a/n: Welp... Here comes the chapter!

TW: There's a brief moment of gaslighting in this chapter. It's over very quickly, but it's there.

Chapter 8: The Best Laid Plans: Part 1: Into the Woods

"So… We'll be getting to Vale tomorrow?" Amber asked as she saddled up her horse.

"Yep," Qrow replied, "Once we reach Vale, we can take an airship to Beacon."

"Finally!" Amber exclaimed, "I still don't get why you couldn't have just sent out a Bullhead."

"Too conspicuous," Qrow answered.

"And a random teenager getting escorted by a grown man who's clearly not related to her isn't?" Amber asked.

"... I spent most of that time in bird form," Qrow replied.

"And flying into windows."

"And… Now you're reminding me of my old teammates," Qrow remarked dryly, "Honestly, you should've seen my sister. It took her years to learn to check windows in human form before flying out of them!"

"... You have a sister?" Amber questioned.

"Yeah, and a couple of nieces too," Qrow replied, "The oldest is gonna be attending Beacon next year. You might actually get to meet her." His tone suddenly became a bit more grave. "But if you speak anything of the Maidens or the Queen to them, and you might not live long enough to regret it, got it?"

"Yes sir…" Amber squeaked.

"Good, the last thing I need is for one of them to get involved in this war," Qrow replied, "Still, I think they'd love you if you ever do meet. I even taught one of them how to use her own scythe!"

"Can she turn into a bird too?" Amber asked.

"... The bird thing's actually pretty similar to the Maiden thing," Qrow replied.

"... You mean that's not your Semblance?" Amber asked.

"No… My Semblance is the reason I keep an eye on you from a distance," Qrow answered, "Now get going, we're wasting daylight."

"Alright alright, I'm going!" Amber remarked as she mounted her horse, "Let's mosey!"

"... And… You made it weird," Qrow remarked as the horse moseyed out of the stable.

"This situation was weird from the start," Amber shot back over her shoulder.

"That kid's gonna be the death of me…" Qrow mumbled as he followed after her, from a safe distance.


Winter sat in the driver's seat of the red SUV, keeping her hands on the wheel as it drove itself down the wooded road.

"What's so special about B-127 in particular?" she asked.

"Oh, not much," Shatter's voice replied through the radio, "Only that he betrayed our cause to side with Optimus Prime when he stole the Matrix of Leadership from Lord Megatron."

"The Matrix of Leadership?" Winter questioned.

"An ancient and powerful relic that serves as our homeworld's… 'Remote Control' let's call it," Shatter explained, "Cybertron was, at the end of the day, just one massive machine, after all, and the Matrix served as its control panel, allowing our planet's leaders to control the flow of Energon through its inner workings, operating the mechanisms that made life on our homeworld possible. But in the hands of the Autobots, it was used to drive us off world. They used it to steal our Empire's glorious capitol, incited rebellions in our territories to keep us from taking it back!

"But Megatron was able to form a plan. Using materials left over from the war the original Thirteen Primes waged against Exarchon and his Scrapmetals, he was able to create a replica of the Matrix of Leadership, attuned it to Cybertron, and helped us take back and upgrade our homeworld, jumpstarting a new golden age! Optimus Prime decided that if he couldn't have Cybertron, no one could.

"With B-127's help, they snuck into our capital, descended into the core of Cybertron, destroyed Megatron's Matrix, and rigged the entire planet to self-destruct. We… Weren't able to evacuate everyone in time…"

"That sounds… Awful," Winter replied, "I'm… Sorry you had to go through that."

"It's been millenia," Shatter remarked, "Some days, though, the thought of revenge is all that keeps me going."

"Do you think… The Autobots are going to try to destroy Remnant too?" Winter asked.

"It's a distinct possibility," Shatter replied as the sign for Witwicky Automotive came up in the distance, "Is this the dealership you mentioned losing B-127 at?"

.

Rusty Witwicky was not having a good day. While the fires had been extinguished the previous day, a handful of the more expensive cars had been destroyed in the blast, and all of the windows in the lot had been shattered.

"At least my insurance is up to date," he sighed, before turning to face the red motorcycle, "Now if only I could find your keys." That was when the red SUV pulled up, and a young woman in white stepped out. "Can I help you, Specialist Schnee?" Rusty asked.

"I was hoping to buy a motorcycle for personal use before returning to Atlas," Winter claimed, "You wouldn't happen to have a yellow motorcycle in stock, would you?"

"Erm… This is awkward," Rusty remarked, "A couple of weeks ago I had a yellow G1 Dustfire in stock. Don't remember when or where I bought it, though."

"Wait, had?" Winter pressed, "Was it stolen?"

"Oh no!" Rusty replied with a laugh, "A local Huntsman bought it for his daughter. I've seen the girl riding it all around ever since. Why, I heard she even gave it a cute name."

"I see," Winter replied, "Thank you but-"

"Bumblebee is a pretty cool bike!"

"... I think we've met," her eyebrow twitched, "If you'll excuse me, I must be going." With that, Winter climbed right back into the SUV and drove away.


"So… Why do you call this place 'Forever Fall'?" Bumblebee asked as the Bullhead that had carried him and Yang there disappeared over the horizon.

"Because the leaves are red all year round," Yang explained as she took off her backpack, "Normally, that only happens in the Fall."

"The Fall?"

"A transition between Summer and Winter," Yang explained, "Sometimes it's called 'Autumn'. The trees' kinda 'hibernate' during that time of year, their leaves die and fall off, with new leaves growing in the spring. But the Forever Fall trees are kinda weird, and replace their leaves much faster than trees anywhere else in the world. Nobody's really sure how or why though."

"Ah… Why's the grass red?" Bumblebee asked.

"I have no idea," Yang answered.

"Oh…" Bumblebee remarked, "We should probably review the plan, since… I wasn't there when we formed most of it."

"That we should!" Yang replied as she took out and unfurled a map of Forever Fall, "Professor Goodwitch is going to be waiting for us in Geode, taking care of some of the Grimm that've been attacking the village's walls. Apparently some pretty weird ones have been turning up lately. Dad's going to try and get his hands on his own G1-Dustfire to send the Decepticons on a wild goose chase while we're handling the comparatively safe mission of sweeping Grimm-infested woods for the White Fang. Professor Ozpin looked over reports of Grimm activity in Forever Fall with the Grimm studies teacher and believes that the White Fang are probably in this area here!" She pointed at the circled portion of the map. "Professor Goodwitch, meanwhile, dropped us off here!" She pointed at an X south of that circle.

"Ozpin said we should follow the Grimm," Bumblebee noted.

"Yep! And if you just so happen to save them from a Grimm attack, that might endear you to the White Fang," Yang remarked, "Of course, if Adam wants payback for what the Decepticons did to his guys, that might also work out for us."

"Oh by the way, I heard you'd come up with a cover story in case this takes more than just a day," Bumblebee remarked, "What did you mean by that?"

"Oh, if anyone asks my Dad, me and Ruby are visiting a family friend until the Grimm population is under control," Yang replied, "And since Dad's social circle apparently includes Professor Ozpin of all people, that should cover all our bases."

"Wait, Ruby's not going back to Patch?" Bumblebee asked.

"No, remember how you had to stay on the airship with Zwei while the rest of us went into Beacon?"

"Yeah," Bumblebee replied, "Didn't Ozpin think that bringing a motorcycle up to his office would be a little conspicuous?"

"Yeah, while we were there, Ozpin agreed to keep an eye on Rubes and Zwei until this whole situation is sorted out," Yang explained.

"Uh… About that…" a high pitched voice remarked as a silver-eyed girl in a red hood jumped down from a tree.

"RUBY!?" Yang shouted, "How did you-"

"After I gave you a good luck hug and took off with Zwei, I doubled back and hid in one of the boxes Professor Goodwitch was taking to Forever Fall!" Ruby explained as she took off her backpack, "Speaking of, I don't know what was in there, but seeing how the box had air holes and the lid was on the ground, I think it's loose on Beacon's campus. We should probably give Ozpin a head's up once we've found Bumblebee's homing beacon!"

"... I'm calling Professor Goodwitch," Yang remarked bluntly as she took out her Scroll.

.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T TAKE HER BACK TO BEACON!?" Yang shouted.

"I mean that there's simply too many Grimm for me to leave until back-up can arrive, tomorrow!" Professor Goodwitch explained, "And you don't need to shout, Miss Xiao Long!"

"Oh grapes..." Yang groaned as Ruby cheered.

"But don't think your father won't be hearing about this, Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch continued as Ruby's face paled, "Something tells me he won't be too happy to hear about this."

"... So what was supposed to be in that box anyway?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing too important, thankfully," Professor Goodwitch replied, "But I'll have to let Ozpin know that it's loose." She sighed. "Wrangling that thing was such a pain the first time around…"

"So… I'm gonna have to keep an eye on Rubes until we can get to the village?" Yang questioned.

"Unfortunately," Professor Goodwitch answered, "Good luck Miss Xiao Long, you're going to need it." The professor hung up.

"... I know Yang packed her helmet, but taking you around without one's going to be an issue," Bumblebee commented.

"Don't worry," Ruby replied as she took a ladybug-patterned motorcycle helmet out of her backpack and put it on, "I came prepared!"

"... If you die, I will kill you," Yang replied bluntly as she put on her own helmet and Bumblebee scanned the map.

"I've picked out a destination inside the search radius," he announced as he shifted into motorcycle mode, "I'm ready to go as soon as you are!"

"Alright! Let's go Team BYR!" Ruby shouted as she jumped into the air.

"... That sounds like a name Uncle Qrow would come up with…" Yang remarked as she rolled up the map and put it into her backpack.

"Don't ruin my moment," Ruby replied.


"Mrs. Belladonna, I must admit that I wasn't expecting you to call today," Adam opened, through gritted teeth, "Are you calling to complain about my methods?"

"Oh no, Sienna Khan already told me what she thought of your Mantlite Bomb stunt," Kali coldly replied, "I want to know what you said to my baby!"

"... I'm sorry, what?"

"I can understand why she'd want to hide her ears while among humans," Kali explained, "I don't like that she has to do that to feel safe, but I understand her logic. What I don't understand is why she doesn't feel safe when she's around her fellow Faunus."

"You have yourself to thank for that," Adam claimied.

"Excuse me?"

"Blake has your ears, and you aren't particularly popular with the White Fang," Adam explained, "The less people who know she's related to you, the safer she'll be."

"I… I see…" Kali replied, "But why me in particular? Why not Ghira?"

"Because unlike your husband, you have a bodycount," Adam replied, "Many see your condemnation of the more violent course we've taken as hypocrisy."

"... While I was on the guard, I never once used lethal force on a defeated opponent," Kali replied, "Should an assassin happen to die because he refused to back down, that's one thing. Turning the organization that's meant to be a partnership between humanity and Faunus into a weapon against humanity is completely different from that."

"And yet humanity didn't acknowledge us until Sienna Khan took over," Adam argued.

"... Can I at least speak with Blake, please?" Kali asked.

"If she wanted anything to do with you, don't you think she would've replied to your letters?" Adam asked, "She doesn't even open them before burning them now."

"I… I see…" Kali replied, "I'm sorry for bothering you…" She hung up, and Adam smirked.

"What was that about letters?" Blake asked as she walked into the tent.

Shit! "What are you talking about, darling?" Adam asked as he mentally kicked himself for not giving Blake a chore that would keep her out of earshot of the video call.

"I could've sworn I heard Mom say that she was sending me letters, and you claiming that I was burning them," Blake answered, "But… I haven't gotten any letters from home!"

"Because they haven't been sending any!" Adam insisted, "And why should they, when you betrayed everything they stood for! Why, it wouldn't surprise me if they hated you."

"I…" Blake's retort died in her throat.

"Think about it Blake, do you honestly think that they wouldn't abandon you after they abandoned their life's work?" Adam asked.

"I… I guess you're right…" Blake replied, her voice cracking.

"But don't worry, Blake," Adam said as he lifted her chin, "I'll never abandon you." Blake tensed as Adam pulled her into a kiss.

"I'm sorry," Blake said as soon as Adam released her.

"All is forgiven," Adam said with a grin.


"Ugh… This is so dull!" Dropkick whined from his place on the floor as he shifted his left hand into a buzzsaw and idly spun the blade, "There's nothing to do in this damned hangar!"

"Get over yourself," Shatter replied as she stood above him, "We can either wander around Patch aimlessly, or we can use Specialist Schnee's resources to locate his base of operations and strike him when he's at his most vulnerable."

"Hmmph," Dropkick retracted his buzzsaw, "I don't see how she can get anything we couldn't get from Soundwave."

"I know where B-127 is!" Winter announced as she stepped out onto a catwalk.

"Oh?" Shatter remarked as Dropkick rose to his feet.

"With what Mr. Witwicky told me, it was simply a matter of knowing where to look," Winter remarked as she took out and opened her Scroll, "And the wonders of modern technology gave me the perfect resource to find the girl who slipped between my fingers the other day."

"A government database?" Shatter questioned.

"Social media," Winter answered, "Just two weeks ago, a girl named Yang Xiao Long posted a picture of herself posing with a motorcycle that matches B-127's assumed appearance to her Kingdom Link page. From there, it was just a few quick searches to figure out her home address." Shatter grinned.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"


"Couldn't Starscream have dropped us off a little bit closer to the camp?" a gray-haired boy asked as he and his companions marched through Forever Fall.

"The White Fang aren't particularly fond of Atlesians or Decepticons at the moment," their leader, a black-haired, golden-eyed woman replied, "So even if Starscream immediately switched over to robot mode the second we landed, it would do little to endear us to them."

"Cinder knows what she's doing, Mercury" a dark-skinned, green-haired girl remarked as she shot a smug look at her companion. The gray haired boy grumbled. Cinder held up a hand, and the trio came to the stop.

"Someone's coming," she remarked as the roaring of an engine grew louder, no, closer. In a few seconds, a motorcycle swerved to avoid them, skidding to a halt. Cinder eyed the motorcycle and its riders carefully. The motorcycle itself was yellow, with some parts of it looking slightly more orange, one of its riders was a girl in a red cape, who clung to the blond-haired girl who appeared to be steering.

Of course, given what she had been told and shown, both girls could simply be along for the ride.

"What brings you out here?" Cinder asked carefully as the green-haired girl eyed the motorcycle nervously.

"We're traveling between villages," the blond haired girl answered, "What about you?"

"It's much the same for us," Cinder replied, "I'm afraid that we're in a bit of a hurry though."

"Oh, well we're trying to avoid Grimm, kinda hard to fight from the back of a motorcycle after all," the blond-haired girl claimed, "You wouldn't happen to know about any huge groups of Grimm we should avoid, would you?"

"A large amount of Grimm have been heading northwest from here," Cinder answered, "You'll want to head northeast to avoid them."

"Thanks!" the girl on the motorcycle answered before driving off into the northeast. Then, when they were out of sight but not earshot, swerved in the exact direction Cinder told them to avoid.

"Emerald?"

"That was definitely the Autobot Starscream warned us about," the green-haired girl answered, "I could feel its mind with my Semblance. I didn't do anything to its senses, but I could tell it was there."

"That… Complicates things," Cinder remarked, "We'll have to stay hidden and observe. In the event that an alliance does form, turning the Autobots and White Fang against each other shouldn't be too hard. The Autobots would try to unite humanity and the Faunus against Megatron, which would definitely get in the way of Adam's plans."

"Doesn't that also get in the way of your plans?" Emerald asked.

"Humanity can barely tolerate the Faunus as is," Cinder answered, "What makes you think they'll be any more receptive to something that isn't even of this world?"


Taiyang sighed as he pulled into his driveway. Out of all the businesses he visited, the only one with a motorcycle he could afford was Witwicky Automotive, with the G1-Dustfire Bumblebee had scanned. Meaning that Rusty had given them the key to said Dustfire, meaning that he didn't have the key anymore.

"I should've just borrowed Bumblebee's key," Taiyang groaned as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Hindsight was both a blessing and a curse. "Well, at least I can trust that the girls are safe," he muttered as he opened the driver's side door and stepped out of Zippy.

"And where are your daughters, Mr. Xiao Long?" Specialist Winter Schnee asked as she stepped into the clearing, "Between the White Fang and the Grimm, you can never be too careful."

"Specialist Schnee?" Taiyang remarked nervously, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm following a lead," Winter explained as she crossed the clearing, one step at a time, walking towards Taiyang, "Someone stole something from me, and I think your daughter knows who it is."

"My daughter's not a criminal," Taiyang growled. Winter smirked.

"Perhaps, but she might be a traitor," she stated bluntly, before taking her eyes off of Taiyang to circle him in her footsteps, "The only question is how much you know."

"About what?" Taiyang questioned as he took out his Scroll, and began typing a message.

"There's a war on the horizon, Mr. Xiao Long," Winter answered, "And I need to know where you stand." A tiny Nevermore facsimile snatched Taiyang's Scroll and flew it over to Winter. "Just looking at this message-"

don't come back, ironwoods gone ro

"-it would seem that my gut feeling was correct."

CRUNCH!

"Now, we can do this the easy way," Winter discarded the broken pieces of Taiyang's phone and drew her saber, "Or the hard way." Taiyang remembered that he didn't close the door on his car, and so sat back down into the driver's seat, pulled the door shut, and started the engine, unaware of the Glyph formed under Zippy. The second Taiyang hit the Dust pedal, a Beringel facsimile rose from the Glyph, grasped the hood and trunk of Zippy in its hands, and squeezed. Taiyang quickly switched his weapon to battle mode (After the Ursa Major incident, he'd altered his weapon to make arming himself easier), and winced as the shriek of tearing metal assaulted his ears. Even with tears blurring his vision, Taiyang was still able to launch himself at the false Grimm, throwing two punches and firing two bullets into the Grimm's eyes.

.

Winter watched, baffled, as her Summon dissolved, Mr. Xiao Long and the two halves of his car dropping out of the air, between her, the house, and a treestump with an ax lodged in it.

"What?"

"That was Summer's car," Mr. Xiao Long growled.

"No matter," Winter remarked as two Beowolves emerged from her Glyphs, "There's still only one of you!" The Beowolves charged Taiyang, and he blasted one's head apart and casually smashed the other to bits.

"Listen here, Specialist," Mr. Xiao Long opened, "I'm a Huntsman, and I went through far more intense training than your bootcamp could ever dream of to earn that license!"

"I graduated from Atlas!" Winter shot back as she charged the Valean Huntsman. He sidestepped her swipe and punched her in the side.

"And Atlas' standards have lowered ever since James took over," Mr. Xiao Long continued, punching more bullets in Winter's direction as she separated the components of her saber to hack and slash them out of the air, "But what should I expect when the Headmaster barely graduated combat school and washed out at the first hurdle Atlas Academy threw at him?"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Winter threw herself at Mr. Xiao Long. The Specialist mindlessly hacked and slashed at the Huntsman. When the Huntsman caught one of her blades, Winter summoned a flock of Nevermores from under his feet, launching him through the air.

THUD!

The Huntsman hit the dirt next to the tree stump.

"General Ironwood fixed Atlas' Huntsman problem! Funneling those Lien-hungry hooligans into something productive!" Winter shouted as Mr. Xiao Long groaned and pushed himself to his feet.

"Is that all you got?" he asked as her Beowolf summons surrounded him.

"It's all I need," Winter replied as she recombined and sheathed her saber, "You've lost." The Beowolves dogpiled Mr. Xiao Long as Winter looked over the house. "Setting a trap for B-127 here should be simple," she stated, "Too bad those girls will probably be caught in the crossfire."

BOOM!

Winter glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the fragments of her summons dissolve in the air, as well as the ax spinning through the air towards her head.

"Shit!" she hit the dirt, and the ax embedded itself in the house's front door as a yellow blur rushed up to her.

"Don't."

POW!

"Touch!"

POW!

"My!"

POW!

"Girls!"

POW!

That last punch knocked Winter into one of the house's walls, cracking the wood planks. Winter pulled herself free as the Huntsman charged her.

POW!

Winter ducked out of the way as Mr. Xiao Long's fist punched through the wall. Winter drew her saber as the Huntsman pulled his fist free, sending shards of wood to the ground as he ran at Winter. She swung her saber at him. Mr. Xiao Long caught the saber in his right hand with a wince.

"How?" Winter asked.

"Aura," he replied, before delivering an uppercut to her chin, ripping the saber from her hands as the Specialist was sent flying.

.

Taiyang smirked as Winter landed a few feet away with a satisfying thud.

"Give up yet?" Taiyang asked as he tossed Winter's saber aside so his Aura could heal the cuts on his palm and fingers. Winter snarled and summoned an Ursa, sending the bear-like Grimm facsimile charging straight at him. "Oh this is going to feel good." Taiyang recoil boosted himself at the facsimile Grimm, grabbed its right arm when it tried to swipe at him, and spotted Winter running for her saber out of the corner of his eye. He smirked, and threw the Ursa at its master with all his strength.

Thud!

The Ursa dissolved as Winter stumbled across the ground, sliding to a stop next to her saber. Taiyang recoil boosted towards the Atlesian Specialist, only for the roar of an airship's engines to capture his attention. He glanced upwards, just in time to see a red Atlesian Dropship pointing its guns at him.

BRATATATATATATATATATATAT!

Taiyang shielded his face and cried out as the hail of bullets bombarded his Aura, coating every inch of exposed skin with bruises. The Dropship ceased its fire as Taiyang stumbled across the ground, his Aura flickering out as he skidded to a stop. The Dropship shifted and folded into a bipedal robot as it dropped to the ground.

"Excellent work Specialist Schnee," the Decepticon (Shatter! Taiyang realized) stated. A blue armored car swerved into the clearing and transformed into a second, bipedal robot with red, Grimm-like eyes.

"Where's B-127?" he asked, oblivious to the glare the downed Huntsman was shooting at him.

"It would appear as though he's departed with both of Mr. Xiao Long's daughters," Winter replied as she sheathed her saber, "B-127 is bound to return here."

"But he might bring the Autobots back with him…" Shatter noted, "Of course, tracking him down would be as simple as locating the people who stole his homing beacon, if he truly hasn't had the chance to steal it back."

"With my resources, that would be trivial," Winter remarked, "So, Mr. Xiao Long, the way I see it, your daughters might be innocent victims of B-127's manipulations, in which case I'll return them to you unharmed. But if they're not... Then they're his accomplices, and even if I'd rather not hurt a child, I do have a job to do."

"If you lay one finger on either of my girls, I'll-"

"You're not in the position to be making threats," Shatter interrupted as she shifted her arm into an Energon pistol and aimed it at Taiyang, "And it's not a matter of if we'll find them, but when."

"And when we find them, I'll have to decide whether to rescue them from the dangerous fugitive, or arrest B-127's accomplices," Winter continued, "So Mr. Xiao Long, please, where did B-127 take your daughters? If you answer honestly, I promise that they'll be returned safely to you, and we can all pretend that this horrible miscommunication never happened, if not… The Solitan Dust Mines could always use a few extra hands." She leveled her gaze with Taiyang. "So, which will it be?"

Taiyang mulled over his options. His Scroll, car, and Aura were all gone, so he couldn't send a message to Ozpin or Yang to warn them, nor could he flee to Beacon and warn Ozpin in person. Without his Aura, fighting his way out wasn't an option, and it took just one look at the monster that tortured his Sunny Little Dragon to realize that, as cathartic as reducing him to scrap would be, attempting so would be ill advised even if his Aura hadn't run out. It also didn't take long for him to come to the conclusion that Winter could easily track down Yang and Bumblebee in Forever Fall, just by tracking down the White Fang and setting up a trap to ensnare Yang, Bumblebee, and the Fang in one fell swoop. He could not, would not let anything happen to either of his girls.

"You promise that no harm will come to them?" he asked.

"You have my word that your children will be safely delivered to you," Winter answered, "If you comply."

Taiyang sighed.

I'm sorry Bumblebee.


a/n: And... There's the chapter! I'll be honest, the Taiyang vs Winter battle was actually a last-minute decision to keep Taiyang from looking completely pathetic, though Taiyang trying to kill Winter outright kinda just happened. I decided to split this chapter in two parts because that closing line just made for the perfect cliffhanger.

And now for the reviews!

Mobian: Well, we'll see if Akai ever shows up again. I'm glad to see that she has a fan! And we'll see about your other predictions...

Z-King: Are you sure?

merendinoemiliano: Honestly, I always saw Oz as the smarter of the two. And sorry about the meeting not being shown, my writer's block hit me hard whenever I tried to write the scene and so I had to skip straight to Forever Fall just to get the chapter out at all. I might do a spin-off oneshot if there's enough demand for it, but in the end using Bumblebee as an audience surrogate for Yang to exposit to ended up being the quickest way to move the plot forward.

TheReckless1One: Congratulations, you're the entire reason I had that scene where Shatter gives Winter the Decepticon POV on the Great War.

nindjo: ... Hey, if you think this is bad, just remember that the DC comics had James supplying the SDC with slaves. Which... Was admittedly referenced here... Actually, just about the only one of his pre-Volume 4 crimes that hasn't come up yet is his abuse of Penny.

I'll see you next time for Part 2!