This fic happens about a couple of months after Lynx is born. Blaze has moved back to her regular quarters and  Phoenix and Mags are back to their normal lifestyle until... well read on to find out more. 

Under the gun was something which nobody would want. The black and dark green aerial bot moved his raging red optics in the direction of Magnus, who was towering over him, as he was crouching down for his laser. Magnus was totally fixed on the enemy in front of him. Before this day Metroplex had been quite peaceful, until the booming attack. The `Cons had just shattered most of the east wing of the complex. Ultra Magnus hadn't seen Megatron, only new Decepticons which were unrecognizable to any of the Autobots. Now here he was aiming his blaster at a vicious dark green aerial bot, who was sneering at him with his silver metalic teeth shining through to show him his agression. The bot under the gun knew full well why Megatron was not present at this battle. 

Most of the Autobots on earth were now at Metroplex and battling the enemy, more Decepticons were fighting back though. As Autobot city commander,  Ultra Magnus had made the advance towards the leading`Cons. They hadn't broken into Metroplex but had caused severe damage to the east side when they first overflew the city. Magnus had come close to Starscream and Soundwave who were the commanders but was intercepted by this black and dark green aerial bot before him. The two opposing sides fought it out and soon Magnus had round housed the Decepticon to drop his weapon and was now the main target of Mags' blaster. 

Tension building the Decepticon was thinking as fast as he could on how to escape this. "Any last words?" Magnus was dead serious at ending this little raid made by the `Cons, he had been in his private quarters with Phoenix when this happened and now he was as angry as a bear, not caring at all what he did to the enemy. "Don't count on your victory so soon." With these words the Decepticon sideswiped Magnus off his feet and watched him fall over to his side. Grabbing his gun and about to turn and run, the dark green Decepticon heard his comrade yelling his name and approching them. "Cyprus! I'm coming." The comotion came from a navy blue jet fighter, who was running closer to engage Magnus. Magnus roared, quickly getting to his feet he eyed his new attacker and narrowed his optics. "This ends now!!! Growl!!!" Blowing with all his might the enraged Magnus flashed his blaster full force at the navy Decepticon. The force of the blow sent the aerial bot's chest up in a haze of an explosion and the fire envelopedhim and soon the smoke poured out from his optics and mouth covering the audio wrenching scream he let out. 

Letting out a cry of rage the black and dark green Decepticon, namely Cyprus, turned and made his way over to the now melted heap of slag, which was his comrade. "Vortex!!! Grrrrrrr... You're gonna pay for this Autobot!!!" Cyprus made his anger almost destroy himself, but instead he harnessed it to move straight toward Magnus, who shot his optics wide but stood his ground. Ramming right into the chest of Magnus he sent the commander over onto his back and he took his photon laser aiming right and Magnus's forehead. "You killer, time for you to rust in peace." Cyprus was just a blurr of agression, he put his left foot on top of Magnus'chest and pushed him down hard.  Magnus just stared right up at him his mouth open slightly, his hands were held up defensively, optics open wide. The time spent there was like a millenium, out of the corner of one optic Magnus saw Phoenix running toward them, tears streaming down her face for she feared his end. Cyprus was about to pull the trigger and extinguish Magnus' spark he way he had extinguished Vortex's, when he felt arms on his shoulders pulling him away. Lowering his laser Cyprus looked over to see a pair of crimson hands on his shoulders, he knew her right away. 

"Let's get out of here, the Autobots have defeated us. Starscream has ordered a retreat. The Autobots are headed this way!!" This came from the voice of a femme, she was a bright crimson red and had the Decepticon symbol on her wing tips. He resisted for a minute thentransformed with her into their jet fighter modes and went back to Astrotrain. "Embers, I thought I told you not to interfere with my battles!" The black and dark green jet whurred to the bright red jet's side, and circled once. "If I hadn't gotten you out of there the rest of the Autobots would have slagged your sorry carcuss to the farthest of Jupiter's moons!" Grimacing inside of his CPU the black jet silenced his vocals and the two flew into the back of the open hatch of Astrotrain and transformed. The rest of the Decepticons ran into the shuttle and soon they lifted off the ground. Looking out of a view window, Cyprus saw Magnus get up and grasp Phoenix in his arms. He watched the silent drama from the inside of Astrotrain. <He really loves that femme> Cyprus lowered his robotic form to the  cool metal of Astrotrain's floor, letting one of his legs lay staight out while the other was bend in towards his chest. Across from him Embers was seated and staring him lovingly in the optics. Her image gave him an idea, a good one for his revenge. He wouldn't let Magnus go without paying for his crime of killing Vortex. Glancing one more time out of the view window he saw the world beneath them grow smaller as well as the couple of Magnus and Phoenix, along with the lifeless form of Vortex. Just before they left he saw a small little femme run up to Magnus, he had seen Zypher. <Your going to pay for this Magnus, and I assure you that!> 

On the ground, the Autobots witnessed the exit of the Decepticons and they lowered their weapons glad the battle was over, they had won. Ultra Magnus was grasping Phoenix close to his massive frame and he glanced down at his daughter as she clung to his leg. "Are you all right Nix?" Phoenix let her tears end for a minute before answering him. "I'm not the one who almost got slagged to death. Thank Primus you're still functioning, that Decepticon could've finished you off if they hadn't retreated." She clentched him closer to her lithe frame and she felt his arms around her grow tighter. "Daddy, what happened?" The tiny blue and white femme now was between her parents as she trembled with fear. "Nothing you have to worry about any more sweetie." The couple parted and Phoenix picked up the trembling femme into her arms hugging her to calm her down. 

"They hit the east side of Metroplex really badly, hopefully we didn't have any casualities." Magnus was blank faced as he thought of the Autobots who had major residency in the east wing of the complex, then a thought sent shivers down his muscle cables, he knew who lived in that area. "Nix, we have to see what happened in that area, I just remembered that Springer, Arcee as well as Blaze live over in that region of Metroplex. Phoenix dropped her jaw wide open, her best friend couldn't be hurt. She kept her hope alive, though she hadn't seen him in the fight against the Decepticons as well as Blaze. Shuddering under her own preminitions of doom, her along with Magnus, Zypher and several other Autobots went to the area of major destruction. 

The heavy tironium alloy wall which covered the east wing had been blasted open and most of the quarters and rooms in that area were totalled, Springer's and Blaze's included."Oh Primus!" They re-entered Metroplex and ran on their way to the ruins of the east wing. The other Autobots sweeped through the rubble to find their fellow Autobots. Phoenix swept away from Magnus' side and went toward Springer's "quarters" while she did this Ultra Magnus ran as fast as he could toward their other friend's "quarters", Blaze. Magnus hoped to Primus that she was okay along with her new baby daughter Lynx. Zypher was running with Phoenix and crying silent tears to herself trying to comprehend what had happened. The little femme had known it was the Decepticons but she never had been in the heat of a battle. During which she kept in the shadows hiding as she watched her parents fight with unfamiliar mechs. 

Rounding the corner of a hallway, Phoenix came up to the doors which led to Springer's "quarters". They were melted and had blaster marks written all over them. The destruction was mainly caused by a series of blaster shots and a couple of inferno bombs. Phoenix entered the room and she felt totally alienated, for within the room everything was burned, rubble everywhere most of the place was unrecognizable to her. She felt Zypher cling to her leg and Phoenix despretely called out Springer's name and Arcee's. She tried sweeping through the ruins of Springer's place. As she made her way to the lounge she heard a faint cry for help come from a recharge room. Busting through the door, Phoenix bit back her emotion chips as she saw Arcee clutching the limp form of Springer in her arms. Arcee herself was damaged heavily, but Springer had half of his chest opened. After a moment of shock Zypher ran from the room in to what was left of the lounge. Phoenix didn't hesitate to go to Springer's side. "He's still functioning.....we need to get him help fast." Arcee was in functioning condition all she needed was a small overlook. Phoenix placed her hand on Springer's cheek and he gave asmall groan. "Don't worry he's gonna be all right." She lifted Springer as best she could and the two femmes exited the quarters, racing down to the Medbay. 

Ultra Magnus reached the doors to Blaze's demolished quarters, he entered and saw a pure black singed mess before him. The ruins of the living space was so horrid that he didn't even know if she and Lynx had survive, he only hoped. Running to her recharge room he saw the berth over turned and the furniture toppled everwhere. The impact from most of the inferno bombs created earthquake like situations. "Blaze?" Magnus questioned the stone cold air. Then with that he heard a baby start to cry. Lynx was still functioning, that ment she was with Blaze. Magnus moved the over turned recharge berth, underneath it Blaze was there holding Lynx in her arms. "Blaze, are you all right?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and she moved her head up slightly. "I think so, but what happened?" Magnus held out his hand and helped her to her feet. "It was a full scale Decepticon attack, all of them were new Decepticons we never have encountered. I think Megatron sent them out to test their abilities." "Where's Prime?" "He's up on  Cybertron, we were the only ones here at the time." The two didn't say too much more but made their way down to the Medbay, surely that's where most of the Autobots were. 

Back at the Decepticon HQ, Cyprus along with Embers were sitting in the barracks on their own. Embers sat next to Cyprus and he had his arm around her shoulders.  "I think this plan will work. I know that you can pull it off Em." Cyprus had been talking to her about his idea he had gotten while on Astrotrain. Embers had the ability to change her shape to match anyone she wished. She sort of created a hologram around herself and then made her own voice sound like the one she was impersonating. Cyprus wanted vengence for his deceased friend Vortex. Embers would help him do this. He had seen how Magnus loved his femme, Phoenix. It gave him the idea he needed to get close enough to Magnus to kill him totally. He told Embers to impersonate Phoenix, using her form she would then lure him into a trap and then give Cyprus a chance to get close enough to kill him. "You're plan will work, then Magnus will have paid for killing Vortex." "Then let's put this into action, Embers go and contact me when phase one is done." With that the red Decepticon femme got up and she stretched her thin frame. "You got it love." He go up to meet her height and he kissed her once on the lips and as she turned to leave she gave him a little wink. On her way to mess with Magnus' mind. 

Springer gave a groan and he turned on his optics as he felt a pain in his head. The stabbing feeling never left his chest as he tried to get up. "Whoa there big guy!" Arcee was by his side along with Phoenix. "Where am I?" Springer was disoriented he shook his head as he brought a hand to massauge the short of his jaw line.  "You're in the Medbay, you have quite a nasty wound from the attack by the `cons.  Now lie back down, First Aid still has to do more repairs to your systems." Arcee gentely pushed him back down on his back, the green triple changer sighed with a tone of pain in it and flashed his optics off. First Aid started to make more repairs on him after he finished examining Blaze and her daughter Lynx who only had a scratch on their paint jobs. Many hours past and Phoenix and Arcee were relieved when Springer re-awoke to be in perfect functioning order. Embers was on her way in jet stealth mode back to Metroplex. Prime had been alerted by Blaster and Ultra Magnus tried to figure out where the Aut bots whose quarters where destroyed were going to stay. In the end all had been assigned  quarters to share with other Autobots. In the end Springer, Arcee, Blaze and Lynx were going to stay with him and Phoenix. Entering their quarters, Phoenix was tired beyond belief. Springer and Arcee went into recharge while Blaze sat on the couch with her baby in her arms. The only one not in the quarters was Ultra Magnus. He was still in the command center and working on how to start fixing the regions of Metroplex as fast as possible, the area had all its security systems blow away and anyone could enter without the Autobots knowing it. This was just the situation Embers took advantage of. She was in stealth mode cloaked by their scanners and she lowered her jet form through the mangled tironium alloy wall to enter Metroplex fully. She transformed to her femme robotic form. 

She looked all over the halls and soon she let her systems shimmer. He own appearance melted away and soon she was a complete replica of Phoenix, down to every tiny detail even her flame patterned paint. Walking toward the Medbay she intended full well to get to Magnus. The real Phoenix was back in her quarters and soon was in recharge. Embers now made her way through the halls of the enemies she hated with passion. If she had her way she'd kill all of them who came by her path. Soon one of those enemies indeed did cross her path, it was Rodania. This Autobot femme was the real Phoenix's sister. "Hey Nix! I'm glad I ran into you, Magnus asked me to find you and to report to the command center he needs you." The Phoenix imposter glared down at the young femme and twisted her face into an annoyed look of disgust. "Whatever, I'll see him in all due time. Now get out of my way you little pest." Rodania shot her optics wide as "Phoenix" pushed her aside and walked down the rest of the corridor. "What crawled up your exhaust pipe and died?" She was angry and confused. <Why would Nix speak to me like that?> The red femme kept on going down the hall toward Rodimus' quarters, he had also been asked to come to the command center. 

Embers was fuming. She didn't think this mission was going to get her annoyed and angry. She had done this for Cyprus, she loved him to much to disappoint him.Vortex had been his best friend and some how  she knew that this act of revenge wasn't the best plan of vengence, still she kept on task. The doors to the command center whoosed open and the imposter of Phoenix walked in.  Magnus walked over to see her enter, he smiled at her then turned his expression to a serious one. "Nix, Prime has imformed me that he can't get down here for quite some time. There's a battle going on Cybertron. Prime's also found out that our attack was just a training round for the Decepticon rookies. That's a pretty powerful new set of `cons." "You bet it is." Magnus turned his head to the side for a minute then he arched one optic ridge, "What did you say?" "Never mind that, do you know how long it's been since I've been alone with you." Purring the imposter made her hands snake up and down his large frame.  He didn't believe there is, after all that just happened she wanted *that*? This wasn't like the Phoenix he knew and he pulled back from the advancing "Phoenix".  

"Nix, what are you doing. This isn't the time or place for this. Further more don't see the extremity of our situation right now?" She continued her advances and he shuddered with confusion. "You gotta learn to have fun sometimes." "But we have  the base to worry about, damaged comrades, not doing this." He pushed her away and that got Embers totally pissed off she reached into subspace and pulled out her cyber laser pointing it straight at his optics. Magnus was totally surprised at this. "Hold on Nix, what's going with you. This isn't like you at all." He held up his hands and was about to move toward he when she tightened her aim. "Don't even move blue boy." She signaled Cyprus on her personal commlink."Cyprus this is Embers. Scrap the mission. I've got Ultra Magnus under my control. Fly by and pick me up with our prisoner." The other robot on the other end of the commlink acknowledged and was on his way over to personally exterminate Magnus. While she was finishing her transmission, Magnus lept to the side and she fired at him blowing half the console top off. He lunged at her after she missed him. Escaping his grip she turned and ran out of the command center. Magnus got to his feet and started after the fake Phoenix. <She's a Decepticon spy! No one impersonates my love and gets away with it.> 

Embers ran down the corridors with a clunking Magnus behind her. The Autobots witnessing the chase saw Ultra Magnus hunting down his bonded partner. Embers ran as fast as she could, not knowing why she just didn't stand her ground and finish him off. Soon she ran to the level where the city commander's quarter were. She rammed right into his quarters startling Blaze, the real Phoenix, Springer and Arcee. "Nix? If you're there how can you be here?" Confused most of the Autobots in the room just kept switching their heads from one Phoenix to the next. Embers ran into the room and  went right beside Phoenix taking her neck under her arm. Almost choking her in the process. Ultra Magnus ran in a this time and saw the two identical Phoenixes. Now it made sense to him.Embers dragged the struggling Phoenix over to the window and she aimed her gun at Magnus. He took out his blaster and held onto it behind his back. The real Phoenix jabbe Embers in the side and she almost punched her in the face., but she was free. 

The two look alikes grabbed onto each other and soon were spinning around and Magnus lost track of which femme to shoot. He didn't want to hit his mate. Stopping the two stood side by side and Magnus was aiming his blaster at them but switching which side to fire at. "Mags don't shoot me." One of them said. "Shoot her Mags she the imposter." Confused he didn't know which one to shoot. "Mags I know you won't show me, I'm the only one who knows of your scar on your butt." He knew then the one on the left truely was Phoenix. He turned his gun on the right imposter and fired the femme fell to the ground and she screamed. He had hit Ember all right but only in her shoulder. The imposter femme let her disguise fade away showing her true Decepticon form. "Watch you back Ultra Magnus, we'll be back. And on that day you'll never live to see the next." Embers got up and started to run to the door. Back down the halls the red femme ran toward the command center. Magnus ran after with Phoenix close behind him.  

In the command center when they arrived they saw Embers standing on the junked console and the window glass broken as she fired a few shots in their direction and transformed. She left in her red jet form and blasted out toward a black and dark green jet, they soon were tiny specks in the distance. "Are you all right Nix?" He took his hand and ran it gentely down he jaw line. "I'm fine dear, thanks for not shooting me." He blushed and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her waist bringing her closer to himself. "You chose quite an interesting way of saying it was truely you though." Magnus chuckled and remembered, Phoenix had been the only one to see the scar on his backside. Magnus held her closer as they looked out of the window at the night sky. What destruction they had faced that day. Magnus smiled at her, she was the only Phoenix he could ever love. The Decepticons would return someday, indeed Cyprus and Embers had a death sentence on Magnus' head, but still the Autobots didn't shake in fear. They always would send the Decepticons howling back to their shadows.