Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Paul: *pokes Authoress* Are you still alive?

Authoress: *makes a so-so motion with her hand* Ask me in about a month.

Paul: *confused* Why?

Authoress: *shudders* The holidays will be winding down then.

Paul: *still confused* Why does that matter?

Pandimala: Paul, she works in retail during the holidays. Do some math.

Paul: *finally realizing* Oh.

Chapter 14: Monster in the Machine

Paul's 1st P.O.V.

While I wanted to be on the front lines against MECH, I knew that the most helpful place for me to be right now was here at my headquarters. I was one of his targets, and if I were being honest, I would most likely be his primary target. He would give anything to have the chance to hurt me. I knew that. And so, I was staying here to draw his attention away from the attack on his headquarters. When I heard the news that their headquarters had been discovered, I was ecstatic. There was a dawn through all the darkness MECH had put us through…put me through. We would finally be rid of MECH, and then we could move forward with our existences.

However, as I walked toward my research and development complex, I allowed worry to enter my thoughts. This seemed almost too easy. While we knew that Prometheus was not as careful as Silas had been, this still seemed too convenient for us. Being able to find their base and have time to plan before striking was too much. Too much time had gone by. MECH would have known of our discovery and had left that location. Even our other strikes against their bases had come when the group had been trying to leave their base. But, from the preliminary battle report that Hotshot kept updating me on, MECH had been ready to fight when the strike force arrived.

I tried to focus as I walked through the main doors of the research building and made my way to the primary research lab. Hotshot's soliform was beside me, while Nemo stayed with his chassis. Said soliform looked more nervous than I was right now. "It will all be fine," I tried to comfort him as we entered the elevator.

The strawberry blonde soliform shook his head at that. "It's not, though. MECH has been a step ahead of us since we got those five out of that Pit. How can we hope to beat them if they are always moving faster?"

"We get smarter, my friend." I hadn't realized that the elevator had stopped and opened until the voice of my lead scientist spoke up. Focusing, I smiled as Isaac and his daughter walked up to us. "While MECH is bent on causing destruction, we here at Cyber Tronics have been working with the technology you all have provided us to prepare something to protect our allies."

"Isaac, it is always good to see you," I greeted the man before turning to his daughter. "And Sari, I haven't had much chance to work with you yet, but I must thank you again for your work on our latest project." At that point, I realized I needed to give introductions. "But where are my manners? Hotshot, this is my lead scientist, Isaac Sumdac, and his assistant, also his daughter, Sari Sumdac." I then motioned to the soliform next to me. "Isaac, Sari; this is Hotshot, whose soliform is known as Heath Stinson."

Both shook hands with the soliform before Sari spoke. "Nice to meet you. While I know you are stuck here during the strike against MECH, this is fortunate timing."

Given what I had been talking to the man lately, I felt excited as I put together what he said. "You completed it?" We had been working on that project for most of the time I was with the Autobots during my first stay on Earth with the bots. If I were being honest, I wanted it for Lizzie, for her protection. However, after the accident and her subsequent transformation, that project had been put to the side for more pressing matters.

With my return, I had returned it to the front of our list. Our allies were going to need every advantage moving forward. While MECH was the current worry, they were not our only concern. More enemies would eventually come for us, and I wanted to make sure that our allies had the best chance moving forward. From the reports I had been given, Sari had been instrumental in making sure it proceeded. Her innovations with the material integration and the weapon holsters moved the project into the first testing phase.

And now, we were ready for so much more. "Yes, we were able to figure out the energy absorption issue when the suit was shot with weapons similar to energon-based weapons systems," Isaac explained as he led us to the back of the lab. Once we were there, he pressed a few keys on the console before he continued. "Using nano-technology, we integrated sweepers into the armor that absorb the energy from those blasts and transmit it to the suits systems."

I stared in amazement as the suit came into view. A battle-ready suit suitable for all environments would not hinder the troops wearing them. The suits would auto-adjust to the wearer at the time, making sure to feel like a second skin. Not only was the suit able to withstand energy-based ammunition, but I had made sure that physical projectiles, like bullets, could not penetrate it. The shock from any projectile would be absorbed into the suit, and excess energy would be stored in internal storage to serve as emergency power for systems should they fail. For the helmet, the Sumdacs integrated transformation mechanics from my children, making the helmet and visor transform into the back of the armor so the armor protected the systems the helmet and visor carried.

It was perfect. Thinking back to when Lizzie was shot, I was sure that this would have saved her back then.

"In short," I focused as Sari spoke up. "if a shot is fired at the suit, it will only benefit the wearer." She pressed a few more buttons on the console before the suit was released from its stand. "This is yours, sir. More are in production for Unit E as we speak, and the first batch of fifty should be ready by the end of the week."

It felt surreal holding this armor in my hands. After so long of this being a simple pipe dream, I was holding the final product in my hands. With the fight currently going on against MECH, this couldn't have come at a more perfect time. "Excellent. Thank you both so much for your hard work and dedication to Project Scrapmetal. Pardon me for a few minutes," I stepped away and found one of the changing rooms. It took me a few minutes, but once I had the armor on, I felt right at home. This was the next step forward.

Once I returned to the others, Hotshot's soliform let out a low whistle. "Sweet getup. Can't wait to see it in action."

I shook my head at that. "There will be plenty of time for that. For right now, we need to return to the main building. If an attack does come, that will be the best place to move against an assault." Turning to the Sumdacs, I smiled. "Again, thank you for your work on this project. For now, take a break and work on any personal projects that you may have. I'll let you know if another large-scale project comes up."

We said our goodbyes before Hotshot's soliform and I made our way back to the main building. As we moved, however, I felt anxiety building in the pit of my stomach. There should have been some news about the attack already. But, so far, there had only been radio silence. Either the attack was going so well that the others had forgotten to send Hotshot and Nemo updates, or MECH was playing us. At least now, I was ready to face what was to come.

Prometheus's 1st P.O.V.

I couldn't have asked for a more gullible enemy if I tried. They fell into that ploy much faster and harder than I thought they were. Desperation truly made even the strongest foes crack. And they were indeed cracking. While this operation would cut down my forces by forty percent, the sacrifices that were being made would be well worth it. With the enemy focusing so much of their strength at our newest base, I was able to start maneuvering my pawns to counterstrike against them. They weren't watching their flanks, and I would use that fumble to get inside their base. I would have those five in my grasp once again, and this time, I would not let them go.

The control program from Arkeville would make sure of that. It had already proven helpful in our current operatives, and I knew it would easily take over what little resistance those five could put up. Though, I would have to watch out for the one called Lunarblaze. Her EMP ability could short the device and then I would have a rogue bot behind my lines. I could not have that. Once I had her under my control, I would have to hold off on actually using her, much to my dismay. Her training was showing that she would be a monster on the field.

And placing her against those she cared for would be all the better. From the reports I got from my informants on the inside, the femme was connecting with many of the aliens there. Using her to tear them apart would be just the vengeance I needed against Paul—his creations, torn apart by one held in such confidence. Yes, I would have used her so well.

Once this mission succeeded and those five were returned to me, I would task Arkeville with perfecting the control devise to make it impervious to Lunarblaze's EMP ability.

Movement from the screens brought my focus back to the present. What I saw caused me to smirk. Yes, their paltry attack force had advanced far enough into their attack that it was time for me to make my move. After typing a few commands into the console in front of me, I only had to wait a few seconds before I was linked to the communicators I needed. "Don't fail me." Without waiting for a response, I cut the line.

While I felt like victory was in my grasp, I could not allow myself to grow careless. These were advanced aliens with technology far ahead of ours, for now. Keeping any line of communication open for too long would risk allowing my enemies to trace the location of my actual headquarters. If they were able to find this location, then MECH could fall. Most of our resources were stored here, and most of our files on our many projects were stored here. I could not risk them being leaked, storing them on a central database as Paul did his information. No, I could not be that careless. However, that protection came with centralized risk. If this compound were to be taken, decades of work would be lost.

I split the screen in front of me so I could watch the attack on our faux base as well as the strike that I had just launched against their headquarters. Yes. Everything was moving just as I predicted it would. Their outer defenses would fall quickly, drawing any remaining guards out to fight back my invading force. With them distracted, it would be easy for me to move my troops behind their lines and reclaim what was mine.

Glancing to my right, I frowned at the report I received from my operatives a scant few hours before the attack started. Paul had been taken away and hidden at his headquarters. While it would cause me no greater joy than to capture that god and torture him, it would be foolish to do so when I had other targets to acquire. Still, having him at the base when I reclaimed my subjects would have been so sweet. With so many of my troops involved in the strikes against him, at least one of them would be able to record the footage of his defeated gaze. Oh, the victory that I was about to take from him. It was within reach.

Not only that, but I was closer to breaking into Ms. Val's files with every second. The security measures he had on it were impossible to deal with at first. However, with time, I was getting closer and closer to my victory against him. I would find out where he hid her away, and then I would have my vengeance. My Prima Melia. Yes, I could almost taste the sweet ichor of victory.

A light flashing in the corner of my eye caused me to pause in my thoughts on pause. It was a message from one of my undercover operatives. Strange. Given the attack that was happening, none of them should be risking discovery by sending me a report. Either this asset was soon to be terminated, or they had discovered information that could change the future of my operations. However, there wasn't much I could learn to change my…

This…this was what I was waiting for, what I needed. The information I was looking at would change my plans moving forward. I should have seen it before. How could I have been so blind? The answer was right in front of me, and I had been so focused on looking for some obscure answer…reality was trying to tell me the answer all along. It was time to,

"Sir, the enemy at their base is moving exactly as,"

"Out!" I interrupted the man as he pulled me from this groundbreaking discovery. I could not let this pion ruin my moment of triumph.

Instantly, I was alone with the information that would secure my victory. Yes, this was it. I would watch the god fall and savor every moment of it. Paul Riley Muskogee would fall, and I would watch as he faded into uselessness. Yes, this was my moment, and I wouldn't miss a second.

Joe's 1st P.O.V.

The base was in chaos. Just like Pandimala and the others had predicted, MECH had used our strike against what we were sure was their base to launch an attack against us here. The bots with the newsparks were staying on guard while most of the other bots were sent to the front line to fight back the infiltration strike force MECH had sent out. However, before I was able to join them, Jazz suggested that I do a sweep of the inner warehouses. Since MECH was striking, it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities that they would attack using their inside agents.

While not able to take us on by themselves, we knew that MECH had the technology to take us down without the use of complicated machinery. Overload our systems with enough electricity, and we were down for the count. Plus, unlike most of the bots on Earth, Frost, Steve, Nemo, and I were not as sturdily built. It wouldn't take much to take me down; as much as I sometimes acted, it wouldn't.

When I first met Pandimala in the medbay of the Nemesis, I never pictured that meeting would lead to my current present. Honestly, I figured I would offline not long after I met her. While Knockout was down an assistant, other drones could be taught enough medical knowledge to substitute me out. As I told Pandimala when I first met her, I was an older model, the second oldest drone on the Nemesis. My solars had been numbered, though I was trying to stretch them out as much as I could. Live my existence to the fullest, or what I thought was the fullest.

And then she talked to me. Slag had that scared me. As I looked into one of the empty warehouses, I allowed my processor to drift back to that solar. Knockout had charged me with being her guard while he had to take care of some 'scouting', which I came to find out was really him going to give Paul, aka Primus, a hard time because he didn't tell Knockout that Lizzie, Knockout's human friend, had been turned into a neutral femme known as Pandimala.

Flashback

"So, do you have a name?"

My spark leapt into my vocals as the femme spoke to me. Without Knockout here, I was vulnerable. That was especially to this very intimidating prisoner that I was left alone with. What the frag was Knockout thinking? He could have at least left me with some of the other drones. 543N, 649I5, and 6450N were some of the stronger drones and had been a part of the group that had brought this femme onto the ship. Having them here with me would have been great. But no, Knockout had to fragging leave me alone with her. If I survived this, I was so going to take a favor from him.

With my internal dialogue, I realized I hadn't responded to the femme, which she might take offense to, so I purposefully moved my helm to look at her. "What do you mean?" And I honestly meant that. A name? It took my processor a few more nanos to realize she asked if I had an actual designation, not just a serial number.

However, before I could correct myself, the femme spoke up. "Well, I am Pandimala. Who are you? Do you all have names?"

Yep. She meant designations, though I hadn't heard of a bot calling it a 'name' before. We didn't have names, only serial numbers. But how would she take that kind of answer? From what I had seen in my time online, most officers took offense if you didn't give them the kind of answer that they wanted. It was what got bots offlined. However, she was a prisoner, and that might help me stay online during this, even if I made a mistake in what I was about to do.

"I am J-03."

The frown that came onto her faceplate caused me to start praying to whatever being out there watched out for cannon fodder. Slag it, I had fragged up. My solars were marked to mere nanos now. Why didn't I just keep my vocals shut? I knew it was stupid to put yourself at risk, and that was what I just fragging did with a prisoner who looked like she ate drones for her morning refuel.

"How about I call you Joe? Is that alright?'

….What?

She…I had to adjust my vision as I studied the femme, who had a smile on her faceplate, though a hesitant one. She…this femme wasn't angry? What's more, she gave me a name…a name that was mine. Joe. I couldn't even form words to show how happy I was at this, so I simply nodded in reply to her request for my name. Yes, I was Joe.

This femme…Pandimala, continued to smile as she asked another question. "So, what do you normally do on here, Joe?"

She must mean on the Nemesis. "Lord Megatron has me assist Knockout in the med bay when I am not needed for repairs on the ship." Well, that was a little bit of a stretch. Lord Megatron didn't specifically know that I was the one helping Knockout, but he knew that a drone was helping him. "I am an older model, and so I am not sent out to the fights because I am used to train the newer models." Of course, I wasn't sure how much longer that would be. I was becoming obsolete outside of the med bay, and I had to try and stay online as long as I could.

Pandimala seemed like a sparkling at a goodie store when she leaned slightly closer toward me. "Are you the oldest then?"

I shook my helm at that. "No, but I'm the second oldest still online. C4-R1 is the oldest one still around, and he is old. One of the first batches made here on Earth."

"So, Carl is the one that you go to for help? What does he do?"

Frag, this femme wasn't acting at all like I thought she would, but I didn't mind. I was enjoying myself, and if this was how I offlined, then so be it. "Guards the energon storage room. But, he does get to come in here and help from time to time when we have a lot of injuries." I figured that we would have run out of things to talk about by now, given that I was just a drone and she was a prisoner. Right now, however, I felt as if we could talk forever.

"Is Carl a vehicon or an eradicon?"

"Vehicon. He survived by making sure that he knew how to fight and when to run. Something these newer models could learn."

As she seemed to be processing what I told her, I made a promise to myself. I would watch out for Pandimala while she was here. While I couldn't do much against any of the command bots, I could help keep some other drones off her backplates. A servo-full of them didn't like that she had made a deal with Lord Megatron.

End of Flashback.

It was from that meeting forward that my existence shifted. I wasn't the old model keeping my helm down when I could afford it anymore. Instead, I started to live my existence, take risks, and learn so much. Before meeting Pandimala, there were a few drones that I would not have the ball bearings to snap back at or even strike at if I needed to get their attention. Now, I was probably the only drone who could say they struck Optimus Prime in the faceplate. The mech who faced Megatron on the battlefield more often than I could probably imagine, and I hadn't even hesitated.

Though we made it seem like I had been fine about it after Pandimala woke up, reality hadn't been quite that smooth. Once Ratchet and I had finished fixing her up, the impact of what I had done hit me, and I was terrified of being within servo-reach of the leader. To my relief, however, the mech had approached me cautiously, thankfully, and reassured me that I had done the right thing in striking him.

It had still taken a bit more than his words to let me believe that, but now I knew he had been honest.

I felt ready to take on the galaxy and any enemy that may rear their helms. With everything that I had gone through, I had evolved into a bot who could,

A clattering sound coming from the next warehouse pulled me out of my thoughts. What was that? This wasn't anywhere near the fighting. With the attack on the base, all human personnel were all servos-on-deck. There shouldn't be anyone in here right now. Something was going on.

Cautiously, I stepped into the warehouse, lightly scanning my surroundings as I did. Nothing. At least, nothing my scanners were picking up. What had made that noise? As much as Scattershot insisted, there were no 'ghosts' roaming around the base. That meant that something else had to have made that sound. But I didn't even see anything on the ground that shouldn't be there. What the frag was going on?

A glow coming from one of the monitors in the corner caught my attention, so I slowly made my way toward it. Why was this monitor on? There should not be any communications that needed to be made out here unless…

Searing pain suddenly erupted from the back of my leg. A gasp escaped my vocals before my vision flashed white, and I knew no more.

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

"Do you think everybot is okay out there?"

I glanced over at Arzen when that question suddenly came from him. He was nervous, not that I could blame the mech. MECH was hunting him and the other four, and our other allies were currently keeping the enemy advancement to the outer rim of the base. Right now, we were all on edge. I would not allow MECH to get a hold of any of us. But that worry was understandable in the mech. So much had changed in his existence in such a short amount of time, and now we were on the precipice of what could be the fight we needed to take MECH out once and for all.

But we had to watch our steps. MECH was a terrifying enemy on a bad solar, let alone when they obviously planned this attack. The base that the strike team was attacking, while a base, wasn't the headquarters. We had been drawn into attacking them and thus splitting up our forces. Even as a medic, I knew that kind of division exposed us to an attack.

To answer Arzen, however. "They will be fine. The military has been training with the bots here, and most of these bots are older than civilization. I think that they can keep MECH at bay until the others can withdraw from their strike." I answered the mech.

Scavenger nodded at that, a careful look on his faceplate. "The only thing you need to worry about is getting out of here should we have to evacuate you. While you have been doing much better in your training than we predicted, it would be unwise to fight against the enemy at this time."

Unlike Lunarblaze, who was fighting against multiple opponents in her training and was the closest to being placed on the field, Soundwave and Skywarp had been solely training Arzen. And even then, Skywarp said that Soundwave was the one mainly training the mech. While training with Soundwave was no small feat, it would be a different picture entirely to place Arzen on the field with multiple opponents mixed in with his allies.

My first time in a fight, I had been nervous. Ironically enough, it had been against MECH and Starscream. Going to that warehouse to get Bumblebee's t-cog back seemed like the only option I had at the time. He needed help, and I didn't want it to get destroyed. While there hadn't been much fighting, it had still been a dangerous situation. And, being as unfamiliar with my chassis as I was back then, though I didn't realize how much that was at the time, I was lucky that I didn't cause damage to myself or Bumblebee.

Despite everything that had happened to Arzen and the others, I was going to do my best to make sure that they were protected while we trained them. Then, if they ever left us, they would be as prepared as we could make them for their futures.

'Someone's feel philosophical.' I rolled my optics as Plena Teo added his two credits to the conversation.

'I'm nervous. So sue me.' It wasn't the best response I could have given to the spirit, but it would do for now. And I was nervous. There were so many different ways that MECH could attack, and I felt like there were some that we weren't ready for.

"You okay there, mech?" I immediately focused as Scavenger spoke to Arzen, worry easy to identify in his tone.

The young mech shook his helm slightly at his question before he spoke. "No…I'm scared. They aren't going to stop…are they? MECH will keep coming after us; all it takes is one mistake, and we'll be back with them." I could hear the hitch in his vocals clearly as he continued talking. "I can't go back there. I can't do it…It hurt. It hurt so bad. I,"

Before Arzen could get another word out, I embraced him, holding him as close to me as I could. I knew he was scared, and I couldn't blame him. While I knew that none of us deserved what happened to us, they had the worst of it. Me? I just got shot by Megatron, which infused my body with dark energon that, when combined with regular energon, eventually caused the reaction that transformed me into Pandimala.

But them? I had seen the reports from the other medics. Combining that with the little information I had gotten from Arzen about what happened, they had gone through the Pit. Constant injections of both energon and dark energon while thousands of volts of electricity were being fed into their bodies, and when their hearts would give out, they were resuscitated before more tests were run on them. And we didn't even have everything. However, what we did know was that MECH had them awake. There was no blissful escape into unconsciousness like I had. They had to stay awake and witness every slagging nano of the torture they were placed under.

"I won't let them, Arzen," I spoke to the mech once he started calming down. "I'll tear down anything that tries to come after you all. Anything."

"Same here, youngling," Scavenger spoke up. "You all helped end a war you had no obligation to help with, and you were turned by enemies that our involvement in your planet helped empower. I think that more than deserves the support of every slagging bot who has a working processor."

There were a few nanos of silence, during which I could hear Arzen's intakes calming down, before he nodded. "Thank you." He then backed up slightly, which was my sign to release my hold on him, before he changed the subject. "So, what's the plan for us again? If we have to evacuate, that is."

It was easy to see that Arzen needed this distraction, so I smiled and motioned to Scavenger. "If this warehouse should be in danger of being attacked by the enemy, Scavenger will hold them off while I send a signal to Soundwave to send our evacuation bridge. I'm not allowed to say out loud where we will be bridged to, but I know it will be cold. Once we are through the bridge, the attack team will send Springer to us so we can have two bots escorting you. There will be minimal contact with the base, at most, as we make the trek to return. Given your current stamina, it will take us a little over a solar to arrive back here. By that time, the attack should be over with."

"And you will not be in contact with any of the others," Scavenger added. "While I don't know where you will be evacuated to, I do know that the evacuation paths do not cross until you are returned to the base. That way, MECH can't ambush you all together. If they can even pinpoint you all, they will have to split their forces to capture you."

Our explanation seemed to help calm Arzen down the rest of the way. "Thank you. I'll be ready." I smiled at his response.

The sound of the warehouse door opening caused me to spin around, cannons aimed, while placing Arzen behind me. What was going on? After a nano, I felt relief when I saw Joe standing there. "Joe, you can't scare a femme like that." My relief started to wane when the mech did not answer me, instead almost shuffling inside. "Joe, what's wrong?" There was no response as the mech took a few more steps toward me. "Joe?"

My spark leapt into my vocals as Joe drew his blade and swung.

Paul: So, I'm going to assume that you have mastered the art of bribery.

Authoress: What makes you say that?

Paul: Because everyone around you raves about your no-bake cookies.

Authoress: *smirks* What can I say? They are delicious.

Paul: *curious* Can I have one?

Authoress: Only if you don't kill me for what is about to happen.

Paul: *suddenly suspicious* What's about to happen?

Authoress: *runs away*

AN: Here is the next chapter! It started a little slower than I wanted, but I think I'm finally getting to the first phase of the action in this arc. The attack on the base turned into a counterattack against Unit E. Before we got to that, we discovered a project that should look familiar to anyone who reads Resolve. This time, Paul and his company invented the Scrapmetal armor with an improvement that the original does not have at this time (though that may change once I start updating Resolve again...maybe).

And who would I be if I didn't mention that Joe has attacked Pandimala? Things have taken a sharp turn, and the five are in more danger than they thought they were!

And that is where I am going to leave you until next time. For now, here are the names of the next chapters!

Chapter 15: Processor over Programming

Chapter 16: Allies and Enemies (I am stoked for this chapter!)

Chapter 17:...(find out next time!)

That's all for now! Thank you all for your continued support. Oh, and make sure to check out my profile if you haven't recently. If you have been blocked by me as of late, it may explain why you were. Until next we meet, TTYL! *getting into the zone with Victory by Two Steps From Hell*