his hands reached out and planted rubicund prints on the front of my chest. My arms moved up to try and catch the falling Captain as his legs gave out from underneath him, yet he collapsed onto the floor, my eyes instead passing to the man that stood on the very edge of the next room.

"Optimus! Surprise, surprise! Haven't I killed you once already?"

"Megatron!"

The Decepticon leader and the head of Perception smiled wider, his crimson gaze taunting. "I'm pleased to find that even when I'm sure you're dead you never disappoint. I was just thinking about how anti-climactic my victory will be when there would be no Prime spark to snuff out!" He unsheathed a long sword, and I unsheathed my own form of the same weapon, before leaping vengefully over the couch that Captain Curdey had been standing in front of, and charging at Megatron, as Decepticons came through the doorways and windows, bellowing battle cries. Megatron swept his sword upward, blocking the blow that I threw, a chuckle escaping from his throat. "You're far better without a drugged system."

"Is it not sad that you needed to drug me in order to fight me?" I growled, shoving him back and sweeping forward with another attack, his nose wrinkling in response to my words. "Are you afraid that the infamous Megatron is weaker in his new state?"

"Far from it, Prime!" Megatron answered, blocking my blows yet again and sweeping forward to try and attack me on his own. I blocked a sweep toward the legs, and then a jab for the same spot that he had already stabbed beforehand. "I feel much stronger! I'm more powerful on this world than I was ever as a Cybertronian!"

My breath caught in my throat as I was pressed suddenly backwards, and then sent through one of the broken windows. I landed hard on my back onto the graveled driveway, my breath being driven out of me in response to the sudden impact on the ground. My sword skittered out of my grasp and came to a stop a few feet away, but my optics didn't leave Megatron, not just yet. The Decepticon commander jumped out onto the ground with me, his smile widening. "I never want to go back. I can rule this world their way!"

I paused, my body freezing in reaction to his words. ". . . You . . . you never want to go back?"

"Of course not! I have money!" Megatron swept his leg forward to kick me in the ribs, sending me rolling back.

"I have power!" My body received another hard kick.

"I have influence, the strongest of the three! I'll gain their petty little attention spans, and I'll gain leadership. Then, one by one, I'll take over the world by force." Megatron kicked me again, sending me even closer to my sword. "No, it wasn't my plan all along to stay this way, but I love how easy it's going to be."

"You hate humans . . . you always have."

"It's why I'll spend the rest of my unlimited days making all of their lives miserable!" His arm lifted up and swept downward, and I quickly reached up and grabbed ahold of the hilt of my weapon, before swinging it above me to stop his attack. "I will stop you . . . I'll keep standing in your way."

"And I can't wait to cut off your head, and keep it as a trophy, that way I know you're dead!" Megatron turned the sword around and smacked the blunt end across the side of my face, before leaping back as my free hand went up to grab ahold of the stinging spot, while the hand grasping the sword swirled around in an attempt to slice through his now-open middle. "I'd love to keep fighting you, but what I came here for has already been achieved. I have one more useless life to stomp out under my boot!"

Ratchet rushed out from the window, coming to my side as Megatron began to back away, a leering grin still on his lips. "The Decepticons are getting away. But . . ."

"But what . . . ?" I asked, standing up and beginning to go after the Decepticon commander. Ratchet's hand shot out and grabbed ahold of my arm, glowering at Megatron's back as I did. His voice lowered, to where he was hardly speaking above a whisper. "We can let the waste outlet go for now, Optimus. Captain Ramsey wants to talk to you, and he doesn't have much time left."

Quickly we made our way back into the house, where we knelt by the dying man. His fading gaze turned toward me, his bloodied hand feebly reaching up and grasping the front of my shirt. "N-new Orleans. He . . . he as an s-safe house there. It-it's the only place he'd . . ." The sentence cut off, coming to a short stop as the life left his eyes and his ragged breathing stopped short. Ratchet reached out to grasp his wrist, pressing a finger right before his hand began. "No pulse. He's gone."

The rest of the Autobots filed in, two of them coming in from upstairs. Jazz's face was grave, and disgusted. "There's an overweight woman upstairs. She's dead."

"We must get to New Orleans. We have to find Dr. Tully before Megatron gets to him." I said, standing to my feet. "Lennox . . . ?"

"I'll take care of everything." The man said quickly, grabbing ahold of the radio that perched on his shoulder and moving to another part of the house.

"When he's finished, return to your vehicles. We'll be heading for New Orleans immediately."