Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Vox: Wow...this is all about me!

Pandimala: *pats shoulder*

Vox: *worried* What was that for?

Pandimala: *sighs* That just means that the odds of something happening to you during this is going to be even more likely. *Walks out*

Authoress: *evil laughter in the distance*

Vox: *gulps* Scrap.

Ch. 5: Access to the Bureau

Vox's 1st P.O.V.

I sighed an out-take of relief as I sat in front of my study desk. Three stellar cycles. That was how long it had been since we had gone through boot camp. Out of the five of us, Remcy and Balm had ended up becoming great friends, only Balm was close to achieving her dream…being a medic. After the first disaster, here at the Academy with 'Mala, Balm had been selected by the medic who had come to help, Ratchet, to become his new apprentice. We were all happy for her and hoped that she would do well.

However, the work here at the academy was painstaking and hard. This solar, we had done four cycles of intense battle training and team that I worked with were fresh out of the boot camp last solar. I was barely able to hold our team together. It made me really miss our team back from boot camp. But, I hadn't been on a field team with them all in a while. The last bot from boot camp that I was on a field team with was Tana and that was seventy solars ago. I couldn't wait to finish academy training. Once we were done here, and we accomplished our goals, then our group from boot camp would come together and make an awesome team that would make the Decepticons quiver.

But, until then, I had to get through all this work.

Turning on my monitor, I looked through my messages to see if there was anything important. I had thirteen messages total. Great. I really hated messages. But, I had better get them done with. Tonight, I was meeting up with Pandimala and Remcy at Slapjack's for a quick drink before 'Mala had a night course to run through and Remcy went to work on the mock report that was due tomorrow that we got seven solars ago to accomplish…and he hadn't even started it.

First message…sales ad for a vocal modulator upgrade. No thank you! I liked my voice exactly how it was. Primus gave me my vocals for a reason and frag I was not going to change it. Balm sent me a good luck message for my field test tomorrow. I sent her a thank you message back before moving to the third message. Another sales ad…though this one for an x-ray vision mod. Um…no thanks. I heard those things destroy your optics after a while.

And the rest of the messages played out similarly, with the last one being from Pandimala as a reminder that we had to come up with battle strategies due in ten solars. Our instructor, Computron, was very specific to point out that we needed to start work on those as soon as possible. That assignment had been given to us two solars ago and I already had a nice opening strategy planned out. Now, I just needed to

Ding

I glanced at my monitor and I was surprised to see that I got a message. It was kinda odd that I was getting a message while I was sitting here. Those kinds of odds weren't in favor of that happening. But I shook my head and glanced at the sender of the message. To my surprise, the message was from Stix. He was a cadet who was a few stellars ahead of me and he had gotten a job at Autobot intelligence headquarters. Not the job for me but an enviable job if I didn't know what I wanted to do in intelligence.

Looking at the subject line, however, I became nervous. It was titled 'Urgent! OPEN NOW!' and that told me it wasn't good at all. Stix hated to use all caps in words unless the matter was serious. So, I quickly opened the message and read what he sent me.

"In ten solars time, cadets from the academy, who have not been outsourced to other fields, will be placed in a list of cadets to be randomized and, out of those, half will be sent to the far planets for study abroad. This is non-debatable. If the cadet is selected, then they must leave. Selection process will begin next solar cycle at 15:00 cycles and results will be posted the solar cycle after at 07:00 cycles." I read to myself before slamming my servos against my desk. "Frag no they can't do this!" I yelled at the screen.

This wasn't right! While Balm would be safe from this, since she was outsourced as an apprentice, and I wouldn't mind going since it would help me prove myself to the CBI, Remcy, Tana, and 'Mala could be set back by this…and it might even stop their dreams cold. The CIA had a high turnover rate for bots if they went to the further reaches of space before they came to work for the CIA. Tana…well, there were only five Guardians total and so the odds of them noticing her clear in the far reaches were slim to none. She wouldn't stand a chance of completing her dream while she was gone…and if they forced her to stay in the outer reaches than her dream would become almost non-existent!

Then there was Pandimala's dream of becoming a Prime! The Council scrutinized their choices for Primes very harshly and you had to have constant and rigorous training from the best instructors to even have a shot of becoming a Prime. And, as most bots knew, almost all the best instructors resided here on Cybertron to train the best of the best. Very few bots, if any, from off world became a rank higher than Minor.

There had to be something I could do to help. I was going to be intelligence and, if I couldn't manipulate data to help my friends, then how was I going to ever look them in the optics again. The answer to that was immediate to me and it wasn't good. I wouldn't be able to. Every solar that went on I would never be able to look them in the optics…knowing that I had been the reason that their dreams were unable to be fulfilled.

It wasn't going to happen. Somehow, no matter what, I would not fail my friends. I would use my skills and make sure that they could go on. But, now I just had to figure out how I was going to do that. Getting into the database was going to be difficult, but I was going to have to work fast and use all my skills that I had to get to the files that Stix mentioned in his message.

An alarm going off in my helm caused me to look at it and I realized that I had thirty clicks to get to Slapjack's to meet with Remcy and Pandimala. I really didn't want to be late for that so I quickly closed out of my messages and made a dash for the door.

It only took me twenty-five clicks to get to Slap's and, thankfully, the place wasn't as crowded as it could be. I could count maybe ten bots as patrons, twelve if I was counting Pandimala and Remcy who were sitting at a table waiting for me. We had purposefully picked this time so we weren't trying to talk over the loud noise of his usual crowd.

"Vox! Over here!" Pandimala called out, as if I couldn't find her in a crowd.

Walking over to them, I smiled before taking a seat. "Hey you two, how have things been?"

Pandimala stretched for a nano before grabbing hold of her cube of energon. "I'm doing pretty good Vox. The team that I was working with today wasn't so bad. There was a bot called Hot Rod and he seems to have a lot of talent. But, we'll see. I've got training exercises with Cardia Major and Troit Major next solar and Hot Rod is going to be there. Should be a better chance for me to see what he can do and if he is actually going to be something good and not just some lazy stuck up brat."

She said that last part angrily and I couldn't blame her. For her last team-up, Pandimala said that there was a mech called Faukon who demanded to be put in charge of their mock operation and, when he finally got the chance to lead, he had put their entire company in danger and Pandimala had to take over and recover the mission before anybot got hurt.

Of course, the situation wasn't helped any by the fact that the blasters had started using real rounds and there were live bombs in the walls surrounding the exercise fields and the walls inside. After the first incident during our own boot camp, with Pandimala almost being offlined and Optimus really injured, the ICD…also known as the internal crimes division, had questioned everybot connected to the training exercises and had done a sweep of all the technology that was used in the exercise.

But, they had never found who had done it. We all hoped that it was a one-time incident that wouldn't happen again and, depending on what training groups we were with that would be the case. But, Pandimala had received a nickname around the academy to describe her situation; War Trap. It wasn't a flattering name, in my opinion, but Pandimala laughed at it and would even respond to it with immediate haste.

How she even got the nickname? Well…let's just say that the lasers going real on our first day hasn't been the only time something like that has happened. She attracts trouble like a magnet and I would be kinda surprised if she became a Prime without losing at least one of her limbs. Seriously.

"I'm still working on getting into the CIA." Remcy stated before taking a drink. "There's a test coming up in four solars that, as long as I score within the top five, will give me instant access to the Agency. But…I guess I kinda got to be on planet to make sure I can take it." He then put a servo on the back of his helm. "If I can't take this test, then it's going to probably be a good ten stellars before I can hope to get into the Agency."

Guilt immediately welled up inside of me. With the information that I just found out, I was going to have to make sure that I could hack into the database. I couldn't let Remcy wait another ten stellars to get into the CIA. No…I wouldn't make him wait that long.

Even if it cost me my own dream.

"So, Vox," I turned to Pandimala as she addressed me. "how have you been coming along with getting into the CBI?"

Well… "Not making too much progress. I'm not going to give up but I didn't realize just how hard it is to get in. I don't even know how to get in." And if I got caught doing what I was planning on doing tomorrow, then I was never going to get in. Hopefully, I could do it without getting caught.

As I took a drink out of the high-grade they got me, Pandimala shrugged. "Well, good luck with that Vox. If there are any bots with working processors in CBI recruitment, I bet you will be hired on in no time at all. I mean, you did hide all Joint's pictures and you know how hard those are to hide."

Immediately coughing and gagging was my response to that, due to my energon going down the wrong tube, and I did that for a few clicks, with Pandimala and Remcy patting my backplates. Joint had a lot of fun during her training, with who we found out after our first solar of boot camp was Ratchet, and took a lot of pictures to prove it. Lots of pictures. If Ratchet ever got his servos on even one of the hundred thousand pictures that Joint had taken in the med bay, he would go and turn her into a door mat. He would put it by his med bay and step on it for each picture taken…and that would mean Joint would be like that for a while.

"Yeah," I finally got out without sounding like my internals would come out. "I guess that would catch their attention…if Joint would let anybot know that the pictures even existed. But, do you really see that happening?"

Both shook their helms at that. Remcy and Balm had met Joint after we were done with boot camp. She of course doted over the two of them, especially Balm, before she ran away with said medic-in-training to talk about Balm's apprenticeship.

The three of us continued to hang out for another four cycles before we parted ways and I made my way back to my room. There were a lot of things that I had to get planned for this risky move I was going to make and I had to make sure that I planned for as many different scenarios as I could. There were some ideas that I could take out right away. They would be too drastic for me to even hope of implementing them into action.

But…once I entered my room and laid on my berth, my processor focused on one singular idea. It was going to be risky…really risky…but it was the only thing that I saw that could work. This was going to take almost perfect timing and some luck but, for my friends, I knew that I would be able to do it.

I just had to hope that I was as good as I thought I was, or tomorrow was going to be my last solar with the Autobots. My plan was very risky and it was going to break a lot of rules. If I got caught, I wouldn't have time to catch my intakes before they threw me into the stockades for the rest of my existence. That was not going to be good at all. Soon I fell into recharge.

The next morning, I came out of recharge with my plan ready to move. First thing first…I had to inconspicuously make my way into Fortress Maximus without anybot seeing me. I couldn't let anybot I knew see me or they could place me in the building during my little…project. That meant that I had to get there extra early in the morning here. Glancing at my internal alarm, I sighed when I saw that it was only zero four thirty. Frag this was early. I was going to so be recharging late tomorrow if I got away with this. Really late. Like…maybe not even wake up until my check-up at Ratchet's the solar after tomorrow.

…Maybe it would be better to just get stuck in the stockades…

Shaking my helm, I quickly got up and got ready before making my way down to Fortress Maximus. At this time, most of the bots that I knew weren't even out of recharge and so I have lowered the odds at getting caught. However, I knew that there was one bot who would be up here and who knew me somewhat well. That…was Alpha Trion. He was a very smart mech and was older than any other bot I knew. Actually…I wasn't sure if anybot knew how old the councilmech was.

The first time I had met the old bot, he had come to Joint's housing with Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus had been coming to the house to visit the three of us when he had run into the old bot. Alpha Trion had been curios about where Ultra Magnus went in the mornings and so came with him to meet us. When the two of them walked in, I remember looking up at the old mech and knowing that he knew a lot of stuff. I mean, he had to have so much information in his processor that I wanted to learn it all.

I remember that Ultra Magnus had to remind the councilmech that they had a meeting to get to…and that they were already late for that. After that solar, the old mech came with Ultra Magnus more and more to come and see us. Slag, there would even be some solars when Alpha Trion would come and see us when Ultra Magnus couldn't. He would always tell us stories and, once he figured out that I wanted to be in intelligence some solar, he started to give me tips on what I could do to improve and what I needed to practice.

Now…now I had to use that training to go against the Autobots. I almost couldn't believe that I was doing this. But, as I quietly made my way inside the building, I knew that this was very real. I loved being an Autobot…loved it so much, but to keep my friends safe and working toward their goals, I would give up anything that I had to. Even…even being an Autobot.

A few clicks more and I soon found myself entering a side monitoring room. It wasn't used much and it would allow me access into the Autobot mainframe. Plus, since it wasn't used much, then that meant that the odds of me being caught would be reduced drastically. It almost made me feel good about doing this.

…Almost.

Soon, I was sitting in front of the monitor and flying through the log ins and launching myself into the Autobot network. The log ins were simple to get passed. They ran on a constantly changing password but, as long as I got on the changing stream before I tried to log in, then the system itself would allow me access to its mainframe. It was kinda simple really.

Of course, that was the end of the simple measures. I knew I had to look at future troop deployments and those would be heavily guarded, in case the Decepticons tried to find out where our troops in the outer reaches would be. The programing defenses started to become more complex and I was finding that I was having to use a good amount of my skill just to get through. This was strange. I mean, yeah troop deployment was important but I hadn't even seen this sort of security on the systems of Alpha Trion for his deeper secrets. While I was never allowed to read what I uncovered from there…and I wouldn't have because I respected the old mech too much, Alpha Trion did let me work with his system to try and get in.

I flinched as I almost made a mistake. That sort of mistakes would have set off alarms all over the complex and I wouldn't have time to move out of this seat before a bot was in here putting me under arrest. I had to be careful or my friends would have to pay the price…and I would be kicked out of the Autobots to boot. Not the best situation to be in with what I was ricking and what I was trying to accomplish.

It was only six clicks later and I found myself working on what I was sure was the last defense that the system had that was stopping me. It was complex in itself and it almost had me stumped. I was making all the right strokes and yet the system kept knocking me back. I didn't understand why I was having to deal with such advanced anti-attack software simply to get to the deployment lists. I doubt that the Council was this protective of their deployments of new troops. I figured that they would rather give new bots up to the Decepticons than other systems that I had broken into before for training. I mean, what could be so important about…

A ding coming from the system told me that I had finally done it. So, I focused on the screen. However, what I saw caused me to stare in utter confusion…What was going on? This…something was wrong with this. I couldn't understand what was going on. This shouldn't be right. After all that hard work I had just done…this was what I had to look forward to?

…A blank screen?

"Vox, what brings you in here?"

I jumped out of my seat and stared toward the door. I knew that voice and I knew that I was in some major trouble now. It was the voice of the one bot I had been worried about during this little operation of mine. It was Alpha Trion and I couldn't read the look on his faceplate…and that bothered me. Was he angry? Disappointed? Confused? I couldn't tell and I could only wait for the inevitable.

Alpha Trion's 1st P.O.V.

I stared at the young cadet in front of me with a studying glance. While he didn't know it yet, this little exercise was a test that I had set up along with the CBI to test Vox. He had done marvelous so far, getting further into the fake file we set up than even I suspected he would get by, but his test was not quite over yet. However, unlike the members of the CBI, I found that Vox had already passed the hard part of this exam and the easy part was to come. They disagreed with me. For most cadets, I would tend to agree with them. But, unlike the members of the CBI, I knew Vox since he was younger.

The first solar that I had met Vox and his three other friends was still ringing in my processor. I had been making my way to Fortress Maximus to start my early routine for the solar when, to my surprise, I had run into Ultra Magnus heading in a different direction. When I had asked the Magnus where he was off to, he said that he was going to visit some friends of his. Then, to my surprise, he had asked me to come along with him. I had been curious as to what sort of friends would distract Ultra Magnus from checking in at Fortress Maximus and so I had agreed to go with him. Soon, I had found myself standing in front of the home of Joint, a retired war medic who then ran a housing unit for orphaned younglings.

Flashback.

As Ultra Magnus led the way inside, I found myself glancing around curiously. I knew that Ultra Magnus was friends with Joint and her team, Team Galaxy, but I hadn't thought he was close enough friends with them to delay checking in at Fortress Maximus. Something else had to be going on and this was probably the easiest and best way for me to find out.

Pedesteps from up ahead caused Ultra Magnus and I to stop in our walking. I was slightly tense, however, since the pedesteps were slow and stuttered. Joint had been known to race wherever she went, one time I had been witness to her almost running into councilmech Dragstrip…not a pretty sight that situation, and Blockade usually kept a faster pace to keep up with his bondmate.

But, these pedesteps didn't sound like either of them. But, Ultra Magnus didn't seem concerned and I had a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on. If the Magnus didn't think something was wrong then I would keep calm and have faith.

The owner of the pedesteps finally came around the corner and, while I could hear a slight chuckle come from Ultra Magnus, I was able to get away with just raising an optic ridge slightly. While I had been prepared for many different scenarios, this wasn't one of the ones I could have imagined. Of course, this wasn't something that one came across every solar.

My first mistake had been to assume that the pedesteps were coming from one bot. Instead, it was coming from two bots who were glued together by their backplates. And those two bots had black and green paint covering them along with red sparkles. It didn't take me too long to realize that the bots in front of us had become a victim of a prank. It was probably from the orphans that they were raising. Thankfully, my little mech at home didn't pick up a pranking habit. Instead, the young mech took up studying as a habit.

"Joint, Blockade, good solar." Ultra Magnus greeted the bonded pair…who were now stuck together as well, as they stopped in front of us.

Joint, who was the bot facing us, smiled and nodded her helm. "Good solar Ultra Magnus…and good solar councilmech Alpha Trion."

"Good solar Joint and Blockade." I greeted the femme and her mate.

Ultra Magnus let out a chuckle while motioning to the two. "I'm guessing that they are out of recharge?" They? The bots that we were coming to see were responsible for this?

Laughter came from Joint as she nodded and motioned behind her to her bondmate. "Yeah, and since we've been caught in the morning prank, you two should be safe for this visit. No need to repeat the sting and pink glue incident." While I was confused by that last statement, I could tell by the embarrassed look on the Magnus that he knew what that meant and it had to do with him.

…Now that I thought about it, there was a meeting where he came in and I thought I saw some pink paint, which I know realize could have been glue, that was stuck to the side of his helm.

A cough came from Ultra Magnus. "Yes, well, as much fun as memories from the past are, I am assuming that they are in your rec room?" I was assuming that he was asking about whoever it was that we were going to see.

Joint nodded and spoke. "Yeah they are. Oh, and Blockade wants me to tell you that he wishes he could talk right now but his lip components got glued together by this little prank. They should be happy that you are here." She then motioned toward the stairs that would take her to the next story. "Now, if you both would excuse us, I think my bondmate and I would like to get cleaned up."

I nodded. "Of course, Joint. I'm sure Ultra Magnus can show me the way to the bots."

She nodded before the two of them slowly made their way toward the stairs. While I was curious to see how they would be getting up the stairs in that condition, Ultra Magnus moving down the hall from where Joint and Blockade came from caused me to follow my leader. It wasn't long before we came to a door and he opened it to Joint and Blockade's rec room.

Ultra Magnus got inside first and, while I made my way inside, I heard four distinct vocals greet him. "Ultra Magnus!"

Once I made my way next to Ultra Magnus, I saw that there were four younglings now attached to Ultra Magnus' pede. Two were femmes and two were mechs and they all seemed so excited to see the Magnus. Ultra Magnus let out a chuckle before saying, "It is nice to see the four of you as well…and not being a part of your morning prank. But, I have a friend with me that I wish to introduce you all to."

The four of them stepped back and they seemed to just realize that I was with Ultra Magnus. All of them stared at me, though I noticed that the two mechs were studying me closely, before I decided to speak. "Hello younglings, I am councilmech Alpha Trion, though you can simply call me Alpha Trion if you wish." I didn't expect us to be visiting younglings this solar and I was lightly taken off guard. But, as I studied the younglings, I was beginning to realize why Ultra Magnus visited these four. They were around the age of the little mech I had at home and, like him, they seemed to be full of curiosity and life.

…Of course, I had to make sure to watch for their pranks. If they could prank a scout like Blockade and his bondmate, then they were clever little younglings.

Movement from in front of me caused me to refocus my attention on the younglings as the tallest of the group, one of the femmes, stepped forward. I was surprised that she was a triple changer…she might even be the only one on the Autobot side right now, and I was surprised that she had lime green optics instead of the normal blue of Autobots. Her black and lime green plating was clean and I wouldn't have suspected that she had set up a prank so devastating on Joint and Blockade.

"Hello Alpha Trion. I'm Pandimala and it's nice to meet you." This femme, Pandimala, introduced herself. Thanks to the femme's introduction of herself, I remembered that most bots in housing already had designations, unlike the young mech I had at home.

The other femme then stepped up and smiled widely before running up to me and hugging my pede. "My name's Tana and we are going to be friends!" She was the second shortest in the group and she was silver in coloring with black stars on her shoulders and she had light blue optics. She looked like she would be an alt. terrain bot when she got older from how her plating was forming.

I was taken slightly aback by this before Ultra Magnus leaned close to my audios. "Don't worry, that's how Tana greets most bots." Ah, so this was just how she was like.

Nodding in understanding, I focused as the first of the mechs walked forward. He would definitely be a two-wheeler when he grew up. He, surprisingly, was the shortest out of the group in front of me. Normally, bots that were as lithe as him were usually not the shortest bots around. Femmes, when they were younger, would normally be shorter. But, that was not the case here. The mech in front of me was black with a blue flame decal on his chest plate. His medium blue visor was staring up at me and I could see that he was still studying me.

"It is nice to meet you Alpha Trion." The motorcycle mech started. "I am Zarron." Zarron. Not a usual designation and it caused me to wonder where the bots who named him that got it from.

However, my attention was diverted to the final bot, and the second tallest, as he walked up. His dark blue and dark gold plating was unusual and his blue optics were studying me even more intensely than Zarron's visor had been. It made me curious as to just what this young bot wanted to be when he got older…if he even knew. "Hello, my name is Vox and it is nice to meet you sir." The young bot's optics never left mine as he greeted me.

He was an odd bot and, surprisingly, I found myself wanting to know more about him as well as his three friends. "It is nice to meet you four. I'm afraid that Ultra Magnus here has not mentioned you to me before and I would like to ask what your goals are for when you grow up."

Ultra Magnus looked annoyed at my statement, which I smirked at slightly, before Pandimala started off answering me. "When I get older, sir, it is my dream to become a Prime and lead my own team out in the fight against the Decepticons." Well, she was very dedicated to her goal. I could tell that much just with the way that she answered me.

Zarron then decided to go next. I had a feeling that he was going to want to be a Cyber-Ninja. "Sir, when I get older, I hope to some solar become the best scout that the Autobots have ever seen." Well, that certainly was a surprise. I had figured that he would want to be in the Cyber-Ninja core with how his frame was. Guess that would teach me to assume based off appearances.

While I wanted to guess what Tana would say when she stepped up, I realized that I had already been dreadfully wrong about what Zarron wanted to be and to assume that Tana wanted to work in a social like job, like a receptionist or maybe even in politics might put me in hot oil. So, I held off on guessing what she wanted to be until she answered me. "Sir," Tana started. "when I get older I want to be a warrior and, hopefully, I can one solar join the Guardians!" She then danced around in excitement of her own that told me that she would be dedicated to that goal.

…The Guardians? Most bots, even younglings, knew how hard it was to gain access into the Guardians. It was far easier for a bot to become a part of the Wreckers then to even hope of being a Guardian. I knew Hinge as a friend for a long time, since before the War even started, and I knew that he was very particular about who joined his group. In total, there were only five Guardians and they had been started well before the War. The odds were not in the femme's favor but I could tell that she would make a fine warrior with how determined she was…regardless if she didn't get into the Guardians like she wanted.

Finally, Vox stepped forward and I paid attention. He caught my curiosity with how he had been studying me and that studying had made me curious as to what exactly he wanted to do when he got older. "Alpha Trion," I was surprised when Vox started with my designation. "when I get older, I wish to become an intelligence officer."

An intelligence officer? Well, I would have to keep my optics on this young mech. I was close with many of the intelligence agencies here on Cybertron, including both the CIA and the CBI, and if this mech worked hard, I had a feeling that he would be able to earn his place among either of those groups, or maybe something more.

End of Flashback.

During one of my later visits, Vox had confided in me that he really hoped to become a part of the CBI when he grew up. So, I had kept my optics on him and was astounded to see that he had grown into a fine mech who would be a great asset to the CBI. I had been the one to ask the CBI to consider him as a possible candidate and, when I had received a call two solars ago saying that they wanted to test Vox, I asked if I could personally give him this last part of the test.

Together, the CBI and I had devised this plan to force Vox into using his hacking abilities to the best of his abilities. I knew, from all the times that I had visited the young mech, that he was very close to his friends and would risk anything to make sure that they were kept safe and that their own dreams could come true. We had brought Stix into our plan, since we knew that he was an acquaintance of Vox's, and had him send that message about the 'forced study abroad' order that would push Vox into action.

And now, here I was, standing in front of Vox as he looked up at me with a look of defeat. Of course, in that look, I could also see that he was studying me as well. It made me wonder what he was thinking but, before I could get into that with him, I had to finish this trial.

"Sir, I was hacking into the Autobot database to access the list of cadets that would be in the running to be forced to leave Cybertron for the study abroad assignment." Vox answered my question almost immediately.

Well, he certainly hadn't changed since I had seen him last. He was bluntly honest and wouldn't try to hide what he was up to. If he was caught he could come right out and say it…and that was proven last time I met him when he was caught pranking the entire council with the two-wheeler twins Geo and Helio. Well, technically the twins didn't get caught, and Vox didn't give them up, but I had noticed them earlier and put two and two together. But, Vox had admitted his part in the prank immediately and had to pay a fine for disrupting the Council meeting with his prank. It wasn't much but it had confirmed that he still had the honesty that I was looking for in a bot who would be a part of the CBI.

Now, in the present, I had to continue to question him. "Why would you risk you status with the Autobots to do this?" I had to see how he would answer. While many bots who we would test like this would lie and say some bull-scrap excuse, I knew that Vox wouldn't do that.

And I was proven correct as he answered me. "I was making sure that none of my friends who had dreams to accomplish here on Cybertron would not be affected by this order. I would risk anything, even my own status among the Autobots and my own dreams, to make sure that they could have theirs. My friends would have followed this order to leave Cybertron, even if they knew that it would destroy their dreams, and I had to make sure that they would not be put into that situation."

That was the best response that I had heard to this challenge and I knew that I had been right about the young mech in front of me. He would give up anything to protect his friends and he would be honest about what he was doing if he was caught. That was what we needed in the CBI. It would help us root out corruption on our planet that much more efficiently. "I see." Was the response I finally gave to the mech in front of me.

To my surprise, the mech rose from where he was seated and made way to leave the room. What was he doing? "I'll…I'll go and gather my possessions sir."

Why was he going to do that? "Why would you do that Vox?" What was this young mech getting at?

Vox looked surprised at my question and I seemed to take him off guard before he finally answered me. "W…Well sir I hacked into the Autobot database with the intent to change records. Usually, that is look on as treason and a bot is to be stripped of their Autobot status before being sent off-world into exile. So, I was going to gather my things before I was sent away."

That…I let out a chuckle at his response. He still didn't realize what this was. To be honest, I had missed him entering Fortress Maximus and, if it wasn't for the fact that I knew to look out for him for this test, then Vox would have gotten away with this. "No young mech. While normally that would be the case…these are not normal circumstances." His faceplate went blank with confusion and I could tell that I was going to have to explain. "The file that you were trying to change was a fake file that we made to test you. We were curious as to how many of our firewalls you had the capability of getting through. While these weren't our hardest ones, even I was surprised that you were able to make it all the way through."

… "This was a test?" Vox finally got out and I could see that he was working on connect all of these dots that which would lead to what I was going to reveal.

"Yes, this was a test to see if you had what it takes to be a part of the CBI. I must say that you passed with flying colors Vox. I figured you would but it is glad to see it become a reality." I responded to Vox's question.

For a click, I thought that the mech was going to pass out in shock and so I went to help steady the young mech. Thankfully, it was just the shock of this getting to him and I helped him sit back in the chair behind him. "I'm…this…does this mean I'm now a CBI agent?" Vox asked me slowly and deliberately.

Nodding, I motioned to him. "As long as you agree. Technically, you haven't said if you would like to accept this offer of being in the CBI."

He stared at me in surprise for a nano before he shook his helm. "Well, let's take in the facts. I could either be shipped off of Cybertron for breaking the law or I could accomplish my dream of becoming a part of the intelligence force. I think the choices speak for themselves. I accept being in the CBI, Alpha Trion."

Perfect. With more bots like Vox in the CBI, I was seeing great things coming to Cybertron. Motioning to the door, I spoke to the new Intelligence Agent. "Well then, come with me and we can get you set up. I'm sure you are going to enjoy it Vox."

Once the young mech was up on his pedes, I walked to the door and started to lead the way to CBI headquarters. I saw a bright future for Cybertron and I couldn't wait to see how this mech would help bring it forward. However, I knew that time could not be rushed and I had to wait until it was time before moving forward.

It would be a difficult wait.

Vox: *sighs in relief* Thank Primus that went alright. I thought I was a goner. But, instead, I'm now a part of the CBI!

Authoress: *smirks* Yes, you are safe for now. But, there are five more of your friends that still have to go through stand alone chapters.

Zarron: *frowns* Scrap that's not good. we know that Pandimala is probably going to be last but that leaves four more of us who are still on the chopping block. This is not good.

Pandimala: *nods* I'll make sure to watch out for all of you. Authoress is a tricky lady who should not be underestimated.

AN: And here is the next chapter of this story! I hope you all enjoyed this! It looks like Vox is locked into his dream job of being in the CBI. It was quite a fun march to get there though. Plus, I added in Alpha Trion to all of this to give a little more backstory. Plus, I also wanted to show that poor Joint and Blockade went through many pranks...as did Ultra Magnus. XD Future chapters are going to be so much fun! I'm not sure who I am going to focus on next chapter but please stay tuned! I'll try to update s quickly as I can but I can't guarantee whenthat is going to be.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Please leave a review, even to say hello! Until next time though, TTYL! *watches The Rifleman and has fun*