Chapter 27: Flying High

(Alternative Title: Like A Vast, Predatory Bird)


Rachel knew leaving her dig site would cost her, but right now making sure no one else stumbled upon the giant, visible spaceship was a priority. She glanced around, and then gazed back inside where Red Alert and Optimus were searching the cabin; they were the only two who knew anything about ships, so they had been the only ones who came here.

The blonde gestured to the picture still on the screen. "Who are they? The weird mutant thing seemed to freak when he saw it."

"They're the Lightning Strike Coalition." Optimus replied.

Rachel blinked slowly. "That's a terrible name; who came up with that?"

"Their unit leader." Optimus said, his tone slightly amused. "He has a rather…abrasive way of doing things."

Red Alert though chuffed, looking just as unamused. "I suppose it's accurate if you call Grimlock constantly questioning your methods not insubordination."

Rachel stepped in before a bigger argument could break out. "So this ship and the mutant, think they're related to this unit?" She remembered her dream, but shoved the possibility away. 'It's not possible, it doesn't mean anything.'

"We'll need to investigate." Red Alert replied. He searched around the console, and the ship's hull wavered before the whole of it was cloaked. "There, now we don't need to worry about humans finding it."

"Though we still need to worry about the weird mutant dinosaur." Rachel said. She paused, grimacing. "Or dinosaur looking thing."

"We'll have Maya get a scope of the area, and see where the creature is." Optimus said. "Whatever it's connection is, we'll need to see if it had anything to do with what happened to the pilot."

Rachel thought of the blue robot from her dream, the mutant creature-and the black thorn that was in the same spot. 'It…it can't-it was just a dream.' she thought vehemently. Though…if there was even a chance that this could have been avoided… 'I can't believe I'm about to do this.' She thought, and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I couldn't be sure, but…I saw some similarities between the creature and…that blue winged bot in the picture." She said, her face heating.

Red Alert gave her a long stare, and then at the picture. "Are you saying that this creature and Swoop could be one in the same?"

"If that's the bot's name then…yes." Rachel's voice went flat, unable to process she was going through with this. "I know it sounds…strange, but what else could have happened to the pilot than say, he's dead?"

Red Alert and Optimus exchanged a look, and the former spoke quietly, with a grimace. "Much as it pains me to admit, such a transformation could not be impossible given…all that we've seen. And I would rather not bring Grimlock's fury down on us were his soldier to have died here."

"Hmm…yes, that would be unpleasant." Optimus agreed placidly. "Rachel, you may go back to your exam; we've taken too much of your time. We'll keep in touch should we get any confirmation about the creature's location to evacuate your classmates."

Rachel would have liked to have all her classmates evacuate now, but she couldn't justify Paaswell letting them all go without a reason. A long break, it wouldn't be possible, but she could make up an excuse for a short time if this creature reappears. 'Hopefully it stays too far out in the forest for anyone to see it.'

"Right, just hope the next time I see you two, it's back in Nebraska." Rachel said, and waved over her shoulder as she exited the ship.


Rad stared up at the ceiling, frowning as Kero scoured over the Sakura Book, and alternating with a slice of cake Rad managed to snag from the fridge. He'd gotten back two hours ago, and his aunt and uncle hadn't asked where he was. It was the kind of distance he'd have appreciated with his wild adventures to catch the cards, but…he really didn't like it.

The blond turned onto his side, staring down at the key as it slipped from his neck and clinked softly against the mattress. His eyes drooped closed, and he woke with a gasp as around him was nothing but the vastness of actual space, stars twinkling around him.

Rad looked down at his feet as he floated in the…air? Was it air, a vacuum? Where was even 'here?' The blond looked around, his eyes taking in a swirl of a nebula, it's mix-match colors mesmerizing to look at it. The blond noticed Sideways appearing near him, staring down at him.

The robot leaned down, hand outstretched for him. Rad stared at him, eyes wide as he saw a flash of yellow eyes behind the bot. Rad found himself moving back, but he didn't understand why-and that's when a blue laser blast struck Sideways in the shoulder.

Rad's head snapped to the side, and he just saw the glint of a visor. The blond flinched as the world around him went white, feathers falling as he caught a flash of a wing and red eyes, with the shrill cry of a bird following him-

-and Rad heard the call as his eyes snapped open. "Kero, did you hear that?!"

Kero furrowed his brow. "What are you-" he stopped, his brow tightening as his body glowed. He flew to the window, and Rad jumped off the bed and rushed over.

High above them, was a large white bird, with a long neck and short beak. Its huge feathers flapped, and the plumage of a crown on its head went high and across its forehead in several spikes, ruffled by the wind. Rad couldn't see much more, except the wicked sharp talons on its feet.

"Kero?" Rad asked, feeling ill as he thought of Create's dragon. "What is that one?"

"Fly." Kero replied. "I don't think I have to tell you to be careful. Whatever you do, don't use Windy on it; Fly is under Windy's domain and can manipulate her just as much as the air its using to flap its wings."

Rad nodded numbly. "Right." He said faintly. The blond sighed, as he still could feel the tiredness from catching Cloud earlier. "Two in one day, it's some kind of record." He muttered.

Kero patted his head. "Don't think like that; you've got this." He grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

Rad stared at him, but found himself smiling at his sincerity. He nodded, and pulled off his key. "Key of the star, with powers burning bright," the key glowed as the magic circle appeared underneath him, "reveal the staff, and shine your light-release!"

The key glowed as it turned into its staff form, and Rad grabbed the wand. "Wish me luck!" he called, grabbing a handful of cards before slipping out the window.

"Luck!" Kero echoed, and locked the window.

Rad looked up at the sky, the sun beginning to lower given it was almost five. Dinner had already been eaten, and his relatives were catching up on their work last he'd seen. It made sneaking out painfully easy, and wonder just how many of those times Rachel came to see him when they were younger was because she did what he was doing-aside from the magic of course.

Fly wasn't hard to spot, but it did have a head start from sheer power of flapping its wings. 'How am I supposed to catch it?' he asked himself. The blond looked through the cards he'd nabbed on his way out, and furrowed his brow before putting them into his pocket again. 'Windy, Shadow, Flower, Dash, Cloud, Wood and Time.' He had no idea what to do with any of these, but he would find a way. 'Because no card is useless; I just need to use them the right way.'

Fly soared over the forest trees, thankfully away from town and Rad chuffed as his lungs began to burn. "Okay…need some of that help." He tossed Dash into the air. "Lend me your speed, Dash!" The spirit appeared before him, before fading to his shoes and Rad felt an adrenaline boost. He sprinted through the trees, zipping around them as slowly Fly got closer and closer.

The bird seemed to notice him, and let out a shrill screech as it soared higher, getting even more out of reach. Rad gritted his teeth, letting go of Dash and slipped the card back into his pocket. "Okay, birdbrain, get down here!"

It was a poor attempt, but Fly stayed where it was, circling him. Rad didn't know what it was planning, but he didn't like the way its talons gleamed in the sunlight. 'Better to avoid those.'

It suddenly swooped down, and Rad scurried to duck around a tree. His eyes widened as Fly's talons grabbed a tree and ripped it out of the ground. "Okay, it's really strong too." He said to himself. Rad backed away, and froze as he felt a jolt of confusion and fear.

He looked over to where the feeling was, and saw a yellow and black mini-con with tread legs and a large buzzsaw on its arm. They stared at each other, but Rad glanced up as Fly screeched, turning around and swooped down again at him. Rad quickly grabbed another card, but instead of him-Swoop went for the mini-con.

The blond stared incredulously as Fly knocked two trees over as its talons wrapped around the mini-con and it screeched as its tinny voice grew fainter the higher Fly went. Rad sprinted after them, pulling out his phone and quickly called the Autobots.

"Yes?"

"We got a problem, send anyone-everyone! A flying card just took off with a mini-con!" Rad yelled into the phone.

Maya was silent for a moment. "A flying…yes, of course." Her surprised tone quickly changed to business-like. "I'm afraid that Optimus and Red Alert are currently on another mission, but I will send the available Autobots to your location."

"Okay." Rad hung up the phone, but the more Fly soared higher, the more he was worried about losing the mini-con. 'There has to be something I can do, some way to get up there-that's it!' he pulled Windy from his pocket. Kero said not to use her on Fly, but this was a loophole. "Get me up to Fly, Windy!" he tossed the card up, and the spirit burst from the card, turning into a gale that swept Rad up off his feet.

It was a thrilling, exhilarating, terrifying feeling of being flown into the air, but he trusted Windy to bend the current and keep him on a steady track. Rad just kept his eyes on Fly's rapidly approaching form, and Windy gave him a push as Rad collided with Fly's back, struggling to hold onto the card as the air whirled around him. Windy slipped back in his pocket, and Rad was glad the cards weren't getting blown away.

The blond gripped Fly's feathers as the card cawed and whirled around, trying to dislodge him. Rad though moved with it, sliding enough that he hoped the mini-con could hear him. "I'm going to get you out of here, don't worry!"

The mini-con's beeps were shrill and furious. "You're glitched! You're completely glitched since we're both with this flying thing!"

"Yeah, well…" Rad trailed off, grimacing. "I'll think of something!"

He didn't need to speak mini-con to know the muttering just barely audible was an insult about his poor planning.


It had been hard to get back to her dig, knowing that there was some creature-maybe-robot out there somewhere. It could have been wreaking havoc like a Godzilla rip-off and she wouldn't know until she got back into town. 'I can already see the headlines: Giant Monster Attacks Town, news at 11.' And with it the jig would be up and all the Autobots and mini-cons would be screwed.

Rachel grunted as she carefully tried to pry a bone from the dirt, and it came loose, causing her to fall onto her backside. She grimaced, but found herself smiling as she found it was part of the jaw. Now she just need to find the rest of the skull and identify the type of dinosaur she got.

"Caaaaw!"

Rachel jerked in alarm, and saw a large raven flying over her. It circled her like a bird a prey, which it kind of was, and then it flew off into the trees. Rachel shrugged her shoulders, looking in the direction the raven had gone off into, and wondered why it had unnerved her so much. She turned back to continue her digging. Though she'd been at for a few minutes crouched on the ground, when she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"It's depressing, isn't it?"

Rachel spun around in shock, a woman was standing in front of Rachel just outside the dig site; the young woman looked to be Rachel's age, with long, flowing, golden hair draped over her left shoulder. She was wearing a slinky dark dress with sparkling black stripes running down its length. Wrapped over her shoulders was a long stole of black and white fur, where she held more fur over her left arm.

Combined with the low-brimmed dark hat on her head and the little splash of white on her chest, it was a sinister, if somewhat elegant look. It was also a bit out of place, like she should be going to a ball than out in the forest.

The woman's face was beautiful, no denying that, almost cherub-like, and she had green hazel eyes. But that's where Rachel stopped dead as the woman's eyes were unusually flat, they seemed dead. Something that was even more stark as the woman's pink lips twitching into a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"You spend who knows how many years alive; you read, you write, you love, you hate, you murder, you save lives." The woman scuffed the ground with her booted foot. "And all that you do is play in the dirt."

Rachel sighed as she looked down at herself, where she was covered in dust again from pulling the bone from the ground. She shook her head; it was better not to get riled up, not when she was still worried about everything else. "I'm sorry, who are..." she started to ask, and the woman laughed, her voice low and silky.

"Please, where are my manners." The woman leaned over to offer her hand, showing off a silver ring studded with a black, horned crystal skull on it. "My name is Sierra. Sierra D'spayre." Rachel took the offered hand, and was helped up to her feet.

"Uh, my name's Rachel Becker." Rachel introduced herself, a little unnerved. She felt like she'd met this woman before, but where? Also, when she touched hands with her, it felt like Rachel lost all feeling in her arm. "So, uh, are you...part of the school board, or something?"

Sierra quirked an eyebrow at Rachel, letting go of her hand. "You weren't expecting me?" She asked.

"Uh, no...should I have been?" Rachel asked after blinking for a few seconds.

Sierra pursed her lips, and examined Rachel up and down. "So, you didn't know I was coming…disappointing." Sierra sighed shrugging. "I guess that's not unreasonable, I mean, you were just sitting here. And not expecting me to show up."

Rachel was really confused now. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I confirmed by being surprised to see you." she said. "I mean, I can't predict the future."

Sierra jolted, and looked a little nervous, but when she saw Rachel was joking, she gave a disappointed frown. "Oh darn, well, this is a letdown. I came all the way here, and..." Sierra shrugged. "Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but if you don't know, then there's not really much of a point my being here."

Sierra turned away, but paused as she looked over her shoulder at Rachel. "Such a pity, you've got the talent, but choose to waste it here," Sierra laughed, which caused Rachel to prickle in fear and offense finally. "Well, you're not even worth the trouble."

"Excuse me, who do you think you are!?" Rachel yelled in aggravation. "This is for my final exam, so I can finish college and make something of my life."

Sierra turned back around, and narrowed her eyes at Rachel, who balked at the sight from those dead eyes. "Well, you clearly had another choice to take, but you flunked that one, my dear. Now you're stuck here collecting some fake bones of a dead creature, when even more worthwhile ventures wave bye-bye as they go past you." Sierra laughed coldly. "Oh, I suppose you did well enough earlier, but that must've been a fluke."

Sierra then began to walk away, only to pause one last time as she gave Rachel a wicked smile. "I'll be sticking around for a while, so you haven't seen the last of me, or my pets. Not that I have to worry about you, but you'll have a lot to worry about me."

She threw her head back, long golden hair flying down her back, as she let out a maniacal laugh. Sierra kept laughing as she walked away from the pit and out of sight. Rachel quickly climbed up out of the hole, but almost too quickly Sierra seemed to vanish from sight. Only another black crow cawed, almost like it was mocking her, as it flew overhead.


"Red Alert, have you found anything of use yet?" Optimus questioned. He had been working on keeping tabs on the area scans, keeping track of where the unknown creature could be.

Red Alert meanwhile had been going over the console, searching through the system for the hard drives. "Not as of yet," he replied with frustration edging into his voice. "The only thing I have confirmed from the messages that this is Swoop's ship, but he's kept everything encrypted. Even the messages begin to go into password protection and I can't get past it yet."

"Have you tried Grimlock?" Optimus suggested.

Red Alert snorted, smiling faintly. "First thing I put in, but no. Tried the others in the unit, and the unit itself, but none of it worked yet. Even tried Swoop's name, but not even that worked." He shook his head. "If we weren't on a time constraint I'd be impressed who coded this system."

"Well, there always was more to the Strike Coalition than just their abrasive outer shell." Optimus said, and then his tone became thoughtful, "It reminds me of another mech."

Red Alert frowned. "Yes, I'm quite aware of what your opinion about Jetfire is." He said tightly.

Optimus paused, recognizing the tone as he vented. "Jetfire may be a bit…boisterous, but he's got a good spark. He's proven himself quite a capable aerial fighter and-"

"'Take care of Cybertron in my stead'." Red Alert cut the mech off, muttering the words resentfully. Optimus stared at the blue mech, who vented and frowned at the console. "I…I apologize, but seeing him with you is…"

Optimus quietly made his way over to Red Alert, and grabbed the mech's shoulder. "Jetfire is only my second-in-command, and he was picked for the project only because we showed compatibility. There was nothing going on between us."

Red Alert glanced at him, and briefly paused in his work to briefly grasped the servo and gave it a squeeze. "I'm aware." He said quietly. "It was just grating to constantly hear Jetfire bragging about it."

"That's…understandable." Optimus replied. "Though he was always serious and no-nonsense when it came to performing his duties."

Red Alert stared at him, but looked back at the screen. "Of course." He said neutrally. 'Don't you realize Jetfire only behaves because he wants to impress you?'

The sound of the communications beeped, and both mechs turned to it. Red Alert accepted the call, and the image of a green mech with a visor and face mask appeared on the other end. The mech's red visor flared. "What are you two doing in Swoop's ship?" he growled.

"Hello, Grimlock. It's been a while since we've spoked to each other, hasn't it?" Optimus asked politely.

Grimlock's visor flared brighter as he ignored the greeting. "Where is Swoop?!"

"You haven't changed, I see." Optimus continued placidly.

Red Alert spoke up calmly as Grimlock was beginning to shake in anger. It was true, the last thing they needed was him coming to Earth. "Swoop was injured entering the atmosphere; there's an asteroid belt and his ship collided with him."

"Put him on." Grimlock demanded.

"That's not possible." Red Alert said. "Swoop's comm. was knocked offline, and he's recovering in our medbay. Give him three sols to recover-"

"One sol," Grimlock cut in roughly, "or I'm coming to that mudball and dragging him out of whatever hole you crawled into on that planet."

"Quite." Optimus said, his voice never wavering from its politeness. "He'll call you then."

Grimlock's visor flared even brighter, but he growled low before the call ended abruptly, the screen going blank.

"How are we supposed to find Swoop in that time frame?" Red Alert questioned.

Optimus held the blue mech's gaze. "We'll just have to hurry then."


When Hot Shot appeared in the forest with Smokescreen and Sideways with their mini-con partners, he immediately looked up. His optics widened. Maya had said that this card took the mini-con, but he noticed that in the spirit's talons was the flailing yellow mini, but on it's back was Rad. "Ah scrap!"

"How did he even get up there?!" Smokescreen asked incredulously. Then he paused. "Does he have a card that can do that?"

"Yes." Sideways said simply.

Hot Shot didn't even ask how he knew that, and transformed into car mode. "Jolt!" he shouted, and the mini-con beeped before uplinking with him. The yellow mech took to the air, maneuvering around the trees to fly closer to the giant bird. "Rad!"

The mini-con beeped shrilly, and the blond looked back. "Hey!"

"That's all you can say?!" Hot Shot yelled back. "What were you thinking!"

"Saving the mini-con." Rad replied. He gripped the card's feathers tighter as the bird cawed, whirling around with its beak aimed straight for him.

Hot Shot swerved down to avoid getting stabbed. The yellow mech swiveled around to keep under the card. He turned slightly onto his side, opening his doors. "Jump! I'll catch you." Both Rad and mini-con stared at him like it was the stupidest thing he ever said. "Got a better idea then?!"

"How about where we don't go splat?" Rad yelled back. A purple laser shot over them, and Rad groaned as Cyclonus' cackling rang out behind them. "This day sucks!"

The blue 'copter was coming in fast, firing rapidly as he didn't even seem to care whether he hit Hot Shot or the giant bird. Starscream was flying near him, angrily reprimanding him about hitting the mini-con. Though that just made their fire power focus on shooting Hot Shot out of the air.

"Keep holding on, I'll come back for you!" Hot Shot knew it was bad when Rad groaned, but it was the only thing he could come up with while being fired at. Reluctantly, he turned and flew away, diverting the laser fire with him from the bird.


Rad knew flying up to, well, Fly was a bad idea, especially since he didn't have a solid plan. 'Just got to pull my weight.' He thought, because rescuing the mini-con was the least he could do. And from this vantage point he saw that the Decepticons were too distracted with the Autobots to actually focus on the mini-con.

While Hot Shot led the aerials away, he saw Demolishor holding Smokescreen and Sideways at a standstill to let Megatron-aim right for them! Rad screamed, the sound echoed by the mini-con's own terror pulsing through the link.

A powerful blast of cannon fire shot up at them, and Rad slipped as the shot tore through Fly like paper. It's upper half dissolved and Rad dropped to quickly grab Fly's talons next to the mini-con as before his shocked eyes Fly's body began to reform and flew on like nothing was wrong.

Rad's stomach dropped, because this just made things more difficult. He looked at the mini-con, who seemed to be muttering incoherently as his translation was just a bunch of gibberish. "Uh, how are you doing so far?"

The mini-con let out a strangled scream. "How do think I'm doing?!" he shouted. "I've been kidnapped by a giant organic and tried to be saved by some glitch! And now I'm being shot at-I got away from Cybertron to avoid being shot at anymore!"

"Just calm down and I'll get us out of here!" Rad said, though the mini-con seemed just as dubious as Rad felt.

Then the yellow mini-con just got sad, slumping in the bird's grasp. "I just wanted to build things."

Rad winced at the defeated tone, but it made his own resolve strengthen. "I will get you out of this." He said firmly, and dug through his pocket as he kept a death grip on Fly, shifting to better secure himself to its leg. "I hope this works." He said, and slipped a card from his pocket, catching sight of it as he pointed at it, the card thankfully not floating away. "Bind Fly, Shadow!"

From the card, inky black tendrils burst forth from the card, sliding to wrap around Fly's body, gliding along until it was completely covered in shadows. Fly struggled, muffled caws ringing out and Rad pointed at the card above him.

"Return to your power confine, Sakura Card!" The magic circle appeared underneath Rad, and the shell card sucked in the giant bird, body dissolving as both cards came to his hands. Rad only realized the error of his judgment when he felt the mini-con's terror hit-right before they started falling. "Craaap!" he screamed, dropping out of the sky as he and mini plummeted. Desperately, Rad threw out a card. "Windy!" he cried, and a powerful gust of wind cushioned beneath Rad, and he felt the mini-con's confusion as she gently broke their fall, carefully letting them sail to the earth.

And right into the missing Decepticon's awaiting hands. The mini-con's terror returned tenfold as Rad practically choked on it, his own fear multiplied as Scavenger plucked him and the mini-con out of the air. Rad gritted his teeth as the hand wrapped around him, wand pinned uselessly to his side as he could barely move.

Megatron's booming laughter rang through the forest. "Excellent! Crush the insect and return to base with the mini-con, Scavenger!"

"Not a chance!" The shout came from above, where Hot Shot came careening down in robot mode, swinging a Sword replica.

Scavenger dodged, side-stepping to avoid the slash. A sneer crossed his lips. "You should learn to avoid announcing your presence like a fool."

Hot Shot scowled at him fiercely. "Shut up!" he snapped, slashing the sword at the other bot, but his movements were stiff and awkward.

It was something Scavenger noticed too. "What, you lost all your prowess as well as your processor on that dive?"

Rad felt the hand around him loosen, and he wasted no time in throwing up his wand and a card. "Wood!" he shouted, just in time for her to wrap vines around Scavenger's ankles as he tried to step back and avoid the next swing from the yellow bot's blade.

While the strike went wide, Scavenger was still tangled and he landed on the ground with enough force to shake the immediately area. Perhaps stunned, but the purple and green bot didn't put up resistance when Wood pried his fists apart with roots and retrieved Rad and the mini-con, quickly taking them to Hot Shot, who immediately scooped them up.

"Got 'em, let's go!" he yelled, and Rad caught Wood as he felt the warp take them, sending them away as he heard the echo of Megatron's increasingly infuriated roar in his ears.


Rachel was still thinking over the strange encounter with that blonde woman. She had been off-putting, and Rachel kept looking around to make sure wasn't still around. Dinner break had come around, and Rachel dusted herself off as she marched back to town. The woman hadn't gone any word on the monster yet, making her even more worried to when the shoe would drop.

As she looked around for a dinner, Rachel jumped as her phone vibrated. She hurried to answer it. "Hello?"

"Rachel?" It was Stella, and she was relieved. "Where are you? I've been calling for hours!"

The blonde blinked. "You have? Well, it might have been bad reception." She replied, but the strange woman came to mind and her stomach twisted. "And I'm at…" she squinted at the sign of the fast food joint she was in front of. "…Burger Slime?" she grimaced at the name.

Stella was silent for a moment. "…be right there."

Rachel stared down at the phone, and shook her head as she worriedly phoned Red Alert. "Hey, did you happen to try and call me earlier? Receptions kind of bad out here."

Red Alert was silent for a moment. "You…you haven't been getting the messages?" his calm voice rose, sounding genuinely alarmed. Rachel's stomach dropped. "I started sending them almost an hour ago, the creature has been spotted on the radar. It's been coming back from the track it was on towards Seattle."

"S-Seattle?" Rachel repeated. "Alright, everyone's already gone out for dinner and the exam's over for today; I'll still check and make sure no one's there."

"Stay safe; we'll be there shortly." Red Alert replied, and ended the call.

Rachel was about to call Stella, but she caught a glimpse of her distinctive red hair as Stella came around the corner. Rachel blinked as they stared at each other. "H-how did you get here so-right, warp gate?"

Stella nodded briefly, smiling slightly. "Yeah, and I'm glad you're alright." She lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry we left you, if I had just reached-"

"It's over, and the creature took off not long after." Rachel explained. "If anything, I'm sorry you had to come back and check because my phone was being difficult."

Stella jerked her chin up. "Well, I don't know if I came back to see you. Maybe I just liked the food from…Burger Slime?" she tried to hold her haughty tone, but the grimace belied the real worry.

Rachel smiled for just a moment, as she still knew the danger wasn't gone. "It's great you came back to check on me, but I need to make sure no one's at the dig site. I just got a call from one of the Autobots that creature is on its way back."

Stella tensed, her eyes worried and unsure. "And you're going to the danger?"

Rachel shrugged. "Don't have much choice. The Autobots can't exactly be exposed to humanity-it'd be like every sci-fi 'aliens come to earth' panic."

Stella grimaced. "Yeah…" she trailed off, nodding to herself. "Then you're going to need someone to corroborate whatever lie you come up with." She reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand, tugging her along. "So we better get going."

"Just remember to make yourself scarce when the Autobots show up." Rachel said.

"Don't worry about that, Redline came with me and he's still in the forest with the warp gate at the ready." Stella replied.

Rachel nodded, but something niggled at the back of her mind, something she was missing. 'This is going to drive me up the wall to remember.' She thought, but put it aside as they reached the designated dig site. It was always far off from the town, but now the cover of forest was more a blessing than a pain to walk through.

It was a relatively smooth ride to get any stragglers still trying to get their hours in to leave, as Rachel just needed to mention Paaswell didn't give credit for overtime. It did make the other students mock Rachel for doing the same apparently, but she was used to their ridicule by now.

It also was when the last student had left that the roar came from deep in the forest. Laser fire rang back, and frantic beeps followed. Stella took off almost immediately, and Rachel wasn't far behind. They followed the sounds as they made their way to the fighting-or rather, when they got their, Redline hurriedly avoiding any all strikes from the mutant creature. It didn't even look at them, so focused on getting Redline.

Rachel's stomach twisted, because looking at this creature she couldn't deny it. It did look like the robot in the photo. "Swoop!" she yelled, but hadn't actually expected the creature to pause, just long enough for Redline to scurry out of reach. "Stop this right now!"

Those burning red eyes turned to her, face twisted in a snarl. "Not Swoop! Swoop dead, Ravenus now!" He growled back. "Ravenus destroy mini-con!"

"Destroy?" Rachel echoed, and Redline kept the shaking blaster on the creature as he backed toward Stella. Rachel saw the red mini reaching for the warp gate around his waist, and she looked sadly at Stella. "I'll take you on a real if I get out of this."

Stella looked incredulous. "What do you mean if-" her eyes widened, just noticing the activating warp gate as Redline grabbed her arm before sending Rachel a hard stare. "You-"

With the mini-con gone, 'Ravenus' looked back at Rachel with an even angrier snarl. "You-your fault! Destroy organic!"

"Well shit." Rachel muttered. She stepped back, thinking of something else to say. "What about your team?"

"Team?" Ravenus repeated, halting just a moment. The thorn glowed, and he clutched his head. "Not here-not here!" he snapped, and his eyes burned as he glared down at Rachel, even madder than before.

Rachel had seen the doubt though, but right now she had to focus on getting away. She didn't even pretend to back away, and sprinted right through the forest, going deeper as Ravenus gave chase after her. Rachel sent a quick text to Red Alert, hoping it went through.

Her phone vibrated. The ok that came on screen sent a wave of relief through her. Rachel picked up the pace, running towards the co-ordinates of the ship. The trees were sent barreling through the air as Ravenus tried to grab her. He was bigger and kept pace easily, but she was more agile and able to dodge his attempts. Rachel couldn't see the ship, but she could see the fact the door was open and ran right in.

"Rachel? What-" Red Alert started, but Rachel cut him off.

"No time, he's right on my tail." she explained.

Optimus nodded, somehow even more serious than before. "I'll subdue him, and then we can take him back to base and figure out what happened to him." he said, and departed from the ship.

Rachel bit her lip, and glanced at the console. "Can you bring up the photo of Swoop's team?"

Red Alert frowned at her. "It's impossible to access anything without a password."

Rachel ran a hand through her hair, but slowly it dawned on her that it wasn't true. "I brought up the picture by accident; if that's the case, Swoop likely had it preset to correspond with a key so he could look at it without digging through the system." she said, because she couldn't deny that saving a shortcut to a photo was something she'd done a lot in the past.

"Even if that's the case, what will it accomplish?" Red Alert asked.

"I-I don't know," Rachel said, "but I saw how he reacted to the mention of them. Maybe it'll distract Swoop or whatever he's calling himself to let Optimus have the upper hand."

Red Alert paused, his optic band dimming for a moment before he nodded. "Which key did you press?"

"It-it was somewhere near the button. I remember having touched one after climbing up the console." Rachel said. She pulled out her phone, fiddling with the camera as Red Alert pressed each keypad in tow, until finally the image of the five robots appeared on the screen once again. Rachel lifted the phone, and snapped a picture of it. "Thanks!"

"What are you doing?" Red Alert called after her, but Rachel didn't look back as she ran for the door.

"Helping Optimus!" she yelled, and once outside she had a moment to assess the situation. Ravenus was locked in a grapple with Optimus, both with deep scratches and laser burns on them. "Over here!" she shouted, and both looked at her; Optimus with concern, but Ravenus snarled.

"Organic!" He growled, and shoved Optimus away before lunging for her.

Rachel held up the phone, letting the robot get an eyeful of the photo. Instantly, he froze, awkwardly landing with a crash short of her. "Can you look at them and say they'd want to see you like this? Do you want them to see you like this, Swoop?"

Ravenus let out a loud shriek, Rachel's ears ringing but she didn't move. It reached for her, but its eyes suddenly started flashing from red to blue, cawing and clutching his head. "Not-here. They-not-here!"

"Yes they are!" Rachel retorted. "Just call them! And if they care as much about you they'll call!"

"Not-here, not-here." The red started to bleed back into the blue eyes.

"It's true, Swoop." Optimus said suddenly. He seemed bewildered by what was going on, but still soldiered through it. "Grimlock called earlier; he wanted to know where you were."

"Grim...lock?" Ravenus repeated the name, haltingly as the evil in the thorn on his side began to glow.

"Yes," Optimus continued, "he said if we didn't let you speak to him in a day, he'd come down here and take you back with him."

Ravenus looked at the photo, the red receding as the thorn began to crumple. It's evil aura dissipating and Rachel stepped back as before her eyes, Ravenus' form changed. The odd appendages melted away, the colors turning back to red and blue, and the eyes were covered by a blue optic band.

The robot let out a weak chuckle, optic band brightening just a touch. "He...always did have a funny way of caring."

"Swoop?" Optimus called, kneeling next to the bot, carefully reaching to touch his shoulder. The blue robot didn't attack, only tilted his head up at him.

"You." He said, his tone petulant, but Optimus seemed almost relieved.

"Yes, it's good to have you back." Optimus lifted the mech, easily able to heft him against his shoulder but careful to avoid the wings. "Perhaps once Red Alert is done checking you over, you can tell us what happened to you."

"Yeah, fine." Swoop replied.

Rachel watched them walk inside, and looked down at her phone. She thought of her dream; how the thorn had caused the transformation, of how it crumpling ended it. 'But...that wasn't tech. It...it was like...' she couldn't finish that thought, because it shouldn't be possible.

Magic wasn't supposed to exist.


Rad wasn't sure whether to be flattered or annoyed that the yellow mini-con had yet to let go of him. His name was Buzzsaw, but he hadn't said much else as he kept looking suspiciously around at the Autobots. Then again, the fact Oval (who Rad recognized as having been protected by Shield) had shown up and immediately began using some off-putting jokes to try and cheer Buzzsaw up only served to annoy the yellow mini and threaten to beat him with his buzz shield.

"You know that if you don't at least up-link, the Decepticons can still find you, right?" Rad questioned.

"I don't want to link with a bulk-they're the ones who used us. I just want to make things." Buzzsaw retorted gruffly. It was less 'tough' given he'd yet to give up his grip on Rad. "What if they make me fight anyway?"

"They aren't making Fetch fight." Rad replied.

Buzzsaw snorted. "Fetch is only someone you take out as a last resort. He's got a lot of screws loose, him and his whole team."

"Then...why don't I up-link with you?" Rad offered, and the mini-con was confused and just a little hopeful.

"How? You're an organic?" he asked.

"My cousin up-linked with High Wire, and my friends with Grindor and Sureshock." Rad explained, though added the one thing he knew would matter to Buzzsaw. "And when they up-linked, their servility programming never activated."

It worked. Buzzsaw was alight with surprise and relief. "Really? You're not kidding?" Rad shook his head, and jerked back as Buzzsaw offered a finger that was glowing at the tip. "Here, hurry up then."

Rad snorted, and touched the tip of the finger with his own. He felt a link form between them, an odd feeling that felt familiar and yet not. It brought the strangest feeling that he'd done this before, but to his recollection he'd never up-linked with a mini-con yet.

It was a weird realization to come too.


"So, you said I was out of commission?" Swoop didn't look anything right now, but his tone was flat. He vented hard. "Couldn't you have given me a more impressive excuse for an injury?"

Red Alert snorted. "Forgive us for not being more concerned about where you actually were."

"You're forgiven." Swoop retorted, a slight grin at his lips.

Red Alert shook his head and glanced over at the door as Optimus came back in. Rachel left with a dazed look on her face, and he wondered what the mech told her. "Did you tell her about Rad?"

"Yes, though she looked distracted throughout." Optimus replied, and let the door slide down as Swoop contacted Grimlock.

Soon enough, the green mech appeared on screen. "You're up."

Swoop nodded. "Yeah, boss. You really didn't think a little crash would keep me down, right?"

Grimlock chuffed. "Just get back here with your report. You've been gone long enough as it is."

Swoop grinned. "Got it, boss." he replied, and the screen went blank.

"What were you here to report on?" Red Alert questioned.

Swoop tilted his head as he looked back at them. "How terrible Optimus Prime was being at his job here that he left Jetfire in charge."

Red Alert was surprised by the chuckle which slipped out of him. He ducked his head when Optimus' helm fins twitched. "I think we've reached a consensus at least."

Optimus only shook his head.


A/N: I'd like to give another warm thank you to Vanessa Masters for giving me a scene to use!

And the reason this is at the end is because I have a longer explanation to go through. The Swoop actually being Ravenus thing; yes, I know they're not actually the same character, but given everything else I've changed in regarding to make the story make sense in the long run, this is quite minor. Just think of it as 'Canon Welding'.