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

Paul: Why is it that whenever I get to come out for a talk, the chapter has to look ominous?

Authoress: I think it is just your bad luck. I gave enough to Lizzie in the past and this is your turn.

Paul: *crosses arms* I don't like it.

Authoress: I didn't ask you.

Chapter 15: Unfortunate Side Effects

Paul's 1st P.O.V.

I still couldn't get over everything that has happened over the past forty-eight hours. I had been just as surprised as the Autobots had been when the signal had appeared on Rudulf Island. There wasn't supposed to be anything there. However, it was there. There was some unforeseen element that I wasn't privy to and, until this morning, I knew that getting in contact with Lizzie was the only way that I was going to be getting those answers. Then, the Autobots had arrived on Rudulf Island and everything seemed to fall into the smelting pit.

First and foremost, the Decepticons had used the battlefield like they had intimate knowledge of Earth's biospheres and how to circumnavigate it. I was sure that even the Autobots did not have that kind of knowledge about Earth. It had given the Decepticons a pede up in the battle that made me sure that they were going to retrieve the relic, which was a data cylinder, without any issues.

Then, Flamewar had broken through their defensive line and confronted Knockout, who had by then retrieved the cylinder from the ice wall it had been in. The two of them fought over the cylinder until both made a move that threw the cylinder onto the frozen lake and caused said cylinder to get stuck in it. The ice was too thin for prolonged exposure in one spot for a Cybertronian. Us humans couldn't grab it because it would be too heavy for us.

So, I thought that had brought the two sides to a stand-still. Honestly, it was a relief. I didn't know what sort of information the cylinder was holding and that, if it got into Decepticon servos, could hold serious consequences for the Autobots. While I normally didn't hold favor with one side of my children over the other, I could not allow the Decepticons to gain any sort off advantage on the Autobots here on Earth. More than just the fate of my children was at stake for this and the humans were innocent of this conflict.

However, that impasse that I had been so relieved to see didn't last longer than five clicks.

By some strange coincidence, a second signal had been activated three miles away from the cylinder and the Decepticons did not waste a click in mobilizing their forces, leaving Knockout and a group of drones behind with the cylinder, to go after the new relic. With that sort of reaction from the Decepticons, Optimus pulled all the troops out of the area with the cylinder, except for Flamewar and Pitch on their request, before making a pit-stop at base and grabbing new troops before bridging to the new location.

However, it seemed like that was exactly what the Decepticons wanted us to do. As soon as our troops had arrived at the second set of coordinates, a set of three drones that were at the cylinder location started to skate across the ice. I didn't think that the drones would make that much of a difference in the battle, but they had proven differently. Those three drones had been able to retrieve the cylinder and make it back to the shore safely.

Flamewar had again been able to break through the barrage that Knockout and the rest of the drones had been left at the cylinder were laying down on Flamewar's and Pitch's location. I had to say that the femme was almost an expert at squeezing through the enemy lines. There were a couple of times where her visual had been cut by interference but most of the time was there and that was important. She had made her way through the lines and, right when she was close to Knockout's position, something had stopped her that had caused my spark to stop.

Blitzwing. He was here on Earth and that put the Autobots at a clear disadvantage. Taking out the unpredictability of Blitzwing due to his insanity, the Decepticons now had two triple changers that were here on Earth while the Autobots only had Springer. We would have to up our effectiveness in battle to stay in the fight for Earth.

The Decepticons had retrieved the cylinder while we had retrieved the capsule that was at the second set of coordinates. The Autobots had waited until we had returned to base to open the capsule and Blaster had done the honors and opened it, since he had been the one to retrieve it. However, what none of us were expecting was for neon pink paint to come spraying out and cover Blaster. Once the paint had stopped spraying, having gotten onto a few bots but mainly Blaster, we had all looked inside and I had been shocked that the Decepticon insignia had been at the bottom.

We had been duped and now the Decepticons had the cylinder and the information that was inside of it. I had needed to contact Lizzie and figure out what the frag was going on, so we could be prepared. She would tell me what was in the cylinder as soon as she knew, and I just hoped beyond all hope that there were no more Decepticons on Earth right now. I wasn't sure that I could keep my sanity if more appeared. I needed the Autobots to come out on top and reclaim Cybertron. The Decepticons could not have Cybertron.

But, events this morning after I had gone to sleep had changed everything.

"Hey Paul," I jumped out of my thoughts, and slightly physically, as Miko addressed me. So, I turned and saw that she was standing with her guitar in hand. "since you aren't training with the bots, and Raf and Jack are busy in Jasper, can you come with me to scope out a canyon that has good acoustics? I want to find one that Bulk can take me to later to practice in."

Jack had work all day today and, since he was still under house arrest from his mom, he would not be at base today. Raf had to study to get ready for a test that he had in a class that he did not have with Miko. So, that left Miko and I as the only two humans here. While I wasn't exactly excited to go climbing over cliffs, since I had just had a hard training session with Sentinel, Pitch, Flamewar, and Zarron yesterday, I knew that, due to the events of yesterday, I had to talk with Miko alone…and this might be the best and only chance I might get for a while.

So, I nodded and stood. "Sure. It might do me some good to get out and relax for a bit." I then glanced around and saw that Ironhide was the only one here in the room. Everybot else was either training, out on patrol, or just out for a drive. So, before any other bots came in and made this difficult, I moved to the railing and motioned to Ironhide. "Could you open up a bridge for Miko and me? Somewhere in a canyon structure would be preferable."

Ironhide looked between the two of us with suspicion. "I don't know. I've heard enough about you two getting in trouble with bots with you. I'm not sure that Bulk and Cliff would be happy if I let the two of you out of here without a bot with the both of you. Since I have to stay on bridge duty, and no bot else is available right now, that doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon."

Well looked like I had to work some of my influence on, "Come on 'Hide." Miko started with her hands on her hips. "We've been living here on Earth our entire lives." Speak for yourself Miko. But, I stayed quiet as she continued to argue. "We know how to take care of ourselves in the desert. Plus, if the big bad 'Cons show up, we know to call all of you to save our bacons." She then motioned to the bridge. "So…please?"

Ironhide looked between the two of us for a click and, while he did, I looked at Miko and felt a lot better about the decision that I was making. While this wasn't my original plan when coming back to this dimension with Lizzie, it was going to work.

That was made even more positive by Ironhide letting out a sigh. "Fine. Just don't stay out too long. I'll bridge you two there and you will have two cycles…hours, to do whatever it is that you want. Then, you had better call back here for a pickup." He then turned and opened the bridge.

Well, I wasn't going to wait a click longer than I had to, so I moved down the stairs with Miko and walked next to her as we made our way into the bridge. Even though we were not on the original timeline anymore, I tried to at least keep track of time using the episodes…so I could brace myself in case something happened.

As we walked through the bridge, I tried to line up recent events with where we would be right now. We were past Speed Metal and, unless I was mistaken, yesterday covered the episodes where Megatron had originally woke up. So…that would lead us to…

…Oh slag. "Miko we need to," I started while grabbing her arm to move us back through the bridge to base.

But, before I could move us, the bridge suddenly flashed yellow and started to fluctuate. This wasn't good! Before I could see anything else, I suddenly felt a pressure against my body that knocked me out.

I wasn't sure how long I was out, but when I woke up I was sure about one thing; Miko and I had just entered the shadow zone. The area around me caused me to flashback to this morning…when everything fell apart.

Flashback

I glanced around excitedly when I saw that I was in the dreamscape. This meant that there was a channel open for me to talk with Lizzie. I needed to get some information out of her about what the frag happened on Rudulf Island. Blitzwing was her favorite character but, last time we talked, she didn't mention that he was here on Earth. Did he arrive after our call or was that the news that she had been excited to tell me about before we got cut off last time?

Plus, I was worried about her condition. Based off my own current experiences with soliform training, I was worried that the Decepticons were using this as an opportunity to beat up on the human. Since they couldn't do so without exposing themselves while they were planetside, Lizzie could be the perfect solution to that.

After a few seconds, Lizzie suddenly appeared in the dreamscape. When she did, though, I stared at her in worry. Her hair, which I remembered was long golden brown, was now a very short golden brown. It looked more like a human male haircut and it exposed her neck. That neck was another point of worry for me when she popped in. There was a large bandage covering the left side of her neck. Things must be worse for her in the Decepticons than she was letting on.

"Lizzie, what happened? Did the Decepticons do that?" I started asking her

She seemed nervous at that. "Paul…nothing is wrong…"

I didn't believe her. There she was, hair butchered and a large bandage over her neck and nothing was wrong? She was covering up for them. I should have seen it coming when I first found out that she was on the Nemesis. Back in her world, she was a Decepticon fan. True, she could look at the war with the most neutral observation that I had found in any of the humans that I had been looking at, but she was their fan at heart. She probably didn't want to believe that they were capable of this kind of evil. Lizzie was in denial and now I had to set her straight. "Lizzie, look what they have done to you! You are a ragdoll for them to practice with their soliforms!"

"Paul…" Lizzie tried to interrupt.

No! I couldn't allow her clouded judgement of the Decepticons to stop me from showing her the truth about them! I bet that injury wasn't even being healed correctly as a test and Lizzie was just going right along with it, like she had Stockholm syndrome. Maybe that was it! "No Lizzie! They cut your hair, probably for more tests, and you have an injury to your neck that is who knows how bad! Open your eyes!"

"You don't…" Lizzie again tried to interrupt with an earnest look in her eyes.

Oh, but I wasn't having it. "What Lizzie? I don't understand? The Decepticons are not the heroes in this dimension Lizzie! They never are! They are the ones who ravaged Cybertron of its resources and caused the world to go dark!"

"Primus shut up!"

I flinched, and my eyes widened in shock when Lizzie yelled at me like that, anger in her eyes. "Lizzie…" I tried to start to calm her. But, I must have said something to push her too far.

"No Paul! You had your chance to talk so now you are going to shut up and listen to what I have to say! Yes, the Decepticons cut my hair and did this to my neck, but I asked them to! Believe it or not, I actually asked them to do this for me! Things have changed here Paul, and you do not understand! I have not been tested on! They wouldn't do that without my permission Paul! The Autobots may act like that, I can't say for sure because I don't have the facts, but the Decepticons would not do that to me now!"

I had to get her calmed down. She was speaking nonsense. Why would she let the Decepticons do this to her? She had to be so used to saying that line that it came naturally. Plus, since she was angry, it had to be coming out even more naturally. "Please Lizzie just think,"

"Just think?" She snapped at me. "Oh Paul, I've been thinking for so long. You blame the Decepticons for ravaging Cybertron but, in reality, the process of Cybertron's ravaging started back during the Golden Age of Cybertron, with the nobility and council that your Autobots fought for and protected. Protected while they greedily helped themselves while the future Decepticons were starving, struggling in the streets just to survive! The Decepticons didn't ravage Cybertron! They just claimed energon in the beginning of the fighting to help their starved and desperate members get the energy that they needed to live!"

"Lizzie stop please," I almost begged her. I knew that I opened this can of trouble but we needed to get to other topics before we lost this connection. There was information that I needed to know!

"No Paul! You brought this upon yourself!" Lizzie yelled at me. She was crying and I could tell that she was angry and upset by this. "As for your claim that the Decepticons caused the world of Cybertron to go dark, I can't argue that. Yes, Lord Megatron introduced dark energon into the planet's core. But, by that point, he had been driven to desperation by enemies who claimed to be fighting for peace and equality, all the while showing that they were just trying to bring back a dark and corrupt system like what happened before! It probably broke him! I would have broke under the same pressure!"

Wait…did she just call Megatron what I think she did. "Lizzie…you just called Megatron…"

Her eyes snapped to me with a hard focus before she nodded. "Yes Paul, you heard right and I did not slip. Lord Megatron is what I called him." I knew it! She was suffering from a form of Stockholm syndrome! Lizzie would never address someone as if they were of a higher standing than her and calling Megatron 'Lord' is something that she would not do. "You want to know why I would allow the Decepticons to do something to my neck that would cause this bandage to have to be placed there? Do you want to know why I had them cut my hair? Because I see now that you will not like the answer."

"Lizzie, what are you talking about?" I was worried for her. She seemed to be driven off the edge of her sanity and there seemed to be nothing I could do to help.

She reached to the bandage with her right hand and started to pull while answering me. "What I am talking about is this…Primus." My eyes went wide and my heart seemed to stop as I stared at the scene now before me. There, on Lizzie's neck, was a fresh tattoo. And it was not just any tattoo. "I am now a fully-fledged member of the Decepticons Paul and I will do anything and everything in my power to serve Lord Megatron and the cause the he started against the corruption on Cybertron so long ago."

I couldn't…Lizzie couldn't mean this. She couldn't! I had brought her here to help me bring peace to this dimension…to bring both sides together. Not to choose to help one side claim victory! "Lizzie you can't! I brought you here to bring peace! Not choose a side and fight against the Autobots. The allies of the humans! Have you,"

"Primus you need to open your eyes!" Lizzie interrupted me. "Yes, you are responsible for starting my journey here. But, things haven't gone to your plan since the moment you started my journey here. Fate brought me to the Nemesis instead and I have had my eyes opened to what needs to be done. The Decepticons are not the evil poison you seem to think infected me with their darkness just as they Autobots aren't the bright stars that you seem to think they are. They are high-beams that have blinded you!" She then seemed to take a breath and calm down. The neutral look that she stared back at me with was one that I would not be forgetting. "Primus, you need to use one of the humans with the Autobots if you plan on trying to keep any hope of your plans alive. If you would take one more bit of advice from me, as repayment for bringing me to this dimension?"

While I didn't want to, I knew that now was not the time to argue with her. I would wait until the next time we could be I one of these. Surely by then she would see sense. But, for now, it would be best to get whatever 'information' it was that Lizzie was going to impart on me. "What is it?"

"Out of the humans, I would choose Miko to help you with your goals. She is the most open-minded of the humans that you will encounter from the show. She will take all of the information you give her in stride." Lizzie then started to disappear before my eyes. "Goodbye…Paul."

Lizzie's 1st P.O.V.

"Ow. Stop it." I muttered to Frenzy as we walked toward the bridge through the vents. I had been awake for about seven hours now…having gotten up at three this morning due to the two bots next to me kicking me in their recharge and had decided to track down Sid and Dan to take care of those things I would need to get my insignia and make sure that it could be seen.

Frenzy was currently poking at the result of five hours of pain that was still tender but completely worth it.

"It's just weird that we can see your neck. You look weird with short hair." Frenzy shot back at my complaining.

Rolling my eyes playfully, I looked ahead as we continued to walk. The three of us were planning on using this solar that I had off to watch Soundwave and Vox work on their projects for about two cycles before we went to the training room to meet up with Blitzwing and Skyquake for soliform training. I wanted to go to see what Shockwave and the medics were working on, but Soundwave hinted rather strongly that I wasn't allowed to be in the room with Shockwave yet due to him working on a special project. I wasn't sure what kind of project it was going to be, but I would listen for now. Hopefully, they would share what it was when they were done.

Before I could say anything in response to Frenzy's comment on Sid's handiwork with my hair, we arrived at the opening of the vent into the bridge. So, I stayed quiet as the twins opened it and the three of us sat on the edge, the twins sandwiching me in. "Hey boss, mind if we watch?" Rumble asked Soundwave, who was standing next to a monitor with Vox.

Soundwave didn't even have to glance up at us as he answered. "Keep out of danger."

"No kidding." Vox added. "I don't want my helm on the line again." Wow. Get caught in the middle of a malfunctioning ground bridge once and it is brought up like it happens all the time.

Well, they weren't doing much so the three of us fell silent. Unfortunately, I didn't like silence. It allowed my mind to wander and, worse off, my mind wandered to the events of this morning. It still hurt me that I had to do that but there wasn't a choice anymore. Events had moved far past what Paul had probably intended and I didn't foresee me being of anymore help to the humanized god. I had to do what I did to ensure that everything went alright. With my new status in this world, I knew that the events of this morning's nap had to transpire…

…I just wished it would have gone smoother.

The sound of the bridge door opening thankfully drew me out of my thoughts and I smiled when I saw Thundercracker and Skyquake come in. They had patrol now, from what I remembered from the schedule that was on Soundwave's monitor this morning, but I was hoping that they could help me start some weapon's training later tonight. While I enjoyed the fighting training that I got with them and the others during the day, and what I would be getting after this, I knew that using weapons was a natural step for me now that I was a Decepticon. Since Soundwave and Vox were on shift all solar, then they were the first big bots that I could ask. Of course, Rumble and Frenzy would probably be with me.

"Soundwave, can you open the bridge?" Thundercracker started. "Lord Megatron wants us to check out a canyon structure in Nevada for any energon signals. Plus, he believed that it would be good flight exercising for us. Battle here on Earth might involve us flying through complicated and narrow passages and the canyons around Nevada would be good practice for that."

Well, that made sense. Do some energon scouting while getting some flight training in. That would help train the fliers on the Decepticon side how to maneuver some of the tighter aerial spaces that could be found on Earth. Canyons especially could be a danger to fliers. My mind flashed to the canyon where Skyquake woke up in and the canyon, in the show, where his offline zombie corpse came back to life in the shadow zone and…

…With that thought, my rough mental timeline that I was keeping aligned with what today might be and I immediately felt panic. Unless I was mistaken, then this was the day of the shadow zone episode. Since Starscream wasn't a mean psychotic, then the Decepticons probably weren't going to be confronting the Autobots this solar! Thundercracker and Skyquake were in trouble!

I glanced up in a panic to stop the two but, as soon as I looked up, the ground bridge flashed a strange yellow color and started to fluctuate. What the frag was going on? "The ground bridge is malfunctioning!" Vox yelled as he ran to the controls. "We have to get the two of them out of there!" He then started to type on the controls. But, before he could get too far, the vortex suddenly flashed, and the bridge shut down.

The five of us remaining seemed to stare at the darkened bridge for a few minutes before Soundwave was the first to move, running to a monitor next to the bridge and typing things in. From the little cybertronian that I had been able to pick up so far, Soundwave was searching for Thundercracker's and Skyquake's signals. But, nothing was coming up. Of course, since I was now almost sure that this was the shadow zone episode, then I knew that they wouldn't be able to find the signals. I just had to wait for an opening to suggest that they try the private message system.

While I wasn't sure that it would work, I had a theory that the private message system would be able to traverse the dimensional difference between our zone and the shadow zone. From the research I had done in my dimension, I had built up the case that said that the private message system was like a texting system that could only be seen to the bot that was sending and receiving the message.

The door opening caused all of us but Soundwave to turn and I saw that Starscream and Skywarp were standing there with panicked looks on their faceplates. "Would somebot tell me why the frag Thundercracker is panicking?" Starscream asked frantically. I had a feeling that he was being so frantic because of the trine bond he shared with Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"The ground bridge malfunctioned and we can't find their signals." Frenzy answered Starscream.

That seemed, somehow, to calm Starscream down slightly. "He is at least online. I can still feel him panicking in my spark." He then shifted to a second-in-command mode before speaking. "We must find the two of them. Any loss to our numbers would hurt our efforts here on Earth." He then moved to the monitor next to Soundwave and started to type away.

"We can try to focus our search parameters on their specific spark signatures." Vox commented as he returned to his own monitor. "It'll take some time to focus the scanners that precisely, but it seems like our best option."

Still no opening for me to make my suggestion about the private message systems. So, I had to stay quiet and watch, the twins next to me, as Starscream, Soundwave, and Vox searched for the two bots. Hopefully, they could find Skyquake and Thundercracker quickly. I didn't know what caused the bridge to malfunction and that made me nervous about what the future was going to hold.

"Hey Lizzie," Frenzy said with a nudge to my side, "they are going to find them. They did find us after all."

I smiled at his effort and nodded. "Yeah…I know. Those three are some of the best we have." I knew that this was one of the most effective search groups that I could ask for in this situation. Hopefully they pulled through.

Miko's 1st P.O.V.

This…was…awesome!

I had just wanted to go with Paul to the canyons to have some fun with my acoustics. But, instead, we were on an adventure! The ground bridge had gone all yellow and then we were flung through. From the looks of the area around us, this place was still Earth. But, everything looked all dark and shadowy. I wasn't complaining but I wondered where we were.

A groan from behind me caused me to look and see that Paul was waking up. Since he did come here with me, I knew it wouldn't be smart to leave him alone. So, I ran up to him and saw that he was awake and looking around. "Hey Paul, are you alright?"

He nodded and sat up before he answered me. "Yeah. Just feel like I got hit with a train." He then stood up and glanced around some more. "How long was I out?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I woke up about five minutes ago and you were out cold. Do you know where we are?" I turned to him and saw that he was trying to call someone on his phone.

After a minute, he sighed and put his phone away. "Since I can't get I touch with anyone, then I have a feeling that we are in some sort of shadow zone. The theory around them says that we won't be able to call out for help or even touch anyone that is not in the shadow zone."

… "Cool!" I exclaimed while starting to walk forward, "I bet I could get a lot of practice in and it wouldn't bother anyone!" I then took my guitar off my back and made a move to walk to one of the canyons. But, I stopped when Paul grabbed my arm. "What's up Paul?" I asked him confused.

He glanced around, and I saw that his eyes settled on a cave before saying, "I need to talk with you about something. It was the reason that I decided to come with you in the first place. But, we need to be somewhere were we can't be overheard."

Well…that was weird. He just said that we were in a shadow zone so that meant that no one who wasn't in the shadow zone could hear us. But, Paul looked really worried about whatever this was, and I knew that he was worried about that employee of his, Lizzie, since she was still with the 'Cons. "Sure, but you better tell me why you are acting all crazy."

He nodded and so I followed him into the cave. Once we were inside, which was strangely well lit for a cave, Paul turned to me. "Miko, I need you to swear on everything that you hold dear that you will not tell anyone…and that includes any of the bots, what I am about to tell you. It could jeopardize everything that Lizzie and I were hoping to accomplish."

What the hell was he talking about? He was talking like he knew about the Autobots before he saw them that day with Raf. That was crazy though. He was human just like us and, from how Fowler had reacted to him when he discovered us, the government didn't know about him either. Paul was talking crazy. But, he seemed serious and I wanted to know. Even though it meant keeping a secret from Bulk, I wanted to know what Paul was holding back. "I swear that I won't go blabbing about whatever you want to say to anyone without your permission."

Paul stared at me for a second before he nodded. "Very well then. I think the best way to get this started is to tell you that I am not human."

…huh? "What? How can you not be human? You eat, and sleep, and bleed." I couldn't believe that Paul wasn't human.

But, Paul shook his head at my outburst in such a serious way that I now wasn't so sure that he wasn't human. "Miko, I'm not human. This body is a soliform. You know what they are right?"

"Yeah," I answered him immediately. "the bots use them when they have to drive around in public and we aren't available. But, their soliforms can't eat and bleed." They could fake sleep so I couldn't say that they couldn't do that. But all the other stuff they can't do.

Paul, though, didn't seem to be deterred by my disbelief. "Miko, I'm not the normal soliform. I'm sure you've heard my name passed between the bots at least once…and I'm talking about my actual name. In my true form, I am Primus."

Wait…Primus. That was the name of their god! Bulk had told me the myths that surrounded the existence of Primus. Well, this was a new turn…and it was awesome! "Cool! You mean that you're a god? Does that mean that you can just zap a bot and make them do what you want?"

Paul…Primus, shook his head at that. "No Miko. While I am fully Primus, I am not the entirety of Primus himself. I wouldn't have the power to do that. Even if I was in my full being though, I wouldn't do that to them. The bots, like humans, have a free will and I should not intervene with that as their god."

Wait…if he wasn't going to interfere, then why was he here now? It didn't make sense that he would be here just to watch. "Then what are you doing here with the bots, and what does Lizzie have to do with this? Is she some sort of Cybertronian angel? Did she come with you to help you with your mission?"

Paul held up a hand to stop my questions. "Miko, the reason that I am even telling you this now is because Lizzie isn't here. No, Lizzie is not Cybertronian. But, she is a human that comes from another world…a world where all of this is just a television show." I wanted to ask a question about that but he put up a hand to stop me. "I can explain that later. But, I had gone to her world to find someone who could help me restore order here. While I couldn't make changes myself, my original plan was to bring someone from a world where we didn't exist in anything except media, Lizzie's world for example, and bring them here to help me make the changes needed to give Cybertron peace without hurting Earth."

"Then why is Lizzie with the Decepticons?" I asked him. It didn't make sense to have Lizzie with the 'Cons if he needed her help to make changes.

"I didn't want her to be there. When I sent her here ahead of me, some outside force interfered with her transportation and, until the night after the space bridge incident, I had no idea where she was. Then, I was able to connect with her through her dreams and found out that she was on the Nemesis." He answered me.

Well, that made sense. Also, explained why Paul was worried about her. But, that also opened another question for me. "Wait, if you have had contact with her, then why are you telling me everything?" If he had Lizzie to help him, even through dreams, then he shouldn't need my help.

Paul looked nervous for a second, which looked weird on a god, before he spoke. "Well, as I told you, she got in contact with me after the space bridge incident way back when. However, she has been in contact with me two other times after that. One was the night after the mess with the energon harvester. She looked a little rough, but she seemed alright. She was able to tell me some things that had developed on the ship but was worried about something. Then, she contacted me this morning."

"She contacted you this morning? Did she say much about that psycho bot that Flamewar ran from?" I asked. That bot seemed to have a screw loose and the Autobots weren't talking about him much. It was almost like they were scared of him. Really scared of him.

But, Paul shook his head and I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like what I was about to hear. "No. This morning, we didn't talk long. But, Lizzie made it clear to me that she was not going to be contacting me anymore and that she was not going to be passing along any more information. I have a feeling that she is worried that she might be discovered as being more than what she seems."

"Oh, so like she might sleeptalk and they could hear her?" I asked him.

He looked at me in surprise. "I didn't think of it like that but that could be a reason why. She didn't explain much but she did tell me to tell you everything. It was the last thing she told me before she had to disconnect us." He looked hurt at that.

But I was surprised that she had singled me out. Usually, people looked to Jack as some leader, though I didn't get why, or Raf since he was the smart one. But, most people saw me as the crazy wild one out of our group. I was the trouble-maker. The adults said it all the time. But, I didn't care. However, it was strange to hear that I was picked over Raf and Jack for something like this. "Why me?"

I was surprised when Paul let out a laugh before he calmed down. "Sorry. It's just strange to hear you ask that. Lizzie, back in her dimension where we are all fake, found you as one of her favorite characters, human and Autobots. You don't conform to what's around you, you make your own decisions and stay firm with what you believe in while, at the same time, being open to new ideas. Remember that you were the one who was excited to be on the Nemesis. You accepted it as a part of your life, all the craziness with the Autobots, and Lizzie really loved that about you."

It was kinda weird hearing that someone who I didn't really know at all was impressed by me. But, at the same time, it was a big compliment. From where Lizzie was from, we were all fake. Comparing me to, not only humans but, bots as well and saying that I was one of her favorites really hit a chord. She believed that I was one of the better characters in whatever 'show' was based around us. "So, I'm her favorite human?"

Paul seemed to hesitate at that before he nodded. "Yes, I believe that you actually are. Raf follows close behind you however. She does enjoy him as a character…just not as much as you."

Sweet! I was like a movie star! "So…what do we do now?" I asked Paul as I glanced out of the cave.

He, in return, stood and offered me a hand up. "What we do now is use our phones and text the base. From the episode that was based off this event, that should allow the bots on the other side to get a bridge for us to get us out of here. Then, you and I are going to go to my room and I'll let you watch the show that was based off your lives. That way, you can see how things have changed already. I'm going to need your help in getting things as back on track as they can."

Smiling, I nodded and took his hand. "Sounds awesome! Let's get going."

Paul then texted the bots. After a few minutes, the bridge popped up and the two of us waited until Bulk and Cliff came through. Once they picked us up, and Bulkhead started to say that I wasn't allowed out anymore, I glanced at Paul. He seemed more relieved than I had seen him for a while. This was going to be crazy from now on, but I knew that it was going to be great!

Starscream's 1st P.O.V.

I was sure that she was the embodiment of bad luck. As I stared down at the human who had crawled down to help us search for any sign of Thundercracker and Skyquake, I finally had this click in my processor. Yes, I cared about the human. She was a part of our team and I wanted to watch out for her safety. But, with the recent situation in my helm, I realized that Lizzie seemed to attract bad luck like we Cybertronians attracted scraplets.

It started with her arrival on our ship. No other human could have had that sort of bad luck. Then, she had had the unfortunate luck to fall right in front of Lord Megatron before Soundwave and I had been able to explain her existence on the ship. After that, she had been dragged out of sleep and warped to the bridge by my brother Skywarp upon his arrival on the ship with Thundercracker and a few others. Then, she had been left alone in Lord Megatron's throne room…on his throne, and it was only by some strong luck that she was able to live through that.

Next, she had been affected by a malfunctioning bridge along with the twins and had been injured during that folly trip. Not to mention the giant snake that had chased them through the return bridge. On top of all of that, Lizzie had been made late to one of her lessons with Lord Megatron and that had not been good. Luckily, he had allowed the mistake to slide that once.

Then, she had somehow gotten on Astrotrain's bad side after only seeing him for a few nanos. That was a record itself. While none of us really liked that triple changer, it took him longer than a few nanos to hate us as much as he did her. I was on guard making sure that he didn't do anything against the newest member of the Decepticons.

After that, she had almost failed her test because the Autobot Flamewar, nasty piece of work that femme, had slid passed us and had caused a number of problems. Lizzie didn't need that kind of stress and yet that was what she had received.

Lastly, and now, she was in this room where the ground bridge had again malfunctioned and had caused two of our troops to disappear. Even though Lizzie would not be held responsible, since she was not in charge of the controls at the time, I realized that she seemed to be in the middle of a lot of bad luck.

It had been about thirty clicks since Thundercracker and Skyquake had gone missing in the bridge and it was a miracle that Lord Megatron hadn't found out yet. I was sure that Vox would have a spark attack if he did before we got the two missing mechs back. He was already involved in the problem with Lizzie back during that ground bridge incident. It would not do the car mech any good to have Lord Megatron see that he was stuck in the middle of this one as well.

"Hey mechs," We all turned to Lizzie as she spoke, staring at me as she did. "do you think that a private message would get through to them? From what I've been told about them, they are usually more effective than regular coms…especially if there is something like carbon in the way."

All of us stared at Lizzie for a click. I don't know about the others, but I was in shock. Why hadn't I thought about that earlier? Of course, the private comm system would be a good way of contacting the two missing bots! It was such a regular part of our lives that I didn't think on it much. I had to say, even though Lizzie was turning out to be some sort of bad luck charm, she at least could get herself out of the problems that were around her. Guess that was what made her a good enough strategist to pass her test.

I connected with Thundercracker's private comm before sending a message. "Thundercracker, are you getting this? -Starscream"

"Thank Primus! We've been trying to get in contact with the ship for the past thirty clicks. The Autobots were just here. Guess some of their group got stuck in this wacked up place too. If you have Soundwave send a bridge at the exact same coordinates that we were sent to, then I think we can make it back to the Nemesis. Oh, and Skyquake wants me to ask what made you all think of using the private comm system to get a message to us. -Thundercracker" I immediately got back from Thundercracker.

"Soundwave, Thundercracker says that the Autobots had some of their group get stuck wherever they are. He thinks that, if you send a bridge to the same coordinates that you set for them to leave that they can get back." I repeated the first part of Thundercracker's message to Soundwave before I got back on the private comm and responded. "The idea was Lizzie's. It seems strange that she thought of it first, but I can't complain. -Starscream"

The bridge then opened and, to my relief, both Thundercracker and Skyquake walked out of it. Once they were out, though, Vox walked up to them. "Where were you two at? We couldn't track your signals and the private message and Thundercracker's trine bond with Starscream and Skywarp were the only way that we knew that you were both still online."

They both looked at each other before Skyquake said, "It was weird. We were in the area that was our intended destination, but everything was shadowed. Plus, when the Autobots showed up and closed the bridge that they opened for their group, we tried to attack them, but we passed right through them. If it wasn't for your private message to Thundercracker, I would have thought that I was offline." He then shook his helm. "I don't want to go through that again."

I wasn't sure what could have happened but, with a quick glance down at our newest strategist, I realized that Lizzie might. "Lizzie, what is it?" I prodded her.

The others looked at her as she looked up. "Well, I'm not sure. There was some internet conspiracy that I read about a few years ago that brought up the idea of the existence of dimensions that were parallel with the one we are in. I think that they called them 'shadow zones'. I kinda pushed that aside as crazy internet talk but it looks like there may have been more to them."

"That does indeed seem to be the case." I flinched, and most of the others besides Soundwave jumped, and we all looked to see Lord Megatron behind me. How did he sneak into the room without anybot hearing him? Out of the number that were here, surely somebot besides Soundwave would have been able to see him come in. But, from the reactions, that didn't seem so. "Was there an issue?" He questioned, probably curious about all of us being congregated here.

"My Lord, from what we have been able to find out," Vox started. "it seems that when we opened the ground bridge for Thundercracker and Skyquake to go on patrol, the Autobots opened up a bridge at the same location at the same time. This convergence of two bridges from two locations caused Thundercracker and Skyquake to become trapped in a sort of 'shadow dimension' that cut them off from all communication except for the private coms."

"And we just used those to bring Thundercracker and Skyquake back." I finished off Vox's report. No need for the mech to keep himself in the focus of Lord Megatron's attention. Like I thought about earlier, he was involved in the ground bridge debacle with Lizzie and the twins and it would not be good for him to do all the talking.

Soundwave then showed Lord Megatron a clip of the events that transpired and confirmed Vox's idea of the converging ground bridges. Once he was done with that, Lord Megatron nodded and straightened. "Very well. Since that has been taken care of…Starscream, Soundwave; come with me. I have much to discuss with you." I nodded and went to follow Lord Megatron, as did Soundwave.

However, my younger brother decided to hold that up. "Hang on," We all looked to him as he turned to look at Lizzie. "Lizzie, isn't your insignia ready? This would be a good time to show Lord Megatron and the rest of us too." That was right. I forgot that Lizzie had the drone, Dan, use his soliform to place an almost permanent marking of our insignia on her body. That was what the covering over her neck was hiding. She said that the process needed healing but, since Dan had combined human use of 'tattooing' with other ways from other planets that we visited, he said that the healing should only take a servo-full of cycles.

Lizzie, on her part, seemed surprised by Skywarp's question but looked to Lord Megatron. That was smart. She should wait for his approval at the interruption before indulging my idiot brother. She did learn more quickly than I thought she would. It was going to be very interesting working with her when I could. Plus, I had plans to drop in on Lizzie's training session tonight and get some more soliform training in with her.

After a few clicks, Lord Megatron turned to Lizzie. "Lizzie, your insignia is ready to show?"

She nodded to him and moved her hand to the bandage covering it. "Yes, my Lord." She responded before she took off the bandage and showed the tattoo to us. I was impressed. With her extremely shortened hair, from what I heard we had the drone Sid to thank for that, the tattooed insignia was easier to see. The Decepticon insignia was metallic looking, like ours were, and it looked like it had been lasered out of her skin like ours were lasered from our chassis. That was a smart choice for her to go with. It wouldn't tarnish the name of the Decepticons.

"That is acceptable." Lord Megatron responded to it before he sent Skywarp a look. "Now, if there aren't any more interruptions, we will take our leave."

I knew that meant that it was time for me to head out with Soundwave. So, I followed dutifully behind Megatron as he walked out of the room. But, as I did, I allowed my thoughts to return to Lizzie. She had seemed so scared of me when I had first seen her in that hallway that I could not have pictured that she would have come this far in the solars that she had been on the Nemesis.

For the briefest click I wondered what she would be like if she were one of us. But, that thought was too ridiculous, so I pushed it aside. Lord Megatron wanted to talk to Soundwave and me about something and, as we came up to the bridge doors, I knew that subject would start soon. I didn't want to put myself in hot oil with Lord Megatron, so I cleared those thoughts out of my helm.

Miko: So...this is what this area of the house looks like. I just thought it was just a torture chamber. Always hear people crying from over here.

Paul: *sighs* You aren't far off from the truth. Welcome to the insanity.

Authoress: Yes. I needed another test sub...friend here to help with these.

Miko: *slightly nervous* Why doesn't that sound like she is serious?

Paul: *moves slightly away from Authoress* Probably because it isn't.

AN: So this brings us to the next thrilling chapter of Resolve of One! So many surprises that I'm almost not sure where to start. But, it seems like it would be wise to follow the points of view. So, let's begin!

Firstly, it seemed like Paul was given Lizzie's 'two-weeks notice' with not much notice. What will come from the increased frictions between Lizzie and Paul? Who is right? Is there a right or wrong side? I'll let you all wonder that.

Next, we move to Lizzie. Seems like she is trying to put that conversation with Paul into the clear back of her mind as she deals with the ground bridge sending Thundercracker and Skyquake to the shadow zone. How I did it was like this; (in case you couldn't follow my explanation in the chapter or missed it) The Decepticons opened a ground bridge to the same exact set of coordinates that the Autobots did at the same time the Autobots did. This caused the two bridges to fluctuate and throw the beings in their confines to the shadow zone, though not in the same area (so Paul and Miko wouldn't get caught). Figured that was the best way to deal with the shadow zone and still include it. Let me know what you thought.

Thirdly, we went to Miko and that craziness! I finally did it! Unlike the original story, Power of One, Paul has revealed his and Lizzie's origins to someone else quite early...season 1! Last time he wasn't revealed until near the end of season 2 (to some Decepticons) and to Cliffjumper around the same time! Plus, you may have noticed that Paul did not tell Miko everything that happened during that last talk. That was on purpose. Paul still thinks that Lizzie is being forced to say the things she did and, from some of the ideas Miko threw at him during her point of view, he might just believe that more.

Lastly, we go to Starscream who realizes that Lizzie is quite the bad luck charm. Seriously she can't seem to stay out of trouble! *dies laughing* Anyways, we finally get a description of Lizzie's tattoo. Sorry if the description is poor. I don't have any tattoos and I am not used to describing them outside of 'that looks cool' or 'it looks awesome' and other basic phrases like that. That was probably the hardest part for me to write during this point of view. Plus yes, I did have her hair cut very short. Figured it would be best so it didn't look like she was ashamed of her insignia and was trying to hide it.

Wow...that was a lot of typing. There's my synopsis of this previous chapter. There were some other hints about events to come (and that have passed that might not be as clear as you think) thrown in this chapter so keep an eye out (or optic out). Next chapter sees us working with what was originally Operation: Breakdown. How are things going to play out for Paul and Lizzie during that? I guess we shall see then!

Well, that's all of the sneak peek and recap stuff for now. Here are the names of the next chapters. In italics, I have put the name of the episode that the chapters are following. Of course, that might not tell you much about what is to happen...or maybe it will. You will have to stick around to find out!

Chapter 16: Where True Evil Multiplies Originally Operation: Breakdown

Chapter 17: There will be Dark Times Originally Crisscross

Chapter 18: ...? (Find out next time!) XD

Alright, so that's all for now. I hope you all liked the chapter! Please leave a review, even to say hi! I like hearing from you all! Until next we meet though, TTYL! *(sings) We're disoriented, demented, and a little nuts!*