Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Lord Megatron: *annoyed while holding Authoress* This patch had better turn out well.

Authoress: *frowns* Hey! I'm updating this right now when I have to be up at 4 AM! I care about you all! Plus look at how long the chapter is! That deserves some credit!

Shockwave: We shall see femme.

Chapter 35: Complete Disclosure

Lord Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I stared at the femme across from me as I thought of which of the many questions that I needed answered I wanted her to answer first. Immediately the thought of her fight with Thrust came to my processor. However, that was trivial compared to some of the long-standing questions that had built up around the femme during her stay on the Nemesis. So, something else then. Why did the doors in her mind hold one Autobot insignia and two Decepticon insignias? While I would return to that question later, there was one question that had needed to be answered since Pandimala's arrival on this ship.

"What caused you to arrive on the Nemesis?" One of the largest questions that had been surrounding our strategist since she became known to us. We had been in-flight when she had just appeared on our ship with no memory of how she arrived.

Her laughter at my question was the last response that I thought I would receive from the femme. Yet, that was the sound that the femme thought she needed to make at my question. When I studied her physical reaction to the question, she seemed to relax. "Finally," She only got that word out before she laughed for a few more nanos. "I've never lied about that question before now because you are the first to ask me it in that way. As you are about to see from my memories, I don't know how I ended up on the Nemesis. However, I do know what caused the travel that caused me to arrive on the Nemesis. However, the Nemesis was not our intended target."

Before I could question the femme on that response, a metallic/wood-hybrid door that had a blue light above it opened and we were drawn into the first memory that would answer this question for me.

"Ah, Miss Val I presume?"

The two of us now stood in a human hallway as Pandimala's human self was approached by a human that seemed to resemble an older version of the human called Paul here. The same Paul that was on records as being her boss at a company known as Cyber Tronics Technologies.

...Wait, Cyber Tronics Technologies? That sounded familiar, though at this moment I couldn't understand why that was. The name of the company seemed similar to another word I knew. As I looked at the words in my helm, though, I noticed why the words seemed so familiar.

"And you must be Mr. Muskogee. Thank you so much for having me here today." Pandimala's past self responded. While I kept the revelation I had about this human's company to the back of my processor, for now, I observed the reaction that Pandimala's human self was having at this starting interaction. While there were signs of tension and nervousness in her body, there was also a sense of hopelessness behind her eyes. Interesting to note. I would not have thought my strategist could even produce that emotion from how she seemed to act around the ship.

Instead of commenting on that, though, I came back to the name of the human's company and what it seemed to hint at. "Cybertron. That is what Cyber Tronics Technologies is based on."

The femme next to me nodded as we followed the two humans to the center of the building, where the CEO's office was located. "So, let's begin with formal introductions. My name is Paul Riley Muskogee. What is yours?"

"Lizzie Xantara Val." The past human responded to who would be her future employer.

I had not realized what the human Paul's full name had been until this moment and something looked strange about it. So, I started to think about that as the memory continued to play out in front of us. "From your application, you live alone with your mother. No father?"

"He died…" Lizzie's response to that seemed very reluctant and I was curious about that. I realized that Lizzie did not mention her sire at all, while her mother had been mentioned a few times at the least according to Soundwave. It made me curious about how our strategist's sire perished.

"My apologies," Mr. Muskogee calmed her before continuing. "You have skills with word processing programs, spreadsheets, and presentation programs. Very useful. Also, you were the top of our debate team in high-school junior and senior year. Quite impressive. Your team even won the state championship this past year, did it not?" So, it seemed my strategist was a burgeoning strategist even at that point in her life.

"Yes sir, our team did win. However, it was a group effort. I wouldn't have been able to get anywhere close to there without their help." And the femme did not take credit for the skills that she had lightly. She understood that, while she might be gifted in a certain field, that working alone only moved a being so far.

"I see," The man then looked at a paper in front of him. "What would you consider your greatest strength to be?"

Interesting. This was how the human interview process for their careers went? On Cybertron, before the war had started, you knew mostly from onlining where you would work. It was a part of the fragging machine that I had tried to remove. A bot should earn a job based on the merits that they developed throughout their existence, not how they were created or where they were created.

It seemed like the human interview process was much what I wanted for the future of Cybertron. However, how did this answer the question about what caused the femme to arrive on the Nemesis?

"My greatest strength," I paid attention as the past form of Pandimala answered that. "I would have to say that my loyalty is my strongest strength. Rebounding trust and the power that comes from a loyal person is who I have strived to be my entire life."

"I see," The human seemed to write a few things down on his notebook before he continued. "Now, what would you say your greatest weakness is?"

"My greatest weakness would have to be my loyalty."

….Wait...what? I glanced at the femme next to me as she watched this scene unfold next to us. How could the one quality she says was her greatest strength also be her greatest weakness? The look on the femme's faceplate was distant as her past self responded to that question. From my quick glance, I could see just a faint hint of pain in her look.

It seemed that the past self of her boss seemed to think about the paradox of her statement as well. "My apologies Miss Val, but can you explain to me how your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness?"

"It's really simple actually. I don't take well when other people either test my loyalty or try to change it. I get a little...defensive about it."

"So you don't want people questioning your loyalty?" Mr. Muskogee questioned her again.

Pandimala's past self shook her head. "I don't mind them questioning it. That just gives me a chance to show just how loyal I am to people. No, but when people purposefully put me in situations to put my loyalty on the line or if they try to make me sway my loyalty, I take that as them attacking both myself and what I am loyal to." Interesting. That answer explained Pandimala's calm demeanor so far. She did not mind proving her loyalty to me.

The room that we were standing in stayed quiet for a few moments after that before Mr. Muskogee closed the folder he was looking at. "Miss Val, I am afraid," I noticed a defeated posture come to the previous human form of Pandimala before the man that was currently her boss continued. "that I have arranged this meeting under false pretenses...in a way."

That was strange. I had not detected any malice from the older version of Lizzie's boss that we were seeing. Which reminded me, how were we seeing an older version of the human if we were in the past? Humans aged just like every other being affected by time did. So, how was Mr. Muskogee younger in age in the present than he was back then?

The past self of Pandimala quickly stood from her chair and stepped behind it, a tight grip now on the chair. "What the hell do you mean?" Her voice came out in a hiss as she asked the human in front of her that. Of course, I noticed that she was looking for any sort of exit from this centralized room.

It seemed like the past version of her boss saw her looking. "There aren't any exits to this room that you can access, Lizzie." While the words themselves seemed malicious, the tone behind them seemed only amused at what Lizzie was doing.

I could practically read the thoughts on my strategist's past face before she spoke. "You tell me what the fuck I am doing here or I am going to find a way to make my way out." I raised an optic ridge slightly at that. Not the way I imagined Pandimala speaking to her employer. There was an icy atmosphere going from Lizzie to her eventual boss now that, even in the memory view, I could feel.

Well, her boss seemed unaffected by it as he let out an amused chuckle. It seemed to irritate Pandimala's past self as much as it was me right now and, from the look on the femme's faceplate, still irritated her. "Lizzie, let me explain before you go and destroy my office."

"Fine, start speaking Paul." Pandimala's past self let out before sitting down.

Before the memory could continue, a voice came over the comm unit. "The human in the memory is Primus." Shockwave's sudden vocalization caused me to startle slightly. Our creator...in such a small form? At first, I did not believe the mech's words. However, as I thought more about the situation, the more I realized that it was the logical solution. The man's company was named after Cybertron, his office was in the very core of the building as would be the location of Primus' spark, and now I realized that the human's name was covering up his actual name; Paul RIley MUSkogee. Primus.

I turned to the femme who was undergoing the patch right now. "So, you knew that the human was Primus."

Pandimala nodded. "Yes. Though there was no logical way for me to prove that to you before my transformation, and after my transformation there never seemed an appropriate moment to bring up the subject of the patch to prove those words."

"You're Primus," I returned my attention to the memory as the past form of Pandimala made this connection...wait...how could a human make such a connection when they should not have heard of the god of order, let alone be able to make a connection to him.

"Yes, I am Primus. I have looked into many humans on many Earths and I have found that you are who I need to accomplish my goal of reuniting Cybertron as it once was, where there were no factions and all lived in peace and prosperity." The human now known as Primus spoke.

True to form, Pandimala's past self was cautious about the god's words. "Why me? There are plenty of people out there."

Our humanized god seemed to study Lizzie for a moment. "You have a view on the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons that not many have. You do not mainly side with one side, though I have seen some favor towards the Decepticons." Really? Even though I was unsure how this human would have any knowledge of our kind to make such an opinion, it seemed like the god of order thought she held enough. "Despite that favoring, you know when to use it." He then stood and motioned to one of the many elevators that came to the room. He then walked over to it and opened it. "Lizzie, you are probably wondering which universe of the Transformers you will be going to if you chose to assist me. That answer is the one that your world calls the Prime Universe. I wish for that universe to become at peace without unnecessary loss of lives. Will you journey with me to the Prime Universe and help bring an end to this ages-long war that plagued their time?"

I could see the debate flash across her eyes for a few moments before she looked at the elevator that they had come out of. "What will happen to my mom?" She was worried about her remaining family member; her carrier.

"You will be forgotten and life here will be rearranged to be what it would be like without your presence," Primus responded to her question.

"Will she be happy?"

"Yes."

The memory of Pandimala let out a sigh before she gave a sad smile. "Primus, I'll go."

In return, the god nodded once before he moved from the elevator. "This will be how you will travel into the Prime Universe. I shall not be far behind you but must travel my own way. I have set up arrangements for us that will allow us to already be known to the inhabitants of Jasper. Due to the travel between dimensions, you will most likely be found unconscious upon arrival."

"Great." I barely stopped the smirk from appearing on my faceplate at the unenthused tone that Pandimala's past self had when speaking to the god of order.

Primus shook his head at her as she stepped into the elevator and turned to see him. "You will be fine. You have seen all of what is to happen and so you know what you must do and when. I will be there to guide you. Safe travels."

"Thanks. See you later Paul." The elevator then closed on the human as the memory faded out.

"That seems fairly obvious how you came to be on the Nemesis. Primus told you that he was sending you to our…dimension and you would be found. That happened." I narrowed my optics at the femme next to me.

Instead of looking worried, Pandimala shook her helm and sighed. "There is another memory that will finish explaining the truth in my past statements."

"We shall see,"

The memory around us then changed until it seemed we were viewing Lizzie floating in space. It did not take long for me to realize we were viewing a memory of her inside her mind. It was strange for a memory. However, given her association with our god of order, I assumed they might be meeting to talk.

At first, Lizzie was alone in this space. After a moment, however, the version of Primus' human form I was familiar with before the patch appeared in front of her. Instantly, I could tell that our previously human Decepticon was not happy with the god in disguise. "PAUL!"

That yell caused the god to jump at her voice and turned before looking relieved. He didn't even seem to notice that Lizzie was not exactly happy at the god. "Lizzie, I'm glad that you are," I felt my optics widen slightly in surprise as Lizzie didn't hesitate in throwing a right hook directly into Primus' jaw.

"Frag femme. You punched a god?" Skyquake commented in surprise.

"It was necessary at the time. Stress and anger relief." Pandimala answered the mech.

At that point, the memory of Primus found his voice again. "Frag it Lizzie what's,"

"Wrong?" Lizzie finished for him with an angered look in her human optics that also hid panic. "What's wrong? Oh, I could give you a long list of scrap that is wrong but the most important thing I need to get off my chest is that you fragging landed me on the Nemesis!"

"So, you truly did not wish to come aboard the Nemesis, and it seems like neither our god nor you realize how you ended up here," I commented.

"Yes, my Lord."

While my question was answered, I was curious about how this memory would play out so I continued to observe it.

"Lizz," Our god tried to interrupt the femme.

But, it seemed like the femme's anger at our god was coming off of her in waves. "Not only that, but Starscream of all fraggers found me first and I think all of my luck has been used up in these past few days of trying to stay alive and in one piece! What the frag do you think you were thinking by putting me on the Nemesis? The Autobots are going to be a lot harder to persuade but does that matter? No! Now I am on the Decepticon warship and there is no way that I am going to be able to escape!"

I turned to our strategist at that and, for the first time since this had started, the femme did not look confident. If I was identifying her emotion right, she seemed to be embarrassed. "What do you mean that me 'of all fraggers' found you first?" Starscream yelled into the comm.

"That'll be explained later." Really? I didn't see how but, so far, the femme's memories had surprised me. So, I would let that go for now.

Plus, there was another question I wished to make to her about that statement. "Pandimala, was your past self insinuating that the Decepticons would easily fall to your sway in fulfilling Primus' goal?" I did not find I liked the way that had been phrased.

Immediately, Pandimala shook her helm. "No! Of course not! I knew at that point that the Decepticons were most likely to look at a situation logically. Plus, I knew you could find out if I was lying, even as a human there was the option of torture. Starscream showed that quite well with his interrogation of Agent Fowler."

She made a good point. So, I nodded and we continued to watch the memory play out. The femme spoke on how different attitudes on the ship were different from before and both she and the god agreed that it might be caused by their involvement in our dimension. I was surprised to learn that Lizzie had not acted with the god's plan when she stopped me from impaling myself with the dark energon I had collected. I might have been imagining it, but he almost seemed upset for a nano about that fact. Very strange.

The memory soon faded out and we returned to the room with the doors. "Very interesting so far femme. Not what I was expecting coming into your processor." I then glanced at the three doors with the faction insignias on them before I thought of which question I wanted the femme to answer next. "Pandimala, from the memory we saw with Primus selecting you as his choice to help him, he spoke to you as if you had previous knowledge of our kind before that solar. How did you come to know about the Decepticons and Autobots?"

The femme turned to the door with the Autobot symbol. Strange. The last memory drew us toward it. Yet, This time, Pandimala led me to the open door. From this reaction, it seemed like she didn't know how her processor was going to show me the first answers. However, with this question, the femme seemed to know how this was going to be answered.

Soon, I found myself standing next to the femme in human living quarters. The room was occupied by a much younger version of the femme's previous human self and an older human female. She must be Lizzie's carrier. Lizzie seemed to have inherited much of her carrier's structural appearance. However, her helm covering and optics were different from Pandimala's former self. So, she must have inherited those from her father.

"Mommy, when is daddy coming home?" Young Pandimala asked her carrier.

In return, her carrier sighed with a smile. "He will be home tonight after you go to bed."

"But I want to see him, mommy!" The younger Lizzie complained. She had a stubborn pout on her human face at not being able to see her sire.

Instead of giving in to her creation, Pandimala's carrier let out a laugh. "And you can wake up tomorrow and see him. His next show isn't for a while now so you will have plenty of time to spend with your father." She then turned on the monitor in the room and set Lizzie on the berth. "Now, I have to go and do some chores. Why don't you sit here and I'll put something on for you?"

"Okay mommy," Lizzie dejectedly answered before crossing her legs and looking at the monitor.

Her carrier chuckled a little before she started to change the channels on the monitor. Eventually, she landed on one in particular. "Here you go, Lizzie. Now, I'll be up in a little with the laundry." Her carrier then left the room.

This was confusing. How was this memory going to show how Pandimala came to know about our kind when she was still human? It seemed rather mundane and ordinary compared to the previous memory. "Pandimala, how will this show how you knew about our kind before you met with Primus?"

"This was the first time that I was introduced to our sort of beings, though I didn't know at the time that this could become a reality." She answered me back before turning toward the monitor from the past.

Right when I returned my attention to the monitor from the past, I saw the image of a blue helm with yellow optics and a silver facemask. What was this? "Transformers," I watched with slightly widened optics as the Cybertronian on the screen, who had a strange appearance to their designs. Though, the mech on the screen was starting to look famil…

"That is Optimus Prime?" I asked as I observed the awe and devotion already on the face of the past Pandimala. It was slightly annoying that she would have that kind of reaction to our enemy.

Pandimala nodded at that. "Yes, this was my first viewing of the show 'Transformers'. I wouldn't find out until I was older that Armada, what that specific series was called, was only one of many series that had been released surrounding Cybertronians and their civil war. Many different aspects were shown but, in truth, I was an Autobot fan. It was all the information I was given. Every show held information that gave the Autobots a clear advantage in any mind about who was the right side to choose. I still managed neutrality but I did lean toward the Autobots in the beginning."

"Speaking of your loyalty," I started to ask the femme, making sure to cast her a discerning glance. She, in turn, looked at me with a guarded look. "It is obvious here that your younger-self was enamored with the Autobots, and even you just admitted that you did hold loyalties toward them at a point in your existence. Why do you claim to hold loyalties to myself and the Decepticons after such seeming undying loyalties to the Autobots?"

We returned to the rooms with the doors for a moment before the older-looking door with our insignia opened. I furrowed my optic ridges when I noticed that there was a dark light coming from this door, unlike the bright lights from the previous memories. I wasn't sure how this would affect what I would see in there.

Soon, we were in a dark room. On a different berth than was seen earlier, a slightly older Lizzie was sitting. I could tell immediately that something in her demeanor had changed. Instead of the innocent-looking youngling that we had seen in the last memory, this slightly aged version of the younger Pandimala looked changed. Something must have happened in the few stellars since the last memory had to have taken place.

"Pandimala, what happened?" Vox was the first to ask the femme over the comm system.

Glancing at said femme, I noticed that she seemed sad as she glanced at the younger version of herself. "A few months before this...my dad...my sire was killed. He was performing his ventriloquist act in a newly opened casino in Las Vegas. No one knew that the owner paid the construction company to cut corners on safety measures so his casino would open on time. Not until after the building collapsed. I didn't take it too well. I stayed in my room like this just watching Transformers. During this time, I started to analyze the episodes that I watched. It helped keep me from breaking down when I thought about dad. But, it wasn't until I watched the, at this point, new show of Transformers that I realized that my loyalty and leanings should go with the Decepticons."

Interesting. I focused my attention from the femme to what her younger self was watching as well as her younger version. I could see the hard concentrating look that my strategist would now sometimes use when going over different strategies. It was calculating, taking in what she saw without a hint of holding back.

The show itself seemed to be more childish in animation than the previous show that she introduced us to earlier...Armada it had been called. How did something so light seem to turn our strategist toward our Decepticons? As we watched this strange show with Optimus Prime leading a repair crew and Ultra Magnus leading the Autobot forces. It would lead most to lean toward supporting the overwhelmed repair-crew leader. Having the odds against him against an obviously superior force and even fighting the politics of his own kind.

...However…

With that thought, I realized what might have happened. This show showed the flaws in the Autobot system. Something that the previous version had avoided and, if I was to guess correctly, also avoided in all the previous versions of the telling of our war. However, simply showing the faults of the Autobots would not have been the only factor in swaying our strategist...even if this was a younger version of her.

Eventually, the show moved from Autobot interactions to that of the Decepticons on their ship. I raised an optic ridge as the first Decepticon to speak started to do just that.

"Megatron is a fool who's been chasing a ghost for centuries. I seriously doubt we'll find this 'Allspark' aboard such an insignificant vessel." So, that was this new show's version of Starscream. I had to say, it reminded me of the direction Starscream seemed to be heading before Pandimala's mysterious arrival on the Nemesis. I could see parallels that could be made so far.

"Traitor!" I glanced to see a behemoth of a mech that looked similar to a Decepticon not on Earth. "Megatron is wise! Megatron is bold!"

"So, he sounds pretty familiar to me," Thundercracker said and I could pretty much hear the smirk on the seeker's faceplate.

That seemed to draw Pandimala from watching her own memory and she glanced toward the air in surprise. "Wait...you all have a mech similar to Lugnut?" It was strange, I could hear the excitement that was heavy in her vocals.

It caught me slightly off guard but I made sure to keep any sign of that off of my chassis language. "Yes, and with the same designation. Lugnut is a strong and loyal mech to the Decepticon cause. Though, this version of him seems to be an overcompensating version of him."

"Sounds like an accurate description." Pandimala agreed as this version finished his praise.

She barely got that description out before the next Decepticon started to speak. "and wipe our homeworld clean of the stench of Autobot tyranny blady blah blah blah. Did you memorize that speech Lugnut? Or is it just hardwired into that thick one track processor of yours."

"It was the next Decepticon's introduction that started to show me that my way of thinking should lean toward the Decepticons. He opened my mind as to how accepting of other bots the Decepticons truly were. That was especially accepting of bots who didn't exactly fit the mold of what was seen as acceptable by normal standards."

So, it would be interesting to see just which of these Decepticons caused the spark that swayed Pandimala to have favor with us.

A beam of ice suddenly froze the techno-organic femme's arm in the show before a very familiar voice spoke. "As usual Blackarachnia, your demeanor is as unpleasant as zhat accursed organic mode of yours."

"Me?!" I heard Icy yell through the comm. There were various other shouts of surprise but he was the loudest.

It was very obvious to see the femme's embarrassment as the source of her transfer to Decepticon loyalties was revealed and reacted to. It was quite...amusing.

In return to Blitzwing's reaction, the femme hesitantly nodded. "Yes. Seeing a mech like Blitzwing being accepted on the Decepticon side, and even more, seeing him high in the ranks...it opened my eyes." As she spoke, I noticed the enlightened look come onto her younger self's face. "Transformers Animated showed me even more as the show went on, and from even more Decepticons that came into play, that the Decepticons were the more accepting of the two factions."

Well, I could see from how the femme was reacting to the memory, and how the femme's past self seemed to watch the Decepticons on the show, and I could tell that the femme seemed to have no hidden emotions about her loyalty to the Decepticons at this point in her existence.

Now, however, I wanted to see about these other dimensions that the femme had mentioned. "Pandimala," I spoke once we returned to the room with the doors.

"Yes my Lord?" She responded without a single nano of hesitation.

I felt that annoying pull in my spark as she did but ignored it as I asked her what I wished to ask. "Pandimala, show us everything you can about these alternate versions of our war."

Her optics widened at that. "Of course Lord Megatron, but it will take quite some time."

"That is of no importance."

She then smiled. "Very well then."

Thrust's 1st P.O.V.

How dare they relegate me to such a menial task as checking on the mines! I am a strategist for the Decepticons, with many victories under my wings! How dare they place such troublesome work on me?

"Get back to work!" I snarled at one of the drones as they passed me.

That was yet another annoying aspect I had discovered since my arrival here on Earth. These drones were given much more notice than their station called for. They were replaceable machines that served to further our goals. Nothing more. Yet, our great leader seems to have been convinced that they are somehow worth more than they are.

It was that fragging femme. Until earlier, I had hoped to sway her into having loyalty toward me. The ship had already set up a perfect situation to allow me into her trust. From what I had been able to research, the femme had been trained rigorously while she had been a human...by human standards. Yet, after her transformation into a Cybertronian, the intensity of her training had been dramatically decreased.

And it was easy to tell that the femme had not been happy about it. Add that to the anger that she undoubtedly felt when her pitiful suggestions of my plan were rejected, and then surprisingly they turned out to happen, and the femme was a ticking time-bomb. That much anger in a new triple changer, unable to be released in intensive training, should have made the femme ripe for swaying. I had used the same tactic many times in the past, and always with success.

Enticing the femme to train with me had been simple. Even a moron such as Breakdown would have been able to see how desperate she was to train. Even with a mech like me, who she obviously held little trust in if any at all.

I had the femme reacting perfectly to the hints I threw at her as we traded blows. She hesitated at each remark I made. I had been making progress with her. She seemed to be molding to my whims just like I predicted. Finally, I had put the idea of her one solar running the Decepticons in her helm, and, as expected, she had frozen in her spot. I had expected for her to leave at that point, acting angry but with a look of contemplation. Triple changers were always power-hungry, and a new femme who had yet to pop her wings would have those yearnings pushed forward tenfold. My victory in gaining the femme was assured.

Those had been my thoughts nanos before she slammed my faceplate into the ground. I had miscalculated the loyalty that the femme held for our fool of a leader. She would have torn me into scrap had I not called for assistance.

That femme was going to ruin everything I had planned! I needed to remove her. Getting her away from the rest of the Decepticons would allow me to work my skills through the ranks and cause the dissension I would need to finally take control from our 'glorious leader'.

Of course, that would take a few solars for me to accomplish. Even though my task was to only check the mines on this continent, I realized that there were plenty of mines on this small landmass to make sure I was away from the Nemesis for a few solars at the least. I was being kept from something. I would find out later what that was, there was no mistake, but it irked me to know that I was purposefully being kept in the dark about something.

"Meet at our usual spot." The message was not signed, but it didn't need to be. Only one Cybertronian on this planet would be contacting me in such a way and I knew that meant that they needed to speak with me.

A thought then crossed my processor that caused me to smirk. This meeting could remove that troublesome femme from worry if we played our credits right. Then, she would be out of the way so I could continue my ascent to the top of the Decepticons. I sent a message back saying that I would meet them in two cycles at a location far enough away from this mine to be safe from listening audios yet close enough that I could arrive on time without the use of the ground bridge.

The femme's time on the nemesis was numbered, and I smirked in anticipation of her removal.

Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I raised an optic ridge as the memory that the femme had of the original timeline of our dimension played through. It was strange to think that such destruction would befall my Decepticons. It was simple to see what the catalyst had been to start the change of our current timeline. When Pandimala, back when she was Lizzie, stopped me from impaling myself with the dark energon, she removed the main stressor that drove my Decepticons to the fractured point it was at.

And, as the femme promised them a couple solar, it was shown why she was worried when Starscream had found her first. From what we saw, I was correct in the path that I saw Starscream taking before Pandimala's arrival on the ship. His manipulations and desire for the leadership of the Decepticons would have increased just like the original timeline showed. It was interesting to see just how our strategist, and her boss by extension, had changed so much with their arrival. My plans needed to be reworked with all of this new information.

Even though we had gained much in the way of new information, there was still one piece of information missing from this three solar-long endeavor into my strategist's processor. We had yet to go through her memories that she had attained since her arrival aboard the Nemesis. Since we had just arrived at the door room in her processor, I decided that it was time to receive the last piece of information that we needed to complete this surprisingly long patch. Thankfully, we had the other officers watching so they were able to hook us up to energon drips to make sure we did not suffer because of this patch.

"Pandimala," I spoke to my strategist. I already realized that the femme had not betrayed me. However, I needed to see what she had done since her arrival on my ship. There were interactions that I wanted more information on. "You seem to have been telling the truth about your loyalty. However, there is one more set of memories that I must see before I can confirm that."

"Yes my Lord?" Pandimala questioned as she looked at the remaining doors. Before I could respond to her question, though, her optics landed on the final door with the newest Decepticon insignia. "Ah, my memories since coming aboard the ship Lord Megatron?"

"Precisely."

"Of course, my Lord." She immediately responded before the newest door opened and we were drawn inside her memories.

The first thing I noticed was that the femme seemed panicked as she looked around the Nemesis from her spot on the floor. This must have been what she experienced when she first awoke to find that she had come to the Nemesis.

"Frag, this isn't good." I could tell that the femme seemed torn between being excited about being aboard our ship and being terrified. From the sentence she uttered, though, it seemed like terror was winning out.

It wasn't long after the femme woke, however, until Starscream turned the corner and came upon the human. It was easy for me to read the surprise on the mech's faceplate at the appearance of the human. of course, Starscream seemed highly upset at the inconvenience that Lizzie's appearance was at the click. "A human? Here?"

Our human was extremely tense from that click on until Starscream revealed where he was taking her. After that point, the human remained quiet and in a submissive state until they arrived on the bridge. There, I observed that Soundwave and a few drones were there as well, and within the drone's servos was a captured Autobot known as Cliffjumper. This was when Starscream told me that the mech had escaped from him.

"Interesting," I let out as I studied the scene in front of me. The Autobot looked, in no way, able to be able to perform an escape to the degree that Starscream had told me about. Of course, Soundwave had informed me, after I had started Pandimala's training as a strategist, about the truth behind the Autobot's escape. It made sense logically why Starscream did so, and he was right to assume that, at that point, I would have just offlined the Autobot instead of using him for strategic value. Of course, I was positive that my second in command did not know about my knowledge of the events.

"The energon...it's worthless to me now." My second growled as he stared out at the destroyed energon field. Yes, that Autobot had been able to cause a decent amount of damage. I glanced at the human in his servo and could tell that she was tense yet again. Given what knowledge she had at this point, her wariness around Starscream was a sound reaction.

"Scream," the Autobot started to taunt the seeker. "it's been a while…" and as expected, he froze when he finally noticed that my second in command had not come into the room alone. "A human?!"

"Yes a human. I assumed you Autobots knew what they looked like, seeing as you are in contact with the human governments."

"Let the girl go you coward. She has no part in this!" The Autobot verbally lashed out at Starscream.

Now, I knew my second. That sort of insult should have resulted in an execution similar to the situation that Pandimala had shown us. However, I knew that was not the case. And, that moment of hesitation came when I noticed my second glance at the human in his servo. As I am sure my second saw, the previous human looked terrified as Starscream was about to offline the mech.

"I would watch myself Autobot, Before I ran into this human youngling, I had every plan on coming in here and snuffing your pathetic Autobot spark from existence." I could feel the tension coming from the human even through the memory. "However, I do not believe that it would be right to expose one so young, even an organic, to death this first servo. So, you will be released and, next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."

"Uh oh. Does this thing have a fast forward button? Or, better yet, erase?" The sound of frantic tapping could be heard following Starscream's panicked exclamation.

"Really Starscream? And after you said my other self's very reaction was...oh how did you put it? Right, pathetic?" Knockout jabbed at the seeker.

Before either of them decided to take this any further, I stepped in. "Enough! Starscream, I have already been informed by Soundwave of this information."

"Ah...I see my Lord." Starscream hesitantly responded to me.

Resisting the urge to roll my optics, I settled for an annoyed sigh before I continued to watch the memories of our strategist. While I was curious that the femme chose to inform the humanized god of our numbers, it was at least reciprocated by the god giving the femme the same from the Autobots. Plus, at this point, she had not pledged her loyalty to me.

However, I focused as the memories came to a meeting that our strategist had with the humanized Primus. It must have been after she had our mark placed on her and her hair shortened. I noticed that our god's expression went from relief to worry as she appeared in front of him. He was quick in studying her before speaking. "Lizzie, what happened? Did the Decepticons do that?"

He sounded angered at our previously human Decepticon. Why? If their mission was to change our timeline, and as long as my Decepticons did not suffer for it then I would not impede the femme's mission. Many of my Decepticons had side goals and Pandimala's goal would be no different. One would think that the god of order would understand how we operated and be pleased with the position that she had earned herself.

"Paul...nothing is wrong…"

However, it seemed I was mistaken. The anger that immediately came onto the god's human face as Lizzie responded to him hesitantly said that clearly. "Lizzie, look what they have done to you! You are a ragdoll for them to practice with their soliforms!"

"Paul…"

"No Lizzie! They cut your hair, probably for more tests, and you have an injury to your neck that is who knows how bad! Open your eyes!"

"You don't…"

"What Lizzie? I don't understand? The Decepticons are not the heroes in this dimension Lizzie! They never are! They are the ones who ravaged Cybertron of its resources and caused the world to go dark!"

I stared between the memory and Pandimala as the memory showed Pandimala trying to explain her situation to the god but the god completely ignoring her. And, he seemed to be focused on being against my Decepticons. While he was right about my use of dark energon to make Cybertron go dark, I realized my mistakes and I was working toward a better future for my Decepticons.

"He wouldn't listen." I glanced at my strategist as she spoke that during the argument. I could see the pain in her optics as she watched the argument take place. Her vocals cracked slightly when the words left her glossa and I could tell that the femme was having trouble viewing this memory.

"Primus shut up!"

I couldn't even stop the flinch that occurred when Lizzie exploded at the humanized god. As the others on the conscious side of the patch gave their exclamations due to it, though, I observed Lizzie. Her eyes held anger that could put any being to shame. Our god had pushed my strategist and now she was on the warpath against the god.

"Lizzie…" The god in human flesh tried to calm down the enraged human.

"No, Paul! You had your chance to talk so now you are going to shut up and listen to what I have to say! Yes, the Decepticons cut my hair and did this to my neck, but I asked them to! Believe it or not, I actually asked them to do this for me! Things have changed here Paul, and you do not understand! I have not been tested on! They wouldn't do that without my permission, Paul! The Autobots may act like that, I can't say for sure because I don't have the facts, but the Decepticons would not do that to me now!"

Even though her past self had only just earned her place among the Decepticons by this point since she still had the bandage over her tattoo, I saw no deception in her eyes. The femme truly held full trust in the Decepticons by that point. How could the femme be so open to us, despite she had only been alive for such a short time, compared to our god, and yet our god turned from us while the human defended us so?

"Please Lizzie just think,"

"Just think?" Lizzie snarled at the god. "Oh Paul, I've been thinking for so long. You blame the Decepticons for ravaging Cybertron but, in reality, the process fo Cybertron's ravaging started back during the Golden Age of Cybertron, with the nobility and council that you Autobots fought for and protected. Protected while they greedily helped themselves while the future Decepticons were starving, struggling in the streets just to survive! The Decepticons didn't ravage Cybertron! They just claimed energon in the beginning of the fighting to help their starved and desperate members get the energy that they needed to live!"

"Lizzie stop please," Our god almost seemed to beg our strategist. But, from how the memory was going and from knowing our strategist, this was far from over.

"No, Paul! You brought this upon yourself!" I could see tears coming from the femme and I realized that, despite the anger her past self was showing, she was just as pained about what was happening back then as she seemed to be now watching. "As for your claim that the Decepticons caused the world of Cybertron to go dark, I can't argue that. Yes, Lord Megatron introduced dark energon into the planet's core. But, by that point, he had been driven to desperation by enemies who claimed to be fighting for peace and equality, all the while showing that they were just trying to bring back a dark and corrupt system like what happened before! It probably broke him! I would have broken under the same pressure!"

Our god had hurt the femme in not trusting her and her word. Thinking back to the earlier memory that we saw, the one of her job interview with the god, I realized just how deeply that was. The femme's greatest strength and weakness was, to her, her loyalty. Now our god, who Pandimala had given her loyalty to in such a way to leave the comfort of her life at that point to travel here and be used by him, was saying that her loyalty to him was nothing. She was just a puppet to be used by him and if her actions weren't exactly what he wanted to happen, then they should never exist.

"Lizzie…you just called Megatron…"

"Yes Paul, you heard right and I did not slip. Lord Megatron is what I called him. Do you want to know why I would allow the Decepticons to do something to my neck that would cause this bandage to have to be placed there? Do you want to know why I had them cut my hair? Because I see now that you will not like the answer."

"Lizzie, what are you talking about?" I could hear the fear in the god's voice, as if his world was the one that was crashing down around him. He didn't seem to see what sort of pain he had put her through.

She then revealed the tattoo to him. "What I am talking about is this…Primus. I am now a fully-fledged member of the Decepticons Paul and I will do anything and everything in my power to serve Lord Megatron and the cause he started against the corruption on Cybertron so long ago."

Our god was practically shaking with anger at this point. "Lizzie you can't! I brought you here to bring peace! Not choose a side and fight against the Autobots. The allies of the humans! Have you,"

"Primus you need to open your eyes! Yes, you are responsible for starting my journey here. But, things haven't gone to your plan since the moment you started my journey here. Fate brought me to the Nemesis instead and I have had my eyes opened to what needs to be done. The Decepticons are not the evil poison you seem to think infected me with their darkness just as they Autobots aren't the bright stars that you seem to think they are. They are high-beams that have blinded you!" Our strategist was in rare form as she tore into the humanized god.

Though, as she did, I realized that the femme had severed the last connection she had from her original dimension. He had been the only one that knew anything about her life and she had broken away from him. She had placed her complete support with my Decepticons. Her loyalty at this point shone even against our god of order.

"Pandimala, you stood for us against the god of order," I commented to her.

She glanced between myself and the memory being played out. "He lost my loyalty when he lost faith in me. My loyalty to you, Lord Megatron, is all I have left here. I do not plan on ever betraying you." I could tell that there were no lies in her response to me.

We then watched as the memory ending with the femme repaying the god for what he had done for her by advising him on who to have replace her. Nothing else was said as we continued to move through her memories. Finally, as we approached what transpired before the patch, I listened as Pandimala and Thrust spoke as they dueled. Anger flared in my spark when Thrust tried to sway Pandimala into taking the leadership of the Decepticons from me.

Pandimala's reaction to the mech, however, caused that fragging feeling in my spark to flare up again. She refused him outright and made sure that he knew that she would not betray me. It now made sense why the femme had not stopped on my command. She was fighting for my honor and her loyalty. She was not going to be deterred from protecting those things.

Finally, we returned to the room with the doors. Pandimala's faceplate held slight nervousness as I studied her. She was waiting for my verdict. We had spent solars in her helm and now was the click that we had been building up towards. Of course, I knew very quickly that the femme was truly loyal to me. Now, however, I understood just how far the femme was willing to go to make sure that her loyalty to me was not tested. She was a fine example of a Decepticon.

"Pandimala," The femme tensed as I began to speak. "it is clear to see from your memories that your loyalty to myself and the Decepticons is unwavering. You have stood against even our god of order to make sure that your loyalty remained as it should. In light of this, you have passed this test. Once the patch is disconnected, Knockout will administer a sedative into your systems to help you recover from the strain that this patch will have placed upon your processor."

She smiled a wide smile before nodding. "Yes, Lord Megatron."

With that settled, I glanced toward the ceiling. "Soundwave, disconnect us." I then continued to stare ahead until the world around me went dark.

Paul's 1st P.O.V.

I flinched as I felt a shiver travel down my spine. Something felt off. I wasn't sure why, but I knew that this was not going to be a good thing later. Bad feelings usually indicated something happening with my brother. With the lack of dark energon as of yet, maybe he was finally starting to awaken. It would be a relief to me if that were the case.

"You worry way too much Paul."

Turning to Miko, I raised an eyebrow at her. "With every instance of the timeline that has gone wrong so far, you are telling me not to worry?"

The teenager shook her head. "No, if you weren't worried then I would be worried." I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of her thinking I was worried all the time. "No, but you seem to be even more worried than normal. What's eating at your extraterrestrial mind?"

I panicked slightly when she phrased her question like that until I looked around and realized that we were the only two in the main room right now, which was surprising in and of itself. "I'm not sure Miko. Just now, I got a bad feeling and, with the lack of activity from Unicron so far, I have a feeling that this bad feeling might be connected to him. But, this doesn't feel like he is waking up."

"What if it's the 'Cons trying to use the dark energon? Even if Lizzie convinced bucket-head to throw away what he had of the stuff, that doesn't mean that they couldn't get more. If they did, then they could be planning something really big. Might explain why they haven't done anything to the Autobots in a while."

And Miko brought up a good point. The Decepticon use of the dark energon would explain both my bad feeling and why they had not been as active lately. it had gotten me worried when I noticed that the Decepticons did not seem to be pressing this relic hunt as much as they had in the original timeline. That was especially since, unlike the original timeline, the relic hunt started during season one instead of season two. If they were experimenting with the dark energon, then that would occupy their time. Was my brother's essence finally going to be playing a role in this timeline?

Thee sounds of pedesteps caused both of us to turn to see a number of the Autobots come into the room. Each group seemed to be working on different projects. While I studied them, I worried for a nano when I did not see Wheeljack, Zarron, or Balm. Of course, it was after that I remembered that the two mechs were training against each other in the training room with Cliffjumper and Bulkhead watching them.

While Those three weren't giving me the same feeling of unease that the shifty trio always did, they were causing me to watch them. They had their agenda now and, without knowing what that was, my plans to keep this timeline as stable as I was able was going to be very difficult. Hopefully, I would be able to keep an eye on both trios in the base.

"This is slag Prime." I jumped slightly when I heard Ironhide's vocals as he, the Prime, and Springer entered the room. "Why can't we just take the fight to the Decepticons? We have the numbers to face them. They even have a human hostage on their ship. Have had her for solars and I bet it looks like we aren't trying to save her. She probably doesn't even know that somebots could save her from them."

I flinched slightly at that. Even though I was worried about my employee's state of mind, I hadn't thought about physically removing her from the Decepticons. If they did screw with her mentality, then removing her from there would be the best option.

"Without the location of the Nemesis, there is little we could do to efficiently extract the hostage." Optimus shook his helm slightly as he gave his reason for not trying to draw the Decepticons out.

The sound of the base alarm going off caused me to jump. What was going on now? "This is impossible!" Ratchet spoke as he typed at the console. "Our scanners are picking up the Nemesis!" Was fate finally letting me get ahead for once?

"Did it work?"

We all turned to see the shifty trio enter the room, Flamewar holding a strange device in her servos. "Did what work?" Blaster asked the femme.

Flamewar waved the device in her servos. "High-grade disrupter. It only works with the right spacial conditions so the signal can bounce around this marble. Cuts out any disruptors on a cloaked area for a short time. Got this baby for a prize exchange on Monacus. Cost me a pretty credit too." She then shook her helm. "Of course, it's only one-shot use. We better make this count."

Part of me wanted to know why she had that device and didn't mention it until now. However, the rest of me didn't care. There was now no argument for us not trying to get onto the Nemesis and freeing Lizzie from the Decepticons.

Since the other Autobots had arrived in the room when the alarm went off, we all glanced toward Optimus as he studied Flamewar. Finally, he spoke. "Ratchet set the ground bridge for the coordinates. This will be a search and rescue mission. If you find any relics, take them into your possession. Do not endanger yourselves, however, if you can capture a hostage, we will be able to hold one thanks to modifications made to our holding cell by Prowl, Jazz, Blaster, and Wheeljack."

All of the Autobots waited as Ratchet prepared the bridge. Seeing Miko trying to rush forward, I grabbed her arm and held her back. "What are you doing Paul? This is going to be big action!"

"Yes it will, and if the Decepticons capture us while we are on their ship, then they can use us against the Autobots as well. While I understand why you wish to go onto the Decepticon ship, we have to make sure that the Autobots keep any advantage that they can get."

She looked ready to argue for a moment. However, she thankfully just let out a sigh. "Fine." She then flopped on the couch with her arms crossed. I knew that the other kids and June would be on their way soon. Fowler was also scheduled for a drop-in today as well. This raid on the Nemesis was going to be risky but, with the chance of removing Lizzie from the toxic environment that the Decepticons had her in. This was our best chance to retrieve her safely. I had to believe that we would not fail.

Paul: *hesitant* You haven't gone in my point here in a while. You are planning something. I had better get Lizzie back. This nonsense about her joining the Decepticons needs to end.

Authoress: *shakes head* I can't control how beings think Paul. You'll just have to find out how this goes for yourself.

Paul: *rolls eyes* That is the answer for everything for you.

Authoress: *shrugs* It works.

Miko: *curious* So, you don't have dead bodies in here?

Authoress and Paul: *look at Miko very confused*

Miko: What? I heard a rumor that the Authoress kept every dead body in here. I was so punk'd!

AN: And here is the next chapter! So many words but so much information inside! I'm not going to go into it all but we did get to see many different scenes from Pandimala's past. If anyone didn't read Power of One before this, then you won't know that I did change the interview section of the memories. I always aim to improve my work and I realized a while ago that the original interview was not very realistic. So, it got changed. Hopefully, this one is better.

Also, we get a snippet about a part of Pandimala's past that we didn't see before. It wasn't very big, but it does give a little more background into her character. Her father seemed to be important in her life and she took his death very hard. It seemed like the Decepticons helped her recover from that in a sense.

Of course, we have the scene in between the patch scenes with Thrust. He knows he is being left out and knows that he needs to get rid of Pandimala. Of course, that last bit there with him seems to show that he might have found a way to do that.

I loved adding the scene with Starscream reacting to Megatron seeing his part in Cliffjumper's release. I felt it would only be fair. Of course, I figured that Megatron, by this point, would have known about what happened.

Finally, we see Paul with the Autobots. It looks like the Autobots are about to raid the Nemesis! I wonder how that is going to go? We shall see in the next chapter (hopefully it won't take me as long to type).

I know I missed some parts but that would give everything away. I hope you looked into all of this carefully. I did give away some things throughout all of this.

So, while you all think about that, here are the next chapters!

Chapter 36: A Change of Venue Flying Mind

Chapter 37: Making a Connection Tunnel Vision

Chapter 38:... (next time of course!)

Well, that's all for now. Drop a review if you would like to and I hope you enjoyed reading. Until next time, TTYL! *enjoying playing some Rainbow Six Seige*