OBJECTIVES

#25: DON'T LISTEN TO YURI AS THAT WILL LIKELY LAND YOU IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY TRACKING DOWN DANGEROUS PEOPLE ON THE WORD OF AN ESTRANGED WOMAN.

PRAGUE

12: 19 A.M

Prowl studied his surroundings, 'I am to assume that the original destination of Ukraine was a front?' he asked the secret service agent next to him.

Yuri nodded, 'Had to make sure zhat zhere vere no loose ends. Otherwise, ve vould have been followed.'

Prowl nodded. The area they had landed in was rather rural, and due to the late hour, it was very unlikely anybody would see them. Then something struck the Praxian.

'What about the pilot? He would know our location.' Said human was currently flying away. Agent Arkhov waved it off.

'He has not been told of the actual mission, and if he does reveal vhere ve are, he vill be taken care of, as vell as anyone whom he has told.' It was ominous sounding, but the SIC simply nodded, taking the explanation without complaint. These types of operations were always dangerous to those involved, even if it wasn't directly.

'Do you mind telling me what exactly we are here to do?' he asked another question of the Russian. Yuri sighed.

'I shall explain on the vay. Come, zhe sooner ve arrive, zhe sooner ve can leave.' Prowl transformed and the human got into the driver's side, 'Do you have zhat gun I gave you?'

'No. I understand the procedure that we set up, but I had made it clear I wanted nothing to do with this. I have the one from previous years though. It was compromised at one point and so it has been kept hidden better in my subspace compartment.' He told the human male.

The man nodded, 'It shall do. As long as it can't be traced back to anyone, ve shall be fine.'

An uncomfortable silence claimed them, as they drove down the twisting roads, 'What is our heading?' Prowl asked eventually.

'Just follow zhis road straight. Ve shall arrive at a small town vhere ve shall be meeting a source.'

'Then would you mind explaining what it is that is so important you went behind my back and asked my commanding officer for a weeks leave?' the SIC sounded angry to Yuri.

'As I said before, a matter of national security. Zhere appears to be a leak coming from inside zhe Autobots. Ve have been sent here on the basis of a source, as well as to not alert zhe traitor. Zhey are villing to expose your kind zhrough any means possible and ve both know vhat a disaster zhat vill cause. Var between humans, political rivalries. Eventually ve shall end up like your planet did. Dead.'

Prowl growled lowly, 'Our planet is still alive. We have just not been able to get back, and I am the only one who knew for the past year.'

Arkhov laughed loudly, 'Now zhat is embarrassing. You keep zhis from your fellows for zhat long, no vonder zhey are going to be angry.'

'They were not angry for that reason. I had sent reports about this continuously, they were just not read over. And the reason that they no longer have as much trust in me is because you had to reveal to them about how many lives I ended.' The tactician ground out lowly.

'You mean zhe many lives ve ended.' Yuri corrected him. Prowl could not understand why the man sounded so proud.

'You make this seem like it is an accomplishment, when both of us know it is a devastation.' The black and white mech still knew very little about humans, mainly gathering that a lot of them were perverted and had very short attention spans, but the way that his companion acted about those many deaths could not be considered "Human-like behavior".

The man shook his head, 'Prowl, zhe human race has a population of seven billion people, and it is continuously growing. More people are starving, more are homeless. Your planet has much less of a population, so you have to value lives of others more. But on zhis place, ve no longer care.' The message was so dark, and nearly cruel. And yet… slightly true.

But the Praxian disagreed entirely, 'Yuri, there are many humans out there who do care. Spend a day with any organic on the base and you will understand that what they do… it is always for the protection of their species.'

Agent Arkhov half laughed, 'You have changed a lot Prowl. Vasn't it you, all those years ago, who wouldn't care about ending any human's life to try and find your fellow recruits?' those words brought back painful memories.

Prowl sighed, 'Which is why I kept a lot of my past to myself. So I wouldn't be considered as bad as a Decepticon.'

'Or… a certain female changed your mind for you.' The Russian brought up another topic. The SIC screeched to a halt, as Yuri jerked forward, 'Yeesh, if you vant to get me killed, stepping on me vould be easier.' He grumbled.

'I… apologize. How do you know about Eliza?' the Praxian resumed driving down the road.

'It is very easy to see. Zhat, and I keep close tabs on you. You vent across America viz her, yes?'

Prowl's engine revved in annoyance, 'I would kindly ask of you not to read my records Mr. Arkhov.' Yuri raised an eyebrow at the formal address.

'Ah, calm down. Zhat was not in your file. Zhe organic in question told me in return for other information.' He replied. Prowl once again screeched to a halt.

'Ради Проула Бога! Вы пытаетесь убить меня?' The Russian shouted – translation will be at the bottom. The tactician sighed.

'We have arrived Yuri. I was stopping due to the fact that there is a burning fire in front of us.' Sure enough.

It was a bonfire. Quite large, but there was nobody around it. There were people in it however. The remnants of people at least.

The human stepped out and Prowl transformed, staring in shock at the gruesome sight, 'Primus…' he muttered quietly. Then the mask of neutrality slipped into place and he glanced at Agent Arkhov, who had an identical look of horror on his own face.

'Who vould do zhis?' he asked. Prowl cocked his head to the side.

'Wasn't it you who said that no one cared?' there was a very small, almost not there, hint of smugness in his voice. Yuri scowled.

'Not zhe best time.'

'On the contrary. Besides, it appears we have company.' Two men walked out from behind the burning pit, both carrying heavy firearms. And both trained on the other two. So as an equal addition, the SIC un-sub-spaced his own riffle, which was trained on them. The two men paused as the weapon that the Bot had would kill them easily.

Arkhov intervened, 'Ve are here to see Natalia Schebschitz. She has information zhat ve require.'

The two organic males instantly lowered there weapons and backed down, as a silhouette came up from behind them.

'Hello gentlemen. Please follow me.' She turned and walked the way she came. Neither Yuri nor Prowl got a good look at the female, but followed nonetheless. Without looking back, the woman began speaking.

'I am Natalia. I apologize about my men. They have been on edge ever since the burning.' She had a slight accent that they couldn't place.

'The burning?' Prowl questioned. She nodded.

'Men come to this town because it is so remote, and nobody would suspect it. They bring many dead humans wit them, and burn them. They come back later and clean up everything after the fire dies down, and so that nobody becomes suspicious.' There was a definite trace of an accent in her voice, but it wasn't anything that resembled European. It had a ring that sounded similar to…

'You are an American.' Yuri stated. She nodded again.

'Yes. I moved to America when I was a little girl with my family. We got fake identification and later I joined the army. Under your division.' This last part was directed at Prowl.

'I do not believe I have seen you before. And there are no records of a Natalia Schebschitz.' He replied. Natalia sighed.

'That is because I went by a different name. I left the Oymyakon base a few days ago, and came here. My previous name was Natalie Silverman, head of department B-Gamma.' She explained. The Praxian accepted her answer.

'I was a fall back plan. Truthfully, I wouldn't have been put in N. E.S.T if I wasn't assigned to the task of watching everyone. If something goes on, I know. Kind of similar to that girl you like, Eliza, her past division.'

Prowl groaned. How many beings knew about this?

They reached the border of town, where one particularly large warehouse building was situated. The two humans stepped inside, while the Autobot had to duck to get into the structure.

'So, back to the task at hand. Vhat information have you got on zhe leak?' Yuri demanded. The woman shook her head and turned on the lights to the building. They flickered slightly before fully coming alive, making a light buzzing sound.

In the visibility the Bot and human could see the female in full. Prowl immediately identified her as the red haired skater from a few days before.

'Alright, now we may talk.' She leaned against a large wooden crate that sat in the middle of the room, 'The leak is a male, and has a high position. He's working for the Decepticons but plans on double crossing them. All he wants is that all of you get off this planet.'

The two others nodded, 'Do you have a designation?' the tactician asked.

'No.'

'Any visuals?' Yuri questioned. Once again, the answer was no, 'Vell zhat doesn't very much help us does it?'

'Hey, take it or leave it. I wasn't able to get visual identification because I was usually hacking into different phone calls to try find the guy. When I did, I couldn't recognize his voice, but a lot of the information he let loose was indication to power. He has ways to get rid of you guys from taking you down from the inside.' Natalia added.

'… Alright. Is zhere anything else zhat ve should know? Any places zhat he goes to, or vill be going to?' the Russian asked again. She nodded.

'He's attending a meeting in France in two weeks, on the 18th of December. But there is something you should know.' She fiddled with her hair. They both waited patiently for her to continue, 'Uh… well see it's kind of… a ball, you could say.'

Yuri face palmed while Prowl looked up what a ball was. Why was the leak going to a small spherical item? He found the other term for it, and his reaction was more closed than his companion's.

'Oh, relax. You're just gonna have to tell the others about it to get the guy.' Natalia/ Natalie drew out a cigarette and lit it, sticking the small, nicotine filled stick in between her lips.

She offered one to Yuri and he took it, one hand on his forehead, 'But zhen it vill alert zhe leak to zhe fact zhat ve know about him.' The man stated the obvious. She smirked.

'Then come up with an elaborate lie. That's what I do.' She took the cigarette away from her mouth and blew out a long stream of smoke. Prowl wondered why humans took up this horrible habit.

She paused and then ran to the other wall and switched off the lights, 'Stay quiet.' She ordered the Bot and human.

'Vhat? Vhy?' Agent Arkhov stubbed out his cigar. She just shushed him. With the renewed silence, Prowl could pick up human voices and footsteps. A few minutes later, the sound of a truck started up and faded off into the distance.

'Ok.' She turned back on the lights. They flickered again.

The Praxian turned his attention to the secret agent, 'We have the information we came for. We should return back to Oymyakon and inform them of this.' He wasn't very keen on this town they were in. It had a pressing darkness over it.

'Uh… not yet.' Yuri put a hand on the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked up at the Autobot.

'What?' Prowl wanted to get out of here. The last time he was away from the base for a long period of time, bad things happened.

'Aw, he wants to get back to her.' Natalia had an amused grin on her face. The SIC's optics widened at her words, and he wanted to slam his head against the wall. Why? Why was it him? Why did he have to meet the crazy Russian? Why did he have to kill all those people? Why did he have a human as his Sparkmate? Why was it never anybody else?

He drew in a vent, and waited for an answer. Yuri was slow in replying, obviously uncomfortable under Prowl's gaze. The tactician had perfected this whenever dishing out punishment to the Twins – or anybody else who had done something bad, but usually it was the Twins.

'You see… vell… you know zhe saying, an eye for an eye?' The man started off by asking if the Cybertronian had ever heard of a human expression. Oi.

'No, I do not know the saying. And why would one person give away an eye and then another gives their own?' ah, yes.

'Ugh, look. She gives us information, ve do something for her.' That explained everything. Prowl released the vent he was holding and growled.

'This is why you asked Optimus for a week instead of simply a day?' it was nearly a statement, but he wanted a reply. Agent Arkhov shifted on his feet, arms crossed over his chest and looking anywhere but at the Autobot.

'Not… exactly. None of the Autobots know that you're gone. Even zhe Prime.' Silence followed after that. Prowl just stared down at him, as it slowly sunk in.

He drew in a ragged vent again and let it out, 'So, my commanding officer doesn't even know I'm gone. None of them do. I left Eliza to complete all the reports for a week, and she is under the impression that the others know about my leave… what in the pit were you thinking!' he eventually cracked. At this, the human had the good graces to flinch, 'You said that my superior knew about my leave! There is only one other higher than me and that is Optimus!'

Yuri nodded slowly, 'Yes, zhat is correct, but… zhese are my superiors. Particularly zhe one who ordered me to get zhe information.'

Prowl then froze, going completely still, 'You didn't need me for getting the information.' He turned dangerously fixed optics on the both of them, 'You need me for what she has asked of you.'

The Russian agent nodded, and gestured to the red head, which proceeded to speak, 'I need both of you to go find the people who have been burning the humans.' They remembered the gruesome scene that they had come upon, 'They need to be stopped before more are killed. The most information that I've gotten is that they are fifty miles east of here, in a hidden location.'

Agent Arkhov nodded and then looked back at the Cybertronian, 'Prowl, I know that you regret all of zhose deaths zhat… we caused. But allow yourself to make up for it. Save zhese people from a terrible death.'

It was silent as the Praxian considered his words. Hundreds had died due to his actions on earth. Even more on Cybertron. Maybe allowing future generations to live would help find closure.

Not that he wasn't still angry at Yuri of course, but he knew that the man wouldn't be able to go up against these people.

So, rather begrudgingly, he accepted.

'Zhank you Prowl. I promise zhat it vill be vorth it.' A half hearted smile graced the human's features. The SIC remained impassive.

'Nobody else will know about this.' It was a demand. Yuri nodded quickly, 'You realise that it will be a long time before I can truly trust you again.'

'I know. But you obviously trust me enough to do this.' He pointed out. The mech was still emotionless.

'I am only doing it so that you will not be killed. The sooner this is over-'

'The sooner you get to see Ms. Jover.' Natalia ended it for him. He struggled to let a scowl grace his faceplates. He was having a hard time not attacking this human.

'The sooner it can be put behind us.' He said instead. She just smirked.

'Alright. Let us go.' The secret service agent made his way outside. The Praxian made to follow him, but was stopped by the female's voice.

'Also, when you get back to the base, could you ask Melissa how she and Blurr are doing?' it was a simple enough question, and yet it made him pause.

'What do you mean?' he asked her, back towards the femme. Her tone carried a hint of amusement.

'Oh, I thought the great master strategist and most logical mech would notice something like this. But, then again, you are very emotionless.' It was almost taunting, 'Anyway, it's not my place to tell you. Get going.' With that, she basically dismissed him, missing the dark scowl that had formed.

He trudged outside and saw the male organic waiting for him. He transformed and Yuri got in.

A few minutes went by as Prowl followed her directions, 'I liked her.' Arkhov started. Prowl's engine revved.

'She is infuriating.' Was the sharp reply he got. The male rolled his eyes.

'You're just annoyed at all zhe information she has on you and Eliza.'

'And you only like her because she was annoying me and she provided you with information, which leads you to have to pay her back by tracking down some group burning people.' The Bot was not in a good mood. Yuri scoffed.

'Ah, calm down. Just drive and it vill all be over soon.' And with that, the conversation ended and they drove down the dirt roads.

Prowl never should have gotten on that plane. He should have just accepted the blackmail that Yuri had dished out and faced the consequences. It was better than this.

So, with ample time at his disposal he made a note.

OBJECTIVES

#1: ATTEND ALL FUTURE MEETINGS WITH OPTIMUS PRIME.

#2: AVOID RATCHET BY ALL COSTS. - FAILED

#3: REFRAIN FROM ALLOWING BLIND SIGHTED ANGER TO CLOUD JUDGEMENT. CONSEQUENCES MAY BE DIRE. - FAILED

#4: BE AWAKE FOR MORNING REPORTS. NECESSITY – TOP.

#5: DO NOT LISTEN TO THE NEW RECRUIT (ELIZA JOVER) - FAILED

#6: AVOID TWINS BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY UNLESS PUNISHING THEM.

#7: HAVE ELIZA RECORD ALL FUTURE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HER AND OTHER AUTOBOTS.

#8: EDUCATE ELIZA IN CYBERTRONIAN HISTORY.

#9: KEEP CONTROL OVER EMOTIONS

#10: REMAIN FOCUSED ON DUTIES. SOCIAL INTERACTIONS LIMITED TO MEETINGS. - FAILED

#11: AS THE HUMANS SAY, DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP. DOING SO WILL JUST LEAD TO DISAPPOINTMENT AND IT IS ILLOGICAL TO BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING WILL CHANGE.

#12: WHEN IT COMES TO HUMANS, FEW HAVE THE CAPACITY TO REMAIN QUIET.

#13: NEVER LET HER GO.

#14: NEVER LEAVE WITHOUT THAT DATAPAD

#15: LEARN MORE ABOUT ELIZA JOVER.

#16: DO NOT LET ELIZA NEAR ANY GAMBLING LOCATIONS.

#17: PROTECT ELIZA TILL DEATH.

#18: THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE. NEVER STOP HOPING.

#19: ALWAYS KEEP NUMEROUS WEAPONS IN SUBSPACE.

#20: NEVER ALLOW ELIZA NEAR ALCOHOL.

#21: KEEP ANY AND ALL OTHER PAST EXPERIENCES QUIET.

#22: DO NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS UNTIL ALL FACTS HAVE BEEN DISPLAYED.

#23: WHEN SEEKING REVENGE, EMPLOY A MORE TACTICAL PLAN.

#24: ALWAYS SPECIFY YOUR INTENTIONS, ESPECIALLY TO THE HUMAN WHO SUPPLIED YOU WITH THREE THOUSAND AMERICAN DOLLARS.

#25: DON'T LISTEN TO YURI AS THAT WILL LIKELY LAND YOU IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY TRACKING DOWN DANGEROUS PEOPLE ON THE WORD OF AN ESTRANGED WOMAN.

Yeah he was not having a good day. At all.

But then again, if he hadn't have gone with the Russian, Eliza would have known about the devastation he had caused. He honestly did not want her to know anything about that. He lost her once he didn't want to lose her again due to actions of the past.

Especially if past actions had been intended.

OYMYAKON MILITARY BASE

9: 43 A.M

This time in the morning, found many humans situated in the rec room, accompanied by a few other Bots who were refueling. The TV was switched on, and was currently tuned to a station with absolute nonsense.

'And now, we show grainy footage of big foot that is likely to spark a lively debate in your household.' Referenced to "Family guy".

When the image came on screen, all the humans around immediately started arguing. Jazz, Arcee and Ironhide watched this with amusement and confusion.

'What in the pit is a "Big Foot"?' the weapons mech asked. Neither of the other Bots knew.

Just then, the slight, very faint background noise which accompanied the inside heaters, shut off. A few moments later, the full impact of the freezing cold temperatures hit.

'What the slag?' Jazz started. Arcee nodded.

A rampaging Ratchet stormed into the room then, his expression clouded by figurative dark clouds.

'What happened to the heaters?!' the hatchet shouted at the top of his vocal pipes. The humans cringed at the noise.

'We don't know. They just… cut off.' Arcee replied. Ratchet's scowl deepened, and the humans there shrunk back in fear. It was never good to be near a furious CMO.

'When I find the person or Bot who was supposed to get this fixed up, I'll-' he started threatening, but was stopped by a female voice.

'Oh give me a break. It's hard to go over every datapad that comes in, especially ones in Cybertronian. And especially if you're going at it alone.' His attention snapped over to where it had come from, and came optic to eye with Agent Jover.

'What do ya mean, alone?' Jazz asked. She shrugged.

'Prowl left to Ukraine yesterday, and put me in charge of all the reports that come in for a week.' Eliza replied simply.

Silence followed after, 'How come we weren't informed about this?' Ironhide questioned her darkly.

Her brow furrowed, 'Optimus should have been told about it.'

'I had no knowledge of this.' Said leaders booming voice filled the room. She stiffened, suddenly growing tense.

'Then that guy lied.' She hissed. Optic ridges were raised at her cryptic statement.

'What guy?' Ratchet demanded. She tried recalling his name.

'Uh… um… Y… Yuri. Yeah, that's it. I think.' At least from what she could remember. But that is all that half of the Bots in the room needed.

Optimus sighed, 'Did they specify what this was about?' she shrugged, indicating that that knowledge was unknown to her.

Ironhide growled, 'Great, he's gone off to kill another thousand humans.' Eliza snapped her gaze to the weapons mech.

'What?'

'Ha, didn't even tell you. Why should he though? Doesn't trust anyone.' The black Autobot was being sarcastically angry. Her eyes narrowed.

'What did he do?' her voice had lowered to barely above a whisper. A few blinks could be heard, if you can believe that.

Optimus decided to reply, as he was probably the calmest in the room. He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. As much as he was not pleased by his SIC's past or vanishing, the mech still had the right to privacy. And he didn't believe that Eliza would take too kindly to the knowledge that her colleague went and ended the life of hundreds of people.

'It is nothing to be concerned about Agent Jover. I am sure that if Prowl wanted you to know, he would tell-' the human was not having anything about it.

'No!' she shouted, 'I was told by him not to worry about it, but I want an answer. What did he do? I know what Prowl can be like when it comes to revealing anything. I wont get anything out of him, but by god I will get something out of you guys. What. Is. Going. On?' she demanded.

And so, sucking in a vent, the Autobot sent a silent prayer to Primus for the tactician's safety against the organic femme which would probably be very angry after this.

And seen as we have gone over this many times before, he shall be explaining in the background while we wait and highlight on issues that are ravishing our world. A few days ago, I checked out the 9/11 video. I must say that it is terribly horrific. It must have been dreadful for all those people. But what I don't get is how the people on the planes were calling their loved ones, even though back then you weren't able to do that. Also, the planes were not commercial airplanes. I don't know. A lot of the information I get is from conspiracy theories and people who look at all the details. Anyway, back to the dialogue.

Silence claimed the room as Eliza just stared at the Autobot leader. Eventually, she just started shaking her head.

'No, no. Prowl could not have done that.' Ah, denial. Optimus' optics softened slightly. He remembered so many moments like this, when people wouldn't accept the truth. It wasn't like Prowl had changed to the side of the Decepticons. Optimus knew that the black and white mech would never do that. But what had transpired at his own servos was terrible.

Footsteps sounded from behind, and then a female voice, 'Hey, have you guys realised that Natalie's been missing for three days.'

Nobody replied.

PLEASE REVIEW – Seen as only one person reviewed last chapter.

Anyway, Natalie – or Natalia – has returned into the picture. The red head for those who weren't paying attention.

And now Eliza knows about what Prowl did. Great.

Anyway I wanted to thank the one person who reviewed last chapter, which is Spirit Kiss. I understand that guest reviews take longer to arrive, so if any of them did review, thank you as well.

Also to Spirit Kiss, sorry, you can't strangle him just yet. Maybe later depending on which way this goes. But don't lose hope in that fact.

Anyway, really quick updates this week. Just be wary about update times because I still have exams.

And again, please review. I want to get to a hundred before the end of this year.

You know what? Screw it. I'm not complaining about only one person reviewing. This is the best I've ever done in a fanfic. I seriously keep forgetting that. I had one other Fanfic that didn't amount to anything. I had eighteen chapters for it, and eleven reviews. It was terrible. And then I look at other people's stories and think Damn, why can't I be as good as those guys? And now I finally accomplish something, and I complain. This is a perfect example of humans. We are so... needy. When we get what we want, we just want more, and it is really pathetic. So, I just want to say thanks to all the people who even bothered to read this. Because that is really all I can ask for. That you read and you enjoy. So I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for reading it.