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

Skywarp: Authoress, explain why you are trying to kill Lizzie.

Authoress: I can't! It'll ruin the story. I can't say anything and you glitches know that!

Starscream: *frowns* There are ways of making you talk human.

Megatron: *in distance* Where is the Authoress?

Authoress: *gulps* Oh slag.

Chapter 28: Let's Hit Reset

Icy's 1st P.O.V.

"Zhis is embarrassing," I muttered to myself as I moved through the caves. I was a Decepticon. I was ruthless, fearless, loyal, and willing to follow Lord Megatron's orders no matter what. Charging helm-first into battle on orders was something that was natural for me.

So to be lost in the caves of this mine was a large blow to my ego.

"Ve keep going round and round!" Random laughed inside my helm as I continued to, hopefully, move forward.

"I told you ve should have taken zhe right back zhere." Hothead grumbled in my helm as well.

Shaking my actual helm, I came to a fork in the path and went to the left. "Zhat vould have taken us back to zhe battle. Moving the vay I did vill bring us to zhe surface faster."

Hothead grumbled in my processor for a few clicks before he said, "If we aren't out of these caves in five clicks, then I am taking over."

Of course, as I walked, I knew that we needed to get out. If that meant that Hothead had to be in control, then I would do that. We had our orders and I would make sure that they were followed through. Lizzie was in danger earlier, and more dangerous than the energon that had been in her systems. No, that danger had taken the form of that glitch Airachnid. When I heard that she had attacked Lizzie, I had been ready to leave the battle at that click and hunt the miserable femme down.

However, I had ordered by Lord Megatron, at that click, to remain in the battle. While I wanted to take out that femme, I was completely loyal to my leader. So, I had fought. I had fought any Autobot that came across my path and took out the anger that I was feeling at Airachnid. It felt amazing to tear into the Autobots like this.

But, then my Lord sent me a private message for a new mission and now I found myself here.

"Zhe light! Zhe light!"

I came out of my thoughts when Random cheered that and it was only then that I realized that, true to his words, there was light at the end of the path we were on. In only a few short steps more, I felt relief as the breeze hit my wings. Finally, I was outside. Above, I could see the Nemesis floating nearby. "See, ve made it out."

"Lucky," Hothead grumbled.

I just shook my helm and, as my optics returned to the ship, my thoughts went to the battle that was being taken place on there as I stood here. Lizzie was fighting for her very existence up there. It was strange. I had first heard of her on the ship while I was being repaired by the medics. Knockout would mention her every once in a while and I had been really curious about her. A human. Weak creatures from what I had seen. And yet, one was on the Nemesis and working toward being a Decepticon, and a strategist at that. A human who had been online only a servo-full of solars while we all had thousands upon thousands of stellars on the femme. I found it almost crazy that she was even attempting to try.

That was probably what first drew me toward being her ally.

For a while, I was only able to have access to information on her through stories that mainly Knockout would tell of the femme, though both Hook and Shockwave would say something about her every once in a while. It was the night before her test on Rudulf Island that I finally got to meet the human in the flesh.

Flashback

Finally, I was released from the med bay. Being forced to be still for so long was to the point where even I was having the anxiety to move. But, Pitch had done a lot of damage to my helm and we had to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it.

"Ve are going straight to zhe training room to get some rounds in before recharge," Hothead demanded as I turned a corner.

"Zhat vould be wise. Ve do not know vhen we might be called into battle and ve must be ready." I agreed with Hothead. Training seemed like a wise approach to ending this solar.

So, I focused on making my way to one of the training rooms. Once I arrived, I was surprised to hear the sound of light fighting on the other side. Not many bots used the training room at this time and I had been prepared for using the dummies to practice with and maybe some target practice. Decided to figure out what was going on in the room, I opened the door and walked in.

My optics widen slightly in surprise to see Skyquake, in his soliform, trading blows with a girl who I was assuming was the human I had been hearing so much about. She was not what I was expecting. From everything that Knockout was saying, I was expecting some mutant human that looked different than other humans. But, the human girl that was fighting with Skyquake's soliform seemed to be just a regular human. Nothing special about her.

I flinched when a timer suddenly went off and I realized that they must have been timing their practice. "Good work this solar Lizzie. Your balance recovery has improved a lot. However, you are aren't controlling the power behind your punches. Going full out with each punch will tire you out in a battle quickly. You need to gauge the strength of your opponent's punches and then make yours just a little more powerful."

The human nodded at Skyquake's words. "I'll work on that. Of course, it sounds like I pretty much have to take a gamble at how much power they are going to use."

"And zhat's the fun of zhe battle!" Random took over and said before I could stop him.

Both Skyquake and the human jumped at his interruption. While Skyquake looked nervous, which was the usual reaction that bots had around me, it was the human's reaction that had me curious. There was no sense of hesitation in her eyes.

I was surprised, as it seemed so was Skyquake, when Lizzie started laughing while nodding. "Oh, I guess you're right there. I'll have to remember that." Wait...was she agreeing with Random?

"Um...Lizzie," Skyquake started to say. "Are you alright?"

She, to my surprise, continued to laugh as she nodded. "I'm fine." She then finally seemed to calm down. "And he's right. I'm supposed to be a strategist. My whole purpose for the battle is to play with the odds and make the best decision. That is the same thing that you are saying." She then glanced up at me before motioning to herself. "The name's Lizzie Val, though you can call me Lizzie if you like. Who are you?"

I was going to introduce us when Hothead took over. "Frag right we are right. Collectively I am known as Blitzwing. But, when I am out, you can call me Hothead."

Random then took over control. "Oh! I'm Random! You look like a fun human!" He then started to laugh.

Finally, I was able to take control of our chassis. "And I am known as Icy." After I said that, though, I studied her reaction to my personalities. Usually, my being a triple changer was enough to make bots wary of me. When they found out that I had multiple personalities, then they would be extremely hesitant around me.

Instead of any hesitation, though, the human simply smiled up at me. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm sorry I can't stay up more to chat with you mechs, but I have had a long solar and I need to get into recharge before the twins come hunting me...again." She then nodded toward Skyquake's soliform before she walked into the washracks.

Skyquake then deactivated his soliform before returning to his chassis, which was in the corner of the room. "Are you...alright?" He asked me with slight hesitation.

Turning to him, I nodded. "I am fine." Then, I motioned to the door the human just went through. "The human….is she always so…" Then, for the first time in a while, I couldn't think of a word to describe the girl.

"Unusual?" Skyquake added. Yes, that sounded about right. So, I nodded. "To be blunt; yes. Metaphorically, Lizzie is strangely adept at rolling with the punches that existence throws at her. Plus, she has one mean left hook."

"But, she didn't even hesitate around me!" Hothead took over and exclaimed all of our surprise.

Skyquake shook his helm at that. "One of her flaws, we are all sure." I looked at him at that and felt like ripping off his helm. Why would it be a flaw to not hesitate around me? "And I don't mean around you. If it was just you, then I think we would all be relieved. But, Lizzie doesn't hesitate around anybot other than Lord Megatron. She's already gotten on Astrotrain's bad side and he has made it no secret that he would go after her if he could. She won't stay out of his way though. So, what she says to you is one-hundred percent her. Trust me, the more time you spend around her, the more you'll see."

End of Flashback.

And he was right. From how she used me in the fight on Rudulf Island to every other interaction we had since Lizzie has shown me what Knockout was talking about and what Skyquake meant. She was almost super-human, and she looked just normal.

Now, it was time for me to keep an optic out for her, as she had for us during her strategies. When I had received Astrotrain's ping a few nanos ago, I had been nervous about answering him. First off, I didn't want to admit that I was lost. However, the second reason why I didn't respond to him was that Lord Megatron had given me special orders to stay under the radar for this mission. With Airachnid's attack on Lizzie, Lord Megatron felt like Astrotrain might also see the opportunity to take out Lizzie and deal with her. So, being one of the few bots on the ship, outside of Lord Megatron, who could take Astrotrain on fairly I had to keep my location from everybot.

The sound of an explosion drew my attention toward the Nemesis and I felt my optics widen when I saw that there was smoke coming out of the area where the med bay was...and where Lizzie was. "Lizzie!" Random screamed in worry as he took over before I again took over and transformed.

I had to get to the ship, and now, to see what had happened and, if it was Astrotrain, then I had to stop him! "Lord Megatron," I started to report as I flew.

"What has happened Blitzwing?" Was my leader's immediate response.

As I drew closer to the Nemesis, I gave my report. "There has been an explosion on the Nemesis."

Zarron's 1st P.O.V.

Something wasn't right.

For this entire battle, it seemed like the Decepticons were focusing on keeping us Autobots as apart from each other as they could and as distracted as they were able. I had been fighting Vox for a lot longer than I had thought I would even in this battle. From what I was hearing from the others, they had switched partners a lot here and it was keeping everybot else off balance. Yet, Vox and I had been trading blows for almost the entire battle. Of course, could the traitor answer me as to why he betrayed the Autobots? No! So, I was no closer to finding answers for Remcy than I was before I got to Earth.

Of course, that wasn't what wasn't feeling right at this click. What wasn't feeling right was the fact that the Decepticons had just formed ranks and, for the first time since the battle had begun, all of us Autobots here were together. Many of us looked roughed up and I was feeling upset with myself for not asking for another medic to come to Earth sooner. Our energon supplies here on Earth were about to be stretched incredibly thin once we left this battle.

However, from how the Decepticons were formed around each other, they looked like they were about to leave at last. What had changed for them to leave now? It seemed like a random time for them to leave. Also, as I studied their line, I noticed that three of the officers were missing. Where were Blitzwing, Airachnid, and Astrotrain? I hadn't heard of Airachnid conflicting with any of us for a while and Astrotrain had been absent from reports for a while too. While Blitzwing hadn't been gone from the reports as long as the other two, his absence was strange.

Glancing by one of the energon veins, I felt my optics widen at what I saw. There looked to be a small charge by it and it was attached to the energon. Why would the Decepticons attached a charge to their energon unless…

"What has happened Blitzwing?" My attention was pulled from the charge by Megatron suddenly saying that. After a few nanos, I flinched and took a step back at the angered look that appeared in Megatron's optics. Whatever Blitzwing had just old the leader, it was not good news. "Decepticons, fall back now!" Yeah, from that yell, Megatron was not happy.

But, as they disappeared into their ground bridge, I knew that I had to tell Optimus about the charges. "Optimus, there are charges by the energon!" I motioned to the charge that I saw as I said that.

Immediately, Prime's optics widened before he activated his comm. "We need a bridge now!" Once our bridge was opened, he motioned to the transport. "All Autobots, through our bridge now!"

"What?" Flamewar tried to start to argue.

But, as the others started to run in, the femme seemed to give in and ran in as well. I waited until everybot but Optimus had run in before I did as well. Prime and I ended up running next to each other and, as we reached the inside of the bridge, I could hear the energon exploding behind us. That was a little too close for comfort.

"Are all Autobots accounted for?" Optimus asked.

Everybot sounded off, weakly in some cases, and in turn, I gave my response to the Prime. Ratchet said he was going to start repairs right away but, since other bots had more damage than I did, I told the doc just to send somebot to come to get me when he got through everybot else.

Before they could even argue, I started to make my way through the halls and toward my room. Something about that battle wasn't settling right with me.

"Worried about what bucket head did there at the end?" I glanced to my right and saw Wheeljack had caught up to me. "And I'm not talking about the explosion either. You saw the battle reports just like the rest of us."

Nodding, I spoke my processor. "I am. From what Optimus was reporting when he fought the leader, Megatron was distracted and thinking about something. Optimus even almost got information on one of the humans they have, Lizzie, out of him. Then, as we were about to leave the battle, he gets a call from Blitzwing and he looks like Unicron's fury incarnate. Something isn't adding up with the Decepticons."

Wheeljack seemed to agree with me. "You're right. But, with the stress our systems had from the fight, we probably need to get recharged and patched up before putting our processors together on this."

While I wanted to talk more to the mech about this, I knew that he was right. Since we had arrived at my room at this point, I stopped and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll set an alarm to wake in about four cycles. I figure that will cut down the repair line a bit."

"Then I'll do the same."

The two of us then parted ways as I entered my room. Once the door was closed, I didn't waste a nano in laying onto my berth and shutting down my systems. As I felt myself slip into unconsciousness, the look on Metatron's faceplate as he was leaving flashed in front of me. Whatever caused him to react like that, I had a feeling it was going to change the battle on Earth for both sides.

Knockout's 1st P.O.V.

My intakes struggled to cool me as I tried to online my optics. What the frag had happened? I mean, I knew I had been dodging Astrotrain's strikes, but what the frag caused that explosion? Nothing that we were doing would have been able to cause that sort of explosion. Astrotrain might have been able to do that if his weapons had been deployed. But, the triple changer had been using his brute strength to take me out...or try to at least. No, something else had caused the explosion.

Glancing in the corner where Lizzie's med berth should have been, I felt my spark clench when I saw that, given the markings on the floor and the absence of the berth, that it must have been the center of the explosion. Lizzie...she was...she couldn't be gone. No! I refused to believe it. But, even as I thought that I knew that it was pointless thinking. Lizzie was human, and that meant that she was even more vulnerable to explosions than we were. I doubted that even Astrotrain would have survived such an explosion if he was the center point of it.

But, what had caused the explosion to happen in the first place? Nothing that I was working on with Lizzie should have caused the energon in her systems to combust and, while I did not know much about the dark energon in her veins, I doubted that it would have combusted. If it would have, then it would have done so when it first clashed with the energon in her body.

Perhaps Astrotrain had done something to her when his backplates had been turned to me? It was the only reasonable explanation that I could think of. But, then I thought about the instant the explosion happened. Astrotrain seemed to be just as surprised that the explosion was taking place as I was.

I had to get over to where the med berth was to see if I could find some remnant of her, to see if it would explain what happened. But, as I tried to stand, I felt a sinking feeling enter my spark. My legs...they weren't moving. Either they were temporarily offline, or the explosion had done more damage than it felt like right now. Glancing back at my pedes, I flinched when I saw that it was the second option. My chassis had to be in shock to not register the pain that I should be in. My legs...my pristine legs...they were off to the side and not attached to my chassis.

"Medic," I felt my spark-beat quicken as I heard my title come out of Astrotrain's vocals. When I turned to him, I saw that, while he had damage, he could at least stand and move. "This is where you meet your end." As he started to limp closer to me, I started to see my existence flash before my optics. All of the hard times, friends that I had met, the battles that I had survived; they were all going before my optics as the sound of the triple changer's pedesteps grew closer to me.

Plink.

The visions in front of my optics suddenly stopped as that sound echoed through the now eerily quiet med bay. Astrotrain, who had frozen at the sound, slowly turned to the area of rubble where Lizzie had been. When I heard an angry growl come from the triple changer, I felt hope. Had, against all the odds in existence, Lizzie somehow survived the explosion? It seemed impossible. Her fleshy body should have been scattered, if not evaporated. But, something now had Astrotrain's attention as he knelt on the ground in front of the far wall, that I could barely even see due to the damage my optics must have received.

To my surprise, a slight gagging sound suddenly broke the silence as Astrotrain seemed to be doing something in the corner. From how his arms seemed to be positioned, he was strangling something that was...his size? Had Blitzwing entered the med bay before the explosion? Something wasn't making sense but, since I couldn't move, I wasn't much help.

The sound of pedesteps caused my spark to lift. Help was on the way! Astrotrain must have heard them too because the triple changer seemed to leave his target alone and bolted out of the side entrance of the med bay. I hoped that triple changer would burn in the Pit for this.

Since the danger was gone, though, I looked over to where Astrotrain had been and focused my optics. I rerouted whatever programs I could afford to have offline to them to see just what Astrotrain had been…

When the object finally became clear to me, I felt my spark stop in shock. This...this shouldn't be possible.

It wasn't possible.

Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I was going to have my vengeance. Somehow, an attacker had boarded the Nemesis and had set off an explosive. I had my suspicions that the culprit was AStrotrain. His query about the battle positions of all of us when he was injured, it would have been him planning to attack Lizzie and his wanting to make sure that he had no interference. I had a feeling that the mech had been working with Airachnid on this goal and, after her failure, he had made sure that he would not.

From where the explosion seemed to be located, then I was sure that the mech had succeeded.

A growl escaped me at the thought of the, at least, one asset that the traitor had cost me. I had spent countless cycles training that human to be a strategic mind that could keep up with the Decepticons and what we needed to do to move forward. Not only that but the cycles that my troops and I had spent in training the human in combat training. All of that work was gone.

I had even spoken to Shockwave, in top secrecy, to see if it might be plausible to remove the humanity from our human. Turning her into one of us would show the pinnacle of the ability that I had seen dormant in her that solar I first discovered her potential as a strategist. Removing her flesh from her chassis and replacing it with the metal that we bore, Lizzie would have been a masterpiece of destruction against the Autobots. Shockwave said that the process might be possible, but would need considerable research to make it plausible for application.

That possibility, however, was no more. There was no possible way for our human to survive that force of a blast.

The sound of pedesteps fast approaching me caused me to slow my movements toward the med bay. In a few nanos, Blitzwing rounded a corner. Once our optics met, the triple changer slowed to a stop before bowing in front of me. "Astrotrain was able to escape us, my liege. I witnessed him escaping from the side entrance of the med bay and attempted to give chase. But, the coward was, unfortunately, able to outmaneuver me."

It was confirmed. Astrotrain had attacked Lizzie and had fled from the scene. So, I contacted Soundwave, who had my permission to check on his two symbiots. "Soundwave, Astrotrain has become a traitor to the cause. Ensure that word of his betrayal spreads quickly."

"As you command, Lord Megatron. ~Soundwave" The mech sent in a private message.

I had sent the other Decepticons, outside of Hook, to Shockwave's lab to start their repairs from the battle. Hook was only with me because I felt like Knockout would have been in the explosion, though he had a high chance of survival, and so I would need the medic with me to examine him quickly. "Blitzwing, report to Shockwave's lab for repairs."

"Yes, my Lord." Icy responded to me before he slowly moved away. Even though the mech had not hesitated in his answer, I had seen the disappointment in his optics. I had seen the same disappointment in the others under my command when I had given them the same order. They had to know the inevitability of Lizzie's fate, and yet they must have wanted to confirm it themselves. Hook would be able to report to them, though.

Once we arrived at the doors to the med bay, I quickly entered to take in the situation. As I thought, Knockout had survived the explosion. However, he seemed to take more damage than I thought. It would take a lot of work for Hook to reattach the medic's legs to his chassis. "Hook, see to Knockout."

The medic nodded toward me. "Yes, Lord Megatron." He then moved over to Knockout and began his scans. As he did though, I studied the red medic where he lay. Even though the mech was awake, I could see that he was in some form of shock. My first assumption was that he was in shock of losing his legs. However, as Hook started to work on reattaching them, Knockout still hadn't was then that I noticed that Knockout was staring into the far corner of the med bay.

So, I moved my gaze toward that direction. When I did, however, I found myself staring in surprise. Beneath the rubble, that must have been created by the explosion, was a large war build femme. I could see her coloring was black with lime green markings, and she was most definitely unconscious. I had no memory of a femme like this before, and she should not have been able to have access to the ship.

As I walked toward the femme, I felt a strange pull on my spark. I wasn't sure why that happened, and so I ignored it as I knelt in front of the femme. She was lightly damaged and, from the stress marks on her neck cables, it seemed like somebot had tried to strangle her. From the size of the marks, I was positive that it had been Astrotrain to inflict that damage on her. But, why would the triple changer attack this unknown femme? I lightly grabbed hold of her chin and started to move it to check for any more injuries.

When an unconscious groan escaped the femme, I felt my optics widen and I slowly stood up. Now, I understood Knockout's shocked expression and why Astrotrain would attack this femme. As soon as I heard that groan, I recognized the vocal pattern immediately. Since Shockwave and Hook were both busy at the click, I contacted the next best mech with the medical experience that was available. "Soundwave, report to med bay immediately with a medical kit."

"As you wish, Lord Megatron ~Soundwave."

As I closed the line with my third in command, I studied the femme in front of me in continued surprise. It seemed like fate had heard my wishes and decided to grant me just what I wished for. For, this femme in front of me was, without a shadow of a doubt;

Lizzie Val.

All Decepticons: *stare in shock*

Authoress: *glances around worried* Um...is somebot going to let me down?

AN: And here is the newest chapter of this story! Yes! It has finally happened! The mine arc has finally come to an end and we are going to be getting into the swing of things with the next few chapters. I wonder what is going to happen when 'Lizzie' wakes up?

Then, in our snippet with the Autobots, we see that Zarron and Wheeljack are seeing that something is happening with the Decepticons, though they aren't sure what that is. Something for us to think about.

So, in the next chapter, we will definitely be getting some time with the 'Cons and 'Lizzie's' new form. It should be a fun ride!

So...the next chapters in stunning view...

Chapter 29: Baby Steps

Chapter 30: Walking on Two Pedes

Chapter 31:... (It will be next time my readers!)

And that's all for now. A quick note though, if you are a Decepticon on the phone game Transformers: Earth Wars, you can join the Dragon Scouters! I have no one in my alliance yet and I am not the greatest player out there, though I try. If you want to, you all can come and join me!

Okay, enough of that. Please leave a review, either to comment or say hi, and I will greatly appreciate it! Until next time though, TTYL! *amazed at all the typing I have completed*