Alright, finally finished. Last week, I was trying to get it done but it wasn't going anywhere, so as NordicAutobotGirl suggested, I started over from a new angle. (Thanks, friend. :D ) Some of the old content was salvaged and I like the way this version turned out.

In the Comm center, Echo looked up from his datapad when the computer beeped at him. The scanners had picked up an ancient Cybertronian energy signature. He set aside the datapad and called up the base's archives on the computer. A quick scan of the archives provided him with a match. The signature was from the Harbinger, an old Decepticon transport ship that had crashed on Earth eons ago. According to the records, an Autobot battalion had shot it out of the sky.

Curious, Echo scanned the area for spark signals. An old wrecked ship does not usually power up on its own after all. There were currently two Decepticon signals: Starscream and Airachnid. Echo wondered what they were looking for. If he recalled correctly, Starscream had already scouted that crash site when he had first come to Earth. Was there something that he missed?

The computer beeped again. Four Autobot signals had arrived in the area. Echo was wondering if he should contact the Madam when the commlink beeped.

"Speaking of…" he muttered as he reached over to answer it. "Yes, Madam?"

{Hey Echo. I'm gonna send you some coordinates. Can you tell me who is there?} The coordinates popped up on the monitor. {Got 'em?}

"Coordinates received. And I have already been observing them. I suppose you want to know who is there besides the Autobots?"

{Uh… Yeah. Why were you looking at them?}

"The Harbinger's energy signature came up on our scanners. It was activated by Flyboy and Spin-wheel."

{Lovely.} She replied in that sarcastic manner of hers.

"Shall I send backup?"

{Yes. And someone to collect any remaining data from the ship. We might as well since they powered it up for us.}

"Yes, ma'am. I'll see who is available and send them immediately."

{Thanks, Echo. Keep me informed, ok?}

"Of course."

There was an audible click as she terminated the link on her end. Echo called up the duty logs for the day to see who he could send. He picked three mechs from the off-duty list. He activated the base-wide comm.

"Tango, Romeo, Quebec. Please report to the receiving room."

Echo stepped out of the Comm center. Somewhere in the base, twin engines revved. Moments later, Romeo and Tango came barreling out of one of the hallways. Tires sliding on the slick metal floor, they drifted across the main hall and raced toward the receiving room. Echo stepped out in front of them on purpose. The two cars slammed on their brakes and then transformed to try and stop faster. That just resulted in them in a pile at Echo's pedes.

"Was that really necessary?" Romeo groaned as he tried to get up with Tango still sprawled across his back.

"Yes," Echo replied grabbing Tango's servo and pulling him off Romeo. "You two know better than to race in the main hall."

Tango apologized, "Sorry, Echo. We were just a little excited."

"So, where are we going?" asked Romeo, finally on his pedes.

"We need to wait for Quebec to get here before I brief you."

"I'm here," said the two-toned blue flyer walking up to them.

"Alright. I picked the three of you because one: you were all available and two: Romeo is surveillance. Tango is good with computer. And, Que, you were the only flyer."

"Great," Quebec deadpanned.

"Airachnid and Starscream are looking for something at the crash site of the Harbinger. And most of Team Prime is there too. The Madam wants the information from the Harbinger. And for someone to keep an eye on the Autobots."

"So I'm surveillance," Romeo guessed.

"I'll get the data." Tango pulled a spare data drive from his subspace.

"And I'm backup," Quebec sighed.

"Correct. I already sent the coordinates to Alfa. He is waiting to bridge you out."

The trio bridged over close to the clearing where the Harbinger was buried but far enough away to avoid detection by any Bots or Cons.

"Seems they're all underground at the moment," commented Tango, reading the spark signals on his visor.

"Airachnid is on her way up," corrected Romeo as he headed for the clearing.

He slipped thru the trees and ducked behind a large boulder near the clearing's edge. The other two joined him in time to see Arcee pop out of a hole in the ground. She aimed her blaster around the clearing, searching for Airachnid. The spider-bot came bursting out of the ground under Arcee's pedes, throwing her several feet.

"Arcee," said Airachnid, transforming out of drill-mode. "So nice to see you again."

The two-wheeler pushed herself up into a crouch. "I didn't peg you for resigning with the Decepticons." She activated her arm blades.

"A temporary arrangement, Arcee. You know I prefer working alone." Airachnid dodged aside as Arcee launched herself at her.

"I'll never understand why guys like girl fights so much," Quebec commented out of the blue as they watched the two femmes fight.

"Huh?" The grounders threw him a couple of confused glances.

"I mean, look at them. They're scary. And vicious. Could you imagine if the Madam was at least their size?"

They stared at him for a long moment, their processors testing the idea. It did not sit right with them.

"Don't ever say anything like that again," Tango shuddered.

"She is scary enough as it is," added Romeo, shaking his helm.

"If she was that size, it might be easier to see her coming though."

"Or not. She would still be fast."

"At least she would be harder to miss."

"That's for sure."

Blaster fire and helicopter blades brought them back to the situation at hand. Optimus was shooting at Airachnid as she flew away. As soon as she was out of range, he transformed his blaster back into his servo. Retracting his battle mask, he turned to the little blue femme with a stern glare.

"Arcee, you know better than to engage the enemy alone."

"Not her. Not after what she did to Tailgate. She will pay!"

Disappointment bled into Optimus' expression, as well as his voice. "Revenge will not bring back those we have lost. Is that understood?"

Instead of answering, Arcee closed her optics and turned away from him. Optimus was about to say something else to her when they were interrupted.

"Move it!"

Bulkhead and Bumblebee had finally resurfaced with a Decepticon prisoner in tow. Starscream was tied up in Airachnid's webbing and walking in front of them.

"No need to use force," the seeker whined. Bulkhead decided otherwise and shoved him hard. Starscream stumbled and fell on his knees in front of Optimus and Arcee. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Is that right?" Bulkhead scoffed. "And what do you want in return?"

"I want be on your side," Starscream said looking hopefully up at Prime.

"Huh. Who knew that a Decepticon could pull off such a good puppy dog look," said Quebec.

"I bet Bumblebee could do it better," Tango pointed out.

"I bet you would like to see Knock Out try to pull it off, Tango," commented Romeo, elbowing him.

"Hm. Yes, but I am sure he reserves that look for Breakdown."

"Hey, Tango. Since the wreckage is clear want to go down and get what we came for?" asked Quebec.

"Yeah. Let's go," Tango agreed. He turned to Romeo. "You've got this up here, right?"

"Of course. This is what I do."

"Comm me if you need backup," advised Quebec.

Romeo nodded. Tango and Quebec's visors flickered and turned red. The two mechs were gone from behind the rock in a second. They circled the clearing and accessed the Harbinger via the same hole in the ground that the Autobots had used. Once inside the ship, they paused, their visors going back to orange.

"The nearest computer terminal is….?" Tango scanned the hallway to the right.

"This way." Quebec pointed, having scanned the hallway to the left.

Tango followed him down the dark hall. They came to a junction with a wider hallway and there was the terminal, its many monitors still active from when Airachnid used it.

"Jackpot!" Approaching the terminal, Tango pulled out the spare data drive and plugged it into the access port.

The computer beeped in acknowledgement and commenced with the data transfer.

"Half the ship is missing," commented Quebec as he finished scanning the wreckage while Tango accessed the search logs.

"Seems the Cons were looking a piece of cargo," Tango spoke as he typed. "Ah, here it is. An experimental prototype weapon called the Immobilizer. It was located in Section 23. And since neither of the Decepticons had it…"

"It would be safe to assume it is on the other half of the ship." Quebec folded his arms over his chassis. "That would explain why Airachnid left. But do we know where the other half is?"

"It's not in the logs, obviously. Starscream probably knows."

Quebec put a digit to his comm. "Romeo, has Flyboy said anything about the other half of the Harbinger?"

{Actually, yes. He just told the Autobots that that is where Airachnid was headed. He has offered to show them the way.}

"We could contact Echo. Have him locate Airachnid and possible the coordinates of the other half-"

{Where's the fun in that? It's not like it's an emergency.}

"Not yet." Tango joined the comm. "But from what I just read about the weapon Airachnid is looking for, we don't want it to fall into Decepticon servos."

{Yeah. Flyboy was a little sketchy of the details. What is it and what does it do?}

"The Immobilizer. And as the name suggests, it immobilizes using a stasis beam to cause instant stasis lock."

{Yeaaah. That doesn't sound pleasant.}

"No, it doesn't," added Quebec quietly as he read the monitor with the information about the weapon.

{Oh scrap, that's got to be uncomfortable.}

"What is it?"

{The Bots just put a clamp on Flyboy's wings so that if he slips out of the cuffs he still can't transform.}

Tango glanced over in time to see Quebec twitch. Even though his wings were situated differently than Starscream's, as a fellow flyer, Quebec felt sorry for the Con being grounded.

"How is he going to show them the way then?"

{He's giving them directions and they're stuffing him in Optimus' trailer.}

"Seriously? That's just messed up."

{They're rolling out. I'm going too.}

"Alright," replied Tango. "We'll catch up with you when the download is complete. It shouldn't be too much longer."

{Roger that. Let me know when you are on your way.} The link disconnected.

"The download is barely halfway complete," countered Quebec.

"Yeah, but he didn't need to know that. If you don't want to wait, I don't mind if you go ahead."

"And leave you down here by yourself? I don't think so."

Tango shrugged. "It's up to you."

Romeo followed after the Autobots at a safe distance as they drove to the place that Starscream had said Airachnid was going. They remained on his scanners but he was far enough back that they couldn't see him. He was not particularly pleased with going off-road in the desert with his alt. His low-hanging frontend kept catching on rocks and he would grimace every time one scraped his undercarriage.

Ahead of him, the Autobots stopped. He slowed down and adjusted his course so that he could get closer to them while using the numerous rock formations as cover. As he got closer, he transformed and continued on foot to avoid engine noise. He stopped when he could not get any closer at regular speed without being seen. From there, he could see the Autobots and Starscream but he was too far away to hear them.

"Here goes nothing," Romeo said as his visor flickered from orange to red.

There was a rock formation next to the stone arch that they were looking for. It was a perfect hiding place that would allow Romeo to see and hear everything. He went for it, passing so close to the Autobots that he could have reached out and poked Bulkhead. Once he was situated behind the rocks, his visor flickered back to orange.

Prime's long drawn out words returned to normal speed. "-with me. Arcee, remain with our prisoner."

Arcee glanced at Starscream while Optimus turned to leave with Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

"Optimus, please," Arcee said, hurrying after him.

Optimus turned back around and looked down at her.

"For Tailgate!" she added.

"Your desire to avenge Tailgate will only continue to cloud your judgement," Optimus replied.

Prime and the others left Arcee with Starscream, disappearing into the canyon beyond the arch. Romeo remained where he was. He wasn't so sure it was a great idea to leave the femme alone with the seeker.

Arcee turned back to Starscream. He was on his knees, cuffed and struggling to adjust his wings.

"Ugh. Is the clamp really necessary?" Starscream whined. "I promise not to fly away. It's really giving me a crick."

Arcee moved over to stand in front of him, servos on her hips.

"I can shove you back in the trailer."

Starscream let out a disappointed groan.

Neither of them spoke again for a several minutes and Arcee began to pace. Romeo was getting bored.

"I'm not really so bad, you know," Starscream spoke up after a while. "Megatron. He's the evil one."

Arcee stopped pacing. "Tell it to someone who cares."

"Like whom? Airachnid? What I wouldn't do to get my servos around her wretched throat."

"So we can agree on one thing." Arcee rested her servo on her hip.

"Oh, you have no idea. She showed up one day and the next thing you know she's acting like she runs the place." Starscream waved his cuffed servos around as he spoke. "She whispered lies into Megatron's audial. Maneuvered to rob me of my rightful place."

"Well," Arcee looked away in anger, "she terminated my partner."

"What?" Starscream gasped. "She's taking credit for scraping him now too? That was my doing."

"What?" asked Arcee. "You weren't there."

Starscream instantly realized his mistake. "O-of course I wasn't. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Who were you talking about?" Arcee demanded, stepping closer to him.

"No one." Starscream tried to sound innocent. "Who were you talking about?"

"Tailgate."

"Who's Tailgate?" asked Starscream in confusion.

Arcee's optics widen in realization. "You were the one. You extinguished Cliffjumper!"

"Cliffjumper?" Starscream practically shrieked, realizing that he was a dead mech the way she was glaring at him.

Arcee pulled back her fist and activated her arm blade.

"No. No, no. You misunderstand," cried Starscream, raising his servos in a weak attempt to pacify her. "It wasn't like you think. The troopers mortally wounded him. I was trying to help Cliffjumper." He latched on to her other arm. "Put him out of his misery. He begged me to!"

Arcee yelled in anger. Frightened, Starscream let go of her arm. She kneed him in the chassis and knocked him on his back. He quickly sat up. Arcee loomed over him again.

"Okay. Okay," he cried, holding out his servos. "It was a mistake. I've made many." Pleading, he got to his knees. "But I've changed. You wouldn't terminate a defenseless prisoner, would you?"

Glaring, Arcee took a couple steps back. There was a tense moment of silence. Starscream gazed up at her, optics still pleading. She responded by pulling a key out her subspace and throwing in the dirt before him.

"What? What is that?"

"The key to your cuffs."

"What for?"

"Cliff would've given you a fighting chance."

"No. Please." He pulled back. "I don't want to. What's past is past. I'm one of you now."

Arcee brought out both her blasters and aimed at him. He shrank away crying 'no, no'.

"Take it!" she ordered.

Hesitantly, Starscream reached out and picked up the key. He barely held on and ended up dropping it. He gasped and pulled back again.

"You're pathetic," Arcee said.

She transformed one of her blasters back into a servo and reached down to pick up the key. Starscream smirked and readied his claws, striking when she least expected it. Arcee gasped in pain and staggered back. Starscream picked up the key and unlocked his cuffs. Acree looked down at the wounds in her side and collapsed to her knees.

"Something wrong, Arcee?" Starscream asked, standing over her. "I thought you wanted a fight."

Romeo had seen enough. He didn't doubt that Arcee could still defend herself but he felt it was necessary to step in now. Activating his blasters, he stepped out of his hiding place and fired. The shot hit Starscream's shoulder guard and sent him spinning.

Starscream stumbled to keep his pedes and whipped his helm around to find out where the shot had come from. A dark red mech, a grounder by looks of him, was coming toward them, both blasters trained on the seeker. The strangest thing about him was his vehicon mask due to his lack of an insignia, Decepticon or otherwise.

"Touch her again and I'll blow you away, flyboy," he snapped.

"Who are you?" demanded Starscream, stepping away from Arcee.

"No one of consequence. Now get out of here before I change my mind about scrapping you."

"Wha-"

Romeo fired a blast at the ground by the Starscream's pedes. "Scram!"

Starscream did not waste any time. He turned and ran away as fast as he could. Blasters returning to servos, Romeo watched him and then turned his attention to Arcee, who sat back with a sigh. He pushed his mask up as he knelt beside her.

"Why did you let him go?" she asked pulling away when he tried to examine her wounds.

He looked her in optics as he spoke. "With the Well of Allsparks dark, every spark extinguished reduces our race by one, so the CRC have vowed not to take another Cybertronian's life unless absolutely necessary."

Arcee stared at him for a long moment before looking away with something akin to shame. This mech, whom she figured was CRC from the start, was right, though she did not want to admit it.

"Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to fix you properly," he said, looking closely at her wounds while she was distracted by her thoughts. "I can apply a field patch but you'll need to see a real medic soon."

Just then Bumblebee returned alone. He beeped in alarm at the scene and pointed his blasters at the Romeo.

"Whoa! Hey!" Romeo exclaimed, raising his servos. "I'm just trying to help. Starscream's the one who hurt her."

"Bumblebee! Where's Optimus and Bulkhead?" asked Arcee, ignoring Romeo.

Deactivating his blasters, Bumblebee explained what happened.

"They've been frozen by a weapon called the Immobilizer? Does Airachnid still have it?"

Bumblebee shook his helm and said that he broke it so Airachnid couldn't use it anymore.

"Show me where they are," Arcee said, attempting to stand.

When she dropped back to her knees for the second time, Romeo simply scooped her up bridal style and started walking.

"H-hey! Put me down!" Arcee cried, flustered and struggling.

"Why? You can barely stand in your condition," Romeo said, smirking slightly.

Bumblebee beeped his agreement with Romeo as he walked beside them. Arcee huffed and gave up.

Liliy and Ratchet waited by the computers for someone to comm. Optimus had informed them when he came back to get his trailer that they had captured Starscream and he was leading them to where Airachnid had gone. That was some time ago. The comm finally beeped.

"Optimus?" asked Ratchet.

{No, Ratchet. It's me. We kinda need some backup. The Cons are gone but Optimus and Bulkhead are in stasis lock and Arcee is injured.}

"I'll be right there, Bumblebee." The medic locked on their coordinates and opened a bridge. He turned to Liliy.

She understood his silent question. "Just go, Ratchet. I know what to do."

Ratchet went thru the ground bridge and was surprised to see the unknown bot.

"Who are you?" he asked harshly as he hurried to Arcee's side.

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Romeo. I am a member of the CRC surveillance team. I was instructed to provide your team with assistance."

"The CRC? So you finally decided to show yourselves."

"Finally? We've help you many times since the first time you guys encountered MECH."

Just then, Romeo's comm link crackled. {Tango to Romeo. We're headed to your location. What's your status?}

"Yeah. Hey, Tango. Cover blown. Third Wheel is injured but Hands is here. Honey is fine but Red Leader and Face appear to be in stasis lock from the Immobilizer. And also, Flyboy is now a free bird."

{Roger that, Romeo. Do you need additional assistance?}

"Stand by." He looked over at Ratchet. "Do you want more help to carry your friends back to base?"

The medic looked unsure. He glanced at Arcee and Bumblebee. They both shrugged. He sighed.

"Fine. But you have to leave immediately afterwards, understood?"

"Understood." To Tango, "Yeah. We could use a little help."

{Roger that. ETA: five minutes.}

"See you when you get here. Romeo out."

Five minutes later, a small, propeller driven airplane dropped out of the sky. Quebec transformed mid fall and landed on his pedes. After that a little orange sports car came racing around a bend in the canyon and transformed. Both of them pushed their masks up.

"I thought you said Ratchet and Arcee were here?" asked Tango.

"They went back to their base already because of Arcee's injury," explained Romeo.

"Oh." Tango went over to Bumblebee. "Hey there. My name's Tango. I don't know if you remember but I'm the one who saved you from Knock Out when you went street racing a while back."

"What?" cried Romeo. "You went street racing without me?"

"Hush, Romeo. You were in recharge at the time."

"Yes I remember," Bumblebee chirped. He held out a servo. "Thanks for that."

With a smile, Tango shook his servo. "You're welcome."

"And, hey, if you ever feel like racing again," Romeo draped an arm over Tango's shoulders, "send us a comm. We'd love to see what you can do."

Quebec clapped his servos. "Alright, speedsters. Enough flirting. Let's get these mechs moved before the sun goes down."

Bumblebee requested a ground bridge and then helped Quebec carry Prime. Romeo and Tango followed carrying Bulkhead. They left the stiff Bots standing in the medbay.

"Ask Liliy to send you wherever you want to go. I have work to do," said Ratchet, shooing the three CRCs away.

"Over here," Liliy called to them.

They joined her by the ground bridge controls.

"Hey little lady, mind sending us someplace up north?" asked Romeo.

"Sure thing." She turned to the computer. "Quebec?"

"Yes?" Quebec replied, not realizing she was referring to the Canadian province.

Liliy couldn't help but laugh. "No. I mean is the Quebec Province a good place to send you?"

"Oh. Yes. That's fine."

The bridge whirled to life.

"Thanks, miss," Romeo said, winking at her.

"Yeah. Thanks," said Tango with a casual salute.

Quebec simply nodded at her before they disappeared. Liliy stared after them wishing that they had been able to stay longer, but that might've blown her cover. She looked over to watch Ratchet work and sighed. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up this charade. She was going to have to tell the Autobots sooner or later. Sighing again, she turned back to the computer. It wasn't going to be today. Ratchet already had enough to worry about as it was.

Also a new CRC member in this one. Quebec is a two-tone blue Cessna 182 Skyline. And he usually is an energon refiner.

Thanks for your patience and see you next chapter.