Yay! Finally here! This took a little longer than I expected it to, but now it's finally done and posted, even if it is a little late. Here's your late birthday present, Alice! Happy (late) birthday/Merry (early) Christmas!

WolfAssassin369—Well, Optimus comes in here… but I don't think it's the way you wanted him to. And I am LOVING RWBY! Though I'm seriously ticked about the last episode! How could they do that Yang?!

AllSpark Princess—Hope this is "soon" enough to be labeled "as soon as possible". XD

Shadescribe—Like I already told you, you're just imagining things. Hawk and Hunter and just friends and that's all they're going to be. I have ideas for romances for them, just not with each other. ;)

Alice Gone Madd—I LOVE German Shepherds!

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

"You'll never know what hit you; won't see me closing in. I'm gonna make you suffer this hell you put me in! I'm underneath your skin…. The devil within…. You'll never know what hit you…" Digital Daggers; The Devil Within

10

Ω A Videlicet Periculosus Ω

(A Nameless Danger)

Autobot Outpost Omega One;

Optimus streaked into the main room of the base and headed straight for the ground-bridge controls. Something was wrong; there was trouble at Olympus High and Hunter was right in the middle of it. He needed to go there now! "Ratchet!" the Prime bellowed.

Coming out of the lab and spying his leader typing in coordinates at the ground-bridge console, the medic raised his optic ridges. What was going on now? Judging from Prime's rushed movements and the worried gleam in his optics—the only part of the mech's face that was visible since his mask was already up—it wasn't anything good. "Optimus, what's wrong?" he inquired coming over.

"Something is happening at Olympus High," Optimus explained, pulling the lever for the bridge, "and Hunter is right in the middle of it."

"What do you think it is?" Ratchet questioned, his concern for the girl growing.

"I'm not sure," Optimus answered, "but I am sure to find out when I arrive." The large, red and blue Autobot commander turned towards the ground-bridge as it powered up. "Be ready on standby, Ratchet," he informed the medic, looking down at him. "This could very well be an energon-bath. If there are multiple victims I may advise that they be brought here."

"Of course, Optimus," Ratchet answered with a nod.

"It may be a wise idea to call the team back as well."

"Will do."

The Prime nodded and turned back towards the bridge. He began running and transformed to his alternate mode mid-stride, an act that came easily after years and years of practice. The mech floored the gas pedal and peeled out of the room and into the ground-bridge. Barreling down the hard-light bridge, Optimus kept his sights on the end of the tunnel looking for the opening but that's where the issue arose. There wasn't an opening. Slamming on his brakes, Optimus transformed to his robotic form and stared in disbelief at the dead end before him. This was impossible! The ground-bride was supposed to open up and the coordinate destination not come to a dead end! Why was it stopping at a dead end?! Anger burning up through his anxiety the mech clenched a fist and let it fly at the wall, striking it as hard as he could as though he would be able to break through it. "Hunter!" he screamed. "Hunter!"

Olympus High;

Chuckling as he watched the two teenagers move into ready positions, their faces set in defiance and determination, Nox cracked his knuckles. Time to bring the pain! "What do ya say we switch dancing partners for a little while, Umbra?" he questioned the woman.

"Hmm, I like the idea of that, Nox," Umbra hummed, the sound of a sadistic smirk in her voice. Behind her red-lensed goggles she set her sights on Hunter and examined her, looking for any clues and details that would help her in the fight. Evidently the girl's face was a weak spot: Even though she clearly possessed a healing factor she still bared a scar across her left eye. Anything in the face area would better her odds of winning.

"Word of advice," Nox suggested, "keep her on the defensive as much as possible."

"Roger that," Umbra responded. With that, she drew her sword again and lunged for Hunter. "Hrah!" Raising her weapon high above her head the masked woman soared through the air and came down atop the sixteen-year-old redhead, swinging her weapon down. "Hah!" The red and silver blade dug into the earth as Hunter quickly leapt back out of the way. Pulling her sword free, Umbra advanced again.

While Umbra went to work at taking care of the girl, Nox turned his undivided attention on the boy. "Looks like it's just you and me, son," he state, stepping forward. Hawk's face hardened and he brought his fists up around his face. Nox chuckled at that. "Hit me with your best shot, boy," he practically ordered, coming well within Hawk's striking distance and stood there unmoving and unflinching, arms completely extended to the side.

Hawk raised an eyebrow curiously, but decided to take the shot. "Huh!" He threw a fist forward but hit nothing but a cloud of smoke for his efforts. "Wha-ah!" He was suddenly struck on the cheek. Caught off guard, the eighteen-year-old hit the ground, just barely catching himself before he faceplanted into it. After shaking off the daze he chuckled darkly. "Go ahead," he grunted, looking over his shoulder as he got to his feet and turned to face his opponent. "Hit me again as hard as you can, old man. I dare you."

Now, Nox was a bit caught off guard by this reaction, but since he was a brawler at hard and teen had asked so nicely he obliged him. He punched Hawk as hard as he could again. When the boy stumbled away but still remained on his feet and smiled back up at him, the man came again with another punch. And again. And again. He came one more time but it was then that Hawk caught his fist in his hand and held it off. Nox's eyes widened behind his goggles when he finally took notice of the purple aura that had been building around Hawk with each hit he'd delivered. The boy was a kinetic absorber and redirector. "Aw, frag…."

Hawk slammed his fist again Nox's face, and sent him flying backwards.

"Huh! Uh! Hah!" Hunter ducked, spun, and back handsprung through the crowd of screaming students and faculty out of the way as Umbra came at her slashing away with her sword and dagger. The teen groaned and quietly cursed. Umbra was keeping her on the defensive and that wasn't a good thing; defensive tactics weren't her strong suit. If she had any hope of winning this fight she needed to switch over to offense ASAP, but her opponent was doing and excellent job of preventing that from happening. To make it even worse, Hunter didn't even have blades to fight with anymore and Umbra had two. Who would you say was in the better position here?

Umbra chuckled as she kept slashing her way towards Hunter, forcing the redhead to continue backing up with each advance. If she could just get the girl cornered…. "Come on, little girl," the woman chuckled darkly. "I thought you enjoyed a good fight. Yah!" She jabbed.

"Huh!" Hunter dodged. "I enjoy—ah!" she spun away from another blade, "—a good fair fight. Yai!" The young Hybrid quickly moved into a backbend to avoid another attack before kicking her feet up and over, standing up, and moving into another back handspring. Bending over backwards again she rested all of her weight on her arms and vaulted up and away from Umbra landing atop the statue that stood before the school. "And I know you don't care," the teen want on, panting ever so slightly, "but you're not fighting fair at all, Umbra."

"You're right," the masked woman responded, lowering her blades for a moment. "I'm not playing fair." She was gone in the poof of smoke.

Hunter remained at her perch, quickly glancing around to find her opponent when her nerves tingled. Gasping, the redhead just barely had enough time to activate her shield before a foot slammed into it, knocking her off the statue. "Whoa-oh! Oof!" Hunter slammed into the steps of the school, leaving a small crater. Shaking her head, she turned wide-eyes back up on the statue to see Umbra crouching there.

"And you wanna know something, kid?" Umbra asked. "I don't care." With that she jumped up in the air and came back down atop Hunter, a foot extended to make contact.

Hunter rolled out of the way and was up on her feet before that could happen. Shield still activated she held it up to block Umbra's sword as she swung it again, the impact rippling the pale blue force field. When the woman drew her blade back to swing again, that's when Hunter acted. Charging forward, she slammed her shield against Umbra. "Hah!" Before her opponent had a chance to recover she did it again harder. "Hrah!" She charged a third time, but this time Umbra managed to catch the shield and hold it off, pushing it back on Hunter and rotating it to the left. With a grunt, the woman hoisted the shield up over her head and twisted around until she'd brought it behind Hunter's back and pinned her arm there, sharply jerking it upward. Hunter cried out in pain as her shoulder objected. To free herself she released the shield from her generator and feel forward to the ground, grabbing at her shoulder and rubbing it.

Growling, Umbra threw down the shield, the thing disappearing into thin air before it hit the ground. She knelt down and grabbed Hunter's hair. With a jerk she drew the girl up on her knees and unsheathed her dagger once again, positioning it so that she wouldn't be able to stab the girl, but could still hit her with the metal section that wrapped around the back of her hand when she held. She bashed that metal against Hunter's face, hard. "Rah!"

"Ahh!" Hunter fell to the ground again seeing stars. A nasty welt angled across her right cheek and the bridge of her nose began to rise. The girl was still in a daze when her shoulder was trapped in a strong grip and she was once against jerked up off the ground. For a moment she was being held by the shoulders, staring into Umbra's face. Then her head collided with Umbra's. "Ack!" Without warning, the teen was thrown, crashing through the statue and falling to the ground, rolling a few feet before finally coming to a stop. Hunter groaned the world spinning around her.

"Hmph," Umbra snorted, staring at the girl and shaking her head, a hand on her hip. "Pathetic. Truly pathetic. I was hoping for an actual challenge here." She began to march down the steps towards the teenager. When she finally came upon the girl, Umbra knelt down and seized one of her ankles before turning and dragging her across the cement towards the school. Finally she stopped and flung Hunter into the air towards the mountain.

Adrenaline hitting her system, Hunter flailed around for a moment before finally managing to get her bearings. Flipping around, she slammed into the side of the mountain feet first, her legs taking the brunt of the impact. A crater formed around her. Crouching into the mountainside, Hunter pushed all of her own strength and force down into her legs and exploded off the mountain, using her pyrokinesis to propel her even faster and more powerfully. "Hhhhhhaaaaaahhhhh!" Drawing a fist back, the teen planned on planting it in her opponent's head but her plans were quickly changed.

Sidling away from Hunter's punch, Umbra shot a hand up and grabbed the sixteen-year-old by the face, swung her up and slammed her back down into the cement. "You're so predictable," she sighed to the girl before yanking her back up and throwing her back at the school again.

"Whoa!" This time Hunter crashed through a window of a class room and slammed into the opposing wall causing part of it to crumble and tumble down, burying her.

In a cloud of smoke Umbra appeared in the room. Hands folded behind her back, the woman strode across to the pile of rubble and, swiping a hand out over the pile, moved every last piece of debris off of the teenager and over into a nice "neat" pile in the other corner of the room. She turned to the prone and moaning girl. Chuckling Umbra knelt down and once again seized Hunter by both shoulders before standing up and hoisting the redhead up into the air so that her feet wouldn't touch the floor. "What's wrong, Hunter?" she teased in a patronizing tone. "Growing tired? Not that I blame you, really, considering the trouble you gave Nox earlier, but still, I would have thought you possessed more stamina than this. Or perhaps you aren't the warrior you're claimed to be."

"Take it… and shove it," Hunter panted, swallowing hard. She shot a meek glare down at her opponent, a slight trickle of energon departing from the corner of her mouth.

Umbra laughed. "You are quite the little cheeky minx, has anyone ever told you that?" Without warning the woman sped across the room and slammed Hunter up against wall. "Not to worry," she assured the girl, "we'll beat that out of you." A glimmer of light suddenly caught Umbra's eye and she looked down from Hunter's face to her chest to see the wolf's head necklace the Prime had given her. She chuckled darkly, "Well, well, well, what have we here?" With that, the masked woman grabbed the chain and ripped it off the girl's neck, dropping her to the floor as she did. Walking away a bit, Umbra held it up to the light to get a better look and was silent for a moment, simply admiring the necklace's simplistic beauty. Then she turned her gaze back on Hunter. "From someone special, no doubt," she remarked with a smirk. "Perhaps your Prime?"

Grunting, Hunter pushed herself up onto all fours and rubbed at the back of her head, wincing slightly. After she shook her head she looked up at Umbra. The Fuser's gaze locked on a string of silver in the woman's hand and stayed there, her sapphire blue eyes widening. Her necklace…. Umbra was holding her necklace! As if to make sure that the woman was indeed holding her necklace and not a copy, Hunter quickly raised a hand and felt around her throat for the wolf's head trinket. It wasn't there. Umbra had taken her necklace! And just like that Hunter could feel every last bit of anger and ire surge inside of her like Mount Vesuvius. In an explosion of blue fire Hunter off the floor, on her feet, and surging towards Umbra. "Huh!" The teen practically body slammed the woman, sending her flying and lodging into the wall. But that wasn't enough. It would take a lot more than that to relieve Hunter's rage and it was a good thing she had an opponent who—while not quite as indestructible as Nox seemed—could take a hit. Crouching down slightly, the red head clenched her fists tightly and lunged off the floor, using her pyrokinesis as well as her own strength to do so. "Hhhhaaaahhhh!" Hunter drew a fist back and smashed it right into Umbra's face, causing the woman to fly through the wall and fly through several more before finally lodging into one again.

"Ugh…." Raising a hand to her head and shaking it, Umbra pushed herself out of the hole only to collapse to the floor like a ragdoll, just barely managing to stop herself from faceplanting. She finally managed to get on her feet. Staggering a bit, the woman had to clutch on to the wall to keep herself from falling until she could get her bearings back, but she didn't have that kind of time. Hunter wasn't finished with her yet.

Kicking in her hyperspeed, Hunter was standing before Umbra in barely the blink of an eye and slamming her fist into the woman's face again, knocking her away from the wall and to the center of the room. "Hrah!" She waited until Umbra was up on her feet and then attacked again. Leaping off the floor, the young Hybrid soared past the older and punched her again before coming into contact with the opposing wall. She shoved off that and came back at Umbra, faster this time, with a harder hit. Hunter kept this up, lunging back and forth from wall to wall going faster and faster each time until she was barely even a blur with her hyperspeed, slamming her fists and feet against Umbra, forcing the woman to spin like a twister. "Hah! Hyah! Uh! Nyah! Huh! No!-body! Takes! My! Necklace! Rrraahhh!" Finally Hunter jumped to the ceiling and stood atop the ceiling fan fixture there. She watched on as her opponent spun out before finally collapsing to the floor in a groaning, moaning, heaving heap. It was then she jumped down from the fan. Landing right atop Umbra, she drove the Hybrid down through the floor into the class room below and through that floor to the next room below, smashing her into the tile below her. With a growl, Hunter reached down, seized Umbra by the face, and picked her up off the floor before reaching out and snatching the trinket and chain, that her opponent had somehow managed to keep a hold of, back. Baring her teeth, Hunter held up the necklace. "Mine!" she hissed frighteningly. "Hoo-ahh!" With that, the sixteen-year-old turned and threw Umbra through the wall and the very side of the mountain.

Umbra plummeted, screaming, until she slammed into the pavement below. Groaning she quivered for a moment appearing as though she was trying to get back up, but then she fell still and silent. A few seconds later her body seemed to dissolve into a thousand tiny stars that were quickly blown away on the breeze, vanishing into thin air.

"Like I said," Hunter murmured, watching on as Umbra dissolved away, "nobody takes my necklace." Hunter turned to her tightly clenched fist and raised it before opening it to reveal her necklace. The trinket had been clasped so tightly in her grip that it had left a very deep and visible imprint in her palm, something which only seemed to help enunciate the fact that the necklace was hers and would not be taken from her. Hearing an explosion, Hunter looked up. It looked like Hawk could use some help with Nox. Quickly putting the necklace back on, Hunter jettisoned into the sky, streaking straight for the conflict.

"Oof! Ugh! Uh…." Hawk hit the ground and tumbled head over heels backwards before finally skidding to a stop. The world spun around him as he laid there prone on the ground, groaning and moaning and trying to put his thoughts back together and remember which way was up and down. Okay. Clearly he needed to work on his combustion-bending more.

Coughing, Nox came walking through the smoke, waving a hand in front of his face to fan the smoke and dust away. "Have to hand it to you, son," he said, clearing his throat, "you're tougher than you look at first glance." A sneer creased the man's visible and slightly burned lips. "Of course, as first glance you don't look tough at all so, that's not really saying much." Hawk was still in too much of a haze to reply. Nox chuckled and continued stalking towards the young man, unsheathing his sword as he did so. "Oh, this is almost too easy." Coming to stand over Hawk, the older Hybrid raised his blade and prepared to stab it down through the boy's spark.

"Nox!"

Pausing in his attack, Nox turned and looked up at the sound of his name. When he saw what it was coming his way the man cursed and quickly swung his sword up over his head, broad-side facing up, hand braced against the bottom of it. He barely had enough to do it.

An asteroid crashing down from the sky Hunter came down atop Nox, slamming down into a crouch on his sword. "Hrah!" The red blade bent slightly under her weight but held fast. Nox shoved her away, helping to launch the teenager into the air as she jumped away as well. "Huh!" Flying backwards, the girl punched her fists out, sending large, hot blue fireballs in her opponent's direction in quick sequence. "Hyah! Huh! Huh! Uh!" Most of the attack Nox managed to block or dodge, but she was lucky in hitting him a few times, causing him to be knocked off his feet. Back-flipping, Hunter landed on the ground and went skidding backwards, legs splayed wide and a hand against the ground to help drag herself to a stop. Then she was up and running, shattering through the sound-barrier as she went hyper. With a sonic boom she came back out of it on a dime in front of Nox, fists flying. "Ha! Huh! Uh! Rah!"

Nox dodged them all, backing up a little each time as he did, until—"Ugh!"—he was smacked across the face a foot and hit the ground. Groaning, the man, pushed himself onto all fours and spat out a mouthful of energon and a few teeth before getting back up to his feet. That was it! This has gone on for too long—he'd had enough of it! Time to end this thing. He faced Hunter again as he began walking to his left, forcing the girl to circle around to her right at the same time. "You think you're so good, don't you?" Nox rumbled, his voice accusing. "Being the Fuser with all that power and everyone fawning over you and falling at your feet—you just think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread." The girl said nothing. "Well, I have some news for you, youngling," he continued on. "You're not that great. You're just a pretty little girl with a great big power inside of you that you have absolutely no idea how to control pretending to have it all together." Nox snorted. "Well, you may have everyone else fooled here, but not me. I can see right through you." He was baiting her.

Hunter snarled, fists clenching even tighter. "Yeah?" she challenged darkly. "Good. You won't see this coming then. Hoo-ahh!" Hunter let a fist surge forward in a blur, intending to plant it against the man's jaw, but her plan was quickly changed as he caught it and spun her around. He forced her down to kneel on the ground while he bent her arm back with a hand on her shoulder. A sickening crackle came from the joint. "Ahhh!" Hunter cried out. Gritting her teeth, the young Hybrid braced her other hand on the ground and pushed up enough to kick off and go up into a handstand. Yanking her hand away from Nox, Hunter spun around on her hands to that her back was to the man before swinging her legs down and wrapping them around his neck. She then sat up against his chest. In prime position, the girl grabbed the top of his head to keep it in place as she punched him in the face repeatedly with her free fist. "Huh! Huh! Rah!" Hunter grabbed the sword out of his scabbard and bent over backwards. She braced her hands against the ground and kicked her legs over, letting go of Nox as she did and throwing him towards the school. "Hah!" Then she was on her feet and lunging at him again, leaping onto a picnic table and then into the air with the sword gripped in both hands and raised high above her head. "Ahhhh!" She swung the sword down, ready to cleave its owner in half.

Nox kicked his feet up and together and braced them against the blade, stopping it. The concussion of the impact caused an explosion, sending rocks, dirt, plants around them flying in all direction to leave the earth bare and a good space of the school yard that they stood on to cave into the ground ever so slightly. Nox sneered and chuckled. "Not today, sweet-spark. Huh!" He swiped Hunters legs out from under her, subsequently causing the girl to let go for the sword as she did, before leaping to his feet. Picking up the sword, the man came over to the girl, who was starting to get back up, and slammed his foot into her chest, driving her to the ground with such force a crater formed around her. With that he braced his sword against the ground like a cane and knelt down, forcing all of his considerable weight down onto Hunter's chest and making it difficult for her to draw breath. He got right into her face. "It sure is a good thing you're the Fuser," he remarked, brushing some hair out of the gasping and struggling child's face, "because it's pretty clear to me that the only way I'm going to get you back to the Mistress is by bringing you on the ship dead."

Hunter's eyes widened in fear and she struggled harder. No! She didn't want to die again—not like this!

Chortling sinisterly, Nox stood back up again and twirled his sword around his fingers until it was once again pointing downwards towards Hunter's head. As an extra precaution the man stepped on the girl's wrist with his other foot. Then he drove the sword down.

Desperate, Hunter reached up with her free hand and grabbed the blade with it, wincing as the scalpel-like edges sliced and bit into her flesh. She held it off, energon oozing between her fingers and trickle down the blade to drip between her eyes. Hunter wasn't sure how long she'd be able to do this. As if the blade cutting into her hand wasn't bad enough, her energon was making it slippery and hard to hold on to; she could feel it slipping through her grip bit by bit, coming closer.

Grinning demonically, Nox leaned all of his weight on the sword hilt, forcing it closer. "You can't fight me, girl," he hissed. All at once he was blasted in the back and sent flying forward into the side of the mountain.

With the weight on her chest gone, Hunter gasped for air only to begin coughing as she inhaled to deeply. After a moment she sat up, wiping her now healed hand on what was left of her gym pants to clean it of the energon. Rubbing her throat and still breathing deeply, the teen looked up across the way to see Hawk back on his feet again and she smiled, realizing he'd come to her aid yet again. She waved to him as she called out, "Thanks!" Then she leapt to her feet and turned towards the school, eyes locking in on the hold Nox created as he'd been blasted through the side. She marched towards it.

Coughing, Nox stumbled his way out of the room he'd been blown into and back out the open air, fanning the dust away from his face. Without warning he was grabbed by the throat, swung around, and slammed back against the mountain side again, rock crumbling down around him from the impact. He looked up to see the Fuser standing there before him again. Now, Nox wasn't exactly one to scare easily—he was as mentally and emotionally unshakable as he was physically—but the look he saw in the sixteen-year-old's eyes right then quaked him to the very core. This would not end well.

As if to prove his point Hunter rumbled, "I don't know about you, but I am done playing games." She pulled him out of the mountain only to bash him into it again. "Hrah!" Letting go of his throat, the redhead gripped the man's shoulder armor and turned her gaze upwards towards the sky. Hunter placed a foot on the wall and exploded off the ground, dragging Nox through the mountain as she ran up the side of it. "Ahhhhhhhh! Yah!" When she'd dragged him through the very top of the peak the young Hybrid threw the man skyward with all of her might only to fly up after him to punch and kick him higher and higher.

For what it was worth, Nox fought back as best he could, but it was hard to focus on fighting when he was falling to his ultimate demise… or soon would be. He may have been resilient, but he wasn't that resilient! Luckily for him, Hunter was too busy at the moment keeping him aloft by hitting him rather than letting him plummet back to earth. But that was all about to change.

Pulling back from her onslaught, Hunter flipped over backwards and kicked her foot out, planting the heel of her shoe beneath Nox's chin and kicking him even higher skyward. "Hrah!"

"Whoa!" Nox flew right up through the cracked open dome into the early morning sky. He just barely had enough time to glance off towards the sunrise that was just starting to come into the sky before Hunter above him, preparing to make the final blow.

Clasping both fists together, Hunter drew them above her head and far back before swinging them forward and down to slam them into Nox' back. "Hah!" She created a simultaneous explosion with the hit to increase the force tenfold.

Falling faster than he could scream, Nox was driven downwards: Down through the dome, shattering a large section of, down through the clouds, and down into the school yard, smashing into the ground with such force a ripple went through the school yard, tearing it up. A large dusty mushroom cloud rose up from the site of impact.

Cutting the flames keeping her aloft, Hunter freefell back down towards the ground before catching herself with her pyrokinesis again and landing in a crouch near the edge of the crater Nox's impact had caused. She marched towards the edge and looked down into it. There, a three hundred feet deep in the ground, laid Nox, still and unmoving. At first Hunter wasn't sure if he was dead or alive. When she saw his body begin to dissolve the same way Umbra's had, the sixteen-year-old knew he was the former.

Hearing the sound of an engine taking off, Hunter turned and looked up to see one of the enemies ships—the only one that was still intact—flying away high up above through the opening at the top of the dome and disappearing Hopefully to never be seen again. And with that the enemy was defeated and gone. In one fell swoop all of the adrenaline in Hunter's body was flushed out, leaving her completely wiped and more than a little sore even with her healing factor. Sighing Hunter stumbled away from the edge of the crater and fell backwards, collapsing to the ground. "Ugh!" She flopped over on her back, arms stretched out over her head as she panted hard. "Well…" she murmured, swallowing hard, "… that… was a thing."

"You know," Sunny mused as she sat on the window sill of the nurse's office, looking out onto the damaged front lawn of the school and the massive crater that was being examined by many of the professors that worked at the school but also the Hybrid SWAT team, "in the beginning I wasn't sure why Primus had chosen you to be the Fuser, Hunter." She looked over at the girl who was filling out some more interview questions for Star. "Now I can understand exactly why."

Hunter snorted and looked up from her work. "Good," she replied. "I'm glad someone understands why I'm the Fuser, since I still don't completely understand why Primus picked me."

"It's because you're awesome," Hawk explained, trying to keep as still as possible as the school nurse stitched up a nasty gash above his eyebrow, "that's why."

Hunter laughed. "Well, I'm not sure about that, but thanks, Hawk."

"Do you not like being the Fuser?" Star questioned, giving Hunter a look.

Sighing, Hunter set down the pen and notebook and sat back on the counter. "Well…" she began, trying to think of how to put her feelings all into perspective, "… I guess I wouldn't say that exactly. I mean, there are some really great perks to having this title. But I guess I can't say I really like being the Fuser either. So I'm… somewhere in between. My feelings on being the Fuser vary depending on the situation; let's just put it that way." The girl smiled and giggled before going on to say, "What I do know for certain is that when I get home I'm going to take a hot bubble-bath and soak in it for about three hours no matter what anyone says!"

Hawk lifted a hand and gave a thumb's-up. "Amen to that," he praised.

All four teens laughed.

That's when the door opened and Principal Darkholm came into the room. He gazed at them for a moment before turning to look behind him and motioned towards the children. "In here, Mr. Prime," he said. With that Optimus' holoform came rushing into the room.

Practically throwing down the pen and notebook, Hunter stood up on the counter, took two steps and leapt towards her father. "Dad!" she exclaimed. The redhead wrapped her arms around his neck as he caught her and held her close and tight, letting her sapphire blue eyes drift closed as she nuzzled into his neck. Relief that she didn't know her body needed flooded into her spark through their link and surged out through her limbs, making her feel even safer.

"Are you all right?" Optimus inquired, sounding beyond worried. The Prime was even shaking a bit as he hugged his daughter to him, stroking her hair and back with a gentle hand.

"I'm fine," Hunter assured him, voice muffled by her shoulder. "I'm fine." Much to the femmling's surprise, she was quivering as well, and not just because her spark-father was holding her and he was shaking. Apparently her nerves had been a little more wracked than she'd cared to admit. "I'm fine." She held the holoform tighter, glad her father was here, even if it was just the synthetic version of him.

Sighing, Optimus set his little girl down on the floor and held her at arm's length to meet her eye-to-eye. "Hunter, Sweet-spark, I am so sorry," he apologized. "I tried to come to your aid but something was blocking the ground-bridge frequency to prevent it from opening up here. Ratchet and I kept trying but it only just now worked. I am so sorry, My Shooting Star."

Hunter smiled at him in reassurance and cupped his cheek with her hand, lovingly stroking the holoform's cheekbone with her thumb. "It's okay, Daddy," she murmured softly. "I know you would've come if you could have."

"Are you sure you are fine?" Optimus questioned, looking her over. "Nothing hurt or broken?"

"Not anymore anyway," Hunter giggled. Optimus could be such a worry-wart when it came to her and her well-being. Not that she minded, honestly. "I'm okay, Dad," she repeated. "But, honestly, I'm a lot better now that you're here."

Her father smiled lovingly and gently brushed her cowlick to the side before placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Awwww!"

"Oh, shut up, guys!" Hunter exclaimed turning around to playfully scowl at her friends. Giggling, she wrapped an arm around her father as he did the same to her and motioned towards the others in the room. "Dad," she sighed, "let me introduce you to my new friends. That's Sunny Khim."

"Hi!" Sunny chirruped brightly as she waved at Optimus with a winning smile.

"And those two are Star and Hawk Washington."

"How do you do?" Star greeted performing a slight curtsy.

"Sir," Hawk nodded at the same time.

Optimus nodded back to all of them with a smile. "Children."

"Guys, this is my spark-father, Optimus Prime," Hunter introduced the Autobot to them all. Then she turned to her father and informed him, "Dad, Hawk was the one who battled with me today. Saved my life, too."

"Yeah, well, you saved mine first," Hawk reminded her. As the nurse finished up stitching his eyebrow the young man stood up.

Optimus moved towards him. "Thank you," he said, "for helping my daughter." He offered his hand.

Hawk took and shook it. "It was nothing, sir," he brushed it off.

Optimus smiled and warmly clasped Hawk's hand between both of his. "On the contrary, son," he countered, "it was everything to me."

"Might as well just take the gratitude, Hawk," Hunter told the boy with a smirk and arms crossed over her chest. "He'll never let you go until you truly realize just how important what you did was."

Letting go of Hawk's hand, Optimus turned to face his daughter with his hands on his hips and a smirk of his own curling his holoform's lips. "You make it seem as though I am—as you Earthlings say—"a drama queen"."

Hunter tilted her head back and perched a fist on a cocked hip as she smiled teasingly up at the Autobot commander. "Mmm, more like a "drama king" I would say," she joked. She giggled as Optimus gave her a look. "But you're my drama king," the girl added. "So it's all good."

Optimus snorted in amusement, reached out, and pulled his child to him. "Come here, you little imp," he playfully growled, embracing her once more. He noogied her.

"Ugh! Rrr! Dad! Come on!" Hunter growled and complained as she strained to pull away from him. However, she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it.

"Am I interrupting anything?" a sudden voice paused all activity and drew everyone's attention to the door.

"Hey, Doc," Hunter greeted him, even with her head tucked under her father's arm. She pulled away and moved towards the door. "Come on in. Um, Dad, this is Dr. Atlas Bartholomew." She watched as the males said hello and shook hands in greeting. "Atlas is going to be my substitute Fuser mentor for a few weeks," she continued on, feeling a twinge of pain and even some anger as she remembered once again that Greasy was going to be here for a while.

"Oh?" The look on Optimus' face said he too was confused and maybe slightly worried by these new turns of events. "And why is that?"

"That, my dear Mr. Prime, is without a doubt the question of the day," Atlas answered in his rapid-fire tone. "I myself am still wondering why. All I can tell you is that Mr. Coggs departed on the outer space mission today that will subsequently pull him away for several weeks. As a result, he has chosen me to take over Hunter's training regimen while he is away."

Optimus stood there, silent, for a long time, glowing blue holoform eyes wide as if he were in a daze. After a moment he slowly turned to look at Hunter.

"Yeah," Hunter nonchalantly replied to his silent observation, "I know. He's a machine gun mouth. We're gonna have to get another coffee-pot for the base to start brewing decaf while he's around."

"Speaking of being around," Atlas went on, turning his attention to Hunter, "Hunter I have some questions to ask you the days' events."

Hunter shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest again. "Shoot."

"I probably already know the answer to this," the doctor sighed, "but do you know who these people were by any chance?"

"On what level?" the sixteen-year-old asked back.

"Any level really," the man replied. "Names, faces, who they might work for. I've tried finding out this information myself but every one of them that survived the attack are unconscious and don't appear to be gaining consciousness again anytime soon. And as for those that perished… well… they're bodies are no longer here."

"They disintegrated," Hunter concluded. "Just vanished into thin air, right?"

"Yes, that about sums it up."

"Yeah, Nox and Umbra did the same thing when I took them out." The girl sighed heavily. "Aside from Nox and Umbra's names I don't know anything about these people, Doc. I've never seen them before in my life and they didn't mention anything useful about who they might be working for. Nox said something about a "mistress" but that could be anything. What about you, Hawk?" Hunter questioned her friend. "Did you hear anything or did they say anything to you?"

"I got nothin'," Hawk shrugged. "Whoever they were, though, they were skilled fighters. They had to have had lots of advanced training."

"And they weren't afraid to go lethal either," Hunter added, turning back to Atlas. "Umbra dropped Hawk over the side of the mountain without a second thought and Nox was bound and determined to run me through in order to take me captive." The redhead snorted drily and looked down at the floor as she ran a hand through her hair. "And here I was all ready to put murderous psychopaths behind me," she mumbled mostly to herself. She pressed against her spark-father's side as he wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"Hmm," Atlas hummed stroking his chin in thoughtfulness for a long time. "Well, that gives me more to work with, but still doesn't tell me what I want to know." He looked at Hunter again. "You're positive you'd never seen these people before?"

Hunter nodded. "I mean, they all had masks on and whatnot, but I didn't recognize the armor or any of their voices or anything," she responded. "But they certainly knew who I was. Not that that's really that big of a surprise; it seems like all my enemies know who I am before they meet me." A chill ran down Hunter's spine at the thought. She absolutely hated when that happened: it was just so disturbing!

"What do you suggest we do, Dr. Bartholomew?" Optimus questioned. People were after his daughter again—bad people. The sooner they could come to a plan of how to protect Hunter the better. He wouldn't be able to power-down somewhat peacefully until then.

Once again Atlas was quiet, thinking all this over and trying to decide what to do about it. What they needed to do what find out who these people were and who they worked for: Once they'd done that then they would know exactly how to keep the Fuser safe. But that wasn't going to be an easy task. They knew next to nothing about these people right now and until they could find out more information about them the top priority was to try and protect the Fuser as best as they already could. Once she was safe they could devote the rest of their resources to finding these people. "At this current juncture," Bartholomew sighed heavily as he rubbed the back of his neck, "the best suggestion I can think of is to keep Hunter home. If she stays home—particularly inside—nobody will be able to detect her energy signature. If nobody can detect her energy signature then they will not be able to come after her."

"So you want to hide me away?" Hunter questioned accusingly, backing away slightly. "Only for a short while, Huntress," Atlas assured her calmly. "Just until we can find out who these people are and what they want with you."

"And how long will that take?" Hunter inquired harshly. "Oh, wait, you don't know do you? Atlas, it could take you a few days to find who these psychos are, or it could take you a few years. And I'm just supposed to sit and wait at the base till then? I can't do that! Whether I like it or not, I am the Fuser and the universe needs me! I can't sit around on my hands when the fates of Cybertron and the Hybrid people are counting on me. And what about my team? There's only a handful of us against hundreds of Decepticons; we need every 'bot we can spare out there on the field when we go into battle! What, you expect me to just sit back and wave while my team—my family—goes off into danger? I can't do that—I won't do that!"

"Hunter…" Optimus voice was smooth and gentle as he tried to calm her.

"Hunter, I am not asking you to renounce your title or abandon your team," Atlas explained. "All I am asking is that you think about your own safety and protection. Think about it: What happens to Cybertron and the Hybrids if you are abducted and taken away by an unknown threat? What happens to your family if that happens—your father? You'll be of no use to anyone except your abductors if this happens and do you honestly believe that have the good of the universe in mind? Because I don't! Hunter, we are going to find out who these people are and we are going to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible, but you have to help us by laying low for a while. In fact you won't only be helping us by doing this but you will be helping everyone else by assuring that their savior is safe and secure. Is that not worth house arrest for a short period?"

The teenager was silent for a moment, thinking this over. Either she sit at home and help those that needed her by protecting herself or she said "screw the protection" and did her own thing, thus increasing her chances to be taken. In her eyes, it was lose-lose either way. After a long, long, long moment of contemplation, the redhead sighed and nodded. "All right, fine," she conceded. "I'll do it."

Autobot Outpost Omega One;

It was about ten o'clock, and Optimus Prime was seated in the large, cement easy chair in the corner of his room, a data pad in hand. He was carefully studying the different sections of footage from Olympus High's security cameras, looking for anything that could be a clue as to who Hunter's attackers were. So far he wasn't finding anything.

Already in her pajamas and brushed her half-wet long, fiery hair, Hunter came into the room. "Hey," she let the mech know she was there.

"Did you have a nice bath?" Optimus questioned by way of acknowledgement, not looking away from the data pad. His voice sounded far away and preoccupied.

"Sure did," Hunter answered. "You would not believe how much more relaxed I feel now." Walking over to the door that led into her room, the teen chucked her brush inside and turned back towards her spark-father. She went over to him, transforming to her robotic form as she did. With a sigh, she half-fell over the arm of his chair and half-laid down in his lap, curling up and snuggling there. Optimus subconsciously wrapped an arm around her to hold her closer but he still wasn't diverting much attention from his data pad. Hunter took notice. "What'cha watchin'?" she chirped like a small child, scooting around into a different, more comfortable position. When the Prime didn't answer she looked up at him. "Dad?"

Still no reply.

Wow. He was really absorbed. At that realization Hunter smirked, knowing this was a chance to have some fun with her spark-father and not being the type of daughter to pass it up. "So, uh, Dad," she said, snuggling closer, "I know I've never really mentioned this to you, but… I've always wanted to get a tattoo. Would it be okay if I did that?" No reply. "In fact could I just by chance get my whole body tattooed?" Still nothing. "Because, uh, see I met this guy at school. He's super cute and everything but he really has this thing for girls with tatts and I thinking getting the tattoos would really impress him." Zip. "He even told me he would marry me and we could get matching tattoos." Nada. "Which is a good thing since, um… I'm pregnant with his baby." Not even so much as a flinch! Unbelievable! "Dad!"

"Huh? Hmm? What's that?" Optimus snapped out of his stupor and blinked before looking down at the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling in his lap.

Hunter laughed. "Wow, you were out of it!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "I made up this whole story about getting tattoos to impress a guy into marrying me because I was carrying his baby and you didn't even bat an optic."

Optimus smiled apologetically. "I am sorry, My Shooting Star," he murmured, petting her head. "I am rather distracted at the moment."

"I can tell," Hunter snorted. "What are you doing?"

Sighing, Optimus looked at the data pad and waved it as he motioned to it. "I am reviewing the security footage I requested from your school," he explained.

"Still?" Hunter inquired.

Optimus nodded.

"Have you found anything?"

Another sigh and a shake of the head. "Unfortunately not," the Prime murmured. "The only thing I am able to find that could possibly lead to the identity of these people are these symbols." Touching the data pad screen with a thumb and forefinger, Optimus zoomed in on the insignias in question. They were both made out of lazy crescent-moons, the only difference was the pattern they were in. On the uniforms of the men bared the pattern where the black moon appeared above the red. The uniforms of the woman bared just the opposite. "Do these symbols seem familiar to you?"

Hunter studied them both for a minute before shaking her head and sigh. "No. But they have to mean something."

"The question is 'what'?" Optimus stated.

There was a long pause of quiet before Hunter finally decided to break it. "Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"What… what happens if we don't find these people?"

"We will."

"But what if we don't?"

"Then we keep searching and using every available resource until we do for however long it takes."

"What about me then?" Hunter asked softly. "Do I just… sit here for however long it takes to find them?"

"Yes," Optimus answered brusquely. "The base is the only place I can assure your security. As such you will stay here until we do find these people."

"No matter the situation? I mean… what if I have to restore Cybertron tomorrow? Am I just expected to stay here and not do what I'm supposed to do as the Fuser?"

Optimus sighed with tried patience. "Hunter, I can assure you that you will not be restoring Cybertron tomorrow."

"Well, it doesn't even have to be just that," Hunter quickly said. "What if the Decepticons decide to try and conquer Earth tomorrow? What if a giant asteroid comes flying right at the planet and I'm the only one who can stop it? Do I just sit here and do nothing?"

"Yes," Optimus growled in annoyance. Scooting out from under his daughter, he went over to the small personal supply of energon he had stored in the room and poured himself a barrel.

"Dad, I can't do that," Hunter stated adamantly from the chair, starting to grow annoyed now as well. She was the Fuser! It was her duty to help and protect people, and her father just expected her to stop doing what she was meant to do? "You can't make me do that."

Optimus growled again. "Yes you and yes I can. And I will." He took a swig of energon.

"No I can't and no you won't!" Hunter snapped back. "Dad, maybe you didn't get the memo, but I. Am. The Fuser!" She slammed her fist into the seat of the chair with each word. "I have a duty to my people, Cybertron, the universe—I can't just turn my back on that, no matter how much I might want to sometimes!"

Optimus wheeled around on her, gaze steely, cold, and angry—a look he had never given her before. A look that sent a chill to the femmling's very core. "Yes, that is true," he admitted. "I won't say that none of that isn't true, but, you see, the thing you do not seem to understand, Huntress Starstreaker James, is that while you are the Fuser you are also my soldier and you have a duty to follow the orders of your commander—my orders!"

Hunter laughed skeptically. "Or what?" she challenged. "You're court martial me? I might be your soldier, Optimus, but I am also your daughter; the same daughter you've taught to follow her spark. Well, guess what, Pops? That's exactly what I'm doing!" Smacking a hand against the arm of the chair Hunter rose and stood erect and tall at her full height.

"Well, stop doing that!" Optimus fumed, his engine starting to rev loudly. "As your commander I order you to stand down and do only what I tell you."

"Sorry, can't do that," Hunter shot back acidly. "I guess you taught me too well."

"Huntress Starstreaker James!"

"I'm the Fuser, Dad!" Hunter shouted again motioning to herself with a hand that shook with anger. "You can't keep me locked away from the world forever!"

"That's not what I am trying to do!"

"Then what are you trying to do?!"

"I am trying to protect you!"

"At the cost of endangering the lives of everyone else?" Hunter scoffed. "Sounds like a cheap trade off to me."

Without any warning, Optimus was across the room in front of Hunter, her shoulders in his crushing grip as he shook her. "For the love of Primus, Hunter, I can't lose you!" he bellowed right in her face, fire and smoke shooting out of the exhaust pipes on his back. This time his voice was more desperate than angry. And as if that declaration and taken all of his strength the Prime fell to his knees, head lowered as he panted, his engine beginning to quiet down.

Because his hands were still gripping her shoulderplates, Hunter had been forced to sit back down in the chair when he sank to the floor. And now she just sat there motionless. Her optics were wide with alarm and disbelief as she watched her father.

Finally, when his engine had settled to its normal rumbling purr, Optimus lifted his head wearily and gazed at his daughter through tear-filled optics. "I can't lose you, Hunter," he repeated, voice hardly above a hoarse whisper now. "Not again. Not again…." The mech's voice trailed off and he hung his head once more, quiet sobs shaking his shoulders.

That was all it took for Hunter's spark to break. Tears quickly welling up in her own optics and streaming down her cheeks, the femmling threw her arms around the large Autobot and held him tightly. "Daddy!" she sobbed. "Don't cry! Please, don't cry, Dad! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…."

Optimus slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "The only thing I fear more than watching you die in my arms again," he choked out, "is for you to be taken away from me with no chance of ever seeing you again." The large red and blue 'bot pulled away from his daughter to meet her gaze. "Hunter," he whispered, "I realize that you are the Fuser, and I know what that means. I know that I cannot prevent you from doing what you have to do or keep you hidden away from the world forever." His tears started coming hotter and faster. "But, Sweet-spark, I beg of you, please, please do not put me through that. It would be the very death of me."

Sniffling, Hunter quickly nodded and hugged him tightly again. "I won't," she assured him. "I promise I won't. I'll stay hidden in the base for as long as I need to, Dad. I'll stay until the day I finally die if I have to!"

Optimus chuckled weakly and patted her backplate. "I don't believe you will have to stay hidden that long, my love," he claimed. "Just for a couple of months."

"However long I need to," Hunter restated. "I promise."

The Prime smiled meekly. "That's my good, girl," he purred, pulling away to kiss her cheek. "Dry those optics now." With a gentle thumb the Autobot began to wipe the femmling's tears away.

"You too," Hunter giggled with a sniff as she wiped his optics in turn. "Wow," she sighed after a moment. "We just had our first real father-daughter argument."

"That we did," Optimus agreed with a chuckle.

"Well, I guess we're over that hill now," the teenager offered with a lop-sided smile. "I'm tired."

"I would think so, after what happened today," Optimus remarked with a smirk. "I find myself rather weary as well."

Stretching, Hunter released a large yawn. "I think," her words were nearly incoherent as she was still yawning, "I'm gonna go to bed. Come tuck me in?"

"I will be there in a moment," Optimus answered. He stood up and went over to his berth where he had laid the data pad when he first got up to retrieve it.

Smirking and shaking her head knowingly, Hunter jumped up and quickly snagged his arm in an unbreakable grip. "Oh-ho, no you don't," she gently chastised her father as she pulled him away from the berth and towards the door to her room. "Knowing you, you'll get all wrapped up in that footage again trying to find out who those freaks are and completely forget about coming to tuck me in. And I'll be left there, all alone, wondering what I've done to make my father not love me enough to tuck me in." The girl fake-sobbed and dramatically pressed the back of her hand to her optics as she let her head fall back. "Oh, the inhumanity!"

Optimus snorted and rolled his optics at her antics. Why exactly did he love this crazy, strange, and off-the-wall little spitfire some much again? "Of course you realize that you are in fact sixteen years of age, correct?" he questioned the girl, pulling his arm out of her grip.

Hunter spun around to face him and walked backwards with an innocent smile curling her lipplates. "And you're point is?"

"You should be able to tuck yourself in."

"I can. I never said that I can't tuck myself in; I just said that I like it when you tuck me in. What does age have to do with any of it? Besides Ratchet says that if I was a Purebred I'd still be a sparkling right now, so, technically, I'm still too young to be able to tuck myself in."

Optimus chuckled and gently shoved her through the door into her room. "Whatever you say, Ms. Drama Queen."

"Exactly, Mr. Drama King."

"Oh, so that is how you want to play. Well, then, come here, you! Hahaha!"

"Ah! No! Dad! N-no-ho tick-ling! Ah-ha-ha!

Confession #31:

My favorite part to write in this chapter? Optimus and Hunter's argument, particularly the part where Optimus screams that he can't lose Hunter again. I don't know why, but I just loved writing that part!

Confession #32:

Before anybody asks, no, most Hybrids do not dissolve into stars or dust or whatever when they die. Only those that are part of Luna's troupe do, because of the spell she puts on them.

Confession #33:

Hunter going all nuts when Umbra takes her necklace is actually an accidental characteristic inspired by the RWBY character Yang Xiao Long. She goes nuts when you mess with her hair, and Hunter goes all nuts when you mess with the necklace Prime gave her. AVOID BOTH AT ALL COSTS.

Confession #34:

Merry (early) Christmas everyone! Because I probably won't have another chapter of this up before or on Christmas after this.

REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR HYBRID QUESTIONS!