Four chapters down, however many to go! I'm seriously on a roll here guys, I haven't written this much in years! You should be proud of me. Also, The Clone Wars is officially over, and I'm very emotional over it because that and TFP were my childhood and now they're both gone. On top of that we have our first review!

Guest:The Clone Wars & TFP are my two favorite shows. I'd LOVE to see a Clone Wars episode or two mixed in here please.

Me: Of course! I'll do what I can seeing as I'm not too entirely sure which season of The Clone Wars I would want to start off with. I definitely want to do it some time before Ahsoka, you know… *cough* Spoiler! *cough*

Guest: I love the remake of your old story. It's great. Can't wait for more.

Me: Thank you!

Gabby: I love, love, LOVE this remake. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do more soon.

Me: Here we go.

42: I may be a bit slow on the draw but who's Ratchets Daughter?

Me: Good question! I haven't introduced her in the rewrite yet, so you haven't missed anything!

So, random thought, I know the way I described Alora's hair in her Jedi gear (the sections of hair with rows of beads?) might be confusing, but if it helps, Padme Amidala has worn her hair like this before in the movies as well as Star Wars the Clone Wars. I literally just rewatched an episode where she wore her hair like this.

Anyways, I only own Alora and my other OCs the rest belongs to their respective owners.

Shall we continue?

-Chapter 4: Darkness Rising Part 4-

As the dead continued to rise and Optimus and Ratchet stood silently as they took a moment to assess the situation further.

"Megatron has desecrated the resting place of our fallen ancestors. And his own!" Ratchet proclaimed.

"Not even the dead are free from his war-mongering," Optimus stated grimly.

"At last. Symbiosis. I can feel it possess complete control over my army. Destroy them!" Megatron instructed his undead army. He stood there, grinning as they rose to do his bidding.

But before the undead could even reach the two Autobots, Optimus armed his cannons and fired away. But even his fire power couldn't provide them that much help.

"Optimus, if our combatants are already deceased, how can we possibly defeat them?" Ratchet asked in worry.

"Ratchet! Retreat! Bridge yourself back to base!" Optimus ordered his friend.

"No! I shall stand with you, Optimus!" Ratchet exclaimed as he unfolded his blades from his arms, "You may require a medic when this is all over with, and I'm not about to let another one of the children's parents die!"

Optimus gave the medic a nod of thanks before the two charged into the army ready for battle. As Optimus fired shot after shot, Ratchet cut the dead Cybertronians into bits and pieces. Where they stayed dead.

"I recommend dissection! The smaller the pieces, the better!" Ratchet advised Optimus.

"Sound advice, old friend," Optimus acknowledged before trading his cannons for his blades.

"I have mastered Dark Energon. When you fall, Optimus, you too shall join my army," Megatron proclaimed. "And together we will defeat your Autobots and Neve will be able to brainwash your daughters as well as Nola's other children once more!"

Optimus' spark almost stopped at the idea. He had lost his children as well as Ark and Anika to Neve once before soon after Nola had died. The Prime never knew what had happened to the four in that time, all he knew was that Ark, Alora and Anika were the only ones to return. It didn't take long for him to recognize that Alora's trauma left gaps in her memories. Memories of their relationship. Memories of her own twin.. (AN: That's right folks, I'm changing the backstory around a little bit, but not as much as you think.) Upon learning about this brainwashing just now, Optimus vowed to never let anything happen to the children ever again, and it pushed him to continue fighting this army until nothing was left of it.

On the subject of fighting, the Jedi all had their lightsabers out as they formed a protective circle around the three civilians. Battle droids fired shots at them only for them to ricochet off of a lightsaber and back at them. The Clone squadron also opened fire on the battle was when Bulkhead finally decided to intervene.

"Get in! Now!" Bulkhead instructed as he opened his passenger-side door.

"Alora, Ahsoka go with them!" Ordered Obi-Wan.

The two padawans nodded and carefully got the trio of humans into the truck before climbing inside him themselves.

"Thanks, Bulkhead," Jack panted.

"Yeah. Thanks," Raf agreed.

"What are you doing out here?" Bulkhead demanded.

"We were worried about Miko. Have you seen her?" Jack asked worriedly.

"What does she look like?" Miko joked as she popped up from the back seat.

"Wait, Jack, you seriously didn't notice her?" Alora deadpanned.

"Er…"

"Everybody out! And this time, please wait here!" Bulkhead pleaded to his friends as he finally got them some cover. "Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker should be here any moment to keep you guys safe."

Once they were out, Bulkhead drove towards the Decepticon warship. He jumped into the air and transformed at the last minute before he could crash into the cliff face. Once his hands found some grip he began to climb his way up and onto the he noticed a Decepticon above him, he grabbed it by the 'ankle' and threw him off the ship before jumping on. Immediately, the Decepticons fired while a few battle droids jumped in surprise. None of this came to Bulkhead as a problem of course. In fact he took down Decepticon after Decepticon with ease, and even took some pleasure in kicking a few droids off of the ship. It was always funny to hear their high pitched squeal as they fell to the ground below.

Once things cleared up he took a moment to look down to where the rest of the rescue team now sat in waiting, and took a head count. Jack and Raf. Good good. Ark, Ahsoka and Anika. Great. Obi-Wan, Anikan, Rex and Cody. Even better. Alora. Phenomenal, Prime wouldn't kill him. However…

"Where's Miko?" Bulkhead called out.

His response was the sound of banging coming from inside his chest plates. He opened the compartment and Miko popped out, taking in huge gulps of oxygen as she did.

"Miko?"

"I heaved on your floor mats. Sorry," Miko apologized before gagging once again and climbed out onto his hand, "Remind me to never do that again."

Bulkhead managed to put Miko down before a vehicon tackled him out of nowhere. It wasn't a problem though seeing as he easily flipped the vehicon off of him and began beating him.

When he looked behind Miko, he saw a door open and two more Vehicons stepped out and stared at Miko. The young Japanese girl looked behind her and immediately regretted her decision of hiding inside the Autobots chest plates. Suddenly, Bulkhead began shooting them and Miko had to duck down for safety.

"Get out of the way!" Bulkhead cried as he tore off one of the sonars and threw it at the Vehicons, knocking them down instantly.

But when more Decepticons and Battle Droids started showing up Bulkhead knew they had to get out of there. He scooped Miko into his hand and jumped into the Decepticon ship, leaving the Jedi and Clones to protect Jack and Raf.

Even though the Battle Droids were easy to pick off, the Vehicons were another thing. Trying to fight both at the same time while also protecting the civilians was proving to be a harder task than previously thought. Unfortunately, as more came along, those trying to defend them had to move further and further away from the two boys.

"Think they forgot about us?" Raf asked nervously as Decepticons approached them from behind.

Suddenly a dark shadow rolled over the group, causing everyone to look up. A group of Vehicons now stood towering over them, guns armed and ready.

"Well, that's not good,'' Obi-Wan said.

Inside the Nemesis, Bulkhead ran through the hallways trying to find somewhere safe for Miko who was sitting in his hand looking as though she was going to be sick again. However, Decepticons noticed them and began to attack the duo. Bulkhead threw Miko so that she slid across the floor and right underneath them while Bulkhead took them out. Any Battle Droids in the vicinity that witnessed the human girl slide past them across the floor stood there in confusion while their tiny droid brains processed what just happened. However, before they could do anything, Bulkhead plowed through them as he ran for Miko.

"I'm gonna heave again," Miko groaned before Bulkhead scooped her up and continued to run.

"Bring them to the brig. Commander Starscream is keeping the other human there. Lady Ivy will handle them."

The Decepticons and Separatists managed to capture the team of Jedi and Clones as well as the civilians. The group walked with their hands up in surrender as droids poked blasters into their backs. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bumblebee knocked over the Decepticons and Arcee jumped over him transforming into her bipedal mode from her alternate mode. She turned and took aim at the droids, leaving them distracted enough for the Jedi to take back their lightsabers and attack, giving the Clone troopers the opportunity to take blasters to defend themselves with.

"Appreciate you opening the front door for us, but storming a Decepticon warship was NOT on the activities list," Arcee reprimanded.

"This was extremely reckless of all of you," Obi-Wan added.

"Tell me about it," Jack sighed.

Arcee shook her head and watched as the Clones finished off and droids left standing. "Somebody else could come strolling along any second now," she thought, before running down the corridor with her blaster charging up. She could hear footsteps coming from around the corner, so when she reached the end of the hall she pointed her blaster only to stop short when she realized that it was Bulkhead on the other side with his own weapon drawn.

"Friendly!" She shouted.

"Hello!" Bulkhead greeted at the same moment.

Arcee sighed, and they both put their weapons away as the others caught up to them. "Brought everyone, huh?"

"You try getting them to stay behind!" Bulkhead retorted.

"We need to find Fowler and get the civilians out of here," Arcee said.

"Um, he's in the brig!" The kids proclaimed in unison.

Ivy was currently having the time of her life in the brig. Having the human ally of the Autobots and Republic as a prisoner that she could torture was possibly the best stress reliever she could have asked for since her father's return. The agent was getting closer and closer to his breaking point, and soon Ivy would have all the information she needed to end her enemies.

"My dear Agent Fowler, you do realize that your friends have abandoned you," Ivy cooed, "I am the only one you can rely on now. So tell us what we want to know… Or else!" Red sparks of electricity danced over Ivy's skin as she prepared another round of lightning to shoot at the agent.

"Wait… No more," Fowler moaned in pain, "They're in a secret government base…"

"Go on," Starscream said from behind Ivy.

Suddenly, sounds of gunfire rang from behind the closed doors of Fowler's cell. That was when the agent realized that all was not lost, his allies had come to rescue him! All he had to do was hang on for a few more seconds and then freedom would be his. Or so he hoped.

These noises, however, annoyed Ivy to no end, and of course, Starscream noticed and urged the agent once more.

"In the old steel mill? Or was it under that carnival house?" Fowler mused out loud.

Ivy lost it.

Her eyes began to glow a bright, vibrant red, and electricity crackled angrily over her skin as she growled in response. She has enough power raging through her to fry the good for nothing human alive if he hadn't actually been good for nothing, instead she settled to hear the agent scream in agony once more as she let the electricity shoot down her arm and through Fowler's body.

Starscream watched for a moment in amusement before turning to the two, now shaking, vehicons. "Someone find out what is going on out there!"

The two nodded silently and bolted out of the cell, grateful to not have to witness Ivy's rage any longer than they had to. Every Decepticon knew not to underestimate the Princess of the Nemesis, because while she may seem cool and collected, perhaps even a little anxious, inside of her was a raging fire that was ready to explode.

Outside, the battle raged on, and the three civilians were caught right in the middle of it. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion for them. Shots were firing from both sides, there were screams from both battle droids and clone troopers who had been shot, the sounds of lightsabers cutting through metal filled the air as the Jedi gracefully danced their ways around the enemies.

At one point, Jack turned to find a clone at his feet. Unfortunately, it was very evident that this clone had been shot and killed in the fight. Of course, Jack had never seen a dead body before, especially one that had died in front of him. Instead of everything moving in slow motion now everything was spinning, and he felt like he was going to be sick. That was until cool hands turned his face away, and all he saw was Anika's doll-like eyes.

"Deep breaths," she said in a soothing voice, "It's horrible, yes, but you can't think about it, thinking about it only makes it worse. All you can do is honor him, and remember that he fought to keep you safe."\

The blue and yellow of Anika's eyes seemed to swirl together the longer Jack looked into them, but at the same time, the longer he looked, the better he felt.

This just so happened to be one of Anika's many talents that she inherited due to being a reincarnation like her siblings. She was the reincarnation of Anakania Thetiskofia, who was raised by the Jedi long ago but left the order to study the habits of different Nightsister clans across the universe, where she became an honorary Nightsister and learned their magic alongside them. Anika had access to that magic, but she had a hard time controlling it, however she always found it easy when it came to someone in distress.

And boy was Jack in distress.

Anyways, back to Optimus and the Walking Dead knockoffs.

Waves of the undead continued their attack on the two Autobots while Megatron watched overhead with thoughts of victory and of building an empire he can leave behind for his daughter to rule.

Optimus and Ratchet began to find no way out as they were surrounded to the point of their backs being pushed together.

Ratchet looked over his shoulder at his leader. "Optimus, this prolonged exposure to Dark Energon is sapping our strength."

Optimus gave a nod and began to push forward. "We cannot falter now!"

But the undead just kept coming with no end in sight, and Optimus was quickly overwhelmed as they began pinning him down, trying to tear into him.

Ratchet only had enough time to call out his name before he too was taken down.

The Autobot leader struggled under the pile of undead, and for a moment he shut his optics. In that moment, a memory of Nola's smiling face as they played with the children filled his mind, and suddenly Optimus found the extra strength he needed to throw the zombies off of him and continue the fight. He made his way over to Ratchet, and disposed of the undead that were attacking him. Once free, he helped Ratchet up and the two faced the oncoming wave with new energy.

"After all these years, Optimus, still at the top of your game?" Megatron chuckled darkly. "My legion, finish them!"

And so, the battle continued, but Optimus wouldn't back down. He made a promise to Nola that he intended to keep, even if it killed him.

Back in one of the intelligence rooms on the ship, the occupants heard banging coming from outside. Once one of the battle droids opened the door, he was easily picked off by a blaster one of the Clones wielded. In a matter of moments, Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee had taken care of the Vehicons inside while the Jedi and remaining Clones picked off the rest of the droids. Once it was clear, the three civilians were ushered in.

"Wait here," Arcee told the humans, earning some concern from Bumblebee, "They're slowing us down and easy targets. They'll be alright in here with the Jedi, as long as they stay put."

With that, the three Autobots ran out of the computer room, leaving the group to themselves.

"That was intense," Miko said after a moment of silence filled the room.

"Was?" Raf repeated, a little miffed.

"It's your fault that we're stuck in this intensity. What were you thinking, Miko?" Jack demanded with a glare.

"Did I ask you to follow me?" Miko glared back, crossing her arms.

"You wanted us to be a band! Doesn't that usually mean playing together?" Jack shot back.

"Well, maybe I decided to go solo!" Miko said.

"Well, maybe I have some regard for your safety!" Jack huffed.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Is your name Optimus? You can leave my protection to Bulkhead! Thank you very much!" Miko snapped.

During this whole conversation, Raf watched anxiously as his friends argued back and forth. He didn't like confrontation, and everything that just happened wasn't helping, and it didn't seem like anyone else was going to step in and stop them. This was too much, he couldn't take it.

"Stop it! Both of you!" He cried before running over to a portion of the room far from the others.

This made Jack and Miko back off of each other as they realized that he was just as distraught. The Jedi team looked at each other, trying to read the situation and give a correct response. Anika was about to step forward, ready to use the same trick she had with Jack not too long ago, but Alora placed her hand on her sister's shoulder to stop her. This wasn't her mess to clean, Jack and Miko had to fix this. And fix it they would.

"Oh. Hey, hey, hey, Raf. It's ok," Jack reassured him as the two sat next to him.

"Yeah. We're gonna be fine," Miko smiled.

"How do you know?" Raf asked, sniffling slightly.

Jack looked around for something to try and distract the boy with when the computers caught his eye. "Hey, what do you guys make of that?"

Anikan looked at what Jack was seeing and frowned a little as he got closer. "It's important. Really important…"

"Wake up, you pathetic lump of flesh!" Starscream yelled as he stomped his foot in an effort to wake the agent.

Fowler merely lifted his head groggily, saying, "Grandma? Is it cookie time?" Before passing out once again.

Ivy's eyebrow twitched violently in annoyance. All she had wanted was to please her father, since she was obviously never going to please her mother, and gift his return with the news that she had ripped the location of his enemies hideout from their most trusted ally, but apparently humans from earth were so weak, and pathetic, disgusting little worms. Everything about this planet annoyed her to no end and she couldn't wait to see it fall under her fathers heel.

Knock knock!

And that! That stupid, incessant, knocking that had been going on for the past five minutes. That was also getting on her nerves. Can't the heiress of the Decepticons get some peace and quiet while trying to torture people for information?

She had enough.

"What!" she snapped angrily, whipping her head towards the door.

Starscream sighed and turned to the door as it opened. "Well!"

They were met with the sight of the Vehicon that had supposedly knocked falling to the floor to reveal Bulkhead with his blaster ready. He didn't waste any time shooting the remaining guard in the cell before he and Bumblebee entered, blasted pointed at both Ivy and Starscream. All they needed was to get past the evil duo and rescue Fowler.

Ivy merely took in the situation, before smirking. In the blink of an eye, she had her lightsaber out and pointed at the agent's neck, the red glow of her blade reflecting in her malicious eyes. "Not so fast. We wouldn't want my hand to slip and our dear Agent Fowler come to an untimely end, now do we?"

Starscream had his own blasters out now. One pointed at the Autobots before him in an effort to protect himself and his master's daughter, and the other pointed at Fowler, just for the extra measure.

However, when he felt a tapping on his head, he looked up only to find Arcee hanging from an overhead shaft, her blaster pointed at his head.

"I wouldn't," she smirked.

He offered his own smirk in return. "Oh, but I might~"

Ahsoka stood beside Anikan examining the computer Jack had discovered. "We gotta get this to Optimus."

Miko sighed and picked at her nails. "How do you know that it isn't just a recipe for space nachos?"

Ark raised an eyebrow. "Miko, what exactly do you think goes on in space that a recipe for nachos would be that complicated?"

"I know math when I see it. And that is one serious equation," Raf said as he adjusted his glasses.

"Can you download it?" Jack asked.

"I've got a flash drive," Raf said as he dug around his backpack, "But I don't see anywhere to plug it in. This tech is way alien."

"And I don't think any of our tech can accommodate Cybertronian data," Alora sighed.

Their conversation was cut off by the sound of footsteps approaching. Large, heavy footsteps. They all turned to find a Vehicon entering the room. They all stood stock still as it surveyed the area.

"Scatter!" Obi-Wan whispered. "Find a place to hide!"

With that, they did. The small team scattered to different hiding places, trying to drag the three civilians along. I say trying, because Raf realized he left his backpack in the middle of the room for all to see. He broke away from Anika's grasp and ran for it, only for the Vehicon to finally take notice and point its blaster at the human child.

All Raf could do was stop and stare in horror.

"Now, the three of us are going to take our leave," Ivy said coolly.

Fowler took this moment to be conscious long enough to spout some things about an emu and what kind of noises they make.

This distracted Ivy and Starscream long enough for the firefight to start. Starscream yelped and danced around trying to dodge the bullets. Ivy tried to regain her focus only for Starscream to grab her and transform, flying past Bumblebee and Bulkhead and away from the prison cells to their own safety.

What no one noticed as they all made their respective getaways, was the one prison cell that was set up like a lavishly decorated bedroom. Another thing no one noticed, was the woman imprisoned inside, watching, waiting, and hoping.

Raf was almost certain that he was about to die at the hands of this Vehicon.

Miko covered her eyes, scared to see what could happen, and all Jack could do was stare in frozen horror. That was until Cody raced out and tackled Raf to the floor as the Vehicon opened fire, nearly hitting both of them.

This woke everyone up, and once again, chaos ensued. The Jedi jumped with lightsabers out to try and distract the Vehicon while Rex and the two remaining clones opened fire as well.

Jack ran to take Raf from Cody and looked back at Miko. "Miko! Take a picture!" He shouted.

"Great idea!" She gasped, taking out her phone. She ran into the center of the room and waved the Vehicon down. "Hey you!" When it looked over at her, she snapped the picture. It was the wrong picture, but a picture nonetheless.

Ark groaned. "Not of that! Of that!" He exclaimed and pointed at the screen.

"Oh… Right…"

As soon as the correct picture was obtained the group ran out and away from the Vehicon, Anikan screaming at them all to keep going as the con was hot on their tails.

Suddenly, there was a familiar honk from behind. Alora looked and screamed for them to duck as Bulkhead transformed and flipped over them taking on the Vehicon in a fist fight almost immediately. Once he inevitably won, he transformed and drove over to the group and opened his doors, Arcee and Bumblebee not too far behind.

Alora and Jack climbed onto Arcee as everyone else piled into Bumblebee and Bulkhead. It was a tight squeeze, but at least they were safe and finally leaving.

"I thought I told you to stay put!" Arcee reprimanded.

Alora rolled her eyes. "Tell that to the Decepticon!"

"I like pie. Can we stop for pie?" Agent Fowler asked as he sat up from Bumblebee's backseat in a dazed stupor before falling back again.

"You found Fowler!" Anika exclaimed.

"Rock on!" Miko cheered.

Optimus had finally found a way to bust through what seemed like endless waves of undead Cybertronians. Megatron watched in amusement from above him on the cliff face.

"Bravo, Optimus. Though this is just a prelude. You may wish to save your strength for the main event," he tormented maliciously.

"You will not prevail, Megatron. Not while Energon still runs through my veins," Optimus panted as he began to climb up the cliff.

"Fitting, for it is Dark Energon that flows through mine," Megatron smirked.

Optimus merely punched him in response.

However, the Decepticon leader didn't feel like a fight today, so he jumped, transformed, and flew off, leaving Optimus to stand by and watch. The Prime could hear Ratchet climbing up the cliff as well, and reached over to help his friend up. The two turned and looked at the trail of bodies below.

"If this wasn't Megatron's endgame, what is?" Ratchet asked.

The events of the day were finally catching up to everyone as they all regrouped at the Outpost. Everyone seemed to busy themselves as a sort of distraction. Rex and Cody took stock of the troopers they had lost and went to report back to the Republic Cruiser that remained hidden in Earth's orbit. Ark and Anika took over caring for Fowler, making sure he had an iv bag hooked up to him to make sure the pain resided, and hoped he woke up soon. Ratchet's arm had been injured, so Optimus helped to set everything right, as soon as this was done everyone was gathered together.

Anika observed Ratchet's arm worriedly and frowned. "What happened to you guys anyway?"

"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors," Ratchet answered.

"Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it!" Miko pouted, crossing her arms.

Ahsoka glared at the human girl, "Are you kidding-"

Alora grabbed her hand before the togruta could finish her sentence. "Trust me, just don't."

"Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgement in allowing the humans to accompany you," Optimus reprimanded.

"It won't happen again, Optimus. I promise," Bulkhead swore and looked away.

Ark shook his head. "It wasn't all Bulkheads fault."

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "Yes, we are partially to blame as well. Miko ran past all of us. However, we seemed to have discovered some important information regarding the Decepticons."

"Oh yeah!" Miko exclaimed and pulled up the picture to show to Optimus. "Check it out! Recon!"

Optimus bent down and squinted to see. "Ratchet, take a look. It could be of importance to Megatron."

"Whoa. Megatron's back? That's really bad news, right?" Jack asked nervously.

"And now that the Decepticons are in league with the Separatists, who knows what that will mean for this planet," Alora sighed.

"I don't understand," Ratchet confessed as he looked at the photo Miko offered him.

Confused, Miko looked at the photo and giggled. "Oops. That's the 'Con who tried to blow Raf away. At least, that's what he looked like before Bulkhead rearranged his grill!"

"Miko, Raf was almost killed! This isn't a game! When are you going to get that through your thick skull?" Jack snapped.

"Uh…we were all almost killed, Jack! You, me, Raf, even them!" Miko retorted as she gestured to the two teams.

"Well, if this was just an average day with these guys, then I don't want to be a part of it! Not anymore!" Jack huffed and looked at Alora. "I'm sorry Ally, but I can't live this way. Not like you can."

Alora looked away. "The decision is yours. I won't force your hand."

"Jack, putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you three that is at risk. But the safety of all humankind. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave," Optimus reassured him.

"No point in long goodbyes. Here's the door," Ratchet said as he opened the ground bridge.

Jack nodded at everyone before looking at the twelve year old boy, "Come on, Raf."

"I'll be ok, Jack. See you at school," Raf promised.

"We all will," Anika added.

"Sure thing," Jack nodded before approaching the swirling green portal, only to be stopped by Arcee, "I know, I know. You don't exist."

"Don't make me hunt you down," Arcee threatened softly as she watched Jack leave.

They all watched as Jack left through the bridge and was gone in the blink of an eye.

Optimus watched as Obi-Wan looked to Alora and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, guilt ate at his spark. She was his child. That should be him comforting her. But some things were not meant to be, and it was still too soon to reveal the truth just yet.

Ivy trembled under the furious gaze of her father as she knelt before him with her head bowed low. She knew she was small in comparison to the warlord, but never has she felt smaller than in the moments where he was disappointed in her actions. She knew he would never lay a hand on her, in her short sixteen and a half years he had yet to, he normally reprimanded her and asked her to think upon her actions the next time around. Her mother had always been the one to slap her, but it didn't take much for her to do so, the woman was angered more easily than Megatron was, which was probably why they were such a good match.

"Ivy Rose, go to your room," he snarled. "We will speak when I am done with Starscream. Soundwave will escort you."

The heiress only nodded and sent a somewhat sympathetic glance at Starscream before climbing into Soundwave's hand.

As soon as they were gone Starscream looked at Megatron with wide optics. "Please, Lord Megatron! I meant no-!" His pleas were cut off by his own shouts of pain as Megatron slapped him around.

"I ordered you to await my command!" Megatorn roared as he slapped Starscream, "Instead, your mindless agenda resulted in the disabling of my ship! And the delay of my plans!"

"My intentions were pure, master! I only wanted you to be rid of Optimus!" Starscream defended before Megatron stepped him, inflicting more pain.

"No one rids me of Optimus Prime but me! Do you understand? Do you?" Megatron snapped as he pressed his foot harder against Starscream.

"Lord Megatron, I will make things right. I swear! I know how to set your plans back on course!" Starscream announced, causing Megatron to stop and step off of him.

"Explain, Starscream. Quickly," Megatron growled as he held Starscream up in the air by his throat. The leader found Starscream's pain even more enjoyable than he normally did, especially since Soundwave had informed him of the growing attraction between the second in command and his daughter. There would be no way in the pits of Kaon that he would allow Starscream to worm his way into Ivy's spark, because his daughter deserved better. She was to be a Queen, an Empress even! And such leaders had no use for servant lovers.

Once in front of her door, Soundwave carefully set Ivy down and nodded in response to her thanks before gently shooing her into her room. The poor thing was most likely about to have a panic attack. Again. And he knew she would go on a rampage if anyone caught her. Besides him, of course, she knew there was no escaping his sights.

As soon as the door closed, he turned and made his way towards the brig. Even though his sensors told him what he wanted, he still felt the need to go in person to check. With all of the commotion with the Jedi and Autobots onboard the Nemesis earlier that day there was a good chance that they could have found her. As much as it killed him to keep her imprisoned, Megatron had convinced him that it was for her safety, that her special gift would have people all over the known galaxy hunting her down for it, and Soundwave couldn't let that happen.

Soon enough, he found himself before the lavishly decorated cell turned bedroom, where the woman sat on her bed, reading a book that Ivy no doubt had lended her. She had one hand on the book, and the other was reached over, stroking the side of his own mini-con, Ravage, that lay beside her bed. He had left Ravage with her so that she wouldn't be so lonely in her confinement, it seemed to make her somewhat happy, but he knew she was still angry at him for keeping her here.

He took a moment to watch her in his silence.

She looked to be about 26 human years, but she was actually over 2,000 years older than that. She had grown pale from the lack of exposure to sunlight, making her silver blue eyes stand out even more. Her purple-black hair, the same that his holoform shared, was braided loosely and hung over her shoulder, pieces of metal woven into every other row, and a silver circlet sat above her eyebrows. She looked almost as regal as her mother had been, but it was now just a facade. His poor, fallen, princess.

She had many names that she preferred, the most popular being Salena, but he knew her real name. He had held her shortly after she was born when her mother named her after all. Which is why he chose her mother's voice, Aloria's voice, when he said…

"Anteia."

Slowly, her hand paused its stroking motion against Ravage, earning a sound of discontent front the feline mini-con, and she snapped the book shut with her other hand. Looking to where Soundwave stood, she smiled, a rather fake smile at that.

"Hello, father."

As soon as Jack got home he found he couldn't sit still as the events of the day still played back in his mind. All he could think about is the body of the dead clone and then Alora's disappointed face as he left. It drove him nuts. After walking almost the entire expanse of his house, his mom was at work so he didn't have to worry about her being worried about him, he walked into the garage and started taking apart his old bike. Soon, he had all the parts cleaned and was working on putting the bike back together, when bright headlights filled the garage. Looking up, he found that Bulkhead had pulled up the driveway and Miko hopped out of the passenger side.

"Now I understand why you had to rush home," Miko teased as she walked in.

"Don't you have something exciting to do, Miko?" Jack asked in annoyance.

"So, this is where you hang, huh? Back home in Tokyo, I have loving parents and two purebred cats, Chi Chi and Ding Dong. I went to the best school, took piano lessons since I was three," Miko recalled as she snooped through a box of Christmas decorations.

"How nice for you," Jack sighed, uninterested.

"No! How boring!" Miko corrected, causing Jack to look at her, "It wasn't me. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to transfer here?"

"To Jasper, Nevada? The entertainment capital of the world?" Jack scoffed.

"Yeah, well, the brochure lied. Piano lessons were starting to look pretty good in fact," Miko remarked, "And then, the last couple of days happened."

"Do you have a point?" Jack asked impatiently.

"You bet! I saw what you did today. When you came to save me!" Miko said.

"I was raised to be responsible. To my schoolwork, to my mom, my job!" Jack explained bitterly as he placed the wheel back on his bike.

"Dude, hear me out!" Miko begged, "You're no fry cook! You're a rock star! Stop trying to pretend you're normal, Jack. You'll never fit in. You were born to do so much more."

"Thanks, Miko. But I think normal suits me fine," Jack sighed.

Miko rolled her eyes and sighed before climbing back into Bulkhead and leaving.

"It can't be!" Ratchet gasped as he examined the equations that had been acquired earlier, "Optimus! These are engineering specs for a Space Time Vortex Generator!"

"Megatron is building a Space Bridge. If he hasn't already," Optimus realized.

"The sooner he leaves, the better," Bulkhead said as he and Bumblebee approached them.

"Bulkhead, a space bridge runs in two directions. Megatron may not be using it to leave Earth. But to bring through his conquering army," Optimus proclaimed gravely.

"The main event Megatron referred to. But the only place Megatron could possibly recruit that many fallen soldiers is…," Ratchet trailed off as it all dawned on him.

"Precisely," Optimus agreed, "Cybertron…"

To be continued.

I finally did it guys! It's been forever, but I've finally finished this chapter. I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for this chapter taking so long, but life has kinda sucked on my end lately, but I finally found the inspiration to write again, and to make up for it I added some twists! I hope you guys enjoyed this long awaited chapter! Let me know with a review, and I'll see you next chapter!