Optimus Prime was off on missions with what Paige considered the two loners and the troublemaker. Naturally it was good for those bots to be with him because they were learning to work together as a team, but there was still a battle in the future that would involve all of them. Paige managed to catch Bumblebee while he was in the command center monitoring for Con signals. "There's something you need to know," said Paige.

"About?" asked Bumblebee not looking away from the monitor.

"The rest of the Alchemor," said Paige. "There were plenty of Cons that escaped, but the rest of the Alchemor survived. I wish I could give you it's location, but I don't know where it's located other than in a lake."

"You couldn't have given us this information earlier," said Bumblebee with his hands on his hips.

"I don't know the location, but eventually there will be someone that will appear who can lead you to it," said Paige frowning. "Take it as a warning for the future. The Cons that you're currently hunting are the ones that chose to go solo or were in the pods that crashed with the command center. There are lots more and when you go against them, you'll need the whole team."

Bumblebee sighed and then glanced at the arm she had in a sling. "How's the arm doing?" he asked.

Paige simply shrugged instead of answering. The reason she had it in a sling was because it was completely numb and she couldn't get it to move at all. She had tried moving it through some manual exercises in an attempt to rehabilitate it, but so far there'd been no progress. Either her nerves were fried or they weren't accepting the signals from her brain. At this point she had pretty much accepted that her arm and hand had been permanently paralyzed, but she wasn't going to tell that to the bots and cause them to worry meaninglessly. In the bigger scheme of things it didn't really matter.

"Maybe you should go to a doctor," said Bumblebee.

Paige firmly shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said dismissively. She was already slightly taller than Russel at this point, but she was still small for a grown woman so going to a doctor would only raise more questions. Plus she didn't think they'd be able to do anything for her. Double energon poisoning wasn't something humans were versed in. Throw in the fact that she wasn't about to force Denny to pay for her care, there was no way she could afford it. It was sweet of Bumblebee to be concerned, but there were things about humans that he still obviously didn't understand. Bumblebee looked like he wanted to protest, but their conversation was interrupted by Strongarm's appearance and Paige took the opportunity to escape.

Over the next few weeks, the bots went out on missions that Paige didn't join in with. Russel came back with a ripped shirt from one that he decided to stow away as a souvenir. Strongarm started having confidence issues after a series of misfortunes. Denny told Bumblebee that she needed a win in order to get her confidence back and she eventually did. Mysterious fires started popping up in random places and Grimlock accidentally set off the security features in the scrapyard while he and Russel were playing football. Grimlock complained that the others didn't think he was smart because they didn't include him in the planning meetings. He downloaded the university entrance exam into his head and as side effect became really smart. It overrode his instinctive combat reflexes which caused a problem when the bots went on a mission. Everything came out all right in the end like Paige knew it would. Currently she was with the bots in the scrapyard watching Russel put on a magic show.

"The Great Rustini," said Denny as way of introduction. Russel gave his dad a look that basically said, "why am I doing this?"

"Hocus Pocus, because now you see it and now you don't," said Russel as he made the coin in one hand disappear. The bots were amused and Russel explained how he used misdirection to hide the coin in his pocket. Paige knew that Bumblebee would later use this skill against one of the Cons. He was always quick at incorporating the things he learned. She smiled sadly and suddenly wished that magic could actually be real. If it was, she could save the bots and herself. Watching Russel's performance, made her think about her old life. Had things turned out differently and had she married her boyfriend or someone else, she might have kids of her own by now. She could be teaching them things like magic tricks. She quickly pushed those thoughts away. Having a normal life was something that she had given up when she first found herself in this universe. She wasn't interested in Denny and Russel already had a mother so this wasn't a situation where she could just fit in.

Suddenly the scrapyard alarm was tripped and the bots rushed to the entrance to see Steeljaw standing there. He was leaking energon from the wounds on his chest and he collapsed at the front gate. He seemed delirious and he managed to mumble that he'd been betrayed by Scropinox. The Autobots quickly put him in a stasis pod, but Paige got a bad feeling. She couldn't remember this episode, but she knew that Steeljaw was in the later ones and he was free. So either this was a trick or someone broke him out.

"Scorpinox is not on the list of the Alchemor's prisoners," said Fix-it. "According to our extended database, Scorpinox is an intimidator and he used to pillage towns and burn them to the ground."

"He sounds nice," said Denny sarcastically.

"Paige?" said Bumblebee as he tried to get her attention.

"I don't remember why he's here, but he's probably not the only Con not accounted for," said Paige in explanation. "Other ships could have crashed here. That seems to be the theme on Earth. He also might have escaped from Windblade's prisons. Regardless, I do know that he wants the same thing Steeljaw wants. He wants to rule and he's working on building an army."

The Autobots went out to investigate a new Con signal, but Paige had an uneasy feeling about Steeljaw so she walked over to the stasis pods and sat there watching. When she saw the pod start to open, she ran for the others who were in the command center and yelled a warning. Steeljaw was too fast for her and he grabbed her as he ran toward the command center. Fix-it and the others foolishly ran to her aid even though she knew they could do nothing about it.

"The Autobots are so easily mislead," said Steeljaw smirking. Paige couldn't help but silently agree with that though in their defense, they didn't aim to deceive. Steeljaw quickly captured the others in a bubble like force field. Paige had to admit now that she was closer to him, she had only just realized that his wounds matched his own claws. He had probably injured himself. "Now then, the last time I was here you demonstrated significant power and I want to take some with me."

Paige figured he was talking about the perimeter defenses though he could also be talking about Fix-it himself. "Like that's going to happen," said Paige from his hand. "You should really save yourself some time and just leave now." Steeljaw scowled at her and then narrowed his eyes.

"Weren't you smaller last time?" he asked.

"Growth spurt," said Paige shrugging. Now that she had his attention however she tried to keep it because that would give him less time to constrict the force field around the others and more time for the bots to arrive. "So Scorpinox is your leader now," she said. "So much for you leading the Cons. It won't be as easy as you think to take the leadership from him and that femme that helps him. I didn't like her, but I don't remember her name. Anyway maybe you should quit while you're ahead. There are far more easier planets to conquer than Earth considering the human race was spawned by Unicron even if it wasn't intentional. Not that he likes us much, but then again he doesn't like any of you Cybertronians either. You're Primus' creations after all."

"Silence," said Steeljaw increasing the grip he had on her and slightly shaking her.

Paige found it more difficult to breathe, but she couldn't resist one more jab. "It was rumored that Scorpinox was an agent of Unicron. Maybe you've become one too and you don't even realize it. After all, you were deceived by Megatronus earlier." Suddenly the pressure increased and then suddenly disappeared as Steeljaw dropped her. Paige yelped as she fell to the ground while Steeljaw turned to battle against Strongarm who had suddenly appeared. Apparently the remote for the force field that he held in the other hand was more important than her. Paige hit the ground on her feet and rolled absorbing the impact as best she could. It wasn't that easy with a bum arm, but she managed to avoid major injury. Strongarm managed to get the remote for the force field away from Steeljaw so she could release Fix-it and the others. Steeljaw retreated, but he was able to spring several of the Cons from their stasis chambers before he left.

"What did he want?" asked Strongarm.

"He wanted firepower," said Fix-it as he returned to the command center.

"He wants what he wanted in the beginning," said Paige dusting herself off as best she could. "He wants his own army. He won't be satisfied being Scorpinox's lackey. He wants to rule."