So... Y'all are actually 5 chapters behind my DeviantArt account so I figured I'd get you caught up. Here's chapter 4.
Note: :: blah :: is Liliy watching video feed.
Liliy came out of recharge with a slight jolt. Her sensors were warning her that a ground bridge opened nearby.
"Are you sure about this, Optimus?" she heard Ratchet ask.
"It is the best option at this time," Prime replied.
Liliy got to her feet and adjusted her cloak on her shoulders. From her space on the catwalk, she could see most of the command center. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee stood waiting by the active ground bridge. Optimus stood next Ratchet by the bridge controls. And the children were gathered on the platform above said controls.
Wondering what was going on, Liliy hurried to the elevator.
"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus' command rang out just as the doors closed.
She took the elevator down the top tier.
"Where are they going?" she asked as the Bots disappeared and the bridge powered down.
"They are going to assist Agent Fowler," answered Ratchet.
"Agent Fowler?" repeated Liliy, confused.
"Oh, that's right. You haven't got to meet him yet," said Miko.
"Special Agent Fowler is the Bots' liaison to the government basically," supplied Jack.
"The Bots just left to help him transport something called the DNGS because Cons shot down his plane," added Raf.
"I think I've heard of that. Isn't it just a prototype though?" Liliy mused. "What would the Decepticons want with it?"
"I don't have a clue. What would Starscream want with a primitive piece of tech?" wondered Ratchet.
"Yeah," Liliy agreed in a low voice as she wandered over to her chair.
She pulled her headband down over her eyes to become a visor and she pulled her hood up so no one would notice it. Sending out a request for video feed of the Autobots, she curled up in the chair to wait.
Echo, the Communications Officer on duty, received the message. He transferred the request to the mech best suited for the job. That mech, in turn, requested a bridge to the airspace above the Autobots' location. Not fond of flying in tight spaces, the mech transformed as soon as he entered the vortex. He ran through and jumped out the other side. Transforming back to his vehicle mode, he hovered for a moment to gain his bearings and find the Autobots. As soon as he spotted them, he took off after them.
A message popped up on the inside of Liliy's visor. She opened it and was pleased to see a live feed of the Bots' convoy.
:: The Autobots traveled along a two-lane highway through a mountainous region, Optimus pulling a trailer in the lead. The big rig got on the tail of a slow moving old pickup. Eventually, it pulled over to let them pass. When the road began to curve and twist around the mountains, Bumblebee took the lead from Optimus. And that's also when they picked up another tail. A military grade helicopter trailed not too far behind the convoy. It was followed by a pack of five green and black sports cars. ::
{...A whole team of Cons.} Agent Fowler's voice filtered through the comm link.
:: The cars caught up to the Bots and surrounded Bulkhead. ::
"What?" asked Ratchet, staring up at the monitor. "I'm not picking up anything. They must be utilizing a cloaking technology."
"Or they are human," Liliy commented loudly. "I mean, not everyone on this planet is peaceful you know."
"You could be right," agreed Ratchet. "Optimus, there is a chance that your assailants are human since I am not receiving any Decepticon signals. Be careful."
:: One of the cars pulled to the front to try to block Bumblebee. A second pulled alongside Optimus' driver door. The sunroof on the car slid back and a masked man stood up to point a large gun at Prime's window. ::
A moment later, Optimus replied. {You are correct, Ratchet. Our assailants are human, not Decepticons.}
"Nice call, Liliy," said Miko.
:: Optimus swerved and bumped the car as they were about to shoot. The man misfired twice as the car swerved on impact. It corrected course and fell back. It went around to Prime's other side to try again. Bee dropped back and bumped them. He bumped them again and they hit a rock on the side of the road. The car flipped a few times before it landed on its roof and was left behind by the others. ::
Liliy sent Echo another message ordering him to monitor for actual Con movements. Then she sent a request to Leecher to have them tail the Bots, just in case.
Leecher complied with Liliy's request and bridged onto the highway a few curves back so they wouldn't be spotted. The matte black El Camino remained behind the humans' helicopter to avoid suspicion. That's when they took notice of a second helicopter high above the road. They recognized the peach and pistachio green paint job and knew that Liliy was watching.
:: Another of the green cars pulled alongside Optimus. The passenger managed to get out and jump aboard the big rig. Prime swerved and knocked the car off the road and down a small cliff. The man was still on Optimus. Agent Fowler climbed out of Prime's cab to nab the guy but he ended up accidentally knocking him off so he just climbed back into the cab. ::
:: The three remaining cars stayed behind Prime with Bulkhead until the road straightened out again for a long stretch. One of the cars got close to the rear of the trailer. The passenger leaned out of the sunroof as before and fired three shots at the back. Three electro-charges embedded themselves into the lock and fried it. The lock popped open and the trailer door rolled up. As the car moved closer to the open trailer to let the passenger jump in, Arcee suddenly came flying out of the trailer in vehicle mode. She landed on the hood of the car and bounced off. The driver swerved and the car ended up flipping on its side and rolling. The cars behind swerved to avoid it but it cost them momentum and the Autobots surged ahead with Arcee joining Bee in the lead. ::
"Optimus," Ratchet spoke into the comm as the convoy entered the mountains again. "Prepare to initiate phase two. Five miles ahead to the south you will reach the rendezvous point."
:: As the group neared a tunnel, some railroad tracks came along and ran parallel to the road. There was a train on the tracks going in the same direction. The Autobots turned down into the rail bed and entered the train tunnel. The cars tried to follow but there was an explosion at the entrance and they had to skid to a stop to avoid being crushed by falling rocks. ::
The cars quickly got back up onto the roadway to follow through the highway tunnel. Leecher entered behind them. They got right on their tails and transformed. They dove over them, transformed back into vehicle mode and jammed on their brakes. Being in a tunnel, the cars had nowhere to go and slammed right into the back of them. Built like a tank, Leecher suffered little damage but the cars did not fare so well. The black mech sped off, leaving the cars in a smoking wreck.
Liliy received a message from Echo. The Decepticons were on the move. Liliy relayed the message to Leecher.
:: The Autobots came out the other side of the train tunnel and returned to the highway. That's when the Cons caught up with the military helicopter. ::
"Optimus, you have company," warned Ratchet when the Con signals appeared on his monitor.
:: The Autobots turned off the road and into a valley to avoid any humans that might appear on the highway. Six eradicons took up formation behind them. The lead one fired off four rockets. Optimus swerved sharply to dislodge his trailer and leave it behind. All four rockets slammed into the abandoned trailer and it exploded. The valley suddenly ended at a drop off. The Bots skid to a halt at the edge. Above them, the eradicons transformed and landed on their peds, cornering the Autobots. ::
Leecher came racing around the corner of the valley. They saw what was about to happened and patched themself into Autobots' comm link.
"Autobots, maintain your cover! I repeat, do not transform! We'll take care of the Cons," they ordered. "And the humans."
{Who-} started Optimus.
"No time to explain," Leecher snapped, cutting him off.
Leecher continued to race toward them.
"HEY!" they yelled.
The Cons turned to see the matte black car come racing in. Leecher transformed into their root mode and threw a small, round device that landed among the group. Suddenly, a ground bridge opened underneath their peds and the eradicons fell in. Leecher ran forward and fired their cannon a few times at the circling helicopter before jumping into the hole as it closed.
Hit, the helicopter went spiraling out of the Bots' view, but it was obvious by the lack of smoke and noise that it did not explode.
"What in the name of Uncle Sam just happened?" asked a very stunned Fowler.
"I am not sure, Agent Fowler," answered an equally stunned Optimus even though his voice was as calm as ever. "But it seems our cover and the DNGS have been saved for the time being. We should return to base."
Liliy smirked. Things were about to get more interesting around the Autobots. She quickly typed up a message to send to the Autobots in Leecher's name. Then she encrypted it. She embedded the cipher in a signal and sent it and the message out to bounce off a couple of satellites before the Autobots actually received it.
The Bots requested a ground bridge back to base. Optimus rolled to a stop, while the others transformed, and his cab door opened. And Liliy got her first look at Agent Fowler. He was a tall man, dark skinned, with black hair and sharp, brown eyes. His posture spoke military but his oversized belly said retired. And, like most government agents, he wore a suit.
"Any idea who the mysterious help was yet?" Fowler asked after Optimus stood up.
"No. The comm link has been quiet so far-" started Ratchet.
The screens started flashing, interrupting him.
"What is it?" asked Arcee.
"It appears an extremely fluctuating frequency signal…" answered Ratchet tapping away at the keys, "...with an embedded cipher? But what for?"
The computer pinged and a box saying 'You've got mail' popped up.
"Well. That's… different," said Fowler.
Liliy couldn't help but smirk.
"The message is encrypted," the medic continued after opening the message. "And the cipher appears to work for it."
Within a few minutes, Ratchet had the human gibberish translated into Cybertronian.
"What does it say?" asked Raf.
"Autobots, We are the Cybertronian Rebel Corps. We have been watching your activities since your arrival on Earth but we apologize for not providing you with much assistance until now since we had our own problems with the Decepticons to deal with as well. Our leader hopes that we will be able to provide you with even more assistance in the future. Signed, Leecher, CRC S-I-C."
"S-I-C?" asked Miko.
"Second in command, I would assume," called Liliy from her seat. She had already pushed up her visor so they wouldn't notice.
"What's this, Prime? You got another civilian involved?" asked Fowler.
"Liliy is staying with us for her protection and she hardly leaves the base. There is no need to worry, Agent Fowler."
Fowler marched up the stairs and stopped next to the chair. "Got a last name, Liliy?"
She didn't look up from her phone. "Scythe."
"And just where are you from, Miss Scythe?"
Again, she didn't look up. "Canada."
"Got some identification to back that up?"
Liliy stood up. She was slightly taller than Fowler.
"Nope," she replied flatly.
Then she went to the elevator and retreated to her catwalk.
"You know I'm going to have to report this, right, Prime?"
"You don't have to," Liliy called down.
"Uh, yes, I do. What if you go on a mission and get hurt? I'm going to have to report that. And have to say 'Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the Bots have another civilian under their watch and she isn't even a citizen of the US.' "
"Liliy, please work with Agent Fowler," said Optimus, his voice a little stern.
"Hhh… Fine." She tossed her passport down to him. "There's my passport. But good luck trying to find out much about me. I tend to use a lot of aliases."
"Why? You got something to hide? How do I know that this," he held up the passport, "is even your real one?"
"Liliy Scythe is my real name. But my date of birth is... a little off."
He glanced at the date. " 'A little' being... what? A year or two?"
"Sorry. That is a secret."
"Fine. I'll look into this for now but you have to stay with the Bots until then, got it?"
"Whatever," she said with a wave of her hand.
Fowler stopped by a couple days later to return Liliy's passport. Fortunately the children were not there. And neither were their guardians.
"Everything checked out," said Fowler as he handed Liliy the little booklet. "And I understand now why you said your birth date was off."
"You… do?" she asked, suddenly tense.
"Yes. Your records say that you were found abandoned as an infant so no one really knows the exact date of your birth."
Liliy relaxed. "Oh, yeah. That."
"You know… I could probably pull a few strings and see if I could find your birth mother at least."
"No. That's not necessary, Agent Fowler."
"I also noticed in your medical records that you are listed as handicapped. Missing your left arm. Can I ask how you-"
"No." Liliy interrupted him. She turned and walked away from him, disappearing into the depths of the base to be alone.
"Do you know how she lost her arm?" Fowler asked looking up at Optimus who stood nearby.
"No. She only said that she lost it when she was younger and she asked us not to inquire about it further. Why do you ask?"
"Hm. Her records were pretty vague about what happened to her. She is definitely hiding something. I would keep a close eye on her if I were you, Prime."
And that's chapter 4, obviously based on the events in 'Convoy' (s1e9). Also, the reason I had Prime get hit in the face with a tree in chapter 1 is because I knew it wasn't going to make it into this chapter so I had to put it somewhere.
Anyway, thanks for reading.