TF Catch Up Chapter

Over the next few weeks things were hectic needless to say. Dr. Arkeville had everyone scared now that he was almost full machine. Stephen was just a few days off from going on his first mission to Syria where he would impersonate a private in the U.S military and infiltrate their base to plant bombs in the central computer room and set up bombs in their munitions bunker. He had to be able to do his job fast, silent, and most of all undetected. He had everything set, his uniform, his background in the military network, and his ID's. Blackout would take him in and come back for him once the bombs were set to detonate and together they would make their getaway. Stephen was making his sister very jealous that he got to do all of the fun stuff while she got all of the boring jobs like meeting the president. Most people would have loved it but Taiya was not one of those people. Megatron had given her strict orders to what she could ask for; for saving Patricia's life. So she meet Agent Redding outside the Whitehouse gate. He led her in past security and up to the second levels. Certainly the place was astonishing but the life of luxury was never something Taiya had wanted. However she was surprised that she was going to talk with Mr. Whitmore in the Oval Office. She took a chair in front of his desk and waited for him to come in. Redding remained in the room after all she was still considered a risk. After a few minutes Taiya was nearly knocked to the floor when Patricia ran in and jumped right into Taiya hugging her.

Whitmore – " Patricia wouldn't stop asking when you were going to show up. I am happy you have finally decided on what I can do for you. It's not everyday a civilian does a secret servants job." {He laughed}
Taiya – "well sir I was just doing my duty after all." {Laughed with him}
Whitmore – {picked his girl up and handed her off to Redding} "Redding why don't you go play a game with Patricia while we handle adult business."
Redding – {thinking crap no more hide and go seek} "Yes sir."
Patricia – "Daddy I want to stay."
Whitmore – "Honey. We have been through this. You don't have to worry about adult matters. Now just go play and have fun."
Patricia – "fine."
Whitmore – "Hey, you want to loose your sleep over? Then what will I tell Mr. Sumdac, sari really wanted to come over."
Patricia – "Okay dad. I will behave."
Whitmore – 'That's my girl."
Redding – {said quietly} "Sir you sure about being alone? I don't trust her." {Taiya could hear him and made the mental note to watch her back when it came to Redding}
Whitmore – "I think I am a better judge of character then you agent Redding. I will be fine."
{The agent left with Patricia and Whitmore took his chair}
Whitmore – "Well miss Dalton neither me nor my wife got a chance to thank you properly with the chaos of what happened. I was surprised when McAlister told me that you stitched up your own arm. That is not something I could have done. You and I may not agree when it comes to the transformers but that is beside the point. So I will get to the point, what can I do to thank you for saving my daughter?"
Taiya – {Thinking of what Megatron ordered} "Well sir, I uh, I was wondering if you could help me get into a university."
Whitmore – "University? I think that can be arranged. Have you thought about which one you would like to go to?"
Taiya – "Well I was wondering if you can get me into the university here in D.C. and I uh. Have a problem, I don't have enough money to go and I don't have the credit score either."
Whitmore – "I understand, many people don't have the luxury of having well off parents to pay their way into schools. I will take care of it, consider yourself my new scholarship recipient. I heard from McAlister you could use a job, and seeing as you are a Decepticon fan and all, how about the job of counter analyst. You can tell me your opinion to matters with the Autobots?"
Taiya – {Thinking how on earth did McAlister find out about me being fired?} "That's funny because I was going to ask for a job second. Does that mean I would work here or."
Whitmore – "Yes, you would, you would work in the PR department and you may even get to hear about plans regarding the Decepticons. Now it's not a full time thing, sort of like an on call position."
Megatron – {speaking to ear implant} "Take it. This would be good and with your spot you can plant bugs in their offices giving us the heads up.'
Taiya – 'Deal Mr. President." {She shook his hand}
McAlister – {walked in} "Did you tell her your idea Mr. President?"
Whitmore – "Only partial, you cut me off before I could say anything."
McAlister – {sat down on one of the couches}
Whitmore – {took out a file} "I really did not want to dig into your personal life but McAlister suggested it might be a good idea to figure out who you are first before offering you a job."
Taiya – "You guys dug into my personal life?"
McAlister – "Not to worry Taiya, nothing out of the ordinary, just checking to see if you have any criminal records or unfavorable marks against you."
Whitmore – "Seems you don't have a job and a home. Which leads me to a question, how would you like to live close to the White House?"
Taiya – "What?"
McAlister – 'Seems you are quite the babysitter and seeing as the secret service can't seem to do their jobs right it would be good to keep you around."
Whitmore – "we have asked people you have babysat for and every time it's the same, she is great, she really knows what she is doing, always fallowing the rules. I think it would be fun for my daughter to have you around instead of the secret service always tailing behind. I know Patricia hates having them fallow her every move so while you wait for a counter opinion meeting you can help Redding with Patricia."
Taiya – {speaking through earpiece to Megatron} 'Megatron what do I do? Take it or not?"
Megatron – {earpiece} 'Ask him what the job entails?"
Taiya – "Whitmore what do you want me to do exactly?"
Whitmore – "Well I guess the only way to describe the job would be babysitter to the first child. So while you go to school in the day you can help the secret service during the evening hours or whenever is good with you."
Megatron – {earpiece} "Ask him what kind of security details that includes?"
Taiya – "So that means I would basically be able to go anywhere in here right?"
McAlister – "Almost, you would have the same clearance Melvin has. He has sat for Patricia a few times when Whitmore was still a senator, but I think you would do a better job."
Megatron – {earpiece} "Well then, accept."
Taiya – "Well sir I would be a fool not to. Consider me you new babysitter. I will have to get back to you about the hours I will be free."
Whitmore – " Perfect."
McAlister – "And with you going to the same school as Melvin it will be easy for me and Whitmore to get a hold of you two."
Taiya – {feeling like being put on the spot} "That's wonderful." {Lying}
McAlister – "Well I have to go, see you around Taiya." {McAlister shook both of their hands before leaving}

McAlister picked up the phone in the hall and went into an empty room.

McAlister – "Simmons what do you have to report?"
Simmons – "Well still no leads to who took the Allspark and no information to the Northbrook incident. And still nothing from Connolly."
McAlister – 'Do you realize how little patience I have left for your SCREW UPS!"
Simmons – 'I know sir. I am dearly sorry sir. I am trying the best
McAlister – 'BEST! BEST! THE ONLY THING I SEE IN YOU IS FAILURE AGENT SIMMONS!"
Simmons – "We can't find out why personal information is being purged, half of at least 30,000,000 people have had their entire personal histories deleted. Maine is going nuts, their medical systems have crashed loosing an entire states worth of medical history. We are all in the dark sir."
McAlister – "Get Zoë, Dr. Keys head computer analyst, she should be able to help. While I get Maggie Madsen on this end. Fail me again Simmons and you will die."
Simmons – {gulped] "Yes sir."
McAlister – "Oh and how is our little parcel doing?"
Simmons – 'Walsh set it up this morning. Everything should go according to plan."
McAlister – "Good. You had better hope so or else."
Simmons – 'Yes sir. I will report back with you in a month."
McAlister – {hung up the phone} "Dimmit Simmons."

While McAlister swore over the failures of agent Simmons another agent was doing McAlister's bidding. Agent Walsh was a devious agent that never went by the rules if it meant that he could gain something in return. McAlister always used him when it came to getting to the point of an assassination. Walsh only took orders from McAlister. Walsh was among 30 or so people from a new branch of Sector 7 whose sole purpose was to do whatever McAlister wanted. Sector 7's new division was filled with agents with questionable records. Agent Walsh set the charge for the bomb and set it underneath Major Johnson's car, tomorrow the major would have a surprise indeed. Now all Walsh had to do is plant evidence and then the "real" perpetrator would be caught. McAlister left the room to head down into the underground train system to the Pentagon where he would watch over Operation Hellion. The first initial strike would launch tonight and all of the soldiers in the Middle East were told to head out of the strike zones. One of those areas was in Syria where above a helicopter with a tail number 4500x was about to make his landing letting loose a Decepticon amongst the unknowing soldiers. He quickly landed a tad bit outside of the base and let out Stephen.

Blackout – "Okay Stephen you ready?"
Stephen – {in military fatigues smirked} "Hell yes."
Blackout – "Go get em warhead, my ETR will be in a week, 10 hours, and 23 minutes. Do you have your watch set?"
Stephen – "Yes, I have all my gear and I am ready to roll."
Blackout – "This {his voice was silenced by the sound of supersonic jets flying towards the capitals of Kubal, Riyadh, Tehran, and Baghdad who were ready to initiate the first wave of operation hellion.} What was that?"
Stephen – "I don't know Blackout but you should opt out fast. I don't have a good feeling."
Blackout – {Said playfully} "I-I Commander Warhead." {He took off}

Stephen walked to the temporary base now located in Syria. He tried his best to calm his nerves. It was his first mission and he did not want to screw up. He was helped by frenzy and Soundwave in getting a hold of the base commander, commander Herz. They had managed to convince him that Stephen was indeed a soldier and that it was his job to help in the maintenance of the munitions. They even made it more convincing with a forged letter from sergeant Perolin. Stephen was supposed to meet Herz and turn in his enlistment order. He looked around at the tents pitched in the sandstone and just kept to himself. He only stopped to ask where Herz was and a soldier led him right to the only hard building in the area. He steeped inside and around a large table that was littered with maps was the man he was to meet. Commander Herz looked up to see Stephen.

Herz – "Ah Private first class Stephen Dalton, I was waiting for you."
Stephen – {saluted} "Sir Sargent Perolin requested my presence here." {He handed Herz the letter}
Herz – {read the letter} "Yes, you are here to do a maintenance check on the equipment after our move from Soccent 2 am I right?"
Stephen – "Yes Sir that is correct. I have a week to submit my report to Sargent Perolin before I am to be redeployed out to Afghanistan."
Herz – "Well then Lennox can you show the man to his quarters for the week?"
Lennox – "Yes Sir!" {Saluted the Commander]
Herz – {nodded}
Lennox – "Here let me help you with your pack." {He grabbed Stephens rucksack and flung it over his shoulder}
Stephen – "Thank you uh?"
Lennox – 'Captain Lennox your name would be?"
Stephen – "Thanks Captain Lennox, my name is Stephen."
Lennox – 'No problem Stephen."

Lennox showed him around to get Stephen familiar with everything. Getting stopped a few times by some soldiers who had to give Lennox a high five. After L.A he was a bit of a war hero and now no one questioned him or his leadership, they even stopped messing with him about him wanting to see his little girl. A girl whom every soldier knew was in good hands. Lennox was very friendly and seemed to bond with everyone in a heartbeat. Lennox went on about what it was like for him when he was a private.

Lennox – {showed him inside a rather large tent with bunk beds} "You will be bunking in the end there {he pointed to the back set of beds} the one on the left."
Stephen – "All right."
Lennox – "you get some sleep tonight and tomorrow I can help you with your reports, after the whole Transformer thing no one gives me orders. They just let me do what I want and its bothering me, I need something to do before I loose my mind.'
Stephen – "Good plan boss." {Trying his best to fit in making a thumbs up}
Lennox – "Good to have you aboard Private Dalton. I am sure you know the itinerary right?"
Stephen – "Yes sir." {Thinking, 'Heck yeah I know it, I only read it a 100 times"}
Lennox – "See you at supper time." {Lennox left}

Stephen put his things away making absolutely sure that the explosives he had were not found in anyway. This would be tricky though with Lennox and the other soldiers around. He went around and talked to a few of the soldiers to get familiar with a few faces. He stopped by a group of them who were in a heated argument over the con vs. bot thing.

Soldier 1 – "No way our government is liable for what happened! How were we supposed to know that thing could even think let alone have emotions?"
Soldier 2 – "Yeah we are! I mean we held that thing hostage and now his "followers' are tearing through us like butter!"
Soldier 3 – "Now countries are turning against us. The whole thing is shit. We should just tell them all to leave.'
Stephen – "Why would you want the transformers to leave?"
Soldier 3 – "They are bad news. Don't trust an alien that's a given."
Soldier 2 – 'I agree with you there."
Soldier 1 – "Well I just want one good shot at the thing that killed my pal back at Soccent 1. That bladed monster from hell! Damn bastard was intent on killing us all!'
Stephen – {thinking man Blackout sure pissed off a lot of people} "Hey don't this things have names?'
Soldier 3 – 'Yeah but I aint callin them nothing but things. Machines don't deserve names let alone understanding."
Stephen – {had to hold back his anger}
Soldier 2 – 'And you saw that thing with the claws and the big spiky tail! Man that shit was fucking freaky. I am surprised you survived."
Soldier 1 – "The scorpion thing yeah it was freaky beyond all reason. Now I can't even stand the sight of normal earth scorpions."
Stephen – {thinking of all the hugs he had gotten from Scorponok made him a tad bit confused} "They were just fallowing orders so isn't it possible that they aren't as bad as we think.'
Soldier 1 – "You have to be kidding me? Please tell me you're kidding?"
Stephen – {laughing} "Yeah, I am, sorry boys. When it comes to that helicopter he is a glorified food processor." {Feeling sorry blackout while the soldiers laughed}

Stephen left the men to their argument and still felt bad for having to make fun of the cons. He had to admit it to himself that he was now an acting Decepticon and that deception was his game. They thought blackout was destructive then they would have to rethink that once Stephen was complete with his mission. Over the next few days it was up to him to gain the trust of the soldiers. During supper commander Herz turned on the radio so that the soldiers could listen to GTNN while eating. They were reporting on something going on in Russia.

Wheeler – "This is Tara Wheeler with this exclusive from Moscow Russia. In recent news Russia has now claimed to be a Transformer free zone. They have moved ahead with defense strategies to detour any threats. They say that they are ready to test out a new shield that they claim will halt any transformer trying to head into the area. The power needed to make such a shield is being powered by numerous nuclear plants. The effectiveness of the shield is questionable. Recent scientific development has halted the addition of 6 new astronauts who were set out to launch to the International Space Station. Is this the beginning of neo-sovietism? Some think so while the Kremlin denies such a claim. In other news gang activity has increased here in the west bloc as the notorious Gold Scythe Gang is making a hostile takeover of other gangs in the area. One member has just broken out of Krofflin Mental Asylum. He has broken out 15 times already. The guards were found dismembered with their body parts scattered all over the place. The suspect is known as Zach Romanovsky the homicidal maniac that has been charged with the deaths of at least 112 people. Bounty for him is set at 3 million dollars dead or alive."

The same channel blared on screen in the entertainment room of the nemesis. Some of the cons got to the nemesis early over Astrotrain who was still transporting non-flight able cons. A few to get there was Brawls brother Blastoff, Lugnut and Blitzwing. A huge Decepticon showed up outside of the nemesis just before Stephen and blackout left and his name Trypticon. He was absolutely massive; he made the nemesis look like a small car. He was sent out to be a land base in Spain as both Megatron and the president made a deal of occupation. While he set up base in Spain another was doing the same for the Autobots. Two Autobots have landed; Omega Supreme and Metroplex. Omega was sent by Optimus to Canada as the north headquarters. President Harper held a parade to welcome the bot; he set up base in Toronto. While Omega got used to the cold Metroplex was getting used to the sun, he went to Hawaii to help guard the pacific waters. And the primary base for the bots was in the Colorado Rockies where their main ship the Ark lay in the mouth of a large mountain cave. Taiya was nervous as heck about her brother could barely sit still. Every time she would sit she would sigh then get up and start pacing, it was driving Frenzy and Rumble nuts. Ravage however was intrigued to this behavior and just fallowed behind. His copycatting just confused the slag out of Lazerbeak who was just enjoying the down time.

Frenzy – 'Argh would someone make her stop already!"
Arkeville – "Clearly human emotions are not your strong suite."
Frenzy – "NO BECAUSE I AINT HUMAN!'
Arkeville – "Learning a bit of psychology would do you good Frenzy. It is the processes of the mind after all. Similar to that of the cerbos.'
Rumble – "Shhhh!"
Blackout – "Here I will help." {He picked Taiya up and just sat her down on his lap] "Stephen will be fine okay trust me."
Blitzwing – 'You must have a screw loose Blackout. You are a Decepticon and being trustworthy is not something you are capable of, {his head spun around} EITHER THAT OR I AM COMPLETELY NUTS! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Lugnut – {whacked him} "SHHH YOUR INSANE YAPPING! CAN YOU NOT SEE YOUR MASTER WISHES TO LISTEN TO THE EARTHLING BROADCAST!" {he waved his hands at a rather bored Megatron whom did not really care what was being shown or not]
Megatron – "Lugnut {he shook an empty energon cube}
Lugnut – {got up really fast} "Yes mater right away master!"
Blastoff – "dear Primus Lugnut is dull."
Brawl – "Dull doesn't account for him enough if you ask me. Megatron you really should let shockwave check out his head before his one way perspective kills us all."
Megatron – "Blind loyalty is a useful tool Brawl, of have you forgotten what Lugnut is capable of?"
Brawl – 'Okay he beat me a few times, but I am stronger now."
Blitzwing – "The only way you will ever take down Lugnut is with the help of your bothers." {He broke into laughing hysterically}
Marie – "Go on and laugh your crazed intercontinental disaster! I bet my brawl can kick your tank aft all the way to Berlin and back!"
Brawl – {would have blushed if he could have} "Yeah, I mean what are you exactly blitzy? German, English, or just fragging sparked!"
Blitzwing – {Angry face} "VU VANT A PIECE OF ME! I CAN TAKE YOU ANYVERE ANY TIME!"
Brawl – "All right you're on!'
Blitzwing – "Okay if I win I keep her, and if you win
Brawl – "MARIE! You've got to be malfunctioning if you think I would ever
Marie – {Getting really excited blurted out} "DEAL!"
Brawl – "Marie! No!"
Marie – "You've got yourself a deal! If you win I am your PET and if Brawl wins
Megatron – "Marie gets to give you a new paint job." {Secretly wanting everyone to forget what he looked like in neon}
{Brawl and Blitzwing shook on it}
Brawl – 'And you have to clean out Snapdragons room."
Megatron – "OOO even better."
Blitzwing – "YOU ARE ON CAMO-JERK!"
Megatron – "Okay looks like we have ourselves an old gladiator game to plan out."
Loren – "Who cares about you two tank-tards, EVERYONE KNOWS THRUST IS BETTER THEN BOTH OF YOU!" {Stuck up her nose and Thrust got all proud like}
Marie – "Shut it you skank!"
Loren – "DID YOU JUST CALL ME A WHORE!"
Marie – "If the 7.5 stiletto fits."
Loren – "WHY YOU {Swearing has been deleted for your convenience ^_^}"
Taiya – "LOREN SHUT YOUR SLAGGING FACEPLATE BEFORE I DO IT FOR YOU! I AM TRYING TO THINK! AND I CANT WITH YOUR NONSENSE RAMBLING!"
Loren – "No! I WONT SHUT UP YOU %$# ^&*^%$ #%$$$"
Megatron – {Leaned over to blackout} "Taiya you aren't going to take that from your inferior are you?"
Taiya – {took off her skate and chucked it at Loren's head making quite a few in the room laugh} "I said BE QUIET!"
Megatron – "Not bad, could use some improvement though."
Thrust – "Loren!"
Blackout – {laughing hard} "I hope you put a warranty on her Thrust!"
Thrust – {knowing not to mess with blackout could only scowl}
Taiya – {seeing the opportunity to show off} "Now what do you say to your leader?"
Loren – {holding her head} "I hate you."
Bones – "Can't take that! That's my line!"
Starscream – ' Perhaps Megatron it would be a good idea to send them off for a little leadership training?"
Megatron – 'For once you have come up with a good idea Starscream. TAIYA, LOREN, MARIE, RINA, and ALLISON
Soundwave – "Megatron Allison is not here, you sent her and barricade on a mission."
Megatron – "yes, I forgot, Okay then all members of humanicon team alpha are to go with blackout for a little leadership training! Taiya you have to learn how to lead, all others fallow."
Marie – "Yes sir Megatron."
Loren – {saying quietly} 'If you think I will fallow that loser you are out of your mind."
Rina – 'OKKIE DOOKIE!"

While humanicon team alpha got ready for they training exercise Stephen was starting to loose it. Everywhere he went Lennox was not far behind, he was getting why Taiya hated Melvin so much. The reports were going smoothly though as he penned the fake paperwork. He just had to wait a bit more to make his move. An echo was heard by everyone in the base.

Stephen – "What was that?"
Lennox – "I am not allowed to tell privates but McAlister seems to be initiating Hellion asap."
Stephen – "Hellion?"
Lennox – {looking around making sure no one was around} 'I know I am not supposed to say bad things about my generals but McAlister is nuts. He is a complete warmonger, I don't trust him one iota. Hellion is a multi step process of sweeps over so called "terrorist populations". But I think this is all about a hostile takeover, and worst if we don't have our own kind to worry about we have the Decepticons too."
Stephen – {thinking about how close Taiya was to Mark made him uneasy} "Is General McAlister really that bad Captain?"
Lennox – "Well just between you and me, I don't think General Salazar died of natural causes. Everyone in the military knows about the infamous Mark McAlister."
Stephen – "Well everyone but me obviously.'
Lennox – 'Hey you're still new at this so don't sweat it."
Stephen – "Why again are you helping me?"
Lennox – "I don't know bored I guess, not much to do around here."
Stephen – "I understand.' {Looking around at how dull everything was}
Lennox – "Since the whole TF thing things have been slow, no one wants to mess with us anymore with the Autobots on our side."
Stephen – "If the enemy activity has slowed then why do we need to do strikes on them? Doesn't that mean things are getting more peaceful?"
Lennox – "I've got two words for that, McAlister's influence."

Stephan went back to examining the weaponry. They finished off the quota for the day and a few air force pilots brought everyone some beer. They drank and just chilled out as the hot sun fell out of view. Stephen liked being a soldier, thinking that this would have been a good choice if he still lived in America.

Soldiers in the Middle East could not fully contemplate what was going on in Washington D.C behind their backs. A doctor stands defiantly against McAlister and agent Simmons.

Victor – "No you can't have Zoë, I won't allow it! I need her at keys industries."
McAlister – {paced around a sitting Victor} "Might I remind you who you work for Dr. Keys, anything I want you have to give as the contract states. And you don't want me to tell Whitmore that you are going against my orders."
Victor – 'No, I will not give in to you or your diminutive threats Mark."
McAlister – 'That's General McAlister to you, you two bit clinician." {He bared his teeth at Victor}
Simmons – "You really should just do as he says."
Victor – "You don't have me fooled McAlister, I know exactly what you are. And don't think I won't find out what really happened to Colonel Barton and General Salazar. I know you did something, and when I find out I will tell President Whitmore and we all know what will happen to you next."
McAlister – "Dig all you want victor you won't find a thing. You see I could have you wiped off the map if you catch my drift. I need your analyst to work on something for me."
Victor –{Just sat aloof} "My answer is still no. now if you don't mind I have a business to run so why don't you go play with your little action figures while the real men do their jobs."
McAlister – {Would have shot him if he could but Mark knew that he needed Keys to fulfill his grand dream} "You civilians don't know the meaning of war; you sit back and watch like it's a spectator sport. People like you are worse then mutts at the pound! You lack the strength and the will do what is necessary. You make me sick!"
Victor – "War is not a plaything of the powerful, and I don't care what it takes I will stop you McAlister."
McAlister – "I don't think you really understand those words Victor, you know not of sacrifice or the magic of clout. No one will ever listen to you, no one will even morn you when you are dead, and not a soul will even feel the empty space when you are gone. While I will be mourned by millions. You don't know who you are dealing with, you HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM CAPABLE OF, SO JUST DO YOUR JOB AS I COMMAND!"
Victor – {Got up and pushed in his chair} "No." {With that he left}

McAlister in a rage kicked the table over smashing the glasses that were on top of it. He could not lay a hand on victor and that was infuriating to him. He just grimaced and to get out more of his frustration he punched Simmons in the stomach. Simmons collapsed in pain. Simmons let out a few cries.

McAlister – "Stop being a whiney bitch and get up! We have work to do."

Simmons could barely get up but knowing it would be a kick to the chest if he didn't; got up. They left the west wing and headed out to the new sector 7 headquarters in the pentagon. McAlister wanted to read the initial reports of air strike one.

While senior McAlister went forward with his plans junior junior McAlister talked with the Autobots after a long day of what Melvin called removing undesirables. Melvin had managed to fire 45 people getting 15 of which; arrested for petty crimes. Members of McAlister's inner circle filled the positions securing one more building for his purposes. Melvin had stopped all tours putting quite a few out of a job. The plan between him and his father was to make the building a secret sector of sector 7. Project delta was the code name, and it was up to Melvin to see the progress of information collection.

Melvin – "What should I do prime? I can't find out any information on her "boyfriend" not a thing. I have contacted just about all of her friends, family members, and general acquaintances and nothing."
Prime – "I don't know, human romance is not my strong suit." {Thinking, why me? I know I am the leader but why come to me for everything?}
Bumblebee – {folded his arms} "Who needs a girl like that, lousy fragging glitch."
Sari – "Bumblebee! No need to be rude!"
Bumblebee – "There is something wrong with the girl! Just take my word for it Melvin the girl is a malfunction ready to blow."
Jazz – "And did you get that look. It reminded me of someone."
Ratchet – "Sari's right Bumblebee, you're sounding like a con."
Bumblebee – "Me! a con!? NEVER! NO WAY! NOT EVER!'
Melvin – "You are not a con Bumblebee. I just can't stop thinking about her."
Sari – "You guys are awesome, and maybe she just doesn't know you too well. I bet if she were to meet all of you it would change her mind."
Sam – "Maybe Sari, some people don't change their minds once they settle on their opinion."
Mikaela – "Well I love you guys. And I think it's sad that many cannot."
Bumblebee – "All I know is that if any one stands up for that tyrant is clearly lost. I mean I still can't talk Cybertronian right."
Ratchet – 'I am still making the repairs. If you just stayed on Cybertron before jumping after Megatron I would have had you fixed up eons ago."
Bumblebee – "Well only fast heroes ever save the day. If I had lost track of the cube we probably would have lost it. Which we seem to have done anyway... uh."
Prime – {Leaned back and covered his optics} "What would Primus do in this situation? Nothing I learned in the academy is of any use here. There is no protocol for how to deal with organics or their issues."
Sari – "That's why most of us humans do things on the fly. You can't plan everything out."
Prime – "That does not seem logical. But that seems to be how things are run here. I just keep thinking of all that we have learned about you humans and it is shocking how you have lasted so long."
Melvin – "It's called adaptation Prime. It gives those who are superior the edge to stay alive."
Prime – "Yes but could someone explain to me again how tiny organics are born again. It makes absolutely no sense to me."
Melvin – "Don't worry there Prime, I will give you the birds and bees talk again."
Mikaela – "Well just don't do it around me, its already embarrassing enough having to answer every last question about how the body works."
Jazz – "It's basically input and output right, sort of like a computer calculation with domain and range?" {Mikaela, Sam, and sari all did a face palm}
Sari – "You're hopeless Jazz." {They just joined in on the laughter}
Melvin – {just laid back and thought "Just who are you? I don't care who, or whatever gets in my way. I will win her no matter what."}

Stephen continued to gain the trust of the soldiers and the commanders around him and he was doing really well. The only thing he had to try really hard at was downplaying his temper. He almost lost it a few times and it was getting him a bit nervous about setting the charges. He had 4 days before he would go into the last phase of his plan. Phasing was something very easy for Zoë. Zoë had been informed of McAlister's blunt rage and victor was ticked about the whole thing. He tried his best to focus it out and the best way to do that was to make results. He hit his first milestone in getting there central processes of the transformer mind. So far they had managed to get the basic movements of a transformer and the specific codes that correlated with them. Flak however had to be let go, his nonstop rage about his fight with brawl was becoming a hazard risk. Something was going wrong with flak and all of the Autobots knew it. A once tactful bot was loosing his self-control. Optimus ordered him to go with a group of soldiers to see if it would help him if he could get some anger out. They were part of Hellion part two, ground assault team omega.

Ground assault was not something a flight oriented con like Blackout would ever truly enjoy. Unlike his parasite partner who loved to dig up the earth and get down in the muck. Taiya, Allison, Rina, and Marie set off for the day to do some "Leadership' Training. It was Taiya's turn to know what it was to take command over her small team. They packed what they would need for the day and set out. Even though Russia was considered an anti-TF zone Blackout thought that the vast expanses of Serbia would be the best place to go. Far away from any true modern city and varying landscape made it a good choice to train. They set out and flew for a couple of hours before something seemed wrong. They heard nothing but static and found it hard to stick to the vector. Until they lost all communication with the nemesis.

Taiya – "Blackout I am not getting any signal."
Blackout – "Neither am I. I think we should get out of the area."
Taiya – 'I agree, I have a bad feeling about this place."

But before blackout could fly away he lost all movement of his rotary blades. He started to fall out of the sky. Everyone on board was freaking out by that point. Blackout said in a panic "Everyone hold on!" Blackout had to think out of the box and transform without harming the girls. He managed to do so grabbing all four of them before slamming down into the dirt. The slide for quite a few meters before finally stopping. Gasping and being totally scared kept their eyes closed.

Blackout – "Everyone alright?"
Marie – 'I think so.'
Taiya – "Yeah."
Rina – "Whoa total wipeout! CAN WE DO THAT AGAIN!?"
Blackout – "No!"
Loren – "What happened!? Why did you crash?"
Blackout – "I don't know all of the sudden my cerbos stopped firing."
Taiya – "Blackout are you having trouble focusing?"
Blackout – "You too?"
Taiya – "It's like someone is fragging my brain."{The both of them were in pain}
Blackout – "Not good, turn off your cerbos. I am going back to just the basic components. Something is screwing up our signals."
Marie – "Are you two alright?"
Taiya – "We will be fine. We have a bigger problem now. Blackout do you think you can still fly?"
Blackout – "Not sure."
Taiya – {thinking well I guess now is better then never} "Blackout I think you should leave and head back home."
Blackout – "AND LEAVE YOUR GUYS!? I DON'T THINK SO!"
Taiya – "Listen, please, you barely caught us in time. If you crash again and something really bad happens we may not be so lucky. You can trust me to get the girls home. Whoever did this to you obviously knows enough about transformer anatomy to make something to jam our signals and cease our cerbo firing. You have to get home and tell Megatron."
Loren – "Are you nuts! Or are you really that stupid!"
Taiya – {getting pissed at Loren's constant disobedience lost it. Taiya walked over to Loren and grabbed her by the collar} "I have had it with you Loren! You will do as I say or primus so help you I will make sure you never forget the kind of pain I will put you through!"
Rina – "Holy crap."
Marie – 'I can't see, what is going on?'
Loren – {gulped} "Yes mam."
Taiya – "and don't you forget it."
Blackout – 'Okay Taiya you win. I will go."
Taiya – "Blackout can you hand me my backpack?"
Blackout – "Here you go. You sure about this?" {He handed the girls theirs as well}
Taiya – "yeah."

Blackout did not want to leave but knowing she was right took off. Heading as fast as he could away form Russia. He had to tell Megatron what was going on and most of all how to stop it. He knew what was going to happen next, Russia was going to be a target and blackout being a con; loved the idea of destroying whatever was damaging his internal systems.

Taiya – [Sat down and concentrated hard}
Loren – "I can't believe you just did that. And what are you doing?"
Taiya – "I am trying to access a GPS satellite to get a vector to our location."
Rina – 'Whoa you can do that?"
Taiya – "Yes and shh I need to focus."
{Taiya could not use her normal Cybertronian signal to get a lock on to a satellite in the area. But as she thought hard her mind left her body and see could see a clear map of the area in her head. Running through political, geographical, roadway, and train paths. She saw what she needed, a city with a train that could take them across Russia into west Europe where they could get to Ireland. Ireland had what they needed; a terra transport bridge.}
Taiya – 'Okay guys looks like we are huffing it. Nearest city is 5 miles from here, we can head there and take a train."
Loren – "5 miles! You expect me to walk five freaking miles!?"
Marie – "Don't you ever stop complaining?"
Taiya – "I don't like what we have to do but we have to get home. I need all of you to just fallow my lead, and I don't want to hear another word of back slander. Am I clear?"
Rina – "Clear as water."
Marie – "well I don't know what is clear but yes."
Loren – 'Fine. Crystal clear."
Taiya – "Good." {No matter what kind of front she put on Taiya was scared spit-less about what responsibility now lay ahead of her.}

They started to hike it to head to the nearest city hoping that when they got there they could take a train out of Russia. Stephen and Lennox just did their job as all of the soldiers including the captain were oblivious to the explosive event that was about to take place. Taka went to Victor to see if he could help her; and she was adamant about getting her sight back no matter what. She was ready to give up everything to stop Starscream even if that meant costing her; her humanity. A sacrifice of humanity was not something McAlister understood as he had none left in him. As the deaths were counted it brought joy and elation to him. A major gets in his car and with the twist of his key his life was taken in a fiery cloud.