Nici led them all through the ground bridge and into the base. Bots, and teens, looked up, eyes widening.

Ratchet: "Optimus! JewelBlade!”

The medic exclaimed, looking just as he had thirteen years ago when they’d vanished. Though he may have gained a few new scratches in his paint.

???: "JASMINE!"

A familiar voice shouted, and a gold blur shot out of nowhere and hugged her tightly.

Nici: "Wha- Sunny! You're supposed to be resting!" Nici said.

Jasmine blinked, looking down at the small girl and her changed appearance. A small smile crossed her face as she picked Sunny up and kissed her cheeks.

Jasmine: "Did we wake you, Hon?"

Optimus gave a gentle smile at the appearance of the girl in his spark mate's arms. The small girl laughed.

Sunny: "Nah, I've been awake for awhile! Guess what?! Bombshell kidnapped me and this creepy guy called Shockwave turned me into a techno-organic! Watch!"

She squirmed free and leapt down. Gold plating shrank across her skin.

Sunny: "Taaadaaaa!"

She turned back with ease.

Sunny: "They've been teaching me all this neat stuff and told me all about you!!! You're so cool!! So is Orion!!!!"

Jasmine: "Aw, Darling . . . You're very sweet . . . You remind me of a couple someones, you know that . . . ? It's quite unusual . . . But I think you'll be quite all right this way . . . I'm glad you're adapting . . . and I'm glad you think Orion and I are 'cool' . . ."

She kissed the girl's forehead gently. She wasn’t lying. Sunny was like a mesh of her daughter and son. Sunny giggled, and Nici grinned. Sunny seemed to brighten her mood.

Sunny: "Ouch! Nici you gotta bruise on your cheek?"

Nici: "Huh? Oh don't worry Sunny."

She patted the small girl’s head.

Sunny: "Nici needs to tell you guys 'bout the satellite 'an the formula! She wants me to help s'plain."

She giggled, and dragged Jasmine along.

Sunny: "C'mon!!! It's really important!"

Jasmine sighed, nodding lightly. While Sunny being okay did comfort some of her, another part of her ached for Jade and Blaze more so when she was around the girl.

Jasmine: "I'm coming, Darling . . ."

Optimus rested a hand on her shoulder, knowing how awkward it was for her to be around a little girl. Sunny drug Jasmine over to a girl with pointed ears.

Sunny: "That's Nova! She doesn't speak a whole lot."

Nova looked up, nodded and went back to working on whatever held her attention on the laptop in front of her. Sunny sped over to Orion next and, throwing his hand over her shoulder dragged him over.

Sunny: "Nici'll s'plain what's going on!"

She said once again as the brunette walked over.

Nici: "Nova, can you-."

The woman stood up and left.

Nici: "Uh . . . thanks."

She cleared her throat before speaking to the group.

Nici: "We figured out most of Bombshell's plan."

She turned and typed something into the computer.

Nici: "She told us that the techno-organics, the Decepticons, what she did before was all a 'ruse', a smokescreen for her real plan. Well, we infiltrated the Decepticon's current headquarters -ICON Inc.- and found several heavily encrypted files. One of them had my dad's old project, Damocles' blueprints on it. Except they were . . . warped. The next file was a formula that Percy or I couldn't determine, but thanks to Sunny we figured it out."

Sunny: "It's the same thing they put in me!"

The little girl chipped in.

Nici: "And Red. It's the same formula that was injected into her as a sparkling. And she and Sunny were pretty lucky. This could only work once out of a hundred times!"

Sunny: "Ninety-five percent!"

Nici: "That's Ninety-nine percent Sunny."

She corrected, and Sunny shrugged.

Nici: "But anyways!"

Nici pulled up a third and separate file.

Nici: "This one was decoded about four hours ago. It's another set of blueprints, this time the formula has to be injected into the satellite and converted into an energy-like state. And there's also-."

Nici took a breath in and pointed out a running timer on the screen's top right corner.

Nici: "A time limit, when it's going to launch."

It read, 8:05:35 and was rapidly counting down. "But, we're still short on where, who Bombshell's planning to get and how."

Jasmine sighed, a hand to her forehead. Today just got better and better.

Jasmine: "Well isn't that just peachy? If we find her, we should just take her out and get it over with."

Orion vented gently, shaking his helm, pulling her close to him.

Orion: "I thought you had more restraint . . ."

Jasmine: "On a normal day, yes. Today, absolutely not."

Nici: "But there's something else. Jasmine, do you think you know what this is?"

She showed her on the black graph, a rip above the satellite.

Nici: "We can't seem to figure it out. Whatever it is, it's big and requires a LOT of energy. More than America itself could generate!"

Jasmine frowned, looking it over. She definitely didn’t like what it looked like. What it was.

Jasmine: "That's a Gate . . . One into the Unconscious Plane . . . A physical, visible Gate . . . Those aren't supposed to exist. It's got to be draining to keep it open. That means she's already setting things up. We need to strike immediately. If we have time to spare, it won't be for long."

Nici: "But the problem with this is we ran out of time. We didn't get anything but a few sketchy coordinates."

She pointed out the Cybertronian letters and numbers on the left side.

Nici: "And we don't know what she's going to do exactly with this."

Emery, meanwhile, had been listening in, then as if Primus himself had blessed her, she recalled something. 'The UP isn't 'up there' darling, it's everywhere.'

Emery: "HOLY SCRAP!"

Nici nearly jumped out her skin due to the sudden outburst.

Nici: "EM! You scared me!"

Emery: "Yeah well, this thing scares ME! I happened to have just figured out where the scrap that thing's gonna be pointing at!"

Nici: "Which is?"

Emery: "All of humanity. See, Bombshell would have to somehow distract and stop Angel so she could take over the UP, and what better way to do that then an elaborate scheme to take over every single techno-organic while she figures out a way in? And she would've gotten in easily if she faked her defeat!"

Nici's eyes widened. Emery was making a point.

Emery: "And another thing; she would have to have separated us or kill off those who would've been threats. AKA-."

Nici: "Red . . ."

Nici concluded.

Emery: "Yep. So, she'd have enough time to take over the UP, just enough that she could turn the Cons to TOs like us, and maintain control while she found out how to exact her doomsday device! But of course, she would need energy to extract-."

Nici: "Fresh sparks, like Jay's-."

Emery: "And keep it open until the formula launched and infected every single being alive!"

Emery finished off, more than a little proud of herself, and a bit cocky.

Emery: "Sherlock Holmes, eat your heart out!"

Jasmine sighed slowly, less than thrilled with the information. This was the last thing they needed, really. She was trying horribly to ignore the part about Jay’s spark being a potential weapon in all this.

Jasmine: "Just try and keep your ego in check, Em. That'll get you in trouble in battle. Calling out a nonexistent detective? Not exactly the most humble thing. I love ya anyway, but yeah. Let's stay on the cautious side. When do we go after BS?"

Nici: "The second we figure out where in the universe she's PLANTED this thi-."

The screen beeped at her, as though actually attempting to answer her question.

Nici: "Huh?"

She turned to it and quickly typed something in.

Nici: "Ratchet! There's a massive energy spike on Cybertron!"

Ratchet: "Energon explosion?"

Nici: "No, bigger!"

Ratchet checked himself on the bigger screen.

Ratchet: "By the AllSpark! Optimus, take a look at this!"

Nici moved aside and Jasmine nearly scoffed. They’d hardly been back two minutes and the medic was already falling into routine after thirteen years of absence.

Nici: "I think we found out where she's set up shop . . ."

On the screen was Cybertron's surface - and a massive satellite.

Jasmine: "Wonderful."

Jasmine mused, her voice devoid of any delight or humor.

Jasmine: "Are we going to beat around the metal bush or are we going to go kick some blonde ass? I'm sick of waiting around! If that horrid wench thinks she can get away being the way she is, then she has another thing coming."

Nici: "H-hold on! We need-."

Emery: "Come on Nici! We barely have any time left!"

Nici: "Don't you think we should at least strategize something or get a better view so we KNOW how to take down that thing?!"

Jasmine frowned, looking the satellite over from the view they had.

Jasmine: "The actual dish is the best bet. If we can separate it from the rest of the structure at the joint, she'll have nothing left. Cut off the head, and the rest falls apart . . ."

Nici: "Yes, but if we're talking Bombshell, there's got to be some kind of force field or something around it. See?"

She pointed out a device at the base of the satellite.

Nici: "I bet dollars to dimes- no, I'm positive that device is protecting it."

Jasmine huffed, crossing her arms, frustrated beyond belief.

Jasmine: "Has 'Team Siren' been doing nothing all these years? Are you really telling me you have no way to combat that thing?"

Nici: "No, we do . . . but, we'll be busy taking out the device and making sure Bombshell doesn't interfere, so we'll need more manpower to take out the satellite itself. And uh . . ."

She looked around at the sparsely-filled base, though it had obviously been built with plenty other bodies in mind.

Nici: "What you see, is basically what's left. The others are all out on energon missions and can't be reached. So it's up to us, actually. But, Jasmine, you and Meggy should have enough power put together to take out the satellite's dish in a snap, if we time it just right."

A frown crossed Jasmine's face as she contemplated it.

Jasmine: "I hope so . . . I haven't used the strings on anything inanimate before . . . It should work, but that's in theory . . . Fingers crossed . . . So are we going home or not?"

Nici grinned.

Nici: "Give us ten minutes, and we'll be ready. But . . . is it okay if we recruit a couple other members? I think Arcee and Soundwave might help."

The auburn-haired woman sighed.

Jasmine: "Make it snappy or I'm going to start breaking things. And that's a promise."

Optimus vented, placing his hands on her shoulders, but she ignored him completely. She nodded, and turned to Nova with a nod. She nodded back and stood, running off. Within ten minutes, her plus four other Predacons, two techno-organics, Meggy, Soundwave, Arcee and-.

Nici: "Ooooh no Sunny!"

Nici scolded with a shake of her head.

Nici: "You're staying here!"

Sunny: "But I can fight! They downloaded-."

Nici: "I don't care! You're not going all the way out there!"

Sunny pouted and Nici sighed.

Nici: "Okay everyone, this is it. It's us against Bombshell and whatever she has in store. I'm trusting and counting on you all to do your absolute best-."

She was interrupted by a beep. The timer had been shortened by seven and a half hours . . . Nici tried not to look terrified.

Nici: "As I was saying, ahem. Do you absolute best on this mission."

She sighed softly.

Nici: "I'm not much of a leader I know . . . but whatever happens, know that we did whatever we could and fought admirably. This is our final hour, tonight, we rise together!"

Jasmine huffed, crossing her arms, biting back her own bitter words, imagining they wouldn't go well with Nici's miniature speech. She knew her bitterness was her own private storm, but she was working to keep it in check. She wasn't sure how much that would work when she crossed paths with Bombshell, though.

Ratchet opened the groundbridge.

Ratchet: "I will be on standby. Good luck, and may Primus be with you all."

Nici smiled as she lead her team through the groundbridge. It was time. Jasmine smiled, a darkness fueled from her grief corrupting it.

Jasmine: "Primus wouldn't want to see what's in my processor . . ."

She murmured. She crossed through the ground bridge, body adapting to temporarily cancel oxygen intake.

Jasmine: "Nici, you taking your team, then?"

Her eyes flicked around the surface of Cybertron. She didn't trust this. Any of it.

Nici: "Yes-."

???: "So who am I with?"

Nici whirled around, eyes widening.

Nici: "SUNNY!"

Sunny: "What?!"

Nici: "I thought I told you-."

Sunny: "I wanted to come! 'An I did!"

Nici slammed her hand into her forehead.

Nici: "You're worse than Miko!"

Jasmine frowned. This would complicate things.

Jasmine: "She should stick with me and Optimus. He'll flank me and Meggy with Sunny but if anything happens he'll be right there. Who better to protect her than a Prime, even in a techno-organic state?"

Nici sighed and nodded.

Nici: "Best bet."

Katana's ears flickered.

Katana: "Nici."

She said softly.

Katana: "Do not move an inch."

She lifted a kunai and threw it a few feet ahead.

KABOOM. The ground exploded. Nici’s eyes widened.

Nici: "Oh great."

Jasmine:"Mother slagging fragger!"

Jasmine groaned. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

Jasmine: "BombShell, I swear to AllSpark . . ."

Her mouth turned down in a scowl.

Jasmine: "Any ideas or do we improvise?"

Katana:"Land mines, judging by the explosion."

Nici: "So one bad misstep and we're toast!"

Emery: "Yo, I can summon a storm and get us across."

Nici: "That won't work Em. We're not invincible to lightning like you are!"

Katana: "I can sense them. I shall lead the way."

Katana stepped forward and began to slip across. Nici sighed.

Nici: "Of course she did. Of course."

The young girl picked her way across, followed by the others. Jasmine sighed, shaking her head and picked up Sunny.

Jasmine: "Stay calm, Hon. We're going to wait until they get through and then we're going to take a shortcut, kay?"

Sunny: "I know I'm safe! But are you okay Jasmine? You're upset, I can tell."

Jasmine squeezed the girl gently.

Jasmine: "Today's just a lot to deal with, Hon . . . I'll be okay, just not today . . ."