Long term assignments for secret organizations were always a waiting game. It was inconvenient as at any moment things could happen all at once and ruin one's cover, but it was something that Figg found himself well suited for.

So he was over the moon to one day be barked at to deliver files (apparent not even technology could do away with the monster that was military paper work) to the mysterious Agent Fowler whose office was in unit E, aka the robot unit.

Figg didn't know what was in the files, nor did he ever find out. His job was to observe the giant robots and report. No sneaking around nonsense.

Not that anyone could sneak into the Unit. The pink haired girl was a menace to anything quiet and 'boring'. The boy everyone could deal with, he was quiet and polite and at least half of the barracks would adopt him as their own.

The girl, Miko, was getting lectured on playing guitar by the large blue truck.

"Ok, but how about no amp? I need to practice!"

"That will be acceptable." The giant robot looked at Figg and frowned. "Soldier, you are out of bounds."

"Delivery for Agent Fowler, Sir!" Figg replied before his brain registered he was treating the robot like an officer.

"Proceed." The robot shifted, and Figg hurried up the steps that were towards the back of the Unit. As he did, he caught sight of the newest robot.

It was a wolf. A giant wolf that was listening to something the little kid Raf was saying. Figg had to clamp down the urge to grab the kid away from it.

"Roadhauler, status."

"Sir, no s-signs of decepticon activity. Arcee has cleared her sector." It made a sound and suddenly transformed. It was larger than the blue bot, and more spiky. "S-sorry," it rubbed at its throat, "Bulkhead and S-Smokescreen are starting their new sectors and Wheeljack notified he was going to be off sensor range for a bit."

"Understood, keep monitoring them."

"Yes-sir." It looked back at the boy. "So, you were saying about the new computer?"

Raf perked up and began rattling off computer specs.

Figg made it to Agent Fowler's office and dropped off the files. His job done, he headed back out as the ambulance bot drove in.

And promptly started yelling at the two other bots. It was blocking the door and glared briefly at Figg as it transformed.

"What part of 'bed-rest' is hard to understand? Both of you are not on duty!"

"Just because I am not cleared for the field-"

"Doesn't give you the right to make Roadhauler move or speak more than he needs to!" The Ambulance was not happy. The wolf bot shrunk back slightly, which was odd to see such a large robot flinch back from a smaller one.

"Wow, you made doc-bot blow a fuse!" Was the girl's way-to-cheerful remark.

"Ratchet, I've had my eye on Hauler, save for a few seconds ago, he's been sitting watching the screens and listening to Raf." Agent Fowler intervened. "Hauler wanted something to do."

"Agent Fowler, That does not mean Ultra Magnus can override my medical orders just because he feels like it!"

"Relax, Doc-bot! Everyone's okay! We'd have yelled for you if something went wrong!" The girl hit a horrible note on the guitar.

"Wrecker, you are not helping." The blue robot blocked the ambulance's view of her.

Figg left Unit E, even though he'd have rather stayed to listen in. He'd also have liked to grab the kids out of there because there was something very wrong about that wolf robot, and he was pretty sure it was too dangerous to be around the kids.

It wasn't his job to worry about the kids, though.

But maybe, he should? He felt like he should.

'Trust your feelings, they're more accurate than you think.' His Grandmama had said.

Figg looked back at the Unit E. There was no way to talk to the kids without coming across as a creep unless ... wait, he'd already talked to Raf in public. Maybe he could keep reaching out to the kid?

"Dios mio." He'd think of something eventually, hopefully.

It was two days later that he got a chance to do something, but it wasn't his plan, at all. Figg was in the hangar, trying to ignore the giant space ship while he mopped up a spill of ... something (he hated when it was his team's turn for cleaning) it sorta looked like coolant.

Or that god-awful Gatorade that Specs drank.

It wasn't water-soluble, whatever it was.

So Figg did the smart thing.

"Sir!" He called out to the giant blue robot walking by to the spaceship. It stopped and looked at him. "What is this? We're having trouble cleaning it up!"

"Coolant." Was the answer. The robot went into the ship, and then returned with a very large rag that he used to wipe it up easily.

Figg noticed that one hand was more like a claw. "So, using water to clean it up was a bad idea?"

"It is water resistant. Dry cleaning methods are recommended."

"Any other types of spills we should learn how to clean up?"

"While it is unlikely, Energon is also better absorbed by dry fabrics, but you will also need decontamination after, it would be safer if you simply cordoned off the area and notified me, I am Commander Ultra Magnus." The bot regarded Fig for a moment. "Was there anything else you needed, Corporal Figueroa?"

"No, this was it." Fig managed, "Thank you for your time, sir."

The giant robot, Ultra Magnus nodded and left. Fig ended up getting yelled at later, but it was worth it. Now he had an in.

Smokescreen struggled to not bounce on his tires as he waited for June. The official story was that she had gotten him on loan from the federal agent who was looking for Jack until her car got fixed.

He hated guard duty, a lot of staying still and doing nothing. The archives had been the most boring guard detail ever ... he'd been lucky Alpha Trion had been willing to tell him stories and teach him things ... though knocking him out and shoving an omega key into his chassis was something he had mixed feelings about.

Though that did make him wonder.

"Uh, Ratchet? In the realm of things not likely to happen but still could possibly happen ... what's likely to happen if I phase shift with a human?" Smokescreen asked.

"Don't you dare try it! Humans need oxygen to breathe! You could accidentally phase them out of the atmosphere!" Ratchet was not happy.

"I volunteer to try it!" Miko yelled in the black of the call.

Presumably that started an argument because Base dropped communication.

"I'm going to get in trouble for that somehow." Smokescreen winced. "Oh no." Several Ambulances pulled up. June was going to be working overtime. "Hey guys, looks like there was a major accident. Nurse Darby is going to be working overtime."

"Acknowledged." It was Optimus this time. "I would also recommend not phasing with a human unless the matter is life or death."

"Right. Just a question that popped into my head ..." Smokescreen admitted. "Sorry."

"It was a valid question." Optimus assured him before signing off.

June eventually came back out. She flopped into the driver's seat and Smokescreen gently reclined the seat.

"Rough night?"

"How could you tell?" She sighed. "Days like this. The only reason I got through was to get home to Jack." June wrapped her arms around herself. "Now he's going to have to stay in a government base-!" She burst into tears.

Smokescreen was not expecting that. He didn't know what to say, so he just stayed put. It wasn't like he could offer her any comfort.

"Sorry." June pulled herself together. "I just..."

"Realized that normal is not possible anymore?" Smokescreen offered.

"I've known it for a while."

"But this is the first time you've felt it in your spark, right?"

"Yes." June wiped at her eyes.

"You know, it took me a while, but a part of me thought that I'd get shipped back to my old job guarding the Iacon Archives. That it would still be there like I never left. It took the kids getting kidnapped to realize that the Cybertron I remembered is long gone." Smokescreen sighed. "Those weeks of taking care of Optimus before he woke up and I went after the forge, I was mostly grieving that my home was gone. So I sorta get it."

"I want to be angry with you all, but it's not your fault that your war came here, and you've all done everything to protect the kids and me. It's not your fault that Jack was captured." She put her seat belt on.

"But you can yell at us a lot easier than at the cons, right?" Smokescreen revved his engine and pulled out of the parking space, sending a quick notification that he was enroute.

"Pretty much. I just don't know what I'm going to do. I know I have to declare Jack dead, but ..."

"But he's not dead, even though he's not human anymore. If I may make a suggestion?" Smokescreen asked.

"Of course."

"When Jack decides on a new designation, that's when you declare him legally dead." Smokescreen offered. "The designation change has a differing origin depending on the city-state, but I think it was Praxus that decided that the previous designation was to be laid to rest like the dead, and the bot was now considered a new bot entirely." Smokescreen resisted the urge to speed. "Or was it Polyhex? I kinda drifted during Alpha Trion's explanations. The rules could kinda get dry depending on the place, you don't want to know the restrictions Iacon had."

"That's a good idea, Smokescreen." June smiled. "What else did Alpha Trion teach you?"

"A lot. Do you want a funny story or a boring one? Keep in mind, I might not remember the boring ones exactly..."

"But what you consider boring is most likely not what I would consider boring?" June smiled. "How about a story about yourself and Alpha Trion? How'd you meet?"

"I was assigned to guard the archives. It's the most boring assignment of the Elite Guard, and I was stationed near the desks to make sure no one tried to access something they shouldn't. But the war was going and there were no visitors for orns, so I goofed off a bit. Mostly reading the more interesting things like racing and other sports. I also might have looked into Megatron and Optimus's past together and some things that the council didn't want revealed- though they got killed before it became an issue. Anyway, Alpha Trion caught me, and instead of reporting me, drafted me to be his assistant. I thought it was going to be boring, but it was pretty fun, Alpha Trion didn't get mad when I struggled to understand something he was telling me." Smokescreen was silent for a moment. "I miss him, especially when I don't know what to do."

"Sounds like he was your parent."

"I guess. It feels more complicated."

Whatever June was going to say was cut off by a roar.

"Predaking!"

"What?!" Ratchet's voice squawked over the comms, "He's attacking you while you're still in the town?! I'll notify the others."

"I'm sorry, gonna speed up." Smokescreen pushed himself as fast as his wheels could go.

Predaking spat fire, knocking over a large billboard that force him to slow down and swerve- which was when the Predacon grabbed him and took off.

Jack was panicking. They had thought it was safe, but Predaking had just kidnapped his mother and Smokescreen…

"Roadhauler, you must calm down, soldier." Ultra Magnus ordered, but Jack could barely hear him over the way everything tinted green and the growling noise.

The white lion was running in front of him. They needed help, they needed allies…

Jack threw his head back and howled.

He didn't see how the lights flickered, surging brighter than normal before dimming, in some cases causing them to blow out.

Or the way the computer equipment reacted as well, hijacking not only the donated satellites but all those that the military had access to, including those that had previously been shut down.

And he most definitely didn't notice when several unknown signals pinged back, as Jack had collapsed.

Sorry for the delay... I had trouble with the plot and finally got impatient enough to trim down the extra. I also went back and forth on how I wanted this to proceed.