"Where do you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
I'm not lookin' for somebody with some superhuman gifts,"

»«

"-now stoplights will get you sometimes," Dana spoke as she spun Chromia's wheel, turning the corner and slowly speeding up as they cruised down the short street, an entire course set up just for the two new ground vehicles. "Green means go, yellow means slow down, and red means stop. Sometimes, you can't slow down in time when it turns yellow; don't worry, just breeze through. Now, if you try to go before it turns red, and it turns red by the time you are passing through the intersection, you might get in trouble."

"So I'll have to time it right." Chromia noted, earning a nod from her human instructor.

"Correct." Dana came upon the intersection, letting the Autobot try to brake for herself. The light turned yellow while they were still a good distance away from the intersection, and the blue Elentra Coupe carefully braked and stopped right before the white line.

"Why do we have to stop?" She asked.

"Normally, other vehicles are waiting their turn, so when we stop, they can go," Dana explained. "Obviously, we're practicing right now, so there is no one here waiting to go. But, even in an empty section, you are required by law to remain stopped until the light turns green."

"Ah, I see." Chromia settled, waiting patiently for the light to change. "Are there many stoplights?"

"Yes, almost at every intersection," Dana noted, "except those that are in the middle of nowhere; and even those are lucky if they get a stop sign."

"Why do intersections not just have stop signs?" Chromia questioned.

"Well . . ." The young woman stopped for a moment as she tried to explain, "it would help prevent accidents. Some people will just blow through a stop sign with disregard to everyone else. And it's less confusing - if two people stop at the same time, and they are not aware that the one on the right goes first, it could cause problems. Not to mention it probably saves time."

"Do cities get very busy?"

"Extremely. Morning traffic and mid-afternoon are the worst times. Occasionally a fifteen-minute drive could end up taking an hour."

"Surely there is a more efficient way of doing things."

"Probably." Dana shrugged. "I just don't have an idea."

They carefully went around the course another time, and once Chromia decided she was comfortable, she let Dana out at the "start" of the course, the woman standing next to Agent Fowler as they had Chromia go through the course on her own, three times.

"She's doing really well," Dana complimented as the femme stopped for "pedestrians."

"Better than Arcee her first few times," Fowler could not help but chuckle a little, seeming to be rather fond of the memory, "or Cliffjumper, for that matter. They were some of the angriest drivers I had ever seen. Ratchet wasn't much better; actually, he was worse. Good thing he stays in the base most of the time."

Dana laughed. "He's not that bad," she grinned, "at least not when I'm in the front seat."

"That's because he likes you," Agent Fowler waved a hand. "He doesn't like anyone else."

The intern flushed a little at the statement, trying to hide it by changing the subject a little bit.

"I bet Megatron will be a real doozy."

"You let me handle the big rig," Agent Fowler put a hand on her shoulder. "Ratchet doesn't want you anywhere near him anyways."

"And neither do you." She guessed.

"Yeah," he clenched his jaw a little, "let's just say that I'm not terribly fond of Megatron after what he did to you - and the other kids."

"I don't think anyone is," she sighed, "but you have to remember . . . he helped me. It probably wasn't the best way to go about it . . . but his spark was in the right place. And think about it; the whole universe, and he returns here to Earth. I don't think he will hurt anyone like me ever again."

Agent Fowler nodded, lips set in a thin line. "I know what you mean; but let me handle him first. If I think he's competent and . . . gentle enough, I may consider clearing you for driving duty. For right now, stick to Chromia, alright? She seems to have a speeding problem." He noted as they watched the femme zip through a thirty mile per hour zone going sixty-five.

"Most of us do," Dana laughed, watching her go. "You excited to begin training with Megatron?"

"Hardly," the Agent huffed, waving Chromia down in order to reprimand her. "His gladiatorial background may give us the edge we need, but like I said . . . He isn't the gentle type."

"I guess we'll just have to see," Dana shrugged. "I bet Soundwave could teach us a few things too."

"I dunno. He gives me the heebie-jeebies," Agent Fowler gave an exaggerated shudder.

Dana laughed. "He just likes to be quiet. It could have been worse; Megatron could have requested Starscream."

"Don't get me started on that flying Dorito," Agent Fowler scoffed, "we don't have the best history."

"Fair enough," the young woman smiled as Chromia pulled up, Agent Fowler leaning on her open window to give her steering wheel a talking-to. Dana just hung back, watching.

She was excited to begin sparring with Megatron. They never had the chance to truly go toe-to-toe with one another, and a familiar surge of adrenaline began to flow through her veins. An old urge started to rise up within her, the urge to prove to him just how tough she truly was.

He clearly still had something akin to an obsession for her. And though he had extinguished her fire long ago, a spark was beginning to flicker back. Once again, the feeling was becoming mutual.

She wanted to show her fearlessness again.

»«

Soundwave worked quietly at the computers, sensing Ratchet's scrutinizing gaze with only a little annoyance. The medic was being careful, but he was bordering on paranoia - and that most certainly was not healthy for his processor. The silent communications officer had loyalty to Megatron, and by extension Ratchet and Chromia. He knew for a fact that the two of them combined were more trustworthy than Starscream, thus he had little worry of their intentions for his master.

Decepticons by nature were deceitful, so it came as no surprise that Ratchet was wary. Chromia still harbored aggression for Megatron, due to the assumption he had been the one to murder Elita One, but the tension was minimal and held at bay by Ratchet and his human companion. They were truly an odd group of allies, but Soundwave could adapt.

There had been no other signs of Lockdown, but there had been reports of remains of what looked like a highly-advanced spacecraft somewhere in the Kansas plain. After Chromia finished her driving test, Ratchet was going to send her out for reconnaissance. This was mostly due to the fact that the medic was still recovering from his previous injuries, and he did not trust Megatron - not with the target on his back.

Dana was eager to accompany her, though Ratchet was reluctant. But the young woman promised to keep her phone on at all times, and call for immediate back-up if Lockdown appeared on the horizon. Meanwhile, Agent Fowler would teach Megatron the rules of the road; Soundwave thought that would go splendidly.

The silent communications officer had thus far refused any vehicle mode presented, always counter arguing with the fact that his flying model was a Predator drone; a human creation. Surely that would suffice as a mode of transport should it be required. Apparently, the government was even more terrified by the fact that a Decepticon had managed to find a drone alternative mode, especially that of military make. But he remained steadfast, and in doing so he noticed a sizeable increase in Agent Fowler's blood pressure.

Not long after Dana and Chromia returned to base, the young woman leaning out of the femme's driver's window to wave, smiling at Megatron.

"Agent Fowler is ready for you," she said, pointing to the door, "you can meet him on the fake track outside."

The warlord nodded, pausing for a moment before he slowly made his way to the door, transforming and driving out. Though the vehicle mode seemed cramped, he felt some relief in being able to go outside. And, to his surprise, it felt nice to feel the pavement grip his wheels. He supposed this was a feeling akin to what Knock Out enjoyed when he would drive - and race.

"Are you ready to go?" Ratchet asked Chromia.

"Agent Fowler said I passed with flying colors," she confirmed, slowly making her way to the Groundbridge. "Though I might have been going a bit fast at the end."

The medic rolled his optics a little. "Are you cleared for duty?" He rephrased the question.

"Yes," Chromia confirmed. "It won't take long to identify whether or not this ship is of Cybertronian origin."

"And I can take pictures if we need better confirmation it's Lockdown's." Dana offered. "But, it would require I hang up for a few moments."

Ratchet sighed. "Only in case of emergency." He instructed, powering up the Groundbridge. "Don't try to look for anything salvageable. Just confirm, and come back."

"Roger that." Chromia confirmed, driving through with Dana. The femme arrived on the other side without a hitch, the medic having put them about a mile from the crash site, just to avoid any civilian contact. "Alright, let's roll." The Elantra kicked up some dust as she sped up a little, getting on the country road and heading that way.

Dana dialed Ratchet's number, the medic picking up almost immediately.

"I can hear you loud and clear." He confirmed when she spoke.

When they arrived to the smoking remains, there was not much left. Chromia slowed to let Dana out, transforming once she confirmed there were no other humans. The femme approached the scorching remains, which were roped off with caution tape and waiting for the government to clean up.

"This is Cybertronian alright." Dana pointed to a tank that had begun leaking energon. "There's energon here." She described to Ratchet.

Chromia knelt down, picking up a piece of metal and scraping away the ashes. "Head. If I had to guess, this is Death's Head, Lockdown's ship." She stood up, looking around. "My question is, how did it crash? He's an extremely skilled pilot, from what I have seen. Perhaps he was shot out of the sky?"

Dana thought for a moment. "Maybe . . . but if he was cloaked, then that would be impossible. Not even you guys have a way of detecting cloaked ships." She frowned. "But . . . there could be one group of humans who could do that."

The femme looked down at her. "Who?"

"M.E.C.H. They have some pretty intimate knowledge of your guy's technology. They could probably reverse-engineer something to detect cloaked Cybertronian signals."

"I find that to be highly unlikely," Ratchet posited. "Otherwise they would have found our base."

"Fair enough," Chromia scanned the area once more. "Well, my question is: where is Lockdown?"

Dana looked around as well, frowning. "Do you think he perished with his ship?"

"I can look." Chromia made her way through the wreckage, one of her servos transforming into a gun for protection, just in case. Or to even finish the job if that was necessary. A thorough search provided nothing, however.

"So it seems he has disappeared with his hounds. But how? The latter cannot sport vehicular modes."

His human counterpart looked around, biting her lower lip. "I see nothing. No sign of them just walking off somewhere."

"This is concerning." Chromia made her way around, finding an area where the grass was beaten down, but not in any discernible trail. "I've found a place where they might have been, but no trail."

"Come back to base," Ratchet instructed. "I'm not liking this."

Chromia immediately transformed, Dana sliding into her passenger seat and hanging up the phone as they drove through the Groundbridge. Lockdown had certainly been here, but there was no other sign of him. A bad feeling settled in the pit of Dana's stomach.

Where did he go? What happened here?

»«

Guess who's back.

I've reached a point where I'm ready to continue this work, if only for another brief period. But, I feel like stepping away actually helped a lot more than I thought it would.

I'm sorry if this erratic, almost indecisive-feeling back and forth makes you guys angry, or upset. Humans don't like uncertainty, and I'm putting a lot of that on the table right now so I apologize.

I've found a direction for this story, though I am a little wishy washy on one part. This book will follow its counterpart in regards to not showing obvious romance (well, super obvious anyways) between characters, but I am debating on a particular set of potential relationships and which one(s) I should strengthen.

I mean, if anyone has been following my "Burned and Healed Things" book you'd know I ship Dana and Ratchet (can authors even do that? Is that legal?), buuuuut logically that would never work out as wholly as I'd like to believe it would. And plenty of people ship Dana and Megatron too, which I totally see and I support as well.

Sorry, I'm getting super off topic. Anyways! I have found a direction I want to take this book for now, so you should be seeing updates again pertaining to that.

Again, I apologize for my erratic updates. College for the win, yo!

-Fanfic_Fanatic13