Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Authoress: Well, this looks very interesting.

Paul: What are you doing?

Authoress: *smiles* You get to see just what your employee went through in the minutes it took you to transport to the dimension.

Paul: ...Why do I feel like I am not going to like this?

Authoress: *laughs*

Chapter 1: Awakening

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

My head hurt. Why did my head hurt so much? From how Paul spoke to me, this transport shouldn't have hurt me. I figured I would be unconscious since I was traveling dimensional planes, but I didn't think that there would be pain. But hell did my brain feel like bongo drums were playing inside it right now. When I got my hands on Paul, I was going to give him a piece of my mind…and preferably the part that hurt. Damn, I needed something for this headache right now. I didn't even want to open my eyes right now. So, I decided to feel what was around me.

Suddenly, I felt like I was overloaded with information. How was I able to tell what temperature it was around me? Well, maybe I couldn't. That number looked like it said thirty degrees. But, I didn't do cold. I would be huddled in a corner if it was only thirty degrees. This couldn't be right.

Wait…

Why was I able to see numbers in my head in the first place? This wasn't right. Something wasn't right. This shouldn't be possible. Maybe I bit the dust and this was my version of hell? I mean, the cold would be it. But, shouldn't I be suffering eternal torment? This didn't feel like hell at all.

The…well they looked like reports…yeah, these reports kept scrolling over my vision as I continued to feel things around me. The ground below me seemed hard. Almost as if I was laying on a mountain. Did Paul get my trajectory that far off? Well, there was truly only one way to find out what was happening. With hesitation, I opened my eyes.

Or…well, something like that. Instead of the motion that I had known all of my life, my vision seemed to flicker into showing me what was in front of me. What…what was going on? Words continued to go across my vision as I looked around me. The landscape was not a mountain like I had been guessing. Instead, I was in some sort of canyon…maybe a valley. Point was, I was not anywhere near the altitude that I should be at to be this cold…and I didn't recognize anything around me either. So, I then looked up.

My heart stopped for a second when, instead of blue sky, or the night sky, above me, I saw space. Space was never that easy to observe. It shouldn't look like this. Where was I? I felt my breathing quicken as I glanced around me. This didn't look like anything I had seen in the show before. Where was I? I raised my hand to put it against my head when I let out a yell.

That…that wasn't my hand! That wasn't my hand! It couldn't be my hand. My hand was small, fleshy, and had chipped nail polish from where mom had painted them. A by-product from our last girls' night that I forgot to clean up for my interview. But, now I was staring down at a black, metallic hand. Thin fingers…digits glistened with an inky sheen as they moved the way I wanted my hand to move. No, no, no, no, no! This was not my hand!

My heart…was it even still a heart? Whatever it was, it felt like it was banging on the inside of my chest as I debated on whether or not I should try and look at the rest of my body. This couldn't be real. But, if I looked and saw more metal where I had flesh I wouldn't be able to deny it…and I wouldn't know what to do with that information. I didn't think I would be able to process it. No. This wasn't natural…this wasn't right!

A flinch traveled through my body as a clanging sound followed this…servo's contact with my head. No. No this couldn't be happening. What had happened? I was…I was human. This had to be some sort of dream. Maybe a hallucination caused by the travel to this dimension? That had to be it! Since I knew that Cybertronians existed, my mind must be hallucinating me as one. Yeah, that made sense. Well, as much sense as any of this did.

I had to be going crazy. I had to be. Maybe something happened in transport that fried my brain a little. Yeah, that could be it too! I mean, that stuff never happened in fanfics…but this was real life! Who knew what sort of craziness could be possible? Going a little loopy from trans-dimensional teleportation could be a very real possibility. Nothing could be left out of consideration. Nothing.

A shiver traveled up my spine when I thought about that black metal hand. Nothing outside of that could be left out. There was no way that Paul would allow this to happen. He wouldn't…I knew he wouldn't have left me like that. And even if he could do…that…he would have asked me before I left for this dimension.

Hopefully, Paul found me soon so he could snap me out of this. This hallucination was a little too real for my liking. This imagined body was acting just like my real one. And not in a good way. It felt way too real. Paul had to know what was going on. He knew the most about this world that I was going to be calling home for the rest of my life. I needed answers. I needed them.

What if he accidentally sent me to the wrong dimension? What if…what if I was alone? I couldn't do this alone! He was supposed to help me. Paul would have been the only one I knew here. I…I didn't have any connections. Plus, if he wasn't here…who was going to get me out of this hallucination that wasn't going away? Something really strong must have influenced my arrival here to make me see this.

"Are you alright femme?"

My heart raced when the voice suddenly came from behind me. Turning, I felt my eyes widen. That, that was a Cybertronian…but I didn't know them. They weren't from the show! Wait…he called me femme! Glancing down at myself, I felt myself panic as I saw this body. No. No. NO! This wasn't real! This couldn't be real! But, as I looked back and forth between the mech and myself, I realized that he didn't tower over me, and I doubted that whoever this was could be a mini-con. But, that would mean… "No, no no no…" The words slipped out of my throat before I could stop them.

The mech looked concerned when he heard me. "Femme?"

Before I could say anything else, I suddenly felt like pressure was released and my vision went dark.

The sound of voices echoed in my head as I came to. I had...I had blacked out. Wherever I was now, I felt comfy. If I could choose to be stuck in one spot for the rest of my life, this was it. Events from before suddenly flashing in my mind caused me to sit up with a gasp. My heart…or whatever I had now, dropped as I looked around me. I couldn't deny it any longer. This wasn't an illusion.

There, in the reflection of some sort of monitor, was me.

Or, well, the me I was now.

Immediately, I was familiar with the form I was in now. Pandimala. She was my outlet for everything that went on in my days, and she always helped me work through my problems when I wrote her. She was the best side of me. But now, that same light gray faceplate was reflected in my reflection, and those green optics were looking back at me with all the power behind them that I imagined. I…I was Pandimala. I didn't know how this happened, but I was going to find out some information. Maybe that mech from earlier could tell me.

…But how would I ask him? They would have no idea who I was…and I had no idea how I got to wherever we are. Maybe partial amnesia? That could work. It sounded cliche but it was the only thing that my bra…processor could fixate on. Shit, I was going to have to make sure I didn't fall into any Earth phrasing. Shit!.. Wait, no that was slag…., or was that scrap?

Argh, this was getting frustrating already! I needed to find out where I was and get myself a ship.

…And learn how to drive one.

….I had a very long list of things I needed to do.

"It seems you are awake,"

Turning to my left, I saw a very tall mech standing in the doorframe…and this mech was not the one that I saw earlier. The one from earlier had been a rustic gold color…and maybe something else. Honestly, I was too panicked to remember much about the mech. But, he had felt vaguely familiar for some reason.

This mech though, was tall. Since I hadn't stood yet, I wasn't sure, but I would say he was slightly taller than I was and had black, gray, and purple coloring. His faceplate was darker gray than mine was and his red optics seemed to be studying me hesitatingly. As I stared at the large mech with wings, though, I felt like he was familiar too. Not from the Prime universe, but from somewhere else.

Realizing that he had greeted me, I felt like I should at least try to answer him back. "Um…yes?" I wasn't sure if he meant that my being awake was a good thing or a bad thing. Also, I had to be careful. So far, the two bots I had seen now didn't have a visible faction marker. It seemed strange...especially since they both were vaguely familiar.

He tilted his helm to the side at my response. After a click though, a look of what I had to guess was realization crossed his faceplate…though what he was realizing I had no idea. "Don't worry femme. Unless you're here on Regulon IV to cause issues, then you are safe." He then moved so his back was to me, and he started to type on the monitor that had shown my reflection. "The designation's Astrotrain. Do you have one? If so, what's yours? We don't have your spark signature on file, and that's strange. Most bots don't come out here for a solar trip. And from what Tarantulas said, you looked like you didn't know where you were."

My mi…processor was going a million miles an hour as he said his designation. Astrotrain. And the mech that had found me was Tarantulas. While I never met any iteration of them on the Prime t.v. show, I did know of them from other dimensions. But, Astrotrain said I would be safe if I didn't cause trouble and Tarantulas had sounded worried when he found me panicking. Thank Primus that Astrotrain had his back to me or he would have been suspicious. I needed more information.

It was then that my processor caught up with the conversation and I realized that he had asked me for my designation. "Oh…um my designation is Pandimala," What else was I going to say? 'Oh, my name is Lizzie Val and I am a human from the planet called Earth?' Frag no. They might just call me crazy. That was especially as my processor caught up with what he said. He asked if I had a designation. From what I saw in the show, everybot had a name outside of the drones and nobot asked if a bot had a designation

I felt my spark rate pick up as I started to connect the pieces. I was in a place where bots still asked if another bot had a designation. Slag. Oh, slag. I hadn't just been placed in the wrong space with a chassis instead of my flesh, but I had been misplaced in time. Without knowing what time I was in…how was I going to survive? I couldn't…I couldn't do this. I…this was a whole different time!

"Hey, femme! Femme!" I heard Astrotrain yell at me as he waved a servo in front of my faceplate. But, I couldn't focus on him. I…I was in a different time as well? This…this wasn't…this couldn't. "Doc get in here!"

I vaguely heard the doors opening and some light cursing before I felt something shock my shoulder. "Ow!" I hissed, focusing on the new bot in the room. Honestly, I didn't recognize this bot at all. But, given how his armor looked, I bet he was some kind of insecticon. If he was to have an Earth mode, he had to be an assassin bug. Those looked so cool.

"You already crashed once this solar femme. I'm not bound to let you do so again," The bug mech spoke. His red faceplate, which was unusual to see on a bot in this dimension now that I thought about it, had a scar above his right optic…and holy slag his optics were golden. With his black chassis with red markings and…he had four arms. That was awesome. His antennae were sticking out each shoulder…and did I mention he had gold optics? Oh, and he had black wings. Those were cool too. "So, now that you seem calmed down, care to share what you were just panicking about," And before I could respond, he held up a servo to point at me, "And this time, do so without panicking."

Letting out what must be a vent, I nodded. "I can only remember my designation; Pandimala. I don't know anything else about myself."

The mech stared at me for a nano before he nodded. "That would do it. I did notice some damage to your helm when I was repairing you and was wondering if it affected you any." Wait…I was injured when I arrived? Funny what I didn't notice as I was panicking about being misplaced in space…and time. "I'm Scuttlebug, just so you know. The only medic left among the hive."

Wait..the hive? So, it was looking more and more like he was an insecticon. But, what did he mean about the hive? I knew that, in the show, Airachnid could control the insecticons and that they referred to themselves as the hive. However, there had only been the beetle insecticons shown. Were there more? "Hive?" I asked, hoping to get some answers.

He stared at me for a nano before nodding. "You don't remember anything. Every bot in existence knows of the hive." He then shook his helm. "Well, if you are going to be here for a while like I suspect you will, then you are going to need to know this." He then took a seat on a berth that I didn't even realize was next to me. "So, there are four common classes of insecticons. The warriors, and the set with the largest numbers at this time, are the hardcased insecticons. You can identify them pretty easily. They have giant horns when they are in their alt form." He made a motion as if a giant horn was coming out of his helm. "Then you have the dipteram insecticons. They are the hive's scouts and they keep an optic on our territory and make sure to report trouble when they find it. It was one of our dipteram that reported your presence to Tarantulas."

If my vague knowledge of earth could help me, it was now. If I remembered correctly, the classification for flies was diptera. With how similar that was to word dipteram, I was going to guess they had fly alt modes. Giant flies…That might just scare me more than the hardcased insecticons. "I'll have to thank that bot if I meet them," I responded to the information I was given. Who knew what might have happened if somebot else had found me?

"Nyct says you are welcome," I was surprised when Scuttlebug suddenly said that.

I mean, I knew that in the show Airachnid could communicate with the insecticons with mental communication. But, I didn't realize that it spread as communication between the insecticons themselves. "How did he know? I didn't see you speaking in a comm?" I had to keep up with this amnesia thing for now. This was going to be a pain later.

Scuttlebug tapped the side of his helm before he answered me. "The hive is all connected through our thoughts. Anything I hear, the hive hears."

So, I was getting remedial lessons and the entire hive would now know that. That also told me that I needed to watch what I said anywhere. If even one insecticon heard me then all of them would. They would know that I was lying about my amnesia. "That sounds awesome," I said as a response to Scuttlebug.

He laughed at my response. "Oh, it is nice until certain bots decide that we all need to hear the works of Skybyte broadcasted at zero thirty in the solar."

Oof. I didn't know what this Skybyte was like, but hearing anything broadcasted while I was trying to slee…recharge was a pain. "Fair enough,"

"Now, back to your quick lesson," Scuttlebug continued. I noticed that Astrotrain had moved to sit next to the mech as he spoke to me. "The size of the dipteram is about half the size of our hardcased right now. At about the same height as the hardcased are the hymenarchs. They have a few varying alternate form looks but for the most part, they will have some sort of stinging ability. They produce a toxin that they can transmit with their attacks. There is one that can even shoot electricity carrying his toxin. They make up our special forces. They use more technique when fighting and organize the information that the dipteram bring us." He then motioned to himself. "And then you have special cases like me."

"The medics right?" I asked, making sure that I was following. This was a lot of information to keep up with.

He nodded. "Right. I'm currently the only member left of the insetco class of insecticons. Throughout our history, we have come in many different frame types. My teacher was closer in appearance to the hardcased…though he didn't have a horn. That was what made our past monarch suspicious that he was an insetco. I am very similar to the hymenarchs but I do not possess the toxin that hymenarchs have."

"And you said you were the only one?" That would be difficult. Of course, I was feeling quite alone in this new place with no one I could turn to. Honestly, I shouldn't be trusting these mechs right now, but they had helped me…and they still seemed to be doing that.

Scuttlebug looked like he was remembering something as he spoke. "Now I am. About fifteen stellars ago, a deadly plague called Lavengrium passed through the insetco den. I was away at the time and the only one to survive."

"And your past ruler?" I asked. Hey, if they were giving me answers I was going to get what I could.

Quiet filled the room before Astrotrain spoke up. "The last insecticon monarch was a hunter class mech with the designation of Pholcidae. He and his bondmate Arassi, who was a hunter-class femme, tried to find a cure for the Lavengrium before it wiped out the other hymenarchs. Both caught it, though, and passed on to the Well. Tarantulas is one of their three remaining creations."

Wait…how were new insecticons made if they weren't made from the queen? That was how I thought it went, and that Airachnid had been waiting for somebot to…well, knock her up so she could add the poor bot's helm to her collection and get new insecticons in the show. But, I guess that wasn't the case. "So, how are new insecticons created?" I asked, now really curious.

"Not what I thought you would ask about, but I'll humor you," Scuttlebug answered with a smirk. "All insecticons, whether they be mech or femme, can lay blank capsules. When the energon of our monarch is infused into the capsule, a new insecticon will form." Huh, so they didn't need bondmates to create more insecticons. That was both amazing and terrifying. Amazing that their population could be reborn so easily, though I had a feeling that the actual class of insecticon hatched would be at random. What was terrifying was that, if this was true in the show as well, then Airachnid could have grown herself an army on the moonbase that would have wiped out the Autobots and Decepticons easily.

That was a very scary thought.

Finally, though, the rest of what he said clicked. "Wait, the mech who found me is only one of three remaining creations of the past monarch? Why hasn't one of them taken up the mantle?" I was getting a bad feeling about this. Instinct was telling me that I wasn't going to like at least one designation I heard if my suspicions were correct.

"And there it is. Perhaps you need some more recharge. From the way you have been asking questions, I thought that would have been your question before." Scuttlebug answered before he let out a vent. "As a guest here, you need to be aware of the tension that has been rising. The normal mourning period for a monarch passing is fourteen stellars. As I hope you see, that means that we have been without a ruler as we should for a stellar. Cybertron is starting to move its optic over the hive and the hive fears that if we do not have a new monarch soon, Cybertron will 'acquire' us as they have done other bots."

It was easy to see where this was going. "And let me guess, none of the three want to take up leadership?"

"Yes and no," Astrotrain answered instead. "The oldest creation, Tarantulas, and the middle creation, Airachnid, want the other to take it. The youngest of the three, Orbweaver, wants to take up the mantle but without the blessing of the older siblings, she cannot have it. And given that one of them doesn't approve of the mech that is courting her, I doubt she will get it for a while. Such are hive rules. It has caused quite the minefield here. Most of the insecticons are on edge waiting for a decision to be made. And your arrival seemed to shake them up a little,"

He then continued talking, but I only half paid attention to him. Slag. Airachnid was one of these siblings. In the show, she was more than happy to be the insecticon queen. What happened between now and then to make Airachnid change her attitude so drastically? I felt like I was missing something, but I wasn't sure what that was.

"Alright that's it," I jumped when Scuttlebug suddenly said that. "You are still recovering from whatever happened to you and I think you have lost your focus on the solar. Back to recharge for you. I'll send Astrotrain in eight cycles to give you your start-of-solar energon. I have to see to my other duties." He then stood up before he grabbed Astrotrain's arm and dragged him out of the room. Quite impressive given that Astrotrain was about two meters taller than the mech. Not to mention that Astrotrain had Scuttlebug outclassed in weight.

Once they were gone, I laid my hea…helm back. While I had a general idea of where I was in time, I needed to narrow down my timeline even more. I didn't even know who was Prime right now. If we were back in Nominus Prime's time…or worse Zeta Prime's time…I was going to have to fake it because my knowledge of what happened in their times is scarce at best. Thinking, I started to compile my information on the Primes that I knew came before Optimus.

I only really knew Zeta Prime's name and that he had been forced to take the matrix. After he fell, Nominus took the mantle and started the trend that disgraced the title of Prime. He played suck-up to the Council and cared more for his public image than he did for the citizens of Cybertron and its colonies.

And of course, his protege was Sentinel, who became Sentinel Prime when Nominus offlined and passed the matrix to him. Or, the supposed matrix. While the matrix that Zeta Prime carried was real, I wasn't sure about the matrix that Nominus had. It had energy from the matrix inside of it, but the matrix couldn't be passed to a groomed replacement. Primus had to approve of the change and I doubted that Primus would approve of Zeta Prime, let alone Sentinel Prime.

Sentinel Prime, from what I remembered of the Prime universe version of him, took all of Zeta Prime's worst qualities and added that to his delusions of superiority. A god-complex that not even Megatron of the original timeline, in all of his conquering wrath, could compete with. He fought to keep the caste system as it was no matter who he had to silence. I suspected that it was partially due to his interference that Orion and Megatron had their falling out. That was especially after the Council took an interest in Orion as a true heir to the title of Prime.

I would have to find out which Prime was currently in office out of these bots eventually. For now, I was going to rest. With the news that Airachnid was on this planet, I wanted to be on top of my game when I faced her. I knew what she was like in the original timeline and, just in case she was still the same, I needed to be as prepared as I could. But, as I started to fall into recharge, I realized that wasn't going to be easy. I was new to this body…chassis. What hope did I have against the femme who could give the Autobots a run for their credits? I'd have to figure something out.

Awareness then left me.

Tarantulas' 1st P.O.V.

"I don't like this at all Tarantulas," Airachnid hissed at me as we met at my house. She paced back and forth in my sitting room and was in a very irritable state. I had told her about the mysterious femme we had found and she had been nervous. But, she held off saying anything, as we listened in to the conversation between the femme, whose designation we learned, was Pandimala, Scuttlebug, and Astrotrain. I'd admit, the femme didn't sound like she was telling them everything, but we all had our secrets. And while I didn't believe that the femme had complete memory loss, I did believe that she was missing some pieces of her memory.

That was especially when she didn't know about the hive and how it worked. Whether it had been out of fear or regular learning, every bot learned about the hive along with other subsects of children of Primus. There was no reason for her to feign knowledge of the hive. Honestly, at this point, she didn't seem like a threat.

When Nyct had reported that a large grounder femme was unconscious in the western grid, I was surprised. The western quadrant wasn't one where a lot of bots wandered. It was desolate and there wasn't even anything interesting to look at. I then asked him who the femme was. That was when he reported that he didn't recognize her. Everybot that came to Regulon IV was at least known on sight to the hive. For this femme to not be known was strange. That information was solidified when the mech sent a description of the femme and none of the other hive knew who she was either. So, I told Nyct that I would investigate. While the dipteram contacted one of the hardcased to meet me at the coordinates, just in case the femme was hostile, I made my way to her.

What I saw when I arrived on the scene confirmed Nyct's report. I didn't recognize the femme…and given how much she stood out even sitting there said that somebot should have seen her arrive. The femme in question was looking around and I saw the onset of panic settling in her features. She wasn't quite there yet, but it was easy to see that she was distressed. So, I asked her if she was alright.

That seemed to trigger her.

And she didn't react violently…instead she seemed terrified. As she glanced between me and her open servos, the panic in her optics continued to rise. Something wasn't right. Something was happening with the femme that I wasn't seeing. So, I asked her again if she was alright. But, she didn't answer. While I continued to try and get her to answer me, she started muttering the word 'no' to herself over and over. The disbelief in her vocals was easy for anybot to hear.

I had again tried to get her attention as Bombshell, my personal guard, arrived on the scene. Before he could react, the femme's systems chose that click to short out. Bombshell had yelled after me as I ran up to the fallen femme. While I wasn't a medic, I did know the signs of a bot having a panic attack. I wasn't sure what triggered it, but the femme's had just caused her to short. I knew that wasn't a good sign. While Airachnid had disagreed with my decision, I called a team of the hardcased to take the femme to Scuttlebug.

Who knew what the bots on the 'exploration team' from Cybertron would do if they were the ones who found her?

That all had brought me to this argument I was having with Airachnid. She didn't trust the triple-changer and felt like she was lying about something. While I knew Airachnid had good instincts about this sort of thing, I also knew that sometimes bots had good reasons to hide information. That was primarily with the threat of the functionalist regime…though no bot was allowed to call it that out loud. Officially, it was the Council and Sentinel Prime. If they had their way, we would be slaves toiling away in one of their mines with the hardcased or fighting in their gladiatorial pits. The dipteram would be used to gather information for their blackmailing practices and I didn't even want to think what they would do to the hymenarchs.

No, despite Airachnid's worries, the femme and we were safest with each other. She had reacted the same way when Astrotrain came to stay with us and that had turned out for the best. He had even saved Scuttlebug from a pack of shrike bats that had been scared out of their caves by the exploration group. I think she just had a problem with bots who weren't a member of the hive or our family. She was having the same problem with Orbweaver's new courter. He was a fine mech, but Airachnid didn't trust him at all. It was the reason we hadn't just allowed Orbweaver to become the new monarch. We all had to agree and, while I think she would do fine, Airachnid didn't like the mech that was courting her.

She needed to work out her trust issues.

Back to my sister though. "There are a lot of things you don't like Air, care to filter down the list for me a little?"

The glare that she gave back was legendary. "Don't play games with me, Tarantulas. The grounder femme is too dangerous, and we know nothing about her. She just pops up and suddenly you have to save her? She could be a bounty hunter here to collect our helms as some sort of sick trophies! Yet you not only allowed her to come into the hive base, but you have allowed our only remaining insetco near her without hardcased guards to protect him."

I let out a vent at her rant. "First of all, sister dear, I am not that ignorant as to leave Scuttlebug unprotected. Astrotrain was there the entire time that he was working on the femme and while he isn't a hardcased, he can pack a mean punch if he wants to." She grumbled at that. "And secondly, you can't judge a bot that you haven't even met yet. I sure don't. I'm holding my opinion off of the femme until I have a chance to sit down and meet her. You should do the same. Your habit of mistrusting everybot you meet that isn't a part of the hive is going to see you in trouble one solar."

"And your habit of taking in everybot who isn't is going to get us all offlined!" She hissed right back before she stormed out of the room.

A vent escaped my chassis as I sat down on my sofa. She was going to be the offlining of me. However, I knew that if I wanted her to see my points, I needed to consider at least the ones that she was making. While each of us had our little collecting habits, I did seem to bring in a lot of outsiders to the hive lately. Astrotrain was one, the mech that Orbweaver was being courted by was another, and now this femme was rounding out three bots within the stellar since the mourning period had ended that I had brought it. Perhaps I did need to slow down a little. But, carrier and sire would have wanted us to help them. They each came to us with problems and, so far, I had been able to help out two out of the three of them. I would see if the femme would let me help her too.

"Brother, are you busy?" I looked to see that Orbweaver had just let herself in, as she usually did when she was trying to avoid Airachnid lately.

"Not particularly. What can I do for you 'Weave?" I asked. She looked hesitant and that usually meant that the femme wanted to ask something. And since she could have asked Air, that meant that she didn't want Airachnid to know about these plans. And, since she didn't want our sister to know what she was doing, I had a feeling about what this was about.

But, what fun would it be if I didn't make her work for it? "Um…me and 'Shift…well, we were wanting to go on a date but with how Airy has been, I was wondering if we could go to the western valleys to have a picnic?"

Well, this couldn't hurt any. "Sure. I don't see a problem with that."

"And can we not tell Airy?" 'Weave asked me, shifting nervously.

Now I was seeing why she didn't want to ask Airachnid when she was near. With this whole courting situation, Airachnid had been insistent on knowing where they both were at every nano. It was annoying, but Air was just worried. Honestly, with my most recent thoughts, I probably needed to be a little more cautious too. "You know that she worries. After everything, well, I think she is worried about losing us."

"But you aren't like that Tar!" She argued back at me, her yellow optics focused on me.

I shook my helm. "We all cope in different ways. You found yourself a mech that you might just be with for the rest of your existence. As Airachnid has pointed out to me lately, I have been collecting bots in trouble who aren't a part of the hive. And Airachnid has been coping by worrying. We balance each other out 'Weave, both our strengths and our weaknesses."

"I get that Tar, I do," Orbweaver insisted. "But if she knows about it before we even get to the picnic spot, she'll be there before we can even start to relax."

And 'Weave had a point too. If this mech was going to be the mech she would spend the rest of her existence with, then they needed moments where they could grow closer together, without interference from certain outside forces. There had to be a compromise in this situation that would make Orbweaver content and make Airachnid less angry. She was going to be angry regardless, but the less angry she was, the better.

That was when the idea hit me. "On a few conditions 'Weave. Firstly, you give me the exact coordinates of the picnic. This way, if something does happen, then we can get there faster."

"Deal," 'Weave agreed.

"Second," I continued with a look that hopefully told her that the next time she interrupted it would be at her peril. "You get two cycles alone. After that, Kickback is going to be sent to stand guard. You will get another cycle after that without me telling our sister dearest. Thirdly, and this is the most important point Orbweaver; if you feel like you are in any danger, you contact Airachnid and me and get yourselves out of there. Use the hive link if you need to."

Orbweaver nodded and smiled. "Deal Tarantulas." She then smirked. "Was your habit of collecting outsiders the reason Air was here? I thought she was begrudgingly accepting 'Shift now?" Even though she didn't like the idea of the mech courting 'Weave, she had stopped harassing him lately. Of course, Orbweaver hadn't been told about the new bot in my 'collection'.

"It wasn't about him. A femme appeared in the western quadrant earlier without any memory of how she arrived…and according to her no memory outside of her designation. Air wasn't thrilled when I had Scuttlebug look at her. But, while I don't think the femme has as much memory loss as she wants us to think, I don't think she means us any harm. She was shaken when I walked up to the scene and I don't think any bot is that good of an actor." I explained to my sister.

… "So, when do I get to meet her?" Orbweaver asked the question I knew was coming.

But if Air was bad now, I knew that she would put 'Weave on lockdown if she went near Pandimala before Airachnid questioned the femme. "Now that one you have to wait until Airachnid meets her. I'm not making that mistake a third time." Orbweaver had met both the mech she was being courted by and Astrotrain before Airachnid had been able to talk to them and I had been ripped a new one for that blunder. With how nervous Air was with this situation, I was not going to risk pushing her circuits even more than I was with this date.

'Weave pouted but I wasn't budging. The silver and blue femme may have a convincing look most of the time, but I had already pushed Airachnid too far. If Orbweaver wanted to convince Airachnid otherwise, she was going to have to step up and do it herself. Perhaps if Orbweaver had a spark-to-spark with our sister, she might just ease up on the courting situation. Then, we could have a monarch finally.

Oh, she wasn't going to willingly let Orbweaver around the new femme for at least sixty solars if she had anything to say about it. While I wouldn't make my youngest sister wait that long, I was going to wait a little. Let Air cool down from the pressure I had been putting on her lately…especially with this secret date that I was allowing to happen.

Frag I hoped she didn't tear my spark out for this one.

Airachnid's 1st P.O.V.

That slagger was going to get us all offlined!

Like having two strangers in the hive wasn't bad enough right now, but now he was allowing this femme who appeared out of nowhere to have access to our only medic left. Not just that, but he wasn't as suspicious about her origins as he should be. Nobot just appeared out of nowhere. She had to be here for a reason. This had to be a part of some sort of plot by Cybertron to infiltrate the hive. I wouldn't let it happen! The femme was going to be in the Well long before I allowed Cybertron to take our hive.

If only Tarantulas would step up and take the fragging mantle of monarch, we wouldn't even be in this situation. Cybertron knew that with a monarch in position, the hive was much more dangerous than it was without. Even during this time, they were hesitant to be messing with us. We could tear them to shreds. Well, normally we could.

However, we were one stellar past the mourning period for our creators, and yet none of us could agree on who would lead the hive. Tarantulas wanted me to take it, though I knew that I wouldn't be able to do a good job of leading them, and he was being too stubborn to take the position. And I wasn't even going to get started into Orb. She would be fine if she wasn't allowing that outsider to court her. The mech, while not a spy from Cybertron, was still suspicious and I didn't want that sort of mech to have any sort of say over the hive.

Our ancestors ground their gears and spilled their energon to make sure that the hive stayed a strong and independent entity. I would not allow all of that hard work to be upstaged by the mech my sister was blindly allowing to court her and to my brother's bot-collecting habits. It looked like I had to keep being the responsible one until one of them opened their optics and saw the danger that we were in. For the first time in billions of stellars, the hive was in danger of being taken apart. I would hang the helms of all of our enemies on the mountains before I allowed that to happen.

Glancing to my right, I came to a stop when I realized that I had, in my musings, ended up outside of the med bay. Glancing through the window, I could see the mysterious femme in recharge. Even if Tarantulas was correct in the fact that the femme had some amnesia, I knew that this femme had to be here on some sort of task. No bot came to Regulon IV without a reason.

What was most terrifying was that none of the hive had seen her until Nyct had found her unconscious deep within hive territory. None who weren't cleared by the hive, which only included Astrotrain and…that mech, unfortunately…had that sort of clearance. So, how had that femme done it? Looking at her, I now saw just how large the femme truly was. She had to have a mod that helped her sneak past us. The hive would not have missed her entering our territory otherwise.

"My lady, you looked troubled," I turned to see Scuttlebug walking up to me, a datapad in servo.

"Shouldn't you be in recharge?" I asked the mech, promptly avoiding the question.

His raised optic ridge told me that I hadn't been nearly as successful as I wanted to be. "I have one more report to collect data on Pandmala here. Her deep scans have just come in and I wanted to have them filed as quickly as I could." He then crossed his arms. "Now, why are you looking so troubled?" He then turned to the viewing window. "Ah, never mind I see."

"And what is it you see?" I asked him. I knew it was a medic's job to make sure we were okay, physically and mentally, but I didn't want to have this talk with the mech.

Of course, his keeping his optic ridge raised told me that I had made a mistake in coming down here. While I hadn't been trying to right now, I did want to come down here as soon as I could. The femme needed to be questioned and my brother had proved that he didn't have a strong enough disposition to do so. "You're worried about the femme; Pandimala. You don't trust her."

"And let me guess, you are going to be like my brother and say that I shouldn't be so worried?" I hissed at the medic. I was tired of everybot putting this aside like it was just another solar. This femme had gotten through all of our defenses and no bot had a clue as to who she was and how she might have done it.

"Not quite," Was he agreeing with me? Usually, the mech and my brother seemed to be on the same wavelength. "Do I agree with you? Also not quite. From the talk I had with the femme this solar, I can tell that she is holding something back. However, it is the fact that I was able to deduce that which makes me not agree with you either. While she was trying to lie, she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Too many tells were coming through."

"What was she lying about?" I asked him. This would be the evidence I needed to take to Tarantulas to let me take a crack at the femme. I would get the fragging truth out of her.

"First I'm going to tell you what she wasn't lying about. She had no past information on the hive. She didn't even know what we were. Also, while she was hesitant about it, her designation is Pandimala. Though, from what I could read of her, it hasn't always been so. Thirdly, she does seem to be without some information."

"What do you mean without information?" It was the way that he phrased that sentence that made me ask about it.

Scuttlebug shook his helm. "Her amnesia. I don't think she has it. That is something she is lying about. However, the fact that she doesn't have information about simple things like the hive does tell me that she might have been secluded in her existence. But, that could be wrong. We won't know that until she is ready to tell us."

I frowned at that. I didn't have time to wait for this femme to open up for us. "And you don't think I could force the information out of her?"

To my surprise, the mech shook his helm. "Oh, you could give it your best shot. But, it was one of the things that she lied about not knowing that tells me that you won't be very successful."

"Oh, and what pray tell is that?" Interesting. Just what could the femme have lied about that would interfere with me forcing the information I wanted out of her to protect the hive.

"You."

What?

"What do you mean by that Scuttlebug? If she has no information about the hive, then she should have no information about me either." This wasn't making any sense.

"It wasn't only you either. However, you were the one that her tells went off the most with." She knew us and she was hiding it. I went to point this out to the medic when he held up his servo. "Hang on. You wanted this report, and you are getting it all."

A vent escaped me. This medic was difficult. But, he did know what he was doing. "Fine. Speak what you will."

"I will," Smart-aft mech. "I didn't see Astrotrain's first clicks with her but he told me when we left her that she had reacted in a familiar way when he had said his designation. But, she hadn't recognized him by his appearance." That was strange. Astrotrain was not an easy mech to miss by sight, and yet this femme had only seemed to recognize his designation. "He had only been able to see her reaction through the reflection of the monitor, though, so it isn't complete. I will be having Odaie help me look at the security footage tomorrow to see her reaction for myself. After I told her about the structure of the hive, and the loss of your creators when they tried to save us from the Lavengrium, I told her that there were three of you that survived your creators, with Tarantulas being the one who found her. Unlike with Astrotrain, she didn't react much to his designation. So, whatever information she has on him is minuscule at best."

"What about Orbweaver?" I demanded. I would be sent to the Pits before I let this femme hurt my little sister.

To my surprise, Scuttlebug shook his helm. "Surprisingly, given how social your sister is with the Cybertronians that stop by here, there was no hint of knowledge from Pandimala about Orbweaver. Somehow, your sister hasn't come up to the femme at all. That alone makes me doubt that she was sent here to infiltrate our ranks."

I didn't like to admit it, but he had a point. But, it was unnerving that the femme had any recognition of my brother and Astrotrain. What was worse was that, from what Scuttlebug was implying, she had even more information about me. "And what about me?"

For the first time since this talk started, he looked hesitant. "I'm not sure what I saw. There was recognition…and not a good kind either." He was holding something back.

"Why is that surprising? I don't make my dislike of Cybertronians being here a secret. That is especially after we lost carrier and sire." I argued.

Scuttlebug shook his helm and I felt worried when he looked troubled. "If it was just annoyance at your mistrust of Cybertronians, I would understand that. However, when Astrotrain spoke your designation, the tells I saw coming from the femme spoke of a deep history with you. I hate to ask this Airachnid, but are you sure you do not know this femme?"

I growled at that. He was questioning my word? "Of course I am sure! How could you think…?"

"I don't," He snapped, causing me to step back. "I just needed to hear it from you. After what I saw from those tells…I never want to see those tells on another bot in my existence. Just at the mere mention of your designation, she showed a flash of terror and fear show through all of her tells. All of them! In that nano-click of time, the tells she was communicating were the same that the old historical documentations show of younglings being slaughtered by drellers! The fear that she wasn't' sure if she would come out of recharge tomorrow because she knew you were near. In that one fragging instant, I saw that! That's not a fear you can fake Airachnid."

"I have never harmed one of them," I responded shakily. As much as I didn't trust them, I never gave them a reason to come after us. Never. I wasn't sure how this femme knew my designation, but what I did know was that Scuttlebug was right. Given the reaction he saw from her.

"As he continued to tell her about the struggle due to the power vacuum we have right now, her tells went from fear to calculation and worry. She was trying to plan against what you might do. Given that we have not heard anything from our spies about any negative propaganda or hate training from them, she wasn't sent here." Scuttlebug continued. "That is why I agree with Tarantulas that far. She didn't come here to hurt us. Pandimala doesn't even know how she got here. That was also completely true." He then paused. "However, she does know something and we should at least keep our guards up around her for now. At least until she can prove herself." He then shook his helm. "Is there anything else? I would like to get the results copied and filed on a datapad for further study later."

"No, thank you for your insight Scuttlebug," I thanked the mech absently as I walked away from there and toward my quarters. This femme; was a mystery. While Scuttlebug didn't detect any ill-will against the hive, I had a new concern about her now. She knew me…or of me at least. Whether that was in truth or she only knew of lies would have to be determined later. Perhaps I would give the femme a chance.

Paul: What the hell? How did we get to this? If this is still happening, do you not realize what time this is?

Authoress: *smirks* I do, but your employee certainly didn't at the time. A lot of things changed. You've seen that much Paul.

Paul: I know...but this...she went through this alone?

Authoress: *nods* And it is only going to get worse.

AN: And here is the first official chapter of this story! It sets a highly different tone than the prologue did. I will admit that this part of the story is going to move quickly. However, that is because I actually have a plan and so at first we are going to be moving at a crazy pace (at least for me). For this story, there will be four main arcs. Each arc will help lead the story along and get Pandimala to where she will eventually need to be. As she goes, she will be changing a lot of things from the past, giving us the future that we saw in the prologue.

And speaking of the future, here are the next chapter names. Also, when the divides in the arcs happen, I will be giving the arc name as well. plus, I will keep reminding you of the arc name that we are currently on. So, without further ado, here they are.

Arc 1: Arrival

Chapter 2: Changing Fate

Chapter 3: Training

And that is all for now! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter is surprisingly almost finished, but I won't post that until chapter 3 is well on its way. If you wouldn't mind, drop a review to review or say hi. I respond to all reviews. Until next time, TTYL! *playing Solstice event on Destiny 2*