Anj: short ass chapter I know. But considering it took many years to write I figure at least giving you all something and letting you know I'm not dead helps. I still really love this story and I'm glad you all love it too, thank you for continuing to read! I am already going to start the next chapter.

Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers, any of the characters except for any I create or any song lyrics I post.

In addition, thank you for all the reviews and follows/favorites. It makes me feel happy that people enjoyed this story. I might be a little rusty but hopefully you continue to enjoy it.

'Going through this life looking for angels

People passing by looking for angels

Walking down the streets looking for angels

Everyone I meet looking for angels'

-Looking for Angels by Skillet

Diebus Fatalibus

Chapter four: looking for angels

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Cybertronian Speech/Commlink speech"

:Bond link speech:

Somewhere nearby Dikson, northern Russia-

Normal POV

It was spring in this frozen land, but the permafrost was still very thick. Demyan, a young geologist, had come to this part of Russia quite far from his native home in Canada. He had Russian parents, but grew up speaking English, Russian, and a little of French. His passion for the earth and its processes brought him to places both freezing and boiling hot, from volcanos to frozen tundra, in search of discovering something new. Little did he know he would discover something… unearthly.

Demyan, along with a team of at least four other people, were taking soil samples and digging into the earth at the foot of a large mountain. One of them had a device that was measuring gas levels because of the various gases were trapped under the permafrost. They were checking to see if there were any "weak spots" near large natural rock formations where gas could potentially leak through and into the air. Despite the still-cold temperatures of this northern area, he was sweating under his heavy winter gear from shoveling snow (in an attempt to get at the soil). He didn't dare expose any more skin than he had to, because the lack of tree cover in the area and swift winds would steal any moisture he had and leave him even more vulnerable to frostbite. Suddenly his device began to beep loudly, and he looked at it, puzzled.

Someone else nearby heard the noise, a female named Schisandra, who was also a Canadian. "What's going on over there?"

"I am not sure…" He took the jackhammer she offered him and used it to break down some of the thick, icy soil until he was sure he could use a shovel. There didn't seem to be much permafrost in this area, so he started digging in the area where the meter beeped, and with some help from another team member he managed to dig several feet down over the next hour. He piled the earth next to his hole, and he found several small rocks and chunks of slightly thawed, icy dirt (due to the slowly warming weather) that were speckled with a dried pink, glassy-looking substance. "I think I found something!"

Schisandra came over to him and knelt on the ground next to the pile. "Wow… what is that?"

Demyan held it up to the dim light emitting from the cloudy sky and studied it. "I have not seen anything like that before. None of the rocks I've studied from this region look like this naturally. It almost looks like it was splashed with something."

"Whatever it is, it is a find. Let's go inform the others and get more samples! Big paycheck, here we come!"

Demyan knew he should be excited… but in the end, he was worried. 'What kind of material could maintain such a shine in the dirt and be that color?' Either way, he planned on finding out.

-With the Autobots –

In the shadows of the night's darkest hours, a figure lurked alongside the main building at the Diego Garcia base. In the soft light of the waxing moon, the figure's blue eyes shined before they disappeared. The figure of one Mikaela Banes darted towards the building that contained the living quarters of the civilians that had been involved in the battle of Egypt. Though there was dirt smudged on her cheeks and some light dust on her gray shorts, she looked as impeccable as always. Once she got to the door guarded by armed soldiers, she straightened and flashed them a smile that was both shy but also coy (in that Mikaela way). "Hello boys."

The two soldiers gave each other a look of boredom. "You're out past curfew. Care to explain where you have been?" One of them asked.

She bit her lip and looked down, putting on a look of shame and distress. "Oh… I'm sorry. I was spending time with Bumblebee… a-after S-Sam, we both just have t-trouble sleeping…" She sniffed a little, and looked up with eyes that shined with unshed tears. "I-it's been so hard…"

They shifted uncomfortably at that. No decent man liked to see a woman cry, and they all knew who she was, who Sam was, and what he had done for them. "Y-yes. Of course. Please go in and get some rest."

Mikaela's hair hid her face as she dipped her head to swipe at imaginary tears. Behind the cover of her arm, she grinned. Clearing the expression off her face, she sniffled and managed a wobbly "thank you" before crossing the threshold and into the building. 'Suckers,' she thought triumphantly. She traversed through the maze-like hallways with relative ease and speed, her long legs and comfy heels leaving only faint footsteps in her wake. One trip up to the second floor and a left turn took her to room 207, temporary host to Maggie and Glen, who had come at Judy Witwicky and her request. …Actually, NEST had them come for IT reasons, but Judy and Mikaela had called them for a secret meeting regarding the disappearance of one Samuel Witwicky. And she was a few minutes late.

She looked down the hall for any curious bystanders, but the late hour was on her side – it was just her. She knocked several times in quick succession and was let in by Maggie, whose blonde locks were pulled back into a fishtail braid. After the door was closed and locked, she asked urgently, "did you get it?"

Mikaela smiled gleefully and produced a glowing jump drive with Cybertronian symbols on it. "It took a little time, but with Bumblebee's help, I got it copied with no problems." When Cybertronians didn't want their tampering known, they could hide the evidence better than any hacker (Frenzy just didn't give a fuck, because hey, he is not afraid of squishies). Bumblebee didn't exactly know what she had been up to, wanting to get into the online medical records, but in his depression he complied with only minor questioning. He couldn't take the quivering lip and shiny blue puppy dog expression any better than Sam could.

"Perfect." Maggie took the jump drive before handing it to Glen, who had been pouring some high-quality vodka discreetly in Judy's lemonade when she wasn't looking. He almost dropped the vodka bottle, but managed to hide it before Judy noticed. "Glen, please pull up the records. Mikaela, did you get a chance to read them?"

Mikaela shook her head. "Only enough to know that I copied the right ones." She sat down next to Judy and squeezed her hand. Judy smiled a little and squeezed back. "Are you okay?" The black haired beauty asked.

"I'll be okay when I know the truth about my boy. Thank you, thank you for doing this." Judy knew that her boy was alive. He had to be. She would not allow the petty excuses she had been given to be the truth.

Glen started loading the documents and as he did so, started drinking his fuzzy navel (a drink containing orange juice and peach schnapps). Maggie was one hell of a woman – she could speak his language AND make tasty drinks. He was about to finish his glass when the first document appeared on his computer. He started reading…

…and spat out his drink all over the coffee table and his laptop. "What the hell?!"

"What is it?!" Judy and Mikaela leapt forward, forgetting their disgust at getting spit on. Maggie wiped away some of the droplets on the screen with a napkin and started reading, as Glen wasn't doing anything except staring at the screen.

"Samuel J. Witwicky: the patient had multiple lacerations all over his body, hematoma, sprained ankle, head injury, burns to right side of abdomen, rib fractures with presenting flail chest and presumed pneumothorax. Patient's vital signs dropped off and completely stopped at 1:06 PM. Likely cause of death: internal hemorrhaging." Maggie's voice shook and trailed off, while Judy bit back a sob. Mikaela also started to sniffle (for real this time) when Maggie swallowed and picked back off: "before attempts at resuscitation could be started, t-the helicopter experienced turbulence and a shockwave of silver passed through the helicopter and we temporarily lost power for two seconds… it was dark, and when the lights came back the body had vanished…"

They all looked at each other before Glen said, "oh Heeeeeell no! The Decepticons took his body too?!"

Judy covered her ears and shook her head. "No! I won't believe it! He can't be dead… they must have done something to him. This has to be a mistake!"

Mikaela's eyes brimmed with tears and she tugged on Judy's arms, pulling them off of her ears. "Wait! W-wait… that can't have happened. The Decepticons would have told us if they had him. M-maybe the Primes did it… Sam told me he talked to them. We can ask Optimus to try to speak with them!"

"I do not have any other bright ideas… if you want to, knock yourself out," Maggie said. "I'll keep analyzing the other reports for anything else that might help you guys... and Sam." She lightly smacked Glen's arm and he jumped. "He will too, of course."

"Thank you," Mikaela said softly. "Stay safe. I'm going to bed… come on Judy." She helped bring her former boyfriend's mother to her feet and escorted her to her bedroom. Judy seemed dismayed and out of touch, but Mikaela was still hopeful that she would recover. She did not want to believe Sam was gone. She couldn't. Not when she knew his body had disappeared. 'No matter what, I'll find you Sam.'

-Several months later, at the Nemesis-

"Whuh… w-warp!" The garbled cry of Aeon had Skywarp laughing merrily. He clapped his servos together before picking up Aeon and swinging him around, making the little sparking squeal in delight. The sparkling loved being in the air and he fluttered his little wings as best as he could. "Warp!"

"You said my designation! You are such a good lil' Seeker! Yes you are!" Skywarp cooed, and he produced an energon goodie he had been saving for occasions such as this. Aeon immediately pushed it into his mouth and gurgled happily as he sucked on the tasty, sweet treat. Skywarp could not handle the cuteness. The little silvery white bundle of joy they called Aeon was getting bigger all the while. He was four feet tall now, and weighed more than he did before. "Did you hear that TC? He called me Warp!"

Thundercracker grunted affirmatively. "Yes, I heard. You are going to spoil him if you keep giving him those." Come to think of it, where did he get those energon goodies anyway? Not that it mattered much. They were thankfully still in the clear about keeping Aeon's existence a secret. It helped that he and Starscream worked on making their quarters sound proof. So far, no one has noticed that a little energon went missing here and there. For the most part, they used some of their own rations to keep him fed, but occasionally they had to take an extra cube to help keep themselves running efficiently when they had unexpected patrols to do. One thing he had noticed though that concerned him was the little seeker's growth. No hatchling grew that quickly that he knew of, nor did they start speaking at this early of an age. Part of him wanted to say it was proof that they were taking good care of him, but the other part of him wondered if there was something wrong with his coding. Even the hatchlings the Fallen had given them to take care of did not grow this fast, and they were supposed to grow quickly into their future soldiers. He eyed the little seekerling, who started sucking on one of his servos, and frowned. That was not normal Seeker behavior.

"Thundercracker? You're making that funny thinking face of yours again." Skywarp remarked flatly, and cradled Aeon closer to his chest. "What are you thinking about?"

He chose his words carefully. Bondmate or not, any words that sounded remotely like a threat to a sparkling would have him getting beaten into slag. "Have you ever noticed that Aeon is a little more advanced than any other sparkling would be at his age?"

Skywarp's optics narrowed and he hummed for a few astroseconds. The air and vibrations flowing through his vents made a pleasing noise. "I guess I never noticed. What makes you say that?"

"He's learning to speak now, he's bigger and heavier, and the other day he was crawling on the floor," Thundercracker said flatly. "Any other sparkling I have ever seen does not exhibit those characteristics when they are only fifteen orns old. He should not be able to do anything but pull himself upright. Something's not right about him."

SLAP!

'Well that was clearly the wrong thing to say,' thought Thundercracker sarcastically as he held his stinging cheekplates. "Did you have to hit me?"

"That wasn't very nice TC! Aeon is fine. He's a good little mech and a good little seekerling and you should just be happy that Starscream found him! I'll never get an opportunity to have a sparkling, don't go and ruin it for me," Skywarp grumbled, all humor gone. He held Aeon a little closer to his chest and turned to face away from Thundercracker, wings stiff.

Thundercracker's optics softened a little bit when he heard that and his wings drooped a little. "I'm sorry 'Warp. I am happy to have him here; really I am, but… I worry." Really, he wanted a sparkling too with his bondmate. Having the little seekerling was practically a dream come true, the only thing that would make it better was if the war was over and he didn't have to worry about Aeon being taken away or corrupted by Megatron. The little mech made him smile much more than he had ever done in the past thousand vorns and he didn't want to lose him to this fragging war.

"I wish we did not have to." The purple mech spoke softly, as Aeon's optics was flickering out of sleepiness. He stared down at the little seeker with love and protectiveness. "I don't want him to die. He can't die. I don't care if he is acting like a Seeker or not, he's still ours. I'm not going to let him go, neither will Starscream."

"I know. I promise."

-Later that same orn-

Normal POV

"I need to see Optimus."

"I can't let you do that. He's finally getting the last of his repairs done," was the crisp voice of the Autobots' Second in Command (SIC), Prowl, a fresh arrival from Cybertron in the past few months along with several other mechs. His impassive blue optics stared into Mikaela's own blue eyes as he worked on a datapad. The human femme seemed unusually agitated, slightly flushed and diaphoretic. "Then he has a meeting with NEST commanders in the next hour."

She shook her head. "No I need to see him now! This is very important. I found some information with my friends help, he needs to see it." She had to tell him to talk to the Primes. Why would Sam's body disappear? It had to be some kind of Cybertronian influence, and who else would it be? She narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "I really don't care if he has a meeting; he can talk to me for five minutes can't he?"

The mech would have sighed if he had any less control over his emotions. Human femmes seemed just as sassy, if not more than Cybertronian femmes. The only difference between the obvious (flesh versus metal) was that Cybertronian femmes hid a lot of firepower in those smaller frames. "I suppose you may interrupt him for a breem… Just a-" he was cut off as Ironhide walked into the room. He frowned, the first human expression Mikaela had ever seen on him. "Is something wrong? You're supposed to be training the soldiers Ironhide."

The black mech (who used to have a red paint job on Cybertron) seemed oddly excited. "I need ta see Prime. The humans found a Cybertronian in the country of Russia and he isn't marked." His cannons were spinning a little as he spoke, something he did probably without realizing it.

Mikaela's eyes widened. "Another… Autobot?"

Ironhide turned to her and shrugged. "Not sure little lady. Could be a friend…"

"Or foe," Prowl said, door wings stiff with alarm. "You will have to wait Mikaela Banes. We will need to mobilize now if we want to beat the Decepticons to him." He put the datapad down and ushered Ironhide after him towards the medbay. Mikaela cursed and stomped her heel onto the ground.

"What is going on…?"

Anj's notes: Skyfire and Jetfire are two different characters (that should be obvious). I don't know much about geology except for what I researched. Also, this is not betaed so any errors are my own. I have a lot more free time on my hands than I have had in years (guess that's what happens when you change careers and go back to school) so… feel free to provide a review to help fuel my creative juices. ;)