Hey guys! Just thought I'd update the newest chapter to Soul Recon! Thank you for your reviews! I appreciate all feedback to my stories! It's pretty funny, I think the original "Project Seven" has taken just as many hits as this story has! I've decided to make this a two part chapter. This post is long enough without having to add more to it!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers! But Cat is the creation from my own noggin', so no stealie stealie!!!

------------------------------------------------------------

September 16th, 2007

New Arrivals

-------------------------------------------------

"I'm telling ya, there's no way that you're going to beat me!" Jazz complained over an early morning argument.

"You're just afraid of being shown up!" Cat smirked as she sipped her coffee.

"I've seen ya ride that motor-bike of yours! You'd be eatin' my dust before you could even shift out of first!" Jazz shot back.

Cat's smug grin could only grow as she stood up from the smaller, human-sized table which sat nearby the larger, Autobot-sized table. She walked over to the sink and conveyor belt which sent dirty dishes to the kitchen staff and placed her empty coffee mug on the belt. She then said, "Yeah, well when you're ready to accept that you'll be defeated, you're more than welcome to give it your all and race against me!"

"Fine then!" Jazz slammed his hands down on the table, "After my shift, I'll be sure and kick yer aft then!"

Cat turned and smiled even bigger, "Well good luck trying anyway!"

Cat left the lounge area and looked to her watch.

"Oh man, if I'm late to the lab again, Ratchet will give me another speech!" she grimaced at the idea of another "responsibility" speech, and made a run for the lab.

------------------------------------------------

-Flashback-

Cat looked around the corner of the inside of the garage and saw that no one was in the corridors. She quietly tiptoed down the halls, still wearing her biker's jacket, holding onto her helmet. She got to the end of the hallway where she would soon open the door and run up the empty stairwell. Hoping that after she reached the eleventh floor she would just be able to make a quick left-handed turn and be able to open her room door up without so much as one bothersome complaint from either human or Autobot.

Feeling a grin pass over her lips, Cat was only two, maybe three, steps away from the stairwell. Her hand at ready to push the safety bar which ran across the middle of the door so she could make a quick dash up the stairs.

And then she heard it.

"So nice of you to rejoin us, Catherine," The sarcasm in Optimus's voice was clearly evident.

Cat froze in her spot and turned to see the leader walking towards her from another angle of another corridor. He came to a halt just a few paces away from Cat and put his hands to his hips in waiting for a response from the girl.

"Hey there… I was just-uh… Going to put my things up and then-" she started.

"Come find me to explain yourself?" he finished for her.

"Uh… yeah," she gave him a cheesy grin.

"I think you and I had better have a chat," Optimus turned and walked back down the way he had come, apparently expecting the girl to follow.

Cat slumped her shoulders and muttered curses under her breath, knowing full well that the Autobot could hear a pin drop in a crowded room a mile away. She looked up to see that he had glanced back at her with a slight grin and then turned back forward again. They walked only a minute more before coming to a bay door which opened after Optimus pressed a button off to the right of the door.

The two walked in, Cat taking in the features of the room. It looked to be a board meeting room of some sort, a transformer-sized rectangular table along with several chairs scooted underneath of it. Optimus motioned for Cat to climb up into his palm after leaning down to her level. She jumped into his hand and was brought up to the table, being allowed to carefully walk out of the Autobot leader's palm onto the table's hard surface.

Cat turned as Optimus pulled out a chair and sat down, looking down upon the girl. She, herself, took the opportunity to sit down on the table, setting her helmet down next to her.

"Cat, I know that you are still getting used to your new living situation. All of us are. However, as with my men, I expect proper notification before any of you leaves for certain lengths of time," he began to explain.

Cat sighed, "To be honest, I don't feel like I need to report to anyone… I've been under careful watch for the past twenty years of my life, and I suppose I half-expected freedom to be more about me just exploring on my own."

"I see.. I can't say that I blame you for wanting this freedom, but you must understand that we consider you a part of our troop. And when one of my soldier's goes missing, it causes some concern," Optimus responded.

Cat looked up to him in a somewhat confused look on her face. They considered her part of their troop?

"We've discussed about what we should do with you, and we think that we have come up with a solution," Optimus smirked.

-Uh oh… That can't be good- Cat thought to herself.

-End Flashback-

-------------------------------------------------

So, after her little overnight trip to see Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee in Tranquility, the four Autobots at the base decided that she needed to start learning bits and pieces of things from each Autobot. This time around she was to spend time with Ratchet and learn about Cybertonian systems and how to repair them. Hoping that this skill was the most important, just in case any, if not all of the transformers were knocked offline and needed a quick repair during battle.

Running as fast as her new, weaker legs could run, Cat tried her best to avoid running into any of the humans who roamed the hallways.

"Hey!" One of them shouted as she just barely clipped the man by his shoulder.

"Watch it!" A woman yelled, spinning around quickly to keep from being run over by the girl.

Cat made it to the second floor and skidded into the lab, nearly knocking some of the file cabinets over as she ran into them, falling to the ground. She was mumbling and cursing to herself as she noticed a shadow looming around her and looked up.

Ratchet stared down at Cat as she gave him a sheepish grin.

"You're late…" he said as he picked the girl up by the scruff of her shirt and set her down on the nearest table.

"Are you injured?" he asked, about to scan her over.

"Of course I'm not!" Cat scowled as she stood up, brushing herself off.

Ratchet chuckled quietly to himself and turned back towards what he was doing before the girl had interrupted him.

"So what's on today's agenda?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the large examination table, dangling her legs over the side.

"You've been very quick to learn how to repair Cybertronian systems, Catherine. However, today we're expecting some new arrivals, and they'll be coming here for an examination shortly," he explained.

"New arrivals?" Cat asked, wondering what he meant, "You mean new human technicians?"

"No, no. I've just gotten off of communications with Optimus. We've received several signals from other Autobots, who are arriving on Earth. They should be here at any time," Ratchet replied.

"You mean there are more of you?!" Cat asked, wondering if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Of course there are! You didn't expect that there were only five of us left in the whole universe did you?" Ratchet replied.

"Well, I mean… You guys never talk about other Autobots. I figured that… Well maybe you were the only ones left," Cat thought aloud.

"After the destruction of the Allspark, Optimus sent a message out to any Autobots left who may have been hiding amongst the stars in the universe. And we've finally gotten a few replies. The government has set up an area where they can arrive safely without any disturbances," Ratchet explained.

"How many are we expecting?" Cat asked.

"We have only received four replies, as of now. We've identified two of them as known Autobots, and the other two were barely readable, but they are Autobots," Ratchet replied.

"Well? Who are the ones that you know?" Cat asked.

"One of them is a mech by the name of Wheeljack. He's a science officer of sorts. And other is a gunner by the name of Bluestreak. The other two signals are from the same source, so whoever they are, they'll be arriving at the same time," Ratchet went on.

"So, where are they going to arrive at?" Cat asked.

"A few miles from here in a part of the desert that isn't within range of human civilians. Ironhide and Jazz are going to meet them in just a few moments and bring them back here."

"Ah… Good…" Cat said.

Ratchet looked over to the girl, seeing the bored look on her face, and asked, "Perhaps you would like to go with them?"

Cat's head perked up and she asked, "Really?"

Ratchet nodded.

"You've learned the most difficult parts of the working Cybertronian system, and I have no diagnostics to run today, except for the newest arrivals. You may as well go along with them for now," he replied.

"All right!" Cat shouted.

"You'd better save the celebration for later, Jazz and Ironhide are about ready to leave," Ratchet advised.

"Oh, right!" Cat jumped off of the table and began running to the hangers, but not without Ratchet hearing some of the humans yelling at her for nearly running them over once again.

"Ratchet to Jazz," Ratchet opened the comm. link.

"Jazz here. What ya need?"

"You haven't left yet have you?"

"Not yet. We're about ready to though, why?"

"Give it a couple of minutes, Cat's coming with you," he advised.

"Confirmed."

"Good, Ratchet out."

It was only a minute before the crashing sound of Cat running through the hanger doors, making the two Autobots there, and the technicians turn to look at her mangled form. Jazz picked the girl up in the same fashion that Ratchet had and looked her over.

"Still haven't gotten used to the new legs have ya?" He asked with a grin.

Cat grumbled as he set her down and transformed into the Pontiac Solstice and opened the driver's side door for the girl. She got in and watched as Ironhide transformed into the GMC truck, and the outer hanger doors opened up, letting them out into the desert.

Only a few minutes into the early morning drive and they arrived at a spot which seemed very secluded from human eyes. They stopped, and Cat got out of Jazz's car cabin and looked around. There was nothing but sand dunes and the downcast of the white, hot sun blazing upon them.

"Don't see anything yet," she said with a yawn.

"It shouldn't be too much longer, "Jazz thought aloud.

"So who are we expecting first?" Cat asked.

"Blue should be getting here in just a few seconds. Wheeljack will be a few more minutes. We'll be taking them back then coming back later to meet with the other two," Jazz replied.

Cat looked up into the sky in front of them and started to say, "I don't see anything -"

Not looking behind her, Cat was startled when the loud "BOOM" caught her off guard as a meteor-looking object shot down from the sky and landed several hundred feet away from them, shaking the ground and knocking Cat over. She quickly got back up as Jazz and Ironhide transformed into their humanoid forms and walked over to the object, which was still on fire as it began to move around. Cat watched as it began transforming from a giant fireball into a giant, gray mech. It turned around to her two Autobot friends and began speaking in Cybertronian. Cat couldn't understand all of it, because she hadn't learned a whole lot of the language from Ratchet's teachings yet. But from what she could understand, it was your basic greetings.

The three Autobots nodded at one another with each phrase as Cat caught up with them, peering out at the gray robot from behind Ironhide. After only a moment of the greetings, the gray mech looked down to Cat with wide, blue optics. It spoke in it's native tongue to her, not that she could understand any of what it was saying.

After a few seconds of this, Jazz interrupted the gray mech and was apparently explaining something to him. There was a strange "whirring" noise within the gray mech and it's blue optics flashed back at Cat.

"Is this right? I hope it's the right language because this planet has several different languages. But this is the one that I could find as "English" although there seems to be several versions of pronunciation for this one language. Can you understand me? You can't understand me can you?" The gray mech translated.

"Whoa there! You're quite the talker!" Cat put her hands up as she walked forward.

"Oh good! It is the right language! Hello there, by the way. My name's Bluestreak!" He announced cheerfully.

-I'm starting to understand where he got his name from…- Cat chuckled to herself.

"It's good to see ya, Blue!" Jazz translated back to English in order to allow everyone in on the conversation.

Bluestreak turned to Jazz and grinned, "Yeah, it's been a while, huh?"

"Too long, Blue," Jazz replied.

The grey mech looked back down to Cat and asked, "So this is a human? They're a lot smaller than I thought they would be-"

"SMALL?!" Cat huffed.

The grey mech nearly jumped out of his armor at the sight of the angry human.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! I just meant-"

"Small-er, Cat." Ironhide helped the new Autobot with his choice of wording.

"Cat?" Bluestreak suddenly realized something.

"Is this one of the humans that Optimus Prime mentioned in his report?" He asked.

"Yea, this is one of em' all right," Jazz replied, looking down to Cat.

Cat raised an eyebrow and said, "I didn't know that Optimus put us in his message."

"Ah, yes. He said many things about what happened after you guys had located the map to the Allspark. He talked about the battles and the people that you had come across and, of course, the battle in Mission City and the fusion between the two humans and-" Bluestreak rambled.

"Okay, okay! We get it, we were there…" Cat grumbled.

"I'm sorry, I know I talk a lot but-" As Bluestreak was about to go on another word bender, another "BOOM" came from above, startling all of them except for Ironhide.

"He's here a little earlier than we expected," the black mech stated sarcastically.

"Who else is coming?" Bluestreak asked.

"Wheeljack, and two others that we couldn't make out clearly in their message," Ironhide replied.

They all watched as the ball of flames flew over them, hitting the ground several hundred yards away. Again, Cat was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground due to the shaking from the mech's landing. Ironhide picked up the grumbling girl as he and Jazz gave a good chuckle. Cat dusted herself off as she was set back onto her feet.

The four of them walked over to the new arrival, which was in the process of turning into his humanoid form. After his transformation, the being turned around, having had his back to the others. The figure shook off some of the debris left by his entry and began transmitting the same language to the others as Bluestreak just had. They had their back and forth greetings, which already somewhat bored Cat.

Turning around to look about the desert, Cat's battle skills were reminding her to check and make sure that there were no other humans within sight of where they were. She already knew that there would be few who could spot the five of them. They were at least five miles from any known roadway or man-made structure. Still, she wanted to be sure.

Before Cat knew it, she felt a warm grip around her body, in a swift and smooth motion; she was brought up to the face of this new figure, which was looking over her as a child would a new toy. She was about to protest when she heard urgent notices from Jazz and Ironhide in their Autobot language. The figure who had a grip on her loosened up quickly, causing her to slip through his grasp, only to be caught by the ankle by the newcomer. She was now dangling about fifteen feet above the ground, her long, brown hair wafting in the wind, as well as her arms and right leg hanging in a mangled fashion.

Figuring that Jazz and Ironhide were about to have a fit of laughter, she twisted around to give them an earful only to see that they looked as if they were edging on panic. They spoke quickly in their native tongue.

"Hmm, very interesting," the newcomer had apparently been told about what language to switch to, "A bio-organism. Bipedal, as well a two extra limbs which serves the same purposes that our own arms do!"

"You just wait until I'm back on the ground! I'll show you what these two extra limbs can do!" Cat huffed as she swung her arms in a fit of anger.

The silver mech looked even more shocked, "Neural, stimulus responsive! Electric impulses carrying signals through the neural pathways which create cognitive thought processes!" he looked closer to the girl, scanning her over then probing her right arm with a poke from his giant index finger, "But this organic also has bionic limbs! How did this come to pass, I wonder?"

Before anyone could say too much more on the subject, they all heard the sound of diesel engine approaching and turned to see a brightly painted Peterbilt semi drawing near.

"Who's that?" Bluestreak asked.

Jazz and Ironhide smiled, "That's Optimus Prime," Ironhide responded.

Optimus skidded to a stop in the sandy dunes and transformed out of his alt mode, walking towards the group from about thirty feet away.

"My apologies for being late, I was held back by-" and then he noticed the dangling form of Cat in Wheeljack's hand.

"Go ahead… Laugh… I dare you…" Cat crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Optimus.

By this point the girl was beginning to feel the blood rushing to her noggin' as her red face was from more than just the angry fit that she was about to have.

Optimus smiled and walked directly to Wheeljack, putting a hand out to him, "May I have that, if you please?"

Wheeljack suddenly remembered that he was even still holding the girl and carefully deposited her into Optimus' waiting hand, "Yes, of course! I really had not researched humans until just now. Fascinating creatures! I'll be sure to do more research to study their cultures, and technology as well!"

"Perhaps you should study us before handling anyone!" Cat seethed, rubbing her ankle where she had been pinched into a hold.

"My apologies, but organics always interest my scientific nature," the silver mech apologized.

"Did you not receive my full report?" Optimus asked, amused by Cat dusting herself off and cursing under her breath as he still held her in his outstretched hand.

"I'm afraid I was nearly too far to receive all of it's contents. I understood bits and pieces of it, but all I really understood was that there were Autobots waiting for others to appear on a planet called "Earth" which was inhabited by a race known as "humans". I was mostly just wandering the universe so I decided to see what it was all about," The silver bot responded with a shrug.

"We can only hope that other Autobots will decide to do the same thing, in the event that they didn't receive the message completely as well," Optimus noted.

"Yes, it would be a shame if any of them decided not to regroup with the rest of us," Wheeljack agreed.

Optimus turned to the other newcomer and smiled again, "And you must be Bluestreak. I'm pleased that you could make it as well."

"Yes! I feel lucky that I received your message when I did! I had no idea that there were any Prime's left! I suppose that there could still be some, other than yourself, but it was a pleasant surprise to know that there was one who was inviting other Autobots to come together again! I was even gladder to know that Jazz was here! Even Ratchet! I haven't seen either of them in millennia! I was practically still a sparkling when I saw them last!" Bluestreak went on.

"Quick! Somebody hit the "Mute" button!" Cat called out.

The group let out a huge wave of laughter following Cat's comment, all except for Bluestreak, who was confused as to what a "Mute" button was.

As the laughter settled, Ironhide turned to Optimus and asked, "Should we take them to base now?"

"No, not yet. You and Jazz see if you can't find some decent alternate modes for these two to scan. There are several car dealerships in Las Vegas that you can take them to, but try and keep them out of seeing distance from the humans until they scan their alternate modes. We wouldn't want to scare them again," The Autobot leader replied.

He looked down to Cat, who was settled in his palm and said, "Ratchet wishes for me to bring you back to the base for now, so that he can better prepare these two for examinations."

"I thought that there were still two more Autobots arriving?" Cat asked.

"Ah, yes. I just finished decoding the message that they had sent, completely. They won't be arriving until early tomorrow, if my calculations are correct. So there's no need to wait for them now," he remembered.

"Oh good, I get to sleep again before being handled like a mouse," Cat smiled as she gave her sarcastic comment.

"All right, then. Let's go you guys, so we can getcha back to the base and getcha settled in," Jazz ordered cheerfully.

Optimus let Cat down easily as she walked from his hand to the hard surface. He, then, transformed into his semi truck form, and opened the passenger side door, which was closest to Cat. She climbed in, the door closing softly behind her, and away they went, back to the base, as Jazz and Ironhide led Bluestreak and Wheeljack to Las Vegas.

"Hey Optimus?" Cat asked after a few minutes of traveling.

"Yes, Catherine?" he replied.

"…What's a "sparkling"?"

Optimus thought for a moment, trying to research on the World Wide Web to see if there were any good translations for what "sparkling" meant to them into human terms.

"A sparkling is a term we use for a young Cybertronian. Much like the ages that you refer to as "infancy" to "child" for a small human," he explained.

"So Bluestreak is a hundred years off from being a kid?!" Cat was a bit surprised.

"Not really. Bluestreak, if I remember correctly, is only a little older than Bumblebee. They're both a few thousand years old according to human calculations, but to us Autobots they're still closer to their sparkling ages than they are to being as old as say, Ironhide, or myself. Techically they are closer in mindset age to you, than they are to the mindset of some of the older humans."

"What about Wheeljack? How old is he?" Cat asked.

"I believe that he's the same age as Ratchet, but I'm not for certain."

"When I was just dangling from Wheeljack's hold, I figured that Jazz and Ironhide would be having a fit of laughter, but they seemed rather edgy. Did they not trust him?" Cat wondered aloud.

"It's not that he's untrustworthy as an Autobot. It's just that as a science officer… Well he's been known to have a few of his experiments…" he made the noise of clearing his "throat", "Some of the things that he handles will sometimes just, inexplicably, explode," He explained.

Cat looked a little fearful, "Come again?"

"Do not worry Catherine. I doubt that humans will have the same effect on him as his science projects do," Optimus chuckled.

"Let's hope anyway…" The girl cringed, but went on with her questioning.

She raised an eyebrow and a slight smirk appeared on her face, "So exactly how old are you anyway?"

"…Old…" was the only response.

"So Bluestreak and Bumblebee were only kids when your war started?" Cat asked with a sorrowful glance.

"Bluestreak was, in human terms, a young adult. If I remember correctly, he went through some extremely turbulent times. I think we were lucky that he didn't offline himself after what he went through. Bumblebee, however, was closer to the age of an "infant" when he was found. His creators were destroyed, and he was barely alive himself. We practically raised him from the day of his creation," Optimus replied with a slight hint of remorse for his two comrades.

"… So they're kind of like me…" Cat practically whispered.

"In what respect?" the Autobot asked.

"They were born into learning how bad life could get…" Cat replied.

Optimus felt his spark wrench in his spark chamber. It was true that most of the Autobots that were still alive today were either brought into existence during the war, or had a very short lived happy life. Still only a human, such as Cat, could understand what that kind of life was like. She was born into a life of fighting, just as some of their own race was. It was unfair to both her and Autobots alike that all they could recall in their lifetime was war and pain.

"Cat," came the gentle voice of Optimus. The girl's pained face looked to the radio which was transmitting his audio feed.

"Do not feel badly for any of us. We are all still existence to fight for the rights of living peacefully. Sometimes, you must do that in order to attain what you wish for the most. War never comes without it's price to pay. One day, we will all gain back our lives, just as you have. You were born into being nothing more than a "project" so that humans could create the ultimate fighting machine to aid them in war. Yet you are now recognized as a promising citizen, with the rights of living the life that every other sentient being deserves," he tried to comfort both of their pain.

"Yeah… But it's like you said, "Cat lifted her right hand up, looking over it and balling it into a tight fist, "There's always a price… And we have to live with paying it for the rest of our lives…"

Cat's action of overlooking her bionic arm was not lost on Optimus. She shouldn't have had to pay a price. She never asked for the life that she was given, but she was right. She would be paying for what was done to her for as long as she was alive. It was just the same for the Autobots. They never asked for their world to be torn apart by something they didn't create.

"Do me a favor, Cat," Optimus started.

Cat looked back to the radio again and nodded slightly.

"Don't ever give up," was his only demand.

Cat was, at first, confused. But she realized that he was right. She probably would have given up if it weren't for Five being there in her early stages of development. And she probably would have given up later on if she hadn't met Sam, Mikaela and the Autobots. But what he was trying to tell her now was to be strong no matter who is or isn't by your side. A wide smile spread across her face.

"Deal, "she said.

"Truly, Cat, you are a human who has the spirit of an Autobot," Optimus commented cheerfully as they finally arrived to the Dam.

To be continued…

------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Teaser! (of sorts)

So who are these two new arrivals? And is Cat trying to get back to training? What's this?! Is there Decepticon activity?! TWO Mustangs?! What the heck's going on here?!