In which Alison is not as alone as she thinks.

When I had cried my eyes dry, and my headache abated a bit, I looked around my little cell. It was maybe the size of my room in the officer's quarters, except a bit shallower and even more bare. A metal frame bed with a boxspring and mattress was shoved into a corner, some sheets, a pillow and a blanket haphazardly tossed on it. A metal table and chair sat against the wall, and then next to it the wooden screen was set up around a toilet and sink with a slanted vent above them. A quick test of each proved they had actual plumbing, which I found quite curious, but I guess I wouldn't be dying of thirst or stench at the least. Standing on the toilet, I could just barely reach the top of the vent, which was large enough for me to probably crawl through, but it was bolted tight and I had no tools to even try to pry it open with.

I took off my shirt and ran the sleeves under the water briefly, to wash off the vomit splatter, then draped it over the screen to dry, thankful I'd decided on layers that morning. Or was it yesterday morning? I had no idea how long I was out for, or how long the journey to the Nemesis was, or even how long the meeting with the Fallen took.

Another inventory of my bag yielded the same results as it had on the ship in, minus the food and drinks I'd already had. I honestly wasn't in a mood to eat, but my stomach growling and the knowledge I needed something in me made me pick out a sandwich, another banana, and a bottle of gatorade.

I was just sitting down to my meal when I heard a slight banging sound. I looked around, but there was no sign of the guard Ebonspark had said was going to come, and the sound wasn't from the hall, it was from- The vent!

I looked and jumped up just as a pincer-tipped cable slipped out from between the slats of the vent grate and attached itself to higher of the upper bolts. It whirred and spun, and the bolt came out, pulled back into the vent. The cable returned and unscrewed the other upper bolt, then the one right below it. The grate started to slide, then a very paw-like servo reached out and caught it.

"I don't suppose you could carefully slide this down for me? I don't want to be too loud."

I wasn't sure which surprised me more, the whispered English or the female voice that said it. For a moment, I considered if it was Ravage, but I was pretty sure Ravage was canonically male in the movies. The paw flexed slightly and I went over to the vent. I already was a prisoner and was going to be mind raped repeatedly for the foreseeable future, what more could happen to me?

~Do you really want that question answered?~

…No, I decided as I grabbed the grate and pulled it forward slightly, so the metal wouldn't scrape against the wall as I lowered it. I felt who or whatever had been in the vent jump over me to the ground, and once I was sure the grate wasn't going to shift, I turned around.

Standing there was a silver, black and indigo cybertronian who looked like a ferret or a weasel, though she quickly started shifting to a bipedal mode. Her legs and arms seemed to fold out of her body, while the plating of her helm shifted slightly, making her face more humanoid. Only her tail remained unchanged. She was still quite small, a few inches shorter than me in fact. The last thing she did was snap back her red visor, and I was confronted with blue optics.

"I'm sorry about the surprise," she said, whispering still, "but Carrier can only delay the guard for so long, and I had to come explain."

"Carrier?" I asked, keeping my voice as low as hers.

"My name is Bandit, and my carrier is N-Sync. You know my sire, you saved her."

That was when it hit me. "You're Coppertone's daughter."

Bandit nodded. "I can't stay here long, but we had to let you know, there is a plan to get you out, and to make sure you'll make it through until then."

"Y-You're going to bust me out? How? Soundwave is going to know something is going on and-"

"Soundwave is going to be too distracted to do anything." Bandit opened a panel on her side and started digging around. "You revived Frenzy, which was a very good thing, but he's still got a very tattered bond. It's going to take time and care to reconnect him to Rumble and Soundwave, let alone the others, and to redo the repairs Ebonspark had made with proper tools and materials. Time that Megatron has graciously given him off, so Carrier is in charge of security and communications." She smiled as she pulled something out of her subspace. "Here."

I remembered what Megatron had said before taking me to the Fallen. "That- I never thought about that." I took what she had and looked at it. "Vitamins?"

Bandit nodded, pulling a couple more bottles out. "You aren't going to be starved, but Starscream just raided a grocery store for ready meals, so their nutritional value probably won't be the best, and some might be past their sell by dates. And you're just getting water to drink."

I looked from the bottle to her. "How did you get this?"

"Let's just say someone owed Carrier a favor, and she's enough of a 'Con to use that to her advantage." She tilted her head suddenly and pressed the extra bottles into my hands. "Hide these in your food duffel, and take a couple with every meal, and before you sleep. I'll be back to check on you either tomorrow or the day after."

"Wait!" She started shifting to her alt mode and looked up at me. "Can I know what the plan to get me out is?"

Bandit shook her head. "Just keep your eyes open, we'll let you know when it's time." With that, she jumped into the vent and a datacable extended from her tail to grab the grate "If you wash your hands, then walk straight to your bed and lay still for a couple minutes, Carrier will be able to loop the footage over our conversation." I helped her put the grate back in place and she started replacing the screws. Her optics peeked out from between the slats. "I promise, Bearer, we will get you out." Then her visor snapped down over her optics, turning the light of them a muted purple, and she was gone.

I waited a moment longer, then did what Bandit suggested, getting the vitamins stashed, hands washed, and laying on the bed within a minute or so. I stayed for a few minutes, occasionally rolling over, then I got up and sat down to eat.

Not long after, my guard showed up. He was no 'Con I could recognize, and from his EM field and the smirking grin he gave me when he looked in I could sense he was smug and a bit cocky. Probably thinking this was an easy job, or that he got it because of some specific reason. He put my dinner in the airlock, and as Bandit had said, it was just some random ready meal and a gallon jug of water. I added an apple to that, and while I ate, I turned inward to talk to the AllSpark.

She continued Her tale from earlier, telling me how the Fallen, when he was still Megatronus, had brought his Seekers before Her, and asked Her to speak to them the same way She spoke to him, and She complied. She had not realized most if not all those brought to Her had been created before the Quintesson War, and so all had slave coding in their systems. Megatronus manipulated it, and his Spoken became as devoted to his quest as he was.

His Spoken had sought out and harvested several suns, and they provided more energy for Her than half of the other Primes combined. They were just almost ready to turn the whole operation over to him, when one of the Four, a femme called Ceres Prime, discovered he had completed a Star Harvester in a system with a life bearing world. She had tried to summon her elder siblings to destroy it, but they arrived too late, and the world was destroyed. This infuriated the other Primes, and so it was decided that seven Primes had to be present for the activation of a Harvester.

Bet he didn't take that well, I commented. I'd moved to my bed by this point, wrapping myself tight in the blankets. My left hand was back around my dog tags and charms and my other rubbed against my bracelet. I couldn't help the feeling they might be all I had left of Mikaela and Bee.

~Indeed not. And so he created the Seeds, bombs of liquefied cybertronium, to destroy life bearing worlds. He entrusted them to a group of the Spoken, led by his daughter-~

Whoa, wait, daughter? Someone actually 'faced him?

~Yes, someone did.~ I could sense a slight exasperation in Her voice. ~He was quite the attractive mech before. His mate was Vector's daughter, Horatia. She and Megatronus had Quintus, who was as zealous as her sire. She was the one to send the Seeds out, and would send the location to her sire so he could mark it.~

I remembered something a friend pre-Jump had mentioned of the plot of the fourth movie. Weren't the Seeds used to exterminate the dinosaurs?

~Yes, though… it is odd.~

Odd?

~Why she would jump so far back. She could manipulate time and space with ease, thanks to her heritage, and sometimes would, to make the extinctions seem natural, but the fact she would go back to that time to deploy them instead of a more recent one makes no sense.~

Hmm. One of those mysteries unexplained?

~I suppose. In any case, Quintus and her Seekers never returned to Cybertron from their mission, and a few millennia later Megatronus and his siblings came to Earth. You know the rest.~

Yeah… I sighed heavily. I wish there was a way so that we didn't have to kill him.

~If it is for my sake, do not fret. He is my son, and I love him, but even I can see he goes much too far. He must be stopped. And he will still be with me in the Well.~

Not long after that, I fell into a deep sleep until my guard woke me for my breakfast. I barely had time to finish it before Megatron arrived with my cage and collected me. And from there, the next several days took on a hard pattern. Megatron would take me to the Fallen, and he would dive into my head and start digging for the location of the Matrix. I would fight him off, keeping a continuous train of thought of something random, usually related to another Transformers series and how the Matrix was used in it. One time I managed to drag him along a tangent of what Hogwarts Houses all the Autobots and Decepticons I knew of would end up in, with reasons why, and even started plotting out who would take what roles if it was an actual Harry Potter AU, with the Fallen as Voldemort of course, before the AllSpark managed to blindside him and kick him out. After he left, I would suffer another migraine and dry heaving (though that first morning it was not dry), then the Fallen would dive in again.

With no way to tell time, and the number of times he dove in changing each day, I had no idea how long any of these sessions lasted, but eventually the Fallen would dismiss me, and Megatron would either take me back to my cell himself, or hand me off to another 'Con to do so. There, I would struggle through my migraine to eat something (either my abandoned cold breakfast or something from the duffel) and take some of the vitamins, then lay on my bed until either Bandit came back or I fell asleep. Sometimes I'd sleep and get woken up by her, other times it'd be by whatever 'Con came by to give me my supper and take over the guard shift, or when a group of 'Cons came to gape at me, like they couldn't believe such a tiny thing actually could hold the AllSpark. Those only lasted the first few days, then stopped, so I'm guessing someone yelled at them for wasting time or something. At first, my migraine would have gone away and I could easily eat the meal, supplemented by the food from my duffel and the vitamins, but as the days went on, nothing I did would ease it off, and it was a struggle to work my way through it. After eating, I'd lay on my bed, and either pass out again right away, or I'd try to practice occlumency before passing out, and the next day the pattern repeated.

On my sixth morning on the Nemesis (or was it my seventh? The days were starting to blur together), Megatron changed things up. Instead of taking me down the left hall, to where the Fallen was, he took me up the right, further into that section of the base.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"You've been very valiant in your effort to keep my master from finding the Matrix, Bearer. I felt you deserved to see what your efforts are accomplishing."

He took me down a couple of corridors some tilted and some leveled out, which I did my best to commit to memory, then through a set of double doors. On the other side was a room that was lit with bright blue-white light, making me cover my eyes until they adjusted. When they did, I tried to hold back a gasp.

The room was large, with a high ceiling, and along the walls were the remains of blue and black embryonic sacks, with maybe one or two still holding something. All around the room, there were hatchlings.

A couple caught sight of us, and two bright spots of EM flared up. "Lord Megatron!" they cheered and raced towards us, beaming with joy and excitement to see him, which caused the other hatchlings to notice and come over as well, surrounding us.

"Megatron!" "Megatron!" "Did you bring something?" "What's that?" "Is it a treat?" "Can we play?"

Being around so many bright sparks, so many hatchlings, it both felt like a balm and like a pressure against my chest. And as I looked down at them, they looked up at me, and a couple pointed. "Megatron, what's that?"

"This, my bright sparks, is the Bearer of the AllSpark," Megatron said, a light tone in his voice I'd never heard before. "She is here for business, and I decided to bring her to see you all." He knelt so I was closer to the hatchlings. Some were tiny, like Rascal and X-Cat, three were closer to Escapade's size, and many in between. As these hatchlings were not created from a predetermined material like my hatchlings were, they would all probably grow into full sized cybertronians, from minibots to close to Megatron and Optimus's size.

"She doesn't look like a cybertronian," one of the big ones said, coming closer and reaching towards the cage, like he wanted to tap it. Megatron's servo whipped out and caught it, and I flinched, both from the speed of the movement and in anticipation for a pained scream or scared yell from the hatchling. But neither happened.

"The Bearer is a human, Galvatron," - And I whipped my head back around so fast I almost got whiplash - "and they require oxygen to survive. This cage provides it, as we don't have any in the base. But if it gets broken, she could die, so you can't tap it." Megatron's voice was soft and patient, and I couldn't help but look up at him in surprise. He caught my glance and and gave me a smirk while his EM showed amusement at my shock, but I thought there was also a hint of something else I couldn't identify before it disappeared.

"Sorry, Megatron," Galvatron said, stepping back and letting a couple of the smaller hatchlings climb on him to get a better look, the other two large hatchlings following suit. I looked him over, and I had to say, he didn't look much like the G1 Galvatron. In fact, he almost looked like he could be Megatron's kid, mostly in the helm shape, though Galvatron's side plating was one solid piece as opposed to segmented like Megatron's.

"Nice to meet you, Bearer!" a young femme said, waving at me, and others followed suit.

I couldn't help but smile, their EM fields were almost infectious even as I took a moment to place surge protectors on the bonds. "Hello, everyone. It is very nice to meet you. Can I know your names?"

"I'm Wildfly!" A seekerling said, balancing precariously on one of the big hatching's shoulders.

"Stiletto!" "I'm Soundbite!" "I'm Joyride!" "Evaporator!" "Overbite!" "My name's Fearswoop!" "Highline!"

They all called out names, so many it was impossible to keep track, but they were so excited about it I didn't let on. "What are you doing here?" a mid-sized mech asked (I think he was Highline).

"I am here… to discuss energon production." That was not entirely a lie, but I hoped none of them noticed my pause as I tried to come up with it. "I am in charge of that, and so Megatron had me brought here for negotiations."

I could feel Megatron's amusement at my lie, but he didn't say anything as he set me on a short stand so I could see and be seen. He then got down on the floor and started to actually play with the hatchlings, a silly little game that seemed to involve some kind of jacks and a stack of metal cards. Some wandered over to me and, since I couldn't come out and play, they made me the judge as they practiced some very basic katas, ones familiar to me as I realized they were ones Asami had shown me. I clamped on my EM field before the flash of hurt and betrayal could radiate out to the hatchlings, and made a show of being happy for them.

I had just looked over at Megatron's group as Galvatron let out a cheer, obviously having won that round of the game, when the doors opened. Ebonspark walked in, and for the briefest moment, she froze. I wouldn't have noticed had I not been watching her, but it seemed she was as surprised as I had been to see Megatron on the floor with hatchlings. Her expression shifted to something almost a hint pained. An expression I'd seen once before.

Megatron looked up, and Ebonspark's face was stone again. "Ah, Ebonspark. I do not believe you've had the chance to see our hatchery."

"No, my lord," she said. "I have been busy with my other duties." A couple of the hatchlings looked at her and waved before going back to their games. Ebonspark stopped at attention and held out a datapad. "I finalized my evaluations of Communications and the main search teams . They're cleared of any irregular activity. I'll be moving onto the reserve teams next."

Irregular activity? What did that mean?

Megatron extended a servo and took the datapad. He read through it and nodded before stashing it in his subspace. "I will fully review this later. Thank you, Ebonspark."

"I am only doing my long overdue duty, my lord." She bowed her helm. "Is there anything you require of me while I'm here?"

"Not now. Continue with your evaluations, but keep your comm open in case I need to to clarify part of your report."

"As you wish, my lord." I noticed the slight emphasis on the second word, though I don't know if Megatron did, his attention shifting back to the hatchlings as one attempted a headstand and tumbled into his knee.

Ebonspark spared me a glance, only a moment before her optics flicked away, then turned and left the hatchery.

Megatron and I stayed with the hatchlings a while longer, then he took me for my appointment with the Fallen. That day's session was harder, the recent memory of the hatchlings keeping the Matrix close to the surface by extension. When I got back to my cell, I could barely choke down the cold spaghetti from that morning and a bottle of gatorade with it before I collapsed on my bed. The pounding and splitting were terrible, I had to bury my face in the pillow to get any kind of relief, cause even the dim red light of the corridor and cell was enough to hurt. And even then, I couldn't sleep, it hurt so bad, and so I just laid there, doing my best not to cry.

After I wasn't sure how long - a couple hours, maybe - I heard pedesteps outside that probably meant my supper was coming, then to my surprise, my current guard yelled at my new one. "Primus, Nitro, why the frag are you carrying that damned Autobot helm?"

"I was reciting the glorious tale of me slaying the Autobot when my shift came up, and Oil Pan said he was going to crush it if I left it behind. You would think he would have more respect for such a rare trophy, one I earned in the heat of battle, with my own two-"

"Fragging shut up before I crush that stupid thing!" The first 'Con growled out, and I heard a clang like he smacked the other. "Or, frag, tell the tale to the Bearer, I'm sure she'd love to hear it. Just wait until I'm out of the corridor." The walls of my cell rang out with loud clangs, making me groan and try to push myself deeper into the pillow. "Hey Bearer, dinner time." The hiss as the outer door of the airlock opened and a clink as the tray was put inside, then another hiss as the door closed again. "Might want it before it gets cold."

I honestly didn't know if I'd even be able to eat it, but I knew I had to try, so I pushed myself out of bed and onto my feet. Well, no vertigo or nausea so far, and the light didn't stab my eyes anymore, so I could make it to the airlock and retrieve my food.

I looked at my guards, seeing who they were. My current guard was a coptorcon, black and I think green, red optics, and otherwise pretty generic. The new one - the one the other called Nitro - made me do a double take, to make sure I wasn't seeing things and having my timeline thrown even more off, because he was a dead ringer to Shockwave. Well, not a dead dead ringer, but damn close enough. Red cyclops optic with two horns on the sides of his helm, a mandible-like mouth, his frame was even fairly similar, though his plating was lighter in color than Shockwave's purple. And in his servos, he held the head of another mech.

~Oh, Cogman,~ the AllSpark whispered in the back of my head, soft and a little choked up, which made me wonder who he was in life to get that kind of reaction.

I gathered my food - salsberry steak and mashed potatoes with gravy and a bottle of water - and retreated to my table as the coptorcon left, and Nitro looked to me, the approximation of a grin on his face. "Shall I tell the tale, Bearer?" He switched to English, I guess to make sure I knew what he was saying.

I sighed, but answered "Why not? Be something to stave off boredom."

He apparently misinterpreted the flat tone of my voice, or decided to ignore it. "It was the last true battle of Cybertron, at Tyger Pax, when Megatron led us against the Autobots and Guardians trying to send the AllSpark away. I and another were sent to scout ahead and find the Autobots' position…"

The story was actually fairly interesting, if bloody and definitely skewed towards a 'Con-positive viewpoint. But the whole time, I kept stealing glances at the bathroom vent. If N-Sync was watching security and comms, then she would know about my visit to the hatchlings - I inhaled sharply, and took a drink to cover it - and so I was positive Bandit would be coming soon. I didn't want to risk Nitro seeing her.

"... And while Megatron fought with that puny scout Bumblebee, I crept up behind the bot guarding the AllSpark's launchpad, and was about to strike a killing blow, when this Autobot-" he held up the helm, just as I saw a familiar datacable peek out of the vent "-attacked me from the side, and we fell off the pad. Oh, he put up a tough fight, but he was no match for me, Nitro Zeus!"

"Uh-huh," I said, and casually stood, heading to the vent to be ready to catch it.

"He tried fighting me unarmed, if you can believe that. Well, I put a stop to that when I ripped them off!" He laughed, and I grabbed the vent to stop its slide. "Then I sliced him in half, hip to chest, and swung my sword around again to cut off his helm. He toppled like a stack of-"

I never learned what that simile would be, cause right then, my foot slid and I let out an involuntary yelp as I half-fell off the toilet, only my grip on the vent keeping me up right. I banged into the sink, and the vent scraped against the wall with a loud screech.

"What was that?" Nitro asked.

"Nothing!" I called out, getting my feet back under me and stumbling back out from behind the partition. "Just slipped, that's all. Nothing to worry about."

But he didn't believe me, cause even as I felt Bandit jump down behind me, he materialized his holoavatar in the cell, just a mini version of himself. But that proved dangerous enough, as he easily spotted the minicon and the open vent. "Bandit! What is this?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, Nitro," Bandit said, coming up alongside me still in her ferret mode. "This is above your paygrade."

"We'll see about that," Nitro said, and he lunged for us. Bandit bodychecked me aside, but got caught in a grapple. I hit the floor, and pushed myself up and away, catching sight of Nitro's frame reaching up for his comm system.

"No!" I curled a hand closed to prepare an EMP, but before I could even start to charge it, another voice spoke.

"Well, it seems the game is up." I felt another EM field pop up, and the optics of the Autobot helm lit up blue, then the whole thing started to shift, until a minicon stood in it. They sprang up and caught Nitro's raised arm, knocking it away from his helm. "Aim for his head!"

It took a moment to realize he was speaking to me. When it clicked, I finished charging the EMP and launched it through the glass. Nitro's helm jerked and optic flickered as it hit him. The minicon tore a piece of plating off Nitro's arm and launched themself onto his shoulders. They used it to first stab his optic, then tore it out and stabbed it through his neck. They dragged it sideways, across Nitro's throat with a splurt of energon that splashed on the wall and glass, momentarily blocking the view.

When it dripped away, I saw the minicon kick Nirto's helm to the ground, before standing on the severed neck and shifting back to the helm they had been disguised as. They blinked a few times, optics turning on after the third one, then they tilted their helm from side to side. Finally, they looked into the cell at me and Bandit. "My apologies that you had to see that, my Lady, but it needed to be done." They switched to speaking in English. They, somehow, had a British accent, and sounded male.

It took a couple tries but I found my voice again. "Who- who are you?" Then the AllSpark stepped forward, and She smiled.

"~Cogman, you still function.~"

"My greatest apologies for not revealing myself before, my lady. I assure you, my intentions are much purer than that sneak Ebonspark."

"But- wait, who are you?" I asked, pushing past the AllSpark and getting to my feet. "How are you controlling Nitro's body? How did you survive being a head!?"

"Breathe, Alison," Bandit said, her tail coming around my waist in comfort. "Though I'll admit to the same curiosity."

"Allow me to introduce myself, Lady Alison." He bowed to us. "Guardian Cogman of the Knights of Cybertron, at your service. I was one of those who defended the AllSpark in the last days of the War on Cybertron, before She was launched off world." He picked up Nitro's helm, looking it over. "As for how I survived the battle, it was because Nitro chopped off my head. You see, I am a Headmaster."

Oh, a Headmaster. I vaguely recalled those, mainly that the show they first appeared in had the official dub that sounded like an abridged series. I let him continue his explanation.

"As such, I can connect to either a premade lifeless frame or a recently deceased one. My plan had been, when I was separated from my frame, to remain still until the Decepticons left, then revert back to root mode and assist in the clean up. But this cad-" he tossed Nitro's head up and caught it again "-decided to take me as a trophy. I have been trapped either in subspace or locked in his quarters for millennia, with no viable escape avenues." He looked to Bandit. "Judging by Bandit's presence, there is one in the works?"

Bandit shifted from paw to paw and looked up to me. "My Lady, does he speak true?"

"~Cogman does,~" The AllSpark said. "~He is one of my most loyal Guardians, before and during the War. He will not betray us.~"

"Certainly not." Cogman's voice took an affronted tone.

Bandit nodded and looked to Cogman. "My carrier will have a talk with you about the plan. We don't want Alison to know too much, just in case."

I nodded. "It's hard enough keeping the Matrix away from the Fallen when he's sledgehammering my brain every day." I frowned. "But, how will you pass as Nitro? You don't exactly look alike."

"I would think by now you would realize how versatile a holoavatar is," Cogman said, and a moment later, it was like his and Nitro's helms had swapped places. A moment later, he spoke in an eerily similar voice to Nitro's. "I've had the time to study his habits, I can pass as him for a time, though of course, the sooner we get out of here, the better."

"We're almost ready. It shouldn't be long." Bandit rubbed her head against my side, and I reached down and patted her helm. "I do feel more confident about it now, though."

I smiled. "As do I." I looked out into the hall, and at the energon splattered across the walls and floor. "How are you going to explain this, though?"

"No issue, I'll clean it up." Cogman reached into the body's subspace and started pulling out a long sheet and a bunch of smaller rags. At our questioning looks, he said, "Nitro was a very dirty mech. The things I saw…" He shuddered. "I might never be clean again."

Bandit and I both stepped back and grimaced to each other, but once that passed, I smiled, a genuine one for the first time. I was starting to feel confident I could actually get out of this alive.

AN: dun dun dun! See, there has always been a reason for Coppertone to be in this story.

I will say now, N-Sync's name was not a reference to the band (I've only heard like, three of their songs), but rather an abbreviation of her full name Note Sync that I didn't get why it sounded so good until ages later and it's stuck now.

So what'd you think of this chapter? What do you think Bandit and N-Sync's plan will work? What about the scene with the hatchlings? Cogman? Or what about that backstory for the Fallen? Let me know in the comments!

Guest Review Replies

Guest 1 (CH 37): Aw damn, she's in trouble.
Yes, yes she is.

Fluffy Viking (CH 37): Great chapter! Are you planning to give Alison the Matrix of Leadership? Because it seems like you are.
You'll have to wait and see!

I'll see you all next week, same 'Bot Time, same 'Bot Channel!