Okay so I know that sideswipe is meant to be in Shanghai, but for this story he's not. Please don't hate me for the change! Also sorry for the chapter being so short and taking forever. If anyone would like to beta PM me a section of the story, not a whole chapter, beta'd by you! Have fun and enjoy!

Legend:

::Comm Link::

Cybertronian

Thoughts/Dreams

~Time, Place, POV~

~2214hrs, Shanghai, Ironhide~

:: How much longer till we drop?:: The fragging twins pestered me. I was very close to letting my canons loose and offlining the both of them.

::We'll be dropping in two klicks:: Optimus patiently answered them, not an ounce of annoyance laced within his voice. I don't know how he does it, have so much patience. Will was nodding off in my compartment so I gently shook it to wake him. He woke and jumped out to get his men ready.

::Optimus they need to know about Aqua's state and the fact that this Turner glitch is some how back from the dead.:: I tried to reason.

::I understand your worry for her and about the situation. But right now we need to focus on stopping Demolisher before anyone gets hurt. We will inform them at the debrief when we return.:: He ordered, just as he finished the lights inside the aircraft turned green, we were a go dropping.

We dropped and waited for more information. Epps looked concerned, Lennox saw this and asked him what he had. "Thermal ripples." He simply stated. We were right on top of him. Demolisher roared and the attack began. We were fighting, Lennox yelling out orders like; "Eagle-niner" and for Energy proton. Epps was calling in to Panther One requesting for fire mission. It looked like chaos but we all had jobs to do, we knew it and eventually Prime would be dropped, this mission over and we'll be home. Aqua's safety can be discussed at length.

"We've got a second Decepticon." The Black Hawk Pilot warned. What I saw next was a disaster made by the only set of twins I knew could pull something like this off. Skids and Mudflap were after the second Decepticon and Mudflap wasn't watching his footing. He was then promptly told off by Skids.

"Bring in Sunstreaker!" Lennox called. Sunstreaker arrived and cleared a path, Epps called in for the cargo plane to drop Prime. We needed this done.

"Pull over!" Prime demanded, it almost sounded like he was laughing.

"Punk ass Decepticon." I growled out as Prime pulled out his sword.

"This is not your pla-planet to rule. The Fallen shall rise again." The decepticon gargled out before Prime offlined him.

"That does not sound good." Epps stated with worry. We'd deal with it when we got back to base. After we loaded back up and started the long journey home we started to talk about Aqua.

::So what's the plan?" The twins badgered Prime.

::There will be no plan until we get to base and talk to Aqua. We don't know if she's able to handle herself.:: Ratchet reasoned.

::I can tell you now ratchet she's more than capable. Hell she managed to take me down in hand-to-hand combat.:: I was proud to admit I lost to her, she's a strong femme. She'd get through this one way or another.

::D'ya hear that!? Ol' 'Hide says he's been beatin' by a girl!:: Skids and Mudflap started to fight and we exited the Comms.

"Hey Hide, what's got you so quiet." Lennox asked me. I wanted to tell him but I didn't know if that would be the right thing to do. Opening a private comm with Prime I voiced my thoughts.

::Yes my friend, now would be a wise time to inform them of the situation.:: He closed the link and spoke.

"Everyone we have news that needs to be heard now. While we were leaving for shanghai we received a call from Aqua, the latest addition to our team. She told us that she had been called by Derik Turner. He's under the impression that he got the wrong number but Aqua played herself well enough that she's said she'd keep an eye out for herself in the States. One thing we don't know is how he survived the explosion and our only reasonable thought is that he's like Aqua. If he is like Aqua, we have no idea what his power/s are. He's a major threat to her and us. We haven't worked out any security details yet, we're leaving that till we can talk to Aqua more." Prime told all the soldiers what we'd learnt and how she was handling it. A quick update from Sides said she wasn't taking it well and that everything had set in after a couple of hours. "Lennox, she's also your new neighbor. She's met Sarah and Annabel." I told him. He grinned at this news but frowned quickly as everything else sunk in. Aqua was in terrible danger.

~0318, Grant Home, Sideswipe~

I don't know why she's so scared of this guy~ I mean, yeah I understand that he was the reason for her change and her mech creators death, but she's powerful. So why is she so scared of him? I hadn't actually realized that I had spoken over the twin bond.

What do you mean Sideswipe? I'm not scared of some fragging Decepti-freak! Sunstreaker almost yelled indignantly over the bond.

Wha...Sunny I wasn't speaking of you! I was thinking about the femme! Why is she so scared of this Turner guy? I had spoken out loud as well and just after I did that Aqua, who was beside me with her head on my shoulder, started to fidget and twitch. Something's going on with her, she's twitching like a con. Sunny what do I do?

Wake her up, she might be having those 'nightmares' that humans have. He stated with boredom. Taking his advice I gently took her shoulders and shook her awake. She jerked awake and then quicker than I thought a human could move, she pushed me with a massive douse of water. She'd rolled back and grabbed the staff that had been leaning in the corner and spun it till it pointed at me. Her survival instincts had kicked into gear and from the looks of it they were in over drive.

Hey Sunny?

What? And don't call me 'Sunny' frag it all to the pit.

Remember when we were just out of the Gladiator pits?

Of course I do! Why do you ask? His voice had taken a softer tone at the end.

What were some of the ways you'd approach me after I had statis dreams, bad ones that is?

There was never any other way of doing it with you, you'd jump straight into instinct over drive. I had to beat the fragging pit out of you, sometimes still do. Annoys Ratchet to no end, why do you ask? He was starting to get VERY annoyed, VERY quickly.

Because the femme has just picked up a human weapon called a staff and before that pushed me away with her power over water, which I will say is freezing!

A staff is only made out of wood, you should be able to break it with ease, you're veteran of the pits! This should be nothing for you. Sunny exasperated, he really was on a short fuse today.

Yeah I'm wanting to do it with out hurting her! She's been through enough as it stands.

Then you figure it out Sideswipe, I'm going back into recharge!

Fine! I snapped back at him and focused on Aqua who seemed to have calmed down during his delightful chat with his twin. "Aqua? Are you alright?" I asked gently.

"Yeah I'm fine though I'm not worried about myself right now. You're wet, I gather because you woke me, I doused in water." She spoke with venom.

"Yeah you did, though I don't blame you. What you did was purely out of self defense if nothing else." I reasoned with her. she sighed and put the staff stick thingy back into the corner. "Question, can you really use that?" I pointed back at the staff and she looked at it.

"Yeah I can, I took multiple martial arts classes including how to properly use and look after weapons. I have a license to use and hold actual weapons. Of all kinds. Why do you ask?" She looked at me and then gave me a small smile. "Let me guess, you were hopping that I wouldn't actually know how to use it, so you'd be able to take it from me that much easier. Whelp sorry to disappoint, that's a hard wood that staff's made from. I could crack a humans skull with it and it would come out not even dented." She told me as I appraised the weapon. She wasn't wrong, I looked up humans using these staffs, they were deadly. There were people splitting watermelons, the supposed equivalent to a human skull.

When I came back from researching about the staff i found that Aqua had made her way back to kitchen and had poured four small drinks that looked like water. She was in the process of cutting a red chilly and putting two or three pieces into the drinks. "That is water right?" I asked her as she finished and went to grab the drinks.

"Of course, what else would it be?" She asked me mildly, and gestured to a bottle to the right of her. After that she took all four drinks in quick succession. I grabbed the bottle, turning it I saw it said Vodka in bright blue writing. Aqua suddenly moved and went outside, slamming the back doors. She must have seen me glare at her back as she waltzed her way out. "You know I didn't ask to have these damn nightmares!" She yelled as she started to beat the pit out of a dummy. "I never asked to have my father die in a freak accident or to have the bastard responsible for his death come back to life! I NEVER wanted to have any form of powers or be a bloody freak of nature! I wanted to be NORMAL is THAT so impossible to fucking ask?" She yelled and her clothes caught fire, I had no idea what to do.

Is it me brother or is that femme having a sparkling fit? Sunny sarcastically asked me.

No Sunny, I think she's having one of those human 'melt downs'. I was kind of in awe of her, the fire had spread from her clothes to her skin and was acting like it truly was her skin. The ground around her very feet, unable to keep up with the heat, burned in an almost perfect circle. She was a thing of beauty, power, grace and danger beyond belief.

~0530, Aqua's POV, Base.~

My mind was chaos, but nothing like base. Apparently the Autobots had screwed up, massively. Galloway was completely nuts and adamant that he gained knowledge of their weapons and kept trying to find reasons to get me off base in a prison cell. Good luck with that buddy. Funny thing was he'd recruited the help of the four rookies I, well Ironhide, was in the midst of training that hated my guts and would much rather see it lying on the ground. I giggled and Sides looked at me like I was mad.

"Don't worry I'm not insane, wait scratch that, I am. I'm just sane enough to not get myself into trouble." I grinned and he smirked, shaking his head. I turned my back to him and looked out the open hanger doors. If Turner's alive what would the possibilities be that my father is too? I can't give myself false hope, it'd do me no good. If he was alive he'd of found me by now. But he was in the building with Turner, hell he was in the same room as him. If my father is like Turner and I and Turner woke up first then he could have captured my father. I'd never hear a word from him until I found Turner. Again I'm trying to give myself false hope, I have no evidence that Turner is alive or that he has any form of power or that he's taken my father. For all I know the explosion killed him like it would any normal person. Okay so what DO I know? Turner's definitely alive, he's searching for me and if I know him. It won't take him long to get to the States, meaning that the Autobots and everyone on base is in grave danger. How do you face a force you've got no information on? Then it hit me, a memory from my first foster father.

I'd come home from school, I was 16 at the time, and he was looking out the window, his eyes as sharp as ever. "Hi George, I'm home and going to start dinner. Want anything in particular?" I asked as I came back from my room.

"No sweetheart, come here for a second." He asked me, he was only one to know about my abilities. He'd told me to keep them hidden from people. My water power showed up after he sneaked up on me, needless to say he found it amusing and then taught me how to defend myself.

"What is it George?" I asked concerned. I sat beside him and looked at him carefully, everything seemed normal.

"Do you know how to plan your attacks against those who pose a threat to you?" He asked me, his military training coming forth. I nodded my head, my eyes hardened. "Good now, do you know how to plan your attacks against a threat that you know no information about? You've got no idea how they move or when they'll strike." I shook my head, all threats to me were dead. Turner was gone, never to be seen again. "To plan your attacks against such an opponent you have to plan multiple attacks that will cover ALL grounds. If you miss something in your plans then it could very well get you killed. Think like your enemies and plan every possible idea that they could use. Use that and plan against them." He told me.

I snapped back into reality and knew what I had to do. I went in search of Sides and found him near a bunch of bays, the Autobots bays. I ran up to him and tapped his hood. "Sides I need a global map, corkboard, thumbtacks and sticky notes. Meet me in the conference room at the far side of the base. Please hurry." I knew the Bots were extremely close, I could hear the plane coming in. I ran towards the conference room. Sides was there waiting for me in his holoform, all the gear in his arms. I grabbed the corkboard and map off him, entering the room I put both on to the table and turned grabbing the Thumbtacks using them to pin the map to the board.

"What are you doing Aqua?" He asked me, he seemed concerned for me. I snorted and kept working. There was a single black thumbtack and I used that to mark my location. There was also a white one, I used that to mark the last known location of Turner. Using the sticky notes I made that known.

"I'm marking everything out regarding Turner's actions, locations and where his plans could possibly go. By doing this, I can make at least some form of a plan of attack so I'm not swimming with my head six feet under water." I stated as I continued to work.

"But that's insane, nobody could work out plans for every possible attack alone." He was making it sound like I was going to do this alone. I knew I couldn't.

"Sides I said nothing about doing it alone. I'm going to plan for everything I possibly can, including having to go dark. I can't just sit here knowing what could possibly happen and not do a damn thing about it. The more plans I have the better chance I have." I started a legend on the side that started to look like this; Blue - Possible places for attack, Green - Red zones will be attacked if found, Gold - Safe zones won't go near me. There ended up being a lot of blues around Australia and America, the 'Red Zone' was all of Australia and Gold was places like Russia, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and the North and South Poles. But when the Bots are done with debriefing we'll have to add Decepticon movements and locations. The minuet I'm found with a connection to the Bots, they'll be after me like shit ton of bricks. Sighing I leaned on the table. "What do you say we get out of here and head to that debriefing?" I asked Sides, looking at him. He smirked and his holoform fizzled out, beeping his damn horn at me. "Alright you damn horny car!" I screamed as I walked out the door and stepped into Sides. Together we raced off to the main hanger.

Upon arriving I saw Hide and got out of Sides and went up to Hide. "Hey Hide, how'd things go in Shanghai?" I knew the rumour said they'd screwed up but I wanted to hear it for myself. He sighed, you could hear the stress he was in.

"Not good Aqua, not good at all. The Decepticons are moving and we don't know what for." This was eating at him, we were in the same situation. Our enemies moving and we had no information. "Best we get moving to hear what the human governments have to say about all of this." This would be VERY interesting.

"The Fallen, Meaning what?" One of the guys on TV asked.

"Origin Unknown. The only recorded of our race was contained within the Allspark and lost with it's destruction." Optimus told everyone.

"What if you had access to a sliver of the cube? As far as I'm aware the government is holding a shard in a base heavily guarded. The power of something that big and awesome doesn't just end, it flows. Whether it be a smaller piece of itself or into something else entirely." I reasoned. Everyone looked at me like I'd grown two heads and then handed them a sword saying 'swing it'.

"Who are you and what are you doing on a military base? This is for authorised personnel only." The guy who spoke before asked me.

"My apologies sir, I'm Aquarius Grant the new Master Marksman and trainer of the recruits. I am authorised to be here sir." I stated calmly.

"So it appears, I'm General Morshower. Tell me Miss Grant, what makes you think that the power just 'flows' as you put it." He asked.

"Because do you really think it's that easy to destroy something so powerful it created life? The Autobots were created by it, they're 32 ft. tall, if they're that big how much power do you think it took to make them? A power source that is of universal magnitude doesn't simply die out it moves. Like an ocean, it's power moves into something huge and it's power is known. Something happens and it's power ebbs off into something smaller and it's known power becomes legend." I stated, you seriously don't loose a power source like that by putting it into someone's chest.

"What you say does make sense but where is your evidence of such a thing?" Galloway demanded. He was looking like he was about to pass out.

"How about evidence from the past that's currently repeating itself in Iraq?" I coolly stated. "Isis wanting to take control of the world and force everyone to follow their religions beliefs. It's almost the same as the Rose Wars. Now IF you know your history you'd know that those wars were bloody and made religion take a 360 spin. The power wasn't in the religions themselves, but in the people's beliefs. Thousands dead because they thought themselves better than the person standing next to them. The power showed itself in a small amount but over a vast space." I should become a history professor, that sounded too text booky for even me.

"Your idea will be considered Aqua." Optimus told me turning back.

"Maybe next time you shouldn't outsmart the government officials." Ironhide joked. Lennox was now in the process of introducing Galloway, oh no he'd opened his mouth.

"Forgive the interruption, General. Excuse me. Coming through. Excuse me. Excuse me, soldier. Um. After all the damage in Shanghai, the President is, um hard-pressed to say the jobs getting done. Now, under the classified Alien-Autobot Cooperation Act, you agreed to share your intel with us, but not your advancements in weaponry." He stated, arse-hole was going to bring this up!

"Hold the phone Galloway!"I all but yelled at him. Hehe, I'm gonna be in big trouble later. "You came up to Ironhide yesterday and asked that question on if the Autobots would give you their weapons. Right now we're in the middle of a war with Iraq and have only just won in Afghanistan. Thousands have died from those battles and hundreds more still do! And here you are 24 hrs later asking the very same question, I should come down there and kick your arse! I dare you to pick up a weapon and aim it at a child and pull the trigger. You demand weapons you've got no idea how to use or their destructive power and for all any of us know us it for your own dirty work. I live in this world and I do NOT want to leave it because of a global war! I'll be damned and if you start something like that then you can be damned sure that the first person in line to kill you will be me." I glared at him with my coldest ones yet.

"Aqua calm down, she's right though. We've witnessed your human capacity for war. It would absolutely bring more harm than good." Optimus sternly told us both.

"Who are you to judge what's best for us?" Galloway demanded. I was about ready to knock his fucking socks off and send him six feet under.

"How about the fact that they witnessed their home world, their planet fall to shambles because of power seekers like you!" I snarled. "I'd rather we have the weapons we do now than have more powerful ones that could make us homeless, planet less even." Ironhide could feel me heating up and quickly took me to the Autobot training grounds. I was doing breathing techniques to lower my core temperature. Not working, screaming in frustration and blind rage I threw fire at the targets until I was so exhausted I collapsed on the ground. Still breathing hard from the power I used, Hide picked me up and laid me in his holoforms lap.

"Why'd you loose it Aqua, you're better at keeping yourself together." He asked me gently.

"He's reminding me so much of Turner it's not funny. The arrogance he's showing to you guys, the power seeking - did you know he's recruited the four that I shot to try and get me kicked off base and into a prison cell." I told him with grim humour.

"You can't fool me Aqua, he's not the only reason you lost it that easily. It's the situation with Turner to." He stated, he was smarter than he let people on to.

"The situation with Turner is getting more complicated with each hour passing. I have no way of knowing if he's worked out if I'm in the States or if he's started a global search for me. Hell if Turner's alive and like me, then my mind wants to give me false hope that my father is alive as well. I can't do that to myself. If I find Turner and attack when he's not looking and find that he doesn't have my dad at all, I'd break." The stress was starting to wear me down. Everything was happening in 24 hrs. My secret revealed, finding out my worst nightmare is alive and looking to kick my arse and last but not least moving to whole new country full of brand new jerks that I have to piss off because they're power seeking dip shits.

"Come on I'll take you home, actually if I remember correctly I said I'd help with getting the rest of you gear from the docks. Shall we?" He asked.

"Aren't you needed here on base!?" I asked, Hide breaking the rules? The twins won't believe it.

"Nope let's go. You need to get off base and you need someone with you if not for support than simple company." He told me as he sat me on the passenger seat and buckled me up. Then we were off to the docks.