Here's the next chapter! Sorry for taking so long, but school got in the way and my dad decided that I couldn't write in my room anymore. So no more privacy—at all! Primus, I can't wait until I'm eighteen and my parents will lay off somewhat. Privacy means a lot to me.

Anyway, this chapter is named after the episode of the same name, because Wavelength will have to wade through the chaos that makes that episode. I just hope I haven't made Knock Out OOC.

I sympathized with Bulkhead when I watched The Human Factor. After twisting my ankle, I felt like dragging my left foot behind me a lot. Glad you're better, Bulky!

There are review responses at the bottom of the chapter. I hope you like this chapter!

(And I just realized that Breakdown's alt looks a little bit too big to be a Hummer XD)

8 – The Human Factor – 8

I was mad. More than mad, actually. I was furious. Why? Because someone, someone, took over my friend's body and was using it.

I had transformed down into my ground-form once I got back to my pedes and was chasing after him on the road. I was constantly scanning ahead, trying to figure out where the slagger was going. And I eventually found out. He was going to a military base.

But why? I tried to figure that out as the Hummer pulled up to the gate of the military base. I stopped in order to watch what Cylas was going to do. But that didn't keep my engine from growling. I had never felt such hatred towards someone before, and that unnerved me. But that's what happens, I guess, when you've been a Decepticon for so long.

Cylas was allowed into the base, but as soon as he was free of the gate, he transformed up into the familiar form of Breakdown before he began to attack the base. I gasped and quickly transformed up into my robot form. I may be a Decepticon, but I still possessed the mind of a human. Most Decepticons hated humans to the core, but I was different. I charged forward with a yell, leaping over the chain-link fence that went up to my knees. I landed mid-stride and continued to run towards the brute.

When I got close to him, I tucked my wings down behind my shoulders, making them harder to get at once a battle begun between me and Cylas. I made sure to not step on any little humans who were shooting at Cylas as I approached him. As soon as I was close enough, I leapt at him, snarling. I landed on his back and unsheathed my wrist blades. "You messed with the wrong femme today, Cylas! I'm gonna make you regret killing Breakdown!"

I went for the cooling lines in his neck, but a massive hand came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I growled as he took me and threw me. I landed with a heavy thud as men scattered, yelling. But then I was back on my pedes glaring at the imposter from behind my visor. He was so much bigger than me, and half of me was telling me to not hurt him. But it was just the shell of my friend who no longer existed. Could I do it? Could I bring Cylas down?

I brought out my sonic blaster, cutting off further thinking in the process. I couldn't allow myself to get distracted. Not now. I aimed and fired at Cylas and grinned when he was taken off guard. My grin widened when he stumbled around a bit because of the sonic blast was scrambling his thought processes. I rushed at him again. He reached for me, but I dodged and fired off another shot.

But it missed and he managed to grab me. I gasped in alarm as he held me around my torso and grabbed my left pede. And then he began to pull.

The strain on both my hip-joint and knee was almost instant. I screamed as pain formed with that strain, and I clawed at him, trying to make him stop. But with a loud pop, my whole left leg came off. I screamed again as the pain overwhelmed me and warnings flooded my HUD. I felt the brute drop me, but I didn't move as I frantically began to numb the pain and sort through the warnings. I was taking deep breaths in order to cool my systems as Energon gushed from my left hip-joint.

I looked up at the sky, feeling like I wanted to cry. Primus…you knew this was going to happen, didn't you? I asked. But no reply came over the sound of the humans' yelling and the sound of Cylas ripping the base apart. But you would want me to get back up, wouldn't you? Even when I'm missing a leg… Yeah, that's what he'd want me to do. He fixed me and kept me from dying, so I guess I shouldn't give up. I nulled the pain in my hip, and prepared to get back up.

Sitting up, I put my right pede under me. Bracing my servos on the ground, I hauled myself to my pede. But as soon as I was up, I knew I wasn't going to be able to fight Cylas anymore. Just a bump would send me sprawling. That frustrated me.

So I stood there and watched as Cylas tore into the base and disappeared in a cloud of dust. I looked back at all the wasted helicopters that Cylas must have destroyed when I was down. I then looked down at where my leg lay. I hopped over to it and picked it up as I heard a whoosh and a whirring sound from behind me. I pivoted and looked back at a glowing green portal. I watched as out of it walked the last mech I expected to see. The red chassis and the white face were unmistakable.

"Knock Out!" I cried happily.

He turned and looked at me. His expression brightened and a smile appeared on his face. "Wavelength!" he quickly walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders as he looked at me carefully. "When did you get to Earth?" he spotted my dismembered leg, which I still held. His optics widened slightly. "Who did this to you?" he lightly touched my dismembered leg.

I went to reply, but I was interrupted by the sound of something being dragged I turned and looked back at the source of the sound. The flight-capable Vehicons that had come with Knock Out stiffened as the corrupted form of Breakdown's possessed shell dragged something out of the smoke. Knock Out was elated. "Breakdown! Where have you—" but then he stopped. Cylas turned to look at us and grinned slightly. "Breakdown? What happened to you?"

I shuttered and pressed myself up against my vain friend's chest. He wrapped a protective arm around me as Cylas approached.

"There lies a tale," Cylas said. "Which will not be nearly as interesting to Megatron as this," and with that, the corrupted-looking bot held up what looked to be a Cybertronian sized briefcase. "So, 'take me to your leader'."

I glared at Cylas. Somehow, I was going to make him pay for hurting me, and for doing that the Breakdown.

We went through the portal the brought Knock Out and the Vehicons to the base. Cylas followed. As soon as we were on what seemed to be a ship called the Nemesis, Knock Out rushed me to his med bay and pieced me back together. He was done reattaching my leg in time for both of us to head to the bridge at Megatron's summoning. As soon as we were there, I knew our leader was not pleased.

We went and stood beside him as he addressed Knock Out alone. "Knock Out!" he bellowed. "What is this abomination?" he indicated Cylas. "And why have you brought him here?"

"I am CYLAS, as in 'Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis'. I come with a proposition," the brute said.

Knock Out pointed a sharp digit at Cylas. "This was the human that dissected Breakdown!" he swapped that hand for his trademark saw. Following his lead, I brought out my wristblades. "Please, my liege. Allow me to return the favour," he growled.

::I can't wait to pull him apart and look at the squishy that did this to our friend,:: I said to Knock Out over a comm. with blood-lust evident in my voice. ::Wait! Cylas dissected Breakdown?::

::I'll explain later,:: Knock Out said, looking expectantly up at Megatron, his saw still spinning ominously.

"I propose that you don't overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage," Cylas broke in. "At least, on this world."

"And that would be?" Megatron questioned suspiciously.

"The human factor," Cylas put simply.

Megatron was not pleased. "Look around you, Cylas. I command an army from a mighty warship. What could a human possibly offer?"

"I am no ordinary human," Cylas said with pride thick in his voice. He turned to look at the container that he had brought with him. Gesturing to it, he said, "And this is no ordinary weapon."

Megatron looked at the weapon that sat in its case, which was now open. We listened as Cylas explained what it could do, and Knock Out put away his saw. "It's a particle-beam cannon, that once in orbit, can target anything on the planet below. It could destroy the Pentagon, the center of the human military organisation. It could blast a mountain away. It could even destroy the Autobot base once you find it."

"It's a threat to anyone, anywhere on the planet," Megatron stated after hearing all of this.

"With pin-point accuracy at the flick of a switch," Cylas added.

Megatron seemed to think about it. "And what is it that you wish for in return?"

"Merely a place at the table," Cylas said with a slight bow.

Megatron sent Soundwave and several Vehicons to place in Colorado, where they were to find the code that would allow them to take control of the weapon, which was known as "Damocles". But as soon as the Third in Command and the Vehicons were gone, Knock Out and I were sent back to the med bay. I felt seriously unloved. Megatron barely looked at me.

It was not like I wanted Megatron to talk to me or look at me. I wanted to remain invisible to him. But at least he could have looked at me when both me and Knock Out threatened to tear into Cylas.

But nope, I was just some other medic on this stupid warship that floated about over the Earth. I wasn't the head medic, I was just Knock Out's assistant, a replacement for Breakdown. I felt my thoughts begin to slip into a dark part of my processor, but I stopped them as I turned to look at Knock Out as he rearranged his tools into neat rows out of what seemed to be nervousness. But how could he be nervous? Was it because I was in his presence, and he didn't know if I changed or not?

I walked over to him and hopped up onto the table, sitting in an empty space so that I could look at him in the optic. I retracted my visor and looked at him critically with my turquoise blue optics. "Knock Out, is something the matter?" I asked him. When he didn't look at me, I reached out and grasped his chin gently, but firmly. "Look at me, Knock Out."

Slowly, his red optics turned from where they had been staring down at his tools and looked into my optics. I smiled at him slightly, though it was hard to because of the depressed look on his faceplates. This wasn't the prideful, vain mech that I knew.

"What's wrong, Knock Out?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

By looking into his optics, I saw something snap, and I suddenly found myself in his arms. I looked up at him since I was now off the table and standing with his arms around me. "Primus, I'm glad you're here," he breathed. He cleared his voice box, and continued on with his normal tone of voice. "Ever since Breakdown died, I've had to do all the fixing and repairing myself—not that I mind. It actually makes me feel I have a place on this Primus-forsaken ship. But since he's not here anymore, I don't think anybot takes me seriously anymore. The Vehicons whisper things among themselves."

I patted his chestplate and smiled up at him. "You don't have to worry anymore, my friend," I told him in a chipper tone. "I'm here. They'll take you seriously now that you have an assistant."

Knock Out seemed shocked and his arms dropped to his sides to prove it. "Assistant? Assistant?!" he exclaimed. "Wavelength! You were never my assistant, and never will be!" at my incredulous expression, he hurried to explain. "You have as much skill, and maybe even more than I do. You are not my assistant, you're my partner, my equal!"

I crossed my arms and cocked an eyebrow. "Is that so? Wow, Knock Out, I never expected an compliment to leave your vocal processor," I smirked. Mentally, I was reeling at how quickly he went from being nervous/upset to shocked. Though I had said something that made him shocked.

Silence settled in the med bay, making me uncomfortable. I blinked a few times. "Uh…I guess I'll go take a walk," I said after a while. "Nice talking with you Knock Out. We'll have to continue this later." I gave him a wave before I walked out the door.

I looked around as I took in the dull walls of the hall I was walking down. I headed to the bridge wondering what Megatron and Cylas were up to. I wanted to keep an eye on that guy. I didn't trust him.

I walked into the bridge in time to hear a small alarm going off. I zoomed in on the screen Megatron and Cylas were standing before as I stood by the door. 'Systems Breach', huh? I thought, taking in the red warning on the screen.

"An intruder in the system?" Megatron remarked before he knocked Cylas out of the way and stepped closer to the screen. "Soundwave! We have a breach."

The computer instantly began to trace something across a map of the USA, and stopped over Nevada. Cylas got back on his feet and looked at it. "Jasper, Nevada," he said. "It could only be the Autobots' human allies."

"Then perhaps you should attend to the matter," Megatron suggested roughly.

Cylas was surprised. "Surely one of your subordinates would be better—" Cylas began.

"NOW!" Megatron commanded sharply.

I watched with wide optics as Cylas hastily nodded before rushing out of the bridge. I knew he was heading for the med bay, which was attached to the Ground Bridge control room. I glanced back at Megatron once before I followed the brute. My processor was awhirl with thoughts. The Autobots have human allies. Jack is one of them. What if Jack is the one hacking into Damocles? I took off running, heading towards med bay. Megatron wants them dead! I can't let that happen!

I reached the med bay in time to see a Ground Bridge close. "Knock Out!" I barked. "Open another Ground Bridge!"

Knock Out turned to me with wide optics. "Now, Wavelength, you and I both know we want Cylas dead, but now's not the time to go against Meg—"

"I'm not going to kill him," I said in a deadly calm voice. "I just want to have a chat. NOW OPEN UP A GROUND BRIDGE!"

As the saying goes, pit have no fury like a femme scorned. Knock Out saw how serious I was, so he quickly opened up a Ground Bridge for me. Once the portal was open, I dashed through and transformed down into my ground mode before I was out the other side. I was dumped out at the edge of town, and I raced to follow Cylas, which I saw disappearing into town on the edge of my scanner range. I revved my engine, and shot into town, not caring about how I was racing faster than the speed limit.

I came across Cylas parked facing a house. I stopped and mentally gaped at the large cannon that was pointing at the house. It was the same cannon that shot me out of the sky when I first met the human-controlled brute. It was glowing yellow, and I knew he was about to shoot. A blast from that would total the house and kill the people inside. I scanned the house, seeing Jack immediately with a African-American man behind him, a Japanese girl beside him, and a younger boy in front of him.

That made me angry. No way in the universe was I going to let Cylas hurt them. I revved my engine, and charged at the blue hummer.

Suddenly, a green Humvee came up from behind me, and my scanners warned me it was an Autobot. I slammed on my breaks in surprise, and the Humvee shot past me. It crashed into Cylas' side, knocking him over. The squealing of metal on concrete shook me out of my shock. I revved my engine and chased after the Humvee, not wanting to lose Cylas.

Riding close to the Humvee's back bumper, I received a comm. request from the Autobot. With a tiny sigh, I accepted it. ::Just to let you know, 'Con, when I'm finished with Breakdown here, you're next,:: a deep voice warned me.

::Not to worry, Autobot,:: I said lightly. ::For once, we're on the same team. For now.::

The Humvee continued to push Cylas until they both tumbled into a deep irrigation ditch. Cylas and the Humvee transformed as they fell into the ditch, and I followed suit. I transformed and used the thrusters in my heels to slow my descent so I wouldn't tumble out of control into the ditch. I could be clumsy like that sometimes.

I landed gently as Cylas and the Humvee, now a big bulky Cybertronian with a nice moss-green finish, came to a stop, on their pedes, at the bottom of the ditch. They were standing only a few meters from me.

They began to circle each other slowly, and to my horror, I realized the Autobot was dragging his right pede behind him. He was disabled.

"I've been itching to trade paint with you again," the Autobot said fiercely. "Where have you been, Breakdown?"

"Be patient, I'm about to send you there," Cylas said smugly.

"You're not Breakdown," the Autobot clued in.

"But you are Bulkhead," Cylas stated. "And this is the last time you'll interfere with one of my operations!"

The Autobot's optics widened. "Silas…"

"In the flesh, in a matter of speaking." And with that, Cylas held up his right servo and transformed it into Breakdown's signature hammer. With a yell, he ran at Bulkhead.

I cringed, thinking of Breakdown and how he would always utter "hammer time…" before he went to smash up some Autobots. I missed him. But that didn't stop me from revving my engine in anger as Cylas slammed the hammer into Bulkhead and sent him flying. I charged at the brute, suddenly single-minded on causing damage to Cylas. To rip his fleshy body from my friend's shell. To relish in the splat his blood he would make when I was done…

My wristblades popped out of my arms as I approached, and I activated my thrusters as I jumped onto his shoulders. "You're goin' down, Cylas!" I cried before I slammed my blades down over his helm. They dug in about an inch before he smashed the hammer into my stomach. I cried out before I was sent flying.

Warnings blazed across my HUD, telling me that some of the metal in my abdomen had caved in slightly from the blow. I crashed to the ground, landing half on and half off my wings. I cringed again.

Cylas went at the Autobot again and slammed the hammer down. Bulkhead dodged and tried to counter with his wrecking ball, but was sent flying into a wall lining the ditch. Slowly, I peeled myself up off the ground, watching as Bulkhead went down on one knee. He glared up at Cylas who took a step back and taunted him into standing back up. Bulkhead did with a yell.

As I got my bearings back, I watched as Bulkhead swiped at the human-'Con. I snarled when Cylas seemed to tease Bulkhead by dodging every swipe. "Reaction time is slow," Cylas noted smugly. He dodged again. "You're favouring your right side." He dodged again. "Legs are weak." I saw how Bulkhead was struggling. He could barely move. I brought out my sonic blaster.

Bulkhead tried again to hit Cylas, but he was quickly knocked away. I ran at Cylas again, seeing as he was focusing completely on Bulkhead, and not me. I leapt at his back, but as if he knew I was coming, I was batted aside again. I growled as I slammed into the ground again. Primus! He was so skilled! The human must have been in the army or something before he got implanted into Breakdown's body.

Getting to my feet once again, I heard Bulkhead grind out, "I'll show you weak!" He was on his feet and charging at Cylas again. Cylas dodged again, and I was worried the cycle was going to repeat itself. It did, but this time, Cylas danced around Bulkhead and slammed the hammer into the Autobot's back. Bulkhead went flying forward as I ran at Cylas again, planning to drive the tip of my wrist blade into his back. But he saw me, and he swung the hammer at me like a baseball bat. It hit me in the abdomen, forcing Energon up and out before I was sent flying as well.

But I transformed, thinking quickly. I brought out my sonic blaster, mounting it on my underbelly. I pointed and fired at Cylas several times, hitting him only once before a new Autobot, this one white and blue, came out of nowhere. He transformed and slammed into Cylas pedes first. This sent Cylas flying as the new Autobot landed nimbly on his pedes.

As I transformed and landed on my pedes, the new Autobot walked over to Bulkhead. "An assist: what the new guy's for," I heard him say.

I took a deep breath for the first time since starting the battle. I turned and looked at Cylas as he approached. "One new guy to another," the human-'Con sneered, before cracking his neck in a spine-chilling manner. He transformed his servo into the hammer again before saying, "This is your final day on the job." And he charged. He brought the hammer down hard, but they dodged.

My engine revved again. "Hey!" I yelled, grabbing the human's attention. I spread my wings in order to make myself appear larger. "Vengeful femme ovah here!" I stood up straight and pointed my blaster at him and smirked. "You may be able to bash me around, Cy-Cy, but it's against my medic training for me to allow a mech to harm a disabled mech—even when he's being assisted—while I watch!"

"If you say so, girl. I'll make it that you won't have to watch," he sneered. And with that, he deployed his blaster and fired. I ran forward and attempted to dodge, but it followed. It hit me in the back as I tried to twist away from it. I was sent flying as, this time, everything tumbled into darkness.

I came to in the Nemesis' med bay. I had a pounding processorache and my back felt a little tender. My wing twitched, and the movement sent a jolt of pain arcing across my back. It seemed that the rocket had done more damage to my back then I thought.

The med bay door opened and Knock Out strolled in, a pleased grin on his faceplates. "Glad to see you finally online," he said as he held up a datapad. He typed a few things on it before he walked over to me. "You came back pretty damaged. A gaping hole in your back that threatened to open up the back of your spark chamber and sever those pretty little delta wings clear off. What did you do?" he said lightly.

"What's got you so tickled pink, Knock Out?" I grunted. I heaved myself up into a sitting position and reached back to touch the area Knock Out had indicated. I could feel fresh weld marks there.

He smirked and pointed over at a table on the far side of the room. I followed his finger and gasped at the sight of Breakdown's empty shell lying on Knock Out's examination table. "Megatron allow you to take him apart?" I asked shakily.

"Yes," he said triumphantly. "Though," he looked at me gravely, "he's not pleased with you at all, Wavelength. He's going to have a 'talk' with you later."

I shuttered violently. It was going to hurt.

SJSGirl: I don't know how Jack will react to her being a 'Con. He won't find out for a while though…

Taboo22: Thanks!

zrexheartz: Oh yes he did! Though, Mikaela/Wavelength couldn't stand up against him. She lost a leg and got a hole blown in her back for her trouble.

Trunksymia: I'm thinking about that…