Author's Note

So, the next chapter, as promised. We'll talk more at the end. For now, go onward and enjoy!


Man out of Time

Sideswipe leads the way to a nearby warehouse, staying in holoform for the time being since his bipedal form will draw too much attention. If they're lucky they can get in, get Lina, and get out without running into trouble.

They find a door that's unlocked around the side, giving each other uneasy glances before entering the warehouse.

The darkness swallows them whole, making it almost impossible to see anything. They saw windows on the outside but a lot of the glass looks to be painted over, giving them almost no light. Luckily, Sideswipe has extraordinary eyesight in his holoform, Ari's eyesight not too far behind with her enhancements thanks to the AllSpark. Even still, it's only enough to make out blobs of crates stacked about.

There's no sign of Lina. Or anyone else who might be in here.

"Lina?" Ari hisses, chancing that Lina—and only Lina—is close enough to hear. "Lina, you in here?"

"Oh, thank Primus," a voice mutters and Lina crawls out from underneath a tarp draped between two crates, creating a little hidey-hole. She holds her arms out in front of her, hands searching the dark. "Where are you guys?"

"Right here," Ari sighs in relief, retracting one blade so she can take Lina's hand. "Have you heard anyone else around?"

"No, I think you guys got here first. But I don't know how far behind they might be."

So many questions dance on Ari's tongue, begging to spring out, but she bites them back. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Sideswipe leads the way back towards the exit, allowing them their first good look at Lina in the moonlight. And she does not look good. Her hair is disheveled, like she's been tugging at it in frustration. Dirt and grime dust her jeans and t-shirt, tears in the fabric exposing skin and dried blood.

"Slag, Lina," Sideswipe breathes in astonishment. "What happened?"

Lina pulls away from Ari, wrapping her arms around herself. None of the calm, confident woman Ari has come to know and love shows. Just a terrified shadow of her. "I'd rather talk on the road if you don't mind. We seriously need to keep moving."

Sideswipe steps to Lina's other side, so she's walking between them. "I'm parked right over-"

Something zips through the air, almost like one of Clint's arrows, and then Sideswipe stumbles, a sharp jolt of pain searing through the bond. Ari frowns, reaching for him and catching his arm. "Are you alright?" she asks.

But then Lina screams and she sees his head.

There's a gaping hole in the side of it, going all the way through.

Sideswipe's mouth gapes like a fish, moving up and down like he's trying to say something but can't. His holoform fizzes and then dies, blinking out of existence. Ari's heart jumps to her throat, only calmed when she feels Sideswipe's reassuring presence in her mind.

"Run, Ari! Get back inside! It's a sniper!"

That gets Ari moving. She grabs Lina's arm and drags her back towards the warehouse. More zips rain down around them, punching holes in the concrete beneath their feet.

Bullets.

They get inside and slam the door shut behind them, plunging them in darkness. At least they're out of sight but they're far from safe.

There's nowhere to run.

"They found me," Lina whimpers in terror. "They fragging found me. Now what do we do?"

"Hide until help arrives," Ari says, hating the helpless edge to her voice but there's really nothing they can do. She leads Lina back over to her original hiding space, both of them ducking under the tarp to squeeze between the crates.

"Sideswipe, you okay?" she asks along the bond, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it anyway.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sweetspark. You know losing the holoform doesn't actually hurt me."

"I know, just…it still scares me when it happens."

"Well, you don't need to worry about me. I'm more worried about you. I'm not sure where the shots came from. I don't see anyone on any nearby rooftops but that doesn't really mean anything."

"Do what you can to find them but be careful, alright? I don't want you to lose an optic."

She can practically feel his smirk as he replies, "Yes, ma'am."

"Sideswipe's going to try to find the shooter," Ari tells Lina aloud, keeping her voice at a whisper. Just in case. "Hopefully he can find whoever it is and take care of them. If not, then we've got Autobots heading our way. All else fails, one of them can break in here and shove us in an alt mode before we're seen."

"But it's not just one guy," Lina breathes, voice shaking. "There was a whole squad of guys earlier."

Ari has nothing to say to that, nothing encouraging anyway. All they can do is hope that the Autobots can get them out of here before whoever it is finds them.

They sit in silence, trying to ignore the skittering of rats and the sense of impending doom pressing down on them like ropes pulling at their limbs. Their ears strain, just waiting to hear any sign that someone else has entered the building. The banging of a door. The scuffing of shoes on the concrete.

A click echoes across the room. Like the click of a gun being cocked.

Ari pushes Lina to the floor just before a bang explodes in the silence, one of the crates splintering beside them and raining wood chips on their heads.

"Run!" Ari yells, clasping Lina's hand and pulling her along as they race through the darkness. She leads them around the blobs of crates, trying to find the exit while looking out for a blob that moves.

Another gunshot rings in their ears, another crate splintering, both sounds too close for comfort.

"How is he seeing us?" Lina hisses, stumbling over her feet but Ari's hand keeps her upright and moving.

"He probably has some sort of night vision scope or something," Ari replies distractedly, spotting a sliver of light near the floor coming from a door. Her hand blindly finds the handle but it doesn't turn, locked.

Another bullet shoots through the air, so close Ari can feel her hair move from its wind as it passes.

Out of time, Ari takes a step back and kicks the door out, narrowly losing her shoe in the process. Heels are definitely not the best footwear for this, not even kitten heels. Maybe she should start keeping running gear in Sideswipe's trunk.

They burst outside, grateful to see again but that relief quickly vanishes when they realize Sideswipe is nowhere in sight.

"Sideswipe, where are you?" Ari calls out desperately, running out of ideas. There's nowhere to hide. They won't make it to the next warehouse before the shooter catches up, making them easy targets.

"I'm almost back to you," he says, worry palpable across the bond. "He's fast for a human."

Ari looks around, thinking quickly. "Lina, go hide around the corner."

Lina's eyes widen in confusion and fear. "What-?"

"No time to argue. Just go."

Lina huffs out a sigh but nods, going around the corner for what little protection it offers.

The door slams open again behind Ari and she tenses, expecting to be shot on the spot but isn't.

Sideswipe floods the bond with panic. "Ari, what are you doing?"

"I'm buying you some time," she says, reactivating both her blades. "Approach as quietly as you can, sneak up behind him, and grab him."

Sideswipe tries to protest but she ignores him. It won't do any good now.

Slowly, she turns to face whoever has decided to make the mistake of hurting her friends.

It's a man, she sees, with a high-powered rifle slung across broad shoulders to hang at his back. Kevlar and leather covers him from the neck down, all in black, reminding her of Clint's Hawkeye uniform a little bit. Except that his right arm is completely covered in leather, all the way down to his fingertips, and his left arm glints in the moonlight.

Metal. His arm is made of metal.

"Are you a Decepticon?" she can't help but ask even as she scans his face. Bright blue eyes stare back at her, framed by scraggly brown hair falling down to his chin. Blue eyes, not the rusty brown that the Decepticon Pretender had back in college. These blue eyes are haunting in a way she can't quite put her finger on. Almost like they're empty. Soulless.

It may have something to do with the fact that the bottom half of his face—from his nose down to his jaw—is covered in something that suspiciously looks like a muzzle. That and the creepy, wordless staring.

"Who are you?" she tries again, risking a step closer to him.

His hands clench, left arm whirling softly. Meaning, yeah, that is a mechanical arm.

She opens her mouth to ask what happened to his arm when he suddenly lunges at her, metal fist coming right towards her head. She ducks at the last minute, slipping under his arm to get behind him.

Guess there's no more talking, then.

She pivots to face him, slipping out of her shoes as she moves so she's not tripping over them. He lunges again, each swing of his fist coming faster than the last, and Ari struggles to dodge them all. He's not exactly a big man but, Primus, how can he be this fast? It's almost inhuman. Her own enhancements are all that's keeping her from getting pummeled.

But she can't keep this up forever so on his next swing she steps inside his reach, aiming to swipe a blade along his side. He catches her arm, twisting, forcing her to turn to put her back against his front in order to keep her arm from wrenching out of its socket.

His arms enclose around her, pinning her to him as tight as a boa constrictor. Her ribs begin to ache as she struggles, trying to break his hold but he's strong. Ironhide's holoform kind of strong, but he's not even as big as Ironhide looks in his holoform. How can he be that strong?

What is he?

One of his arms moves to her neck, nestling it into the crook of his elbow and squeezing. Ari gasps for breath, going wild as she wonders if he's trying to kill her or if he wants her to pass out from lack of oxygen.

If he wanted her dead, he should have come out of the warehouse guns blazing. But he didn't. He hasn't even reached for his gun. Why give her the curtesy of a fair fight in hand to hand?

Her vision starts to go dark and Ari musters the last of her strength, kicking the heel of her foot back on his shin. The blow isn't as hard as it would be with shoes but it does the trick, making him grunt in pain and loosen his hold on her just enough.

She gets an arm free, swiping back blindly with a blade as she breaks out of his grip. The blade catches on something and she tears through it. She stumbles away from him, gasping for breath but still able to hear something plop to the ground.

His mask tumbles past her and she turns, getting her first good look at his face. And gasps for a different reason, because she knows that face. Anyone with a high school knowledge of World War II knows that face.

"B-Bucky?" she wheezes, the fight draining out of her along with the color in her face. It can't be him. This has to be a mistake. But…this man looks just like him. James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes.

Steve Rogers's best friend growing up.

The man stills at the name, so still it looks like he hardly breathes.

Bucky went into the army way back in World War II. He died. Fell from a train in front of Steve's eyes, falling right down the mountain. There's now way he could have survived that. And yet here he stands, right in front of Ari.

Facing her as an enemy.

But with empty eyes. Either he's more metal than just his exposed arm—and not really Bucky—or something else is going on. Something to do with those empty eyes.

"Bucky?" she tries again, her breathing and voice back under control. "Bucky, is that you?"

His mouth slightly downturns, a slip of confusion surfacing in his eyes, the first emotion he's shown yet. "Who the hell is Bucky?" he asks, voice deep and rough like it hasn't been used in a while.

One of her doors shudders inside of her and she knows, she knows, that this is Bucky and he needs their help.

Sideswipe skates around the corner of the warehouse, bending down low with his arm held out. He grabs Bucky from behind, encasing him in metal fingers with his arms trapped at his sides not unlike how he had Ari a few minutes ago. Except there's no way he's getting away from Sideswipe.

That doesn't stop him from trying. He struggles, more emotion brimming in his eyes as he practically growls. Fear. Desperation. Pleading.

Sideswipe squeezes him harder to make him stop but Ari holds up her hand. "Wait, Sideswipe, don't hurt him."

Sideswipe's optics blaze at her incredulously. "Don't hurt him? He just tried to kill you, and Lina, and he's probably the one who killed Fury."

"I don't think it's that simple, Sides," she mumbles, staring up at Bucky with a mixture of sadness and hope.

Bucky slumps in Sideswipe's grasp, like the surrender before a massive army, knowing a sword is about to come down on his neck. It makes Ari's heart clench, wondering how he got like this and almost afraid to find out.

"What's going on?" Lina says, coming out from around the corner, glancing up at Bucky curiously. "Why does that dude look so familiar?"

Ari takes a deep breath. "He should look familiar to you. If I'm right, that's Bucky Barnes."

"Bucky Barnes?" Lina squeaks, rounded eyes looking up at their captive accusingly. "Bucky Barnes just tried to kill me? Dude, what the Pit? You're supposed to be one of the good guys!"

Bucky doesn't answer, eyes and face going blank again as he hangs from Sideswipe's hand like a rag doll.

"Ari, are you sure?" Sideswipe asks gently, faceplates etched with doubt. "I mean, yeah, the resemblance is uncanny now that you point it out, but Bucky is supposed to be dead."

Ari slips her shoes back on, hearing the roaring of an engine in the distance and knowing without looking that their backup has finally arrived. "I know, guys, I know. But I've got a feeling I'm right. An AllSpark kind of feeling. And…I don't think this is all his fault. He needs help."

Sideswipe shrugs, still looking uncertain but willing to trust her. "If you say so, I guess."

He uses his other hand to flick a finger to the back of Bucky's head with a dull clang, knocking the man out cold.

Ari opens her mouth to protest and then snaps it shut. Yeah, it probably is better to have the potential assassin knocked out right now, no matter who he might actually be.

Sunstreaker reaches them first well ahead of the others, skidding to a halt and transforming to stand next to his brother. "Is everyone alright?" he asks, optics checking over everyone but bouncing back to Lina more than once.

Anger simmers around Lina like a coat of armor. "No, I'm not alright! Where the Pit were you? We could have seriously used the backup. Ari and I almost got shot and you were fragging nowhere!"

Sunstreaker's jaw clenches. "I was at the base when the call came in. I got here as fast as I could."

"That wasn't fast. And you call yourself a speedster." Lina scoffs, pivoting on her heel to turn away from him but they all still catch her hiss of pain.

"What happened?" Sunstreaker asks, a hard edge to his voice Ari has never heard before. He picks Lina up despite her loud protests, sitting her on his forearm. "Where are you hurt?"

Ari's brow shoots to her hairline. Sunstreaker doesn't touch "fleshies", as he likes to call humans. She's the only human he's ever willingly touched, and it took years for their relationship to get that far. Now here he is, holding Lina in his arms with actual concern.

Lina doesn't realize the significance because she smacks at his shoulder, not hard enough to hurt herself but she is seriously unhappy. "I'm fragging fine! Now fragging put me the frag down!"

"Not happening. Tell me where you're hurt."

"And what are you going to do about it, kiss and make it better? You're not a med bot so put me down!"

Light shines over Lina from Sunstreaker's optics as he scans her, his scowl getting even darker at the results. "I may not be a med bot but my scans are still good enough to tell that you sprained your ankle. What did you do, twist it while running?"

Lina turns her nose up at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest and valiantly trying to hold on to her pride despite being held in an alien's arms high in the air against her will. "I've been running practically nonstop for the past hour. What did you expect?"

"Better than that since you managed in the sands of Egypt just fine. You need to stay in shape better. Have you considered jogging in the mornings?"

A screech of outrage escapes through Lina's barred teeth. "I am in perfectly good shape, thank you very much! Unlike some people, running for my life isn't a part of my day to day life."

"Doesn't look like it to me."

"Well, not by fragging choice. I had been trying to stay away from all this end of the world crap. Then I get asked to help with one little thing. One teeny little thing that, I was promised, should have been perfectly safe to do. And what do I get? Bullets and running and a sprained ankle." She slaps at him again, trying to wiggle free from his grasp and only hissing in pain again as she irritates her ankle. "Put. Me. Down!"

"It's not happening," Sunstreaker says, more serious than Ari has ever seen him before. "So you might as well just chill until we get to Ratchet. He'll have something for the pain."

"Next chance I get, I'm slapping your holoform right across the face, just mark my words," Lina grumbles, finally sitting still with her head leaning against Sunstreaker's shoulder. She heaves a sigh, shoulders slumping as she lets herself relax, and Ari swears she sees a little smile on her friend's face.

Ari and Sideswipe exchange wide-eyed glances.

"I have never seen my brother act like this," Sideswipe admits, voice breathless even across the bond. "And his feelings are all over the place right now."

"I'm surprised he's letting you know how he feels at all."

"Oh, he's trying his best to block me, but he's just so loud right now, he can't help it. Some stuff is still getting though and it…."

Ari tilts her head at him curiously. "What?"

"He actually cares about her, Ari. Like really cares about her. It…it reminds me of how I was when I first met you."

Ari fights to keep the surprise off her face. "So you think he really likes her. Maybe even potentially loves her?"

"I think he could be heading down that way, if he'd let himself."

Ari bites her lip, watching her two friends who are stubbornly not looking at each other. She wants this for them, has for a long time, but she does also wonder about the consequences. The same consequences that held her back from loving Sideswipe in the beginning. Sunstreaker probably has a femme out there, a Cybertronian, who's his sparkmate and who he'll end up with one day. Someone who is not Lina, because Lina doesn't have the excuse of being the AllSpark. She can't bond with Sunstreaker like Ari has been allowed to do with Sideswipe.

And then there's Lina. Can she look past Sunstreaker's differences to humans? Ari suspects she already is, based on the faint blush dusting her cheeks, but will that be enough?

She wants them happy. But she doesn't want them breaking their hearts either.

Though, these obstacles are no different than what Ari and Sideswipe faced in the beginning, before they found out they were sparkmates. And they decided to have a relationship anyway. They decided to take the risks, because whatever the future brought, that made their feelings no less real. They loved each other. That was all that mattered.

Will that be enough for these two? Enough for them to act? Or will they not see the consequences as worth it?

Ari sighs, already able to tell that this is going to be a very long night. "Come on, guys. Let's head back to base and figure out what's going on."

Sunstreaker transforms, Lina letting out a squawk of protest as he does because he's still holding her. His parts transform around her until she's safe inside his alt mode. A moment later, the window rolls down, revealing an indignant Lina in the driver's seat. "Sideswipe, your brother is an aftpipe."

Sideswipe smirks in amusement. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Primus, can we just go already?" Sunstreaker asks, voice spilling out of his speakers.

Ari suppresses a chuckle, wondering if he's impatient to get back to base so he can get Lina out of his alt mode or because he's anxious to get her checked out. Although he'd never answer truthfully if she actually asked.

She joins Lina in Sunstreaker's alt mode, Sideswipe keeping Bucky contained alone inside his own alt mode just in case he wakes up. On the way back to base they run into the rest of their cavalry, a couple of Autobots and N.E.S.T. cars who fall into line around them just in case they run into any more trouble.

::Are you alright?:: Will asks through the comm link, probably from Optimus's alt mode, and it is a relief to hear her dad's voice.

"Yeah, we're fine," she breathes, running a hand through her hair. "Well, mostly okay anyway. We were just shot at by a national hero and Lina sprained her ankle."

::I will take a look at it as soon as we return to base,:: Ratchet replies.

"Seriously, guys," Lina groans, "I'm fine. Stop fussing."

"You're not fine," Ari tells her firmly. "You could barely put weight on it after the adrenalin wore off. Ratchet can make your ankle better in a jiffy and you need to let him. Something tells me we've got a lot more running ahead of us."

Lina sighs, slumping in her seat. "Yeah. I get the feeling you're right."

::So what the Pit is going on anyway?:: Rob asks.

Ari and Lina exchange anxious glances. "Why don't you start at the beginning," Ari suggests.

"Right, um…." Lina bites her lip, wiping sweaty palms on her jeans. "Well, I guess it all started about three months ago when I got a phone call. It was a blocked number so I didn't answer it, but then it just kept ringing. I answered just to get them to shut up, intending to give whoever it was a piece of my mind. But it turned out to be Agent Coulson."

"Phil? What did he want?"

"Help. The illegal hacking kind, though he wouldn't tell me what I was hacking. Not until I agreed to help him. So, of course, I said no."

::Still don't like working for The Man?:: Sideswipe teases.

"Duh. And S.H.I.E.L.D. is worse than your typical government types. I've never liked them, they're too secretive and fishy, but then…." She rubs at her forehead, looking more tired than Ari has ever seen her. "But then he said that the fate of the world may be on the line. And you might be in the crosshairs."

"Us?" Ari asks, surprised. "Nothing's been going on lately. It's actually been kind of quiet. Our biggest threat lately has been Galloway, but he's just a pushy bully. Nothing we can't handle."

"He made it sound like something big. Really big. Bigger than you've ever faced and it's been going on in the shadows where no one can see, not even Director Fury. Something within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself."

::Like a mole?:: Optimus asks warily, memories of Lando and Anti-Alien still too close for comfort.

"That's what I thought, and they weren't sure who they could trust within the agency. So they reached out to the only hacker they know who's on the outside. They gave me access codes so I can get through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security and then it was up to me to get through the rest, fishing for anything fishy."

"Anything specific?" Ari asks, dread pooling in her belly. If there's a mole within S.H.I.E.L.D., an agency they trust with their lives and whom they've been working for, this could be very bad for them.

"Not really. I don't think even they know what they sent me after, just that I'd know when I found it and when I did, I'd call a number Coulson gave me. And then the other day, I found an encrypted file buried deep within the system, so deep I only found it by accident. I tried accessing it with the access codes Coulson gave me. They're supposed to give me Director-level access. But they didn't work."

::Now how can something be encrypted from even the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?:: Rob asks.

"There's some sort of artificial intelligence protecting the file, and it's smart. It keeps sending me on security loops. When I asked who authorized the encryption, it said Fury did. Even though he obviously didn't because then his codes would work. I knew I must have found whatever it is they sent me looking for so I copied the file onto a flash drive and called the number. Coulson set up a rendezvous point for us to meet up so I could give them the drive. But instead of Coulson, Fury showed up.

"And as soon as I got close to him a goon squad pounced on us." Lina stares out the windshield, chin shaking even though she's fighting against it. Her voice is thick when she speaks again. "Fury protected me. Even got hurt because of it. He got us away and we thought we were safe. But then a sniper shot him in the chest. He…he was so still. I tried to help him but the bullets kept coming and I…I left him there."

Lina's control over her tears break and they spill over in a torrent, her body shaking with sobs. Ari wraps her arms around her as best she can with the center console in the way, drawing Lina's head to her shoulder. "Hey, hey," she soothes, stroking Lina's hair. "It's okay. You're okay."

"I…I-I left him there."

"I know. But, Lina, you had to. You would have died if you didn't, and Nick wouldn't have wanted that. He would have wanted you to get away." Ari pulls back, lifting Lina's chin to force her to look at her. "Nick always acts with the greater good in mind, and that's just what he did. He needed you to get to us so we can figure out what's on that flash drive and figure out what's going on. He thinks…he thought the whole world is at stake. So we need to keep going so we can save it. We won't let him die for nothing."

Lina nods shakily, wiping at her face. "Yeah. I…I guess you're right. He wants us to stop them, so that's what we're going to do."

Ari smiles at the stubbornness in her friend's eyes. "There's the Lina I know. Ready to kick butt, no matter who's it is."

"And there are a lot of butts to be kicked. They're going to pay for this, Ari."

"And they will. As soon as we find out who they are and what they want."

::We're coming up on the base now:: Sunstreaker says, voice solemn, something they're all feeling. Nick wasn't just a boss or a coworker. He was their friend. He was family. He was even at Ari's and Sideswipe's wedding.

They made a mistake killing him.

::What the frag?:: Will says, voice colored in astonishment. Ari looks up to see what he's talking about and gasps.

They're just pulling through the gates of the base, and it is crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in tactical gear. They're gathering up equipment and rounding up soldiers, forcing everyone into the main hanger.

"What is going on?" Lina asks, voice tightening in fear, because she's thinking what they're all thinking. They very possibly have the proof that a mole is working inside of S.H.I.E.L.D., and now this. It's too much of a coincidence that they'd be here, but whoever ordered this, they'd have to be pretty high on the food chain.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Ari says darkly as they come to a stop in the main hanger. All the Autobots on base are standing in the middle of the hanger in their bipedal forms, surrounded by agents. The agents have their guns drawn, ready to fire at the Autobots at the slightest hint of retaliation.

The sight sets Ari's blood to a boil. This is too much like what Sector Seven did, reminding her of the night Sideswipe was taken. She won't let that happen again.

"You stay here," she tells Lina, reaching for Sunstreaker's door. "Sideswipe, stay in your alt mode. Keep Bucky hidden. We play our cards close to our chests until we find out what they're doing here."

"Be careful," Sideswipe tells her over the bond.

She sends him reassurance. "Always."

"More like never. That's why I'm worried."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"Of course, I do, but you attract trouble like a fly to honey."

"Gee, thanks."

She steps out of Sunstreaker's alt mode, quickly shutting the door behind her so no one can peek inside. Optimus transforms next to her, bending down to hold out a hand without a word. She climbs up, moving to sit on his shoulder in solidarity.

Whatever is happening, they'll face it together as the leader of the Autobots and Autobot Ambassador.

"What is going on here?" Ari asks, voice echoing across the hanger like thunder. The agents keep doing what they're doing without breaking stride but the soldiers and Autobots stop in their tracks, heads pivoting towards her and Optimus. They can practically feel lightening crackling in the air, knowing something is about to happen.

They know better.

"Who is in charge?" Ari demands, about ready to start cracking some heads if someone doesn't stop to give her answers.

"That would be me," a snobbish voice answers, one that makes Ari groan. Galloway steps out of the crowd of agents, smug smile on his face and a briefcase dangling from his hand. He's always had a cocky, better-than-thou attitude when dealing with her before but now it seems worse.

His eyes twinkle with the satisfaction of a cat who's finally tasted the canary he's been chasing.

"Whatever you want, Galloway, it's going to have to wait," she tells him, having no patience for politeness. It probably won't matter anyway. "We have a bit of an emergency, so how about you and your friends just see yourselves out."

"I'm afraid, Ms. Lennox-"

"That's Ambassador Lennox to you," she snaps.

His smirk turns predatory. "No, I'm afraid it's not. Ms. Lennox, N.E.S.T. is being shut down, effective immediately. Meaning you are no longer needed as Autobot Ambassador."

Shouts of protest ring out but Galloway simply talks over them. "All N.E.S.T. personnel and Autobots are to cease any and all operations. You are to come with us peacefully to the Triskelion where the soldiers will be redistributed amongst the branches of the military. I've already sent out agents to collect the rest of your little organization."

"And the Autobots?" Optimus growls. "What are your plans for us?"

Galloway raises his chin, refusing to be intimidated. "We are arranging for you to leave Earth. Your services are no longer required."

"By who's authority?" Ari asks, already dreading the answer.

"The World Security Council, of course," Galloway chuckles. "They voted on it this afternoon."

"No decisions regarding the Autobots and N.E.S.T. are to be made without my presence."

"That's only when we need your input and your input wasn't needed. By order of the treaty, the Council is allowed to decide on its own whether or not N.E.S.T. is allowed to continue and if the Autobots are allowed to remain on Earth." He takes his glasses off, cleaning them with a handkerchief from his suit jacket while looking up at her condescendingly. "It's been decided. N.E.S.T. is being dissolved and the Autobots are no longer allowed on Earth. You are all to surrender to us immediately."

"Or else what?" Will asks, stubbornness written into every tense line of his body.

"Or else," Galloway places his glasses back on his nose, "we will have to use force. So what's it going to be?"

"This isn't right," Ari says, needing to voice the words even though they're falling on deaf ears. "What do you plan on doing when the Decepticons attack again?"

"We have...alternative means of fighting them now," he answers with a vague wave of his hand.

Ari narrows her eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It's none of your concern. Not anymore. Oh, and one more thing." He reaches into his leather briefcase, taking out a file that looks very familiar. "I'm going to need you to come with me, Ms. Lennox. There are some issues with your file that I'd like to go over with you personally."

Ari's blood runs cold. Her file. Galloway has her file. He's read her file.

It talks about her being the AllSpark in that file, which is why she's never given Galloway permission to read it. The Council was supposed to have it safely locked away. She doesn't trust Galloway with that information, but now...now he knows.

"How did you get that?" she asks, hands clenching into fists as she struggles to remain calm. Sideswipe's understanding panic over the bond isn't helping.

"The Council allowed me access after dismantling the treaty. You see, without the treaty, they can tell your dirty little secrets to whoever they want. And I want to know all about it."

Galloway grins—satisfied, triumphant, like a king who has conquered the kingdom he's been struggling against for years. It leaves no doubt in Ari's mind. Galloway is the traitor within S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury sent Lina searching for. That's what they'll find on the flash drive.

He's the one who killed Nick, and almost killed Lina. And he also has something to do with Bucky.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how she looks at it—she planned several contingencies for something like this.

"We can't let this happen," Ari says quietly, so only Optimus can hear.

He nods. "I know."

"We're not leaving this time, Ari," Sideswipe reassures her over the bond. "No fragging way. We're facing this with you."

"Good," she whispers before taking out her Autobot pendant from beneath her dress. She pushes the black button to connect her to the general comm. "Listen up, everyone. This is Ari. I'm speaking to all of N.E.S.T. and the Autobots around the world. I know there are men there with you, agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. who are telling you to go with them. These are your orders."

She takes a deep breath, bracing herself. "Emergency Protocol Delta Six. I repeat, initiate Emergency Protocol Delta Six."

Ironhide shoots out his hand, activating a high-powered magnet that attracts all the guns in the room to him. The agents shout in protest, several of them trying to hang on to their guns and getting dragged across the floor for their efforts. The soldiers all lose their guns, too, but they know that's okay and let them go. Ari has hidden caches set up all around the world for them, just in case they were ever left without resources.

She never imagined she'd be using those caches for something like this though.

With the threat minimized, the soldiers fight back, using their fists to break away from the agents and get to the N.E.S.T. vehicles. The Autobots transform as well, allowing as many soldiers as they can carry to get in their alt modes.

"Stop them! Stop them!" Galloway shouts but Optimus pulls out his blaster, aiming it at him.

"You will allow us to leave peacefully," Optimus orders, voice gravely with the anger of a rockslide. "We do not wish for bloodshed, but I will do what is necessary to protect my people, both Autobot and human."

Instead of cowering, Galloway smirks with a dark gleam in his eye. He snatches the radio off of a nearby agent and talks into it. "This is Galloway. Bring in the big guns."

Well, that doesn't sound good. Especially when all the agents start to leave, including Galloway.

Something thumps outside, something loud and big, followed by a kind of whining noise that's almost familiar. After a moment, Ari places it. It sounds like a blaster charging up. A very, very big blaster.

"Everybody out, now!" she yells, but it's too late.

Blaster fire the size of a cannon hits the building, taking out a large chunk of one wall and the roof. Debris crumbles down and Optimus quickly transforms before Ari gets hit, tucking her safely in his cab.

They roll out, dodging falling cement and metal as best they can as they make for the open hanger door. Ari clutches the seat beneath her as they swerve, Optimus's seatbelt snaking around her to click in place.

Sideswipe prods at her across the bond to make sure she's alright and she sends him reassurance.

They skid out of the building, heading for the front gate. Ari peers out the window, searching for whoever or whatever fired at them. She expects to find Cybertronian technology Galloway developed without their knowledge or approval.

What she finds is an actual Cybertronain running towards them.

::Did the Council side with the Decepticons or somethin'?:: Jazz asks over the comm.

::No,:: Ratchet replies, voice disturbed. ::His optics aren't red. They're green.::

::What the Pit do green optics mean?:: Rob shouts, sounding like he's itching for a gun.

::We all used to have green optics,:: Optimus says, somehow both awed and worried at the same time. ::Before we split into Autobots and Decepticons. Our optics changed colors when we divided.::

"So he's neither an Autobot nor a Decepticon?" Ari asks. Logically, that would mean he's neither good nor bad. He simply didn't pick a side in the war. But somehow that feels...wrong. "Do any of you recognize him?"

Silence descends over the comm.

"Anyone?"

::No,:: Optimus says gravely. ::We do not recognize him.::

A blaster fires behind them, followed by a boom too close for comfort as it hits the road.

::Well, he definitely don't like us!:: Rob yells. ::He's shootin' at us!::

::We can figure everything out later,:: Will says, trying to project calm. ::Right now, let's just get out of here and regroup at the rendezvous point.::

She knows he's right, but this entire situation is getting more and more confusing. Lina, Nick, Bucky, Galloway, S.H.I.E.L.D., this Cybertronian. They're all pieces to the puzzle, a giant puzzle that Ari can't make heads or tails of right now. The pieces don't even seem to fit together.

But it all has to be connected. The question is, how?

And how terrifying will the picture be?


Author's Note

Hello, Lockdown. Welcome to the party.

Yes, I have decided to do Age of Extinction, as a mashup with Winter Soldier. Which doesn't sound like it would work but, I've got to say, it's coming along rather nicely. Galloway does make a good bad guy, no?

And before you can ask, NO, I will not be adding in the Autobots who starred in Age of Extinction. I get why they switched out characters like that in the movie. All of the older Autobots were dead and they couldn't just have Bee and Optimus. But, obviously, everyone is still very much alive and instead of having even more characters show up and giving everyone very little "screen time" so to speak, I'd rather just keep with the characters we already have. That's how they usually do books anyway. You don't leave other characters behind just to bring in new ones. And this is a lot of characters to juggle already anyway. Just look at Infinity War. They handled it beautifully but look at everyone's screen time. They all had very few lines, individually, except for maybe a few of the more major players. It's hard, guys. Very hard. So, no, not bringing any more people in.

Well, except for a certain soldier, but he's important to the plot of the fic. :)

Bucky is one of my favorite characters from the MCU. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in my own little universe. I hope you all are, too.

Next chapter will be up Friday, May 25th. If I forget, you have permission to yell at me. I will be busy packing for a trip, now that I think about it, so forgetting is a possibility. I'll try my best to get it done though.

Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!