Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.


Sentinel: *sighs* I'm not even going to comment on how long it has been.

Authoress: Good, because I have literally no excuse.

Fable: *grins* Does this mean I get to dissect her now?

Authoress: No of course not. Tell him he can't Sentinel.

Sentinel: *silent*

Authoress: *worried*...Sentinel?

*silence*

Authoress: *starts running*

Fable: *laughing maniacally at her heels*


Chapter 13: The Autobots Strike Back

Bumblebee's 1st P.O.V.

Thank Primus that Sentinel's team was alright. The Decepticons had retreated about ten clicks ago and we had been trying to get in touch with them. Even me with how bad it got last time. But, I had tried to send a private message to Trecke that wouldn't go through. He never blocked his private messages. At least, as long as I had known him he hadn't. Plus, he told me that he wouldn't. As a strategist, he didn't want to be cut off from potential information.

So, when Sentinel finally responded to Optimus' message a few clicks ago, I felt relieved. They were safe. I was sure that they had a reason for not showing up. They had even said in the past that they would work with us in fighting the Decepticons without any issues. But, then why didn't they respond to us? There had to be a reason. But, with how Optimus and Elita, along with the rest of the team was acting, I doubted that they were going to be able to get a word in at all. I'd try to help but that didn't have a great chance at working.

The sound of engines getting closer caused all of us to turn. One of the first things that I noticed was that the four of them looked in pretty rough shape. Looks like they got into a fight with some…

Wait...there were four of them. But Team Apocalypse only had three members. They must have gotten a new member. They wouldn't just let some random bot drive in the middle of their formation like that next to Sentinel. Fable and Trecke were too obsessed with Sentinel to allow that to happen. But, just who was that bot?

When the four of them stopped, it didn't take long for them to transform and I saw that the new bot was a femme. She was around my height and had the strangest green-colored optics. I also noticed that she seemed to be studying us like I was studying them. When her gaze locked with mine, she smiled and nodded toward me. Since she seemed nice enough, I smiled and nodded back.

"Where were you?" Optimus snarled, causing me to almost jump out of my plating. "We were hailing you for help. The Decepticons attacked and we were barely able to drive them off." He then glanced at the femme, who wasn't smiling anymore, before he continued. "Picking up another bot for your team Sentinel? My team needed you here, and you were nowhere to be found. We needed you! Bumblebee especially was close to serious injury multiple times."

"Only because you kept getting in my way," I tried to argue. And for the most part, that was the case. I only had one slip-up and I was able to recover from that. But, the other times, I would be doing alright in my fight before one of the others would jump in and get in front of me. I would get confused, leaving me open to the enemies that they left to jump into my fight!

"Not now Bumblebee," Elita snapped at me.

"Why not?" The new femme jumped in, interrupting Elita with a glare that gave me shivers. "He's one of your teammates. If he says you were all jumping into his fights when he didn't need you, that could throw his sense of the battlefield off."

Elita stepped closer to the femme, glaring. What Elita didn't see was that both Trecke and Fable looked nanos away from launching at her. Sentinel seemed to be barely holding himself back, though from the glare he was giving I was worried about what would happen if this kept going. "And just who do you think you are?"

The femme didn't waste a nano. "I don't think I know who I am. I know that I am Pastel, neutral alignment, scout for Team Apocalypse, and loyal to Sentinel Prime. It is part of my job as a scout to observe what is in front of me. Your team has just been in a fight. But, if you bothered to open your optics to our condition, you will see that we were not off any better. They weren't out recruiting me. I happened on them at the right time as they were being attacked as well."

Sentinel, at this point, stepped forward. "Pastel is right. We were investigating an energon signal when our communications were cut off. The three of us were then attacked by assassins. We got into some trouble at one click, but Pastel showed up, and, with the help that followed, we just defeated the assassins before you called. If we had known you were in trouble, and if we were not in trouble ourselves, we would have been here. I have told you Optimus; my team and I may not get along with the majority of yours, but we will help you fight the Decepticons."

"That's a bunch of slag and you know it," My optics widened when Optimus said that. "Just admit it, Sentinel. You've all been against my team from the start. You all act so superior. In reality, you're scared. You're scared to admit that after everything, Elita and I have moved on while you are still stuck in your delusions,"

My spark rate picked up when Fable launched at Optimus with a snarl. I had seen it coming. With every word Optimus said, I had seen Fable and Trecke growing more on edge. Anger in their optics. It terrified me. While I knew I should protect my teammates, all I felt was relief that it wasn't me that he had his sights on.

Even as Prowl intercepted Fable and the two started to fight, I didn't move. I couldn't. These past solars, Team Apocalypse had proven to be better teammates than my team. They cared about me, though not to the point of smothering me, they trained with me, taught me so much. Even as Fable continued to fight off Prowl and Bulkhead, I couldn't move. I could barely hear the sounds of yelling from both teams as my other teammates tried to get Fable off of Prowl. Energon was leaking from Prowl's chassis and I could see that one of his thrusters had been ripped off. Yet, even as my own teammate's energon was slowly starting to pool around him, I could only hear muffled sounds. We weren't a team. Sentinel's team was a team. All we were, was a group of bots who were barely hanging on by thin cables. There wasn't the sort of trust between most of us like I saw between Sentinel and his teammates.

My processor started to feel light as these thoughts kept bouncing back and forth in my helm. My intakes were cycling faster and faster, but I didn't care. Off in the distance, I thought I heard somebot calling my designation. Ratchet maybe. But, did it matter? We weren't a team...not in the way that we needed to be. Oddly enough, old Hatchet and Arcee were the only ones on the team that gave me any sort of support at all. Not even my best buddy could be bothered to trust me on the field.

The edges of my vision started to fade as I felt my pedes move from under me. As I fell back, I noticed that the new femme, Pastel, had joined Ratchet by me. Fable was probably too far into his energon-lust at Prowl to notice, or he would be over here too. I trusted him and knew that he wouldn't let me be like this if he was in his right processor. I barely registered my backplates hitting the ground as one last thought went through my processor. Team Orion wasn't a team. I knew that... Team Apocalypse knew that, and worse of all, I was pretty sure that the Decepticons knew that too.

Starscream's 1st P.O.V.

I frowned as I glanced around the clearing. Energon was spilled and, so far, we had found two offline chassis. A fight had most certainly taken place here. Not a very long one...at least not here. But, from the drag marks leading into the woods that the others were investigating, that might lead to another battlefield. From this one though, it seemed like the carriage mech was taken by surprise by a stronger opponent. Either the bot that they had captured was able to free themself, or there was another bot in play. No matter which it was, the carriage mech was offlined quickly. The femme laying not too far away seemed to have only been able to put up a small defense against the bot they fought against. Large slashes marred the femme's shoulder and waist before it seemed she was impaled through her spark.

Motion from the trees caused me to look up and see Megatron motioning me toward him. So, I stood and made my way to follow him through the trees. About four clicks of walking brought me to another clearing, and it was clear that more than just a small scuffle happened. It seemed like Team Apocalypse had gotten into an equal footing confrontation with these neutrals. Off to the side, I noticed three more chassis, each bearing more of the large sword slashes that were more than likely fatal wounds. Their fight had to have gone on longer than what our signals picked up. With this much disruption of terrain, I was sure of that.

"It looks like there was a fight between Team Apocalypse and these neutrals." I voiced my opinion to my leader.

Megatron nodded. "I had those same thoughts. However, something is puzzling me about both scenes. First of all, over there are clear indentations of three medium-sized bots being held. While that matches a couple of the neutral chassis over here, that would have left the larger one free. That leads me to believe that at least a portion of Team Apocalypse, if not their entire team, had been bested at some point in this fight."

Looking at the marks myself, I agreed with his deduction. But, it seemed strange. Our fight against Team Apocalypse showed them to be a highly competent team, and to even be bested by these five bots seemed unlikely. Yet, these random neutrals were able to just challenge them and, from the evidence, overcame the Autobot team. My instincts were telling me that there was more to this.

"Lockdown should be arriving any click." Shockwave started. "Given his connections in neutral circles, he might know who these bots may be."

Leave it to Shockwave to think of the possible answer right under our optics. Of course, Lockdown, given his connections, would have the best chance at knowing who these bots were. I was rusty at the skills I needed to be a good Second in Command. Perhaps I could convince Shockwave to give me a few challenges to get my processor fully on track again.

The sound of a motor caused me to turn and watch as Lockdown pulled up to the scene. Once he transformed, the mech glanced around before raising an optic ridge. "Well, seems like somebot left a mess."

I shook my helm at that. "And there are two more in another clearing north of here." I then motioned to the offline neutrals before continuing. "Do you know any of these bots?"

My hope fell slightly when the mech shook his helm. "No, can't reckon that I do. But, maybe I'll recognize one of the other bots."

"I hope you do," Megatron added before we returned to the first two offline bots we came across.

When we arrived, I noticed that Lockdown tensed at the sight of them. "So, you do know them."

I felt relief flood my systems as he nodded. "The mech. I haven't seen him for quite a few stellars, but that is a faceplate that I wouldn't forget. Eclipse was not a mech any bot would cross lightly."

I shook my helm. "Not a designation I am familiar with."

However, it seemed like Megatron was. "I never knew the mech by appearance, but I did know of his reputation as an assassin for hire."

Lockdown then spoke again. "He was not just an assassin. He created a league of assassins known as Ebony Void. No doubt these other bots were members. Their involvement here, though, has made this even more complicated."

"How so?"

Megatron looked worried about what Lockdown was going to say. "Ebony Void have it written in their code that they are forbidden to offline bots they aren't being paid to. Avoids bots owing any favors or extortion. So, this team wouldn't even be on Earth unless their target, or targets, were here and they were paid."

"Then that means since we are sure that the entirety of Team Apocalypse was at this fight, that there is somebot, or some bots, that want Team Apocalypse out of the picture. Permenately." My wings twitched slightly as Megatron spoke those words. Something was going on in the shadows, and we were going to have to try and predict, and hopefully prevent, whoever was causing this to happen from completing their goals. We wanted Autobots to come to our side, to bolster our numbers and make a true paradise on Cybertron. From the looks of our efforts on Earth, Team Apocalypse was looking like the better option each time we faced them.

Pastel's 1st P.O.V.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked the medic of Team Orion as I stared at the yellow scout. From the little that they were able to tell me on the way to meet with said team, plus the little information I got when I was still only a human to my team, I knew that we had taken the yellow scout-to-be under their tutelage.

That meant that, in lieu, he was under my care as well. I wanted to make sure that the young mech was really alright. While it had taken the rest of the team, and the rest of Team Orion, to separate Fable from the motorcycle mech, Prowl, their medic and I had focused on the yellow scout who seemed to be having a processor meltdown at what was going on. I was curious though, as to what triggered the meltdown in the mech.

If it wasn't for the young mech panicking himself into a stasis lock as he did, then I would not have had any sympathy for what Fable caused. While I was the newest member of the team, I did feel pride in the Prime that I had chosen to follow. That was even more so because I was still neutral. As a neutral, I chose to serve under Sentinel. He was a leader that I trusted to follow, who I would offer my spark as a sacrifice if he needed it, though I doubted that he would. It was easy to tell in the way that he acted.

And then for those other Primes to insult him as they did. Not just that, but they also insulted one of their teammates while they were at it. Made him seem less capable than the rest of their team. He didn't look any worse for wear compared to the rest of them. In all honesty, the mech looked even better. Yet his team treated him like he would crumble against the enemy.

"He will be alright," Ratchet answered me with a look. "The mech seemed to panic himself into stasis. The precise cause of that panic, though, I'm not sure about. Bumblebee should be waking up soon." He then proceeded to act on the look that he was giving me. "However, until he does, I would like to ask you a few questions about yourself."

Well, Fable seemed to like the medic, from the little he told me when he thought I was still human. So, I could answer his questions. "Fire away doc." I smiled as I leaned back in my seat.

Ratchet nodded. "How long have you been on Earth?"

Oof, right to the meat of it. Well, no use beating around the bush on this one. "Oh, since about the twentieth century. After I was cast out of the Autobots, I wanted to be as far away from the Council as I could. This was pretty far away. Though, given the fact that Autobots are here now, it wasn't quite as far away as I thought it was."

"Did you purposefully seek out Sentinel's team?"

I shook my helm. "No. Honestly, I ran into Raum, which is Fable's soliform, completely by accident. Didn't even suspect that he was a soliform until he accidentally let it out that he was one. Honestly put me in a weird spot. But, I gave him a chance. I eventually met the rest of the team in soliform. They didn't even know I was a Cybertronian until I happened on them while they were being attacked by those assassins."

"And Sentinel just offered you a spot on his team? Just like that?" He sounded a little surprised at Sentinel inviting me onto the team.

But, he was being polite so I would continue to be so. "Yeah. Surprised me a bit. But, I guess he figured out that I was a soliform before this solar and had already decided on it. There is a lot more to my Prime than there appears to be." He seemed to relax at my answer, so I figured it was my turn for a question. "My turn. Why are you so curious about how I came to be on Team Apocalypse?"

Ratchet stared at me for a few nanos before motioning to the still unconscious mech. "While I trust the mech, more so than most of our team apparently, I still worry about him. I'm sure you have noticed how protective of your leader Fable and Trecke are." Was I not loyal enough? "And nothing against you femme, so wipe that look off your faceplate. Fable and Trecke though, you can admit that they are on a different level altogether on that end."

While I wanted to argue, I thought about all of our encounters and realized that the old mech was right. While I was already loyal to Sentinel, Fable and Trecke did have an unwavering sort of loyalty that I was sure I was going to see in Pandimala as well. It came from knowing Sentinel for a long time. I would get there, but I wasn't there yet. So, I guess the old mech was right. "Okay, I'll give you that."

"I've gotten a read off of the others, and have warned Bumblebee the risks of working with your team, and not that it is a bad thing, but with working with any team there are risks. I'm sure that you have seen the risks of working with Team Orion. I take those risks because they need me and I can handle when our Primes get out of servo. My experience out shadows theirs by a long shot." He then pointed at me. "But I don't know you. I wanted to see just what Bumblebee may be getting into so, as his medic, I can advise him as best as I can." Before I could say anything, the mech stood. "I'm going to the other room to check on how Prowl is healing up after his tangle with Fable. Keep that mech calm if he wakes up while I am gone." He then walked out of the room.

Well, so much for that conversation. But, something told me that I would get another chance to talk to the medic. Until then, it was just me and Team Orion's unconscious scout.

A groan suddenly coming from the mech caused me to correct that thought. Bumblebee seemed to be finally coming around. Good. There were some questions that I wanted to ask the mech. "Wh...Where am I?"

Well, that would be after I answered his. His medic did say to keep him calm. "Right now you are on a med berth in the medical bay in the base I am told your team frequents."

His optics seemed to focus before he looked at me. "What happened?"

Well, I was pretty sure it would be better to answer him than not. "You had a severe panic attack that shorted out your systems, causing you to crash," When after a moment, his optics started to dilate, I set a servo on his arm, "Calm down Bumblebee. You can work your thoughts out with your medic when he returns. Let's change the subject for now. Want to run me through everything the rest of my team has been working on with you?"

"Everything? Why?"

Well, at least the mech wasn't afraid to ask a question. "Because they are not scouts, despite the training they have been giving you, and I need to know exactly what they have covered so I don't waste time repeating myself."

And with that, Bumblebee started to rattle off everything Trecke, Fable, and Sentinel worked with him on. While, from the sounds of it, my team covered most of the basics, they seemed to miss one of the most important first lessons; reading your conversations. That was a vital skill for every scout to have in their arsenal.

Once he was done, I went to discuss this with him when the doors opened. When I saw that it was his medic, I stood and nodded toward Bumblebee. "When your lessons start, I'll go over what I still want to work on." I then nodded toward Ratchet before leaving.

As interesting as my lessons for Bumblebee would be, I wanted to get to our base as quickly as I could. I had the least experience with Pandimala and I wanted to get to know her as well as the others. Plus, we femmes had to stick together. The mechs outnumbered us and who knew where that would lead.

A smirk played onto my faceplate before I transformed and started the journey to return to my team. Our journey as a full team was only just beginning and, as sudden as my joining was, I couldn't wait to be a part of it.

Fable's 1st P.O.V.

I let off a small growl as I sat in my room. How dare those Pit-be-Fragged Primes talk about my Caesar like that? We were fighting for our lives and they acted like we were purposefully ignoring them. If it wasn't for Pandimala's arrival, then we might not have even lived.

The only reason I didn't have at least one of their chassis parts as reparations is because that cyber-ninja got in my way. I would have kept that thruster I ripped off of him had I not been unconscious at the end of the fight. Oh, I knew that it was Ratchet that finally turned out my lights and, while I wanted to, I couldn't be mad at the mech.

I had found out later that our little bug had one of his panic attacks and had crashed. Since he would have been the only medic around thinking calmly, then he had to make sure that I would not cause him any more trouble before he started work on the two who were injured. My injuries were superficial and so were left to my care.

Even now, I was only in my room, instead of interacting with our great warrior, because those Primes had demanded that my Caesar 'punish' me for trying to attack them. While I knew that my Caesar didn't want to, we still had to work with their team and so he had to give some leeway.

While I was only confined for two cycles, it was still almost unbearable. Sentinel and Trecke were out there, getting to know Pandimala and Pastel better, and I was isolated here. Those Primes would pay for this. No matter how many stellars it took me to redeem that revenge, I would have it.

Finally, after what felt like ages, my internal timer went off signaling that the cycles were over. My pedes were under me faster than I could even register before I was racing for my door. So much time to make up on, I didn't even know where to begin.

"Figured you would be biting at the bit to get out," I jumped when, after I opened my door, I heard that. Registering my surroundings, I realized that both Pandimala and Pastel were standing in front of my door.

Smirking I looked between the two of them. "Now this is an honor. I get to be escorted by two lovely femmes," I then pulled out two unsigned copies of my medical form before continuing, "and while you do you can ask me whatever questions you would like before signing them."

Pastel seemed to read through it quickly, asking a few questions before signing it that were similar to the bug's...which was a good thing.

But, Pandimmala was silent as she read through the form at what seemed like a slow pace. I would give almost anything to know what was going through that marvelous processor of hers. "Fable, there is nothing in here mentioning my wings aside from the fact that you won't be taking off my wings in any of your procedures. Why wouldn't you remove my wings?"

I skidded to a stop when she asked me her question. Did she seriously just ask me that? "From my understanding, wings are very sensitive to fliers and it would be painful for me to remove them."

She continued forward, which caused Pastel and me to follow. However, I was surprised to see a smile on her faceplate. "While I appreciate your intention and your reasoning Fable, my wings can be removed by a medical professional. There are many times that cleanings need to be done and it is a pain in the aft to take them off myself to clean. A capable medic would easily be able to take them off." She then paused in her talking, though she continued walking, before, to my surprise, a smirk grew slightly on her faceplate. "So, are you?"

Wait..what? "I'm sorry 'Malsy dear, what do you mean?"

My energon-lust pulsed in excitement as her smirk grew slightly sharper. "Are you a capable medic?" At this point, the door opened to the main meeting room.

Vaguely, I could hear Pastel chuckling, most possibly at the stunned expression on my faceplate. Did...did she just...?

I grew a matching smirk to her own before I nodded. "You'll find out at your first physical once you sign a corrected form of my release." I then took the form away from her and, after making the necessary changes, handed it back to her.

After taking a servo-full of clicks to read the form again, she smiled and signed it. "Then I guess we will find out."

"Now that our entire team has signed Fable's medical form," Our Prime started with a determined look on his faceplate, "I believe that we should get a few rounds of training in as a whole before any interruptions force Pandimala to retreat to her room. While I know better now than to train as constantly as we were back on Cybertron," He gave Pandimala a pointed look at that, to which she smiled back, "both Pandimala and Pastel are not used to how we move on the battlefield, just like we are not used to working with them. It has been just myself, Trecke, and Fable for a long time, and we need to adjust to the roles of scout and main warrior actually being assigned."

"Just like we are going to need to learn to work with more than just ourselves," Pastel finished with a nod toward Sentinel.

Sentinel smiled softly. "Exactly." Even now, I could tell that our leader was still in shock about Pandimala's return. Something told me that it would be more than just the couple of training exercises like our Caesar was hoping for.

So, the five of us made our way into the training room and, after my leader put in a training routine for us to follow, I stayed to the side. As a combat medic, I needed to be able to not only see all of my fellow teammates but to cover them if they looked like they were in trouble. Next to me, Trecke took his place. It was smart for the strategist to be near me, so he could make changes to his plans based on where my services were needed most, whether that be in battle against an enemy, or in helping our teammate recover.

Pastel surprised me by moving to the front of our formation until my processor caught up with me and realized that she would need to scout ahead to make sure we had a plan going forward. Behind her stood our leader and Pandimala, our warrior slightly behind our leader and the opposite of us. I understood why she was on the opposite side of Trecke and myself, but why was she behind him? "Pandimala, why do you stand behind our Caeser?"

She motioned to the field before answering. "In this formation, Pastel has our fronts covered, where I would be in a more heated confrontation. You and Trecke are covering his right side and will be able to send assistance to either side should we have trouble. The reason I stand behind our leader, as well as to his left, is to cover both the left side and help cover the possibility of an attack from behind. If we lose our leader during a fight, we have a high chance of being confused. It is my job, as our main warrior, to make sure that I cover any blind spots that may be opened by whatever formation we choose."

Trecke nodded. "Not only that," Now Pandimala looked curious. "But having our warrior so close to my dearest one, as well as behind him might fool the enemy into believing that she, and not my love and leader, is the leader and thus make the lovely Pandimala into a decoy to give us time to recover from a surprise attack."

Pandimala now looked surprised. "I never thought of it like that. But, that is a very good idea."

Before anything else could be said, the program started and, within clicks, the generated enemies were on us. As we drove through their ranks, I kept taking glances at our two newest bots. Pastel seemed to hold her own in the front and was taking out the enemy swiftly. For a bot who had been pushing social reforms before she got unjustly removed from the Autobots, Pastel seemed to be just as good behind the blade as she was behind the lectern if her banishment meant she had started to affect change.

But, the one that drew most of my attention was Pandimala. Frag the amount of carnage she was splaying sent shivers of ecstasy down my struts. I thought I could spill energon, but our warrior was on another plane of existence in that field. If all triple-changers were like that, then I was going to have to be more careful around Blitzwing when I fought him.

"Aren't they splendid lover-bot?" I asked Trecke as we continued to move together.

I heard a growl of annoyance come from him before he glared at me. "Even this perfect moment between our team can be spoiled by you."

"I try my hardest," His growl took on a slight snarl in sound and so it was probably best to change the topic to something we both could agree on. "But more on that later. For now, the two of us need to plan."

Trecke hesitated slightly. "Plan for what?"

I could feel the anger inside of me just from thinking about those Primes and most of their team. "Plan on how to best take revenge on Team Orion, without hurting our bug and Pip."

I felt a shiver of glee travel through me as his look hardened. "We will. When I come for my checkups, we will plan. No matter how long it takes, we shall have our revenge. Those scraps insulted my love for the last time without recompense. It shall not be allowed to continue without justice being set upon them." He then moved ahead as the battle shifted.

As he did, I smiled. Yes, we would protect our team, and strike fear into all those who stood against us, no matter what their allegiance was. We were Team Apocalypse, and those who defied us faced their doom.


Pandimala: *curious* Sentinel, how long are you going to let him chase her?

*Fable still chasing Authoress, who looks half dead and scared for her life*

Sentinel: *smirks* For as long as the message takes to sink in.


AN: And here is the next chapter! I am so sorry it has taken so long for me to get this one done, but I hope you like this one! The next chapter will be having the arrival (finally) of Team Vulcan and Team Athenia! Plus, we get the group coming with Team Chaar! The pieces are being set and the final product may not be what you are expecting.

So, without further delay, here are the next chapters!

Chapter 14: Vulcan and Athenia

Chapter 15: Open Internal Borders

Chapter 16:... (find out next time!)

And that's all for now. Please leave a review, either to review or say hello. They are greatly appreciated and fuel for writing more chapters! (I'll still write them regardless, it just helps with the speed of the updates). Until next time though, TTYL! *ready to charge into the unknown...and away from Fable*