Man oh man, after a long relaxing vacation in Branson, Missouri.. it feels good to have some time to update my stories. :) For all my loyal reviewers, followers, and just plain awesome readers, I give you... THE NEXT CHAPTER... IN TRANSFORMERS PRIME: A NEW PURPOSE!

Ch. 28

At the Autobot Base:

"Optimus, I've got multiple Decepticon signals on a road outside of Jasper. And they're circled around something in the road." Ratchet had an uneasy edge in his voice as he spoke while the other Autobots moved around as Optimus spoke up. "Agent Fowler…" With that, the agent looked at the group and spoke up calmly.

"Way ahead of you Prime, I'll have my boys block off all ways leading to the area." With that, Optimus looked at the map and saw a group of hills near the road before looking to his old friend and medic. "Ratchet, activate a ground bridge in the hill area near the road where the Decepticon incursion is."

With that, the Autobots circled around their leader while Jack snuck a look at his partner. Arcee caught this and nodded at her spark mate as she knew his unspoken question. 'Keep your cool and keep your eyes on her if things get out of hand.' With that, the ground bridge opened and Optimus spoke up.

"Autobots, Roll Out!" As the team ran through the bridge, they found themselves on a hillside overlooking the highway. The team moved low over the crest of the hill before their eyes went wide. "Who the frag is the new guy?" Wheeljack had his characteristic skeptical voice in play as he looked at the Decepticons surrounding the unknown bot.

"Whoever he is, we will have to wait and see how things proceed before we can risk entering the altercation." Optimus spoke with a firm voice as he looked at the scene before him. Meanwhile, Jack had his hand in Arcee's as they both had their eyes locked on a black armored femme standing with the group of Decepticons.

"Arcee, you okay?" Jack had a deep tone of concern in his voice as he looked at his spark mate. But as he looked into her eyes, Arcee spoke up. "I'm fine Jack, I told you I let it go." This obviously didn't go unheard by the group as Bulkhead spoke up. "Whoa, Arcee letting go of her grudge with Airachnid; now that I didn't expect." Arcee looked past the group to see Optimus looking at her with a proud smile on his face before the attention of the group was drawn by blaster fire.

In the street:

Michael ran at a single Decepticon before putting a blaster shot through his head and grabbing him around the neck. As he turned he used the dead Decepticon as a shield while putting shot after shot into the other Decepticons around him. As the last Seeker dropped dead, Michael dropped the dead Decepticon in his grip as he spoke up.

"That just leaves me and you." With that, Michael turned to see Airachnid looking on with a face of impression as she spoke up. "I must say you know how to use a blaster, but how are you with close quarters combat?" With that, Michael's hands changed from blasters to a pair of long blades as he took a step towards Airachnid.

"Why you wanna know spider, you wanna dance?" With that, Airachnid smiled at Michael as she activated her spider form before speaking up. "Let's dance big boy." With that, the two began to circle each other. It was quite sudden as Airachnid ran up and began the dance between the two. As the two slammed at each other with their individual blades, Michael found himself suddenly feeling a sense of excitement rising in his stomach as he suddenly spoke up.

"I gotta admit, you know how to use those legs of yours Airachnid." Airachnid suddenly through a slash across Michaels head and through his hood. As the two separated, Airachnid waited as she looked at the turned back of the bot before her. "Well, Blacktop may I see the face of my combatant or do I have to get even more violent?" With that, Michael's head raised and revealed an array of scars. As Michael turned, he suddenly froze as the two locked eyes.

Back on the hillside:

The team watched as they got a look at the mysterious bot's face. "Whoa, and I thought Starscream had some scars on him; this guy looks like he got caught in a plasma bomb." Wheeljack's words were heard by all but one of the Autobots as the bot looked on at the scene before him. 'Why does he feel so familiar?'

Jack couldn't help but feel like he knew this bot all too well. "Optimus, what do we do?" Arcee's words registered in her commanders head as he looked on. "Now that the odds would be in our favor, I suggest we make our presence known." With that, the group looked back ahead and froze as they saw that both the bot and Airachnid were still staring into each others' eyes.

"What's going on with them, you'd think they thought of each other as the most interesting bots' in existence now." Bumblebee was having similar thoughts as everyone else as they too were confused at why Airachnid of all bots was frozen in her steps. The team was pulled from their thoughts as their commander spoke up.

"Autobots; advance on the objective." With that, the team began to move slowly towards the two bots. The Autobots were able to get far too close for comfort to the two before they stopped a few yards away from both bots. "Airachnid." Optimus' voice pulled the two out of their gazes as they looked at the now present Autobots.

For several tense seconds, the group of bots simply sat there as Airachnid's and Blacktops eyes wandered over the group. When Airachnid suddenly spotted Arcee looking at her with neutral eyes, she felt very confused. It was when Jack suddenly spoke up that everyone's attention was drawn to him.

"Who are you, and where did you learn how to fight like that?" Jack was addressing Blacktop who was staring back at him with cloudy eyes as he was unable to speak for a moment. It was when Blacktop began to walk towards Jack that some of the Autobots clenched their fists only to pause as Optimus held up his hand.

Blacktop walked up before stopping right in front of Jack and locking eyes with him as he spoke softly. "Jack…. It's me." Jack suddenly stepped back as his eyes went wide with shock as he recognized the voice he just heard. How could he not; they were as close as two boys could get to being brothers.

"Mi…Michael…no... NO! You died; I saw your coffin at Fort Bragg!" Jack suddenly felt a firm hand on his hand as he saw the bot before him look right into his eyes. "Jack… it is me!" Jack was still hard to convince as Jack's hand suddenly turned into his blaster as he leveled it on Blacktops head.

"How do I know this isn't a trick…how do I know you're really him!?" The Autobots along with Airachnid watched as Blacktop stepped forward until the end of Jack's barrel was pressed against Blacktops chest before he spoke up. "Do you remember what happened on October 10th of 2010?" Jack suddenly dropped his hand back to his side as his eyes went even wider as he now knew for sure… that this was indeed… his best friend.

'Mike… Primus… it's really him…' In that next second, drilling could be heard and the team looked just in time to see Airachnid's body disappear down the hole she drilled. The team suddenly returned their attention back to Michael as Optimus spoke up. "Ratchet, activate the ground bridge; we have a guest."

With that, the team looked as a ground bridge activated and they began to walk through. As the team entered the base, Ratchet quickly caught sight of Michael before he spoke up. "So who have we brought into the base this time?" But when Ratchet saw how Jack was reacting, he looked to Michael as he spoke up. "Maybe you remember my voice Ratchet?" With that, Ratchet's eyes too went wide as he realized who he was talking to.

Aboard the Nemesis:

Airachnid walked through the corridors of the Nemesis as she made her way to the bridge while thinking about the events that had occurred earlier. 'What happened between me and Blacktop?' In the next moment Airachnid hunched over as she suddenly saw a flash of light before a memory appeared in her mind.

A picture of a boy lying on the ground in an alley way as a group of humans kicked him while he was on the ground. The boy looked familiar, almost like Airachnid had seen him before. She felt a sense of something she never felt for anything before: sympathy. She knew what it felt like to be beaten down while you were defenseless.

The image suddenly flashed into a battleground, Airachnid looked down and found a human lying at her feet with blood pooling under him as he sat up against a wall. She looked on as she saw him raise a human blaster and begin to fire at something. But as a volley of shots entered his body, he fell limp as the blaster fell from his hands.

In that moment, Airachnid suddenly felt a shot of pain rip through her spark at the sight of the human falling dead. The next image chilled her spark as she saw the same human floating in a tube of energon as life returned to his eyes and his body began to change into that of a transformer; a transformer that Airachnid had met not hours ago.

'What is happening to me?' As Airachnid straightened her body and walked into the bridge her thoughts cleared as she walked up behind Megatron and spoke. "My liege, I discovered that the anomaly was a cybertronian by the name of Blacktop. However, Blacktop killed off the seekers that escorted me, I would've brought him to you had Optimus and hi"

With that, Megatron turned and slammed his fist into Airachnid's face, causing her to fly through the air and land on her back as she saw Megatron sneering at her. "I have no interest in your failure Airachnid, and considering you allowed an entire squadron of my troops to be killed, it would stand that you owe me a spark."

0_0 Oh snap... Megatron is ticked and Airachnid is now in his crosshairs. Not only that, but the Autobots now know who Blacktop really is. What will happen next? I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible so you can find out. ;)