It's been several weeks since we met Charcoal, and Bee has finished training me in hand to hand combat and was teaching me how to use the weaponry equipped to my person. I was grateful for the several weeks of peace- with the occasional 'con- but unfortunately it was not going to last. I was in my trailer, cleaning up from a late dinner, when my phone rang. I frown and look at it, seeing it was an unknown number requesting a video call. I frown but answer it anyway. If it was the wrong number, they would be able to see it was easier. But... with my luck, it wasn't a wrong number call. I was the number she wanted to call.

Ebony... She smirks upon seeing my shocked face.

"Oh, hello, dear Astraea", she says. "I see you've been doing well."

"Ebony", I growled. "What do you want?"

Ebony laughs. "You already know what I want. Turn yourself over, Astraea."

"No", I growl. "Why should I?"

Ebony laughs before moving the camera to reveal Starscream. "Or else he squishes them."

I frown, before noticing two humans in Starscream's servos. The camera zooms in on them, and I gasp as I recognize familiar red hair on one of the humans, and royal purple hair on the other.

"Let them go", I growl. "They have no part in this." Ebony laughs before shaking her head.

"Oh, dear Astraea. You'll have to turn yourself in before we let them go", Ebony says with a grin that made her look like a lunatic. I growl at her.

"Ebony! Let. Them. Go!" I shout, anger coursing through my veins. Ebony chuckles.

"Turn yourself in within the next 36 hours, and they live. You don't and they die", she says before ending the call. I stare at the screen before dissolving into tears. 

"Scarlett... Evelyn... What did I get you into to?" I whisper... "What do I have to do...?"

It was getting dark, and I knew it was time for sleep. I sigh, and walk to my room, and change into pajamas. I climb into bed and fell asleep rather quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A bright white light surrounded me, and I knew where I was again.

"What do you want, Primus?" I murmur. "Why am I here again?"

Primus was silent for a moment. "Protect my children, Astraea. Even at the cost of the ones you love."

With that the white light started to fade.

"What?" I ask, confusion all throughout my voice. "What's that supposed to mean? Primus?"

I received no answer and instead shot up in my bed. When I checked the time, it was the middle of the night, and I knew what I had to do, even at the cost of my friends. Even at the cost of the Autobots. I had to save my friends from Starscream and MECH. I couldn't let them... I couldn't let them die and know I could've done something about it. Grabbing a piece of paper, I quickly wrote a note.

'I am sorry to be leaving without telling any of you why, but there is something I must do. I love all of you. Stay safe. I'll be back. Hopefully.'

With that I change into a black hoodie, as well as dark colored jeans, before strapping on my swords and making them disappear. Pulling on the hood of the hoodie, I walk outside and tape the note to the front door. Quickly, and silently, I take off into the night, my wings propelling themselves forward as I called the unknown number that I knew was Ebony. She was quick to answer.

"Coordinates. Now", I growl. Ebony chuckles.

"I knew you would listen to reason, Astraea", she says before listing off some coordinates. I end the call, and fly to the coordinates, finding no one there, and no possible cover. I frown and land softly, waiting patiently. While waiting, I break my phone so the Autobots cannot track me. A few minutes later, there is the sound of a jet, and when I look up, a red jet is flying overhead. I hear gears shifting and moving, and then there was a loud thump as Starscream transforms. I shake my head at him.

"What'd you do? Downgrade?" I ask, tutting my tongue. Starscream sneers at me.

"That is none of your business." I chuckle softly.

"Well, at least you look less like a femme." He splutters, before growling and tries to grab me. I easily dodge by sidestepping. "You make this too easy, Screamer."

Starscream growls before attempting to grab my again with both hands. I fly up. He blinks at my wings. 

"Weren't your wings a brown color?" he asks. I pretend to yawn, looking at my watch for the time.

"Yeah, but I got bored of them and decided to repaint them", I say, acting bored. Starscream blinks in confusion.

"Repaint them?" he asks dumbly.

"Yep", I say nonchalantly.

"But... they're fleshy wings, right?"

I huff, annoyed at his idiocy. "Remember when I fell into the cyber-matter?" He nods. "Yeah, that turned them metal. It also turned me into a techno-organic."

"Techno-organic?" he asks.

I sigh. "Half cybertronian, half human." Starscream continues to look confused.

"But your wings are the only part of you that's metal", he says. I roll my eyes.

"No, you idgit. There's also my swords", I say, not telling him about the transformation I was able to achieve.

"Swords?"

I grin at Starscream's question. "Yes, swords." I subtly press the face of my watch and my swords appear on other side of me. I pull them out, and quickly slide them over Starscream's face which he had allowed me to get close enough to. Of course, he never realized I was too close. he let out a startled yelp at the sharp blades. I laugh at the X he now had across his face. Energon began to leak slowly and he goes to wipe it away. He was surprised to see energon. I could tell because he looked at me, surprise and anger in his optics.

"Why you little!" He goes to shoot a missile at me, and I watch unimpressed as he shoots it. My armor slides protectively over my skin, and I grab the missile and easily redirect it to Starscream with my heightened strength. I chuckle as his own missile blows him up. He fell backwards and I fly towards him, pointing my swords at a major energon line on his neck, ignoring the chunk out of his side.

He tries to get up only to stop when he sees my sword where it was. I smirk at him. "Let me teach you the same thing I taught Megatron five years ago. If you don't know your enemies potential, don't expect to be stronger than them."

Starscream growls at me, but I speak over him. "Now... Tell me the coordinates of the MECH base." Starscream growls at me, only to stop as I pressed my sword closer to his neck cables. "Give me the coordinates. Now." Starscream finally yielded and gave me the coordinates. I smile at him and put away my swords, flying a distance from him. Starscream sat up, wincing in pain as the injury from his own missile starting leaking more energon. "Lay back down, Screamer. You'll lose less energon that way." Starscream glares at me, but tries to stand up anyway. He fails. I roll my eyes and transform my servo into a blaster. Starscream's optics show fear and I roll my own optics. "It's set on stun, dummy." I fire at a shot, and knock him out. In all honesty, I didn't want him to die, I just needed him unconscious so he doesn't let Ebony know I'm coming.

Flying off towards the east, I fly for the rest of the night, and part of the day until a warehouse comes into a view. It was slightly hidden by a forest, so I decide to take a break in the forest, get some rest. Being fully rested will improve my abilities. That, and I'd blend in more if it was night. My metal armor retracts and I land a branch in a tree several miles from the warehouse. I didn't want them coming upon me in my sleep. My eyes slowly drifted close, and I slept a dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I wake, it's dark enough for me to blend in. I stay in my human form, moving towards the warehouse. I see several MECH guards, though many of them looked to be falling asleep. I roll my eyes. Ebony can't even keep her guards awake. I quickly and quietly fly to the roof, where I find a skylight. I scoff when I see Scarlett and Evelyn handcuffed to a railing. This was perfectly placed, almost as if... I quickly fly up, narrowly avoiding a MECH agent grabbing me from behind. I smirk.

"So it was a set up..." I murmur. The MECH agent looks surprised to see me in the air above him. I see several MECH agents starting to surround me. I was partially blinded when they all turned on bright lights at me. I glare at them, spinning in a circle to get a count. Eight. I roll my eyes. Too easy. I pull down my hood, and allow me antennae to appear. Using them to help me sense what was coming up behind me, I flip over one guards bullet, pulling out my swords as I do so.

"Is that all you got?" I ask. All at once, they all start shooting at me, and I dodge them in a way that they would hit another guard instead of me, or I would block the bullet in such a way that it would hit the sender. Soon enough, there is only one guard left, and he's run out of ammo. I sigh before landing the roof, and walking towards him, my swords slightly dragging on the roof, creating a screeching noise, almost like nails on a chalkboard. I brought one sword up to the soldiers neck and I hear him gulp nervously. I sigh, before moving my sword away. "Get away from here. Don't get involved with stuff that is treasonous to your country." With that, I turn away, only to whip around and slice his throat open as he tries to hit me over the head with his gun. I glare at his convulsing body before walking back over to the skylight. I saw Scarlett and Evelyn watching the roof nervously, their eyes widening when they see me in the skylight. I grin at them, before slamming the butt of my sword into the glass skylight, allowing it to shatter. I sheath my swords, and leap into the room, wings spread out wide, and protective armor sliding over my body. I transform my servos into blasters and aim them at the MECH soldiers in the room, killing all of them. I look at Scarlett and Evelyn, but at their scared faces, and my antennae tingling, I dart straight up, narrowly missing being hit by a giant black hand. I turn and glare at whoever tried to whack me out of the air. I gasp as I see an unfamiliar Cybertronian. I was even more surprised when I heard Ebony's voice come from it.

"Like it? Starscream is very helpful in providing the resources to build it and we already had the blueprints from when we built Nemesis Prime. Only this time, it's not remote control. I am actually this body now. And... We have one built just for you Astraea", Ebony says, grinning at me. I glare at her.

"I'm happy with just being techno-organic, thank you very much, Ebony", I growl, switching my blasters back into servos, before drawing my swords. Ebony laughs. 

"You had a better chance with the blasters, dearie", Ebony smirks, only for her smirk to disappear when I smirk at her.

"Who says I was going to fight you?" With that, I snap my wings closed, and fall toward the ground. I hear screams from my friends. I watch as Ebony's new face grew farther away from me. Once I was close to the ground, I snap my wings open again, soaring towards my friends. I slice through their cuffs and look at them with worried eyes. "Run. Don't come back. Call Tori as soon as you can and tell her what happened. Tell her to tell Bee."

They give me one last worried glance before running. I turn to face Ebony, who was smirking again.  I growl and fly quickly towards her, going to punch her, before gasping as I find myself growing to be a full grown Cybertronian. The force of my punch grew as I grew bigger, and once my fist connected with her face, it sent her flying away into a wall, breaking it down.

I glare at her as I allow my wings to meld into my back, disappearing completely, causing me to drop a few feet to the floor. I instantly knew that I was capable of transforming though I was unsure as to what I would transform into.

I glare at Ebony even more as I allow myself to transform, shocking myself as I transform into a predacon. I couldn't take a lot of time to admire myself as Ebony was getting up, but as I glare daggers into her soul, her eyes widen. 

"Crap", she mutters before trying to run away. I let her run as heat builds up in my chest. I let it build up for a few minutes before releasing it on Ebony. She screams as the metal she used starts to melt. I smirk. Just as I thought. Earth metal. Not Cybertronian. I continue to blast her with my fire, and she continues to melt. Soon enough, she's begging me to stop. I glare at her as I transform. I draw my now giant sword and point it at her. "Why should I? You threaten my friends, me. You ruin the name of a cybertronian with that cheap knockoff."

Ebony looks down in what I assume is guilt, only to leap out of the way as she attempts to attack me. I dodge her attempts as the hot metal that is her frame continue to melt. Soon her frame is too weak to hold her up, and she falls to the ground, her body snapping in half. She lets out a cry of pain and I walk up to her.

"Allow me to return your conscious to your human body", I say. Ebony grunts in pain.

"Can't. Body. Is. Burnt. To. A. Crisp", she says, pain making her pause between each word. I blink before growling at her.

"You made this body be permanent?!" I exclaim. "This cheap knock off of yours?"

Ebony grunts, and I groan. "I can't change the past, and right now you're suffering. Do you want me to put you out of your misery?"

Ebony groans and shakes her head. "No. To be shown mercy by an experiment is to lose honor to my name."

I blink at her, an unimpressed look on my face. "Dude, you already have no honor. You experimented on me, and then on yourself, creating a cheap knock off of something that is intelligent life. Let me put you out of your misery."

Ebony shakes her head, though it causes her more pain to do so. I sigh. 

"Fine. I'll be leaving then", I say. I transform and fly back into the warehouse, towards where Scarlett and Evelyn had been chained where I easily find their scent. Following it into the woods, I soon come across them surrounded by MECH agents, looking terrified. I let out a fearsome screech, making everyone look up at me. I transform a few feet away from the group.

"Now... what are these big bad wolves doing attacking some sweet girls?" I ask as I strut up to them, drawing one of my swords, and pointing the end of it at one of the men. The man stood perfectly still as I glare at him, before sheathing my sword. "Leave!" I bark at them. "Now!"

The MECH agents quickly leave and I kneel in front of Scarlett and Evelyn. "Are you two alright?" I ask. They nod before looking at each other. Scarlett is the one to speak next.

"Who... who are you?" she asks. I blink, surprised, before I realized that she didn't recognize me.

"Oh! One moment!" I exclaim, a simple thought coming into my mind and I start to shrink down back to normal side, my metal armor retracting, though my wings stayed visible. I watch their shocked reactions as they hesitantly come up to my now human form, though my wings and antennae were still in view. 

"Astraea?" Evelyn whispers. I nod at her with a smile.

"What are you?" Scarlett asks. My smile disappears.

"Simply put, I'm a techno-organic, though I suspect that means nothing to you", I say. Judging by the blank looks on their faces, I'd assume that I was right. I smile softly.

"Either of you got a phone?" I ask. They shake their heads. I sigh. "Neither do I. And I won't be able to fly for a long time carrying you... and the best place to explain what's going on is at the scrapyard..."

Evelyn blinks. "Even in that big bird form of yours?" I gave her a confused look before my eyes widen. 

"Evelyn, you're a genius!" I exclaim. She tilts her head in confusion, but says nothing as I motion for them to move away, which they do. My armor slide over on instinct, and then I have to focus on becoming the full-size cybertronian, which was difficult but I manage. Then I transform into my predacon form and allow Scarlett and Evelyn to climb on. I could only hope they would hold on tightly because I honestly had no idea how to fly in this form. I take off how I normally do, and we are soon flying towards the scrapyard. After about half a day, it comes into view. I land in the forest a ways from it, not wanting to scare the bots in the base. Of course, they saw me, and as Scarlett and Evelyn are climbing down, they come zooming into the area, transforming and pointing their Decepticon Hunters at me. I sigh as I transform into my bipedal form, being careful of Scarlett and Evelyn who had terrified looks on their faces at the prospect of the others. 

"State your faction, name, and purpose", Bee exclaims. I give him this annoyed look.

"Autobot, Starblazer, and telling these two humans what exactly happened to me", I say dryly. At the Autobot's surprised expressions, I knew I would have to do some explaining to them too.

Bumblebee put his Decepticon Hunter away, Sideswipe and Strongarm following his lead. Grimlock and Charcoal just transform into their bot forms. I notice I was way shorter than Charcoal, but taller than Bumblebee.

"Astraea?" Bee asks incredulously. I nod and wave at him. It was strange being taller than him for once. Strongarm speaks, being extremely wary.

"How do we know if this isn't just some Decepticon trick?" she asks. I roll my eyes as I allow myself to grow smaller and the metal to retract, revealing my more human side of being techno-organic. They all stare at me in shock and I wave at them again.

"Now, can we go back to the scrapyard. These two would really like some explanations", I say, gesturing to Evelyn and Scarlett. Bee nods and transforms. I lead my friends over to Bee, and they climb into the backseat, while I climb into the frontseat. While there, Bee speaks to me.

"By the way, Raf and the others are back at the scrapyard. They were worried about you because MECH activity seemed to increase exponentially before they went off radar for several weeks", Bee says. I chuckle nervously, knowing that I have a lot of explaining to do. I was not ready for that.

'Optimus, I've been doing good in my training as a techno-organic. How are you doing up there wherever you are?'

I received no reply, just as I expected. I didn't mind though. Just as long as he knew I was still thinking about him. And that would be fine with me.

'My training is going excellent thus far, Astraea.'