The next scene of importance to our story, it takes place later that very same day at the home of one Special Agent Chrysalis. Well, actually by the time this scene takes place, dusk had long fallen over the streets of Canterlot and the moon was high in the sky.
Outside the little home nestled deep within the sprawl of suburbia -Being a Special Agent of the FBI didn’t pay as well as you might have expected- a certain cat-bot was on the prowl. Metallic fangs glinting in the low light, eyes a deep red, this was the same Decepticon that had been keeping an eye on Special Agent Fowler a few hours before.
Unlike the some of the other dimwits she had to work with, Howlback prided herself on her intelligence. She knew who Steeljaw had gone after once he’d found Sunder, and so she looked into any possible family relations of Sunny Flare’s through the magic of what the humans called the Internet, and more specifically social networking pages. Primus knew humans loved to talk about their social lives. What ailed them, who was breaking up with who, what movies they went to see and other such non-important gossips. However, unlike Steeljaw who wasn’t nearly as intelligent as he liked to think of himself, Howlback actually went as far as to see who Sunny Flare was related to, and that led her to Fowler. From there, she managed to actually hack into an FBI database from a computer and look at who he was generally associated within his line of work, learning who might have been helping the Autobots stay hidden.
Granted, it had taken a bit of work, and going through a lot of FBI firewalls but she’d found who who’d been assigned to the Autobot case, known as the MUETO (Massive Unidentified Extraterrestrial Organism) case in the files. Humans, as much as Howlback hated to admit it, were a lot smarter than she gave them credit for.
At least some of them anyways.
And apparently, they really loved acronyms.
Either way, Howlback’s search had led to her to Chrysalis, one of the three humans helping the Autobots and acting as their liaisons on Earth. She, being a government agent herself, had attracted Howlback’s interest. Most would think this to be a terrible thing, really, given the Decepticon’s reputation as one of those bots who was a master at striking fear into others. It was a very good tool during her time with the public safety unit of the government, shutting down insurgencies and the like. Actually, that was why she was here on Earth, but more on that later.
The particulars of Chrysalis’ personality, and what she did for a living (Redacted or not) attracted Howlback to her. Not in a sexual sense, but one of curiosity. She was a cat, after all. Or at least a mechanical one.
Back to Howlback’s role in the public safety forces and her reasons for being on Earth. Like I said, she was a lot smarter than the average member of Onslaught’s crew, and played the ice cold killer and stalker part very well. But in reality, the Cybertronian government at the request of Nova Prime himself had sent her in undercover as a mole within the ranks to get information on what Onslaught was doing, who he had with him, and to feed that information back to the Autobots if possible.
Hiding in the shrubbery in Chrysalis’ backyard, and being very careful not to make even the slightest noise, the jaguar watched what went on inside the house and waited for a chance to make her move and approach the agent and form a possible alliance. Currently, all was dark. That was fine, Howlback was a patient enough Con.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Chrysalis stirred in her sleep and looked at the currently nude form of the white-skinned woman beside her. A fine catch in her mind, and such a lovely woman to spend the night with. Quite remarkably intelligent as well, if not a bit tightly wound. Suppose one did get a lot of pent-up stress teaching a bunch of hormonal high-schoolers.
“Yes,” Chrysalis thought with a very satisfied smile. “A lot of pent-up stress.”
Running her fingers through the Principal’s hair, she kissed her on the nape of her neck and smiled a bit as the woman moaned a little in her sleep.
Chrysalis groaned as she realized she was feeling a bit parched, and threw off the covers before pulling an old and ratty t-shirt that was much too big for Chrysalis over herself as she headed towards the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. As she did so, she flicked on a light switch that illuminated the kitchen, which just so happened to be connected to the back porch via a sliding glass door.
Outside, as Chrysalis turned on the sink and let the water fill a small glass, Howlback smiled and moved forwards, the bushes ruffling as she did so. Chrysalis’ eyes widened as she heard the sound, and on instinct went for a cupboard and pulled out a small pistol before she carefully slid open the back door and pointed her weapon at the shrubbery. Hardly an intimidating sight, but hopefully the pistol would be enough to ward off any burglar who decided it would be stupid enough to rob the house of an FBI agent.
Mind you, what she hadn’t been counting on was a midnight blue jaguar to come out of the bushes and approach her with no sense of fear. Then again, why would it, given the rather large purple symbol adorning her -if the form was any indication- side.
Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed, and the jaguar actually seemed to laugh at that.
“I’m sorry,” Howlback chuckled darkly, speaking in some high-class accent that reminded Chrysalis of that Rarity girl. “But really, what could you do to me?”
“Well, if you were a male, or a female human, I’d put a strawberry in your mouth, take you up to my room, put this gun between your ribs, and tell him to sit tight, or I'd arrest them for stalking. Then I’d do it anyways.”
“...That is really sexy,” Howlback laughed. “But relax, you’ve got nothing to fear from me.”
“Hard to believe that coming from the words of a jaguar who actually does seem to be stalking me in the dead of night, with a Decepticon symbol on their side.” Chrysalis shot back.
“Fair point, but I can prove I’m not out to get you. Go on, give Special Agent Fowler a call,” Howlback remarked, and Chrysalis gave her a strange look. “Go on, go ahead and take your time. I’m a patient enough femme.”
Chrysalis gave Howlback an understandably cautious look, but all the same, backed into her home and grabbed her cell phone all the while never taking her eyes off the Con, who was currently stretching herself.
“Fowler,” Chrysalis said into the phone, keeping it on speaker. “Sorry for the late night wake-up call, as believe me I’m really not happy to be up at this time of night either, but I’ve got a robotic jaguar with the Decepticon symbol telling me to call you and prove her innocence.”
“Oh,” Fowler commented, sounding rather pissed off. “That might explain why I’m currently staring down a robotic wolf with the Predacon symbol in my living room!”
“Oh, is that Feral Steel?” Howlback asked in a rather cheery tone, getting up off the grass. “Tell him I said hello!”
“Oh, so that’s his name?” Fowler asked, still quite furious. Whether that could be chalked up to the unexpected intrusion of the Predacon kind, or the fact that he’d been woken up this late at night was uncertain at this juncture.
“William is it?” Howlback asked politely, and in a rather delicate tone.
“I wasn’t aware we were on a first name basis, ‘Con,” Fowler growled out.
“Yes, I’m rather sorry about Feral Steel. He never was one for manners, most Predacons aren’t I’m afraid. It’s all hack and slash to them. Admittedly, a few of them have complained about this to my bosses back on Cybertron, but it does them no good when they act this… shall we say unbecoming and unwelcoming?”
“Yes indeed,” Chrysalis thought. “She certainly reminds me of that Rarity kid, along with perhaps a little bit of Fowler’s daughter thrown in as well.”
Now, a few years before, even since the “Giant winged she-demon mind control zombie incident’ for lack of a better term as the FBI called it at CHS, a few of their agents Chrysalis amongst them had been assigned to keep an eye on those kids who were involved with dealing with it. Personally, a large part of Chrysalis hated keeping tabs on teenagers like they were terrorists or something, -Perhaps a gross exaggeration of things, she admitted- but the other part of her that was loyal to the FBI told her that any potential threats must be monitored.
“Oh, so that’s what you call breaking down my door?” Fowler asked Howlback, who had to fight back and suppress a sigh. His night had started off like any other, have a beer and kick off his shoes to watch the game and try not to worry about his daughter so much before falling asleep on the couch. Of course, that sleep had been rather rudely interrupted by this wolf.
“Again, I apologize, not all Predacons are as well mannered as Sunder,” Howlback replied. “If I had known Feral Steel was going to be so… crude I wouldn’t have contacted him and instead have sent Sunder in his place so we can try and bolster relations.”
“That’s a laugh, coming from a Decepticon!” Fowler snarled. “You and your band have been trying to kill all of us ever since you crash landed on this planet!”
Howlback, and Chrysalis, of course, could understand Fowler’s wariness. He was a member of an organization trying to keep the US and now the world from falling to Onslaught’s heels. And more than that, he was a parent of a child now in Autobot hands. Granted, both Howlback and Chrysalis knew they would do everything in their power to keep humankind safe, as the Autobot creed went: “Freedom was the right of all sentient beings” but there was always that chance they could slip up. Humans were much more fragile than Cybertronians. One fired shot, one misstep, and that’d be the end of it.
“Sadly, yes, I admit that’s true. But Onslaught does not speak for all Decepticons, nor all Cybertronians for that matter.” Howlback replied, trying to defuse the situation.
“Oh, and you do?”
“Let her speak, William,” Chrysalis put in, in a warning tone. “While I highly doubt she’d set Feral on you, given her distaste for him, it would be wise for both of us to hear what she has to say.”
“Thank you,” Howlback replied, although Chrysalis shot her a warning look. It was clear, although she was willing to listen, she didn’t trust her one bit. Not that Howlback could blame her, admitting she worked for Onslaught did her no favors. Clearing her throat, the cat-bot continued. “Now, while I cannot claim to speak for all Decepticons or all Cybertronians as I’m hardly a Prime or anything close to it, I can tell you this much, I share your distaste for Onslaught. He’s a brute, and a rogue. I was sent undercover in his crew by my government to keep tabs on his doings, find out who was amongst his crew, and if possible, find out as much about them as possible and sent this information off to the proper authorities which in this situation would be Prowl and any high-ranking humans he trusted. Apparently, from what I’ve heard, you and Chrysalis here are some of them.”
“Very Special Agent Chrysalis.” the woman in question corrected. Howlback, of course, ignored her as she stared directly at the phone on the kitchen countertop.
Apparently, Howlback’s explanation caught Fowler off guard. “P-Prowl trusts me?” he stuttered out. “B-But why?”
“That I cannot know, but apparently he does if he’s willing to work with you. I’ve met him before, the man does not let others into his circle that easily. Perhaps he sees something in you I don’t, a loyalty to your government, and more accurately your species. I cannot say. Whatever the case, you would be wise to work with him, and trust him more.” Howlback replied, and out of the corner of her optics, she noticed Chrysalis was slowly beginning to lower her gun.
“I-I’ll try,” Fowler stuttered out. “But what proof do we have that we can trust you?”
“None, at the moment, I admit,” Howlback sighed. “But I will try and remedy that. For now, I’d like you and Chrysalis to have what information I’ve gathered on Onslaught and his crew so far. Vocal recordings, holotapes, and a crew manifesto. I’m somewhat aware of the fact that neither you nor the Autobots know the full list of former soldiers and various members of the criminal element that this poor excuse for a Cybertronian has with him.”
“Any information is good information…” Chrysalis sighed, as a small little vent on Howlback’s head opened up and revealed what looked to be the Cybertronian version of a flash drive.
“I have to ask,” Fowler remarked, his tone losing some of it’s edge now that Howlback had opened up and explained herself. “Why did you sent a Predacon to my house in the first place?”
“To guard you and your family of course,” Howlback answered simply as Chrysalis studied the little flash drive in her hands. “You of all people should well be well aware of how easily damaged humankind is. Granted, my choice of guard could have been better, but-”
“Say no more,” Fowler muttered, Feral Steel now having curled up in the corner of the room like a regular dog might do. “I do understand.”
“For the record Special Agent William Fowler,” Howlback replied, using his full title as a sign of respect. “On behalf of the Cybertronian race, I’m so sorry you and your family had to get caught up in this.”
For a long while, Fowler said nothing, before he answered. “...Thank you.”
With that, the call dropped. Howlback padded towards the door, and back to the shrubbery. “I suppose now I must take my leave, I’ve overstayed my welcome as it is. I have to get back to the wreck of the Darksyde, otherwise, Onslaught would get suspicious of my whereabouts. I’ve been gone far too long.”
“Wait,” Chrysalis said. “Can’t you at least tell us where this ‘Darksyde’ is? Perhaps I could get Agent Fowler to scramble up a few bombers, and-”
“Onslaught would know at once how you learned of his base’s location, and he would have your human pilots shot down before they could even do any damage. Nothing of value would be accomplished, and innocent lives would be lost. The cost would be too great, I believe it was your Joseph Stalin who once said: “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” That is not true. Every death, every life lost is a tragedy, and I intend to make sure that as many tragedies are averted as possible.”
With that, Howlback leaped off into the darkness leaving Chrysalis to think on her words.