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❝ CHAPTER 24 ── LUNAR
RECONNAISSANCE
ORBITER ❞
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      ━━━━━ STEPHANIE CHOSE TO stay with her brother and Carly. Because of that, Hero and Caspian chose to stay with her. Even though Stephanie and Lennox lead the team together, Lennox knew that the two would always choose Stephanie. He never understood their friendship. They all watched Optimus walk up to Sentinel Prime with the Matrix.

"This is incredible." Carly whispered.

"Sentinel Prime, we bid you return." He pushed it into the chest of Sentinel Prime, everyone watching as the Autobot was jolted back to life. He then pushed out of his chair pushing Optimus down to the ground.

"Hold your fire!" Lennox shouted.

"Stop, Sentinel!" Prime spoke.

"Hold your fire, now!" Stephanie ordered shortly after.

"It is I, Optimus Prime! It is all right. You are safe."

"There is nothing to fear." Ratchet told the Autobot.

"We are here. You are home, Sentinel."

"The war... The war!" Sentinel Prime repeated.

"The war was lost. Cybertron is now but a barren wasteland. We have taken refuge here, on planet Earth. It's human race is our ally." Optimus said, as he stood up from the floor.

"My ship. We came under fire. The pillars. Where are the pillars?" Stephanie, Hero, and Caspian exchanged a look with each other. Why was that his only concern?

"You saved five of them, including the control pillar."

"Only five? We once had hundreds!"

"Excuse me, gentlemen." Mearing called out to the Autobots. "May I ask, what is this technology you're looking for?"

"It is the ability to reshape the universe. Together the pillars form a space bridge. I designed it, and I alone, can control it."

"That doesn't sound good." Hero said, softly.

"It defies your laws of physics to transport matter through time and space."

"You're talking about a teleportation device, aren't you?" Mearing asked the robot.

"Yes, for resources, for refugees."

"Refugees, or troops of soldiers, weapons, maybe bombs! A means of an instant strike! That's its military function, isn't it?"

"I really don't like her." Stephanie mumbled.

"It is our technology and it must be returned." Sentinel said, looking down at the human.

"Yes. If humans say so. You can't just bring weapons of mass destruction into our atmosphere! You kind of have to clear customs first! A little formality called paperwork kind of separates us from the animals."

"I will overlook your condescending tone if you heed the gravity of mine. The Decepticons must never know the space bridge is here. For in their hands, it would mean the end of your world."

Stephanie sighed heavily. She was soon pulled into the room with Mearing as well as Sam and Carly. She had told Hero and Caspian to wait outside and she would catch them up afterwards. Stephanie walked behind Sam and Carly.

"'Total Nightmare' file." Mearing told her assistant. Stephanie stood behind her brother and Carly while the two sat down in the chairs. "So, the investigation is open. We've sent agents to your office. And, for the time being, we're gonna send you home with Autobot protection. As well as your sister."

"I'm good, thanks for the offer though." Stephanie remarked.

"Who do I need to speak to get you guys to understand that I can help, that I can contribute?"

"Hey, we can all help. Want to tell you what I know? I could tell you about the solar system, all the fun planets to hang out in." Brains said, looking at Sam, Carly and Stephanie. Mearing pulled out her gun and placed it on the desk.

"Get off my desk, please." She said.

"You pulling out guns? I can't help you out now. She angry." He proceeded to jump off her desk and jumped onto the floor.

"Oh, my god." She then sat down in her chair.

"What do you envision for me? I go home now? I got back to work? I make copies? I mean..."

"Yes." Stephanie said, causing her brother to look back at her.

"This is a unit for veteran intelligence officers and Special Forces, like your sister, not for boys who once owned special cars."

"That's a bit harsh, isn't it, ma'am?" Carly said.

"Don't call me ma'am. I'm not a ma'am."

"Well, you're a woman, aren't you?"

"So, are those yours?"

"Yeah. CIA."

"I only ask cause I also have a medal, from the President." Stephanie lowered her head at her brother. She knew that wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Yeah. Great. So, it's not that complicated, right? No one gets to work with the Autobots unless I approve it. You're breaking my chain of command."

"Come on, let's go. You've done what you came for." Stephanie watched the woman place her gun back in the holster.

"With all due respect, young man, I appreciate what you did. But you're not a soldier. Your sister is, and she's served this country well. You're a messenger. You've always been a messenger."

"He's a hero." Carly told her.

"Damn right." Stephanie said, sending an angry look to Mearing.

The three walked out, Stephanie looked at Hero and Caspian as the two looked at her. "Are we staying here?" Caspian asked her.

"No, she won't let Sam help, I think he has a better understanding of what's about to happen. I trust my brother."

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

Stephanie, Hero, and Caspian stood with Sam as the elevator door slid up to reveal Simmons. He stood there looking at them with glasses resting over his eyes.

"Tell Megaton, 'Let's tango'." He walked into the room, Stephanie rolled her eyes at the older man.

They began working together setting everything up so they could go over it. Stephanie sat in a chair while Hero and Caspian sat on the couch.

"You've got to break this case down. What we have here is an astronaut epidemic. MIA. Dead. Died in a car accident. Killed. DOA. Car death. It's like these guys can't drive. They can fly into outer space, but they can't drive a car."

Stephanie placed her eyes on Sam's boss as he walked in and looked at Bee, who kneeled in the corner. Sam closed the door and walked over to the others.

"Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It says NASA launched it in 2009. See, forensics show Wang may have messed with the code, preventing it from mapping the far side of the moon, which is also the dark side."

"Fucking awesome."

"They infiltrate us, intimidate us, coerce us to do their dirty work. And once they're done," Simmons proceeded to imitate the firing of a gun. "A double-tap to the cerebellum."

"So humans are working for the Decepticons." Sam said, while Simmons leaned forward and took a hold of the papers.

"I don't think this about the Decepticons looking for something on the moon. I think it's about something they wanted to hide."

Stephanie lifted her gaze looking at Sam's boss who tried to start a fight with Bee. Bee's mask slid down his face. "Did you eat a lot of paint chips when you were a kid?" Bee asked the man.

"He's a freak." Simmons said. Simmons handed the papers back to Sam and turned around in his chair. "Sir! We are having a pretty high-level alien Intel confab here that I don't think you're cleared for, errand boy."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a bitching robot."

"I think it's time to go, Bruce."

"Thank you so much for this. And..."

"Got to go, Bruce."

Stephanie looked over at Brains as he transformed back into his normal self. "I'm smoking over here. Downloading missing Russian cosmonauts. Turns out the Soviets canceled a manned mission to the moon. The moon, in 1972. And two of their cosmonauts went into hiding in America. And I just found them alive."

"You're a genius, Brains." Wheelie said.

Bee looked up from the paper and stood up into the chandelier causing some of the ceiling to fall to the floor.

"Oh, that was smooth, Bumblebee." Brain told the Autobot. Bee grabbed a hold of the chandelier trying to stop it from swinging but he pulled it out of the ceiling and it fell to the ground.

"Missed it by that much." Bee said.

"Hi." Sam said, looking at his girlfriend.

"Would somebody care to tell me what the hell is going on?" Carly asked everyone, but her eyes were mostly on the Witwicky siblings.

"Who are you?" Simmons asked her.

"Who are you?" Carly asked in return.

"Who am I? Who is that? Dutch! Frisk her!"

"Certainly." Dutch said.

"No. Dutch."

Carly held her hand up stopping him. "Don't touch me."

"I'm not gonna touch her."

"Sam?"

"Angel. I was working. I'm sorry about this."

"Great. We're homeless."

"You can come live with me, Wheelie, Brains." Stephanie said, looking at the two miniature Autobots.

"She lives here? Wow." Stephanie could hear the two argue and then they walked out of the house.