A/N: I honestly did not expect to get this chapter out this fast! But I had a day off mid-week and when I sat down today to write, I got a pretty good flow going. It probably helped I had a pretty good idea how I wanted the part I was at already today to go. I mean, not entirely, but I had two main points I knew I wanted to happen and my muse delivered on the in between and lead up very well! It's nice to have a good pace going! Especially after the struggling I did with the last chapters of YWOB I posted. I still hope to be able to return to that one someday, but I don't know in what capacity I will or what timeframe might exist for that. I hope you all can forgive me that.

Review Responses

Cure Cybertron: Hmm, interesting idea, sir or ma'am(I'm terrible at figuring out gender by nametags, sorry!). It's almost as if you read the original version of this story wherein Shadebreaker, Seeker, Leader of the Breaker Trine, Daughter of Vector Prime, had his Space-Time Portals and this is your way of asking me to retain those powers for her. Hmmm. Interesting indeed. *strokes imaginary beard like an old wizened wizard thinking deeply about something* Yes, yes. Well, if you see here, in my notes...*takes out notes*...Hmm, I seem to have failed to write anything down, so I guess you'll just have to read and find out. Hmm yes. *closes notebook*...If you want to, of course.

Anywhoo! Now that I'm done being weird and mysterious(but not really all that mysterious), I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5: First Mission

"Shadebreaker!" Ratchet's voice suddenly broke me out of my concentration as I leaned over the datapads scattered in front of me in intense concentration.

"Huh? What?" I asked, straightening and looking over at him. I realized he and Optimus were both looking at me in concern. I paused the music I'd had on while I worked while they'd been out of the tent.

"Are you…well?" Optimus asked. "Ratchet was calling your name multiple times."

I rubbed my helm in slight embarrassment. "Sorry, I, uh, was simply very concentrated," I said, tilting my helm and motioned at the datapads. "Some of the remaining artifacts don't have exact locations, so I was trying to pinpoint them." I lifted my transcription datapad and then tapped it. "The Polarity Gauntlet I sent you guys toward, for example, never gave a specific place, nor coordinates, but there was enough of a map that I had an area to search through and cross reference map data. Some don't even have that, just vague surroundings with nothing that sticks out."

"Well," Ratchet said as the mechs approached. "The positive side of that is that if the 'Cons have the same information as what's in your helm, they have the same problem. That puts us on even ground."

I gave him an appreciative look at that. "I was trying to pull enough detail to pinpoint as small of a search area for those items as possible," I said, placing the datapad back down. "It just takes a lot of concentration to keep my focus on that much detail for so long without it straying to…related memories. Some of which I don't necessarily want to revisit."

"Bad memories?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah," I said, looking away sadly. "I mean…not all of them were bad, but…even the good ones get tainted when…" I trailed off and sighed, waving a hand. "It doesn't matter. It's in the past. No use dwelling on past trauma when you can't do anything about it."

"I understand," Optimus said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We all have things we find difficult to talk about."

I gave him a grateful smile this time. Then I passed him my transcription datapad. "I did pinpoint a couple of the artifacts already," I told him. "There are some I still need work on, but what I do have narrowed down further is the location of the Phase Shifter and Star Saber."

"Did you say the Star Saber?" Ratchet said, sounding in awe as he looked over Optimus's shoulder.

"The legendary weapon of Prima of the Thirteen original Primes," I said, standing up straight. "Yes. Due to some of the conflicting information between the books and the show, it is mildly possible based on that alone the Star Saber might not even be here. But if it is here, I figure it's pretty important to keep Megatron from using it."

"Though you are correct, he couldn't really use the Star Saber, not to its full potential," Ratchet said thoughtfully. "Only a Prime can use it, if the stories are true."

"In the show he desecrated the Tomb of Primes and stole an arm to use the Forge of Solus Prime," I told him plainly. "Nothing stops him from doing that in real life, I'm sure. I mean, unless he doesn't have a Space Bridge, I suppose. I've noticed a lack of Dark Energon infused zombies and space battles, so some events from the show have already just…not transpired."

"Dark Energon infused zombies?" Ratchet asked. He shook his helm and then looked at Optimus.

"It does appear that our timeline has deviated from the one you are familiar with," Optimus agreed. "So far, however, it seems your information is leading us well. We were able to recover the Energon Harvester, though unfortunately the Decepticons appear to have beaten us to both the Polarity Gauntlet and the Immobilizer."

"Sweet on the Harvester, not so much on the others," I said, wings lifting. "The Harvester should help some with resources. I know at least one untapped Energon deposit on Earth we could use it on."

"We have a few logged in our data systems," Ratchet replied. "The only reason the Decepticons don't have their greedy hands in them is because they're unmineable. The Harvester will allow us access to them."

I nodded my agreement there, satisfied my information was turning out useful despite the changes taking place in the timeline. "Was anyone hurt during these missions?" I asked in concern. No one had returned yet that I'd seen, besides some of the humans delivering the Energon Harvester. I was anxious for our Ground Bridge to be rebuilt, as I was sure they were.

"Fortunately not," Ratchet replied. "Nothing serious, anyways."

My wings relaxed some at that news.

"You mentioned the Forge of Solus Prime," Optimus said. "Do you have its location as well?"

"Kinda. It's in China, like the Star Saber, but a different part of China," I replied. "I haven't pinned the exact spot, but…" I picked up the datapad I had a world map up and held it where he could see where I had places marked. I pointed out the area I had marked with a hammer. "It's somewhere in this rough area, in a cave. It was snowy in the show, but, given the location, that was due to the season, it's not going to be snowy this time of year. I haven't spent enough time yet on the Forge in particular to have narrowed down which cave, I'm not even sure if I can. I have to find out how many caves exist in that area of China first and then what they look like from the angle the show had the camera at. I mean, maybe there's a faster way, besides obviously just doing the footwork, but this is the system that works for me since we have to fly or boat anywhere we go right now."

Optimus nodded. "Forward me an image and I will relay this information to the away team," he said. "Then I will join them. If the Star Saber and Forge are on Earth, they must not fall into Megatron's hands."

I nodded my agreement. Then my wings shifted slightly and I hesitated only a moment. "What about the Phase Shifter? If you all go to China for the Star Saber and Forge, won't that leave the Phase Shifter free for the 'Cons to grab? They already got the Immobilizer and the Polarity Gauntlet. I'm not sure I want to add the Phase Shifter anymore than either of the Thirteen artifacts to that number. I mean, none of these artifacts were anything to scoff at if the show was anything to go by."

Optimus seemed to consider this for a moment. Then he looked at Ratchet. "Ratchet, is Shadebreaker fit for duty?"

Ratchet sputtered for a minute. "You can't be thinking of sending her alone?" he asked.

My wings shifted slightly. He hadn't said no.

Optimus leveled his medic with a look.

My wings shifted again. He hadn't said no.

Ratchet sighed. "Technically?" He looked between us and then pulled up a screen with my health readings. "All Shadebreaker's readings are in the clear now. That stuff Vector Prime gave her really did give her a boost. Ordinarily it would've been quite a lot more time before this would even be a question."

"I definitely am surprised at how well I feel given I just started moving again a week ago, when the team first left to fetch the Harvester," I commented, just registering how long they'd been gone. Ground travel was a lot slower than Ground Bridge travel, that was for sure.

"But you don't have the combat training the rest of us have," Ratchet continued. "And we have no idea if your frame will hold up to real stress."

"We can call it a field test," I said. "I'll be careful, I know how to pay attention to my limits. I spent years learning how to do that as a human with hEDS."

"With what?" Ratchet asked.

"Connective tissue disorder. Boils down to, I was fragile as heck," I answered, waving a dismissive hand. "And I have some combat training, it's just been a long ass time since I've done any practicing. I'm scrappy, I think I've proved that already. That said, I will avoid any unnecessary fighting."

"And she will not be alone, Ratchet," Optimus said. "You and a contingent of humans will go with her."

"We haven't even tested your T-Cog yet," Ratchet reminded, though he didn't sound like he was fighting quite as hard.

"Perhaps it is time to do so," Optimus said.

I nodded my agreement. "I'm down."

Ratchet sighed, but we moved out of the tent anyways. We moved out toward the field Optimus and Ratchet had been using to train their combat skills between dealing with liaisons, communications with the away team and other management tasks involving establishing a new base. I knew part of it was to alleviate Optimus's frustrations about not being in the field with his bots, even though he didn't say anything. The thing about reading the books over multiple times was knowing how at least some of the bots thought really well, and Optimus was one of those bots. Though I'd hardly say I had a full picture.

Ratchet walked me through how to activate my T-Cog as we walked, so by the time we got there I had a pretty good understanding of what I was doing. After giving myself a bit of distance from them, I gusted air through my systems and then activated it, my systems running through some pre-transformation checks faster than I could count a full beat before the sequence began. Parts shifted and it was decidedly a really weird feeling to transform for the first time. No amount of fanfiction or media I had consumed had prepared me for how…strange it felt.

I blinked at the end, realizing immediately that I wasn't a car. Nor was I a plane or a jet or anything remotely like a vehicle. I stretched a wing out, noticing it moved in place of an arm, my arms having disappeared. Then I twisted, looking at my back as much as I could, seeing parts of my back and tail feathers not unlike those of an owl's spread out. I wiggled them some, watching them as I raised an optic ridge.

"Well, if we had any doubt you're a beast-former before, now they're gone," Ratchet said dryly as he and Optimus approached me.

I turned back to face them, moving awkwardly and nearly falling over before Optimus reached out and grabbed my wing to help me steady myself again. "Well, I can't say I am surprised," I said, nodding to Optimus my thanks. "Beasts are Shockwave's specialty. Thinks beast modes make for easier to control bots." I stood as straight as I could, gauging my height in this mode and realizing it was about the same, which was only a little shorter than Ratchet.

Ratchet made a noise of disgust, grumbling as he ran a scan over me to check my systems. "Well, everything seems to be ok, other than your clumsy movements."

"Which will be better as I get used to this form," I said, shaking myself a little. Some of the smaller pieces of armor around my helm and chest fluffed as if they were feathers and then smoothed back out. It was an interesting feeling. "It shouldn't take too long."

"Hm," Ratchet said. "I still don't like it."

"I know, old friend," Optimus said, placing a hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "But I believe you will keep each other safe."

Ratchet sighed, then motioned me to follow. "Well, first, we should get you some weapons."

I transformed back into bot mode, taking a moment to make sure I wasn't gonna tip over before following behind him.

"What I don't get," Sergeant Epps said as we waited for the go ahead to deplane the cargo plane that had gotten us to the Big Apple. "Is how we're supposed to get you to the subway without you being seen. A large metal owl is not exactly conspicuous."

My wings shifted slightly. "Maybe, but your technology has grown a lot over the years," I said. "You could tell people I am an experimental military AI equipment and most will likely believe you. I could totally move in a way that backs that up."

"I'd buy that if you weren't so clumsy in your alt still," Ratchet grouched.

"Ou au contraire," I said. "My clumsiness is actually what would sell it."

Epps chuckled, shaking his head at that. "Hate to say it, Ratchet, but Shadebreaker's right about that," he said. "Humans haven't exactly mastered AI, as much as the tech gurus want us to believe we have."

"As long as I don't fly," I said. "I don't think the world is ready to believe realistically flying AI owls are a thing. Which means I gotta ride on top of a vehicle, or walk it. I might be able to sell the AI robot, or even just something less than AI, if I rode on top of a vehicle."

"We got just the vehicle for that," Cadet Williams said, grinning as he motioned over toward one of their rovers. It had a roof with a structure that would work perfectly for a perch.

"Oh, perfect then," I said, grinning at that. "If you painted me white I could be Hedwig."

Epps laughed while Ratchet rolled his optics. Then Epps was called away and I turned my attention to checking my weapon I'd chosen. It was a simple enough weapon, just something to start out with until I could get some time to practice and really decide what I wanted and would be comfortable with. I was joking cause I was scared and I was trying not to be and I didn't know how not to be other than turning to humor and deep breathing, the latter of which didn't always work for me. So, since my joking partner was called away, I was breathing deeply as I made sure my weapon was battle ready and my armor was fitting properly.

"Shadebreaker," Ratchet's voice reached me and I looked up as he moved by me, placing a hand on my hand. "Time to move. Subspace that, pull it out when you need it. Don't work yourself up before something even happens."

"Right," I said, realizing I was doing just that. I realized I had only ever ended up in situations unexpectedly before. I didn't really know how to handle it when I was knowingly walking into them. My post reactions seemed to be true for prior too, if my shaking was any indication. At least I knew now.

I put my weapon away, gusted air through my system one more time to refocus myself on what was directly in front of me and then transformed as Ratchet did the same. The ramp to allow us to exit the plane lowered as the few military vehicles being used to transport the humans helping us on this mission moved forward in preparation. Once they'd debarked from the plane, I glided out myself, carefully—clumsily—landing on top of the rover Cadet Williams had pointed out to me, hearing some sounds of surprise from the passengers as the truck shook and shuddered.

"Sorry," I said, leaning over to peer inside. "First time landing on a vehicle, a little clumsy."

"Don't worry about it," a female soldier said, waving it off despite a nervous look on face.

I gave her what I hoped was an apologetic look and then straightened back up and proceeded to pretend to be very robotic. The. Whole. Way. To. The. Destination. It wasn't easy or fun and many times I just wanted to break character and greet all the dogs I saw on the way.

Once we made it to an entry to the subway that seemed clear of most humans—due to construction—we stopped driving for Sergeant Epps to exit the vehicle he was riding and talk to the man in charge. It only took a little convincing that this was a covert military operation to test some features on a new military AI prototype—which was me—before we were delving down into the blocked off area of the subway.

"Alright," Epps said once all the construction workers had been vacated from the tunnels and it was only Autobots and allies left. "Where is this doohickey?" He looked up at me as I carefully removed myself from the roof of the rover.

I transformed and then looked around as one of the men stopped Ratchet from stepping on a third rail. I pulled a datapad from subspace to consult my information against our position.

"This way," I said, motioning before I began moving, cautious of where I stepped.

A small squad of the humans stayed by the entrance with all but one of the vehicles to protect the entry point and act as an early warning if the Decepticons came in this way. I hoped they'd be ok, but I didn't let myself dwell on it. They had a relatively good idea of what they'd signed on for, or at least what they'd stayed for, at this point. And the ones coming with Ratchet and I, walking carefully around our pedes and hugging the walls, were likely to see more danger if the Decepticons did show up.

"I'm starting to pick up faint readings," Ratchet said as he lifted his scanner a bit. "Two klicks ahead."

"Two what?" Cadet Williams asked.

"Kilometers," I replied. "A little over a mile, I think, roughly."

Ratchet made a so-so motion with his hand.

"Which sounds about right to my calculations I did," I said, feeling more relieved than I thought I would about that.

We continued on as another soldier teased Williams about not knowing that, to which he replied that math and distances simply weren't his strong point. I ignored the light banter as I kept my sensors on high alert for any signs of trouble. Something about how quiet it was down here was putting me on edge. Even clearing the tunnel of workers and such didn't feel like it should account for the quietness in the tunnels. Maybe it did, maybe it was just first mission jitters.

My wings shifted as Ratchet found a spot in the tunnel walls where the readings were coming from. After discussing a bit about how to extract it, I took out the hammer I had chosen for my melee weapon—albeit as a test and because I knew it might be useful on this mission. It wasn't huge, but it was nothing to scoff at and it would chip away at the rock between us and the artifact. While I chipped, Ratchet and the humans took up defensive positions around me, alert for any signs of Decepticons, or stray humans Ratchet and I would need to hide from.

A strange tingling in the air I sensed in my wings caused me to pause, wings shifting to pick up more of it. I glanced at Ratchet questioningly. He gave me a quizzical look, but didn't have time to ask before there was an explosion taking out the one vehicle that had been driven all this way with us.

"Aw shit," one of the humans said.

Pandemonium.

That was a good word to describe the immediate vicinity of the blown up vehicle as the humans scrambled to get anyone still alive a safe distance from the wreckage and fire. Perhaps any bystander would describe the scene as a whole with that word. It would describe how it felt to me as I moved with Ratchet to cover the humans from an as yet unseen threat.

"Where are you?" I asked quietly, wings shifting constantly to try to pick up any more strange energy readings as my optics scanned the area, hammer now switched out for the Path Blaster I had chosen from the armory. It was a standard issue model, though I already had ideas for how I might improve it once I figured out how to do such things.

A noise toward where the humans were trying to group the wounded alerted me before anything else and I turned, optics locking onto a shadow creeping closer to them. None of the humans seemed to have noticed the feline-like creature yet, but I was not going to watch while who I assumed was Ravage attacked the wounded humans. I took aim and fired two shots, catching the feline on the shoulder with one shot while he turned quickly toward me and then ducked the second.

The feline mech I assumed to be Ravage hissed and switched his attention toward me, firing off a rocket from his hip at me. Taking quick stock, I realized if I jumped out of the way, that meant the missile would hit the humans still helping the wounded-not-quite-dead. There were only a couple left to move, about half the humans in the vicinity of the vehicle has died on explosion, but that was still too many to just dodge. I was the one who'd argued for the humans being allowed the choice to fight for their planet.

With those things in mind, and guilt for those already lost, I face the rocket, optics locking onto it and put my Path Blaster away. I planted my pedes more firmly and when the rocket was close enough, I slammed both hands together to catch it. It kept pushing forward and the force of it pushed me back, but I dug my pedes further into the ground. I growled, digging my fingers into the sides of the rocket. The booster stopped and for half a moment I thought I was safe.

Then it beeped and a ring of red light flashed.

"Shit," I said.

Then it exploded. The pain was immense and my vision went white from the level of light that just happened when you had a bomb explode literally in your face. My hearing also seemed affected, as all I could was vague calls of my name from Ratchet and some orders being belted out by Epps to his fellow soldiers. I took some supplies from my subsplace quickly, patching things as quickly as I could with the limited information I had. I was interrupted by something biting my arm and I registered it immediately as the bot I had labeled as Ravage.

"You damn cat," I said, grabbing the cat around the middle with my free hand, ignoring the screaming pain. I yanked Ravage away from my arm he was biting even as he scratched and clawed up my arm.

"You think you can beat me, you rotten Autobot?" the feline asked. The voice sounded feminine, but it was hard to tell if it was because the bot was female or it was the ringing in the my audials distorting the still muffled sounds around me.

"I don't think," I said, knowing I just sounded tired. And then slammed Ravage-Maybe-Not-Ravage into the ground as hard as I could. Then I grabbed the remaining rocket that sat on top of their hips and ripped it off of her. I didn't know what else to do with it, not trusting my barely returning sight to get a good aim on the blurr I could see fighting Ratchet while the humans peppered it with distracting bullets. So I subspaced it for now.

Ravage-Maybe-Not-Ravage got up surprisingly fast and moved aside as they leapt at me again. They turned quickly, however, and pounced on me once more. I got my arm up in time to protect my neck from her teeth and claws as my vision cleared just a bit more as my internal systems worked to repair what they could on their own. The force of their pounce caused me to stumble back, tripping over a piece of debris from the first explosion.

What I wouldn't give to be at a remote beach with no one for miles right now, I thought dryly to myself as I fell backwards. I wasn't serious, of course, but it would've been nice not to feel like I was about to die because I rushed into a first mission due to our concerns about the Decepticons getting their greedy claws on too many artifacts.

I was bracing my frame to hit the ground, ready for the impact to wrack me with a fresh wave of pain from my injuries. So when I kept falling, I felt a jolt of surprise and, now that I could see a little more than blur on my opponent, I could see it surprised them too. They started to let go of my arm, clearly meaning to abandon their assault on me and let me fall into the portal that I could see peripherally now, but I grabbed them.

"Not letting you get out of this tussle that easily, kitty," I said as we both fell through.

The cat fought as we fell, but I didn't let them go until we exited and I fell hard onto my back into sand. I bounced some, the force making me let go of the Decepticon and they jumped off me to determine our location. Then they turned toward me and paced threateningly toward me as I got to my pedes.

"Where did you bring us, 'Bot?!" they demanded. I could just make out what they were saying, probably because they were screaming as loud as their vocal processor would allow.

I glanced around. I could make out enough to know we were at a beach. And no humans were around. I connected to the web and checked our coordinates to find we were on a remote island somewhere near Japan. Thankfully it wasn't our remote island. I chose to ignore the fact the Decepticon said I had brought us here for the moment.

"Looks like a beach," I replied with a shrug.

This was clearly not the answer the Decepticon cat was wanting as they became even more irritated. They charged me and this time I transformed, flying up to avoid them. They pounced again and this time I smacked them away with a wing, not without getting a good several scratches on my wing from them for the effort. I flew higher to get out of the cat's range, thinking quickly whether it was worth continuing this fight now that it was outside of the tunnels and far, far away from Manhattan. They could theoretically call for Bridge to return if I left them freely able to move.

The cat was yelling something I could no longer hear well from this distance. It was clear that as long as the Decepticon thought I was still engaged in the fight, they would stay and fight too. That at least kept one fighter out of Ratchet's bubble and away from the humans. So how did I make sure they stayed here, at least for long enough to settle things back in Manhattan, when I leave? Assuming I could figure out how to get back.

Remembering the missile I had subspaced earlier, I pulled it back out, holding it in my talons. All I had to do was figure out how to ensure it hit the target. I flew lower, back toward the cat, but the moment they realized what I had in my talons, they hissed something and started running, darting into the trees.

"Damn it," I muttered, but chased them into them for long enough to be convincing about giving chase. Then, when I was sure they'd gotten a good head start on me, I returned to the beach and subspaced the missile again. I didn't have time to chase a cat around a jungle when they had the clear advantage in hide-and-seek.

I flew along the treeline, looking for signs the cat had doubled-back or was returning in response to me cutting off my pursuit as I turned part of my focus inward. I had to figure out how to return to the tunnels if I was indeed the one who had brought us to this beach to begin with. How had I done it the first time? I had merely had a fleeting thought of wishing to be on a remote beach. If fleeting thoughts were all that triggered it, why hadn't one been opened up before now? Was it also the desperate feeling that I was feeling of wanting to be out of the situation that was likely about to kill me?

I focused heavily on my desire to return to the tunnel and assist Ratchet and the humans. I put some desperation into it and pleaded that a portal open up.

Then one did.

Right in front of me.

Seconds before I flew right into it.

I had enough time in the portal to focus myself and when I exited, I exited talons extended toward the mech Ratchet was fighting as he hovered over the medic—who was pinned on the ground by the mech's pede as he pointed a large gun directly at his spark. He barely had time to look up before I crashed into him, sinking my talons into his shoulder and his gun arm, screeching owl noises. I flapped my wings to forcibly pull him off of Ratchet.

The mech stumbling gave Ratchet enough time to grab his dropped weapon and fire two shots into his shoulder I wasn't dug into. The mech screamed and then moved away, twisting and then transforming as he dropped his gun. I let go of him, landing on the ground in front of Ratchet in a protective stance as the Decepticon drove away, tail between his legs. I stood there, protectively for a long moment until I felt Ratchet's hand on my neck.

"Easy, Shade'," I heard his voice in audials, still muffled but there. "He's gone, they're both gone. You can stand down now."

I looked at him, past my broken visor, past the blurriness that remained, and saw enough of his expression to see it was true. I could also see enough to know he was hurt. I made a noise of worry and nudged him a bit as I lowered my wings, relaxing some.

"Can you transform?" Ratchet asked.

I nodded and he stepped back to give me space to do so. Then we collected the artifact we'd come for as the humans who had stayed behind came to join us to help transport the injured and the bodies of the dead. Ratchet allowed some injured to ride in his ambulance mode with the human medic as well, though only a couple could safely be transported that way. I rode atop one of the vehicles on the way back to the cargo plane, doing my best robotic owl impression I could muster while in pain and under more scrutiny by the public this time. It was harder to ignore an obviously damaged giant robot owl than a non-damaged one, clearly.

I was grateful to be in the privacy of the plane again, and quiet as Ratchet tended to my wounds as best he could before we reached base.

"What happened back there?" Epps asked, walking up while Ratchet was patching my arm the Decepticon cat had torn up. "One moment you were there and then the next you weren't."

I motioned with my free hand in a "I don't know" way.

Epps paused at the silent answer and then shared a look with Ratchet.

"Are your vocs damaged?" Ratchet asked, sounding concerned. He made a motion to touch my neck, but seemed to hesitate, perhaps remembering Bumblebee's.

I shook my helm. Then I took out a datapad and wrote "Emotions are too strong to form sentences right now. A lot just happened to process, it's a little overwhelming. I should be ok in time."

"Ah, I understand," Epps said, patting my pede. "A lot of troops have a hard time with their first missions. And they don't typically get blown up."

I smiled a bit, to show I appreciated his attempt at turning it into a joke and his understanding.

"Do you think you can write what happened?" Epps asked.

And so I did. I wrote exactly how my fight with Ravage-Maybe-Not-Ravage had gone. Which is also how I found out it had indeed not been Ravage at all. Ratchet had gotten enough of a look at the bot to identify the feline as Howlback. A feline Decepticon like Ravage that partnered more often with Barricade—who he'd been fighting.

"More notes for differences in the timeline," I wrote for Ratchet after Epps had left the conversation. "Barricade and Howlback being here."

"I somehow feel there won't be much the same as what you know anymore," Ratchet told me.

I merely nodded as he continued to patch my wounds and ask me what hurt and such and I answered using the writing method.

"Looks like Megatron's beat us here," Arcee said as she peered out from the rocks she and Optimus were hiding behind.

Optimus focused his optics in on the mech for a moment, watching as he gave orders to the multitude of vehicons he had with him. He shifted his attention upward to take in the fact the Nemesis was hovering above. He could hope this meant Shadebreaker and Ratchet would have minimal resistance on their mission to retrieve the Phase Shifter, as well as Bulkhead and Bumblebee for the Forge.

"It would seem Megatron is desperate to keep the Star Saber out of my hands," Optimus observed.

"This might make things difficult with just the two of us," Arcee said. "How do you want to play this?"

Optimus took in each of the troops' location and current activity. It seemed they were in the process of carving out the mountain and hooking it up to the Nemesis. He considered the factors before turning to Arcee with a plan in mind.

Bulkhead grunted as he climbed the side of the mountain they'd identified as the location of the Forge of Solus Prime. Shadebreaker had mentioned a cave, but it turned out through her pictures the cave was merely a backdrop, located high in the mountains near where the relic was buried in the rock.

After they'd been climbing for around a half hour, Bumblebee and Bulkhead finally reached the top. They peered over the top to check for any Decepticons. And Decepticons there were.

"Breakdown," Bulkhead said, watching as the mech Chipped away at the rock while his partner examined his digit tips.

Bumblebee whirled in response.

"Heh, yeah," he said in agreement. "They're about to get schooled a second time."

They lifted themselves over the edge and landed with a thud. Bulkhead slammed his fists together.

"Hey Breakdown!" He called. "Wanna rematch?"

Breakdown and Knock-Out shared a look before grinning and moving to meet their opponents for combat.

Steve the Vehicon was hard at work chiseling away at the rock on the edge of the shielding the Star Saber emitted. He heard Megatron urging them to go faster, but it didn't perturb him much—they were going as fast as they could. The drills ran as hard as they could handle and the brute frames added chip damage to the rock with their hammers in places the drills could not reach.

Steve hoped they would be done soon so he could take a break in the oil baths with his fellow Vehicons—Jerry and Tom. None of the Decepticons' regular troops understood why the trio took on names of Earth origin, but they liked them. It made them feel unique in a sea of Vehicons forged to be exactly the same as each other. It was hard being cold constructs treated as nothing but war machines with no identity of your own. It was their way of claiming their own identity.

These were the thoughts on Steve's mind when a sabot round hit a Vehicon nearby him in the back, exploding on impact.

And another.

And another.

Before long, several of Steve's crew were taken out by these human made weapons and he turned to see where they had come from just in time to see one was coming for him too.

"Scrap," Steve said.

Then he was blown up along with his friends.

"What in the Pit is happening?!" Megatron demanded as his mining crew was picked off by an unseen foe. He pointed in the direction the rounds had come from. "Find them!" He ordered the troops.

A group of Vehicons rushed toward the rocky outcropping the rounds had appeared from. Megatron watched with narrowed optics, not sure what to expect to jump out of the rocks.

It certainly wasn't just one Autobot leaping out. The Autobot known as Arcee leapt into the air, peppering the Vehicons with fire that took out several of them with shots that were aimed precisely to their sparks. Then she expertly engaged them in hand-to-hand combat, taking out several that her weapons fire had not while humans—what a surprise—covered her from behind the rocks.

"Interesting," Megatron said, raising an optic ridge.

But he knew this Autobot. He knew she was not the reckless type to jump into a battle where he would be present. Not alone. His optics searched while he calculated. Then they widened and he turned his helm.

"Optimus," he said as he identified the Prime descending the mountain toward the Star Saber, quietly but quickly, spark signature expertly masked. No wonder the first strike had been to take out the miners.

Megatron grinned and took aim with his signature Fusion Canon. His opponent, in the end, was all too predictable.

Then, moments before firing the shot, a warning from his systems alerted him just in time for him to whirl away from a shot fired from behind the outcropping, leaving a round to explode on a Vehicon to his left, blowing a hole in the poor mech's chest.

Growling in frustration, Megatron transformed, flying toward Optimus, who was almost at the Star Saber now. He fired at him, making Optimus pause in his descent to defend himself against his onslaught and fire back with his Ion Blaster with one hand.

Megatron easily veered to avoid Optimus's return fire and then transformed, extending his sword out. With a battle cry, he fell upon Optimus, bearing down on him, their swords clashing with a spray of sparks.

"I should've known you'd be here, Optimus," Megatron said as they both clung to the rock wall while pushing against each other's swords. "The Star Saber is much too tempting a spoil, isn't it?"

"I will not allow you to defile Prima's blade with your tyranny, Megatron," Optimus replied.

Megatron laughed at that before Optimus kicked him away with a strong kick to the chassis.

Optimus leapt from the cliff face to the ground as Megatron flipped through the air to land on the ground. This, Megatron could clearly see, put the librarian at an unfortunate advantageous position.

"You wound me, brother," Megatron said. "Do I not deserve such a trophy for all I've done for Cybertronian kind?" He gestured, placing a hand over his spark. "All I've done is for the benefit of all."

"Tyranny benefits no one, Megatron," Optimus said, pointing at him with one hand while the other reached out and grabbed hold of the hilt of the Star Saber.

Megatron narrowed his optics at the energy that formed around the hilt at Optimus's touch.

"You, of all bots, should know that," Optimus finished. "Perhaps, you need a reminder of where you started."

Megatron raised an optic ridge at that. "Perhaps, librarian, it is you who needs a reminder." He sheathed his sword and then aimed his fusion canon once more.

Optimus jerked the Star Saber once and that was all it took. The Star Saber was free from the mountain it had refused to budge from for Megatron.

And it was glowing.

For the first time in his life, Megatron hesitated. He doubted if he could win this fight. He took quick stock of his army, and the urgency Starscream—and even Soundwave—was calling over comms.

"Decepticons!" He called as Optimus pointed the end of the blade toward him. "Retreat!" He leveled Optimus with a long stare. "For now."

Sparks flew as hammer met wrecking ball over and over in a clash pver the Forge of Solus Prime. For every strike Bulkhead landed on Breakdown, the other mech landed one on him.

And Bumblebee seemed to be equally matched against Knock-Out thus far. Every punch or kick Bumblebee landed, Knock-Out returned with gusto.

And then, Knock-Out whipped out the Immobilizer, shocking Bumblebee enough to give him a chance to use it. Knock-Out fired a shot at the scout, but Bumblebee ducked instinctively. Laughing, Knock-Out switched targets, easily landing a hit on Bulkhead.

Bumblebee whirled angrily as his friend froze in place while the Decepticons laughed and chortled. He stepped forward to do something, but Knock-Out pointed the Immobilizer at him while Breakdown threatened to bash Bulkhead's helm in with his hammer.

"Ah-ah," Knock-Out said. "I wouldn't take another step if I were you."

"Yeah, or Bulkhead gets it," Breakdown said.

"Now, you're gonna be a good little scout and let us collect the Forge," Knock-Out told him. "And then we'll let you go free."

Bumblebee whirled angrily, but he motioned that they could go ahead. As Breakdown worked and Knock-Out made sure he stayed in place Bumblebee secretly plotted over comms with the human contingent that wasn't far behind them in the air—courtesy of, and including, Agent Fowler.

"Well, such lovely time working with you 'Bots," Knock-Out said after they had the Forge and were about to disappear through their Ground Bridge. "But now's our time to part ways. Ta-ta!"

Just as Knock-Out was about to enter the Bridge, he was hit by a small explosion on the arm that was holding the Immobilizer, causing him to drop it. He growled and went to reach for it, but was forced to defend himself from a barrage of fire from overhead jets.

"Scrap, just go!" Knock-Out told Breakdown.

The two Decepticons ran through the Bridge with the Forge, but down the Immobilizer.

Bumblebee ran forward to grab the weapon from the ground and examine it. He didn't know much about the weapon other than it was a Wheeljack original. He knew Ratchet would know how to fix Bulkhead, though. They just had to figure out how to get Bulkhead back to base.