----------Section 5:  In the Lion’s Lair_----------

1400 Hours_
27 June_
Year 2352 A.D._
United States of America_
General McAlister’s Personal Office_
7 Days ago_

“…The countries in the Middle East were in a state of collapse, and the rest of the world had condemned Operation Hellion and at the same time, are taking up military and economic measures against the United States of America, which was deemed as a country of tyrannical leadership. However, a number of countries including Germany, UK, France and Israel have supported the U.S. government in spite of the escalating crisis in the Middle East…”

“…President Whitemore released an official press release today at the White House press conference, but even his best words found no purchase on the other countries of the United Nations, who has deemed him as an “idiotic bastard” who controls the U.S. and is now destabilizing the world peace. Meanwhile, several divisions of the U.S. army were sent into the various Middle East countries to root out the terrorist cells in those regions…”

“…Colonel Barton was officially reported dead this morning. Clues to his death pointed to stress from work and mental problems, however this may be debatable as police officers from the FBI division are currently continuing their investigations. General McAlister, a high ranking officer of the U.S. military, could not be reached for comment…”

“…The United Nations was officially dissolved today by world nations due to its incapability of stopping world conflicts and upholding of its pacifist ideologies, and it will be renamed as the United Earth Federation with immediate effect from the next month. UEF high officials have gathered in Switzerland for an emergency meeting on the current unrest on the Middle East, and solutions were desperately sought out to end the war between the Middle East and the western countries, especially the USA…”

“…The newly formed UEF has now established the WPF, or more commonly known as the World Peacekeeping Force, whose forces were made up of a joint group of nations’ armed forces. The WPF officially mobilized today, and is now sent to the Middle East to suppress the unrest there. Meanwhile, the UEF is threatening economic sanctions and military action against USA should it not pull out more than 50% of its forces in the Middle East Countries. The military high command of the USA armies could not be reached for comment…”

“…The death toll of Operation Hellion has reached a new peak at almost ten million people, although reports were not clear who are civilians and who are terrorists, hence the death toll may rise due to inadequate reports from official sources. The day of the air strikes is commonly called “The Day of Red Sky” to the people of the Middle East, as on that day their world was bathed in their blood. In addition, they have given General McAlister a new name, called “Morte” or death, which is indeed a fitting name…”

  McAlister, or rather, General McAlister was slowly sipping his glass of wine as he contemplated on the current state of the world through the various LIVE telecast reports portrayed through the High-Definition Television located in the middle of his large office. Sounds of frantic reporters filled the air of the room, and each report seemed worse than the previous with each passing moment. News reporters stationed around the Middle East and in the United Nations, frenetically reporting on the international affairs of the countries around the world and the aftermath of McAlister’s grand plan “OPERATION HELLION”.
  He watched with maniacal satisfaction as he listened to the various reports streaming in from the large television screen, taking pride in listening to the cover-up stories the various news stations have churned up to increase their individual viewership. “These fools, they sure have no idea what’s coming to them…” he joked to himself as he took another draught of wine from his cup. McAlister was pleased with the effects his operations had on the world. He initially wanted to use Nuclear Arms but for now the ten million plus people that died would have to satisfy his thirst for conflict. His plan has worked well, and now all he had to do was to wait for the opportunity to present itself, and then he would seize control of a Transformer army and force Whitemore off the president’s seat, and then conquer the world with his army. Not to mention the fact he would also get rid of the Autobots and the persistent pacifist bio-engineer, Dr Victor Keys at the same time, and that would demolish any opposition against his rule. He chuckled to himself at the thought of having a world that obeys him and him only, with no one else to challenge his absolute authority. However, those would have to wait, as he has more plans yet to be set into motion.
  Although everything was running as smoothly as silk, one problem remains. The identity of the girl with the Allspark. Although the FBI agents have gathered up evidence on the perpetrator that took the server, they could not find the girl who took the Allspark that fateful day. He had given Mark McAlister the task of retrieving the identity of the girl, and now he has to wait for the results. But why does this particular Decepticon want the computer files? Their leader has been resurrected and their armies were ready to fight. A better question would be who was working together with the Decepticons? To him and agent Simmons it meant that they had a traitor somewhere in the human race. Not a terrorist, not some anarchist, but a new kind of enemy. A Decepticon-human Alliance.
  A ringing sound of a phone on his desk disrupted McAlister’s train of thoughts. He picked it up and found Simmons on the other end of the phone. “General McAlister. We have an issue here in central quadrant. It seems like the Decepticons are now intervening on human affairs.” His voice was calm and contained the usual type of attitude of Sector 7 agents. “Well, since events have progressed to this stage, we have to keep this contained and away from the Autobots. We have to secure the Cube at all costs, do you understand? That Allspark will make us a new transformer army. And no country will dare defy us when we possess a robotic military. Can you imagine how fast we could end the war in Iraq if we had a transformer army?” McAlister said to the speaker of the phone as he glanced at the latest reports on the Transformers on the computer screen, all complied and submitted by agents that were planted by him in Sector 7. They have been doing their work very well, and in due time, he would get what he wanted and terminate the secret organisation once and for all. Simmons and his crew just do not know their end yet, but it would all come to and end so quickly they would never have the time to react.
  The Sector 7 agent known as Simmons laugh quietly to himself before replying, “Yes Sir. However, we lack the key item needed. The Allspark.” General McAlister felt his voice rise as he heard the cybertronian cube’s name. “In order to do that, we must first find that girl who has taken it!” Simmons nodded in agreement at the other end of the secure connection and said, “I have all my search teams sent out to find that girl. We will expect results in a few days’ time. Don’t worry, we won’t fail.” McAlister smirked, and said, “You better, or your head would be served to me on a platter.” Simmons gulped and voiced his understanding of his given orders.
  “On another note, how is your son? Melvin is it?” Simmons decided to change the subject a little, so that he won’t suffer from McAlister’s number of threats in a telephone call. The last time he got so many threats from McAlister that he doesn’t even bother to count.  “He is weak like his mother, but he may be of use to the military if I can get him to bulk up a bit. Sometimes I wonder if he is my son. At least his older brother keeps the family name up.” McAlister answered the question with a hint of steel creeping into his voice. “Perhaps you should think about transferring Melvin to Sector 7 training.” Simmons replied, back to his no-nonsense tone
  “Perhaps, but I have to go, it seems like I have another incoming phone call.” McAlister said as he noticed another blinking red icon on his phone, with the flashing words “Optimus Prime” beside it. “Who sir?” asked Simmons, his voice dripping with sarcastic curiosity. “Optimus Prime.” replied McAlister with hate visibly in his tone. Obviously he hated Optimus Prime than any other Cybertronian alive, except for Megatron. Simmons laughed and said, “More like the prime of fools to me.” Laughing lightly, McAlister responded “Yes, you have my side Simmons, remember to keep this away from the Autobots, or I will have YOUR NECK for it.”
  Simmons’s grim acknowledgement of his orders was all McAlister needed to hear.

****

The Pentagon_
United States Defense Operations Command (USDOC) Center_
TacOps (Tactical Operations) Room A-23_
4 Hours 20 Minutes later_

  The various generals of the US army sat at either side of the large table, with General McAlister at one end of the table, and Victor Keys at the other end. There was no sound except the rustling of papers as the individuals around the long table flipped through their personal assigned files that Victor Keys had prepared for them, except for McAlister himself. Victor Keys had briefed him in advance for the meeting that was laid ahead for the entire military council, and what they discussed in the privacy of his personal office was at best classified eyes-only. A single leak would spell the word “Treason” on their files and dealt with the government severely.
  Victor Keys unclipped his stainless steel briefcase and removed his laptop from the soft padding within the case, while eyeing the faces of the impatient generals and colonels around him. A quick tap of his wireless mouse woke up his laptop and the symbol of his own future-tech company, Keys Industry flashed once and dissolved into the information he wanted to reveal to the members of the military command around the table. The steady tapping of the keyboard and the chime of the laptop’s in-built programs were the only sounds in the entire soundproofed room.
  Out of the corner of his eye, Keys could see General McAlister scowling under his breath at the notes he received, and he also knew that McAlister wanted a way to win a war, and that’s using a Transformer-like army to do his bidding. However, this cannot be said by the rest of the army generals. They all kept their silence as none of them have the experience to combat transformers, and the only person with the most intelligence here was no other than Keys. The tension in the atmosphere was so thick that you can cut it with a knife. No one spoke a word, but there would be bound to be questions in due time.
  Several minutes passed as Victor Keys briefly explained the inside mechanics of the Transformers’ mind, as well as his own personal project to develop a countermeasure to bring the Decepticons to justice with the help of the Autobots. He also produced the brick sized metal box that had spikes like cleats protruding out of the bottom, known as the “Mindlocker” to put his plan forward and explained its specifics to the entire High Command structure. Everyone in the room listened with rapt attention, as these pieces of information could help them to win the war against the Decepticons who were presently destroying the armed forces bases of the United States. Picking up the spiky metal box, Key’s said, “This is my first prototype of the Mindlocker, and this cube here is actually a cyber distorter and inhibiting machine. It is meant to interfere with the relays in the mind of a transformer by imbedding computer viruses within the central processor. And now with the help of the Autobots, I finally have enough of the code to make a viable virus for crippling the Decepticons, but now what we need is to capture one and test it out.”
  McAlister smirked, and said to Victor from across the table. “Now you are talking my language Mr Keys, this may be a nice countermeasure against the Decepticons. How much of these Mindlockers have you made so far?” Keys placed the cube on the steel table and said, “A few, but if you want mass production…its possible, but it would take time.” “How much time?” asked another four-star general at one end of the table. He made no effort to keep the anger in his voice. The safety of the United States was at risk and they had no time to sit and talk while databases were hacked and bases were destroyed by the Decepticons at another area of the world. Lives were at stake with each passing minute, and the rest of the generals and colonels were getting jumpy about the imminent Decepticon invasion of Earth.
  “Enough to churn out a few thousand of this. All I need is your approval. Then later I will speak to the Autobots for a joint operation to capture a Decepticon for your needs.” said Victor simply as he glanced in the direction McAlister, and found him reading a report on a particular Transformer. He turned back to find out that the generals were talking quietly among themselves, whispering words to each other as they discussed about whether this plan would help them in defeating the cybertronian enemies.
  “So gentlemen, what would be your answer?” Keys said as he stood up from his seat and planted his hands on the grey surface of the steel table. There was a long pause…and then… “We…approve.”

****

The Pentagon_
General McAlister’s Personal Office_
1 Hour 20 Minutes later_

  “Well. Well. Well. It seems that you have done a fine job of creating a countermeasure against the Transformers, Mr Keys.” McAlister said as he poured some wine into a few cups, while absentmindedly throwing the notes of the meeting on his table. Victor Keys merely shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s nothing actually. Even though I have the Military Committee’s approval, it’s far from completion. I require the help of the Autobots and a few military forces to capture a Transformer for the “Stormbringer” project.” McAlister grinned as he held up two cups of wine in his hands and said, “Well, you will take care of that, and I will take care of the rest. I have tactical teams ready and a potential Transformer target to capture. All we need is more of your “Mindlock” devices, and we can stamp out this Decepticons menace once and for all.”  
  Keys took a cup of wine from him, and said, “May I ask, what is the Decepticon that you want to capture?” Keys has given him a large number of Transformers pictures in the past, and now all they need is to designate a primary target to capture and use as a blueprint to create a Transformer army. And then it will be a smooth flow from there onwards, if they were able to accomplish their plans.
  McAlister’s face remained in good spirits as he produced a picture of a Transformer from his coat pocket. Keys looked at the picture and received a surprise from it; it was a picture of a Transformer that was considered one of the most heavily armed Decepticons. It was the one that devastated a SOCCENT Military base in Qatar, nearly gotten into a system server, and virtually left no survivors. It was the one that nearly killed Lennox and his men at Mission City. It was the one that has a smaller Transformer inside itself known as Scorponok. It was no other than the Decepticon known as BLACKOUT.
  “A toast to our success for a peaceful future.” McAlister said as he held up a glass of wine to Keys. Victor looked at him in the eye and took the glass from him. McAlister was the kind of person who can shake your hand one minute and then kill you as you turn to leave. Keys knew that many people within his inner circle have died that way. He would stop at nothing to root out the traitors and take "liberty" in doing away with them himself. McAlister’s eyes were cold and empty and that reminds Keys of dark tunnels. Accepting a simple drink from him could be as well as accepting a poison chalice from a Grim Reaper. You will never know what he has spiked the drink with. But Keys knew that he was far too important to McAlister to be eliminated from the field of play, but it was only a question of how much time he has in his hands before McAlister deemed him as a threat to his own personal plans. For now, he is safe. The future? Maybe not.
  “A toast it is then.” Victor smiled a little as he drank his own glass of wine, while looking at the swirling contents of the beverage as though he could find the answers to questions that he could not even answer there…

----------Section 6:  Human and Bots_----------

1423 Hours_
26 June_
Year 2010 A.D._
United States of America_
State of Colorado, Area designated 101_
Autobot City Command Hub (a.k.a. A.C.C.B.)_
Central Command Center_
Medical Department Room A12_
8 Days ago_

  Ratchet and Perceptor watched intently at the large computer screen in front of them as the highly sophisticated medical machines made by cybertronians moved around Victor Keys, performing a full medical scan on his entire body and most especially, his damaged eyes. The machines whirred and clicked as they enveloped Keys, while scanning through the various layers of skin, muscle and bone on his body. The recorded data from the medical machines would be composed into a file, and then stored in Ratchet’s central processor memory until it was needed again. The scan was so extensive and through that nothing could be spared from the scan, be it a speck of dead skin or a strand of hair. You could say it was literally a layer by layer scan of the human body at many different ways unimaginable to a human mind.
  After the full-body scan was finished, Victor Keys sat on a human sized chair as Ratchet beamed a holographic picture of Key’s damaged eyes for him to see, while Perceptor explains the specifics of the damage caused by the boronic acid caused by Doctor Arkeville on his eyes. “As you can see…” Perceptor pointed at the areas of damage he highlighted in red with the laser pointer built inside his fingertips “the areas of the damaged tissue and cells is quite large, and they encompass the entire sections of your eyes and the skin around it. However, after some research with other medical doctors and some experiments, I have managed to find a way to repair your eyes.” “And that is…?” prompted Victor as he raised an eyebrow while reading the information displayed on the hologram. “Cryogenic regeneration operation treatment.” said Ratchet simply while Perceptor chuckled at the fact that a human doctor was treated by a cybertronian doctor, and yet not know the specifics of their medical treatment.
  Cryogenic regeneration operation treatment was one of the most complex ways of medical treatment even to cybertronian and human doctors. The patient was put in cryogenic stasis while the machines operated by Ratchet would operate on the precise area where medical treatment was essentially needed. “How long would that take? And what were the results?” Keys asked as he read the specifics of the CROT in a tiny file handed to him by Ratchet. “At best, a single week of treatment and you don’t need those special spectacles anymore. I have tested it on over a hundred patients and all the tests were one hundred percent success.” Ratchet answered as he continues to scroll through Victor’s medical report in the holographic readout.
  “Alright then. I would go for this surgery after I have sorted out all the work and reported to Optimus Prime on the replacement Allspark and the “Mindlocker” devices that I have invented for capturing the Decepticons.” Keys said as he typed a few words into the tiny computer panel on Ratchet’s computer before gathering his stuff and leaving for the Central Command Center to meet Optimus Prime and his sub-commanders, with Ratchet and Perceptor in tow. Optimus has requested his assistance and an update on the development of the device that can interfere with the relays in the mind of a transformer by imbedding computer viruses within the central processor, which Keys named as “Mindlocker”, and Keys has perfected the design, of which he is now going to give it to the Autobots to put into good use.

****

Autobot City Command Hub (a.k.a. A.C.C.B.)_
Central Command Center_
Operations Room Alpha-Omega_
20 Minutes Later_

  The computerised large blast doors of the Operations Room slid silently apart after it verified the identities of Victor Keys, Ratchet and Perceptor. Anyone who steps into this room would be rendered senseless by the large amounts of computer screens and panels on the sphere like walls. Each screen displayed a different kind of report, ranging from world news, social issues, wars, political unrest, world news, scientific development, economics, geographical happenings, to the various systems that monitor the entire Command Hub. Autobots such as Jazz, Bumblebee, Prowl, and Bluestreak were seated in revolving command chairs and customized workspaces, which moves around the entire Command Center, allowing them to observe and record everything that happens on earth with pinpoint accuracy. Seated in the Middle of the Command Center, with a large holographic control panel that spans across the room with several holographic buttons and command consoles, was the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. He was busy working away on answering reports from several Autobot Strike Teams fighting the Decepticons around the universe, and at the same time, keeping an optic on the political and military reports streaming in through the various news channels. The sounds of various reports around the world punctuated the entire room, occasionally increasing in pitch and tone as reports sometimes become frantic or important.
  “Prime, Keys is here.” said Ratchet as he and Perceptor saluted and stood at ease, while watching Prime and his sub-commanders turned from their respective consoles and muted the sounds of the computer screens around them. “Welcome to Autobot City, Victor Keys.” Prime said as he extended his finger as a human can’t shake his entire hand. Keys shook his finger as a gesture of politeness and said, “Pleased to meet you again. I have come as requested, Optimus Prime.”
  Optimus palmed his hand on a control panel and a large table and a few chairs extened from the floor of the Command Center. “Teleran one, seal the Command Center, no one enters here unless authorized personel.” Optimus said as he took a seat gestured Victor and his sub-commanders to do the same. “Acknowledged, Optimus Prime.” came the feminine robotic voice of Teleran one as it sealed the place and switched on systems to prevent eavesdroppers.
  “So, what new information do you have for us? I would like to hear some updates on your projects and the development on the Mindlockers.” Prime said as he watched Victor Keys opening his briefcase and taking out a Laptop and several Mindlockers. Victor opened his laptop and connected it to the holographic system, and the pictures of his projects and the MindLocker devices appeared on the holograms generated by the system. The group of Autobots listened carefully as they watched the pictures that appeared on the screens, and Victor Keys’s presentation on his projects and most importantly of all, the new Mindlocker device he created to capture a Decepticon by simply attaching it to the head of any Decepticon to immobilize it and allowing it to be captured by the Autobots. It was a very interesting countermeaure, and they all accepted it as a pretty well-thought and created piece of hardware that even Perceptor and Wheeljack have problems creating. Keys was undeniably a genius as what the rest of the humans have said, and it turns out to be very true indeed.
  Optimus Prime nodded with satisfaction as Keys finished his explanation of the Mindlocker devices he developed.  “You seem to be more than a genius, Keys. I am very impressed by that. You have even developed a device that none of us have ever succeeded in making.” Wheeljack said as he picked up one of the Mindlocker device in his hand and took a careful look at it. Somehow it resembles a microchip to him. Perceptor was busy tinkering with the Mindlocker device with his tools while Ratchet was reading the manual on how the Mindlocker works. Bumblebee and Bluestreak, on the other hand, were pressing the various buttons on the Mindlocker devices to see whether they worked. Even Optimus Prime was peering at the complex combination of chips and wires inside the Mindlocker device unit.
  “I guess it’s my talent in helping those in need. I am still creating ways of making the Dinobots more intelligent and the Autobots faster, stronger and smarter. Even as I speak, my development teams at Keys’ industries were helping me with this task. I can’t promise anything now, but when there are new developments I will surely inform you of it. These new Mindlocker devices would be handed over to you and the human military forces, so to give you all an advantage to capture a Decepticon and bring it to you all intact. In this way we can help to capture the Decepticons and prevent the world from escalating into war.” Keys said as he tapped the laptop’s screen, which was displaying the attacks of the Decepticons around the world.
  “Don’t worry about the Decepticons, the Autobots will take care of them, what we need now is a key to victory and it seems we have achieved it with your help. Thank you for your assistance, Victor Keys. It is much appreciated.” Optimus Prime said as he studied the Mindlocker devices that Keys has put on the table. The rest of the Autobots merely nodded their heads in agreement. “How I wish you were an Autobot Keys, if only primus can make that true. You could do so much more in helping us in the war effort.” Jazz said with a grin that was as large as his face. Wheeljack and Perceptor nodded in agreement when they heard that. “Yeah, go and cram your processor into your tailpipe Jazz, he’s a human for primus’s sake. But it would be nice if you are a Transformer.” Prowl said as he looked at Keys. Victor chuckled at the thought, and said, “Well, I must say that is just wishful thinking, unless you can turn me into one with the technology you have at your disposal, Prowl and Jazz.” while he removed his spectacles and began to polish them with a piece of tissue. Optimus smiled and said nothing when he heard that., and Bumblebee was far too busy fascinated by the Mindlocker devices to even notice the conversation.
  And so the conversation continued for several hours, with the discussion of how to capture a Decepticon and end the tensions between the various superpowers on Earth. It was late into the night before Victor finished all the details of the updates he presented to Optimus Prime and his sub-commanders,  was informed of the next meeting a few days later, bidding the team of Autobots goodbye at the gates of Autobot City and taking a lift from Jazz to his home.