CHAPTER 23 - POV RYLEE

Rylee was paralyzed with terror. Not again. Not another.

This one was taller than every 'bot she'd met yet - a great deal taller. A great deal more naturally menacing as well - although for the moment he also seemed a great deal softer than his initial impression. But that didn't matter - not when the stranger's armed with missiles and striking fear in even Knockout. Rylee was curled in a ball behind Knockout's leg, refusing to look up. No use running, if anything happened Knockout would protect her - or not.

From the corner of her eyes she could see Knockout glance down at her, and then came the noise of metal shifting. She looked in the direction of the noise to find Knockout's hand replaced with a buzzsaw, which he held in front of him defensively.

"You have a weapon? You've had a weapon this whole time?" Rylee yelled up at him, still refusing to look back at Thundercracker. But now she was questioning whether she should step away from Knockout as well. "What kind of doctor needs a buzzsaw?"

"Stay back, Rylee," Knockout said urgently, holding the other hand out to protect her. He then raised the buzzsaw and activated it, holding it in front of him as a warning to the blue jet. "And you, whoever you are, stand down." Rylee peeked around his legs to see the jet's reaction - one of utter confusion.

"I think you've got the wrong idea. I'm not here to hurt you," Thundercracker raised the hand that wasn't holding the dog innocently. "I didn't even threaten y- well…" He looked up in thought, and then shrugged. "Hey, you almost hurt my dog. What am I supposed to do?"

"Why are you here, Decepticon?" Smokescreen asked slowly - cautiously. This was the most serious Rylee had ever seen Smokescreen. Seeing him exclusively act like a goofball around her, she had almost forgotten he was an "Elite Guard" (whatever that was) warrior… and most importantly, had been part of the war. She glanced at every else - all tense as well. They all were part of the war.

But not her. She didn't even know what the war was about… or what to expect from it… and most importantly, she never asked to be dragged into any of this.

The stranger stepped forward, and everyone else stepped back. "My name is Thundercracker, and I am not a Decepticon. Haven't for a long, long time."

"That's impossible," Miko stepped forward from behind Smokescreen, her curiosity getting the better of her. "Thundercracker died."

"Well!" Thundercracker laughed and held out his hands. "I got better."

"Who are you working for?" Smokescreen asked, still tense. Rylee looked closer. Did his hand turn into… a gun? Rylee sat down behind Knockout again, breathing deeply for a few moments. Not only was she around giant robots, she's been around armed giant robots. Wonderful.

"Who else? The United States of America, duh." He looked at them as if it were common sense. At their confused expressions, he tilted his head in confusion as well. "What? Did I say it wrong again? Is that not the name of this country?" After a few seconds of everyone standing there dumbfounded, the seeker waved at them. "Hellooo?"

"Yes, that's the name of the country." Jack responded, looking unduly stressed. "But what does that mean? You work for Unit E? How does a Decepticon get about faking their death and working for the U.S. government? And with a dog?"

"I don't work for Unit E," Thundercracker raised a finger. "I work for the EDC. Earth Defense Command. At least I remember that!" He smiled. "I work under Marissa Faireborn. She's my best friend, even though I think I annoy her a lot. I know it's just because she's busy all the time and doesn't have time to read my screenplays. But it's okay because in the end I know I'm still her best friend as well." He suddenly blinked. "This got off topic. What was I talking about?"

Rylee inched farther out from Knockout's leg. Despite his appearance and earlier actions, he seemed the furthest from threatening.

But he still seemed menacing. It could be an act. Don't trust him.

"Did you say screenplays? You write movies?" Miko jumped up, smiling.

"Yes!" Thundercracker grinned, placing his dog on his shoulder and clapping his hands together. "I'm working on one right now. It's about a girl from Earth who finds out this guy she's dating is actually Unicron's holoform! And these split-spark humans… er… what are they called again? Twins! Twins Thunder and Cracker unite to take down Unicron! It's a riveting romantic drama. Can't miss it."

"I'm sorry, what is going on?" Smokescreen finally asked, looking extremely confused.

"He writes plays!" Miko said excitedly to him, and then turning to Thundercracker. "I would love to read your plays one day."

"Finally! Somebody who appreciates my artistry!" Thundercracker grinned, petting his dog. "I can't wait to show you the one where I'm a detective and fight Santa Claus in the North Pole for committing homicide on Christmas when really, it was Megatron dressed as Santa all along. It's called 'The Thirteenth Day of Christmas'."

"I agree with Smokescreen, what exactly is going on?" Knockout drolled, pausing the buzzsaw.

"Okay, I'm getting us back on topic," Jack raised his hands. "We were talking about Unit E before you got distracted."

"Oh, that's right! Yes, I don't work for Unit E, but Unit E's a subdivision of the EDC. With Agent Fowler? He's a funny man, he taught me a lot about Earth lingo. 'What in Sam Hill?'" He laughed. "That's my favorite phrase now."

"Agent Fowler?" the three kids and Smokescreen asked in unison.

"Who's Fowler?" Rylee whispered to Knockout, who distractedly shrugged in reply.

"...Yes?" Thundercracker responded, almost nervously. "What? What is it? Is he evil or something?"

"We know him. We used to work closely with him," Raf said, stepping out from behind Smokescreen. "We're actually going to again in a few weeks."

Thundercracker bent down to Raf and smiled. "Hey, maybe whenever you start working for him you'll see me around. Or maybe not. I'm kind of really top secret. You all are not even supposed to know I'm alive… but oh well." He then raised his dog to his face with a stupidly big grin. "But anything for Buster, right? Her health comes first, before any 'national defense and security' or whatnot."

Nearby they could hear a vehicle, and Jack started inching toward the hangar. "I think we're all forgetting we're in public, and we need to get indoors. Now." As Jack passed by her towards the hangar, Rylee discreetly grabbed his arm from behind Knockout.

"We're bringing him inside?" Rylee hissed, making sure Thundercracker didn't hear.

"What else are we supposed to do?" Jack pulled his arm away, kneeling down. "First priority is hiding their identity."

"But he's - he's -" Rylee couldn't seem to get the words out. "He's a Decepticon!"

Jack glanced up at Knockout. "In case you haven't noticed, Knockout is a Decepticon. Besides, you don't even know what a Decepticon is."

"Seeing Thundercracker transform like that out of nowhere and threaten us," she gestured toward Thundercracker, "I finally realized what a Decepticon is. And why they're said to be so terrifying."

"Rylee…" Jack sighed, standing up again. He offered Rylee a hand, which she gingerly took and lifted herself up. "We can talk about this later. But for now, it doesn't matter if Thundercracker was Megatron himself - we can't let the public know of his existence."

"I don't even know who Megatron is," Rylee mumbled, walking towards the hangar.

Jack raised both eyebrows. "Oh. Right." They entered the hangar, Thundercracker having to duck to get through the door, and Smokescreen shutting it closed behind him. Three Cybertronians in this small space was getting excessive.

"So… I guess I should ask. Why are you all here?" Thundercracker questioned, leaning on a crate.

"Aren't you supposed to be a spy? You tell us," Miko joked. "Kidding, kidding. We're infiltrating NASCAR. Knockout wants to win."

"Miko!" echoed around the room from many sources, and she cringed.

"What?" she shrugged. "There's no way he doesn't know. Or won't know eventually."

"Actually, I didn't know," Thundercracker said, sitting down and crossing his legs. "Marissa and Fowler suspected something, so they sent me to look in. Things didn't quite seem to add up." He then pointed at the kids. "And apparently you all had something to do with it. Fowler was very adamant something fishy was going on when he saw you all on television."

Jack ran his hand down his face. "Great. Now the government's after us." He then looked back up at Thundercracker. "How were we even on TV? They don't keep tabs on the pit crew. And… you know… Knockout doesn't stop for pit stops anyways."

Thundercracker shrugged. "Don't know where you showed up but apparently you were all together. Which wouldn't be fishy at all except you all took part in an alien war… and now it turns out there's another alien on Earth now." He looked at Knockout. "How come Cybertron never tells us when they're sending guests?" Everyone apparently thought it best to not inform Thundercracker that Knockout was no longer in fact a guest, but a wanted fugitive.

"I… take it you're not in contact with Ratchet?" Smokescreen asked hesitantly.

"Ratchet? The old autobot medic?" Thundercracker laughed. "Err no… why would I be?"

"He's the only Cybertronian that stayed behind to watch over Earth," Raf stated. "Well… besides you, I suppose."

Thundercracker looked overly amused. "Ratchet?" he laughed. "Grumpy Ratchet agreed to stay behind? I never knew him very well - I mean, we were enemies for the greater part of the war - but even I knew that had to be extremely uncharacteristic of him. I wonder what happened..." He looked as if he had an idea, and pulled out a datapad from his compartment and starting typing.

"What are you doing?" Miko asked, trying to read through the holographic datapad - which was difficult, since he was typing in Cybertronian.

"New character trope. That inspired me! Do you think Ratchet would be fine with me writing a movie about him? If anything, I'll change his name." He raised a finger, smiling. "I've got it! His name can be Dratchet!" He then frowned and raised his hand to his chin. "Ah, no… sounds too much like a ship name."

"That's the problem? Not that Dratchet sounds way too similar to Ratchet for it to be coincidental?" Miko questioned, while Jack stood there dumbfounded.

"Can we… please get back on track?" Jack rubbed his temples. "Thundercracker, now that you're here, what do you plan on doing next? Turn us in? Because if so… please don't do that."

"I mean…" Thundercracker looked up in thought, tapping the holopad stylus against his chin. "This has been a very neat experience so far. I've already gotten so much inspiration for my stories just from this." His wings slightly lifted - presumably from happiness. "I don't get to leave the base much... especially since, you know, the world doesn't know Cybertronians exist. So I'd love to immerse myself in human culture as much as possible if I'm going to be writing for them."

Jack frowned, still confused as to what was going on. "So… what does that mean?"

"Can I stick with you guys?" Thundercracker asked, smiling and tilting his head to the side. "For a bit? I'll report back to Marissa later, I just want to spend as much time out of the base as possible. As long as what you're up to isn't… I guess… evil in any way, I'll only report back to command after you're finished."

"You're not going to get in trouble?" Raf questioned.

"Me? No. They're quite happy to have me aboard, and I'm quite happy to be there. They may get annoyed… but hey, what can ya do?" Thundercracker let Buster down from his shoulder and onto the floor, where she greeted all the kids.

"Another? Not another…" Rylee muttered silently, and from her peripheral she noticed that Knockout had apparently heard, but said nothing.

"You say you're fine as long as we're not up to anything 'evil'. What do you define as 'evil'?" Jack questioned. "Because if you were someone like Ultra Magnus, this would count in your book of evils."

Thundercracker frowned. "Is this a quiz? A morality test? Primus, I had enough of those when I joined the EDC. I don't need more." He stood up, picking up Buster and placing her on his shoulder. "From what I've seen, you're just racing and that's it! So, you may be breaking nonexistent intergalactic laws… but I don't see anything in the Earth United States of America Constitution saying aliens can't take part in NASCAR."

"I… don't think that would be in the Constitution," Raf said quietly. "Probably just the NASCAR rules. But I understand what you're saying."

"He understands me!" Thundercracker said joyously, raising Buster in his hand as if giving a toast. "So… whatever you're up to, I'm fine. As long as everyone is a willing and knowledgeable participant." Thundercracker looked at Rylee with a strange expression, and she inched more behind Knockout's leg, attempting to hide herself from him. Thundercracker then looked toward Jack again, an almost imperceptible frown on his face.

"Well… I guess that settles it," Jack shrugged. "We've got three Cybertronians now. Funny thing is, now two of you were sent to bring Knockout in and ended up joining us instead."

"I'm just that irresistible," Knockout smiled sweetly.

"What is it we've created? Have we started a movement?" Miko said absent-mindedly, laying on her back and staring at the ceiling. "What if that was how Megatron started the Decepticon movement. Orion Pax sends Soundwave to take Megs into custody, but then Megatron talks to Soundwave and Soundwave goes 'Ok that's a pretty good idea doe' and joins him. And then every single person Orion sends joins Megatron until he's got, like, enough people to start a revolution." When Miko finally went silent, she noticed everyone's eyes were on her - mostly looking lost. "What? I mean, that's practically what's happening right here."

"Soundwave would never say that," Raf commented.

Miko rolled her eyes. "Of course he wouldn't. It's just for humorous effect, gosh guys."

Jack had to close his eyes for a few moments before turning back to Thundercracker. "You never explained how you're alive and how you came to work for the government."

"Ah. That!" Thundercracker laughed - but this time it looked as if it were to hide pain. "Yes, that's a funny story. More like a tragedy, but well, umm…" As everyone expectantly waited for him to continue, he sighed and went on. "It was midway through the war, before Megatron ever considered turning Earth into his new wargrounds. We were stopping by for refueling, and found a large energon cache buried under a very populated human city. Now, of course, you know Megatron's brutal method of obtaining such energon - it's to raze -"

"Wait! Wait," Knockout interrupted, hesitantly stepping forward. "Have you forgotten that there are children here? Dear Raf is only twelve! Wouldn't... er… descriptions of Decepticon tactics be a bit too rated R for them?"

"What are you talking about?" Raf retorted. "You act as if I wasn't physically there for the war!"

"No. I know what it is," Jack crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. "He's still trying to hide the details of the war from Rylee. You still haven't told her?"

"I - what?" Knockout frowned, getting defensive. "I mean no, I haven't, but eventually when the time's right..."

Thundercracker frowned. "Is Rylee the one over there?" he nodded toward Rylee, who begrudgingly stepped out from Knockout's shadow. She nodded. He looked up at Knockout in disbelief. "So she's been hanging out with a Decepticon this whole time without knowing what a Decepticon is?"

"That's what I've been saying," Smokescreen commented, looking out the window.

Knockout winced. "What? What's so bad about that? I'm not a Decepticon anymore!"

"But you were," Thundercracker crossed his arms, a slight frown. "Now that I think of it, I do remember you. You were there from the beginning, same as me. Which means you witnessed all the… horrors going on and did nothing about it."

"I joined the Autobots," Knockout mumbled, almost as if in a trance. "In the battle to retake Cybertron, I joined the Autobots."

"What? At the close of the war? You just picking the winning side, to get a lighter sentencing? But all throughout..." Thundercracker slightly frowned. "All throughout the war you did nothing in opposition to the many atrocities that the Decepticons committed. And tried to make up for it when it was too late - or was it just self-preservation?"

"What did you do?" Knockout cried out, slightly shaking from anger. "What grand action did you take against the entirety of the Decepticon empire?"

"I died, Knockout," Thundercracker stated, looking down at the small dog in his hands. The hangar went silent and Knockout backed down, unsure of how to respond. Or if there was even a response after something like that. "I 'died' stopping another Decepticon atrocity from taking place. And in doing so I had to kill my brother."

"Skywarp?" Miko asked softly, and Thundercracker nodded, his eyes still on Buster. Knockout looked lost for a moment, and then turned on his heel and began to leave.

"Knockout, wait," Thundercracker called, and Knockout paused momentarily. Thundercracker looked up at him, a certain distraughtness in his features. "For you, I'll keep my stories to myself. I'll explain what happened to me later in private, to just you and the young 'bot." He gestured to Smokescreen and then paused, as if weighing a heavy option. "But I can't promise that secrets will always stay so." Knockout stayed still for a few moments, expression hidden from view. And then continued on. He isolated himself in the far corner of the hangar, and Rylee followed.

He looked almost surprised to find that she had followed him over. She sat on one of the smaller crates near Knockout, eyeing Thundercracker.

"Rylee." She turned in the direction of the voice to Knockout concernedly looking down at her. He knelt down. "You seem nervous." She didn't know what to say to that. She glanced back at Thundercracker, who was letting the other kids pet Buster with a renewed smile on his face. Maybe she was being paranoid. Most likely so. But nothing could replace the fear she felt when confronted by the rage-filled sixty foot historically evil robot. It was a fear long overdue - she should've feared Knockout from day one. Should've run as far as she could. But for some reason she couldn't fear Knockout… maybe it was the shock. Or the ignorance. Or perhaps both. But this was the first time it became very real to her that these were robots that had been at war for millions of years. That adversity and warfare was just an everyday thing to them - while somehow racing was not. And given all of Thundercracker's ominous implications… the war suddenly seemed more grave than she initially thought. She was… unsettled , to say the least. And for the very first time, she wanted to run.

She looked back up at Knockout, who seemed even more concerned at her long silence. But she wouldn't run. Not while he was counting on her. "Knockout, can you promise me something?"

"Yes," he said quickly, and then winced. "Well, depends. If you're going to ask me to re-animate Unicron, I'm going to have to say no to that."

Rylee woefully chuckled to herself, nervously adjusting her necklace and muttered quietly, "Once again, I don't know who Unicron is." She then looked back up at him, gently laying a hand on his wrist. "Can you promise me you'll keep us all safe from any threats?" she paused for a few moments, looking down. "Keep me safe?"

"Rylee…" Knockout trailed off surprisedly, seemingly having expected a different question. Rylee finally looked back up at him, vaguely misty-eyed. His hesitation then shut down with hardened resolve. "Yes. Of course." She smiled, and he smiled back - with, however, an element of distress that he attempted to hide.

She tensed up. She got the feeling she was being watched - like eyes boring into the back of her skull. She turned to find Thundercracker's red optics gazing at her, and a chill went down her spine. He quickly looked away, to the kids happily chasing the dog around.

But the fear remained.

Author's Note

Hey everyone, thanks for reading! Sorry the wait took so long, I've had finals this past week but I'm finally done! (I've also been binge-reading More Than Meets The Eye, but don't worry, I'm back ;)

Thanks for all the kind comments, they mean a lot to me! This has been the longest chapter yet, and hopefully I'll get more out soon!