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

Lizzie: Okay, so has anybot seen the cookies?

Frenzy: *confused* Why do you need cookies?

Lizzie: *frowns* Because I made them and I was planning on sharing them tonight.

Rumble: *notices crumbs on floor* Then it is up to the Detective Twins to find out who took them!

Chapter 22: How to Deal with Pressure

Zarron's 1st P.O.V.

"Glad I got your message Zarron. We've all been worried about you. I should be able to get to Earth in about twenty-one solars if I can catch a ride their this solar. The others send their best wishes and I'll see you soon.~Balm"

I felt relief as that message came through from Balm. For the past cycle, I had been sitting high on this desert plateau waiting for a response to the message I had sent to Balm the previous solar. Something I had noticed, during the mess with that formula and Wheeljack is that Ratchet is our only medic. One medic for six was pushing it before the rest of us showed up. But, one medic for sixteen bots, that was going to turn into a bad situation real quick. So, I had gotten Optimus alone and asked for permission to call for a medic I knew, Balm, to come to give support. Optimus agreed, thankfully, and so I had sent out a call for help. Balm was immediate with her response and, with her answer now confirmed, I could head back to base and let Optimus know.

But, as I stood, I felt worried. While Tana was the one out of my friends that had issues with the most bots here on Earth, and the one that had the biggest issues, Balm wasn't completely out of the park on the issues field. That was especially when it came to Pitch. The medic and the truck mech had clashed a couple of times and I knew that there were things about those confrontations that I didn't know about...especially their last confrontation. But, I knew Balm was a capable femme who, when she needed to, could speak up when needed.

That was a risk that I was taking, asking Balm to come and help, but it was a risk that I was going to have to take. We needed another medic here and, honestly, having another bot that I fully trusted, like Wheeljack, here to help back the two of us up would be great. Having three voices speaking up against something was more powerful than one and I knew Balm. If she had been here during that mess the other solar with Wheeljack, then there would have been no discussion and she would have barred the med bay from everybot else until she fixed him. No questions asked.

Taking my mind out of that subject before I got angry again, I activated my commlink and connected it to the base. "Hey, I don't know who's there right now, but I could use a pickup."

Not so surprisingly, Ratchet was the one who answered. "Ground bridge is on its way."

Almost immediately after he said that the bridge opened next to me. "Thanks." Was my quick response before I disconnected the line and walked through the bridge.

As I walked through the bridge, though, my thoughts returned to Balm and, more importantly, to the solar I left for this job.

Flashback

"Are you sure you have everything?" Balm asked me for the hundredth time as I loaded my small transport ship. Well, it actually belonged to the Guardians but Tana made it so I could use the ship during this.

Nodding back to Balm, I pointed to each item. "Extra fuel for the ship, extra fuel for me, snacks, ammunition, the blade repair kit Tana got for me, my emergency med kit from you, and a signal beacon so you all can bail me out of trouble if I get into any before I get to Cybertron." Well, I thought I got everything. But, from the look that Balm was shooting me right now, I had a feeling that I had forgotten something important.

After Balm and I held optic contact for a few clicks, she let out a vent before she walked up to me. "You forgot something, you idiot." She was smiling as she said that like it was something simple that I was forgetting.

But, it wasn't so simple for me. I was panicking trying to figure out what I could possibly be forgetting. I had gone over my list a hundred times and I couldn't fathom what I might have forgotten. Seriously! But, Balm wasn't one to just say that I forgot something and not really mean it. That was especially with the mission that I was going to be going on. After a click and not being able to think of what I forgot, I looked pleadingly to Balm. "What did I forget?"

To my surprise, she let out a laugh. "Well, two things actually." Before I could even try to ask what those were, she suddenly had me in a hug. "You forgot to promise to stay safe and you forgot to promise to come back online and in one piece."

I felt the tension leave my shoulders as I hugged her back. How could I forget? It was something that Balm made each of us do before we left for a mission. She rarely left the base here and she always worried for the rest of us. So, I immediately went about correcting my mistake. "I'm sorry Balm. I promise that I'll stay safe and that I'll return online and in one piece." We then separated and I looked at her. "I promise Balm."

End of Flashback.

As I exited the ground bridge and took note of who was in the base, I heard those words of my promise echoing in my mind. That was going to be a hard promise to keep with the likes of Sentinel, Pitch, and Flamewar about. I knew that they were dangerous for Autobots and that I had to be careful around them. But, they were also Autobots, and thus I had to fight alongside them when ordered to. It was a very delicate situation that might put me in danger at times. Sentinel, who I had seen to cause those thoughts, locked optics with me and we held a stare for a few clicks before he shook his helm and transformed. It must be his turn for patrol.

"Hey Ratchet," I turned my attention from where Sentinel had just been and watched as Raf walked over to where the medic was working on something. "is that synthetic energon?"

Ratchet, who looked surprised that Raf was taking interest in whatever he was doing, nodded. "Well, yes. In fact, I'm preparing to test the sample." He then studied Raf a little closer. "I see you've come equipped with protective goggles." Eh, close enough Ratchet. Glasses weren't the best protection, from what I had found out from studying, but they were better than nothing.

Since I was curious about what the medic was doing with his iteration of the portion of formula we were able to keep from the whole fiasco with Wheeljack, I moved closer. My closest ally here, Wheeljack had almost lost his processor to get what we had and I wanted to know how progress in studying what we had was coming.

Tension almost froze my chassis as Ratchet inserted the green substance into the motor. For a few nanos, there was silence. Then, there was a slight hum from the motor and, with the lights signaling power on said motor, I realized that it was working. "It works!" Raf exclaimed excitedly. I guess he understood the issue that we were having with energon and that being able to produce a synthetic version would be helpful in the war effort.

But, as excited as Raf was, I figured that I had better tone him down a little. "Not exactly. While this form of synthetic energon can be used in machines like this, it still seems unstable for Autobot consumption."

Ratchet gave me a studying look at that before he spoke to Raf. "Zarron is right. We have to test this further before we can think about using it for ammunition or first aid as well." He then let out a vent. "Which is rather unfortunate, since our own energon reserves are at an all-time low."

I flinched as Ratchet added that last part. I knew that, due to our increased numbers, that energon for us had become a very strained resource for us to use. We were barely getting by as it was from the few mines that we had. That wasn't what caused me to flinch though. I knew that, given the circumstances of my mission, that I had been using a large amount of energon due to my continuous ground bridge trips to retrieve my messages and send them for this mission. If I didn't need to keep in contact with my client for this mission, then the Autobots would not be quite as strained for energon as they were now.

"We're so outnumbered right now," I jumped slightly as Ironhide walked in. I hadn't realized he was so close but I was sure I was able to hide the jump I just did. "And we have been rapidly burning through our stockpile lately while the Decepticons continue to put pressure on us."

Ratchet seemed to agree with Ironhide's interjection. "Natural energon is in such short supply on your planet, and Megatron seems to have his oily claws buried deep in the most rewarding of the Earth's deposits." He then motioned to the test motor. "But, if we can successfully produce a synthetic form, we can manufacture all the energy we'll ever need."

I was glad when I didn't jump when the alarm suddenly started to sound. That wasn't a proximity alarm so, with current situations like they were between us Autobots and the Decepticons, then I had a feeling that this would have something to do with them. As the three of us moved to the monitors, Raf walking on the catwalk by us since Jack, Miko, and Paul were off exploring something here in the base, the other Autobots currently in the base started to gather.

Arcee, Blaster, Eject, Rewind, and Springer were off on patrol in different parts while Pitch, Cliffjumper, and Chromia were off checking on the few mines that we worked on when we had the chance. So, that left Flamewar, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Optimus, Wheeljack, and the three of us. While Flamewar made me nervous, I did have the backup so I didn't feel nearly the nerves I needed to.

"More energon on the move. Great." Flamewar was not happy to have to go and chase more energon.

"Again?" Bulkhead asked as we studied the monitors in front of us. For the past week, it seemed like the Decepticons were moving small quantities of energon at a time. This would not be the first time that this had occurred.

Optimus seemed to realize what we all seemed to. "Their recent activity suggests a familiar pattern. The Decepticons are desperately scouting for new deposits to mine." A part of me wanted to agree with the leader. We were not the only side whose numbers were increasing and they would need more energon. However, as Ratchet had said earlier, Megatron had his claws in some of Earth's most profitable mines. He might be looking for new mines, but he wasn't desperate for them. "Autobots!"

"Optimus…" We all turned to Ratchet as he spoke to the Prime. "If one of you comes back wounded this time...well, our energon reserves are nearly depleted." I flinched as my own uses of the bridge hit my mind. I was largely at fault for the fast depletion of our stores. I needed to find a way to make it right.

"Understood." Optimus responded to Ratchet's worry. "Activate the ground bridge." Ratchet nodded and did just that. Once the vortex was opened, Optimus turned to us all. "Ratchet, you will accompany us." While Ratchet was surprised, I was even more surprised when Prime turned to me. "Zarron, you will remain here as backup. We need Ratchet on the field to deal with emergencies immediately so we can keep our energon stockpiles stable."

While I wanted to argue with the Prime, since I would be more useful in the field than here at the base, I held my glossa. I knew that I was guilty of using much of the energon from the stockpiles for my mission and, while he didn't know why I used the energon, I knew that Optimus knew that my trips out of base used a bit of our energon. "Understood." I got out with a nod.

Optimus nodded before turning to the others. "Autobots, roll out!" I then watched as the other bots transformed and made their way out of the base. Once they were through, I shut the groundbridge down.

For a few clicks, I just stood there and stared at the powered-down bridge. While I was sent here to clean house for the Autobots, I knew that I had to find a way to make the problem I helped make correct. But, the problem was how. I was stuck here at base for the time being, and that meant that I couldn't help look for more mines. This was not a good thing...not at all. Maybe when the others returned I could, "Hey Zarron?" I turned to Raf and stared at him for a nano before he continued. "Do you know where Jack and the others went? I want to let them know what's going on."

Humans did like to keep others of their species informed. That was something that I noticed during my research of the species. To his question though, I searched my memory banks for the conversation I had overheard from the other humans before I went to receive my message. "They were going to look at the storage rooms in the west wing of the base. You should be able to find them there."

Raf smiled at that. "Thanks, Zarron." He then packed up his laptop and packed it in his bag before moving toward that hallway.

Once the human disappeared, though, my processor flashed to what I had been observing with the human earlier. My optics flashed to look over at the vial of synthetic energon that Ratchet had set aside for testing. While I knew what I said earlier was true, I knew that time was not something we had in great quantity. I moved over to the table and took the syringe of synthetic energon in my servo. There would be great risk in doing this, but we needed this synthetic energon badly enough for Ratchet to be brought into the field and for me to be left behind.

Before I could talk myself out of doing this, I put the syringe against my elbow-joint and injected the synthetic energon into my systems. A heavy burden immediately hit my systems and my vision started to go dark. Slag, what did I…

The world around me started to sway as my vision went dark. The sound of shattering glass was the last thing I heard before consciousness left me.

Wheeljack's 1st P.O.V.

That mission couldn't have gone much better even if I wanted it to. We were able to intercept the drones that were carrying the energon and, while they got half of it, we were able to secure the other half for ourselves. That would at least help sustain our energon stockpiles while we continued to look for more mines for ourselves. While we weren't injured during this, Flamewar didn't hold back in her assault on some of those drones. She was covered in energon and none of it was from her.

As I walked through the bridge, my thoughts moved to Zarron. I knew that he was feeling guilty about his use of energon. His mission to find out who in the Autobot faction here was going dark had meant that he needed transport away from base, and a large distance away from base, a lot. Once we got through the bridge and we were settled, I was going to pull Zarron aside and talk with him. Maybe, if he was agreeable enough, I would even offer to go on patrol for energon with him. That would probably make the two-wheeler feel better.

But, as I was the last one to exit the bridge, I felt my battle reflexes come to a front. What the frag? This was the base. I doubted that the Decepticons got in but I couldn't get this feeling to go away. Letting my optics scan the room, I finally found the humans, who all looked tense and nervous in their area. "What's going on?" I asked them as I moved toward them, battle senses still on high alert.

Paul, who seemed to be the human most able to answer, answered me. "It's Zarron." My spark grew cold at that tense tone in Paul's voice. "I don't know what was going through his head, but he injected himself with some of that synth-en when we walked in here before he collapsed. We tried to get to him to see if he was alright but before we got close he woke...but he was different."

"How?" Ratchet asked immediately. He would need to know how Zarron first reacted to the synth-en.

Instead of Paul answering, however, Miko did. "His optics were green. A seriously wicked green! He took one look at us and bolted like he didn't know what we were!"

"Don't you mean 'who' you were, Miko?" Springer asked.

"No, she meant 'what'," Paul took back over. "The look in his optics showed that he had never seen a human before."

"Could the synth-en be blocking his present memories?" Ratchet seemed to ask himself.

While the others started to wonder other things that could be wrong, I slowly took out my swords. While Ratchet seemed to be right about how this scrap was affecting Zarron, it wouldn't explain how Zarron reacted to the humans. When Zarron first saw the humans, he had been curious about them. Not wanting to get away from them. While I agreed with what Ratchet said, I had a feeling that it was more serious than that.

Something moving at the top of my vision caused me to raise my sword. As blades clashed against my own, my optics locked onto Zarron's now-green ones. For a brief nano, I saw a look that I saw on the battlefield a lot. A bot backed into a corner with no way out. Wherever the synth-en took his processor, he saw all of us as a threat.

That nano didn't last long and, once he withdrew from me, the base erupted into chaos. Flamewar didn't hesitate to open-fire at Zarron. As he dodged, Optimus spoke up. "Hold your fire! We must get him out of the base."

Ratchet moved to the bridge controls so I figured I could lure Zarron into it. With Bumblebee and Bulk blocking the other exits, I charged. The two-wheeler dodged me, jumping over my helm before he darted into the open bridge. Like I thought, whenever his processor placed him, he was scared.

But, as the rest of us followed the way-word bot and tried to restrain him, I realized that he wasn't the only one feeling fear. This two-wheeler, who I counted as a friend, was avoiding a force of seven Autobots that included the Prime and a number of well-accomplished warriors. One mech. And, his processor was not obviously how it normally would be. If he could do all of this when not thinking, then what would he be able to accomplish if he was in his right processor?

After a few turns, I had the rogue Zarron cornered in a canyon. From how the mech was observing the walls around him, I had a feeling that he was looking for a chance to escape. "Won't do you any good Zarron." I spoke to him. His helm snapped to focus on me so I continued. "We just want to help you. You've been affected by an unstable energon and we want to help get it out of you."

A growl came from the now still mech. "Take your lying slag to the Pit. I don't care what sort of processor manipulation you've done to me, I do know one thing; don't trust anybot. When you do, you end up offline." I could see that he was still tensed. I'm not sure what he thought of, but he suddenly glared at me suspiciously. "How do you know my designation?" I could see the tension in his chassis as he asked that.

I had to be careful...but I also knew that Zarron would appreciate an honest answer no matter how crazy it was going to sound to this part of his processor. "You told me. Believe it or not, the two of us are friends. You trust me, and I trust you." Seeing the mistrust show in Zarron's optics, I took a gamble. Taking both of my swords in my servos, I turned them to face the ground before slamming them down.

The green optics grew wide as I did that. "You...why would you get rid of your weapons? Only a fool disarms himself in front of another bot."

Making sure to keep optic contact while moving carefully, I motioned to the mech. "If trusting a friend makes me a fool, then I guess I am one."

Now Zarron's optics were showing shock and he actually took a step back. "You...you would…" This was working! Well, that was what I thought before he seemed to tense and look at me with those wide optics. "Move!"

An explosion hit my audios and I barely looked up in time to see the boulders starting to come down at me. I pulled my swords from the ground, to try and block some of the stones, but before they reached me, I felt a force slam into me and I was thrown back. My chassis rolled across the ground for a few nanos but, once I stopped, I stood and felt my optics widen as I saw the landslide that happened.

"That was larger than I expected."

My optics narrowed as I heard Sentinel's vocals and I saw that he was coming up behind me, the rest of the bots that were involved in this recovery behind him. "You son of a glitch," I said before I ran up to him and grabbed him and threw him against the canyon wall. "Zarron and I were under there. You could have offlined us!"

"Wheeljack stand down."

My optics flashed to Optimus when he ordered that. I was not going to stand down! This insane mech had almost killed me and...My optics widened as thoughts of Zarron hit me and I turned to run to the landslide. "Frag it Zarron where are you?" I muttered as I started to move the boulders. The other Autobots pitched in to help and, soon, I moved a rather large boulder that revealed the injured Autobot. His side was severely injured and was leaking the synth-en that started this mess.

However, what was surprising to me was that Zarron was awake and he seemed to have a soft look in his once again blue optics. "I'm so...so sorry." I went to tell him that it was alright when he continued to speak. "You told me not to get hurt...and I couldn't keep that promise. You warned me to be careful, to not take any chances...and I just couldn't keep myself out of trouble. Sorry femme."

He was still delirious. While he was calmer, which probably meant his processor was closer to the present than it was before, he was still lost somewhere in his past. The sound of pede-steps coming closer, though, told me what I had to do. Taking the hilt of one of my swords, I slammed it against the mech's helm.

"What the frag was that for you idiot?" Flamewar demanded as the others stopped around us. As I bent down and picked up the two-wheeler, she continued to open that fragging mouth of hers. "The fragging bot was finally letting us know something about himself and you knocked him out."

"Ratchet, bridge. Med-bay will need to be ready." I called into Ratchet before I glared at the femme. I wanted to put her in her place with my fists but I had to take care of Zarron first. "We all have a right to our privacy." I then glared at everybot. "Unless you are going to start airing all of your dark little secrets, then leave Zarron alone." The bridge then opened next to me and I walked through.

It took the doc about five cycles to get Zarron patched up and re-energized. It wouldn't be long before the bot started to come back on his own. After how Flamewar acted when I stopped Zarron from talking...and how Sentinel decided to stop him for that matter, I wasn't going to be leaving his side until he woke up. It was funny. It seemed that, lately, the two of us were getting into a lot of trouble.

A groan coming from next to me caused me to focus on the two-wheeler as his optics flickered online and he sat up before looking around. Once his optics landed on me, he paused. "Wheeljack...what happened?"

I raised an optic ridge at that. "You mean you don't remember?"

He shook his helm in return. "No. The last thing I remember was...the synth-en." He seemed to whisper that last part...almost like he knew when he took it that something bad was going to happen.

So, I delved into everything that he had done since he injected himself. He had looked panicked when I told him that he was babbling in his delirious mind when he was injured, so I told him what he got out before I knocked him out. "You've been out about five cycles now," I said.

He nodded, though I saw that his optics were soft. "Wheeljack...thank you. I...just wanted to help. I'm sorry."

Shrugging my shoulders at that, I motioned to the main room. "We know and it's alright. Plus, if it makes you feel any better, we did find a stockpile of energon in that canyon we trapped you in." I then shook my helm. "Trust me though, you weren't the easiest bot to talk down."

The two-wheeler flinched at that. "Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry. I already told you that it was alright," I said. He was not going to keep apologizing like this.

Zarron frowned at my rebuke of his apology. "No, I owe you something. If it wasn't for me, then you wouldn't be in this mess." Before I could say anything against that, he snapped his digits. "I know. I'll explain to you why I probably acted the way I did in the canyon."

While he really didn't have to make up anything for the canyon, I was curious about why he was so mistrusting of me in the canyon. "You don't have anything to make up, but if you want to tell me about this then shoot."

He let out a vent before he started. "I was raised in Tarn. It was a tough city and, if you trusted other bots, you ended up offline if you were lucky. When I was younger, before the start of the war, I was the pinnacle of that belief. I never trusted anybot and, if anybot knew anything about me, then I knew that I was in deep scrap and I had to get out of there. I'm surprised that the me from the canyon didn't bolt as soon as you said my designation."

I gave the mech a light hit in the shoulder at that. "The two of us are friends you crazy mech. Your actual processor probably edged in enough to keep you there."

Zarron nodded. "Right. That's probably the only explanation that makes sense." He then looked serious. "Since we have a few clicks, let me give you an update about what I was doing out this morning."

Lizzie's 1st P.O.V.

I stretched my arms as I walked through one of the vents with Rumble and Frenzy. I had the solar off from everything since I had been making a lot of progress on the Praxian database. We had a stockpile of coordinates that we had saved up and Lord Megatron ordered that after my rest this solar, I was to also add the decryption of the Iacon database to my repertoire.

It kind of brought the idea that season two was coming soon to the front of my thoughts. That had me worried about what was going to happen now with all of the changes that had happened. Season two was a highly intense portion of time in the show where a lot of things happened. Optimus losing his memories, the hunt for the Iaconian relics, the omega key hunt, the fight for the omega lock, and the destruction of the Autobot base. I was hoping to help prevent a number of things from happening. They didn't need to suffer like that. But, I had to make sure I played my cards right.

"Cybertron to Lizzie." I jumped at Rumble's voice.

"What is it?" I asked him.

He shook his helm. "We asked you why you weren't training this solar. You've had sessions every solar lately."

Honestly, I would be in the training room if I could. "Orders. My checkup with Knockout the other solar told them that my body was too strained for working out this solar. I have been ordered to take a rest with little physical exertion." I then sighed. "It sucks."

I frowned as I heard a snicker from my right. "Need a break from getting your aft handed to you?" Frenzy teased me. Of course, that caused me to strike out to my left. "Frag it femme watch it!"

"I don't always get my aft handed to me," I growled at him. Though I wouldn't admit it out loud, I had been on the floor more than I wanted. But, if what Knockout said was correct, it was because my body was protesting the stress I was putting on it. The training session I was going to be in tomorrow would have a different outcome.

They must have decided to drop that topic as Rumble motioned in the direction that we were going. "Hey Lizzie, what are you planning on doing this solar?"

"I'm going to hang out on the bridge just in case I'm needed," I answered.

I would have gone further into an explanation when, suddenly, I had a message from Soundwave flash across my helmet's visor. "Orders from Lord Megatron. You, Rumble, and Frenzy report to bridge.-Soundwave."

Well, good thing we were heading in that direction anyways. "Change in plans mechs. We have orders from Lord Megatron to report to the bridge."

The three of us picked up our pace and, soon, we were coming out of the vent on the bridge. Not to my surprise, Soundwave was standing there with his servo below the opening. Not wasting time, the three of us jumped down so Soundwave could bring us to where Lord Megatron, Starscream, Shockwave, Vox, Thundercracker, and Knockout were standing. What the frag was going on? "Ah, thank you for joining us Lizzie, Rumble, and Frenzy." Lord Megatron greeted the three of us.

"Lord Megatron." I greeted my leader with a bow while Rumble and Frenzy gave similar greetings.

Not one to waste time, Lord Megatron motioned to Shockwave, who went right to business. "With the completion of the soliform program, it seems only logical that a test is made using it. So, Vox, Thundercracker, Rumble, and Frenzy will travel planetside in their soliforms, using Vox as transportation, to test these soliforms. However, this test is about more than just the functionality of the soliforms. To use the soliforms to their greatest functionality, the soldier using them must be able to interact with the humans without them suspecting that anything is amiss." He then focused his gaze on me. "That is where you come in Lizzie."

At that, Lord Megatron took over. "Since you are the most fit of my troops to judge how a human should act in their natural setting, you will go along as a judge. Observe each soliform as you can and make notes on what could be improved upon. Knockout has informed me of your need for rest this solar, however, this mission should not put a strain on your recovery."

While it didn't sound like my job was too stressful, I knew otherwise. My notes would help guide the soliforms in the future about how to interact with humans so we could blend in among them and, even, use the human population against the Autobots if needed. I wasn't an idiot. I knew that the soliform program I helped with had plenty of applications for the war effort, applications that I doubted the Autobots, in their stance in avoiding involvement of the human population, would use. It could be a critical advantage to us once we sophisticated the actions of the program.

"Yes, my Lord," I responded to my leader in the positive. Honestly, while this job would be stressful, with the responsibility that I had toward its success, I was also kinda excited. Hanging out with John, Terrance, Ryan, and Finian. I mean, sure, seeing them here at the base was a lot of fun, but to be on my home turf...in a manner of speaking, was going to make everything so much more exciting!

Once Lord Megatron exited the bridge, and Soundwave placed the three of us on a console, the other two bots in on this mission walked over to us. "So Lizzie," Thundercracker started. "Vox and I were talking about where we would like to go as a test before the three of you arrived and we figured that going to one of your clubs would be beneficial. We had those on Cybertron, before the war, and both Vox and I went to a few in our time. It would be a good place, in our opinion, to start."

Honestly, when he suggested that, I felt my stomach fall. To humans, I was technically underage, though I could pull off twenty-one when needed. I had actually never been to a club, though I had heard about them from some of my college friends. A lot of music, dancing, and drinking. Not my favorite scene but, for this mission, they were right. Starting with a place that they could compare to Cybertron instead of, oh, let's say Disneyworld, would be better for gauging their adaptiveness to humans. If we went somewhere like Disney, then they would have to try and get used to the location as well as interacting with humans. That could put a lot of stress on the soliforms that they didn't need.

So, with a sigh, I nodded. "Fine. Soundwave," The TIC turned to me when I spoke to him. "Can you make me an ID that shows I'm twenty-one?" I knew that the soliform program would provide the ID with the correct age for the bots when they entered into them, as long as they put in the correct age of their soliform name. Since I was actual flesh and bones, I needed a fake ID made for me.

Soundwave nodded and turned to a console before typing. While he was, Vox spoke. "So, I'm guessing we all need to be at least twenty-one for this?"

"Yeah. The minimum drinking age in America." And that's where we were going. I knew that I would be in a better environment in America then I would in, let's say, France.

After that, it didn't take the others long to find somewhere on the ship to store their chassis', except for Vox, and for the rest of us to climb in his alt mode. Thankfully, he was roomier in his alt mode than the model he used for his alt. Otherwise, this would have been a very tight fit. We were bridged to the outskirts of LA and, after a parking search that was an adventure in itself, we made our way into Club Obsidian. Just like I thought, there were a lot of people in the club. I was just surprised that we were able to get in so quickly. My college friends from back home would always tell me about how they usually had to wait in line for at least twenty minutes if they were lucky. But, once we had started to walk up to the line, we were expedited to the front.

Well, at least we would be able to start this experiment right away. The dance floor was large, and on the far side away from the door, I saw a lounge area that was slightly elevated from the dance floor. On the same side, but closer to the door, was the bar. Sitting in the lounge would give me a great view of the dance floor and the bar to keep an eye on the soliforms.

"Okay mechs," I started. "I'll be sitting over there if you need me. Have fun, meet some people, and make sure to drink. We are testing how these soliforms can stand up to human expectations. Let's not disappoint." And that was all it took before the mechs made their way to the dancefloor. As I moved toward the lounge, and the seat that I wanted, I noticed that all of them already had dance partners. Perfect.

Once I sat, I studied each soliform. Vox was, not surprisingly, having the easiest time with the people around him. Being an intelligence agent, he would have done research on how to interact with people. There were a couple minor mistakes being made but they were mistakes that a regular human would make. The twins just seemed to be having a blast and, while they definitely had more mistakes than Vox, they were having a blast and that, in the eyes of a human, would balance out the mistakes that they were making.

And Thundercracker was in the middle of the three. While he definitely was interacting well, he wasn't being quite as carefree and fluid as the twins. Made him actually stand out a little more when the mistakes he made happened, and I made notes on everything that they all did. While I still wasn't a fan of coming here, I knew that this was almost the perfect place that we could have come to. An atmosphere that they were somewhat familiar with, so they wouldn't stand out, but just enough difference with human interaction that they had to make sure to pick up human quirks if they didn't want to be found out.

An hour passed, with each of the soliforms moving from the bar, to the dancefloor, and back, and outside of one incident that the twins almost caused with a group of women, then everything was going smoothly. Frag, even with the incident, I didn't have to get involved. Vox was able to get to them and helped soothe things out before the twins were thrown out. I hadn't even had to leave my seat.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I looked to my right at the waiter who asked that, a pad of paper and pencil in his hands.

Well, I was thirsty and, while I was avoiding having any alcohol, since I was supposed to be observing the others, I figured that water wouldn't hurt. "Just water with lime would be nice. Ice please." I told him as I handed him the two dollars that the water would cost.

He took it and, after writing the order down, he smiled. "Of course, I'll be back quickly with your order. Please continue to enjoy your night."

As the man walked toward the bar, I smiled. Nice service around here. Maybe coming to the club wasn't as bad as I thought it would be? If tonight continued to go this well, I would come back here with the twins and we could just have some fun. The soliforms were having fun and it was pretty relaxing sitting here. The bots were so into mixing with the humans that I doubted they even remembered that I was observing their interactions.

"You're water.". I turned and saw that this man was not the waiter who originally took my order. But, they were probably busy. Also, his eyes seemed to be slightly red, but that was probably just due to a long shift. Not thinking much on it, I took the water from the man, the lime just under the ice, and smiled. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." The man spoke before he walked off. He seemed to be in a rush. Oh well. Probably just needed to help more.

Letting out a sigh, relaxing further into the chair I was sitting in, I put the glass to my lips and took a medium-sized swallow of the liquid. Immediately, though, I let out a cough and set the water down. There was a sharp bitter taste that was not from the lime. They must have gotten some alcohol in my water. Maybe we wouldn't come back here, but another club wouldn't be...they wouldn't…

I felt panicked as I started to get dizzy. Something was wrong. I reached my hand up to grab the glass, to check the contents closer, but I felt even more panic when I realized that my hand wouldn't move how I wanted. I knew I wanted to grab the glass, but my hand kept missing the glass. This wasn't right! I could see the glass clearly in front of me...or maybe not. Why was it moving?

It took my foggy mind a few moments to realize that something had happened to me that I had only heard stories about. I had been drugged! This wasn't good. Once the drug took full effect, I would be helpless to whoever did this. While I tried to get my heart rate up, which thanks to the chip in me would alert Soundwave who could get the twins over to help me, it wouldn't go up. Shit! This was crap!

In this fog, I realized that I was more worried about what Lord Megatron would do if I got taken like this, on a mission that was supposed to be easy, than what the people who did this would do.

...Kinda sad.

"Hang on," I heard a voice seem to echo around me. Forcing my eyes to look in front of me, I saw a man that I had never seen before. Who was he? With my blurry vision, I could see that he had blonde hair in a long ponytail and maybe...maybe purple eyes? Everything seemed to be moving though, so I wasn't sure. Who was he? I couldn't fight against him, though, as he pulled me out of my seat and closer to him.

"Wh...wha…" I tried to force myself to speak. But, these drugs were doing all sorts of havoc to my speech.

"You've been drugged," He whispered to me. "I'm going to take you to your friends, but I need you to trust me." While a part of me didn't want to trust this stranger, he seemed to be helping me. Plus, worst-case scenario, the bots would see that this guy had me and would come up to see him to check on me. So, even though it went in every direction possible, I nodded at him.

The two of us made it only a few steps toward the bar, where I actually remembered seeing the soliforms last when a voice spoke. "Dude, what do you think you're doing? I already had claims to dance with that girl." That...That was the voice of the man who gave me my drink. I didn't say I would dance….I...I can't...modern dancing...I,

"Doubtful," The voice of the guy who was helping me said. "My girlfriend doesn't like to dance with people she doesn't know." Girl...was this what he was planning to do to get me to the bots?

While I was leaning against the guy who just claimed that I was his girlfriend, a second male voice spoke in front of me. "Dude, that's a lie and you know it," Scrap that guy….he...this guy wasn't my...my, "I saw her come in with another group of guys. One of them would be her boyfriend if she had one." Shit...this...Why did it hurt to think?

"Just because my girlfriend came with our friends doesn't mean she isn't my girl." Damn this blonde guy was...good? I think, he was good at lying. It sounded...truth-like.

"If you are her boyfriend, prove it." The voice of the man who gave me my drink spoke. Wait...prove? How was the blonde going…

The world around me seemed to suddenly rush by me as the blonde's head was on the side away from the...at least five guys, from the sounds I was hearing. "Forgive me." I could barely tell that the blonde had spoken to me. Why would he…

The few thoughts I had going through my head instantly vanished when I felt his fingers tilt my chin slightly upward before I felt a soft warmth press against my lips. Was this...was he…? A brief flash of clarity came over me as I found my eyes locking with the violet ones across from them. After what felt like an eternity of me staring in those vast violet eyes, he moved his lips away from mine and turned his head. With the stranger's lips apart from my own, the fogginess and lack of control returned.

"Fine...whatever. Let's get out of this dump." The voice of the guy who gave me the water spoke.

The blonde started to move again and, after a moment, I felt multiple hands on me. I started to panic again until I heard the voices of the twins on either side of me. Then, Vox's and T.C.'s voices jumped in followed by the blonde's voice.

While I didn't pick up most of the words spoken, I did hear the blonde say the name 'Michael', and a couple other words while he pointed at himself. Michael. That was the name of an angel. This man was an angel who had selflessly fallen to help me. My fallen angel.

My vision seemed to go black for what I thought was a moment. But, when my blurry vision returned, I was laying my head down on the back seat of a car. Hmm, comfy seat. I think it's sleepy time. My world then went dark.

Frenzy's 1st P.O.V.

I wasn't sure what to think.

On one servo, I was furious at those five human males that attacked Lizzie like this. How dare these human pieces of scrap poison Lizzie and try to take her. When they attacked her, they attacked the Decepticons and they would pay. No one hurt my sister and got away with it.

But, I also felt upset at myself and the others. This had been, first and most importantly, a mission given to all five of us by Lord Megatron. Work on testing the soliforms. While this seemed like a simple mission, the four of us mechs had forgotten something critical; keep an optic on your team. While I didn't doubt that Lizzie had been watching us, since that was her part in the mission, the rest of us should have kept an optic on her. We were in a small center of human social interaction and that meant that many kinds of humans would be drawn there.

Even pieces of slag like the ones that poisoned Lizzie.

We were all in debt to the blonde human who helped get Lizzie to us. Michael Vladimir Lincoln. He had explained to us what was wrong with Lizzie and had pointed out the men who had done this to her. If he hadn't of stepped in and helped the incapacitated Lizzie, then she could have been really hurt.

Rumble was following the men who did this while Vox had taken Lizzie back to the Nemesis through the bridge and was reporting to Lord Megatron about the situation. While I felt guilty, he seemed to be taking it just as hard, if not even harder, than I was. Maybe it was because of the whole space-bridge incident back then? I didn't know. Once the mech reported to Lord Megatron and returned, I wanted to destroy the men who did this. From the look on T.C.'s face, and I could see it easily from where he was standing next to me, he looked like he wanted to torture these men from now until the end of time.

The sound of motors caused me to look up and I looked surprised when I saw both Vox's and Breakdown's alt mode. I figured that Lord Megatron would send Vox back to help us teach these humans a lesson, but I didn't think that he would green-light more bots coming in on this. Once the two bots parked in front of us, Thundercracker and I moved into one vehicle each. He got into Vox's passenger side while I took a ride with Breakdown.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned the bot as we started to follow Vox to Rumble's coordinates.

Breakdown's soliform appeared next to me before he spoke. "I asked Lord Megatron if I could accompany Vox back. Since there were five humans who attacked the Coordinator, then I argued that five of us should deal with them." That made sense. "Though I was lucky to speak first. By the looks of it, Knockout, Starscream, and Skywarp were all itching to come here instead."

I knew that boss bot was angry at what happened, I could feel it through our bond, but he needed to stay on the ship. We had to do this as humans and I knew boss bot wanted to crush these humans with his own servos. "We let Lizzie down."

Instead of disagreeing with me, I was surprised when Baron, Breakdown's soliform, nodded. "You did. I'm not going to say you didn't. But, you all got her back to the ship in one piece and Knockout says that she'll be fine with some rest." I then noticed that his soliform visibly shivered. "Those humans have no idea what they did. Vox was angry when he was reporting to Lord Megatron, and I don't know how he is going to handle himself once he gets his servos on them."

"Good thing Thundercracker rode with him," I said. I was feeling calmer talking to Baron but, if I was with Vox, I doubted that I would be this calm.

"I'm not sure about that." Baron disagreed with me. "Starscream and Skywarp looked like, if it wasn't for Lord Megatron specifically ordering the others back, that they would have joined us and tore them apart." He then seemed to hesitate. "I have to say though, I'm glad I get to help here. It was because of Lizzie that Vox and I were saved from MECH. She personally went in and got us. Now, I get to return the favor...sort of."

That was another point. Both Vox and Breakdown owed Lizzie a lot. Vox probably felt like he failed Lizzie even more because she had saved him when he needed it but he hadn't realized that she was in trouble.

It wasn't long before we turned a corner and saw Rumble standing by an open gate at a zoo. Lizzie had suggested we go to one when we asked about the different animals on Earth. While zoos didn't have every animal on Earth, they had a variety. Made me wonder why those five would come here?

Once Breakdown and Vox stopped, the four of us walked up to Ryan and he led us through the zoo. As we passed the different animal holdings, I could see that many of them were asleep. But, the closer we moved toward the reptile section of the zoo, I heard the sounds of loud laughter and hisses. After the five of us turned a corner, I felt this soliform's eyes narrow as I saw the five humans who tried to take Lizzie taunting whatever was in that pit.

One of the least drunk ones turned to us and looked back before he quickly turned back to us. "Man, we got company." He then let out a hiccup.

The other five turned at his words and seemed to tense at first. But, then the leader of the group laughed. "Hah! You all are with that girl from the club right? Did her little boyfriend send you to 'teach us a lesson'?" He then finished off a bottle of alcohol in his hand. "You all don't scare,"

And that was all he got out before John moved in front of the human, grabbing him by the scruff of his collar and shoving him until he was leaning over the railing. When the others made a move to stop John, the rest of us jumped in and we each had a human in the same position that John had the leader. "We don't scare you?" John asked. "You should be afraid of us. You attacked one of our own, and that isn't something we can forgive."

"Dude, what the hell? I can't break his grip!" The worm I was restraining complained as he tried to break my hold on him. From similar outcries from the other lackeys, I knew that none of them would be getting away.

"What are you going to do?" The leader suddenly asked John. "Kill us? We have friends in high places that'll be onto you in no time. You have nothing!" He then let out a laugh.

Instead of showing his anger, like I thought he would, John simply paused and glanced to his side. "The Nile Crocodile. Crocodylus niloticus. You must enjoy taunting those that are stronger than you when there is something else protecting you from them." John then caught each of our eyes, and I knew that meant to follow his lead. "What would you do if you didn't have that protection?" John then shoved the leader over the railing and, not one to miss a beat, I did the same.

While I wanted to stay around and watch, I knew that we needed to report back to Lord Megatron. So, as screams started to fill the zoo, the five of us made our way back to John's and Baron's chassis. This night was more productive than I thought.

The next solar, I woke up and used one of the monitors in our room to check the local news where the zoo was located. One of the first articles caused me to smirk. 'Remains of Five Bodies Found in Crocodile Pit'. The rest of the article read that police believed that the men, whose bodies had high amounts of alcohol in them, must have accidentally fallen into the pit after the broke into the zoo.

The perfect way to start the solar.

Zarron: *frowns* Authoress, I think you have something against Wheeljack and me.

Authoress: *confused* Why would you say that?

Wheeljack: *points up to chapter* I don't know, how about you trying to kill us every chapter lately!

Authoress: *shrugs* If I had something against the two of you, you would have died already.

AN: Hey look! Another chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this! I know some parts got pretty serious, but I like to surprise my readers. Both Autobots and Decepticons had to deal with a 'drug' and its effects. With the Autos, we saw them deal with if a being took it willingly without knowing the consequences. With the Cons, however, we got to see how a being can be attacked with drugs. So, if this chapter teaches you anything, it's this: Don't Do Drugs!

This chapter had a lot of hidden gems in it and plus, we got to meet a character who will be reoccurring in this story; Michael Vladimir Lincoln. I am so excited to see the scenes where he appears and I'm sure that the rest of you will learn to love him over time...if you don't already.

Speaking on him, though, I hope the kiss scene was alright. Full disclosure here, I've never been kissed so I am totally going off of what I have read in stories. So, it might be a little tacky..or is it? I will say that some parts of the kiss scene are important for the future.

Next chapter is the beginning of the end for season one and it is going to be one bumpy ride! There will be parts that you will see coming, and others maybe not so much!

Okay, and now for the next couple of chapters!

Chapter 23: Spark Fall

Chapter 24: Enemy Within

Chapter 25... (will be announced next chapter and this will be the last chapter of season 1!)

Alright, that's all for now. Please leave a review so I know you are still there. Saying hi is plenty! Not sure when the next chapter will be up but I can guarantee that it will be fun! Until next time, TTYL! *singing Rolling Down to Old Maui*