Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Sentinel: Authoress, you looked stressed.

Authoress: *glances at Sentinel with a barely restrained look* Oh, I'm just peachy.

Trecke: I have a feeling that this is about work. Is that correct?

Authoress: *nods* Remodel sucks.

Chapter 18: Truth and Consequence

Starscream's 1st P.O.V.

"He knows something! The way he froze up, he has to know something!"

I flinched as Pandemonium's raised vocals hit my audios. While the mech had enough sense, thankfully, to leave our prisoner before he raised his vocals, the mech was not holding his thoughts back. Of course, I couldn't blame the mech. If anybot had told me that Sentinel Prime had any information on Pandemonium's creation, I would have thought they were losing their processor. I mean, this was an Autobot who had barely been away from Cybertron, and the few times he had been away from the planet were well documented in the records we were able to pull on him.

So, this was throwing everybot for a turn.

"Yes, we saw that," Megatron agreed with the panicking mech. "However, we need to approach this carefully. The way he hid that recognition means that he will be very reluctant to share that with us. If we ask about it more, he might close himself off completely. If we are going to make any more progress in phase one, then we are going to need him to stay open."

"We have been waiting for hundreds of stellars for a chance like this," Malice spoke for the first time since Pandemonium had told Pandimala's designation to the Prime. She had been oddly quiet during this, though to be fair Pandemonium was being the unusually confrontational one between the two of them. "If this chance passes and we don't ask him, we may never get an opportunity like this again."

All of us went silent at her words and I knew that our leader was taking what they were saying into account. This was a difficult situation as it was, and there were pros and cons to both sides of the argument. There had to be some sort of middle ground so that we didn't spook off the mech while, at the same time, they could get their answers. However, without knowing more about the Prime, everything that we were doing was going to be a risk. While our original observation of him told us that he would be the most receptive between the now four teams of Autobots here on Earth, that didn't mean that he couldn't be pushed the wrong way.

Of course, the Prime had to be used to the unusual, given the bots that were on his team. In the newest one, the activist femme, would make most teams, Autobot and Decepticon both, hesitate. That didn't even touch on the medic. A shiver traveled through my systems as I remembered the rage that had been on the insane medic's faceplate as he had tried to reclaim his leader. The fury that he expressed was one that I had felt very few times in my entire existence. I knew the next fight we were in with them if they didn't have their leader back by that point, would not be one we would leave unscathed. Not in the slightest.

Thinking about that team, and their current divide, suddenly gave me an idea about how both sides could be happy. "What if we let Pandemonium ask him more?"

Everybot looked to me with varying looks of curiosity, and hope in the cases of the creators involved before Megatron spoke. "What do you mean Starscream? How would that help us avoid the Prime possible refusal to cooperate?"

I motioned to the screen that currently showed the Prime. "Think of the mech's team. They are a varied group that, in most other situations, Autobot or Decepticon, they would have fallen under. While it is obvious that they are all loyal to their Prime, it is also obvious that their Prime works with each one of them and their differences. I'm sure that he does not handle the medic the same way that he would handle their new scout or their strategist. Yes, if more bots than Pandemonium ask questions about Pandimala, the mech would get suspicious and back off. However,"

At that point, Megatron seemed to see what I was getting at. "If it is just Pandemonium asking about her, he will think that it is something solely involving the mech. He'll most likely respond to us about our other questions. It would also be interesting to see how he would handle Pandemonium once he felt like it was something the mech alone wanted to know."

The mech, if my burgeoning theory was correct, might start and correlate Pandemonium with his team and open up to the mech. So, not only would he be more receptive to our questions and points that we were going to be bringing up, but he would also be more open with Pandemonium once he grew more comfortable with the mech.

Frag, I was just this good.

Movement caused all of us to glance at Malice as she seemed upset with this. Of course, they both probably wanted to ask him about their creation. However, I had a feeling that Malice would allow this compromise. They would hopefully still get their answers and we would not jeopardize phase once as much as we might in this situation. Finally, after a few clicks, the helicopter femme let out a vent. "I'm not happy to be excluded from this. However, I see the logic in allowing Pandemonium alone to talk to the mech about Pandimala. Now I wish I would have gone first instead. I cannot change the past though, and we must move forward. Though, I do wish to be removed from talking to the mech at all," That was a surprise. I figured that the femme would want to be at least near the mech who knew something about Pandimala. "I may be tempted to ask him about her regardless and I would not want to jeopardize the mission due to my wants."

Ah, that made more sense. It seemed that Megatron agreed with her as well for he gave her a nod. "Yes, that would be wise. I shall increase your patrols to keep you occupied. I'm sure your bondmate will allow you to listen in during his questioning. For now, though, we will allow the mech to settle into his new situation some more."

"What is that mech doing?"

We all jumped at Cyclonus' interruptions and we all made to see what he was looking at on the monitor. I immediately felt my spark fall as I looked at the screen. The mech from Junkion was speaking to the prisoner. However, just as I was thinking of going to stop him, Megatron spoke. "Wait," Why was he having us wait? That fragging neutral was going to screw everything up! "Look at their faceplates."

What did the looks on their faceplates have to do with this? However, I was more loyal to Megatron now and so I pushed the want to disobey his order down as I did as he asked. As I did, though, I was seeing what he had seen at a glance. The mech from Junkion looked frustrated while Sentinel Prime looked defensive and almost…disbelieving? Was I seeing this right?

"Is he…arguing with the mech?" Shockwave asked in disbelief more than seeming to want to know the answer.

Regardless, Megatron nodded his helm. "Connect the sound, and let's see how this goes. Strika, stay on standby in case we need to remove the neutral from there."

"Of course," She responded before leaving the room.

Once she was gone, I paid attention as the sound started to come through. We might learn more during this operation than we were planning on. That mech from Junkion was too familiar to too many of us for us not to know who he is. Perhaps we would find out something during this unexpected turn of events?

Alpha Trion's 1st P.O.V.

The femme was tensed as I prepared to tell her this story. This one operation alone had caused me more regret than any other decision I had made, and it wasn't even for one of the reasons I planned to regret. Operation Metamorph had only been started due to the femme in front of me, and she deserved to know why we interfered in her existence as we did, and to the extent that we did.

"First, we should start at the beginning. Fifty stellars before the events that transpired on Archa 7, the CBI picked up on an emergency communication from an unknown origin. Using untested technology we had been developing at the time, we glanced into the other side of the call without the party calling knowing that we had."

"My call for help that Sentinel picked up," The femme responded to my introduction to the mess that this had become.

"Precisely," I confirmed to her before I continued. "Seeing an unmarked triple changer on the other side gave us the hope that we could recruit you into our ranks, which brought in the involvement of both the CIA and the Council. The reason that your call, back then, took so long to connect wasn't because of the signal, but because of the debates, we had between the three main parties involved about what to do. The CIA wanted to have one of their bots take the call and try to get whatever information out of you. The Council, of course, wanted to have one of our representatives take the call for the political boon we could gain should you choose to join the Autobots with us as your contact. And the CBI, which I helm, eventually won out, however, with our wish to pick an upcoming team leader to connect you with."

The femme nodded. "And that connected me to Sentinel."

While the femme was eventually right there was one more piece to this beginning part that she needed to know. "While that would eventually be true, Sentinel was not the first choice that we had. If I am to be honest with you, he was my last choice to have contact with you. The mediocre way he went through his classes and the elitist attitude that he was starting to portray at the time were not qualities that I wanted your contact to have."

For the first time since this conversation began, the femme looked confused. "If Sentinel wasn't the first choice for my contact, then who was?"

I had a feeling that she was going to be less than thrilled at the choices that we picked by the three parties involved. "The CIA wished for you to be connected to Calista Prime so that you all might form a full femme team with one of their previous agents at the helm. I felt that she didn't have the right personality to work well with bots who weren't submissive and, from what we saw from the call, you weren't the submissive type."

A smirk pulled at her faceplate at the end of that. "I agree with you there. I'm loyal, but I am not the type to keep my thoughts to myself if I think my leader is in the wrong."

"Then it is a good thing that you didn't get placed with the Council's choice. Abyssal Minor, which he was known at the time, is as shady as they come but has loyalty in the shadier parties of the Council and they were pushing for the mech to have as your contact." Her faceplate took on a scowl and I realized that this was not the first time that she had heard of the mech's designation. "And judging from your look, I don't need to explain the unusual part in his resume?"

Pandimala gave me a sharp nod before she spoke. "The first time I heard his designation, Sen was looking into him as a possible member of his team. But, something never sounded right with what the reports gave on him. And now, I know my team is investigating into the mech on behalf of Teom Orion's scout, Bumblebee."

That was something I didn't know. While I knew that the ICD were keeping an optic on the mech due to some outside claims, this might just change things. The scout was a war hero with his team and if Abyssal Major, as he was known now, had done anything similar to the scout as the charges against the trainer were, then the Autobots might finally rid itself of one of its' more despicable representations. I would keep that information in the back of my processor until my return to Cybertron.

For now, though, I needed to continue this tale. "The CBI choice, along with the one I was hoping to have selected for you, was Optimus Prime."

The disgusted look that came onto the femme's faceplate was not unexpected. "I might have ended off with those two slagheaps?"

"They were not always as such," I reminded her. Though I needed to remember that, while she was on an Autobot team, she was not under every obligation that an Autobot would be…including striking a councilmech should he push her too far. I had to keep that in consideration while remaining truthful. From the different conversations we had picked up between the femme and Sentinel Prime, Pandimala appreciated straightforward honesty. "If I am to be honest, where they are now is where I had foreseen Sentinel Prime ending up had you not been in his existence."

That seemed to cause the femme to hesitate slightly before she grew a thoughtful, yet apologetic, look. "You are right. I do remember, especially during our first stellar of talking, a glimmer of that sort of attitude from him. However, I thought it was just a small aspect of his personality that would be simple to take care of. Since it was, I never correlated my connection to him with that change. I thought I was just witnessing his maturity."

"He did seem more restrained when talking to you that is for sure." I agreed with the femme's observation before I got back into the tale. "With the three sides unable to agree on a bot of choice, you were left on reserve for quite some time, given your situation. It was thanks to another Prime from the intelligence sector that Sentinel's designation was brought forward. Marquis Prime had been with Sentinel, Optimus, Elita, and a few others in boot camp and felt like his friend would be more than capable of convincing you…with time, to join the Autobots."

"Remind me to send that Prime a gift." She interrupted me with a smile.

"I'll make sure to pass your sentiments on to the leader of Team Dragonia." I offered before I continued. "It still took some negotiating. I honestly think that the Council was only able to agree with this because some of the more questionable members saw the mech as somebot they may be able to manipulate given the right motivations."

"I am glad they were wrong about that,"

I nodded. "As am I. The next fifty stellars after that solar proved how wrong I had been about the mech's ability to grow. He went from a lower-than-average Prime to one of the most promising bots I have seen in my existence. During the third stellar, when you went dark for thirty solars, we decided to send a surveillance drone to the coordinates we had tracked you to."

"So, you did know where I was during that time," The femme responded as she pulled something out of her subspace. I was surprised to see the destroyed surveillance drone sitting in front of me. "Why did you wait so long to retrieve me?"

"To be honest, we hadn't planned on retrieving you when Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, and Elita-One Prime ended up on Archa 7." The femme's confused look matched my confusion about how the Prime's ended up there. While the report that was given during the trial said that they were just exploring the system, that never settled right with me. That was especially with Sentinel Prime's demeanor during the trial.

"When would you have sent the rescue team for me?" She rightly questioned me on this.

"Our original plan was to retrieve you when you made it known for certain that you would join the Autobot cause." And that had been the plan. This way, we had reason to use the resources that it would take. We would have had one of the intelligence agencies reach out to Sentinel about tracking a call he made to the planet and set up the whole operation. "Unfortunately, some of the last footage we had from that drone was your want to become an Autobot." I then let out a vent. This whole situation had been very sordid from the start, and it only grew worse. "We didn't know anything was wrong with the plan until that surveillance drone captured the footage of your first in-bot meeting with Sentinel. You know more than I do about the rest. However, I do wish to apologize for making you a piece of a strategy you had no input in."

I bowed my helm toward her slightly in recompense. That situation was still one of the times my choices haunted me. The pain I had caused the two bots, both physically and mentally, was pain that I could not repay. "So," I paid attention to the femme as she started to speak again. "That explains why, according to Sen, you looked so understanding at the trial though he thought you had no reason to be. And it was why the intelligence agencies were so helpful to him and our team after the fact. While the fact that you used my distress for your gain is something that will take time to fully forgive, I understand your reasoning. And I thank you for helping my Prime when most followed the scrap of a story that Elita-One Prime and Optimus Prime allowed to be spread."

I wasn't going to bring that up, though now that she had… "And what can you tell me about what happened that solar? Sentinel Prime refused to give any other information than what I know, and you already know how Optimus Prime and Elita-One Prime reported the issue. Your take on the issue would be most enlightening." Yes, and it would be a start to undoing the damage that thousands of stellars of lies built up to.

What I wasn't expecting was the hesitant look that appeared on the femme's faceplate. I thought she would have jumped at the opportunity to clear her Prime's designation. "I need you to swear on the Allspark itself that you will not record, say, transcribe, or communicate in any sort of way what I'm about to tell you. My Prime is preparing to confront the other two Primes with what happened all of those solars ago, with my presence being a catalyst to make them realize that they cannot get away with the lies they have allowed to spread for stellars. If you can promise me that, then I will tell you everything that happened on that solar as far as I am aware."

While I hadn't planned on revealing anything she told me this solar in the first place, the fact that she wanted that promise alone told me just how serious the situation truly was. Those of us on the Council and who were a part of the intelligence agencies knew that there was more to the situation than was mentioned at the trial back then.

A spark had been lost that solar...or so we thought. However, due to the age of the ship they were using at the time we had no visual or audio logs about what occurred before Sentinel Prime's path crossed with Pandimala. It was the reason that all three of them had been placed on trial instead of there being an inquisition about their actions. We just didn't know. Many of us were hoping that something would be said during the trial that could allow for such an investigation after the public trial was done. While there was obvious animosity coming from Sentinel Prime to the others, nothing was said to give a reason for an investigation. I would admit that I had wanted to get the trial over as quickly as I could for the sake of Sentinel. He had lost one who would have been his first teammate, a moment that was precious to many Autobot teams.

Perhaps if I had done more back then to discover what happened, this animosity between Team Apocalypses and Team Orion wouldn't be as strained.

I knew better than to think too deeply about that kind of thought and so I responded to her question instead. "I swear upon Primus and the Allspar itself that no information that I learn from Pandimala this solar leaves my chassis willingly."

She looked appreciative of my response and started her tale. As I listened, I felt even angrier that I had not investigated the incident more back then. To incapacitate one of their teammates on a forbidden planet, leaving him alone while they explored without thought or hesitation…I would have stripped them of their rank myself. No Prime, Major, Minor, or Autobot in general should ever attack those that they are with unless they have a due reason. From what I was hearing, they did not only not have those reasons, but they purposefully misled Sentinel into traveling to the planet so they could get the opportunity.

And then, the situation only grew worse from there. Their exploration around the area only served to provoke dangerous creatures that were inhabiting the planet. If it wasn't for Pandimala and her assistance, the three of them would not have left that planet online. There was a part of me that wanted to disregard my promise to the femme in front of me and open an investigation immediately.

Glancing at the femme, though, I knew that this confrontation that they were going to have with the Primes of Team Orion meant so much to them. For everything that they had gone through. For these thousands of stellars, I could only watch from the sides as Team Apocalypse was put down in almost every single way that could be imagined. Given the nature of the mission, we couldn't say much openly without creating questions. Questions that we still weren't ready to answer.

"Thank you for confiding in me, though I haven't given you much reason to trust me," I started before I stood up. "Now, if you would excuse me, I believe I need to go and speak with Vox Prime. I haven't seen the bot in a while and it would be nice to see how he has been."

In turn, Panidmala rose and nodded. "Of course. And I appreciate the risk you have taken to come and tell us of this. Should you not be able to inform Sen of this information yourself, I will inform him upon his retrieval."

Perfect. The femme, and the team as a whole it seemed, were certain of their Prime's retrieval. That might keep them away from taking more drastic measures against bots who may turn to their wrong side during this. Once Pandimala showed me out, and she shut the door again, I allowed my thoughts to stay on this topic as I moved away from the femme's quarters. The situation on Earth was much more serious than any of us on Cybertron had given it credit for. And learning the truth about that solar so long ago only showed me just how foolish we all had been.

Optimus Prime and Elita-One Prime were, as far as anybot knew until a few solars ago, responsible for the offlining of a spark. While I doubted they knew just how close the femme and Sentinel were, that shouldn't have mattered. And to act so callously upon their return…that did not speak of a sound processor. And while I might have hinted to Pandimala that her interaction with Sentinel Prime, and thus her lack of one with Elita One Prime and Optimus Prime, had contributed to the character we saw this solar, I knew that it took more than interactions with one bot to form a bot's character completely.

No, there had to be something there from the beginning. And no, I didn't blame the femme in the slightest. This was fate's choice and there was nothing that she could do to change that. I would be thankful to the femme for encouraging the brighter aspects of Sentinel's personality to become the honorable and thoughtful mech he was this solar. As for the other two, the bots who they chose to associate with, and who they allowed to associate with them, helped form a bad code that was already in their programming. And it festered into the bots that I had the displeasure of interacting with this solar.

Once I was sure I was far enough away from the femme's quarters to contact Vox without raising suspicion as to what I was doing, I activated a comm link to the mech. "Vox, are you available for a talk? I believe that there is much that I need to be informed on about the situation here on Earth."

Bumblebee's 1st P.O.V.

Honestly, I didn't want to know if Elita and Optimus could be any more embarrassing than they just were. Alpha Trion; one of the most respected big bots on Cybertron. I mean, no bot messed with him. From what little I knew before my studies, and the studying I had been doing, not only could the old bot hold his own if he needed to, but he had a lot of allies that would more than be ready to back up the councilmech.

From the politics that Pastel was having me study up on, it seemed like those connections especially made the other council bots weary of going against him. Now that I thought back, he did seem to be the bot that others had looked to when our team was giving our report from when we captured Megatron. It wasn't something that I had noticed before. Honestly, thinking about that made me realize that there was a lot that I had missed before. I had been so stuck on myself and thought that dirt couldn't touch me.

But, interacting with Sentinel's team, and listening to what they were teaching me… showed me that I was not as great as I thought I was. Pastel told me during our last lesson, which was before Sentinel was taken, that she thought that I could one solar become a very accomplished scout. But, I would have to work for it. I would have to dig in and push my studying. And I would…despite what choices I had to make about the future.

And right now, I had a difficult choice that I could see was coming up. it was coming up and I wasn't sure how I was going to respond to it. For now, I needed to keep getting information from those around me. Right now, I was heading to meet with the one mech who understood how I used to be. Of course, if anybot told me that I would go to him, or any other bot who had been a part of…that…for advice, I would think that they would need to be confined. All of us had our scars from back then and I wanted to know what helped him move on.

It was crucial.

"Over here!" I glanced around the park until I saw Ironhide motioning me over to him.

Well, no point in drawing it out. I quickly moved over to the mech and shook his servo. "Thanks for meeting with me. I've had…a lot on my processor lately and I'm hoping that you can help me through it."

The look of understanding that crossed his faceplate at that made me feel better. He knew what I was going to talk about. "Sure 'Bee. Let's walk this way while we talk." He motioned away from the city at that and that told me that this was going to be as difficult for him to talk about as it was for me. But, it needed to happen.

After a few clicks of silence passed, I figured I'd get this started with the first thing I wanted to know. "How did you get out?" Ironhide had gotten transferred out of my boot camp about halfway through. Though, he did end up in the one with Longarm Prime, who was now known as the Decepticon Shockwave. At least he got away from Abyssal.

A vent escaped Ironhide. "I got lucky. On my off-time, I caught the attention of Team Athenia, and they pulled some strings to get me transferred to the same boot camp that Hotshot was in so they could keep a better optic on us. Though, being in the same group as a spy, and one who we know now is in the upper command of the Decepticons, doesn't make me feel much better about it."

"And did you tell your team?" This was one of the big questions I had. While Ratchet knew, since he had to look me over after the panic attack that I had when training with Sentinel's team, I knew that the rest of my team needed to know about this. It could be a liability on the field. but, I couldn't trust them. And while that was getting better with the others, slowly, it was obvious that neither Elita nor Optimus trusted me on the field. They didn't even trust us with whatever secret Sentinel's team knew.

"My medic knows. I was late for a training practice due to a panic attack I had about…those solars, and they sent Red to find me. She found me curled up in a corner with my mod activated. I had been heading toward practice when some punks tried to pick a fight with me. One of them shot at me, and that sent me back to those solars. I ran from them and found a safe place. Red was understanding with me and said that I should only tell the rest of the team when I feel ready." He then studied me. "Have you?"

I nodded as we moved deeper into the woods. "Ratchet knows. I had a panic attack when I was training with Team Apocalypse and they helped talk me down from it. Fable recommended I let Ratchet know and I did. I know that my panic attacks could cause problems on the field and that my team should know. But, given everything that has been happening lately…"

"You don't trust them," Ironhide finished for me.

"Yeah."

"You asked me out here to talk about more than the past and dealing with it...didn't you?" and he hit it on the helm. Outside of Ratchet, Arcee, and Team Apocalypse, he was the only bot on the planet that I trusted enough to help me with my thoughts. And that was only because of what we went through back then.

So, I nodded. "With everything that has been going on, and with the way that Optimus and Elita treat me…I've been thinking about…" Why was it so hard just to say it?

When I looked to Ironhide, to maybe have him finish off my question, he shook his helm. But, he looked like he might have an idea about what I was wanting to ask him. "You've got to ask me 'Bee. If you can't even ask me about it for advice, then you haven't thought about it enough."

But I had! Honestly, ever since my training with Team Apocalypse started, and everything that has happened since, I had been thinking about it. Lately, I had been thinking about it even more. "I've thought about it about as much as I can without help." I let out a quick vent to calm down before I finally asked the question. "How hard is it to quit a team?"

His optics widened at my question. I guess he thought I was going to ask something else. Either that or he didn't think I'd be able to get it out. "Quit your team? And you've thought about this?"

I couldn't tell if he was questioning if I had thought about this, or was surprised at the fact that I had been considering this. And I was. I was done with being treated like a sparkling. Even Sari had more respect on the team than I did, and she was even smaller and younger than I was. If I was going to use the training I was getting and earn respect, then I had to seriously think about leaving Team Orion. But, I had never heard of a bot leaving a team before like this, and I was curious if Ironhide knew of anything that might help. I'd take any advice at this point. "More than I thought I would," I admitted to the mech's question.

He stared at me for a few nanos more before he nodded. "If you are serious about this, then you are going to need to be ready for the fallout. Despite the stigma behind Optimus and Elita after the Archa 7 incident, they still are fairly popular bots right now due to Team Orion's capture of Megatron and his lieutenants before. For you to leave their team right now will put you on a blacklist. Not as large of one as it could be, but a blacklist regardless. And well…do you mind if I am honest with you?"

Something told me that I wasn't going to like this. But, I had asked him to meet with me to be honest. "I want you to be honest with me Ironhide. I'm done with bots keeping me out of things because they think I can't handle what is going on around me."

Ironhide only hesitated another click before he spoke. "Fair. Honestly 'Bee, you aren't trained enough as a scout to make other teams look at you. Your best bet would be to use any sort of contact you can to find yourself a teacher. Pastel and Team Apocalypse can only help so much given their status among other Autobots on Cybertron. And while that works for them, you need to start over. If your team had helped you more, or at least used their contacts to help you, then this would be a different story. But, you are so far behind where a bot with your experience should be that it is honestly a miracle that any of you bots from Team Orion are still online."

While it stung to hear that from him, I realized during my training with Team Apocalypse that I was behind. Before Pastel got here, I was learning a lot from them and they weren't even scouts. "Yeah, and our time…back then didn't help matters either."

At that, Ironhide let out a vent. "I can't argue against that. And I even got out earlier. When Rodimus asked me to join his team, it was on the terms of getting supplementary training from some friends of the team who were known warriors. You were there longer than I was and then went straight to Team Orion…you are going to have to work for what you want if you do decide to take this path." He then stopped and I noticed that we were at a small lake out here. "And you might want to talk to that techno-organic about doing the same."

Sari? What did he mean? The team treated her like a member most of the time. Why would she want to leave? "What do you mean?"

"And this is one of the reasons why you need more training." Ironhide pointed out before he continued. "Hotshot picked up on it during the time we've been here and brought it up at a team meeting."

"You all have team meetings?"

He looked surprised at my interruption. "You all don't? Every other team that I have met meets together at least once every seven solars and talks about topics that they feel need to be brought up. My team has had three since we arrived here, for obvious reasons." Just another thing that Elita and Optimus were slacking on. "Anyways, Hotshot brought up the fact that your team is hindering Sari's progress. She is highly intelligent and great with working on bots for a being her size."

"That's what Fable and Trecke say." I agreed with the mech. "During my training, they've been working with her as well and they are impressed about how far she has come given her size and obvious disadvantages compared to those of us who grew up with this knowledge." I figured Ironhide could also know about Fable's offer to Sari, of which she still hadn't decided on. "Fable has even offered to do an experimental operation on Sari that he discovered. It would take away her organic side and I'm sure that bots would start looking to what she can do in the future."

"Fable thinks he can do that?" Ironhide asked, surprised.

I nodded. "Yeah, he is almost sure of it. It's risky, but he and Trecke have sat down with Sari and explained all of the risks. She's still thinking about it, but after all of this, I think it would only do her good. If she was a techno-organic trying to get a place on Cybertron…"

At that, Ironhide looked thoughtful. "It wouldn't be good. Not with all of the organic-phobic thoughts that most bots still have. Sari has helped with those, but it is a slow progress. If she wanted to do something soon, the procedure might be her best shot." He then paused. "Sorry Bumblebee, but we need to start heading back. I have a training session with my team in a cycle and I need to make sure I'm not racing back for it."

"No problem, and thanks for this."

"Anytime Bumblebee," He then transformed before he drove off.

Once he was gone, I sat down on a rock by the edge of the lake to go over everything. It hurt a little, knowing how much my team had held me back, along with my past, and I had to start over if I left Team Orion. It wasn't going to be an easy choice. But, knowing that I might not be so bad off if my team acted like they were supposed to in the first place did put things in perspective. The fact that Ironhide was surprised we didn't have team meetings said a lot. I knew most teams ran themselves in their way. But, I had a feeling that Ironhide had met a lot of different teams…and for all of them to meet regularly meant that our team was coasting. Did Optimus and Elita think that we were so much better than everybot else?

If somebot had asked me, when Sentinel's team first arrived, if I thought I would ever think about leaving Team Orion, I would have laughed in their faceplates and asked that they get tested for processor stability. I mean, leaving the team that had taken down multiple Decepticons which included Megatron himself? Bots would have to be crazy to leave a team that had that much recognition and respect.

But…I didn't respect my Primes…not anymore.

But I needed to figure out how to start again back on Cybertron. I didn't know enough bots there to help me train. Maybe Team Apocalypse could help me one last time? They were already helping me so much, and I almost felt guilty for asking them. However, Pastel had been going over with me about not hesitating in using your resources and while I think I could call them my friends, I knew that Team Apocalypse was also a resource that I still didn't know how I was lucky enough to get.

I wouldn't ask now. Obviously. I'm pretty sure all three of them would take my helm off if I asked them for a favor while Sentinel was still in Decepticon custody. No. For now, I would take whatever patrols I could take to help them find Sentinel and increase my training at the same time. I needed to keep showing them that I wanted to improve. I wanted to get better. And anyway that they could help me with that would be remembered and repaid one solar. I would make sure of it.

Sentinel's 1st P.O.V.

I wasn't sure what was making my solar more bizarre; the fact that Pandimala's fragging creators were here actively looking for her, or a mech that I was sure was offline was currently taking refuge with the Decepticons. From all of the information I had on him, he was supposed to be offline. "How are you online?" I pushed the mech who was pacing in front of my holding cell.

"No, this shouldn't be right. How do you know who I am? No bot should be able to know who I am. You're going to ruin everything that I have been working on." Said mech hissed at me, not even bothering to answer my question. Right, like I chose to be here right now? Seriously, if I didn't know what I did about the mech, I would think he was delusional.

"Are you going to answer any of my questions or are you going to keep going off like you are crazy?" I pushed the mech.

Instead of giving me an answer, even the snappish one that I had been expecting, the mech gave me a glare from the side. "Oh, and you would know all about crazy, wouldn't you Sentinel Prime? My stay with the Decepticons has given me quite the insight into the team you have built for yourself. If it wasn't for your blasted team I wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place."

A growl left my vocals before I could even think about decorum. Given everything that had happened to my team lately, I didn't like the fact that this neutral was here because of us. The last neutrals who came looking for us weren't exactly here to offer us support. "If you attack my team I swear on the Allspark that I will hunt you down until there is nothing left of you."

"Quite touchy there, given your current predicament," I got into a defensive position as the mech said that. "How did you get yourself captured by the Decepticons?"

"Probably the same way that most do. I didn't choose to get captured, and they need me for something. Just like you need them, or you wouldn't be staying with them Swi,"

Before I could finish that sentence, the mech was inside my cell with his servos around my neck cables. "Keep your vocals silent you piece of slag. The walls around here have audios."

When he released a little of the pressure he had on my vocals, I glared back at him. "Yet that doesn't stop you from exposing my problems? You stay away from my team or I swear I'll scream your designation to the stars. You've caused my team enough pain. One of my members looked to you and was hurt when they thought you were offlined. Instead, you are here playing fragging games with the Decepticons, you pathetic excuse for a bot. So, I'm warning you. Stay away from my team or I will do it."

"You'd risk everything I've been working for? Do you know how many stellars I have been doing this? More than your pathetic team has even been a team that's for sure. So, if I have to put your team at risk to get my job done, then so be it."

I was not going to take this threat to my team, regardless of his servos still around my neck cables. "Eat slag Swif," I found my vocals constricted again as I felt this fragging mech silence me again.

As I struggled against him, I could see a small amount of regret in his optics. But, he didn't look like he was going to be stopping. How he convinced the bots to change as he did, I would never know. For now, I needed to break free from him. But, from how I was restrained, I could do little against his servos. The edges of my vision were starting to give and I felt the first waves of panic. I couldn't offline like this! I needed to get back to my team and I needed to figure out why the Decepticons wanted me. Neither of those would be possible if this mech offlined me now!

Just before my visuals went out, I felt relief as the mech was ripped away from me. Through my clearing vision, I could see Pandimala's sire throwing the mech away from me as the Decepticon known as Oilslick moved over to me. I guess he was their current medic. Hopefully, that was why he was coming near me.

My senses were slowly coming back to me as Oilslick worked on me. My audios were picking up a lot of yelling, and I heard something about being recognized. Well, the mech could play a story if he needed. But, something told me that the Decepticons were listening to at least a part of our conversation if not the whole thing. They had to know that he was lying. But, when Megatron simply let the mech walk away, I realized that the Decepticons were using him as well. Good. At least the mech would face pressure from more than my team if he did end up offlining me during this.

"I need you to focus on me Autobot," I looked at the mech as he continued to scan my neck cables. "Looks like he only did some cosmetic damage. Should only feel sore for a solar or two. Try not to overwork your vocals to help ease the tension off of them if you can."

"But for now," I flinched when I heard Megatron's vocals close to me. Slag, I didn't realize that he was so close to me. Slag that mech for attacking me like he did. "You need rest. I will be placing a guard outside of your cell for the upcoming solar, Sentinel Prime, so you can rest without being disturbed. I do apologize for you being attacked. I did not wish for you to be harmed during your stay with us. Please take time to rest. We will leave you alone for now. Your guard will be back in a cycle."

My processor felt like it was in a stupor as the Decepticons left the room. How was I even supposed to process that? The Decepticons had not only reacted to the mech attacking me but had even apologized for allowing it to happen. Then, to give me time alone with the promise of being left alone with my thoughts? Did I wake up in some alternate reality? Truly?

And Pandimala's sire truly looked angry at the mech for attacking me. Of course, I had information on Pandimala. I didn't think my bluff earlier was enough to keep that from the mech. But, I was sure I was able to keep the fact that I knew exactly where she was away from the mech. That look though…and the care that the Decepticons were showing me in general…I didn't understand it. I knew that if the roles were reversed, most Autobots would have looked the other way if a neutral was attacking a captured Decepticon.

Between that and the other interactions I had this solar with Decepticons, I found myself starting to question things that I honestly hadn't thought about…since the solar after Archa 7. Back then, I found my faith in the Autobots at the lowest that it had ever been. If I hadn't met Trecke so soon after that time…I wasn't sure I wanted to think about that right now.

So, I started my recharge procedures and laid back against the berth they provided me. Nothing was making sense right now and I just wanted to be back with my team. They could help me work through this. I needed them. But, for now, that wasn't possible. For now, I was going to have to play whatever game the Decepticons had in store for me…however confusing it seemed right now.

Fable: Do I need to dissect some humans? I'd be more than willing to for you Authoress.

Authoress: As tempting as that is; no. I still need a job and money so I can keep working on you all.

Fable: Regardless, if you do need me, you know where to find me.

AN: And here is the next chapter! I do apologize for the lateness of it but I hope you all enjoyed it! Lots of stuff going down right now, and things are starting to come together. It seems like the Decepticons have even more reason to hold Sentinel now, given that he knows something about our dear Pandimala. But, the mystery mech seems to be after something with Sentinel's team, and Sentinel did not take too kindly to that. Not at all. Then, of course, we see both Alpha Trion and Pandimala learning more about the past and how they are connected. Poor Alpha Trion has lost so much respect for Optimus. At least he was wrong about Sentinel. We will see where all of this will eventually lead. And of course, I could not forget that scene with Bumblebee and Ironhide! It seems like 'Bee is looking into taking action if things don't improve!

And I think that is all I am going to speak on for now. So, here are the names of the next chapters!

Chapter 19: Prisoner Exchange

Chapter 20: Archa 7

Chapter 21:...(find out next time!)

And that's all folks! Thanks for sticking around despite my sporadic updating schedule! Reviews, and hellos in reviews, are always appreciated along with any other support you all give! Until next time though, TTYL! *dancing in circles listening to light music*