A/N: Okay, just a few things here. First of all, forgive my Spanish-Google translator. Secondly, I reserve the right to make up fictitious places in Bogota Colombia if my research fails me. XD

Forty

Hound, after discovering his intense love of flight and the apparent "skill" he had for the task, took the pilot's seat to the detached ship they had hijacked from the main vessel. He began running diagnostics and prepared the ship for flight, checking the systems and the weapons, as well as the thrusters and engine boosters. He and Drift did a main check over the ship to make sure they didn't have any loose "prisoners".

Meanwhile, Mira and Tessa had raided the dining car for any type of food they could potentially take with them and pack lightly. The opted for some granola bars, bottles of water, and some fresh fruit for breakfast, before everyone seized the opportunity to freshen up. After cleaning up their mess and leaving things as it had been, they exited the dining car.

Now, Cade was on the phone. Bryce had taken Tessa and Merrick to the ship and boarded with them, he and Bumblebee talking with Hound and Drift and Crosshairs about flight diagnostics and readings. Optimus was standing at the end of the entrance ramp, arms crossed and watching them. Mira had seated herself on the track, legs crossed at the ankles, arms crossed over her chest. She watched Cade pace as he talked.

The man on the other end was Joshua Joyce. Cade had him on speakerphone.

"You entirely destroyed my company!" Joshua exclaimed so loudly that Mira winced. She looked over at Optimus, who watched them, and she nodded to him. He nodded back, and she got a pitting feeling in her gut. Joyce continued, "You have no idea what you're involved with here, Yeager! You'd better have a good lawyer-"

"-me? At least I stuck around and didn't jump the border!" He frowned at at the Galaxy, "So, Joshua, tell me—how's Colombia?"

He gasped, "How did you know-" He got angry and his words ran together. Mira rolled her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Doesn't matter how I know, what does matter is that I know," Cade interjected forcefully, "Let me tell you who doesn't understand what they're involved with here, Joyce. Your Galvatron drone is not a drone—he's alive. He's infected and active, and he's going after that Seed you have, and he's bringing hell with him."

The man snorted, "I control Galvatron, Yeager. No one but me."

Mira got up and snatched the phone from Cade, who looked at her, astonished. Brining the phone closer to her mouth, she clenched a fist and snarled at the man, anger overtaking her rational thought process, "No, Joyce; you think you control Galvatron—but let me tell you, you don't. Deep down inside I know you know something isn't right. Galvatron is coming after that Seed and hes' going to kill you, and millions of other people."

"You have no idea-"

"Trust me, Joshua. I do."

He hung up the phone. She ended the call on her end and handed the phone back to Cade, walking past him and scratching the top of her head. She marched towards the ship, Cade hurrying after her. She walked past Optimus and began to board the ship, where Merrick was waiting for her at the top. She extended her hand, wrapped her own in his, and they entered the darkness of the ship.

Optimus followed, sealed the ramp, and Hound initiated takeoff procedures. Mira brought out her cellphone, stopping in the corridor. Merrick ran on head into the cockpit, where he asked Hound to watch him fly. Hound, surprisingly, offered the little boy his lap and Merrick seized the opportunity. Drift was to the right of the pilot's chair, watching as they made liftoff, and Crosshairs was in the armory with Bumblebee. Cade and Tessa met with Bryce in the cockpit as well, and Optimus stayed in the corridor with Mira. She speed-dialed Elaina, her friend in Bogota, and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Lo que a dónde vas , idiota!"

"Ver por dónde camina!"

Jerk.

Shooting the man a glare over her shoulder, Elaina Rutledge stepped out of the stucco, cream-colored house. She checked both directions before crossing the bustling streets, filled with cyclists and pedestrians and carters. Slipping the sunglasses from over her eyes, she jogged across the street to the silver Corvette Stingray parked idly. Checking over her shoulder, she saw the man in black leather watching her out the window, his two body guards in tight red shirts watching her with looks of hatred and stone on their faces.

Grabbing the door handle, she felt the lock release and pulled open the door lightly. Checking her surroundings again, she slipped into the Corvette, thumped the door into place beside her, and emptied the pockets of her suede jacket. It was relatively cool this Bogota morning, and she rested her head against the seat behind her puffed out a breath in relief.

"How'd that go?" The radio asked.

She shrugged a shoulder, tousling her thick, raven hair with a hand, her elbow propped on the ledge of the Corvette's window, "As expected. I had to trade some of Ratchet's insulin and a few handguns, but I got some of the parts." She gestured to the ring-looking stabilizers in the cup-holder, "And these puny things are what you needed?"

"Yeah, those glitches got them off some of the wreckage from the mountains, off one of Sentinel's space bridge pillars," the engine roared to life smoothly then began to purr, "They are insane for rotator speed, and they'll stabilize my consistency by 60%-at least." He chuckled victoriously, "I haven't had a weapons upgrade in Primus knows how long."

She smiled at the radio. Ever since the disband three years earlier, it had been slim pickings for both of them to find upgrades and be able to stay off radar. Laney—as everyone had called her—had to go deep into the slums of Bogota to find anyone willing to trade with her—machinists who had found Cybertronian parts from the mountains were high-stakes and big bucks, and they didn't like outside traders. Especially women who drove sexy Corvette's and carried a Colt .45.

But, one did what was necessary to survive. She'd jumped the border into her home country to escape Cemetery Wind and the CIA, as well as the FBI and the rest of the military that was hunting NEST agents and other Autobot sympathizers. Having been a doctor who had worked alongside Ratchet and the other medical expertise at NEST, Elaina was one of those hunted. After her failed refocusing trip she had went undercover in the slums of Bogota with Sideswipe—since Ratchet was unwilling to jump the border and leave Optimus and Mira, the foolish loyal he had been. How she missed her dear friend and their lectures and talks! So, she'd given up life inside the United States and lived here, in the outskirts of Bogota. She provided medical care for an orphanage and had her own clinic; one that was not funded but relied soley on black-market money and under the table meds and equipment. Sideswipe was her insurance—he was able to discredit everything she received and make it disappear to the public eye.

But she did miss NEST, even though her part there was not uber significant. Mira was the star of that show, she'd learned; and she was friend behind the scenes—which she liked. Mira could have her fighting and her leadership and her plans; Laney wanted the science and technology and knowledge. They'd started this adventure together, and they had finished it together—but, their alliance and NEST involvement together and rendered them thousands of miles apart, again. They communicated through secured texts and calls, but mostly letters. They'd had the relationships of their dreams—the weddings of fairy tales—and had lost their men to the same cause. Will to a scrimmage in Mexico, Epps a few months later to agents in the States who'd traced his bank-card activity in a Denver airport. He'd been coming home to Bogota when they'd shot him.

Yes, she'd given up NEST, but never its Autobots.

Sideswipe pulled out into the bustling street in a slow crawl which usually irritated him. Laney pushed her sunglasses up on her head again and grabbed her phone, and accessed the web. More information on the "Autobot looking" spacecraft that docked in Chicago, scaring millions out of the city. Laney had wondered when she heard about it if Mira was involved and had tried to call her house, but Mira hadn't answered the phone, nor any texts. That lead Laney to believe that Mira was involved—but she still had no idea if Optimus or the others were either. She'd gotten her answer when watching the news broadcast about fighter ships taking the skyline by shooting force—she'd seen Bumblebee and Crosshairs crash the ship, along with Mira, Bryce, and Merrick; as well as two other individuals Laney had never seen. Sideswipe had assumed it was Mira's boyfriend. Laney had rebutted that argument.

She couldn't have a boyfriend...didn't. Laney would know.

Her phone came alive in her pocket, and she dug it out. Answering the call, she grabbed at the cord Sideswipe had produced from the radio and plugged in the phone. Instantly the call secured, and she saw that it was Mira's number.

"Laney-"

She jumped right in, "What have you been doing? I saw you on the news and everything—with Bumblebee and Crosshairs no less!" She gestured wildly with her hands, like she always did, and refrained from going into Spanish, "What in the name of all things holy is going on, Miriam? I saw the huge ship over Michigan Avenue and every-"

"I'll explain it in detail later, Laney! But listen, here's the Sparknotes version: Optimus is alive, and a Chicago corporation is working with Cemetery Wind to hunt Autobots and produce their own Transformers—a prototype named Galvatron is actually Megatron reincarnated, basically—and he's going after a Cybertronian device called the Seed, which is going to extinguish a city and turn it into molten metals for Galvatron to create a new army and take over the planet. Then, we have that ship and it's commander, Lockdown—a bounty hunter trying to capture both Prime and I and take us into space to sell us off to Prime's Creators—yeah, apparently he has them and they aren't Mom and Dad—and it turns out that he's working with Cemetery Wind and the government." She stopped.

Laney's mouth dropped open, and Sideswipe had slammed on the brakes and pulled over. They sat motionless for awhile. Now that Chicago Corporation—KSI-is bringing that infected prototype into his Bogota facility. It's only a matter of time before Galvatron awakens, Laney, and-"

"-and we've got to get that Seed," she finished, "Wow. Hi to you too."

She chuckled nervously, "Hi. I'm assuming Sideswipe is with you?"

"You'd be right, Mira," Sideswipe interjected, "Glad you see your back in the saddle."

She snorted, "Yeah, well, there's a job to be done. We're headed your way, will be there in a couple of hours. Be ready for us; any coordinates we can land a huge flightship at that will be inconspicuous?"

"Are you ever inconspicuous?" Laney rapped on the dash, "Considering you're all over the news it won't matter where you go."

"That's true. But we don't want to draw mass panic."

Laney shrugged, "Eh. It's Bogota. We need some action." She gestured for Sideswipe to get moving, "I'll have Sideswipe send over the coordinates to my clinic; you can drop a few of you there and land that flightship in the mountains; it's only about two hours out of the city."

"Sounds good. See you in awhile."

"Yep. It's only been forever."

"Way to come in with a bang, right?"

Laney rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because saving the world is just what I had scheduled for the day."

"Stop it. You're excited to see us and you know it."

Laney scratched her head and snorted, "Oh sure, because illegal alien refugees are just the kind of folk I spend all my time with." Sideswipe laughed and she slapped the steering wheel, "Don't you dare say anything, Miriam Lennox."

She chuckled again, "I'm innocent until proven guilty. Alright; we'll see you in a few hours." There was shouting, and Laney heard the engines begin to fill.

"Yep. Tell Crosshairs he still owes me twenty bucks."