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

Tana: Wait...it's my turn!?

Authoress: *smiles and nods* Yes and it is so going to be fun!

Tana: *hesitates* Wait...why?

Authoress: *smirks* What? I may have deviated from the original in this...slightly. *walks off*

Tana: *growls* What do you mean 'slightly'? Authroess! *chases Authoress*

Ch. 8: A Warrior's Soul

Tana's 1st P.O.V.

I felt my spark racing in my chassis as I zeroed my sight in on the tip of that blade. How…how did this happen? I had taken in all accounts…looked at all the risks…and yet I still couldn't stop this from happening. While I didn't suffer defeat often, this was one battle that I had yet to win. I wasn't even sure if I was ever destined to win this constant battle. Of course, would that end now with this sword point aimed at my spark?

…Of course not!

"I surrender." I sighed before the blade was removed from the killing blow and the smiling face of one of my best friends could be seen.

She laughed in return before holding out a sharp digit hand. "That was a good battle Tana." Pandimala then helped me up before saying, "You almost had me that time."

Once I got steadied, I shook my helm and laughed. "What are you talking about Pandimala? Every time I think I have you, you turn around and get the better of me." And I really thought I had her. We were always working harder to get each other and, for once, I thought I had her. But, obviously that wasn't the case.

The assignment, as always, was to create battle plans. When I wasn't against Pandimala I would win every single time without question. But, out of the now six times that I've gone up against Pandimala during these four stellar cycles since boot camp, I have won a grand total of zero times. Of course, she was taking classes to be a leader, and that meant that she had to look at more possibilities on the battlefield, but this time I had the perfect plan.

This time…I only advised on the planning. Instead, I had a bot about a stellar behind our class at the academy called Tecun draw up the plans for this attack. I knew that Pandimala would be planning this battle, as practice for when she, one solar, became a Prime, but as expected of my friend, she seemed to have figured out what the plan was regardless.

The form of a figure dropping down by Pandimala caused me to raise my optic ridge in surprise. "Sorry Tana." Pandimala started before motioning to the bot that just dropped down. "But I wasn't kidding. If my team would have completely gone with my plan, then everything would have gone in your favor."

"Yes so if you want to blame anybot for you losing that would be me. Sorry Tana." The dark blue and red three-wheeler mech called Sleip smirked as he said that before he offered me a servo as well.

I took his servo, though I wasn't sure why, before I decided to ask. "Well, why do I have to blame you for Pandimala continuing her perfect record against me?"

His smirk twitched slightly before he spoke. "Well, Pandimala had originally planned on me surveying sector two on the map and staying there while keeping her informed on whoever passed me. She figured that you were going to send a distraction force through there to sector five. Well, I was on the edge of sectors two and seven when I saw something move. I decided to forego Pandimala's plan temporarily and see what it was. Of course, I had Fenrin cover for me just in case you decided to send the distraction force after all. Since I moved to seven to see what you were up to, since it was you coming after Pandimala, I was also able to see the distraction force traveling through sector eleven toward sector four. Since that was close to Pandimala it would throw her plan off and you would have a chance to surround her or even trap her yourself before fighting her off. Well, I reported this to Pandimala and you know the rest."

Yeah. Instead of me getting the drop on Pandimala, which was the plan, she had ended up getting the drop on me and she was able to stun me long enough to get me to surrender. So I did have to blame Sleip for this. "Thanks a lot Sleip." I thanked him sarcastically. "I actually thought that I would get the drop on 'Mala this time." Oh well. Better luck next time I guess. He then nodded before running off toward the checkpoint.

Pandimala, thankfully, let out a laugh and nodded before saying, "Yes, I guess Sleip messed up your big moment. Better luck next time Tana." She then motioned in the direction of Slap's before saying, "You still coming tonight?"

She was talking about our seven-solar get-together that we tried to make. The six of us, that is Remcy, Vox, Zarron, Pandimala, Balm, and I would always try to meet up at Slap's with everybot who could meet up at the time. While Zarron wasn't going to be able to make this solar, since he was on Parthus with a diplomatic party to try and negotiate a trade blockade that the neutral planet had deigned in its space, the rest of us would be able to meet up and talk about everything that was new.

Thankfully, I could answer in a positive. "Of course I'm going to be there. But, I might run a little late. I couldn't get the training field that I wanted at a good time. So I'm going to be cutting it close."

Pandimala let out a laugh at that as we walked back to the checkpoint. "It's all good. I'll let the others know so you won't have to hear Balm's lecture about being on time. I swear, even though she's the youngest out of all of us, she acts like our carrier at times."

I let out a laugh with her before I responded. "Yeah, but she is a medic and it is a part of her training to care for those that she has to work on. Of course that doesn't stop her from throwing that wrench of hers at us. Ratchet could have avoided teaching her that specific skill." I then rubbed the back of my helm and winced. Last time that I was in for a check-up, I had tried to convince Balm to maybe move my next check-up so I could grab the spot open that same solar for one of the training fields at Fortress Maximus. There were waiting lists as long as you could imagine to get into those and a friend had decided to go on a trip off-world and offered to let me use his slot.

Of course, Balm wasn't so willing to move my scheduled appointment and I got a wrench in the back of the helm in response.

Once we returned to the checkpoint, Pandimala and I reported the results to our instructor for the solar before the two of us parted and I made my way to the boot camp training grounds. While I was not in bootcamp anymore, I had asked Kup if I could use the training grounds there to practice. Since he was still in charge of the bootcamp as a whole, though he didn't actually instruct like he used to, he cleared it and so I was able to use it as long as it was after fourteen hundred in the solar. That was when most groups would be done with using that side of the practice fields. That meant that they were unused and, according to Kup, that would be waste to leave them unused when somebot wanted to use them.

So, that's where I found myself walking to now. But, as I walked, I suddenly felt nervous. It wasn't for myself but it was for Zarron. That mission that he was taking as an escort was going to be dangers in its own right. Parthus was a neutral planet, true, but much of the territory that surrounded it was divided between Autobots and Decepticons. This trade ban probably shuffled some armor plating on both sides and I was worried that Zarron would be caught in the crossfire of this.

But, then I calmed down and reminded myself that Zar was a very capable scout. He had gotten through the Scout academy with his two friends, Mirage and Hound, at the top of their class and had been given a teaching license right away. While he had yet to pick a bot to train yet, I knew that there was this orange mini-bot called Wheelie that Zarron had his opitcs on as a potentially great scout. But, the plans for him to start training where put on hold when Ultra Magnus had asked him personally to go and be a scout for this negotiation mission.

And of course, Zar couldn't say no to Ultra Magnus. I doubted any of us would even if we could. We had practically grown up getting used to visits from both him and, eventually, Alpha Trion. He would tell us stories…when he wasn't in the middle of our pranks, and I knew that we all respected him.

My arrival at the training ground that I usually used caused thoughts of Zarron to go to the back of my helm. Once I typed in the training code that I wanted to use, I waited for the practice soliform to appear in front of me. I was going to be practicing against a seeker class opponent, with wings, so I could get better at predicting flyers. Maybe with that under my wheels I could finally beat Pandimala?...

…It was worth the thought.

Once the rather large seeker in front of me got into a battle-ready position, I took out my morning star and got into a good battle position. Almost as soon as I did, the soliform launched at me and I immediately countered. The energon was racing in my systems and I felt the rush of battle start to build. Fighting with everything that I had to defend what I believed in. This is what I really craved. Unfortunately, I would never reach that with the drones and soliforms that I had to practice with. However, I knew that this would have to do for now. I was dragged from my wishes as the soliform in front of me took a swipe at my helm with its sword. Immediately, I ducked before coming up with my morning star and slamming it into its faceplate.

It took me about five clicks to take down the soliform and, once I did, I stayed in place as my systems cooled off. While in battle this kind of break would not be possible, Kradox had always taught me that whenever I practiced I should allow myself to cool my processor down so I was ready to take on my next challenge with a clear mind as if I was entering the battle for the first time. It also trained my processor to make changes in my battle techniques for changing battlefield conditions. Conditions wouldn't change after each bot I fought and so I had to calm down so as to pass the time that would move on during an actual battle.

After a few clicks had passed, I finally let out an outtake before turning to the machine to start my next training exercise. Maybe I would program the machine to let me take on a leader-class enemy. Technically, that was what a triple changer like Pandimala would be placed under, and the Decepticons had triple-changers as well, so that would be great practice for any future battles I may or may not be a part of.

"Good solar."

I tensed as a brown car mech with medium blue optics walked stood next to the training machine controls. When did he get here? The training I was doing must have distracted me from staying aware of my surroundings. Slag this wasn't good. I didn't recognize the mech and I knew that I had to stay on my guard. However, since he greeted me kindly, I could at least offer the same back. "Good solar. I don't mean to sound rude, but I was just starting my training regime for this solar and I need access to that machine to do so.

A smirk showed up on the mech's faceplate before he nodded. "Yes, I am quite aware of that. I saw your little training section with the seeker soliform. Not bad, I must say." I could feel every metal shaving in my chassis tensing as this mech continued to talk. A fight was coming, that was sure, but I wasn't sure what his angle was.

However, I could at least try and get out of this without a fight. "Thank you. However, could I please have access to the terminal so I can continue? I'm meeting some friends of mine tonight and, with what I have planned for training, I'm going to be pushing that deadline as it is." And that meant another wrench in the back of my helm. Whoever this bot was in front of me better hope that I never found out his designation if that happened. Those wrenches hurt.

This mech, though, seemed to have other ideas. "You're training huh? Well, I could use a little practice myself. How about we make a deal?" He then paused, I was assuming to wait for my answer.

And, while I was nervous about him, this would also be great training experience. I didn't know this bot and it would better simulate what an actual battle would be like. However, I wasn't an idiot. He said he wanted to make a deal and I had to find out just what sort of deal he was proposing before I agreed to anything. "What's the deal?"

For the rest of my existence, I would swear that the brown car mech smirked before saying, "Well, I would like to fight you. If you win, then I will not hesitate in relinquishing control of the machine to you."

That sounded…okay I guess. But, there was still one part of this deal that I needed to be kept informed of. "So…what would happen if I just so happened to lose this fight?" He had to get something out of this and I needed to know what it was.

"Well," the brown mech started. "if I just so happen to win this fight, then I would simply require that you spend all of the next solar spending time with my friends and me. We're…a group of fighters and if you fight as well against me as you did against that soliform, then they will want to meet you as well. Then maybe we could go to Radar's as a group and have a meal."

…Well that didn't sound suspiciously like he was a stalker. But, I guess hanging out with this mech and his friends for one solar wouldn't be bad. I had tomorrow off anyways and nothing was really planned hanging out wise with Pandimala or the others. So sure. I guess that wouldn't be a bad thing to get for losing. "That doesn't sound so bad. I guess,"

Boom!

The mech in front of me got into a defensive position and I looked into the air as the echo of the sound barrier being broken reached our audios. What was going on? Pandimala, when she was in her flight mode, had a speed limit that she was supposed to obey unless there was an emergency. And, since Pandimala wasn't one to goof off or get in trouble, then this had to be serious. "Tana! Get to the Space Bridge Nexus now! Something's happened on Parthus!" I heard Pandimala yell in my audios almost nanos before she flew over both myself and the mech as she blasted toward the Nexus.

"What was…" The mech started in confusion.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any time to waste. Zarron could be in trouble! "Sorry but I have to go. Family emergency! I'll take a storm-check on that fight though." I then transformed before racing toward the Nexus.

It didn't take me long to get there and, when I did, I saw Pandimala, standing in front of the space-bridge operators while pacing back and forth. Standing near her were Ratchet and Balm and they looked anxious as well. The only bot from the space bridge team that I recognized was the black femme with brown markings called Elbra. She was Remcy's carrier and we had all met her on a number of occasions. Elbra looked like she was calming down Pandimala while the rest of the space bridge operators stayed back out of fear of the angry triple changer in front of them.

As I transformed, I heard Pandimala speak to Elbra. "My friend…no…my family could be in danger on the other side of that bridge and I am volunteering to go on a rescue mission and yet no bot will let me do it!?"

Elbra took Pandimala's anger in stride before saying, "Pandimala, if it was anybot else who can fight except you, I would have already opened the space bridge to Parthus and let the three of you through. But, the council and Ultra Magnus have made it quite clear to all of us space bridge operators that you are not allowed off-planet unless you have Ultra Magnus with you."

"That's slag!" Pandimala huffed while taking a step back. While Pandimala was pretty angry, she also knew that she was a lot stronger physically than most Autobots. She knew that she could hurt them if she lashed out at them in anger.

Thankfully for my friends, I could offer a reprieve. "Pandimala take a step back. While you can't leave Cybertron, that doesn't apply to me." I then turned to Elbra. "Open the space bridge and let Ratchet, Balm, and me through. I understand that the odds of a recovery bridge being sent is slim to none. We'll find our own way back home. But, like Pandimala hinted at, we don't stand by when our family is in trouble. I can fight well enough to get to Zarron while Ratchet and Balm patch up some of our bots to help form a defensive line." I then took a step closer to Elbra, though not in a threatening way. "We can do this."

Elbra and I held optic contact for a few clicks before she sighed and nodded. "Remcy picked some amazing friends to call family. We will open the bridge for you."

Ratchet, at that, raised an optic ridge. "And what will you do when the Council finds out you opened an un-authorized space bridge."

In return, Elbra smirked. "Oh, I'll tell them exactly what I think if they are upset with me. But, for now, let's get you bots thorugh." She then turned and motioned to the bots around her to open the bridge.

Once the space bridge was open, the three of us wasted no time in running through. My family was in trouble and I was not going to let anything stand in my way of saving him.

Anything.

Hinge's 1st P.O.V.

While I ran next to the four other mechs who, with me, made up the Guardians, I found my processor going back to Tana. I had first seen her a stellar ago when she was at Slapjack's with her friends. They were coming in to clean up the bar after a fight they had the previous solar. I had recognized her friends through various reports that I had kept up with through my contacts on Cybertron, but I had not known who she was. So, having been curious about her, I had started my stellar-long research endeavor to find out what I could about her.

Firstly, I had talked with Breaker, a mech who I had wanted to be a Guardian but had to decline me due to other goals he had. To my surprise, he did know of Tana. Said that he had been one of her escorts to boot camp and she had said that it was one of her dreams to be a member of the Guardians one solar. It wasn't that surprising, since many bots wanted to be a part of us, but I needed more information than he had. So, he had suggested talking to the medic and scout from his old team; Joint and Blockade.

So, I had found them and they showed me footage that they had saved from what Pandimala was like when she was growing up. Of course, I hadn't told them that I was looking into Tana. I had presented my case as being curious about Pandimala since she was currently the only bot with a flying alt mode on the Autobot side. The film that I watched showed me that Tana had been a femme who was very kind and caring when she was younger.

But, I still needed more information. So, I had asked Joint and Blockade if she had any special training before she went to boot camp. They confirmed that they had asked a mech called Kradox to train her. He…was a little harder for me to find. Turned out that, after training Tana, Kradox moved to Vos and owned a small one-story home with a good amount of land.

He had the information that I needed on Tana. While the mech had stopped being her trainer before she went to the academy, Kradox had kept his optic on her and had recordings of her training in the simulations at the Academy along with his own personal memories in training her. She was so different than most applicants that I ran across and, the funny thing was, she didn't even apply with us. In my opinion, that was another positive for her. She wanted to be recognized for working hard instead of sending in a portfolio of herself.

However, now I was concerned. I had just been about to challenge her when the triple changer, Pandimala, had suddenly flown over-helm at an amazing speed. Honestly, the sound of her breaking the sound barrier had caused me to have war-time reactions and I had immediately ducked down. But, Tana had immediately looked toward the sky and I could tell that she was receiving a message from somebot. If I had to guess, I was betting it was from Pandimala.

She had then apologized and asked for a storm-check on our fight. I was hoping that it was going to be a pretty impressive fight but it seemed like I was not going to be able to find out. At least, not until later. Of course, I was slightly glad that she had left in the hurry that she had. Almost as soon as she had disappeared, Chem had contacted me. He said that the delegation that was currently at Parthus had come under a large scale Decepticon attack. Relief had been sent but, from what I knew of travel in those parts, the relief wouldn't arrive in time unless it came through the bridge. So, reinforcements from Cybertron would be best.

However, the problem with that is the Council. They were going to deliberate for at least thirty clicks, if not more, before they got their helms out of their afts and allowed us to send reinforcements in. By that point, who knew how many bots would be offlined due to their hesitation. It was a flaw in Autobot society and, once this war was officially over, I hoped that we would work toward fixing it. Until then, though, we had to suffer through this.

…Well, not so much trouble for myself and my Guardians. Since we were set up as a group of soldiers outside of the chain of command, then we could decide where we were sent into battle. We were not counted into the number of troops that the Council had at their disposal so we were allowed to go on these riskier missions.

"And you said that you were just about to test her when the triple changer, Pandimala, flew over-helm like a flying scraplet was on her aft. Where do you think she was off to?" Hindsight asked as we all made our way forward.

Shaking my helm, I answered him. "I'm not sure Hindsight, but she was in a hurry and I could see that she was worried. Tana, from what I have observed so far, is a very level helmed femme and for her to just run off like that after I challenged her…I think it was something big."

The five of us then rounded another corner and we found ourselves at the Space Bridge Nexus. When we got closer to the main controls, however, I was surprised about what was happening. "Ultra Magnus let me go there!" The triple changer, Pandimala, demanded of the leader…and my friend, as said bot held the femme back.

And speaking of my friend. "Pandimala please calm down. You already said that Tana, Balm, and Ratchet went through the bridge to help out where they could and reports that intelligence have been receiving from the battle say,"

"That Balm and Ratchet are a huge help right now in caring for the wounded as the troops on Parthus." Pandimala interrupted him before she continued. "But no bot has seen Zarron since the attack and no bot has seen Tana since the three of them got planetside!" Ultra Magnus then let the femme go and she paced back and forth. "Now why can't you all get it through your thick helms to allow me through that bridge!?"

This was one of the few times that I heard Ultra Magnus sigh before he pulled Pandimala in front of him. "Now Pandimala, you know that you can't go into the field yet. We all agreed that you would be kept out of the field until you were a Prime and had your own team."

She didn't look happy at that and I figured that this would be a great time for us to make our presence known and offer our assistance with the crisis on Parthus. "Ultra Magnus, my team and I are ready to travel to Parthus."

Both of them turned toward the five of us and I could see that the femme was studying us intently. I had done my research on her and, from the look of realization that came from Pandimala's optics, she must have realized who we were. "Yes Hinge. The space bridge is primed and ready for your use." Ultra Magnus responded to my greeting with relief in his vocals. I guess this femme was giving him a hard time and, from what I had overheard when we arrived, then I could understand the relief.

Blackbit came up next to me and brought out his blade before nodding. "Well, let's get moving. I don't want to waste any more time."

Ultra Magnus nodded and looked toward the space bridge operator, Elbra I was sure her designation was, before she activated the space bridge. My team and I didn't waste any time in running through the bridge toward the other side. What we found, to my surprise, reminded me of battlefields that I encountered during the fighting on Cybertron. There were injured Autobots spread around the space bridge landing point with a struggling line of fighters keeping the Decepticons at bay. Among the injured I could make out two medics. One was the famous medic known as Ratchet. While I had never personally worked with him, I knew that he was almost a legend in his field…a Guardian of the Medical field in a sense.

Near him working just as diligently was the yellow green femme that I knew as one of Tana's friends; Balm. She was assigned to Ratchet as his apprentice and, from what I was seeing of how she was working, Ratchet had trained her well. She didn't flinch as she went to each distorted and damaged chassis of the fallen around her.

But, I couldn't worry about the medics right now. I had to see where Tana and any others who were still unaccounted for where at. Glancing around, I saw Domas Prime ordering troops around him to take defensive positions. He was supposed to be in charge of the negotiations for this mission so he would know if everybot was accounted for.

"Domas Prime!" I yelled to him as I defected the blade of a Decepticon about to impale said Prime from the side.

The beige and black hauling mech looked at me in appreciation. "Hinge! You and your Guardians are a sight for weary optics. The negotiations were a trap. The Decepticons were able to capture the leaders of Parthus before we arrived and we were none-the-wiser until it was too late. We lost three bots in the initial attack and two more during our falling back to the bridge here. I'm not sure about the condition of the ones the medics are looking at but I'm glad they showed up." He then motioned to Ratchet and Balm before continuing. "We lost both of our medics in the initial attack and we were struggling."

The two of us fought back more Decepticons for a click before I continued. "Are there any bots still unaccounted for?"

He nodded and slew his opponent, as I did mine, before he motioned toward the west. "The warrior-in-training who came through the bridge, Tana, has yet to return and the scout that was with us, Zarron, has not been seen since the initial attack against us. Tana went to look for him at the Grand Hall. You can't miss it if you head West from here." Domas told me before standing down. For now, the Decepticons had backed off. But, we couldn't wait for the rest of the troops here to get their intakes back before we looked for Tana and this Zarron.

"Blackbit, Chem; you two stay here and help with the fighting in case another wave of Decepticons decide to attack." Both the black hauling mech and the ruby car mech nodded before I turned to the twins, the blue gray Hindsight and bronze Foresight, and continued. "Hindsight, Foresight; you two come with me and help me find these two missing bots."

Both of them nodded and so the three of us made our way west. What was Tana thinking going into enemy territory alone? Who was this Zarron…My processor started to remember bits of the information that I had gathered on Tana and, now, it was starting to make sense. Everything was making sense. The sudden call she received must have been somebot informing her of the trouble on Parthus. Zarron, one of the mechs that she grew up with, was here on this mission and she must have felt the need to come and save him. Pandimala, obviously not allowed to come, would have been consoled if Tana came to find him personally. Domas probably told Tana that they wouldn't be able to search for Zarron since he was probably deep in enemy territory and, since Domas told me she had gone this way anyways, she didn't listen.

She was showing all the qualities that I looked for in my Guardians. She was loyal, honest, fair, and she would protect those around her no matter what the odds were for her. This was being proven by the fact that she had gone into deep enemy territory with no hope of backup coming or a recovery team. Of course, I had her other qualities examined during this stellar that I had been watching her. I had to make sure that she was a good candidate for being a Guardian. I was not disappointed.

"Hinge," Hindsight suddenly spoke, dragging me out of my thoughts, "enemy signals up ahead as well as two Autobot signals."

"How many enemies?" I immediately asked.

It was Foresight who answered me. "Can't tell. The signals keep moving into each other. But, from what I have seen on the scans, there are at least seven enemy signals. Two hundred yards in closing."

Nodding, I picked up my speed for the next one hundred and eighty yards but, when we were twenty yards from the signals, I slowed down and motioned for the twins to slow as well. We had to know what sort of situation we were diving into. By the looks of it, the two Autobot signals, as well as the Decepticon signals were down in a crater that had been created. Once the three of us were at the edge, we peered down to the situation below.

Five seeker class and two scout class Decepticons were in front of Tana in a crescent shape attack pattern. Tana, herself, had a morning star mod transformed from her right servo and, in her left servo, she held a blaster at the ready. From the offlined Decepticon chassis around her, and the damage that I could see her chassis had already taken, this was not the first attack that she had defended against.

Behind Tana, with his right leg strut trapped by construction beams, was the black motorcycle mech with blue flames that the files identified as Zarron. So, she had found her friend and, like I thought, Tana was defending him against the Decepticons attacking.

"What's the plan boss?" Foresight whispered from my right.

I glanced down at the situation before making a decision. "Hold off on an attack until I say otherwise. I want to see how Tana faces these enemies. We will assist if it looks like she is going to be overwhelmed. Be ready though."

"You got it boss." Hindsight whispered from my left.

My optics then focused back forward as the femme lifted her morning star toward the seven bots. "This is the only chance I will give you to flee here. Leave us be or you will face the consequences." Her light blue optics were cold and hard as she glared at the Decepticons in front of her.

They, of course, simply laughed at her threat before a taller seeker stepped forward. "You Autobots must be worse off mentally than we thought. Seven on one femme. The odds don't look so good for you. Why don't you surrender so we won't have to hurt that pretty frame of yours? I bet we could get top credit for you. A lot of high paying Cybertronians like a femme with a little fight in her." I felt anger pulse through my systems as his smirk seemed to twitch slightly. "Of course, we could just keep you for,"

And that was as far as he got before a blaster round suddenly went through his spark chamber, coming out the other side. "How about not?" Tana growled before standing in the same battle-ready position that I saw her get in against the practice soliform.

The remaining six Decepticons then launched at her and Tana held her ground while waiting for them to attack. While that normally wasn't the best strategy, she had to stay in place due to her injured friend behind her. Staying in place would allow her to retain the information about what was around her and make sure that the enemy didn't maneuver around her and attack Zarron.

She moved with each strike that was made against her and, except from the occacionaly glance from an enemy dagger now and then, Tana was holding her own against the six of them. But, as the clicks dragged on, I could tell that exhaustion was finally taking its toll on the femme, who was now down to five on one. The nano that the five backed off to regroup, I launched forward. "Now!" I yelled as I charged into the fight.

Out of the corner of my optic, I saw Tana, flinch slightly in surprise at our presence here. It just confirmed to me that she had not been expecting any sort of backup to come and aid her in her fight and she had been willing to take on these bots alone. However, my focus on Tana was lost as I engaged two of the four seeker class Decepticons left while the twins took on another of the seeker class and the scout model that was still left.

The last seeker class Decepticon left had gone for Tana and I could tell, during pauses in my fight, that she was used to fighting against flyers. It seemed like a positive for having grown up with the triple changer. As I defeated the first of the seekers that I was fighting, I noticed that Tana had defeated her own opponent. It didn't take me long to take out this second seeker and, once I did, I straightened and saw that I was the last one done. It was a slight blow to my ego but one that I could live with.

"Hang on Zar." I heard Tana's voice suddenly say. When I glanced at Tana, I saw that she was trying to lift the beams that were trapping her friend. I could tell that she wasn't going to move it much on her own and so I motioned to the twins and they nodded. So, we ran over to the femme, the twins on her left and myself on her right, before we started to help her lift. Tana, glanced toward all of us in quick surprise before she nodded and helped to lift the beams.

With a bit of a struggle, we were able to lift the beams up enough for Zarron to crawl out from underneath them. Once I saw that he was clear, I made sure that the others knew as well. "Clear!" The four of us then let the beams go so that they dropped with a resounding thud.

Tana then moved and helped support Zarron on her right side. Once they were both stable, the twins and I moved in front of them. "Thank you. I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't have showed up." Tana thanked us with a nod of her helm.

Hindsight let out a laugh and shook his helm. "I don't know about these two, femme, but from what I saw you were doing pretty good on your own."

She, to my surprise, looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't know about that. When I got to that crater, the first set of Decepticons were camped there and Zarron was their prisoner. I was only able to beat all of them because I got the drop on them. If you three hadn't shown up then I'm not sure if I would have come out of that online." Tana then held out her servo toward us. "The designation is Tana and this here is Zarron."

The three of us shook both of their servos before the five of us started to walk. While we walked back toward the bridge, I decided to drop the bomb on her as to just who we were. "I am Hinge, the blue gray mech is Hindsight and the bronze is Foresight."

Out of the corner of my optic I saw Tana stumble slightly. Her friend helm slapped her for that. "Sheesh Tana, as graceful as ever."

Tana sent him a light glare, the kind friends would pass with each other, before she responded to me. "Your designations are Hinge, Foresight, and Hindsight? That…that means that you three are…Guardians!"

I nodded at her statement before saying, "Yes, and I was hoping to test you when you went tearing away from the training grounds like you did. Guess this is kind of an emergency though so I'll let it slide. Plus, since you did so well in fighting those Decepticons, then I will skip your battle test."

To my surprise, she seemed confused by what I was saying, "What do you mean? What sort of test where you going to give me?"

A smirk briefly flashed across my faceplate before I answered that. "Well, to be a Guardian of course. What do you say?"

I felt worried when she didn't grow excited like I thought she would. Now that I looked at her from the corner of my optic, I saw that both she and Zarron looked tense…battle tense. But, she did answer me. "Hinge, there would be nothing I would like more. But…Hindsight, can you do me a favor?" She asked that very deliberately.

Hindsight didn't seem to catch her deliberate speech pattern as he nodded and answered normally. "Sure what is it?"

Tana paused for a few more nano-clicks before she suddenly yelled, "Catch!" before she threw Zarron at Hindsight and screeched to a halt while starting to turn.

What was going on!? I tensed and, it was only in that nano that I realized that somebot had been following behind us with a light diffraction mod that gave him cloaking abilities. This wasn't good! Tana wouldn't be able to take her blaster out in time to stop him and none of us would be able to stop this bot before they severely injured Tana, who was closest to the back now. "Tana m…!" I started to yell at her before a transformation sequence interrupted me.

Tana swung her left servo behind her and, right when she began her swing, it transformed, to my surprise, into a flail! Now that I thought about it, I did remember her file saying that she had a flail mod. Since she didn't use it in the fight in the crater I forgot that she had one. The sound of metal impacting metal caused me to focus and I saw her flail contact with the area behind her and, a nano later, a midnight blue mech with faded blue and azure markings appeared. Tana's flail knocked him back and, before he could recover and turn invisible again, Tana had taken out her blaster and, with a sure shot, she shot him in the helm. He was offline before he hit the ground.

Turning back to the four of us, she smiled before motioning to Zarron. "Sorry for not giving a better warning but I don't have your comm numbers and Zarron noticed a light sound of pedes that didn't match any of our gaits. So, he told me and I had to make sure he was safe and I didn't want to spook him."

"Idiot. You didn't have to throw me." Zarron grumbled as he tried to get comfortable in Hindsight's grip.

Tana, in turn, frowned at him before she shook her helm and turned toward me. I was sure I felt whiplash when she suddenly beamed a wide smile as we continued to walk to the space bridge. "I can't believe I'm a Guardian!" Her yell of excitement was what I had been looking for earlier and here it was. I had been worried when I hadn't seen it. From the investigating I had done on her, I saw that she spoke her mind and, when she was excited, she would be excited. But, now that it was out, she was bouncing around like she had just won at the gambling house.

Her friend, Zarron, seemed like he knew how to calm her down. "Will you stop it? You're looking ridiculous Tan. I mean, come on. At least pretend to act your age."

Tana frowned at that for a second before she smirked. "Fine Zar. I guess we should get you back through the bridge as quickly as possible. Last I saw, Pandimala was on the other side and she was very anxious."

For a nano, it looked like the coloring of Zarron's chassis faded slightly and his optics widened quite a bit. "Oh slag. Um…you all wouldn't mind taking me to Iacon Central would you?"

Before we could even wonder if there was anything to worry about, Tana let out a laugh. "Sorry Zar. Balm and Ratchet are here as well and they will look at your leg strut there are the Nexus once we get through. 'Mala will be there to give you the riot act for a change." Tana then turned to me. "We think it has something to do with her programing but Pandimala gets really protective of all of us that she considers family. So, she'll give Zarron here a lecture for making her worry."

"And when was the last time you checked in with her since coming here Tana?" Zarron shot back at her.

As we finally came in sight of the battle line of Autobots, and I could see Blackbit and Chem standing next to Domas Prime, Tana let out a cry at that statement and I just laughed. Tana was going to be an excellent addition to the Guardians. She would bring much to the group that we didn't have and I had a feeling that, along with her friends, Tana was going to bring so much change to Cybertron.

Tana, member of the Guardians, how far will you go?

Pandimala: *taps pede* Okay Authoress...where is it?

Authoress: *curious* Where is what?

Pandimala: *motions to shelf* Where is the high grade? I had some placed up there in case of emergencies but now it's gone.

Authoress: *gives disbelieving look* And do you think that I am acting drunk enough to have drank it?

Pandimala: *pauses**sighs* I guess you are right. I'll go and ask Tana if she has seen it. *walks out*

Authoress: *smirks* *pulls out high grade* Of course I might not have drank it yet. *puts cube to lips*

AN: And here is Tana's chapter! This was so much fun to do and I loved changing it around a bit. So, as can be told, this story will not match up with Guardians, the Beginning. That was for Journey of a Strange femme. Now I get to play with everything and make you all wonder at just what else I am going to be changing! *evil laugh* *hides horns* Anyways, next chapter is going to be Balm and we are going to have an interesting time! I wonder if you all can guess what happens. Reading the original may or may not help...*dark smirk* I haven't decided yet. Anyways, after that we will get to Pandimala and the beginning of our odyssey for our strange triple changer. I plan many changes in the future that should give you all many twits and turns (and some very unexpected surprises).

Well, that's all I have for now. Please leave a review, even to say hi, and I'll get back to you (if you leave a guest review I'll say something at the beginning of the next chapter). Until next we meet though, TTYL! *bobs head while dancing to the music*