Okay guys, here's the deal. This story will end in a weekend bang! I've finished the story, of course, and I know I promised you the last chapter this posting, but I needed to spread it out a little in two different posts. I'd probably have updated sooner but I've been so busy with trying to finish this, and plus I work for UPS and I've been doing driver's helper, as well as working on Saturday later on today to get some time and half in. But enough about that. The deal is that I absolutely WILL post the final chapter tomorrow (Sunday). But I'm going to give you one last shabang of a cliffhanger.

-Sees angry reviewers look with fire in their eyes and backs up-

O.o; Don't worry! I promise that tomorrow you will receive all of the answers that you've been looking forward to! So keep calm!

Thank you to all of my faithful readers who have been reading and commenting on this story since the very beginning. I'll have more detailed thank you's next chapter as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, however I DO own Cat and Five.

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Mikaela was driving slowly along side of Ironhide and Ratchet, Ironhide was holding two portions of their comrade's body, Jazz, and Mikaela who was still towing Bumblebee on the flatbed. They were walking by a tall, grayish building when they felt the ground rumble and shake.

"What's going on?!" Mikaela hit the brakes and yelled out to the Autobots.

Ironhide and Ratchet looked immediately up to the top of the tall building that they were in front of, and saw a bright, gold light begin to pour over the sides, enveloping the building as it made it's way down to the street level. They backed up some fearing of what this gold light was about to do, but it quickly overtook all of them.

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After Optimus finished giving a short mourning over the destruction of the Allspark, as well as feeling relief over Megatron's death, he and Sam felt the ground shake and looked down the street, seeing a gold light rushing over Mikaela and the other Autobots.

"Mikaela! Bumblebee!!" Sam shouted, making a run for them.

Optimus was right behind the boy, trying to scan the area for his men, but his scans were inconclusive. The light was just too overpowering for his optics to make sense of anything.

Arriving close to the scene, the light was still shining with great power. Optimus grabbed Sam before the boy foolishly jumped in without knowing what was going on.

"No! Mikaela!" Sam yelled reaching towards the light before it overpowered them, Sam shielding his eyes, and Optimus covering his optics.

The light finally dissipated, and Sam looked back to see the group opening their own eyes and optics.

"T-they're alive!" Sam declared happily as Optimus set him back down on the ground.

Sam ran to Mikaela, who was slowly getting out of the tow truck looking around with an astonished look on her face. He grabbed her by the arms and looked her over.

"You all right? You okay?" he asked.

"..Y-Yeah... Fine... I feel fine," she looked around and then finally back to Sam.

The tow truck's front end suddenly went a few feet off of the ground, then back on the ground with a hard "Thump". Sam and Mikaela jumped back away from it and looked to the back where they saw Bumblebee... stand up on his feet.

"Wait a minute... I thought your legs... but... Who fixed you?!" Sam was confused.

"Jazz?" Ironhide asked, they all turned to him, to see that he was no longer carrying parts of Jazz, but he was holding his entire body as a whole. He put his friend down on the ground and they all waited for just a few seconds.

Jazz's subroutine systems kicked in, putting him back online as his blue optics flashed. He shot up and began looking around wildly.

"Where's Megatron?!" Jazz had awoken thinking that he was still in battle, but a hand went to his shoulder and he turned to see Optimus shining a smile down at him.

"It's all right now Jazz. Megatron is dead, " this seemed to calm Jazz as he looked around at the group.

"But... How is all of this possible?" Ratchet asked, turning to Optimus, who looked up to the top of the building.

They all looked up to the building as well for a moment before Optimus looked to his group.

"Where is Catherine?" he asked.

Everyone looked around, but saw nothing.

"She was with us a little while ago but... She ran off without saying a word..." Mikaela looked to Sam with sad eyes.

"Wait... Wait I thought that Cat and Five were back at the Hoover Dam, how is it that she was here?" Sam asked, even more confused.

"I encountered her on the way here. She had managed to take control of the vehicle that the two of you were in when you were found by the government. She then informed me that she had been betrayed by Five, and was unable to defeat her or contain Megatron," Optimus replied.

"Yeah, that's what she told me too. She was with me and Bumblebee for a little while, actually she saved us from some of those things that formed from the Allspark's energy, and she just disappeared," Mikaela added.

Bumblebee looked up to the tall building and said, "I believe that she is gone..."

The group looked to the young Autobot in shock and Sam asked, "So now you talk?!"

"He's right, "Ratchet agreed, "Catherine has a very unique chemical signature, and as far as my sensors can work, I cannot locate her."

"Then I suppose she was another casualty of war... A new comrade lost..." Optimus looked down at his team as well as looking down at the newly arriving team of Captain Lennox, "But we gained some new ones in the process. Thank you all..." he said gratefully.

The captain and his team smiled wearily up at the Autobots. Before they could say anything more, they heard the sounds of vehicles driving down a street, and one of the men spotted a news truck drive slowly down a street that intersected the one that they were on.

Captain Lennox looked up to Optimus and said, "I think we'd better get you guys out of here before you're all on the evening news!"

"Good idea. Autobots, roll out!" Optimus ordered.

The special ops team, as well as Sam and Mikaela watched in awe as the five robots transformed right in front of their eyes. It was definitely a sight that they would never get used to. The two teens piled in Bumblebee's cab quickly, as Captain Lennox and his group packed into Ironhide, some sitting in his cab, and others crammed into the truck bed. Within seconds, the group was on their way out of the city.

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It had been three days since the battle at Mission City, and so far everyone was still just reuniting with their families, the government having released Sam's parents and Mojo from their imprisonment. As well as giving Mikaela's mom a rather impressive story to back up the reason why she had been gone from home for so long. Of course, the Autobots decided to stick with Sam and Mikaela and stay hidden amongst the humans. Ratchet was still at a loss of words as to how it was that the three of his comrades, as well as Mikaela had been healed. It was a mystery that they had no way of explaining. Sam had aquired some bruised ribs and some scratches, but other than that he was fine. Plus, after that whole experience of the government separating them, and taking apart his mom's flower garden, Sam had no choice but to tell his parents the entire truth.

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Flashback

"So what did they do to you?! You didn't tell them anything did you because-"

"Dad-"

"You know I called a laywer, and he said that unless there was some absolute, rock solid proof-

"Dad stop-"

"That we've got a real strong case of wrongful imprisonment and-"

"DAD! Chill! I-uh... I need to tell you a few things, and I think that you're going to need to-uh- sit down and relax while I tell you all of it," Sam tried to interest his parents into sitting down on the couch while he talked to them about the past few days.

"We don't need to relax Sam! We need to take action now! We need to-"

"What the hell is that?!" Sam's mom shouted pointing out into the backyard.

Sam whirled around and saw Bumblebee had transformed and was staring at them through the window.

"You were - You were supposed to stay put until I came and got you! What are you doing?! Are you trying to give my parents a heart attack surprising them like- Mom! Where are you going with that?!" Sam followed his mom out of the back door as she flew outside, baseball bat in hand.

"Sam! Call the FBI Sam!," She turned to the yellow Autobot who was standing tall, looking down at the female human, "Get out of here! Stay away from my family you overgrown toaster!"

"Mom! Mom stop! Mom!" Sam tried to reason with his mother as she managed to land a couple of hits on the poor yellow mech.

Mojo was standing on the back porch barking his little head off, while Sam's dad could only stare out of the back window in complete shock, his mouth agape.

"Mom! Stop, you're hurting him!" Sam got in between his rampaging mother and Bumblebee, putting his arms out as if to protect the larger being.

"Get out of the way Sam! That thing's dangerous!" The enraged woman warned.

Before Sam could rebutle a loud 'BOOM' shook the backyard, and Sam noticed that his mom had dropped the baseball bat, her eyes widened, and her jaw practically dropped to the ground as well. Sam turned and saw Optimus stepping into the backyard, large and in charge as his blue optics glared down at Sam's mom.

"Oh my god... there's...more..." Sam's mom dropped to the ground as she blacked out. Sam turned and looked back to the Autobot leader as he heard Ratchet, Jazz and Ironhide also transforming, the three looking down at the scene. Bumblebee was rubbing the sore dents in his leg armor.

"Can I terminate her now Optimus?!" Ironhide asked eagerly.

Sam looked back to his mom, then back to the Autobots and said, "I SWEAR I'M GETTING YOU GUYS A WATCH SO YOU'LL KNOW WHAT FIVE MINUTES IS!"

End Flashback
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They were, to say the least, shocked and a little unnerved to think that their son's car was a nearly twenty foot tall robot alien. But they were getting used to the idea a little more every day, at least.

The sun had set on the third day, and it was already dark at the lookout., where the Autobots as well as Sam and Mikaela were convened. Ironhide had just gotten back that morning from taking a trip to take Captain Lennox and Sargent Epps home, and Optimus had just finished his message to send out into space, in hopes that other Autobots would pick it up and find them.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school tomorrow... I mean, we just started to relax, and now we have to go back there of all places!" Sam whined.

"It'll be all right Sam. I mean, I'll be there with you," Mikaela smiled to her new boyfriend.

Sam smirked back at the girl and they shared a brief, but passionate kiss, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Ratchet chuckled at the two teens' behavior, and then turned to Ironhide.

"So has the American government found anything in connection to that strange golden spectrum that we encountered?" the medic asked.

Ironhide, who was relaxed to the point of near recharge, was broken out of his thoughts from Ratchet's question.

"What? Oh right! Yeah, actually. Before I left Captain Lennox received a transmission from the government saying that they had found three different blood types on the roof of that building. Two they've identified, one is completely unknown," he replied.

The other four Autobots, as well as Sam and Mikaela turned towards Ironhide as he spoke.

"Well then? Who does the blood belong to?" Optimus asked.

Ironhide shifted a quick glance over to the children as he thought about whether or not they should hear what it was that he was going to say. He sighed as he realized that one way or another, they would most likely find out.

"The two identified were Five and... Cat..." he said regretfully.

Sam and Mikaela threw a shocked expression at the weapons specialist, and even though he was a hardened soldier of war, such a pained look coming from two human children made him wince with sympathy. The other Autobots felt the same.

"For some reason, I hadn't doubted that those two were involved in it. Only beings with extraordinary powers could have created such an act," Ratchet commented.

"But that's good right?" Mikaela spoke up, the others turning to look at her and Sam who were sitting under a lone tree that sat near the edge of the lookout.

"I'm slightly confused, what part of that was good?" Optimus asked.

"Well... I mean they didn't find Cat's body... So that means she could still be out there somwhere!" she reasoned.

The Autobots looked to one another, unsure if Mikaela was thinking of a good reason, or if she were trying to find an excuse to believe that Cat was alive somewhere, giving herself and Sam some sort of false hopes.

"Mikaela," Jazz began softly, "Don't you think tha' if Cat were alive, she'd 'ave come outta hiding by now?"

"Well... I... I guess maybe not..." she looked away from the mechs and put her head on Sam's shoulder, on the verge of tears over the subject.

"Oh! I guess that's another thing about what they found on the rooftop, "Ironhide remembered.

Everyone looked back to him once more, "Well, go on Ironhide. Tell us," Ratchet encouraged.

"They found a circle of fresh paint next to a small storage shed up there. They couldn't tell what exactly it was, but they think that it was, what Alchemists call, a "Transmutation circle". Their specialists might have been able to tell what exactly it was if it weren't for the fact that all three blood types were found, puddled amongst the paint, making it impossible to tell what was what. Although they think that it was some sort of destruction circle. One that would vaporize anything within it's confines," Ironhide explained.

"Vaporize? So either Cat, or Five could have walked into that circle and been killed that way?" Sam asked softly, hugging the arm he had around Mikaela tighter.

Ironhide nodded, "It is very possible that one or both of them had been destroyed that way, although, it's as I said... There's no way to tell whether or not they met their fates that way. There's blood all over that rooftop, proving many different theories. It'll most likely be weeks, or even months, before the government special authorities discovers what really happened."

"Well, we know that Catherine had become too weakened to use any sort of major Alchemy motives. So it must have been Five who created the circle," Ratchet reasoned.

"Okay, but what about that third blood trail? Who does that belong to?" Sam asked.

"They don't know... Lennox said that it would probably take weeks, or even months before they discover who it belonged to," the weapons specialist sighed.

"So that's it then... They're both dead.." Mikaela concluded.

Optimus noticed the gloomy looks on everyone and said, "Catherine may have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our survival. And because of that, we shouldn't be mourning over her death, we should be celebrating the life that she has saved. Just as we have made the same sacrifice with the destruction of the Allspark. If Sam had not sacrificed the Allspark, Megatron would have most likely taken control over it and destroyed the universe little by little. Just the same, if Catherine had not destroyed Five, Five might have tried taking over this world and killed many innoccents."

Sam gave a light laugh/scoff and said, "No sacrifice... no victory..." as if to confirm that the old family motto still held some major value in it's point.

There was a passing quiet as a breeze lightly whispered through the hills of the lookout.

"So what about Barricade and Starscream? Any word on where they are?" Sam asked.

"I'm afraid not... What worries me the most is that if they're out there and alive, so they may have gone for reinforcements..." Ratchet replied.

Another passing silence before Mikaela sat up and looked at the sky, then to her watch.

"Well it's nine-thirty... We better be going for tonight..." she said with a short sigh.

Sam looked up to Bumblebee and asked, "You ready to go, big guy?"

Even though Bumblebee enjoyed the closeness of the humans, every now and then he needed to stretch his legs out of his car alternate mode. But hearing Sam ask if he was ready to leave, he nodded and transformed into his new Camaro form, opening his driver and passenger doors for them.

"We'll see you guys later!" Sam and Mikaela waved to their Autobot friends as they got into Bumblebee's cab and sped off to their dwellings.

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For a moment it was the feeling of being complete, like floating on a cloud. It was as if she were calmly napping, all of her fears and troubles had been lifted. She didn't want to be disturbed, for once she wished to just stay this way forever.

"Wake up Seven... Open your eyes my little sister..." It wasn't the same rough voice that she had heard on her more recent travels. It was firm, yet soft and comforting.

Cat slowly opened her eyes, a bright while light surrounded her as she floated. She gently turned her head from side to side, noticing that she was completely surrounded by this light. It seemed to go on forever every which of way, even above and below her.

"Seven, I'm so glad to see you," Cat turned to her left and saw Five floating nearby her in the same manner.

"Five? What's going on?" Cat asked. She found herself still completely calm, her voice was soothing even to herself. And then she noticed something.

"Five... Your eyes... They're brown again. How is this so?" Cat asked.

As if on cue, a double-door walkway appeared out of nowhere. It was about fifty feet away, but it was still close enough to make out all of it's features. It appeared to be made of dark wood, laced with gold trim and alchemic spells cast upon it.

"What is this?" Cat asked.

Five turned to the doorway and said, "It's the path to the next life. It's the door that every Alchemist stands before to be judged in death. It... It gave me back my old body. The one that I was born with! I can't believe it myself but... Here we are!" Five turned back to Cat with a smile... A genuine smile. One that showed that she was feeling true happiness.

Cat floated forward a bit towards the doors and asked, "Does that mean it's my turn to be judged?"

Before she went even two feet, Five grabbed Cat by the front of her tank top and stopped her from going any further.

"...I was told to give you a message before you went..." Five looked down and away from Cat.

"What is it?"

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It was the morning of the fourth day, and Secretary Keller had finally gotten back to his own office, sitting down for the first time in almost two weeks since this whole ordeal had begun. He leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling feeling a bit like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, now that national security was safe once again. Although there were still unresolved issues that still needed to be dealt with. Thinking about this part made the secretary frown. He looked down to his desk to see a large mug of coffee, steam whisping from the inside the ceramic cup. He reached over and picked the mug up, taking a small sip from it and letting high octane taste of the coffee recharge his taste buds. He smiled faintly. If only it were as easy to find an answer to a missing persons case as it was to feel warmed by the sip of a good cup of joe.

A knock at the door.

Before answering, Keller sighed and realized that it was time to get back to normal duties of politics and terrorist threats.

"Yes? Come in," he finally answered.

"Mr. Secretary?" a woman poked her head in the door first as she stepped in.

"Ah, Jennifer, come in! It's good to see an old face again!" he said cheerfully as he recognized the face of his own secretary.

"Yes, I was beginning to wonder if any of the choas would die down!" she smiled as she walked in with a paper in her hand.

"What can I do for you?" Keller asked.

"You received a call early this morning from the special forces unit that you sent to investigate the dissappearance of Project Seven, and Project Five. They said that they haven't found any traces of them besides the blood trails on the roof, but apparently there were several witness inside the building who've given a matcing description of Project Seven," she handed him the report and talked as he read for a moment.

"...It seems that she has saved more than we first imagined! These people claim that she destroyed an unknown "metallic creature", saving them from certain death," he cracked a smile just lightly.

"Yes sir, although I'm not sure what a "metallic creature" could possibly be," she said confused.

"Ah, well... Who knows this day and age?" he laughed as he continued to read.

"According to this, she asked to get to the roof... So she must have known that Project Five was there somehow... But, how, I wonder?" Keller set the paper down still glancing at it, his hand covering his mouth in a contemplating fashion.

"That other paper below the report is the form that you requested as well..." she said with a little less of a smile.

"Is this all then?" Keller asked.

"Yes sir," Jennifer answered.

"Thank you, make sure to inform me when they call next," he dismissed his secretary.

"Of course, thank you sir," she began to walk out of the office.

"Oh, and Jennifer," she turned as hearing Keller call for her, "I suppose that I don't need to tell you that these matters are strictly confidential, and shouldn't be released to anyone other than myself as well as the Vice President and President?"

Jennifer smiled, "Of course sir," and she left.

Keller picked up the paper in one hand, glancing over it again, and took another sip of his coffee with the other. He turned that paper over and placed it on his desk, looking over the other.

"Certificate of Death"

He read the form that would most likely needed to be filled out for the reports when he would have to call off the investigation. The only reason why he was thinking this already was because the investigation and search was to be a quiet and confidential race against time. And it would be too soon that the press would find out what they were doing, so they would need to call off the search to seal any information as quickly as possible.

It had only been about a minute after his own secretary had left the room when his intercom beeped.

::Mr. Secretary?:: she asked in a rather confused voice.

"Yes?" he asked, still looking over the documents in front of him.

::Tom Banachek is here to see you..:: she replied.

"Really?... Well send him in then," Keller put down the papers and looked to the door as it burst open.

Even though the President had disbanded Sector Seven, Banachek and Simmons were too far into the business of information not to be made useful, still, to the government. So Keller managed to interest the President into making Banacheck head of the Informations Specialties unit, Simmons working under him.

"A moment ago I received some information that I absolutely knew you would be interested in hearing," he smirked.

"Well? What is it then?" Keller asked.

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It was the last class of the day, there only being about fifteen minutes left, but they were excrutiatingly too long.

Sam hated school. First he hated it because he was officially dubbed a "geek" and was separated from Mikaela by a thousand other levels of popularity... Okay, so he was only separated from her three seats away but it was still too big of a separation for him. He looked over to her as the teacher had turned his back to write mathematical formulas on the board. She was sitting with her arms crossed, and looking rather distraught over the questions on the worksheet in front of her. Of course Sam knew that she had many other things on her mind, which made her even more stressed, just as it did to him. He gave a slight wave, which in his favor, brought Mikaela's attention to him. She smiled and gave a wave back.

"Is there something you need, Mr. Witwicky?" the sound of the teacher's voice made Sam jump and look towards the front of the classroom.

"Uh, no.. I-uh... No, nothing..." he crossed his arms and looked back down to his worksheet, looking as if he were trying his hand at figuring out the problems that were laid in front of him.

"Good to hear..." the teacher commented sarcastically as he turned back to the chalkboard.

Sam looked back to Mikaela who was very quietly laughing, making Sam smile as well. Yep. Everything was beginning to feel more at home again -

The cell phone in Sam's pocket vibrated quietly, signaling that he was receiving a text message. Mikaela suddenly realized that the new cell phone in her purse was also quietly vibrating. They both were quick at pulling their phones out and secretly looking at the message on the screens. Sam's head shot up and looked at Mikaela, both looking rather surprised.

'What do we do?' Mikaela mouthed the question to Sam.

Sam put a finger up to signify that he would look into it, so that she could just sit tight for a moment.

"Uh... Uh sir?" Sam held a hand up.

"What is it this time, Mr. Witwicky?" The teacher sighed.

"I'm uh... I'm not feeling well, can I run to the bathroom real quick?" he asked in a rushed and urgent tone.

The teacher cringed at the idea of another student getting sick in his classroom, "Yes, by all means, go!"

Sam got up from his seat and rushed out of the room and down the hall, into the boys restroom where he got his cell phone back out of his pocket and reread the message first.

It was an "AOL" instant message from Bumblebee, and it read "They found Cat!!"

Sam laughed loudly, raising both hands in the air, "YEAH!"

A stall door opened, revealing another boy from the school who went up to the sinks to wash his hands as he gave Sam a strange look as if to ask, "What are you doing?"

Sam put the phone in his pocket to hide it quickly and nodded at the boy as he walked out, "How ya doin' man?"

The boy didn't answer and just walked out as Sam pulled his cell phone back out, texting a message quickly to Bumblebee.

"We'll be out of class in a few minutes!"

To which Bumblebee replied, "I'll be here!"

"Everything okay now Sam?" the teacher asked as Sam walked back into the classroom.

"Yeah.. Yeah everything's good," he tried to keep from smiling.

Sitting down at his seat, out of the corner of his eye, Sam could see Mikaela leaning forward to see what the verdict was. He looked over at her and merely smiled sheepishly. The grin gave Mikaela a sort of "thumbs up" and her own smile went from ear to ear as she closed her books and put away her school supplies and folders in her messanger bag. Just as she finished this, the bell rang, and Mikaela and Sam jumped up from their seats and quickly met out in the hallway.

"So it's really her?! It's Cat?!" Mikaela was close to screaming in excitement.

"I hope so!" Sam exclaimed as he and Mikaela shoved their way through the halls and out of the school to an awaiting Bumblebee.

"Me too.." Mikaela gave Sam and hopeful smile, and he hugged the girl with one arm around her shoulders.

"It's her... It's gotta be her..." he reassured.

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Instead of a Chapter Teaser, (because at this point a chapter teaser might give everything away) I'm going to give you something else to look forward to.

As you may know, I've announced the arrival of my newest story Project Seven: Soul Reconnaissance.

I will be posting the final chapter tomorrow, and then on Monday I will be posting a sort of preview for Soul Recon.

So keep an eye out!!