A few years passed since the Ark crashed into the side of the mountain. Rubble had successfully buried it from prying eyes, and it remained untouched and undisturbed. That was soon to change as the area began to tremble. An Earthquake shook the ground around the mountain, shifting a few rocks that were surrounding the Ark.

Feeling a shift in the stones, the Ark began to power on.

"Warning: Proximity Alert." Teletraan One announced. "Deactivating stasis pods."

The six pods began to beep, small lights on the top going off before the domes lifted. Stasis gas poured out of the pods as the six bots slowly pulled themselves out. They were all a bit groggy, groans and moans filling the room as they all shuffled to their feet.

"How long were we in stasis?" Prime questioned, leaning against the wall.

"Good question, Optimus." Ratchet told him. "Here's another: What woke us up?"

"Do you think Ultra Magnus came after us?" Bulkhead suggested.

"I doubt that." Ratchet told him. "Something else must have activated the ship's defense grid."

"Only one way to find out." Massacre insisted.

She walked over to towards the cargo bay, hitting the door to open it. As it opened, several tons of dirt, rocks, and debris came pouring into the bridge, almost completely filling in the doorway and trapping the bots inside. Everyone quickly stepped out of the way of the wave, watching as it settled at their feet.

"Well... that answers that question." Massacre let out sheepishly. "Sorry guys."

Ratchet examined the pile of dirt, running his fingers along his chin.

"The structure we collided with must have crumbled around us, burying the ship in rubble." he surmised. "The resulting shift could have triggered the ships proximity sensors."

"Could we pull the ship out of the rubble?" Prowl questioned.

Bumblebee let out a buzz as he approached the ships main computer. As he approached, it slowly fizzled online. The picture was somewhat grainy and the screen was cracked, but he was able to pull up the ship's status log. He shook his head in dismay, letting out a low tone. Prime walked up behind him, scanning the screen.

"The thrusters have been severely damaged, the engines failed, and the back-up power systems are currently ineffective." He reported.

"What about communications?" Ratchet suggested. "Perhaps we could get a signal to Cybertron and-"

"I'm afraid long-range communication is impossible." Prime reported. "The antenna snapped off during the landing. We'll be lucky if the signal makes it past the planets upper atmosphere."

"So basically, we're stranded on this planet, buried under who knows how many tons of rubble, trapped in a ship that's basically a scrap heap." Bulkhead grumbled. "Just great."

Massacre looked at the slope of dirt, following up and grinning as she saw light pouring in from a small gap near the top.

"We're not buried that deeply." she pointed out. "There's a way out."

Everyone looked at the hole, Bumblebee turning to Massacre with a confused beep.

"Bumblebee is right." Prowl told her. "That hole is far too small for any of us to get through."

"Yeah, I doubt even Prowl could ninja his way through that." Bulkhead agreed.

"I can fit." Massacre insisted, stepping back from the group.

Bulkhead snorted, laughing a bit as a hand went to his oversized midsection.

"Massacre, did the extended stasis screw with your processor?" He questioned. "You may be the size of a two-wheeler, but there's no way your can-"

His words were cut off as Massacre began transforming. More than that, she began shrinking. Her wings folded in on themselves, her Cybertronian features slowly softening as her entire body condensed, forming a humanoid-shaped body at the appropriate size. From the back of her neck, a small nozzle opened up, allowing what looked like some sort of nanite skin that covered up her body, becoming a fair-skinned flesh tone. Long black hair quickly sprouted from the top of her head, falling down around her shoulders before stopping about mid-way down her back.

"You were saying?" she asked, looking up at Bulkhead triumphantly.

Everyone stared at her, save for Ratchet, who just looked prideful as his now miniaturized friend. Prime bent down, holding his hand out palm up. Massacre climbed on, allowing him to lift her up to eye-level once again.

"How is this possible?" He questioned, looking her over.

"During one of the many medical scans I performed on her, I found an offline matrix attached to her T-Cog." Ratchet explained. "After careful examination, I found it to be coded to allow a Cybertronian to condense their form into something much smaller than your average bot."

"No doubt one of Shockwave's experiments." Prowl mused.

"That was my hypothesis." Ratchet agreed. "Considering I found it offline at the time, I can only assume he scrapped the project. I however, found a different use for it."

"Considering he wasn't able to make me an organic again, he did the next best thing." Massacre continued. "Using the condensement matrix and a Bioscan of my former organic body, he created this secondary transformation."

Bumblebee beeped and booped, giving Massacre a thumbs up. Massacre smiled back at him.

"Thanks Bee." she replied. "I like it too."

Prime slowly lifted Massacre up to the top of the rubble pile, setting her down as close to the hole as possible.

"See what you can find out there." he told her. "Any signs of civilization, as well as the condition of the Ark."

"You got it Optimus." she assured him. "Teletraan One, connect video feed with my optic sensors."

The screen fizzled slightly, then connected, showing the world from Massacre's point of view. Her eyes glowed slightly, making them appear bright blue. After making sure everything was in order, she began scaling the rest of the pile towards the hole.

...

Even in Massacre's miniaturized state, it was still a tight squeeze through the hole and out of the switch. She pulled herself free with a grunt, brushing dirt off herself as she looked down at the ship.

"Comm-check." she declared, putting two fingers up to her right ear. "Testing."

"Read you." Prowl informed her. "You're good to go."

"What's the condition of the Ark?" Bulkhead questioned. "That's priority one right now."

Massacre stepped back climbing across several rocks so she could get a good look at the ship. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see.

"Well, I was right when I said we weren't buried too deeply." she reported. "Unfortunately, all but the portside thruster is currently underground."

"Can you tell how long we've been here?" Ratchet inquired.

"Negative." she replied. "But from the amount of small organic plants clinging to the thruster, I'd say we've been here at least a couple stellar cycles."

"Scrap." Ratchet let out.

"Hey, don't get your wires crossed, Ratchet." Massacre told him leaning against the dead thruster. "There's still a chance to fix... the..."

Her words trickled off as her gaze drifted towards the town. The tiny villages of tents and campfires she remembered were nowhere to be seen. In their place stood massive cities that were reminiscent of the great Cybertronian cities. Large towers of metal and glass reached towards the skies.

"By the Allspark." she let out. "Are you guys seeing this?"

"We are, Massacre." Prime replied. "It's remarkable."

"Seems quite a bit has changed since the last time you were here, Flygirl." Bulkhead quipped.

"Looks like." she agreed. "I better get a closer look."

Carefully, Massacre made her way down the mountain and into the surrounding forests. Recalling her days of running around her bio-dome, she leapt and bound across stones and fallen branches, unable to keep the large smile off her face.

"I haven't done this in stellar cycles!" she cheered.

"Happy for you," Prowl spoke up. "But do remember that you're on a mission."

"Trust me I know." She assured him. "I'm not a complete-"

That's when her foot snagged on an exposed root, sending her tumbling down a small hill. She rolled through a shrub before finally coming to a stop in the middle of a dirt path. She spat out a leaf, letting out a groan.

"...idiot." she reluctantly finished.

"What was that?" Bulkhead asked, teasingly.

"I will shove my ion cannon so far up your exhaust port, you'll be leaking oil for a month." she threatened.

"Enough." Prime chimed in.

Massacre groaned, getting up off the ground and trying to clean herself off. About that time, a large vehicle came around the corner, nearly running her over. She dove out of the way as the vehicle came to a stop. Recovering from her dive, Massacre looked at the vehicle in surprise.

"Whoa." she let out. "I think my race evolved a whole lot in the time I was gone."

"So it seems." Prime concurred. "Still, revealing ourselves would be too great a risk at this time. Scan some of the local vehicle forms so we can blend in with the populous. Until this planet is ready, we must activate as robots in disguise."

"Copy that, Prime." Massacre told him, looking over the vehicle. "Luckily, I've already found one for Bulkhead."

She blinked, her eyes flashing a bright blue as she scanned the large vehicle. As her scan came to a conclusion, the doors of the vehicle opened up, allowing two humans to emerge. They were dressed in brown uniforms with strange hats. They approached Massacre with looks of concern, speaking in a tongue she didn't recognize.

"Uh-oh." Massacre let out. "Prime, we've got a problem."

"What is it?" Prowl asked.

"Whatever language these two are speaking, it's not in my database." she replied. "We've got a serious language barrier here."

"This is a problem." Prime dreaded.

As the men walked up to her, one of them took off his jacket and handed it to her. She took it, looking at it in confusion before realization dawned. Her face turned beat red as she quickly pulled the jacket over herself.

"Uh, Ratchet?" she let out. "I think we made a slight miscalculation in my organic transformation."

"So it seems." Ratchet noted. "We didn't take into account the coverings your race uses."

"Well, in our defense, in a temperature regulated biodome where I was literally the only organic humanoid lifeform, it's easy to forget such customs." she commented.

"Indeed." Ratchet agreed. "Though it is something we'll have to take into consideration in the future."

The two men began ushering her towards the vehicle, no doubt to offer her some proper attire and aid. Seeing no other choice, and desperate for some clothes, Massacre obliged.

...

The two park rangers brought Massacre to their headquarters at the edge of the forest. After getting her inside and into a spare uniform they had handy, they sat her down on a bench as one of the rangers called the police. They arrived quickly, the EMT taking Massacre as Sergeant Fanzone questioned the rangers.

"So you're saying you found the kid wandering the forest on the outskirts of Mt. 23rd street?" He asked, making sure his notes were correct.

"That's right." The ranger confirmed. "She looked lost and confused, and I don't think English is her first language. She looked at us like she didn't know what we were saying."

Fanzone looked back at Massacre, watching as she stared at a police motorcycle without blinking. Unbeknownst to the organics around her, she was scanning it for Prowl, turning her attention to the ambulance next, figuring it was perfect for Ratchet. Fanzone shook his head, letting out a sigh.

"If I had to guess, I'd say the girl just got out of some kind of trouble." Fanzone deduced. "Lost and alone in the woods with not even the clothes on her back, somethin spooked her and she's still copin with it."

"But how do we get her to tell us if she doesn't speak English?" the park ranger asked.

"Why don't we take her down to the station?" Fanzone suggested. "One of our translators might be able to get something out of her."

The park ranger nodded, then walked off as Fanzone approached Massacre. She heard him coming and turned to him, straightening up and adjusting the shock blanket one of the EMTs had given her.

"Hey there." He greeted. "I'm Sergeant Fanzone. Can you tell me your name?"

Massacre looked at him, trying to decipher what he was saying and clearly failing miserably. The two continued to stare at each other for a minute before Fanzone let out a sigh.

"Alright, forget the name for now." he told her. "I need you to come with me so we can figure out where you're from and how to get you home."

He held out his hand, praying she understood. Thankfully, it seemed to work as she took his hand, allowing him to escort her to his car. He opened the backseat and she took that as a cue to get inside. Once inside, he closed the door, then got in himself and drove off.

...

Massacre stared out the window of the car, seeing all the cars passing by with complete awe.

"This reminds me of when you took me to that Iacon Council meeting before the War began." she recalled. "So many different vehicles."

"Just scan the ones you need and find a way out of there." Ratchet cautioned. "We can't afford causing trouble with local law enforcement."

"I don't think I'm in trouble." she insisted. "Everyone seems to be treating me the way you did when I first ended up like this. Y'know, trying to help me and stuff."

"Then it would be best to cooperate with them as best you can." Ratchet suggested. "And find a way to learn the planet's language so we can resolve this situation."

About that time, the car stopped at a red light, lining up with a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes along the edge. When she laid eyes on it, the sound of Bumblebee buzzing into his comms filled her audio receptors.

"Alright, alright Bee, I'll scan it for you." she told him, blinking and doing just that.

Bee buzzed appreciatively.

"That just leaves you, Prime." Massacre realized. "Well, you and I, but I haven't seen any flying vehicles yet."

"Just keep your optic sensors primed." Prime told her. "We don't need to spend any more time on this then is needed."

...

After a bit more driving, the car pulled up to the Police Station. Fanzone got out of the car and opened the back one for Massacre, signaling her to get out. She climbed out of the car and followed Fanzone inside. As they walked inside, they passed through the station's metal detector. Almost immediately upon Massacre passing through it, it began blaring loudly.

"What the...?" Fanzone let out.

The techs shut it off, looking at Fanzone with a confused shrug. Fanzone groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is why I hate machines." he let out, irritated.

Massacre looked back at the metal detector, looking a bit worried as Fanzone took her hand. He led her inside, eventually having her sit down at his desk.

"You wait here." he insisted.

As he walked off, Massacre looked around and saw a computer sitting on one of the desks. Thinking she could use it to learn a bit more about the planet, she reached for it, placing her hand on the keyboard. Her fingers then opened up, thin wires sinking into the keyboard. Immediately, the screen began to flash rapidly as she went through file after file, digging deeper to learn all that she could. Her eyes flashed in a similar manner as her processor took in everything she needed. After about two minutes of this, she disconnected, the computer shutting off as her hand returned to normal.

"Prime, we get anything useful from that?" she asked.

"Quite a bit." Prime reported. "Including many native languages to this planet. This should solve our current 'communication problem'."

"Who would've thought a single planet could have such a wide variety of languages." Prowl mused.

"Thankfully, we were able to compare the language files to your new friend's language, and we've deduced that he's speaking something called 'english'." Ratchet informed her.

Massacre shifted through the newly downloaded language software, activating the English setting just as Fanzone returned.

"Sorry for taking so long." Fanzone apologized. "Fortunately I think I found someone that could help with our little language barrier."

"Thank you, but I do not believe that will be a problem." Massacre informed him.

Fanzone blinked in surprise, staring at her for a second.

"Oh, so you do speak English." Fanzone let out. "Why didn't you say anything to the rangers?"

"I was still adapting to everything." she explained honestly. "I wasn't sure what to say."

"So how did you end up in the middle of the woods alone and naked?" Fanzone questioned.

"Uh..." she muttered, her processor stalling for a moment. "That is a very good question."

"You don't remember?" Fanzone asked.

"Uh, yeah." She quickly answered. "It's... all a bit of a blur. I just remember waking up and trying to find my way through the woods. That's when the... park rangers found me."

"I see..." Fanzone responded before turning to his computer.

He was immediately greeted by the blue screen of death. His eyes widened as he started banging on the keyboard, trying to get his computer to respond. Instead, he merely dislodged several of the keys.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" Fanzone let out.

Seeing an opportunity, Massacre slowly got up out of her seat and began backing away from the desk. Once she was sufficiently distanced from the irate sergeant, she turned and walked out of the station.

"Mission accomplished." she announced. "Well, almost."

"Good work, Massacre." Prime commended. "Return to the ship as soon as you can."

She nodded in agreement, turning and preparing to walk off. As she did, a large semi-truck pulled up to a stoplight. Her eyes widened at the sight and she grinned, giving the vehicle a scan.

"Prime, finally found you a vehicle mode."

...

Finally, after hours of hiking through the woods and avoiding the park rangers still in the area, Massacre returned to the Ark. By this point, Bulkhead had managed to clear out the hanger door, giving the Autobots unfettered access to the outside. From the large pile of rubble off to the side, he was in the middle of an excavation job.

"Welcome back." Bulkhead greeted. "How was your trip into town?"

"Eventful." she answered. "I see you've been busy."

"Someone has to get this bucket of bolts out of the mountain and back into the sky." Bulkhead reminded her. "Anyways, you go on inside. I'm sure Prime and Ratchet are getting anxious."

Massacre nodded as she transformed back into her robot mode, entering into the ship. Unfortunately, her transformation completely shredded her clothes, reducing them to a pile of scrap.

"Whoops." she let out.

"Relax!" Ratchet called out. "I've already begun working on upgrades to your human form, including appropriate human coverings."

Massacre sighed in relief.

"You're the best, Ratchet." she told him.

He had her sit down on the ship's infirmary table as he hooked her up to the ship's computer. The download began as Ratchet turned away from his friend, looking over at Prime. Prime was going over the information collected from Fanzone's computer, reading it intently.

"It would seem we have landed in a human settlement known as Detroit." Prime relayed. "The geological structure we crashed into is call "Mount 23rd Street". Further scans have shown that beneath the mountain lies-"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from outside. It was punctuated by a yelp from Bulkhead, and a frantic beep from Bumblebee. Ratchet, Prime, and Prowl ran out to check on Bulkhead, only to find a massive hole in the side of the mountain.

"Bulkhead!" Prowl called out. "Are you alright!"

"Yeah!" Bulkhead called back. "Nothing majorly damaged!"

There was the sound of shifting rubble, then Bulkhead called up again.

"Prime, you guys need to get down here!" he insisted. '"You're not gonna believe what I found!"

The four climbed inside, and found a massive underground chamber that seemed to fill a good portion of the mountain. There were large platforms all across the chamber, as well as dusty computer terminals and large TV arrays. There wasn't any light available at the time, and it was clear that whatever this place was, it had been abandoned for some time.

"By the All Spark..." Ratchet let out.

"Incredible." Prowl marveled.

Bumblebee buzzed in complete awe, scanning the area with great interest.

"What are you guys seeing down there?" Massacre questioned through the comms.

"It would seem that this is the abandoned missile silo I read about in the reports." Prime deduced. "Abandoned by humans for many stellar cycles."

"Meaning we won't have any prying optics looking for us here." Prowl added.

"If we're going to be stuck here for a while, and from the looks of the ship, we will be, having somewhere we can shut down for a stasis nap would be beneficial." Massacre commented.

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps, pointing towards the large hangar bay not far from the entrance.

"Good eye, Bee." Bulkhead complimented. "Once we get the ship out of the mountain, we can store it here so we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"It may take some time to get this place functional again, but I think I can rig us up something that we can make do with." Ratchet reported.

"Then I suggest we all get to work." Prime declared.

...

Later that night, Fanzone was still wrestling with his computer, trying desperately to get it to work. By this time, he was getting completely fed up to the point that he was just banging his head on his desk.

"This. Is why. I hate. Machines." He let out, punctuating each statement with a blow to the desk.

"Sergeant Fanzone." a voice called out.

Fanzone looked up and saw a portly, African American man in a black suit flashing him a Department of Homeland Security badge. Fanzone shot up in his seat, visibly sweating as the man placed his badge back in his pocket.

"My name is Special Agent William Fowler." The man introduced. "I'd like to talk to you about how the hell you managed to hack into the NDMC military supercomputer in a matter of minutes."

Fanzone just blinked before responding.

"What in the Sam hill are you talking about?!" Fanzone replied. "My computer has been buggy all day!"

"Sergeant, do you honestly think I'm going to buy that pile of B.S?" Fowler questioned.

"See for yourself." Fanzone responded, turning the monitor around and showing the blue screen to him. "Can't get the darned thing to work."

Fowler looked at it, then gestured to two of his men.

"Take the computer to the lab." he ordered. "We'll see what we can learn what caused this, and if the good sergeant is telling the truth."

"Why in blue blazes would I lie?" Fanzone questioned. "I've been up to my eyeballs in work, first from the earthquake, then that crazy girl who disappeared, and then my damn computer fritzed out."

Fowler perked up as Fanzone rattled off the things that happened to him that day, with a certain item catching his ear.

"What crazy girl?" He asked.