Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend!

Authoress: Wow...I have no excuse.

Lizzie: Obviously. It has been MONTHS since you have updated. I have barely been on this ship a month and look at all the scrap you are making me go through!

Authoress: *smirks* Touchy subject?

Lizzie: *fumes* I should kill you.

Authoress: *shakes head* You should watch that temper of yours Lizzie.

AN: And here are responses to reviews from the previous chapter that I could not answer through PM!

azura mythralis: Well, not sure about the next few...but here is the next chapter for your viewing pleasure! I'm glad you like both this story and the original. I have enjoyed writing both so much! I hope you continue to enjoy as I take this crazy journey even further and further away from sanity!

Hz: Well, I can't give you the rest of the story at this very moment, but I hope this is a good filler for now. The rest will come in time.

Chapter 12: Special Training

Paul's 1st P.O.V.

"Paul, where did you get this sheet music?" Miko asked me as she looked at the sheet music in front of her.

Yesterday, Miko had asked me to get out my guitar for today so I could help her practice some of her techniques…and so that we could just play and relax a little. Bumblebee, Arcee, and Jack were in trouble for racing a few days ago. Yeah, Optimus had found out that, not only had Bumblebee and Jack gone racing last night, but that Arcee and Jack had raced Vince in town. Of course, Bumblebee was double slammed with trouble for slamming against the red racecar…that even I had been sure was a Decepticon; Knockout.

"A friend owed me." I vaguely answered Miko's question before returning to my thoughts.

Cliffjumper and I had been able to escape Optimus' punishment for going to the race, since I had said that we had gone to keep an eye on Jack and Bumblebee and we had avoided anything dangerous. We had just received a light lecture. Arcee had to have somebot go with her for a few weeks when she went out of the base, and while she wasn't happy about that, it wasn't nearly as bad as what Jack and Bumblebee got.

Bumblebee, for endangering the driver that Knockout must have made as a soliform…a very sophisticated soliform, wasn't allowed out of base, except for an emergency, for another two weeks and, after that, he had to be watched by another bot for another three weeks. Yeah, Bumblebee was really taking a hit for that incident.

But, that was getting me wondering as well. That soliform had talked, according to both Jack and Bumblebee, with a very clear woman's voice. While it was possible to make the soliforms talk with another voice, using the opposite gender did not usually come out sounding very clear and real. I had not thought that Knockout would even use a female soliform, none-the-less that it would be as clear as they had described it.

Of course, Jack got hit pretty hard due to his attendance to the race…both literally and figuratively. I was surprised that the soliform of Knockout's had confronted Jack and had punched the kid twice. If it was Knockout, like I was sure he was, he would have known that Bumblebee had been in control when he was sideswiped but, instead of confronting Bumblebee, he had gone after Jack. Hit the poor kid twice as well.

And, to make matters worse for the kid, his mom found out that Jack had borrowed a friend's car and entered the race. Not only was Jack having to make sure that both Raf and Miko were with him if he wasn't at work or at home, but he wasn't even allowed away from home with them for more than four hours. It definitely cut down the amount of time that Jack was allowed at base. So, he wouldn't get in trouble, the bots had to take turns taking Jack home. Hopefully, this grounding wouldn't last long…for the bots' sake.

"That's some pretty well-connected friend." Miko commented as she strummed some of the notes on her guitar. "How did you get in contact with him anyways?"

I let out a laugh and played with her while answering. "I am a CEO of a technology company. That isn't just military tech. I also have my company work with other technologies including music."

Before the two of us could go through the song fully again, since we had already gone through it a few times, Arcee walked in and glanced at the few bots in the room. Those were Blaster, Eject, Flamewar, Ironhide, and Springer. She finally stopped by Blaster before saying, "Hey Blaster, can you and Eject come on patrol with me? I want to check out this wooded area in the north."

Wait…wooded area…and Arcee? That probably meant that this was the episode where Airachnid came in and, since Jack was not here, that meant that I had probably go to make sure that things turned out alright. Since I still didn't have Lizzie here with me, I knew I needed to somewhat train Miko for going into the field with me and this, while dangerous, might be the best opportunity for a while to come up.

"Hey Arcee," She, Blaster, and Eject, who had just agreed to go with Arcee, all turned to me before I motioned to Miko and myself. "can we come with you? It would be interesting to explore and it would be beneficial for Miko's education." It would…somewhat.

She looked hesitant at my request but, with a glance to Blaster and Eject, she seemed to be more willing. "Well, I guess it would be alright. Eject can help watch you guys. Just know that if anything starts to go wrong,"

"We hightail it out of there." Miko finished for her with a smile, having already placed her guitar next to mine on the table in the human area. Guess she was excited that she was going to be coming with me.

Of course, depending on what that trouble was, then we wouldn't get much chance to get back to base.

I shook that thought out of my mind as Arcee and Blaster led the way through the open ground bridge as Eject, Miko, and I walked on the ground. Once we were through the other side, I had no doubt in my mind that this was the dreaded Airachnid episode. Dark gloomy forest, lack of much life, Arcee being here…yeah, this was probably it. I had to be on an even higher guard now. Miko and I could be placed in serious danger along with Arcee, Blaster, and Eject. With Jack not being here, then I had no clue as to how this was going to turn out and I had to be ready.

"That's odd." Blaster suddenly said as we made our way down a slope. "Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate, but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."

"What could be causing them?" Miko asked as we tried to keep up with Blaster and Arcee. They were moving quickly, and I almost had to run to keep up with them.

But, we didn't get an answer as we came to a crash site that was all too familiar to me. This was Airachnid's ship and that meant that there was a lot of craziness about to go down.

"Whoa, wonder what happened here?" I muttered out loud as I glanced at the damage done. This didn't seem like a simple malfunction. Had something actually shot Airachnid's ship down? With how the timestream was moving, that wouldn't surprise me too much. When there wasn't any response to my question, I turned and was surprised to see that only Eject and Blaster were here, and they were looking toward the entrance of the ship with worry. Guess Arcee was investigating inside the ship.

I flinched as I heard the sound of something breaking. But, when I turned toward the direction of the sound, there was nothing there. Must have been a forest creature who was curious about the ship that crashed. This situation was putting me on edge and I knew that it was only going to get worse. "Dude, why did Arcee go off by herself?" Miko asked as she came and stood next to me.

All I could do was shake my head. "I have no idea Miko." And I really didn't. While she was my creation, I did not know why she would go into the ship by herself this time. Last time yes, she had been the only bot and she had Jack to think of. Couldn't be taking him into a dangerous situation.

We all flinched as Arcee raced out of the ship and she looked panicked. Once she stopped by us, Blaster didn't waste any time in running up to her. "Arcee what's wrong?"

She shook her helm and motioned to us. "We need to get them back to base now." She then held her servo up to her comm link. "Base this is Arcee, I need a ground bridge asap." She then paused. "Base, can you hear me?" She then waited a few more seconds before saying, "Frag it comm link is dead."

Blaster, who had a servo next to his comm, nodded, "Yeah, mine's dead too."

I braced myself for Arcee to suddenly grab us and drive us away, like she did before. But, to my surprise, she shook her helm. "Then you three stay here." Guess Eject was being included in…did she just say stay here? "The area is clear and the ship will give you extra cover. Blaster, you're with me. I'll explain what's going on once we get moving."

Before Blaster could refute this, Arcee transformed before racing out. Blaster let out a sigh of what sounded like annoyance before saying, "Eject, keep your link to me open. I'll let you know if you all need to move…or when we will be on the way back." He then transformed before racing after Arcee.

Great…this was just great. We just got ditched by both big bots in all of this and we were ditched at Airachnid's ship. This was not going to end well. Hopefully we could all get out of this alive. Airachnid was not a fun femme to deal with and she would not hesitate to kill us for fun.

The three of us stood there for twenty minutes without word from anybot. It was honestly boring but it did give me hope. With the amount of time that had gone by, the odds were in our favor that Airachnid was fighting Blaster and Arcee and that meant that we wouldn't have to interact with her. But, time worked differently when you were looking back on an event. Did it really take this long for them to fight Airachnid?

I heard another snap of a twig but, unlike earlier, I didn't look back at it. It was probably just another forest animal wondering about the ship and if they can make it their new home. It was strange, how creatures on Earth could make a new home out of something so bizarre as a crashed ship. Of course, I wasn't sure that many of the creatures would feel comfortable in a ship that was full of decapitated heads.

"Paul," Eject started and I turned to him. "is there usually this lack of animal activity in the woods?"

Shaking my head, I motioned around. "Not really, but the animals were probably spooked by the ship crashing in their home area."

In return, Eject nodded but still looked confused. "I get that Paul…but it has been a while since the ship crashed…and even since we have been here. Wouldn't at least some of the wildlife have come back to look around?"

I froze at his words. He was right. The ship had to crash before we even got to the forest. With all the time that had passed since we had been here in the woods, and even the twenty minutes since Arcee and Blaster had left, there should have been some animal activity around us. But, the area seemed to be desolate of any animal life. Normally, animals used their instincts and stayed away from an area that they sensed could cause them trouble…like if there was a hunter that was higher in the food chain than they were. With a gulp, I nodded. "There wouldn't be many reasons for animals to stay away from here…and none of them are good."

At that, Miko, seemed to get what I was saying and she slowly looked behind us and up. When her eyes widened, I had a feeling that we were going to be, "Spider!"

Eject and I both looked back when she yelled that and, as soon as I did, I found myself turning around and running. This was exactly what I was afraid was going to happen. Hopefully, things were going better for Lizzie on the Nemesis than they were for me right now…as I ran for my life!

Lizzie's 1st P.O.V.

"Lizzie, what are you doing?"

I glanced up at Joe and Hook as they stood above me with confused looks on their faceplates. Joe, who had asked that, had his arms crossed against his chest. He looked nervous and honestly, I couldn't blame him. Even though he didn't bring it up anymore, I knew he was still nervous about what I think about ever since I offered him up to Knockout.

Before he had interrupted me, I had been laying on an empty tool tray here in med bay trying to think about the final study session I had with Shockwave last night. It had been three days since the night of the race and I had studied with Shockwave for three hours for each of those three days. He had taken over my strategy lessons from Lord Megatron and he did not fail to live up to his reputation. His teaching followed a rigorous and logical path and I had learned a lot from him in a short amount of time.

I had been surprised when, last night after the lesson, Shockwave said that I would have today and tomorrow off from my lessons. That was what I was thinking about before Joe had spoken. Giving a day off after only three days did not seem like something that Shockwave would normally do. He seemed like the type of bot who would give lessons throughout the week and only give a day break after weeks of training. Having a break after three days was suspicious and I had a feeling that this was a sign for me.

It was a sign that my final test was going to come a lot sooner than I had expected it to. Even with the surprise arrival of Shockwave, I thought I would have at least another month before I would have to complete my final test. But, with this abnormal break that I had received from Shockwave, I had a feeling that I could be given my final test at any moment.

Smirking, I looked at Joe. "Worried?" He shot an unamused look my way and I realized I had better not make him worried. He was helping me hide from the twins right now and I wanted to stay hidden. "I was just thinking about my lessons with Shockwave. Nothing terribly serious." Except for the unknown fact of my future existence in the living world. But, that wasn't something I wanted to discuss in depth with Joe and Hook.

Joe seemed relieved at my answer and sighed. "Well, that's good I guess. I know better than to ask you about your lessons," Yeah, because I would talk in detail about what happened and end up boring him. "so I guess I should ask if you heard about what the twins did to Skywarp?"

I shivered at that. Yeah, I heard what they had done to Skywarp and that was why I was hiding in here. Of course, Joe and Hook just thought that they were keeping me company since I didn't have a class. But, I was really hiding from the twins. Skywarp had woke up this morning to a multifaceted prank that started with him waking up next to his own offline chassis. He had screamed so much that he woke up Starscream and Thundercracker before he warped to Knockout's room and woke up the medic and Breakdown.

The twins must have somehow known that he would end up in the doctor's room because they had used spare energon and painted it on Knockout's and Breakdown's faceplates while adding fake scar marks on their faceplates and chassis. That caused Skywarp to freak out even more and he had ended up teleporting into Soundwave's room…which was also my room with the twins. That was a mistake on his part because his screaming woke up Soundwave and me…though Soundwave was the important one. He had immediately grabbed Skywarp with his tentacles before throwing him into his washrack.

The twins had to get Soundwave to agree to help with the prank because as soon as the door was closed, the wash rack had activated. Rumble and Frenzy had evolved my paint prank idea and Skywarp had been assaulted from three sides by three different colored paints…

…A sky blue, lime green, and hot pink Skywarp was a nightmare to see. Plus, the paint didn't come off right away in water. Skywarp had to use gasoline to wash the paint off and his plating still had a light tinge of the three colors, though thankfully his main colors of black and purple were the most prevalent.

"Yeah, I heard…and I was still in the room when Skywarp burst in and woke up Soundwave." I answered him with a nod. I then glanced out of the med bay door, which was opened, and I was surprised to see a large group of drones…about twenty of them, walking past med bay. What was even more interesting was that I could see that they had weather-proofing on. Their armor sheened just enough and I had seen Knockout put some on Skyquake when the flier had to go to Alaska to check on a mine that the Decepticons had started there recently.

Joe and Hook flinched at my answer and Hook, probably noticing that I had been distracted by the crowd of drones outside, motioned to Joe and me. "Joe, I think I can hold down med bay for a while. Why don't you take Lizzie and see where that lot was going? It's always interesting to see what large groups of bots are doing."

Joe must have gotten the hint that I was bored and this would help keep me occupied with something. Well, it was getting kind of boring laying on a medical tray in med bay. "That sounds like fun." I smiled at that. Frenzy and Rumble probably wouldn't try anything on me with a large group of drones around and this would be a chance to maybe study the drones. I had been trying to interact with the drones more but, due to my lessons, I only got to spend quality time with Joe and Carl and I knew enough about them for now. I wanted to get to know more of the drones.

"Sounds like fun. Just make sure you let Knockout know where I have gone. Last time I went out, he panicked and I got the riot act when I got back." Yeah, he was asked by the newest bot…who I still wasn't allowed to think too much about, to run an errand that caused Joe to be gone longer than he thought. Knockout was not a happy camper that Joe was gone for that.

Hook nodded and motioned to the door. "Fine, I'll cover you. Just hurry and get Lizzie out of here. She can be slightly depressing when she has nothing to do."

…Wow. Thanks Hook. Really know how to make a girl feel nice don't you?

Joe must have thought that was funny because he let out a laugh and nodded before placing his servo next to me, allowing me to climb up, before he walked out of med bay. Instead of getting into a conversation with Joe while we walked, like I normally did. I had some major worries bouncing in my head but the most worrisome came in the form of my final test. I could feel the hot breath of the devil on my neck whenever I thought about it. With how Shockwave had acted, it was only days away. I had to be ready for whatever this challenge was going to be.

Once we were on the bridge, I glanced and I was surprised to see Soundwave standing by the bridge with a winter jacket, winter boots, and heavy winter pants. Guess Hook had called ahead and told Soundwave what our plans were, and he made sure that I would be dressed well enough for…where did those drones go?

"Going way up north. Need to bundle up tight. It's cold outside." Soundwave spoke with clips while handing me the coat and pants. Once they were on, I slipped off my tennis shoes and put on the winter boots. This was going to be a strange vacation but it was going to hopefully be worth it.

But, to the unknown part of all of this. "Soundwave…where are we going exactly?"

Instead of giving me a straight answer…which would have been nice, Soundwave simply tilted his head before he turned and opened the ground bridge. This wasn't nice but, in a sense, this was training. I could tell by the winter outfit that I was going somewhere cold. I would need to be open to what sort of situations could be on the other side of the bridge once Joe and I got through. What would a bunch of drones be doing somewhere cold when there were no new mines and it wasn't time for shifts to be changed for the mines that we did have in the cold?

When Joe walked through the bridge, I was immediately glad that Soundwave gave me the winter clothes. All around me was a winter landscape, white as far as the eye could see. What the heck would drones be doing here? Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Come on Lizzie." Joe started. "Soundwave said that, even with the clothes that he had you put on, you will only have about an hour before you have to go back due to the cold." He then started to move toward the north.

That was right. Being on the relatively cold Nemesis, I forgot that it would be dangerous if I stayed somewhere this cold for too long. I had to remind myself that I was human and that I was still affected by the weather around me. Being around aliens who had a metal exterior that allowed them to stay in more troublesome temperatures longer was making me forget my own weaknesses to the climate around me.

"Joe," I started as Joe started to walk up a hill. "do you know what they are doing here?" I was hoping to be a little prepared for what I was going to see.

But, instead of answering me…which seemed to be happening quite a bit today, Joe stopped at the top of the hill and motioned downward with his other hand. "Why don't you look?"

Following his instruction, I looked and was amazed at what I saw. I knew that the drones studied human culture a lot during their free time, but I hadn't thought that they would start picking up human activities as their own. There were about fifteen of the drones 'sledding' down one of the larger hills near us with bits of scrap that they must have brought from the ship. Then, some distance away, another ten of the drones were building snowmen. Two of the drones, who I believed were Fawn and Jarred, were engaged in what seemed like a very intense snowball match. If they weren't throwing the balls at the high speeds that they were, then I would ask Joe if we could go and join them.

But, it was the three remaining drones that really caused me to widen my eyes in surprise. They were called Florian, Flare, and Frost and the three self-proclaimed 'triplets' were ice skating! And not just clumsy ice skating like I could sometimes pull off on a good day. They were skating with enough skills that I was jealous. They were skating backwards with ease and Frost was even performing jumps every so often. "Are they skating!?" I asked Joe in surprised shock.

Joe looked to where I was looking before he nodded. "Yeah. Florian, Flare, and Frost got really addicted to watching skating and they've been practicing whenever they have had time." He then paused as the three of them started to line up in a line. "Oh, it looks like they are about to race each other."

With wide eyes, I focused on the three. Racing on skates wasn't easy, in my opinion, and the fact that they could was amazing. The cold wind moving around me didn't distract me as the three bots stayed tense, waiting on some unknown signal to start. I never realized just how in depth the drones had studied human culture. That could change so many things about what I had been thinking that I knew that I had to rethink my way at approaching strategies. This could change everything.

Arcee's 1st P.O.V.

I growled to myself as I ran toward the ever-changing coordinates that Eject was sending us. How could I have been so stupid? When I had seen the collection of heads that had been inside the ship, I knew that it had to belong to Airachnid. There was no other Decepticon that I knew of who would do something so sickening and sparkless as that. Yet, I had left everyone in our group behind as I had sped to try and find her…before she got ahold of them.

But, that was what she had wanted me to do. Blaster, being responsible, had come after me to make sure that we weren't split up. That had left Eject, Miko, and Paul defenseless against her. When Blaster had caught up to me, I told him whose ship that was and he had said that we needed to get back to the others so we could get somewhere safe enough to contact the base and get some reinforcements.

But then, Eject had contacted Blaster over their symbiot bond in a panic because Airachnid was chasing the three of them and Eject wasn't sure how long they were going to be able to keep dodging her. This was what I was trying to avoid but, since I didn't communicate with everyone around me about what was going on, then I had let it happen. If I had just told the others about the situation, we wouldn't be racing toward Eject and the others. I had already lost Tailgate…I didn't want to lose anyone else to her.

"Arcee you need to focus." Blaster snapped me out of my thoughts as we continued to run toward the others. "You need to trust that Eject and the others are going to be fine. Positive thinking is the best thing that we can do right now for them. If we don't think positive, then that won't help them."

I nodded as we moved over a root system. "I know Blaster, but I don't know what I would do if,"

"Arcee stop worrying yourself." Blaster interrupted me.

Letting out a sigh, I continued on in silence since I knew that Blaster wouldn't let me worry out loud right now. Of course, I couldn't blame him. He was worried about Eject and how his symbiot was doing against the hunter. From what Blaster was communicating, Eject hadn't changed his gps location for five minutes. He had to be really worried about Eject and my negativity was not helping.

Before I could apologize, we reached the top of a hill and both Blaster and I froze as we took in the scene below us. To one side was Paul, Miko, Eject, and another symbiot that was colored black with yellow markings and a light gray faceplate. That was Rewind. I would be curious as to why he was here if it wasn't for the fight that was currently going on. There, fighting Airachnid, was a light-blue two-wheeler femme that was my height and had dark blue optics. There was only one bot that could be, and I knew that I had to get down there and help her.

Wasting no more time, I transformed my servos into blasters before firing on Airachnid. She, in turn, let out a hiss before she glanced at Blaster and I, who were coming down the hill. "Arcee, small universe." The spider femme greeted me as she put some distance between my sister, Blaster, and I.

Growling back at the femme, I stood next to Chromia before saying, "Too small Airachnid." While I wanted to greet Chromia since it has been hundreds of stellars since I had seen her, I knew that this was not the time. We had to take down Airachnid before we tried.

"Come now Arcee, is that any way to greet me?" Airachnid taunted me. While I wanted nothing more than to launch out at her and take out her spark, I knew that I had to be careful around her. She had already tricked me once into going on my instincts this solar, causing Paul, Miko, and Eject to be put in danger. I couldn't let her draw me away from the others again.

"Leave here 'Con." Chromia growled as she had her blasters pointed at Airachnid.

Airachnid glanced between the three of us and smirked. "I think this party is a little too crowded for my tastes. But," She then brought up a button before saying, "this planet is too interesting for me to leave. I think I'll stay around here for a while." She then pushed the button.

An explosion going off caused me to focus on the area beyond us, where the ship was, and I realized that she had blown up her own ship. That meant that she was now stuck on Earth with us and that meant that everything just became more dangerous. When we got signal back, we had to let the base know about this as soon as possible.

"'Cee!" I flinched as Chromia suddenly jumped on me and let out a laugh.

I then remembered the good bit of news about this encounter and hugged her back…though not as enthusiastically as she did me, before I said, "Chromia! When did you get here?"

She laughed and let go before saying, "I picked up Rewind on Sigma 8 and the two of us have been wondering the cosmos for a while. About three weeks ago, we were with a group of neutrals trying to make their own space bridge when it malfunctioned and we ended up here. We weren't really sure what to do so we've been living out here since then. When Airachnid's ship crashed, we went to investigate and we found Eject and the two humans running from Airachnid."

That was a relief that Chromia and Rewind were able to find Paul, Eject, and Miko. But, with that thought in mind, I realized that I had to start making introductions. "Chromia, Rewind; this is Miko, and this is Paul." I motioned to both humans in turn before turning to Chromia and Rewind. "Paul, Miko; this is Rewind, one of Blaster's symbiots, and Chromia, my sister and Ironhide's bondmate."

Chromia's faceplate lit up at my last point. "Ironhide is here?"

Nodding to her, I motioned for her to follow before saying, "Yeah, Ironhide showed up some solars ago. Bet he's going to be excited to know that you are here." She let out a laugh at that as I leaned down to pick up Paul, since Blaster had picked up Miko and Eject already.

But, as Paul moved onto my servo, I became concerned. He looked like he was thinking deeply about something. While I wanted to ask him about it, I remembered that Cliff had asked that we not bother Paul too much when he looked like he was thinking deeply. Cliff had said that Paul was really worried about his employee, Lizzie, that was still a captive of the Decepticons. I had to remember that he was suffering right now, even though the businessman put up a very convincing front.

It must be from his business background. Paul probably got used to putting on a false presence. When I got my report done, I would see if Cliff and Paul wanted to go on patrol with me. Might let Paul feel like he is doing something to find Lizzie.

Hook's 1st P.O.V.

I was enjoying the rare quiet in the med bay. Joe was with Lizzie in Shockwave's lab getting warmed back up. Both she and Joe had lost track of time while they were in the Arctic and Lizzie had passed out from the cold. Soundwave, who could monitor Lizzie's condition through the chip that he had implanted in her back, had immediately groundbridged the two of them back here and had immediately gone to Knockout. The flamboyant medic was then able to rewarm the human to a point where she was conscious. Once that happened, Knockout then led both Lizzie and Joe, since he was now in trouble for letting her get in that position, to Shockwave's lab so the two of them could warm up.

The human was lucky that this had happened on a day that she did not have those lessons. I had been surprised that Lord Megatron had taken time to train this human in strategizing. Seemed like a waste of time to me when I first met the human. Sure, she seemed to get along with the bots on the ship, but there hadn't been anything that seemed stellar about her. My surprise was made greater when I heard that Lord Megatron had ordered Shockwave to take over the lessons for Lizzie. One of the greatest strategic processors in the Decepticons, if not the greatest, was now having to teach this human strategy. The only good thing I thought would come from it would be that Shockwave would be able to logically tell Lord Megatron how pointless training the human in being a tactician would be.

But, that didn't happen. Shockwave continued to give her lessons until this solar. This was a break and, if the rumors going around the ship were true, then the time was almost here for,

The sound of the med bay doors opening caused me to look up from my thoughts. I wasn't surprised to see Vox walk in. Ever since I got on the ship, I knew that the mech would eventually seek me out. I was almost surprised that it took the young intelligence mech this long to get me alone to talk. I didn't doubt that he had questions that I would be able to answer.

"Vox, it's good to see you are doing well." I started as Vox, to my surprise, started to climb onto one of the med berths. Once he was on, I let silence hang in the room for a few clicks before I finally addressed him. "Is there a reason that you are here right now? I don't remember scheduling any checkups. I believe you were supposed to be in your checkup with Knockout three clicks ago. Mind telling me why you are here?"

The young mech nodded his helm before saying, "No problem at all. Knockout asked me to come see you instead, since he heard about a race that can triple his money if he wins. Even got Carl to sit in and direct bots to you while he goes."

Really? "And how did Knockout happen to hear of this race?" I questioned the mech as I prepped the scanners. Since he was here, and Knockout knew it, I might as well get the checkup out of the way.

Vox let out a laugh before saying, "Oh, he must have overheard somebot talking about it to Breakdown."

Sure. That kid was sneaky at times but I could tell that he wasn't trying too hard to cover up that he had been the one talking to Breakdown about this race. Of course, I had no doubt that the race was real. Vox wouldn't lie about the information he was giving. That was what made him a prominent intelligence agent. He wasn't Soundwave, but he was pretty good.

"Well, might as well get this checkup done with. Sit still while I scan you." I ordered the mech. Vox stayed still as I let the scan run over him. Once it was complete, I plugged it in to the mainframe in the room. While that decoded the scan, I turned to Vox with a datapad in servo. "So kid, how's the knee joint holding up?"

In turn, Vox glanced down at his left knee and sighed. "Smarts every once in a while, but it was patched up pretty nicely." Vox then paused and I had a feeling that I had just opened the door to whatever it was that Vox was desperate enough to want to talk to me alone about that he would convince Knockout to go planetside and let me take care of his checkup. "Hook, can I ask you something?"

I figured I would make the mech work a little harder to ask it. "I have no doubt in your ability to ask a question Vox. But, you may ask me something if you wish. Not sure if I'll answer it or not."

That cracked a small smile on the mech's focused faceplate. "You're right of course." He then paused and let out a vent before continuing. "There has been something puzzling me in the back of my processor for these millions of stellars since I joined the Decepticons." Vox then looked at me so he was staring directly into my optics before he finally asked his question. "Why did you save me that solar? Why not let me bleed my energon out and offline? We were enemies. You had no reason to help me and, at the time, for all you knew, I had nothing to offer you."

I let out a huff and shook my helm. "Oh, you had something to offer me that solar Vox. You just didn't realize it at the time."

Flashback:

We were close. I could practically feel the bounty hunter's energon on my servos. I was a part of a special operations team known as the Constructicons. Mainly we were used for repairs but, every so often, a battle would get serious enough for us to have to combine into Devestator and knock the Autobots back. But, that wasn't possible anymore.

Three stellar cycles ago, a neutral bounty hunter had taken out Scrapper. The fragging bounty hunter had demanded payment for Scrapper's release. In the demand, the hunter requested two million credits for his return. We Constructicons were able to gather the credits and delivered them to the drop off point. The bounty hunter had then delivered Scrapper back to us…in twenty pieces. On his detached helm was etched an image of a flame. From reports that Long Haul was able to get for me through favors, we discovered that mark was used by a bounty hunter that called themselves 'Ember'.

That was what brought Mixmaster, Bonecrusher, and me out here. This was our solar 'off' in a sense and the three of us had offered to run preliminary search into Praxus. Long Haul had heard through his contact in the intelligence office that a neutral bounty hunter was seen in the area. I was on this three bot 'scouting' team as, of course, the medic. But, our group was doing more than just looking for anything else that was left of the remains of Praxus.

We did our part, looking for anything that could provide any information, but the three of us had another goal in mind. We were out here to try and find that bounty hunter. Even if it wasn't the same bounty hunter that the three of us were looking for, we could at least ask this bounty hunter if he could give us information on this bot. We would pay them, of course, but this was one of the best leads that we had on this bot…the murderer of our brother.

"Hook," I turned to Bonecrusher as he stopped and showed me the signal scanner that he had been holding. He held it steady as both Mixmaster and I glanced at its screen. On it, there were… "Four signals coming up ahead. Our eta to them is about three clicks."

I nodded and focused on the present. This could be Autobots. There was no doubt that they would be sending bots out to search the ruins of Praxus, like we were. They could have even gotten here before us. That was why I had Bonecrusher and Mixmaster with me. Out of us 'Constructicons' that were left, they were the most proficient in fighting. Sure, I could fight like any Decepticon worth their metal could. Lord Megatron didn't want any of his Decepticons to be without defense. That included his medics. I could hold my own in a fight, but it was always better to have bigger and stronger backup.

That basis was why the 'Constructicons' were formed. Bonecrusher and Scrapper were big bots and they wanted to have a group that watched out for smaller Decepticons than them, like myself, and they did just that. We were a team and, when I got my servos on the fragging neutral bounty hunter known as 'Ember' then they were going to pay for what they did to Scrapper.

Back to the present however, as I thought about what was on the scanner, something didn't seem right. Normally, Autobots split up their patrol groups to cover more ground and they normally kept moving. However, this group was made of four bots and they were clustered close together. Maybe this was the neutral bounty hunter that Long Haul had heard was in the area?

"Hook, three of the signals disappeared." What? I looked back after Bonecrusher said that and, sure enough, there was only one of the signals remaining on the screen. What the frag was going on?

"Proceed with caution." I warned my two fellow Constructicons.

They nodded before Mixmaster motioned me back. "Might want to give us some space." Right, because if this was an ambush it would be better if they were in front of me. Not too far ahead, but just enough to give them space to let loose if this was an Autobot attack.

After a couple of minutes, we ended up in what used to be a back alley. There was a back exit that explained why there was only one bot here now. But, why had the signals of the bots who had been with him disappeared?

"Hey boss, there's an Autobot still online over here." Mixmaster pointed to the end of the alley. It was surprising that the mech seemed to be just kneeling there. Why didn't he move?

But then I got a better look at him and things were starting to come together in my head. He looked in a sorry sake, and I wasn't just talking about his injury. The look on his faceplate told me that something more must have happened here. I could see betrayal in his optics and that was compounded by the obvious sword in the knee that he was sporting. Since there weren't many other wounds on the mech, I doubted that he was a part of the battle for Praxus. Was this Autobot betrayed by the scouting unit that he had been a part of? Autobots rarely betrayed one of their own, if at all, and this seemed like a strange way for the Autobots to do so. At the very least, they would have killed the bot instead of leaving him alive and alone for his enemies to find.

"What are going to do with him?" Bonecrusher asked me as he stepped next to me to look at the bot.

With the news that the neutral bounty hunter called 'Ember' had been in the area, this seemingly was the only bot nearby that could possibly give us any answers about the bounty hunter. While he was an Autobot and a part of me wanted to offline him right away, the stronger part of my processer knew that I would have to heal him up if I wanted any answers. True, I would be taking the risk in having to watch this Autobot while he was behind Decepticon borders…but Scrapper was worth it.

"You two idiots get him back to base for repairs. Primus looks like this bot could use some." I started with a shake of my helm. I wouldn't be getting any answers out of him if he kept losing energon from that knee injury. I had to make sure that I wouldn't be losing the mech in front of me before I got some answers. "Then, we'll see what he has to say."

As Bonecrusher and Mixmaster went to move the mech, being careful not to actually remove the sword from his knee but pick it up out of the ground, I looked at the Autobot. If he proved useful…well, we would see.

End of Flashback.

Vox kept optic contact with me for a few nano-clicks once I finished that story from the past before he looked up. "So, as much as I hate to admit it, I have Flamewar to thank for you finding me that solar…and for patching me up."

Even though that didn't sound like a question, I answered the younger mech. "While that is an unfortunate reasoning, I can't say that you are wrong. Flamewar killed the Constructicon leader and we wanted revenge. That even meant allowing an Autobot like you to live." I then let out one laugh before saying, "Of course, she ended up biting herself in the aft by bringing us together. I got to learn what I wanted about Flamewar, you didn't offline and joined the Decepticons to fight against her and the system that helped support her,"

"And I was able to provide the Decepticons with a critical asset that, if Flamewar would have waited a bit longer before betraying me, the Autobots would have had…and maybe even Flamewar herself."

I still didn't regret saving the mech that solar, and I wasn't sure if I ever would.

Before I could say more, the comm screen in the med bay lit up before it showed Lord Megatron. "Hook, Vox; I require you both to come to the throne room now." He then turned off the screen. Short and sweet. Maybe that human, if she survives long enough to pass her test, could use these new strategist skills to make Lord Megatron be less blunt with his orders.

But, an order was an order and I was not going to be the mech that disobeyed them. "Let's get moving Vox. Lord Megatron looked more serious than normal and that can only mean that we Decepticons are about to launch an operation."

Vox nodded and stood before the two of us made our way to the throne room. The trip didn't seem to take long and soon, Vox and I were walking into the throne room. To my surprise, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave were in there waiting for us along with Lord Megatron. What were all three of them doing in here at the same time? The only time that had happened, while I had been on the ship, was when there was an operation going on against the Autobots.

"Lord Megatron, you summoned us?" Vox started with a bow of his helm toward Lord Megatron.

In return, Lord Megatron glanced at Vox before turning back to look at both of us. I had seen that kind of look before. Scrapper used to get that kind of look on his faceplate before we went on dangerous missions. He had that look on his faceplate before he went on the mission that caused him to be captured and then offlined. Now, it was on Lord Megatron. I could feel the tension in the air and, from a quick glance at the others in the room, they could feel it as well.

Then…Lord Megatron spoke. "Over the past several solar cycles, the Decepticons have been housing and training the human known as Lizzie Xantara Val. From the observations made by myself, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave, I have decided that the time has come. The human called Lizzie must prove herself to be a viable part of the Decepticon war effort. And the only way that we feel that this can be accomplished, is by use of the Praxian database."

Paul: *sits down* Am I ever getting Lizzie back? That would make all of this crap worth it.

Authoress: *shrugs* Can't say really. Not sure of it completely myself. Obviously, things are changing though.

Paul: *nods* True, and we just got two bots for the Decepticon one.

Authoress: *smiles* Yes, and that one Decepticon isn't even with the Decepticons yet! So advantage Autobots!

Paul: *suspicious* Hold on...how do you know she isn't with the Decepticons? *Authoress has vanished* Authoress get back here!

AN2: And this is the new chapter! *sighs in relief* Well I am thankful that this has finally come. It seems like the time has finally arrived for Lizzie Xantara Val to take her final test. Will she pass it? What obstacle does the Praxian database hold that will allow Lizzie to show what she has learned from the Decepticons? I guess we will find out together once I get that chapter written.

While there were a few major points in this chapter, there is only one thing that I can say that can defend everything. Watch out for the little details. I have given small hints to what is to come in the chapters before and this chapter even held some small tidbits of information for the chapters ahead.

...And speaking on the chapters ahead, here are the titles for the next ones!

Chapter 13: Strategist

Chapter 14: True Value

Chapter 15:...? (Find out next time!)

And that is all for now. The next story that I am going to be updating is going to be Glad You Called. After that...I am honestly not sure. With classes having begun again I'm not sure how updating times are going to work. But, they will work eventually and I have every faith that things will turn out alright.

Please leave a review, even to say hi. I likes reviews. Flames will be used for some nefarious purpose (aka given to Rumble and Frenzy to use in pranks). That's all for now! TTYL! *thinking about how I am the nightmare*