This is my new, and hopefully improved, version of my Transformers: Alliance story. While I enjoyed writing Alliance, it was my first Transformers fanfiction and I think that I have improved as a writer since I first started. The title is inspired by When We Stand Together by Nickleback. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to tell me what you think!

Character Profiles:
Aly
Zoe
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When We Stand Together
Chapter 1​

Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The rhythmic ticking of the clock, the humid air, and her teacher's droning voice were slowly lulling Aly Rose to sleep. Quickly she pinched her arm to try to wake herself up. Aly let out a small sigh, why did time have to be against her on a Friday? Her freedom was only mere moments away, but it felt like time was stopping. She took a quick glance out the classroom window to see if a yellow and black Camaro was still parked outside. When she saw that it was still in fact parked there, she turned her attention back to her teacher's lecture. Aly kept imagining that one day her Camaro was just going to disappear and she would discover that the past four weeks had just been a dream. That she hadn't really almost been killed by a giant alien robot and had been rescued by another. That the robot that had rescued her was called Bumblebee and he could transform into a Camaro. That Bumblebee hadn't taken her to meet the other Autobots on Earth, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Ironhide. It was too unbelievable to actually be true. But it was, and that fact never ceased to amaze her. Of course, she was the only human that was actually aware of that. Her parents and friends at school were clueless to the fact that aliens even existed, and they never would believe that she was friends with some and that her car was one. Bumblebee wasn't just her car though; he was also her friend and guardian. The Autobot leader Optimus Prime had assigned him that role after she had met the Autobots.

"Mademoiselle Rose now is not the time to be off in La-La Land."

"Désolé Monsieur Burke," Aly replied in French, her face turning red from embarrassment.

Aly let her blue eyes look back up at the clock before focusing back on her teacher. Only three minutes left of class and then she could leave. Another weekend of hanging out with the Autobots was sure to be fun. Well at least for the most part. Aly was having a hard time getting along with the Autobot's weapons specialist Ironhide. He didn't like the fact that a human was hanging around the Autobot base, and he made no attempts at hiding that fact when Aly was around. It probably didn't help that she would get snippy with him whenever he started to be rude. If there was one thing Aly could not stand, it was rudeness.

I should just bring Sherlock with me this weekend. I'm sure Ironhide would just love that, she thought to herself.

Her parents had given her a small grey and white kitten a few days before she had met Bumblebee and she had named him Sherlock after Sherlock Holmes. She had brought him over to the Autobot base once and he had tried to climb on Ironhide the entire time. It had annoyed Ironhide to no end and Aly had had a hard time trying not to laugh at the scene. She hadn't been the only one though judging by the look that had been on Bumblebee's face.

The sound of the bell ringing brought Aly out of her thoughts. She quickly grabbed her stuff and rushed out the door. After a quick stop at her locker she was outside heading towards the parking lot where Bumblebee was at.

"Hey 'Bee," she greeted right after she had climbed inside and closed the door.

"Hey Aly, how was school?"

"Same as always, which means it was extremely boring."

"Really? I think school sounds interesting."

"You wouldn't think that if you went to it. Wait, did you guys not have school back on Cybertron?" Aly asked.

"I don't know if there were any or not. I came online after the war had already started and there weren't any schools then. Maybe there were some before the war started; you would have to ask Optimus, Ratchet, or Ironhide about it."

"I might ask them sometime. So what's on the agenda for this weekend?"

"I don't know yet. Do you have any martial arts stuff this weekend?"

Aly smiled. She had been taking martial arts lessons ever since she was six after her mother had heard that martial arts could help kids with ADHD focus better. Lessons were usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but occasionally she would go to the gym and practice some on the weekends.

"No, I'm taking a break this weekend. So any Decepticon attacks lately?" Aly asked brushing a strand of her red hair out of her eyes before looking out the window to see if she saw her friend Zoe coming yet.

"So far there hasn't been any sign of them at all."

"I suppose it's too much to hope that they've decided to just up and leave Earth?" Aly sighed.

"Probably," Bumblebee replied. "But in a way it's a good thing that they haven't left. If the 'Cons leave, we'll probably have to leave too."

"That would suck. I don't want you guys to leave."

"Really, not even Ironhide?"

"Well now that you mention him… nah I guess not, though there are times I do wish he wasn't here."

"Ironhide will lighten up eventually Aly. Just give it time. Besides the two of you have stuff in common already."

"What?"

"Well you both can't stand each other and you both can have bad tempers," Bumblebee teased.

"Gee that makes me feel so much closer to him," Aly rolled her eyes. She took another look out the window and saw Zoe heading towards them. "Here comes Zoe, we better stop talking now."

A few seconds later Zoe opened up the passenger door and climbed inside.

"Hey Alley Cat, not good to be talking to yourself in public. I'm your friend and I love you, so I'll overlook it, but you know how other people can be."

"Well you know I had to answer the voices running through my head. Wait. Alley Cat?" Aly questioned.

"That's my new nickname for you. Your name is Aly and you have a cat, so Alley Cat," Zoe explained.

"Technically Aly is my nickname since my full name is Alyson."

"Yeah but your parents and some of the teachers at school are the only ones who call you that, so Aly is really more your name than Alyson," Zoe pointed out.

"Whatever you say Zoe," Aly sighed in defeat. "What took you so long to get out here?"

"Ugh your French teacher, that's what. He caught me somewhat running in the hallway, so I had to hear him say, 'Miss Smith, the hallways are not for running. Walk in them like you are supposed to.'. Hello, it is Friday afternoon and I do have a life."

What sounded like a small chuckle drew Zoe's eyes to the Camaro's radio. Zoe Smith had always been told that she had good instincts. Her dad liked to joke with her that no one would ever be able to trick her because she would be able to tell if there was something she wasn't being told. Zoe normally would agree with her dad, but lately she wasn't so sure about that. Zoe had been close friends with Aly since she was three and Aly was two. They told each other everything and didn't keep secrets from each other… or at least that's what Zoe thought. Lately she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that her friend wasn't telling her and she felt like it had something to do with Aly's Camaro. It was silly, but she really thought that there was something weird about it. There would be times that she or Aly would say something and then suddenly the radio would cut off. Aly would always shrug it off and say that the car had radio problems, but Zoe wasn't so sure. It had always struck her odd that Aly had been able to afford a brand new Camaro with the price range her dad have given her. It wasn't that Aly's family couldn't afford a new Camaro, Zoe was sure that Thomas and Elizabeth Rose made enough money for one, they just didn't like to show it off. Aly's story had always seemed farfetched to Zoe as well. Some guy just randomly happened to be selling a brand new Camaro and dropped the price so a sixteen year old girl could buy it? That was something that didn't happen every day. But Zoe decided to ignore it and trust Aly. She knew her friend enough to know she wouldn't do something stupid like steal a car – she had to have bought it somehow. But every time Aly gave Zoe a ride home, she would get this weird feeling that there was something about it that she wasn't being told.

"I swear at times I feel like this car is haunted or something," Zoe muttered.

"Don't be ridiculous Zoe. There are no such things as ghosts and even if there were, this car is pretty new and I'm pretty sure no one has died in it," Aly replied, giving a small glare to the steering wheel.

"Whatever, but maybe that explains why that guy let you have it so cheap. You might want to think about that when your car is randomly switching radio stations. So what are you going to do this weekend?" Zoe asked while she pulled her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

"Umm I'll probably just hang around here," Aly said. "What about you?"

"My mom is taking me and Abby to the beach tomorrow. She says it'll be good for the two of us to get some Vitamin D. You should come with us Aly. Nothing interesting ever happens here, you'll die of boredom. Plus you're paler than me, you need some sun."

"I can't get a tan without getting a ton of freckles, you know that. Besides I'm sure I'll find something interesting to do here," Aly smiled.

The smile on her friend's face made Zoe feel like there was some joke she was missing. After that the two girls remained in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the way to Zoe's house. When they arrived, Zoe quickly hoped out and told Aly that she would talk to her later and if she changed her mind about the beach to give her a call. As soon as Aly drove away Zoe walked up to the door of her house. When she discovered that the door was unlocked, she realized that something was not right. Her mom wasn't home from work yet and Abby was still at daycare, there was no reason for the door to be unlocked. What if someone had broken into her house and there was a chance that they were still there. Maybe she was being too paranoid, she did watch quite a few crime shows. It could just be her Aunt Maggie coming over to visit. Yeah, that was probably what it was.

Hesitantly she opened up the door and stepped inside. Next to the door there was an umbrella that her mom kept in case it was raining. Zoe picked it up and held on to it tightly as she started through the house. It wasn't much of a weapon, but she needed something to defend herself with if she was attacked. When she entered the living room, she found her intruder. Sitting in one of the chairs was a man that she had never seen before in her life.

"W-who are you?" Zoe demanded fighting, and failing, to keep her voice steady.

"Miss Smith," the man said standing up. "I'm from a government group called Sector Seven. I need to ask you a few questions."

"You didn't answer my question," Zoe said taking a few steps back.

"You don't ask the questions Miss Smith. I ask the questions. And you will answer the questions I ask. But if it makes you feel better, I'm Agent Simmons. Now my next question may seem a little strange, but have you recently noticed any strange activities?"

"Strange? Are you serious? This is like the most boring place on Earth. Nothing strange ever happens here," she scoffed. "Where's my mom? I shouldn't be answering any questions without her here, so stay back." Zoe popped up the umbrella and pointed it at Simmons.

"It's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. As for your mother being here, there shouldn't be a problem as long as you're not trying to cover up something. That would be a mistake to cover up anything. Do you want to go to college Miss Smith? Get out of this little place and go somewhere exciting? Because if you lie to me or cover up any vital information I need, I'll make sure there's not a college in the world that will accept you. Not even clown college. Now I'm going to ask you again Miss Smith. Are you sure you can't think of anything odd that's happened?"

"The strangest thing that has happened here is that my best friend was able to buy a brand new Camaro from some guy who practically just gave it to her and I think the car could possibly be possessed. Nothing I'm sure you are interested in. Actually scratch that, the strangest thing is having some random guy break into my house, claim that he's from the government and start asking me questions and threatening me. I make good grades and I am a good student. You can't keep me out of college! My parents have been planning on me going to college since before I was born!"

"This Camaro, could you describe it?" Simmons asked, ignoring the last part of what Zoe had said.

"It's a new model I think. It's yellow with black stripes and has a few little decals – I think that's what they're called – on the sides that look like some sort of face. It has radio problems apparently because it will occasionally turn off by itself. I don't know much about cars so that's all I can tell you. "

"Interesting. Do you have any pictures of this vehicle?"

"No."

"I see. Do you think that this car could possibly be a NBE?"

"A what?" Zoe questioned. "I told you it's a Camaro."

"A Non-Biological Extraterrestrial," Simmons sighed. Uneducated kids, they really needed to be teaching these sorts of things in the curriculum these days.

"Like ET? Something like that?" Zoe asked. "Are you on something? Aliens do not exist and Aly's car is not one. I don't know what you want, please leave."

"You're wrong about the aliens Miss Smith. Here's my card, call me if you find something suspicious. Your information could be valuable. Princeton, Harvard, Yale. I can make it happen for you. Think about it. Think about it really hard."

Zoe stepped back clutching her umbrella and pointing it at Simmons as he walked out of the house. She waited until he was out of sight before looking down at the card in her hand. She started to crumple it up before she stopped herself. She didn't believe in aliens and had no plans on ever calling this Agent Simmons dude, but she wanted to have proof whenever she told Aly about this. Zoe imagined that her friend was going to get a kick out of some dude thinking that her car was actually somehow an alien.

"Sector Seven," Zoe said to herself. "Never heard of it. Time to Google."

 

i like it   !!! is this still before Bumblebee and Aly get captured by Starscream?

 

not bad, nice intro

 

Good start! I like it!

 

Jazzfan0217 - Thanks! This is a rewrite of Alliance, so Aly and Bumblebee being captured has never happened. Of course that doesn't mean it won't happen again at some point.  

ARCTrooperAlpha - Thanks!

Chromia217 - Thank you!  
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Chapter 2​

Starscream hated monitor duty. As Air Commander and Second-in-Command of the Decepticon army, there were plenty of duties he should have, but monitor duty should not be one of them. He was part of Megatron's elite and one day, once the Decepticon leader's spark had finally been extinguished, he would be leader of the Decepticons. He should not be degraded to a task such as monitor duty! There were plenty of other lower ranking Decepticons that would be better suited to the job, but no Megatron was forcing him to do it instead. Of course being on monitor duty wasn't the worst thing at the moment.

"Monitor duty is so dull," another voice sighed.

No, being stuck on monitor duty with Moonraider was much worse than monitor duty itself. The purple and blue femme was the Decepticon's newest arrival on the forsaken planet they were currently stuck on. Moonraider was an espionage agent and, in Starscream's opinion, a very poor one at that. Every single mission of hers had been a failure and yet somehow she was still online. If he had had that many failures Megatron would have deactivated him by now. But then again, Moonraider had never been on Megatron's personal team before. Things would be changing for her now.

"Isn't there anyone else who could do this?" Moonraider asked. "I have better things to do."

"And I don't? If anyone should be complaining about being on monitor duty, it should be me. This is a perfect task for you though Moonraider. After all how could you possibly mess this up?"

Moonraider's violet optics narrowed at the Seeker's comment. Oh how she loathed him. It wasn't like she was the only one who had failed a few missions in the past. She knew that Starscream had his own fair share of failures as well. The only difference is that Starscream could fail and still have a high rank. But Moonraider on the other hand, was just tossed aside and seen as worthless whenever she failed. It wasn't fair! Of course the word fair really didn't matter in the Decepticon army. It was survival of the fittest for them. And the fact that she was still alive was proof that Moonraider was no fool. The others were the ones who were fools and soon it would be proved to them.

"At least all of my failures haven't been on our leader's life Starscream," Moonraider smirked. "I'm amazed that Megatron still lets you live after all the times you have tried to kill him. It's no wonder your brothers haven't arrived here yet. They probably don't want to get caught up in your schemes and are just avoiding having to be around you. Can't say that I blame them."

"Silence femme! Thundercracker and Skywarp are not avoiding coming here and your company is no pleasure either," Starscream said standing up and walking over to her.

Ooh he's mad now. This should be fun, Moonraider thought to herself.

"At least I haven't been beat by a youngling," she chuckled. "From what I hear you couldn't kill a human because the Autobot's scout stopped you. How embarrassing for the Decepticon SIC. I only wish I could have been there to see it myself."

Before Moonraider could do anything else, Starscream had grabbed her by the neck – threatening to crush it at any moment.

"S-struck a nerve have I?" she asked, struggling to speak. "I-I didn't take you to be the type to copy Megatron."

Starscream tightened his grip for a moment before letting her go.

"Of course I really shouldn't be too surprised. As the humans say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Moonraider said.

Before Starscream could react she rushed out of the room. She was smart enough to know not to stick around after insulting Starscream. While most Decepticons she had been around most of the time would not take being compared to the Decepticon leader as much as an insult, it was no secret that Starscream hated it. The Seeker viewed himself as superior to Megatron, though none of the Decepticons viewed him that way. There was a time when Moonraider had wondered what had caused Starscream to start thinking that way, but it no longer mattered. If everything went according to plan, the Decepticons would not matter at all.

Moonraider quickly entered her quarters and made sure that there were no cameras hidden within the room. While she had not been onboard the Nemesis very long, she did know that Soundwave was the eyes and ears of the Decepticons and nothing happened onboard the ship without him knowing about it. How he was able to do it, Moonraider had no idea. But she was assuming that there was a chance that cameras were involved, so she took extra care to make sure there weren't any in her own room. She didn't have the luxury of being able to do that anywhere else on the ship, especially when she was in the same room as Starscream.

Once she was satisfied that she wasn't being watched, Moonraider walked over to a small console that was in her room. The console was hidden slightly to keep suspicions should some unwelcome visitor come inside. Located on it was a data-stream of information from one of the humans' government groups. While she wasn't really all that interested in the humans' government, she found this group rather intriguing. They apparently specialized in aliens, and according to the information she had found about them, they currently had two in their custody. From the sounds of things, it appeared that they were possibly Cybertronians. Moonraider knew that eventually she was going to have to pay these humans a visit, but that could wait for a while longer. She had discovered the human group shortly after she arrived on Earth – before she had met up with the other Decepticons. It was then that she begun to form her plan.

She would pass along bits and pieces of information to Sector Seven anonymously to get them on the right track. In exchange whenever she decided to go visit them, she would make a deal with them to help her get rid of a few troublesome 'Bots and 'Cons. She would let the humans do whatever they wanted to do with them as long as they left her alone. And then when the humans grew out of their usefulness to her, she would simply dispose of them. Of course should something happen that her plan not work out for her, she could use the information that she had found to try to gain Megatron's favor. After all the two captured Cybertronians could be useful soldiers to the Decepticon cause. Either way, as far as Moonraider could tell, this was going to be a win-win situation for her.

 

Chapter 3​

Saturday mornings were a time to sleep in late. Or at least that's what Aly had thought before she met the Autobots. As it turned out, a day on Cybertron was longer than that of one on Earth. Add to the fact that Cybertronians didn't sleep, or recharge as Ratchet called it, as long as a human did, Aly's weekend sleeping time was greatly reduced. Of course Bumblebee did try his best to make sure that she did get to sleep a little later than she usually got to during the week, but even then it was still earlier than what Aly was used to. And this Saturday was proving to be no exception. The sounds of tapping coming from the window and Sherlock meowing woke her up at seven o'clock in the morning. Aly groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to drown out the noise. Unfortunately it was a futile attempt and she soon found herself sitting up and glaring over at the window. She waited a few minutes before she actually got out of bed and walked over to open the window.

"I was kind of hoping to sleep later than this 'Bee."

"Sorry Aly," Bumblebee said sheepishly. "I just wanted to tell you that I think that you should go to the beach with Zoe today."

"Why?"

"I was just reading something on the internet about how people shouldn't ditch their friends for new ones. You said that you and Zoe have been friends for a long time right? Well I don't want to come between the two of you."

"You're not going to come between us Bumblebee. Wait… why were you looking that up?" Aly questioned, racking her brain of any times that she had ditched Zoe. Besides the beach none came to mind.

"I was bored and I knew you wouldn't be up for another few hours," Bumblebee replied.

"You guys need to figure out how to sleep longer."

"That's not really possible Aly. Besides, I do recharge longer than Optimus and the others. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm still a youngling."

"Youngling?" she asked.

There were quite a few things that Aly didn't quite understand about the Cybertronians, mostly because she didn't ask. The answers to the few things she had asked had went over her head, and she decided that she wasn't going to ask anything unless she felt like it was important for her to know.

"A youngling is an adolescent on Cybertron."

"So you're still a kid then?"

"Pretty much. If I was a human I would probably be around your age if not a little younger."

"Really? You don't really act like it."

"I had to grow up fast," Bumblebee shrugged. "Now about you going to the beach…"

"Do you want to go to the beach 'Bee? You really want me to go."

"I would like to go, but I can't. I have training with Ironhide and I thought that you might would rather spend time with Zoe than with Ironhide."

"Good point. I think I'll give Zoe a call," Aly said picking up the phone. A quick look at the clock made her put it back down. "I should probably wait another hour before I call her. I don't think she'll be up yet."

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"No human today?" Ironhide asked when he saw Bumblebee enter the base alone.

"No, Aly is going to the beach with one of her friends today," Bumblebee replied as he transformed. "She might want to come over later though."

"How exactly are you supposed to be guarding her if you're not with her Bumblebee?" Ratchet questioned.

"The Decepticons haven't gone after her once since she met us and the beach is a very public place. They've been keeping a low profile like just like we are, so I think she'll be fine there. And I told her to call if something happened," Bumblebee explained to the medic. "Where's Optimus?"

"Out on patrol."

Bumblebee watched as Ratchet resumed his focus on something he had been working on when Bumblebee had first come in. The scout was curious about what it was, but decided to ask about it later. He still had training with Ironhide, and Bumblebee knew from past experiences that it was better to get straight to it instead of putting it off until later.

"So what are we doing today 'Hide?" Bumblebee asked turning to face the weapons specialist.

"Weapons training, you need to work on your aim," he gruffly replied.

Bumblebee had to suppress a sigh of relief. While training with Ironhide was never a fun thing to do, weapons training was the only one where you were guaranteed not to end up getting the slag beat out of you. Well unless you had a melee weapon that is – which Bumblebee currently did not have. Plus Ironhide did have a point on him needing to work on his aim. With Bumblebee's only weapons being firearms, he needed to make sure that he could actually hit his target unless he wanted to go into hand-to-hand combat, something that wasn't smart for him to do unless his opponent was someone closer to his size.

"Okay let's go."

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The bright sun glistened off of the ocean like diamonds, forcing Aly to have to lower her sunglasses to cover her eyes. She tried to remember when the last time she had been to the beach was. It had actually been a while because of how busy her dad was. She had taken going to the beach for granted but realized now how much she missed it. Of course going to the beach with Zoe's family was a lot different than going with her own. How Zoe was able to stand listening to Abby's favorite music for an entire hour was beyond her.

"Let's play princess!" Abby happily exclaimed. "Zoe's Cinderella, Aly's Ariel, and I'm Rapunzel!"

"Why do I have to be Ariel?" Aly asked.

"Cause you have red hair silly," Abby giggled.

"Abby why don't you help me build a sandcastle and let Zoe and Aly go off and do something else for a little while," Mrs. Smith suggested.

"Thanks mom," Zoe said before grabbing Aly's arm and dragging her off far enough away from prying eyes and ears.

Aly frowned at her friend's actions. Zoe had been pretty quiet during the drive to the beach and Aly had been friends with her long enough to know when she was frustrated. The only thing was that as far as Aly could tell, there was no reason for Zoe to even be frustrated. She had seemed fine yesterday, so what was with the sudden attitude change?

"What's up Zoe?"

"You tell me Aly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday there was some dude in my house saying that he was with the government and to get straight to the point, he thinks your car is an alien."

"What?" Aly's blue eyes widened. This could not be happening. The government couldn't possibly know about Bumblebee and the other Autobots. Could they?

"I didn't believe him at first," Zoe continued. "After all, your car being an alien is even crazier than my theory about it being possessed. But then I thought about it some more. There has always been something strange about that car and ever since you got it you've been acting weird…"

"Zoe you don't honestly believe that my car is an alien do you?" Aly interrupted fighting to mask the panic in her voice. "I mean that's crazy."

"I don't know if it's an alien or what it is, but something is not right with it. I think you need to give it back to the guy you bought it from Aly. It's gotten you mixed up in something bad and if the government is after it, well things cannot possibly end well."

"I'm not involved in anything bad."

Okay that was a little bit of a lie. Aly was technically involved in an alien war now and that really wasn't a good thing, though it wasn't Bumblebee's fault that she was involved. It was Starscream's fault for trying to kill her, which caused Bumble to rescue her. But she couldn't exactly tell that to Zoe, no matter how much she wanted to. It wasn't her secret to tell and she couldn't tell her unless the Autobots wanted her to know. Something that Aly was doubtful would happen for a while – especially if Zoe had been questioned about their existence by the government.

"Yeah right," Zoe rolled her eyes. "You're hiding something, I can tell."

"No I'm not, "Aly lied. Oh she really hated having to lie.

"Yes you are! If you weren't you would just get rid of that stupid car!"

"H-it's not stupid!" Aly snapped back.

"Yeah well maybe I should just call Simmons and have him check out your car himself!"

Aly felt her heart skip a beat at Zoe's words. She wouldn't really call Simmons, whom Aly was assuming was the man who had been in Zoe's house, would she?

"You can't call him Zoe. What if he was just some crazy guy who forgot to take his medicine? He might think that anything is an alien and do something insane," Aly said. Zoe remained silent. "At least think about it before you do it. It's a bad idea and you know it."

"Whatever," Zoe replied walking towards the ocean.

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The second Aly got back to her driveway she opened up the door to Bumblebee's waiting alt-mode and climbed inside. She had to tell all of the Autobots about what Zoe had said. If the government was trying to track them down, they had a right to know.

"We need to go to the base 'Bee. I have something I have to tell all of you," Aly said.

"What?"

"Some guy from the government talked to Zoe."

"About what?"

"Take a guess."

 

oooohhh what happens next !!!   !!!

 

Jazzfan0217 - Thanks for commenting! I hope that you'll keep reading!
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Chapter 4​

If Ironhide wasn't a giant alien robot made of metal, Aly would have punched him right then and there. As it was Ironhide was an alien robot made of metal and hitting him would only result in her hurting herself. But that didn't stop her from clenching her hands into fists and holding them by her side. She had known that out of all of the Autobots, Ironhide would be the one that would react to the Zoe/Government situation the worst, but she had not expected him to actually out right insult one of her best friends to her face. It wasn't Zoe's fault that the government had approached her! But no, Ironhide was clearly pissed and was going on about how Zoe was going to cause too many problems for them now. Aly glanced over at the other Autobots to see what their reactions were. Ratchet looked annoyed, Bumblebee looked worried (though whether it was towards the government problem or the inevitable confrontation between her and Ironhide, Aly wasn't sure), and Optimus looked as stoic as always.

"Zoe probably won't even call him!" she finally snapped. "She was just frustrated when she said that."

"She was mad at you? Well that settles it then-"

"Excuse me but do you know her Ironhide? Hmm, what's that? Yeah I didn't think so! I've been friends with Zoe since I was three, I know that when she's frustrated she'll get mad and say things she doesn't really mean. You guys don't know her at all! So don't go around assuming what she's going to do!"

For a moment Aly thought she saw a brief flash of sympathy on Optimus' face, but she didn't bother to dwell on it. Right now the room in the Autobots' base felt too small and she wanted nothing more than to get out of there at that very moment. She was mad and upset and tears were threatening to start pouring out of her eyes at any second. The last thing she wanted was for the Autobots to see her crying, so she did the first thing that popped into her mind. She ran out of the room.

"Aly!" Bumblebee called after her and was about to follow her himself when Optimus placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let her go Bumblebee. She needs time to calm down," the Autobot leader explained.

"Why'd you have to upset her 'Hide?" Bumblebee asked. "She didn't know that the government was going to try to find out that we're here and she can't help that they talked to Zoe. Besides Aly's right, we don't really know Zoe."

"While that is a good point Bumblebee, we must also be vigilant. If the human government is trying to discover us we will have to be extra careful to ensure we do not raise any suspicions. That especially goes for you Bumblebee. You are around the humans more than the rest of us," Optimus stated. He turned his gaze to Ironhide. "And if we are discovered, we will require Alyson's assistance in dealing with the government. She is our only human ally and her help could be of great value. Upsetting her is not the right solution."

Bumblebee nodded his head before heading outside to find Aly. He figured a few minutes was enough time to leave her alone. And he knew her better than the others and knew that while having time alone was good, she also would want to vent.

He found her sitting in a tree a few feet away from the base. Aly had her head buried in her knees with her arms wrapped around them. As he got closer to her he noticed that her eyes were slightly red from where she had been crying.

"Aly?" Bumblebee bent down so he would be as close to eye level as possible with her.

"Do you think Zoe's going to call Simmons too?" she asked lifting her eyes up to meet Bumblebee's optics.

"Do you?"

"I honestly want to say no, but I'm scared that Ironhide's going to be right. Zoe and I rarely fight or argue. I mean she gets frustrated with other people more than she does with me. I don't know what she's going to do now. I've been best friends with her since I was three."

"Do you think hanging out with us will ruin your friendship with her?" Bumblebee quietly asked. He hoped that she would say no. While he didn't want Aly's friendship with Zoe to go south, he also didn't want to lose her. She was his best friend too.

"No! Well I mean there's probably going to be issues between us here and there as long as she's in the dark, but we'll find a way to work it out. It's just going to have to be something I add on to my list. Work things out with Zoe and deal with Ironhide being a jerk."

"Don't let 'Hide get you down. You just have to work to earn his respect."

"Great, that should be easy," Aly sarcastically muttered.

"You'll figure something out. After all you got me to like you," he teased.

"By freaking out because I was about to be killed by Starscream and then because a talking car was in front of my house? Somehow I don't think that's going to work with Ironhide."

"Actually I liked you because you were funny, but like I said, you'll figure something out. Oh I almost forgot, more Autobots are coming to Earth!"

"Really?" Aly perked up in interest, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah they should be here in a day or two."

"Who's coming?"

"We don't know yet. Ratchet just picked up their signal earlier."

"Cool!" Aly grinned. More Autobots around would be fun, well unless they were all like Ironhide, but what were the chances of that happening? "You know maybe I should call Zoe and try to patch things up just to make sure that she won't call that Simmons guy. With more of you coming, it would probably be a good thing to make sure that she won't do something like that."

"That sounds like a good idea," Bumblebee said in agreement.

Aly pulled out her cellphone and punched in Zoe's number. After she didn't answer her cell, Aly called her house. Bumblebee watched as a frown formed on her face after she was finished talking.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing as far as I know. Zoe's just went out on a walk and left her phone at her house."

"That's bad?"

"Well I think I've established that walking around town alone can be a bad thing," she pointed out.

"You want to go try to find her?"

"I think it might be a good idea. You know just to be on the safe side."

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Zoe sighed as she sat down on the ground. She was in a small isolated part of town that she and Aly had used as a shortcut before Aly got her Camaro. Actually after she had got the Camaro, Aly had pretty much flat out tried to avoid ever coming there again. Another mystery about her supposed best friend, but Zoe wasn't going to dwell too much on that mystery now. If Aly was avoiding this spot, it was the perfect spot for her to be alone and think. She pulled out her ponytail holder and let her hair down – making the blue streaks she had added to the bottom portion of her blonde hair stand out against her green tank top.

"What am I going to do?" she groaned.

She hadn't wanted to get mad at Aly, honestly she hadn't, but this time it was hard for her not to. Her best friend was too stubborn for her own good. Something wasn't right with her car and if Zoe could tell that, then Aly should have been able to too. But no, she just had to deny it and say that nothing was wrong with it. And then there was her reaction to the whole government thing. Looking back on her conversation with Aly, she almost acted like she was hiding something. If Aly wasn't hiding anything the mention of a guy claiming to be from the government thinking that her car was an alien would have Aly giving her a "are you serious" look, instead she had a look on her face as if she had been caught. Something about it just didn't make sense. Maybe she should just call Aly and try to talk to her. Maybe if she wasn't acting as hostile, Aly might open up and explain everything. Zoe reached in the pocket of her capris to discover that she didn't have her cell with her.

Crap, how many times has mom told me not to forget to bring my phone with me when I go out somewhere? Guess I'll have to call Alley Cat when I get home.

Zoe stood up and was about to start back to her house right as a midnight blue sports car with purple decaling pulled up in front of her. The driver rolled down the window and gave a small smile to Zoe. She had short bluish-black hair and violet eyes.

"Sorry to startle you," she said, "but I think I'm lost. Maybe you could help me."

 

Getting interesting please do more   !!!   !!!

 

Jazzfan0217 - Thanks!  
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Chapter 5​

Moonraider watched as the human in front of her took a hesitant step away from her vehicle mode. Clearly the girl wasn't as careless as she had hoped she would be. She had enough sense to know when she shouldn't trust someone or something. Of course that was only going to make Moonraider's job more difficult. She needed to persuade this girl to contact Sector Seven so her plan could move along and she had no time to waste.

"Umm I'm not that great at giving directions. There's a gas station a little ways down the road over there. Maybe someone there could help you?"

"Oh I'm sure you could be of great assistance to me. I'm in a bit of a rush you see," Moonraider said through her holoform.

A small ping on her radar alerted the Decepticon femme of an incoming Autobot. No doubt it was the youngling with his human pet. They certainly wouldn't help her with the human in front of her and if she wanted her plan to move forward, she was just going to have to speed things along. Moonraider deactivated her holoform, noticing the shock that appeared on the human's face when she did so, and transformed into her robot mode. The human tried to back away, but ended up tripping and falling down. Moonraider took a step closer to her and lifted her off the ground up to where she was level with her optics, causing the human to release a scream of pure terror.

"I was hoping that you wouldn't be difficult, but you're proving to be otherwise. An Autobot is approaching and I need to speak with you in private, so you're going to be coming with me," Moonraider said as she transformed back into vehicle mode, this time with the human inside.

As she reactivated her holoform, she also tightly wrapped a seatbelt around the human. After all, she didn't want her to try to escape just yet.

"Now I'm going to ask you a few questions and you are going to answer them truthfully if you want to leave alive. Is that clear?"

A frightened nod was her only response.

"Very well, let's begin. You are Zoe Isabelle Smith, correct?"

"Yes," Zoe answered her voice barely a whisper.

"And you're good friends with Alyson Marie Rose? And she has recently come into possession of a Chevrolet Camaro that you think is possessed?"

"How do you know about that!" Zoe asked in alarm. Crap have I been stalked by a freaking robot car thing?
"I have my ways. Now answer the question!"

"Yes and yes."

"You were approached the other day by a man named Simmons who questioned you about this Camaro?"

"Yes and I told him he was crazy."

"I imagine you've changed your mind now," Moonraider chuckled.

"So Aly's car is an alien?"

"Her car is a Cybertronian just like I am. The only difference between us is that he is an Autobot and I am a Decepticon."

Moonraider was met by silence.

"I'm dreaming aren't I? You're not real and I'm at home in bed fast asleep. Because there is no way that this could really be happening."

"Oh I am very real," Moonraider replied tightening the seatbelt around Zoe's body, causing her to gasp for breath. "And you are going to do exactly what I tell you to do."

"W-why should I? Y-you've kidnapped me, so why should I want to do anything for you?" Zoe struggled to ask. The seatbelt around her was way too tight and was really starting to hurt. She couldn't help but wonder what she had done to have this happen to her.

"Because I know where you live Zoe. I know a lot of things about you. The internet is a very insightful source. I know that your parents are divorced and that you live with your mother. I know that you have a little sister. And I know that you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to any of them or any of your friends, like Aly. Aly is friends with some of my enemies and she is a good target for me and the other Decepticons to hurt the Autobots. So many people I can hurt if you don't do what I say. Now you don't want that to happen, do you Zoe?"

"N-no."

"I thought so. Now you are going to contact Agent Simmons and tell him that you were wrong and that you think that your friend's car really is one of the aliens he's looking for. You are not, under any circumstances, to tell him or anyone else about me. I will know if you do and you will not like what I have in store if you disobey my orders. After that you are to wait for further instructions from me. Understand?"

"Y-yes."

"Good," Moonraider said as she pulled in front of Zoe's house and released the seatbelt.

Zoe wasted no time in jumping out of the car and running inside of her house and into her room. Once she was in the safety of her own room she allowed herself to plop down on her bed and let the few tears of fear drip down her face. What had Aly gotten them mixed up in? Her best friend was friends with aliens and now a government agent and a psycho robot was after her, and it terrified her. She remembered what the robot had said and picked up her cellphone that was lying next to her bed with a trembling hand and punched in the number that Simmons had given her.

"H-hi Agent Simmons?" Zoe gulped trying to calm her nerves. "I think I was wrong about the aliens."

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Aly sighed as she sat on Bumblebee's shoulder outside of the Autobot base. While she and Bumblebee had had no luck in finding Zoe, a quick call to her house told her that Zoe was home and refusing to talk to her. She knew that Bumblebee was getting bored, but she didn't want to be inside of the base where Ironhide was at and she really didn't want to go home and have to tell her parents that she and Zoe were fighting. They would end up asking why and then she would either have to lie to them some more or have to explain that Zoe thought her car was an alien. And right now both options would probably end up blowing up in her face.

"Aly do you want me to take you home?" Bumblebee asked noticing how his human friend wasn't acting like her usual self.

"No, I don't know how to explain why Zoe and I are fighting to my parents and lying is going extremely bad for me lately and I hate doing it."

"I'm sorry that we're making you have to do that Aly. Maybe… maybe we should just leave. We're really making your life more complicated."

"Did you know that a few months ago I used to wish that I had a brother or sister? My parents have been busy lately so I don't see them as much and sometimes Zoe is busy doing stuff with her family so we can't hang out. I wanted a brother or sister so I would have someone to hang out with when everyone else was busy. I don't wish about that anymore. You know why? Because you're close enough to being a brother to me Bumblebee. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's the truth," Aly said.

Bumblebee had to smile at that. Like Aly, he had no siblings, so he liked the thought of having her as a sister.

"But what about having to lie to your parents and you and Zoe fighting? It's because of us that that's happening."

"I know, but like I said, I don't see my parents that much right now and even if you did leave Zoe's probably still going to be mad at me. So you leaving would only leave me alone."

"Okay then I won't leave."

"Good."

The two were silent for a moment before a question popped into Bumblebee's head.

"Hey Aly, how did you and Zoe become friends in the first place?"

"We went to the same daycare when we were little. The two of us decided that we were going to have a band someday, so we were going to be friends forever. The bad thing clearly didn't work out, probably because even though Zoe is a pretty rockin' singer, I am a terrible drummer and can't play guitar to save my life," Aly smiled at the memory of her and Zoe having band practice before sighing. "We've never fought like this before. I mean sure we've had a few arguments before, I think most friends do, but she's never refused to talk to me afterwards. I don't know what to do."

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Seriously 'Bee, that's all you have for me?"

"Sorry little sister, but I don't know Zoe as well as you do."

"Hey I thought you said that if you were human you might be younger than me, so shouldn't you be the little brother?" Aly grinned.

"I've still been alive longer than you, so I'm the older one. You're just going to have to deal with it."

"Killjoy," she pouted as she noticed it was getting dark out. "Dark already?"

"I guess I should probably be getting you home now," Bumblebee sighed.

"Probably," she agreed. "Getting grounded isn't going to help things any, so we should go."

Bumblebee sat Aly down on the ground before transforming into his vehicle mode and opening the door for her to get in.

 

Zoe running into Moonraider can't turn out good.   !!!
AWWWW i love the Bumblebee and Aly moments, a big brother so cute   !!!
great chapter   !!!

 

Chapter 6​

I'm never going to be able to sleep in late again.

That thought lingered in Aly's mind as she laid in her bed listening to the sound of Bumblebee tapping on her window for the second morning in a row. She knew that she should probably get up and open the window to see what he wanted, but she really didn't want to get up. According to her clock it was six o'clock in the morning. This was even earlier than when he woke her up yesterday! Idly she wondered why he was waking her up now. Yesterday it had been to tell her to go to the beach with Zoe. Aly hoped that whatever Bumblebee wanted, it didn't deal with her at all. She had tried to patch things up with Zoe, but since her best friend wasn't going to talk to her, she was done. Zoe was going to have to be the one to initiate any future attempts at fixing their friendship now. Aly let out a small sigh as she finally crawled out of bed. Ignoring Bumblebee really wasn't a good idea. For one thing he would probably continue tapping on her window for another hour or start calling her cellphone until she answered, and another if she never did answer he would probably think that something bad had happened to her.

"So why am I waking up early today?" she questioned as she opened up the window.

"The new Autobots will be arriving in another hour. I thought that you might want to be there when they arrive, plus Optimus thought it would be a good idea for you to be there as well."

"Oh cool, let me get ready real quick and I'll be right out."

Aly threw on a blue and pink halter top and a pair of denim shorts. As she opened up her door, she glanced down the hall to see that her parents' bedroom door was still closed. Great both of them were still asleep. When she got downstairs she wrote a quick note telling them that she went to hang out with some friends and that she would be back later. With that done she slipped on her favorite pair of boots, grabbed her black jacket, and headed outside.

"So did you find out which Autobots are coming?" Aly asked once she and Bumblebee were on the road towards the Autobot base.

"Not yet, we probably won't know until they land."

"How many do you think there will be?"

"Three or four probably," Bumblebee replied. "That's the usual number we have on individual teams now."

"That's not a lot."

"Cybertron is a dead planet now and everyone is scattered all over the place. It's hard to tell how many of us are left."

"I'm sorry about Cybertron 'Bee."

"It's okay; Earth's our new home now and hopefully we won't lose it."

"Hey mi casa es su casa – I would say my planet is your planet, but I'm not sure how to say planet in Spanish."

"So if anyone wants to kick us off of Earth, you'll speak in our defense?"

"Umm sure, though I'm not sure if anyone would listen to a sixteen year old," Aly said as they arrived outside the Autobot base. Optimus and the others were already outside waiting.

"Hello Alyson, Bumblebee," Optimus greeted as Bumblebee transformed and walked over to them.

Aly returned the greeting before noticing that the Autobot leader was smiling. She thought back and she couldn't remember ever seeing him smile in the short time she had known the Autobots. It was weird actually seeing something other than the usual stoic expression on his face and she couldn't help but wonder what had him smiling. The puzzled look on Bumblebee's face told her that she wasn't the only one confused, but he apparently figured it out because a few seconds later his look of confusion disappeared.

"She's with them isn't she?" Bumblebee asked looking up at the Autobot leader.

"I believe so."

The human teen nudged Bumblebee's head with her elbow and shot him a look asking who he was talking about. The scout replied with a look that said she would have to wait and see. Sometimes it amazed Aly how quickly she and Bumblebee had learned to read each other's expressions. She turned her attention towards the direction that the Autobots were looking and waited to see the new 'Bots.

It was five minutes later before she saw the faint outline of three cars off in the distance. Once they got a little closer Aly was able to make out a few more details: two of the cars were a silver/gray color and the third was a pinkish color. Aly assumed that the pink one was the "she" that Bumblebee had referred to and watched as the trio transformed in front of them. All three of them paused and looked at her curiously – making Aly feel very uncomfortable – before turning their attention to Optimus.

"Elita, Sideswipe, Jazz welcome to Earth. You remember Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee."

"What's that thing on 'Bee's shoulder?" Sideswipe asked looking back at Aly again.

"I'm not a thing!"

"Careful Sideswipe, you insult her and she won't shut up," Ironhide grumbled.

"This is our liaison to the human world, Alyson," Optimus introduced. "Bumblebee rescued her from being killed by Starscream and she has since remained our ally."

"It's nice to meet you Alyson, I'm Elita One," Elita smiled bending down slightly so she could see her better.

"It's nice to meet you too," Aly replied.

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Thirty minutes later Aly and Bumblebee were driving around the town. The new Autobots were in a meeting with Optimus and the Autobot leader had told them that it wasn't required for the two of them to attend. Bumblebee had explained to Aly that it was just about laying low and trying to remain undetected, which would be extremely boring, so they had decided to go for a drive instead.

"So are you going to catch me up to speed on the new Autobots?" Aly asked after a few minutes.

"I figured you were going to ask that," Bumblebee replied. "Let's see, I guess I'll start with Jazz. He's one of Optimus' closest friends after Ironhide and Ratchet. He's a really fun guy and I think he's going to love Earth a lot. Sideswipe is a warrior and he has a twin named Sunstreaker. It's weird seeing the two of them apart."

"Why's that?"

"Well twins on Cybertron are pretty rare. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are split spark twins, which means they share half of the same spark. Because of that they're closer than other siblings on Cybertron and it would really hurt one of them if the other died."

"Is Sunstreaker dead?"

"I doubt it, they probably got separated or something, but you'd have to ask Sides to be sure."

"Okay well that leaves Elita, tell me about her."

"Elita is Optimus' sparkmate."

"Sparkmate?"

"In human terms, she would be his wife."

"That's cool, and a little weird. Optimus just never struck me as the type to be married. He just seems so serious all the time."

"Well most of the time he is, but other times he lightens up. Especially around Elita, you'll see for yourself soon enough," Bumblebee said.

"If you say so," Aly shrugged. "Okay new question. If you guys have siblings and married couples, does that mean that you also have parents?"

"Yeah we do, but we call them creators on Cybertron."

"Oh well who are your creators then?"

"I don't really know who my real ones were. We think that they were killed since after a battle Optimus found me all alone. He took me and he and Elita basically adopted me and raised me as their own, so likewise I view them as my creators."

"That was really nice of them. I guess both you and Optimus are glad to have her on Earth now."

"We are," Bumblebee replied in agreement. "I know that Optimus has really missed her a lot."

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Megatron let out a growl as he looked over the report that Soundwave had given him. Apparently one of his soldiers was sending out transmissions to a currently unknown source. Soundwave was currently attempting to locate the source that the transmissions were being sent to and while Megatron had faith that his communications officer would succeed in his task, he wanted to know who was sending them in the first place as soon as possible. This was why he had called for Starscream to meet in in the bridge of the Nemesis. While his Second-in-Command and Air Commander could be traitorous, this work wasn't his – Starscream was much more direct in his attempts to overthrow him. But that didn't mean that Megatron couldn't strike fear in his subordinate to get him to find out who was sending the transmissions.

"You called Lord Megatron?" Starscream asked as he entered the bridge.

"Yes Starscream. Soundwave has informed me that someone aboard this ship is sending out transmissions. Soundwave is currently trying to determine where the transmissions are being sent, but no one seems to know who is sending them out. Are you aware of any of this?"

"Are you insinuating that I'm the one who is doing it!"

"You've betrayed me more than once Starscream, it would stand to reason that you wouldn't hesitate to do it again," Megatron replied taking a step towards the Seeker.

"I've made no attempts on your life for quite a while! After several failures I've decided that I'm better off just waiting for someone else to snuff your spark instead of doing it myself. Agh!" Starscream exclaimed as Megatron backhanded him against a console.

"I am no fool Starscream!" Megatron shouted as he hefted the Seeker back up by one of his wings. "I know that you are not the one sending the transmissions, that's much too clever for you to think it up."

Megatron dug his claws into the wing, causing Starscream to gasp in pain when he snarled at the insult.

"But your remarks towards me are going to cost you. If you do not find whoever is sending out these transmissions and why they are doing it, you'll be the one to receive their punishment. Is that clear?

"What! Lord Megatron that –"

"I said is that clear Starscream?" Megatron growled tightening his grip on the wing.

"Y-yes Lord Megatron."

"Good," Megatron dropped Starscream to the ground and turned to leave the bridge. "You have two Earth days to complete your task."

Starscream watched as Megatron left. How did he get into this mess?

 

Chapter 7​

The sight of a pink Maserati Granturismo S driving close beside a red and blue Peterbilt would typically be a peculiar sight, but most people didn't notice it as the sun began to set. For the Autobot leader and his sparkmate this was perfect as it gave them the opportunity to spend time alone with each other. This was something that they had not had the chance to do in quite a long time. Optimus had decided to take Elita out to a secluded area where they would be completely alone and not have to worry about any interruptions like they would back at the base. When they arrived at their destination, the two of them transformed and Optimus watched as Elita looked around.

"So this is Earth," Elita said as she looked at the sunset. "It's a very beautiful planet."

"Yes it is," Optimus nodded in agreement. "I only hope that it will not share the same fate as Cybertron."

"How do you think that the humans will react when they discover that we are here?"

"I imagine that there will be some like Alyson who are welcoming of us after meeting us. But I fear many will not like us being here. It appears that most humans do not trust things that they cannot explain."

"Well you've gotten one to trust us. That's a start."

"Yes, though I believe we have Bumblebee to thank for that. Had he not rescued her from Starscream, we would not have her as a human ally."

"She and Bumblebee seem close."

"They are," Optimus replied. "I overheard her tell Bumblebee that he was close enough to be a brother to her the other night."

A slight smile formed on Optimus' face as he said that. He was glad to see that a close bond had formed between Bumblebee and Aly. It proved that it was possible for their two species to coexist. Now if only Ironhide could get along with Aly. The Autobot leader had no idea why the two of them had such a hard time being in the same room with each other without one of them getting annoyed or mad at the other. He was going to have to think of something to fix that. But that could wait until later. Right now all he wanted to do was spend time with his sparkmate. They had been apart for far too long and her presence was something that he had desperately missed.

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Aly blew a strand of her now curly hair out of her face as she sat down at the table in the restaurant where she was eating dinner with her parents. Well it was supposed to be dinner with her parents. Somewhere down the line it had turned into a "lets meet one of dad's clients" dinner, and she absolutely loathed those. It wasn't the fact that she had to dress up for them, hence the curly hair and the fact that she was now wearing a solid black dress with a tiny light blue butterfly at the bottom and the black choker with a blue gem in the center, she actually liked dressing up most of the time. It was just that she always felt like she was invisible at these dinners. She would be introduced and then she would fade into the background while her parents and her dad's client talked business. It was no fun at all and she would much rather be back at home hanging out with Bumblebee. She took a sip of water while she watched as a man walked up to the table and shook hands with her dad.

"I'd like to introduce my wife Elizabeth and my daughter Alyson. Liz, Aly, this is Seymour Simmons."

Aly almost spat out her water when her dad introduced the man. The man's last name was Simmons? Which happened to be the exact same name as the man from the government that Zoe had threatened to call? This was either one big coincidence, unlikely, or this wasn't some dinner with a client of her dad's, but instead this was a dinner with the man that was after her friends. So much for fading into the background; Aly had the feeling that she was going to end up being the center of several conversations this time and she was going to have to be on her guard. One slip up and the Autobots could be revealed.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Simmons," Aly politely smiled. Let the games begin.

"It's nice to meet you as well Miss Rose. I have to admit this now Mr. Rose, I didn't come here for legal advice. You see I'm from the government and I am currently on a case investigating some stolen cars. One of these cars happens to match a description of your daughter's Camaro."

Aly's smile faltered, "What?"

Simmons was supposed to be asking questions that would get her to admit things about the Autobots. He wasn't supposed to be claiming that her car was stolen. What kind of an argument was she supposed to put up against that?

"Are you suggesting that I stole my car?" she questioned.

"No, of course I'm not suggesting that Miss Rose. But I believe that whomever you bought the car from, may have stolen it. Because of this your Camaro is being impounded during the remainder of the investigation."

"You can't do that! Dad tell him!"

"Aly calm down. Mr. Simmons I must say that this is rather unexpected. Do you have any proof that my daughter's car may have been previously stolen?"

"While there currently is no solid evidence, the descriptions of the cars are extremely similar. This is why it is being impounded, so we can do a more accurate inspection of it. We may also need to question Miss Rose about it as well later on. If our investigation proves that the car is not stolen, then she can have it back."

In other words, if they don't find any proof that Bumblebee is an alien I can have him back. Aly thought to herself. But if they do find proof then we've lost him forever. That can't happen.

"You can't take my car. It wasn't stolen and it's mine, so stay away," she warned.

"Alyson, stop. Mr. Simmons you should have told me what this was about in the first place, I do not approve of lying. If you must take the car, then I suppose there's nothing we can do to stop you without impeding on the investigation. But I do trust my daughter's judgment and if she says that the car wasn't stolen, then I believe her. When will you be taking the Camaro?"

"It's being taken away as we speak," Simmons replied.

Aly felt her heart sink. This could not be happening. Sector Seven could not be taking Bumblebee away from her. They couldn't! Maybe somehow he had got away or had been at the Autobot base when Sector Seven arrived. That gave her a small amount of reassurance. Bumblebee was clever; there was a chance that he would have been able to escape. But Bumblebee was also a loyal Autobot and Aly knew that the Autobots did not harm humans. If Sector Seven got him, he wouldn't fight back. She wasn't going to have any peace of mind until she knew what had happened. Before anyone could say anything, Aly had jumped out of her seat and rushed outside while pressing the button on her speed dial for Bumblebee's comm. The phone rang several times, but Bumblebee never answered.

"I told you that your "car" has been apprehended."

Aly spun around to see Simmons standing behind her. She wanted nothing more than to just smack the smug grin off of the government agent's face.

"What are you going to do to h – it?"

"We're going to study it. Maybe some experiments and dissections as well. You probably won't be getting it back, just so you know."

The next thing Aly knew her fist was connecting with Simmons' face. The man stumbled backwards in surprise – he clearly hadn't expected her reaction to be that. Too bad, Bumblebee was family to her and now he was gone all because of Simmons. He deserved to be punched in the face and Aly hoped that she had at least broken his nose. While she would have loved to have stayed to see what Simmons next reaction would be, she needed to make another phone call and there was no way she was going to let Simmons hear it. So she ran off again to a more private area and once she was sure that no one was around to listen in, she punched in a new number. This time her call was answered almost straight away and she was forced to say the five words that she wished weren't true.

"Optimus, Sector Seven got Bumblebee."

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To say Aly was surprised when Elita pulled up into the parking lot of the restaurant seven minutes after she got off the phone with Optimus would be an understatement. She had known that one of the Autobots was coming to pick her up, the Autobot leader had told her that much, and she had told her parents that she wasn't feeling well and that one of her friends was going to come pick her up. But she hadn't expected that Elita would be the one to pick her up and honestly she had hoped that it wouldn't be her. She didn't have anything against Elita, it was just Bumblebee had told her that Optimus and Elita had raised him as their own, so now Aly was stuck with the Autobot that was pretty much Bumblebee's mom and that only made her feel guiltier about what had happened.

Aly walked over and climbed inside the passenger side of the vehicle and saw that Elita had her holoform activated. She knew that the Autobots used holoforms in their vehicle modes occasionally, so it didn't surprise her too much that Elita was using one right now. There was something about her holoform that reminded Aly of a princess. She wasn't sure why though, since she couldn't think of any princess that had pinkish blonde hair and electric blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" Elita asked in a concerned voice.

"I guess," she quietly replied. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"Bumblebee told me that you and Optimus basically adopted him and now Sector Seven has him. If he wasn't my guardian then he wouldn't have been at my house and they wouldn't have gotten him. So it's sort of my fault and I'm sorry."

"None of this is your fault," Elita assured. "This could have happened even if he wasn't your guardian. Bumblebee is very brave and has been through worse. We'll find a way to get him back."

"But Simmons said they might experiment on him and dissect him! He's been through worse than that!"

"Believe it or not he has. Bumblebee has been tortured to near death before."

"What?"

Elita's holoform smiled when she heard the concern in Aly's voice. It was clear that the teen had not been joking when she had told Bumblebee that he was close to being a brother to her. Elita was worried about what was happening to the youngling right now too, but she was hiding her worry for Alyson's sake. The human was already blaming herself for what had happened to Bumblebee and Elita sure wasn't going to elevate that guilt in any way. Instead she was going to reassure her that they would find the scout and get him back. She just hoped that was telling the truth about that.

 

  I love this, your doing a great job with this  

 

Jazzfan0217 - Thanks!  
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Chapter 8​

Zoe had been friends with Aly long enough to know that when she was mad, it was best to avoid her for a while, so when she had received a "thank you" call from Agent Simmons last night, she knew that Aly most likely no longer had her demon car and was going to be ticked off about losing it. The best thing to do would be avoid Aly for at least a day to let her cool off some before apologizing. Unfortunately for Zoe though, they went to the same school. Sure being in different grades kept them apart for most of the day, but there was still the chance of bumping into each other in the hallway. She had been doing a good job at avoiding her best friend for most of the day when she spotted her waiting at the exit of the school with her arms crossed. And the moment the red-headed teen caught site of Zoe she marched right on over, her light blue eyes flashing with a mixture of anger and determination.

"Aly, I'm sorry –"

"Save it. Do you still have Simmons' number?"

"Yeah, I think it's still at my house. Why do you ask?"

"I need it. He took my car and I'm going to get it back."

It hadn't taken Aly long to come to the decision that she would rescue Bumblebee herself. While she knew that the Autobots would try to find the scout themselves, there wouldn't be much they could do to free him without exposing themselves. She on the other hand was not Cybertronian, so she didn't have to worry about that. Plus this would be the perfect opportunity to show her usefulness to the Autobots. She felt bad at times not being able to do much to help them with the Decepticons and she wanted to do something to help the Autobots. There were only two problems with her plan currently. One: she had no idea where Bumblebee was being held, and two: she was going to have to convince Optimus Prime to let her go. That was certainly going to be a challenge. In fact she had spent most of the previous night going back and forth between worrying about Bumblebee and trying to think up some extremely convincing reasons why she should be the one to go to Sector Seven.

"Aly you don't honestly believe that you're going to be able to convince him to give you back your car do you?" Zoe asked.

"I'm getting my car back!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down. Just meet me at my house and I'll give you his number."

"You need a ride?"

"You don't have a car, remember?"

"I have a friend picking me up."

"I'll just meet you at my house," Zoe said. She had a feeling that Aly's 'friend' would end up being another alien robot thing, and she didn't want to become any more involved with them.

"Alright, then I'll see you soon."

Zoe waited until Aly was out of sight before heading outside of the building, where she was dismayed to see a familiar looking sports car waiting for her. To make matters worse, Moonraider's holoform was standing out in front of the car looking straight at her. There was no way she would be able to run off without the robot finding her.

Why me? What did I do to deserve this to happen to me? Zoe wondered to herself before taking a deep breath and walking over to the car.

"H-hi," Zoe stammered.

"Get in," Moonraider smirked.

The teen silently obeyed and climbed inside the passenger door while the holoform opened up the driver door and climbed inside. Once they were out of the parking lot, Zoe decided to speak up.

"What do you want now? I did what you asked and Simmons took away Aly's car," she quietly said. "She's mad just so you know."

"I might as well just tell you now, Decepticons don't like loose ends," the Decepticon femme sinisterly spoke. "If the Autobots hadn't got your little friend, I'm sure Megatron or Starscream would have taken care of her. She lucked up I suppose, you however have no one here to protect you."

"Aly's waiting for me at my house. If I don't show up she'll know that something's wrong," Zoe spoke up.

"Humph, she'll probably think that you lied and stood her up."

"There are also cameras at the school that would have seen me get inside here. I don't show up, Aly might get worried and tell my mom. My mom will panic and call the school, the cops will come check the cameras, and ten minutes later every patrol car will be out looking for you."

Moonraider contemplated the situation for a moment; she hadn't considered the cameras. She could just kill the human now and be done with her. It would make things much easier for her if she did. She wouldn't have to worry about her blabbing about her to the Autobots human pet. But killing her now would also make things messy. While most humans wouldn't suspect a Cybertronian killing her, after all as far as most of them were concerned they didn't exist, but the Autobots would consider the possibility of a Decepticon killing her. If the Autobots came to that conclusion, Lord Megatron would most likely find out as well. And if Lord Megatron found out… well she didn't want to know the consequences of that. The Decepticons were supposed to be keeping a low profile for the time being and being exposed on the evening news wouldn't be keeping a low profile. And then she would have to explain why she had killed the human in the first place, and she knew that wouldn't end well for her. Slag, she was going to have to let the human live.

"Only this once human will I let you go. Next time you won't be so lucky and my warning from before still remains. Don't breathe a word of me to any of the Autobots or your friend."

With that the Decepticon femme slammed on her breaks and opened up the passenger door. Zoe wasted no time in jumping out and running away from the Decepticon as fast as she could. By the time that she arrived back at her own house, she was out of breath. Aly was sitting outside of the door and quickly rushed over to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The seventeen year old simply nodded her head before she noticed the pink car that Aly must have rode in. Zoe didn't know a lot about cars, but if it was clear to her that this one had to be expensive. There was a woman sitting inside, who was also looking at her in concern.

"Who's your friend?"

"Oh, umm that's…"

Aly looked back over at the woman as if she was unsure of what to call her. The woman simply smiled and got out of the car, allowing Zoe to get a better look at her. She had long wavy hair that appeared to be blonde, but also had a light pink tint to it. She was wearing an off the shoulder pink blouse and dark washed skinny jeans. She had pale skin, had light pink lips, and kind electric blue eyes.

"Hello, I'm Elita," she introduced herself standing at the back of the car.

"Hi, I'm Zoe. So Aly, you wanted Simmons' number?"

"Yes."

"Okay come on."

"I'll wait for you out here Aly," Elita said, getting back into the car.

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes Elita," the redhead replied before following Zoe inside the house.

"She's like your car isn't she?" Zoe asked once they were inside her room.

Aly remained silent for a moment before answering, "Yeah she is."

"Why would you want to be involved with them? Isn't it dangerous hanging out with aliens?"

"You know when I first met the Autobots I really wanted nothing to do with them. Bumblebee was nice to me and Optimus seemed pretty nice too, but I wasn't really sure about Ratchet or Ironhide. I was still freaked out from the day before when Starscream tried to kill me and I wasn't sure if I could trust them. And Ironhide acted like a huge jerk which made me worry that I would end up getting killed. Then Optimus assigned Bumblebee to be my guardian, to make sure that the Decepticons wouldn't try to come after me. After that we just started talking and then we became friends. I knew that 'Bee wouldn't hurt me and he wouldn't let anyone else hurt me either. All of the Autobots sort of grew on me, even Ironhide, as much as I hate to admit that. They're my friends, and in the case of Bumblebee, my family."

"I'm sorry Simmons took him away."

"It's okay, I'll get him back."

Zoe dug around in one of her drawers before pulling out the card that Simmons gave her and handing it over to Aly.

"Here you go Alley Cat. So what's your plan?"

"Honestly I have no idea," Aly admitted. "I kind of doubt that Simmons will just tell me where they're keeping 'Bee, so I'm going to have to have the call traced."

"Could Elita do that?"

"I don't know I'll have to go ask her."

"Why can't she just come up here using her person thingy?"

"The Autobots can only use their holoforms around their vehicle modes right now. I think Ratchet is wanting to figure out a way for them to be able to use them for a further distance to help them blend in easier, but until he figures something out, they can't move any further."

"Oh that's good to know, I'll have to remember that." No way am I ever getting in that evil witch's car again.

"Even if Elita can trace it, I still have to convince her and Optimus to let me go."

"Let me guess, they won't think you'd be able to handle it? I can't really blame them for thinking that. A sixteen year old against government agents doesn't exactly scream good idea."

"Well they can't go, so it has to be me," she replied before leaving the room.

Zoe simply shook her head before following her best friend back outside. She patiently waited while Aly asked Elita if she could trace the phone call. When Elita replied that she in fact could trace the call, Aly quickly punched in the number and waited for Simmons to answer. The phone conversation was short and Aly ended up ending the call after three minutes.

"Were you able to trace it Elita?"

"I was. Simmons is approximately three hours away from here."

"Great, let's go!" Aly grinned.

"No, the only place you're going Alyson is home," Elita stated. "This is much too dangerous for you."

"But Elita, I want to help. And you guys can't exactly just walk inside without someone noticing you."

Elita remained silent for several minutes, causing Zoe to look at Aly in confusion. She merely shrugged in response. She had no idea what was going on either. It was only a minute later that Aly's cell phone started to ring.

"Put it on speaker," Elita instructed as Aly answered.

It was only a moment later that Optimus Prime's voice could be heard through the phone.

"Alyson, Elita has told me that you wish to go find Bumblebee. Is this correct?"

"I do. I know that I'm not exactly the most qualified person to do this, but 'Bee is my friend and I want to help get him back. If any of you go, you'll have to expose yourselves to Sector Seven and more of you could end up getting captured. I don't have to worry about that as much and it would be easier for me to sneak around. And I'm not entirely defenseless. I do know martial arts after all. It may not be effective against a Decepticon, but it can work pretty well against another human."

"I believe that the agents at Sector Seven would be more trained than you Alyson," Optimus argued.

"I know, but just give me a chance. Please."

Optimus contacted Elita again through their bond, (I do not like it, but do we have a choice?)

(I want Bumblebee back, as do you. I'll do my best to keep her safe.)

(Stay safe.)

"Get inside Aly," Elita said. "We need to go."

Zoe felt goose bumps on her arms like she was being watched.

"Wait! I'm coming too," she quickly said.

"It's about time that we're on the same team again," Aly smiled.

 

Chapter 9​

“How are we even going to get in?”

Aly turned to glance at Zoe before looking back at the building in front of them. In truth she hadn’t really planned on how they would get inside the building where Sector Seven was holding Bumblebee, she had been more focused on just being able to get this far. But now they had an obvious problem. It wasn’t like they could just walk straight through the door without getting caught; they were going to have to sneak around if they were going to be able to find Bumblebee. Elita was currently parked at the back of the building as an attempt at keeping anyone from getting too suspicious.

“Elita, can you tell if anyone is at the back door?” Aly questioned.

“My scanners are not picking up anyone standing directly at the door, but there is a chance that someone could be nearby. I can’t say for certain.”

“Well right now it looks like that’s our best bet at getting in,” the teen replied getting out of the car.

The moment she was out Elita’s holoform flickered back to life, causing Zoe to jump from its sudden reappearance.

“Aly, please do not do anything that will involve yourself getting harmed. You are to find Bumblebee and help him get out if you can. If it is too dangerous, you are to come back here immediately.”

“Don’t worry Elita, I’ll keep her out of trouble,” Zoe said getting out and walking over to where Aly was standing. “Come on Alley Cat, let’s go.”

“You know you could have stayed with Elita if you wanted,” Aly said as she and Zoe headed towards the back door.

“No offense, but I’m not really comfortable around your alien cars yet.”

Zoe had a feeling that it would take a while before she got used to any of the nice aliens. Her encounters with Moonraider still had her freaked out and she knew that she was going to have to tell Elita, Aly, and the other robots about her encounters with her. It was likely that Moonraider wouldn’t like her being around the Autobots and that might cause her to come back. And she wanted to avoid any more encounters with her at all costs.

“Besides,” Zoe added. “You’re going to need my help getting in. I’m kind of doubtful that they just left their back door unlocked to where anyone could just walk right in.”

“And you know how to pick a lock?”

“Actually I do,” she grinned, seeing the look of surprise on Aly’s face. “Abby accidentally locked me out of the house one day. My mom wasn’t home and my key was inside of the house, so I had to pick the lock with a bobby pin to get inside. It might take me a few minutes, but I’m pretty sure that I can get this door open too.”

“Do you even have a bobby pin with you?”

“I do now,” Zoe said pulling a pin out of Aly’s hair that she had been using to keep her hair out of her eyes.

The blonde haired teen smirked and strode up to the door, bent down, and started to work on the lock.

It’s a good thing that I don’t see any cameras out here, Aly thought to herself glancing at the area around the door. Otherwise we’d probably get caught before Zoe can get it open. And Sector Seven clearly has horrible funding to have such lousy security. Either that or they splurged on something way less important.

While she was waiting for her best friend to get the door unlocked, Aly began to wonder what she was going to see inside. She knew that there was a great chance that she would end up seeing Bumblebee being experimented on by the people inside and because of that, she needed to prepare herself. Freezing up could not be an option. She had to be able to get Bumblebee out of here.

“Got it!” Zoe exclaimed, drawing Aly’s attention back to her. “You wanna go first?”

Aly nodded and walked inside of the building with Zoe close behind her. The two teens kept close to the walls, trying to stay out of sight of any cameras that might be hidden in the hallways. Both of them were instantly aware of how eerily silent the building was.

“Elita did take us to the right place right?” Zoe asked looking around.

“She and Optimus adopted Bumblebee; they want him back as much as I do. She wouldn’t have taken us to the wrong place.”

“Then why is it so quiet?”

“I don’t know,” Aly said quietly. “Maybe they weren’t expecting anyone to come in the back. Or maybe they’re all busy doing something else…”

“Like what?”

“Please don’t make me answer that.”

“Alright, then I guess we keep searching.”

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Bumblebee stared at the ceiling as the humans around him continued to study various parts of his body. At least now it was only studying. Earlier they had started to pick apart his leg, but fortunately had stopped before they reached any of his energon lines. It had hurt, but he had forced himself to not make any sounds. He had hopes that if the Sector Seven men didn’t think that he was alive, they might just let him go. So far, he had had no luck. Though one thing was for sure, he greatly disliked Simmons. If he hadn’t been trying to keep his cover, he would have laughed when he heard Simmons complaining about Aly punching him in the nose. One thing was for sure; his little sister could take care of herself when it came to people like Simmons.

“Begin electric shock testing,” one of the Sector Seven scientists said. “See if it will give any reactions.”

The Autobot scout hadn’t been prepared for the feeling of electricity surging through his body. And he couldn’t help but struggle to try to get away, letting out a pained moan. All of the humans jumped back in surprise, before aiming their weapons at him as an attempt at keeping him still. Bumblebee was trying to ignore them when his scanners picked up two life forms standing in the dark hallway that was behind him. He leaned his head backwards a tad to get a look at who was there and felt his spark clench when he saw that one of them was Aly. Her seeing him being harmed wasn’t something that he never wanted. The Sector Seven men had clearly not seen her yet, but Bumblebee could detect a hint of anger in her eyes, and he was suspecting that she was going to end up doing something dangerous. He watched as she turned to the person behind her, who he could now tell was Zoe. It was only a second later that Zoe ran off and Aly remained in the hallway by herself. Bumblebee turned his focus away from her – there was no way he was going to let any of the Sector Seven agents and scientists know that she was there. Several minutes later there was a loud crash, and many of the agents left the room to go investigate.

“’Bee?”

Bumblebee turned his head to where he was facing the human teen that was climbing up on the examination table where he was being held captive. The moment she was up, she wrapped her arms around his arm, giving him a small hug – allowing Bumblebee to see just how worried she had been about him.

“Aly, you shouldn’t be here. They’ll catch you.”

“And they’ll hurt you. I saw what they were doing ‘Bee. I’m not going to leave you here.”

“Aly-“

“No!” she quietly hissed. “They are hurting you and I’m not just going to sit here and let them do that!”

“I figured you’d say that,” he sighed.

“How do I get you out?” she asked looking at the bonds that were keeping Bumblebee attached to the large table.

“I was knocked out when they brought me here Aly, so I don’t really know.”

“Well I’ll figure it out,” she replied, pulling on the bonds.

“They’re going to come back Aly.”

“Zoe’s keeping them busy.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that Miss Rose.”

Aly and Bumblebee quickly turned their heads towards the direction of the new voice to see Simmons walking in, with another Sector Seven agent dragging Zoe into the room behind him. The seventeen year old looked apologetically at the two.

“Sorry Aly, I did my best.”

“You tried Zoe, that’s what counts,” Aly said quietly.

“Now will you come down here and join us, or do I need to have someone help you?”

“Stay away from her,” Bumblebee warned, glaring at Simmons.

“Oh so you can talk. That’s good to know, you’ve just saved us from having to waste time having to discover that another way. Now we can get straight to finding out what makes you tick.”

Aly hopped up and jumped off of the table and marched over to Simmons – anger clearly radiating off of her.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let Bumblebee go Simmons,” Aly said jabbing a finger in his face. “Because I can think of a place that would hurt a lot more than your nose if you try to hurt him again.”

“Aly…” Bumblebee said, trying to get her to stop before she got herself into trouble.

“I don’t think so,” Simmons replied. “For all we know, the robot is a threat to national security. It won’t be going anywhere until we know exactly how it works and how we can take it apart.”

Before Aly could even say anything in response the room shook, knocking most of the humans to the ground. Bumblebee’s scanners suddenly picked up a Decepticon signal coming from somewhere inside the building – most likely the cause of the shaking. This couldn’t be happening. There couldn’t be a Decepticon around while he was unable to do anything to protect the humans. At the very least maybe he would be able to convince Aly and Zoe to sneak out the way they had come in, though he was extremely doubtful that Aly would listen.

“Aly, Zoe,” he called. The redhead and blonde teens quickly got off the ground and hurried over to him. “There’s a Decepticon in here somewhere. You need to get out of here.”

“Zoe can go get Elita, she’s outside somewhere. I’m not leaving you,” Aly said determinedly.

“It’s too dangerous Aly.”

“I don’t care. I’m not going to go leave you by yourself.”

Arguing with her was going to go nowhere, “Fine, but if things start getting bad, promise me that you’ll leave.”

“I promise. Hurry and find Elita, Zoe.”

“I’m on it!”

Bumblebee and Aly watched as Zoe slipped off the table and headed down the back hallway that she and Aly came through to start with. Bumblebee glanced at Aly to see her anxiously glancing back and forth between Simmons, who was just now getting up, and towards the direction of where they could now hear footsteps coming from. He could detect a slight increase of her heart rate, making it clear to him that she was a little scared. He couldn’t blame her, after all the only Decepticon she had seen in person before was Starscream, which was part of the reason he had wanted her to leave.

“If you’re going to stay, would you mind at least hiding a little?” he asked her. “I don’t know which ‘Con is here and I don’t want to risk them trying to hurt you.”
For a moment Bumblebee thought that Aly was going to protest, but instead she climbed over to the other side of them, which wasn’t facing the direction of the footsteps and lay down close to him. Well at least now she’ll be a little out of sight. He focused his attention back on the approaching Decepticon. He watched as a pair of violet optics came into view, mere seconds before he got a good look at the Decepticon they belonged too.

The Decepticon was clearly a femme. She had midnight blue armor, trimmed with purple and black. She had a clear visor shielding her optics and a smug smirk on her face, which made Bumblebee feel uneasy. One thing was for sure, he had never seen this Decepticon before in his life, at least not that he remembered. The Sector Seven agents were all up and had their weapons aimed at her.

“Which one of you is Simmons?” she questioned, gazing over the humans. “I have a deal to make with you.”

 

Chapter 10​

Bumblebee warily looked at the Decepticon femme that had walked into the room. A Decepticon that wanted to make a deal with a human? Something about that seemed very off to the scout. The fact that the human was Simmons made his feeling of wariness even worse. Bumblebee did not trust the Sector Seven agents and it would not surprise him in the least if they agreed to whatever deal the femme proposed. And the fact that he was still restrained and he had Aly next to him, made him feel even more uneasy. How was he supposed to protect her if he couldn’t even move?

“What kind of deal NBE?”

“The kind of deal that benefits both of us,” Moonraider smirked. “You want more NBEs to study and I want some to go away. I think we could come to an arrangement that would make us both happy.”

“What makes you think that I want more NBEs to study?” Simmons asked.

“I’ve hacked into your systems. You have two that aren’t giving you any results because they’re either deactivated or in stasis lock, and now the Autobots’ pathetic youngling.”

“You hacked us?” Simmons had a look of disbelief on his face.

“Such primitive technology you have. A sparkling could hack into it.”

Moonraider glanced at the occupants of the room. Most of the humans appeared to be frightened by her, but a few, like Simmons, seemed intrigued. The Autobot scout had a wary and frustrated look about him. Clearly he wasn’t pleased with being restrained with her being in the room. He was of no concern to her though.

“What’s stopping us from just taking you now?” one of the agents spoke up.

Moonraider smirked, “Nothing. But if you did, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how you could get better, NBEs as you called it.”

“Better?” Simmons questioned.

“Our leaders would be far more impressive to you than I would be. It wouldn’t be too hard to get at least one of them. You have your bait right there,” she gestured towards Bumblebee.

“Optimus would never fall for a trap like that!” Bumblebee yelled.

Aly listened to everything that was going on and was finding it increasingly hard to remain quiet. She knew that she had told Bumblebee that she would remain out of sight so the Decepticon wouldn’t know she was there, but someone was going to have to convince Simmons not to listen to her. He probably wouldn’t listen or believe Bumblebee, and she had to admit that she was doubtful that he would listen to her either. After all she had punched him and threatened to hit him again, plus she wasn’t sure if her diplomatic skills were really the best. But she had to give it a try. She hopped off of the table and walked out to where she was in plain view –much to Bumblebee’s displeasure.

“Don’t listen to her Simmons,” she stated. “Decepticons aren’t exactly trustworthy.”

“And you are?” Moonraider sneered at the teen. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the scout’s little pet found her way here.”

“Pet?” Aly’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m no pet!”

“Really? You could have fooled me.”

Aly grit her teeth together. This Decepticon was worse than Ironhide! She was going to have to keep her temper in check this time though. Unlike with Ironhide, there really wasn’t anyone to stop the ‘Con from trying to hurt her. Instead of focusing on the femme, Aly decided to turn her attention back to Simmons.

“Come on Simmons, Decept-i-con,” she sounded out. “Deception is in their name! You can’t trust her; she’ll just end up stabbing you in the back after she gets whatever she wants. I mean it sounds like she wants to betray her own side, not exactly a team player.”

“Oh so true girl,” a new voice cut in.

Aly and Moonraider both froze as the unexpected newcomer walked into the room. Almost instantly the two of them and Bumblebee recognized the form of Starscream. While neither Aly nor Bumblebee was happy to see the Decepticon second-in-command, Moonraider was visibly angry. All of her work and planning… and now Starscream had arrived to ruin it! How had he found out where she was!?

“What are you doing here,” she snarled at the Seeker.

“Simple, I am finding a traitor to the Decepticon cause.”

“Oh you’re one to talk about treachery Starscream. How many times have you unsuccessfully tried to kill Megatron?” Moonraider questioned. “Of course I shouldn’t be surprised that you couldn’t kill him. You couldn’t even kill a pathetic human.”

“Watch your words Moonraider,” Starscream growled. “I may still let you live.”

“Oh really, what’s your catch? I have to pledge loyalty to you? Ha! You think that you would be a better leader than Megatron, but in reality, you’re just the same.”

“Why you…”

“Don’t deny it. But I suppose you can’t help it, you didn’t have to rise up through the ranks of the Decepticon army. Everyone in the lower ranks heard the story at some point or another how a trine of Seekers were granted into Megatron’s inner circle, simply because one intrigued Megatron enough to select him as his protégé. He made you what you are and all of his ideals are hardwired into your programming. You’re just like him.”

Within a millisecond, Starscream’s fist collided with Moonraider’s face, shattering part of the clear visor that shielded her optics. The femme stumbled back, but quickly regained her ground and went into a fighting stance. Aly warily made her way back over to Bumblebee while Simmons and his men backed away from the two Decepticons. Apparently they were at least wise enough to know to not stand close when a fight was about to break out.

“You should watch who you’re insulting Moonraider,” Starscream stated as he slashed at her again. “I was going to be merciful to you, but not anymore!”

Moonraider let out a hiss of pain when Starscream struck her. He was a better fighter than she had anticipated. While she had managed to get in a few hits, none of them were critical enough to get Starscream to back down even slightly. But she wasn’t about to give up just yet.

“What’s taking Zoe and Elita so long?” Aly asked Bumblebee as they watched the brawling Decepticons. She had attempted once again to remove the restraints that were keeping her guardian hostage, but they just wouldn’t budge.

“I don’t know,” Bumblebee shook his head. “But you’re getting out of here before this fight finishes.”

“No, ‘Bee I’m-”

“Not leaving me. I know, but Aly you have to,” the scout sighed. “And you promised that you would if things get bad.”

“Things aren’t that bad yet…”

“Yet being the key word,” he pointed out. “No matter which one of them wins, things aren’t going to be great for us. And I can’t protect you right now.”

“All the more reason for me to stay,” Aly replied. “If you can’t protect me, then I’m going to protect you.”

 

another few great chapters : )

 

ARCTrooperAlpha - Thank you!  
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Chapter 11​

If it hadn’t of been for the fact that she was the reason Bumblebee had been captured by Sector Seven, Aly was pretty sure that she would have been feeling bad for Moonraider right about now. The femme was taking a pretty bad beating from Starscream after all and the teen was pretty doubtful that she was going to able to beat him now. She couldn’t help but wince when Starscream bent one of her door wings back. Bumblebee had told her that door wings were slightly sensitive appendages and that when they were damaged, it hurt a lot. Bumblebee kept giving her a pleading look. Aly knew that he wanted her to leave now, but she just couldn’t. Sure he was her guardian and it was his job to protect her, but he was also her brother, so shouldn’t she protect him? She thought that she should, but it was clear that Bumblebee had another opinion entirely. Though she could understand where he was coming from. After all it was no longer humans that she was protecting him from, it was giant alien robots. Giant alien robots that could step on her and squish her like an ant. Aly tried not to think too much about that as she watched the two fighting Decepticons.

“Starscream enough.”

Both of the Decepticons paused in their fighting – well Starscream paused, Moonraider collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Bumblebee tensed and a look of fear showed itself on his face as the newcomer walked in. The hulking form of the Decepticon leader caused the room to slightly shake as he walked closer to his second in command.

Megatron can’t be here! Not while Aly’s here! Bumblebee thought with panic. At least the Decepticon leader hadn’t seemed to notice them yet, but as soon as he was done with Starscream and Moonraider, Bumblebee was worried that they would catch his attention.

“’Bee?” the human whispered. “Who’s that?”

“Megatron…” Bumblebee hesitantly answered, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

Aly’s light blue eyes widened at Bumblebee’s words. This was Megatron? This was the Decepticon leader that the Autobots had told her about? He was so much bigger than she had expected. He had to be the same size as Optimus, if not a tad bit bigger. The major difference though, was while Optimus’ form could be intimidating at first; you soon would realize that he wouldn’t harm you. Megaton on the other hand was terrifying. There were many sharp points on his armor and there was a huge cannon on one of his arms. It was clear that he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt anyone who got in his way.

Now she was hoping that Elita had called the other Autobots too. If she hadn’t, they were going to be in a lot of trouble.

Megatron glanced at his second in command without much thought. He was impressed at the Seeker’s work, but he would not say anything to Starscream about that. He turned his entire focus to the femme on the ground. Moonraider shrank under his furious gaze, her damaged form trembling. Energon was oozing out of her wounds and if it was not patched up, there was a high chance of her going into stasis. Megatron charged up his fusion cannon and aimed it at Moonraider.

“You are no longer any use to me Moonraider. I will not tolerate traitors in my army.”

“A-and yet you l-let the biggest traitor stand by your side,” Moonraider weakly chuckled.

Megatron let out a growl and fired his cannon, efficiently knocking the femme out. She wasn’t dead… yet, but without any medical attention soon, she wouldn’t be causing him trouble anymore. Megatron turned his head and noticed the Autobot’s scout strapped to the human’s examination table.

“Well if it isn’t my brother’s precious scout,” Megatron sneered as he strode over to Bumblebee, before glancing at Aly. “And you’ve brought a little pet too.”

Unlike when Moonraider had called her a pet, Aly remained silent. She was annoyed by the comment, but her fear was currently overruling her urge to fuss about it. Considering who her insulter was it was probably a good thing. She looked away from Megatron, and focused on her guardian next to her instead. Bumblebee was trembling. She had never seen him this scared before; though that could be because of the short time she had known him.

“I see you remember our last encounter,” the Decepticon leader tapped a claw on Bumblebee’s throat, causing the youngling’s trembling to increase.

“Still threatening younglings I see.”

The sound of Elita’s voice was a huge relief for both Aly and Bumblebee. Help had finally arrived.

“Elita, I’m surprised to see that Optimus is not with you. After all, my brother doesn’t normally let his sparkmate confront me alone.”

“Sometimes we have no choice in the matter. Now step away from Bumblebee and Aly.”

Elita had her right arm transformed into a blaster, and had it aimed at Megatron. It was clear that she was going to protect the scout and human. If Megatron or Starscream attempted to harm either one of them, they were going to have to deal with her.

“I will never understand why you Autobots are so interested in protecting a pathetic human,” Starscream scoffed, receiving a glare from Aly.

“Alyson is under Autobot protection. If you harm her, or any other human for that matter, you deal with all of us.”

: Lord Megatron if I may, this is an opportunity that we cannot pass up. One of Prime’s most trusted soldiers, his sparkmate, and their human ally… any one of those could give us an advantage over the Autobots if we captured them. : Starscream sent through the comm.

: For once I agree with you Starscream. But I will not take merely one. Grab the human; she will give us the leverage we need. :

Starscream looked at the human female. She didn’t appear to be paying much attention to himself or to Megatron for that matter. More than likely she was terrified at the current predicament and was trying to keep herself from going into shock.

‘It’s only about to get worse for you girl,’ Starscream smirked to himself.

While Elita and Bumblebee weren’t paying much attention to him or the human, Starscream slipped over and snatched her up – making sure to place one talon over her mouth to where she wouldn’t be able to speak. After all there was no point in alerting the two Autobots to what he and Megatron were planning before it was necessary. Aly immediately struggled in his grip, but Starscream wasn’t going to let go and he made sure to tighten his hold on her slightly to make her stop her muffled screams.

“You have left me with too good of an opportunity here Elita. My brother’s sparkmate and his scout would make excellent prisoners for me.”

“Optimus is on his way Megatron-” Elita started to say, but Megatron cut her off.

“Well it appears I don’t have much time to waste. One of you will come with me as a prisoner and we will be gone before Optimus arrives.”

“And if we refuse?”

“Then you won’t have a human to worry about anymore.”

Elita’s and Bumblebee’s optics widened when they saw that Starscream had Aly. Bumblebee quickly started to struggle to get out of the bonds that were keeping him from helping his friend. In a split second his helpless optics met her terrified eyes, and Bumblebee knew that if he wanted to make sure that she was going to be safe, he was going to have to let Megatron capture him again… But right before he could say anything, Elita spoke.

“I’ll go.”

Bumblebee looked at Elita in surprise right before the femme sent him a message over the comm.

: I am not letting Megatron have you as a captive again Bumblebee. When we got you back last time, you were near death. I don’t want to see that again. :

: But he has Aly… :

: And I will keep her safe. Do you believe that she would be better off if she had to see you tortured? Don’t make this more traumatizing for her. And Optimus will be able to find me, and by extension Aly, through our bond. It would be more difficult with you. :

Bumblebee gave Elita a look of defeat, before looking back at Aly with sadness. He couldn’t believe that the Decepticons were about to take her away. Now he felt like he had failed as her guardian. He was supposed to keep her away from the Decepticons, and he hadn’t been able to do that. Optimus would probably take him off of guardian duty once they were able to get her and Elita back.

“I’m going Megatron,” Elita restated. “You’re not harming that youngling again.”

“I find it interesting that you would risk your life for one youngling Elita,” Megatron chuckled as he roughly grabbed her arm. “Have fun scout.”

Megatron bawled his free hand into a fist and slammed it down on Bumblebee’s head – knocking him out before ordering Starscream to leave.
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Elita looked at the shivering human that was sitting next to her in the brig of the Nemesis. The teen hadn’t said a word since they had arrived and it was clear that Aly was terrified at the current situation. Of course she wasn’t the only one. Elita could feel all of Optimus’ worry for the two of them clearly over their bond.

(Are you both still alright?)

(No one has come near us since we’ve arrived Optimus. Aly is still terrified though. Has Megatron contacted you about any of this?)

(No. Elita I have no idea what my brother is planning to do with you and Alyson. Ratchet is trying to finish the GroundBridge that he has been working on to transport us onto the Nemesis. I just hope that we will get to you both soon.)

(So do I. Tell Bumblebee that I am keeping her safe.)

“Aly,” Elita tried to get a response out of the girl.

“I’m sorry,” Aly quietly whispered.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I should have paid better attention to what was going on so I could have avoided Starscream grabbing me or I should have listened to ‘Bee and left like he wanted me too. Then they wouldn’t have used me to get you as a prisoner.”

“You really like to blame yourself for things, don’t you?”

“No, I just feel like it is my fault.”

“It isn’t. You were in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Perhaps you should have listened, but you decided to stay with Bumblebee instead. That was a very brave and loyal thing to do.”

“You think so?” Aly looked up at Elita.

“I do,” the femme nodded. “And right now, bravery is a good thing to have.”

“Yeah, but unfortunately right now I’m running low on bravery.”

 

Chapter 12​

By the time the Decepticons finally came back into the brig, Aly’s fear had worn down. Sure she was still a little frightened by the situation that she and Elita were currently in, but she was also annoyed and tired of sitting in a dark, uncomfortable cell. And to make it worse, it also smelled terrible in there. So when Starscream and some other Decepticon she had never seen before walked in front of the cell, she was no longer cowering in fear, but instead glaring at the two of them. She wasn’t quite sure if her lowered fear was a good thing or a bad thing. As much as she hated to admit it, her fear had probably been keeping her from saying or doing something stupid.

“Ooh look it has a collar!” a crazed laugh brought Aly’s attention back to the Decepticons. Okay she could have sworn that the Decepticon’s face had looked different when she had first seen him.

“Silence Blitzwing,” Starscream growled and Aly watched as Blitzwing’s face spun around to its original appearance. “We have a job to do.”

“What is it that you want Starscream?” Elita stood up, glancing down to notice Aly removing her necklace and putting it in her pocket. She felt bad for the girl, it was clear that she was sick of being referred to as a pet.

“The girl,” the Seeker gestured to Aly, “will be coming with me. Blitzwing will be escorting you to Megatron. Our master has so much in store for you.”

Starscream was about to grab Aly when Elita blocked her from his view. The femme’s optics were narrowed as she spoke, “What do you intend to do with her?”

“That’s hardly your concern anymore,” Starscream smirked as he shoved Elita aside and into Blitzwing. “You really should be more worried about yourself Elita.”

Starscream waited for Blitzwing to leave with Elita before walking out of the cell with Aly in his grip.

“So what are you going to do to me?”

“Experiments,” he smirked. “After all it would be best for us to know what makes a human tick if we’re going to rule this planet one day. Maybe if you survive we’ll keep you around.”

Aly felt her stomach turn at Starscream’s words. Experiments? She really did not like the sound of that. Images of needles being stuck into her or her being electrocuted like Sector Seven had done with Bumblebee popped into her mind.

Optimus, ‘Bee, please hurry…
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Optimus kept his optics closed as he focused on communicating with his sparkmate through their bond. As soon as Elita had told him that she was being taken to Megatron, he knew that he could not abandon her while he waited for Ratchet to finish building his GroundBridge which would be able to transport them onto the Nemesis. Elita had begged him not to focus so much on their bond, her reason why, the reason that Optimus could not abandon her – she was being tortured. Every infliction of pain that she received, he could feel. The Autobot leader knew that was why Elita was being tortured. Megatron was harming him through his sparkmate.

“Optimus?”

Optimus opened his optics to see Ratchet looking at him in concern. The pain he was feeling from Elita must have been showing on his face.

“What’s happened?” the medic asked.

“Elita is being tortured…. Have you finished the GroundBridge yet?”

“It’s almost complete; I just need to make a few tweaks. But I thought I should tell you that she’s awake.”

Looking over at Ratchet’s medical bay, Optimus could see the Decepticon femme struggling against the bonds that kept her strapped to the berth. When they had found Bumblebee and Aly’s friend Zoe at the location where Sector Seven had been keeping the youngling, they had found the femme on the ground near death. He had made the decision to bring her back to base for Ratchet to repair her in order to question her. Zoe had absolutely refused to come to the base when she saw them bringing the Decepticon, so Optimus had ordered Sideswipe to take her back to her house and to remain there for the time being. Her reaction combined with Bumblebee’s explanation of what had happened at Sector Seven had made Ratchet decide that he would only repair her life-threatening injuries for the time being. Optimus could understand why Ratchet had made that decision, especially considering the venomous glare that he was currently receiving from the femme.

“Release me at once!” she snarled.

“That’s not happening ‘Con,” Jazz shook his head. “At least not until you answer some questions from us.”

“And what kind of questions would that be?” her optics narrowed.

“Who are you?”

A chuckle filled the air, “What none of the vermin you keep can tell you that?”

“Oh we got your name,” Ironhide spoke up. “No one can seem to tell us anything else, other than the fact that you caused ‘Bee to get captured and were trying to convince humans to capture the rest of us.”

Optimus motioned for Jazz to come over to him.

“Were you able to find anything about her in the databases?”

“No, it’s like she doesn’t even exist in our records. And I don’t think that she was able to avoid running into any Autobot on Cybertron. Someone deleted her files. It’s the only way I can think of for her nonexistence to be possible.”

Before Optimus could say anything else, Ratchet walked over to them.

“It’s ready.”
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How Bumblebee was able to handle guardian duty, Sideswipe had no idea. It was so boring! And to make matters worse he was being left out of a fight! He was a great fighter; he should be out there busting up some ‘Cons, not babysitting. Of course maybe watching a human wouldn’t be so bad, if she wasn’t completely ignoring him for the past hour. He was having to keep himself occupied by coming up with new pranks – not that that was necessarily a bad thing, after all he loved pulling pranks. Well he used to anyways… pulling pranks weren’t nearly as fun without Sunstreaker.

“Hey how am I supposed to explain you?”

Sideswipe probably would have jumped when he heard Zoe talk if he hadn’t of been in his alt-mode. He felt ashamed that he hadn’t even noticed that she had come back out of her house. Of course now he could tell that she clearly did not want to be around him. Oh well, he was sure he would be able to get her to warm up to him somehow.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure my mom is going to question why there’s a Corvette outside our house.”

“Only your mom? What your dad’s not going to care?”

“My dad is in some small town in Nevada, he’s not going to know about you at all.”

“Why is he in Nevada?”

“Because my parents are divorced. What your planet doesn’t have divorces?”

“Nope,” Sideswipe said, activating his holoform so Zoe could actually see his confusion about what she was talking about. “What are they?”

“Can’t you just look it up,” Zoe asked as she sat down on Sideswipe’s hood next to his holoform.

“I could, but I don’t want to. So why don’t you just tell me.”

“A divorce is basically when two people who are married decided that they don’t want to be together anymore. They don’t love each other anymore; things just weren’t working out… that kind of stuff.”

“Ah, things aren’t really like that with Cybertronians. Spark bonds would make a divorce kind of difficult.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well spark bonds connect us. Sparkmates and families can feel each other’s pain and emotions. We have a piece of each other in our sparks. I mean some bonds aren’t as strong as others. Optimus and Megatron are brothers, and Megs would love to kill him. But sparkmates and twins have the strongest bonds out there.”

Zoe was quiet for a few minutes after Sideswipe had finished talking, mulling over what she had just learned. From the sounds of things, the robo – the Cybertronians were a lot closer, at least where family was concerned for the most part, to each other than humans were. She had gotten over her parent’s divorce, but there would always be a part of her that would wish that it had never happened.

“That sounds really nice,” she said softly.

“It has its down sides,” Sideswipe muttered in reply.

Zoe waited for him to elaborate.

“Twin bonds are really strong,” he hesitated. “If one twin dies, so does the other. They literally share a spark. Long periods of separation can strain the bond, and if it gets too strained, it can kill them.”

“Yikes, sounds like you know some twins,” Zoe twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

“I am one.”

“Oh… where is your twin at?”

“I wish I knew…”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“It’s not like you knew,” Sideswipe’s holoform shrugged. “Hey why is part of your hair blue?”

“I don’t know; I wanted it to be blue. I like to think that it makes me unique. Hey is it possible that your twin could have already arrived on Earth?”

“I would know if Sunstreaker were here. He would have come directly to Optimus or at least have contacted him and the others.”

“Moonraider said that Sector Seven had two other Cybertronians, well she said NBEs, but I’m assuming that they’re Cybertronian. Anyway, she said that they weren’t getting anything out of them because they were either deactivated or in stasis lock, whatever that is, so I just sort of thought that maybe Sunstreaker could be one of those.”

Sideswipe was speechless for a moment, but he eventually was able to find his voice.

“You mean to tell me, that Sunny could be here… on Earth… locked up in some government lab… in stasis lock while our bond continues to be strained.”

“Umm, maybe?”

“I’m not sure that’s possible, but I guess I could ask Ratchet about it… Have you ever pulled a prank before?”

Noticing that this was the second time that Sideswipe had tried to change the subject, she got the hint that he didn’t want to talk about his missing twin anymore. She would drop it for now. After all, she was sure that it would come again some other time.

“I’ve pulled one once or twice. I’ve never been that good with pranks.”

“Well I, being the master of pranking, am going to have to fix that.”

: Sideswipe, come in. :

: What is it Ratch? :

: The Decepticon escaped. I’m sending you GroundBridge coordinates that she used. I need you to try to track her down. :

: Can’t you do it? :

: I need to operate the GroundBridge for Optimus and the others once they have found Elita and Aly. You are the only one at the moment, who is capable of going to recapture her. :

“Looks like the teaching of pranks will have to wait. The ‘Con got away, so I have to go find her.”

“What!? How?”

“She’s either that good, Ratchet made a mistake, or both. I wouldn’t worry about her though, she went nowhere near here and she’s probably too damaged to get anywhere close to you. You’ll be safe here.”

“Well that’s good to know.”

“I’ll be back later. And if your mom ends up asking why a Corvette pulls up, just tell her that I’m new in town and you’re showing me around.”