I'm so sorry that I took this long to update. Reason why is because of my college work with essays and projects and whatnot. Other part is that I was kind of lazy to write this chapter.

Sorry for the wait and here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 13: Darkness Rising, Part Three

"Thank goodness for peace and quiet." Ratchet spoke to himself, enjoying the quietness of the base with no one to bother him. "Houseguest and Sam can be such a bother." He mumbled as he looked through the microscope to continue analyzing the goo that he found on Arcee.

He looked up from the microscope when he heard a metal clanging. He looked around the main control room to see that it was still empty. Thinking that it was nothing, he went back to analyzing. He looked up once again when he heard something that vaguely sounds like little rapid footsteps. Ratchet groaned as he figured out who's causing that sound.

"Samuel, if you don't stop that noise right now..." Ratchet looked behind him, ready to scold Sam for his disturbance. What he saw wasn't Sam. "By the AllSpark!" He gasped as he saw a small mechanical spider jumped at him threateningly.

Ratchet grabbed a nearby steel pipe and tried to crush the mechanical spider. The spider dodged a few blows and slashed destroyed an equipment from Ratchet's table. "I NEEDED THAT!" He yelled out in dismay.

The spider knocked Ratchet off-balance and it lunge at him. Just then, the spider was blasted by Optimus who appeared just in time to save him. The spider stood up again but Optimus destroyed it by stepping on it.

"And stay broken!" Ratchet snarled.

"Are you alright, Ratchet?" Sam asked as he rushed to his side.

"I'm fine, Sam. No need to worry." Ratchet reassured.

Sam gave a nod before looking at the destroyed spider. He gave a light kick to it to make sure it's dead. "What in Primus's name was that?" Sam kicked the dead machinery again.

"I have a grave suspicion, Sam... Dark Energon." Optimus informed gravely.

"Dark Energon?" Sam asked. He never heard of Dark Energon before, and something tells him that it is not good at all.

"Dark Energon is a powerful, corrupted version of Energon which can be used as a violent weapon. Even the smallest particle of Dark Energon can corrupt any amount of regular Energon."

Sam felt a shiver of fear run through his body. He step away from the dead creature and moved closer to Optimus, seeking for his protection from the Dark Energon that had corrupted Ratchet's tool. If he gets a single drop of Dark Energon on him, who knows what might happen to him since his blood is all Energon.

Optimus noticed Sam moving behind his leg and couldn't help but let out a small smirk on his face. His chest is filled with pride that Sam had chosen him for protection and not Ratchet. He gave a small smug look on Ratchet before picking up the small dead creature and locking it in a secure capsule.

Ratchet noticed the look that Optimus gave him and couldn't help but roll his optics and groan in annoyance at Optimus's childlike behavior. Honestly, why does Optimus have to take everything as a competition or some sort over Sam? It must have something to do with being so possessive over Sam. He blames Sam for Optimus's possessive behavior.

"If the residue Arcee found on Cliffjumper brought your broken equipment to life, it would stand to reason that the very same substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead."

Ratchet hummed in thought. "That would account for his life signal inexplicably coming back online, but... Dark Energon!? It's so scarce, it's to be virtually nonexistent."

"Then what would it be doing on Earth?" Sam asked.

"It was transported. By Megatron." Optimus answered.

"For what purpose?"

"To conquer this planet, by raising an army of the undead."

Sam chuckled for a bit. "Too bad for Megatron that there are no dead Cybertronians here on Earth."

It has been quite a few minutes since Megatron plunged a shard of Dark Energon in his spark chamber and he is now powered up by the power of Dark Energon. "It's as if the blood of Unicron the Destroyer, flows through my veins. As if, I hear his very thoughts. I now know what I must do." Megatron grabbed another shard of Dark Energon from the giant chunk of the substance and headed to the outer deck of the ship.

"And what can I do to assist you, Master?" Starscream asked.

"Quit groveling. And wait my command." Megatron arrived on the outer deck of the ship and transform into his jet mode and flew off to his destination.

Starscream watches Megatron leave through the monitor screen at the ship's bridge. He jumps in surprise as he sees Soundwave silently walking towards him from behind. "Soundwave! I fear that when our master reached for the stars, he came down with a touch of... space madness. Lord Megatron has not been of sound in judgment since his return. Increase global surveillance." He ordered Soundwave.

"Quit groveling. And wait my command." Soundwave played a recording of Megatron's voice through his visor to remind Starscream of Megatron's order.

"I'm not deaf!" He exclaim. "But, if Optimus Prime lives... I believe it is in Lord Megatron's best interest that we ensure his enemies' destruction." Starscream clenched his fist and grinned evilly.

The three new kids have arrived with their respective guardians, each laughing and smiling as their guardians transform into their robot form. A loud thud was heard from inside of Bulkhead and he opened up his chest and pulled out a black guitar case.

"Sorry." Miko smiled sheepishly. "Must have left that in the backseat..."

"Autobots, prepare to..." Optimus looked down at the humans and then at his team.

"Roll out?" Arcee finished.

"Remain here. Ratchet, you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside communication range for some time, so I'm putting you in charge." Optimus made his way to the GroundBridge where he and Ratchet will go on a scouting mission.

"Dude, you're biggest. You should be the boss!" Miko pointed at Bulkhead.

"Uh, he never picks me."

"Of course not." Sam said as he joined Miko and Bulkhead on the conversation. "Last time Bulkhead was left in charge while everyone except Cliffjumper was away, I somehow ended up on the railings on the ceiling when I was a baby. And when everyone came back and saw that I was on the ceiling beams, Ratchet had painted Bulkhead's entire frame pink." Both Miko and Sam laughed at him.

Bulkhead looked away with embarrassment. "It's not my fault you're so small. And I can't believe Bumblebee told you that. He promised."

"Okay, chief... so, uh, what's on the activities list?" Jack asked a bit awkwardly.

"I'm going on patrol." Arcee announced.

"But Optimus told us to stay."

"When you are in charge you can call the shots. Bee! With me!" Arcee ordered. "Bulkhead, you're in charge."

"Wait, wait!" Sam called out. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, remember the last time Bulkhead was put in charge?"

"I highly doubt you'll end up on the ceiling again." Arcee placed her hands on her hips.

Sam gave her a look before grabbing his grappling claw on the crate and shot it upwards to the ceiling. Jack, Miko and Raf watches in awe as Sam went up to the ceiling and sat on the beams. "Care to repeat that again, Sis?" Sam said smugly.

Arcee sighed tiredly. "Okay, okay, you made your point. But Bulkhead is still in charge. Now get down from there."

Sam jumped off the beams, which surprised the three new humans for Sam's stunt, and Bulkhead caught Sam easily. Once Sam was on ground level, Arcee and Bumblebee transformed in their vehicle mode and left the base.

"So... uh... what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asked.

Everyone cringed when Miko plugged in her electric guitar onto the speaker which caused a loud, earsplitting screeching noise. "How about band practice?"

"But, we're not a band." Raf pointed out.

"Why so antisocial? Come one, Raf, do you play anything?"

"Um... keyboard?" Rafael raised up his laptop in suggestion.

"Laptops and samples, good! Jack?"

"I sometimes mess around on the harmonica?" Jack rubbed the back of his head.

"So I look like I do country? Just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming. Sam! Bulkhead!" She called out to the two. "Percussion! We'll go for the big industrial sound. DIY, we are a band! You just got to learn the songs. This one's a ballad, 'My fist, your face'."

Miko began playing her guitar with crazed while Bulkhead, Jack, Raf and Sam covered their ears to block the loud, earsplitting noise. The flash of green light caught Bulkhead's attention and attempts to stop Miko from playing.

"Come on! You can't handle raw power?" She teased.

"Proximity sensor. Quick, hide!"

Jack, Miko and Raf ran behind Bulkhead's foot. Jack hollered at Sam to hide as well, but Sam gave in a confusing look and just stood there at the catwalk. The elevator door opened and Fowler walked out looking mad as usual.

"Prime!" He yelled while looking around for the Autobot leader. "Hello, Sam." His tone had became quite kind and caring when speaking to Sam.

"Hi, Grandpa Fowler."

"Sam, how many times do I have to tell you? Calling me 'grandpa' makes me feel old."

"But I thought you are old." He teased.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't heard that." Fowler glared playfully at Sam. "Where's Prime?" He asked him.

"He's not here." Bulkhead replied.

"Where did he go?" His voice has turned from kind to anger. "Wait, don't tell me, he's out pancaking a mini-mall! Now, I don't know what language you 'Bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised he would handle the Decepticons, and blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska is not what the word 'handle' means to me! So, you tell Prime..." Fowler stopped his complains when he heard a loud wailing of a guitar and looks down to see a loud speaker that is used for electric guitars. "Since when do you electric?" Fowler asked Sam.

Sam sighed in relief when Fowler thought that it was his. "Just a while ago. I even made my first ballad. 'My fist, your face'."

"Hey! That one's my song, you stealer!" Miko yelled out in anger as she walked out from her hiding spot in attempt to give Sam a good beating for stealing her song. She realized that she just exposed herself to Fowler. "Hi there." She smiled and waved shyly. Jack and Rafael made their presence known since there is no point in hiding anymore thanks to Miko.

"Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off rules this time." Fowler commented angrily.

"Umm... We are interns." Jack said.

"Student interns." Rafael added.

"Earning extra credits in... auto shop."

"Robotics!"

"Ok... Let's move!" Fowler walked down the catwalk and made his way to the three kids. "I'm taking all three of you into federal custody. It's for your own protection."

Bulkhead put his foot down to block Fowler's path. "We're protection them." Bulkhead declared.

"Is that so?" Fowler asked challengingly. "Well, maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon!" Fowler walked over the small phone booth and picked it up.

"Don't use that phone! It's..." Bulkhead use his pinky finger to smash the phone. "...Out of order."

"This isn't over, big foot, not by a long shot!" Fowler threw the phone down in anger and made is way to the elevator.

"Grandpa Fowler, please wait." Sam blocked Fowler's path to the elevator. "Can you please forget about this? They are under the protection of the Autobots and I'm sure they'll be fine as long as they stay out of danger."

Fowler's anger diminish and gave an apologetic look. "Sam, I know that the Autobots will take care of them, but you know that General Morshower can't have anymore civilians getting involved with the Autobots and the Decepticons. He let you stay with them because of your abnormal abilities, so what excuse would we give him to let the kids stay?"

Sam gave a thought for a bit before replying with a hopeful smile. "I could call Lennox and Epps to have them convince Morshower into letting the kids stay."

"We'll see, Sammy." Fowler said as he left the base through the elevator. He made his way to his helicopter and flew from the base. "Sir! Agent Fowler." He radios to his boss. "We have a situation. I'm en route from the Autobot base. I'll brief you in person."

What he didn't know was someone ha hacked into his radio transmission.

"Agent Fowler. I'm en route from the Autobot base. I'll brief you in person." Soundwave played a recording from Fowler's transmission.

"Autobot base, ay?" Starscream smiled in glee. "Humans. Always the weak link. Fetch me this 'Fowler', so that he may brief us instead." He ordered Soundwave.

Soundwave dispatched Laserbeak and went after Fowler.

As Fowler is flying through the valley, minding his own business, when his radar indicates someone is flying right behind him. "Hey! Big bird, I'm flying here." But he was surprise that the said bird is actually a Decepticon. He maneuvered right before Laserbeak clash to him. "First the freeway aren't safe, now air travel!?"

Fowler continues to fly to lose Laserbeak. He slows down, allowing Laserbeak to go ahead of him and Fowler goes after him from behind. "You wanna dance, 'Con? I'll lead!" He took aim at Laserbeak and fired with his machine gun. But it seems that the bullets are doing no effect on Laserbeak whatsoever. Laserbeak flew up and then dropped down, hitting the tail of Fowler's copter. "Never an Autobot around when you actually need one." He grumbled to himself as he fought control over the falling copter.

Laserbeak returned and used his tentacles to reach for Fowler. Before Laserbeak was able to grab him, Fowler pressed a distress signal button before Laserbeak grabbed him and carried him to the warship and into the brig where Starscream was waiting.

"Welcome, Agent Fowler." Starscream greeted.

"You treat all your guest this nice?" Fowler asked sarcastically as he brushed himself off.

Starscream gave a chuckle "Any friend of the Autobots."

"Autobot?" Fowler tilted his head slightly. "That's one of them coin operated wash-my-own-car places?"

Starscream looked at him with a glare. "Oh, so that's how it's going to be, hmm? Apparently, the Witwicky child has not told you I have no appreciation for human humor." Remembering the boy and his constant human humor brought hate in his processor. "Make our guest comfortable." He ordered as he left the chamber.

The alarm and a flash of green light went off again and Bulkhead neared the comupter to investigate. "It's an S.O.S. From Fowler." He looked at the keyboard, unsure what to do or what to press.

"Did you trace it?" Rafael asked.

"Location scan was incomplete. Oh, well." Bulkhead shrugged his shoulders before leaving the area.

"Oh, well? Seriously?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Fowler's a jerk."

"Whoa! Whether you like the guy or not, the Decepticons may have him!"

"And Agent Fowler knows your location..." Rafael gulped in realization. "Our location."

"They're right, Bulk." Sam stepped in. "And besides, Fowler isn't all that mean. He's actually a nice person."

Bulkhead scoffed. "Easy for you to say. The guy has a soft spot for you. And besides, we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere."

"Maybe I can narrow it down." Raf sat down and opened his laptop. "About five years ago, the Government started microchipping their agents. You know, like owners do with pets." Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy. "What? I saw it on TV. Anyway, if I can hack into the Fed's mainframe... maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates."

"You know how to hack? But you're like... two years old." Miko commented.

"Twelve." Raf corrected her. "And a quarter."

Sam smiled as the boy reminded him of himself when he was very young. At three years of age, Sam learned how to hack, all thanks to Ratchet.

"Latitude 39.5, Longitude 116.9."

Sam typed down the coordinates Raf gave him on the GroundBridge control and activated it.

"Ok, wait here." Bulkhead ordered as he head towards the GroundBridge.

"Aww, don't break up the band!" Miko whined.

Bulkhead stopped and turned to Sam. "Sam, you're in charge!" He then ran through the GroundBridge, leaving the children at the base by themselves.

"So, what's on the activities list, chief?" Jack asked the same question in humor.

Sam sighed as he gave a thought. "How about I give you guys a tour of the place. After that, we go to my room and fix you guys something to eat. What do ya say?"

Jack and Rafael looked at each other before nodding in agreement, feeling hungry as well. Jack looked around and noticed Miko is gone. "Miko?" He called out. "Miko?"

Bulkhead jumped out the GroundBridge portal and landed somewhere on the mountain area. "Fowler?" He called out as he looked around. What he found was the Decepticon warship just parked few feet away. "Uh-oh." Bulkhead hid behind huge boulders as he looks at the sight before him. "The whole Decepticon sha-bang." He moved to another boulder to avoid getting spotted by the Decepticon guards.

"Alright!" Miko whispered excitingly. "What's the plan?" She gave a thumbs up and a grin. When Miko looked up ahead, she gasped as a Decepticon took aim at her. "Oh. Unwise."

"Miko, get down!" Bulkhead ordered.

Miko made a run for it before the boulder that she was hiding from exploded. She quickly ran for it while Bulkhead charged at the Decepticon and pinned him down and punched him. "Hold him still!" Miko carried a large rock and slammed it on the Decepticon's head. But it did nothing.

Bulkhead scooped her with his free hand and roughly put her to the other side to avoid getting hurt. "Miko, look away!"

"But..."

"Turn your head away!" He didn't gave her time to turn away as he already thrust his hand into the 'Con's chest and pulled out his wires, offlining the 'Con.

"Whoa!" Miko watched in awe.

"Arcee, Bumblebee, do you read?" Bulkhead radioed the two through the comm link.

"Loud and clear, Bulkhead." Arcee replied back.

"I have a situation."

"Bulkhead, they're children... Humans. It's like taking care of Sam except there are three extra humans." Arcee and Bumblebee screeched to a halt at something Bulkhead had said. "YOU'RE WHERE!? SHE'S WHERE!?"

"What should we do?" Raf asked as the three stares at the GroundBridge tunnel from the catwalk. "Bulkhead may have not even realized that she'd followed him."

Sam rushed to the GroundBridge control and typed in the coordinates again. "There. I got a lock-on." He activated the GroundBridge and grabbed some weapons that he might need. "I'm going to go and find her and bring her back before she gets into trouble. In the meantime, Jack, you're in charge." He jumped down from the catwalk and rushed to the GroundBridge.

"Hold up!" Sam stopped and looked to see Jack running towards him. "You're not going there alone, Sam."

Sam sighed impatiently. "Look, Jack, I appreciate your concern, but you need to stay here and man the base. You don't what's like to see the 'Cons in action. I have. A lot of times. So for your own safety, stay here."

Jack stopped Sam in his track by grabbing his arm. "No, Sam. I'm not letting you do this by yourself. I can't let my best friend go out on a dangerous mission by himself without any backup. So I'm coming with you and there's nothing you could say to stop me."

Sam was surprise to hear Jack talk like this. Like a born fighter and leader. Just like Optimus. With a smile, he agrees. "Alright then. Just make sure you don't get in the way."

Jack smiled and looked back at Rafael. "Raf, you're in charge." He called out before he and Sam made their way through the portal.

"In charge of who!?" Raf exclaim before heading to the GroundBridge to catch up with the older boys.

As soon as they disappeared, Arcee contacted them at a bad timing. "Arcee to base, come in. Sam? Listen up, we need you to bridge us back. Hello?" She sighed as she figured out that either no one is there, or that they can't hear her. "Bumblebee, metal to the pedal."

Bulkhead held Miko on his hand as they waited for Bumblebee and Arcee to arrive. "What's taking Bumblebee and Arcee?" He asked impatiently.

"Dude, the 'Cons could be putting the clamps on Fowler right now. Let's just storm the joint."

"They're here." Bulkhead sighed in relief when they heard the GroundBridge opening. What he didn't expect was Sam, Raf and Jack jumping out of the bridge and not Arcee and Bumblebee.

Miko glared at the three and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why don't those guys hang with their own 'Bots? This is our one-on-one time."

Bulkhead sighed at Miko's childish behavior. She reminds him of Sam when he was young.

"Um, Sam, can I ask you a question?" Rafael walked up to Sam who was taking the lead. "Are your bones suppose to vibrate when you go through the GroundBridge?" He asked in wonder.

Sam stopped walking and pondered as he tries to remember if his bones vibrated when he first went through the GroundBridge. "Don't know." Sam scratched his head. "But I'm sure it isn't hazardous. The GroundBridge is perfectly safe for humans. I mean, look at me. Of all my years of living with the Autobots and going through the bridge every single time, did I end up like some mutant like in the movies?"

"Your sideways grew a bit." Jack replied jokingly. He yelped in pain when Sam whacked him on the head.

"Careful. I'm sensitive about my weight." Sam pouted as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. When turned, he let out a gasp when he saw the Decepticon warship right in front of him. Why he didn't saw that before?

It was too late for them to do anything as the guards spotted them and charged up their weapons at them. "You there!" One of the Vehicons yelled out.

"Scrap!" Bulkhead and the children cursed simultaneously.

Agent Fowler is hung from the ceiling by chains wrapped around his arms while three Vehicons gathered around him. This is what Sam felt like when he was taken prisoner by the Decepticons, Fowler thought in his head.

"Agent Fowler," Starscream began as he walks around Fowler, "I have one single request... that would save your family the pain of grieving. Tell me the location of the Autobot base."

"No problem. But I need to ask you something first."

Starscream moved closer to Fowler. "Yes? I'm listening."

"I've got an issue with the customer service around here. Can I speak with the manager?" Fowler smiled defiantly.

Starscream blinked his optics and growled. "I make the decisions here. I am in charge!" Starscream turned his back and commanded one of the Vehicons. "Bing the prod."

One of the Vehicons grabbed a prod that was hanging from the wall and gave it to Starscream. "I'll ask nicely one last time. The Autobot base!"

"Sure thing buddy... right after you eat my star-spangled shorts!"

Starscream raised up the Energon prod and slowly pushed it towards Fowler's abdomen, causing Fowler to yell out in pain. "It's true what Shockwave said. Besides that human child, all other human nervous systems don't mix well with Energon."

In some unknown charted area on Earth, Optimus and Ratchet walks down a path filled with misty fog in a darken chasm. Their mission was to find an old Cybertronian battlefield where a large mass of dead Cybertronians are buried here from the period of the war when Energon started being hidden on other planets. They stopped as they found a graveyard filled with dead Cybertronian bodies.

"For the first time in my life, Optimus... I had hope that you where wrong."

Optimus looked above as a jet flew past them and transformed just a few miles ahead.

"Optimus!" Megatron's voice echoed throughout the area. "Been well? I see you brought your... trusty watchdog. I was certain he'd be convalescing in a scrapyard by now. Though I was hoping you would bring your human pet with you so that I may capture him once again."

"Why don't you invite him down here for a chat?" Ratchet took a few steps forward and cracked his knuckles. No one dares to insult him. Only Sam is allow to insult him.

"I know why you're here, Megatron."

"Hardly a surprise, Optimus. After all, you and I have been at this a long time. And your time has come to an end!" Megatron yelled as he took out a purple, glowing object and threw it into the ground that absorbed it in a matter of moments. The ground began to quake as purple walls of light shone through cracks. "Rise my army!"

The dead Cybertronian warriors rose up from the ground with a moan and a groan like those zombie movies Sam watches all the time. Optimus and Ratchet watches in horror as many dead warriors continues to rise from the ground and walks towards them.

"BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARK ENERGON!"

Once again, I'm sorry for taking my sweet time to update. I had so much work to do and I was feeling lazy to write anything.

Updates might be a bit longer because I got a new awesome game called Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. I'm so addicted to the game now.

So thank you all for waiting for this chapter and review.