There is some strong language in this chapter, just thought I should warn you for some reason…

Chapter 25: Friend or Foe?

Don't panic, don't panic. Do. Not. Panic. They'll sense your heartbeat going crazy. Keep it cool, you got this girl. Charlotte forced herself to remain calm and acted casual. Shrugging nonchalantly, she answered Megatron's question. "Well since they had the numbers and muscle, I would have beat them with my wits." She lightheartedly winked, and relaxed a little when she saw the smirk return on Megatron's handsome face. He was tall, 6'3, and had his long black hair braided behind him. His bangs came up and down over his face, representing his horns. His leather jacket was mostly black with turquoise, gold, and purple features on the arms and back. Under his jacket he was wearing a darker shade of turquoise shirt. His pants were all black except for the purple decepticon insignias on the sides and some turquoise straps. He wore dark grey boots that had pointy black and purple armor strapped onto it, looking very similar to his robot mode's feet. His skin wasn't as tanned as Optimus's, but he also wasn't pale like the stereotypical villain. He still looked like a bad guy, the Balbo beard probably added to that effect, but the way he smirked would make any good girl go bad.

"Cute and smart," the decepticon leader's holoform complimented. "In that case, I see you have things under control. We'll leave you alone." He and his intense looking group started departing and Charlotte had no idea why she spoke up again.

"No wait! Let me make it up to you. I wanna show my appreciation for the save, ya know?" The decepticons looked back at Charlotte, intrigued. "Come on, it'll be fun." She added innocently.

The tall form of Megatron approached the Earthling femme with a smug smile. "Don't worry about it, human." His confident expression slipped off his face when he realized his mistake.

Charlotte had to fight the laughter that threatened to escape her when she saw Megatron's face when he realized his slipup. She played it off. "Human? I've never been called that before…you a vampire or something? You and your buddies definitely look it." She joked and smirked when she saw his tense form relax. "Anyways vamps, you guys eat ice cream? Cold Stone is right there and I have a gift card for it. My treat."

"Ice cream?" The man that had short, spiky black hair and a little goatee asked. He was wearing a police uniform with dark shades and Charlotte had to admit to herself, she liked the decepticon touches on the uniform.

She continued acting oblivious to their obvious unaccustomedness to Earth. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?" Their nervousness made her smile, she was having too much fun knowing they were really aliens and them not knowing that she knew. "Let me introduce you to one of my personal favorites of man's inventions. Come on." She started walking towards the ice cream building. Glancing behind to see if they were following, Charlotte saw the humanized decepticons waiting for their orders from Megatron.

He was weighing the risks of going with the human they stumbled upon. They had already messed up several times and had gotten lucky that the human femme didn't see them as too suspicious. They had come out to use their holoforms so they could understand and blend in better with the humans. He didn't plan on actually interacting with any earthlings, but when the decepticon leader saw the group of guys gang up on the only human that caught his attention, her pink hair was what made Megatron look twice, he wasn't going to stand by and watch them disrespect her when she had done nothing wrong. If they played their cards right, Megatron knew that he and his decepticons could greatly benefit from this oblivious human. He started following Charlotte and his decepticons trailed behind him. He easily caught up to her small strides, but he was caught off guard when she asked him what his name was. What were human guy names? Megatron tried to remember a conversation he overheard between two humans. They had been talking about some book series and were talking about a powerful character. What was his name? "Hades." Megatron quickly answered.

The human with partially pink hair laughed. "And I'm the Olympian Goddess, Hera! No seriously, what's your real name?"

Confused by her reaction, Megatron quickly did a web search on Hades and Hera. "Oh…" he lightly laughed. "Yeah, I'm not Hades…"

"I figured, though you could pull it off. So what's your real name?" Charlotte was smiling at his mistake. Since Megatron couldn't think of a better Earth name that he liked, he told her that his name was classified. Charlotte sighed. "That's how it's going to be? Alright then, hi Classified I'm Charlotte." Moments later, they arrived at Cold Stone Creamery and Megatron opened the door for her. So this is the guy who practically ripped Ironhide and Chromia to shreds the other night? Charlotte thought to herself before she walked inside the building. He also doesn't seem like the guy who started a planet wide war that's killed everyone except for a handful of bots. Weird…She shook off her thoughts as the decepticons piled in after her. "Alright guys, order whatever you want." She got in line and was followed by all of them. She knew they were watching every little thing she was doing so that they would know what to do when it came for their turn to order. She paid with her gift card and was five dollars short. Charlotte was pulling out the money from her wallet when the tallest out of Megatron's group paid the rest with a five dollar bill. "Hey! I said this was my treat." She challenged.

Dark red eyes glanced down at her, and Charlotte was surprised to see no evil in them. "You paid for all of ours, let me at least pay for yours." His strong, yet gentle voice almost threw off his intimidating appearance. Granted, he still looked like he's killed before, but Charlotte found herself no longer feeling threatened in his presence.

"Well…when you put it that way, thanks." His victory smile made Charlotte laugh. As she watched him grab a spoon for his ice cream, she saw a Doberman Pincher with a decepticon collar saying 'Scorpio' following him. How did I not notice the dog? Is it also a decepticon? I really need to learn my cons. As the tallest man sat next to the two identical looking guys in his group, Charlotte wondered which decepticon he was from the battle that happened the night they all arrived on Earth. He had an Iraqi skin tone and he kept his long dreadlocks tied in a high ponytail. The most notable features on his face, other than his ruby red eyes, was his horseshoe mustache and the two small scars on the upper left side of his face. His sleeveless black and dark grey outfit looked like it would spin in a circular motion if he turned sharply, giving off an airy vibe. Charlotte guessed that he could at least fly, but she was pulled out of her observation when Megatron pulled her up a chair and gestured for her to sit down at the table with him and his decepticons. She sat and started happily eating her ice cream. They were all rather quiet so she decided to start up a conversation. "So where you guys from? Obviously someplace that doesn't have ice cream," she joked, curious what their answer was going to be.

The sole female of the group who looked like Megan Fox with yellow eyes answered. "We don't come from the best part of town, and never really had tasty things like ice cream in supply." Her silvery voice sounded like it could also be venomous.

The dangerousness of the other female didn't go unnoticed by Charlotte, but the decepticon's answer did raise a few questions. She knew the majority of the decepticons were from Kaon and according to Optimus that city was considered to be the Gotham of Cybertron. The femme's answer was probably not a lie even in the slightest, and that made Charlotte start to feel conflicted about the decepticons. "Oh…sorry about that." Charlotte finally answered. In her head, she was questioning all of her previous information she had received from the one-sided autobots about the decepticons. Charlotte knew this was her time to try and maybe get to know the decepticons better; however, before she got to ask another question, the other female that had long black hair with purple peekaboos spoke again.

"There's nothing to feel sorry about. We're proud of where we come from." She got a couple of chuckles from her comrades as she leaned back confidently in her chair. It was hard for Charlotte to miss the purple dragon tattoos decorating the other woman's arms, decepticon belly button piercing, and intricate belly button tattoo because the other girl was wearing a grey hoodie lotus vest that showed all her arms, flat athletic belly, and lower back. "What about you? You from here?" Charlotte answered with a nod since her mouth was full of ice cream. "So do you normally hang out with complete strangers?" The decepticon femme was wondering what the human's motives were since she was the first of her kind to not run away from them, making her feel suspicious towards the pink haired female.

Amused, Charlotte swallowed. "No, but everyone starts out as strangers. What we're doing right now is getting to know each other and possibly becoming friends. Ya know?"

'Friendly' was the first word to come to the decepticon's mind and she no longer felt the need to be hostile towards Charlotte. "You're an interesting one, aren't you?" She smiled. "But tell me, why would you want to be friends with people like us? Why even be nice to us? Everyone else took one look and turned away."

Charlotte put her ice cream down and sat up straighter. "I don't judge people just because they look different." She said firmly, briefly remembering when she first met Optimus. "I know that each and every one of us has a story so I don't jump to conclusions. Of course I still have my first thoughts that pop into my head, I'm only human, but I don't act on them. When I meet someone new and they don't instantly get on my nerves, then I'd love to get to know them. I gain something from every person I encounter, be it good or bad, and I will always treat someone fairly until given a reason not to." She picked her ice cream back up and took a quick bite so the decepticons could process her response. "Plus," she added after she swallowed, "You guys helped me out. That was cool." She saw them hiding their shy smiles from her praise. "Anyways, since Classified over here won't tell me his name, you guys wanna tell me yours?"

The decepticons laughed at her reference to their leader. Megatron was also amused, but he answered for them. "Their names are also classified." The ex-gladiator wondered how this entertaining human they 'saved' was going to respond.

This didn't faze Charlotte and she accept this little challenge. "Alright then, be like that. But I have to call you guys something." She thought about it as the others ate their ice cream. "I got it! Nicknames! If you guys don't like them, you can blame Classified." The humanized decepticons couldn't stop their giggles and found themselves eagerly awaiting their nicknames. Charlotte pointed at the tallest of them, "Dreads," she then pointed at the cop who was enthusiastically eating his ice cream," Bad Cop." They both smiled at their nicknames. Charlotte then looked at the two identical looking guys who hadn't spoken a word. "Humph…don't know you guys well enough yet, Twin One and Twin Two." They shared a look with each other and shrugged at the same time. Looking at the other girl in the group, Charlotte smirked. "Black Widow, cause you totally remind me of Natasha Romanoff. In case you don't know who she is, well, she's a super badass secret agent chick who is trained in multiple forms of intense combat. She uses her brain and spy skills to get information, but can still use her womanly charm. She's deadly, but sweet." The other girl smiled at her nickname, liking it.

The cheery atmosphere took a little turn when Bad Cop suddenly cried out, clutching his head. "Ow! What the frag!? It hurts! My head, ow ow ow ow ow!" he whined.

"Yikes! Brain freeze," Charlotte felt bad for not warning them. "Yeah, that'll happen if you eat ice cream too fast. But don't worry, it'll go away in a minute." Bad Cop continued moaning and the others were now eyeing their ice creams. "It's not poisonous." They still weren't touching their food. "Big babies." She rolled her eyes and continued eating.

Finally, Bad Cop stopped groaning after a little while and sighed. "Okay, I feel better." He started eating his ice cream again, much to his comrades' surprise. "What? It's good." He leaned over and looked into one of the twin's half empty cup. "You gonna eat that?" Twin Two, who was wearing a dark green and red jacket, snatched up his cup and started devouring his ice cream only to also experience a brain freeze. "Ha ha, serves you right for not sharing." Bad Cop ducked as the other twin wearing a dark blue and yellow jacket took a swing at him.

Charlotte, along with everyone else, was enjoying this exchange. During this moment, her earlier thoughts of how she didn't understand the decepticons surfaced. She was now having a hard time seeing them as the evil robots the autobots had described them as. How could these people who were fighting over ice cream be the autobots' mortal enemies? Heck, the decepticons were reminding her more and more of the autobots. Speaking of the good guys, Charlotte's text message notification on her phone sounded. Looking at her phone, she saw that she had a message from Optimus.

"Who's 'Mine (heart emoji)'?" Megatron asked. He was looking over her shoulder and was referring to the contact ID.

"If you must know, Classified, it's my boyfriend." Charlotte cheerfully answered before opening the message. Optimus had asked if she was having fun with her friends. She replied saying 'yep' and put her phone away.

Megatron saw their little conversation. "He wasn't referring to us was he?" She guiltily shook her head. "He doesn't know that you're hanging out with strangers then?"

"He doesn't need to know that I'm trying to be social and make new friends."

"He might want to know if you're with a bunch of different guys, especially if he is the jealous type. Is he?"

Charlotte shrugged. "I don't know, I think he is. But no one has ever given him competition so I don't know for sure." The smirk Megatron was giving her reminded Charlotte of Optimus's smirk. The similarity of it was almost creepy. "Anyways, you enjoy your ice cream?" Megatron nodded and thanked her for the treat. "It was my pleasure. But I'll let you guys go back to doing whatever you were doing before we ran into each other." She got up from her seat and everyone else followed suit.

"We'll escort you to your car," Dreads spoke as he held the door for everyone, his dog still at his side.

"Yeah, and we'll keep any jerks away." Bad Cop winked behind his shaded glasses.

Charlotte thanked them and they walked towards the parking lot where they passed the three decepticon vehicles. Megatron noticed her eyeing them. "Something wrong with the cars?" He silently wondered if they needed to change their vehicle forms.

"Nope! I'm just admiring them. They're freaking cool." She stopped in front of them to look at them better. "Don't you think so?" Charlotte was curious as to how they were going to respond to her admiring. She almost blew her cover when she saw Bad Cop's cocky face as he leaned on the police car. He looked so proud.

"This beautiful piece of machinery is mine." He bragged. Black Widow scoffed at him and sat on the sleek motorcycle. She turned it on and revved the powerful engine. "Pfft! Femme, you got nothing on this." Bad Cop got in the police vehicle, turned on his flashing lights, and revved his louder engine.

It looked like the competition was just between those two, but the third decepticon parked in the parking lot decided to bud in. "You two are so adorable." Megatron strutted to his parked vehicle form. The canopy car doors opened and he hopped inside. His engine easily roared louder then both of theirs. "Amateurs." He glanced at Charlotte and chuckled since her mouth was hanging open in disbelief. "You like?" He asked after he turned off his engine and leaned against the car. Her excited 'yes' made him smile again. She kept making him do that and he wasn't sure if he should be mad about it or not. He hadn't smiled this much in a long time.

"Can I?"

Her question brought him out of his thoughts. Her hand was hovering over his hood, wanting to touch him. He didn't expect this; she wanted to touch his real body. Of course she didn't know that it was his real body, how could she? It was still weird, but nevertheless he hesitantly said, "Sure." Closing his eyes, he braced himself for the alien touch that was sure to be bizarre. However, his eyes opened in surprise as he felt the smoothness of her touch. Humans were a lot softer than Cybertronians and the squishiness was something he had never experienced before. Charlotte started tracing the complicated designs on the vehicle and Megatron physically shivered. "Okay! That's enough."

"You alright?" Dreads was at his leader's side in an instant. His concern did not go unnoticed by Charlotte, but she acted casual.

"Sorry, Classified, I won't touch your car anymore." She made sure her voice sounded apologetic. She did not want to get on the decepticon leader's bad side, especially not after it seemed that they hit it off really well.

Megatron gave Dreads a reassuring nod, patted an alert Scorpio on the head, and went to a timid Charlotte. "It wasn't anything you did. I just got a chill, so don't dwell on it." He assured her. "Now, where is your vehicle?" She pointed further into the parking lot and they walked towards an old white Toyota Camry. "This is cute." He teased.

"Don't mock my hand-me-down car. It gets me where I need to go." Charlotte joked back. She unlocked the doors and looked back at the six decepticons, seven counting the dog, waiting for her to get inside the car. "Am I gonna see you guys again?"

All the decepticons glanced in Megatron's direction, waiting for his answer. Innocently tilting his head, the Warlord asked, "Do you want to?"

Smirking, Charlotte pulled out a pen from her purse and approached Megatron. She surprised him when she grabbed his hand and wrote on it. "Here's my number. Call or text me when you're free to hang out."

The decepticons gathered around Megatron to look at the numbers scribbled on his hand. "We will." He smiled. His cheeks now hurting from all of the smiling he'd done recently.

"Awesome." Charlotte got in her car and waved as she passed them. They waved back, not at all looking as scary as they originally did when she first saw them.

During her drive home, there were several thoughts going through Charlotte's head. She wondered how the autobots would react if she told them about her encounter with the decepticons and decided that it would be better if they didn't know about it. They'd probably overact and Optimus wouldn't ever let her out of his sights. She also thought about how the decepticons would react if they ever found out she was with the autobots. Those thoughts scared her. I better just act like I've never met the autobots when I'm with them, that should work. She shrugged to herself as she pulled into the driveway of her house. She didn't stay home long since she quickly found her way to the shielded clearing were the autobots and their space ship resided. The area no longer looked like a forest, but more like a temporary base/camp. Equipment was spread out everywhere in an organized fashion and some of the bots were interacting with the alien machinery. Charlotte bypassed all of this and walked right into the ship that had its doors open. She greeted every bot she passed, but didn't stop until she reached the command center where she found the autobot leader with his second and third in command. Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz were using the holographic table to show them underground layouts of different places and discussing possible energon trails.

Upon her entry, Optimus called for a break. Jazz was all too happy for the distraction; however, Prowl was not. The Praxian saw the break as a waste of time, but there was nothing he could do to stop Optimus from welcoming Charlotte. "Hello Love," the autobot leader reached down and his human climbed into his hand. "Have fun?" He placed her on his shoulder.

"Yes I did," she walked across his chest, and placed a quick kiss on his cheek in greeting. "How was your day?"

Optimus managed to say "Productive" before the doors opened and in ran Leonardo at full speed. "Charlotte! You're back!" the smaller transformer skidded to a stop in front of Optimus and giddily waited for the bigger mech to hand him Charlotte. He had grown to like holding her.

"Hi Leo!" Charlotte greeted with a laugh. Leo may be bigger, but he still had the same unlimited energy.

"I gotta tell ya about my day! Come on," he snatched Charlotte from Optimus and didn't stop talking for the next ten minutes. He told her about his training session with Ironhide. He didn't do too badly since he had already been partially trained by Optimus, but the weapon specialist still kicked his butt. Leo explained how he was having trouble understanding the Cybertronian language, but Moonracer was a patient teacher and was currently coming up with different ways to help him learn it. Ratchet was obviously teaching him about the medicine of their kind, but Leo didn't talk long about that topic. He was more interested in telling Charlotte about all of the alien technology he got to interact with that day. "Yeah…" he sighed, "it's all pretty sweet. The only thing that sucks is that no one wants me fighting the decepticons yet. I get how I don't have any experience, but how am I supposed to get any if I'm not allowed out there?"

"They're gonna have to let you fight sometime," Charlotte comforted before a thought suddenly came to her. "Besides, what do you know about the decepticons?" Leo lifted an optics ridge. "You don't know anything about the bots you'll be fighting against. Wouldn't you like to know if you were duking it out with someone like Prowl or Ironhide? Before you go charging into battle, I think you should try and find out more about the decepticons individually, ya know?" And in the meantime, I can find out which decepticons I've been talking to. She thought to herself.

"Good idea!" Leonardo turned to face the three topmost leaders of the autobot army. "Hey guys, can you take a break real quick to answer some questions of mine?"

Prowl looked annoyed at the idea of taking another unplanned break, which made Jazz chuckle. "Sure, whatcha need help with lil dude?"

"Can you guys tell me about the decepticons? Like who they are and what they can do." Leonardo's question actually sparked Prowl's interest, making the black and white mech stop his glaring. This gave Leonardo more confidence. "I don't need every detail, but a little crash course on all the individual Cons here on Earth would help. I don't know them like you do and I think it's smart to know about the enemy."

"That's very wise of you, Leonardo." Prowl acknowledged. "I can tell you what you need to know about the decepticons." He pushed some buttons on the holographic table and the images changed to a holographic image of Megatron. The 3D picture showed him shooting lightning out of his hands. "This is Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons. Once a lowly worker of the mines of Cybertron, but rose to be a gladiatorial champion. His popularity grew amongst the lower class as he started calling for an end of Cybertron's government. He and his followers started the Civil War when they attacked Central City, killing most of the High Council members. Since then, the battle for control between the Elite Guard, renamed the Autobot Army as Optimus became Prime, and decepticons has wiped out practically all life on Cybertron. The few warriors that remain are tough and have proven that they will not go down easily. So, I'm letting you know now, every decepticon I name is going to make you fight for your life." Prowl finished his little introduction of the war lecture and focused on the individual decepticons. "Megatron is an exceedingly skilled warrior in multiple forms of combat. He acquired the majority of his experience from the gladiator ring, but studying his style has shown that he knows authentic fighting techniques. Not many have survived one-on-one battles with him, so I highly recommend that you avoid him for it is likely that you will not survive the encounter. And before you ask, yes, he can generate and manipulate a type of lightning. We do not know how he is capable of doing this, but we can guess that it takes quite an amount of energy since Megatron does not often use this ability."

Before any questions could be asked, Prowl changed the 3D image to a different decepticon seeker that Leonardo nor Charlotte recognized. The hologram showed the seeker grinning devilishly as he was firing five synchronized missiles into the air. "Starscream, the decepticon's Second-in-Command and Air Commander. Our records show that he was once a scientist in the air city of Vos until he went to school and studied war. He graduated at the top of his class and later became the head of Vos's military force. It's safe to say that when he and Megatron met is when the plans to overthrow the government really started. They were pretty close in the beginning, but it would seem like they have grown apart over the years. Starscream's fighting style is cruel and merciless for he will do whatever it takes to win. Be prepared for tricks if you encounter him, though it would seem as if he isn't on Earth since he wasn't at our battle."

The hologram changed again to a tall, slender purple and black mech that had a bird type transformer on his shoulder and a panther at his feet. "This is Soundwave, the decepticon's Third-in-Command and Communications/Surveillance Chief. Even though he was not present at our earlier battle, he is most likely on Earth. He's never far from Megatron and can usually be found hard at work in front of the decepticon's main command screen. The ex-gladiator uses his two mini cons, Laserbeak and Ravage, to assist him in combat and missions." As Prowl was changing the image to another decepticon, Charlotte was curious if she had met Soundwave earlier. Judging by the hologram's appearance and Prowl's description of the decepticon, she did not meet him. However, the next decepticon hologram looked familiar. It was the con who Ratchet had fought at their battle. The huge decepticon looked menacing as he was charging towards something the hologram didn't show with a scorpion looking transformer coming out of the ground next to him. "Blackout, a decepticon medic, and his large mini con Scorponok. The deadly pair act as Megatron's security detail. Blackout can attack from the skies, while his mini con can attack from beneath the ground. They never fought in the gladiator ring of Kaon, but they honed their killing skills as bodyguards for High Council members before the war." Charlotte smiled as she looked at the hologram. She was positive that Blackout was Dreads and Scorponok was the Doberman Pinscher.

The image was changed once again to show two large twin seekers back-to-back. The dark blue and yellow seeker was facing one way with a large sword, while the dark green and red seeker faced the other direction firing what looked like some type of turret gun. Just by looking at the image, Charlotte knew who they were, Twin One and Twin Two. "Dreadwing and Skyquake. These two were mere younglings when they were thrown into the Kaon gladiator ring. They would not have survived if Megatron, by then a fully grown warrior, hadn't taken them under his wing. He basically raised the seeker twins so their loyalty to him is unyielding. Dreadwing," the image zoomed in on the dark blue and yellow decepticon, "is the strategist of the two. If given the time, the battle area would be a minefield." The image zoomed to the other seeker. "Skyquake is more aggressive and more likely to rush into battle. Both are highly skilled with swords, guns, and explosives." The hologram changed to another set of decepticon twins. The blue colored seeker seemed to be calmly observing the skies, while his purple and black counterpart flew wildly around him. "You've already met one of these seekers, Skywarp. Never the serious type, like his brother, but Skywarp used his unique ability to teleport to the fullest. But as you know, he no longer lives; therefore you don't need to worry about him. Thundercracker, however, is another story. We no longer know anything about him since the death of his twin most likely altered him. If anything, he will be very unstable."

There was a slight change in Prowl's composure as the hologram changed to the sole decepticon femme on Earth. She appeared to have just landed with her sword out in the 3D image. "Nightbird, Megatron's top assassin. Trained in a similar type of Earth style known as Niujutsu, she is defiantly considered one of the most dangerous of decepticons." Jazz's scoff got Prowl's attention. "Something you'd like to say?"

As always, Jazz's smile was bright. "One of the most dangerous of the decepticons?" He laughed again. "Pretty sure that's a personal opinion." The Praxian suppressed an eye roll, but nevertheless slapped Jazz upside the head. "Hey!? Easy there, Prowler. Don't get me wrong, I love it when you slap me, just save it for later." After recovering from momentarily being in shock, Prowl whacked Jazz so hard, the silver mech did a full 360 and fell to the ground with little chibi Prowls circling his head. "Worth it."

"Anyways," Optimus spoke up before Prowl really started ripping Jazz a new one, "How about we continue?"

Fixing his posture, Prowl agreed. "Yes Sir." The hologram changed to a black and silver decepticon firing two guns simultaneously in different directions. "Barricade, a decepticon scout who was once part of the Kaon police department. He uses a chained mace as a melee weapon and prefers pistols for his firearm. His hand-to-hand combat is very similar to kickboxing." The 3D image was changed for the last time, showing multiple decepticons who all looked the same. "These are the Vehicons. We originally thought they were drones because of their simple minds, but they have proven to be sentient. They are easier to take down than a decepticon officer, but their sheer numbers are overwhelming." The holographic table was shut off. "These are all the decepticons that we are relatively positive are on Earth. I say 'relatively' since Megatron constantly surrounds himself with this specific group of decepticons."

Standing up, Leonardo bowed his head in appreciation, imitating a student bowing to his teacher. "Thanks Prowl."

Nemesis

Hours later, Megatron and his gang arrived back on their ship. Upon entering the command deck, Megatron had the briefest of seconds to witness the depressing scene. Thundercracker hadn't moved an inch since they left hours earlier; he was still staring blankly at the wall in the far corner. In the center of the room Soundwave was typing away, ignoring Laserbeak who was pestering him for attention. Ravage rested at his creator's feet, having given up long ago.

Both the mini cons looked up when they heard the doors open, and both rushed towards Megatron. He greeted them with a warm laugh, "Hello my little rascals." It was obvious that he was in a good mood as he stroked Laserbeak and petted Ravage's head. The bird-like con chipped while its sibling purred in acknowledgment.

The mini cons quickly moved onto greeting Dreadwing and Skyquake. Ravage ran through their legs, slightly rubbing them in welcome while Laserbeak just bopped them on the head playfully. "Hey pests," Skyquake joked as his greeting, but the mini cons ignored his insult.

They went straight to their next target. Blackout. "Oh no…" the large mech was attacked as Ravage started nipping his heels and tugging on his leg. Laserbeak teasingly pecked at his head. "Ow! Hey, stop that!" Not liking his retaliation, Ravage pounced and brought the black mech down, the attacks now a little fiercer. "Okay okay, I get it! I'll give you what you want." This got Blackout's attackers to pause their advance. He stood up and released Scorponok from his carrier. The arachnid instantly jumped on the panther and the two engaged in a play fight. "Happy now?" Blackout got his answer as Laserbeak briefly landed on his shoulder to give him a cheerful nudge and chirp before he flew off to join the other mini cons. Blackout let his smile linger for a moment before he walked over to Thundercracker. He cautiously let the mech know that he was approaching him so he wouldn't be alarmed. Once he was within reach, Blackout gently pulled Thundercracker from the wall and guided him to the rec room where he could refuel on some energon.

As those two left, Barricade made his way to Soundwave. "Hey Wave, got a sec?"

There was a small droop in Soundwave's tall shoulders, but nevertheless, he turned away from the screen and gave Barricade his full attention. He silently listened and recorded everything the scout said about his and the other decepticons' adventure out in the human world, noting his enthusiasm. The human he described seemed to be the cause of everyone's good mood. As Barricade continued talking, Soundwave spotted Megatron watching him. He unconsciously fixed his posture as Barricade finished and placed a hand on the other's shoulder, adding a nod to acknowledge that he received the information. The scout left and Soundwave returned to the computer screen, ignoring an approaching Megatron. He didn't say anything at first, which really bothered the Surveillance Chief. It was after a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, other than the typing sounds, that Soundwave stopped to look at his leader, asking what he wanted.

"Go to bed," Megatron softly commanded. He knew the silent mech was exhausted. His typing was milliseconds slower, his head wasn't held as high, his posture was still straight, but Megatron could see the tiniest of slouches here and there. He had grown up with Soundwave in the arena and knew his best friend was drained. "You need it," he urged since Soundwave blew his first order off. "Soundwave." The purple and black mech impersonated a sigh, but didn't actually make a sound as he finally turned away from the screen and walked towards the door. Before reaching it, he turned back with a picture of Laserbeak and Ravage on his visor. "I'll watch over them as you rest." Megatron assured. Even though he couldn't physically see it, Megatron knew Soundwave was lifting an optic ridge at him in question. "You're right. I'll probably just have Blackout look after them." Another smile formed on Megatron's face as he watched Soundwave 'roll his optics' before finally leaving to go to his private courters.

Looking back to the main computer screen, Megatron saw the multiple tabs Soundwave had been previously working on. There was a mini screen for every satellite the decepticons had hacked into, a tab of everyone's schedules, equations estimating how much energon could be used, and several locations that held possible energon deposits. "Stop doing my job, Soundwave." Megatron murmured to himself. His third-in-command was constantly working, and it only made sense that he would tap into other's workloads to keep himself busy. "Workaholic," Megatron transferred all the information to a portable data pad so he could continue to work on it. On his way to the rec room he passed by the training room and saw Nightbird battling with Dreadwing. He didn't stop and continued on to his destination where he refueled and started working on the data pad for the next few hours. He came up with some rough plans that would keep his forces busy for the next week before realizing the quietness of the normally noisy room. Getting up and off the couch to look around the chamber he found Blackout asleep on the floor with all the mini cons cuddled around him and Barricade passed out at the mini bar with Thundercracker sitting next to him. The navy blue and blackish grey seeker was staring at his half full cup of energon since he was unable to force down anymore. Megatron made his way to the bar and sat next to Thundercracker. "How you feeling?"

"Confined. Don't think I haven't noticed how I'm never left alone."

There was a slight growl in Thundercracker's tone, but Megatron let it slide. In fact, Thundercracker's answer got Megatron thinking. His decepticons could use a small break before they were bombarded with the upcoming week's responsibilities. "You're right. I'll let you out of the ship tomorrow evening. We'll all go out, but in the meantime, try and get some rest." Thundercracker was curious about what his leader had planned, but decided not to ask and just went to bed.

The next afternoon while Charlotte was making herself some noodles for lunch, she received a text message from an unknown number. She stopped her stirring for a moment to grab her phone and was puzzled by the unknown number. Unlocking her phone, she read the message and a smile spread across her face.

-Hey, it's Classified. You free tonight? We were all going to go to the Drive-In and we wanted to invite you. Movie starts at 8- the address was at the bottom of the text.

She quickly replied.

-Sounds like a plan. I'll get there by 7:30 so we have some time to catch up before the movie. See ya then ;)-

Soon after that, Charlotte made sure to let Optimus know that she had plans that night with her friends. He didn't mind and told her to have fun, thinking that her 'friends' were Clarissa and Christine.

Hours later, Charlotte arrived at the local Drive-In. She drove around in the dark for a while until she found the group of people she was looking for gathered around their vehicles. She parked next to Classified's car and got out. "Hey Classified!" She waved to him since he was the closest.

He turned away from the unfamiliar guy he was talking to so he could look at her. "Hello Charlotte. It is good to see you again." As she made her way closer to him, he opened up so Charlotte could see the guy he was talking to better. "I'd like to introduce you to another one of my friends."

The unfamiliar guy with short navy blue hair and bright red eyes extended his hand to Charlotte. "Hi. And before you give me a nickname, just call me T.C."

Charlotte shook his hand. "Hi TC, though you're technically not allowed to give yourself your own nickname."

"So?" He challenged.

"Okay that's enough," Classified pushed TC back a little and he backed off to go sit on the police car. "Come on, Charlotte, there is someone else I want you to meet." Classified steered her away from TC and to the others.

"Charlotte's here!" Bad Cop yelled first and then she was welcomed by all the decepticons she knew.

"Hey guys," she greeted back with a laugh. "How ya doing?" She started a conversation before she heard Classified clearing his throat. "Oh wait, hold that thought. Classified still wants me to meet someone." She continued a few more steps with him before she stopped dead in her tracks. She had finally spotted the other unknown person she had yet to be introduced to. Her thoughts were screaming at her: Death, Run, and Danger, as she looked at the hooded, masked man that had a black hawk on his shoulder and a black panther resting at his feet. When the panther saw her, it got up and Charlotte was so grateful that Lord Death over there had the animal's chained leash wrapped several times around his arm since he gently pulled the panther back. "Whoa…"

"You okay?" she heard Classified ask.

"Ye…yeah, sorry. Lord Death over there just gave me a lil heart attack. I'm good." She played off her shock and waved at the fully dressed, purple and black clothed man. "Hi, I'm Charlotte. I'd normally go shake your hand, but your beautiful panther doesn't look like he wants me anywhere near you." She joked.

The silent man slightly tilted his hooded head at her before looking down at his panther. The animal stopped its low growling and sat quietly at his master's feet. The slender man then extended his gloved left hand since his right was holding the panther's chained leash, waiting for Charlotte. She took one last look at the panther before she approached the tall man and shook his hand. She said 'hi' again and he nodded in acknowledgement.

Classified walked up next to them. "So is his nickname 'Lord Death'? How come I don't have 'Lord' in front of my name?"

Charlotte laughed. "Well for starters, you don't look like the Grim Reaper, and Lord Classified just sounds funny." She teased. "You could always just tell me your real name, and depending on how cool it sounds, we can add 'Lord' in front of it." She giggled as Classified rolled his eyes. Her attention was drawn to the black hawk on Death's shoulder since it suddenly flapped its powerful wings to get better balanced. "Hello pretty bird." It's sharp, intelligent eyes looked at her and Charlotte smiled at it. It looked at its master, who shrugged, before walking down his arm and towards Charlotte. "What's he doing?" She asked Death, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed her arm and had her hold it up. Next thing Charlotte knew, the hawk was on her arm. It surprised her how its claws weren't digging into her arm, but she wasn't going to complain. Death guided her other arm up and she started petting the hawk. "What's his name?" She asked him, but like earlier, he didn't say anything.

A new voice spoke up. "He doesn't talk much." It was Dreads. He and his Doberman Pinscher had walked up. "But the hawk's name is Laserbeak, and the panther's is Ravage." Death nodded in agreement as Classified extended his arm for Laserbeak to fly to him.

"Hey! I was enjoying him." Charlotte nagged Classified. He huffed and pointed towards Charlotte's feet. She looked down to see Scorpio wagging his tail excitedly. "You want some attention?" The dark colored dog stood up on his hind legs and leaned on her. Charlotte playfully petted him and talked doggie to him. As she played with Scorpio, she saw out of the corner of her eye, Ravage getting jealous and wanting attention. However, he was too proud to ask for it. Not wanting to call him out, Charlotte asked Lord Death. "Can I pet Ravage or will he bite?" Death didn't respond right away, as if he was thinking about it, but then pulled the chains upwards making the panther go closer to Charlotte. One hand never stopped petting Scorpio as her other cautiously made its way towards Ravage. His curious expression melted into happiness as Charlotte started rubbing all the right spots. Soon Ravage was purring, Scorpio was whining for more, and Laserbeak flew back to her and landed on her shoulder, wanting her attention again. "Help…"

She got Classified and Dreads to laugh; she wasn't sure about Death. "They like you." Classified chuckled as Dreads whistled to call Scorpio back to him. Death extended his arm for Laserbeak and Ravage already knew to come back to his master.

Now that the animals were gone, Charlotte stood up and wiped the dust off her pants. "I'd rather have them like me then not. But I'm curious, how'd you get a black panther, hawk, and dog in here? I thought pets weren't allowed, plus, is it even legal to walk your pet panther around?"

Before her questions could be answered, Black Widow called out. "Movie's starting!"

Charlotte totally forgot about her questions as she ran to her car to get out her 'movie watching' gear. She pulled out her camping chair, small ice chest full of soda, a bag of snacks, and a small table. She quickly set up and was soon sitting comfortably in her chair, popcorn in her lap, a soda in her hand, and her feet propped up. "I brought snacks and drinks for whoever wants some." She saw the mildly confused, yet impressed expressions of the decepticons. "What?"

There was a simultaneous "Nothing," as they all started pulling out chairs and stuff from their cars. Charlotte guessed that those things weren't there a second ago, but they used more holograms to make them appear. Soon all nine of them were sitting and facing the large screen with snacks and drinks.

Now that they were all settled, Charlotte finally had the chance to ask. "What movie are we even watching?"

Twin One answered since he was walking by, "Alien vs. Predator."

"What? But that movie is like years old?" Charlotte stated, clearly confused.

Twin Two was walking behind his older brother. "Well, the sign did say 'Throwback Thursday' so I guess they're playing a bunch of old movies."

After getting over the fact that the twins finally spoke to her, Charlotte shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. So why this movie?" She asked Classified since he was sitting next to her and the other two had already moved onto their seats.

He looked sheepish. "I don't know. I just wanted to watch an alien movie and this one caught my attention. Have you seen this movie before?"

Leave it to the alien to want to watch an alien movie, Charlotte thought. "I did once, but it was a long time ago. I liked it, I think you will to."

Their conversation came to an end as Black Widow shushed them since the movie was finally starting. During the movie, Charlotte would subtly watch the decepticons' reactions. She had to fight her laughter on some of the scary parts since some of the decepticons would jump. Other times, she saw them cringing at the gore of the film, which was surprising to her since she thought blood and gore wouldn't bother them. The decepticons also had a lot of side comments that made Charlotte smirk. Black Widow constantly backed up the main female lead, Classified would say 'ew' here and there, she heard Twin Two say 'that's fucked up' several times, but Bad Cop was by far the most vocal. He was constantly yelling at the film things like, "Run Lex! Run! Use those lil human legs and run Gurl!" and "Ah…I liked that one" and even "You dead, you so dead" also "Dude, that's so cool! I want some of those" or "Kill it! Kill it with fire!" or Charlotte's favorite "Die Bitch!" Of course, after every outburst, his comrades would yell at him to shut up.

After the movie finished Charlotte listened to all of them talk about it. They were retelling their favorite parts, even acting it out, or saying how certain situations could have been avoided, but then another would contradict that situation and the two would get in argument, and things like that. All the while, Charlotte continued eating her popcorn, enjoying their company.

"Amused?" Classified asked when he spotted her. She nodded with a slightly guilty face expression. "It's alright, I am too. It's been awhile since I've seen everyone so merry. It's a nice change." He relaxed further into his throne-like chair as he watched Bad Cop imitate the Chest Busters from the film, Dreads replicate the Predators crab like mouths with his hands as he questioned that effectiveness with Twin One, and listened to the other's conversations. Megatron knew that the war and their responsibilities were at the backs of everyone's minds. They needed this.

"You guys are fun to be around." Charlotte pulled him out of his thoughts. "You're definitely a different type of crowd, but it's still a good one. There's just something about you guys…" she trailed off. The two of them were silent for a while, both of their minds racing. Megatron was still thinking about the wellbeing of his decepticons, while Charlotte was seeing the holographic images that Prowl had showed Leo differently. She mentally pictured Barricade fangirling, Nightbird face palming, Thundercracker looking over his shoulder with a lost expression, Dreadwing and Skyquake sharing a popcorn bowl, Blackout playing fetch with Scorponok, Soundwave and his mini cons looked the same, so did Starscream, but Charlotte no longer pictured Megatron shooting lightning from his hands. Instead she saw him protectively standing in front of his army, baring his fangs at the enemy. The autobot army. "We need to hang out more."

Megatron's smirk was charming, "Definitely."

Charlotte is falling to the Dark Side O.O oh no!