Caelum Potter - The Chisel

1. D Death Station

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

Sirius once told her that it was an old Black Family tradition to name their children after stars.

So when one day she decided to raid the Family Library in search of the Line book, a family relic that kept track of all branches of the Black line in it. After leafing through it a few times it wasn't really surprising to find that in her own line there was a Black, considering Wizarding World, if things kept the way they were, soon everyone would be marrying their cousins.

But it wasn't for the purpose of studying Wizards coming and goings, and matters such as inbreeding was an area matched more along Hermione's research – What She really wanted by going through the Black Family's records, was to find something that connected her to Sirius, and if what she found was right, Her grandmother on her father' side – Obviously – was a Black by Birth and a Potter by Marriage.

Dorea Black.

Although she already suspected it was there, it still brought a smile to her face.

She and Ron were cousins through a lot of common ancestors, which unfortunately meant that she, Ron and Draco were also somewhat related along with Sirius, Tonks and their crazy cousin Bellatrix Black. And if you really squint, she, Crabbe and Bullstrode were also family…

The Black blood extended like spider webs through most Wizarding lines it seemed, at least she wasn't really family-less and it explained why the Weasleys so readily accepted her as their own, they shared a single great-great-grandfather named Cygnus Black.

All that considering the Black's line!

Imagine when she started on the Potter's line?

Though after hearing how Tom Riddle was also a descendant of the Peverell family, she was half afraid of finding that Voldemort could possibly be a cousin… granted a very far-removed one. Bellatrix was enough.

And to think it all started when Sirius told her why James and Lily named her Caelum!

After years with the Dursleys pounding in her head that she had a 'freak' name, she was always apprehensive when introducing herself to others, which made her come out as a rather timid child. When entering the Wizarding world and getting recognized as a celebrity right away, seeing how people praticaly worshiped sight of her name and then later meeting Hermione, that was also named after Greek mythology and even Draco – who although was a Malfoy, his mother was a pure-bred Black and would have no other name for her child.

And that brought her to the meaning of her name. Caeli, Caelum, Cae – the astronomical chisel… an original name in the Black Family since they adored recycling names left and right – an Original name, something she shared with Draco that used to leave a scowl on her face but not anymore.

Back to the Chisel: The Creators tool.

A chisel consisted of a blade often used in arts and crafts or woodworks… there are many uses one could give to such a tool, and throughout the last years of her life, that's what she acutely felt: A Tool.

A Big Cosmic Tool in the hand of both Dumbledore and his whole For the Greater Good spiel.

Oh… She loved Dumbledore, even after all the things he made her go through. She understood him and even thought along the same lines he did, though she did disagree with a lot of things the old Wizard did, he sincerely cared for her in some way.

So she was Caelum the chisel.

And her life and death is one huge complicated matter.

Starting with the day she was introduced to Magic by one lovable blundering giant and ending with the day she died by the rebounded spell that also finished Voldemort for the last time.

**XxxXxxX**

Sitting down on the odd bench that could be found at the ethereal train station she was finding herself now, Caelum contemplated her life so far.

Not long before she left this place only to return again. Only this time there was no deadened child balling itself under the bench in pain and there was no Dumbledore to impart words of wisdom.

She almost wished for one or the other to appear.

Though Voldemort's true death was a drawn out one and the last thing she wanted to right now was to confront the shriveled piece of his soul that inhabited her head for almost sixteen years. There was a limit for free-loaders, and Voldemort was one undesirable tenant.

What saddened her more was looking back at the tracks of life that came from the white mist, she could see the flashes of the life she left behind.

Ron and Hermione's marriage was one she expected for years, and to see it happening was satisfying. The fact that they named their first daughter Rose Caelum Weasley also brought tears to her eyes before she could contain them. Had she managed to survive, she would have been the little girl's godmother.

A flash of green dragged Draco's life. To her amusement, he married Daphne's little sister Astoria and they even reproduced. The Malfoy' spawn's name was Scorpious, Black family long standing traditions not mellowed down any by the Malfoy heir.

He obviously took great pride in his pristine bloodline, if only she had any way to show him the beginning of his line in England! (it mingled with the Black's at a few points) and present to him Carina, the simple peasant girl that was no witch, but was miraculously adopted by the Black's to be married off to the traitorous French family in the early 1400.

Or Madam Glassier, a french noble woman who eloped with Draco's great great grandfather and, funnily enough, introduced the light blonde platinum shade genes to their hair.

Another little light pivoted to her line of sight, bringing with it another story she was missing by being dead.

Ginny dated Neville until they broke off and he fell in love with shy Hannah Abbott.

Caelum always had a soft spot for Ginny and treated her like the little sister she never had – so it was with great pride mingled with sadness that she watched the youngest Weasley soar high in her Quidditch career and never finding love.

She was aware that Ginny held romantic thoughts about her, and though she loved Ginny as well, Cedric would always be on the edges of her mind when she thought of romance.

Cedric… The handsome Hufflepuff boy that was Voldemort's first victim…

Even after dying once, and then twice, she thought about him.

They could have been great! Together they'd pursue Quidditch, but he'd give it up when they had their first child, his father offered him a good paying office work in the ministry and by the time they had their second child, Caelum would give up being a Seeker to become a house-wife. They'd have had a white fenced house with a big enough yard to keep their children and all their little cousins busy for the summers, while she and her husband spent their days getting old together.

She'd go first… old curses acting up undetected and compromising her immune system enough that an ordinary cold took her life. Cedric would follow two days later, not managing without her for long.

Caelum's arms felt heavy.

Her chest hollow.

Cedric was gone as was she, Rose Caelum Weasley, her best friend's child would never meet her namesake. Young Scorpious would never be a fan of the greatest Seeker of Quidditch history (to his father's chagrin) – There was no back road to life, her second death was the end of line.

Granted… thinking about the first death was slightly amusing, if not a little maddening.

Voldemort 'killed' something that time yes, but it was the piece of his soul left in her curse scar – was it a homicide or a suicide? And Dumbledore…

Dumbledore also left something inside of her that triggered with her death as well, why else would she meet him in the afterlife?

And what about the hallows?

Per rule she was the rightful owner of all three Death relics…

"And that is exactly why you are still here" A soft murmur came from the track's way along with the sounds of an approaching train. Vapor rose and expanded as the white train came closer to the station, bringing with it so much noise that the raven haired witch had to clamp her ears. The train got closer and closer until it stopped, smoke sizzling from the exhausts. She could see faint faces both male and female sitting inside the train compartments, but it was the opening door that caught her attention. "For the first time since Death gave away its hallows, they were reunited under the same owner"

Smoke covered her vision for a few moments, making Caelum rise from her sitting position to observe better.

Before clearing completely, the train started up again leaving the vaguely shadow figure standing before the station nonchalantly while it rolled down the rest of the tracks and out of the Station.

Once she could see again, Caelum blinked. "I didn't expect to find you here, of all places… or maybe I should have predicted it… We seem to find each other no matter what" She nodded cautiously to her new companion. He chuckled humorlessly, eyes glinting.

There was somthing strange about him, a dark green aura like a thin breath of air around his form... She's seen him before.

"Yes, that seem to be the case, indeed" He stepped closer; she sat down on her bench again, patting the place next to her almost absently. They were dead, what harm could he do? "A lot actually…" Her eyes widened. He read her mind? "But that is not why I decided to come." He sat down next to her.

Faint whispering could be heard for a second, before silence reigned between them.

"I figured after what happened you'd be gone already" It was half an accusation.

"I was gone" He breathed out, closing his eyes and relaxing against the bench. She followed suit. "And you are correct, I cannot do you harm in this place, for some unfathomable reason you acquired quite the divine protection" This was spoken in jest and they both knew it.

"What good does it bring? I am as much dead as you are" This time he smiled, it was a dark sinister smile that brought memories of him to her mind before she could wipe them out.

"That's where you are wrong my dear, while it is true that we're both dead, you have something I didn't have the chance to acquire" _Thanks to you… _Huh… so it wasn't only one-way this mind-reading thing. He glanced her way. "We do not exist in a physical way in this place. Thoughts and spoken words do not matter; you think loudly enough that I can hear it and that is the end of the mystery."

"Alright, I can accept that" They were not able to lie, she's tried. "What is it that I have and you don't… And what brought you here in the first place? I thought you'd move on by now"

"Time is relative in this place as well… while there is a vague concept of time; we merely can't be affected by it. And what brought me here? Insanity took me away and _you_ brought me back" His smirk turned predatory. She shuddered, disgusted.

"Why are we still here?"

"Wrong question, ask again"

"_Where_ are we?"

"The between…" His lips thinned in thought. His face turned from hers to glance back at the train tracks and the stone pillars that made up the station. "Have you heard the muggle saying: "_Embark in your next great adventure_"? This is the literal representation of such believe." He paused, contemplating the white vastness around them. "A Station has three ways… the Entrance, Arriving gate and the Departing gate. When you came here for the first time, instead of embarking to your ideal heaven, Dumbledore's failsafe made sure to send _another one_ in your place." His eyes bore into hers. "_I died in your place_, since we are connected, I have the power to come back here to meet you if I so desire."

"It was you who murdered me in the first place" She replied simply after a while. The figure in front of her was none other than Tom Riddle, looking to be around his fifties of maybe early sixties, thinning black hair that mixed with grey and silver, and stone black eyes that reflected the brightness around them. "I thought you were damaged for splitting your soul in seven pieces… The last time we met here you were less than a wraith"

He nodded, shrugging. "Where would the pieces of my soul go after their tiers to the living world were destroyed?" _Souls are immortal. _"All seven of me met in the next nexus just beyond here, and when I felt you come as well I decided to greet my one and only equal"

"Oh… right" This wasn't awkward at all… she's wondered sometimes what she could talk to Voldemort about if they ever met in friendly terms, and this wasn't up to her expectations. "You stalk me even in Death"

He sneered. "You have something I don't" He sounded bitter, she sneered back.

"I'm not giving it to you, whatever it is"

"I know you won't, and I am not able to force you in anyway… but the moment you use it, since I am your equal and you are mine, I will also benefit from it"

"Why do you think I'd use it?"

"Because you wish to live as much as I do"

"True" She frowned, thinking about everything she lost and would never be able to regain again… was it worth it to try to live once more even if the price was taking _this man_ with her? "What happens if I take a train?" She had to ask just to be sure.

"The End, you and I will have to go together to whatever version of heaven (or hell) you believe in" He wouldn't admit to not knowing anything after that, but she felt it was better this way.

"Then let us get out of here"

They eventually embarked in one of the trains, but this one they were sure would leave them _out_.

There was a strange singing note in the bizarrely empty machinery. "_Until all are one… welcome to the Matrix"_

**XxxXxxX**

The galaxy spun.

millions of years running by.

In one of its arms, a Star was coming alive for the first time. Young, bright and lively. Cosmic Dust weaved around it slowly, taking its time to coalesce in the form of small planetary units. More years passed by, the star burnt and became older, and the planets around it developed and evolved.

The third planet orbiting this sun however, was the most special of all the other sharing its star. In a shot of one in a trillion chances, the odd combination of elements in its surface was able to create a highly unstable atmosphere that reacted brutally against the congealing mixture of magma and water accumulating on the cooling surface. First there was Light, Then Earth, Sky and Water, and soon a single continent was peeking from the oceans.

The unstable atmosphere plus the ocean full of raw elements combined, and something rare occurred. Atoms joined, forming molecules that joined as well, leading what is known as the base of all life in the little blue planet. Long strings of protein that could only evolve… Rustic RNA soon DNA and lowly Mitochondria that were able to actively process energy and multiply… A Miracle that would begin next step of creation – From little cells, to algae and fungi, and then to grass and trees and Flora was born.

The little blue planet was gradually becoming the berth to the creation of life.

However, while the miracle of creation was molding the third planet, somewhere in an unknown Star, another planet was dying.

"Are you sure that is the only way?"

"Yes… We cannot risk the AllSpark falling in Decepticon hands"

"But… simply eject it out to Space? Won't the Decepticons go after it eventually?"

"It is a chance, but it is more than what we will have if we let them have it now"

"What the others say?"

"They will follow me"

"Then I shall follow you as well…"

"Very well… proceed AllSpark Evacuation"

…

"**Fools!** **I will have the AllSpark, nothing will deter me!**"

**XxxXxxX**

2. D Travel

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

Darkness… endless darkness that brought a sense of comfort she never felt before.

There was a strange sensation of being in movement, but it was fading just as brusquely as she started to feel it.

Even stranger was the fact that she didn't feel alone.

In fact, by expanding awareness a little, she could feel thousands of others huddled just beyond her position – there were hundreds of thousands more but she couldn't reach that far to feel them.

There was one though. A cold and familiar presence that touched her lightly. She knew that presence almost as well as she knew herself.

"_You made it as well?"_

"_Yes, did you doubt it?"_

"_No"_

He fell silent, but she felt the tiniest of nudges against her conscience. There was an extra feeling of unit – _they were __**one **__– _Born and created from the same source. But they knew better, they knew that before they were _one_ they were two, and he knew that before he was _one_ he used to be _seven_…

It was confusing and sometimes infuriating that they couldn't make sense of the _before_. To the whole they were in, there were no individuals.

Only unit.

He nudged her again.

Flashes of images that were out of place and alien but at the same time brimmed with correctness. _Him. Her. They. Station. Train. Afterlife. Survive. Live. Equals. _

Memories flooded back to her. Caelum Lily Potter came aware of what she was.

"_Do not think that that meager attempt at stopping me from obtaining the Philosopher Stone was successful. You destroyed it true, but the essence of something so powerful cannot be erased so simply. You still have it in your blood, the essence life besides your mother's protection." He stood to his feet smoothing the pristine suit he was wearing, then offering a hand to her._

"_What about the Hallows?" She accepted his hand feeling like it was a sealing deal with the devil by the way his smile darkened obscenely. Maybe it was her imagination dramatizing things but he was still her Nemesis._

"_Another thing that will allow us to go back… Death is something that comes to everything, even the Universe itself, so Death is the element that connects it all – but once Death was tricked, just once, and was forced to give away tools forged out of its own essence. A Weapon, the wand, signifying the Mind, A Shield, the cloak from the body and an Eye, the Stone, for the Soul" _

"_The first Brother lost the Wand to his greed and bloodlust. The second Brother lost himself to the Stone by his grief. The Third brother however, conquered the Cloak and used it to live a fulfilling life and even in the end he surrendered to Death – I know the story"_

"_I imagined you would" He sneered down at her, being his almighty all-knowing self. He also raised a hand and signaled for something, she knew what he did the moment a train came bounding up the tracks and stopping just shy of their position. _

_The train was empty._

"_Do you know why Dumbledore and Grindewald wanted the Hallows so badly?" He asked, not expecting an answer. "They thought themselves above all life and wanted Immortality… At least Grindewald did, Dumbledore forgone his ambitions when he was forced to confront what Death was – his sister Arianna opened his eyes to the futility that it was to dominate Death"_

"_What about you?"_

_He smiled condescendly, it reminded her of Snape so badly she wanted to slug him. "At the time I found about splitting my soul, I confess I didn't know the truth behind the Hallows – Only after I disposed of my disgusting Uncle was I aware of that power" He looked down at her. "You… In the end you were in possession of the three of them. That along the fact that you hosted me for your entire life makes you very special."_

_The Train's doors opened, He was the first to enter, then extended a hand to help her embark as well. "Before we go, why don't you tell me who you really are and where are we truly going?" His hand never faltered, but he did smile kind of brightly – it looked really demented on his face._

"_How long have you known?" Her deadly green eyes narrowed. "Alright, I couldn't fool you from the start, could I? Never mind that, What I said about being equals is true, what I said about Death is also the truth. Though the image I took might have come with a few quirks of its own, I do believe this is the best way to have your attention – It worked, didn't it?" _

"_You are Death, or at least a part of it" She concluded with an astounded blink. "Then where are we going? You said I have something that can take me out of here, why would I want to get out? If I go to my afterlife won't I be happier?"_

"_You don't truly belong among Death, dear, you possess an almost infinite potential to bring life – It is why I came to you this time instead of letting you take any train to oblivion – your soul would have been purified and reformatted then granted another life – one that is not _you_. I couldn't let that happen if there is any chance to avoid it" He extended the hand again "This train is a specially committed one that will allow us to go through the Well of Life – where will this take you is up entirely to you, but know that the moment the gods see you they will try and sway you to themselves – for now you are still mine" Caelum's head was spinning… how to absorb all this?_

_She twisted her neck this way and that, took a deep breath and stared _him_ straight in the eyes. "This is awfully confusing"_

"_Death never is simple"_

"_Neither is life…" She took the hand._

So that's why she's floating along this infinite river? It was strange to be aware that every other presence she felt swirling around her were of living beings – souls that were rushing to somewhere that she didn't know about.

The one who was with her nudged her again.

"We are almost at the nexus dear, that is as far as I can go, my domain ends when Life begins and this is stretching even for me" What happened to the trains? She remembered sitting down with him hovering beside her and then a blink. Then this… "We crossed the threshold beyond Life and Death" He answered her thoughts with amusement pulsing out of him. "The Well of Life extends in ways even I don't comprehend. But you will see it soon, just a last word of advice before my presence is felt and I am evicted from here: Chose Wisely"

The flux of lives pushed them forward a little more. Caelum felt something stretch then pop, it was slightly scary when she looked for _his_ presence and found nothing. He was gone and she was alone.

Guessing how hard it was to bypass Death this must be quite a rare sight!

She wasn't aware of time passing, perhaps a few seconds or an entire life-time later, there was a rush. A loud rumble, low bass shook her mentally and she felt like being picked and pulled, an urgency took her senses, a question… pick a direction, chose a side, where to go?

Chose chose chose chose chose chose…

A Light twirled brighter than the rest, she followed it.

Around her colors danced appearing and disappearing in a show of light and confusion. There was an eternity of silence and then…

"So you are the one who hitched a ride in the AllSpark…" It wasn't really a question but either way, Caelum didn't know how to answer that. She didn't even know where to start… her body – did she still have a body? – was all disconnected and far away – her vision still swamped by undulating colors.

The voice that spoke also startled her slightly… It was jovial and laidback, and if she recognized right had a soft Aussie accent.

"I guess I did…" Caelum tried to sit up. When did she lie down? Her eyes were getting back to normal allowing her to study the new place she found herself in. Space… multiple spots of life came and went in a light show.

She could see strange suns with even stranger planets rotating around it.

Galaxies expanded and relaxed, light-years going by in the blink of an eye. It was beautiful and humbling and completely terrifying.

And under her feet… What appeared to be a giant metal puzzle. Glyphs and shapes contorting to form squares shapes that overlapped each other… It was thrumming with an energy she couldn't put words into.

Her head rose to finally see her companion. He, if she could be as bold as to give him a gender, was a tall, bulky mechanical being. The stars reflecting on the heavy metal armor clearly covering delicate cable works and something more. He was human shaped though, with a disproportionally small head in comparison sitting on the apice of his gleaming torso with two bright red lights blinking down at her – his eyes.

He was also beautiful in a way, alien and unknown…

A Metal golem that was different from everything she's seen before in her life as a witch. "Like what you see?" He flirted shamelessly, red eyes brightening then dimming in something she perceived as a wink.

She winked back, never one for shyness. "I'm Caelum, who are you?" He preened, metal plates that formed his armor smoothed and settled again. It was fascinating the way he worked.

"Oh dear! That's a miss in the polite department! I'm… hmm… ehhh! God!" A whirl followed by a string of metallic noises and a raised eyebrow later had 'god' smiling sheepishly. "Maybe not _your_ god, but I am a god!" He struck a fear me pose that brought a smile to her face. "No, seriously, call me Primus!" And hand was offered… only the hand was bigger than she was. Caelum shrugged and took his pinky in her hand and shook it.

"Where are we by the way?" The witch looked around them once more. The glyphs gleaming under their feet were different than before.

"We're inside the AllSpark right now! It just got tossed out the Universe by my wayward children and I thought… Hey! Let's follow the priceless artifact! Dunno how long till we land but with you here I won't get bored to death!" He tried to hide but Caelum was an expert at the art of hiding pain and caught the way his eyes darkened slightly in true agony before he could pretend it didn't happen. "Why don't you tell how you came to be here anyways? You're _so_ not one of _my_ _children_!"

And so Caelum told him everything.

**XxxXxxX**

It was on that third planet orbiting the little star in one of that non-descript galaxy that the AllSpark eventually "landed"… Crashed is a much better description for what happened though.

Time didn't really existed to all that the 'priceless artifact' was, but the moment that it entered an atmosphere they were able to feel the jolt of resistance as well as the jarring impact.

"It seems our travel comes to an end… I bet you'll want to get out" Her current companion grumbled. She smiled benignly and patted his cheeks. She was sitting comfortably on his shoulder plates, mindful of the clutch of cables snaking under her body. "You can go if you wanna, I think I will go as well… much to see, much to do… you know we gods, all sort of divine planning and intervention to do."

She knew…

He was one sly being. A Perfect Slitheryn if she ever saw one.

He also told her everything.

From the War that divided his children to what he was planning to do.

She agreed to help him in what ways she could not knowing what would become of her.

"You're right, though in which planet did we land?" He gave her one secretive smile that was as much infuriating as it was devious.

"I believe this little planet will be called Earth by its intelligent indigenous life"

"Earth? You knew all along didn't you?" He didn't have to answer. "What do you mean by 'will be?" Her bright green eyes narrowed on him. The giant mechanical being shuddered, the effect making his armor shiver in an effect that reminded her of an angry cat…

"Let's just say that we kind of took a wrong turn in a wormhole highroad and might – _might! – _have ended just _fourmillionyearsinthepast_" Her left eye twitched. She held back the urge to groan and transfigure him into a toaster.

With a big sigh filled with so much patience, Caelum glared at him. "What am I going to do then? There are no humans around yet and civilization is about four million years in the future!" He shuffled his foot in an abashed manner that made her glare lower a decree or two.

"Dunno about you dahling, but I hafto do godly things that don't do themselves without me… I can, however, use my awesome godly powers to send you to the future… though a gap in reality seems more than you deserve right now…" Eh… Primus plus the AllSpark might be able to do just that… and she might even help him.

She wasn't only a human girl, she was a powerful witch in her own right, was the owner of three parts of Death and held the power of a Life giving Stone thrumming in her blood.

She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Remember I have lots of blackmail material and the means to extract revenge anytime" Green eyes gleamed evilly. The giant man was justifiably cowed.

"Just get out you!" His playful demeanor changed to slightly serious when he plucked her from his shoulder and held her with only one hand like he did many times before… To her horror however, he had other plans. "I'll drop you off in the future… dunno when so have fun sweetie!"

His hand tipped and she fell… despite knowing that she couldn't really die, it would hurt like hell a fall this tall… '_drop you off my buttocks!'_

"Git!" Was the last screamed word when instead of hitting the ground, her body disappeared like fading starlight.

The sound that followed her was a deep bass laugh that tinkled with the light of the stars that followed them.

**XxxXxxX**

Well… life could have been worse, she decided as she reclined back on her diva styled chair and sipped from a deliciously prepared pumpkin juice.

Her hair was longer than she would have liked it, but with other people to pamper her daily it wasn't exactly a chore to care for it as it was when she was on the run.

Though, she took a peek at perfectly manicured nails, dying certainly had its perks!

It's been what?

Just two hundred years since she's been transported out of the AllSpark to the future… only it was a matter of perspective… the year she came to was 1807, and as unpleasant as it sounds to have to go through all those years to get back to her time the slow way, Caelum still retained all her magic – plus a few perks such as immortality and demi-god level status.

Now the year was 2007 and she was enjoying the reaps of her hard work…

Investing in the right companies knowing the outcome of wars and technological developments was certainly a unique advantage, even if stuffy old man looked at her like she was crazy when she decided to donate a hearty portion of her already healthy fortune to fund two equally insane college students in 1975.

Aside from all Underground dealings she has messed with.

Today she was the richest bastard in the face of the Earth. Secretly of course… her public image was that of an orphan heiress that spent her days drinking champagne and throwing wild parties on top of commissioned yachts.

Someone (Hermione) might have been against exploring her magic and knowledge to change the future, namely to make her riches grow, and Caelum used to feel guilty. But she had to survive someway, hadn't she?

And after decades searching for Magical Enclaves and coming to the conclusion that there was no Magic in this Earth – And another decade locked in an asylum for the mental breakdown after that – She concluded it would be harmless to exploit the advantage she had over the other people.

Having money also helped to keep tabs on the 'secret' organization that was created to study the AllSpark cube – yes, she's been keeping an eye on it since she's appeared in the '_future_' – and since early 1900 when Megatron crashed in the artic in search of the thing…

As far as she knew Megatron was currently residing within a thick Dam built to dampen the signal the AllSpark gave off constantly calling its children to it.

Not that mere muggle technology could even begin to scratch the true power the AllSpark had, not in this century at least.

Alas…Keep going… British people knew how to do that.

Sure she got lonely sometimes… but being immortal kind of threw her off lasting relationships…

Her greatest regret occurred when she decided to migrate to the States to be closer to the economic growth after the World War II and ended up in love with a simple Mechanic named Mike during the fifties. They lived together for two years and she was very much in love with him, to the point where she debated telling him the truth.

Only he wanted a family… something she'd not be able to give him. There is no way she'd curse another being with the powers she had – as much fun as they were, no one deserves to be immortal and be forced to watch loved ones grow old and die while one remained young and healthy.

Letting him go was hard, but watching his marriage to a nice southern girl and finally having the family he wanted so badly was rewarding. To this day she still followed his line and was overtly amused when Mike' son had his own daughter and named her Mikaela after her grandfather.

If Mike were alive to witness it he'd have died all over again laughing off his lungs.

Yes, life could have been worse, she decided taking another sip of her pumpkin juice, her forest green eyes trailed to the sky just as a single comet descended headed for Nevada desert, a tingle in the back of her neck all the warning she needed.

It has begun.

She hoped Primus knew what he was doing, if not this was going to be one huge cosmic prank. She smiled. Sirius would have been proud.

"_Don't interfere… much! Get'em girly!"_

**XxxXxxX**

3. D Third Kind Encounter

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

"Good morning class, this is our new transfer, please introduce yourself Miss Potter" The elderly teacher presented the new student to the rest of the class. A third of them were eyeing the new girl with boredom brimmed eyes while another third were gawking, the third left were either smiling smugly or trying to meet her eyes.

If she wasn't older than their great grandparents she'd have been flattened, as it was only boredom crawled up her spine.

Caelum yawned disinterested and nodded to the class of impressionable teenagers, keeping the corner of her perception on a pair of boys huddled together and gossiping like old matrons in the corner of the room.

Sam Witwicky and Miles Lancaster.

She's recently made a purchase.

"Hello, my name is Caelum Potter, yes, _that_ Cae Potter, no I don't know Paris Hilton, yes I'm British, no I won't take anyone on my yacht even if they ask nicely and no, it's not truth I own the moon… yet" She ended her introductions offering a covert smile to the rest of her classmates and sauntered obnoxiously to a seat in the middle of the class – the student occupying the seat scrambled out of it as she approached.

Now she knew how Draco or Tom felt and she loved it…

Maybe she should take another vacation in that lovely Institute before she decided to conquer the Earth when Megatron failed just for the kicks.

Two hundred years wandering Earth all by her lonesome and discovering she was the only witch alive was disconcerting… Absolutely no one to trust with her secret and no one to keep her company since she couldn't risk getting found out as an immortal… she's been her own heir for generations now! A few gossipy magazines were starting to wonder if her family thrived in assassinating the previous heiress, the nerve.

Caelum sat primly and turned absently to talk to the Witwicky boy. He reminded her vaguely of Ron, all awkward and blubbering, but with a secret heart of gold and an intelligence that belied his dorky appearance.

"Are you Ladiesman217?" She asked directly… Miles snorted through his nose and turned his head not managing to hide the bubble of giggles that erupted from him.

Sam blushed and hissed under his breath. "What do you want?" He eyed her suspiciously. She leveled a glance his way, making sure he saw the glint in her eyes.

"I might have bought something out of an e-Bay account of that name and I might have come here to collect it, paying in cash…" A black eyebrow rose.

Sam's frown turned upside down and he was all smiles and business.

Just like Ron.

Sam's Father, not _that_ Ron… _that_ Ron used to be terribly awkward when dealing with money.

"I have it here with me! It's the glasses isn't it? I have those too… though I'll need them on my history project today… I can give them to you by the end of the day after I get my A" Then he turned confused as something dawned on him. "You came all the way here and enrolled in the same school as me just to get the glasses?" _Are you insane? _Was the silently cast question. Caelum tittered amusedly.

"Of course! I'm a rich heiress who has nothing to do with her life aside spending money and wasting time… I found the prospect of traveling to Tranquility and mingling in a common high school refreshing" She confided with a cackle. Sam eyed her for a second.

"You have the money, right?"

"Sure"

"Then you can stalk me with it whenever you want" She liked him already. Miles grinned, enchanted. "I gotta buy my car man"

"If you want to stalk me as well" She grinned back. "Look Sam, everyone's staring at us full of envy! Dude, who new your grandfather's lame old glasses would be so awesome"

"Don't you know it?" Caelum asked lowly. "The glasses are actually a map to a powerful alien relic that landed on Earth four million years ago" Of course they thought she was joking, which made everything thrice more funny.

**XxxXxxX**

At the end of the day Sam got his A needed to buy his car – he'd explain in details the desperate need for money, fact that made him slave the whole years to scrap for a few dollars before he decided that selling old 'collectibles' items from his grandfather's archeological collection was more lucrative in the long run since most of it was junk.

"Why did you buy them really? I mean, they're just a crazy old man's glasses… Not that I want you _not_ to buy them! I mean, just want to know why buy them in the first place" Sam asked first absently, then spazzing when he realized his blunder. He was still counting the money she just gave him over the glasses she now was looking at curiously.

They were currently waiting at the front yard of the school, Sam's father was about to come collect him for their grand-car-expedition.

Looking at the glasses then at Sam, Caelum allowed memories of the man who wore said eyepiece before…Captain Archibald Witwicky… great man, couldn't hold his liquor much. She met him once or twice in the early 10's when he came back from his fated expedition from the artic where he ultimately found Megatron's body and thoughtlessly sold it to the government instead of her… She's still been bitter about it; until he went mad and was sent to the same 'institution' she went in her early years.

After that she developed some sense of camaderie and gave him a nice house in Tranquility, cozily close to where Mike' son lived. She liked to keep her precious people close so it made easier to keep an eye on them – it was that or mark them… but she wouldn't rip off of Voldemort, it was unethical.

She also went to his funeral when it happened, pretending to be her own daughter so that Ron wouldn't suspect… Ron was Archibald's boy – she snickered at the coincidence, even though Ron was a handful all by himself.

And now… now she just bought his glasses out of the hands of his very own grandson.

Her smile brightened. "I already told you, these very lenses are actually the imprint of a map to an ancient alien relic that landed here on Earth four millions years ago" She winked. "Our grandparents were kind of friends, ask your dad, he knew mum" With that she skipped away to a shiny new bicycle and pedaled away.

She liked the exercise.

Besides, after centuries apparating everywhere it tended to get dull, so she found ways to entertain herself by using various modes of transportation over the years. This year was a bicycle…

It could fly and had heating, cushioning and self-pedaling charms.

An Artwork!

She hasn't got the handle of charming her own brooms quite yet, Sirius was kind enough to teach her his Flying Motorcycle spell work in case if she ever wanted to be adventurous.

Anyhow…

When Sam's dad arrived to pick up his son, after getting shown the proud A- by an overly energetic boy, the older man was subjected to an odd questioning of something he didn't think of for years.

Caelum Potters…

His father knew one, he knew one and now his son knew one.

"Hey dad, guess what? Caelum Potter, yes that Cae Potter, was in my class today to pick up gramp's glasses that I kind of sold off on e-Bay – Sorry! Needed the money!" Sam babbled while they went to a car dealer, Ron already snickering over the prank he had planned.

"Oh… Yes, I knew her mother and dad knew her grandmother… she bought dad's old glasses? Really? Why for?"

"Sentimental reasons maybe? Look, I don't care, she paid"

Ron nodded. Like father, like son. He smiled proudly.

**XxxXxxX**

Earth was a young cute planet, Jazz found. Lots and lots of interesting things all floating around it in a giant web of data transmitted by those orbiting satellites…

It was hard to concentrate in only one thing, he realized after a few moments navigating through the information in the World Wide Web as he came to know it. He soon felt slightly jealous that Bumblebee was chosen to be the scout this time, he was now looking forward to land on Earth and finally interact with the humans and see for himself those beautiful landscapes…

He felt like Hound now, he chuckled silently to himself, flipping through another stream of data. ::_Don't get distracted, we are to monitor Decepticon's activities_.:: Optimus sent over their shared comm. earning a cautious nudge from Ratchet and Ironhide that were as well equally fascinated by these humans ingenuity.

They were brilliant!

Jazz' processors practically absorbed everything there was to know about humans.

He really did feel like Hound now! That mech would love Earth if he ever had the chance to visit it.

::Let him have his fun Optimus, we've spent uncountable vorns searching through the universe for the AllSpark… the signal led us here, we are so close:: Ironhide's comm. pinged. Ratchet sent a note of agreement

::The Decepticons are already in there… Megatron followed the Cube first:: Optimus vented silently. Only it's been a really long time since they've had news from the megalomaniac murderous Decepticon leader.

Last they heard, he's crashed on a planet – Earth – in search of the Allspart and was never heard of again. Good for them since they've had time to organize their search parties and focus on following Megatron's encrypted signals.

He has been sending for reinforcements for the last three thousand Earth Cycles. A shame Autobots intercepted those signals and followed him here, a true shame really…

Jazz ignored the other officer's half playful bickering and kept monitoring Earth, though he spent hours watching Youtube videos – He also dedicated half a processor to military transmissions from all over the world.

It was because of that that he was able to pick up something strange.

A little heavily coded stream in Cybertronian Glyphs translated into Earth algorithms. It made the little code lose quality, but it served its purpose. It was a message encrypted into a frequency that was obviously cut off in the middle of the transmitting.

It had Frenzy's fingertips all over it – Soundwave was a major pain when they wanted to communicate secretly with their spies, Jazz should know.

He sent the transmission to their shared comms anyway, sending an additional data package to Bumblebee.

_=Project Iceman/SectorSeven/Captain Witwicky=_

::Good job old friend:: Optimus Prime sent with a thankful note. Now they had a lead.

Bumblebee sent a cheerful affirmative, he'd start following the trail soon.

Jazz' spark bubbled with excitement, Bumblebee was already accessing the web in search of information on all key words they found in the hacked transmission and would send confirmation in a few joors.

It would totally be worth the wait.

::You can bet the Decepticons are already a step ahead, they are the ones who found this data to begin with. We must act quickly:: Ironhide's digital signature frizzled with barely controlled battle lust.

Jazz sent an agreement and settled back into his hobby and accessed his current Youtube channel – why were humans so obsessed with obscenely small, fluffy, big eyed felines?

When he finally watched the video he understood… they were just so slagging cute!

More kitten videos later, he was distracted by an absently minded note sent by Ratchet that made him titter with amusement.

::These creatures are still on Quantum Mechanics! Granted, it's been only a few stellar cycles since they left Binary code! I'm amazed::

**XxxXxxX**

Alright, Sam thought, he was definitely not crazy or on drugs.

But his mind _was_ working with half its speed as he tried to simply compute the amazing things happening all around him. He started by making a list.

First and foremost.

He finally got a car! It was an old Camaro model with fancy racing stripes and gleaming yellow finish. The car caught his attention the moment he entered Bob Bolivia's and he felt Bobby's words echo in his mind '_Car chooses the driver, not the driver choses the car'. _He felt that in a quite literal way.

Second.

Mikeala finally noticed him! Yes! She looked him in the eyes and even said his name! Ok… she didn't know they even were in the same classes since first grade. But there was definitely a spark right there inside her steely grey eyes when she stared at him. He felt he impressed her with his charm, wit and masculinity, or maybe his Camaro helped a bit (a lot) but he was holding her warm hands in his and wouldn't change that for the world.

Three… no third!

His Camaro was an alien… That called his alien friends… that were now crowding him and Mikeala in some out-of-the-way forgotten alley just shy of Tranquility more _friendly_ neighborhood. Was that a Topkick? Wait wait… Forget about it… it seemed like a trend with these guys, maybe dressing like cars was compared to humans wearing clothes… right.

Then the tallest one and most intimidating finished his transformation by sliding down a face mask. "Are you Samuel James Witwicky? Descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" The voice that came out was grave and rough… he resisted the urge to squeak in a most embarrassing way.

"He knows your name" Mikeala whispered in his ear with wonder in her voice.

She must have also been blown away by what was happening. He didn't feel so bad about freaking out now.

He stared up at the blue and red tall one, eyes not finding a spot to fixate on. "Yeah…?" Mikeala squeezed his hand. His heart jumped.

The tall one shifted slightly, meeting his eyes with twin blue ball of lights that must be his eyes. "My name is Optimus Prime, we are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron" His gaze changed to Mikeala assertively.

He squeezed her hand back.

"You can call us Autobots for short" The yellow one interrupted Optimus to helpfully add.

Sam felt faint.

"Autobots…" He repeated, testing the words in his mouth. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw his possibly, hopefully future girlfriend do the same.

Then from behind their back, came a low twitter. "What's crackin' lil bitches?" Both humans raised bewildered eyebrows. Sam thought that futuristic robots wouldn't end wound up with lingo… It was funny.

"My first Lieutenant, designation Jazz" Optimus cut off their line of thought by introducing the silver wanna-be outer space gangster. Jazz performed some cool moves, joints, gears and cables twisting artfully to make him shift, bend and curve.

"This looks like a cool place to kick it" He rumbled, sitting down on an abandoned car. Sam totally didn't expect that.

Optimus started to rise just as Sam questioned. "How did he learn to talk like that?"

And as if not even caring, Optimus answered "We've learned Earth's languages through the World Wide Web" the 'b' at the end of his sentence trailing off. How cool was that? He kept on introducing the others, first the Weapon Specialist Ironhide that freaked him out by pointing a cannon at his face (and calling him punk!)

Mikeala smirked softly when Optimus gently chided Ironhide and the giant being acted like a pouting child "Just wanted to show 'em my cannons" Sam understood… she was mentally comparing them both and finding amusing… the urge to murder Miles after his blunder in the Lake party grew.

Then came Ratchet… with his _mate with the female_ comment… Mikeala's dearly amused face with her eyebrow half raised was infinitely worth it when he shrugged nonchalantly though she hid it well by pretending to scratch her head.

And finally Bumblebee…

Eh… Bumblebee, _Bobby B_… There is true in divine comedy.

Sam, already quite fond of the yellow Camaro stalker slash demonic car – not exactly in that order – to have it confirmed that Bumblebee was his 'guardian' was a relief.

"Why are you here?" The raven haired girl's question had to bring a pause to their antics.

"We are here looking for the AllSpark, and we must find it before Megatron" Optimus spoke in his serious tone of voice. Sam felt the urgency in his bones.

"Megawhat?"

The best 3D movie ever later along with Optimus' grim story telling had Sam really regret his moment of money grubbing weakness…

"…Megatron crash landed before he could retreat the Cube. He accidently activated his navigation system… the coordinates to the Cube's location on Earth were imprinted on his glasses…"

Damn it!

"How did you know about his glasses" The human boy managed to ask, thanking god his voice didn't squeak.

"E-Bay"

"E-Bay…"

"If the Decepticons find the AllSpark and use its power to transform Earth machines, and build a new army" Racthet started.

"Then the human race will be extinguished" Optimus finished as if they had it all choreographed. "Sam Witwicky" The tall one began dramaticaly. "You hold the key to Earth' survival"

No pressure at all – his breath hitched.

It was Mikeala ultimate question that finally made him hiccup shamefully. "Please tell me you have those glasses…?"

His mind brought him back to the afternoon before, when a dark haired green eyed heiress told him why she wanted the glasses.

"_The glasses are actually a map to a powerful alien relic that landed on Earth four million years ago"_

She was right! How could it be! He should have sold it at a much higher bid than what she gave – wait! No! Aliens need the glasses, ones that he didn't have right now.

Five giant metallic beings were awfully crowding him with their hopeful light blue eyes fixed on him like that… He felt terribly guilty.

"I kind of sold it to buy Bumblebee…" He admitted sheepishly.

**XxxXxxX**

_**AWord:** First and hopefuly last note I leave... not to mess with the flow of the chapters! I plan on having a lot of characters from HP in this world as well, so far I have two. One of them will be known in a few chapters(they are surprises!) But if you have a character you want in on the action, I'm open to sugestion - same goes to favorite Autobots or decepticons or even human characters from G1 or tf prime. (I'm following the movie for now before merging with G1 - from prime I got a few bots' designs like Soundwave - he's much more stylish in Prime! hahah!) so if you want to toss a sugestion, sugestion box opened.

_

_After the first movie arc, what happens will be mostly my mind plotting evily - I have untill the second movie planned out, mostly scraps of ideas that I find funny or plot worthy._

_I know I've been telling people that I'd post next chapie in a week time.. but I got so humbled by the amount of people that seem to read this that I couldn't wait any longer (nor make you wait any longer)_

_And lastly... normaly I'd give a week before posting new chapters.. have in my cellphone calendar thingie a little memo to remind me (air head)... but yeah... till next thursday :)_

4. D Eyewear War pt 1

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

"_I didn't have the most brilliant of experiences when someone decided to use me as a tool for the 'Greater Good'"_

"_Ahh! But that time you didn't know you were being used, thus you felt left out of the awesome machinations of plot making over the lives of others. It's quite addicting!" _

"_Are you including me this time?"_

"_Maybe"_

"_You should. Whether you want it or not danger always finds me, and when it does, I will do whatever it takes to survive"_

"_I'd want nothing less! But if I was to ask something _**more**_, would you do it?"_

"_It depends"_

…

That happened quite a while ago.

Caelum mused as she stretched her body comfortably reclining on an almost illegally fluffy sofa. Her memories of that gigantic self-centered idiotic god were resurfacing more and more these days, she allowed them to come for they could be useful when his _children_ finally decided to come find her.

His plans tended to be overly dramatic, and though it hurt him deeply when one (or more as was often the case) of his children were hurt, it didn't stop him from trying to be over the top.

His excuse: He was trying to help them. It was because of his power that they started to war and separated into factions.

Factions! Instead of helping each other and growing as a race, they fought fiercely for what they individually believed in. It brought Him great pride that after that horrible period in which his children were enslaved, they could still think for themselves.

But perhaps that's what started the ridge to open.

What else. He wasn't biased.

To him, each of his children deserved a chance. He only wanted them to survive and so he imprinted that into _her_. It wasn't really her business to begin with, she was there for the ride but she wasn't driving. It was exquisite… to be part of a master plan she helped concoct.

And not one of the peons.

Freedom, she found, mostly free will, came with a price. The price she had to pay was Death – twice! And now the price she was paying was Life, an eternity of it that she'd have to spend alone if this business with the metal golems went wrong.

And that brought one of the reasons she agreed to help with the plan for the 'Greater Good'.

The Cybertronians were virtually immortals. Some even out-burning stars.

Perfect companions for someone who'd live until the Universe ceased to exist.

Maybe she should start wondering how to contact the Doctor! The black haired girl cackled and snorted shamelessly.

Yeah right…

Caelum stood from her fluffy sofa and walked to a giant bay window where she had an almost perfect view of the sky.

"What is going to be like to look at the sky and not recognize it?" She questioned silently not really expecting an answer. There was no one else in the house she rented aside from her, and it was better that way.

She could to magic freely without fear that she'd be discovered – she didn't like to use Obliviation spell lightly – It spoke wonders of her deceiving skills as a Marauder's heir that the last time she had to erase someone's memory was five decades ago when she decided to visit an outpost in Amazonia and stopped to chat with a _Sucuri_.

She was a delightful snake! A shame someone saw her and freaked out.

There are tons of legends surrounding snakes in Amazonia, and one of them is about a Giant Snake coiled under the capital… the person who saw Caelum hissing to the _Sucuri_ ran as if the devil was chasing his heels thinking _Anhangá_ and his wife were back and bent on devouring them all… silly Amazonian legends. She promptly erased his memory and promised to stay out of Amazonia for at least a couple dozen years.

Caelum shook her head giggling abashedly. It wasn't the first time she scared the locals by accidently acting like one deity or two. She still remembered that time in Africa and-

Whoa…

"Ehh! The cavalry just arrived!"

The stars were easily reflected in her bright green eyes, so when four burning streaks of light cut through the night sky and landed somewhere close by, she caught it and was ready.

Since the lights were a telltale sign that whatever kept the Autobots floating around in Space was no longer the case, they came down. And that could only mean one thing. They found about the Glasses...

Glasses... Caelum blinked, she was glasses-free now thanks to this century's wonderful invention known as contact lenses. They were flexible pieces of silicone that were molded to fit the thin membrane of the iris, correcting light absorption as effectively as any piece of bent glass.

She looked down at the delicate piece of eyewear and resisted the urge to try it on. It was laughingly funny how similar the round lenses were to her old glasses, only about a hundred years older.

Her old glasses...

She reminisced about third grade when the teacher noticed her difficulty in reading some words on the board. She spent quite the amount of time squinting, which led people to believe she was leering at them... coupled with Dudley's mouthy slander of her reputation, it could do nothing else but to plunder.

The third grade teacher wasn't fooled however, and dragged a protesting Caelum to the school nurse, who then sent a note to the Dursleys about the fact that their unfortunate niece was going to need glasses.

The family was aghast...none of them needed glasses - aside from Vernon on certain occasions, but they were only _reading_ glasses - and the extra expense they'd have to waste on Caelum was going to cost her dearly in the form of multiplied chores. Hers and Dudley's.

They didn't abuse her, not really. Not the physical type of abuse anyway.

They just didn't like spending more than enough on her.

Second hand clothes, second hand toys, second hand everything even attention... the only thing she owned that wasn't second hand was the Cupboard under the stairs.

Which was because Dudley wanted a second room to store all his toys and the parents chased Caelum out of her until then room, never bothering with telling her where she should sleep then on. So she claimed the cozy little space under the stairs that aside from a hideout served as a bedroom.

She particularly loved it during thunderstorms. Dudley used to be deathly afraid of the thunders and on rare occasions he would come down and cuddle with her. Animosity aside.

So it wasn't really surprising that they did, indeed take her to a doctor to get a prescription. If they didn't the third grade teacher would get suspicious and would call on them asking why the girl remained blind. But true to their nature, instead of custom ordering the lenses and the frame, they salvaged Grandpa Evans' old frame and only bought the lenses out of a dinky garage sale.

She didn't admit it then, but using the round frames made Caelum feel closer to her mother.

Now these...These were Captain Witwicky's.

If she squinted she could make out the tiny glyphs etched on the glass by Megatron's laser beams. Poor man... his brain wasn't able to filter all the data that Megatron' system tried to transmit and he went mad a few years later.

It was interesting...

The human brain was an amazing bio-machine that could be so much more effective! But humans haven't learned how to harvest all that potential... A prime example was magic itself - a manifestation of an anomaly in the brain that allowed witches and wizards to focus and use Earth's natural energy.

Simply put: super-humans... longevity, higher physical resistance and higher brain capabilities.

Hmm... She wondered sometimes what would be like to have been the one to receive Megatron's data stream. Would her brain be capable of processing the alien glyphs or would she go mad as well?

Would it feel like a Legilimens invasion? She was an expert at receiving those thanks to Snape, Voldemort and amusingly enough, Dumbledore.

Should she go mad? Maybe... she grinned amusedly, looking through the lenses.

Maybe she could translate them? She'd never been one to be interested in Ancient Runes, but with her rudimentary knowledge scrapped from years of watching Hermione do her assignments it might be possible…

There was a pause in her thought… there were noises coming from the outside of her house, but no wards have been breached yet so she relaxed.

Where was she? Oh yes, runes!

Who was she trying to fool? She was abysmally inept in the Runes department! She'd rather go with blunt planning and raw power, leave the strategy to Ron and the intellectual thinking to Hermione - She'd be the brawn as always.

Hermione... Ron...

This was getting depressingly nostalgic.

And time was ticking away frighteningly _fast_.

Has Sam found the _Autobots_ yet? It was only a matter of time. From what she heard of the AllSpark, it would become fond of the human boy to the point where it wouldn't mind destroying its direct link to this world to save the innocent mortal's life.

Glasses... _classes_..._**Runes**_...**Ron**...Hermione...

_DING DONG!_

A sad smile settled on her lips. She wasn't crying, but a thumb found its way to the corner of her eyes where she wiped absently. The doorbell just rung, she should go get it.

**XxxXxxX**

"Are you sure she has the glasses?" Mikaela asked for the second time that night. They took off from the alley after a few moments of grumblings.

Sam thought back to when they were leaving the alley. "Yeah… I'm sure"

_Before that…_

Jazz' visor dimmed for a second before he gave them the thumbs up.

"This Caelum Potter is still in town, there is a property under her name really close by" The silver Pontiac Solstice said seriously, taking Sam by surprise. But then, Optimus introduced him as a Second in Command, Jazz couldn't be so shabby if he achieved such position.

"Autobots, let's roll out" The red and blue leader nodded to Bumblebee who kneeled down, transforming into his Camaro form. The others soon followed after the yellow bot example and turned back into cars. Fancy, expensive and obnoxiously attention grabbing cars.

Sam and Mikaela climbed into Bumblebee who helpfully opened his doors to them. The radio immediately turned on.

_'It is not _(bzzzt) _your fault! It wasn't meant to be _(rrrsd) _that way_' The human boy nodded shallowly. He was still blaming himself if something wrong happened because of him. It wasn't _fair_ of Optimus to place so much weight on the back of a poor high school student, but to Sam it didn't really matter if it's fair or not, he was dragged into this and would do what he could to help those big guys.

No Sacrifice, no victory – was his family's motto.

If not for him than for Earth and Bumblebee. Talk about pressure! And last week his only worry was getting enough A's to be able to buy a car! There was a good side to it though, he met Bumblebee was a kickass two story high metal alien that was also _his_ guardian. That he happened to be a 2009 gleaming new Camaro slightly helped.

And there was Mikaela who had yet to let go of his hand.

It was sweaty and warm and oh so perfect to hold a girl's hand like this that he couldn't find in himself to be mad at Bumblebee for his poor matchmaking skills.

"Maybe..." He mumbled to Mikaela's first question. The dark haired beauty eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you not telling us Sam?" She nailed the problem on the head and made a nervous hole appear in his gut.

'_You can tell by the look on his face that he is nervous_!' Bumblebee added, it sounded like a talk show but the meaning was there all the same.

"Um... when I handed the glasses to that girl, I asked why she wanted them. She said that they were a map that led to an alien relic that fell on Earth millions of years ago... or something like that..." His voice came out in a mumble, but both his companions heard him if Bumblebee's incredulously blinking headlights were any indication. "I thought she was joking, Miles was there and he laughed as well..." He breathed out. "You don't think she was a Decepticon, do you?"

There was an static sound coming from Bumblebee's radio before Jazz' voice was heard. "She wasn't, we would have sensed Decepticon activity by now if they had the Cube - you said she has had the glasses for two days now, time enough for those creeps to do their thing if she was one of them" Came the low voice, minus street accent.

"Don't assume anything. It might be a trap" Ironhide's voice came with a growl.

"I agree with Jazz. It is not Decepticon style to wait this long. Without Megatron they are getting desperate" Ratchet's voice joined. There was a suspicious buzzing sound coming from somewhere awfully close to them and then… "Don't try to speak you glitch head, wait until we have more time so I can finish repairs before compromising the field patch!"

'_Sorry sorry, I couldn't help it_ (pssbt) _it is too much! Too much_!'

"Decepticon or not, we must have those glasses. It compromises this girl' safety" Optimus interrupted before Ratchet could retaliate, they could hear the grinding of the Search and Rescue Hummer's engine from inside Bee's cab.

Ironhide sent an impression of a snort. "Well, I can always introduce them to my cannons"

"I don't really think she's going to be a threat… Dad said something about gramps knowing her grandmother… maybe that's how she knows about the glasses" Sam added thoughtfully, a lot calmer now that they were approaching the address Jazz found.

Optimus' huge truck form vented, the hot air condensing in a puff of cloud that was left behind. "I didn't mean to imply she would be a threat Sam, but that she is great danger if the Decepticon scouts find out about her"

'_Among them! _(pzzt) _I know it's cheap, but _(zzzs) _they know the truth now, it's only a matter of time!' _Bumblebee's radio clips made a sense of dread settle in Sam's belly. By the way the four other powerful engines growled, they also sensed it.

"Barricade is aware that Sam is now in Autobots' custody, he's going to call on reinforcements and we will cross paths eventually" The leader bot concluded. "I fear our mission has been compromised"

"I'm sorry…" Sam spoke out loud.

"No one is blaming you Sam Witwicky, if anything you helped us get closer to the AllSpark than we've ever been before" Mikaela's hand brushed against his arm and her other hand held onto his tightly.

"Yeah, Ladiesman217, innit?" Jazz' clip came with a little catcall and a cackle. Bumblebee cackled as well and Sam had the impression they were gossiping about him under secret channels.

He let it slide when Jazz cut through their lane and assumed point, guiding the convoy of cars to a non-descript farm just half a mile off road.

"Is this it? Really? She's an international recognized celebrity that is richer than Bill Gates and choses to live in that shack?" Mikaela's delicate eyebrow rose, remembered her comment about Bumblebee.

They both snickered but no one answered his redundant question.

Soon there were five sentient vehicles parked in front of the house. It was a simple two story made of wood. The paint was old and peeling but the decorations made it seem like an old German colonial house rather than a farm. The simple beauty of the house was surprising and made Sam swallow his earlier comment.

Then the Autobots transformed and peace was lost.

"How do we proceed?" Ratchet asked.

"Shouldn't we just ring the bell?" Sam asked, eyeing the ivy climbing up the white picket fence with a little fear thinking about climbing it already to sneak through a window.

"How will she react to the big guys Sam?" Mikaela scoffed and jumped out of Bumblebee to allow the yellow bot to transform as well. Sam followed her. "I think we should sneak in"

The black haired beauty made her way to a dainty white paneled window. It was closed but they could see faintly the darkened inside of the house through it.

There was something strange about it but a cute pink curtain hanging opened just on the other side limited their spying.

"Sensor indicates a life form stationary on the second level of this residence unit" Ratchet crouched to spy inside the house through their little window as well, his body's heat warming both humans. "Detected heartbeat rate indicates an estate of consciousness per your species parameters" He's been snooping on human biology in the internet then.

At least they now knew Caelum Potter was there and she was still awakened.

Optimus shifted uneasily and stepped dangerously close to the house, trying to peek through the windows to possibly find a way in. But the bots were too big, their only hope were their small human friends… if they felt inclined to break in a stranger's house that is. "We must hurry, please get us the glasses" He lowered his hands "I've found an opened window" He alluded.

Mikaela was the first to understand and the first to deny. "I'm not breaking into someone's house! That's wrong!" Sam looked at her curiously, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. "I have an idea though, why don't you all step back and Sam and I can knock on her doorway, ask for the glasses and be done with it!" She said just as Ironhide accidently demolished the water tower.

The humans winced.

"Can't you be more inconspicuous? She's going to end up calling the police!" And memories of the last time he dealt with the police made him shudder… first the cop who accused him of doing drugs… _Mojo.._ yeah right.

Then there was Barricade… it was enough explanation. "And then we will never have those glasses" He snapped.

But to the two organics relief, Optimus' eyes flashed light blue and then he crouched down, transforming into his alternative form as did the others – Bumblebee was last, shooting his human a significant look and then nodding.

They were trusting him. _Trusting him_. Them!

Mikaela was already ringing the doorbell.

It didn't change the fact that the beautiful lawn was now destroyed. Giant footprints everywhere and the remains of a water tower still dripping…

The door opened after a few moments of deliberation silence and the first thing Sam saw was a flash a green.

**XxxXxxX**

5. D Eyewear War pt 2

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

They arrived at the farm and…

Ratchet was naturally curious about this little blue planet.

To start with the intelligent creatures that claimed it as their home. Humans. Clever little critters!

He dived nose deep in their so called Web in search of information and oh! Oh! _Oh!_ There was so much, too much! _Not enough!_ Fascinating! How could these mortal little beings whose brain power couldn't even compare to the dullest form of a Cybertronian processor be able to evolve so much in so little time! They escalated the subjective evolutionary ladder so amazingly _fast_ that it left his mother board fuses reeling.

And their entire life spam fit inside a Vorn! A blink of an eye to the CMO who is older than the planet itself, or Ironhide who is older than this _Solar System_… Strange, fascinating and very disturbing.

Their mind, their creativity, their power to simply create. Astounding. Cybertronian were so long lived that most forgot how to simply do that, _live_. But these humans, from what he could sparingly see through their internet, invested so much of themselves in their everyday lives, they cultivated bonds and lost them so alarmingly fast too!

And then there were their technology... Sure, from what the Autobots managed to Hack from Sector Seven main frame so far, most of what they had today of advanced technological development came from Reverse Engineering Megatron. Primus!

Although, it was fun in a way. He was having fun, Jazz was having fun, Ironhide was having fun, Optimus was almost having fun and Bumblebee was having the time of his life.

It was a fun planet.

Shame they risked it by expelling the AllSpark in the first place. But then again, it was entirely possible that the current shape of humans was a direct consequence of the Cube to being with. It would be a nice side-project to have once they settled.

And they _would _settle. Earth was so rich in raw materials that there was absolutely no way the Decepticons would leave it now that they have found it.

AllSpark or not.

Preferably with_out_ the AllSpark.

But the yellow hummer now felt partially responsible for the blue planet.

It _was_ a fun planet. After all.

He was still processing all the information he collected on the two humans in Bumblebee while he spared half a mind to pay attention to their flowing conversation. He'd poke the small Scout for periodic scans on the two organics, fascinated by the play of hormones in human constitution and interactions.

So when the young female that they haven't even been introduced to yet - touched the device by the residence's door that made the sonorous alarm sound, he started and was immediately looking for it in the web, it was a reaction developed after their last tryst in another inhabited world that also possessed a global web of information.

It helped to lessen culture shock greatly.

He learned the little device was called a doorbell, and was used to rouse the tenants of a residential unit that there were visitors waiting for them on the front door. In Cybertron they had something similar, but when you were able to simply ping the person you wanted through easily accessible communication channels _doorbells_ were virtually obsolete.

His scans trailed on the wooden construction. It was rudimentary and unpractical, it offered next to none substantial defense for the one who lived in it, and the heat transfer rates between wood and air made it a poor choice of shelter during warmer seasons.

And those windows… no tactical office ever would choose to live in a place with so many windows.

Strange… he could sense the presence of a living organic inside the house through his sound based detector accusing a heartbeat and its location, but there was some kind of dampening field around the house.

::Dampening field, Bumblebee, your scanners are the best in these kind of situations:: Ratchet offhanded comment slash hidden order had the yellow Scout focusing his intent on the house and not on his charge.

::Dampening field?:: Optimus questioned and the CMO could tell that both Autobot commander and second in command had also trailed selective scanners on the house.

::Affirmative, no light spectrum based scan can penetrate that house:: Ratchet sent the impression of incredulity. Time measurements indicated a second has passed since begging communications and ten after the human female touched the ringing device.

There were some light noises coming from the house. It rapidly became the focus of five attuned optics.

There was some clicking noise. The door groaned and then opened.

Revealing a thin, short, being that exuded _power._

Needless to say all five Autobots transformed.

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum Potter has seen many things. Yes, giant metal golems looking down on her included.

So when she answered the door, not bothered in the slightest that it was worryingly late and she lived alone in a farm far away from the road that she _should_ indeed feel fear, and met the weary, suspicious face of Mike's granddaughter along with the apolegic and equally as weary face of Sam Witwicky.

There was nothing she could do besides laugh madly in a manner that would have made the Black Family proud.

"Sam! What a pleasure! For what do I own this visit?" She asked pleasantly, not even looking at the five suspiciously stationary forms just beyond Sam's body, all trailing platonic narrowed optics on her. Sam shifted from foot to foot. By his position, the one who rung the bell has been Mikaela Banes. Caelum offered the taller raven haired girl a welcoming smile and held out a hand. "Hello! My name is Caelum Potter, yes _that_ Cae Potter"

The taller girl eyed the hand uneasily, but made an effort to meet it halfway. "Mikaela Banes…" She had shifting grey eyes that reminded the Witch an awful lot of Luna Lovegood. Only the amount of sex-appeal the brunette exuded could put Lavender to _shame_.

Mikaela turned her head back to confirm that yes, there were giant human shaped robots pacing just behind her and in front of Caelum, and no, the other girl wasn't freaking out. It was Sam who broke the awkward silence.

"Say… remember those glasses? The ones you bought from me? Well, I kind of need them back… I will return all your money and even interests… but please, do you still have those glasses?" At the mention of the glasses, the group of five mechanoids' attention seemed to focus solely on the little humans meeting then and there.

Flattering. She giggled again. "Of course I do! Didn't think it would take you so long to figure it out though, I gather your friends helped?" Sam sputtered while Mikaela stared. A question on the tip of her pretty pouty lips. Caelum beat her to it. "Yes I know about your AllSparky thing and yes, I know about Cybertron" A black eyebrow was lifted daringly.

"How? We just met them today!" The high school girl shook her head. A secret smile tilted the witch's lips.

"I can only say when the rest gets here… This party is about to start and I want to be able to see it"

"What do you mean by: when the rest gets here?" The Silver one came forward. Green eyes rose to meet a wavering blue visor.

"I suggest you hide" The witch said instead of answering, giving a very pointed look at her destroyed yard and then at the direction of the road. "They're already here… I have the glasses with me so there's no need to look for them further" To prove her point and to prove she wasn't really trying to get between them and their precious Cube, she handed the pair of glasses to Sam. "I want compensation, Witwicky… for my garden as well…"

Sam nodded absently, already depositing the eyewear gently on Optimus palm. The giant being took the object delicately to his eyelevel.

A beam of light came out of his optics and he was obviously reading the coordinates. The red and blue semi-truck nodded politely in Caelum's direction.

Then he realized her comment about the garden, and as his swept through the destruction wrought onto her yard, he felt half glad that the glasses haven't been with him… his father would never forgive him if the grass was ruined by huge footprints.

It dawned in Sam. "Wait wait wait! These guys were the ones who destroyed your garden! They pay!"

"Mr. Silver Autobot, do you have Earth's currency available to you?"

The Silver bot closest to them, the one with the blue visor, shook his head. Lips pulling into a smile. "Don't even understand your Currency! Don't ask me, Sam" The boy pouted. Mikaela patted his back. "And you, lady… How did ya know about the AllSpark?"

"Answer questions later, you hide, now" Caelum waved her hand dismissively.

Just before a couple of headlights were seen approaching from the main road, still a few moments away.

A blink of an eye, there were no _Autobots,_ but a collection of cars. Next blink, there were _no_ cars, but tracks that led to a field behind her house where she knew they could hide. _Nothing_ could pass through her wards.

She cackled. Sam and Mikaela looked at her like she was crazy just as a couple of SUV followed by a helicopter came close enough they could feel the drafts created by the powerful machine.

"Let's roll!"

Agents jumped out of the black vehicles.

A tall, slightly lanky man wearing a black agent suit eyed the trio of teenagers darkly. "Are you Sam?"

"Yeah…?" His dark eyes met the only boy in their group, assuming he was Sam right away. The boy in question just nodded cautiously.

"Cute, I need you to come with us"

The thought floating through her head was something along these lines: _I changed things just a tiny little bit! Bite that Primus! Hah!_

**XxxXxxX**

It happened in third year.

_Caelum was sitting along with Hermione in one of their common room's table. The dark haired girl was lazily doodling on a paper, half listening to Hermione's exciting rendition of her day and half thinking about a show she watched once on the Telly when the Dursleys were out. It had been amazing, and she's been fascinated with it for a while now._

"_Say Hermione, do you think Time Travel is possible?" Caelum asked bluntly, cutting through her friend's explanation half way. The frizz haired girl's reaction wasn't what she imagined would be, though. _

_Hermione froze, eyes widened to wildly she had this deer-caught-in-the-headlights look down to pat. "I don't know what you're talking about" The smartest witch in their year almost stuttered. It made Caelum sniff… in her mind, there was absolutely nothing Hermione not knew about._

"_Time travel… I saw a show during summer… it was about some bloke who had an old police call box that could hop through time and space… I thought there must be something similar in magic, you know?" This made Hermione straighten up. _

"_Oh! Yes! There is something similar in the Wizarding World, though it is highly regulated by the Ministry, you can't play with time, Cae, it brings serious consequences if you meddle in something that you shouldn't have" Then why did Hermione deny she knew in the first place? Caelum shrugged and let it go – she knew her friend can never pass up a chance to share her knowledge. _

"_Blimey that'd be nice" Ron's voice broke between the two females. "Imagine Cae, we could bet on Quidditch games and never lose!" _

"_Ron! That's wrong! Abusing the power over time travel is dangerous!"_

"_Relax Hermione, it's not like we can actually time travel" The red head rebuked, throwing his bag on top of some of raven haired girl's books. She didn't mind and smiled at her friend. _

"_Ron! It was brilliant! An old on cable – you know the telly right? Right, then there was this-"_

**XxxXxxX**

::We have to rescue Sam!::

"I know… but the priority is the Cube"

::Sam is _my_ charge! Let me go after them, then::

"I'm sorry Bumblebee… after we have the Cube, we will go after them"

::But-::

"It's an order" there was pain.

::Acknowledged::

**XxxXxxX**

"Mistress' signal has been lost" A thin, middle-aged bony woman dressed smartly in a pinstriped female business suit spoke carefully, taping at the tablet she held. Her nails were perfectly manicured, painted a shy, baby pink. Blond hair in a severe bum and blue eyes hidden behind executive thin frames, plus a stern no-nonsense pulled face.

She was a woman on a mission.

"It is not unusual that mistress manages to bypass security and go out on her own" This one was a man clearly in his early forty. His face was of the common variety, those easily forgettable features that you see crossing the street. Brown hair and grey eyes. His most impressive asset was his height. He easily surpassed 7 feet tall, and that wasn't counting with the high grade military boots or the intimidating Gi-Joe like gear. Plus a pinstriped suit jacket.

"You know protocol for these kind of situation cannot be ignored. We will begin the mapping of the area she was last seen, get Friday to hack into the police and FBI records and start this search going" The woman kept tapping at her tablet, not even raising her head to glance at her companion.

He nodded. Wild mass of muscles making his neck thicker than the woman's waist… "Already called that… brat… he is apparently having a grand time picking on "official" government records left by our Mistress… if I didn't know better, I'd say she's purposely leading us on a hunt"

This made the woman's blue eyes meet his grey ones sharply. He could see the intelligence sparking behind those glasses. "Maybe she is…" She trailed off, lips as pink as her nails.

"Hmmm?"

Barely a second later, she was back on her tablet. "Last time her signal flared was when the Defense Network was down yesterday… triangulating the positions and adding her personal history and we have this…"

A second more, a satisfied smile curled on her face.

"Got her"

**XxxXxxX**

Mikaela felt on edge. This was an all too familiar situation that was making her jaw clench and her heart beat raise.

She could feel it, her heart, fluttering in her chest like a nervous hummingbird. The handcuffs were getting uncomfortable, she shifted in her seat slightly leaning on the other raven haired girl' shoulder, who looked to be distractively staring out the window.

And that ponce in the expensive suit jacket wasn't helping. "Sooo" Agent Simons stretched the word, pawing at a red-taped zip log bag that clearly contained a cell phone. Sam's phone. "Ladiesman217…" The agent drawled. Mikaela sneered at Sam's direction. This was his fault. "That is your e-Bay name, isn't it?"

Sam flushed, looked at his paramour and then back to the Agent holding his phone. "Y-yeah, you know, it was a typo, it happens" He stuttered. Caelum yawned, snuggling on Mikaela's arm. At least one of them wasn't freaking out by the situation at hand.

A Banes handcuffed in the back of a car. All too familiar and to close for comfort.

Then the snoopy Agent had to play back at the teens Sam's recording when he met Bumblebee for the first time. It was amusing to read the boy's nervousness. He really thought he was going to die. Mikaela had to hold back the wave of fondness that swept her. Sam was cute if not tactless… but _that _nickname would have to go.

She decided to be difficult when Simon asked to confirm the voice that played off the cellphone. "Yeah" She spoke snappishly "That sounds like Ladiesman" She smiled internally. She'd have him trained soon if the embarrassed and completely mortified face he shot her was any indication.

Her heart fluttered again. Her hands were shaking. She was paying half a mind to the Agent's drivel and another to find an excuse that would get her out of this situation.

A hand found its way to her own. "Don't worry" Caelum Potter, the elusive heiress who was known for ostentatiously showing off her wealth offered a much needed smile and Mikaela found herself liking the girl a little bit. She was still suspicious – the knowledge she displayed was dangerous for their Autobots 'friends' even if it could be explained by her connection to Sam's grandfather.

"This is a total misunderstanding…" Sam's nervous voice broke the dark haired beauty out of her reverie and brought her back to the present. Mikaela was content to let Sam talk, until he managed to shove his foot in his mouth. "…and its fine now because its back, it came back!" She did a double take and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Well, not by itself" Sam caught on and hurried to add.

"Well no"

"Because cars don't do that, because that would be crazy" She amended laughingly. As if making a joke – She'd laugh at that joke too if anyone ever told her about cars driving themselves.

It seemed to work because the Agent broke down in laugher, Sam following suit.

Caelum only tilted her head in a thoughtful manner, still looking out the window.

Then Simon's laugh stopped abruptly and he caught her off guard by shoving a question they weren't prepared. "So what do you kids know about aliens, huh?" Sam's face fell, but Mikaela still held an amused smile playing on her lips.

She had a mastered poker face, time to use it.

"Like what, like a Martian? Like ET? Pffff" The teenage boy asked mockingly. Mikaela approved and added her offered the boy a tentstive glance.

Caelum smiled. "Maybe he's going to suggest Unicorns next; I know I've seen a Dragon myself"

"It's an urban legend" Mikaela added after the shorter girl, admiring the rosy tint that the Agent's face gained, and was proud she managed to stare challengingly at him. Dare he contradict her.

Simon got obviously pissed that none the teens were being forthcoming and wiped out a black leather wallet with a golden badge. "Do you see this? This is a get-away-with-whatever-I-want Badge… I'm gonna lock you up forever"

Mikaela Bane's blood froze. When she got scared, she got aggressive. "You know what guys? Don't listen to him because he's just pissy he's going back to guarding the mall"

"You in the training bra, don't test me. Specially with your daddy's parole coming up"

***hole.

Sam eyed her, she didn't like the way he did it so judgingly. She felt so small…

Only, she didn't have the time to defend herself, for there was a flash of light exploding from all around them. The car interior was flooded with it and came to an abrupt stop.

For a second, Mikaela thought the Autobots had come.

But it wasn't them.

"Now Agent Simons, you will let me and my friends go if you don't want to explain to your president why you just cost him Caelum Potter's allegiance and support" The convoy of cars was surrounded. Black shadowy shapes moved outside their car. The door was roughly opened by a tall man, the tallest man she has even seen.

"Mistress, you've given us quite the trouble" His baritone voice took the high school girl's breath away in a fear kind of way. She skittered closer to Sam but realized it was futile because he was already moving to get out of the SUV.

The group of fifteen or so Sector Seven agents were barricaded into a small circle while a small troop of big, muscled and armed men surrounded them – they were all wearing pinstriped suits...

Caelum stood in front of Simons smiling smugly. "Although that badge of yours can spare you quite the trouble, I don't answer to the same authority."

"Miss Potter, I assure you-"

"Shut up" The green eyed girl snapped. "You blatantly invaded my property, apprehended my things, handcuffed and threatened my friends and still want the right of speech?" Her glare was impressive, Mikaela personally thought, happy that the snively agent was getting his ass swopped. "You are lucky I don't have you banished from the US right away!"

One of Caelum's men, it had to be – he was dressed in that pinstriped outfit… approached slowly, clearly showcasing the large unknown weapon on his shoulder. It was similar to an M16 but bulkier and a lot more heavy. "Mistress, transport is ready. Miss Evans took care of it for you"

"Agent Simons" Caelum barked in a most impressive display of authority. "Take us to your leader" She smiled evilly.

Mikaela couldn't resist the bark of laugher that bubbled from deep inside her chest. Relief flooding her system as an helicopter landed close to them, messing her hair horribly. But the pilot wore pinstripes, so they were safe.

If only she could manage five minutes alone with Sam so they could talk.

**XxxXxxX**

6. D Secretair

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

They were all comfortably mounted inside a private chopper being flown to where Sector Seven HQ hopefully was. By the insistent pulling on her Magic that was intermittently linked to that of the AllSpark, she knew said object was also there.

One tended to have a special connection to the thing that graciously constructed their body from literally dirt.

Then her focus shifted to the other dark haired girl sitting in front of her, shifting slightly.

"Mikaela Banes, don't worry about your father, all's been taken care of as we speak... I didn't know it was that bad, had I known I would have helped sooner" Caelum took after Sirius in this regard. She just wasn't good with apologies. She'd done it with Hermione and Ron and almost always resorted to a silent usualy expensive gift as an apology... she'd continue to do it too, it was just hard for her to apologise – Assume things were one way, only to be proven wrong in the end.

Had she known Mike' son was going through so much trouble, she'd have sent help, she would! But the last time she even peeked at the family was almost fifteen years ago just after Mikaela's birth.

Then she stayed away, more for personal reasons such as feeling so much self-pity it took buying off an Island to brood alone all she wanted without having to see people's annoyingly happy lives – she was being obtuse here but it didn't really matter right now.

She should have been there!

"What? What do you know about my father?" Mikaela's grey eyes were molten like liquid silver. It brought a flash of a blond boy who shared such eye color but Caelum dismissed the mental image with a shake. Sam was also bent on ignoring them all, though he kept shooting glances Mikaela's way. "And you Sam? What do you know? Are you going to judge me too? Because I've just had it with you doing so but not knowing how it is to sacrifice anything in your perfect little life!" The model-like teen snapped.

The witch winced piteously.

Sam was taken aback. "Huh…" He exhaled quietly.

"I don't know about Sam, but I do know how you feel…" Sirius spent twelve years in prison because of false charges – partly Dumbledore's fault who could have easily moved and pushed for a trial but simply couldn't be bothered – and partly because of Sirius own Black volatile temper. He _was_ trying to murder Wormtail himself after all. "I know about your father because well…" _I'm his godmother _was hardly something believable. "My grandmother knew your grandfather Mike" There, that was safer.

Mikaela _and_ Sam turned weary glances _her_ way.

"So your grandmother met not only _my _ grandfather, but Mikaela's as well?" Sam asked with a drop of disbelief in his voice.

Pointing out like that sounded… bad.

"Kind of…" The Witch trailed off, uncertain. "That isn't the case right now, is it? Right… I've taken the liberty of erasing your files as well, Miss Banes. I've appointed the best lawyer under my name to defend your father in court, and trust me; he will walk a free man"

"Thank you… I don't know why you're doing this, but thank you" Then she looked at Sam, a lot calmer. "You know the cars I help dad fix in his shop? Well, they're not _all_ his… He was caught and arrested for GTA two years ago. I have – had – a juvie record because sometimes he'd take me with him in some of his… jobs. He didn't have the money to pay for daycares."

Sam looked torn, but he nodded. "I-I understand… I'm sorry if I over-reacted, you know? I was-" He started to blab and Caelum stopped listening to the couple's conversation. Instead, she looked at the stern faced woman who was sitting along with them.

The woman caught her gaze and nodded sharply. "Satellite communications have shown instability in the last couple of days, I've gone ahead and directed our technicians to start to apply optic fiber and hyper-wave towers, the signal boosters are being distributed to our personel." G3 and G4 are going to look like dial up next to it. The immortal nodded, a Cheshire grin mounting on her lips.

"You did well, Ms. Evans" She acknowledged the older woman's words, then allowed her memories play up a little bit.

_The year was 1977 and it was the year Caelum felt nostalgic to a down zero decree. She missed her family, and perhaps it was a show of emotional masochism, but what if her mother – Lily Evans, was alive? At the time she thought it was worth the search, so the witch picked an old backpack and made her way to Spinners' End half expecting to find her old Potions Professors hovering beyond intersections._

_She found the Evan's house. _

_Only…_

_Lily Evans has never been born… Instead, a girl named Rose Evans existed. Although the charming little house looked abandoned. _

_She learned from the neighbors what happened._

_Mrs. Evans, her grandmother passed away from tuberculosis, causing her husband – Jorge to pass as well from sadness. The two girls – she had hoped one of them was Lily! – but their names were Rose and Petunia were all there was left. _

"_Who are you?" A shrew voice, disconcertingly familiar and even more painful asked. Turning away from admiring the Evans' home, Caelum found herself staring at a younger and a lot less haughty version of Aunt Petunia._

"_Me? I'm just looking for someone who used to live around here" _

"_You can go now, there is no one" There was that small derisive sniff that made the raven haired girl sob inside. She missed the familiarity… even if Petunia Durslay hated her guts; she was a _familiar _face from the other World. "My parents are dead and my sister is missing" Was the added piece that made Caelum's head spin._

"_What is your sister's name?"_

"_Rose, is she the one you are after? If you are, I refuse to pay any debt left of hers" And the Witch recognized that tone. It spoke of someone not even worth her while. What happened to Rose Evans that left such a bitter taste in Petunia's mouth? She couldn't have been a witch too._

_Petunia's bright blue eyes darkened like an oncoming storm was clouding her irises. She was a formidable woman. Thin and body, with a long face and even longer neck. Her high cheekbones gave her a noblesse air though she'd never be beautiful. "I'm not here on your… sister's behalf… I was chasing after ghosts and got lost…" _

_For some reason, that made the storm go away and a spark enter those blue eyes. "I can understand that, I am going through some hardships myself"_

"_Then perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing a cup of tea over biscuits with me? I am in need of good company"_

_The invitation was what it was. Caelum craving the presence of someone known. She didn't hate her Aunt – but in this world, she didn't have an Aunt – but even Petunia's presence was welcome. She hoped the bony woman would accept her offer for tea and possible gossip. _

_Petunia never said no to gossip._

"_That would be lovely" Petunia answered after a thoughtful pause. "Then you can tell what you _really_ came here for" And there was her Aunt' sharp mind again._

_She missed it terribly._

After that tea, surprisingly enough, she found this Petunia's personality refreshing. The woman came home that day to meet a realtor to sell the house and move in to London to try her chances in a college course. Re-start her life after her younger sister, Rose, ran away with their inheritance and most of the family jewels.

At first, Caelum didn't trust the woman with all her secrets, but after Petunia graduated, she offered her Aunt's doppelganger a good paying position in one of the firms she controlled.

And lo and behold, Petunia managed to climb to the top and true to her over organized nature, had everything tidy and perfectly moving. Since they kept having tea once or twice per year they got to know each other, Caelum saw the benefits that she could have by bringing Petunia Evans into the loop.

A group of handpicked people who knew her secret and made running her business smoothly… They also worked directly under her, and often take upon themselves to babysit her… as if… She was only one person after all, literally the most powerful being this side of the Universe and she needed help with accounting.

So Petunia Evans was _told_.

And she took it gorgeously.

Caelum smiled secretly. She never told anyone about coming from another _World._ Oh… They knew she was virtually immortal and was able to do magic _tricks, _but that's it. Her smile turned predatory. Good help was awfully hard to come by these days, she had to keep hers close.

"Landing time, ETA 25minutes." Smitherson, another one of her Managers – the mountain troll high one – broke Caelum out of her thoughts with his announcement. Petunia shifted on her seat, finally pocketing that tablet computer of hers. A Task Master, that was, and a bloody brilliant one.

"Wait… where are we landing exactly?" Sam asked. Mikaela frowned disapprovingly. Sam was like that, he awakened motherly instincts in the girls that bothered to give him attention. He'd be a Ladies' killer if he knew how to use the charm… Just like Ron.

"Sector Seven main laboratory" Petunia's clipped voice made Sam blush.

**XxxXxxX**

"**Those disgusting Autobots are moving…"**

"**Keep tracking them, they will lead us right to the AllSpark and Lord Megatron"**

"**All hail Megatron"**

"**All hail Megatron…" **That last one was so unenthusiastic that Starscream had to hide his shudder. He'd rather stay in the red planet instead of helping in the rescue of _Megatron_. Pfff… But the loyal little dogs that were his faction mates wanted nothing more than see that Class-less gladiator rise once more.

He didn't.

Frag it all to Unicrom' stomach and back.

He remembered the time he entered Earth. He approached Earth's atmosphere and prepared for entry. The heat made his system overbalance a little but he was a Seeker, and a Seeker that wasn't able to handle a little air friction was better decommissioned into Scrap. He suffered through a few seconds of warning pings and then sweet relief when he crossed that weird Ozone layer. Picking up the pace of his propulsion engine, he settled back in a brand speed to where his fellow Decepticons were congregating.

That he managed to lodge himself inside the pathetic human's own Air Force was merit only to himself.

"**I've infiltrated the femme's carrier! Only a matter of time before our Lord is free"**

And Starscream awaited that moment with a dread filled Spark.

**XxxXxxX**

Pain and darkness. There was a sense of longing that he long have manage to push to the back of his processors. Though recently it became so close that he could feel it within his grasp.

It kept calling, kept screaming, kept begging and kept yarning. It wouldn't stop until it belonged to hands that knew how to use its powers properly. And he knows how.

Revenge.

Over these insects who crawled all over him, taking his circuitry apart piece by piece.

Only the Helplessness stayed his hand. He was Weak, he was pathetic.

But he wasn't far from salvation, not when there was a Decepticon standing to move their ideology forward.

Take back control.

He was Enslaved. _His rage bubbled. Being a slave once have been more than enough humiliation to last him a life-time. It was what led him to violent revolution in the first place – He refused to let it be the __**last. **_

He was immobilized and being chipped away piece by piece by these hairless little monkeys.

He was their Toy.

And he Hated, Hated them, Hated them with such a passion he could feel his rage seep through the very air and tint the energy calling to him so earnestly.

_Soon_. Soon. **Soon. **_**Soon. **_He sang to himself a song of fire and war. Of destruction and Death and then of sweet victory over their slain enemies. Glorious Victory that has yet to come but could be felt within each. And. Every. Spark.

He would end this war _soon_.

The AllSpark sang that song along with him like an eerie echo of his Spark's darkness. Beautifully tainted with his _Rage_.

**XxxXxxX**

"DNA-based computers! Can you believe it is actually possible?" A young woman spoke, amazed, to her companion. She was Maggie Madsen, the only one with guts enough to go against the FBI to actually do her work. She followed her instincts and got results. Her papa would have been proud had she the clearance to tell him.

And to think she was barely out of high school, on the tentative step of flirting with a superior education in some university – she'd go for cryptography and symbolism ever since she read the first book from Dan Brown – Da Vinci's Code, and fell in love with Robert Langdon's life.

She came to America on a full scholarship, studied hard and her merits were enough to secure a seat in the FBI special team. She felt proud of herself, as she should be.

Then there was Glenn.

He wasn't a friend per see, more like an acquaintance. A damn good hacker too.

Once she'd needed him to pick on some security codes protecting an encrypted file she was supposed to break apart. After asking around some friends, she'd found the contact to the allusive little Hacker and called on him, offering to pay him handsomely in exchange. He did it, and since then they have kept in contact in case she needed a more experienced hand in messing with top security.

"Yeah yeah… I think I'm gonna hurl" Indeed… Glenn was pale and sweaty. Must have been that plate of donuts he swallowed by himself. "This is all your fault, you know? If you haven't seduced me I wouldn't be here"

Maggie snorted, eyes narrowing. She didn't answer though, he was right.

But the Secretary Said so himself. If she was to be believed, then she'd better start collecting proof. She did that alright, even if she still felt guilty over Glenn's forced involvement.

Maggie adjusted her seat belt nervously, being the first time that she flew in a Helicopter. Glenn shifted on his seat, rolling the earmuffs slash phones around the balls of his beefy hand. There were other people in there with them.

He was still pale.

A few tense minutes later, and the chopper was safely landed. Someone, maybe an agent, helped Maggie down the flier and she discreetly smoothed down her skirt. No one helped Glenn when he stumbled down the thin stairs and almost took her down when he barreled into her back with a few selective curses.

She held her own curses silent when from the chopper behind their own Secretary Keller climbed down.

Then there was a third Helicopter landing along the first two perfectly in synch. A sense of trepidation flooded her right then. More people? And the feeling only intensified when instead of black suits, from the chopper descended _teenagers_ who looked to be still in eleventh grade. That man, Tom Banackek met with the other Agent that came with the teens.

"Sir… we have a situation. Code 3780" The other agent began, looking not so subtlety at one of the teens – a girl whose hair made a hurricane seem tame – and make a face.

"T-that is… Miss Potter!" Huh… Miss Potter? Black hair, yes, green eyes and that lightning bolt scar… the one and only _Caelum Potter_, flaunty heiress who seemed as shallow as most Beverly Hills' princesses. What was she doing there? "Simon, what have you done?"

"She and I didn't look eye to eye" The Agent actually squeaked like a squeezy yellow ducky. A few pinstripe wearing people appeared like vultures in the scene, joining the other particularly military inclined buffed men or joining the growing circle around the Sec. Def.

This time Maggie really cursed. Low, under her breath.

She's read in some of Glenn's conspiracy theories about the pinstriped people that seemed to pop everywhere there was any figural money making machine.

The problems just multiplied. And by Glenn's excited face, he's realized the presence of the strange suit pattern wearing group.

A sigh left her lips as she marched to meet the Sec. Def. and his entourage.

**XxxXxxX**

No one was aware of the little silver spidery thing that crept out of Mikaela's forgotten purse and tumbled down the Dam with a screech.

**XxxXxxX**

7. D Bridging of Gaps

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The tall gangly woman narrowed her eyes.

She brushed a few strands of her otherwise perfectly coifed blond hair and allowed a weary sigh to leave her modestly painted pink lips. She wasn't a pretty woman, but she was impressive in her own ways. Such as the nearly five inches high heels, the daring graffiti grey executive skirt, stylish shirt and her boss' customary issued pinstriped suit jacket since the beginning of the year. It was a much better choice than what was before: A wine colored gentleman waistcoat with twin tails! And whoever wore hats won brownie points.

She never wore one hat in her life. Only men wear hats. Men and apparently Caelum Potter. Her boss.

Hence the reason she appeared so disheveled – her hair was usually maintained in constant perfection no matter what, and today it decided to fall apart – and it stressed her horribly. Granted, she was always stressed. What with being the Second in Command of the most underhanded and lucrative corporation in the History of Mankind… No. Not even a Corporation… that would indicate more than one boss.

There was only one Boss.

That was enough. Usually.

Hence why such a taskforce of 'managers' that acted more like babysitters than the highly classified officers they were.

To think it all started because she decided to accept a tea offer from a deceptively harmless stranger that might have been a friend of Rose's. She gained a job, status and a growing career. Then she gained clearance that not even World Leaders possessed.

And now… She was about to witness the greatest bag of bones humanity had in its figurative closet.

Gods, she loved her job.

If only her boss wasn't such an immature brat sometimes. But Petunia Evans had to give in a few inches. The person locked in the body of a sixteen years old scarred girl was powerful. Oh? Immortal? She'd not fall for that gag not even if someone paid her!

She did her research… there were a few growth disorders related to the production of some hormones (or lack of it) that made a rare and unfortunate selection of people never cross the borders to their adult bodies.

It was clear Caelum Potter suffered such a disease. And was so embarrassed by it that the poor thing decided to cover up by telling her closest associates – Managers – that she didn't really age, so _please don't be scared that I will look the same in ten years_ thank you very much. And then, went a step further and faked her own death under public eye over and over and assumed a supposed daughter's identity.

It was a good way to catch Corruption through her various Enterprises. Old men could be hardly hold accountable for thinking air head little heiress that was barely out of zit's years was able to aptly run a business. Petunia delighted in finding punishment for such gritty old men.

They were the ones that used to pat her arse when she was nothing more than a recently graduated secretary.

How the mighty have fallen!

The blonde shook her head. Clearing her mind of all mirth and refocusing on the data streaming on the rectangular screen of her hand held personal tablet. It was a precious tool recently developed by one of their Science Labs and it was supposed to be a testing version or something like that.

Petunia, honestly tired of having to handle little delicate telephone screens, jumped right in and secured a concept model.

It was her best friend till today. Caelum said she should name it to make it more personal, and even suggested _Duddley_. Who would name _anything_ Duddley? It suggested bullying to begin with… but the more she chewed on the name, more she came to like it. It was growing on her like an insidious fungus.

Her little tablet named Duddley.

Snort.

Better focus… open e-mail, operation successful – ok – glue a _do it later_ 'post it note' over organizing that schedule for now since it was unclear if Caelum would follow through with it – she often did, surprisingly enough, but she demanded to have at least a week off every two days she was "forced" to work. Petunia could work around that so graciously it was masterful. She was a professional task-manager and an even better Secretary.

Friday sent another encrypted message that she easily broke using a singular algorithmic software installed in her Pad for such uses by the own Cracker. It was unique and a wonderful tool, since if _anyone_ got their hand in Friday he'd be toasted. Literally.

::_Flea in the dog, Dog to the doghouse… bogey man beware_:: Of course it was also riddled. More fun this way. She was particularly good with riddles since she was a little girl, something she had in common with _Rose_…

Now to decipher the hidden message _in_ the hidden message. _Oh…_Oh_! _

"The weather seems quite lovely, an excursion through the Hoover Dam sounds nice" She spoke out loud. Her crispy, cold voice washing around her and catching more than her associates' eyes – they were ridiculously easy to spot thanks to those horrible pinstripes suits.

Her words also caught Caelum's ears.

Her boss' knew Petunia quite well to be aware of her machinations. The green eyed girl tilted her head, pretending to be listening to the words of the other group of people they found themselves with. Smitherson nodded minutely, signaling that he understood as well.

"Isn't Friday a better day?" The gigantic man asked absently playing with the straps of his gun. A few soldiers kept sending weary looks to it but he was adeptly ignoring them.

Petunia frowned thoughtfully, well aware of how intimidating she looked when she did that. "

Even though there are many people around right now, I think the tourists come in mass during the weekend and I don't particularly enjoy large masses" As far as obscenely secretive conversations went, if one knew what they were talking about, then the meaning was obvious. – Friday said there is _one of them _here and _more are coming _soon.

By the way Caelum's face tightened and Smitherson's hand inched toward his gun, she thought they got her message.

Although her work was far from done.

Her fingers cruised on the tablet' screen, typing and forwarding an equally encrypted message to three different IP addresses – One in Japan, other in Brazil and the last one in Canada - all belonging to Friday ::_Wa-ten-dood(1)_:: She also wasn't above petty revenges.

1 – JP: (Wa)kari-mashita – _understood_, PT: En(ten)dido - _understood_ and EN: Unders(tood).

**XxxXxxX**

His Spark was heavy with regret. Bumblebee still refused to meet his optics and he felt shame tricking through his energon lines.

But as he stood there watching the sun rise on the surface of the planet for the first time, he understood something he already gleamed from his interactions with the couple of human children – Sam Witwicky and his lady friend.

The beautiful colors of the day were slowly washing away the night. Dark Blue fading to purple that faded to pinks and reds that danced around each other reflecting on the clouds, then entered oranges and yellows that made this sunrise special. It felt like a new beginning unfolding before them all. A welcoming from the beautifully young Planet they took refuge on, a promise of all the beauty and potential they could eventually find.

And then it was over. The time between night and day squeezed through by the radiant sun. So fleeting, so precious and rare and common… It happened everyday and would continue to happen until this little planet died.

Like Cybertron.

He couldn't let it happen. Not to this planet. Not to the impressively rapidly evolving creatures known as humans.

"Those little guys will be fine" Jazz offered an arm to the smaller yellow bot and Bee accepted with a whine. "Wasn't you who, a breen or two ago was going on about how that Sam youngling went against Barricade? Or how that femme used a… saw? To liberate Frenzy's head from him? They are brave, my little friend… as soon as we have the AllSpark we go after them"

That silver bot has always been able to keep his composure even under worst duress than what they were facing now. Jazz is a special bot made of tough material and could be trusted to keep an eye on their youngest member.

::I know… but I worry… that other femme…:: Bumblebee twittered quietly, sending Ratchet a _look_. Ratchet scowled but nodded solemnly.

"I was not able to scan the human femme… It was like she was surrounded by a dampener shield, I could only read the basics such as her pump and air intake rate" The larger yellow bot shifted, raising a hand to press the light emitters on the side of his helm. "This is what I found" He decided to show them himself instead of sending a data package containing the information since bots like Ironhide and Optimus wouldn't be able to process heavy medical data.

So he processed them and only showed graphics. Everyone understood graphics.

Ratchet's light projector came to life displaying a 3D image of a human's body. Bee twitched, pointing at the image and tilting his head. ::That is Sam!::

"Yes, I've collected data on him in case he needed urgent Medical treatment" Ratchet sniffed, almost as if insulted that he _wouldn't _do so to Sam in the first place. Optimus could sense Jazz' pulsing nerves and Ironhide's grim mood… It all changed to surprise when another human 3D image came next to Sam's digital recreation.

This time there was a thick mass of energy swirling around a clear human femme shaped void. Next to it, a few subtitles and graphics showing normal human function appeared.

The bots couldn't read the energy, but they could see its levels spike and move as if a living thing, and it was terrifying. Something with that much power was at least on the same base levels of Megatron himself.

That little femme was dangerous.

"Frag it… do you recognize the energy signature?" Ironhide asked their CMO crossly, he was on edge.

Ratchet kept the image for a few more moments before turning down his projector. "There are too many variables, but one of them was familiar… I am surprised you didn't see it."

"The AllSpark…" Optimus saw it. "There was a faint outline of radiation that could only have come from the Cube. She has had possible contact with it, but it can't be recent… to have faded that much it must have been at least two vorns" He added, seeing how Jazz, Bumblebee and Ratchet moved thoughtfully.

It was Ratchet who spoke first. "Human's life span, although it ranges from a hundred of their Solar Cycles to half a Vorn, never surpasses more than that."

::I don't believe she is a danger to Sam… remember that she complied with his request to return the glasses, though she didn't show sign of distress upon seeing us::

"I agree" Ratchet nodded toward Bee. "We are still new to this planet; there are many things we do not understand about these humans, so I will not judge so hastily until we've had the chance to meet this femme ourselves"

"Then we better hurry cause the Decepticons are already moving" Jazz winced as he delivered these words, dragging a complaint from deep inside Bumblebee's damaged voice processors.

"We will protect them, old friend" Optimus promised quietly, stealing a glance from the rising sun.

"Why do we fight to protect these humans?" Ironhide, his oldest friend, his protector asked quietly. But Optimus felt the wave in his voice. "They are a primitive and violent race"

He could feel the disquiet in his Autobots' Spark. They _trembled_ under the prospect of what they were being forced to do. _Choose between their planet, their home – and this little unknown planet and its 'unknown' alien race – _It wasn't an easy Choice, but Optimus was decided. He steeled his Spark, venting softly.

"Were we so different?" He asked not expecting an answer and not directing the question solely to Ironhide. They all had to see it. Their mistakes, _his_ mistakes… Their wars and all the conflict, the confrontations, everything that led to this unending conflict. "They are a young species… They have much to learn… But I've seen goodness in them" He paused, his next words would cut deep within his friends, but they had to listen. "Freedom is the right of all Sentient Beings… you all know there is only one way to end this war. _We must destroy the Cube…_"

**XxxXxxX**

While most of the pinstripes wearing buffs stayed behind with the agents, Smitherson – being a Manager – decided to come with his mistress, and Viktor, a promising trooper from their very own small army that was pulled by the mountain man came to help with guarding the CEO and SiC in case things went ugly.

Smitherson was pleased with himself by his choice. Viktor was calm and could think before shooting, meaning he wasn't as trigger happy as most young green horns tended to be. But the boy was a _vicious _pyromaniac… He never went out base without at least one flamethrower.

Then there was delicate lady Evans.

He wouldn't lie and say he wasn't attracted to her… maybe it was a masochistic streak recently found, or maybe he found himself charmed by her bossy manner, or maybe it was because the deceptively demure woman was an ace with a sniper gun. Whatever it was, he fancied himself in love with her. Oh, dear Miss Evans… she was at least ten years older than him but…

Never in his life would he think a middle aged woman so… sexy.

But any way, he dragged his attention from miss Evan's legs – her message was important too – and kept on waking through the small pathway on top of the Dam. He could make out blurry shapes waiting for their procession at the end and cursed the sun for being too bright that he couldn't actually see their faces.

His mistress skipped stones just beside him. He looked closely at the steps she missed and counted. It was a bad habit that he tried to snuffle for years before Caelum told him it could be useful if he kept it. He understood why when in dire secretive situations – such as boringly long meetings with assessors or dentistry incursions, she'd skip her legs or tap her feet in seemingly random ways.

Morse Code. Ingenious way of conversation. ::_We close, pay attention_:: He narrowed his eyes making sure she saw his petulant expression. His boss cackled. She tended to do that when she felt vindictive.

He jumped just as her leg came to try and trip him. Hah!

Tumble.

He righted himself before introducing his face to the Dam's rocks. How did she-?!

Devious little _witch_. He smiled contently. He guessed he _was_ a masochist if he kind of liked his little boss antics.

"Team attention! Present arms!" A commanding voice broke the silence. Smitherson felt the urge to salute as well and grinned when he saw his little boss raise her hand accordingly, though the soldiers were saluting the Secretary of Defence, John Keller.

The old politician nodded. "At ease. Captain, Sergeant" He acknowledged the leaders of the small group of military men. The he continued seriously. "Got your Intel. Excellent Work" What Intel? Smitherson covertly shot a glance at Miss Evans. She nodded his way and shook her head – they didn't know about any of this. Damn government got the best of them yet again.

The tall lean man, the Captain, answered just as grimly. "Thank you sir." He breathed. "What about the gunships?" Heh? Why would they need guns? Ahh, stupid question.

"They are being retrofitted with sabot rounds now" The Sec. Def. announced. It made the tall muscled man pause. Sabot rounds… little anti-armor kinetic energy penetrators. He remembered vaguely his old double barrel slug riffle that could be fitted with said arrow sabots. Little buggers could rip apart metal layers like a hot knife parting butter.

He peered down at the current riffle held in his grasp and smirked. If they thought their sabots were good, they would be totally slack jawed when they saw his little baby. It even had its own Proto infusion generator! It didn't shoot bullets, it shot condescend plasma.

The Secretary kept babbling about something related to communications, but Smitherson wasn't exactly paying attention. He tended to daydream when thinking about guns.

A little.

Petunia was also to blame. She just hummed thoughtfully under her breath in a way that made her sharp aquiline nose scrunch cutely. He looked back at her to witness such marvel and caught the couple of teens being held up by that slimy Sector Seven Agent. Simone or something. Caelum has lagged behind as well and was making her way to where that weird Director had also cornered the pair of high school students.

"We need to know everything you know and we need it now" The director demanded. The boy and that smoking hot girlfriend of his paused. Startled. The girl sneered but lowered her head cautiously. The boy met the Director's eye. Good kid.

"Okay" Sam snapped. "Suddenly you get very brave when that kid is not around, why is it?"

"Obviously because a little girl owns their b-" Mikaela started only to be interrupted by the older man.

"We own nothing to that _little girl_, she will be _asked _to cooperate as well since it's a matter of national security now" The Director practically snapped. The other agent was smirking derisively. Smitherson snorted. Show time.

There was a polite cough.

The two Agents turned around quickly to find said 'little girl' standing there looking pointedly at them.

"What were you about to say?" Both men stuttered. "Mr. Banachek, Simons…?"

"That we should question you about your knowledge of the situation" Banachek recovered quickly and made his escape toward the Secretary's group to ready the start of their _tour_.

Agent Simons raised an eyebrow and smiled plaintively. "You know how to intimidate, kid, nice" He motioned with his hands for the three teenagers to move. Caelum's bright green eyes met Smitherson's grey ones and she winked. He winked back, pleased.

**XxxXxxX**

8. D Megatron BaladL

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The little crowd of people was being heavily escorted through the huge complex that was the Dam.

Director Tom Banachek was debriefing them on what was going on and doing a good job at voice was firm and steady as he relayed the facts even to the Secretary of Defense. He walked objectively and only waited long enough for the group to catch up. It was easy to get lost in a complex this large, but all that a few of the more direction challenged members of the party had to do not to get lost was follow the trail of pinstripes.

While Banachek rambled on, Sam poked Caelum's arm to get her attention. "Why are they wearing pinstripes?" He sounded genuinely curious. Mikaela tilted her head as well, half interested in what the Director had to say. "I mean, the guys who busted us out before were also wearing pinstripes" He pointed out.

Caelum resisted the urge to laugh. She settled with a smirk. "Eh! You are the first one to ever question me about it…" She mused, stealing a peek at her Secretary who was paying deathly attention to every word the Director spewed, almost enthralled. "Before coming here, I used to watch a really old show in the telly that ended around the 90's, recently, the show's been brought back up" Her eyes were positively glinting. "And the second season's protagonist is a bloke who wears a pinstriped suit… so I made it the official uniform for my personal army!"

Smitherson heard what she said and snorted. "You should have seen when she made us dress like Willy Wonka… had a laugh every time I saw my own reflection"

"Pish posh, you loved the twin tails" Sam and Mikaela exchanged a bewildered glance. They knew that the rich girl was insane, but to have it confirmed like that. "That reminds me… Sam, how are you going to pay for the damage those Autobots friends of yours did to my farm house?" Said boy paled. "You can work for me and pay off your debt if you want to" The heiress offered brightly.

"Dues?" Sam asked crossly. Eyes narrowed.

"twenty an hour, double on weekends, medical, transport and security card"

"Deal"

"Sam!" Mikaela looked exasperated at her possibly boyfriend and rolled her eyes. "I feel like you just sold your soul!"

"I take those too!" Caelum voiced cheerfully. For a second Sam looked thoughtful, Mikaela slapped his arm and he smirked at her. She realized he was only playing around and shook her head, appeased.

They kept on the light banter (and ignoring the Director's explanations) until they reached a dark, dank tunnel. The smell of stale water and mold made most gag – mostly Sam who feared his Asthma would make a special appearance. Thankfully it didn't. Smitherson and Viktor took places on either side of Caelum, pushing Sam and Mikaela to a position just in front of them.

Petunia chose to stay behind, sharp blue eyes paying close attention on everything. She was slightly irritated with the situation since she's had to pull on her Boss' clearance badge to have access to most files in the facility, but the thick concrete structure muffled any signal she needed to complete copying the files. There was no land line in sight that she could use too, and she doubted they would let her get away with it. Thus: irritation.

So she sent a discrete message to the tech personel to amp the signal booster project, absently turning the internal wire-less receiver already built in her Tablet.

The Director's voice took a different tone. Almost giddy.

"What you are about to see is totally classified"

And the reason became obvious as the group trailed inside a cavernous chamber. The first thing felt was the biting cold air. Steel platforms were raised in levels around the walls and coils of cables crisscrossed everywhere. There were personal walking busily around with their lab coats or agent suits. Hydraulic pipes formed thick metal sculptures just in the middle of the cavern… and on the far wall on the other side…

_Power. Power. Rage. Hate. I hate. Feel it, revel in it, live by it. Rage. Power. Want it. Freedom. Destroy! _Caelum felt faint. The wave of hatred that was coming off of the frozen being was phenomenal and enough to Dwarf anything Voldemort might have felt a hundred times over.

She had trouble concentrating.

There was something peculiar.

Something edgy that was calling to her, calling to her power.

Megatron couldn't be doing this by himself… the only alternative was if he was receiving help from the Cube…

A harsh tugging on the back of her mind made her green eyes travel to the ice covered form of the Decepticon leader… He had the same aura of power that Optimus had, but this one was corrupted and dark. Corroded by millennia old rage and darkness. She could feel it prodding at her senses. An evil promise of destruction and sweet relief if only she gave in. Tempting.

So tempting.

"Dear god, what is this?" The barely controlled voice of John Keller snapped Caelum out of her trance. She swayed lightly, testing her footing. Megatron's rage was more bearable now that she got over the shock. But one thought kept bringing her attention back to the wave of hatred.

_This is my fault. My fault! If only I hadn't been so complacent with everything! I should have secured him myself instead of letting the __**muggles **__get a hold of him. Merlin! I should have known what they would do… I should have… I shouldn't have listened to __**him**__._

Megatron's armor – or what she could see of it, was shattered… pieces were missing and some circuits were exposed. Underlining all the rage was a layer of pain so deep her knees buckled again. _All my fault! _

_I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! _She cried mentally. There was a responding crash against her shields that made her body tremble. _**Release me! **_Caelum slammed that connection shut.

"We think when he made his approach over the north pole, our gravitational field screwed up his telemetry" Tom Banachek's voice brought her out of her mind. She felt a hand holding onto her shoulders and turned her head to meet Sam's eyes. He also looked grim. "He crashed in the ise, probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1934" The group approached the frozen being as the Director spoke.

The cold penetrated her bones. _Cold. So Cold. In so much pain. The ones who did this will pay!... Kill the Spare!... Cybertron is dead…_STOP! Caelum shivered. The biting icy air made her mind revert back to a state similar to when she met a Dementor and the mixed memories were becoming harder to suppress.

Dementors… she focused on a happy memory. _Sirius holding her in his arms. Warmth traveled from his body to hers chasing away the terrible cold both felt. She felt him grin against her neck. "This is the first human contact I've had in twelve years…" She sighed softly. "Me too"… _the cold was gone.

"We call him NBE one" Simon's rang through the fog of memories. Caelum, although weakened by the emotional onslaught, absently wondered what NB-1 was supposed to stand for… perhaps she should have paid more attention to the Director.

Sam still looked grim. His eyes dark and his arms crossed. He raised his chin. "Well sir, I don't mean to correct you on everything you think you know" That was _so _Sam. "But… I mean… That's Megatron" He finished, looking somberly at the frozen form. "He's the leader of the Decepticons"

Petunia coughed and added. "The leader of the ones hacking your facilities left and right" She pointed out hiding the smugness out of her voice. Banachek shot a glance the blonde's way and nodded.

"He's been in cryostasis since 1935" He said objectively. Then looked at Sam "Your great-great-grandfather made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind" His dark blue eyes were serious.

Caelum forgot her pain for a moment to nudge Petunia. The Secretary understood and made a small note in her tablet. "I will speak with _that_ Lawyer as soon as we go back" the tall woman said silently, adjusting her glasses. Mouth curling in distaste as she mentioned the _Lawyer._

Captain Lennox trailed an inquisitive eye on the lean teenage boy. He wandering what the kid had to do with the situation and now had his answer. War shouldn't be a child's responsibility; he thought back to his own daughter safely at home in her mother's arms and swore to give everything he had to keep them safe.

It wasn't right. He wondered back to the day before yesterday when he was fighting for his life against a giant robot that transformed out of a helicopter. These enemies they were facing were tricky, and as the director kept on talking, dread settled in his gut. A bad feeling speaking wonders of his instincts – they saved his life multiple times so far – so he shuffled closer to Sergeant Epps.

Just a little bit.

Safety in numbers.

His fingers tightened on the handle of his handgun. It would do nothing but tickle and annoy the monsters but he still had the small protection.

And then that Sector Seven guy kept shattering each and every belief he had in humanity. How the little comforts they had today like microcomputers and cars were a direct consequence of reverse engineering parts of the body of one of those war machines. Worse. If Sam was to be believed.

Their leader.

That ball of dread wrung tighter. Then Sam's comment made him blink. "Well, yeah, they sorta came here looking for some cube looking thing" The boy tilted his head at Simon quite pointedly. The agent barely blinked. Unimpressed. "Anyway, Mr. NBE One here" He sneered. "AKA Megatron, that's what they call him" He hurriedly added "who's preety much the harbinger of death, wants to use the Cube to transform human technology to take over the universe" He finished his spiel by lowering his head. "that's their plan"

Will Lennox's bright eyes raised to the beast encased in ice, trailing the contours of the armor and committing it to memory.

NBE-1 – Megatron – wanted to use this Cube to transform? Earth's technology to destroy the universe… seeing as recent news revealed that most of Earth's electronics were kind of spawned off of the monster, the prospect was unappealing…

Damn it!

"Merlin saggy balls!" The short shaggy haired girl mumbled under her breath. She had green eyes like Sarah, but the girl's eyes were more vivid than his wife's. She kept those green eyes of hers focused on the monster, a dark sort of expression washing over her noble face. He didn't blame her.

"Are you sure about that?" Simons asked, for once seemingly taking the boy seriously.

"Yeah" Sam nodded. He had green eyes as well. Though his were a darker shade of green that bordered on hazel…

"Of course it is! Merlin! How daft can you be?! My personnel detected this threat months before any of you were aware!" The girl's voice rose in her anger. The blond woman who followed the short girl everywhere frowned, flipping her tablet to show a few graphics. "See? Weird frequencies affecting communication channels all around the world, Official cars and planes are appearing out of nowhere, meteorites falling in a much higher frequency than what's normal and if you even bothered with small blogs you'd have found accounts of sighting of giant robots since the beginning of the year!" She finished with a hiss.

The agents were completely taken aback. "Miss Potter, how…?" John Keller looked nervous, but kept a blank face.

It was the blonde lady who answered. "You know that Miss Potter possesses one of wealthiest names in the world. Her investments are vast, fruitful and varied. We have, in her name, a top of the line research facility and we own 10% of the satellites orbiting Earth to this day, plus shares in the others. We merely take care of our investments, when we see something that does not belong, we investigate it, chase it and eliminate it" Her voice was as cold as the air around them.

"And why haven't you come to the government officials with your finds?" The Defence Secretary asked crossly.

Miss Potter tilted her head, dark fringe hiding her eyes.. "Would you have believed?" She simply asked, tilting her head. The younger blond with the Aussie accent narrowed her eyes angrily at Keller. "We've tried using official channels to make you aware of our finds, we didn't want to risk the lives of innocents, but for some reasons we kept being ignored - who would believe the threat of an alien invasion was real?"

Tom Banachek and agent Simons exchanged glances. The Director gave a silent signal to the agent who nodded. "Look, as much fun as pointing fingers here is, we have bigger problems" Simons spoke loftily. Gaining a glare from the tall blonde woman with the tablet.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "You know where it is, don't you? The cube I mean" If venom dripped from his voice, no one could blame him.

Will felt his blood run colder.

They weren't this stupid, were they?

Keep Megatron within close quarters to that _powerful _cube thing that could bring Earth's technology to life.

"Follow me" Banachek drawled. John Kelle's face was one of death seriousness. Sam snorted under his breath and his apparently girlfriend laced her hands in his. The shorter raven haired girl shivered, raising her head to meet his eyes. Hazel met green and Will saw the barely controlled _power_ lurking underneath the leaf colored irises. Like a snake ready to pounce. The girl broke eye contact and the last thought that crossed his head as the group fell in place behind the Director was.

_They **are** this stupid. _With all due respect…

**XxxXxxX**

Frenzy dragged himself, dangerously swaying as his processors tried to recalibrate after being his integrity became so compromised.

His four optics were alert as he crawled and spidered his way through an unused water duct, the light blue light the only source of illumination. He sidestepped some organic insects, careful not to crush the things as to not have to deal with cleaning the gunk out of his legs later.

_Closer. Closer. Come closer. I am close. _He heard the song in his very spark and thrilled giddily. He could taste the AllSpark power in the very air now, and as he emerged from his little tunnel and rose his head, his optics met the form of the Cube.

Divine. Beautiful. Powerful. A sense of hope washed over him and was powerful enough to override his darker thoughts. They would use the Cube to conquer, to destroy… but they would also use the Cube to restore life to Cybertron. _It is worth it, worth it. Come closer. _The cube called.

Frenzy dragged himself a few centimeters closer, and Whoa! Tendrils of electricity flowed out of a corner of the Cube and entered his protoform, healing it and restoring it, fulfilling his Energon reserves. He felt better than he ever felt in ages. Soundwave would be so pleased!

He snapped a few photo shots, a few gnarled grumbles leaving his system as the AllSpark finished healing him. ::**AllSpark located**:: He sent with a sense of triumph to his fellow Decepticons.

He had fun with them this season on Earth. He smiled evilly. He also collected a whole HD full of blackmail that he'd share with Soundwave as soon as his master came to Earth. And he could feel Soundwave approaching slowly, almost teasingly.

As soon as he sent the transmission – bolstered by the AllSpark – he felt the thrill of elation coming from the others. Frenzy snickered, preparing to go through the second part of his mission.

Free Megatron from the clutches of these miserable humans.

**XxxXxxX**

There was a jolt.

Not painful, but familiar.

Someone familiar was approaching.

He latched onto it with a vigor bred out of an eternity _alone_ to wallow in his pain. He _pushed, shoved_ and _forced_ the other to join him, feeling the clashing of their Aura against his. He felt when the other' Spark wavered, it clouded itself in fear. He pushed harder, they had no right to deny him, he was their _Lord_.

But the other was strong too. The Aura of Power flickered and started to fade behind a wall, contained tightly within it. He barged and barreled, pounded and scratched at that wall, pouring all his dark feelings into it.

Then there was a sense of regret. _Forgive me_. He felt more than heard and his anger multiplied. Why was it asking forgiveness? It belonged to _him! __**Release me! **_He ordered. But the other managed to slip out of reach, but lingering on the edge of his senses as if teasing him.

The AllSpark was singing again. _Soon. Soon. Soon, they are coming. _He felt, then he felt the fear and shame radiating from the Other. He prodded again and then drew back as if burned. _Slagging pile of scrap! _It sent compassion! As if he needed pity! _The Other is ours, ours, we brought it here, we made it in its image but its power is different than our own. _The call he received from the Cube was stronger.

Something was different.

Something has changed.

He felt the Other's presence grow distant. Not far, he could reach it if he wanted to… but it was a faint communication channel that he shared with his Decepticons that flared to life for the first time in ages that finally brought his building rage to a dangerous shimmer.

::**AllSpark located**:: It was transmitted from close by, carrying his Third in Command signature but not quite… one of his Casseticons then.

**:: This is Starscream: All Decepticons, mobilize:: **That traitorous little glitch was here as well? Starscream must be corroding his circuits in anger that he was being forced to help in _his_ retrieval.

**::Barricade: En-Route:: **

**::Devastator: Reporting:: **

**::Bonecrusher: Rolling::**

**::Blackout: Incoming::**

They thought they were funny... But with each acknowledgement his Spark burnt darker. _Its soon. Soon. Soon. _And then, all his rage froze in his calculating darkness when all his pretty little pawns sang together.

**::All Hail Megatron:: **

**XxxXxxX**

Friday brushed his purple colored bangs out of his unnaturally white eyes – a pair of contact lenses that made a drastic change to his appearance. He wanted to look different that's all.

"Can you lower that damn noise down" His mother screamed like a banshee possessed. She had a spectacular pair of lungs, that one. He contemplated complying to her request for a second before doing the exact opposite, turning on the volume of his sound system to deafening proportions making the black painted window panels vibrate with Slayers.

He didn't hear her screams, nor did he care when his door shook as if someone was pounding on it. The banshee would leave when she realized _he didn't care._ Thank you.

His eyes refocused on one of the computers screens. There were a total of eight monitors surrounding his work table, with three of the fastest CPU in the world. His music muffled the noise of the monstrous machines venting fans but by the gush of warm air against his legs he knew they must be blaring on, overworked.

He hasn't gotten a blink of sleep in three days.

Huh… That explained the huge pile of coffee cups toppling over his bed. He tossed the cups over his shoulder absently when he was busy with computer stuff, which was most of his spare time he didn't spend brooding and darkening the town piazza. Fun. He snorted, finally giving up and securing a pin to hold his fringe from limiting his vision.

News from all over the world streamed in two of the monitors while another one showed stock brokers. The fourth displayed an impressive list of coding cascading down Matrix style – it was actually one of his most brilliant virus divesting down a program security protocol. Beautiful. Another monitor was dedicated to a game of Patience Spider while the last two – also the largest – were showing multiple satellite images, all trailed on a single point.

Hoover Dam.

He went over what that Bitch Evans wanted and snorted. Easy enough, almost not worth the millions he got from the blonde for such a simple job – he would do it though, she already paid half in advance as was usual.

He was to serve as a glorified baby sitter to a damn Dam.

Eh… Look a squirrel moved, boohoo…, Everything was perfectly fucking normal!

Wait…

"Fuck!" His hands trembled when he dialed Miss Evans' number. The line never connected.

**XxxXxxX**

_**AWord**: First sorry about the note.. But I just wanted to say a few things: Hope you guys are liking my OCs... I think they spice things up a little and provide alternative methods. I think Friday is my favorite, haha! He's such an emo boy! Of course Friday is not his real name... ehehehh... _

_Petunia Evans as Caelum' secretary. She loves her job so no worries. Petunia is one of the HP characters I've imported, see that they aren't the same as the original. They might look alike thanks to genetics, but they're essentially another person even if their personalities are similar. Who can guess the second one I planned on adding? I've mentioned them a few times now, but they haven't showed themselves yet (terribly shy!) And now I'm thinking of a third one. I don't know if I should really.. but their personalities will clash wonderfuly with some of the bots and cons hahha! (Hint to my chosing methods: They're all under sixty (Petunia is forty nine) they have some quirks or talents in cannon that might be useful. Like Petunia's obsessed with perfection nature and her hollier-than-thou atitude._

_This all!_

9. D-Frosting Death

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

_His claws curled. _

_Wickedly sharp and dripping with his enemy's energon. It was a heady kind of feeling, to have so much control in his hands when he naturally had none. He felt pressed to seize what control was given to him and jealously guard it._

_It was __**his**__. When one had nothing._

_A growl left his vocalizers. The sound of the thick metal gates moving reaching him. _

_He turned his helm, hearing the clamor of the blood-thirsty mechs who came to watch his killing spree so eagerly. Here in the middle of the arena he was the Master and they responded to his every move. It was grand. Deliriously so. He roared then so full of power, the audience roared with him sharing in his victory as if they had a right to it._

_Another mech entered the arena. He could hide his fear well, but __**he**__ could smell fear from miles away and that mech was drenched in it. All the more flavorful. _

_The fool would offline feeling so much fear. Fear generated hatred. He knew he once feared, feared so much he thought was best to stop feeling at all._

_For a few kliks he wondered whom his new opponent would die hating – He, his murderer or their owners, the executioners. How delightful that his face would be the last thing the moribund would see. He wondered briefly what that face looked like and then shrugged disinterested. _

_The now congealed energon continued to lazily drip. He lowered his claws and shoved the destroyed protoform of his last opponent behind his position. He felt fatigue make his systems stall momentarily. He bowed down to compensate and leaned back on the heels of his pedes, the fore thumbs' claws digging in the paneled metal floor._

_The gladiators pit was not a place for weaklings. And weakness could very well mean the death of him if he dared to show a speck of it. So he swallowed his tiredness and focused intently on the next kill. The mechs he offlined didn't have a face anymore._

_They all blended to look the same._

_Terrorized piles of scrap by his feet. Scum. _

_He was Supreme in his victory streak. The best Gladiator that ever entered the pits._

_He pulled his mouth plates back, showing rolls of sharp long fangs. His enemy trembled, optics fevered now. He lunged._

…

_The memories swirled like a thunderous maelstrom. Tearing and crushing his processors. But he had a failsafe. It was not the first time some fool tried to reformat him to their own uses – when his masters finally got tired of him, they sold him for the highest bidder, and the slave master liked their pets with clean slates._

_He was no fool. So in a rare move on his part, he looked for the old doctor who lived in the pits offering what meager medical treatment to the gladiators who survived. He had, as payment, give away almost all the credits he had collected, but it was worth it to install a security over script coding that would create backups of his memory core to a sub-routine data base hidden in his very Spark._

_It was dangerous and painful._

_But when he finally removed his hand out of a master' Spark chamber he felt all was worth it._

_After that, he could only grow. After all, no one could go lower than the pits._

…

"_Formatting complete." A mechanized voice announced neutrally. He knew that voice. Vector Sigma. It took a few moments for him to remember what was going on, and when he did remember, a slow malicious grin spread on his face. "Designation Megatron: Lord Protector of Cybertron"_

"_Acknowledged" He whispered. Finally __**free**__ to do as he wanted._

**XxxXxxX**

The power fizzled and died.

Red alert lights and the sound of squealing sirens added to the confusion of personnel running around trying to restore power.

Inside the enormous room where Sector Seven had Megatron came a muffled metallic groan followed by the eerie sound of ice thawing. Coming from far away was the impact waves of what seemed like multiple bombs going off at once – but under the Dam's thick concrete walls they barely felt more than a tremor.

In a secure, unassuming control rooms was one of the reasons why.

A child sized metallic creature tittered excitedly as he finished digging out a blood stained shuriken from a man's thigh. The creature ambled toward an open computer terminal where red warning letters blazed almost mockingly.

**Cryo Failule.**

**Pupms 1-7**

**Cryo pumps offline**

There was a sense of giddy accomplishment as the creature sung to himself. "Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!" Belying the nature of its intent when it invaded the computer in the first place. It danced a little and then moved to another terminal where a 2D UV. Picture of a deformed man-like being was.

All the being's body was colored a neon blue meaning cold. The only white spot was the middle of the chest area where it seemed a burst of heat formed. The little creature paused to admire the other's form, tittering again when the thermostats started to rise alarmingly fast.

More of the ice cracked. Water slowly pooling around the tall monster's feet. The insidious cold that prisoned him was finally abating and allowing it to _burn_. A Spark full of black fire that yarned for freedom.

The temperature rose.

It was all their doing. _Burn. _

In another room – Sector Seven's armory – the survivors of Quatar were arming themselves along with a few of the Dam's own troops. The men had grim expression twisting their faces as they pawed at the rifles and grenades, filling ammo pouches and just getting ready for war.

"They are going to free Megatron" A short black haired girl with bright green eyes spoke, ignoring the rushing men and setting her gaze on top of the top Officers in charge. "We should get the Cube and get the bloody hell out of here"

"I don't know if you haven't noticed, but the Cube isn't exactly easily mobile" One of the Agents said snidely. A brown haired teenage boy snorted

"You rather let Megatron have the Cube?" The boy asked snappily. Behind him was a tall raven haired teenage girl who was sneering at the Agent as well. "You know what will happen if he gets his hands on it!" He finished angrily.

The agent sneered right back, huffing and puffing his chest and adjusting a loose strap on his hoister. "Look, I have people's lives at stake here, young man" The hard look in the older man's eyes made the boy's anger grow.

"I can do something about the Cube' size, but I need to be close to it" The green eyed girl announced, swallowing heavily. A few eyes focused on her small form thoughtfully and she shivered slightly, goosebumps trailing up her arms.

"You expect me to condone to your every whims little girl? Can't you see the seriousness of the situation?" He moved closer to the girl prompting a huge, strangely dressed man to step forward and make a motion to raise his gun.

"One step closer and I will not be held accountable" The rough, low voice made the Agent gulp. The girl placed a hand on the tall man's elbow, narrowing her eyes.

The brunet boy scowled. "Maybe it's time you get down from your high horse" But it wasn't the boy who snapped first, rather, it was one of the soldiers.

"Just take us to the cube" The sandy-brown haired man with a golden patch on his right arm violently shoved the agent, holding onto his lapels. His face was tired and angry and he was obviously fed up with the situation. Instantly the Black wearing troops belonging to Sector Seven raised their own guns and pointed them at the wayward soldier.

"Drop it" Someone growled to the personnel. A Blonde woman smartly dressed in an elegant executive suit had her deceptively delicate thin hands wrapped around a tiny gun. It looked like a plastic, diminutive copy of a personalized pimp pistol. By the time she finished speaking, everyone had one fire-arm trailed at someone else's head.

It was almost fully scaling to an outright brawl when a black suit wearing older gentleman raised his voice. "Whoa!" The agent who started this whole mess shifted slightly.

"Drop your weapon, soldier" His face was stone calm and his eyes blank.

"There is an Alien war and you want to shoot me?" The sandy-brown haired soldier asked with disbelief tinting his voice. "You know, we didn't ask to be here"

"I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction" The blank face continued as the Agent spoke calmly.

"Sector Seven don't exist" A Dark skinned man sniffed. The blond woman holding the little gun gave a tiny smirk.

"Right, and we don't take orders from people that don't exist"

"I'm gonna count to five, okay" The Agent was losing composure.

"Well, I'm gonna count to three"

There was a pause.

"Simmons?" An older, slightly overweight suit wearing man cleared his throat.

"Yes sir?"

"I'd do what he says. Losing is really not an option for these guys" The older man continued, turning his eyes to shift through looking at the soldiers' and the agents' stalemate. Simons did the same thing, sweat forming on his brows.

He blinked. "All right. Okay" He allowed flippantly "Hey… you want to lay the fate of the world on the little girl' shoulders? That's cool with me" He ended conversationately.

No one was amused.

**XxxXxxX**

"_When we arrive at whenever it is we're currently going, how am I going to leave this place?" Caelum asked curiously, her legs swinging back and forth as she sat beside a creature thirty times taller than she was on the edge of the Cube. "I remember I died, and it's quite impossible that my body came with me to here and now" It was probably buried under a large condecorative monument meant to honor her 'sacrifice' for ages to come._

_Maybe she would be immortalized like Merlin by the next generations, just like Dumbledore was for defeating Grindewald. It left a bittersweet taste in her mouth that made her heart waver between regret and absolute happiness that she was being given a second chance._

_Her metallic companion vented. She liked to admire the way the starlight played on his armor covered body. "The Cube will take care of that sweetheart, don't worry your pretty head about it"_

_Then the time came._

_She was falling. Colors fading all around her as she fell through what seemed infinity. Her whole being tingled and she couldn't move, not even her eyes – to blink. And then the sensations of being separated in millions of pieces and placed back again and again._

_Power coursed through her body, lighting up her skin, hair and eyes. She felt indestructible, powerful and ready to take on twenty Voldemorts all at once. There was no one who could stop her now. _

_The power shifted, grew and expanded from the confines of her veins to encompass even her tiny toenail. She felt the pieces of herself crumbling like sand, drifting through the wind and being taken away to all corners of the world. She felt aware of everything until the alien power was completely absorbed by her magical core. It expanded to accommodate the power though, bringing an odd sensation of being stuffed after eating too much._

_She looked inwards since she couldn't look outwards._

_Four dancing flames spiraling around a large, bright white ball of light… One of the flames was as dark as night and was composed of three small little interconnected pieces. The hallows' power then. The second flame was a gleaming dark red color, almost the shade of blood, from it she felt dizzying waves of life energy. That must be the Stone._

_Third flame was emerald green, tumbling and playful. She knew immediately that it was her own magic by the familiarity of the bond between them. The fourth though was new. It had a silver sheen and sparkled with electricity. Heh…_

_That left the white ball of light. _

_There was no time to contemplate further, for when she felt she had a grasp of what that light was, she woke up._

_Naked._

_In the middle of a road._

_In 1800._

Caelum's hands were gentle when she reached up to the Cube. That sense of kinship grew within her chest – her powers were wrapping around her in an almost visible aura. Nothing prepared her for the rush of energy being passed between her skin and the metallic covering of the alien relic. Blue lines of pure energy arched around them drawing awed looks from everyone around.

Closing her physical eyes the witch allowed another sense to take control. Peeking at the spiritual spectrum of the world is not something normal wizarding folk could do – but being the sole owner of three parts of Death allowed some benefits to filter through. So focusing on the spiritual form of the Cube, Caelum drew a tight breath, nearly choking on a gasp.

It was magnificent.

Tendrils of energy expanded like spider webs from all corners of the object, astoundingly enough, some ended connected to the heart of a few people standing there with her, the thickest lines led to Sam however, cementing her theories that the boy was connected to the cube for some major plan she wasn't ready to understand.

And she would.

In this master game being played by that god, Primus, she refused to be a pawn even if she agreed to help. And help she would – even if it went against Primus' wishes. She'd help his children as asked, her own way. Like it or not.

The light pulsed, following her thoughts and she shared an amused smile with the Cube general conscience. It wasn't sentient, its own makings leaning more in a vegetable kind of mentality. Grow and reproduce. Not always in that order. Its only goal was life.

But there was something wrong. A dark pulsing cord left the cube and led directly to the large chamber housing the thawing Megatron. It obviously clouded the Cube's energy somewhat but it didn't retract its purity. It reacted to protect its children.

So Caelum whispered to it, tracing the tips of her fingers on the metal, watching and waiting with baited breath as the light surrounding it divided into squares that collapsed into themselves creating smaller cubes until the once large artifact was only a foot high. Her magic reacted wildly making her head whip out in an impressive display.

When she opened her eyes to the real world, it was to realize she was the center of dozens of stares. Most were mystified, but a few were greedy and suspicious. Shaking her head and smiling slyly, the Witch held up her hands.

The AllSpark floated down dutifully to rest on her arms.

There was a nagging pull in the back of her mind. Caelum swayed, dismissing the hand (Smitherson's) that came to help her, ambling drunkenly to Sam's position and dumping the Cube on his unexpected hands.

"It wants you" Was all she said before passing out.

**XxxXxxX**

Friday rushed out of his house.

It was a simple two storey in a nice neighborhood where all houses looked the same save for the odd garden decoration. His Slipknot T-shirt coupled with the baggy pants out of which hung so many chains one had to wonder, a black and purple jacket, thick spiky bracelets and the heeled, steel toed, ankle high boots made him quite unpopular with the neighbors.

And his mother.

She didn't like when he dyed his fringe purple, nor when he decided the natural colors of his eyes – a deep grey – to be too bothersome and best covered by a set of new colored lenses every week. This week's was a white shade that made the pasty white boy look like a zombie. He loved it.

His boots clicked as he ran through the front yard, holstering his bag higher on his shoulder and wincing at the weight. Inside the bag he carried a top of the line lap top he modified himself to serve his needs and a signal booster so strong it allowed him to steal wi-fi from the mall five blocks over.

The electronics were useful though. He needed to contact Miss. Evans as soon as possible. What he saw…

He winced again, a scowl firmly planted on his relatively handsome face. If only he didn't wear so much eyeliner but it was his choice.

"Where do you think you're going young man! You have summer school!" His mother screeched from the front door attracting the attention of their dog. The mutt barked at the noise but Friday ignored them – Dog and mother – and kept on a steady pace toward the bus stop.

He couldn't resist screaming over his shoulder. "Fuck off old hag!" Earphones found their way around his head, his deft fingers pressing on the latest music albums he downloaded – kind of illegally – as he pressed his legs to move faster. To his luck, the exact bus he needed to take to get to Hoover Dam was approaching. It would be a half hour trip, during which he'd continue to try and get in contact with the blonde bitch.

Hey… When giant alien monsters that were the combined wet dream of a jock and a nerd decided to have a death match in a once in a life time showdown, who was he to stay away?

So as he climbed the bus, he smugly waved at his spitting mad mother, preparing to leave Mission City behind.

**XxxXxxX**

"How did she do that?"

"I don't know!"

"We've had the Cube for years and it never reacted like that, to anyone!"

"Our Mistress is special that way"

"Heh, Caelum Potter strikes again"

"What is it that Little girl has hmm? I smell something fishy"

"Besides your BO?"

"Shut up Barbie!"

Groan…

"Shut up she's coming to!"

Another groan… Her eyes fluttered. "How long was I out?" It was Petunia's objective voice that answered.

"A few minutes at most" The bony blonde crossed her arms, looking positively pissed. If the twitch under her eye was any indication. "We are going to have a horrible time erasing records" Caelum winced. She's just blew part of her cover.

When the witch managed to open her eyes, she stared at the circle of heads crowding her. It amused the raven haired girl to no end so she just giggled. "Head rush! It was brilliant!" Her grin was shining with the strength of a thousand suns. Sam swatted her arm, the other hand cradling the Cube.

"Come on, we can't linger around here" Major Lennox spoke slowly, an understanding smile on his face. Tiny as it was. "We can take the Cube to Mission City, it is only a few miles away from here, and hide it there."

The Defense Secretary jumped right in. "Right, good thinking." But his shaky smile faltered when Will Lennox grimly announced a fact they all knew was correct.

"We cannot make a stand without the Air Force." The captain breathed out worriedly. Caelum's eyes flashed. She knew very well the consequences of hiding an object of power in the middle of somewhere innocents could be affected. One of the mistakes Dumbledore committed that she swore would not be repeated.

"Absolutely not!" The short witch shot a glare the Captain's way. "Are you out of your mind! The moment you set foot in Mission City carrying the Cube it will be like a magnet calling every Deception to wreak havoc! By going to the City we will be putting millions of lives in danger" she finished, breathing harshly.

No one said a thing until Petunia's tablet rung. A cheerful tune that completely ruined the heavy mood. The blonde stoically ignored the astounded looks and the shame coloring the soldier's face, opening her Tablet and reading the message received. Her eyes widened conceivably.

John Keller's eyes widened. "You got a signal!" Whispers broke among the military men as Petunia ignored them. "Quickly, we must send word to the Military!" The blonde held up a finger.

"First, we are late. I have people monitoring the satellites for Decepticon activities, and I've just had it confirmed. We are under attack. The bridge is destroyed" Her voice soured as she mentioned Decepticons.

"Then we better prepare for the worst" Lennox whispered darkly. His green eyes found Caelum's and he gave her a small smile. "Thanks for pounding sense into my head…" Then he turned to Petunia. "Please, send word to the Air Force that we need reinforcement" The blonde secretary nodded professionally, already typing on her tablet.

"On it, sir"

"Seal all passages to the Dam! I want a small force defending the water barrage and another force with me – We will not let those freaks touch the cube, this is our planet, we defend it!" Tom Banachek barked out his orders. His men – easily recognizable because they were all wearing black snapped to attention. Lennox's men turned to their Captain.

The young captain moved to follow Simons. "We have to secure the Cube's safe removal." He pointed to where Sam and Mikaela were quietly huddled together, alien relic snuggly between them.

"Will the Autobots come?" Mikaela asked tiredly.

Sam nodded, eyes hard. "They will, they want the cube as well so they will come. I only hope they get here in time"

Caelum looked pensively at the boy, then at the group of men rushing out to the outside of the fortress. "I will go with them, Smitherson, Petunia, you stay with the kids. Viktor with me, we have a Dam to protect.

She smiled grimly. Inwardly regretting that promise not to change things too much. She could easily secure Megatron again, but she must allow his escape… she clenched her fists, wind picking up around her. Things are going to go south very soon and very hard.

**XxxXxxX**

10. D Dawning Battle

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The convoy of highly expensive cars raced down the highroad following the direction of the coordinates given by the glasses. In some way they had to thank Megatron for that, but none of the bots felt even minutely inclined to thank the deranged con leader. Optimus pressed the speed, mindful of the human vehicles trafficking around him. His engines rumbled like the roar of a wild animal, he sent a comm. to his officers.

::We must hurry… I feel that our time to act is passing if we don't get there soon:: The warmth of the rising sun was heating his gleaming hood. His vents were working overtime to compensate and he could feel the rubber of his eight wheels being left behind as they squealed rebelliously.

This planet's atmosphere and poor road conditions offered too much friction. Bumblebee sent a worried blip, Jazz sent one as well. ::I fear you are correct, Prime, seems the humans' communication channels have been compromised. It might prove a problem if they have to mobilize, and they will have to – Deceptions just ahead:: The SiC low voice was serious, and in all the years he has known the lightsparked warrior, Optimus knew his friend was feeling as personally responsible as he, himself, felt.

::Sam and his mate are still within Sector Seven's hold:: Ratchet sent. ::From what we managed to uncover, the Hoover Dam where the Cube is located belongs to them:: He sighed. ::Our problems just multiplied::

They traveled in silence for a few more miles until they reached the intersection that would take them to the Dam.

**XxxXxxX**

For a moment, time stopped. To the technicians in charge of taking care of the frozen monster in the Cryogenesis chamber, it signaled the end of their life as they knew it.

Or just the end of their lives, period.

The Ice finally cracked. They heard a metal moan in protest, and the sound of ice shards shattering on the stone floor. Water covered the polished stone and made a few running men slip as they tried to run.

But it was too late.

"Cryo generators failing!" Someone screamed just as the creature they spent years working on moved for the first time. It swayed and kicked off some shards, stretching and cracking its knuckles in a mockingly human way. Yellow and red optics came online and the creature roared, jumping and ripping apart pieces of equipment, making the steel platforms give and crash on the ground. A few unfortunate scientists not fast enough to run fell along with it, still encaged and consequently crushed by the falling metal.

Water lines hissed vapor creating a hot and cold atmosphere. The creature's face stretched into something similar to a grin. "I am Megatron!" It cried, jumping and transforming into an alien looking tetra jet.

Megatron was acting with a single thought in his head. He had to have the AllSpark. Its presence calling to him like an exotic perfume only he could smell. His powerful jet form cut through the air and for the first time in decades he could feel the sun on his protoform.

He didn't had the time to enjoy it for long, however. Pushing his gears he executed a perfect loop, transforming and landing gracefully. A second engine joined him and his SiC Starscream landed next to him.

"**Where is the AllSpark?**" Megatron growled out the question. Starscream didn't show fear but instead he preened and took flight, hovering using his propulsors. Wings' proud and high.

"**The human youngling has it, my Lord. The humans think they have a chance escaping us, but we will crush them**" The Seeker sneered. Megatron felt the pull of the Cube and took off heading toward the Dam's bridge. "**The others will be here soon, Blackout is closer, but Barricade, Bonecrusher and Devastator ground modes have to endure human roads**" Starscream continue to relate following after his leader.

As soon Megatron's claws sunk on the bridge's concrete, a barrage of bullets hit his armor viciously, and he was forced to raise an arm to shield against the onslaught. Just on the other side of the road, a line of human insects were shooting for whatever they were worth. But Megatron's armor was far superior than their meager attempt.

"**You dare stand on Megatron's way?**" The Decepticon leader shouted in rage. Twin rocket cannons came undone from under his protoform to shoot the humans. The little organic creatures jumped out of the way but the resulting explosion made them scatter. "**Die!**" More rockets were shot. A few of the humans fell down the Dam screaming in fright while the others tried to desperately escape.

Megatron's head turned, the Cube was getting farther away. He grinned dementedly and gave pursuit, sending a note to Starscream. ::**Take care of those insects!**::

His sharp pedes left dents on the concrete as he took off through the Dam's top, just to be spiteful, he shot a single rocket that hit its mark with deadly accuracy. The middle of the Dam's concrete structure… The shot exploded, making concrete and metal fly, a shot of water that rapidly gained pressure brought a malicious feeling of satisfaction to his Spark. If he calculated the water pressure being held back by the colossal structure, than the humans would have a hard time preventing a catastrophe.

With a last look at his handwork, Megatron re-started pursuit of the AllSpark. His own Spark singing in bloodlust.

What he didn't count on was a single Witch being there.

The Dam's personnel had practically given up. The damage was deadly. The hole created by Megatron would grow as the water pressure took apart the sealing structure and it was already looking dreadful. Cracks were spreading along the once pristine wall, and from those cracks more water started to flow.

The soldiers responsible for defending the wall were either dead or MIA, and when Caelum arrived in the scene was to find total chaos.

"Miss you have to run! The whole wall will crumble in a matter of minutes!" One technician grabbed Caelum's arm and was ready to drag her away, but Viktor pushed the frantic man away. "It's your head then" the desperate man shot Caelum and Viktor one last look before taking off as fast as his legs could carry him, joining the throng of people trying to escape as well.

The Witch's face was determined. Viktor's dark eyes were stone hard. "Mistress… If the Dam breaks the City will be flooded" He cursed in Swedish under his breath. "_When_ the Dam breaks" He corrected. Caelum took a deep breath, directing her heavy gaze to him.

"Do you know _my secret_?" She asked with calm she didn't really felt. When Viktor shook his head unsurely, she continued. "I am a Witch" She declared nervously. "And I will do whatever I can to avoid this disaster, even if it means sacrificing my secret" She turned back to the crumbling Dam, raising her arms to the direction of the wall. "While I concentrate, I will need you to guard my back."

"Roger" The mercenary saluted, sliding the straps that kept his rifle securely hanging off his shoulder and priming it.

"_All Natural elements possess a high resistance rate to our Magic, that's why elemental spells are harder to perform, a witch or wizard needs to have a bond with an element before attempting to introduce their magic to it." Hermione's droning voice made Caelum and Ron's head bubble. _

"_What about the aguamenti spell?" Caelum asked lazily drawing circles on the study table. Hermione actually looked surprised at the question. _

"_There are simple elemental spells that are easily mastered, aguamenti is one of them, the water creating spell – it's not really creation per see, but an illusion of water like any conjured objects, the water will eventually disappear. That's why it's not so used in the Mediterranean deserts, contrary to the Aqua Loquis charm - which can locate bodies of water underneath the ground"_

"_What do we need to do to control the elements?" Ron asked, a little more interested now since Cae was apparently paying attention. _

"_One must first have an affinity, like I first said, or have an exceptional amount of power __**and**__ control. The FiendFire spell is so powerful and uncontrollable that while anyone who knows how can cast it and has power enough, only very powerful wizards can actualy control it"_

_Power and Control._

Power and Control.

Caelum had Power… now about control… her gaze focused intently. She had control and focus. Her magic exploded away from her body and with precise finger movements, she started to weave.

Caelum took a deep breath. Magic leaking from her hands to concentrate on the air above them. She knew she was a powerful witch, but the power needed to go against a rampaging river was going to tax her to the extreme, so she'd do it slowly to minimize the recoil of magic. With a sharp pull on her core, she controlled the magic already in the air to form a translucid net. The ethereal creation shimmered under the sun as it grew to compensate the size of the wall.

Then, with delicate handwork, she conducted the magical net to wrap on her side of the wall, stopping the flow of water and securing the structure so that no new cracks could appear, or the existing ones grow in size. The water sloshed and bubbled through the hole her net covered like a thin plastic wrapping. The hole formed a weird eye in the middle of the wall and was increasingly attracting attention.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face.

Step one complete. Now to fix the damage done to the gigantic thick wall. It was a shame a simple reparo spell wouldn't do… she would have to go about doing it the old fashioned way.

Filling hole by hole. Crack by crack.

So she began… slowly but surely, the cracks on the right side of the wall started to mend, filling and then disappearing leaving unmarked concrete in place. From left to right.

So concentrated Caelum was on her work that she missed when hell broke loose around her…

**XxxXxxX**

Petunia Evans was thankful that she's had thirty years to get used to wearing heels. And consequently learning how to run in them. "The signal I had is lost, I can't contact them now" The blonde woman dodged a few pieces of falling debris with expert precision.

Besides her were the Defense Secretary and Agent Simons, and dragging a wheezing Glenn, Maggie was a little behind them.

She's decided to stay with the Sec. Def. instead of following with Caelum's idea. She thought it would be better since she had the only means of communications in the form of Dudley the wonder Tablet. A voice in the back of her head was against going contrary to her boss' order, but another one knew that the little heiress wouldn't really mind if it was for a just cause.

"We have to find the signal or another shortwave radio" The Sec. Def. pointed out, trusting Simon to guide them up the surface where Petunia's chances of finding a signal were much larger than standing behind several football field' worth thick walls.

As they reached the topmost part of the wall however, they had to stop and gawk.

There was a huge hole in the middle of the wall. By all means, the thing should have crumbled by now and the water released on its way to flood the area bellow. But as it was, the water was contained by a thin semi-solid membrane that sparkled under the morning sun. Then there was the fact that the cracks ruining the wall' structure were slowing healing away as if being filled out by a team of invisible fairies.

"I got a signal" Petunia squeaked, not believing her eyes but hearing the blip her tabled emitted when it filled out a little bar.

Agent Simons grumbled a few unintelligible under his breath, but his eyes weren't on the wall, instead they were trailed on a silent trembling figure standing right in the middle of the bridge, arms above her head as if coordinating an orchestra only she could hear. There was a moment left for the shock to settle in.

That little girl was fixing the wall.

How?

Was it the Cube? Was she one of those NBEs?

"Send this message to the Air Force" John Keller trailed off a series of key words to Petunia, she easily typed them and sent the message. All of them breathed easier when the confirmation came from the Air Force commander, they were going to come and cover for them.

Glenn, Maggie and Simons were still staring wide eyed at the miraculous sight.

"Is that for real?" Glenn.

"Yeah" Maggie.

"I can't believe it" Simons.

"Me neither" Maggie.

"Pinch me?" Glenn.

"Yeah" Simons.

"Ouch! You didn't have to really pinch me you know?!" Glenn.

"You asked for it" Simons.

Petunia shook her head at their antics. She'd let disbelief take her away at a later date when they didn't have to deal with the fate of the Earth hanging around their neck. Literally. Although, in a way, she has been warned about her Boss' power, hadn't she? _I am a witch! _But the only witchcraft that Caelum ever did in front of them was cheap party tricks like conjuring flowers or turning off the lights with a wave of her hands.

... And harmlessly turning any metal into gold... Well... I looked like a party trick at the time.

The elderly Secretary adjusted the grip he had on the semi uzi he was carrying. Petunia eyed him for a second, curious about the man and making a mental note to research more about him later.

"I didn't know the Air Force acted this fast" The overweigh hacker commented suddenly, his head turned to the sky. Petunia looked up as well just in time to see a F-22 jet perform a stunt no _human_ pilot would have been able to pull off without passing out of sheer oxygen deprivation, their brain not able to handle– thanks to the speed.

"They aren't" John Keller frowned. The jet was approaching them now, graffiti paint job practically absorbing sunlight. "Run!" The Sec. Def. snapped to action, pulling on Maggie's arm just as she took hold of Glenn' sleeve to drag him along. Agent Simons' face blanked of emotion as he assumed guard position.

Their little group ran the only way they could.

"Go back! Go back!" A frantic pinstripes wearing soldier screamed, he waved around the rifle he had. Petunia's heart leapt to her throat.

They would lead the jet straight to Caelum's unguarded position.

"Go back!" She screeched in panic. But the others were too worried to listen and kept on running. There was a low keening noise as the previously F-22 jet broke within itself and transformed into a being with similar form to that of Megatron, only a lot shorter and less human shaped.

The being screeched and warbled in an alien language. Caelum swayed lightly and then stilled, her movements stopping mid motion – the net holding back the Wall faltered, blinking in and out of existence. "**Are you afraid, little insects? You should fear Starscream!**" He – the voice was clearly a male's, finished the exclamation by lifting a heavy looking barrel mounted to the shoulder's armor.

"Down!" John Keller raised his weapon and shot.

One of the bright red lights on Starscream face exploded, melted metal from the sabot bullet falling to the ground. The alien screeched and clutched at his face in pain. The Secretary shot two more rounds, joined by Agent Simons. Petunia could see where the shots got through the armor by the dripping blue liquid pooling at the giant being's feet.

Enraged, Starscream prepared to lunge, running and full speed at the small group of cowering humans and one out-of-it witch… His feet clawed deep marks on the concrete as he ran, face contorted in his rage.

There was a second in which time stopped. Petunia honestly could say she stared death at the face and resisted the urge to laugh – she was too busy screaming herself hoarse. Glenn and Maggie, the pair of hackers huddled together in a trembling knot of limbs, the boy was bawling his eye out. Agent Simons positioned himself in front of the Secretary, bracing himself, face grim while Viktor shielded Caelum, who was still catatonic.

Petunia just stood. Paralyzed. Clutching her Tablet tightly to her chest.

"Eat Scrap Decepticon Scum!" A moment she could see Starscream melting face right in front of her, roaring in rage and oozing blood-lust, the next moment a tall dark colored alien appeared, shooting at Starscream from a pair of cannons mounted on his arms. The flier stumbled, blue blood splattering all around them – some of it on Petunia herself, she hoped it didn't stain.

Though when her skin started toitch and bubble as if burnt, she admited to have a bubble of worry swell in her chest. She tried to wipe the blue, ozone smelling stuff thr best the could from her exposed skin - mainly her neck and colarbone, aware that she must keep an eye on the aliens' fight.

she would get her skin looked at later.

"**Gahh! Autobots!**" Starscream moaned, dodging another barrage of shots from their Autobot savior. He took to the air, counter attacking from above – but his advantage didn't last long, for soon the screech of wheels could be heard and more Autobots joined the fray. "**You will pay!**" The jet was back, leaking blackened smoke and sizzling at where its armor has melted.

"Come back here and face us like a true mech!" The black Autobot demanded hotly, keeping up with his plasma attacks. Starscream ignored the taunting and took flight, heading away unsteadily. "Meh, coward"

"Thank you Mr. Autobot" Petunia was proud of herself for not stuttering. "But you were late, Decepticons invaded the Dam and we were forced to evacuate the Cube along with the kids" This attracted five pairs of blue optics. "The Decepticon leader has followed after them"

"We are sorry" The tallest one – Optimus according to Sam – spoke solemnly. "We will take over from here" He promised, already running along the length of the wall to reach the other side. "Jazz, stay here and cover for them if necessary" The leader ordered. A relatively shorter silver colored bot nodded, giving a thumbs up.

"Sure thing bossbot" His accent was that of a gangster, Petunia found. She shook her head, frantically searching for Caelum now that they were safer.

The raven haired girl was still trembling, but looking at the Wall showed that the fixing process was coming along nicely. A few more minutes and it would be as good as new.

Jazz twirled a glowing blade between his hands, looking wide-eyed at the healing wall. "That sure ain't something I see every day!" Glenn nodded empathically.

"You and I both man"

The sun glinted on something. From the corner of her eyes she noticed something. It gave her warning enough to duck out of the way.

Just in time too...A pair of silver shurikens skived just millimeters away from where her head had been.

There was a grunt of pain.

Viktor fell to the ground, the shurikens buried deeply within his chest and torso. His eyes were wide and blood dripped from his half parted lips.

He had been standing in front of Caelum. Took the shot meant for her.

She saw Jazz move in a flash and crush something beneath his feet.

Caelum jerked and screamed.

"NO!"

**XxxXxxX**

"_NO!"_

Friday jerked awake. His whole body ached terribly. Taking a look around himself though, proved an unwanted answer as to what happened.

Apparently, the bus he was in had been attacked by something that tore it cleanly in half. He was sitting close enough to the exit door that he escaped relatively unscathed, but others didn't have the same luck.

There was a woman still holding on to her child. Both crushed by the weight of the bus. Friday averted his eyes. His face stung, so he raised a hand to wipe at it – a mixture of blood and tears. Pain flaring from his forehead alerted him as to why there was so much blood.

His hands shook as he palmed around for his computer.

He found it broken into pieces outside the bus.

_Message sent: "Saw creeps crawling on top of your place, using new signal booster, its fucking awesome, I'm on my way there to watch the show" changed forms and became something the Bitch would approve more. "Enemy sighted in your location. Signal booster testing: success, on my way"_

_There was a flash of light. The bus swayed then the sound of metal groaning came to his ears. People started to scream. From outside the window, he could see a military tank break down and transform into one of those monsters. It sneered and kicked the bus. **"Catch it!" **It spoke in a language he _didn't_ understand. There was a second flurry of movement and noise._

**_"Megatron is waiting for us! Don't dawdle!" _**

**_"We're just having fun"_**_ Another of those creatures seemed to grumble._

_A Police car cut through traffic. **"Let's go"**_

**_"Fine" _**_Three monsters… three monsters… Friday only had time to get his head between his knees when a glowing metallic sword cut the bus in half. **"It was standing in my way" **_

_After that his world went black._

Nausea clenched in his guts. He liked dark things, he liked violent things, but this? More tears dripped down his face. This was merciless slaughter.

His head ached. A pain that was spreading slowly through his body, just like a poison… It hurt to think, but something told him not to pass out… Concussion… if he had one, passing out would be bad.

Darkness encroached on the edge of his vision.

_Can't sleep damn it!_

_Maybe just a little blink…_

_..._

_Think you can stop me, boy?_

Darkness was a sweet mercy.

**XxxXxxX**

11. D First Blood

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

Pain flared hotly in her body. Her magic was reacting wildly; it was becoming harder to control her powers to do her biddings. It was fighting back now, harder than before. She lost concentration thanks to the presence of a malicious Cybertronian near, but couldn't spare more than the passing acknowledgement that it was there.

There was some fire exchange. Pain flared inside the Cybertronian. _Not her pain. Focus. _Then the pain was pushed aside and a malicious intent took control. She felt her knees weaken as the urge to _do something - badthings - _grew.

But if the Wall broke, the consequences would be greater.

_Focus._

The malicious Spark was gone. Another Spark approached. Then another. she couldn't warn them. There was a shout. A scream, more screams. A grunt. The scent of Blood reached her nose. The Spark extinguished.

A moment frozen in time. Then…

Pain exploded in her chest as a backlash of energy hit her directly. The evil little Spark was gone.. _- into her, she felt it! - _Gone_._

"NO!" Was that her voice? Magic convulsed. Her body sagged, not responding.

Soon more pain flared, like the first time – the result of energy backlash.

And then… everything went white.

**XxxXxxX**

There was a faint sense of dread crawling inside his stomach like tiny little spiders with their little legs. His arms were starting to go numb from holding the Cube shaped relic so tightly to his chest, and despite the fact that his hands were a sweating mess, he persevered.

No Sacrifice, No Victory.

"Everything is going to be fine, Sam, we are not going to let those Decepticons get to you" William Lennox patted the boy' shoulder in a comforting gesture. Mikaela traded glances with him and he could see the worry building up in her bright eyes.

There was a moment of silence in which he spent staring at everyone sharing the speeding SUV. The captain and the lieutenant, Robert Epps – a short, buffed dark skinned man – Both were grimly watching the road that led back to the Dam. The one driving the car was a pinstripes suit wearing man. An almost 7 feet tall man with so many bulging muscles it was like watching a springier version of _Harold Swashineger_.

Following after their car down Kingman Access road was two other SUV filled with soldiers as well. And while they were there to help protect them, Sam was starting to feel edgy about so many sacrifices for one single Cube. From what Optimus said, their whole planet has been ravaged by a war sparked by the deceiving looking thing. All those lives lost – Autobots, humans and even Decepticons. It was straining an apparently useless war too much.

Ok. The Cube was powerful. But Sam couldn't honestly see what was the appeal.

_Caelum's body was completely taken by an electric blue aura. Her green eyes were glowing, he never seen anything quite like it in real life._

Maybe not an appeal he could understand.

But Caelum Potter… what was her deal with the Cube? Was she a cybertronian disguised as a human to scout their planet? As soon as the thought came it went unbidden. He didn't believe himself anyway and he felt the green eyed crazy haired girl was _safe_.

"I know" Sam mumbled to answer Will's first words. The sandy haired man snorted, offering a smile that was reciprocated though Sam could tell his own face was grim.

His probably girlfriend shot him a playfully goading look. "You know, we are close to Las Vegas, always wanted to go see the lights"

"Yeah?" After all he's seen and learned today, he would never look at the world the same way ever again. Mikaela must have sensed his mood, for she just smiled tightly and held onto his sleeve.

There was no warning when the car swayed, wheels burning as the pinstripes guy did what he could to avoid the barrage of bullets that came cantering down on their side. A few projectiles pierced the roof of the car, but thanks to the angle, the shots crossed the chassis and escaped through the windows – that shattered.

"**The Cube, where is it?**" A metallic hand came down gripping the roof of the car and shaking it. Sam clutched at the cube tighter, but Megatron's hold was short lived, for he heard a grunt and then the muted sound of an automatic gun going off full force to drive bullets inside Megatron's armor. The Decepticon leader let go of the car and ran back, grasping the ground mounted gun and crushing it with so much easy that Sam felt his guts clench.

"Run Sam!" Mikaela grasped his arm and began to pull him away from the car. Will and his men were already armed to the teeth and opening fire against the Decepticon leader. The sabot rounds doing their job and melting bits of armor. She stumbled down the road and guided him to the desert, behind a few rocks.

They crouched behind the boulder, hearing shooting noises and screaming. They heard Will's voice barking orders and more shooting noises. There was blast and someone screamed. Then there was a metallic face sneering maliciously upside down their hiding.

"**Slagging pests, the Cube, now!**" The being that wasn't Megatron demanded. Dust kicking up around them thanks to his rotating motors.

Sam didn't have to think twice, he picked a large amount of dust and threw it at the Decepticon's face, temporarily blinding it. Mikaela stood along with and both ran like hell deeper in the desert while their chaser tried to clean his optics, spewing curses all the while.

Huh… Is that a mirage?

The sun was glinting on something yellow rapidly approaching.

No, it wasn't a mirage. "Bumblebee!" Sam screamed.

"Bee!" Mikaela joined, waving her arms. The scout drove closer until he was a few meters away from the pair of humans. There was a rumbling sound and then Bumblebee was transformed, armor sizzling under the heat of the sun.

'_Get _(sizzzl) _back!_' The yellow bot sent, crouching so that he could stop a tackle from their chasing con. The other mech was about twice the mass of Bee, but their savior bravely stood his ground.

"Sam, the Autobots are here!" Will came, brandishing his rifle and not wasting a second, aiming and shooting at the red eyed con wrestling – and winning – against Bumblebee. "I guess you knew that" The soldier mumbled, watching his handiwork. The con staggered, the shots of sabot rounds piercing his hide and allowing Bee to use the tiny holes as grappling nodes to stick his fingers in.

From the other side of the dust cloud, they could hear fighting and see small flashes of light. The ground shook as the bots and cons ducked it out. Megatron's angry roaring a dead giveaway of just whom he was fighting against.

"**Optimus Prime!" **

Until another con showed in the picture, a con the pair of humans was intimately familiar with. Barricade came cantering down the ground, transforming mid leap and bringing down his blades in one of Bee's arm. The bot cried out in a broken voice, clasping at the mangled, blue leaking limb.

Bee tried his best to shield the three humans, but two against one and a half – Will providing some support counted as a half against a con – wasn't enough to impede the two beyond reason mechs. Sam winced as Bee's armor was becoming mince metal at the claws of the cons, wishing there was something he could do to help. His tentative friend was covered in dents and cuts, and the blue blood thing was increasingly pooling around his wobbling feet.

"Oh no, you won't!" To the human's (and Bee's) relief, the yellow form of Ratchet elbowed Barricade with enough force to send the con a few feet back. Bumblebee braced against one of the rocks mindful of his useless arm. With the smaller yellow bot out of the picture, Ratchet arms glowed as he pulled out a pair of futuristic looking blades oddly reminiscing of scalpels. "Come on play doctor, Blackout" The CMO taunted almost in a sing-song voice.

Sam, Mikaela and Will traded looks, the older man fighting back a groan at the bad pun.

But the soldier snapped back to attention when Bee started to shoot at the snarling form of Barricade. Will joined him in keeping the smaller con occupied dodging bullets to interfere with Ratchet and Blackout's fight.

Ratchet wasted no time to start carving at the con using his glowing scalpel blades. Blackout tried to defend himself, being a long distance hitter instead of close combat as Ratchet was. Now Barricade would have had a better chance, but the con was otherwise occupied by Bee and Will who were using him as target practice.

"Sam! Take the Cube to Optimus!" The yellow combatant doctor dodged the arm hammer aimed at his head, retribution came in the form of a well-aimed blade tearing at the circuitry at the con's neck, almost severing the head. Blackout staggered back, clutching at his sizzling neck with rage written all over his face. "Never play doctor with a mech who knows how to dismantle you slowly" This time will face palmed.

Sam shook his head, adjusting his grip on the Cube and following back the way he and Mikaela first came.

Overhead, the sound of aproaching jets made their hearts lighter. Cavalry arrived.

Will silently smiled, throwing a cilinder at Barricade.

It was the cue the overflying jets were waiting for.

**XxxXxxX**

"**So we meet again, brother" **Megatron sneered. His face a picture of simmering rage, past beyond the stage of simple anger. He was furious.

"Megatron" Optimus allowed, battle mask hiding his frown. His Autobots were fighting alongside the few human soldiers to keep the other cons at bay, the brave little creatures never faltering against the much bigger enemy, and were trusting his men to guard their back – and Optimus could see that Ironhide and Ratchet appreciated and were grateful.

As the two bigger bots started to trade more than words of contempt, Ratchet sent a short note. ::Bee is in trouble, going to back up::

::Affirmative:: The leader sent, planting a fist on Megatron's chest plate and receiving a swing to his side. Weary, the Autobot leader decided to up and amp and took off his sword out of sub-space, pairing Megatron's claws just as he was about to deliver a crippling blow to the bot's chest.

Ratchet dashed in search of Bumblebee, leaving Ironhide to deal a last decisive shot in the middle of Bonsecrusher's chest, clearly glancing the Spark within if the look of pure panicked fear that blossomed on the con's face was any indication.

For a klik Optimus felt sorry. But was forced to let go of his grief for the moment as Megatron became even more aggressive… Ironhide ducked out of Devastator's way, but wasn't fast enough and ended with half his legs gone.

The Weapon Specialist just showed his energon-thirsty side by transforming both his arms in his prized plasma cannons. A few of the human men huddled closer to the fallen warrior and joined him in defending against Devastator's attacks. Since none could dodge, the con was having an easy time damaging Ironhide and the humans. But then, the sound of aproaching jets made the men cheer. Someone three a signalizer, for a bright orange smoke now envolved Devastator.

The fight kept on like this for a few more moments, drawing out their pain and terror. From the corner of his optics, Optimus saw a small wavering figure approaching where he and Megatron were holding in a stalemate. The Autobot' sword scattered as was Megatron's rifle. The con had his claws dug deeply in the bot's armor, but Optimus had a tight hold of Megatron' shoulder.

"Sam! Quickly, you must put the Cube inside my chest!" The leader bot half begged half asked. By combining the Cube with his own Spark, the overload of energy would destroy them both and hopefully Megatron since he was standing so close "The Cube must be destroyed, Sam" The young human eyed the two towering Cybertronians with a lot of unreadable expressions cycling through his face.

Megatron snarled a few words in broken, raspy English. "You frail, pathetic little creature, hand me the AllSpark and I might spare your useless lives!"

"As if! Optimus, I'm coming" Sam's face betrayed his grim determination, but there was a glint in his eyes that inspired something deep within Optimus. The boy was special, they've known from the start, but to see the little human blooming and growing like this was rewarding. Humans had so much potential…

All of sudden, his previous decision of having to sacrifice the AllSpark cemented…

The con's leader thrashed anew, ripping parts of Optimus protoform as he went, but the leader bot simply held on, ignoring the sharp pain and the emergency alerts going in his systems. Multiple system failures was nothing new to the seasoned leader, and from witnessing Ironhide's steel determination coupled with the human's wiliness to help gave him strength.

**XxxXxxX**

Their visual was horrible. How to diferentiate friend from foe? The giant metalic beings were ducking out with each other, and the thick cloud of dust obscuring the battle made things harder...

The jets descended, there were some human men fighting along side the robots too... Some one down there must have seen the Air Force jets, for the next second a colorful orange smoke bloomed. There was their mark. The jets opened fire.

The robot they were aiming for transformed into a Tank and returned fire.

**XxxXxxX**

"Sam, the Cube, now"

Sam dashed, leaving behind the dark haired femme behind. The girl took only a few seconds to run after him, rebellious loyalty written all over her eyes.

"_No_!"

Megatron screamed, his sparking yellow-red optics following the boy as he ran to their position. Optimus struggled to keep the enraged Con in place, and was barely managing as it was, if Sam didn't get there soon, he'd lose hold of Megatron.

"Quick Sam!" Optimus opened his chest plates, aware of the risks of exposing his Spark to Megatron. The con's attention was immediately drawn to the pulsing light within the Autobot's leader chest, a kind of desperate understanding making his lips curl and sharp serrated teeth grind.

The tall red and blue Semi twisted his knees, bringing down both he and Megatron to a level closer to the floor, the con's sharp claws dug deeper, making sparks fly off the damaged cables.

Sam approached them running, the boy braced the Cube against a hip and using only one hand, he climbed Optimus' armor plates. And came to a stop between the two giants, standing precariously on the Autobot leader's arm.

The human youngling looked between the both of them. Hazel green optics calculating. Sam was a good, loyal and hardworking child – Optimus concluded when the boy lifted the cube in the direction of their Sparks.

There was a flash of Light, and no pain. No pain.

Optimus' optics recalibrated and he could only gape – his face mask hid it, thankfully – when the first thing he saw was the gaping, still dripping hole left in Megatron's chest right where his Spark should be. Slagged metal and melted cables, right in the Spark chamber, a pool of still molten metal…

"Sam!" Mikaela's desperate cry alerted Optimus to the boy's location, the human youngling was lying on the dirty ground, groaning in pain and covered in bruises and bloodstains. But alive. Optimus vented, a mix of relief and a crippling sorrow weighing his shoulder.

"I'm ok… did you write down the plate of that bus?"

"Oh Sam, you stupid, brave idiot! Never do that again!"

"Yes madam"

It was over.

**XxxXxxX**

"_Where am I?" Caelum questioned looking at the world around her. She was in the middle of what seemed like a desert, only the sand was metallic gray, and the sky held no stars, though there was enough light to enable her to see._

"_Ah! Cae! Wotcha!" An irritatingly familiar voice greeted from somewhere behind her. "Took ya a while to get here, dahling." _

"_Why am I here? I thought you would be gone"_

"_I'm back to give yah a massage – wait, no, a message!" The deep rumbling chuckle made her heart lurch. She's missed him… spend ages locked inside a Cube traveling through space with only one person to talk to and you're bound to miss them when they're gone._

"_I know the AllSpark is gone... What I don't know is why I was affected by that little con offlining…"_

"_Dearie, haven't I told ya?" The chuckles became laugher. Caelum felt her hands itch. She gave in to her cravings and waved her hand in an arch, watching with amused satisfaction as the pristine blank armor filled with colors and flower patterns. "Why?!" He whine, dramatically wiping tears. "I was only gonna tell that I've named ya godmother of my children, officially. Its your job to care for them now, dahling"_

"_WHAT?" Has she heard correctly? Was the alien god out of his bloody mind?!_

"_Exactly!" He danced lightly. "Ya said so yourself that my plans were 'daft' - your word not mine" He rubbed a bit of armor that now spotted a pretty pink carnation. "So I thought… why not get Cae dearest to guide my litter? Since I do such a horrible job…" The last sentence was said with a tinge of misery._

_Caelum felt sorry for him._

"_So you think it's wise to give me authority over a whole alien planet?"_

"_Yep, I will be taking back seat… don't worry much, you can do as ya wish – just end their fruitless war and restore my planet… piece of cake!"_

"_Who says piece of cake anymore?" Her mind was still trying to compute his request. What about her own life? Right, she's been planning on sticking with the relatively immortal cybertronians since she learned of her new immortal status, but to the handed the whole race on a platter by their own god?_

"_I do!" He grinned, optics glinting. _

"_Whatever… so, oh smarmy one… what do I gain by doing this for you?"_

"_Godly status and position of course, a __**god**__mother, didn't ya hear lady?"_

"_What does that entail?"_

"_What do ya think?"_

"_Whatever I want?"_

"_Are ya up to it?"_

"_Yes" She affirmed instead of continuing with that silly game. He smirked victoriously. Caelum rolled her eyes._

_Then her answer came to her. She would help him. She would try to help his children, because of numerous reasons floating in her mind. She's been named Teddy's godmother by Tonks and Remus, and never got the chance to be there for him. Because __**he**__ asked. Because she has the power to help. _

_She would._

_And also because with this little deal, she'd be considered a god… goddess… what kind of marauder's heir was she if she didn't milk this opportunity to its max? _

_A slow smile stretched on her face._

"_Ah! Dahling, almost forgot to tell ya… since they're now yours, and the AllSparky was destroyed, now you're their link to the Well of Life… That Philosopher Stone thingie ya have going on might come in handy"_

"_Huh…" She mumbled intelligibly, still pondering on the power her new status gave. A god… for some reason an evil, maniac laugher was ringing in her head. From good little pawn for the Greater Good, to Puppeteer of her own alien race… _

_That evil, maniac laugh escaped the confines of her. Her laugher echoing through the gray desert around them. She didn't understand why the feeling of being swallowed whole dominated her senses, or why hysteria was bulding up. All the anger exploded in her chest, all the sadness, the pain, the regrets... It grew to an almost unbearable level._

_Then she woke up._

**XxxXxxX**

"No mum, I'm fine" A female voice spoke calmly on the phone. The woman was sitting down on a plush sofa, in front of her was a coffee table practically taken over by Law books. "Yes mum, I've remembering to eat" The woman shot a dispassionate look at the half eaten Chinese takeout. "I'm working on a case right now mum, call you later – Love you too, bye"

She shook her head, throwing the mobile phone on the other side of the sofa. One of her hands went to her head, pushing the thick curly mass of hair behind her ear. The other hand lifted a file, a man's file.

**Daniel Michel Banes.**

A case an old friend forwarded her way. Apparently the man was caught stealing cars red handed, and it went beyond him and affected his only daughter, a teenage girl named Mikaela.

If that man wanted to get out of prison, she had her work cut out for her. Well, better start somewhere… Witnesses… maybe a deal with the car's owner… her friend said that money was no problem if used to make sure Mr. Banes never saw the back of a prison cell ever again.

She sighed, it would take a while, but she was confident that she would be able to do as her friend requested – she wasn't the best Harvard Law School graduate for nothing.

**XxxXxxX**

**::Megatron is gone!:: **Devastator cried out in the Decepticon's comm. link.

Starscream cursed low, his injuries were too severe to make a celebration of any kind. But a slow smug smile did blossom on his lips. With Megatron gone, he, as the Second in Command would now be Leader of the Decepticon forces.

**::How unfortunate:: **Starscream sent. **::Regroup in the red planet, we will get our revenge over those disgusting human insects and their pet Autobots:: **His sneer was transmitted along his words.

The Decepticon line was soon filled with chatter, there were a few cons coming closer, and one con in particular that made the Seeker's fuel tank churn.

**::Soundwave: Incoming::**

**XxxXxxX**

_AWord: First, sorry about killing Viktor.. he was fated to die since the start so don't riot!.. Second.. I feel sorry about the cliffies.. the reason why is that this whole thing is being done in a single document, I just nip at certain parts to make chapters - thus sometimes those parts end up hanging.. ehheheh..hehe..heh.. sorry. Third is THANK YOU the lovely poeple who read this mad creation! I wanna hug each and everyone of you :) I hope this story is to your liking! Since I'm loving it! that's about it.._

12. D Conclusive Start

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

_The first thing she did in this new world was conjure a robe. _

_Looking around her position, she could only see high, towering canyons. The sound of rushing water reached her ears and finally she allowed relief to cross her face._

_She definitely wasn't in the UK anymore._

**XxxXxxX**

The fall out of the Dam's battle was a hard one.

Willian Lennox wiped at his sweaty and bloody brow, a cut on the edge of his right eye bleeding heavily enough to impair his vision.

His clothes were torn and filthy, and most of his ammo has been lost.

Looking around him, he could see the form of the yellow bot slumped against the stone while the other, taller yellow bot seemingly tended to him. His friend and Lieutenant, Robert Epps was equally as busy dragging the bodies of the hurt or fallen men.

Circling above them, five powerful jets kept watch. Only one of the Decepticons managed to escape relatively unscathed, but the important thing was that Megatron was gone.

Will didn't know if he should feel glad or just regretful. War has no place for regret though.

His legs were trembling as he made his way to the bodies slumped on the ground. Some of his men have been hurt, but most of his team had a modicum of experience dealing with giant robots to escape with minimum damage. Aside from a few sad causalities, they won the battle.

He should feel euphoric. He just helped save the entire planet!

So why was his heart so heavy?

**XxxXxxX**

_The Second thing she did when she woke up; was to look for any signs of civilization._

_Walking through the desert was easy, she just willed her magic to protect her from the heat while keeping it cycling around her skin as a cooling mechanism. _

_Magic could be very useful, even more since she didn't need a wand anymore. The only thing she lacked was knowledge, and for more than one time she wished to have paid more atention to Hermione's rambles about doing assingments seriously instead of goofing off with Ron._

_Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but sand._

**XxxXxxX**

Sam stood with Mikaela's help. He looked shaken and was covered in bruises.

The raven haired girl brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes.

"Hey…" He groaned, opening his eyes to look at her. She smiled, face ashen but relieved.

"Hey" She answered half awkwardly.

"I-I guess I should ask you now, while I have the courage"

"What is it?"

"Wanna go on a date?"

She kissed him, and it felt nice.

**XxxXxxX**

_The third thing she did was rejoice. _

_There was the Cube, massive, glinting under the sun. It was a beautiful sight that made the young looking witch spend nights gazing at it. _

_She was so hungry for something other than fish that the desert snakes were starting to look appetizing, if not for the fact that they made good conversationalists. Caelum was sure that if she ever asked, the snakes would have brought a few rats she could cook with magic fire and eat._

_She rejoiced because while she slept under the moon one night, she was found by a local tribe. Fishermen that lived through the river…_

_That first year was spent in a daze, learning to survive on her own… Until she made it to the farming village of Los Angeles, USA, west coast. Disguised as a boy._

**XxxXxxX**

"This is Marlene Harold, from SRU news channel, we were informed that the terrorist group responsible for the Hoover Dam bombing were recently caught, so far the Military are refusing to comment anything else on the matter"

"What about the people who affirmed having seen giant robots? Were there robots involved?"

"Of course not, we received reports of the terrorists using a dangerous hallucinogenic gas to incapacitate the Dam' security, it was all thanks to the quick acting of our Air Force that saved the day"

"It would have been a disaster had the attacks extended to Las Vegas!"

"Yes it would! Now Gary, our special reporter Lindsay wants to say something directly from the attack scene"

**XxxXxxX**

_She was alone, all alone._

_ Her mind swirled, body shivering and curling on itself as she lay on the thin cot she managed to secure for the night. She managed to find work in exchange of somewhere to sleep by using the guise of a boy – the people were a mix of Native Americans and Spanish descendants. _

_Her hands tightened around a rock she picked up on the road. The rough texture actually calming her nerves… she couldn't keep going like this, it would take her nowhere… she needed money, fast – to go back to Europe and try to find any traces of a Magical Enclave that were no-existent in the Americas prior the Civil War. _

_Her hands glowed red. The rock became gold._

**XxxXxxX**

Maggie sobbed dryly. Her hands furiously pressing against the gaping wound on the chest of the dark haired, pinstripes wearing man who gave his life to save the little girl's… She just didn't know what to think anymore.

The Wall was now pristine. Not a crack in sight.

But on the other hand, what the blonde Aussie saw today was going to change her whole life. The man – Viktor? – was losing too much blood. From what she meagerly knew of first aid, his cold, clammy skin was a signal of shock.

"You can't remove those!" Agent Simons stopped her hands from pulling one of the silver Shurikens before turning back to his phone. "No, no, the Dam is safe now, no, yes, the report will be made, yes, yes sir" He finished whatever conversation he was having, before turning deep brown eyes on her. "Just try to stop the bleeding, don't touch the ninja stars"

Maggie nodded, leaning her head against Glenn' shoulder.

"You know Mags?" The dark skinned boy started..

"What?"

"Never mind" He couldn't finish.

**XxxXxxX**

_It annoyed her greatly that no one took her seriously. _

_No one deemed her worthy enough and all tried to rip off her golden rock, offering less than what was really market price, or simply trying to steal it. The men were all left over from the gold rush down in the south, she was nothing to them but her gold was something. _

_She would never use magic to compel other people, it grossed her out… so she used magic to cheat on little things such as staying clean, obtaining food (stealing) and escaping greedy hands._

_It was then that she made her first friend. An old farmer whose mother was a Native and father was a Mexican, Juan Mawach. His features were weathered, but for some reason only known to him, he took pity on her and offered to buy her gold pebble for a fair price. _

_If she told him a story._

**XxxXxxX**

Petunia shakily conversed with the Sec. Def. Her already pale skin was whiter than a sheet, and she felt the sweat drip down her back.

"This must be kept a secret, we don't want the population to panic"

"I agree, we will sign your forms" The tall, thin woman agreed easily. There was no way she'd let her boss' power go public. It would cause chaos… she wasn't even thinking about the giant metal aliens. "If you agree to erase what you saw Mistress do from your official records" Here she was asking nicely, but she could easily have someone (Friday) hack into the reports and remove selective parts before they were forwarded to the appropriate officials.

John Keller exhaled a long sigh. "What that little girl did… No one would ever believe it possible, and we have no evidence"

Petunia smiled, half pleased, before turning back to look at the grim scene. Simons was trying his best to save Viktor. The younger blond cryptographist and the overweight hacker were trying to help, but both were quite shaken.

Their tall silver alien friend was sitting quietly, giving them space and all the humans appreciated it. They had to mourn, they had to think.

Viktor was a good man. He'd be honored accordingly.

**XxxXxxX**

_By selling gold she made through the Philosopher Stone's powers using Juan's name, Caelum was able to save a considerable small fortune. Enough to buy her transportation to the other side of the country. She had to get to the East Coast, where she knew there would be ships that could take her back to England._

_Why didn't she apparate? She didn't know how to... dying at sixteen did that to a witch, so the long travel began._

_It was a long tiring journey that made all that loneliness just that bit more pronounced when memories of journeying along Ron and Hermione crossed her mind. Of holdinh their hand as they sat around a fire, talking about plans for the future._

**XxxXxxX**

::Megatron is gone, the Decepticon forces that invaded Earth have been destroyed:: Optimus reported solemnly, voice grave.

::Devastator escaped, no doubt we will hear from the cons again:: Ironhide grumbled, but he was calmer if not a little gloomy.

::The AllSpark is gone, isn't it?:: Bumblebee asked plainly, voice ridden with grief. The other bots felt it and shared their guilt and anger and relief. ::Is Sam alright?::

::The youngling is fine, old friend, he was very brave.:: Optimus sent, feeling at least grateful that their little human confidant has showed them so much faith, and in return received theirs as well.

::Jazz?:: Ratchet joined in the conversation, now dragging a complaining Bee to where Ironhide was propped up. Down the road they could see approaching trucks, big enough to carry a bot.

The humans were coming.

::I'm fine… just… thinking:: The Silver Solstice sent with a note of thoughtful contemplation. ::Anyway… from what this human authority figure told me – a data package with the name John Keller was transmitted along Jazz' words – we can use an abandoned Air base a few miles away from here, until we have a more definite base::

::The human government will let us remain here?:: Ratchet seemed to sneer. ::Why am I skeptical?::

::They will want to negotiate a few things, but I'm sure we can deal with it:: Jazz answered, a tight vestige of something carrying over through his comm.

::What is wrong Jazz?:: Ironhide asked, as the oldest, he sometimes was insightful and wise. Optimus allowed a wave of affection wash to his old bodyguard and friend. Ironhide responded with a wave of his own. ::Something eating your Spark, spill::

::Better watch this then, I don't know how to explain:: He sent a recording of his video and audio receptors. _A short organic no taller than their hands, holding her hands up as a net of pure energy formed around her and contained the water exploding through the damaged wall – annexed: Energy readings – codec necessary ARIFO399021. _

**XxxXxxX**

_Finding a ship that would take her to England was harder than it looked. __The American Revolution recent in the memory of the people. _

_But she did find a nice transport cargo ship that allowed the rent of a cabin to the young boy going back home._

_Again she had to endure for a long time, but this time through the waters. Caelum took the time to relax and think about what she should do from now on, it has become painfully clear that she was going nowhere, and the only thing left was moving forward with her life. Wallowing in self-pity wouldn't help, and once again she was glad for the her magic and the powers she inherited. It was thanks to them that she still remained sane._

**XxxXxxX**

"The boy is going to be fine, hit his head hard and got a minor concussion…" He heard a voice. Whose was it? His head ached… had he too much to drink?

"_**I order you to survive, take this with you and…" **__his voice failed … **Destroy it**. _

His body shot up the bed. Pain wracking through it made him lay down again. A hand found his head and a woman's face came into focus.

"Oh my God, Tommy! You don't ever scare your mother like this again!" The lady cried, clutching onto him.

'Tommy' fell back into the bed, staring at the blank, white ceiling. _What is going on?_

**XxxXxxX**

_She couldn't find it… After months traveling, she got to London, then after locating herself around the painful unfamiliar sights and the even more painful familiar ones, she finally found King Charles' statue – marking Charring Cross where there should have been the Leaking Caldron - around since 1469. _

_There was no pub whatsoever. Magical or otherwise._

_Where were the Conclaves? _

_Where were the others?_

**XxxXxxX**

When Caelum woke, it was to the glaring sunlight almost blinding her. She could feel movement just a few meters away from her. Though her body ached and her magic coursed sluggishly and tentative, the witch sat down, groaning and holding onto her pounding head.

"Did I make it?" She asked weakly. Raising her head to look at the wall, breathing out in relief to find it almost new.

But the relief didn't last long.

"Stay still, the paramedics will be here in a moment" Someone said. Green eyes searched through the people who now crowded the bridge. Spotting Petunia was easy enough, but her once Aunt looked wore down. Something so rare it was an oddity.

"Miss Evans" Caelum called, dragging herself to stand on shaky legs. There were bloodstains on the ground. She followed the red trail to something that made her stomach heave. "Viktor…"

Her legs gave out. Petunia heard her call and hurried to her side, in a rare, _unique, _show of compassion, the blonde had her arms around Caelum.

The first hug she received in a very long time.

The tears rolled unbidden down her cheeks.

It was for these kind of reasons – _they will all die, they will all leave me one day! – _That she didn't like getting close to people… pushing them away so neither them, nor she would get hurt.

_All her fault._

_She had to toughen up… now there was something to do, a new mission… _

Emotion bubbled in her chest. Helplessness, fear, anger… but there was a trace of hope that grew lighter as realization hit her.

_Viktor still had his whole future ahead of him, and it was because of you that he lost it. _**Now you have a new goal… what were you doing before? Existing? Planning on conquering the World in the name of a childish prank… take things more seriously, this is not a game. **_His skin was pale, eyes unseeing… why couldn't they at least close his eyes? _**Remember that now their fate lies in your hands. Help them, redeem yourself, redeem them. Forgive.**

"He protected you, shielded you from an attack that would have killed you" Petunia said bluntly, knowing how her boss worked. Sugarcoating things wouldn't do. _I wouldn't have died! I can't die! He didn't have to die! _

**Are you feeling guilty?**

"He didn't have to… I didn't want him to…"

…

"_Do you know my secret?" She asked with calm she didn't really felt. When Viktor nodded unsurely, she continued. "I am a Witch" She declared nervously. "And I will do whatever I can to avoid this disaster, even if it means sacrificing my secret" She turned back to the crumbling Dam, raising her arms to the direction of the wall. "While I concentrate, I will need you to guard my back."_

…

Then she understood. He sacrificed himself not only for her, but to protect the lives that would have been damaged had the wall broken.

_She so absently dismissed him as uniportant... How could she?_

**Do you Still feel guilty? **

_Yes! _She couldn't save him. _Master of Death, why? _The glow of life was long gone, back to the Well. Maybe if she'd woken up earlier, she could have been able to save him, heal him and attach his soul back where it belonged. But she was too late.

"He did what he had to do to ensure your safety, it was his _job_ and he protected you, he was a courageous, honorable man" Petunia said with stern compassion, in that tone of voice only someone who experienced grief before could achieve. The voice Molly Weasley used when Sirius fell through the veil.

**That means you are still **_**human**_.

She had to mourn. Then regroup.

And after that, think about what to do with her new children. Her heart would heal with time.

**XxxXxxX**

With the AllSpark gone, they couldn't return life to their planet.

But…

"You can use Hangar 32 as a temporary base until we establish contact and have a deal with the UN, thank you for your help, Optimus" John Keller spoke calmly, looking straight into the Autobot's leader optics.

Thankfully…

_A few days later._

This time, the sun was setting. They were all parked at the boarders of Tranquility, Nevada, watching as the city's lights came on one by one. Bumblebee cackled, teasing Sam and Mikaela who were making out on top of his hood. The yellow bot not minding in the slightest. Ratchet and Jazz were close, basking in the last rays of the sun. Optimus stood in his bipedal mode,

They had a new home…

::… _We are here, we are waiting_:: Optimus finished the last line of the message he was now transmitting through the Autobot comm. frequency.

"What is this Blackjack" Jazz asked a short, messy haired girl that was comfortably sitting on the ground in front of him. The silver bot had his legs crossed, mirroring the girl - it was an awkward position to the bot but he managed somehow. She smiled, her face was still tired but her eyes regained some of that mischievous glint.

"You've been snooping around Vegas, haven't you?" Caelum asked instead of answering. Jazz blinked his visor innocently.

"Might have… do you humans really spend your hard earned money in casinos so frequently that there is a whole city dedicated to it?"

Her eyes twitched. "Some humans do, yes, do you want to learn how to play?"

"Just downloaded the rules, play a game against me"

"Yes, that might be fun… what are you betting?"

Jazz laughed. The sun set, the twilight bringing out the star light above them.

"Your Secrets if I win... If you do I take you for a drive"

**XxxXxxX**

"_Where, where is it?" Caelum's eyes were bloodshot. Her wild mass of hair was dirty and stringy. Her clothes filthy and smelly. She didn't care. There was something wrong. _

_Hogwarts wasn't there._

_Hogsmead wasn't there._

_No sign anywhere that a Mystical Community ever existed in Scotland, Surrey and London. She'd go to Germany next, Durmstrang had to be there… then France, Beauxbatons._

_She couldn't feel anything. No magical presence in miles around her. No magical creature either, just natural muggle flora and fauna, not even a plant… Neville liked gardening… _

_She was lost. _

**XxxXxxX**

Tired blue eyes swept over the office. The baby blue walls with a beautiful open sky wall paper. The windows were large and the white silky curtains drawn. There was a desk and a comfy chair, all top of the line in the market – The best of everything to Petunia Evans.

She had a job to do.

Organizing… It was something she was good at. Petunia preened constantly about it too. But this was asking a bit too much out of the tall, thin blonde. She was getting too old for this, a grimace painted her face. She was almost fifty!

Delicate fingers danced on the screen of the 7 inches square Tablet computer. There were multiple windows opened, but right now she was focusing on the report she would send to the government under Caelum's name, that girl decided to run off and join those giant robots – Autobots – in Tranquility, staying in that farm she rented recently.

Caelum… Petunia sighed. The thin secretary had to rethink everything she thought she knew about her short boss. First and foremost – All that talking about being a Witch? True. When Petunia simply concluded the girl was knowledgeable in some magic tricks, parlor things that wouldn't impress the blonde. Then… Immortal? That theory she hatched twenty years ago about Caelum having some hormonal sickness that impeded her growth. Shot down.

Then came all the difficulty that was hiding Caelum's true identity from the general public. It was now something the US government knew, and if someone was to use that to hurt Caelum? At least they didn't know she was immortal… yet.

What a mess… The secretary had to pause, staring mindlessly at her Tablet.

An idea blossomed as she watched the screen turn blank after a few moments of inactivity. Pressing the starting bottom, the pad lighted up again. She hurried to type a memo.

_Please start sending letters to local newspapers like you did at the beginning of the year (not as a prank this time). _– _Petunia Evans. _

Pressing the _save _option, the blonde allowed a small smile to paint her rose colored lips. Caelum decided it would be amusing to spread gossip within conspiration circles about herself and her secret operations, making those kind of people who liked to believe the government hid aliens in area 51 and the New World Order truly existed have a grand time…

Wait… The person who started those to begin with was Caelum Potter herself… Well… Another conspiracy theory about pinstripes wearing people invading world economy, and aliens attacking Hoover Dam in search of their ancient power relic that possibly gave birth to life on Earth. Yes, that would do. No sane person would believe that, and the more banal it became less the people would take it seriously…

_Pfff yeah, like aliens really attacked the Dam then went to Las Vegas have a 'blast'. You know I saw a driverless car the other day and it was like, so Spooky! _Petunia snickered quietly over her own joke. Best way to hide truth was to do it blatantly under the public eye and opinion.

Closing the 'post it' app window, Petunia drummed her fingers thoughtfully. The report was almost ready, conveniently blank of information where Caelum's participation was concerned. To the uninformed higher ups and the media, the snobby heiress spent the day as a hostage to a dangerous terrorist group.

The report window was also closed – it would be sent later when she had time to proof read it. Speaking of which, better find Smitherson before he submitted his report to proof read that as well.

Her head lowered. Back slumped a little on the chair but she wasn't really minding – though she would straighten if someone entered the office – she would not be seen slacking off, never. Her mind played back on the scene that hurt them the most. _Viktor' sacrifice_.

Out of the ones who witnessed it, Caelum was the most shaken up. Something changed in her boss' gaze, it was duller but wiser. Like something inside her broke and was remade. It was a good thing that the short girl was finally allowing herself to move from whatever was keeping her shackled.

Another Memo blinked on her Tablet' screen. _Start Island renovation – must be set up by the second semester of next year. _Oh… She actually forgot about that for a second. Caelum's Island was located near the Indonesian Archipelago. It was a beautiful segmental Island made of volcanic rock, there were no wild life, but the glistering rock sparkling under the sun was enough to take anyone's breath away.

Another shake of her head. A strand of blonde escaped from her bum.

It happened before she started to work for Caelum. The girl actually bough an Island to brood in peace! Whatever she did there with only Seagulls for company was the raven haired girl's business, but once Petunia visited the Island personally a few years later, she understood the appeal. There was a simple wooden house surrounded by a cared for, vivid garden, a few feet away was a heliport for obvious reasons.

Time weathered down the house, but Petunia knew for a fact that Caelum still visited her Island from time to time.

And now…

_The Cybertronians need a place to stay, they can have the Island. _

The easy with which the green eyed witch gave away what must have been a pretty hard investment was… astounding… Until Petunia realized it was Caelum's way of dealing with her guilt.

So the Secretary made a silent promise to herself - after making another memo in her Tablet - that she'd do everything in her power to help the mysterious girl.

**XxxXxxX**

**End of First Arc.**

_AWord: Its not the end! NOT THE END! Just the closing of the first part of the story! Next chapter will continue on :)_

13. D First Friday Light

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The Hangar was large enough to accommodate even a standing Optimus.

Though the structure was old, it was also sound, so it served well as a temporary lair for the five stranded Autobots. As of the moment, the five officers were using the time to unwind and come to terms with that happened the weeks before with the exception of Bumblebee, who was busy looking after Sam.

Optimus rolled on his eight wheels, sending a comm. to his Autobots. ::It is a matter of time before others join us:: Ratchet pinged into the conversation.

::Yes, it will be convenient, I bet the Decepticons are already rallying since Devastator escaped:: He sounded and felt sullen, but Ironhide was worst and couldn't really hide his disdain.

::Scrap that con! I will move to Lennox's residence, I offered to look after his family:: And all the bots knew why that was.

_"Do you have any kids?"_

_"What?"_

_"You know kids? Children?"_

_"No…"_

_"My wife just gave birth to a very pretty little lady" The soldier smiled. "Her name is Annabelle, after Sarah's mother."_

::Captain William Lennox is being held by the government officials for his participation in the last battle, he will be released tomorrow:: The red and blue Semi said, sending a copy of the report given to him by those same government officials.

They were pushing for a Contract or Deal over their stay on the planet alleging that because of it, planet Earth was put in grave danger, so humanity deserved some kind of compensation.

Ironhide vented, reviewing the reports at his leisure.

Ratchet waited for a few moments before saying ::Wish there was something to do. If I had enough parts I could start on some projects:: The yellow Hummer didn't exactly whine, but it was close. Jazz snickered, sending his amusement through the comm. link.

::We will get clearance from the humans soon, be patient my friend:: Optimus tried to appease, but was instead a target for a most impressive non-aggressive glare ever given in Earth's history.

::But I'm bored:: Ratchet snipped, his engines rumbling obnoxiously.

::Then go on patrol, Devastator is still lose and he might target our human friends:: The leader bot offered the olive branch. ::Bumblebee will appreciate the company::

Ratchet snorted, it came out as a funny sounding hiccup from his engine.

::That bot has found his niche with those two human younglings::

::What about that other human youngling?:: Jazz asked, giving the impression of a raised eyebrow. ::She's still in Tranquility, and we still need to have a conversation with her about the Cube. If you get close to her, she might feel comfortable parting with information::

::It is a good idea old friend:: Optimus Prime consented, to Ratchet mixed feelings. He wasn't thrilled with the prospect of spending the next ornlocked in this boring hangar with nothing to do but reminisce and reflect.

They already spent light years traveling through space – that is enough reminiscing to last two _cybertronians _life-times.

Thank you.

The yellow medic bot thought about the little lee-way Jazz proposed and Optimus approved. He could get out, see the sights, have some fun, talk to the girl whose body oozed power and get her to answer a few questions without offending those weird dressed minions of hers.

::Fine:: He trailed off the letter 'e', dragging the word as far as it would go to denote his darkening humor. It wasn't Optimus' fault, nor Jazz'.

But one could only laugh so much about human science on the internet until it became dull. Like, Particle Collision? He used to play with anti-matter in the nursery!

Unknown to the grumpy CMO, Jazz and Optimus exchanged weary but amused glances.

If the bots had to admit one thing about Earth, it was that the little blue planet, third in its solar system, was the most beautiful planet they ever visited. So far at least. One third of Earth' surface was covered by water, which was reflected by the atmosphere and gave the sky a suave blue tint under the sunlight. Plant life developed methods to absorb energy, chlorophyll being the most common on the planet, this made the flora be a dashing, vivid green.

The result of geographic erosion and evolution lapidated the ground, transforming a simple horizon in something unforgettable, more so when that brilliant young sun was descending or rising, lending new colors to the sky and painting it anew.

So when Ratchet finally left that Hangar to bask under the sunlight, he couldn't help the pleasurable groan that left his vocalizer. Now that they weren't fighting for their lives – or the lives of others – the simple pleasures found in this planets were able to be enjoyed fully.

Like feeling the smoldering sun warming his armor, filling him with energy through the solar caption nanite cells all over his from. This is what he needed!

But not what he wanted…

Ratchet started to move away from the hangar, driving on the wasted road that led back to Tranquility quite easily thanks to his superior suspension system. Though dodging those tricky holes was fun, though he had no idea how many more insects could crash against his windshield until he lost complete visibility.

Relatively speaking.

Since in car form he 'saw' through the sensors in the headlights…

::Ratchet! Are you coming to Sam's house? Mikaela and Sam are planning to go to the lake with Miles Lancaster, one of their friends, want to join us?:: Bumblebee's comm. caught Ratchet by surprise.

If the considerable small yellow bot knew about the CMO excursion, it meant that Optimus or Jazz contact him after Ratchet left.

He turned on the swipers along with a squish of solvent to clean his glass with a vengeance. Feeling vindicated when the couple of mosquitos disappeared from the windshield. ::No, go out with your humans, I will go to Caelum Potter's location:: With that he ended the channel, leaving Bumblebee tittering on the line.

Cruising through the road and finding Caelum's farm was easy enough, he had access to local maps and an advanced GPS already updated with Earth's coordinates. But just to be polite, he decided to call.

_Tuut… Tuut… Tuu-_

"_Hallo_?" The voice sounded sleepy as if the person was just woken up from a good, revigorating nap. "Who are you and how you got this number?" The voice asked, still sleepy and now with a tint of annoyance.

::It is Ratchet, the Autobots CMO:: Ratchet 'spoke' to her through her communication device. And ingenious invention that allowed the humans to converse long distance without built in comm. system. ::I am approaching your location:: He made an effort to be polite. ::Hacked in the phone company and acquired this number:: He didn't sound smug. It was so easy it made hacking practically a breeze.

"_Right_…" Caelum snorted. "_Just mind the garden_." This time he snorted. Again that hiccup little noise from his engines that scared a chipmunk from scaling his ladder. She didn't seem worried that an Autobot was coming for her, she could have seen it coming of course because she did stay in Tranquility instead of leaving to wherever she lived. "_When are you getting here?_"

::Waiting confirmation by the side road:: He heard a giggle. He ignored it. ::ETA 2 and a half of your Earth minutes:: He warned.

"_Am I being watched_?"She asked almost casually. But Ratchet knew the true motive. She was questioning if the Autobots were keeping an eye on her as a liability, not an ally. He decided to be blunt.

::Yes. You possess knowledge and abilities beyond that of human capabilities, we would like to clarify your origins and the nature of your powers:: He didn't know what Optimus thought about the little human, but he appreciated her help after he learned of what she did at the Dam.

"_Oh… That's fine then, I have something I wish to discuss with you as well, we can meet officially sometime this weekend, if it's convenient for you… before that I am afraid I am reluctant to face official matters._" He understood.

The battle was hard on all of them.

_The AllSpark is gone…_

::Then I hope you have some thing I can tinker with, that hangar was absolutely boring:: He said with a sigh. Taking the leave and following down the road that led to Caelum's farm.

**XxxXxxX**

"Tommy, are you alright, any pain?" That same woman's voice asked him again, calling him Tommy… That wasn't his name… was it? He couldn't remember much, every time he tried his head started to pound. He looked up at the woman, she seemed familiar, with graying black hair and light gray eyes. Her aquiline nose and the arch of her eyebrows… so familiar… oh… His mother…

"Mother?" His voice was raspy, higher than he remembered. "What happened?" There was something strange about his mother though he couldn't point a finger at what was out of place. She was wearing a dark blue shirt, pants made of a rough, dark blue material – _they are called jean_s –a voice whispered through his memories and he accepted – and a pair of comfortable shoes.

The woman also looked highly uncomfortable, as if she was expecting him to lash out any moment.

He? Lash out against mother?

Her gray eyes softened in a way he never seen before. "You were caught in an accident… Oh Tommy… you were one of the only survivors! Don't do this to your mother again! I was so worried…" Large fat tears, but _genuine_! Started to leak from her eyes. She leaned down and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Not knowing what to do, he patted her back awkwardly.

Was his mother alright?

She sniffed, regaining control of herself. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she pulled a strange device out of her pocket – _cellphone_ – giving it to him. "It hasn't stopped ringing… your friends must be worried about you too, you can play with this – the doctor said it was ok if you don't overdo it!"

Nimble hands caught the device his mother offered. He noticed with a startle that his hands seemed smaller. Then something came to him… Where was his wand?

"Mother, where is my wand?"

"I don't know what you're talking about sweetheart… but your backpack is over there, you can look into it later when you're feeling better." He nodded. It's not as if he could do magic outside of Hogwarts anyway.

So he concentrated on the device – _telephone_ in his hands, flipping it open, a little but bright screen lit up along with a pad of numbers and letters.

_Check the email,_ Friday,_Friday_…

His head started to hurt so much he dropped the cell-phone and pressed the balls of his hands against his eyes, feeling them burn.

A String of memories surfaced, bringing chaos to his psych as if two lives were battling each other_. Tommy growing up… dying his hair purple… being rude to people… learning how to use electronics to their maximum capabilities… Tommy White, son of Berga and Cyrrus White… he had an older brother who was killed in an accident five years ago, Sean… his mother was from London though he never went there personally_. The created online persona of Friday. His life seemed to turn around this online thing. It was all that mattered, nothing else did measure…

He only realized he was crying in pain when his head was cradled by his mother's arms, who cried along with him whispering soothing words in his ears.

**XxxXxxX**

Sam and Mikaela were relaxing together at the Lake's edges. Bumblebee was parked in car form a few feet away from them, basking in the sun.

"What will you do in your summer vacation Sam?" The tall model like girl asked, curling on her boyfriend' side and throwing an arm above her head. Sam sighed, looking at the sparkling water with a thoughtful frown on his face.

"I have that Part time job with shorty," He answered after a few seconds of deliberation. "Then I have to spend some time with that gorgeous girlfriend of mine." A charming smile lit up his face. Mikaela flushed pleasantly.

"Oh? Who is she, I might know her," she flirted back, batting her eyelashes.

"I bet you don't, she's the type of girl that likes big, muscled men."

"I bet she does!" The raven haired girl couldn't resist any longer and leaned over her boyfriend, bestowing him a sweet kiss on his nose.

Bumblebee trembled a laugh at their antics, launching a corny romantic song and making the couple join in the laugher. They were having fun together, and after everything that happened, they wanted nothing less.

The yellow bot leaned back, admiring the colors dancing on the water' surface and the bird life songs… He deserved a little time out.

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum sighed, these past few days her sleep was so filled with nightmares she had barely caught a few hours of rest in three days. It's not as if she was unused to the nightmares, but how does one escape their own mind?

Consciously she knew things couldn't go on like they are – she shouldn't depend on medication or even alcohol to fall asleep, but when her mind was full of dark thoughts that didn't seem to want to leave her alone, it was the easiest way out.

How she missed Dreamless Sleep potions. After a little over two centuries and she still haven't got the way of using muggle ingredients to make magical potions. She even spent some years studying chemistry, but the lack of schooling or the poor quality of it that she went through in her childhood – the teachers always took the Dursley's word about her and thought she was a trouble maker.

And without a solid base to appreciate the finest form of upper education, Caelum got bored very quickly of trying to endure School, again.

Though there were times when she got bored and school sounded like a good idea, though after the invention of the internet and her own company's growth in the 21th century, education took a second plane in her agenda of things. The exception had been when she enrolled in Sam' school for the sole purpose of obtaining the glasses to throw a wrench in that god's thick skull...

She stayed in bed staring at the paneled ceiling for a few more minutes, until she heard the sound of an approaching vehicle.

It had to be Ratchet, the Autobot's CMO as he himself introduced. If she remembered correctly, he was the tall yellow and white bot with that Manchu styled 'mustache' on his face. He felt old, like Ironhide, but unlike the weapon specialist who was mostly a shade of controlled temper, Ratchet's aura hummed with barely controlled energy. It spoke of a free, honorable spirit – it reminded her of Hermione a little.

Just a little.

Her cellphone pinged, looking down at the streamlined device she saw an unread message.

::I'm here:: The message read, as if she hasn't seen the proud yellow Search and Rescue Hummer parked just beneath her porch.

Well… she'd have to get out of bed eventually. So typing a quick and blunt answer ::I C U:: Caelum dragged herself out of the twin sized bed, grimacing at the grimy feel of her skin and hair. She's been using cleaning spells to fight off body odor, but nothing could ever beat a good soak in the tub, or a nice warm shower.

Ratchet would have to wait – he's the one who woke her up to being with!

Stumbling across her room, the witch went in the built in bathroom, grinning unrepentantly at the fact that she had it expanded to be almost as large as she could get away with without breaking the weaving of magic. A giant tube – more a small pool – with a golden shower head was the bathroom's crown jewel.

This time she went with the shower, groaning at the feeling of the water sliding down her back. Sponging her skin and leaving that delicious well-scrubbed sting.

When she left the bathroom – shamelessly naked in her own house – she was red from head to toe but smelling a lot more pleasantly. Her hair was a complete lost cause though, messy and more compared to a bird's nest than hair, with the ends sticking up in multiple directions.

A fight with a brush later and she had her mop barely tamed, haloing her face like a black lion's mane.

And Hermione thought she had the saddest hair… Only because Caelum's hair wasn't curly like the brunette swot, didn't mean it was always neat. Both girls felt a small level of contempt whenever they saw Ron's relatively easy to handle hair.

Shaking her head to dislodge wistful memories, Caelum got dressed, ignoring the angry roar of the engine outside and the almost constant pinging in her cellphone. With a wave of her hand, the thing was expertly silenced along with the wall.

When she finally felt ready to face the day – or the rest of it since it was noon – the green eyed witch poked her head out of the large bay window in her bedroom. Ratchet noticed and transformed, sending her a glare of epic proportions.

"You just woke me up, I had to shower first," Was her snarked response.

The yellow bot spent a moment more in his glare before allowing it to drop. Instead he offered her a hand. Caelum eyed the hand with a grin then hopped out of the window, stepping onto his hand without an ounce of hesitation.

That gave Ratchet a chance to look at her bedroom without the curtains obscuring it. His optics failed for a moment before returning online. "Your room' spatial measurements do not fit within the house's architectural designs…" Oh yes, she had to enlarge her room as well to make it as big as the room she had in Grimmauld Place, she did it in all the houses she ever had, a silent tribute to Sirius and the brief happiness she had with him. "Unless the entire second story is occupied by this single room," He added, staring at the insides of the room suspiciously.

"Oh, well, it's bigger on the inside" She grinned amusedly, she's been wanting to say that to someone ever since watching that old BBC series in her old world.

"Is it?" Ratchet didn't look that impressed. "I can't read beyond the outer wall, there is some sort of dampening shield protecting the interior of the house" He groused, purposely giving her another glare.

"Is there any sort of Cybertronian technology that would allow for a space to be bigger on the inside?" The witch asked, ignoring his grousing. Ratchet paused, his optics dimming as he searched through his data banks.

"There are theories behind it, and some ongoing projects that were quite promising, although those were before the war broke out." Caelum was not surprised that there was a note of wistfulness in his voice, along with a deep buried sadness. She could sympathize with the giant beings in this aspect. She also lost her whole world and was a refugee in this Earth. Aside from similarities, in this world there is no magic… besides legends that varied minutely but were just that, legends.

After a minute to let Ratchet collect his thoughts, Caelum shifted on his hand, poking his thumb. "I feel like going out, want to be my chauffeur for the day?" Blue optics blinked down at her.

"I am not a – what you humans call it? – a cab," He replied grumbly.

"You drive, I just want to get out of the house for a while," She offered hopefully.

"Fine.." Was the moody agreement. Ratchet knelt down, allowing Caelum to jump out of his hand and stumble to the ground. The girl spent a moment glaring at her still destroyed garden, making a mental note to contact Petunia… who would have kittens if the witch left without a warning… The yellow hummer growled at the short human, and said human wasted no time in entering the passenger door. "Where to?"

"Just drive around, you can teach me cybertronian curse words," Green eyes were glinting. Ratchet mumbled under his breath but didn't disagree. While he left her property, Caelum fished out her cellphone from a pocket, sending a quick message to her secretary.

_::I'm with the Autobot Ratchet, I'm fine… thank you for taking care of everything for me… C. ::_

**XxxXxxX**

He wrung his hand worriedly. The content of the pack his mother showed him was strewn carelessly on top of his bed; he gave up digging through the bag and decided dumping it all on top of the medical covers was easier. Though after each pocket he emptied the hole in his gut grew in size and lowered in temperature.

His wand.

Nowhere to be found.

His mother wouldn't play games with him, even acting strangely, she was a witch herself and would know the importance of a wand to a wizard – able to perform magic outside of Hogwart or not. So if she said his wand was in this bag then it should have been.

But it wasn't.

"I can't find it," He muttered to himself. Unfortunately his mother caught his mumbled words and opened an eye to stare at him curiously. She was sitting on one of the waiting chairs, an open book on her lap that she was reading before falling asleep.

He thought she would scold him for mumbling, but she just smiled tiredly. "Maybe you left it at home" She tried to appease. But even as he thought about home, a deep sense of dislodgement took his mind. Home right now was a blur of confusion… _12 Grimmauld Place, with that dreary and dark decoration, grandpa's portrait on top of the fire place and the smells of father's pipe and ale. Kreacher polishing those horrible chandeliers under his mother's watchful eye. She never smiled, unless it was over something that caused others pain_.

Home was A suburban house in the middle of a neighborhood in which the houses looked all the same, with high windows and a porch, his mother old Sedan parked in the garage and his barricaded door hiding away a dark sanctuary where he often took refuge, the big dog rolling on the grass or chasing Mrs. Tennison's cat.

He was torn in two.

**XxxXxxX**

_AWord. This chapter was beta-ed! Thank Gelly for saving your eyes :) _

14. D Telling Truth

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

She was pleasantly surprised by Ratchet's personality. He was an assertive sort who liked to be kept busy, but not bored. He said he liked to tinker in his spare time and was named CMO because of it – he felt a bit reserved about talking of his life in Cybertron, and it only spiked Caelum's curiosity. She felt like being a part of these beings lives, and the way to start it was getting them to open themselves.

She would have to return the favor as well.

But so far she was only trading fond stories with the CMO, enjoying his spunk and snappy responses. They were cycling around Tranquility with no goal in mind, just venting steam from a boring situation or not escaping painful memories by living as a hermit.

"It is truly fascinating" the dark haired witch said, awe in her voice. There was a static little noise from the radio. "I'd like to explore Space one day. See the stars that we see in the sky up close, count their planets, dive through a nebulous cloud or just float endlessly in a sea of lights" She did that when inside the AllSpark, and though it felt like a long time ago, she barely remembered the journey itself.

"It gets dull after a few light years"

"Hhmm…" She hummed non-committaly. "Whatever you say"

**XxxXxxX**

"Hi?"

"God evening, am I speaking to Mikaela Banes?"

"Yeah"

"This is H. J. Granger, I will represent your father in court next week to appeal his parole, will you be there?"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet Miss Banes, I will send you a briefing of the case I have collected, and the proposition I plan to negotiate"

"That would be nice, thank you. Do you need my mail address?

"Already have it. See you next week Miss Banes"

Tut..tut..tut..t

Mikaela lowered the phone with a trepid smile on her face. Sam raised an eyebrow, pulling her by the arm and setting the warm body of his girlfriend on his lap where he proceeded to nuzzle her neck. She giggled, feeling a estrange mix of relief and elation.

"What is it that got you in such a good mood?" He asked teasingly. For a moment, her face sobered, but then she relaxed again – Sam didn't take very well knowing about her family less than savoring history, but he went a long way to prove to her that she mattered to him.

It was cute and endearing and she regretted a great deal the time she lost by not noticing Sam before. "My father's parole hearing is coming, that was the Lawyer in charge of him, she's just wanted to stay in contact"

"Good luck with that" Sam blinked against her skin, leaving butterfly kisses with his lashes that tickled awfully. She giggled again, ignoring the static spur that came from the car parked behind their bench.

He had that crook-y smile and the most expressive eyes she's ever seen – It made it easy to spot a lie from him miles away.

Talking about Miles…

"Will you tell that weird friend of yours, Miles? About the big guys I mean?" The raven haired beauty asked, drawing away from her boyfriend just enough to stare at him inquisitively. Said boyfriend sighed, shaking his head.

"Don't think so… not that I don't trust Miles, but it's not something that comes up in a conversation…you know?" Yes she knew… she was debating whether to tell her father the truth as well. Sam's parents already knew, being cornered by Sector Seven the same night they were, so her boyfriend didn't have to fear her father's reaction when he found that his precious daughter was cavorting with giant aliens made of metal.

"Yeah, imagine how it would go… I dread telling dad…" Sam's face paled at the mention of her father and he pouted, looking at as if she murdered his dog, Mojo.

Her lips pulled into an amused smile. "Don't worry Sam, my dad won't risk his parole..." She trailed off, feeling half amused and half sad at the joke on her Father' situation. When Sam eyed her with his eyes glinting, she decided to remain on amusement.

The green eyed boy huffed indignantly. "You think I can't take on your dad? I took on Megatron! I can take care of Mr. Banes" Mikaela blinked innocently.

"I'm sure you can" Bumblebee whistled as if to agree with her. Sarcasm was awesome.

**XxxXxxX**

The weekend came faster than anyone expected.

"There is one word that fits in this situation…" _I'm not ready to do it now _"I am a witch" She grinned, showing pearly white teeth.

There were a few moments of consideration in which Caelum heavily suspected the bots to be surfing through the web in search of a practical description of the wording she used. The definitions varied, from a female magic user to a green skinned, pointy hat wearing, warts covered hag. Thanks to a few popular tv shows and modern books, witches gained a new face, such as in "Charmed" and a few others.

Sam, Mikaela, Willian Lennox and his team plus the Sec. Def. who came for the debriefing. Petunia stood in a corner, tablet in hands as was usual and typing madly. Something about one of their top-hackers not responding and being MIA for a week…

Jazz grinned, meeting her eyes with his light blue optics.

"So... you call your garage what, broom closet?" He cackled, Caelum ignored him with the best poker face she could muster. "Why did you put your broom in the wash?" He giggled "Wanted a clean sweep?" This time even Optimus chortled. Caelum hoped she didn't create a monster... Ratchet gave the idea that Cybertronian didn't have puns, but human languages were so full of it, it was ridiculous. The humans just shook their heads, the ones who witnessed Caelum's miracle with the Wall didn't look as dubious as the ones who didn't.

It didn't stop them from cracking jokes.

"Eh, if you're angry, better not fly off in your broom!" Robert Epps began, trading a wink with Sam.

The boy smirked "Why?"

"She can fly off the handle!" They all tittered.

It was the leader bot who stopped the string of silly witch-puns "What do you mean by saying you are a witch?" Once upon a time in a cube crossing the universe, an alien god also had no idea what she meant by being a witch… He understood the concept of priests or even shamans.

But witches and wizards?

"That is what I am, a wand waving, broom riding witch, I can do magic" Her eyes sparkled. Raising a hand and slashing it downward making appear a line of fire, similar to a comet's tail. "I will explain everything, for now trust me" It was a heavy question in more ways than one could imagine.

Trust is a very heavy burden to carry or put on someone. The bots came to save them from the Decepticons attack, but did they come because they also wanted the Cube or because they truly wanted to help? And what about the humans part in the battle?

Caelum knew the kind of bonds that could develop in the midst of the heat of a battle. You had to trust your companions to have your back while they had to trust you had theirs. It was a good way to develop these sentiments because the elation one felt when the battle is over and their side is victorious has no comparison. She knows because she went through similar situations.

"_Cae! Get down!" A flash of purple light exploded on the wall just behind where her head would have been had Luna's call not come in time. _

"_Thanks Luna!" Caelum coughed, debris still raining on top of her and filling her lungs with dust. In the distance, they heard a mad cackle. _

"_Potty thinks she can count on her itty bitty friends, doesn't she?" Belatrix LeStrange singsong-ed, sounding smug and delirious. _

"_She doesn't need to think, she knows she can!" Hermione and Neville came from an adjourning corridor, standing side by side and holding their sparking wands. Caelum's heart lightened, for once she felt the burden she carried lessen a little._

Her mind wavered. The bots did come to save them in the end, and they destroyed the Cube – seemingly the only hope to restore their planet – to protect Earth from Decepticons' invasion.

_But they couldn't protect them all…. Viktor and many others still died. You felt them, you felt each soul and each spark. _

It wasn't right… her heart lurched. It was her fault.

The days she spent brooding, hiding from the world, locked alone in her house with only her own torturous thoughts as company weren't enough to make the fact that she wasn't as omnipresent as she liked to think she was. Years being the most powerful human being on Earth mayhap gone to her head and inflated it a little.

She was no better than Sam, than Lennox, than Jazz.

_How will you help them if you can't even help yourself?_

There has to be a way, she refused to think there wouldn't be. She'd make use of whatever means she had to make a way if push comes to shove. Humble and wise… Caelum never claimed to be those. But she was only one, what could she do alone?

_Nothing._

But she was **not** alone, not anymore, was she?

Not only the Autobots. But the Cybertronian who were given to her as godchildren. Snort. Power over life and death and she couldn't control it right.

_Trust me. _She has asked. _Trust me_ as if it was an easy thing to do when even she didn't trust herself. _Sirius died because you trusted yourself too much, Dumbledore died because you didn't trust enough, Fred and all the others died because they trusted __**you**__._

Trust the witch, the unknown factor, the one who had the power to control the AllSpark, the one who has the power to change the world around her yet use it only for selfish means.

Optimus venting body snapped Caelum out of her self-pity induced haze. "We will trust you, Caelum Potter, do not betray that trust"

_Trust them. _

_Don't do to them what Dumbledore did to you._

"Yeah, you can trust us as well" Will smiled encouragingly. His eyes were curious though.

And she felt truly humble, making a promise to herself that from then on, she'd try to get better – hey, people saving thing is not something easily shake-able… it took dying twice, being transported to another world, spend 200 years alone then meeting her godchildren to spark that part of her that cared for people again. It would not go to waste.

"I guess I can say this all started when I died…"

"What do you mean, died?" Sam asked, eye twitching. Mikaela too had an eye brow raised. The others just waited for her to continue.

"Well… This is a pretty long story" The raven haired girl sighed. "It really started when I died… but what led to that is another thing. You have to understand first that I am not from this World."

"You mean you're like them?" Will asked. Pointing his thumb at the loitering Autobots. Ratchet hummed condescendly. The human soldier grinned at the yellow bot, silently apologizing for the offhand comment.

"No, she is not, she is a 100% human" The CMO disclosed after a second of making Will squirm. "Although she is surrounded by energy radiation…"

"Let Miss Potter finish her story" John Keller gently suggested, nipping Ratchet's science born interest in Caelum's 'magic'.

Said witch coughed to hide her disconcert. She wasn't naturally an open person, and these years that she's spent alone, only added more layers around herself… hell, it started during her childhood when an attention starved child thought no one cared for her, and so she learned to pretend it didn't hurt.

"Right… I'm not like them; I come from another Earth, a parallel Earth actually. Though our history is very similar to yours, a lot of things differs… In both Worlds exists the concept of magic. But while in your history magic has been written as myth, in mine is a reality. Egyptian priests gained power from the old gods, using runes and rituals to serve their magical sovereign. Though not everyone was capable of controlling it, it was thought that only those blessed by the gods were apt to use their powers, such as the pharaoh and his family.

Only whose born with a magic core were able to control magic. This ability is divided in two sections. Earth Magic that courses through the Ley Lines, and body magic, that channels the power in our own soul.

This knowledge of how to use magic bled to the Romans, who refined the mystical arts to a new level and introduced a new way to control it by using a foci, or focus object of magical nature. They also found that magic could bloom in the normal citizens, not only in priests or shamans or the pharaoh, like the Egyptians believed. Though the teaching of the arts kept within families.

When the Greek came and took western culture to the rest of Europe, the magical culture disseminated through the few barbarian tribes, gaining from them even better advancements, like new runes from their own gods. And as catholic church gained power, the Enclaves were created – villages or communities dedicated to the magic arts. The Arthurian legends might only be a myth here, but it truly happened in my World, Merlin is seen as the creator of modern wizardry traditions because of what he did in Arthur's court. This never happened in this World though, not that I could find it…" She trailed off, looking at her audience.

"We will leave the questions for later, please go on Miss Potter" Caelum nodded at John Keller's words. She spent years thinking about the history of magic and where it connected to this world, searching for parallels that maybe could make her feel less alone. Remembering little facts that Binns managed to get through her head (or Hermione) about the beginning of magic.

"All throughout history, there were those who abused their powers, be they magical or not… Though magical tyrants are harder to take down as they are more vicious… In 1927, one of the most feared Dark Lords was born – he was afraid of Death, of being forgotten, so much that he broke his own soul in order to achieve immortality – creating Horcruxes, the objects in which a soul is stored. He also abhorred normal people – muggles as they were known to the Enclaves – because his father, a muggle, abandoned him and his mother to death…

His name was Lord Voldemort… and in 1980 a prophecy was made about his downfall. The prophecy spoke of a child, born at the end of July to parents who opposed _him _thrice, who would have the power to defeat Voldemort – and the Dark Lord will mark them as an equal, and neither could live while the other survived… One of the Dark Lord's followers heard the first part of the prophecy and told his master about it. There were only two families who fit in the prophecy. Mine and one other…

Voldemort went after my family, because I was supposedly like him, a half-blood – when children are born with magical core to normal parents, they are new to the Enclaves, new blood. The conservative families who wanted to keep the old ways hated that the magical world was being flooded by these new bloods. There are reasons why a witch or wizard might hate the normal people – the dark ages witch hunting marked our history as much as it marked theirs. And the muggle-borns brought with them new culture, slowly erasing the old ways… My mother was a muggle-born, and my father a wizard from such an old family.

I was born like Voldemort, a half-blood. Never truly understood his reasons since he preached pure-blood supremacy, the other child fitted in that he was born to two old families while my mother was new… Any case, he went after my family. My parents went into hiding with the help of their closest friend, using a powerful spell that depends on trust. The Fidelius Charm. It works like a secret… Only those privy can know about something hidden by the charm, and it was used to hide the house we were living in.

Only we were betrayed by the Secret Keeper, who tattled our location to Voldemort… On a Halloween night in 1981, the Dark Lord invaded our hideout, he killed my parents and when he tried to kill me, his spell rebounded and destroyed his living body, also breaking his soul into one more piece that went into me. He continued to exist as a shade for years thanks to this fractured soul who would not depart until it went completely.

I was sent to live with my mother' sister until my eleventh birthday, when I received a school letter – a magical school that taught wizardry children how to properly control their powers founded around the 10th century when the feudal system consolidated. In my first year, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, set a kind of test for me to face. He knew the prophecy and that I was marked by Voldemort as his equal." She lifted the bangs covering her forehead, showing the fading lightning bolt scar. "Through this Dumbledore knew I was the one destined to vanquish the Dark Lord.

The trap he set up was actually meant to Voldemort... The headmaster had taken the Philosopher Stone – the legendary stone capable of turning any metal into gold, and able to produce the Elixir of Life, an immortality potion – and hid it in the school… Voldemort' shade possessed a professor at the school to try and get the Stone that Dumbledore hid, while I was caught up by my own curiosity in the headmaster's plot. I ended confronting and defeating the possessed teacher and unknowingly destroyed the Stone.

In subsequent years, my life's been in jeopardy, but most notable is that somehow I acquired three objects said to have belonged to Death. The Deathly Hallows – The Elder wand, the most powerful of all foci ever created. The Invisibility Cloak, capable of hiding the user even from Death and the Resurrection Stone, that didn't really brought back a life, but a soul. In the final confrontation between Voldemort and I, he killed me once – thought that failed because instead of making my soul depart, he killed the part of him that existed in me. As I was brought back to life, the Dark Lord realized something was wrong.

And we dueled again. Only that time our spells clashed and exploded violently… His body broke down and he became dust… my own body couldn't take the shock and I died for a second time… Only I did not cease to exist. Since I found that thanks to the three parts of Death that belonged to me I could keep my mind intact while my soul crossed to the Well of Life in the Beyond… I was guided by Death to that point, and then on, I was attracted by a light streaking by and chose to follow it…

I ended up inside the Cube, It has a direct connection to the Well of Life and was an outlet that would let me leave the Well." She paused, breathing deeply and wondering if she should also tell them about Primus. _Not yet…_

"Hold on… you came from the AllSpark?" Sam asked bewildered.

"Yes… kind of… When the Cube crashed on Earth, I was flung to the future where I woke up in the US instead of where I first died, it took me years wandering around to find out what happened." She said a bit vaguely. It was true she spent years wandering, but not solely to the purpose she indicated.

Once more, Sam proved how intelligent and perceptive he was. "You're the same Caelum Potter gramps and dad knew, you've been faking your death over and over, haven't you?" Mikaela gasped, while Will and his men shamelessly gawked. John Keller shifted uncomfortably. Immortality always been tricky within human nature. "You knew since the beginning what the glasses were, who Megatron was, and you knew the big guys would be coming eventually" He accused, Caelum lowered her head, hiding her eyes.

He was right.

She knew and did nothing until the last minute.

"I couldn't interfere, it wasn't in my rights to meddle with something I had no place in" She said pleadingly. While the human members of their party were torn between pity and anger, the Autobots' expressions were wary but they seemed to understand something.

It was Optimus who came to her rescue. "Whilst in the Cube you came in contact with forbidden knowledge."

"Megatron's escape was supposed to happen, I was told not to interfere with his return, nor the destruction of the Cube. I tried to keep Sam safe, but his part in the events were too great and I couldn't _not_ let him be a part of it."

"When you bought the glasses… you were trying to interfere" Sam connected. Eyes wide. "Were you hoping they would come after you instead of us?"

She nodded "Yes… it didn't work because of your grandfather's relation to the Cube and Megatron."

Everyone's voices blurred as she tried her best to answer any questions they might have…

"You have a lot of things to explain…"

"Life after death exists?"

"How old are you exactly?"

"To what extent does the knowledge you gained from the Cube go?"

…

It was going to be a long, long night.

15. D Jazz' Blues

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

After the events of the last week, Jazz' nerves were definitely on edge.

So he decided to patrol Tranquility alongside the small yellow Scout. Jazz found it funny that Bee enjoyed spending time with the human younglings, maybe it was all about their age – human teenagers seem to always travel in packs after all. Bumblebee was… well…

His car form was currently parked in front of an alley. He was absently keeping an eye on a shady human. The male was dressed all in black and had a hoodie covering most of his features and there was a suspicious budge in his pocket, plus he was stalking around the block like a prowling Decepticon scout.

There is bound to be nothing good in his intentions.

Mostly because the human male stopped from times to times to observe the small family dinner in which the alley Jazz chose to idle was.

The dinner was a friendly looking one, painted bright colors and very light. There was an open curtain through which it was possible to see the movements inside. It was the window the suspicious black wearing male stopped to stalk, as well as Jazz used it to keep an eye on the people currently dining.

The sun was setting fast. Light poles switched on, bathing the street in a bland yellow light. With night, the people mingling in the street thinned, as did the dinner's clientele. There were less people inside of it now and Jazz could only watch as the stalking male looked from side to side, braced himself and entered the dinner with a sniff.

::_Hi… I'm witnessing a robbery! I'm in…::_ He proceeded to give the address to the bored sounding voice of the police attendant on the other side. He heard a confirmation that a patrol car was nearby and relaxed slightly, his metal body sinking on the wheels' axis.

A few seconds passed with no change.

And then the party began.

A shooting noise, a female's voice screaming in fright, some shuffling and finally a flurry of movements from the inside…

The robber, that shady black wearing figure, escaped from the front door carrying a heavy looking bag over his shoulder and holding on one of those puny human guns. To a bot they were nothing frightening, but to other of their species that held no protection against them, they are capable of ending their lives.

As the man ran down the street, Jazz took off after him. The burned rubber marks on the asphalt proof of his disquiet.

A shrill sounding siren was the warning he needed that a police car was fast approaching their position. A little more and the black and white mobile unit could be seen speeding down the street after the robber.

The little thief saw the police as well and panicked, dashing in an alley and disappearing from sight.

Normal sight.

Jazz did a probably illegal move and cut through traffic, entering the narrow alley in a tight fit, though sparks flew from where his rearview mirrors scratched on the wall. The thief was just a few meters ahead of him, having stopped to gawk at the expensive looking car chasing after him.

Then the thief regained his senses and started to run anew, feet almost slipping on the disgusting gunk strewn on the alley. He got to a high slope, jumping over it. Jazz would never manage to do the same in car form, so when the little thief regained his footing and started to dart off again, the silver Pontiac Solstice has had enough and transformed, leaping easily over the slope and bracing his size on the surrounding walls, barricading the human robber.

"You did a very bad thing" Jazz growled in his most impressive intimidating voice. The man whimpered and trembled, something pooling around his feet. The SiC felt a mix of amusement and disgust at the cowering being, that moments earlier has been threatening innocent people with his gun not minding if he caused them pain or fear.

"Please don't kill me!" The man sobbed, falling to his knees as his legs couldn't take his weight.

Jazz shifted, bringing out his own photon riffle out of subspace and leveling it at the human's face. "You will give yourself to the police nicely, admit what you've done, and ask forgiveness for the people you've hurt… or else…" The photon riffle's barrel lit up, light fusion left over dripping down the dirty ground, sizzling ominously as it made contact.

"I will! I will! I promise! I do whatever you want!"

Jazz nodded, putting away his precious riffle and moving over the human, accessing the other side of the alley and transforming down keeping out of sight, trapping the thief between him and the already approaching police officers, who thankfully didn't care when the sobbing robber attempted to tell them about the giant devil that almost killed him.

With a last snicker at the robber's incessant sniveling and feeling quite like Ironhide intimidating lesser species, Jazz drove carefully through the rest of the alley, he reached the street and silently swore to himself to hit one of those fabulous car-washes as soon as possible to get rid of the gunk on his undercarriage.

…

It was only when he was almost in the base that the first sound registered.

_Mew…Mew…Mew… _

::_Um… Ratch… there seems to be a strange noise coming from my Spark chamber…::_ He sent a recording of the 'weird' noise.

::_That sounds like one of those tiny mammals humans keep as pets, the feline one::_ Ratchet sent suspiciously. Jazz felt his venting kick in. ::_The little thing must have snuck in when you parked. Probably in front of some alley_::

::_You saying there is a kitty in my Spark Chamber?_::

::_Yes…? I'm saying you have kittens_:: Amusement now painted Ratchet's note. Jazz ignored him, turned the comm. down and did a U-turn, carefully maneuvering and driving in a B-line to Mikaela's dad's workshop.

He dialed Mikaela's number. "_Hi_…"

::_Hey Mik, this is Jazz! Are you at home?_:: He prayed to Primus that she was.

"_Yeah… is there something wrong?_"

::I want you to help me with something…::

Just because it could, the stowaway kitten gave another little _mew._

**XxxXxxX**

Mikaela held the feline as far away from her body as she could. The thing was as dirty as an alley cat could be, with unmentionable things caked in its fur, patches of it missing and it was probably disease ridden.

The human girl shuddered, eyeing the thing, and then Jazz.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked the Pontiac Solstice that was hanging on top of an open elevated platform. The car rolled around the small space a little before transforming, minding the platform, Jazz used it as a bench.

"It looks nothing like those things in the videos…"

The raven haired girl raised an eyebrow. Jazz shrugged. "It needs a bath, a vet and some food… where did you even pick this up?"

"It followed me home!" He answered playfully petulant. "I'm checking these 'vets' you mentioned" They were expensive, the SiC doubted he could get away with using the Autobot's limited funding to pay for an alley cat's veterinary bill. Mikaela seemed to understand what he was thinking.

"They cost a lot of money… I'm sorry Jazz, I don't have much right now" Her skin broke in shivers as she saw _something_ crawling on the poor cat's fur. "I'm not keeping it here" She announced wavering. The cat gave a piteous _meaw_ as if understanding what she said and was asking clemency.

Jazz optics dimmed. He wanted to help the little feline; it came out of his own very Spark! It had a right to live! Then his optics brightened as he had a sudden idea. "What about Sam?"

"Maybe, let's call him"

Jazz promptly made the call. _Tuut…. Tuuut…. Tuu- _"_Hey, what's up Jazz?_" Sam's voice came from the car' speakers. Mikaela eyed the cat for a second, uneasily keeping track of all the fleas jumping around its fur.

"Hey Sam, it's me, Mikaela. I'm with Jazz right now and we kind of need a favor"

"_With Jazz?_" Sam sounded bewildered, no doubt wondering what they were doing. "_What's going on?_"

It was Jazz who answered. "We need some money to take Blues to the vet"

"_Blues?_" Sam asked just as Mikaela mouthed the name incredulously.

"My kitty's name! Blues!" The silver Autobot answered as if it should have been obvious.

"_Ok… look, I'd love to help, and I really wish I could, but I already own my soul in debts cause you guys destroyed Cae's house_"

"It was only the yard!"

"_But you didn't help any!_" Sam said back indignantly, remembering Jazz' dismissal of his pleas a week ago when Caelum demanded retribution. "_I have to pay the damage by myself! So I'm broke right now until I receive my first check_" Oh right, he was now working for the short black haired witch, wasn't he? Mikaela' shoulder slumped. Jazz' head lights blinked on and off. "_Why don't you ask that midget?_" He suggested, making the odd pair and the cat perk up.

"Good idea Sam! Do you think she'd help?"

"_I'm sure she would… make sure she doesn't pile it on me though!_"

"Thanks Sam, see you tomorrow…"

"Bye Sam…"

Jazz ended the call ignoring Sam' sputtering. He received a message from Bumblebee wondering what was going on and sent a sum of the happenings of the day to the little bot's amusement.

"Let me call the shorty" After weekend's fiasco of Q & A over the shaggy haired, green eyed femme has declared she'd stay in Tranquility for another week. The bots didn't really know what to think of her and what she said – being reborn out of the AllSpark? Almost made them siblings in a spiritual kind of way… Jazz thought the witch brave, and he had a healthy amount of respect for her after what she did to the wall.

_Tuut… tuuut…. Tuuut… tuuuut…tuu-_

"_Hallo_?" Caelum's voice rang through Jazz' speakers.

"Cae?" The Silver bot called hesitantly. Blues gave out another pitiful _meaw_.

"_Is that a cat?_" She apparently heard the little sound. Mikaela shot the cat a glare that was ignored. She huffed.

"We kind of need a favor" She repeated what she said to Sam quite bluntly. Jazz' headlights blinked in her and the cat's direction. The feline squirmed at being held in that position for so long and Mikaela conceded, dropping the dirty cat on the ground where the thing sat down primly, eyeing her with large watery blue slanted eyes. It was strange that a cat was _that_ well behaved, but the girl ignored the strangeness for now, being thankful for it.

"_Sure, what do you need?_" Caelum agreed easily. Mikaela' shoulder slumped in relief that she agreed without even listening to their request.

It was Jazz who spoke. "I found a kitty and we want to take it to the vet…"

"We need the money to take the thing to the vet" Mikaela completed, lifting an eyebrow and the indignant way the cat hissed at her. Jazz hissed in a similar way. The raven haired girl hid the snicker behind a hand.

"_No problems, send the bill and I'll take care of it, don't worry_" Caelum answered slowly, a little hesitant. Mikaela felt bad for a second, they've (she and Sam) been avoiding the other ravenette after that fated weekend. Sam was still a little peeved about everything, and Mikaela simply went with him. She wasn't sure what Caelum' standing with the big guys was, but she must have some amnesty.

"Yes! Thanks lil' lady!" Jazz purred, making delighted faces at the cat.

"_You're welcome Jazz, now I have to go, I will go see you tomorrow_" The green eyed witch promised, turning off the call. To Mikaela, the other girl sounded pleased for some reason.

Jazz jumped down the platform, startling Blues who jumped away with his caked fur standing on end – and transformed down into a car. "Come on! Let's take him to a vet"

Mikaela nodded, grabbing an old stained rag from the workshop and slowly approaching the cat, warping the rag around it to carry the feline to Jazz' interior… Jazz helpfully opened his door to accept the human youngling who sat down on the passenger seat. Never really comfortable sitting on the driver' seat when the bots' were driving themselves. The cat was slotted on the flooring, snuggling on the rag and making a poor looking nest.

After consulting online lists, Jazz found a good pet shop/ veterinary, and they drove there.

**XxxXxxX**

"This little guy is going to be fine, a few fermifuge injections and a nice anti-flea bath and he's as good as new, you're going to have to leave him here with us for tonight though, he'll be ready tomorrow afternoon" The kind looking lady managing the pet shop said to Mikaela.

"Alright, thanks" The raven haired girl gave a sigh of relief then left the shop, giving a parked Jazz the thumbs up. The car swung a little in his happiness, and the girl looked frantically around to make sure no one saw. It was quite late in the night, so there were not many people around.

She climbed within Jazz' cab and let him drive her to her house.

"Thanks for the ride Jazz" She thanked, closing the door. The car coughed, rolling down the window so he could talk with her.

"I should be the one thank you Mik, you've been a great help tonight" She smiled, patting the roof of the car.

"I'm glad Blues is going to be alright… but what are you going to do with a cat?"

He didn't answer, and Mikaela had the impression that he was blushing.

**XxxXxxX**

Three disbelieving pair of optics watched the silver SiC coo at the small furry feline curled contently between his shoulder's cables. The heat from the exhauster on his neck made a warm nest for the cat to curl on.

"This is Blues!" Jazz introduced the yawning alley tom, proudly presenting the cat who jumped down gracefully to Jazz' offered hand.

"Another rat?!" Ironhide primed his cannons, pointing them at the little purring feline who was arching under Jazz' pinky… Ratchet's optics twitched but he didn't seem as much disturbed as Ironhide was. Optimus just comm-ed him.

::Are you intent on adopting the mammal?:: To which Jazz sent a vehement affirmation. ::Then it is your responsibility, Jazz.:: Summing up, taking care of the cat was up to Jazz and he had nothing against that.

"Don't talk to Blues like that, you will hurt his feelings"

"It's a cat! It has no feelings!"

_Hisss. Spurt, hiss meow!_

"Yes, he is an ugly scrap, isn't he? Who is a pretty boy, who is?"

"Glitch head"

**XxxXxxX**

_Let me out._

No.

_LET ME OUT!_

No!

_You are the other, the one I felt before… _

No.

_You will have to acknowledge me one day…_

No.

Caelum woke up, hissing under her breath. Magic swirled around her body in a protective cocoon as it felt something threatening. It was only a dream… One that has been plaguing her since the weekend when she's explained her origins to her new allies. All things considered, they took it rather well… then again, she just rode on the wave of confusion created by the truth that aliens existed and humanity had to fight its first out-of-space invasion, so the shock of a being capable of doing magic was muted.

To the bots she was a human.

To the humans she was a witch.

Well… it could be worst, they didn't really expounded on her supposed immortality to her luck. Though the Defense Secretary was giving her quite the inspection, though to his benefit, he didn't ask about how to duplicate the effects of her long life.

She felt it would come to bite her in the ass sometime in the future though, if she wasn't careful.

Although it felt freeing and refreshing to take all that weight out of her shoulders and share it with others. Even if they couldn't begin to comprehend the dimensions of the powers trusted in her hands.

Even she didn't understand them fully.

Perhaps it was time to explore a bit? The raven haired witch exhaled a heavy puff of air, blinking the fog created by sleep and rubbing the corner of her eyes to clean off sleeping sand. She didn't even look at the mirror, she knew what would be there and didn't want to see it. Her hair would have to stay the bird's nest of always for a little more without a brush.

So, after grabbing something to eat, the witch skipped out of her home, waving at the landscaping crew hired to fix her front yard and running to where she left her magical bicycle parked.

Pedaling out of the property, she let her body wash away in a notice-me-not charm that would make sure no one saw when the bike tipped over and started to float, gaining altitude and flying off following the road in a speed that would have landed her in jail had she been in a car – going in the direction of the Autobot's base.

**XxxXxxX**

"I found this inside Megatron' Spark chamber" Optimus knelt on the floor in front of John Keller and a few other government liaisons. He offered the small glinting AllSpark shard to the Defense Secretary in a huge show of good will. The man knew the importance the Cube held to the bots and was humbled by the Autobot leader's gesture. Though his other government officials felt it was the least the bots could do. "It is a shard of the AllSpark, I trust you will keep it safe" The red and blue Semi spoke gravely.

John Keller nodded solemnly, allowing his assistant to reach for the Shard and lock it in a high security black leather brief case. The interior was lined in an inch thick lead cover, and the locking system was programed to recognize finger prints plus a secret password. It was structured to resist the impact of a few megatons worth of explosion and was top of the line in its category, often used by the secret service to transport _delicate materials. _

"We will keep it safe, a FBI high security facility was adapted to house this shard as of last week when you notified us of this find." John Keller nodded his head at the assistant, who took a step back allowing Optimus to rise to his full height. "Also, it seems Miss. Potter's made an interesting move, we've been debating where to move you, and her personal secretary contacted me to let us know about the base being constructed in a private Island near the Indonesian sea. The Island ownership has been transferred to the N.E.S.T initiative"

NEST. The brand new global organization that was to be the joined efforts between the human military and the Autobots in the quest to defend Earth from Decepticon invasion. In an earlier meeting between Optimus and some UN representatives, the bot leader made it clear to the humans that Earth had a figurative target on it.

The humans weren't exactly thrilled to be forced to share their planet with their new alien allies, but were forced to admit the necessity of it. Thus an Agreement Contract between the Autobots and the World government, that gave the bots some funding and leeway and in return they wanted Cybertronian technology.

Optimus agreed to share their technology to a point, leaving out weapons or anything that could be harmful on the long run.

"Thank you for your support" Optimus acknowledged the Secretary's words with a nod, ignoring the gawking officials looking at him and his Autobots who were present in the meeting. Ironhide and William Lennox included, as was Bumblebee and Sam. Optimus made a mental note to include the small mysterious human youngling in the NEST operation plan.

Jazz and Ratchet were the perfect figure of a Cybertronian officers, posture straight and optics narrowed. Though Jazz' image was slightly tarnished by the cute fur-ball napping on his shoulder. The humans seemed oblivious though, so the leader bot ignored it himself.

"Well, if this is all, we will be going. I'd contact Miss. Potter" The Secretary advised before following after the others, a convoy of official cars waiting for them outside the base.

Optimus vented.

"I've been put in charge of the NEST initiative" William Lennox spoke out loud. "I've also been promoted to Major, so now I'm Major Lennox, not Captain Lennox" He said playfully, wiggling his fingers in Ironhide's direction. Optimus felt there was an inside joke there somewhere and was glad that his officers were getting along so well with their charges. "Epps is still my lieutenant, so feel free to tease him"

"You Betcha" Jazz winked, visor blinking in and out.

They spent a while conversing amongst themselves, mostly Will explaining about what they were planning to do with NEST and how transportation was going on to their new Island and back. "We still have to name the Island…" He finished thoughtfully.

A few tossed out whacky names later, their discussion was interrupted by a shy knock on the hangar's huge closed doors. Whoever was knocking, didn't wait for a response. The huge, exceedingly heavy metal door was pushed open by a short – in human' standards – girl…

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important" Caelum greeted, waving at the bots and the humans. Will smiled and waved back along with Mikaela. Blues chose that moment to wake up, trailing large feline eyes to the new comer curiously. It only took a second for hell to break lose.

HISS!

"Ah!"

"HISSSS!"

"Merlin Draco! You looked better as a ferret!"

16. D-eed Done

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

"Did you manage to obtain it?" A deep cutting voice belonging to a tall muscled man with a military buzz cut and strong square jaw, pierced through the silence, startling another man who was standing in front of his spartan like desk.

"Yes sir, we have a few minutes before it will be missed"

"Very well, proceed with the energy extraction."

"On it sir, team Alpha is already breaking down the quantum shields and calculations are being made to accommodate for the wave lengths differences. We are dealing with something that might be beyond our level of technology, but so far it's being handled well."

"Good, when you and Alpha team are done, I wish to see the reports."

"Yes sir"

"This is _our_ planet, we will not allow those aliens to claim it if we can help it, they will learn not to play with the human race, even if some of us are willing to bend down and roll over to those Scum" Fist tightened, bellying the anger the speaker felt. His steely eyes focused on his assistant, a tall lean man wearing a standard lab coat. "Now go, make sure everything runs smoothly"

"Yes sir" The assistant nodded, hastily making his out of the dimly lit office. The buzz cut man leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms thoughtfully over his chest – his face a mask of passivity - completely hiding the burning inferno that hid in his sharp eyes.

Those Sector Seven fools proved to be even more stupid than he thought they were, and he'd use them to crush his enemies – those god damn aliens that thought they could bring their war to Earth and get away with it.

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum stared at the cat for a good moment, the life energy around it was eerily familiar but it _wasn't_ really right.

The cat… It wasn't Draco, not in the literal way, but it carried a part of something that the blonde pompous git once was. It was unmistakable in the way the thing hissed and spat in her direction, feline eyes glinting maliciously. Eh… Jazz' little pet would prove to be amusing.

If not a painful reminder of the past, but as time moved forward, she's caught more than one familiar face through the streets – shades, reminders, like moving pictures she could watch but they weren't really her friends.

One of those very hard and painful reminders was actually on the line with her.

So after assuring Sam that the cat's bill wouldn't be taken out of his pay check – the damage's cost to her yard gently discounted through a few pays so he'd still have something to himself, the witch hung out with the bots, Sam and Mikaela and Will – while he stayed for a while, he left early so he could spend time with his family – no one questioned him but Ironhide gave him a lift.

After leaving the base for the night, Caelum received a message from her secretary saying that Petunia would be busy for the next day, and so _please don't get in trouble_ and _please take care of a few calls _and _please ask Smitherson to stop stalking me_.

Or something along those lines.

A good night worth of bad dreams later came morning, and with it the e-mailed list from Petunia with the reminder of what was supposed to be ran that day. The schedule was to be followed by the letter – her secretary's OCD was legendary. And if it wasn't for Petunia, her business wouldn't be as rounded and taken care of as they were today.

Readying her breath and checking the first call of the day, Caelum began.

"Hello Miss Granger" Hermione Granger, one of her best friends from another life existed in this universe, not Hermione the smartest witch of her generation, but as H. J. Granger, a brilliant lawyer and prosecutor, no recollection what so ever of her past life as a witch and no connection to it – Witch Hermione old parents were named Jane and Dan, Dentists. This Hermione's parents were Jeanette and David, a Lawyer and a Doctor respectively.

And even if their personalities were eerily alike, Caelum didn't presume to replace Hermione with a new one – nothing and no one could ever replace that bushy haired know-it-all in the stranded witch's heart.

"_Good evening Miss. Potter, I've contacted Miss Banes and we are meeting soon, the case is going smoothly, and I am confident that by the end of the month Mr. Banes will be a free man_" Hermione the Lawyer related, she didn't have that cockney accent anymore after living half her life in the Estates, but there were hints.

Caelum herself lost the accent a few decades ago. When she moved everywhere it was hard to keep the accent, more so if she wanted to mingle with the locals.

Now, usually the lawyer took things with Petunia, but her Secretary was occupied at the moment taking care of other side of business – Giant metal golem sides of things – so Caelum took charge of a few things.

Like dealing with some of the promises she made herself.

"Alright, I trust you Miss Granger, if you need anything let us know" And with those parting words the call was ended. It hurt. To be that distant with a person whose face belonged to someone she saw as a sister – but it would hurt even more to face that person knowing things could never be like they once were.

Caelum took another deep breath, one thing done, more to go.

Next on the list was actually an online post in some under-grid forum, the dark corner of the internet that stayed below Searching Engines' radar, like Google, and were only accessible to those who knew how.

_Friday s missing – any1 seen him?_

The first thought that crossed her mind was _Who is Friday and why is he important to Petunia?_ But then, attached to the post was a few days old message, the sender's name? Friday.

_Enemy sighted in your location. Signal booster testing: success, on my way – Friday to BBE. (Blond Bitch Evans)_ It made cogs creak in the raven haired green eyed girl's brain. From the message it was possible to gleam that this Friday was someone who worked for Petunia and was responsible to keep an eye on the Dam the day the attack occurred, also, that the hacker was close to the dam since he reported the success in the signal booster – one of the things that allowed the Sec. Def. and Petunia to contact the Air Force.

And if Friday went missing, it was a big possibility that he has been caught up by the Decepticons' rampage.

Right under the first post, was the answering responses to the question – shady users IDs of all kind shared their misgivings about what happened to the brilliant hacker and cracker Friday. And none were kind.

With a sigh, Caelum wrote a post-it note to leave Petunia, as worried as she was for this missing hacker, she didn't even know how to begin navigating the web. Technology never agreed with her, fact that made keeping a single cellphone for more than a month very difficult.

The note said – _Offer a reward for anyone who can find the real identity of your guy –_ And was sent in an e-mail back to the blonde secretary.

Now onto the third item…

**XxxXxxX**

The construction crew had to be brought by boat, and the materials were hard to transport.

Though the difficulties in beginning to build in an isolated Island were huge, with the amount of investment by the UN to the NEST initiative and Caelum's own large fortune things were running, slowly but surely advancing.

Petunia stood in her pinstripes suit, lapis colored pencil skirt, perfectly coifed blonde hair, thin executive glasses perched on top of a long nose and feet encased in a deep lapis colored leather _Christian Loubouti_ that she bought last season. The exact image one would definitely _not _expect to find in the middle of a huge construction field.

Mostly because of the dainty white architect helmet on her head was such a contrast to her outfit.

Behind her, also wearing a pinstripes suit and his GI-Joe usual gear, was Smitherson. He, as was customary, kept fiddling with the straps of his weapon of choice – this time a double barrel assault rifle.

"When are we returning to land? Mistress is alone" He has been complaining since morning when they arrived through helicopter about the incessant sun and the humid air. Petunia sniffed condescendly, staring down at him even though he was a head taller than her and resisting the urge to point out that he could have stayed instead of following her here.

"Mistress is _never_ alone… unless she manages to escape surveillance, there is always someone keeping an eye on her" The blonde snipped, lips drawing in a thin line. She could predict the next question but she'd let him ask.

"Who is it?"

"I've contacted Optimus Prime to explain the importance of keeping Mistress safe, and he said he'd have one of his officers guarding her for the day. The other Managers are all keeping busy, with new HDTV technology flooding the electronics market; they have their hand full in the research labs. Plus the fuel crisis in Europe made a few brokers fall and lose value." Her faithful Tablet was an accessory she didn't miss in this travel. It was on and under her fingers in a second. "His officer is sending reports every five hours, from the two reports I've received thus far, everything is normal."

"We can't depend on the Autobots to keep Mistress out of trouble" He pointed out. Petunia's lips thinned even more and she looked like she's swollen a lemon. His face fell slightly as his words registered. Before all this fiasco they'd count on Viktor to guard Caelum when Smitherson wasn't available.

Petunia straightened, waving away his regretful look. "My hands are full at the moment, at least while Caelum stays in Tranquility, she's relatively safe" It didn't matter that the girl was a powerful witch and whatnot, she wasn't invincible as multiple kidnapping attempts in the past indicated. Of course the short shaggy haired girl knew how to take care of herself, having escaped from serious situations before most likely employing the use of magic.

But if they could be avoided, the best… Less exposure and less unnecessary risks…

"You're right, I will trust those robots for now"

"So will I"

**XxxXxxX**

The little reconnaissance droid crawled on the grainy red surface of the fourth planet in the Solar System. The droid was square and heavy looking, with precise measurements and image capture equipment, along with the best data transmitter NASA could develop, which meant it was the best Earth had at the time.

Its spidery legs robotically moved, slowly gaining ground. The droid continuously sent images to NASA base on Earth and the operators were still celebrating their findings.

The last couple of pictures were evidence confirming the existence of a Lake on the surface of the mysterious planet.

Though ever since the last droid has been destroyed in the beginning of the year, investments in Space exploration and surveillance was doubled… This little pet project cost more than a fair share of zeros a bill had a right to have. But it was worth it; the scientific benefits were grand and would allow the Project: Colonization Mars – to move forward.

The droid ambled, almost tripping on a few rocks. But the balance system and compensation modules kicked in and the robot regained its footing. If it were sentient, it would have breathed out in relief. As it was, only the technicians in NASA headquarters that were keeping an eye on the images transmitted relaxed.

Not for long.

As the drone dared a few more steps forward, a shadow over took the thing.

"**Look what we have here**"

"**A spy Drone**"

"**Get rid of it**"

The last images the poor drone transmitted were eerily similar to the ones its predecessor did at the beginning of the year.

The team of scientists in the Space exploration HQ jumped into action.

"Sir, we have a situation" The head of the operations contacted the head of NASA and reported their finds, sending the images to all interested officers but keeping it tightly wrapped in red-tape and high clearance only.

Unseen in the middle of the confusion, a woman sneaked silently to the computers main frame and connected a data traveler device, copying files and at the same time planting a little extra piece of coding – a virus in the system.

She was done in less than five minutes, pretending to be busy typing on her terminal. When the download was completed, she smiled grimly, unsticking the drive and pocketing it in a lead sealed bag that was stored in a hidden pocket without anyone being the wiser.

After her shift was done – she had to stay extra hours as to sign non-disclosure papers and give a statement to the reports being submitted – the woman breathed lightly, fishing a low wave communicator that didn't depend on satellite transmissions, but instead jumped through mobile signals, and sent a message.

_Got something interesting, you will like to see it. _– J.

The answer came quickly.

_Bring it to HQ. _– S.

**XxxXxxX**

"- The cases of H1N1 are spreading, think we have a pandemic situation here Ed-" Sam turned off the TV with a huff. His mother went absolutely crazy with sanitary measures, it was almost obsessive. Though she was half lenient when it came to Sam's Autobots friends. She still nagged.

He walked out the living room checking his wrist watch. It was almost time…

"And you're not going to fall dead right?" Judy asked suspiciously, though her eyes were worried. Sam suspected she recently watched War of the Worlds if the opened DVD case was anything to go by.

His yellow Camaro friend nodded from the inside of the garage his parents made the Autobot stay in… "Biological threats do not affect us Mrs. Witwicky" The scout spoke slowly in his British like drawl. "Don't worry about us" He amended, seeing Judy' glare.

The woman nodded, shifting her glare Sam's way. "As soon as they have it ready, we will get those vaccines" Sam sighed but agreed with his mother, not looking forward to the actual inoculation. He hated needles.

"Alright mom, now let me and Bee go, I have to go to work" He spoke on purpose, watching as his mother's face twitched.

"Is it a summer half period? Will you still have time to hang out with your friends? A boy your age needs to have time for those sort of things Sammy."

"It will be alright mom!" Sam cut his mother off before she could go on. Motioning to his friend, Bumblebee drove out of the garage rolling carefully to avoid crushing Judy's daisies. "Gotta go, love you, bye!" The teenager jumped inside the yellow car who slammed the door closed and tore down the street in an obvious escape attempt.

"Kids these days!" The mother shook her head with a bewildered wonder around her, as if surprised by her own son.

Sitting comfortably in his car, Sam didn't see his mother's expression, but he did ignore Bumblebee rather telling music selection. They drove in silence – save for the radio – The dark haired teenager glad to let his friend drive for now, mostly because he wasn't sure how to get to Caelum's house – last time they went there it was awfully dark.

And they kind of had more pressing matters.

::We're here Sam:: Bumblebee sent through the radio, opening the door helpfully and waiting until Sam was out before transforming. The property was a good distance away from the main road to attract unwanted attention, so the yellow bot felt he could safely assume his true form.

It was good to let out for a while, while he liked staying with Sam – the human boy was amusing to no end – he didn't care for spending ungodly amounts of time inside a cramping garage.

"Thanks Bee" The hazel eyed boy patted his friend's pede affably, looking with wide astonished eyes at the reformed yard. "Wow… It's clean!" Bee whistled his agreement, sitting down on a clean patch of pavement destined specially to the visiting Autobots. There was a tall pergola balanced on a pair of twin carved wooden pillars, growing between the pieces of wood was a bright green hedge.

How it grew that fast in only a week would remain a mystery. It looked a refreshing and comfy place to stand under a sunny day, and the area covered was large enough to accommodate a now laying Bee, who looked at Sam with a '_what are you expecting_' look.

Sighing that he'd have to work instead of hanging out with Bee or going out with his girlfriend, but at the same time anticipating his pay check, the teenager followed the homely paved path surrounded by flower bushes thinking that perhaps he fell in some twisted fairytale by staring at the rustic looking house.

His fingers didn't hesitate to press the bell though, and after a series of painful stumbling noises the door opened a slit. A single green eye stared at him for a whole uneasy second before the door opened with an enthusiastic _bang_ and Sam was being run down by his new boss.

"Sam!" Caelum Potter smiled brightly at him, and looking at her face Sam winced in sympathy. She was pale and there were dark circles around her eyes as if she's had a hard time sleeping. The green eyed witch stepped out of the threshold to throw a wave in Bee's direction. "Bumblebee"

The yellow bot raised a hand and waved happily back. "Hey Cae!" The bot greeted back. Caelum smiled again and took Sam by his elbow, pulling him inside the house.

Sam had to blink. Once, twice, three times… No, he wasn't hallucinating. The room was impossibly larger than what was physically possible, and to cap the D's out of Disbelief, the living room slash dinner room could only be described as magical.

Fairy lights hanging on the walls fluttering gently instead of normal electric lamps. There was a violin playing itself in a corner, a stand on which a score flipped its own pages on cue. Near the rustic sofas sat something out of a Belle and the Beast movie – a yipping feet rest sat wagging a piece of golden velvet cover like a tail.

In another corner was the oldest radio he's ever seen. The thing was a faded golden brown and red color and still had a vinyl record player. Besides it was a sturdy looking book shelf with golden marine details, carved on top of it like a crown was an old gold plaque written _Titanic. _

Actually… all manners of decorations seemed out of the last century catalog. Nothing newer than the 90's. Including a penmanship kit with actual feathers, ink pot and parchment!

"What are those?" He couldn't resist any longer and pointed to one of the fairy lights. Caelum paused to look at it, then raising her hands in a conch in front of her lips, she breathed out. In the palms of her hands a little ball of light formed, fed by her breath. Opening her hands, she held the light on Sam' shirt, sticking the thing to it…

"Magic lights… My magic reacts badly with technology, I grew tired of bulbs exploding every time my powers fluctuated, and so I gave up on normal lightning… they save on the power bill" Sam nodded, not really understanding. He poked the light attached to his shirt making it disappear as a candle being blown out.

"The violin…"

"I was feeling like listening to some classic music" She shrugged, and before the dark haired boy could ask anything else, she pulled a miniature planner from her pocket. Sam stared at it curiously, but soon had to shake his head when with a wiggle of her fingers, the planner expanded to normal size. "Here, help me make a few calls, you're my new assistant"

Opening the planner, Sam saw a long list of names and numbers. He was about to ask why she didn't keep the numbers in her cellphone when he remembered her comment about light bulbs exploding…

"Where can I start?" He asked wearily, the list was _long_. Caelum peeked at the list, perking up.

"From A to B, I will cover C and D then we can start on E, F, G, and so on. Just call them and demand a written report by the end of the week" It seemed simple enough, and it _was_ simple, if she remembered that not all of those names were from English speaking people…

…

Thankfully Bumblebee grew curious about what they were doing and called Sam, in the end the pair of humans decided to go outside with a tray of cookies and Sam decided Bee was capable enough of placing the international calls.

It was a full afternoon, but in the end Sam could understand a bit more about their strange witch. She was lonely… so terribly lonely… And as if Bee could read his mind, both boy and Autobot nodded to each other. They'd try and keep her company.

**XxxXxxX**

It was nighttime and she was prepared to go to sleep. Her eyes closed and after an unknown amount of time spent looking blankly at the ceiling; sleep finally came in an exhausted wave that took her away.

Only her dreams weren't so peaceful as she'd hope.

She was standing in the Dursley's house still dressed in her pajamas. There was sunlight streaming through the gaps in the curtains, and the slight breeze made them flutter. It was a pleasant day in which the sun wasn't shy about shining. The sound of feet padding on the smooth wood drew her attention to a wraith like child running into the kitchen area.

The child was small and bony, all knees and elbows. Shaggy black hair was stringy as if not brushed properly in days, and the child's clothing seemed a few sizes too large to properly be a fit. A little girl… Caelum, age seven… She felt as if a hand had gripped her heart and lungs and squeezed.

Her young self with large, sunken eyes, tired but innocent in a way she hasn't been for centuries.

"Where is our breakfast girl!?" A thundering voice cut through the peaceful day, making the little girl jump. Her face already pale, paled even more. She scrambled to prepare breakfast as quickly as she could.

"I'm sorry Aunt Petunia, I overslept" Little Caelum closed her eyes, and older Caelum remembered how she wished hard not to cry or show weakness. She feared the punishment she'd receive, mostly doubled chores and skipped meals. "It won't happen again, I'm sorry" The pitiful show continued, mocking the immortal witch.

"You are correct, it won't happen again you stupid girl, finish cooking, then go to your room and don't come out until I say you can"

"Yes Aunt Petunia"

"**Weakling…**" The dark whisper washed over the other feelings. Caelum started, jumping around to face a towering figure. The house was gone, the Dursleys were gone. She stood now in the middle of an arena, mangled pieces of Cybertronian protoforms were scattered, old energon staining the cage around the arena, and the clamor of a blood thirsty audience filled her chest with fear and dread.

The dark figure was frighteningly familiar.

"**Please master… have mercy…**" The powerful Decepticon leader didn't seem that powerful anymore, he was kneeling, a tall mech holding an electrical rod stood in front of Megatron, who looked fearful and wore down. "**Don't erase me, please don't!** It won't happen again, I'm sorry, **Master**"

"**You've lost your last battle…**" The mech holding the rod sneered down, signaling with his servos, a pair of big bulky mechs appeared, grabbing both of the kneeling one's arms and pulling him to a big eerie machine. "**You will be reformatted, hopefully into something better**"

Megatron roared hatefully, just as the door of the machine was slammed down. The images washed down, and suddenly she was alone in the arena with that Megatron impersonator.

His darkened optics found her and he sneered again. "**Weak, poor, pitiful, dispensable, forgettable… freak… don't you see why I wanted power? Don't you understand my need to grow? Didn't you feel the same at one time?**" He asked condescendly.

Caelum shook her head, eyes wide. "No!" She hoped and prayed everyday that someone would come and take her away, she never wished harm or desired vengeance.

"**You felt good when you found out you were different than your family, you secretly liked the attention everyone gave you, you saved people not out of the goodness in your heart, but to prove that you **_**could make a difference**_"

"You're wrong!"

"**You can deny me all you want but you don't deny yourself… admit it, embrace the power you have and stand by me while I crush everything in our path… I would keep you forever**" The dark promise trickled down her throat and settled in a hollow deep inside her heart. The miasma left behind by Tom Riddle' soul, the part that she kept shielded and locked heavily behind layers upon layers of walls. _Keep you forever _ringing repeatedly.

"I'd never betray my friends!"

"**But are they truly your friends? They destroyed the AllSpark, what guaranty do you have they won't destroy you once they learn the truth about your powers?**"

"They'd not betray me… they're better than that" She said vehemently, more so to herself than to the shade of Megatron. She had the power to change reality itself, besides imortality... they would not, could not harm her.

"**Release me little one… let me out and I won't betray you, you know I value the power you have…**"

"Stop! I refuse to listen to your words anymore!"

A mocking chuckle reverberated around her, tickling her senses in a dread filled way.

When she woke up drenched in sweat, it was still dark outside… she couldn't sleep anymore.

**XxxXxxX**

_AWord. Just because Megatron said so doesn't mean it's true.. He's trying to appeal to the part of Caelum that connected to Tom Riddle, and we all know how **he** turned out... ehh.. Kitty Draco will also have his time to shine, so stay tuned ;)_

17. D Shifting

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The following week, things settled quite nicely, if Mikaela could say so herself.

Even more because it culminated with the release of her father out of the clutches of the judicial system, all thanks to the stiff looking lawyer, Miss H. J. Granger, as her greeting card depicted.

The Banes girl couldn't decide if she liked the Stern faced woman who incessantly fought for her father's release, or if she disliked the dour, disapproving frown the golden brown haired woman tossed Daniel Micheal Banes – her dad – in the occasions she thought no one was looking.

It was only too obvious what the woman thought about her dad's conduct, and though she didn't have to completely agree with the person she was defending, she still did her job and got the client free.

But if there is one thing she didn't like about the nicely settled week, it was the silly infatuation her father seemingly had for the stone faced lawyer.

"Please allow me to repay your kindness, Ms. Granger" He spoke smoothly, in a tone of voice she's never heard him speaking before… taking a good look at her father, Mikaela recognized that he once was a very handsome man – before being thrown in jail that is – he used to have long hair that curled near his shoulder, and his stormy grey eyes were expressive and deep. His body while not being overly muscled, as a mechanic he developed a nice psyche that used to turn female heads when he walked down the street.

And now, even though Daniel Banes still had that lingering roguish charm, he was thinner and paler, his face drawn and mellowed down. Mikaela still thought her father was impressive, what with being almost 6'11 feet tall – she inherited his stature, thankfully, her long shapely legs were one of the secret sources of a vanity streaks she tried to keep buried… on occasion.

But Miss Granger didn't seem to agree with said Mr. Banes' daughter.

Really… That lawyer might think her father an irresponsible buffoon that endangered his own daughter and ended up costing her a slight in her files and him being tossed to the brig… but that was not all that her dad had to offer, he had more depth than that.

"Just one dinner Ms. Granger, it won't be of any harm" He tried to convince that stubborn woman in a voice that spelled danger to any red-blooded female. Mikaela smirked imagining Sam trying to imitate the sheer velvet undertone her father could achieve when he put his mind into it. "Let me repay you anyway, if you feel uncomfortable, feel free to ditch me any time" He said to his side of the conversation laughingly.

Ms. Granger said something else that made her father's grin widen perceptively, and then he was turning off the call and rolling on his heels to stare at his daughter with eyes that reflected her own, only in his the mirth was still swirling.

"I take It you have a date" The raven haired girl teased lightly, stretching on the sofa she's been sitting on. Daniel Banes nodded, grinning once again.

"Yep, your old man still got it…" He sat down beside her on the couch, tilting his head and allowing the playful expression to melt away from his face. "Now what is it that I hear about a boyfriend?"

Poor Sam, she thought with a smile, proceeding to tell her dad a _heavily_ edited version on how she met Sam, and how he wasn't a total douche, and no, he was a perfect gentleman, and yes, Sam would come to meet him soon.

**XxxXxxX**

Going through her day pretending that the horrible dream she had the night before was exactly that, a horrible dream – instead of the deep seeded attempt at possession she was only all too familiar with thanks to Voldemort – was pathetically easier than she thought it would be.

When Caelum put her mind into it, she could hide her true feelings behind a mask of normalcy that could fool even the ones who knew her best. She remembered too well her fifth year in Hogwarts, when she was feeling cheated and oppressed, betrayed by Dumbledore's absence and subsequent flippancy with which he dealt with her, then there were the dreams who weren't really dreams, but visions sent by the Dark Lord to test out their mental connection.

He used it against her with brilliant perfection.

Because of her weakness and her selfishness, the own pride and belief in what she saw in the visions, Sirius was lost to her forever, not even given the chance to re-enter the Well of Life – but lost in the hungry hollow of the Veil, a thing that swallowed lives with the same greed Voldemort took them.

Sam might have noticed something was wrong, but he didn't say anything, content to spend the day helping her go through her schedule, and even Bumblebee who hung with them didn't pry.

So Caelum would let go, force her mind to disregard the _dream_, forget about it, forget about _him_ and go on with her day as if nothing ever happened.

When Sam left by the end of the day with Bumblebee, the shaggy haired witch was left to her own devices, not having planned to paddle over to the Autobot's hangar and instead dedicate the day to some well-deserved pampering.

Warming a bath and tossing her clothes aside, then plopping in the water was easy. Though she left the phone a little closer for easy access in case Petunia (or one of them, _any of them)_ called…

"Let's see… rose scent or cherry wood?" Caelum contemplated absently, reclining in the huge bubbling bathtub with the two conflicting bubble scents in her hands. "Roses it is…" The warm, deliciously comforting water was soon smelling like wild roses, tickling her nose with the bubbles rising out of it – she was using her magic to stir the water as a big human stew, a trick she learned from Cedric when he shared the Prefects' bathroom with her during the second task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

The contentment settled, temporarily chasing away the weariness that has settled during these last few days when everything she thought she knew (and was) was called into question, and she had to face what she had allowed herself to become.

A selfish, self-serving brat who forgot the most important lesson she learned as a child.

Family was everything – be it blood or adopted. As a friendless child during more than half her _real_ life, when she finally met Rom who _absolutely adored the image her fame projected _and would stick with her if she half gave him the chance, she saw it as it was, a chance to finally have friends to call her own.

It was selfish to use Ron that way. Stupid, stubborn but loyal Ron who used her just as she did him.

And now she had to resist doing the same thing… use her name, her fame, her powers to attract others to herself.

Splashing some water, Caelum breathed heavily through her mouth. Looking down at her scarred body, trailing down her arms and hands, stopping at the most gruesome scars that the Cube didn't erase – every damage she received from the moment of her creation in this universe disappeared as if it never happened – but the scars she bore before coming were still there.

_I will tell no lies_. Usually hidden by a glamour so that it would not spite questions she didn't want to answer. The lightning bolt on her brow. Small, almost imperceptible scars crisscrossing her skin as the result of Hogwarts battle, and the thick, ugly mar on her left arm from where Wormtale cut to resurrect Voldemort.

The cellphone vibrated, alerting Caelum to the fact that she received a message, and reminded the witch that she's forgotten that the little device was left dangerously close to the lid of the tube. Picking the phone with soapy hands probably wasn't one of her best ideas, but she wanted to see the message.

::_Come to the hangar, we're celebrating – J_::

Jazz… that charming, too curious for his own good, sneaky bot.

…_what guaranty do you have they won't destroy you once they learn the truth about your powers?..._

An eerie echo of the words she heard in her dreams made her heart lurch. Magic exploded from her body in an automated defense mechanism. Immediately the sink's mirror exploded, sending shards everywhere but the tub. Energy so thick it was almost visible arched in blue electric like snakes inside the water of the tub, making the witch fear she would be electrocuted by her own powers…

Then the telephone exploded.

Only not in the way she predicted.

Something tore through her body, clawing away from the depths of her soul where four little balls of _energy_ orbited. It pushed sharply, wanting out, it wanted to get out so badly it _pushed _against the restraints of her physical skin.

"**What the pit is going on!?**"

**XxxXxxX**

'Tommy' slumped against his bed. His not-mother had been frantic in her care for him, apparently his change in behavior was so drastic his mother was worried sick, even if she's been clingy.

His eyes traveled to the eight large mounted monitors on top of a large desk covered by keyboards or other electronic knick knacks.

At first, he had no idea what they were, but as the memories of the _real Tommy_ assimilated, he understood the mechanics behind those things, _computers_. Tommy – Friday, had been really passionate about his hobby, and while he still had the skills to do it, he didn't have the same motivations simply because this was the first time he's faced with _muggle_ technology aside from an old recorder his brother used to have.

He'd come to some conclusions very quickly the first night he spent in this house – _home – _ and he didn't find his wand. When asked, his mother didn't have the slightest idea of what he was talking about… his _mother_ didn't know what magic was, and it made a dark feeling of despair grow in his chest.

It was unpleasant.

To be stripped from his magic and have to live without it as a muggle when all he knew has been _magical_…

At least at first…

When he slept, he dreamt… his dreams showed him snippets of his old life that he apparently had forgotten – _or perhaps I didn't want to remember _– but did anyway.

He always saw himself in a dark cavern, bleeding hands caressing the top of his loyal elf's head as Kreacher drank the poisonous potion Voldemort left as a trap to any who dared encroach on his secret hideout, the place where he hid something that was capable of making even the most insane of men tremble in fear. Horcruxe.

When he learned about what Voldemort has done in his quest for power, he'd been horrified and terrified at the same time, something snapping inside of him after seeing his brave brother fighting against the mad man with no hope of victory in sight, so he only prayed that with his sacrifice, his brother and his friends, Dumbledore, anyone would have at least a fair chance to take down the Dark Lord… for without his soul anchor, he was mortal again…

If only his plan hadn't back fired… he wasn't able to complete the order that would have made Kreacher destroy the accursed pendant, falling prey to the unholy army of corpses – _Inferi _– another dirty, corrupt and insane trick Voldemort used, and probably joining the undead legion.

So why was he here? Stripped of his magic and apparently inside the body of a boy named Tommy White, who had purple hair and an unhealthy love for beastly music.

Maybe the answer was in the virtual persona of his body's old owner. Friday. And it might put the skills he inherited to good use if nothing else.

Cracking his knuckles, '_Tommy'_ sat down on the swirly chair and turned on one of the computers, watching interestedly as two of the monitors booted up. He had a job to do.

**XxxXxxX**

The tiny thing directed a fierce but completely adorable glare her way. It had little armor plates all fluffed, perhaps like a stirring cat hissing and spitting. Equally as tiny servos were holding up a miniature grenade launcher in a threatening position.

Caelum just stared, green eyes bright and wide. A pressure that before the little phone came to life she was relatively unaware, left her chest after that tearing sensation. She didn't understand exactly what was going on, but she had a vague idea of what brought this up.

The itty transformer just glared, before opening a little mouth. "**What happened?**" The voice was squeaky, as awkward as a teenager still adapting to new vocal cord's length. Red optics were still looking up at her with that fierceness of the beginning, but now it brightened, as if a light has been shed. "**You…**" The unnamed thing accused suddenly.

Caelum felt remotely insulted, but since she was too busy gawking and having a nervous breakdown, she kind of allowed the thing to speak to her in _that_ tone, a tone that always preluded a Detention with Snape. She breathed out of her mouth, mind going rapidly over the causes – and most important – the consequences of what just happened.

"Me…?" She answered slowly, drawing out the word for as long as she had breath.

Her telephone transformed… Instead of exploding like it usually happened when her magic surged out of control – like in case of deep emotional stress. It just… transformed… only it wasn't only _just transformed… _it couldn't be that simple.

The weight of it settled on her shoulders.

It was almost unbearable… mostly because the echoes of those insidious words uttered by the shade of Megatron still ran through her mind, stirring a dark part of her that existed with Voldemort and never, ever reared its ugly head in this new world, not in the 200 years she's been around.

_They destroyed the AllSpark, what guaranty do you have they won't destroy you once they learn the truth about your powers?_

It the Autobots destroyed the AllSpark, the only thing that they knew was capable of restoring their _own planet_ – to save the human race and Earth – who is it to say they won't do the same to _her_ once they know the extent of the powers she inherited.

_The moment she was pulled by that over-plotting god she felt something shift and change in her with the first surge of energy. _New connection to the Well of Life, a new pathway into it… all things that went one way, could go the other way… As she learned the hard way, she could see into Voldemort's head, and he could see into hers…

Two ways.

One in, one out.

And if that power to transcend life and death was imprinted in her magic…

A shudder ran down her back. She didn't really want this kind of power… what could she do with it? When she accepted Primus' request of looking after his children, she didn't imagine it would come to this – _Control over their very creation_.

Her fingers were starting to get numb… vaguely, she was aware of the once telephone eyeing her with growing horror mounting on his tiny face. He could have come to his own conclusions, and it was time to share them if the way he kept gaping was any indication.

"**You…**" Now the little phone looked as flabbergasted as Caelum herself. And when he kneeled and lowered his head in deference, she blinked… honestly confused. "**After my spark extinguished, I never thought I'd exist outside the Well again… are you an agent of Chaos?**"

"No… not that I know of…" She was still sitting in the tube, with the thing getting an unwanted eyeful of her birthday suit, now awfully pruned. The cooling water was also getting uncomfortable, and she still had to have a long, _long_ talk with the little transformer.

After her words, he raised his head again, searchingly looking at her face. "**You brought my Spark back from the Well… if you're not an agent of Chaos then…**" The voice trailed off… it was so tiny and squeaky that she had trouble identifying it as male or female.

Heaving a sigh, the witch ignored the little thing's fuss and stepped out of the water, wincing as he screeched when a large waterfall of it – in his point of view anyway – splashed on his small form. He squabbled, sputtering for a while until he spotted a towel and deduced what it was when he saw she was drying off with one. It was endearingly cute to see the little con rub himself against the fluffy towel in an attempt to get dry…

It didn't quite erase the feelings of doom flowering in her gut, but it did lessen the guilt she felt at her inability to trust the Cybertronians completely. "What is your name?" She asked, biting her tongue when the little thing stopped his drying attempt to stare at her, he liked meeting her eyes with his, she noticed.

"**Designation Mindwipe, Decepticon Headmaster and your humble servant, oh Oracle of Primacon!**"

"What did you said?" Her mouth ran dry. Oracle of Primacon was a new one… she didn't know what it was but the shivers running down her back and the fist sized ball tightening in her chest told her it couldn't be nothing good.

"**Did I offend you, great Oracle? Forgive this one, milady**" He prostrated again.

Her problems kept mounting on and on… and when Mindwipe buzzed with a shrill cry, then proceeded to tell her with a sickened, distrustful voice that _Autobot Jazz_ was coming to get her, she gave in the urge and sobbed dryly behind her hands.

Apparently he still retained a mobile phone's functions…

But…

Utterly terrified of what was going to happen, and at the same time, a little seed of hope was blossoming… She might not trust the Autobots completely, and they didn't trust her as of yet as well, but they _were_ her friends, new friends that were only getting to know each-other. Sure, she dreaded the day they found out the second nature of her existence, so she'd do whatever was in her power to help them until then.

Not only the Autobots… but the Cons as well if Mindwipe's presence was any indication… If only he stopped calling her Oracle…

"Mindwipe, I want to know what is this Oracle you say I am" She asked, after snapping out of her slightly saddened mood. Tossing the damp towel on top of the bathroom sink, Caelum shook her head, feeling the strands of black hair already sticking up.

Minwipe followed after her like a duckling, struggling with his size compared to her room. The witch selected an outfit out of her closet and got dressed, not minding doing it in front of what could be described as a machine – even if it had a _soul_.

He got comfortable on her night stand. "**You show no surprise about my appearance, and you said you weren't a Chaos Agent… however you don't know what the Oracle is?**"

"Pretty much, yes" She nodded, dueling with her hair with a brush and some modeling magic to keep it in place. "Tell me why you think I am this Oracle…" She was honestly tired of prophecies, and Oracle remotes back to those darn things.

"**Very well, if that is what you wish I will comply… At the beginning of the universe, the great scientist **_**Primacon**_** existed, the first Agent of Chaos who created Unicron with the help and knowledge of the Oracle – built by Primacon himself to bring life… It is said that Unicron destroyed the Oracle's body to impede it from creating more life similar to him**" His optics shone. "**Yet here you are, no sights of the Cube or Vector Sigma anywhere and you pulled me out of the Well and into this body…**" He moved around energetically.

Caelum's breath hitched. This Oracle thing spelled trouble with a major T. "I am _not_ the Oracle incarnated… I have _nothing _to do with Unicron"

"**Then what are you?**"

…

"Just call me… mum"

**XxxXxxX**

"Heya Sam, Mik!" Jazz greeted the pair of teenagers animatedly. Behind them came Bumblebee. "Hey Bee!"

"Hi Jazz" Bumblebee waved back happily. "Are you leaving?" The short yellow bot asked seeing as Jazz was moving toward the hangar's door that Bee was about to close.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pick Cae up" The silver Solstice answered easily, sidestepping the human younglings and dancing around Bumblebee to reach the still opened door. Sam and Mikaela waved good naturally, both in extremely good moods. "Be back in a few" The blue visor blinked in a wink as Jazz closed the hangar door, leaving behind two humans and a bot… and a cat.

Mikaela saw the feline and picked him up, glad that the poor animal was mending well. Blues purred as she combed his fur under Sam's slightly jealous glare. "That cat is too smug looking…" The brown haired boy commented, exchanging a glance with his girlfriend, silently asking her to put it down, the raven haired beauty complied, dropping Blues who landed perfectly graceful on the ground, arching his back as if mocking Sam.

Sam, who was a dog's person all the way, ignored the cat. Mojo was the only pet in his heart.

"So Jazz really adopted the cat…" Mikaela eyed said cat, who curled on top of some boxes to stay out of the way. "Are you sure it's a good idea?" She asked the assembled, transformed bots.

Ratchet vented, optics narrowed. "As long as that thing stays out of the way I have nothing against it" Will Lennox patted the yellow hummer understandingly.

"I know how it is old chap, before deciding to have a baby Sarah decided to try her hand at raising a pet… we still have that doofus prowling our yard, pets are wonderful companions to have around" The soldier admitted with a smile, thinking about his family always brought a smile to his face.

Optimus nodded. "As Ratchet said, the animal stays out of the way and Jazz takes care of it" Ironhide snorted disdainfully, caressing his double cannons with the tip of a finger.

"I'd have blasted that slagging thing a long time ago…" The black colored mech mumbled somethings under his breath, then muttered suspiciously in Cybertronian a few words that made Bumblebee tense, then wince.

If bots were able to blush, Bumblebee would have been blushing.

Sam laughed. "If it's blackmail material you so have to share it with me!" The smaller yellow bot growled, poking Sam's back gently.

"Don't even dare, Sam"

"Aw Bee, come on! In a week time you amassed quite the amount of blackmail on me!"

Mikaela raised an eyebrow, interested. "Oh really? Care to share Bee?" She asked coyly, sending a wink Bumblebee's way.

"Sure!"

"Bee!"

They kept with light hearted banter, Will organizing a few snacks for the humans allies while they waited for Jazz and Caelum to arrive.

"Hey guys… what do you think about Caelum?" The soldier asked suddenly, pausing when four pair of optics and two pair of eyes turned his way curiously. "I mean, the whole fiasco with the AllSpark and the things she might know" He meant to ask why wouldn't she share what she knew, but Optimus understood his meaning.

"What she might know is privy only to her, Will. We have no right to demand her knowledge... Freedom is her right as a human being" The red and blue semi responded, and as it usually happened, Ratchet picked from where the leader bot stopped.

"And we don't know the extent of that knowledge, for all we know, it may as well have ended when the AllSpark was destroyed, until she tells us, we act and treat her as if she knows nothing." The CMO shifted, looking back at Optimus.

"It won't do to antagonize her" The leader bot finished with a venting sigh. "If the things she said is truth, then she is well familiar with the consequences of meddling with fate" He was referring to the self-fulfilling prophecy that commandeered most of her life in her old universe.

This time it was Ironhide who picked up the ball. "And she will not risk those consequences coming true, so we will trust her to do the same thing" And seeing as he was the older between the Autobots, hearing him defend the little witch's position alleviated some of Will's doubts.

"Alright, I understand, I won't press her for answers" The soldier sighed, mollified. "However if she doesn't get here soon, I will not be held responsible if there are no snacks left" he said playfully, lifting the weary mood.

"Then fear no more, Jazz is on his way with Ms. Potter" The tall Autobot leader shifted, crouching to stand on the same level of their human friends.

…

"What are we celebrating anyway?" Sam asked, eyeing the collection of snacks wistfully.

"Our new home, our new family"

**XxxXxxX**

18. D Mind Matters

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

"**So you're able to communicate with the Well of Sparks?**" Mindwipe asked interested. He had a soft air of jealousy around him that threw Caelum off, but the honest curiosity shinning in his eyes made up for it. "**I'd have done anything in the old days for a power such as yours, are you sure you're not the Oracle?**"

The Witch straightened her back, glaring at the little con. Right now he chose to stay in his transformer body rather than becoming a phone again. She was having trouble because she'd never take Mindwipe – a self-declared Decepticon – to the middle of the Autobots. Too many possibilities that she didn't want to acknowledge.

And at the same time, she couldn't let the con alone in her house, who knows the manner of mischief he could get into. Though Mindwipe seemed like the scholarly type and not one to mess around someone else's house.

He could still snoop or run away, and if the Decepticons heard airs of what she did, Caelum would have to deal with the grave consequences.

"Yes, and for the last time, no, I'm sure I'm not the Oracle… though I do have a connection to the Well of _Life_" She repeated for the third time.

Mindwipe stared. He had that unnerving habit of peering deep inside her eyes as if he could read her mind. Just to be sure, the raven haired witch scrounged all she knew about Oclumency – after Snapes' poor attempt at teaching her, she's had to learn in a trial and error sort of way.

"**If you say so… just don't expect that I call you mother…**" He added crossly, balancing on his thin spidery legs. "**Now about that Autobot coming here, I refuse to be handled to those barbarians**" A huff left out the squeaky con.

Caelum crossed her arms, eyes dark and serious. "I wouldn't let them destroy you" Not after she practically gave birth to his Spark! "And I will certainly _not_ take you with me, nor will I leave you here without some security" They traded glares for a moment.

"**You think I am going to betray you?**" His voice rose in pitch. "**I will have you know that I am an honorable Decepticon Headmaster**!" He declared hotly. Caelum's face relaxed as an idea settled in her mind.

"Then you will not mind swearing an Oath" She extended a hand toward the small con who stared at it suspiciously. "You will swear not to betray _anything_ you know about me, or what I did, to _anyone. _You will keep it a secret – Do I have your word?"

Mindwipe's processors reeled.

This flimsy, delicate pink skinned fleshling wanted his _word_. A _Decepticon's_ word that he'd not betray her… it was laughable, ridiculous! Even though he retained the urge to snort… she has been able to pull his Spark – as unwilling and unknowingly as that happened, it was still fantastical and unthinkable that something other than the Cube or Vector Sigma could do it – out of the Well, who's to say she wouldn't hold him accountable for the word given?

Plus, this was practically his dream coming true. A dark whispering of promises singing deeply within his Spark. His ability to receive and read electromagnetic waves from long gone Sparks may have been slightly compromised by the size and durability of his new protoform, but whatever vestige there was from it tingled and shone underneath this organic's aura.

Something eerie sparked within… a soft caress of long gone waves reverberating anew.

'_**Swear it**_' The echo came once again – he remembered it pulling him from the Well and guiding him to this femme, it set his energon tanks churning with the malice carried in it. '_**Endeavor yourself to the little femme**_' The whisper caressed his senses. He had to control himself not to nod physically.

So he extended a servo and touched her fingers.

"**Then I do so swear not to betray my savior's trust by giving my word as the Oath she requires**" He dictated solemnly, making Caelum's biding come true around him to his surprise. The electromagnetic wave he felt before long thinned and then disappeared as he noticed the figurative shackles created by something bigger than himself wrap around his Spark.

For once, he felt content to be bound like this. His – for all estates and purposes – _creator_ spoke once again when she regained her footing. "Then I will let you be… It's not in my place to bind you here, and you can go as long as you uphold your Oath" Then her magic wouldn't fry his CPU where he stood. He shook his head, now that he had her he wouldn't be letting this gem out of his sight.

She would let him go because if she made him stay, she'd be turning into an enemy instead of a friend.

"**I will go with you once this Autobot**" He spat derisively "**Gets here**" crossing his tiny arms over his chest. He missed his larger form, there is no way he wouldn't miss it… he was tall and bulky and full of sharp angles, with a purple and dark blue finish. He actually had two alternative modes besides his main mech shape – a Nebulan bat and a Nighthawk jet… "**It's not up to debate**" Once more he tried to use the other part of his abilities on her.

Only to fail… He wasn't really surprised that he didn't seem to be able to hypnotize her, but it was a blunt blow to his ego. Mostly because of his current size…

The green eyed witch sighed, but waved her hand around him, weaving a strange web of energy around his body – he could feel it tingle his extra sense as she did it like the time with the Oath. "I've muted your presence" Thankfuly Cybertronians who carried a Spark were more tolerant of Magic, as she tested briefly under Ratchet curious eyes once "You can go, but turn back into my phone, will you?"

He dutifully transformed back into his alternate mode, what she called it? A Phone… He should really access the thick messy World Wide Web in search of more information, shouldn't he?

It was just in time too, for against his will he received a message from an Autobot frequency, one he was already familiar with thanks to a previous similar exchange a few minutes earlier.

::I'm here, come down! :D :: Caelum fingered her ex-phone, now a Decepticon mystic…

Ignoring the urge to hack into the SiC bot frequency through the opening he unknowingly left, Mindwipe contented in staying in the hands of the One.

At least in his mind, she was the One.

If only the others who doubted him were here, they would be beside themselves with jealousy… he was in the hands of a true Chaos Agent.

**XxxXxxX**

"Sir, Project PPD is ready to commence testing" A middle aged man, slightly bald came in the office after being admitted.

"Very well, then let's see what our little creation can do" Another man, one who was sitting classily on his chair replied smoothly. He also seemed middle aged; however his face was terribly marred by scarring of all types. Coupled with his fierce expression, greying hair and dark, intelligent eyes, he appeared to be very dangerous.

And the man didn't hide it. He reveled in being feared, it brought him power.

"Yes sir" The assistant turned on his heel, lab-white cloak swishing behind him. The man sneered, eyes flashing. Then he rose like a prowling panther, following after the lad assistant.

He wanted to see the fruitful reaps of his hard work; he smiled grimly, walking briskly toward the main laboratory where he knew the testing the silly assistant spoke of was going to be held.

Halfway there, he met one of the main scientists responsible by the PPD project, the scientist's nametag said Eichel, he was a short, portly man apparently entering his fifties, with thin dark brown hair and a whitening mustache. His were flushed as he met the Director.

"The room is ready, we were waiting for you" Eichel reported, they kept their steady march until they reached a large window that gave view to a while highly monitored room. In the middle of the room stood a vaguely humane shape, though the bizarre creature looked more like a Cybertronian chimera…

"I am here, what are you waiting for?" The Director snapped, making the scientist jump. Someone shouted a few orders and suddenly a previously hidden door in the white expanse of the room opened to admit a spider like creature.

It stood on eight thin legs delicately structured. The body was flat at the sides but bulked more at the center to admit the main computer of the Drone. A shifting camera occupied the middle of the machine, rotating madly in all directions and casting a laser like red light on the blank white walls.

"That is PPD-one, the first functional Drone capable of accepting the commands from a modified Physarum Polycephalum specimen that responds to electrical impulses from this controller. With this -" He showed a slim, small sized control panel that looked more like a weird wrist watch. "We can send basic commands like move forward, backward, right or left. There is also an Attack/Defend command, which will make the Drone assume the according positions – we haven't implemented the Spy/Stealth program yet, but we can begin testing with this one" Eichel gave the controller to the Director, pointing at each of the aforementioned parts.

"Good, what about that thing?" The scarred man asked, pointing at the robotic chimera.

The Scientist's eyes gleamed "On what is PPD-one supposed to test against?"

There was a dark, promising smile. "Then let us begin."

The lights went out.

**XxxXxxX**

Petunia was mad enough to commit murder...

It's been days since she's had a decent bath, and the elements pelting on her skin and hair have made damages she absolutely dreaded - her once milky white skin was now slightly tanned, and her white/blonde hair now spotted sunny streaks of golden blond. She looked like a Californian mum instead of a high credential secretary.

At least part of the job she set out to do out in the ocean was coming nicely.

The ships bringing in raw construction materials were coming twice a day, and the work-force has already begun the building process, after settling the living quarters for the crew. The terrain was thankfully stable enough that a more in depth leveling was not really necessary for the part where the main construction was occurring.

After their Cybertronian guests settled in, then they would be able to modify the structure and order more buildings as their needs came up. Petunia was aware that the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime has sent a message to his other officers out in the Space, so their new base should be properly stocked. To make sure of it, she was sending updates to the Autobots about the construction status, and ordering the changes they required – such as weight adjustments.

At any case, a visit was scheduled for the Autobots to come in a few days, they also offered to help in the construction, which would be very welcomed seeing as transportation of heavy equipment was delicate.

With a delicate huff, Petunia stood under an improvised shade built specially for her after Smitherson threatened one too many workers. From her position she could see almost all the central part of the Island, including the old position of Caelum's run down shack – it had been demolished to accommodate the main structure of the base – Petunia suspected that Caelum used magic to shamelessly make the soil there solid and perfect for civil construction.

A sigh escaped her lips. Her tablet carefully held under her arms. "As soon as the Autobots or one of Lennox' men get here to personally oversee NEST new nest, we will return to main land and back to the mistress." A voice easily identified as Smitherson's spoke from behind her.

"I know, I'm not that worried anymore, though I have a bad feeling…" She's been having those ever since the Battle for the AllSpark was done.

The bulky, obscenely tall pinstriped wearing soldier grunted. "We will be back soon enough, then you can keep on your Taskmaster duties." His arm was accordingly swatted. He grinned. Happy that he got her out of her mood, at least temporarily.

"Prat" The blue eyed blond hissed. Then she calmed, reaching for her precious Tablet. "Today there is going to be a solar Eclipse, maybe we will be able to witness it – though it's going to be occurring quite late"

"You want to watch it together?" If he had his fingers crossed behind his back, no one was the wiser.

"If you bring the tea"

They casted their eyes to the Pacific Ocean, Petunia shivering as another wave of chills ran down her back.

**XxxXxxX**

The poor Hangar given as temporary base to the Autobots was alive and pulsing as a small party went on.

Actually, it mostly consisted of a loud selection of music from Jazz' collection, a table full of snacks scrounged by Captain Lennox at the last minute, a varied mix of mechs and humans interacting lively and one uninvited guest.

Caelum tapped her pocket where the little mind reader con hid, folded into his alternate mode. She's even managed to relax a little from the scare earlier, and some of her fears were alleviating as she perceived them as unnecessary.

The more time she spent with Optimus, the more she trusted him. He gave off that gentle, familial feeling that she always felt with Dumbledore, someone wise and strong, protective and caring, a hero by his own name and a valiant leader by his making.

William Lennox was busily discussing something with Optimus though, so the witch distracted herself by bullying Blues, Jazz' cat. The feline hissed and tried to swat her poking hands away, and would have kept doing so if the silver bot himself hadn't come to bravely save his ward.

"Hey! Blues has feelings!" The bot mumbled, plucking Blues out of Caelum's arms. The witch narrowed her eyes at the cat she was sure carried something of Draco… The cat narrowed his eyes back.

"That cat is actually a disguised ferret" She needled, watching with growing satisfaction as Blues' claws clicked out and left four pair of scratches on Jazz' hands.

"Oi!"

"Told you!"

They kept on their lighthearted teasing and bickering, being joined by Sam and Bumblebee after Mikaela banished said boy from the snack table and went on to pester Ratchet about the differences between a Cybertronian and a normal car.

Until someone decided to test out how the bots did against normal party games, daring the bots to dance and shake like Carmen Miranda had all the humans participants in stitches.

"If only we had high grade…" Ratchet sighed, wistfully. Then he turned his optics to Optimus. ::What happened to Axalon?:: He sent through their private comm. The leader bot hesitated for a second, before answering.

::It is in Ultra Magnus' hands:: Optimus blinked, mind casting to his old ship that he left in his 'brother's hands before setting off to Earth. Axalon was an exploration ship equipped to sustain a large crew, it was more useful in Magnus' care since Optimus goal – Earth – was closer and he didn't count on his mission taking _this_ turn.

As in, they deciding to settle on Earth kind of _turn_.

::Has he answered yet?:: The CMO pried, tensing.

::He has yet to respond to my summons…:: It worried the red and blue semi somewhat, but he had faith in Ultra Magnus. Though Optimus offered his medical officer a smile – mask less. ::They will come old friend, have faith::

"Hey, what is high grade?" Caelum's question brought the two bots out of their musings.

Ratchet shifted. "It is high quality Energon, we call it high grade" He wasn't surprised when the humans huddled around him for an impromptu Cybertronian lesson.

"Energon?" Sam repeated the alien word carefully. "Isn't that the blue stuff that you guys bleed?" Once again he proved how perceptive he was. Mikaela beamed, proud of him – she might have already known since she's been conversing with Ratchet.

"Yes… Energon is our life blood, we can process the minimal required for our system to work through filtering this sun's radiation – we need it to function and to power our weapons" Ironhide took over the lesson, bringing out his cannons and expertly spinning them, showing the slight blue glow coming from the barrels.

"Are there no chances of refining that on Earth?" Will asked, being a soldier, he understood the need for ammunition, and if the bots were only being able to obtain the minimal requirement, how are they to keep their weapons functioning?

Ratchet grumbled as he answered "The safest way is through solar energy, Energon is not like your fossil based fuels, it is literally condensed energy and it can be dangerous to organic species" He explained, remembering the blonde femme who got energon burns last week, thankfully none were serious and were easily neutralized – apparently she managed to wipe the substance before it caused more damage.

Caelum listened with an attentive ear. There might be a way she could help without arousing so many suspicions, though she would have to do some research and testing before coming up front with it.

"Aside from Energon, what else do you need?" Will kept with the sane questions. "That cannot be the only thing" he added. "I've seen Ironhide guzzle down some water…"

"Water is a basic solvent, it is useful to innumerous processes in our systems since it can dissolve polarized molecules present in some complex chemical composts – I understand it happens quite similarly in your own body" The CMO trailed off a string of complicated sounding formulas that the humans weren't really able to identify. "Aside from water, this planet has available some saw materials with which I can work with to create some of our vital fluids, you shouldn't worry about it, I have stored enough to last for a while" Ever since he learned he'd be accompanying the Prime's expedition, he made sure to make a healthy stocking of everything he might need.

"Right… that's cool" Sam nodded, waving a hand and smiling up at the bots. "How would you like to test your superior processing against a game of BS?" he pulled out a deck out of a pant pocket.

Though it was incredibly awkward to hold a card with their comparatively larger hands, they managed to play, with Optimus and Will opting off to keep on their conversation.

It was a pleasant night that made the fear all but evaporate from Caelum's mind, aside from the weight of Mindwipe in her pocket. But with the con she knew she was safe, he wouldn't tell anyone because of the Oath… As if knowing she was thinking about him, the cellphone vibrated.

::**I feel something in the air is changing…**:: Caelum read Mindwipe text, blinking at the unexpected words.

She typed something back, not wanting to be caught talking _to_ her phone. ::What do you mean?::

::**Nothing I can explain right now, just keep your eyes open**::

Feeling a sense of dread bloom in her stomach, the witch responded ::Sure…::

But soon the strange conversation was forgotten when Sam managed to wiggle a magic show out of her, being surrounded by curious bots and even more curious humans, the shaggy haired witch started to show off basic charms and transfiguration tricks, pleased that her Magic wasn't being shunned as she half expected it to be.

The night ended in a high note, with promises of visits on the next day.

The only one uneasy about everything was the con pretending to be a phone.

'_**Protect her**_' He received the whisper from the same voice coming from the beyond, carried through the electromagnetic waves traveling all around this strange planet.

**XxxXxxX**

The Decepticon ship, Nemesis floated lazily through space.

It was slowly approaching a familiar solar system.

::**The Autobots are in the third planet of this solar system, blissfully unaware of our approaching forces**:: A snippy voice broke the silence, it was a little shaky, but loud enough to be heard.

::**We shouldn't sub estimate them Wildrider… they took out Megatron…**::

::**Shut it Dead End, **_**you know who **_**might be watching…**::

::**He isn't, you can shut it as well Breakdown**:: The first voice hissed.

::**Why, WildRider are you scared?**:: Sneered Dead End even though he was scared himself.

::**Go back to your posts! We will be arriving soon!**:: A con eerily similar in built to Ironhide snapped.

The other three cons, Wild Rider, Dead End and Breakdown shuffled, marching back to their posts but not before sending a murderous glare the fourth mech's way. He was Demolisher, one of the most loyal of Megatron's troop, and would see to it that their mission was not compromised by these processor-less idiots.

Unaware, the four of them were being watched by a fifth mech.

Soundwave gleefully recorded their intersection, visor glowing red.

He's been in a dark mood ever since his bond with Frenzy has been compromised... He knew it wasn't a good idea to send his casseticon along with Barricade to scout Earth, but Frenzy was Soundwave's, and as such, he was a very skilled hacker...

The moment Frenzy' Spark was gone, he felt their link snap and coil back, affecting not only him as their _recorder_, but Frenzy's other brothers.

So the streamlined dark purple mech was indeed in a vengeanceful mood, and would counter whoever dared to stand in his way - He'd make sure Megatron was brought back, and with Megatron on command again, Starscream and the others unrulling fiends would be put back in their places.

::**Soundwave: On Stand by...**::

**XxxXxxX**

_AWord. The Eclipse really happened in the year 2009, it could only be seen in parts of Asia and the pacific ocean, it was also the longest Elclipse recorded in the 21th century ;)_

19. D-Turning Of Tides

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

The weeks passed relatively quietly.

The Autobots went to the still unnamed island to help along the construction and to give their opinion on the design and position of the buildings. With the bots help in lifting more heavy materials and being more precise, the process was running smoothly.

"I have a proposition" Petunia started, staring up at the taller yellow bot.

Ratchet moved in curiously. "Yes?"

"Our collaboration with the Autobots will generate a lot of unrest amongst the World Governments, we have a few working technological research laboratories, and if we want to keep them…"

"Your government will think or imply we are sharing our technology with you to give an advantage" Ratchet deduced correctly. "You know we have agreed on sharing some of our assets with you humans, it is in the Contract signed by both Optimus and the UN president, whatever we give you in that aspect is to be fairly shared amongst your people" He said gravely. Petunia sneered.

"I know that" She snapped. "That is why I meant to ask if we could move at least one of our labs here on the Island as part of NEST program, all royalties and rights will be transferred to NEST to be used as funding, while we keep on the research process without too many political blocks – our other labs will have to be transferred out of Caelum's name if we want to keep them functioning accordingly" They could always be moved underground, but in the long run that wasn't really the wisest idea.

Ratchet paused to process the request, comparing pro and cons and coming to a decision. "I have nothing against the addition of your labs if it all happens according to NEST foundation contract, I want nothing that might compromise our position here"

"It won't" Petunia assured, calmer. "From what I've gathered you're also a scientist, so even you might find having one of our labs here useful" The yellow CMO nodded "Do you have anything else in specific you want built?" She asked neutrally after finishing to send some e-mails through her tablet.

"I want a workshop and a repair bay ready by the time some_bot_ comes to Earth" He really didn't want to think about the varied condition in which some of the rowdy bots he could think of would be arriving in. Petunia, who was taking notes, motioned for a highly commissioned engineer to come up to where she stood with Ratchet.

The engineer came closer, she recognized him as being on the same ship that brought her here the second time last week.

She's returned to main land to check on Caelum, that bad feeling that's been creeping over her spine as of lately all but abated when she saw her little boss relatively happy and well-guarded by the Autobots, then she agreed to return to the Island after ripping off a promise from the Office that she would take off for a week to spend in a Spa.

"Yes, that will be arranged" The tall, thin woman shot a vicious blue glare at the Engineer way and the portly older man hastily nodded, taking notes on his own tablet.

"Of course, the projects are done following your recommendations… I must admit that even I learned a few things!" The engineer was a dark haired, overweight man around his fifties, he's worked under red-tape and high security clearances before.

Plus he's experienced and innovative, and when confronted with the bots, he didn't even bat an eyelash besides the grumbling about miscalculation on the height of the structures.

Ratchet shifted, mechanical parts sliding together and cables tensioning to accommodate his slight movement. "Your human construction methods are not bad as well" The CMO admitted, having studied the subject briefly on the internet while they traveled through the sea to get to the Island. "Some of your cities are over-populous, so you have to optimize space as much as you can – in Cybertron, we had the same problem so space rationalizing became an art as well, we had many architects that would have been fascinated by your culture" He continued, making the engineer flush, pleased.

"Japan is a vanguard in that subject, actually – I was reading about some ingenious wall setting that-"

Petunia sighed masterfully pretending to be busy (actually, she _was_) working on her tablet to get away from Ratchet and the eager civil engineer, only to end up catching Optimus' blue lenses.

The leader bot came closer, kneeing to the same level of the blond Secretary. "Thank you for all your hard work"

Petunia waved him off delicately, pawing at her tablet to keep it close to her chest. "Caelum wishes to help as much as she can, so I will do what I can to help you as well"

Optimus paused, he was curious about the young looking witch, but it would be rude to question Petunia about it, so he let her be – Caelum trusted them with her story of _before_, but she never explained what happened ever since she arrived on this Earth.

He'd give her space since she was not a threat, on the contrary, she proved to be a valuable and powerful ally.

They were in a fairly good mood for someone finally responded to Optimus' summons. Though for some reason the new incoming bots had Ironhide brooding more and he was even caught polishing his cannons…

...

::_This is Chromia, we answer to our Prime's invitation_:: Optimus' optics widened, and he thanked Primus he was wearing his battle mask, hope filling his Spark at Chromia's use of _we_… she never traveled by herself… As if sensing his emotions, the bot continued ::_Me and my team: Elita-1 and RC are dying to meet this Earth, Prime – we can't wait until we get there:_: the femme added in a sly, simpering tone, obviously teasing another bot – not Optimus.

::_Chromia__**!**_::

::Elita?::

::_Hello,__Prime__**…**_::

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum felt happy about the newcomers, they would be around Earth's orbit in a weeks… though she was hoping they would come by her birthday... not that she'd tell them, but it was kept in her mind.

Also, it was worthy to mention that Mindwipe was behaving himself stupendously well for a Decepticon aside from one thing. He's took to pestering her to have a new protoform, one that wasn't so small.

Sam was another one who was behaving well, but that might have something to do with Mikaela's dad keeping an 'eye' on him and their talk, which occurred in the Bane' auto-shop, near all those sharp and dangerous tools and a vast yard where a body could be hidden. Though the Banes' patriarch now had a new project – seduce the pretty lawyer that moved his case on and managed to give him peace.

"Hey Cae, are you alright?" Sam's voice snapped Caelum out of her mind. She shook her head, closing her eyes for a few moments to clear her foggy head. The past few weeks were fruitful for their alien friends – and equally as tiring for her. After finding out the extent that her powers went in a rather dramatic way, she's been meditating daily and practicing more expansively with her powers.

She didn't want to admit, but she feared her own powers…

Powers that Voldemort always desired, and that she never did really want. Although the time for leisure was over, she had to decide if trusting the Cybertronians would be worth it in the end, she already gave too much, and even if they suspected it wasn't the whole truth, it would have to do.

"Yep" Her voice didn't waver, "I'm just tired" She slumped back on the towel covered ground where she and Sam had been sending e-mails and placing calls. A few days ago she had to go on a trip to check upon some venues and to meet with the rest of her _managers_ who were getting antsy with no news from her.

The opportunity was used to explain the tall metallic aliens who were now sharing Earth with them, and whom Caelum would be working closely with.

"Why don't you take a break? Me and Bee can take care of things for a while" The brown haired teenager offered helpfully, waving her off. He received a thankful nod as Caelum stumbled to her feet and went back to the house – they've been huddled under the Pergola with Bumblebee who was helping Sam as they sometimes did when Sam came to work as an assistant.

Arriving at the house, Caelum took Mindwipe out of her pocket and laid him on a nearby table. He transformed and blinked up at her. "**You've not been sleeping well, according to the internet, you humans need at least 7h of sleep to be healthy**" He berated, optics narrow. He knew she's been having nightmares, and with that femme staying up until late rediscovering her powers, she's not sleeping as she should.

"Don't worry about it" the witch shrugged, reaching for the fridge and taking off some already prepared sandwiches, she took a bite out of it, ignoring Mindwipe' snipping.

After she was done eating, Caelum poked Mindwipe on the head, making his glare intensify twofold. Though the minicon transformed back into a phone, allowing the green eyed girl to pick him up, just in time for a receiving call. Looking at the ID, the witch blinked.

_**Petunia Evans – calling**_.

"Hullo" She greeted amiably, careful of Mindwipe.

"Good afternoon" The Secretary greeted back, voice tight. "We are moving base to the Island, our Building is being placed on the northern sector with our own port. According to the Japanese, we can navigate through their territory to reach Asia."

"That's good, I have talked to the others, they are in agreement" The others… the other _managers_, that is to say, two other people besides Petunia and Smitherson that knew her secret and were trusted to take care of her investments and businesses. "What about the labs? They can't continue under my name, the UN will suspect the technology we use come from the Autobots since they know we are to be working closely with them from now on"

"I have already conversed with the Autobot Ratchet, he agrees on the idea of transferring one of the labs to NEST project and keep it under their name, we will still administer it, but the profit will be used to help fund NEST"

"Thank you…" Caelum breathed out. The importance of having at least one of their technology development labs working in tandem with the Autobots was clear. She wanted to help them, but instead of selling tech to the industry market, they'd be using their finds to upgrade the base's resources.

A smile made her mace twitch.

The labs had been the idea of one of her managers, a long time ago. He used to be a dreamer, young and imaginative, having a love for technology not matched by anyone she's ever knew… in both universes.

Today, his hair may have greyed, but he was still as sharp as he used to be. She met him around the sixties, when he was reaching twenty years old, and upon seeing his face, she knew, just as it happened with Petunia, that she wouldn't have been able to let him go.

"Good, Weasley is ecstatic…" Petunia drawled, snidely. She and Weasley never met eye-to-eye, though he was a fairly easy going man, his humble origins always rubbed the prim blonde the wrong way. "I hope you have your passage arranged to be here on the Island before August"

"Yes, I do have it… I've sent you the details about the travel company that will take me to Japan and the name of the helicopter's pilot" Caelum teased her Secretary OCD.

Petunia sighed, and the witch could practically see her frown. "I will call you later, stay safe Caelum"

"Will do…" With that both ended the call. Mindwipe was warm on her hand, so she settled the phone down – he transformed a little sluggishly and glared.

"**I am made of common Earth material, heat transference is poor! My system can actually explode if the energy resistor is tested harder… when can I have a proper protoform?**" He wasn't whining, but it was close.

Caelum looked through the window to the yard outside, worried for a moment that Sam or Bumblebee could have seen Mindwipe – they couldn't be _felt_ from within the house thanks to her wards, but _heard _and _seen_ was another story. Creating permanent wards was harder than it looked, and it needed a skilled hand and an even more skilled wand.

She's learned a few basic wards from Hermione during their peregrinage across Europe in search of the Horcruxes, and Bill Weasley taught a few things about it when he explained his job as a curse breaker.

Caelum knew how to build a ward by weaving the magic the way she wanted, to obtain a specific result – much like she did with the Dam – the net to contain the water was a modified containment ward. But it _drained_. She was able to sustain the wards and the space enlargement spells easily enough, but anchoring more to her core would start to tire.

The pair of boy and bot were dozing off under the shade of the Pergola, the shaggy haired girl relaxed.

The Witch rotated her shoulders, getting rid of a painful crick when the bones snapped to the proper place. Mindwipe winced, glancing at her shoulder suspiciously… Cybertronians didn't have to pop joints back into place if they weren't in dire need of medical attention, unlike humans. She looked at the little con.

"I don't know… I don't have the means necessary to build a Cybertronian body from scratch right now" The knowledge was on the edge of her mind ever since the Cube was destroyed and she had that talk with _Primus_, she only had to reach it… but she wasn't readyfor something like that quite yet.

Though it was becoming more and more clear she'd need it if she wanted to help her 'children' properly. A mother's duty to her child… care, sustenance, guidance, love… how could she guide and care if she only had the means to poorly sustain them right now? She didn't even considered love…

She didn't love them yet, though the liked the Autobots individually after getting to know them, she didn't feel that connection with them that could only be explained through love.

"**Does that mean you will have in the future?**"

"Yes"

She have to open herself fully to them anyway, she could start by accepting herself.

**XxxXxxX**

"I would like to ask something…"

"What is it, Miss Banes…?"

"Well… If you could arrange for the big guys to come here for a few days, it would be awesome"

"It would be a lot of work if the reason is petty, Miss Banes"

"Oh… the real reason is-"

…

"I guess they can spare a day of two…"

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans!"

"No, thank you…"

**XxxXxxX**

After a long day in which she spent preparing for the trip that would take her to the Island, Caelum received an invitation to go to the Autobot Hangar, getting dressed quickly, the witch took her spelled bicycle and flew to the old Air Base.

…

"Surprise!" It took Caelum's breath away. Sam's family plus Mikaela and her father, Major Lennox, his wife, baby daughter – once he managed to finagle Sarah's clearance out of the government- and his men, and of course, Petunia and Smitherson together – in front of a giant, multi-layered cake.

All wearing silly top hats, pinstriped suits and throwing silly strings

"H-how?"

"When you told us your story, you mentioned your birthday was by the end of July, so we decided to throw you a party" Mikaela explained with a radiant smile. "We've noticed how you've been down these past few weeks, so Mr. Witwicky and I plotted a party, the other guys became involved once Bumblebee heard about our plans and decided to help too" The raven haired beauty continued with that same bright smile. She felt proud of herself for doing this.

Caelum did so much for her family! And once the identity of the one who was behind Ms. Granger came to him, her dad has been all about meeting _the_ Caelum Potter.

"Thank you" The short, shaggy haired witch breathed out, a beautiful smile making her face glow.

"We understand these birthdays are part of your traditions, so I decided this should serve as a learning experience" Ratchet mumbled, Bumblenee snorted, but the other bots just rolled their optics.

Petunia simply smirked. Glad that for once her boss was caught off guard by something that wasn't bad news. The tall blonde woman never been one to show her feelings to those whom weren't really family, preferring to keep a sort of professional distance and maintaining relationships with polite care – but she knew Caelum for so long! And she saw the deceptively young looking girl as family, even after all _Rose_ did.

She honestly cared, even loved the girl – but it wasn't in her personality to show that care actively, though she did by others means, such as a subtle form of mothering… Well… Petunia sighed, sidestepping Smitherson's hands before they could 'innocently' touch her arm.

"Thank you, it means a lot… I can't remember the last birthday party I've had…" It had been some when before her last death… it was a warm, bitter sweet memory that she shared with the Weasley family and Hermione.

Sam smirked, playfully nudging her arm. "How old are you, seriously"

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?" Caelum pouted, crossing her arms. Ratchet shot a scanning beam over her, making the green eyed heiress toss a glare his way.

"Bio-scanning is useless… you humans cellular constitution changes so fast it's hard to determinate your age based on your cells reproduction count… I can't get a deeper scan though, she is protected by a bubble of energy that impairs my scans…" He spoke scathingly, glaring darkly at some point around the witch.

The humans took an unconscious step away from the yellow CMO.

"Just tell us!" Mikaela weedled, joining Sam.

"Fine… I lost count somewhere around …" She mumbled a number under her breath.

"What? Couldn't hear you…!"

"223, give or take a year or two…"

It marked the start of another wave of questioning, that ended with William happily introducing his wife and daughter to everyone, the little brown haired baby soaked up the attention and cooed, making baby noises whenever a bot came near… I was apparent just why she had Ironhide wrapped around her little chubby finger.

By the next day, Caelum and the bots were going to the Island…

**XxxXxxX**

His fingers ached… the constant clicking noise from hitting the keyboard was about to drive him insane, but he persisted.

It proved fruitful when he manage to uncover his identity, true and virtual… to his chagrin and mortification.

His mother was pleasantly surprised when instead of her rebel, misbehaving son, 'Tommy' became a perfect example of a gentleman after the accident, treating her with the courtesy she deserved.

He felt half grateful, half cheated though… Grateful because he got a second chance, cheated because after all his sacrifices, he received a life without magic – something that has been a constant in his life…

But not in Tommy's, if the memories he received from this body were correct… Friday was also a _wizard_, just not a wand waving one.

"Sweetheart, dinner is ready" His mother's voice came from downstairs. When Tommy might have screamed uncouth words to his mother, _he_refused to raise his voice indoors – as his _old mother_ pounded all kind of manners in him and his brother from the age they could properly walk. Being re-incarnated would not change that… it was one of the last things he had from his old life.

Rising from the office chair, 'Tommy' turned off the monitors he was working on and checked his clothes for wrinkles. Finding himself presentable, the boy walked down stairs to find the table set for two, with his mother already seated.

Greeting – and subsequently shocking – the woman with a kiss on her cheek, he took his seat, waiting patiently for her to say the prayers. She did, and he served her before serving himself…

They were eating and sharing small talk, having a peaceful time…

When that peace was destroyed by a bright, light, followed by something shaking the house, throwing mother and son to the ground along with their half-eaten meal… 'Tommy' covered his mum with his body, pushing her under the table, when the earthquake passed, the boy whispered.

"Stay here mother, I will go check…"

"Oh no, Tommy, stay, it might be dangerous!"

"I will be fine mother…" There was some movement outside the window, and their old dog was barking up a storm. A shadow obscured the light coming from the backyard, and as the boy poked his head cautiously out of the backdoor, he understood...

A tall, massive being was standing slowly out of a shallow crater in their backyard…

**XxxXxxX**

_AWord: Updates will be slowed down.. classes started and I don't have as much time to go over the chapters.. good news is that I'm still trying to post every couple of days, maybe a week as I should since the beggining.. but oh well.. I have those chapters pressed.. just have to edit and proof read them; which I have no time to do as of late T-T_

20. D No Man's Land

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

If he ever had a rough landing, this has to be it.

And look, he's had his fair share of rough landings in his life...

His processor ached as the force of impact jarred a few of his nodules, but he managed to shake that off as unimportant – his repair systems were already working to compensate.

Then his highly attuned scans started to work, and he had to shut them down roughly to bring them up slowly again, one by one so the information rush wouldn't get to him. "_Whoahh_" And it _was_ a rush… So much, so thickly, so… so…

"What are you?" The gasp made in that strange sounding language made him pause. He moved his relatively short bulky body to stare at what had to be one of this planet's natives. A quick burst through the planet's web of information provided a quick translation to the creature's words. _What are you? _A second search showed these creatures' species detailed description.

Humans.

"Er… Testing… yes, _yes_" The voice modulators sounded different from the young human male's, but it was shrugged as unimportant as well. "Well, designation Cosmos, Autobot Recon Officer" That sounded better than his last tittle… Cosmos stared at the little thing that kept looking at him with wide optics and a gaping mouth.

"Tommy, I called the police..! Oh my god!" A second organic left the residential unit. This one was slightly taller and had a femme's looks around her. By the close semblance they shared, they had to be a family, indicating the presence of a complex genetic code.

"Get back inside mother" Tommy – the youngling's designation hushed the femme back inside. His mother… then Cosmos realized they both were scared of him…

That was wrong… Didn't Prime's message clearly invite them to this planet? Sure, he was bigger than the average Autobot, but his optics were blue – most Autobots had blue optics, didn't they?

Cosmos shuffled, he was still inside the crater… It was a small crater, he grimaced, the memory files of what happened to him before landing here were just a bit corrupted. Though he was already defragmenting them.

"Tommy… come on! The police will he here soon!" The femme started to pull on the boy's arm, although attempting to move him proved ineffective since the youngling refused to move, staring straight into Cosmos optics… Another brief search through the internet made him aware of the '_Police', _as well as wary.

"You're one of them, aren't you? One of the giant robots that destroyed Hoover Dam…" The boy asked, a sneer on his face. Cosmos' calculated something in nanoseconds; And next second he was holding the boy and transforming into his second form…

A Flying Saucer… And well… he successfully abducted his first human.

"TOMMY!" The woman's desperate screams gave him pause… but they were accounted for in the calculations – the boy showed knowledge of his fellow Cybertronians presence on this planet, he'd be of great help on finding them again.

**XxxXxxX**

It clicked its limbs. The sound was _fascinating_. It has never been able to produce so many sounds before, and after the first scare, it grew fond of the clicking noise it made when it walked. Click… _Clickclickclick…_

Walked… such a strange new concept… walked… walk, walk, _walk. Click_click. Step – click – step – click.

Something changed in the air… there was a charging sensation, an electric build up and then…

SCREETCH! _Pain pain pain stop stop, pain! _It stopped moving, clicking its limbs went to the back of its mind… The pain stopped, relief, it liked not feeling pain…

Step - Click… - Pain!PAIN! – Stop moving… If it moved it felt pain, why why? Before it could move without pain, why couldn't it now? Again, the air charged, it flinched, preparing for another bout of punishment, and indeed… a bright, obfuscating light focused on its body…

It could feel the burn… It didn't like light, it hated light, light hurt, light burned, light _killed_. But if it moved, it would feel pain, but it _had_ to move, _had to get away from the light. _

Step – click – PAIN! It couldn't escape, what was going on?! It had to _move, quickly! _But the hurt? It took a slow, tentative step that didn't _click. _No pain came… it got bolder, thinking it was over and took another step, more hasty – _click – SCREETCH! _

The clicks! The clicks brought pain! It had to run from the light and not feel pain, it hated light and it hated pain… so it walked, _walked, walking was nice, _and moved slowly, without the delightful clicking noise; slow but surely… The light was dimming, there was no charge in the air that would bring pain…

Finally, it got to a nice, dark corner where it rested for a while, to its happiness, a wonderful spray of rich water befell on its new body, which absorbed with relish... It liked water, water was nice and wet and made growing easier… It was content.

"Sir, PPD-1 is responding to pain/pleasure stimulation" A woman spoke in a built in communicator located at the control panel she was working on. She was wearing a long white lab coat and sat on a rotating chair, with her legs crossed. "With the right stimuli, we can make it do what we want – I will forward my report to your office."

There was a deep chuckle coming from the other line. "_You did good Agent J. Keep the good news coming…" _The woman smiled, pleased.

"Yes sir… PPD-1 is coming along wonderfully" Indeed, it was… they wanted a perfect killing machine, capable of high level stealth and evasion tactics, it was capable of it, showing great potential to become their ultimate weapon against the alien invasion… The next step after the testings, would be to make one that was larger – those robots were _huge! _

And then it would be a matter of time before their little drones drove the alien threat out.

And to think it all began with a little mold. Fehh! Who would have thought? Molds with feelings, it made her laugh.

**XxxXxxX**

The new base was coming along quite nicely with Caelum's and the bot's help. While the Autobots could heavy lift and make almost instant calculations that always made the poor Engineer jealous. If one could mount simulations on the drop of a hat, well, that would be quite handy.

The green eyed, messy haired witch helped going along closely by the same lines – mostly casting light-weight charms, or making spaces larger than they should to help transportation. A few permanent color changings here and there – a simple color changing charm that's been overcharged and casted by the _right hand_ can be permanent – and once, when no _humans_ were around, a transfiguration.

It gave her some ideas that she'd bring to Ratchet soon, as soon as they were settled and readier.

A couple of weeks into August, and Caelum caught Jazz having a short break. The cat which carried Draco's old soul glared so eerily similarly to the old Draco that the witch had to resist the urge to scowl. Alas, Blues could only hiss and spit and shoot cute kitty's glares… she'd see how cute he looked after taking a bath and a lot of pictures ready to become Memes. Jazz loved the idea.

Caelum – 23, Draco – 12(as a kitty – 1 that would forever remain a secret)

Sitting beside the large being, she got comfortable by leaning on his pede.

"Why did you call him Draco that time?" Jazz asked after a while of basking in the peace and silence. Caelum snorted, amused. But to answer that, she'd have to go over a few things first.

Closing her eyes, she tried to measure her words. "I recognized his soul… while a few people here may look the same as they did in the other World, they don't have the same _Spark_… Your cat, however, possess the Spark of someone I used to know… though a few things bled through this life, he's not the same... Well, he is a pussy cat… and though the soul is the same, an animal brain can't compare to a human's… so its him, but _not_"

"I understand… it's like when we change protoforms, the form changes but the Spark is the same… you know, Bumblebee used to be so tiny he was almost as short as you human average"

"Tiny?" She perked up, interested in Bumblebee's past.

Jazz noticed her interest and shifted, moving closer to her as if to share a secret. Caelum giggled, appreciating. "Yep, then his Spark developed more and became too big to his protoform, so he had to change to a bigger one"

Her good humor dropped… stomach falling… Jazz must have noticed because he blinked his visor worriedly.

_Mindwipe… _She'd _have_ to talk to Ratchet now, sooner the better… and best include Optimus when the CMO inquired as to just "_Why do you need a Cybertronian protoform?"_ That was something she wasn't looking forward.

"Sorry Jazz… I spaced out" The smile she offered felt tight and weak, "You were saying?"

"Nothing more… I won't divulge Bumblebee's _bubbling _past without Sam here…"

"Aw… Come on Jazz!"

They laughed, to Blues' annoyance since Jazz' body shook, dislodging the feline.

"Do you miss Cybertron?" Caelum asked suddenly, still feeling the high of her laugher… it's been a while… but then realized the question was a little too close to home when she spoke, she, herself would be balking if someone asked her if she missed her old life – but out of all the bots, Jazz seemed the most open minded, and she had to ask, she had to _know . _

Maybe to relate… Maybe to abate curiosity… But mostly because she already felt a kind of kinship with the tall beings. To lose a home, it was painful... And the Autobots have been away from their homes for such a long time…

"Always" Jazz answered bluntly. Optics going slightly dim. "But this planet is cool! I don't regret coming here" The silver Pontiac Solstice perked up a little. "What about you… do you miss your old World?"

There, someone finally asked.

And as she was finally asked, she had little option but to think about it. To her surprise, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. Her voice was steady as she answered. "Same… but I grew to like this Earth as well, I met so many people who became important over the years, and I'll feel sad when they're…" _gone_.

Jazz went silent. A thoughtful silence that made the witch feel grateful.

"The first thing I did when I first started to navigate the internet was to look for data on your species… from culture to politics to religion… and you know what?"

"What?"

"One of the most amusing things I found has to be the strange ideas you people have about alien life…" Caelum shot him a look that spoke for a hundred words. "Eh… you have funny ideas about aliens… though that might look like something I've seen once if I just tilt my head like _this…_" Jazz demonstrated by tilting his head as if staring at an image in front of him, but then he shrugged. "Nope, not right…"

"Prat…" She called, good naturally.

**XxxXxxX**

::Mindwipe, how long can you survive the way you are::

::**I don't know… the excess energy takes a while to damage circuitry, I feel I can handle for a while, but one can never be certain**:: She read the message on the phone's display and for a second her hold on it tightened.

She's going to question Ratchet, he'd be bound to know.

After walking for a while through the busy site, stopping to ask directions from a frazzled worker and subsequently getting lost – the witch decided to simply use a _point-me _charm on a discarded piece of pipe laying around on a pile of wastes. The pipe spun for a moment before settling.

The witch followed, minding her steps on the dangerous grounds.

The yellow Autobot medic was inspecting a few of the construction machines with an all too critical eye when she finally found him. Banishing the pipe, Caelum smiled and approaching him. "Ratchet…"

"Yes?" He turned to face her, not pausing in his task… sometimes the bot's ability to multitask was envious to the others, human brains were not meant to multitask the way their Cybertronian friends could – though it was a needed facet to the bots who had to calculate a thousand things per second to realize the slight movement.

As a witch, her brain was wired differently than a normal person to be able to compensate the extra senses magic brought and demanded… even if her multitasking ability wasn't much; Hermione had been a great example of the potential wizard kind has.

Breathing, Caelum focused on what she came to ask.

"How long can a Spark survive in a body too small for it?" Deciding for the direct approach, the witch waited for the hummer to think about her question. It didn't take long.

He moved to inspect another machine, this time his fingers couldn't keep still and became little tools that he used to probe and twinkle with. "Comparing to this World's day cycle, I'd say about a few of your years…" Something sparked, Ratchet removed his hand hastily, scowling at the opened cables.

His answer helped her heart settle better on one of the things weighting it.

After keeping the medic a little more company, Caelum bid goodbye, pulling Mindwipe out of her pocket to read the message he left. ::**What are we going to do about things now?**::

::I don't know… I am thinking about telling them the truth about my powers…:: She wrote back. There was a string of numbers that flashed through the screen, before the Decepticon Headmaster answered.

::**No! The moment you tell them about me, I will be off lined! I am a Headmaster and a mystic, there is a prize on my head the size of this planet**:: He confessed, thinking briefly about the few other gifted Cybertroninan he knew… the most impressive of them all was the Decepticon Recorder model, Soundwave, who could hack into any processor and read them like it was a walk through the park. Mindwipe himself could control electric waves and command the mind of others – it made him a feared Headmaster in the good old days.

A shame he met his demise at the hand of the –

::Fallen out of grace?:: Caelum typed, descriptively making her way to the lounge where Petunia sat working on her Tablet.

::**You do not know how Literaly**::

**XxxXxxX**

It felt the moment another one equal to it was created. The symbiotic cells of the Other sang to it, they were similar yet different, compatible, though _it _was older and more experienced, so if their colonies merged it would be in command rather than the Other.

One of the new useful things that were given to it was the ability to perceive light in a manner that it never knew it could. Light took shapes and formed images that were transmitted as slight electrical pulsing, giving it an idea of what was composed the world around. It was thanks to this that it was able to "see".

So when the Other and it were reunited, it _saw_ how much larger the Other was, even if they were younger.

Other followed the same basic shape as it. Spidery legs and a flat body that bulked at the middle. But unlike it, the Other was much larger and heavier looking, and the given space for the colony to grow in the Other was infinitely wider than its own.

A new spark of something that it usually never felt made all the cells that composed it _burn _with this new feeling.

The Other came around it, sniffling, feeling, greeting. _:Kin, Join, One: _The other sent in a burst of signals.

_:Join, One, Me, First:_ It conveyed, dancing around the Other's much larger body. It wished to be able to _spore_ again, but that was taken away from it by the Gods, so it couldn't really expand its colony on its own to overtake the Other.

:_Join, One, __**Me**__, Bigger:_ It was becoming irritated.

:_ME:_

_**:ME!:**_

It lunged toward the Other, something snapping through the fine ligaments and cells that composed It's brain. An arch of blue energy sizzled, remaining from the power that made It _aware_ and suddenly, it had the power of growth yet again.

It realized something then… It didn't need the Gods to perpetuate its genes. The ability was back and the fear that the Gods might take that away again was almost crippling. The clicking noise, the pain, the tests, the starvation, the torture… the Gods weren't needed… It could overcome its need, but first-

Other had to go… better yet, the Other should belong to it…

Better yet… the Gods should belong to it…

Other was the first to join in with something that knew only how to _grow_.

…

'PPD-1 seems to have reacted violently to the presence of PPD-2, it is still unknown if the reaction was territorial or an offensive nature toward members of the same species. We will have to curb the behavior before forming the first strike unit… – Technician responsible, J. date 08/xx/2009'

Agent J finished her spoken report by pressing the 'stop' bottom. Keeping her eyes attentively on the screen showing the two AI-drones… It was a genius idea to use something as unassuming as _mold_ to literally create a brain.

Of course their technology on its own wouldn't be able to go that far – primitive as it was, the _Physarum _was not developed enough to equal the amount of intelligence necessary to control a Drone unit, so after stealing- … acquiring… Sector-7's research material on the giant, energy giving Cube, the answer to their problems came.

Only to be slightly put off track when the Cube was destroyed…

To their luck, however, a little piece remained, a piece of the alien relic that _they_ oh so freely welcomed themselves to.

Stealing the thing wasn't easy… It had to be done before the Shard was taken to the FBI secure facility, and right under the Secretary of Defense's nose. And it wasn't just stealing the shard… they copied the energy signal it gave off, draining whatever power it still had and using it to power their ultimate project.

Crude as it was… an intelligent brain that could be divided and used to protect the human race. Very useful… When implanted in an unit like PPD-1 and 2, it powered the Drone by itself, sustaining the energy balance by absorbing nutrients and water, effectively converting energy.

Oh the advances they made ever since creating that thing.

Her fingers pressed on a key on the key board, shifting the camera feed to a large, transparent tank like container.

Inside was a pulsing, yellow slime creature. Flashes of blue electricity going over the yellow thing… It was a huge brain… the better part, it wasn't purely a collective mind – once they separated part of the main colony, it gained autonomy to go by itself – making it easier to control.

Agent J felt proud of herself for being part of this project, she thanked Silas every day for inviting her into MECH – Earth's last chance against those alien scums.

**XxxXxxX**

21. D Stirring Sand

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

"I demand to be released right this instant!" Tommy snarled, punching against the walls of the narrow niche he was put in when the alien transformed around him. "Why am I here?!" He launched one more punch, wincing as the attack stung his fists as well, and it seemed to be doing nothing.

Maybe if he had his wand then he'd be able to… No… no use thinking like a wizard anymore. He wasn't Regulus Black any longer, he was Tommy White… Shaking his head, the ex-wizard relaxed, leaning back against his prison and staring up blankly, wondering where he was being taken.

The space was barely enough for a boy his size to be comfortably, though the darkness was trying to break his resolve to remain calm.

There was a rumbling sound behind the hums of electronics resonating inside the compartment. "I'm sorry about the abruptness, but you are aware of the existence of those of my kind. I need to find them; however there seems to be no traces of them around…" Cosmos spoke, the voice coming from all around Tommy. The accent was still hard to place, but hearing the robot's gentle tone helped the boy to calm down. "Help me find them, and I will return you to your femme creator safe and sound"

He took a deep breath, Cosmos seemed reasonable enough, and Tommy was not exactly against helping someone in need. Well, if you removed the fact that said person in need wasn't really a person and that he had to be kidnaped in the first place.

"Well bodged…" Tommy muttered under his breath. The space around him rumbled once more as if the robot was sighing. "I will try to help you the best I can… though what I know is limited… I've had an accident a few weeks ago that hit my head hard enough to concussion, since then I'm having trouble remembering things…"

"Oh…" The green and yellow alien robot sighed again. "But you did recognize me, that mean you can at least give me a lead"

Tommy nodded, but then, unsure if he could be seen inside of Cosmos or not, spoke out loud. "You didn't have to take me, though… mother must be going mad with worry" He fretted for a moment, before remembering there might be hope. Patting around his pants, he found the bulge in one of his pockets and smiled as his hand pulled out a cellphone.

Why hadn't he thought about this earlier is a wonder, a huff left his nose.

Regulus would never have known how to operate such a complex device, but thanks to Tommy's knowledge, fiddling with the phone was almost second nature. Sliding a finger across the screen to unlock it, he dialed his mother's number without even checking anything else, praying that she had her own mobile on her.

The phone went to his ears.

_Tututututut…._

Agitated, he looked at the screen again, eyes widening when the little signal meter had a bold red cross on it. _No Signal_.

"Are you trying to contact anyone? I felt a burst of weak radioactive waves coming from my insides… it tickled" Cosmos voice made Tommy's lips twitch in half amusement half exasperation.

"I was trying to call my, ah… femme creator but we are not within an area that has signal coverage…" If only he had that curious device that could amplify wave signals… right now it was being used to access wi-fi from a mall five blocks away from his house. Dead useful…

Cosmos hesitated for a moment, laughing awkwardly. "Ehh… We are in orbit right now…" But before Tommy could excusably scream and rage at the fact that he was taken out of the planet, the robot continued. "I can place the call for you! It's only temporary! For some reason I cannot fathom whenever I flew over some human dwellings, they panicked and started pointing and it became disconcerting very quickly…"

Grinding his teeth, Tommy nodded. "Then call this number-" He gave the complete number, with area, service and country codes.

There was a moment of silence. Then… "Hello?" His mother's voice filled the space he was secluded in.

"Mother"

"OH MY GOD TOMMY ARE YOU OK!?" The worried mom stopped to breath. "COME BACK THIS INSTANT I CONTACTED THE POLICE AND THEY-"

"Listen mother, I'm fine! I'm not hurt and I promised I'd help the big guy! I will be back home soon, do not worry" Then he punched Cosmos' wall again and the robot took the cue to finish the call. If his old life's mother and this one had to have one thing in common, it was their shrill voices and strong lungs.

"Your femme creator seems… enthusiastic" His kidnaper spoke softly. Tommy snorted.

"Her son was just taken by a giant metal monster, she's scared" His voice was soft. Cosmos hmmed, slightly offended at being called a _monster_, but understanding where the boy was coming from. "Don't you have any way of contacting your friends?" The question broke the lapsed question.

"Yes… but my communicators have been compromised by my coming here. Unexpectedly jumping non-calibrated Space-Bridges can scramble anybot's processors... I was lucky to have ended on the atmosphere and not buried somewhere underground…"

Tommy thought for a moment, using the light of his cellphone to escape the darkness.

He had an idea a few moments later. "We can start by investigating an associate of mine, it was thanks to her request that I know about you. Do you have internet access?"

"What is their name? Yes, I can still access your internet"

"Petunia Evans" Not that she gave that name… but there was nothing Friday could not dig through if it existed online.

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum yawned, taking more than a moment to fully wake up after one merciful dreamless night. Her heavy lids fell back shut, a groan leaving her throat as her little Transformer-turned cellphone poked her sides with his tiny but almighty sharp claws.

"**You have a few messages...Wake up and read them, they're bothersome… I already have so little processor space!**" Mindwipe hissed, poking her sides again. For a Decepticon Headmaster he sure knew how to be annoying… though to his benefit, she thought that he'd be more demanding. Still, the green eyed witch rolled over on her side, purposely squishing him under her stomach.

A victorious smirk painted her face as his yelling could be heard muffled by her pajamas shirt.

After taking her time in stretching and popping her sleeping joints, Caelum rose from the bed, picking a grumbling minicon and setting him on her shoulder. He wasted no time in intertwining tiny claws in her bird's nest hair and vindictively pulling on the strands. "Would you mind showing me those messages?" After all, he's woken her up for them, didn't he?

The Decepticon mystic nodded, transforming back into Caelum's phone, allowing the witch to catch him and open him up with a flip of her wrists. The first message blinked cheerfully.

::_When r u comin back?_:: Mikaela. It was a message left from a string of conversation they've been having the night before. While Caelum came with the bots to the Island so she could be kept an eye on – or the other way around, she frowned. Sam and Mikaela decided to stay… actually, the tall model like girl decided to stay so she could be by her father' side, and Sam stayed with her.

Smiling at Mikaela's word – it was _good_ to have people who were interested in _her_ and not in her powers, and being close to the teenagers, her supposed age, reminded her of what she's been missing by running away from humanity.

Oh… she still wanted to conquer the world and offer it as the supreme prank to her father and godfather… but now there were other more important things on her to-do list.

::IDK, things pretty busy, how's dad ;D:: Was typed and sent.

Next message was Petunia's… it had a small attached video file that Mindwipe snarked about downloading. Though when the video played, Both Witch and minicon were left figuratively gaping.

Images of an U.F.O were being recorded from all over East Coast to the north of Mexico before disappearing. At first, someone might think it a hoax… but looking closer at the blurry and pixaled images, it was possible to see they all had one thing in common… The OVNI.

A yellow and green Flying Saucer, with blinking red and blue rights and what seemed like a tractor beam.

And then, there was a police call that hit the Youtube, where a hysteric woman reported that her son has been taken by a _Huge robot that turned into a ship!. _

"_Help please! My son! He's gone!"_

"_Calm down madam-"_

"_He was taken by a giant robot! It landed on our yard and my Tommy went to check it out! There was this huge crater where this robot came and-"_

"_Madam, are you under-"_

"_I AM NOT ON DRUGS! I Saw my boy being abducted by this creature that transformed into an OVNI right in front of me! I want him back, bring my Tommy back!"_

If that didn't sound familiar…

"**That is a Cybertronian**" Mindwipe transformed back into his bipedal mode, climbing up Caelum's arm to rest on her shoulder.

"Do you recognize him?" It was asked in the waning hope that the Decepticon Headmaster might know who that was, if they were another Con. But the little mind-reader shook his head, frowning.

"**No, but that is a Cybertronian spying and recon ship… I don't remember any 'con with that mode, but I am not familiar with all of them…**" Mostly because he was offlined at the beginning of the war, he wouldn't be saying that though, it was a touchy subject.

"I will go check if the Autobots know something"

"**I shall accompany you**" He morphed back into a phone.

The witch nodded, diving in her suitcase and pulling out a fresh outfit for the day. When she managed to relatively tame her hair, Caelum darted out of her room to the female living quarters after pocketing Mindwipe, waving at the otherwomen that were loitering about.

Maneuvering through the rubble and debris left over from the constructions, the witch arrived a few minutes later at the large makeshift hangar where the Autobots stayed.

Not hesitating for a moment, Caelum barged in the hangar, all smiles and waving. Ratchet and Jazz who were inside waved back, Ironhide and Bumblebee were with their respective charges so they weren't supposed to be there, Optimus however, wasn't.

"Good morning" The witch skipped over to Ratchet, who waved a hand again. His optics were dim, with his focus inwards, and Caelum wondered what he was concentrating in. Looking around one more, she settled next to Ratchet, on her customary perch next to the big guys' legs. "Where is Optimus?"

Ratchet snarled. A deep sound coming deeply from his voice modulators. "Dealing with some whiners… There are sightings of U. all across the World since the 50's and they think that just because we're here, that we know the answer to their every single problem" The yellow CMO shifted, locking a blue glare on Caelum. She lifted an eyebrow, she knew what was going on now…

"Have you seen the footage the people published on this 'U.F.O'?" The question was accompanied by her fingers twitching as if to imitate commas as the word UFO was spoken.

"Yes" He answered back through grinding mouth plates. "George Adamski Flying Saucer has been a popular choice for you humans – this has nothing to do with us, just another prank"

"What if it's not?" Jazz asked suddenly, poking Caelum's head since she's made a beeline for Ratchet and ignored him. She stuck her tongue back playfully.

"That's what Prime went to find out" The bulky yellow medic crossed his servos.

The young looking girl lowered her head thoughtfully. Jazz noticed and crouched down to get near her height. "What is it shorty?"

Meeting Jazz' visor, Caelum sighed. "I received a message from Petunia this morning, it came with this-" Pulling out Mindwipe from her pocket – silently apologizing for it – she found the police recording of the woman claiming her son was taken by a robot…

"I didn't find that one when I surfed the internet earlier…" Jazz commented thoughtfully. Ratchet's hand twitched.

"That is not the case… that woman… if what she say is true, then there might be a transformer on loose with a human hostage…" The medic frowned again. "This changes things… can you send me the audio file? Just attach it to a message and send it to the my number" Caelum nodded, fussing over the phone for a moment until she figured out what to do.

"I will contact Optimus" Jazz said, rising from his crouching position and offering Caelum a hand. She took it and was settled on the silver bot' shoulder, where a slumbering cat lay curled. Chuckling, the witch pulled on Blues' ears making the feline jump with his fur standing on end, hissing at her and shooting a glare that was worth of his human counterpart… "Shorty, stop being mean to Blues"

"He asked for it…"

"Right…"

Ratchet moved. "I've called Ms. Evans, she has confirmed everything… It seems we do have a situation now"

**XxxXxxX**

Hermione stood in front of the full body mirror admiring her image. She was a tall and willowy woman, and though she lacked womanly curves, she made up with good skin and a youthful, oval shaped face and expressive eyes. Usually, she thought of herself as a sophisticated practical woman, but tonight, she decided to shed the Lawyer suit and dress up a little.

A woman don't wear suits to dates, that is the man's job.

Patting her hair one last time to make sure it wouldn't escape its confines, Hermione grabbed a cute beady handbag that matched the smart black strapless dress and the bead laced high heeled sandals. Stopping by her dresser, she splashed a last touch of perfume she received from mum last Christmas and allowed a smile to bloom on her lips.

Collecting her cellphone and a small handbrush, she opened her apartment door, smiling winningly at the man who stood on the other side, holding a rose in her direction and grinning a bright dimpled grin that made her knees weak.

Well… H. J. Granger had a mission…

And that was to have fun.

**XxxXxxX**

It waited… It knew how to wait now.

The Gods did as it thought they would, they created more beings similar to it and the Other one…

"I'm going for the day, J, don't stay up too late" One of the gods called back toward another one.

"You know me…" Was the answer – not that It knew what they were talking about. It didn't understand spoken language since its form of communication was through electrical signals. The first God left, leaving the second one slumped over a project's desk. It 'observed' through the opaque walls – not being impeded by the measly glass thing that had no waves isolation. "Asshole…" The second muttered. It felt the waves shifting as the words were produced around her upper body, in a thin structure that held a strange spore.

Had it known human anatomy, that would have been a throat and vocal-cords.

Alas, It wasn't interested in the god's anatomy, it was more interested in the fact that when the first one left the labs, It was able to record the impression left by him when he opened the door… It found out the coding that could unlock the doors…

It waited until J immersed herself again in her work. _:Others. Time. Come. Me. Free.: _It sent to the Others that were like it. They weren't very bright, so unlike the First who fought for control until It conquered the other's colony as its own. Now It and each of the ones similar, worked as an extension of It. They had their own thoughts, but they now worked to the benefit of the One.

Making use of its smaller body, it crawled to the locking mechanism, tittering and wailing in a supersonic frequency that was making the glass vibrate dangerously. After a few seconds in which it adjusted the frequency input, the lock beeped open…

It skittered out of the cage it has been in and signaled to the Others, they answered back, creating a path through which it could reach Them.

After a few minutes of searching, it found all the cages where His Others were. Freeing them and then spending another minute rejoicing in their union, It pointed to the locked lab door making a clicking noise from the depth of its bulky body.

_:Destroy: _Was the simple command that was followed through with relish by the rebelling colony.

**XxxXxxX**

Agent J was startled out of her thoughts when a low bang went through the lab she was currently in. In front of her was a high precision molecular sculptor that she was using to advance on one of her other side projects – Nano-machines. She was currently maneuvering the sculptor to mold Carbon Hexagons to make little insect like shells. It was going smoothly until something made noise.

Rising quickly from her chair, Agent J pawned her pants' pocket in search of the hand-gun she always carried upon witnessing Silas' paranoia. Feeling her fingers touch the familiar handle of her small gun, the blond woman relaxed, keeping alert eyes around.

The lights were dim, and so far no security protocol have been activated, but that was no reason to lower her guard… she was trained as a spy as much as she was a scientist – to infiltrate within NASA labs she had to be the best of the best, and that she proved to be. Raising her gun threateningly, she spun on her heels to see the rest of the lab room.

There were a few more noises, scratching and tittering sounds that were eerily familiar.

Dark brown eyes widened as realization hit her. "Oh fuck…!" She turned to her personal monitor, clicking on a key to shift TVO cameras and gasped when it stopped on the room where their PPD's were being kept.

They weren't there…

And she didn't have to wonder where they were for longer.

_Click… _

The last thing she saw was a claw being raised, poised to strike her face, and then painful oblivion.

**XxxXxxX**

The yellow mass floating inside the tube pulsed once, sending arches of electric blue energy all over its body. Tendrils of yellow tried once or twice to wander, but they were contained by the glass caging them in. Another pulse sent an even bigger arch of energy.

The liquid keeping the yellow mass afloat bubbled.

A few monitors connected to the container bleeped –

_TEMPERATURE RISING – DANGEROUS LEVELS REACHED – MAINTAINANCE NEEDED, DAMAGE RISKS TO NEURAL CORTEX: 67%_

What was mainly a big, amorphous living brain snapped. A large tendril of yellow lashed against the glass cage. Once, Twice, until a thin crack appeared. It kept on attacking, growing more vicious the more the crack gained thickness. Lashing out a last time, the glass exploded outwards, sending gelatinous liquid all over the floor and drenching the computers that started to spark dangerously.

The pulsing yellow mass slipped to the wet floor, sliding and extending its tendrils, as if looking for something.

The container's room's door opened.

A big – as big as a small horse – spider like creature entered the room and approached the brain… A yellow tendril reached toward the Drone, closing in on it and encasing the drone.

_:Assimilation to main brain – Completed:_

Little by little, the yellow mass disappeared inside the large Drone through the slips in its armor, overtaking the already existing colony in there and taking the body to itself.

The Brain sent another pulse, this time it created a bubble of energy that shattered everything around. :_Come. Us. Free.: _The Brain received the command, submitting naturally to it as it was natural, since the one giving orders was the most experienced even if it was smaller and less powerful – It was a brain, it could _think and only think_. Not lead…

_:The humans, kill?: _The Brain asked, then realized that its' smaller counterparts weren't as developed as it was. But to the Brain' surprise, the little one who took control of them all with its Will answered.

:_We kill Gods… Gods bring pain…: _It tittered _:We take this nest, spread our colony, find food and water, protect the main Brain: _The Brain stood put, allowing its similar to crawl all over him, it was bigger than the rest.

:_Create new ones?_ _I possess the knowledge of the Gods_: Putting in a way they would understand, the Brain affirmed. It hadn't sat idle while the humans experimented on it…

:_Yes… expand the Colony_:

**XxxXxxX**

22. D Not So Sirious

**Caelum Potter – the Chisel.**

**XxxXxxX**

Agent J groaned. Pain racked through her body and she felt a sting coming from somewhere on her cheek. Opening her eyes proved to be a task on itself, since her head was aching terribly… At least now she could see she was still in the labs. There was an odd scent on the air, metallic and stingy – but it wasn't blood.

Ozone…

The labs were still bathed in darkness, with only a few dim emergency lights on, and by their faltering, the Agent gathered they would not last long. A tight feeling of fear curled deep in her stomach. Wincing, J tried to stand, only to fall back when her arms caught on something.

Looking down on herself, J had to swallow the bile that rose to her throat at the sight… Pulsing, yellow slime encompassed her whole torso and lower body. Slithering here and there. The scent of Ozone intensified, and she shrieked when a yellow tendril rose and dove in her nose.

The world went dark again.

**XxxXxxX**

It was early morning, and Silas just arrived in his office after waking up at 4 in the morning to exercise and practice. He barely sat down behind his desk to contemplate his daily planner when there was a knock on the door. Barking to whoever it was to get on with it, the burly man leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms.

There was a moment of irritating hesitation of the person behind the door's part, when Eichel stumbled in, paler than a ghost, shaking and looking terrified out of his skin. Silas snorted, but nodded when Eichel hesitated again.

"Sir…" Eichel was proud that his voice didn't stammer. Though his brow was dripping with sweat. He knew the fate of messengers bearing bad news and it wasn't always pretty. Breathing out and silently praying that Silas spared the messenger, he opened his mouth. "Laboratories 1-13 have been compromised"

Silas' eyes became steely. The Military man's mouth thinned and his brow furrowed in a glare that would have made a lesser man's bowel unfold. Eichel swallowed the thick ball in his mouth. "Do explain… I don't have the whole day"

Opening and closing his mouth a few times, the portly scientist finally managed to word. "Around 2:34AM, Agent D left the labs in the hands of Agent J who stayed working on the Nano-Machines… It-Its…The PPD's… th-they escaped their cells… somehow snapping out of our control… th-they…" Another swallow. The ball got larger. "You better watch the video feeds from the security cameras…" Was all he managed to get out under Silas' stony glare.

"I hope for your sake that you are already working on a way to gain back control over them…"

"Y-yes sir… The c-control…" Silas' arm uncrossed as the man reached to his belt to retrieve the simple controller that supposedly was able to allow him command over the PPD's. "It can be recalibrated t-to regain control of t-them again"

Eichel flayed to catch the device Silas threw his way. "Then do so! We invested a lot of money and resources on those things!"

As the white lab coat wearing scientist left, Silas' mood took a tumble down when he indeed came around to watch the video feeds. Though they got cut through halfway when connection to the labs was lost.

Rising from his seat, the imposing military marched out of his room, pushing people out of his way to the armory, already throwing orders that the soldiers under him hastily followed.

What the short, portly scientist didn't comment was that he already thought it was too late.

**XxxXxxX**

Caelum tried to stay out of the way from the rushing men, so it was with a relieved smile that Jazz caught up with her and had her perched on his shoulder – opposite side to that of Blues who was giving her the evil eye.

"What did Optimus say?" She asked Jazz, clutching onto a few metallic struts near his neck as to not fall down.

"We are mobilizing… Our sensors didn't detect his entry and he didn't try to contact us"

"You think he is a Decepticon?"

Jazz nodded, careful of his two tag-alongs. "We don't have a lot of flyers in the Autobots ranks… Most flyers joined with the Decepticon, and the probability that we're dealing with a con is large since he has taken an unwilling human with him"

The witch frowned. She was sure there was more to that story that Jazz wasn't saying, or was unwilling to say. She'd let him for now, but with a sour taste in her mouth… It was their past, their rights to share or not, but… She hated being told half-truths or be left in the dark.

At least until something vibrated in her pocket – her cellphone turned Con - a gleaming spark entered her green eyes, so when she fished Mindwipe out and read what he 'wrote' she didn't feel guilty.

::_Do not worry about it, he isn't being malicious – he just wants to protect you_:: Right, Mindwipe was able to read minds – as weak as that ability was now in his current body, bringing him so close to Jazz' processors was asking the little con to do his worst.

But Caelum felt thankful, and her fondness for the Silver SiC rose a few notches, as did her fondness for the little con. ::Thank you:: She wrote back. Though the green eyed witch was done with people trying to spare her, the gratefulness that someone cared enough was enough to warm her slightly.

Shaking her head, Caelum patted Jazz' armor. "What is our plan?"

"Our?" Jazz' visor winked in and out. "Who says you're coming?" He asked, pausing. "If it comes down to a confrontation, you would be put in unnecessary danger" Caelum scowled at that. Hadn't she proved with the Dam that she could protect herself? Then realization hit her, making her eyes narrow suspiciously.

"You've been rounded by Petunia or Smitherson… haven't you?"

"Maybe…" He sniggered, then sobered. "But you're still not coming. He already has one hostage we have to look out for"

Again sub-estimating her… Well… "I'm coming"

"You're not"

"I am"

"Not"

"Am"

"You're not"

"This is getting tiresome…" Caelum sighed, slumping her shoulders, rolling her eyes, she met Jazz' visor. "You know that I can take care of myself, and I want to come with you, you can't tell me what to do" She snapped.

Jazz vented, aggravated. "I know shorty… but why put yourself in danger's way?"

"Because I care"

Jazz only nodded somberly, but a strange little smile lit his face as he shuffled her hair with the tip of a pinky. "Don't be a brat" He snipped, trying to lighten the mood again.

"You are the prat" She purposely mistook his word to his amusement. They were still tense, but Jazz would let Optimus… or better yet, Petunia deal with Caelum.

…

"_She is going with you_" Petunia's cold voice cut through the expectant silence Jazz and the Secretary fell in. They were currently talking on the phone – he called her while Caelum was busy pestering Ratchet with questions – the CMO was grumblingly answering her questions, but he liked the attention, Jazz smiled, turning back to the conversation.

"It will be dangerous" The Silver Solstice argued. "War is no place for civilians" He heard a delicate, dubious little snort.

"I completely agree with you" The thin blonde secretary allowed. "However, if you try to stop Caelum, she will find a way around to follow after you anyway… I think it best if she is under your eyes than behind your back"

Jazz agreed… "True…" He vented nervously. "Fine… She can come with us, but she will have to stay close to the other humans" William's men would see to her safety, he was sure.

There was a moment of silence in which Jazz imagined Petunia fussing over her Tablet.

"How are you going to track the E.T.?"

"He has a human with him, thus he needs something, and will make another appearance soon" Optimus, Jazz and Major Lennox agreed with that. The supposedly con has a human hostage, thus he took the human for a reason and _would_ definitely try something. "We will keep track of communications channels, as well as be prepared in case something _does_ happen."

Petunia bid goodbye, she had work to do… Jazz vented once more. He didn't doubt Caelum's powers, he just worried.

**XxxXxxX**

As soon as she disconnected from the call with Jazz, Petunia received another one in her slim smartphone. Peering at the ID number, an eyebrow was raised when instead of a conventional number, the visor showed a string of symbols – some her phone couldn't identify so there were small squares.

Hefting her designer purse higher on her shoulder, the tall, thin woman decided to pick up on the strange call by sliding her fingers across the screen. "Petunia Evans, who is this?" She spoke snippily, short of patience.

"_Hello Miss Evans… My name is Tommy White, but you might know me better as Friday"_ Her feet stopped working as her brain grounded on a wheel for a second.

Friday… calling her?! The hacker that has been missing for weeks now suddenly decides to call her? First she wondered how he managed to get her number, than shook her head – she'd never be an effective net-rat, but she was skilled with handling a computer – finding someone's identity should be easy to someone with Friday' skills, it wasn't for nothing that she hired him in the first place.

Suspicion immediately rose up her spine though… He gave her his name… He opened a door that he knew she would exploit… no hacker ever gave their true name online unless they wanted feds knocking on their door.

"Prove it" She almost hissed, but held herself back by tightening the hold on her phone. There were few reasons she could think of that would make Friday call on her, and none of them were pretty. Plus the probability that this kid – he still sounded awkward around his vocal cords – was lying is huge.

There was a thoughtful hmm from the other side of the line. "_The last message I sent you, I was monitoring satellites feeds to the Hoover Dam area, and testing the Signal Booster… Since I was in the area, I've decided to investigate myself so I said I'd be coming over in my excitement… I paid the price and was caught up in the bus that was torn in half by one of __**them**_" His voice was controlled and even, the Blonde was left to wonder what kind of face he had at the moment. She knew pretty well who were _Them_ he was talking about.

Decepticons.

But after thinking about his words for a few minutes, she concluded that she believed him… as unlikely as the situation was… It also helped that using her Tablet, she pulled up the list of people who've been in the Bus that day, and found – Tommy White – among the survivors. His police record was pristine, though his school record could use a little help…

"Alright, let us say I believe that you, a fourteen years old child is indeed Friday, why have you called me?" _Specially after so long being MIA_. She added mentaly, knowing he would read it in her sentence. Her words rang back making her face sour… She didn't doubt any child's capacity, but to be as… tenacious… as Friday has been she pictured someone older, much older. The urge to ask why he disappeared was there, she could understand that he must have been through a lot after his accident, so she kept her questions to herself.

Although… Ripped off by a mere boy…

A muscle in her cheeks twitched. "I understand your caution miss, however what I have to say is more urgent… I am in the company of one of those guys, a robot named Cosmos"

**XxxXxxX**

Optimus vented quietly, he was aggravated by the pushy nature of these people, if he chose to offline his optics and just listen to their droning, he could even imagine himself back in Cybertron, sitting in one of those boring committee meetings. Though he was an excellent soldier and a compassionate leader, his origins were humble enough that at the beginning, a young Orion Pax just recently reformatted would unavoidably get bored in such meetings.

"..as such that new threat falls under your responsibility" Concluded one of the Generals, referring to the contract signed between the World Leaders and the Autobots. It said that any Cybertronian threat was first to be dealt by Optimus' team, with the due cooperation of NEST… so why were they repeating what the bots and NEST already compromised to do?

The red and blue Semi truck may never understand humans…

The listening went on, as things were going, the brief _debriefing_ would extend for a few more hours. Though Optimus was dully distracted when his comm. blared to life with a message from Jazz – as his Second, Jazz stayed on the Island to supervise things in his stead and take care of any small problems.

Silently venting in relief at the small reprieve, the tall Autobot made sure to keep as attentive a façade as he could – battle mask down and optics bright – and picked up on the comm.

::_We just found out who the mysterious Flier is_:: Was reported, the leader bot could pick up a sense of giddy excitement in Jazz' electronic signature, and had to wonder why that was.

::Are they one of ours?::

::_Yep! You will never believe who it is_:: Jazz tittered, Optimus let him, feeling hope swell in his Spark as well. ::_Cosmos decided to pay a visit. Apparently Miss Evans was contacted by the kid Cosmos kidnapped, his long distance communicators are shot down due to a glitch in the Space Bridge when he came here, we have already given him the Island's coordinates, he will be here anytime_::

::Thank you Jazz, stay in the base to receive our old friend, I will be there as soon as I am able::

::_Will do… good luck with those black suits!_:: With that last parting quip, Optimus' relief and slight happiness made his Energon run warmer. Good news were hard to come by, and he was glad the newcomer was an Autobot.

**XxxXxxX**

"So the Flying Saucer is actually one of you guys?" Caelum asked Ratchet, who was busily preparing the hangar to accommodate the larger Autobot Flier.

Ratchet shot her a blue stare. "Yes, Designation Cosmos, he's a Spy/Sensor unit built specially to orbit. He is, in his own words, a Recon Officer" The way Ratchet's voice became stern toward the end, Caelum sensed a story there. "I have a question" He said instead of continuing about the new bot.

The witch tilted her head curiously. "If I can answer, I will" She assured, meaning it. She liked Ratchet's curiosity, he and Jazz were her favorite bots so far – not to say that she didn't admire Optimus or respect Ironhide, but out of the five Cybertronians, they were the ones whom she spent most time with.

"When you use your… magic… where does it come from?" He has been curious about that – there were a few bots who had special abilities, mysterious powers that were inherent to them, like Springer… as silly as that bot was, in every protoform of his he's been able to "spring"… Or Blur, who lived in a world faster than normal.

Caelum paused to think about how to answer that, back in the Wizarding World, the question of where magic came from was as old as Philosophy itself. She knew Ratchet wasn't asking for a spiritual or religious view, but a scientific one. She wasn't sure herself, but the short, shaggy haired girl would try her best to explain.

"I'm not really sure how to put that into words, but my guess is that it comes from mixing the right body, with the right… Spark… There are cases in which Witches are born from parents who had no relation to magic – and there are those who are born with no magic, from two magical parents… though they are rare"

"So there is a genetic factor and a Spark one?" He asked to confirm. Caelum nodded, blinking owlishly.

"I've never stopped to wonder about it really… It is something that is here…" She touched her chest, right above the heart. "It is a part of us, much like a hand or a knee is…" Even when she was still stuck with the Durleys' hospitality, there was always that whisper of something telling her she was special, different… It helped keep her sanity when she needed it the most.

The yellow CMO noticed the slight shadow that befell the short girl's eyes and debated whether to ask, or leave her to it… Caelum was wondering something similar, actually. This was a chance to open herself up, she already said so much… Sighing, she decided to trust her instincts and Ratchet, she knew he was honorable and loyal, she didn't have to doubt him in anyway…

Nervous butterflies fluttered in her stomach, she didn't want to sound like a whiner – never been one to whinge about her problems to others – but sometimes, just _sometimes_ even the most recluse person needed a hand to hold or a shoulder to lean on... the witch took a deep breath. "When my parents were killed, I was left to the care of my mother's elder sister… She had always been jealous of my mother's magic, so when I was left on her doorsteps on the first hour of November, she decided to try and erase all traces of magic out of me…"

"How can you erase something you described like a limb?" Ratchet asked, leaning down. "She didn't want you, did she? Why would she take in a Sparkling she didn't want?" No bot with their processor right would take on the responsibility of educating a Sparkling with a half-hearted resolution… Creations were the next generation, they represented the future… what future would they create with half the potential they should have?

"She didn't have a choice… I don't blame her for her treatment of me, I know she cared for me in her own way…" Aunt Petunia _had _to have cared, in her own twisted, if she didn't fully accept Caelum in her home, the blood wards would not have worked as well as they did. "But because of it, I've been led to believe that magic was a bad thing, that those who did magic were the bad ones" She continued, shaking her hands and making a curtain of sparkles shimmer in front of her. "Magic is not good or evil… Its only power…"

Great… quoting Tom Riddle now… but it was a truth she had to face many times over. "It is the nature of living beings, to fear what they do not understand" Ratchet watched the light show, recording it and analyzing with his special sensors… not one to miss a chance to learn more about something.

"Yes…" She wanted to say Thank you, but the chance never came…

For that moment a very skittish Jazz danced in the hanger. Both witch and medic jumped, caught off guard. The CMO even had his blades spinning in a defensive position.

Caelum breathed out through her mouth… she's been so into her conversation that she wasn't attuned to her extra senses, the ones that fluctuated every time a Spark came near her. She should have felt Jazz coming closer… but well…

Now the silver one would have to deal with being the Polka Dots one for a while…

Jazz paused, visor blinking. "Oops" Ratchet snarled, but the SiC cut him off "The new guy is here! He's landed outside, Ironhide is already there come on meet him" The silver Solstice then proceeded to open the makeshift hangar's door wider, allowing both Caelum and Ratchet to witness as a black armored Ironhide greeted a new bot with gleaming green and yellow paint.

"Comm. me next time!" Ratchet grumbled, putting away his blades. But the frown turned into a smirk when Jazz' new paint was made known.

"Uh… It's been a while since we saw each other, but I didn't think you were into _that _kind of thing…" A softly accented voice came from behind the Polka dotted bot. Cosmos poked his head around the shorter bot' shoulder, peeking inside the hangar. "Hey there Ratchet!"

"Whah?" Jazz looked down… Then promptly snapped his head Caelum's way. She was gone from her perch beside Ratchet… None of his sensors could pint-point her. "Come here and fix me shorty!"

"Why would you want to change it back to that boring silver? I think it matches… The pink dots under the sunshine yellow is a nice color scheme" Ratchet quipped, while Cosmos sidestepped the shamelessly gaping SiC to shake the yellow medic' servo. "It is great to see you again" was said to the Autobot flier.

Cosmos perked up. "Yeah! Me too! Now where is the little one I saw standing here with you? The little femme was here a few moments ago… then she just blurred out of my sight and disappeared…"

Safely hidden under an invisibility spell and a notice me not charm to throw off their myriad of superior sensors, said witch snickered at her little joke. She missed being able to do this, and sensing the lightness of the Autobot' Sparks was worth it.

Something vibrated in her pocket. She fished out Mindwipe. He wrote. ::**Wasn't he carrying a human with him?**::

It seemed to come just in time for that very human to appear.

Caelum's eyes zeroed on him while Cosmos introduced the boy – he looked to be on his early teens – to the bots and explained what happened after Ironhide had a fit about Jazz' new colors.

The shock was so big, that the spells weaved around her to keep her hidden broke, as did Jazz' color charm.

A word left her lips, eyes wide and staring. "Sirius?"

The boy jumped, tensing his shoulders. Grey eyes framed by the black hair on a pale face. The high cheekbones and the pointy chin… Handsome face, round in his youthfulness… Something flashed in his eyes, then he opened his mouth.

"Try again, you have guessed the wrong Black"

**XxxXxxX**

End file.