I intentionally took longer to put this chapter out. But you'll be happy to know, I am currently writing chapter 9. So I am several ahead of this chapter here, and there will be no excuses for a month long hiatus without warning in the middle of the story.

Thank you so much for the reviews! I loved reading the theories, but I'm afraid no one's quite hit the ball on the nose. If you want to keep guessing after this chapter, I'd love to hear what you think. That in mind, there is a major clue as to exactly what's changed in this continuity in this chapter.

I hope you enjoy it!

It was three forty when we pulled into the parking for the Hoover Dam. Before we went to sign up for a tour or anything, we walked up to get a good view without going too far. I didn't even feel bothered to be wasting time here, just staring. This place was familiar. After Sector Seven was disbanded, it had been turned into a minor NEST base location. This is a place I knew in association with the life I'm now familiar with. This place is closer to home than I've felt in weeks.

"We better go sign up for a tour. The next one starts at four." Mikaela insisted, nodding towards the building we were here for. She'd researched the tours on our way in, and we're already too late for the full one. Not that it matters, I just want to get as much around as possible. I only had thirty minutes on the tour, and the entire tourist business ends at five. I have until then to try and hope my message had reached someone and they're waiting for me.

We made it back with only a few minutes to spare. Mikaela took her ticket and stepped aside, waiting for me to pay for mine. As I handed over my card, I decided this is as good a place as any to start asking.

"Do you know anyone that works here who's name is Simmons?"

The woman looked up at me curiously, then back to the ticket she was printing off. Handing me back the card, she shook her head. "No, sorry. But I don't know a lot of people's names here. You know which department he works?"

I shook my head and let it drop.

She handed over the ticket and smiled politely. "Good luck."

I nodded. "Thanks."

We were the last of the group to join up, and as soon as we flashed the tickets, the tour guide began our journey to the start of the tour. It didn't officially start until we were outside the gift shop anyways, so I didn't have any difficulty worming my way to the front and clearing my throat to get his attention.

"Excuse me, do you know anyone by the name Simmons here?" I asked him.

He thought a moment, before shaking his head. "I know a Samantha?"

I fell to the back of the group, taking my place beside Mikaela once more.

"Are you going to be asking everyone that?" She hissed.

"Yeah, that's why I'm here." I whispered back. The tour guide- his name tag said Anthony -had started to talk. I didn't really care to pay much attention, though. Instead, I was looking around and trying to fit this place into my memory. I never came back here often because it reminded me of Sector Seven, but after a while, I didn't so much mind. In any case, I didn't spend an excessive amount of time on this side of the public line, so I'm more unfamiliar with these particular path ways.

Every once in a while, one of the workers would walk past our group and I'd stop them to ask about Simmons and no one seemed to show any recognition. Most of them shook their head and kept walking, trying to ignore me. I'm just an annoying tourist, after all. Eventually, other tourists started giving me annoyed looks.

It wasn't until the tour was concluding and we were let into the visitor center that I found one of the Hoover Dam Policemen, someone who I was hoping would at least be aware of my coming.

"Excuse me, sir." I walked up to him. He looked over curiously.

"How can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm looking for someone by the name of Simmons. Do you recognize the name?" I asked, searching his face for any reaction.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, young man. I don't know anyone by that name that works here. Or is it someone you came with that's gotten lost?"

I was about to deny this, before changing my mind. No, this is a good way to possibly spread the word farther, so that someone that knows my message is more likely to hear.

"Sort of. I was supposed to meet him here, but I haven't seen him all day and I'm concerned he's gotten lost. But I know he's here somewhere."

"I'll put word around for him." The policeman assured me. "Now who should I say is looking for this Simmons?"

"Sam."

He nodded and picked up his walkie-talkie, repeating my inquiry over their frequency. "You keep looking, son. I'm sure you'll find him."

"Thank you." I smiled politely, walking back towards the windows with Mikaela.

"That's gotten real old, real fast." She gave me an unimpressed look. "I could almost say you're embarrassing me."

"That's great, because I don't actually care." I looked down at the water and power buildings below us. Sector Seven is right here, hopefully the Allspark too, but I'm stuck being a tourist. I have half an hour before we're stuck coming back tomorrow, and I just can't help but feel like I haven't asked the right people. I don't know who the right people are, though. So what am I supposed to do?

"Who is this Simmons, anyway?" She asked. "Or is it just some secret code word you and your alien family use?"

I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic tone. "It's the name of a man I know to work in Sector Seven. Not my favorite person, but..."

"But what?" She prompted when I didn't speak for a moment.

I completely dropped that train of thought and looked around us for a pair of binoculars. There was a couple nearby that had some they weren't using, and I quickly went up to them. They were from our tour, and thus recognized me as the annoying kid that kept talking during the tour.

"May I borrow those a moment?" I asked. "I'm just using them right here." I pointed to the window behind them.

"Sure." The man gave me a weird look, holding them out. The woman shook her head and turned away. I grabbed them quickly an crouched down as if it would give me a better vantage point to look down at the pavement at the base of the Dam.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Mikaela caught back up to me. "Give them the binoculars back."

"That's him." I insisted, staring at a head full of curly grey hair. From this angle that's all I can see, but it's enough. That's probably a black suit, and... and now he's disappeared from view again. I put the binoculars on the bench beside the couple. "Thanks." I tossed over my shoulder as I ran toward the door.

"Sam!" Mikaela objected in exasperation. "Who? You're starting to let this whole thing go to your head. Where are you going now? We just got here!"

I didn't say anything, leaving the visiting center and making a bee-line back to the gift shop. I'm not done here, and I need to find a whole lot more people, because I'm rather certain Sector Seven is still here.

"Wait up-" Mikaela started to object again, but we were in an empty hall. We were the only ones going this way, back to the ground level right now, and we were just in between security cameras. Which was a perfect time to have your arm grasped and yanked sideways into a side hall that's marked 'personel only'.

Two taller men wearing the same uniforms as the Dam policeman I'd spoken to earlier were esquarting the both of us down the hall and around to some stairs. Mikaela had gone quiet and was watching me for my next move. She was rolling with it, and until I stated my position on what's happening, she was bidding her time.

At the bottom of the stairs, we were cornered into a smaller room with the light flicking on like a cliche interrogation room. Which only really meant one thing, of course.

"Who are you looking for?" The man that had grabbed me demanded, looking between the both of us.

"Seymour Simmons." I answered calmly.

"Who's looking?" The other man demanded.

"Sam." Came my answer.

"What do you know?" The first one spoke again.

"About this whole operation."

Their expressions changed and the room relaxed only slightly. Now, however, they seemed free to say what was on their minds.

"You're just a kid! What do you think you're pulling here? How do you know about all of that?" The first one seemed to be in charge. "And who are you?"

"Mikaela." She answered stiffly, shooting me a glance.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that right now. But I need to see your operations. Alright, this is really important." I insisted, letting my calm facade drop a bit. "You need to take me down to see Simmons, or whoever else might be in charge."

"You think just because you throw around a few fancy words and cloak and dagger, we're going to let you in like that?" He scoffed. "More like you've now been incarcerated for threat to national security."

"NBE, non-biological extraterrestrial. Aliens. Giant robots. The Cube. I know this stuff, and I probably know it for a reason. Take me to Simmons. I need to talk with him." I insisted, no about to play around.

They laughed. "You're not calling the shots here. You can't be serious."

"I am." I scoffed.

"He is." Mikaela backed me up. "He's got information on these aliens like you wouldn't believe. Now if you want any of it, you're going to want to do as he says."

I shot her a glance, but nodded.

"What do you know?" They rounded on me.

"I know a whole lot." I crossed my legs. "It's my job to know. I've been training for years to know, and I'd be happy to share it all. But not until after I get what I want."

"And what is it you want?" The second man sighed, getting tired of this already.

"I want to see your facilities. If I'm not mistaken, you have a giant alien robot popsicle, right?" They said neither yay nor nay, but I know enough to tell that they had both just confirmed. "And you've got a big Cube thing that puts off a lot of weird energy." This was more of a willful hope that was thankfully also unintentionally confirmed. Out of everything that's happened and gone wrong, there might yet be one good thing from it all; the Allspark remains intact. "I want to see them both."

"And what gives you the right?"

"I have more of a right to either of them than you do. You have no idea what I've gone through to get here. I'll talk. I'll tell you all kinds of things about the aliens, because I've lived with them for years. They trust me."

"Oh? Then where are they now?" They were skeptic.

I pursed my lips. I don't know.

"Come on. We don't have all day anyways." The first man decided, pointing us towards a door in the corner of the interrogation room. It wasn't the one we came in from, and judging from the key-card lock on it, we were about to pass to the other side of the public line. "It doesn't matter to me whether you're calling the shots or the boss is. Either way, you're coming with us."

"Fine by me." I sighed, allowing the slightest moments of relief as I returned to the political minefield and official's playground. Agents, soldiers, and cranky politicians is where I belong, and as that door behind us shut, I felt that much closer to home.

With every step we took, the facilities became more familiar. Being escorted by two men that clearly didn't want me to be here was nothing new to me. Actually, their discomfort almost put me at ease. How often is it that I am in the company of uncomfortable official people? If one of the Autobots are also present, it's a guarantee.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we made an unexpected turn. "The popsickle's that way."

"How do you know that?" One of the men demanded, clearly no more willing to take me that way the more I say things I shouldn't know.

"Again, I'm not at liberty to discuss that." I denied. "Are you taking me to the guy in charge?"

"No, we're taking you to see Simmons." Just like I'd asked for, I guess.

Only when we were going through the last door did I finally catch the look Mikaela was giving me. Once again, she's been dragged in for association. And now she's heard too much. But it's not like she'll get stuck here or anything.

There were a couple people with guns to intimidate us, but more interestingly, there was Simmons standing on the other side of the table we were expected to sit at. He had his arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and just a whole demeanor I really can't take seriously anymore. It's like he's playing dress up, because he's not a Sector Seven agent. He doesn't care who he works for, he just wants to be involved with aliens, and currently, S-7 is the only job opening.

"Who do you think you are, throwing my name around like we're buddies?" He demanded, pointing to the chairs. We both sat down, and I gave a grin. "Because we're not. I'm about to lose my badge for breaching national security, for something I ain't ever done! Explain yourself. Now." He jabbed an angry fist on the table, glaring at both of us.

"No, no. We've never met before." I insisted. "You couldn't have broken national security, because this is the first time we've met in any way, shape, or form."

He hesitated, backing up and nodding. "That's right. How do you know my name? And all this?" He dropped a print-out of my email."

"I can explain that." I clapped my hands together. "Once you take me to the popsicle and the Cube." Megatron's frozen carcass is my best chance on getting ahold of the Autobots right now. Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. If they let me leave the Dam with the Allspark, I can guarantee I'm going to encounter Cybertronian life within the day.

"No, and no." He denied immediately. "I want answers. How do you know about the aliens?"

"No." I mimicked him. "This is on my terms. Because I can't prove anything until I have one of the above listed."

He gave me a silent glare, before turning on Mikaela. "You. What is it again..." He reached over to the folder and opened it up, which unsurprisingly held two profiles, one on me and one on her. "Mikaela. Right. Are you going to talk?" He pinned his best glare on here.

She glanced to me and I shrugged. "You can go ahead and tell him the truth. He's no threat, he's pretty harmless."

"Excuse me? No. I've got a bite much worse than my bark, son. Don't make me use it." I clearly upset him, He rounded back on Mikaela, who was far more nervous than I was. "What do you know?"

"I don't know anything." She admitted. "I just went on a road trip with Sam, and I just came for the road trip part. I was kind of hoping I could start driving home before he started doing whatever crazy thing to get himself arrested."

"No you weren't, you wanted to know what was happening." I scoffed.

"I don't know, Sam. This seems pretty serious. You look like you're enjoying yourself, and I don't know if that means everything is going to be fine, or you've lost it." She shook her head.

"No, the kid's definitely lost it." Simmons cut back in. "Smart, not telling your little criminal girlfriend anything. Now we've got to wean it out of you personally."

"You don't seem to understand where I stand on this." I leaned forward, propping my elbows onto the table. "I'm willing to talk. I'll tell you everything you want to know. I'll tell you where the aliens come from, why they came to Earth, I'll even tell you what kind of technologies they have, but don't tell me how any of it works. I'm no engineer. I'm actually what you might call an expert on their culture, and talking about them is what I do best. But I'm not saying anything on the subject until you take me to NBE-01 and the Cube."

"I take you into that room, you aren't leaving. You are officially apprehended and contained. You aren't leaving this facility so long as Sector Seven stands." He smirked, deciding this was enough to stop me. "By all means, if you want to live here the rest of your natural born life, never seeing the light of the sun again, I'll take you to see both of them."

"Just to be clear, is that offer individual between us?" I asked, pointing between Mikaela and I.

"Yes." He deadpanned, rather unimpressed.

"Then I agree." I held out a hand to make that deal. As long as Sector Seven stands.

Simmons hadn't expected this, but he raised his eyebrows and shook my hand. Then he turned to Mikaela. "What about you? You can either spend your whole life here, or we're moving you somewhere else to discuss your situation. Think hard." He narrowed his eyes.

"Am I really never leaving this place?" She asked, keeping her eyes on him but turning towards me, asking us both.

"Yes." Simmons answered promptly.

"No." Was my reply. "We might be here a little while, but not even all summer."

"You're a little overconfident, young man." Simmons scoffed.

"You sounded crazy when you were talking about aliens, I think I'm going to trust you." Mikaela decided. "I accept this deal too."

"Right. Tom is not going to be happy about this." Simmons moaned, turning away from us. "I might yet still lose my badge."

"Stay on my nice side, and you'll get a position in NEST." I encouraged.

"What now? No, this kid's lost it." He scoffed. "Stand down, I'm giving him what he wants. Just make sure everyone knows these kids aren't allowed to leave. And please, will one of you find Tom before he finds out about this mess on his own?" He pulled the door back open and turned towards us. "Alright. Let's go." He motioned for us to walk out.

"What's NEST?" Mikaela asked me as the atmosphere started to relax and we went back down the way I thought we'd been going to begin with.

"Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty. It's a human-Autobot alliance that replaces this abomination." I sneered at our surroundings. S-7 crests on the walls, I really don't like them.

Simmons didn't grace us with any comments as we went. We weren't much farther from the hanger they kept Megatron in, and my nervousness was starting to build again. The Allspark is deeper underground, so it figures we'd be going there last. But I'm about to come face to face with the first actual Cybertronian in so long. I'm both worried I'm going to feel different about them after so long, and overdue for this. It feels like everything I've been working to do is about to pay off, and the moment is rather anticlimactic. Which is completely ridiculous, because I still have to find the Autobots. This here is just the first step.

I let Mikaela and Simmons through the door that lead into the hanger first, fearing beyond belief that something had gone wrong and maybe... what if... what if after all this work, it's somehow an entirely different alien species they've got in here? Maybe that's the thing? Maybe what's different here is it's a different alien species that was thrown into war and crashed into Earth, and that's why things went down differently?

Just inside the door, with Simmons and Mikaela still walking ahead, I found my feet glued to the floor the moment I found the massive, frozen being they were keeping. A familiar, comforting sight that repulsed me at the same time. Because it's too familiar a sight. Too familiar a height, too familiar a paint job, too familiar features... The entire contraption they'd built up around the Cybertronian stuck in stasis was smaller than it had been in my continuity, but it was a familiar height. Because the bot in it was the most familiar of them all.

"Bumblebee?"

I would like to wrap this chapter up by establishing the fact I don't like most of the human characters from Michael Bay's movies. Mikaela is a sex symbol with no other purpose, easily replaced after two movies and people barely notice. Sam is an annoying incarnation of most teenager stereotypes and has a terrible sense of loyalty. Simmons is crude and annoying, and his character is clearly just a comic relief that had more potential. I have my own 'cannon' set for each of their personalities that make them much more appealing, and I use it in most all my stories now. Sam is politically adept and loyal to the Autobots, Mikaela is a tough girl that's major thing going for her is her ability to work on cars that she adapts to being Ratchet's star pupil- when I'm feeling generous towards her -and Simmons is still an annoying jerk... but he's a lovable annoying jerk. He's incredibly dramatic, doesn't trust easy, likes banter, and his loyalty lies with whoever can get him closest to the aliens.

On a completely unrelated topic, the only human character that my love has only strengthened for is Lennox. Despite all others of his species in the movie, William Lennox is still funny, loyal, stubborn, and I like him. In fact, while he isn't my favorite character in the Bay-verse, he is definitely my favorite human character in the movies. His character remains modeled after the personality shown in the movies.

Who is your favorite human in the movies, going only off from the movie's personifications of each character?