Disclaimer: *wipes dust away* Hello everyone! It is I, Shadow Katakura, and I have returned with the latest chapter of Revelations of A Different Future! I believe Dragon and I have made it to the halfway point of season 2, so we're actually making pretty good progress. This chapter starts the relic arc with Tunnel Vision and I can assure that you all are in for a treat. *smirks*

Dragon and I: *enjoys a giant bucket of popcorn*

"If we are to have any hope of recovering the Iacon relics before the Decepticons do, we must divide our resources."

Optimus most definitely caught our attention with that. I shifted in Cliffjumper's hold and he kept me snuggled in his side. Currently, we were all recovering from being hit by the stasis beam from the Nemesis. However, I knew that this was an arc in season two and this series of episodes came back to back. This meant I had to stay at the top of my game and be prepared for anything to change. It was a critical point in the season and none of us could afford for things to go too horrible.

"But Optimus, when it comes to numbers, we are already at a grave disadvantage." Ratchet argued.

"Under the current circumstances, swiftness is paramount. This is one race we absolutely cannot afford to lose." Optimus left no room for any disagreements.

A beeping sound came from the monitor. I looked up and noticed a dot moving away from the Big Apple. "Looks like the 'Cons didn't stick around Manhattan for too long."

"They just up and left?" Arcee asked, confused.

"It is more likely that Megatron has already set course for the second set of coordinates, having dispatched a unit to this relic's underground location." Optimus explained.

"So basically he had the same idea as us." Cliff grumbled.

"Without bustin' up ah city block ta get to it?" Jazz tilted his helm.

"They used subway tunnels." Jack explained. I blinked. Okay, I totally forgot the kids were even here. He continued, "New York has a whole network of them running beneath the city."

"Since the human population no longer seems to be directly threatened, maintaining our disguise will be necessary. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Shadowstalker, you three are the best choices to navigate through such a densely populated area." Optimus decided.

"Optimus," Jack spoke up again. "New York has at least 8 million people. The chances of being spotted by at least one are pretty high, even if they are headed underground."

"Where are you going with this?" Arcee raised an optic ridge.

"You're gonna need a face man. Someone who can speak on their behalf." Jack explained. "A human who can run interference if their cover gets blown."

"Well, I've actually been in subway stations. I grew up in a major metropolis, unlike Mr. I've never been outside Jasper, Nevada." Miko added her two cents. Oh Primus, I forgot she tagged along on this mission too.

"I have been to Cybertron." Jack reminded her.

"Cybertron doesn't have subways." Miko retorted before pausing. "Do they?"

"Agent Fowler's field experience makes him our best candidate." Optimus told the two teens.

I turned to Fowler, who yelled out some incoherent thought. I winced. "I don't think Fowler's quite over being shocked by the 'Con warship quite yet boss."

"Which we survived without incident." Miko sing songed.

Optimus looked like he wanted to sigh but he simply relented and said, "Very well. Miko and Jack will accompany Arcee, Shadowstalker and Bumblebee."

"YES!" The Japanese girl cheered.

Arcee, 'Bee, and I shared a look. This would be interesting.

"Prepare transport and triangulate the coordinates of the other three relics." Optimus requested and Ratchet went off to do so.

"I always wanted to go to New York." I smiled up at Cliff before I stepped away from him.

"Be careful." Cliff warned me while pressing a quick kiss to my helm.

"Always am." I promised.

As Ratchet prepared the ground bridge, I allowed my mind to wonder. I shouldn't have. I began to worry about the events to come. Now that Cliff and Jazz were here, there was no way to know who would go where. Jazz would most likely go with Optimus given the fact they're old friends. But Cliff? He could go with Ratchet, but if he did would Wheeljack still be called in as backup? And if he went with Bulkhead, would he get hit with the Tox-En instead? My spark dropped to my feet at the mere thought of something happening to him. We already helped him cheat death and somehow the mech had become my whole world in such a short amount of time. Oh Primus, what if...

"Earth to Shadow!"

"Huh?" I snapped to attention. My processor registered the voice as Miko and I looked down at her. "Yeah Miko?"

"Ratchet said the ground bridge is ready." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

"I'm good." I managed a small smile. "Just daydreaming I guess."

"You can daydream about your mech all you want when we get back," Arcee smirked as the ground bridge opened. "But until then, get your head in the game so we can recover a nice little relic."

Can Cybertronians blush? If they can, I am most definitely blushing right now. I tried to stutter out an intelligent response but all I managed was, "EH?!"

The older femme merely chuckled while 'Bee, Jack, and Miko watched in amusement. I huffed and transformed. Arcee and Bumblebee followed suit. Jack climbed on to his guardian and Miko rode in Bumblebee just like she did in the show. I activated my holoform, which still looked like me as a human. Together we drove through the ground bridge.

New York is fragging huge.

After we emerged in an alleyway, I immediately had my breath taken away by the sight of the humongous skyscrapers in front of me. I stopped beside Arcee and Jack, who was amazed by the view like me. But we were here for a reason.

"Okay face, how do we get underground?" I asked.

"Well, you can't just jump the turnstiles and hope no one notices." Jack remarked dryly.

HONK! HONK!

Arcee, Jack, and I sped over to Bumblebee and Miko who were at a railing. Miko peeked out of the window and exclaimed, "Check it out! Construction! A fact of life in the big city."

I honestly always wondered how they managed to get down there. The episode never showed it. It turns out there was a ramp down the rode where the construction originally started and Bumblebee led the way down. Once we were inside the tunnel, I transformed. Miko and Jack climbed out of 'Bee and Arcee and they followed my lead. I gestured in front of us. "Experienced Autobots first."

"You know, you're actually doing pretty good for a rookie." Bumblebee shook his helm as we started walking.

"Bee's right." Arcee agreed. "We haven't really had time to do much official training with you, so the fact that you can hold your ground against most of the higher up 'Cons in battle is great."

"As good as that makes me feel, I know I still have a lot to learn." I shrugged.

"That you do." Arcee nodded.

"Bumblebee, don't move!"

I jumped at Jack's yell. Bumblebee froze in place and asked, "What? Why?"

"The third rail. It carries electricity to power the subway trains." Jack explained.

"One touch and zap! You're fried." Miko added.

Bumblebee is honestly hilarious. After moving away from the third rail, he did a little dance with his feet to keep himself in the middle of the two tracks. I chuckled. Behind us, Miko asked Jack, "You must have learned that on T.V or something?"

Jack scoffed. "You don't have to live in a big city to know that, Miko."

Arcee pulled out the scanner and turned it on. A soft beeping noise filled the tunnels and we followed after her in silence. Unfortunately, this gave my mind time to wonder again and, of course, my thoughts drifted to Cliffjumper. Tunnel Vision, Triangulation, Triage, and Toxicity happened at the same time so he was most likely out on his mission already. I hoped he wasn't with Bulkhead and he was just on call for back-up or something. Pandimala and I haven't had the greatest luck since coming to this dimension, but our luck couldn't be that bad could it?

My mind then drifted off to 'Mala. She was a triple-changer so the odds of me seeing her today were pretty low. I wondered how she was doing up there. She took on the task of trying to steer the 'Cons in the direction of ending the war, but I knew that was easier said than done. For pits sake, this was Megatron we're talking about.

"We getting any closer?" Jack broke the silence. And my train of thought.

"Triangulating the coordinates is one thing, but figuring out how to reach them through this maze is another." Arcee shook her helm.

A noise made me stop. I slowly turned around and found a pipe. I bent down and leaned towards it. "Hey guys, check this out."

Arcee and Bumblebee came up behind me. Arcee narrowed her optics and confirmed my thoughts. "Drilling."

"It's coming from this way." Miko said before running into the pipe.

"Miko!" Jack shouted before running after her.

I blinked. "Of course she would do that. It's Miko. Why am I still surprised by this?"

"Because one day, we hope she matures." Bumblebee shrugged with a sigh before climbing in the pipe.

Arcee and I shared a look before crawling in after him. We slowly peeked our helms around the corner to see Miko and Jack following Vogul. Oh Primus.

"Face." Jack whispered with a shrug.

We all shared a look. I sighed before backing out of the pipe. Once I was on the other side, I turned to my fellow Autobots. "Miko and Jack will catch up to us at some point. Let's go grab a relic, shall we?"

Arcee took one last look at where the kids had gone and groaned in frustration. She pulled out the scanner again while mumbling, "Can they stay still for once in their lives?"

We didn't have to walk far before the beeping from the scanner started going tremendously faster. Arcee announced, "I'm picking up a locator beacon. The 'Cons have unearthed the relic."

I heard the drills again. "Seems we're closer than we thought we were." I deployed my ion displacers while 'Bee and Arcee deployed their blasters.

Arcee peeked around the corner and we slowly followed. I caught Knockout along with a few drones. Okay, so this episode seems to be fairly on track. I winced when I realized where the insecticon was about to appear. This would be fun.

"Well? Let me see it already." Knockout demanded as he walked up to some poor drone and pushed him to the side. A wicked gleam appeared in his optics when he caught sight of the relic.

"Lock and load." Arcee whispered.

I felt eyes on me. Slowly I tilted my head up to the ceiling. I gulped. "How about lock and run?"

The insecticon gave a shrilling howl and the three of us sprung into action. I made a split-second decision. "I've got the relic!"

Arcee and Bumblebee immediately began to cover me and I turned and ran in Knockout's direction. The three drones he was with opened fire on me. I quickly approached one and grunted as I performed a roundhouse kick. Using my momentum, I launched off of him (do the drones even have genders?!) and in the air. I landed on the shoulders of the second one and quickly did a spin. His helm snapped off between the ankles and I kicked it away. I unsheathed my wrist blades and made quick work of the last drone. After he fell to the ground, I slowly approached the relic. Just when I was about to grab it, something occurred to me.

Where the slag was Knockout?

I grunted in pain as I was thrown to the side. I rolled over on my side to see Knockout standing in front of me with his saw. He smirked and said, "You have lovely features. Perfect for a little procedure I call the nip and tuck!"

I yelped as I quickly dodged his slash. I made my way behind him and quickly kicked him as hard as I could in his back. Once I saw that he was down for the count, I grinned. "Dodge and kick."

I quickly ran over to the relic. I tried to haul it out the ground, but it wouldn't budge. I growled. "You have got to be kidding me! Can't we ever just win and go home? Wait, we're Team Prime. Of course we... GAHHHH!"

I felt Knockout stab me with his staff. Electricity coursed through my systems and right before I blacked out, I heard Knockout say, "Shock and drop."

Having who knows how many volts of electricity jammed in to your circuits is not fun.

Being tossed around by an insecticon is not fun.

Arcee, Bumblebee, and I agreed on these two facts as we were woken up because of the sound of metal on metal. After our systems were fully online, with a few choice words from Arcee that shall not be repeated, our optics widened to see Knockout's finish being horribly ruined by Vogul's train. The train that also held Miko and Jack. The insecticon noticed that we were awake and we quickly opened fire. He swung his claws at us and we scattered. Knockout took this as his opportunity to leave with what I knew was the phase shifter.

"We've got the relic! You get the kids!" I shouted at Arcee.

She nodded and quickly drew the insecticons attention away from us. Bumblebee and I transformed and sped after Knockout. I then chuckled nervously. "Okay, so maybe we should have planned this out."

"You think?" Bumblebee sounded like he would be rolling his optics if we weren't in our vehicle modes.

"Stick it in a can, slaggit!" I retorted.

Soon enough we caught up with Knockout. 'Bee and I pushed our engines to the max because as much as I hate to admit, Knockout was fast. Ridiculously fast. Seriously what was the speed limit on Cybertron?! Bumblebee suddenly hit the gas and transformed right behind Knockout. He grabbed the 'Con while he was still in vehicle mode and tossed him like a rag doll. Knockout was forced to transform and the phase shifter was thrown in air and landed a few feet away on the ground.

"Keep him busy!" I shouted.

While 'Bee and Knockout fought, I sped around them and over to the phase shifter. Once I was next to it, the device reacted to me. It started glowing and suddenly it was attached to my arm. I grinned. Now, I know I could just tell them what this thing was and be done. But I wanted to give it a test run.

"SHADOW LOOK OUT!"

I braced myself for impact in case whatever luck I had left went to the pit. However, the phase shifter activated and I... I guess you could say I felt the train pass through me. It honestly felt like I was being tickled by a very large person. I turned around to see the train run into Knockout and stop. I winced. I kind of felt sorry for him because that looked extremely painful.

Miko, Jack, and Vogul jumped out the train and ran over to us. Bumblebee and Arcee soon joined us. Bumblebee shook his helm and said, "Cliffjumper is rubbing off on you and I honestly don't know if that's good or bad."

"Shadow, how did you not get mashed?" Jack asked incredulously.

I held the phase shifter up for everyone to see. A look of recognition flashed across Arcee's face and she explained, "It's a phase shifter. Handy when you need to pass through solid objects. Or vice versa."

"No. No. NOOOOOOO!"

All eyes and optics went to Knockout who climbed from under the train. If looks could kill, we would all be puddles right now. He growled, "You scratch my paint, I scratch yours!"

I lazily removed the phase shifter while Arcee and 'Bee deployed their blasters. I unsheathed one of my wrist blades. Thankfully Knockout knew a lost cause when he saw one and drove away. I barely contained a chuckle when I thought about 'Mala's reaction. Knockout was her favorite character from this universe and I knew she most likely struck up a quick friendship with him. His return is a sight I would like to witness.

"He knows." Jack announced to us as he motioned at Vogul. "Do we have to take him with us?"

"To the mothership?" Vogul asked excitedly.

I face palmed.

"I think I have a work around." Miko reassured us. Mostly me. She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey Fowler. Yes I know, but this is important. There's a guy, Vogul, who helped us during our mission today. You should talk to him." After a second, she smiled and handed the phone to Vogul.

Thanks to my advanced hearing, I heard Fowler's next words. "Mr. Vogul, this is Special Agent William Fowler of the United States Government. You are hereby deputized as a secret agent for the department of...um...interstellar relations."

Vogul straightened as if Fowler was in front of him. "Thank you sir." The call ended and he handed Miko her phone. "So, you folks will be in touch?"

"Abso-freakin'-lutely." Miko grinned.

"BUT," I quickly intervened. "Until then we need to maintain complete radio silence."

Vogul did a salute. "It's been an honor."

Arcee, Bumblebee, and I shared an amused look before returning the salute. We then prepared to leave.

"One relic down." Arcee sighed. "Let's hope the others are having similar results."

My spark dropped to my feet. I hope so too, Arcee. I hope so too.

And that is the end of a LONG awaited chapter of ROADF. Next chapter belongs to Dragon and we will try our best to make updates happen in a timely manner. However, we are human and there is this thing called life. But our efforts will be valiant.

Dragon and I: See you soon! *shuts down web-cam that mysteriously appeared out of no where*