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[mealstromknight96]

Transformers Prime: Iron Man Chapter 4

The next day as Jack was leaving work, he noticed that Arcee was parked in the exact same place he had met her for the first time. Walking over, he wondered why she was here. Maybe to keep an eye on him? Who knows?

“Arcee really, Miko already tried last night. Tell Optimus that I respect him, but if you’re fighting a war with the Decepticons, then I want no part of it.” He said.

“Optimus didn’t send me Jack.” Arcee replied. Sighing she continued on. “Maybe it’s the grief talking, but I just lost someone I cared about. Maybe you’ve grown on me. But whatever it is, I’m not ready to lose another partner.”

"I truly am sorry for your loss Arcee, but…..I just don’t think I can join in on your war.” Jack said as he turned away from Arcee and looked at the KO Burger sign.

“I understand Jack. And goodbye.” Arcee said before she activated her holoform and drove off.

Sighing, Jack turned to watch Arcee speed off, before he went to unlock his bike and head back to his workshop. Peddling his way to his workshop, Jack kept going back to what Miko had said about him last night, about him being a hero, about being born to do more. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about what his father had told him when he was six years old.

Flashback

Jack opened the front door as he returned from school and saw his mother preparing dinner, while his father was watching the TV.

“Welcome home Jack. How was – JACK!!” His mother cried out as she saw the state that her son was in.

Getting off from the couch, Aaron Darby quickly made his way to Jack and knelt down in front of him while June went for the medical kit. Taking a closer look at Jack, Aaron saw that he had a busted lip and a few bruises on his face. Taking his bag away from him, Aaron carried Jack to the couch where June was waiting for them.

Setting Jack down and letting his wife help heal their son, Aaron sat down on the nearby chair and covered his face in his hand and sighed. Once June was done, Aaron looked at Jack, who was covering his face by curling into a ball, trying to be as small as possible.

“Jack.” Aaron spoke up. “Jack look at me and tell me what happened.”

Jack looked up at his father but kept silent. Sighing, Aaron got off his chair and knelt in front of his son. “Jack, please I need to know what happened to you. You’re not going to be in trouble.”

Sighing, Jack kept silent until he decided to speak up. “It was Vince and his friends, they were bullying one of my classmates after school. I told them to leave him alone, but they simply laughed at me. When I didn’t they - .” at that Jack clammed shut.

“They what Jack? What did they do to you?” Aaron asked.

“They beat me up. After they were done they left. When I tried to help my classmate, he yelled at me for helping him. He told me that he didn’t ask for my help and that I should just stay away from him.” Jack explained. “Was he right dad? Did I do the right thing helping him? Even if he didn’t ask for it.”

Looking at his son, Aaron smiled at him and sat next to his son on the couch. “Listen to me Jack. What you did was indeed the right thing. I want you to remember what I’m about to tell you ok. Can you do that?” he asked. Getting a nod from Jack, Aaron continued. “Doing what is right sometimes doesn’t always reward you with a thank you. What you did was heroic, Jack. Even if you don’t believe it yourself. I believe there’s a hero in all of us. That keeps us honest. Gives us strength. Makes us noble. And finally allow us to die with pride. Even though we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most….even our dreams.”

“So doing what is right, makes us a hero?” Jack asked.

“Exactly Jack.” Aaron praised. “You know those comics you read? The one’s with the superheroes.” He asked getting a nod from Jack. “You know how they don’t always get praised for their deed? Have you ever wondered why they continue to be heroes?” Jack shook his head. “Well it’s simply because they can do so. If you have the ability to help someone, then you should. No matter the outcome, good or bad, you can look in the mirror and say that you did good helping someone.”

Flashback

Opening the door to his workshop and turning on the lights. Jack made his way to his work table and sat down.

“J.A.R.V.I.S, what are the Autobots doing?” he asked his AI

“They are currently at the Space Bridge, above Earth’s atmosphere.” J.A.R.V.I.S answered. “They hope to stop Megatron from bringing an army of undead Cybertronions to Earth, sir.”

“Right then, do you have a fix on their location?” Jack asked.

“Yes sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S answered back. “Time to suit up J.A.R.V.I.S, get me the War Machine armour.” Jack said as he went to change into his full bodysuit.

Once he was ready, Jack stepped onto the platform where the War Machine armour was waiting. It was mostly black coloured with gunmetal grey at certain areas such as the midriff and legs. It had a large machine gun attached to its back, two miniguns hidden in his arms and several missiles hidden beneath the exoskeleton. The suit was built to take a lot of punishment, as well as dish it out. The suit opened up from behind and closed around Jack when he stepped inside.

“J.A.R.V.I.S open a Ground Bridge to the Autobot Base. Once I’m in I need you to shut it off then open it again to the same coordinates Optimus and the others are in.” Jack instructed.

The green vortex appeared in front of him. Stepping into it, Jack realised that Ratchet was the only one in the base, and was staring at him. As Ratchet turned was about to shut the Ground Bride down. It suddenly shut down by itself and then turned back on. Hovering, Jack shot forward through the bridge and was transported immediately in front of the Space Bridge.

“J.A.R.V.I.S patch me into the comms with Optimus and the others.” Jack instructed as he made his way closer.

“Already done sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

“Optimus, can you hear me. If you can, know that the cavalry is here.” Jack spoke out.

There was nothing before the familiar baritone voice of Optimus Prime answered. “I hear you Jack. But I must ask that you leave quickly. You are no match for Megatron or his army.”

“No can do Optimus. I came here to help and that’s what I’m going to do.” Jack replied before he shot forward towards a squadron of Decepticons flier’s ad turned into scrap by firing his machine gun at their engines.

Continuing his flying, Jack continued to take out the Decepticon fliers till none came anymore. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light as the Space Bridge activated. Seeing Megatron rise from within the warship, holding a large purple crystal and then throwing it at the Space Bridge. Jack quickly sped forward, firing his missiles as well as his minigun to hopefully destroy it before it reached the Space Bridge. The missiles hit the crystal formation and caused a large chunk to break off, but not enough to stop it as the formation went through Space Bridge.

“So….how do we defeat a whole planet of the undead?” Jack heard Bulkhead ask through the comms.

“Optimus, I’m reading a rapidly increasing mass in their Space Bridge vortex. One with a peculiar Energon signature. Ratchet stated.

“Dark Energon.” Optimus answered. “Ratchet, we must destroy the Space Brigde. There is enough live Energon coursing through it to cause to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to do so.”

“If I had a technical readout of the Space Bridge, I could help you achieve such a feat. But Optimus, I must say that the Space Bridge is our only way back to Cybertron. Are you sure this is what you want?” Ratchet asked.

“I am afraid so, old friend.” Optimus answered.

“Then by all means, let us light our darkest hour!” Ratchet cried out.

“Autobots, take your positions and follow Ratchet’s lead.” Optimus ordered. “While I deal with Megatron.”

“You mean we deal with Megatron.” Jack stated as he flew up next to Optimus. “And I’m not taking a no for an answer Optimus.”

Before he could reply, Megatron landed in front of them. “Your fellow Autobots are wise Optimus, they know when to retreat.” He stated, only to notice Jack. “And who is this? A minicon?”

“I have no illusions of engaging your army Megatron. Bit I might derail its objective, by removing its head.” Optimus said as he transformed his arm into a sword.

Megatron simply laughed. “Highly unlikely Optimus, as I am infused with their very MIGHT!”

Optimus simply narrowed his optics. “One shall stand. One shall fall.”

As if some unspoken signal was given, Megatron unsheathed his sword, gave a war cry and ran towards Optimus, as he did the same to Megatron. Meeting in the middle, they clashed their swords together, parrying and dodging each other’s strike, until Optimus landed a punch to Megatron’s head. Seeing his chance, Jack quickly shot forward from the side and punched Megatrons head, causing the warlord to stumble. Thrusting his hands forward, Jack fired off beams from his repulsors as well as firing his shoulder missiles. Megatron was thrown back from the impact the missiles had, but not before firing three shots at him, to which he avoided them all.

“Sir, I highly suggest that you do not get hit by those shots.” J.A.R.V.I.S called out to Jack. “They contain Dark Energon. If you get hit by them, your suit would shut down, sir.”

“Duly noted J.A.R.V.I.S.” Jack replied.

Seeing Optimus was lying on the ground, with Megatron standing above him about to kill him, Jack shot forward. “J.A.R.V.I.S, put everything we have into the thrusters.”

“I just did sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

Flying as fast he could, Jack fired off his repulsors at Megatron to keep him busy while Optimus recovered. Landing a little ways away from Megatron, Jack activated every weapon he had and aimed it at him. Growling Megatron ran forward hoping to squish what he thought was a minicon. Hoping that he could slow him down, Jack fired everything at Megatron. Missiles blew up upon impact, bullets bounced off his armour, like hard pellets and his repulsor blasts slowed Megatron even more. Flying towards Megatron, Jack proceeded to deliver a beat down on Megatron, and due to his small size, Megatron had a hard time catching him.

Ultimately his luck had to have run out at some point, and that came when Megatron swatted him away with his arm, causing him to fall to the ground. Struggling to get up, he was suddenly picked up and thrown towards Optimus.

“Power at forty-two percent, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S stated.

Looking up, Optimus and Jack saw Megatron raise his sword before something seemed to have stopped him. Whatever seemed to have stopped him, caused him to look at them amused. “Ah, misdirection. You would have made a fine Decepticon, Prime.”

Megatron swung his sword down, only for it to be stopped by Optimus’ own broken one. “I chose my side.” He said before changing his sword to that of a gun and fired.

Flying back Megatron quickly evaded the rest and transformed into his vehicle form and flew off. Jack quickly took off after him. As Megatron flew to where Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were, Jack fired at his machine gun at his engines. When one of the bullets hit inside Megatron’s engine, it caused him to lose control and transform back into robot form. Shooting forward, Jack continued to fire his weapons at Megatron. So focused was he at firing at Megatron, he did not realise that the Decepticon returned fire at him until he was thrown back from the blast.

The blast was a lot stronger than when the Decepticon drone fired at him yesterday. Jack was thrown back even further when Megatron continued to fire at him, most of the shots missing, but those that managed to hit made it harder for him to regain control of his suit.

“Power at twenty percent and dropping fast. I suggest a retreat, sir. Also the Space Bridge is about to explode” J.A.R.V.I.S said.

“Autobots, jump!” Optimus ordered as the Ground Bridge opened

“J.A.R.V.I.S reroute whatever power we have left to the unibeam and fire.” Jack ordered. Charging up his unibeam.

Once the chare as complete, Jack fired it straight at Megatron, who returned fire by shooting two shots at Jack, both of which impacted him on the chest and sending blasting into the Ground Bridge.

“Is he okay, Ratchet?”

“What happened Prime?”

“And what of Megatron?”

“Come back to us Jack, please.”

These were some of the things Jack heard as he slipped in and out of unconsciousness. But it was the last one that caused him to wake up from his lack of consciousness. Getting up, the first thing Jack saw was the Autobots, Miko, Raf and Agent Fowler all listen to Optimus. Knowing that none of them noticed him, he got up and staggered towards the ‘bots. When they heard footsteps behind them, they turned to see Jack stagger towards them before stopping in front of them.

“Hey everyone.” He greeted as he raised his visor.

“Hello Jack, are you well?” Optimus asked smiling down at him.

“I’ll live Optimus. What about you and the others?” Jack asked as he looked at the scraps and dents they had.

“We are fine Jack. Thank you for your assistance in dealing with Megatron and his forces.” Optimus answered.

“If it’s all the same Optimus, I would like to join you guys. That is if you guys will have me.” Jack asked.

Optimus nodded and smiled at him. “You are always welcome here Jack.”

Nodding Jack turned to look at Raf, Fowler and Miko. He stepped forward and got out of his armour, before standing in front of them. He was suddenly hugged by Raf and Miko, smiling he hugged back.

“You came back.” Raf stated with the biggest smile Jack had ever seen.

“You bet Raf.” Jack assured him.

“Well done son, you’ve done your country and your race proud.” Fowler praised as he put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll make sure you’re properly rewarded for this.”

Turning to Miko, Jack simply smiled at her. “Thank you Miko.” Confused Miko gestured for him to continue. “For what you said last night. About me being born to do more and for believing in me.” He finished before he kissed her on the cheek.

As the Autobots discussed about what would happen now that Megatron was gone and Starscream was in charge of the Decepticon. Jack knew that whatever was going to happen, he knew that they would not be alone in their fight with the Decepticons.

Because he is Iron Man.

[mealstromknight96]

Transformers Prime: Iron Man Chapter 3

Being brought to the Decepticon warship was not something that he expected to be in when he rode with Arcee to base earlier. As he was being carried towards wherever the drone was taking him, Jack knew that he had to escape so that he could call the Autobots and relay to them what happened. With that in mind, Jack fished around his pocket and found what he was looking for. Grabbing it, he pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it at the drone’s chest, causing a shock to run through it and for the drone to drop him before falling to the ground.

Rolling off the ground, Jack quickly made a break for it and pressed his finger to his ear. “J.A.R.V.I.S?”

“Yes sir?” was the reply he received.

“I need you to patch me through to the Autobots. I could use an assist.” Jack replied as he continued running through hallway.

“There is no need sir. Bulkhead, Ms Nakadai and Mr Esquivel are aboard the warship.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

“What do you mean their aboard the warship!?” Jack cried out stopping in his tracks. He shook his head and continued to run. “Ok, where are they.”

“Bulkhead and Ms Nakadai are on the left side of the next intersection, while Mr Esquivel is with Arcee and Bumblebee, sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S answered.

Doing as he was told, Jack kept running forward until he turned left, only to almost run right into Bulkheads foot. Looking up, he saw that Bulkhead was holding Miko in one hand while he was armed with the other.

“Jack!” Miko and Bulkhead cried out.

Before he could say anything, they heard footsteps and turned to see Arcee and Bumblebee with Raf just behind them turn the corner. They immediately raised their weapons before they both lowered them realising that they were not Decepticons. Jack ran towards Raf, while Bulkhead put Miko down. Looking at Raf, he noticed that he had brought him his red suitcase. Taking the suitcase and noticed that it wasn’t damaged in any way he turned to look at Raf and asked.

“Why are you here Raf? And for that matter, why is Miko here?”

“Miko ran through the Ground Bridge after Bulkhead had received Fowler’s distress call. Knowing we had to find you, you’re AI and myself located Fowler and yourselves locations and bridged out. When I realised Miko had run through the Ground Bridge, I immediately opened the Ground Bridge, and was about to follow when your AI told me to bring that suitcase to you. Said that you might need it.” Raf finished explaining.

Just as he had finished, a group of Decepticon drones had turned the corner at both ends of the hallway and started to fire at them. Jack quickly guided to cover while the Autobots dealt with them. Once the fighting had stopped, they came out of hiding and followed the Autobots until they came across one of the rooms. After clearing the room of Decepticons, Arcee told them to stay put before the Autobots went out and searched for Fower.

“That was…….intense.” Miko said.

Turning his body, Jack looked at Miko in disbelief, then in anger as he took a step towards her. “It’s your fault you and Raf are stuck in this intensity. What were you thinking Miko?”

“Did I ask him to follow me?” She shot back.

“You wanted us to be a band. Doesn’t that mean playing together?” Jack argued back.

“Maybe I wanted to go solo.” Miko argued.

“Well, maybe I have some regard for your safety. Why did you think I told you guys to stay hidden while I went with Fowler?” Jack pointed out.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is your name ‘Optimus’? You can leave my protection to Bulkhead, thank you very much.” Miko argued back.

“Ahh! Stop it! Both of you!” Raf shouted, before running off.

Sighing Jack and Miko ran after Raf, who was sitting on the floor with his head resting on his arms, looking down. As Miko comforted Raf, Jack looked at one of the screens and saw what looked like schematics.

“Hey Raf. You seeing what I’m seeing? It seems like an equation for schematics, from what I can understand.” Jack stated as he looked more closely at the screen. “We need to get this to Optimus.”

“How do you know it isn’t some kind of recipe?” Miko asked.

“I know math when I see it, and that’s one serious equation.” Raf replied.

“Anyway we can take it with us?” Jack asked.

Taking off his backpack and scrounged around, Raf pulled out a USB flash drive before making his way towards the screen. “I have a flash drive. But I don’t see a way to plug in. This tech is way alien.”

"Miko, do you have your phone with you?” Jack asked. Nodding her head, Miko pulled said phone. “Good, I need you to take a photo of the screen.” He instructed. Miko held her up to the screen and lined up her shot and took the photo.

The door suddenly opened and one of the drones walked in. Quickly running behind the console, Jack and Miko saw that Raf had gone back for his backpack. Seeing the drone notice Raf and preparing to fire at him, Jack quickly ran at Raf and tackled him out of the way.

“Miko! Throw my suitcase to me!” Jack called out.

Nodding her head, Miko took the suitcase and heaved it around her before throwing it at him as it slid to his feet he told Raf to run to Miko. As the suitcase slid to his feet, he quickly stepped on it causing it turn upwards and open. Putting his hands onto the two handles on the two gauntlets, he pushed them in and curled his fingers, Jack pulled it up to his chest and spread his arms wide as the plating’s shifted to cover him. When the mask slammed shut in his face and the heads up display came on, Jack activated his repulsors and fired them at the drone, sending it staggering.

“Raf, Miko RUN!” Jack shouted as he avoided the shots fired at him.

Seeing Raf and Miko run through the door, Jack turned his attention back to the drone. Flying forwards, he slammed his fist onto the drone’s head and continued to pound away at the drone until he was thrown back by a shot to his chest. Slamming on to the ground, Jack got up and looked up and saw another drone standing next to the first drone. Flying around to avoid the shots from them, he activated his missiles and fired them. One of them must have hit their weapon, because the next he knew, there was an explosion and one of the drones arm was blown off. Taking his chance, Jack flew at the other drone, grabbed its weapon arm and fired it at his comrade. Once that was done, Jack flew out of the room, the drone chasing after him, firing his weapon. Avoiding its fire, Jack quickly did a one-eighty turn and flew straight at the drone once more and slammed onto it causing it to stagger back again. Landing on the floor, Jack directed power to the unibeam and fired, leaving a huge scorch mark on its chest.  Looking down at its chest, the red visor on its head flickered black before falling backwards, hitting the ground with a thud.

“Sir, I have collected all the data from the Autobot Base and have access to the Ground Bridge.” J.A.R.V.I.S spoke up.

“That was……Awesome!” Miko cried out, as she and Raf came out of hiding.

“I thought I told you two to run?” Jack asked.

“We did, but couldn’t just leave you.” Raf answered back.

Hearing engines behind him, Jack, Miko and Raf turned to see Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead coming towards them. Screeching to a halt, they came to a stop next to them.

“I thought I told you to stay put!?” Arcee stated. “And where’s Jack?”

Miko and Raf pointed to the suit of armour standing next to them. Said person lifted his visor, to show his face, before closing it and lifted off, hovering.

“No time to talk, we have to get going. Do you have Agent Fowler?” Jack asked lifting the dead drone by its chest.

“Yeah.” Arcee replied.

“Good, then let’s get out of here. J.A.R.V.I.S open up a ground bridge.” Jack said.

“Yes sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

After they had returned from the Decepticon warship, and opening a Ground Bridge for Optimus and Ratchet, they relayed what had transpired after they had left. While Optimus fixed up Ratchet’s arm. To put it simply, Optimus was not happy with what he had learned.

“What happened to you guys anyway?” Miko asked.

“We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors.” Ratchet answered.

“Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it?” Miko asked.

Ignoring her outburst, Optimus turned to Bulkhead. “Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judgement by first allowing Jack to be taken, then allowing Miko and Raf to accompany you.”

Looking at Miko then at Optimus and apologised. “It won’t happen again, Optimus. I promise.”

“But it wasn’t Bulkhead’s fault.” Miko said, trying to defend her guardian. “And check it out. Recon!” Miko finished, showing her phone to Optimus.

Looking more closely at the picture, Optimus turned to Ratchet. “Hmm, Ratchet have a look. It could be important to Megatron’s plans.”

Doing as told, Ratchet took a closer look at the phone only to be confused. “I don’t get it?”

Looking at her phone, Miko realised that it was the drone that Jack had defeated earlier that she took a photo of. “Oops, wrong one. That’s the ‘con who tried to blow Raf away. At least that’s what he looked like before Jack here turned him into scrap.” Miko amended, indicating to the drone that was lying near the Ground Bridge.

Jack, clearly upset with Miko’s lack of care towards today’s events exploded on her. “Miko, Raf was almost killed. This isn’t a game! When are you going to get that through your thick skull?!”

“We were all almost killed Jack.” Miko argued back. “You, me, Raf, even them!”

“If this is an average day with the Autobots, then I don’t want to be a part of this. Not anymore.” Jack stated.

“Jack.” Optimus’ baritone voice called out. “Putting you in harm’s way was never our intention. However, it is no longer your safety that is no longer at risk. But that of all of humanity. We will respect your decision to leave, if you wish.”

Nodding his head, Jack, who had kept his armour on, once again dropped his visor. “J.A.R.V.I.S, open a Ground Bridge to the workshop.”

“Yes sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied through the speakers. Turning around to Raf, he looked at him and knew, even without asking that he would stay with the Autobots. “You take care of yourself, okay?” he asked. Raf simply nodded his head and smiled at Jack. As he walked towards the bridge, he passed by Arcee and looked up at her. Sadness clearly etched on her face.

“I know, you don’t exist.” He said, walking past her.

“Don’t make me hunt you down.” Was all he heard her say, before carrying the drone with him through the Ground Bridge and towards his workshop.

After he had returned from the Autobot base, Jack had J.A.R.V.I.S scan the Decepticon drone he had brought back, while he went to fix the his suit. Afet he had done that, he went through the data that J.A.R.V.I.S had collected from the base. The one thing that he was intrigued the most about was the technology that the Ground Bridge used, he wondered if he could create a portable one, where he could transport anywhere around the world. Going through the math in his head, Jack knew he could create his own portable Ground Bridge, the only thing he needed was the time and resources to make one.

“Sir the scans are complete and I have also taken the liberty of removing every piece of plating from the drone you had brought back.” J.A.R.V.I.S called out to Jack.

“Good, have them set aside for testing. Now then let’s see what makes you tick.” Jack said as he went to the now exposed Decepticon.

Two hours later, after he had drained the ‘con off of its Energon, he had taken apart the ‘con, separating every piece he had taken out, before he had gone through the data from the Autobot base to learn more about the pieces. Learning the fact that the piece called a T-Cog helped them to transform, gave Jack an idea of creating his own transform, before he scrapped the idea completely.

“Sir, one Bulkhead and Ms Nakadai are outside.” J.A.R.V.I.S stated.

“Let them in.” Jack answered.

Walking towards Bulkhead, who had stayed in vehicle mode after Miko had exited, he seemed to be curious about everything, as was Miko. Walking towards his other suits, Miko looked more closely at them before turning around to look at what he was doing.

“Now I understand why you had to rush here.” She said.

“Don’t you have something more exciting to do Miko?” Jack asked, moving back to studying the data.

“So this is where you hang. Back home in Tokyo I have loving parents and two purebred cats, Chi-Chi and Ding-Dong. I went to the best school, took piano lessons since I was three…”Miko explained.

“How nice for you.” Jack stated, not looking away from his work.

“No, how boring.” Miko rebutted. “It wasn’t me. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to get away from all that? To transfer here?”

Clearly not expecting such an answer, Jack finally turned away and looked at Miko. “To Jasper Nevada? The entertainment capital of the world?” he scoffed out.

Chuckling, Miko walked over to him and stood next to where he sat. “Yeah well, the brochure lied. Piano lessons were starting to look pretty good, in fact. But the last few days happened, and everything changed.”

Shaking his head, Jack wondered what she was getting at. “Do you have a point, Miko?”

She smirked before replying. “I saw what you did today, when you saved Raf.”

Looking away from her, Jack walked over to his Iron Man suits. “I’ve been raised to be responsible. To my schoolwork, to my mom.”

“Dude, your no fry cook, you’re a hero. Stop pretending to be normal Jack. You’ll never fit in. You made all these suits, for what? It’s because you were born to do so much more.” Miko tried to convince Jack.

Walking up next to him, Miko placed a hand on his shoulder and noticed that he seemed to be staring at his reflection, deep in thought. Worried for him, Miko place a hand on his cheek and turned his head to her.

Giving him a kiss on the cheek, Miko smiled as it seemed to have snapped him back to reality. “That was for saving Raf and myself earlier.”

As Miko walked back to Bulkhead, Jack could not help but notice that she seemed to swaying her hips. As Bulkhead and Miko left, Jack thought back the kiss Miko had just given him and how he could still feel it on him. Smirking, he simply went back to work.

[mealstromknight96]

Transformers Prime: Iron Man Chapter 2

The sound of engines roaring had woken him up. Getting up quickly, Jack ran down the stair and opened the door that led to the garage to see Arcee revving her engines to get his attention. “Shh! Are you crazy?” Jack asked. “You’ll wake the whole neighbourhood with the way your revving your engines like that!”

“Grab your helmet. It’s go time.” Arcee replied.

Sighing Jack hung his head. “It’s Saturday.”

“You can watch cartoons back at base with Bumblebee.” Was her reply

“Cartoons. I’m sixteen.” Jack muttered closing the door to shower and change.

Fifteen minutes later, after Jack had showered and changed in some fresh clothes, picked up a red metallic suitcase and got on Arcee, where they drove off towards the Autobot Base. While driving Jack thought back to the conversation he had last night J.A.R.V.I.S and the plans that he had working.

Flashback “Sir, these Cybertronions seem to be made out of an unknown element of metal and use a power source similar to what you use to power the Iron Man suit.” J.A.R.V.I.S explained.

“Right well, I’ll run some test with the metal soon as soon as I can get some. In the meantime, see if you can figure a way that we can use their own firepower against them.” Jack replied.

“Very good sir. Might I also remind you that your science project is due by next week?” J.A.R.V.I.S asked.

“Noted J.A.R.V.I.S.” Jack replied, shutting the comm-link off and returned to his blueprints.

After meeting the Autobots that day and realizing that his weapons would be ineffective against them. Jack quickly had J.A.R.V.I.S run through the data that he had collected earlier as well as run a background check on Agent Fowler and everything that he could get his hands on information on the Autobots. Once back home, he quickly said goodnight to his mom and went to his room to start work on his new Iron Man suit. Knowing that the technology that the Autobots used could not be replicated without a basis to work on, he decided that he would settle that for tomorrow.

“Sir, all data about Agent Fowler has been collected. Unfortunately any information on the Autobots are unknown.” J.A.R.V.I.S said.

Nodding his head,Jack quickly replied. “Search the Internet for clues about the Autobots, conspiracies, leaked images, anything that could be useful.”

“Very well sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

Deciding that he worked enough, Jack packed all his work in his drawers and went to bed. Flashback

“Hold on tight Jack.” Arcee’s voice sounded out, breaking Jack out of his thoughts. Before he could say anything, Arcee sped forward.

Grabbing the handles quickly, Jack held on as he watched the Nevada desert pass by. “Woah Arcee, what's gotten into you?”

“thought you might enjoy the ride with no one shooting at us.” Arcee replied, amusement clearly showing in her voice.

“Bring it.” Jack said, challenging Arcee.

Quickly, Arcee once again sped off, clearly going at nearly 120 miles per hour. Jack loved the feeling of the wind whipping past him. Hearing loud honking, Jack turned his head to notice Bulkhead speeding towards them, Miko clearly enjoying herself. Once they had neared each other, they came to a stop. Getting of Arcee, Jack approached Miko, who had exited Bulkhead, to speak to her.

“Hey Jack, what’s with the suitcase?” Miko asked noticing the suitcase Jack carried with him.

“Important, don’t touch.” Jack replied, using the words Ratched had used on her yesterday.

“So how did your host parents react to Bulkhead?” Jack asked.

“They didn’t.” Miko replied, before continuing seeing that Jack had raised his eyebrow, clearly not believing her. “Ok, they said that so long that as I was safe and that the person was trustworthy, that I could ride with him, as long as they get to meet him.”

“What do you mean when you said ‘that the person was trustworthy’?” Jack asked quickly, hoping that the girl wasn’t crazy enough to try and have Bulkhead transform.

At this Miko seem to have become nervous and started to look at the round and play around with her feet. Raising his eyebrows yet again, Jack looked at Miko more closely and noticed that whenever she looked up to speak, she would quickly either turn her head and avoid eye contact or just hang her head.

“Miko.” Jack spoke up putting his hands on her shoulders. “What did you tell your host parents?”

“I might have told them that that trustworthy person was you, and that you were my boyfriend.” Miko answered, still looking down.

In shock, Jack had released Miko’s shoulders and stepped back a little. He did not know what to think. While he would admit that Miko was certainly attractive in a spunky rebellious type of way, he certainly didn’t think that they would ever be involved with each other in any way. Before he could say anything about her decision, they heard someone honking and saw Bumblebee and Raf drive towards them.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Jack said.

Walking towards Raf, he though more about what Miko had said, about him being her boyfriend. Despite her saying, Jack could not still believe it. While yes, they would only be in a pretend relationship, it would still mean him going to meet her host parents, pick her up on a date and other such stuff that couple’s do when they’re in a relationship. Yet he could not seem to get the feeling that that was what she wanted. Clearing his head for a moment and bringing it back to the present, he looked down and greeted Raf.

“Morning Raf.”

“Morning Jack, what’s with the suitcase?” Raf asked the same question Miko had asked earlier.

“Just some important stuff, nothing to worry about.” He replied. “So how did your parents react to you and Bumblebee?”

“They were fine with him, since he’s just dropping me off at school.” Raf replied.

Nodding his head, Jack decided it was time for the to head to base. Turning towards the Autobots, he called and said that they should head to out towards the base. Nodding the Autobots transformed and let their charges climb on before heading off.

Once they head entered the base, where Optimus and Ratchet seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation as Jack and the others got out of their respective guardians. Optimus then came forward to speak to them.

“Autobots prepare to - .” he started before he looked more closely at them.

“Roll out?” Arcee asked, placing a hand on her hip.

“Remain here. While Ratchet and myself head out. We will be out of communications range for some time, thus I am putting you in charge Arcee.” Optimus finished as Ratchet worked on the Ground Bridge.

"Dude your biggest, you should be in charge.” Miko said to Bulkhead.

“He never picks me.” He replied shaking his head.

“Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing, babysitting is another.” Arcee stated. “Besides, Ratchet hasn’t been out in the field since Cybertron.”

“My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing isn’t!” The aforementioned Autobots shot back.

“For the moment, it is simply a reconnaissance mission.” Optimus replied.

“Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?” Arcee argued back.

“Arcee much has changed in the past twenty-four hours. As such, we must all learn to adapt.” Optimus answered as the Ground Bridge opened up, before walking off with Ratchet towards their destination.

All the while they were talking, Jack had climbed the ladder where all the other computers were and placed a small circular device underneath one of the monitors, where no one would find it. The device would help J.A.R.V.I.S locate the base and hack into their data, giving him access to everything they knew and had. Once he was done he turned to see Optimus and Ratchet leave through the Ground Bridge.

A few minutes passed in silence, until Arcee said they she was going on patrol, Bumblebee following behind her when she ordered him to come along. Bulkhead tried to stop them, but was told off when Arcee told him that when your in charge you get to make the rules, before transforming and heading outside.

“So what’s on the activities list?” Bulkhead asked, clearly not knowing what to do with his position.

His answer came in the reply of Miko tuning up her amplifier and jacking in her guitar to it. She played with some of her strings, making sure that everything was correct before answering her guardian.

How about…..band practice?” she asked.

“But we’re not a band.” Raf replied.

“Why so antisocial Raf?” Miko asked chuckling. “Come on, do you play anything?”

“Uuhh......keyboard?” Raf answered nervously, holding up his laptop.

Miko smiled at that. “Laptops and samples. Good job.” Turning her head she looked at Jack and asked. “What about you, do you play anything?”

“I sometimes play the guitar.” He answered.

Nodding her head, Miko was about to play her guitar when the proximity sensors went off. Stepping towards the console, Bulkhead saw that it was Agent Fowler. Jack and the others quickly hid behind Bulkhead foot and tried to stay clear of the agent’s line of sight. Just as they hid behind Bulkhead, Agent Fowler had exited the elevator.

“PRIME!” he shouted out.

“Agent Fowler! Optimus is not here, nobody’s here, well except me.” Bulkhead told.

“Well where is he? Wait don't tell me, he’s pancaking a mini-mall.” Agent Fowler vented before looking down. He then noticed a wire stretch across the floor towards where Jack, Raf and Miko were hiding. “Since are you ‘bots electric?” he asked.

Knowing that their cover was blown, Jack quickly signalled Raf and Miko to stay put before stepping away from Bulkhead’s foot and directly in Fowler’s sight. “Hey there.” He called out.

“Contact with a civilian. Team Prime has really gone off book this time.” Fowler muttered as he went downstairs. “Alright young man, you’re coming with me into federal custody. It’s for your own protection.” He said.

Looking up at Bulkhead, Jack nodded at him before following Fowler into the elevator. Once they reached the top of the mesa, they boarded the helicopter and took off. Seating at the passenger seat while Fowler was speaking to someone, Jack wondered if he had made the right decision getting involved with the Autobots. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but whatever happened after this, he would not be staying with them. Once J.A.R.V.I.S has finished downloading all the information needed, he could begin making plans to deal with the Decepticons his own way.

The sound of an alarm sounding off interrupted his thoughts. Looking at Fowler, who seemed just as confused, he looked at the radar and saw that something was moving towards their position. Looking out the window, Jack spotted something small, almost like a bird fly straight at them, only to look closer to see what looked like a metal purple drone.

“What in the Sam hill!? Fowler cried out, before jerking the joystick up, to avoid the drone. “First the freeways aren’t safe, now air travel?”

Fowler flew as quickly as he could, the drone keeping up with them. Seeing a cliff wall in front of them, Fowler pulled on the joystick, hard, and pulled the helicopter up above the cliff and flew straight ahead, the drone a little behind them. Moving forward, Fowler saw a drop and dipped the helicopter to just below the cliff face, where the drone flew passed them above. Quickly speeding up, Fowler tailed the drone as it tried to avoid a lock on.

“You wanna dance ‘con? I’ll lead!” Fowler said before squeezing the trigger and firing a barrage of bullets, most of them simply bouncing off. The chase continued on for some time. The Decepticon drone avoiding the bullets while Fowler simply continued to fire his bullets. Suddenly there was aclicking sound, indicating that they were out of ammo. As if knowing this, the drone pulled up and then sliced through part of the helicopter, taking away their back rotors and sending them heading for a collision course to the ground.

“Never an Autobot around when you actually need one.” Fowler said trying to keep control of the spinning helicopter.

Suddenly the drone landed in front of them and had four tentacles with claws at their ends grab their arms. Before they were taken out of the helicopter, Jack saw that Fowler had pressed one of the buttons. As they flew away from the spinning helicopter, they say it crash and burn before they were taken to who knows where.

[mealstromknight96]

Transformers Prime: Iron Man Chapter 1

We all have secrets. The ones we keep, and the ones that are kept from us.

It was another day in the small town of Jasper, Nevada. But for one young man it was just the end of his shift at work and then it would be back to school the next day. This young man was Jackson Darby, a sixteen year old teenager who lived with his mother June Darby.

Jack grew up in the small town of Jasper all his life. Raised by his mother and his father, Aaron Darby, Jack grew up to be a responsible, intelligent young man. He seemed to be a natural when it came to technology. Particularly about mechanics and physics. He was extremely smart for knowing how to work with chemicals and other sciences that left most university students baffled.

Jack always looked up to his father, who was a mechanic at one the auto repair shops. He learned all about how vehicles worked, from the inside out, from his father. However tragedy struck when he and his father was kidnapped by a terrorist organization when he was thirteen. They had wanted his father to build them weapons with some type of energy, but he refused until they threated Jack with his life. Complying quickly, Aaron, his son and a kidnaped scientist by the name of Yinsen, started to build them the weapons while on the side build a suit of armour in secret, fitting it with as many weapons as they could.

However they were working to slow, and were told that they were to speed things along, by trying to kill Jack, however his father pushed him out of the way and was killed instead. Telling him that he was now in charge of finishing up, Jack and Yinsen quickly finished building the armour and weapons that they asked for. Planning their escape, Jack was to take the suit and fight his way out with Yinsen. However things did not go as planned as when Yinsen died trying to give Jack more time to ready up. Knowing that he could not die and let their plans fall into ruin, Jack made quick work of all of the soldiers and destroyed many of the weapons they built, taking some of them for himself as well as the work on the strange energy and left.

It would be another month before he would return to Jasper, to his home and to his distraught mother, who after being told of what had happened, lying about how he escaped and what had happened to his father. After returning home and answering numerous questions by the police, Jack had went to an abandoned warehouse, where he kept all the weapons he had stolen as well as the suit of armour he had used to escape. Using whatever he could find from the junkyard and paying for certain items from the many shops around Jasper from his pay check, Jack had created a workshop for himself. After he had set everything up, Jack had created his own A.I called J.A.R.V.I.S or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, and started to build more suits, just in case he ever came across the organization again. It would take him a year before he was able to understand and replicate the energy power and use it to power his suits.

Working for KO Burger was not the best job there was in town but it was one that would hire him, to help his mother pay for the bills. After his father had died, it was just him and his mom, sadly she had to work longer hours at the hospital to help pay for their expenses.

“No mom, I won't be going to the prom this year.” Jack stated to his mother, as he left work. Spotting something in the corner of his eyes, Jack turned his head to see a blue with pink highlights motorcycle.

“I love you mom.” Jack said before hanging up his phone and heading towards the motorcycle. Standing in front of said motorcycle, Jack ran his hands across the leather seat of the bike, and then took a seat. “One day I'm going to ride something like you.” Jack muttered to himself.

“Uh…are you talking to you bike?” a voice asked. Turning his head, Jack found himself looking at Sierra and one of her friends.

“What? Oh no I wasn’t, just admiring her.” Jack answered.

“It’s Jack, right?” Sierra asked, to which she got a nod from him.

The area around them suddenly turned bright, as if someone had a spotlight on them, turning around, Jack saw two purple cars with their high beams on. The motorcycle then seemed to come to life all on its own and drive off, taking along for the ride and the two cars chasing.

“Hang on kid.” A voice shouted out. Jack was completely bewildered by the fact that he heard a voice.

“Who said that!?” he cried out.

The motorcycle kept on speeding forward, with the two cars trying to bump them off the road. Turning into an alleyway, the motorcycle stopped and Jack got off it, backing away slowly.

“I don't exist kid. Tell anyone about me and I will hunt you down.” It said in a very distinctive female voice, now that he could properly hear her. Turning around and sprinting away from the motorcycle, Jack ran through the alley hoping to get home and forget about this whole mess.

Hearing the roar of an engine, Jack turned his head to see one of the purple cars from before coming after him.

“I don't even know her!” he shouted at the car. Just as he thought that he was going to get run over, the motorcycle from before swerved next to him. Thinking quickly, Jack hopped onto the seat and sped off out of the alley and onto the main road.

Turning right towards the main highway and an empty straight, the 2 cars suddenly had 2 large guns atop their hoods, and started firing red bolts of lasers.

“They have lasers now! Well that's just wonderful.” Jack thought

The motorcycle continued to drive until they hit the highway where a yellow and black stripped custom Urbana, started to block their way, swerving left and right every time they tried to get by him.

“Friend of yours?” Jack asked.

“Family.” the motorcycle replied.

Speeding forward, it did not take long for the two purple cars to catch up with them, the muscle car behind them. The motorcycle suddenly jerked to the right, right off the highway and downhill until they were under the highway. Catching his breath from the car chase, Jack got off the motorcycle and noticed a young Hispanic boy with spiky brown hair, wearing glasses on his face with a yellow sweater and black pants. Jack knew him as Rafael Esquivel, a boy of twelve years who managed to skip a few grades due to his smarts. They normally help each other, Raf helping Jack with homework, and Jack saving Raf when he’s getting bullied by Vince.

“Woah!” Raf said.

“You have no idea Raf.” Jack replied smiling at him and made his way over.

Suddenly the two cars from earlier came down the hill and landed in front of them, the two cars then transformed into giant towering robots, leaving the two boys astonished. Hearing a sound near them, the two boys turned to see the motorcycle transform into a giant robot as well, except the difference was that it looked more female than the other two.

“It ends here ‘cons.” She said.

After saying that, she started to run at them dodging and weaving in between the laser fire coming from the two others. Reaching the closest ‘con, she jump kicked it, then turned and proceeded to punch and kick the other ‘con.

“Wh-What are they?” Raf asked.

“Talking vehicles that turn into giant robot or the other way around.” Jack answered.

The female robot suddenly flew back, landing hard on her back. As the two ‘cons made their way to her the Urbana from earlier drove off the road and transformed, landing on top of one of ‘cons and punched the other so hard it flew backwards. Getting off from the ‘con, the robot didn't see the small remote toy car that Raf was playing earlier until it heard of something crunching under it. Lifting its foot, it saw the crushed toy car and turned to look at the two boys, its optics displaying worry and seeming apologetic.

“It’s fine really.” Raf assured smiling at it.

Before it could say anything, the robot was shot backwards by one of the ‘cons. Helping the other ‘con up, the two advanced on the prone robot as they prepared to fire upon it, Raf ran forwards a little and shouted.

“Leave him alone!”

This however turnout out to be a bad thing as the two ‘cons turned to the two humans.

“Please” Raf gulped out.

“Bad idea, come on.” Jack said as he took hold of Raf’s arm and proceeded to run to one of the many open pipes.

As they ran, they noticed that one of the two ‘cons had decided to chase after them. Getting inside the pipe, they ran as quickly as they could, as the ‘con who had been chasing after them tried to grab hold of Jack, it was suddenly pulled back and thrown. Turning around the two boys saw that the robot Raf had saved earlier, looked at them to make sure they were unharmed.

“Thank you.” Raf said, and proceeded to follow Jack deeper into the pipes.

The next day after school had ended, Jack was making his way down the stairs, when he saw Raf standing under a tree waving at him to come over.

“Look Raf, I think we should just forget about everything that happened yesterday.” No sooner had had Jack said that, when suddenly the same yellow muscle car from yesterday pulled up in front of them “Oh no, not again.”

The car simply opened its door beeping at them, indicating that it wanted them to come inside.

“It wants us to go inside?” Jack questioned.

“No, just me.” Raf stated back, seemingly able to understand him.

“How do you know that?” Jack questioned.

“It said so.” Raf replied.

“What!?” Jack exclaimed.

“Yours is over there.” Raf said, drawing Jack’s attention to the same motorcycle he rode on yesterday.

“Look, I really don’t think that….”

“How’s it going?”

“Raf?” Jack turned back, only to see the young boy climb into the yellow Urbana. “Hey, Wait! Stop” he called out, as the car drove off.

Watching them speed off, Jack turned his head to look at the motorcycle again before walking off, not noticing that it started to follow him. Walking down one of the nearby alleys, Jack heard the sound of tires screeching before the same blue motorcycle came to a stop in front of him.

“Relax, I just want to talk to you.”  She said.

“Don’t you mean you and your new friend?” Jack said, indicating to the driver.

“Kid, there’s a lot you don’t understand.” As she said this, the driver turned out to be a hologram when she fizzed out.

“No, I-I get it. I get it.” Jack said back away, with motorcycle moving forward with every step Jack took back. “The first rule of robot fight club is you don’t talk about robot fight club.  What you need to understand is that I don’t want a bunch of crazy talking vehicles following me around, trying to get me killed.”

Hearing the sound of shifting metal, jack turned to see the motorcycle’s robot form. “Look. Jack is it? Your personal is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence.” She said. “O-Optimus who?” Jack asked as the female robot leaned in closer.

“You may be in danger because you are one of the few, one of the only who have ever seen us.”

“Dude! What are you waiting for?!” Turning to the sound of the voice, Jack saw it was a girl with amber coloured eyes, black with pink highlights on her hair, he recognized her as the Japanese exchange student, Miko Nakadai. “Go with!”

“Scrap.” Was all Jack heard the motorcycle say.

“WHOOO-HOOOO! WHOOO!” Miko screamed as they were driving through the desert.

“And why exactly are we taking her?” Jack asked

“Rules.” She answered back.

Seeing a fork in the road Jack expected the Urbana to make a turn, only for the muscle car to just head for the large mesa in front of them, thinking that they were going to crash into the rocks, Jack did not expect to see the rocks move aside, to reveal that it was large door that lead into a tunnel. Driving through said tunnel Jack, Miko and Raf were treated an amazing sight of two more giant robots. One of them was mostly coloured red with white highlights, with a scowl on its face standing nearby some computers while the other was large and green. Getting out of the car/motorcycle, the kids continued to be in awe at the titans before them as the other two transformed back into their robot form.

“I thought there were only two?” the red and white questioned.

‘Haven’t you heard? Humans multiply.” The female robot said walking off.

“I’m Raf.” Raf introduced himself to Miko, only for said girl to completely ignore him.

“I’m Miko, Who are you.” She asked moving in front of the large green robot.

“Bulkhead.” It answered back.

“Are you a car? I bet you’re a truck, a monster truck.” Miko said as she continued to question the robot, despite its obvious increase in discomfort. “Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weight? Ever use a wrecking ball as a punching bag?”

“So if you guys ae robots, who made you?” Raf asked.

“Please.” The red and white scoffed.

Feeling the ground shake and loud footsteps heard, Jack, Raf and Miko turned to see a very large red and blue robot come forward towards them. Standing before them, the robot looked down.

“My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots.” Optimus said in a baritone voice.

“My Second in Command, designation Arcee.” Optimus introduced to the female motorcycle.

“Our medical officer Ratchet.” Indicating to the red and white ‘bot.

“Our Wrecker Bulkhead.” Indicating to the large green ‘bot, who simply waved at them.

“Our scout Bumblebee.” Finally indicating to the yellow and black ‘bot.

“Why are you here?” Jack asked.

“To protect your planet from the Decepticons.” Optimus answered.

“The jokers who tried to bump us off last night.” Arcee elaborated.

“Ok well, why are they here?” Jack asked.

“A fair question Jack, in part they are her because our planet is uninhabitable ravaged by centuries of civil war.” Optimus explained kneeling down.

“Why were you fighting a war?” Raf asked.

“Foremost, over control of our world’s supply of Energon, the fuel and life blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike.” Optimus answered back.

Reaching to the side of his dead Optimus’ optics seemed to glow before there was a beam of blue light that surrounded them. The ground started to crumble away, large buildings were erected around them, Autobots and Decepticons were fighting each other with blaster fire and flashes of light going off. “Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. The combat was fierce, and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one who I considered a brother.” Optimus explained as more and more Autobots and Decepticons continued to fire at each other. “But in war, ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus that Megatron lost his way.” It finally ended with a large grey Decepticon, with red optics and sharp teeth and a giant purple cannon on his right arm leading the charge.

“Is there going to be a quiz?” Miko yawned out causing Jack to glare at Miko for her rudeness, before turning back to Optimus.

“Ok well, what has Megatron or any of this have to do with us?”

“Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in some time. But if his return is imminent as I fear, it could be catastrophic.” Optimus replied narrowing his optics a little. “And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night the Decepticons know of yours.”

“Got it. If we spot any strange vehicles, call 911. Can we go now?” Jack asked.

“Are you insane?” Miko asked “I’m living a dream here in bot-swana, and I will not allow you or anyone else to shatter it!” Miko stated.

“It is best that you three remain under our watch at least until we can determine our enemies’ intention.” Optimus said. At this Ratchet turned to look at Optimus.

“Optimus, with all due respect, the human children are in as much danger here as they are anywhere.”

“Children?” Jack questioned.

“They have no protective shell. If they get underfoot they will go squish.” Ratchet stated this with him putting his foot down, hard.

“Putting his hands on his hips, Optimus simply smiled at his medial officer. “Then for the time being Ratchet, we must watch where we step.”

There was a sudden loud blaring sound, much like an alarm going off with the screens flashing bright green.

“What’s that?”  Jack questioned.

His answer came in the form of beeps and buzzing from Bumblebee. Not understanding what he said, Jack and Miko stared and him.

“Proximity sensor. Someone’s up top.” Raf translated pointing above them.

“It’s Agent Fowler.” Ratched said.

“I thought we were the only humans who knew about you guys?” Jack asked.

Optimus turned to look at Jack and answered. “Special Agent Fowler is our designated liaison to the outside world. As he tends to visit only when there are issues. It may be best if you do not meet him at this time.”

Looking at each other, Jack, Raf and Miko made their way behind the staircases. They did not have to wait long for Agent Fowler to come out of the elevator. He was a large African American man with short hair wearing a grey suit, white undershirt and black and white striped tie.

“Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender benders, a three hour traffic jam, and of particular note, numerous reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make and black and yellow custom muscle car.” Agent Fowler said walking forward towards the railing. “So anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?” “We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler.” Optimus answered.

“They’re back, aren’t they?” Fowler asked, with a hard look in his eyes.

“If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts that they ever left. Your planet is much too valuable.” Optimus stated.

“Then it’s time to wake up the Pentagon.” Fowler replied.

Hoping to deter him from his choice, Optimus spoke up. “Hear me Agent Fowler. We are your best, possibly your only defense against the Decepticon threat.”

“Says you.” Fowler challenged.

“Hey fleshy, did anyone get splattered on that freeway? Team Prime know when to use force, and how much to use.” Bulkhead retorted back, tearing off a claw like device and crushed it.

“BULKHEAD I NEEDED THAT!” Ratchet cried out.

“ENOUGH!” Optimus boomed “Military involvement will only result in catastrophe. Perhaps you can condone widespread human casualties Agent Fowler, I however, cannot.”

“Then do us both a favour and handle this Prime, under the radar.” Agent Fowler stated as he moved back into the elevator. “Or I will.”

Watching the elevator doors closed, Bulkhead walked forward. “Pretty big bearing…..For a human.”

“Agent Fowler is concerned for his world Bulkhead, as he should be.” Optimus said.

“Blasted earth tech!” Ratchet cried out turning to the others. “Cliffjumper’s signal just popped back online.”

“Who’s Cliffjumper?” Miko asked as they came upstairs.

“How is that possible?” Optimus asked, ignoring Miko’s question.

“It isn’t.” Ratchet stated “Another bug. The systems chock full of them.”

“If there’s any chance Cliff’s alive…” Arcee said, leaving the statement hanging.

Nodding his head Optimus turned to look at Ratchet. “Ratchet prepare sick bay. We may need it.” He said activating his battle mask.

“Hey! What can we do?” Miko asked.

“Remain with Ratchet.” Was all Optimus said before walking off.

“Aww.” Miko whined.

“Ughhh.” Ratchet grumbled before pulling a leaver.

The sound of whirling was suddenly heard as blue rings lit up before a vortex of swirling green and blue colours was open.

“Autobots, Roll Out!” Optimus cried out, transforming into his vehicle form, which was a semi. Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead turned into their vehicle forms as well that of a motorcycle, an Urbana and an armoured truck, before they all disappeared.

“What just happened?” Jack asked as he and the others, bar Ratchet, were astonished.

“I transported them to the designated coordinates via the Ground Bridge.” Ratchet answered.

“What’s a Ground Bridge?” Raf asked.

Sighing Ratchet decided to answer their questions, if only to have some piece of mind. “A scaled down version of Space Bridge technology. Since we don’t currently possess the means or the Energon required for intergalactic travel…”

“You’re stuck here…on Earth.” Jack stated.

“With the likes of you, yes” Ratchet stated coldly, narrowing his optics at them. “But I constructed the Ground Bridge to enable travel from here to anywhere on your planet.”

“Whoa.” Raf said, amazed at the level of technology. “Does it work on humans?”

“Naturally.” Ratchet replied.

“You mean I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?” Miko asked.

“Within moments. In fact, allow me to you there immediately, all three of you.” Ratchet said.

“Watch it Ratchet.” Miko replied, hands on her hips with a smug smile on her face.

Moving downstairs to the ground, Jack and Miko decided to look around until Miko found a device filled with buttons and switches. Just as she was about to touch a button with her finger, the sound of Ratchets voice stopped her.

“Broken, don’t touch. Don’t touch that either.” Ratchet said without even looking behind him just as she was about to touch another button.

“Is there anything in here that we can touch?” Jack questioned.

Ratchet didn’t answer as there was a sudden influx of error messages that popped up on screen. Grumbling Ratchet started to try and fix the problem.

“Why are you guys using human technology?” Raf asked

“It certainly isn’t by choice. It was handed down by the previous tenants, when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit.” Ratchet stated.

“I think I can fix that.” Raf said taking out his laptop and plugging it into the USB port and started typing away.

“Really? You do know that this is complex technology don’t you?” Ratchet mocked. “I mean it isn’t a child’s toy.

“Now try.” Raf spoke up suddenly.

Turning to the screen Ratchet did not expect all the error messages to suddenly disappear, leaving the medical officer speechless.

“Ratchet! Bridge us back. Use the arrival coordinates now!” Optimus commanded out over the speakers

As the Ground Bridge opened, it didn’t take long for Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead to appear with Optimus behind them. Closing the Ground Bridge quickly, Ratchet came over to the others and started to question them.

“Cutting it a bit close. How about Cliffjumper?” Ratchet asked, only for them to bow their heads down.

“What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can I come along next time?” Miko fired off, only to see Arcee growl at her.

“Look-.” She growled out.

“He, hey Miko, let’s go see what the ‘bots are hiding in their sock drawers.” Jack said, hoping to deter Miko from angering Arcee anymore.

“Searously.”

“Arcee, what did you see?” Optimus asked.

“Not Cliff, at least not anymore. He was mutated, butchered, like something from those ‘con experiments during the war.” Arcee explained before she fell grabbing a nearby crate to steady herself. Seeing this, Bumblebee, being the closest stepped forward to help, only for Arcee to wave him off. “I’m fine. Just dizzy.”

“Robots who get dizzy?” Miko asked quietly.

“Robots with emotions.” Raf said.

“Robots who could die.” Jack finalised.

Scanning Arcee, Ratchet found a substance of purple goo on her hand. Scrapping it from her Ratchet asked. “What is this?”

“Don’t know. Cliff was covered in it. Leaking it.” Arcee answered.

“Go take a decontamination bath. Now.” Ratchet ordered as Bumblebee led her away.

“Optimus. I hate to bug, but to bars.” Jack said showing his phone.

“A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radio waves.” Optimus answered back.

“Well if I don’t call my mom, like right now. I’m pretty sure the cops will come looking for me.” Jack stated.

“Have you broken a law?” Optimus asked leaning in closer.

“Uh curfew, it’s after ten pm.” Jack answered back.

“I better get home too, or I’ll be grounded for a year.” Raf agreed.

“Earth customs, I hadn’t considered. But the issue of your safety remains.” Optimus stated. “Bulkhead, accompany Miko home.”

“Awesome! My host parents will freak.” Miko said excitedly.

“And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle form.” Optimus finished.

“Curb side duty. Got it.” Bulkhead said nodding, which got Miko whining.

“Bumblebee, you’ll watch over Raf.” Optimus ordered.

“Ratchet-.” Optimus started only to be cut off.

“Busy.”

“Arcee, you’ll accompany Jack.” He finished off.

“Still dizzy.” Arcee said, trying to weasel out of the way. “Your fine, says your physician.” Ratchet stated back not looking away from his microscope.

Sighing, Arcee made her way to Jack and transformed, waiting for him to get on.

Driving into the garage, Jack got off Arcee and tried to speak to her. Feeling sorry for her loss of her partner and friend. “Arcee, I just wanted to say I’m really sorry for your loss.”

“What could you possibly know about loss?” Arcee asked coldly.

Angered, it took all of Jack’s control not to lash out. Instead he took a breath and answered back. “What you think you’re the only one with problems?”

Transforming, Arcee narrowed her optics at Jack and shot back. “I’m not sure girl trouble counts.”

“I’m pretty sure my girl troubles started the night I met you.” Jack retorted.

Seeing a white car pulling in Jack quickly realised that it was his mom. Arcee, who thought that it was ‘cons readied her blasters, only for Jack to tell her it was his mom. Seeing his mom get out of the car, Jack ran to her, hoping that he could explain the situation that he was in. “Hey mom, listen I can explain.”

Walking past her son, June Darby stood next to Arcee in her vehicle form. “Can you?” she asked. “Jackson Darby, we’ve talked about this.”

“I know -.” Was all Jack could say before being cut off.

“You don’t know. I worry about you enough when you’re not at home. But now I have to worry about you driving a motorcycle!” his mom said cutting him off, clearly worried.

“I’m sixteen mom. I can’t be riding a ten speed forever.” Jack argued back.

“How did you even afford this?” his mom questioned.

“It’s used, abused really. It needs a ton of repairs. But the point is, I may have been a kid when I bought this.” Indicating Arcee. “But I’m not anymore. You taught me to always make responsible choices. Well I chose her, and I’ll be responsible, I promise.”

“Her?” his mom asked. “I didn’t think you were bringing girls home already Jack?” his mom teased.

“I’d like to think she chose me.” Jack answered abashed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well at least you have a reason to wear your helmet, every single time you drive.” His mom emphasised. “You will take me on a spin, every once in a while, won’t you?” she asked.

“We’ll see, she can be a bit temperamental.” Jack answered as he shut the lights off and closed the garage door.