Hey, I'm back with this story! I'm so sorry for the long wait! I was so focused with my other story plus I kept trying to figure out which way I wanted to go for this chapter. But at last, here it is. I hope you like it.

Transformers Animated: Different Angle

Chapter 23: Threats... and a Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Animated

(Jacy's POV)

Before I can even do anything, Airstrike rapidly flies over and punches me hard in the torso.

Letting out a painful grunt, I go flying back against a building. I feel the structure breaking against my back as I slump to the ground, broken glass falling on top of me. Looking up, I see Airstrike landing on the ground as she approaches.

"How did you come in contact with the AllSpark?" she asks me with a sneer, "is it what brought you here?"

Scared for my life, I activate my mod and fire a blast. The wave hits the seeker, making her pedes skid back against the pavement. I get back up as she stops and looks at me, giving me a glare.

"You know, I'm usually a very patient bot," she says, "but you've been a real pain in my side lately."

She immediately goes for another attack, too quick for me to use my mod. Getting in front of me, she starts throwing punches. I try to block her attacks, but still get a knee to the torso. The next thing I know, she grabs me by the neck and holds me up in the air. Thankfully I no longer need to breath, but her grip still hurts as I try to pry it off. With much force, she throws me to the ground. I feel the pavement crack underneath me as I skid across the street. Now in more pain, I go to get up, only for Airstrike to bring her pede down on my back.

"So here's how this works," she says, kneeling down closer to me. She grabs my arm and twists it behind my back. I let out a painful yelp as she pulls it. "You tell how you got here, and I won't break your arm off." She pulls my arm slightly harder. "I know you and your friend were involved with the AllSpark surge," she says.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say, only for her to twist my arm even more. A whimper escapes from my mouth as she talks.

"The day you two supposedly showed up, we detected an AllSpark surge in the woods. But when we got there, there was nothing. Only footprints which no doubt belonged to you two. How did you come in contact with the AllSpark?"

Feeling the pain shooting in my arm, I try to activate my mod, only for her to twist my arm even more. I let out a painful cry, feeling like my arm is going to rip out of my socket.

"Tell me!" she angrily exclaims.

Just then a loud sound makes itself known. I feel Airstrike staggering off of me as she holds her helm. Rolling away from her, I look to see Kylie with her sonic cannons active, her visor covering her optics.

"Nobody hurts my friend, lady!" she says angrily, charging up her cannons.

Airstrike looks at her and smirks. "Then how about I hurt you?"

Activating my mod, I fire a blast at her. She lets out a grunt as it hits her, sending her flying back. I watch as she hits the ground and tumbles before coming to a complete stop.

Knowing she'll get back up, I look at Kylie. "We have to go, now!" Immediately we both transform and drive away.

"Sorry I left you behind," she apologizes as she drives beside me, "are you okay?"

"I'll live," I tell her, "where's Waldorf?"

"I lost him when I realized you were in trouble," she says, "maybe we can still find him."

We drive towards the pier when all of a sudden a blast hits close behind us, sending us flying forward. Kylie and I both let out a scream as we transform and tumble to the ground. Both of us groaning, we look up to see Airstrike hovering overhead, not looking too happy.

"I think Waldorf is a lot safer than we are right now," I say fearfully to Kylie.

Airstrike lands right in front of us, her optics flaring red as she aims her blasters at me and Kylie. "Let's try this again."

(Third POV)

Meanwhile at the other end of the city, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl were explaining to Optimus and Ratchet everything.

"And later on, I told Bulkhead and Prowl what had happened," Bumblebee explains to the prime and medic, "that's when Sari mentioned what Jacy has been telling her. She knew about the headmaster unit."

"So what, you're saying Jacy knows the future?" Ratchet asks.

"Most of it, according to Sari," Prowl says, "she says Jacy has been noticing... changes."

"Changes?" Optimus asks, looking at him questionably.

"Apparently we were suppose to have ran into the headmaster sooner plus come across space barnacles," the ninja bot says.

"Space barnacles?" Ratchet asks.

"Okay, so she knew about the headmaster," Optimus says, trying to think rationally, "but she could have just heard about it from somewhere."

"But that doesn't explain how she and Kylie are able to cry," Bumblebee says.

"I can give them a quick scan to see what's causing it," Ratchet says, "it could be just a malfunction of some kind."

Deciding he might as well bring it up, Bulkhead says, "There's something else. Before I left the base, Jacy was asking me about our arrival here."

The bots look at him questionably. "What do you mean?" Prowl asks.

"She asked me what happened before we came to Earth. I told her how we found the AllSpark and that Megatron attacked us. She then asked if there was an explosion during it."

"Why would she ask that?" Bumblebee asks.

Bulkhead shrugs.

Optimus lets out a vent. "I think we're just overthinking this," he says, "we'll head back to base and talk to Jacy. Maybe we can straighten this whole thing out."

All agreeing, the bots transform and drive off, unaware of the girls' current situation.

(Jacy's POV)

Airstrike takes a step forward towards us. "I suggest you don't try to activate your mods," she says, charging up her blasters, "I'll blast a hole in you both before you can even get the chance to use them."

Kylie and I get back up on our pedes, daring not take our optics off of her. "What do you want?" Kylie asks with a frown.

"Answers," she says, "answer my questions, and I will leave you two alone."

I frown. "I don't believe you," I tell her.

"Let me put it this way," she says, "I really need only one of you to talk. So, either one of you start talking now, or I can just offline one of you and make the other squeal. What's it going to be?"

My frown deepens. I don't want to tell her anything, but I don't think we have a choice. I look at Kylie, her looking back up at me before we look back at the flier. "What do you want to know?" I ask grimly.

Airstrike smirks. "Smart choice. Now tell me, how did you get here?"

I look at Kylie again before releasing a vent. Looking back at the seeker, I say, "two AllSpark fragments came to us. They are what brought us here."

She gives me a questionable look. "Two fragments? How?"

"They just came out of nowhere and sent us here," I say.

She frowns as she thinks. She then asks, "and where are you two from?"

"... Far away," I say, trying not to tell her the whole truth.

Her frown deepens. "That's not the answer I'm looking for. You better tell me, or... " she charges up the blaster aimed at me.

"No!" Kylie exclaims worryingly, making the seeker look down at her, "we're from earth, but not this one. We're from a different universe."

"Kylie!" I say sternly.

Airstrike's optics widen as she looks at the two of us. Kylie and I share a glance, wondering if she will attack or not. After a moment, she frowns. "Different universe, huh," she says. She brings her attention back to me. "You said you were brought here by two AllSpark fragments. Why?"

I'm confused by her response, but I'm scared to question it. "They, they didn't exactly tell us," I say.

"Funny," she says dryly, "where are they now?"

"We don't know."

She charges up the blaster aimed at Kylie.

Fearfully I say, "it's the truth! They weren't with us when we came here. We have no idea where they are."

She studies me, probably to see if I'm lying or not. "Back on the cliff you said you wanted two AllSpark fragments," she says, "why?"

I vent. "When we couldn't find the fragments that brought us here, we decided to look for two more so... so we could go back home."

She drops her frown as she just looks at us. "Is that so," she says. After a moment of thinking, she deactivates her blasters. "I'm not going to offline you two. I'm going to let you go."

I feel slightly relieved that the blasters are no longer pointing at us, but I still have an uneasy feeling. "Just like that?" I ask.

"On one condition," she says before frowning, "you two will leave this city and never come back."

My optics widen at this.

"What?!" Kylie exclaims.

"You two won't stand a chance against Megatron and the others. You may have been lucky to survive in the past, but that only means they will hit harder the next time. I'm giving you a chance to escape that. Maybe if you're lucky, you might stumble upon a couple fragments along the way."

Kylie folds her arms. "And what if we don't want to go?"

"And what will you do if you stay? Become heroes like the Autobots? Help them? You two are nowhere close to being like them. You'll only be burdens. Don't you think they have enough problems of their own?"

"They don't think we're burdens," Kylie says angrily.

Airstrike smirks. "Oh I'm sure they do. They just won't say it to spare your feelings. If you really want to help the bots, then I suggest you stay out of their way. If not for your own safety, for theirs."

I frown as her words stick to me. I don't want to believe her... but she's telling us what I've been worrying about before.

"What will happen if we refuse?" I ask her.

Looking at me, she says. "Why don't I make this easy for you." She then reactivates her blasters and fires a blast at our feet, making us fearfully jump back. Aiming the blasters at us, she says in a threatening tone, "leave now, and I won't offline you. And if I catch you both here again, I will not only offline you, but every human here... starting with Sumdac's little girl."

My spark clenches by her threat. Kylie and I look at one another, both having the same scared look on our faces. We don't have a choice. Kylie shuts her optics and sadly lowers her helm. I do the same, my wings even sadly drooping.

Looking at Airstrike one last time, we transform and drive away. My spark hurts as we keep driving. Soon as we exit the city, I look at it through my rearview mirror, watching it get further and further away. I can't help but think about the bots. About Sari and Sumdac. Even Waldorf.

Kylie and I don't stop as we drive into the woods, feeling nothing but terrible as we leave everyone behind.

(Third POV)

Ascending upwards into the sky, Airstrike watches the two drive off, making sure they actually leave. She smirks as they exit the city and into the woods.

"That's right," she says with an evil chuckle, "run."

(Autobot Base)

The bots soon return to base, surprising Sari who was waiting for the femmes to come back with Waldorf.

"Uh, hey guys," Sari says, trying to sound like nothing's wrong, "why are you all back so early?"

"Something's come up," Optimus says as he looks around, "where's Jacy? We have to talk to her about... something."

"Um, about that," Sari says nervously, twiddling her fingers, "Waldorf ran off to chase a cat and... Jacy and Kylie went to go get him?"

A frown immediately spreads across the prime's face. "They what?!" he exclaims.

"It's okay!" Sari says as she waves her hands, "they should be coming back soon."

Just then they hear the sound of paws walking through the door. Looking over, they see Waldorf making his way in, looking very tired from all the running he did. Finally out of steam, he flops to the ground, ready to take a nap.

"Well, the fleabags back," Bumblebee says.

"But where are Jacy and Kylie?" Bulkhead asks.

Optimus looks at Sumdac. "Professor, see if you can find Kylie's signature on the scanner."

Sumdac tries searching for it. Soon as he finds it, he looks over at the bots with a confused look. "They're... they're leaving the city."

Everyone looks at the screen, all having the same looks of confusion on their faces.

"What?" Sari asks in disbelief.

"Why are they leaving?" Prowl asks.

"We should try calling them and find out," Bumblebee suggests.

"Just one problem with that," Ratchet says to him with a frown, "we never taught them how to use their commlinks."

"... Oh yeah," the smaller bot says.

"You don't think... they're leaving for good, do you?" Bulkhead asks the others.

"No," Sari says with a frown, "I don't believe it. They wouldn't just leave without saying anything. Jacy even said to me this morning she was thinking of staying."

"She said that?" Prowl asks.

"Yes. She was even trying to teach herself how to fly. Something must have happened."

Optimus looks at the screen again. He remembers what Jacy asked him the night before. She sounded like she really wanted to help them. So why would she leave if she wanted to help?

"We're going after them," he says.

"I want to come too," Sari says.

The prime shakes his head at her. "If something is wrong, then it might not be safe."

Sari frowns at him. "They're my friends too."

"Stay here," he tells her sternly, "we'll bring them back." Looking at the others, he orders, "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

Soon as the autobots transform, they speed off out the door, leaving the two humans and dog behind.

Hearing a whimper, Sumdac looks to see Waldorf sadly looking at the door.

"I'm sure they're alright, boy," Sumdac says.

Waldorf still whines a little and lays down.

Sari sadly looks out the door, hoping Jacy and Kylie are okay.

(Jacy's POV)

We keep driving until we come to a stop, deciding we're far enough away from the city. Kylie immediately starts venting soon as we transform.

"This stinks!" Kylie says angrily as she paces back and forth, "we shouldn't have left!"

"We had no choice, Kylie," I tell her.

"We could take her," Kylie says, stopping to look at me, "we just weren't ready. We could-"

"Kylie!" I snap, "there's nothing we can do! If we go back, we'd be endangering innocent lives! We'd be endangering Sari!"

Her frown disappears as she looks at me. Optics now watering, she sadly looks down. "We didn't even get to say goodbye," she says quietly.

My wings sadly droop. "I know," I say, "I'm sorry I snapped. I don't like this either." I let out a vent. "Let's just keep going."

She frowns at me. "Keep going where? There's nowhere for us to go."

"We'll keep our optics open for something," I tell her.

We start walking, Kylie frowning the entire time. As we walk, I glance around at my surroundings, looking at the lake and... wait, this looks familiar. Soon as I see the Lake Erie sign, I immediately know where we are.

"Hey, we were here before," I tell Kylie, "remember? You and I rolled down that slope." I let out a slight chuckle, "And then I accidentally flew up in the air and fell into the lake." I let out a laugh, hoping to lighten the mood.

All Kylie does is look around and sadly vent.

My smile drops as I sadly glance away, looking up at the slope. Up there is where we arrived. I don't know why, but I want to go up. I want to go back to that spot.

"Come on," I tell Kylie as I start making my way up the slope.

"Where are we going?" she asks, following me. I don't answer as I keep walking. Soon as we make it to the top, we walk through the trees and towards the clearing where we woke up.

"Why did you want to come back here?" Kylie asks me questionably.

"I don't know," I say, "I just felt like it."

Kylie walks around, kicking a rock out of her way. "Hard to believe it's only been over a week," she says, looking around.

"Yeah," I agree, "we've been through a lot in such a short time. Fighting cons, training... making friends." My wings sadly droop at the thought of them. "Do you think Airstrike is right? If we had stayed, would we have been in the team's way?"

She frowns at me. "You don't seriously believe her, do you?"

"I don't know," I say, "I mean, I am on the cons' wanted list, and we're still learning how to defend ourselves. We even allowed ourselves to be intimated by her and let her run us out of Detroit." I let out a sad vent. "I want to help the bots, I, I really do. Heck, I was even thinking of staying so I could figure out what's been going on here."

Kylie drops her frown as her optics widen in surprise. "Really? You were thinking of staying?"

"I was going to talk to you about it. I already asked Sari and Bulkhead some questions so I could figure out what has happened before we came. I want to know what's causing these changes." I hold my helm in frustration, "But after what happened today... Grrr! I don't know what I want to do anymore!"

Just then a flash of light and a zapping noise come out of nowhere, startling Kylie and me as we shield our optics. Soon as the light fades, we look and gasp at what we see. Sitting in the grass in the very same spot we were when we woke up, are two small very shiny objects.

The fragments.

We both just stare at them in shock as we get closer.

"The... the fragments," Kylie says, "are they really ours?"

"They have to be," I say, "I can't believe they're here."

"But why now?" she asks, very confused, "why didn't they just arrive with us?"

"Maybe when we traveled here, we got ahead of them somehow?"

"...By a week?"

"I don't know, I'm just guessing," I say, "we did travel to a different universe after all."

Kylie picks up the one closest to her. "Well, talk about good timing."

I bend down and pick the other one up, having to use my index finger and my thumb to hold it. Lifting it up to my optic level, I see it pulsing like it did before, even feeling it in my digits. "What if its not a coincidence that they just showed up?" I ask.

Kylie looks up at me. "You think they're here to take us back home?"

"Maybe," I say, "I mean, given our circumstances... it makes sense that... that..." I find myself staring at the fragment, my thoughts taking control.

We have them. This is our chance to go home. We can go back to our normal lives and eat human food again. Back to our families and... friends.

"Jacy?" Kylie asks, looking at me with concern, "are you okay?"

"I... I don't want to leave," I say, "it doesn't feel right." I let the fragment drop into my palm before closing my servo around it. "I want to help the bots. I want to figure out what's causing these changes." I let out a vent. "Though even if I figure out what's going on, then what? What would I do?"

Kylie looks at me for a moment before giving me a smile. "We'll figure it out. You and me."

I look down at her. "You want to stay?"

"Of course," she says, "we made friends here. I want to help them too."

"Even if it means going longer without your social media, muppets, and actual food?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she says, "just because I don't have my usual social media, doesn't mean this place doesn't have its own. And I'm starting to get use to oil... sort of." She frowns. "Okay, it still tastes terrible. But I'm not going to let that stop me."

"What about your family? Don't you miss them?"

"Of course I do," she says, "but that doesn't mean I won't see them again. Right now, our friends need a lot of help. And we shouldn't believe what Airstrike says. I don't believe we're burdens, and neither should you. We took her down once, and we can do it again."

I smile at her before letting out a vent. "But how are we going to if..." I stop mid sentence, remembering something. Something very important! Why am I remembering this now?!

I look at Kylie fearfully. "We have to get away from here!" I tell her.

She gives me a very confused look. "What's wrong?"

"Airstrike said they were able to pick up an AllSpark surge from when we arrived!"

"So?"

"The fragments just popped up! And if the cons were able to detect our arrival, then that means...!"

Sure enough, I hear a sound coming towards us from above. Kylie and I look up and fearfully gasp... seeing Blitzwing and Lugnut heading straight for us!

Uh Oh! What a bad time to remember that lol.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope to update it again soon. Until next time! God bless!