Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Starscream: *growls* Authoress, what is this?

Authoress: *acts innocent* What do you mean Starscream?

Blitzwing: *angry* HE MEANS THE TITLE OF THIS YOU GLITCH!

Authoress: *glances* Oh...that...well...*runs*

Starscream: *angry* Get back here you vermin!

Authoress: *screams*

Chapter 49: Access Denied

Scavenger's 1st P.O.V.

Over these past solars since my arrival on this planet, I found that the Decepticons truly seem to be heading in a positive direction...and a direction I could support. Many Decepticons who I knew in the past couldn't stand to be near each other were now working effortlessly together. It was a surprise to see Starscream and Dreadwing of all mechs working together and agreeing on topics. Those two used to get at each other more times than I could count.

And that's not even including Starscream's relationship with Lord Megatron. I was positive that I would have received word half a stellar ago that Starscream had been removed from the Decepticons with a bounty on his helm. The mech always seemed to be trying to take our leader's position at every turn after Tyger Pax. Now, the two seemed closer than ever and, while there was still some slight tension between the two, it was something that I was sure would be non-existent within the stellar.

All of these changes, according to almost every single Decepticon I had talked to on the ship, had been caused by the influence of one femme; Pandimala. It was difficult to not ask about any details regarding her, but I wanted an open processor when I first met her. That was especially considering the talk I had with Lord Megatron the other solar about his feelings for the femme. Honestly, I was almost certain I knew what the feelings he was having were. If I was correct, then there was a bright future ahead for the Decepticons.

"Scavenger, what are you up to?"

I turned to see Dreadwing walking up toward me. So, I paused and waited for him to join me. "I was just thinking about how different the war front here is compared to what I had been told."

Dreadwing nodded. "You were not the only one surprised. Of course, when I arrived, we Decepticons still had a problem in our ranks."

Really? "And what was that?"

The flier frowned at that before answering. "Thrust," I had seen his designation, along with Astrotrain and Airachnid, on the offline-on-sight list. It had surprised me because Thrust was a highly capable strategist and had brought the Decepticons many victories. Of course, I knew that the mech had a seedy side, I just didn't think the mech would slip and let it take over. "He arrived on the ship with Ransack, Crumplezone, and myself. I had no idea the trouble I was bringing to the battle here on Earth."

"What sort of problems did he cause?" I asked as we continued to walk.

"Firstly," So there were a few things. "The mech refused to learn about the terrains here on Earth that might affect his strategies. Secondly, he refused to accept the new respect that we have given the drones. As you have seen, with the training we are now giving each of the drones, their abilities in battle have increased as well as the work they put into the Decepticon cause. But, those could have been worked on with the mech if that had been all. But, the mech went one step too far. He tried to overthrow Megatron using Pandimala."

So, the femme had been in the middle of a coup. And from how Dreadwing is speaking, coups are not treated lightly anymore. "So, how did the femme react when she found out she was being used?"

To my surprise, though, Dreadwing started to shake his helm. "It never got that far. The first time Thrust even suggested to her to try and overthrow Megatron she lost control and used the training room to try and tear him to shreds. Almost succeeded too. Frag half of the mech's faceplate was hanging off of his helm by wires. She didn't even register Lord Megatron telling her to stand down. Blitzwing could barely restrain her so Knockout could sedate her. We found out about his plan to use her to take control of the Decepticons during her cortical psychic patch later on. Unfortunately, Thrust was planetside when that happened and realized that he was going to be made."

"So, he was removed from the Decepticons," I added to that tale. Seemed like Pandimala was turning out to be a femme I could respect more and more.

Dreadwing nodded at that. "Unfortunately, to help cover his tracks, Thrust passed along a one-time way to track the Nemesis to the Autobots and they were able to raid the ship after her patch. It was also at this time that the Autobots captured Pandimala."

"And she ended up in her current situation," I added. "Do you think that our current goal of peace with the Autobots is attainable?"

Dreadwing paused at my question, as I figured he would. The clicks dragged by and he seemed to be thinking about my question. It was known that our goal was to make peace with the Autobots and end this war. From what I had seen, it was moving, slowly, in the right direction. The Autobots seemed to be gaining some clout that they could use at the negotiating table and, from the meeting Lord Megatron had with Pandimala and the Autobot Wheeljack this solar, it seemed like at least one Autobot here on Earth was willing to work with us toward peace. But, I hadn't been on Earth as long as Dreadwing had been, though he hasn't been here too much longer than I have. However, he would still be able to give a decent answer. That was especially since his twin had been around Pandimala almost since her first appearance on the Nemesis.

Finally, Dreadwing nodded. "I do. It won't happen as quickly as I think Pandimala wants it to. No, the Autobots are too fractured for that to happen. But, I think that at the pace we are going, we could see peace before the end of the stellar."

My optic ridges shot up at his estimation. Sure, within five stellars...that I saw. But by the end of this stellar? That seemed a little too hopeful. And he thought that this Pandimala would want it to happen sooner. "Isn't that wishful thinking?"

To my surprise, Dreadwing shrugged his shoulders. "Possibly. However, I have seen the work Pandimala can accomplish in a relatively short period. And those times she wasn't even trying to accomplish those goals. However, with her focused on us having peace with the Autobots, then I can see peace in our very near future." He then stopped in front of a door that I realized was her berthroom. "Now, it is getting late, and I have an early patrol next solar. Have a good night cycle Scavenger." He then opened his door before going inside.

"Good night cycle Dreadwing," I responded to him with a nod.

Once the door was closed, I started to make my way to my room. What he was saying...if this Pandimala did have that kind of influence, then I needed to be prepared for this upcoming peace. I was trying to avoid gaining too much information on the femme for now. However, with the little bits that I was getting, I was realizing that this femme could easily change anything that she set her processor to...and sometimes even things she didn't realize she was affecting. She was a walking evolutionary.

While that sort of power in such an oblivious-seeming femme could cause trouble for everybot, it was evident that she had the right guidance around her to use this gift for our benefit. She was causing major events to happen in mere solars where, during the war, they might happen once every five or ten stellars if we were lucky. While I had been unsure of Dreadwing's peace estimate of the end of this stellar before, now I found myself thinking that it may be possible, and I hadn't even met this wonder-femme yet.

As I arrived at my room, I smiled. I couldn't wait to meet this femme finally. She sounded like the kind of bot I would love to get to know better. Between the way she had changed our faction for the better to the way that she was making Lord Megatron react to her, I knew that the Decepticons had a very bright future ahead of them. And Primus be fragged, I was going to make sure that I was on the front lines to see it all.

Starscream's 1st P.O.V.

I smirked as my soliform held my drink. While I had been nervous about revealing to Wheeljack, of all mechs, about our plans for peace between our factions, I now realized that there was not another mech that I would have wanted to know. Pandimala made the right choice in having the wildcard Wrecker be her inside bot with the Autobots for this. He wasn't an Autobot fanatic, so he wouldn't go running off to tell the rest of the Autobots about this. The mech had his helm on straight. Any lesser of a mech would have left the room as soon as they realized they were surrounded by the enemy.

However, Wheeljack asked the right questions and was open to what we all had to say. I will admit that he had made me nervous when we reminded him about Pandimala's involvement and her true loyalties. Thankfully, we were able to pull off a slight lie when we told him how we knew where their base was before Pandimala arrived. It was only a slight lie though. While we hadn't gone through all of those steps, we would have eventually if it hadn't been for Pandimala's memories. And that was before she arrived at the Autobot base so that part had not been a lie.

Anyways, once the initial mistrust had settled, I had been surprised when Wheeljack pulled me aside to talk to me privately. That was, however, until the Wrecker made known to me what he had witnessed between Pandimala and Lord Megatron. While part of that had been an act, and he realized that the rest of it hadn't been. This solar, I had made a very valuable ally on a front that seemed like I would have to recruit other Decepticons for. It had started to become apparent to me that our strategist and our leader seemed to have feelings for one another. I had feared, given the state of the war before Pandimala's arrival, that our Lord would never find a bot to claim as his equal and possibly give the Decepticons an heir. However, with Pandimala now in sight of our Lord, that hope was reignited and I would be slagged to waste this opportunity.

And Wheeljack had noticed it with Pandimala too. So, we had agreed to work on getting the two oblivious bots to recognize their feelings for each other. Thankfully, both sides of this mission had made the two bots realize that their talk the other solar was, in fact, a date. That was at least one step in the right direction. However, given those two, we had a long way to go to get them to start courting.

I highly doubted that Pandimala would initiate the courting either. Her awe and respect for our Lord ran too high for her to make that first step. Which meant that I had the difficult task of getting Lord Megatron to remove the blinders from over his optics to see what was in front of him. But slag I knew that was going to be difficult. Lord Megatron was as stubborn as a bot could get and, from my trine's questioning him about the date the other solar, I realized that it was going to be like pulling denta to get the mech to realize what he was feeling for Pandimala.

Frag my existence.

Even though Lord Megatron and I were on much better ground than we were before Pandimala's arrival on the Nemesis, I still wasn't his top confidant when it came to personal matters. While that would hinder the progress I would make on this endeavor, maybe I could get more of the Decepticons on board with this. Given the promise our Lord made to our troops at the beginning of the war, about making sure that he gave them a worthy heir, then this was just a little boost to move that promise along. So recruiting more Decepticons to my cause would be beneficial.

Of course, at least I had backup to move my side of this along. Poor Wheeljack was going to have to do all the convincing of Pandimala by himself and, while she wouldn't start the courtings, Wheeljack had to make sure that she would accept Lord Megatron's offer once he finally got the ball-bearings to ask her. And Pandimala, while not quite as stubborn as our leader, definitely ranked high in the stubborn bot list. It was amazing that the once human, who had been so timid when I first met her, could turn into such a hard-helmed femme. But, who knew where the Decepticons would be if she wasn't like that.

I finished off my drink and set the glass on the counter. Well, enough time spent here. I needed to make sure that I was up early the next solar so I could start work on this little project of mine, and see who else I could recruit outside of my trine to help me.

Wheeljack's 1st P.O.V.

"You know femme, a little more warning about that would have been useful," I growled as I pulled off the road and parked out of sight of the highway. When I had come out of recharge this solar, I was not expecting to have to meet with Megatron of all bots about possible peace talks! Maybe some talking, which happened, and maybe some training. Not war-changing talks with the leader of the enemy.

Pandimala's soliform rolled her eyes at that. "Well, what could I have done? Couldn't very well tell you what was going on in case you said no. Can you imagine if I had told you at the base? Somebot could have overheard and by frag I don't need Sentinel coming after me." She physically shivered at that. "Don't want him to know."

"Fair point for that moment," I accepted, "Except what about after we left the base. You know, when we were driving to Neutrality? Because that was a lot of quiet that you could have maybe mentioned this was going to be more than just a catch-up with your boyfriend." I had honestly thought she just wanted to run into Mark again. I had no idea what I had been walking into until Stewart, who I now knew as Starscream's soliform, locked the door. Until that point, I thought it was just another friendly visit like the solar before.

She paused at that and looked out the window. "I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to break it to you. Better to have some backup...you know." She then paused for a nano. "And Lord Megatron isn't my boyfriend! We just did that the other solar so you wouldn't realize that they were all soliforms in there."

Yeah. Right. Pandimala sounded way too defensive. They may not be officially courting yet, but it was obvious that there was a mutual attraction between the two of them. High mutual attraction. "Sure femme, just keep telling yourself that." As much fun as messing with Pandimala about her burgeoning love-life was, we had other matters to discuss. "But, that can be put on hold for now. What are we going to do about this peace that you are trying to get moving?"

The femme sighed before she leaned back on my seat. "Honestly, it's been tougher than I thought it would be with your lot. With the Decepticons, it was honestly easy to work with them. Their command structure doesn't allow wasted time and, given how much easier peace will make our existence it was just a matter of proving I would put in the work to make peace a reality. Plus, I just had to give my reasoning logically, without any emotional backing, to prove that I was seriously looking into this and that peace wasn't just a pipe-dream."

"However, Autobots don't always think with our processors," I added for her. I had seen plenty of times that good, thought-out plans were set aside because a bot got emotional about their ideas.

She nodded. "Exactly. While sometimes logic will make a breakthrough with you all, emotion is the real seller when it comes to arguments with the Autobots, along with some logic. I'm not trained in dealing with emotions for use in arguments. When I started my training, it was all about getting to the most logical ending, period. But, with the Autobots, I have seen the most logical plans thrown right out of the window. Trying to get the Autobots to move toward peace is not going to be easy." She then let out a sigh.

"We have our work cut out for us femme." I agreed with her. "But between the two of us, I think we can make some waves at least. I already spoke about my theory about you Decepticons and peace to Zarron, Balm, and Ratchet. They weren't completely sold that my idea was what you all were working toward, but did agree that it had merit." Hopefully, that would give her some more hope that the Autobots were able to be turned to peace.

But, instead of relief, her look turned to confusion. "What else could all of our holding back mean to them?"

I let out a short laugh at that. "One of the other ideas that were thrown out was that you all are trying to lull us into a false sense of security before you launch an attack at us."

"Plausible, I guess." Pandimala seemed to agree after a click before she continued. "But that would be too much wasted energy and resources to simply lull you all into that security. There are other ways for the Decepticons to have done that without losing the Star Sabre or the first Omega Key." She then paused and smirked. "And it seems like we just evened out on keys. There was a scuffle in Colorado a few clicks ago that got us the fourth key. From what I'm being reported, Flamewar and Arcee seemed to get into an argument during the fight that allowed Flare...that's one of the drones, to get away from them with the key."

"Slag it," I grumbled. I had kinda hoped that we would get three keys. But, if the Decepticons weren't going to be holding back as much as Megatron had implied, then it made sense since the Autobots were still fractured. "And I was kinda hoping that the Autobots would get three keys." I then shrugged. "Oh well. I'd probably be madder if I didn't know that you all are trying to bring peace between us." But, then I realized something and smirked. "Of course, this might help out a little at the base. Attitudes at the base, as you saw, seemed to focus around the fact that we were untouchable now that Prime had the Star Sabre. But, with this key falling to your lot, the others might realize that we still have to work together to fight the Decepticons."

"And in turn might help bring the Autobots closer together," She added. "Especially since all of the Omega Keys are in play. Your lot will have to accept more logic into what is going on around you...including some hints about meeting with the Decepticons for talks about how to use the Omega Keys since each side has two." I smirked as she got more excited as she talked. "This might be exactly what we needed! Let's get back to base right away. We are going to need our recharge to start working with this information tomorrow."

In response, I started my engine before making my way back to the base. She was right. This was the perfect step for us to use to get the Autobots to start thinking about peace. Slag, the other solar I was barely playing around with the theory of this war ending soon. Now, though, I was looking at a chance for peace to be a real option.

Once we returned to the base, Pandimala's soliform exited my chassis and so I transformed. Then, I escorted her soliform to her room. Once she was standing in front of the door, and I made sure that it was still locked for her, I looked down at her. "Alrighty, everything is still locked up tight. Make sure you get a good recharge femme."

She laughed at that. "You too, mech. Have a good recharge." Her soliform then fizzled out.

Well, I had better go and do what she said. I knew better than to get a femme angry at me. And, just from the training sessions I had with her, I knew to not get that femme angry. Pandimala had a real mean right hook if she was able to get it to connect.

...Which she could do a lot.

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

I could feel my spark racing as my systems vaulted me out of recharge. What the frag was going on? Onlining my optics, I glanced around to see that I was strapped down to my berth and I couldn't speak. What the frag? Immediately, I tried to activate my comms. But, they weren't activating. Why weren't they activating? Maybe a private message? Yeah, there were only a few things in the known galaxies that could stop a private message from going through! That had to work. But, as soon as I tried to send an S.O.S. to Wheeljack, I received an error message saying that the message couldn't connect. No! Something wasn't right.

Focusing my optics, I realized that I was not alone in my room. On either side of my berth were Pitch and Sentinel, staring down at me with angry expressions. Slag! I tried to ask them what they wanted with me, but my vocalizer wouldn't produce any words. They must have done something. So, I settled with just glaring at the two of them. And where was Flamewar? I was surprised that she wasn't involved in whatever this was.

"You look a little confused femme," Pitch spoke as Sentinel moved a little away from my berth. As my optics followed him, I finally noticed that Flamewar was sitting on the table next to me. "Well, let me spell this out for you since you won't remember anything after this anyways." I felt my optics widen at the implication in his vocals. "You are working against our goals, and we can't have that. So, we are going to take that cortical psychic patch," I followed his motion and felt my optics widen at that sight of said patch. "And find out all the secrets you are hiding before we put you in a state where the Autobots think you're offline. After that, it'll be a simple matter of finding the highest bidder. For a triple-changer and a femme to boot, you should make us a pretty credit. I heard Lockdown and Swindle were in this sector. They usually pay out good credits for rare bots."

"Shut up Pitch. No need to waste your vocals. She won't remember any of this anyways." Flamewar snapped at the mech as she started to lay down.

I was surprised when Pitch shook his helm at her. "Now Flamewar, you have your little ticks when you go about your business. Let me enjoy mine." He then turned back to me. "Of course, depending on what information we can draw out of that helm of yours, our profit will go through the stars. Plus, we get you out of the way for our plans. I won't share that, just in case you remember some little details, but with you out of the way our goals will be smooth going from here."

"Alright Pitch, we're ready to hook her up," I felt my spark rate increase slightly. Looking to my right, my optics widened when I saw that Flamewar was hooked up to the other side of the patch, and the monitor in my room was set up so the other two could watch as well. No! They couldn't get the information in my processor! It was too dangerous for the likes of them to have it! I couldn't let them have it.

"You might want to just accept this," Pitch said with a smirk as Sentinel walked behind me.

I flinched as I felt his digits lift my helm. "You may feel a slight pinch," Sentinel said in a mocking tone before I felt the grips of the patch latch onto my helm. Then, my vision went dark.

When I opened my optics, I saw that Flamewar and I were in the room that I had been in when Lord Megatron had performed my patch. No, "You need to get out of here." I could finally speak as I faced Flamewar.

She smirked. "Pity we couldn't keep your vocals shut in here. Would make my job easier." She then started to move toward the door with the old Decepticon insignia. No! She couldn't! That information in their servos could throw the entire timeline into chaos, and then peace would never be an option. They would know everything! I couldn't let her!

"You don't know what you are doing! You need to," I started to yell at her as she moved toward the door handle. As I said this, I also started to run towards her, in a futile hope to maybe physically stop her.

However, I stopped myself in shock when, as she touched said door handle, blue sparks suddenly appeared. "Slag!" Flamewar growled as she backed up. What was going on? This didn't happen last time. "What's going on Sentinel?" She demanded as more sparks started to fill the room.

But, from the lack of response on the outside, they seemed to be just as confused as we were. Why was this happening? From what the show had said, there was no way any Cybertronian could stop a cortical psychic patch. I knew that I wasn't doing anything to cause this. A part of me wished I was until one of the ever-increasing sparks jolted against my wings. "Scrap," I growled as pain shot through me. Seemed like I wasn't immune to whatever my processor was doing at the click.

As Flamewar seemed to be panicking, my processor was going lightyears to figure out just what could have caused…

And just like that, the answer hit me as the sparks grew into a lightning web that was trying to hit everything inside. Anger pulsed through my chassis as a growl escaped my vocals, causing the sparks to move even faster. But, I barely registered the few times they hit me. Paul! That creation of a glitch! He must have done something during one of my naps. He must have snuck into my room and made it so nobot could get into my processor. I was going to offline him! Team him limb from limb!

A scream ripped out of my vocals as more of the lightning started to impact my chassis. This pain seemed to be burning straight through my circuits. Vaguely, I felt Flamewar's presence disappear from my processor as I seemed to be trapped here. The voltages just seemed to increase as I continued to stand there. I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't move! The three on the outside didn't seem keen on disconnecting my side of the patch, as they seemed to have with Flamewar.

Another scream came out of my internal vocals as a large bolt of electricity engulfed me before my vision went black.

Authoress: *hiding in secret hiding spot* Now I just need to make sure I live.

Starscream: *in distance* Oh Authoress, what did you do?

Authoress: I am so thankful they can't see parts they aren't a part of.

Wheeljack: *in same distance* Starscream, I need to speak with you immediately.

Authoress: *gulps* I'm so dead.

AN: And here is the next chapter! That went from zero to ten thousand real quick. So much hope felt during the beginning just for our least favorite trio to screw it up...with some unexpected help from our favorite god in disguise, Paul! Well, I don't want to give too much away so I'll just zip my lip and give you all the next chapters!

Chapter 50: The Death-Bell Tolls

Chapter 51: Changing Fates

Chapter 52:... (enjoy the wait for this one. You won't find this out until I post it since it is the beginning of season 3)

And that's all for now. Please drop a review in to let me know what you thought of this, or to say hi. Also, if you haven't voted on the poll on my page yet, please take a click to go over and do so. As you can see, we are almost into season 3 and that means that time is decreasing before that third story is going to start. And once that first chapter is posted, the poll will be closed. Two of the choices are close enough where a handful of votes could make the difference in either choice. *looks at the choice I was hoping for with 1 vote* Well, it was a hopeful choice. Anyways, that's all for now. Until next time, TTYL! *wondering how much longer I have to live before Starscream finds out what happened and finds me*