Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Authoress: *evil laughter*

Pandimala: I don't like the sound of that.

Knockout: Back! Back scraplet spawn! *sprays water at Authoress*

Authoress: *sputters* Do I look like a cat?

Knockout: *sprays more water* Back!

Chapter 2: Storming the Base

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

This was it. It was time to make MECH remember just why we were not a race to mess with. They dared to take our friends, and we were going to make them suffer. And we owed it to our friends to get them back. After everything that they already sacrificed for and contributed to this war, I was not going to let them stay in this state. Each of the teams of bots had already met and gone over our different strategies.

Team Sigma, my team, already had a decent strategy to go through with. Jazz would keep ahead of our team to scout out each room that was his size that we might come across. I would be leading the squad directly as a shield in case something big tried to stop us. Then we would have the human squad behind me to act as a decent middle. Anywhere that was too small for us to investigate would be handled by them. While this would make our party move a little slower than I wanted, we needed to make sure that we found whichever of our allies we came across. We couldn't risk leaving them behind in that Primus-forsaken place any longer. Finally, Thundercracker would cover the end of our formation. He was the middle size between the three of us Cybertronians and could move effectively in tight quarters.

Of course, thinking bout the teams reminded me of the staff sergeant of our squad. Carmine Fanzone. I hoped that he wasn't exactly like his Animated version. Otherwise, we were going to have some difficulties. His almost anti-technology stance from that universe would seriously hinder our movement through MECH's facility. Since he was a staff sergeant, however, I had to hope that he had the discipline to keep himself and whoever else was on his squad in line. That was especially true since, according to Knockout, his human squad's staff sergeant was named Carlos Lopez. And wouldn't you know it, that was the name of one of the kids from the Transformers Armada universe.

There had to be some higher being who despised me somewhere. Really. I was going to have to make sure that I was not distracted by the parallels between this reality and the fantasy realities I had grown with. It was going to be hard, though. And that was especially true since I would not be near Knockout for this.

I understood the reason that they were separating us. With our bond, especially with how new it was, we were going to be able to communicate with each other without said communications getting blocked. And that would help keep the teams in communication with each other just in case we needed backup. While the odds were great that MECH would be separating each of their hostages between their warehouses, we weren't completely certain of that. If they were all together, then security measures with them might be too great for one team to handle alone. So, we were going to be ready.

"Hey, 'Mala, hold up," I turned at Jazz's voice to see both him and Thundercracker walking up to me. Since we were heading for launch, I figured they wanted to stick together. We need to ask you something."

Or it was something completely different. "What's up?" I asked once they joined me.

The three of us started to make our way to the main hangar, where the teams of three were meeting up with the squads that we were assigned to as Thundercracker continued. "Have you heard about the leader of the squad we are with?"

I guess they had heard something about the actual Fanzone here. Since I didn't want them to have the same biased background that I did, I answered with as much honesty as I could. "No. I've heard the name before, but not from around here." Since most bots knew that I was from another dimension and that I knew of fake realities for them, then they should realize what I was getting at. I could have just said it out loud, but given that enemies could be in our base, I was trying to keep information close to myself.

"Fair," Jazz definitely caught on if that was how he was responding. "So, from what we heard, he doesn't like the idea of 'machines' taking away from jobs humans should have. I'm not sure about his opinion of us…"

"But it isn't looking too good," Thundercracker finished for him. "Given that we are a mechano-based species, he might give us trouble during the mission."

And I needed to stop them right there. "Except you bots seem to be forgetting that General Bryce went through each of the squads available and picked out ones that he thought would work best with us. Sure, Fanzone might be difficult, but we can't judge him based on rumors. Besides, when I was human, that worry usually stemmed from man-made machines taking over jobs that people could do just fine. Not sentient alien lifeforms who happen to be mechanically based. If he was level-headed enough so that General Bryce would assign him to one of these teams, then he should be professional enough to work with us."

But I would admit that I was worried about how he would act, too. While I didn't think that he would purposefully sabotage the recovery mission, he might cause issues if things were not dealt with. "I'm glad you have faith, Pandimala," Thundercracker huffed sarcastically. "But I'm going to be on alert until he proves otherwise."

I shook my helm at that but remained quiet. Arguing with Thundercracker would do me little good right now. We had about an hour until the launch and we were going to meet with said squad. Each team was gathering to meet their squads. Hopefully, Knockout's squad didn't give him too many issues. If they did, I wouldn't hear the end of it. As much as I loved my bondmate, he could get a little whiney when something bothered him. 'And I know you love it,' Knockout teased over our bond.

Resisting the urge to roll my optics, I allowed myself an amused smirk. 'Of course I do. However, we need to focus, and I can't have you distracting me with thoughts of flaying some being alive.'

'Fair. Though I'm sure that I could find more…entertaining ways to distract you.' I felt myself blush as some unbidden thoughts rushed through my helm. Frag it this was not the time for that.

Thankfully, I was able to pull myself out of that conversation as the three of us approached the room we were meeting this squad in. Well, better get this started. We were nervous already, and we only knew about one of the members of this squad. It was going to be better for us all to get this moving. I mean, I really couldn't think of too many references that could match the craziness that Fanzone had the chance to bring to this.

Once the doors opened, the three of us walked in. Once I caught my first glance of the squad we were going to be working with, I felt my spark fall in shock. Okay, I was not expecting that.

Heh, at least this was going to be interesting.

Fanzone's 1st P.O.V.

I was sure that this day was only going to get worse from here. What the hell was Command thinking? Waiting until mere hours before such an important mission to inform the squads involved of said involvement? What if we had people on their leave? Of course, now that I thought about it, that might be why my weekend leave request had been denied the other day. And then to find out that we were going to have to work the the fucking aliens that we were supposed to be keeping secret? I wasn't a fan of machines, and while I hadn't met our visitors, I doubted that their being sentient machines was going to change my mind.

Even if it did, my squad wasn't the most…stable squad at the base. While Hansen and Knight were alright most days, that couldn't be said for the others. Lincoln and Covus seemed to make it their life mission to get on my last never at every single PT. That didn't even include all of the times they purposely messed with our equipment just because they knew that it would set me off when we did checks. Mixing them in with three giant robots did not sound like it was going to end well for me at all.

And that wasn't even going into damn Masterson's reaction to our newest assignment. His almost infatuation with all things technical bordered on the obsessive side. He was the squad's in-house mechanic and tech support during his shifts, and he was always tinkering with things he probably shouldn't be on his time off. Last week, he found some old parts that our visitors left behind last time and ended up creating some sort of device that was supposed to help sort out the paperwork faster.

The key phrase there was supposed to. Instead, the robot he built tried to take everyone's heads off, and the only way we were able to stop it was by taking the damn thing's head off. That seemed to be the only way to stop most of Masterson's little experiments which had earned him the nickname 'Headmaster'.

I still didn't know how my squad got picked for one of the infiltration assignments. What I did know was that something was going to either lose a head or break. When my damn squad was involved, those were the most likely scenarios.

And despite all the headaches they seemed bound and determined to cause me, I couldn't be prouder of these assholes. Now, with just one hour until the mission launched, we were going to be meeting these aliens that we were supposed to be working with.

"Man, where are these bots at? I figured that being mechanical and such, they could at least be on time." I found myself asking for patience before I turned to look at Knight from where he was lounging on the sofa.

"Aw, what's the matter? Getting antsy?" Corvus let out a laugh. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to put the pieces of you back together when you complain to them about how late they aren't." For a field medic, he had a pretty dark sense of humor. How he ended up on my team, I wasn't sure. But he knew his shit.

Hansen shook his head. "Enough of that Corvus. We need to keep an open mind during all of this." I thanked General Bryce for moving Hansen to my squad every single time he stepped in. He was a damn miracle I didn't realize I needed until I had him.

"Sure," And here came Lincoln to back up Corvus. Those two were thicker than blood most days. "And maybe open everything if these aliens don't watch their step around us. Wouldn't that be a sight? Plenty of blood, at least."

"God, you are all morons," I raised an eyebrow and looked into the corner where Masterson had put himself. He wasn't much of a people person. Preferred to spend more time with his machines. "If you bothered to read the mission report that we got, you would know that many of them have practice being around humans." He then let out a scoff and shook his head. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Want to say that a little louder, Headmaster?" Corvus shot back, looking like he was ready to throw hands with Masterson.

Instead of responding with a challenge, Masterson simply raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were hard of hearing as well, Raven. Maybe you should apply for disability?"

"Rich coming from the one who won't show any interest in anything that doesn't have to do with gears. Maybe that's why you're so interested in this assignment." Lincoln retorted.

When Knight let out a laugh, I had a feeling that I was going to have to step in soon. "You know, Dark, you keep talking about Headmaster like you almost respect his obsession. And here I thought you and Raven were so close?"

Okay, I needed to step in. I didn't need these aliens showing up to half of the squad trying to knock each other out. Not with how important this mission was. "Enough. All of you. The three of them should be here soon, and we don't need this to be their first impression of us." I did not bring enough ibuprofen for today. Not at all. Knew I should have listened to Carol. Five years married, and she always seemed to be right. Here was another thing to add to that.

The sound of the doors opening caused me to turn and see that the three aliens had arrived. In front was the shortest of the group. From the wheels I could see on him and his frame, he must be able to turn into some sort of sports car. Behind him was another male…I think the quick briefing said that they were called mechs, robot that, given the wings I could see, had to turn into some sort of fighter jet. Not sure how useful that would be in infiltrating the warehouse that we were assigned, but we would see.

I couldn't stop my eyes from widening when the third bot came through the door. One of the few female…femme robots that came with this group currently at the base, she was a towering robot that had an imposing figure. She also had wings though what sort of aircraft she turned into, I couldn't begin to guess.

"So, you all must be Team Sigma," The sports car bot spoke up first.

And, of course, my squad jumped in before I got the chance. "And you all are giant robots," I facepalmed when Corvus spoke up. If they crushed him right now, I wouldn't be surprised. The flying mech already looked like he was getting angry at the idiot. "Great. We've met. And you all might want to stay away from Masterson. He has a thing for robots."

"Enough, Corvus!" Hansen snapped at the man before he stepped forward. "Please disregard what Corvus just said. He tends to like to cause trouble when there doesn't need to be any." He then motioned to himself. "I'm First Lieutenant Bud Hansen. There is Private Raum Corvus, and next to him is Private Michael Lincoln. Private Nathan Knight is standing next to Private Lincoln. Back in the corner is Private First Class Henry Masterson."

It would only be right for me to introduce myself since Hansen dealt with the other introductions. "And that just leaves me. Staff Sergeant Carmine Fanzone. We will be ready to work with you on this operation, though the short notice was unexpected."

"We're just making sure nothing gets leaked out," the mech with wings grumbled, and I did not miss the suspicious look he cast at my squad. What the hell was that for?

"Thundercracker, cool your jets," the femme said before she motioned to their group. We should have introductions as well. This here is the Autobot known as Jazz." At that, she motioned to the car mech.

"Nice to meet you all," This Jazz replied with a nod and a smile. Well, at least he was sociable—more so than the other mech.

The femme then motioned to the other mech before she said. "This is the Decepticon known as Thundercracker. And he means well. All of us and your command are just worried about how far MECH was able to infiltrate your ranks the last time we were here. No disrespect was meant to your squad."

Thundercracker, as the femme had introduced, simply nodded his helm toward us, though that suspicious look remained as he seemed to study us. Great. A paranoid machine. Just what we needed. At least the femme, who seemed to be the temporary leader of this trio, seemed to have a calm head on her.

"And you?" I glanced at Masterson as he spoke up. Again, he didn't speak much when he didn't have to, so I tried to pay attention when he did. Plus, out of all of my squad, he would be the most interested in the three of them. "What's your designation?" Designation? That was right; that was how they referred to their names. Was that in the mission file, or did he know that for another reason?

Instead of looking worried or upset, the femme smiled and nodded toward him. "My designation is Pandimala. I look forward to working with you all. And I have been left in charge of the three of us." She then focused more on Masterson before she continued. "I think you and I are going to have to talk after this is done. For now, though," She then focused back on me. "We need to strategize our plan of attack. I'm more of a medic, so I'll leave the big processor…big brain stuff to Jazz and Thundercracker. They know a lot more than me. I'm just here for extra muscle."

That got a laugh out of Corvus. "Muscle medic lady, huh? I guess you all do come in different forms." He then turned to Masterson. "Hey, Headmaster, you can start a collection!"

"Shut up, Corvus, your moron is showing." This was turning into a nightmare sort of day with how Lincoln and Corvus were going at Masterson.

And from how it looked like Lincoln was about to jump in, I needed to stop this so we could get some work done. "Enough, you three, or it will be KP duty together for a month!" That got the three of them to at least look like they were settling down. Whether that was from the threat of KP duty or the threat of having to possibly have it together I wasn't sure. For now, we needed to discuss our plans. So, I opened up the plans that command had provided for the warehouse that we were going to be searching. "Alright, we need to figure out how we want to enter. Command left that open to us to decide." At my word, the two mechs drew closer to me and studied the plans that we had.

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

The air around our team felt tense as we moved to the doors of our target. Even though things seemed to calm down after that initial introduction, I knew that we were all still nervous. Since the other bots knew about my history, they knew about alternate timelines….and alternate versions of beings. And that included half of our human team. Staff Sergeant Fanzone was a military copy of the police captain from Transformers Animated. And, while he didn't quite have the disdain for machines as that one did, it was obvious that he and technology didn't always see eye to eye.

Then, there was Bud Hansen. While aged up from his appearance, there was no mistaking his energy and appearance for the youngest kid from the Transformers Cybertron universe. Also, he seemed to be able to bring those around him together, even though they had different views.

And that brought me to the final human from a show. Henry fragging Masterson. He even had the nickname of 'Headmaster' here, though that was for different reasons from what I was able to gather from the little talking I did with his squad. Masterson was, admittedly, fitter than his Animated form. However, he did give off this Emo tech genius sort of vibe despite that fitness. Maybe after this mission was over, I would get to know him more.

Just so long as he didn't take an interest in detaching helms anytime soon, I would be happy.

Of course, then there were the three humans that I didn't know. I knew of Nathan Knight from a very old OC, but the other two weren't even old OCs. The Nathan Knight that I had envisioned was much more active in whatever he was involved with while this one seemed to only jump in when he thought it would be best. I would reserve my opinion on him.

The other two, though, were definitely the more chaotic of this squad. Raum Corvus was teetering on the edge of concerning me. Not so much that he was a traitor, but he seemed highly fascinated with dissection. While I didn't have to worry about him, the same couldn't be said for his squadmates. I guess I just needed to trust in their trust of the man. Then, of course, there was Michael Lincoln. For having such a normal-sounding name, the man seemed to like to cause chaos whenever he was able to. It didn't matter how small the comment was; if he could turn it into a bantering session it seemed like he made some sort of personal quota. But, despite that, I could see the fun that the others had with it so it must be something that they were used to.

"Eyes up," I focused as Fanzone said that from behind me. We had arrived at the main door, and we needed to make sure everybody was focused before I forced the door open. We couldn't risk breaking down the door because we weren't sure where they might be holding one of their hostages. The main point of this operation was to rescue Fowler, June, Jack, Miko, and Raf from MECH. I needed to make sure that I didn't get ahead of myself just to make a grand entrance. "Once they start the party up front, we will make our move. We move quickly and efficiently. We don't want to leave anyone behind because we rushed through this place." He then glanced up at me. "As soon as they start."

Nodding, I moved my servos so I was ready to force the door open. We needed just enough room for me to run through. But, if I opened it before the distraction force started their attack, then I would give away our retrieval teams. "Keep your optics open," I smiled when Knockout spoke through our bond. He was worried. While none of the humans on his team seemed to stand out as much as mine, he said that he was nervous about betrayal, just like the rest of us.

So, I decided to send him a reassuring pulse before responding. "You too, K.O. We all are going to make it home." Of course, I knew that would take a lot of hope. And careful pedes. While many of us knew how to move around humans, given our time here on Earth, not all of our party was so versed.

Before I could get too much into that thought, the sound of an explosion from the front prompted me to action as I dug my servos into the crease of the door and started to pull. It was a little difficult with how tightly the mechanisms on the door were made, but after about a click, the door started to move sideways. Once I had enough space made, Jazz slipped in to clear the main area. We had decided that whenever I opened a large door, Jazz would move in first to make sure that there were no enemies that were our size. While he provided cover, Fanzone led his squad inside and Thundercracker followed soon after them while I could hear the bullets firing.

And I could feel them. While I couldn't fit through the door yet, I knew that MECH's troops could see me by now, and I was the biggest target in the room. While the bullets were bouncing off of my armor for the most part, a few were finding their way into my seams. For now, they were just scrapes but I needed to get the door opened the rest of the way so I could return fire. After another click, I finally had the door open enough to make my way inside. While I could have squeezed in earlier, we wanted to make sure that it was open enough so we could make a quick escape if needed.

As I helped the others clear this room, I worried about one of the unknowns we had in all of this. We weren't sure what sort of advances MECH had made in their tech since our last meeting, and if they found a way to block our bridge signals, then Soundwave wouldn't be able to bridge us back, which was our plan since he could open the ground bridge remotely. Thank Primus that the Autobots had decided to leave theirs intact at the base before they left.

"Let's keep moving." Glancing around, I realized that the room had been cleared, and I needed to make my way up front.

Looking down at Bud, who had given the order, I nodded before quickly moving ahead. We needed this to go quickly and efficiently. No one left behind. However, I soon found myself growing impatient as we had to stop at each doorway so Team Sigma could sweep the smaller rooms that we couldn't enter. The more time that we took to search the warehouse, the more time that MECH had to move the kids somewhere away from here. And then we would be back to square one with casualties and nothing to show for it. We needed to find the kids.

Even though the search felt like it took forever, we finally made our way to the final room. And since this was one that we Cybertronians could fit in, then I was going to be going in first, just in case they had some sort of defense. "We just cleared our warehouse. Empty. How about you?" Knockout sent to me as we all got into position.

"Almost there. On our last room now. So far, nothing." I glanced at my team around me before giving a quick nod. We needed to get this done. "Let's go!" I called out before I barrelled through the door. Of course, the door wasn't so easy to give, and I winced from the pain that followed my move. Thankfully, they seemed unprepared for interference from us on the inside of these warehouses because I only felt bullets bounce off of my plating as I surveyed the room.

I felt my spark stop as I looked at the sight before me. How…This shouldn't be possible. The only way it had happened before was because of dark energon and energon. I doubted MECH had that much research into us to know the difference between the two. So, this had to be accomplished some other way. How could they?

"Pandimala! Pandimala, what's wrong?" Knockout's worried communication suddenly blared over our bond.

Ignoring the MECH soldiers trying to shoot me, I moved closer and knelt by what I was seeing in an almost stupor. The only reason I knew that the fight was going well was because fewer and fewer bullets were hitting me. But that didn't matter right now. How…how could they do this to another human? Slowly, I reached my servo out until it made contact before I realized I hadn't answered Knockout. "Knockout, get to the other warehouses, and help the other teams. Now! This just got a whole lot more serious."

"What do you mean, Pandimala? What happened?"

Standing so I could get the kid out of here, I started to pull them up as I answered him. "Because MECH somehow did the impossible. They learned how to play Primus."

"Pandimala, you aren't making any sense. What the frag did MECH do?"

I could hear the worry in Knockout's communication, but I still felt shocked by the facts that were in my servos. "Knockout, they figured out how to turn humans…into one of us."

AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this! I certainly had fun with all of the references. And there are so many that you all haven't even met yet. However, you will meet them as the story progresses. And there is plenty of mistrust to go around. The soldiers aren't used to working with bots so closely and the bots are worried about MECH infiltrating their ranks. Should make it a lot of fun later on. And then, of course, we had that bit at the end there. It seems like MECH has taken its evolutionary goals to the next level, and its prisoners have paid the price. This should be a lot of fun to unpack later on. *evil laugh*

Until then though, here are the next chapters!

Chapter 3: Experiments

Chapter 4: Coming to Terms

Chapter 5: ...(Of course you'll find out next time!)

And that is all folks! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Don't be afraid to drop a review, or say hi in one, if you want! Until then though, it has been my continued honor to type for your entertainment. Until next time, TTYL! *listening to country music*