"That's one method, but only if the person is trained to react to a code phrase that let's them know they're safe, and that training is intense and takes time, but it's just enough to break someone out of a PTSD episode since that phrase isn't part of their memories"

"Are you triggered just by fighting?"

"Nope, check with the resident psychiatrist or psychologist or therapist, or whatever you call him and ask him about my visit log"

(Sighs) "I'm almost afraid to ask, how long?"

"Two weeks now, started one week before training began and has only intensified since, knew from day one that I needed him"

"Let me guess daily visits and they're still not currently helping?"

"Yep, thinking of resorting to medication if this keeps up any longer, and that's with his approval and knowledge by the way"

"How long has it been since you've had such a severe episode?"

"Hm...sorry can't tell the class due to security clearances"

"Very well, in private?"

"In private"

Suddenly though an instructor interrupts the class and gives Clair a piece of paper who pales in shock and talks in low tones that were also codes that most people wouldn't recognize but didn't need to hear unless absolutely necessary and she knew that depending on what happened during training the specialized team would need to know the codes

"Anything we should know about Kerenai-Masaki?"

"No, family business that unfortunately I needed to immediately be aware of but it won't affect training...at least not our training, those further along in EDC training might be affected though so be on the alert for those students"

"Got it"

"And just how would she know what might affect training and what won't?"

"Sorry but like she just said clearances aren't high enough for you to know that, understand this even four of your fellow officers don't have clearance to know much about her unless it's needed and they automatically came with a higher security clearance than all of you cadets"

"Just how high are they compared to us?"

"They have the clearance to know the basics about my past should they ask for it, the reason behind my PTSD episode and my most recent bad period and can also get emergency clearance a lot faster than you guys if I determine it's needed"

"That's not fair"

"That's life for you, by the way why don't you four ask?"

"Simple, we don't need to know if it won't affect us, if it gets to that point tell us everything we're cleared for but not until then"

"Fine, by the way I also know something that no one else does about you four and what's going on in regards to why the unit is so special"

"You know about..."

"Yep"

"So does the academy"

"I know, now then I think class has been interrupted long enough, please continue instructor"

Class eventually ended and the normal academy routine continued, with the specialized unit training separately from the rest of the cadets at need and then a month after classes were interrupted a training session was interrupted, an important session, but what was going on was even more important

"Kerenai-Masaki you're needed out front...police car...not sure what else"

Clair's eyes go wide and runs to the front of the academy and immediately starts speaking in Cybertronian

*Prowl! What's happened to you?"

*Jazz is dead...hurts so much Clair, Ratchet said you might be able to stabilize me*

*I'll try, however I need you to stand down until then and I need to alert my superiors on what's going on, but first I have to know...how bad was the break?*

*Unconscious for three days, almost took my own life the day I woke up, just released yesterday, only been two weeks*

(Sighs) *Understood, go to sleep and I'll start soon*

Prowl does indeed go to sleep and Clair explains the situation with her superiors who give her permission to handle Prowl's situation with no repercussions on her own training. Five hours later the academy chief came to where she currently was

"How is he?"

(Sighs) "I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I've done all I can but a broken bond...that's something I can't deal with"

"Bond?"

"Yes, Prowl and Jazz bonded a few months ago, there are basically four types of bonds, twin bonds where there are two Cybertronians who are twins from the start, family bonds where two Cybertronians are from the same family, gestalt bonds where five members of one unit become literally one robot and a bond between lovers, female and male robots to be exact, the last bond is basically what we would call marriage except...deeper. Prowl and Jazz had a family bond that was very similar to a twin bond, it was the only way to save Prowl's life according to Jazz because the damage was so great, the problem is that just like a twin bond or marriage bond it can kill the other half of the bond if one member is killed, especially suddenly in battle, even the most stable of bonds can kill the other half. That Prowl is currently still alive is the only thing going for us right now and to be honest I have no clue how he even survived to this point considering just how bad off he is mentally and emotionally"

"Why was Prowl sent here instead of remaining at the base?"

"That I don't know, but there's a chance that my family is unaware of Prowl's presence here"

"How soon will we know, and what do you mean they might not be aware of his presence here?"

"Tomorrow afternoon at the latest, trust me on that one, as for the other half of the question, there are slight inflection tones that suggest possible lying that you wouldn't have detected since you don't know Cybertronian"

"Very well, so there's nothing else for us to do?"

"Correct, I will be staying here until further notice to keep an eye on him so you'd best bring a cot in here or something similar if you don't want me sleeping on the floor which I can and will do again at need"

"We'll bring a cot and an alarm, and you're off duty except to him until you tell us otherwise"

"I can do some of the training still I just need to keep a regular eye on him is all"

"Okay, you let your instructors know when you have to leave, just tell them that you have academy business else where's under my orders"

"Is that what we're calling him now?"

The chief realizes he stepped over a line by calling Prowl academy business, but he also had a very good reason why he had done so

"Only for the rest of the cadets who aren't cleared to know about him, your instructors will be told the truth immediately"

"Okay...okay I understand, sorry for snapping at you"

"No, you're worried about a family member and I stepped over a line without even thinking about it you had every right to be mad at me for how I was apparently treating Prowl"

The next day the academy found out that the Cybertronians didn't know about Prowl being at the academy, and they found out through a blistering phone call from Ratchet

"Clair there's a phone call from your family, someone named Ratchet called asking if we've seen Prowl which I admitted that he's here and now he's ranting, something about leaving without permission, which you suspected, welding to medical tables and...wrench throwing?"

"That's Ratchet alright, is he still on the phone?"

"Yep"

"Give it to me and I'll settle him down as much as I can"

Clair is given the phone and speaks rapid Cybertronian in an effort to calm Ratchet down, but that doesn't happen the rest of Clair's checkup time with Prowl, and Prowl was getting worse as well and Clair told Ratchet that who said someone would be by to pick Prowl up and that Ratchet would keep Prowl in stasis for an indefinite amount of time

*Understood Ratchet, let me know when you're waking him up so that I can yell at the idiot myself*

Clair hangs up the phone and gets back to classes. Two weeks later an unscheduled test happens, one that Clair doesn't even realize is a test because of the fact that the instructors and the government wanted to test the newest unit to see what they would do in that scenario

"Kerenai-Masaki we need to run, now"

"Right"

They escape and get to a semi-secure location

"Okay now what?"

"Now we use our fake identities"

"Okay that makes sense, we don't want to be found do we?"

"Nope, now remember, your identity is your life, never reveal who you really are, as such always remain in disguise, if you haven't developed a personality for your second identity I would do so now so as to keep yourself safe when outside, that also means keeping on the disguise of your second identity, even in the privacy of your temporary new quarters because you never know when someone might come looking for you second identity"
"But Kerenai-Masaki..."

"No but Kerenai-Masaki's guys, it's for your own safety and that's final"

"What about you though, don't you also have to form a new personality?"

"Oh I already did that a few years ago, otherwise I would have fallen back into old habits that I really can't afford to fall back into for everyone's safety"

"What kind of old habits?"

"Habits that kept me alive for seven very long years of my life"

"Just one question, how is our identity our life?"

"If the enemy finds out your true name they will hunt you and your family down to kill you, they are that ruthless and as such the reason why your identity is your life and why you can never be your true self until the situation is resolved"

"How do you know how ruthless the enemy is?"

"I thought I recognized them in our escape, I could be wrong but...as you need to know everything about me I will give you what you are cleared for, starting with the fact that I am an EDC kid"

And so Clair gives them the full story that she could about herself and they understood that she was now in charge for safety

"Okay you lead we follow"

"Good, now then I am going to use an already established identity, that will let the government know that I at least am still alive, trust me right now that's more important than getting our academy back or even trying to find other survivors"

"Okay, how are we going to do that without alerting the enemy though?"

"Oh I have my ways, ways that are safe"

"When will this be done?"

"Not tonight that's for sure, tonight we stay out in the streets to keep the enemy from figuring us out even sooner...look as of now they are expecting us to go to a police station or someplace else that we would feel safe, but by staying out in the streets we keep them guessing on where we are and what our next move is, which might be to leave town completely, but we won't make that decision until we're more settled in our situation, I can tell you guys are in about as much shock as I am and we don't need to be making hasty moves right now, those would only get us killed"

"Problem, with shock we need food, water, and shelter to keep us warm and we're not going to get that with your plan"

"That's where you're wrong, I have everything I need right here in this bag, say hello to MRE's and shelter boys"

She gets out her things from the bag she always carried and they are shocked to see how prepared she was

"This would last you four days at need just yourself, for us it will last only the night but that's okay since you said you had a plan for tomorrow"

"Exactly, we get warm food and shelter without the risk that doing so now would bring, now then who here likes what or is allergic to what the MRE has?"

Clair passes out what was safe for everyone in the MRE since it turned out one person was lactose intolerant which meant that for one person two of the meals weren't safe for them to eat but the others were, and no one complained about it being an MRE since they were all military and used to such meals, what they did ultimately complain about was the fact that Clair wouldn't sleep in the tent like they wanted her to

"Don't you trust us?"

"Trust yes, want to sleep with you guys no, but that's not for tonight, if need be I'll explain in the morning but for now just understand that if it were any other situation I would have no problem sleeping with you guys" (thinks) "they can't know that while I trust that they wouldn't do anything I don't trust myself enough to safely sleep tonight because while they know I have PTSD they don't know just how much more dangerous I am now and how even medication wouldn't work tonight, as such I will take watch for them and then tomorrow I will explain everything and have a decent nights sleep in a hotel"

The next day the group learns about Clair taking watch and also how Clair would let them know that she at least was alive still, first she simply checked her secondary bank account and then decided to take everyone out for a decent breakfast

"Okay the government knows I'm alive, time for breakfast"

"Just how do they know?"

"They keep an eye on both accounts that I have, both my primary account with my real identity and the secondary account made when I was given my second identity in case of emergency, as soon as there is any sort of activity on either account the government knows about me being alive and my current situation in a limited capacity"

"Okay then, you said something about breakfast?"

"Yep, time to eat breakfast, and then start planning for tonight since I want to sleep in a hotel, actually I need a hotel desperately with one of you on watch"

"What for?"

"Because of why I didn't sleep last night with you guys. I trust you guys with my life to not do anything with me, however while you know I have PTSD you don't know just how dangerous I can be during a really bad episode and have a sudden increase in stress, even the medication I am currently on wouldn't have worked thus why I was on watch last night"

"And why you need the hotel and us on watch, we're watching both for your episodes and for possible danger to us"

"Exactly, you already know the rules about someone having a PTSD episode nightmare, that's even more important with me because I will kill you if I get the chance"

"Understood"

That night Clair got a decent amount of sleep, if somewhat interrupted and a week later they learned that this was all an exercise meant to test the unit to see just how much more training might be needed before being cleared to work

"An exercise?"

"Yes, now then all of you aren't quite ready for active duty but you're closer than the rest of the cadets, Kerenai-Masaki you're the closest due to your past which I assume they now know?"

"Yep"

"Got it, oh by the way an EDC officer came by yesterday saying that there's paperwork that you need to sign, something about permission for someone named Daichi to take a trip some where's and how they can't do it themselves this time for some reason"

"Got it, Daichi is my little brother and I'm technically his legal guardian though the Cybertronians can take over at need and the EDC officers are also allowed emergency permission to sign paperwork, though that's mainly Captain Faireborn a few others also have that permission at need"

Clair signs the paperwork and then receives a shock no one in her family expected. Back when Prowl had come he had given her the bare details of what had happened, all she knew was that Jazz was dead and the bond broken and the backlash had been bad enough for Prowl to almost die, the family would give her more details only days after they had come to pick up Prowl explaining that Jazz had been lost on a simple mission to Russia, one that should have had no other risks than minor armor damage due to the fact that the mission was helping rebuild a town after a devastating storm. According to eye witness accounts a sudden flash flood arose and Jazz had made sure that everyone made it to safety, but just as he had gotten the last person out of harms way from the debris he was hit in the chest with wood and metal and it had been the metal that had managed to go completely through the armor piercing his spark, or that was what everyone had believed at the time. What had actually happened was a near miss that knocked him unconscious and into forced stasis that was so sudden that it was only believed that the bond had been broken. But that wasn't actually the case, what had really happened was that the bond was protected from the shock of injuries and the long stasis period because Jazz was in critical condition for a long while and could have been lost at any point in time but wasn't but Jazz also knew that he was most likely believed dead and that the bond wouldn't reestablish itself without close proximity so he went to Clair first since she could confirm it was him