Team Prime investigates the appearance of an old enemy who may not be who she appears to be, and deals with the fallout from their existence being suddenly revealed to the public. Picks up where "Enemy of my Enemy" ended.



CHAPTER ONE

"We're almost there," Arcee said through her human-size doppelgänger.

Jack nodded and reached up to put his hand over the back of hers, hoping she couldn't detect his elevated heart rate through her palm as it rested on his chest. As soon as they had come out of the ground-bridge, he'd started rethinking his insistence on coming along. He was heading straight toward a potentially lethal enemy, and he hadn't taken the time to put his armor on. All he had were his jeans, T-shirt, and shoes.

Oh, well. I've faced Airachnid before with nothing but the clothes on my back and a shitty survival kit. Besides, I don't know if this even is Airachnid. Sure as hell didn't act like her.

Arcee slowed to a gradual stop. Jack and her Mini-Me got off and backed away to give her enough room to transform from her motorcycle mode to her bipedal mode. She crouched, crept up the side of the hill, and peeked over the top. Jack and her remote-controlled, human-size body followed her.

"Huh," Arcee muttered. "I'll be damned."

Jack poked his head up just far enough to get a good look at the scene a few dozen yards away, and found Airachnid sitting off to the side of the highway. The van she'd rescued from a plunge off the overpass was parked where she'd placed it gently on the pavement, and a family stood on the shoulder, staring up at her. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances surrounded them. The cops had their guns drawn, for all the good it would do.

A familiar engine rumbled up behind Jack and Arcee. He glanced over his shoulder and found Optimus Prime parking long enough for Jack's mom to get out and jog toward him. Optimus detached from his trailer and shifted into his robot mode.

"Arcee," he said softly, "our weapons are in the trailer."

She nodded and turned back to lock her optics onto Airachnid.

"I wonder if we'll even need 'em." Jack stared at Airachnid and shook his head. "I'm not sure how to handle this."

"I don't know what kind of game that bitch is playing," Arcee snarled, "but as soon as I can get her far enough away from all those innocent bystanders, I'm taking her ass out."

"Remain calm." Optimus rested his hand on her shoulder. "Judging by her behavior, she has either lost her memory, or is merely someone who resembles Airachnid. The former would mean the Airachnid we know is likely dead, and the latter would be someone we should not threaten until we find out who she is and whether she is a danger."

"Well, then." Jack glanced at them. "If you walk over to them, everyone else might panic."

"Agent Fowler will be here in a few minutes. His team will cordon off the area and move everyone here to a safe distance."

"If this is some kind of trick," Arcee said, "a few minutes is all it would take for Airachnid to kill everyone around her."

"She has not given any indication of hostile intent. If it is a ruse, the purpose could be to make you go to her, in which case she might attack you on sight." Optimus fixed a stern look on her. "Ratchet doesn't believe you are ready for another battle so soon after your repairs were finished."

"I'll be the judge of that." Arcee rose to her full height.

Jack took a deep breath. "Well, if you're charging headlong out there, maybe Optimus should hang back for now. He's so much bigger than you and Airachnid, all the humans over there would probably shit in their pants if they saw him coming toward them."

Arcee managed to chuckle. "Good point." She glanced at Optimus. "I'm going in."

"Me, too." Jack stood and took a step forward. Both his mom and Arcee's Pretender body reached out to grab him. He jumped forward and they missed. "If they all see a human walking alongside you, it might help keep them calm."

"Jack." June reached out to him again.

"Do we really have to argue about this again, Mom?" He glanced at Arcee and strode off toward the highway. "Come on. Time's a-waistin'."

Arcee sighed. "You know I'll protect him with my life, June." She caught up to Jack in two steps.

"So will I." June dashed after them until she caught up, then kept pace with them.

"I will be ready," Optimus said.

Arcee nodded again and continued forward, keeping her pace slow enough for Jack and his mom to keep up. "I'm sending my Mini-Me back to the trailer to pick out some guns. If this does turn out to be some sort of trap, I'm hoping I can drop the bitch before she hurts you."

Jack smiled and reached up quickly to pat the back of her leg. She smiled back, leaned down to stroke his cheek, and continued walking. Then she cocked her head.

"There's a new sniper rifle in the trailer. Bigger, bulkier, and has a longer barrel than the one I used on the Nemesis." She grinned suddenly. "It's a railgun recently developed by Groom Lake. Optimus just said a slug fired from it will impact with enough force to traverse a Decepticon's body and drill into whatever is behind him. I'll have to aim carefully."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Nice."

Arcee's optics widened and she beamed. "He also said they've just finished building a full-size version for me. It has an impact velocity of Mach 5. Me likey!"

"Jesus," June muttered. "I'm trying to imagine what that would do to someone. The picture it brings to mind looks like the end of a typical Mythbusters episode."

"Pretty much." Arcee's grin grew even wider. "I feel like I'm gonna have an orgasm just from thinking about it."

Jack laughed. "Oh, suddenly I have some competition?"

"Honey, you'll never have any competition." She chuckled and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm at the top of the hill back there, lining up a shot on Airachnid. If that fucking bitch makes the slightest move toward you, her head will end up filing a divorce against her body."

He grinned up at her. "That's my girl."

"Damn right, baby." After walking in silence for a few seconds, Arcee grimaced. "Oh, for...I just zoomed in on the family standing at the side of the road, and one of them is Sierra." Arcee pressed her lips together. "And I assume the two adults with her are her parents."

"Sierra? Seriously?" Jack shrugged. "I'd all but forgotten she existed."

Arcee smiled ever so slightly. "Well, here we go."

She strode up to Airachnid and kept her glare laser-focused on her. Airachnid and the three humans--and everyone else nearby--looked up at Arcee and their mouths flopped open.

"Another one," the woman--presumably Sierra's mother--blurted as she grabbed Sierra's arm and pulled her back.

"Take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you." Arcee held her hands up before turning back to the still-sitting rogue Decepticon. "Airachnid."

The other female responded with a blank stare. After several seconds she raised one hand in a half-shrug and said, "What's an Airachnid?"

Same voice, even. Jack shuddered.

Arcee raised a brow plate. "Alright, then, who are you?"

"I..." She wrung her hands and her lips quivered. "I don't know."

Jack and Arcee glanced at each other. Jack shrugged and turned back to Airachnid--or whoever.

"Do you recognize either of us?"

"Jack?" Sierra pulled away from her mother and stepped around Arcee's left leg to find where he was standing. "What are you doing here?"

"You know this kid?" the man said.

"Yeah. Mom, Dad, this is Jack Darby. We went to school together until he disappeared a few months ago."

"Yeah, uh, a lot of stuff came out of nowhere and Mom and I had to move out in a hurry. I wasn't expecting to run into you so far from Jasper."

"Parents managed to get the same two weeks off work and decided to take a drive around the country." Sierra rolled her eyes. "Midlife crisis, probably."

"Hey!" her dad snapped.

Sierra shrugged. "It was pretty boring until about half an hour ago."

"Well, life in Jasper was pretty boring until a few months ago." Jack waved his hand to the left, then the right. "Anyway, this is my mom, June. And this is Arcee." He grinned. "My girlfriend."

"What?" Sierra's face turned slack, as if her brain had shorted out.

The Airachnid-lookalike smiled. "Ah. Now I know your names, but I've never seen you before." Her smile faded. "I've only been active for a little under three hours. I have no memories beyond that."

"Okay, then." Arcee crossed her arms over her chest. "What have you been doing for those three hours?"

The lookalike's eyes grew wider and her mouth quivered and twisted into a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Running away."

#

"Alright," Ratchet muttered as he pushed one last button. "Let's see what we've got."

Arcee stood a few yards from "Airachnid," holding a shotgun in each hand, waiting for the slightest sign of hostility. Once Agent Fowler, his team, and the National Guard had shown up at the scene, she and Optimus had taken the new arrival back to their base to find out what the hell was going on. Or try to, at least.

The 'Con sat cross-legged on the floor, watching Ratchet with a slight smile. Not the kind of smile she'd always seen on Airachnid, either--there was no malevolence here, only curiosity. Ratchet had set up an exclusive wireless link between the female and a completely isolated section of the base's server.

"Well, there are three hours and two minutes worth of memories on her drive," Ratchet said. "And nothing else aside from the software she needs for basic functions. I've already checked it out and it's the same software the rest of us have for regulating our functions and connecting to nearby wireless networks."

"Play back her memories," Optimus said, and the female nodded.

"That should tell you everything." She looked away from the main monitor. "I can't watch. Living through it once was enough."

The monitor remained blank for several seconds, then an image appeared, spreading from the center toward the top and bottom--a POV shot of her optics opening for the first time.

That looks like the interior of the Nemesis. Arcee raised a brow plate. Only a lot darker than it usually is. Which probably means it's on backup power. Not surprising, given the kind of damage Miko did when she blew up those five Insecticons.

A small window appeared in the lower corner--a log indicating the discovery of a wi-fi network, link-up, and downloading of language files.

A metallic tapping sound came from the left and the image panned in that direction. Lined up on platforms attached to the wall were four dormant Cybertronians who looked exactly like Airachnid--and a single active one.

This one had missing sections of her spider legs and a hole in her chest plate where Arcee had rammed an armor-piercing knife in to the hilt at the end of their last battle. Energon still trickled from the wound.

"That's Airachnid," she growled.

"Oh." The new arrival glanced at her. "I look like her, for some reason."

Arcee nodded and returned her attention to the monitor as the Airachnid duplicate on the far end opened her optics. Airachnid had been trying to loosen the duplicate's chest plate when she noticed the movement.

"Well, what a surprise."

"Where...where is this place?" The duplicate stared at her. "Who am I?"

"Spare parts. Nothing more."

"What?"

"The thing is, with all the precautions I took, you shouldn't have even booted up." Airachnid held her hand in front of the duplicate's face. "But I can fix that."

"What are you d--"

Airachnid fired her palm-mounted blaster point-blank into the duplicate's head. The duplicate thrashed her arms and legs and released a scream that made Arcee flinch.

"Shit!" Jack blurted. Arcee looked over her shoulder at the platform on which he and his mother stood.

The scream cut off suddenly as the voice's owner died.

"Jesus Christ," Arcee muttered. She hung one of the shotguns on her back and reached over to hold Jack's hand. She looked over at the new arrival and found her clamping her hands to the sides of her head, rocking forward and back, and making soft moaning, sobbing sounds.

From the monitor came a startled yelp. Arcee turned back to the screen and found Airachnid staring straight out of it.

"Oh, another one. Seems like I simply can't catch a break this week." She aimed her blaster.

A pair of purple and black arms rose into view. "Wait! Don't hurt me!"

"I simply can't have more of me running around."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Shh." Airachnid limped closer. "It won't matter in a few seconds."

The newly-awakened duplicate swatted her arm away, turned, and ran. She stumbled and fell, picked herself up, and sprinted down a dark corridor. Airachnid's clanking footsteps followed her, and a blaster bolt seared into the wall a few feet to the left. The duplicate shrieked, jerked away from the shower of sparks, and almost fell again. She reached a branch in the corridor and stopped, turned one way and then another and back again.

Airachnid's footsteps grew ever closer. With a soft cry, the duplicate burst into another sprint, taking the corridor to the right. She continued running in a blind panic, pausing only to try to open any doors she passed by, and found them all locked. After trying a half dozen, she screamed and pounded her fist on the latest one.

"Someone, help me!"

There was no reply. She sobbed and began running again.

Damn. Arcee glanced over at her, still on the floor and whimpering softly, and turned back to the screen.

Corridor after corridor whipped past, with Airachnid's uneven, limping footsteps remaining close behind. Finally, after one more left turn, the next corridor appeared slightly brighter. Sunlight, Arcee realized, coming through an open door or window.

The image panned around again, revealing a jagged opening torn through a metal wall. Another sob came from the speakers and the rupture grew larger as she ran toward it. Her arms and hands appeared briefly as she squeezed through the breach. She tripped and almost fell again, but managed to recover and continue her headlong sprint over a rocky terrain.

Her foot caught on a boulder and she tumbled face-first to the ground. She scrambled back to her feet, glanced over her shoulder, and kept running.

The glance back gave Arcee a good look at the structure the Airachnid-double had escaped. It wasn't the Nemesis after all, but appeared to be the aft section of a similar warship which had crashed in a canyon.

After the running continued uninterrupted for nearly a full minute, Ratchet increased the playback speed. The terrain zipped past, changing from rocky to forest to a flat, desert environment before coming to the highway where the news helicopter had spotted her.

The playback ended. Everyone remained silent for a moment.

"By the All-Spark," Ratchet muttered. "What a horrific way to start one's life."

"Yeah." Jack looked up at Arcee. "What did we just see? It looked like Airachnid...what? Cloned herself?"

"That ship must have had protoforms aboard," Optimus said. "The room appeared to be a laboratory."

June raised an eyebrow. "Uh, protoforms?"

"I guess you could call it the Cybertronian equivalent of a fetus." Arcee shrugged. "It's a standard body that's given life when a spark is placed inside it. Afterward, we add components to complete our bodies and then scan a vehicle for our alternate modes. It's how we all began our lives. And sometimes we use them to switch into a new body or replace one that's been damaged beyond hope of repair."

Ratchet turned back to the monitor and leaned on the console under it. "Airachnid must've stumbled onto the crashed ship, found these five protoforms, and figured out how to turn them into copies of herself, with the intention of cannibalizing them for parts to repair the damage from her battle with Arcee. Ghastly."

"Either the fabricator facilities were damaged in the crash, or Airachnid chose to use the protoforms for this just to be sadistic." Arcee shuddered and crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"Why?" the clone whimpered. "Why...why would anyone do this? Why?"

"Because she's insane." Arcee glared at the blank screen. "She likes to hurt people. Torture them. Kill them...eventually. It's how she gets her kicks. She got her hands on me and my best friend many centuries ago. Tortured me for information. When I couldn't give her what she wanted because I didn't know it, she brought my friend in. He'd already been damned near torn apart. Barely clinging to life."

She squeezed her optics shut and took a moment to pull herself together.

"Hey," Jack said softly, and held his hands out. She managed to smile and leaned over to rest her forehead against his for a brief moment. She put her hand on his back and hugged him awkwardly before turning back to the clone.

"Airachnid murdered him right in front of me. It left me completely fucked-up for a really long time afterward, to the point where I was almost paralyzed with fear the next time I faced her, just a few months ago."

The clone stared back with her mouth hanging open. "That's...horrible. I can't even think of a word for it." She glared up at the screen. "I hate her."

Welcome to the club. Arcee kept it to herself. This was just too weird.

"We saw three other clones," Optimus said. "They were still offline--still 'unborn,' to use a human term."

Arcee narrowed her eyes. "You're not suggesting we rescue them, are you?"

"They are innocent."

"I hate to say this," Ratchet cut in, "but they're probably already dead. Even if Airachnid hasn't had time to take them apart, she probably killed them to prevent them from booting before she could finish." He turned back to the console, pondered something, and faced Optimus again. "However, there could be something else useful on that ship. An energon stockpile, perhaps, or something we can use as weapons or defensive measures. Maybe even more protoforms held in stasis-lock."

Arcee's jaw dropped. If there are more protoforms, we could use one of them to fix Bulkhead. Transfer his memory core and his spark into one of them, then he could add on parts from his old body and he'd be as good as new.

She took a moment to regain control of herself and looked up at Optimus. "It's worth a look, at least. If nothing else, it'd be a good idea to do everything we can to keep whatever's on that ship out of Airachnid's hands."

"Excellent point. Ratchet, can you determine the crashed ship's location from the video records?"

"Should be able to. We have the clone's entire path from the ship to that highway."

"Good. I will notify General Sanchez. He will no doubt want to send Colonel McKenna's team with us."

Arcee turned to Jack and found him smiling up at her.

"Shall we, babe?"

"Jack, I...aw, hell. I'd ask you to stay here, but I assume you wouldn't listen?"

"You assume correctly. Just give me a few minutes to put my armor on."

Arcee shook her head and rubbed a hand over her face, but didn't waste time arguing any further. "Okay. See you in a few."

Optimus nodded. "Let's gear up. We'll move out when the Colonel's team arrives."

#

Jack stepped out of the vortex and found himself at the bottom of a canyon. Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, the two Vehicon defectors, Starscream, and Airachnid's clone had gone through first and were waiting for them. Ashanti, Washington, Chang, and Jenson had entered the ground bridge with Jack, his mom, and two medics, Harris and Alvarez.

A few hundred yards ahead of them sat the wreckage of an enormous ship.

The clone stared at it, shuddered, and wrung her hands.

"You okay?" the female Vehicon asked softly.

"I almost died in there." The clone pointed at the ship. "Going back...isn't easy."

"You're not alone this time."

She smiled ever so slightly. "That's true. Thank you."

"Ratchet," Optimus rumbled, "we have visual on the crashed ship. We are beginning our approach."

"Understood. Good luck."

The ground bridge's vortex dissipated and he led the team forward. Arcee dropped back to the rear--to keep an eye on the clone, Jack assumed, and probably Starscream as well. She held her brand-new sniper railgun firmly in both hands.

He joined her and tapped her leg to get her attention. "How're you handling...well, you know?" He nodded at the clone.

"I don't know." Arcee stared at her, brow plates quivering as if she were forcing herself not to glare. "I know she's not Airachnid, but she looks exactly like her. I look at her, and all I see is the bitch who killed Tailgate and tried so many times to kill you. It's...hard."

"I'm sorry." The clone glanced over her shoulder. "Maybe I should change my color scheme. I'd still look like her, but maybe not exactly."

Arcee shook her head. "It's not fair to make you change your appearance because of something that's not your fault."

"I'm a copy of a monster that doesn't even deserve to exist. I don't want to look like her." Her right foot came down on a loose boulder, which rolled away and caused her to lose her balance. She stumbled and let out a startled squeak before recovering. "Aw...I'm such a klutz."

"Airachnid has an alt-mode that looks kinda like a spider," Jensen said. "You probably have the same thing. Might make it easier to walk on this kind of terrain."

"Huh." The clone cocked her head. "It never occurred to me to check my software for those sorts of things. Searching now...oh! I think I found it. I'll give it a try." She paused for several seconds, and then her spider legs unfolded from her back, touched the ground, and suspended her body several yards in the air. The rest of her body transformed slightly, her legs attaching and forming a single shape, but her torso remaining as it was before. She moved her spider legs carefully, and after a few seconds she grinned. "You're right, this is easier!"

"Glad it worked out for you." Jensen chuckled and continued on his way.

The clone smiled and spread her arms as she scurried forward. "It's almost like floating!"

Arcee grinned, shook her head and suppressed it. She grimaced, sighed, and allowed the smile to return.

"Any suggestions for a new color scheme?" The clone smiled down at Jensen.

"Hmm. Maybe swap out the purple parts for a little hot-rod red?"

"I'll try it." As she slowed her pace so she wouldn't outrun the humans, the purple sections of her body rippled and changed to bright red. "Hmm. I'm not sure about this."

"Yeah," Chang said with a soft chuckle, "it's a bit much."

"Maybe a darker shade, then?" The red bits dimmed to burgundy. "Hmm. Better, but I'm still not sure." She shrugged. "Oh, well. I'll try a few different color schemes. One of them will feel right, sooner or later."

"Sounds like a plan." Chang smiled, faced forward, and continued on her way. Moments later, the team reached the crashed ship.

Jack scanned for Cybertronian life signs, but no blips appeared in his HUD other than Arcee and the others. He kept it to himself. The poor clone had gone through enough already.

But then, will it hit her even harder if I don't warn her and we find the other clones dead? He held in a sigh.

The male Vehicon pointed at a line of Cybertronian text on the ship's hull. "This is the Harbinger. Last I heard, it went into battle and was never seen again. Guess now we know what happened to it."

"This is only the aft section," the female said. "Which brings up the obvious question--where did the front half go?"

"Perhaps the flight recorder is still intact." Optimus swept his optics over the hull. "If we can find a way inside that won't alert Airachnid, if she is still here..."

"The hole I escaped through is over there." The clone pointed.

"Thank you." Optimus headed in the indicated direction, and the team followed. "Ratchet, we are proceeding inside."

"Understood. Be safe, my friend."

"We will do our best." Optimus plucked his rotary cannon from his back and squeezed through the hull breach. The others readied their weapons and followed him.

The clone remained where she'd stopped, staring into the darkness beyond the breach and trembling. Arcee hesitated.

"Would you rather wait out here? One of us can stay with you if you don't want to be alone." Arcee's optics opened wider and her lips parted, as if she'd surprised the hell out of herself.

"I...I think I need to do this." The clone wrung her hands again, seemed to notice it for the first time, and stopped abruptly. "If I don't, I'll always be afraid. I don't want to be afraid anymore."

"Your fear is understandable," Starscream said, aiming his own wide-eyed stare at the breach. "Even back when Airachnid and I were on the same side, she gave me the creeps like no one else has before or since."

Arcee flicked a narrow-eyed glance at him before turning back to the clone. "Well, remember, there's over a dozen of us, and only one of her." She smiled and patted the barrel of her railgun. "And we're better armed than she is."

Jack plucked his EMP rifle from the clip on his back and made sure it was charged. He nodded at Arcee and climbed through the breach into darkness.

"Okay. Let's do this."

 

CHAPTER TWO


"So," Jack said as the team crept through the Harbinger's dark corridors, "what do we call you?" He looked up at the Airachnid clone. He'd noticed over the last few minutes that she'd grown more nervous the deeper into the ship they explored. "I feel like it'd be rude to keep referring to you as 'the clone.'"

She paused her hand-wringing long enough to shrug, then resumed. Her lips quivered and she moved forward with slow, hesitant steps. "I...I don't know. I have no idea what would...well, fit me."

"That actually makes me wonder something," Jensen said. "Cybertronians have weird names. Is it something that happens when they're translated into English? I mean, Starscream, Megatron, Bumblebee? What's up with that?"

"Well, we're aliens." Starscream arched a brow plate at him. "What sorts of names would you expect us to have? John? Dave? Steve? Bill? Jethro?"

"Hmm." The male Vehicon shrugged. "Steve works for me. I mean, if we're allowed to have names. Vehicons aren't given individual names until we rise high enough in the ranks to get unique bodies."

"Sure," Arcee said. "You can have whatever name you want. None of us will try to stop you."

"Thank you." The Vehicon sounded genuinely surprised and grateful. "Steve, it is, then." He looked at his female companion. "How about you?"

"Hmm. Let me look up a few names and see if anything grabs my interest."

Chang looked up at the clone and said, "How about Tomoko? It's Japanese. I think it means 'friendly child.' Or something like that. Seems appropriate." She blushed. "I've always thought it was a pretty name."

The clone smiled. "I like it! Thank you!"

"Any time." Chang grinned.

"Hmm." The female Vehicon cocked her head. "How does 'Khalilah' sound? It's Arabic. Also means, 'friend.'" She looked down at the floor, as if embarrassed.

"That's pretty." Tomoko smiled and nodded. "I like it."

"Yeah, good choice." Jack gave her a thumbs-up. He glanced at Tomoko and smiled, relieved to see her relaxing a little.

It didn't last long, though. The team turned another corner and Tomoko stopped and wrung her hands again. "The room at the end of this corridor is where I...began. And almost died." She backed a few steps away.

"Take it easy," Arcee said softly. "We won't let her hurt you."

Ashanti glanced at Tomoko. "Might be a good idea to change your color scheme to something completely different from Airachnid's, at least temporarily. When the shooting starts, we don't want to risk getting you confused with her."

"Oh! Good idea. Thanks." Tomoko pondered it for a moment, then shrugged. Her entire body turned white. "That'll do for now."

Ashanti smiled, nodded, and continued forward. Optimus led the team to the door at the end of the corridor. He pointed at it and glanced at Tomoko. She nodded, somewhat twitchily, and wrung her hands again.

Optimus raised his rifle, stepped into the lab, and swept his optics from right to left. Something caught his attention and he stopped, winced, and looked back at Tomoko. "It's empty," he said softly. "Except..."

"No," she whispered.

"The clones?" Jack stared at him. "They're all...?"

He nodded slowly.

Tomoko sobbed and rushed through the door, her spider legs clinking rapidly on the metal floor. Jack turned to Arcee, sighed, and followed Tomoko.

The clones lay on four of the five slanted tables along the left-hand wall. Two of them had their torsos dismantled and the other two had blaster holes in their chests, clean through their spark chambers. All four were missing various parts of their bodies.

Tomoko shifted back into her bipedal mode and stumbled over to them. She reached out slowly and laid her hand on the nearest clone's forehead. She looked slowly over all of them and sobbed again.

"My sisters." Her voice was a hollow whisper. "We didn't get here soon enough. I'm so sorry."

"So am I." Arcee reached up to touch Tomoko's shoulder. Her optics opened wider and her lips parted slightly, as if her own actions surprised her.

"Airachnid sure did repair herself quickly," Jensen muttered.

"She probably turned her pain receptors off. That'd certainly speed up the process." Arcee raised a brow plate. "Or maybe she didn't bother. For all I know, she could be as much of a masochist as she is a sadist."

"So, what now?" Jack looked around at everyone. "Can any of you detect her?"

The 'Bots and the team's new additions shook their heads.

"She is out of range," Optimus replied.

"And our communications aren't being jammed." Arcee sighed again, and clamped her railgun to her back. She crouched in front of Jack and held her hand out. He placed his in her palm and smiled.

"While we're here," Steve said, "maybe we should keep looking around. Might find something that points us in her direction."

Arcee nodded and managed to smile. She rose back to her feet and walked over to the control panels on the far side of the lab. "Let's get to it."

#

"Nothing." Arcee thumped her fist on the console. "It's a total blank."

"Perhaps the memory core was damaged during the crash or the battle that preceded it. Or perhaps it was wiped deliberately." Optimus turned toward the door. "We may find something useful in another part of the ship."

Arcee nodded and turned away from the console. She found Tomoko sitting nearby with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, staring at the bodies of the other clones.

"Hey," Arcee said softly, and Tomoko twitched and looked up at her. "Do you want to step outside for a while? All this might be...well, a bit much, huh?"

Tomoko nodded. "I'm sorry. I just don't...feel right, in here."

Arcee glanced at Optimus and motioned at the door. He smiled and nodded.

"We will continue the search."

"Thanks." Arcee held her hand out to Tomoko and helped her up. "Let's find some better scenery."

Jack followed them through the corridors until they reached the hull breach through which they'd entered. Once outside, they walked a considerable distance from the Harbinger. Finally, Tomoko sat and pulled her knees up to her chest again.

Arcee sat across from her, leaned against a slanted slab of rock, and moved her legs apart enough for Jack to sit in front of her. He took his helmet off and leaned back against her. She rested her left hand across his lap and he put his hand on hers.

"Feeling better, Tomoko?" She smiled.

"I'm starting to." Tomoko glanced over at the ship, winced, and looked away quickly. "If only we'd gotten here sooner. Or if I hadn't run like a coward."

"No, if you hadn't run, Airachnid would've killed you. And she wouldn't have done it quickly."

"Why?" Tomoko's lips trembled as she looked at the Harbinger again. "I know you said she's insane, but...just...why? What made her like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's got some bad code in her brain. Or she had some kind of damage to her neural network far in the past. Or maybe she was just twisted right from the beginning." Arcee shrugged and tried to close the floodgates on all her memories of Airachnid torturing her and killing Tailgate right in front of her--and nearly killing Jack so many times, as well. "All I know is, she's about fifty tons of fucked-up in a ten-pound bag."

Tomoko shook her head slowly and stared at a random spot on the ground. Finally, she said, "Is it the same for the ones you've been fighting? What was it you called them?"

"Decepticons. The war started so long ago...before I even existed. You might say I was born in fire." Arcee struggled to suppress more memories before they could haunt her any more than they already had. "I'm told it started after Megatron began opposing the caste system that was imposed on everyone at the time. He was a gladiator back then. Called himself Megatronus, then sometime later he shortened his name for some reason. Anyway, back then, he seemed to be on the right side, fighting against the injustice of the caste system. But he changed as time passed. Became power-hungry. Eventually, everyone ended up either with him or against him, and the war raged on for hundreds of thousands of years, until our planet became uninhabitable."

"Your whole planet was destroyed?"

"Well, it's still there, but it's...'shut down,' for lack of a better term. Power sources depleted, the core severely damaged. The atmosphere's toxic now. Didn't have an atmosphere humans could've breathed, before, but it could've been altered if Cybertron were still alive." Arcee closed her optics for a moment and sighed. "At the core of Cybertron is...well, some of us believe it's our creator, Primus. And now he's...I don't know, dormant at best. Maybe even dead. There's a chance Cybertron can be revived, I suppose. Who knows, maybe someday, someone will find a way. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, just in case."

"You said some of you believe...?"

Arcee shrugged. "Many of our archives were destroyed during the war. We lost a lot of our history, including how Cybertron came to exist. It's metal--the whole planet, everything there is what you might call synthetic. So I don't see how it could've occurred naturally. Same with us. The war took us all over a significant part of the galaxy, and we never encountered any other machine life. It was all organic. And from what we've seen, machines have to be built by organic life forms. But many of us prefer to believe we were created by an all-powerful, all-knowing being. Primus."

"That reminds me of when we first met." Jack chuckled. "We asked who built you, and Ratchet got all pissed-off. Like we'd insulted him."

"Yeah, I think he believes it. Either that, or he was just being his normal grouchy self." She shrugged again. "I don't buy it, though. If Primus were all-powerful, he wouldn't be dead now. Or dormant, or whatever. Like I've mentioned before, so many records were lost over the millennia, and some of us tried to fill in the blanks as best they could."

Tomoko stared at her with wide optics and a slight smile, as if hanging on her every word.

Heh. I guess all this stuff must be incredibly fascinating for her. I've forgotten what that must be like, having lived with all this for so many thousands of years.

"Hmm." Jack stroked the back of her hand slowly. "What do you think it is? Cybertron's origin, I mean?"

"I only investigated it off and on. As you might guess, we didn't have much time for anything other than killing each other. What little solid information I could find suggested Primus was a space station that was gradually added on to and built up over thousands upon thousands of years, until it was the size of a planet. I figure whoever built that space station also built us and somehow created the 'sparks' that give us life." Arcee managed a slight smile. "If this goddamned war ever ends and we're all still alive when the dust settles, I'd love to go back there and try to find any archives that weren't already recovered. Try to find out which of our origin stories is true."

Jack smiled. "Arcee the archaeologist."

She laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

"As long as I can help you with your research." He grinned.

If the war ends in his lifetime. She kept smiling and hoped he hadn't noticed the slight hesitation. "I wouldn't have it any other way, honey. My Indiana Jones to your Marion Ravenwood."

"Hey, wait a minute!" He laughed and gave her hand a playful slap.

She grinned and brushed a fingertip through his hair.

"Arcee," Optimus called through her comlink.

"Here. Did you find something?"

"Yes, but not what we expected. Please return to the ship."

"We're on our way." She signed off and lifted her hand off Jack's lap. He stood, brushed dirt off the seat of his armor, and smiled up at her. She leaned over and they kissed before she rose to her feet.

"Think it's good news?" Jack hurried to keep up with her as she and Tomoko strode back to the ship.

"I hope so." Arcee scowled at the Harbinger. "But don't be surprised if it isn't."

#​

"Damn." Arcee sighed as she, Jack, and Tomoko entered the cavernous engineering section. Strewn on the floor from one end of the chamber to the other were several dozen Autobot and Decepticon corpses, and an assortment of blown-off body parts, illuminated by the soft glow from a few consoles and several light panels that still functioned.

"Autobot boarding party, looks like." Ashanti swept her rifle-mounted flashlight over the walls. "Burn marks and melted holes everywhere. Must've been one hell of a fight."

"Yeah," Jack muttered. "Looks that way." He glanced up at Arcee and Tomoko. Oh, hell. The new girl is accumulating enough nightmare fuel to last a lifetime, all in the space of a few hours.

Bumblebee fired off a stream of beeps and honks.

"Some of them appear intact," Arcee translated, and hurried over to him and Optimus.

"Do you recognize this one?" Optimus pointed at an Autobot sitting slumped against the wall. His color scheme was a mixture of blue and white. "I have never met him before."

"Me, neither." She crouched beside the body and took a closer look. "I don't see any weapons damage. Some dents and scratches, probably from the crash." She looked up at Optimus. "You think he might just be in self-induced hibernation?"

"I hope so. Ratchet will be able to tell for certain." Optimus walked over to another body, one with a red and blue color scheme and a body type similar to his own. "This one, I do know. Ultra Magnus."

"Huh." Arcee glanced down at Jack before crossing the room. "Last I heard, he was in charge of Bulkhead's old unit, the Wreckers."

"He was Bulkhead's boss back in the day? Small galaxy, huh?" He and Tomoko hurried to catch up with her.

"He also looks intact." Optimus activated his comlink. "Ratchet, we have found the remains of an Autobot boarding party in the wreckage of the Harbinger. Two of them appear to have only non-fatal damage, but I need you to determine whether they can be revived." He waited for a reply and nodded. "We'll await your arrival."

"In the meantime," Khalilah said, "we can continue searching the ship. If we can find a console that contains a backup of the flight recorder's latest entries, it would put us a few steps closer to piecing together what happened here."

Optimus turned to look at the two 'Bots.

"This ship has been sitting here for hundreds of years," Arcee said softly. "Maybe thousands. These two won't be going anywhere in the next few minutes."

He nodded. "Bumblebee, wait here for Ratchet. Direct him to your location when he bridges in. We will continue the search."

Bee nodded and stood near Ultra Magnus.

"Have you been able to access any records here?" Arcee glanced around at the active consoles and Optimus nodded.

"The few files we found were corrupted and would not load."

"Figures." Arcee sighed and headed for the door at the far end of the chamber. "Let's keep moving."

#

"Still no change, huh?"

Miko looked down and to the left, and found Rosalina and Lucas approaching. Behind them was a team of four airmen, hanging back but staying just close enough to be sure Rosalina hadn't forgotten them. She'd done a lot to earn everyone's trust over the last few months, but General Sanchez wasn't taking any chances.

Miko shook her head and faced forward again. She'd spent the past hour sitting on Bulkhead's chest, watching his face, waiting for the slightest movement. She wanted to be here when he woke up. Whenever that happened. If--

She forced that thought down, took a slow breath, and continued waiting.

"Want some coffee or tea?" Lucas pointed a thumb over his shoulder, toward the main hub, where a coffee pot and a few other necessities had been set up. It was only then Miko noticed the mugs he and Rosalina held in their hands.

"Maybe later. Thanks." Miko looked up at Ratchet as he finished packing the tools he needed.

"Let us know if you change your mind. We'll be happy to bring you some." Rosalina took a sip from her mug and smiled. "The stores are selling cinnamon gingerbread already. Seems like it starts earlier every year, but I'm not complaining. It's my favorite."

"I don't mind either." Lucas chuckled. "It's just kind of odd. Not even Halloween yet, and they're starting with the Christmas stuff."

Miko glanced at them again and managed a slight smile. Weird, seeing a robot eating and drinking. Kinda cute, though.

Ratchet's footsteps shook the floor as he picked up his tool kit and walked toward the tunnel leading to the main hub. He paused, turned to look at Miko, and twitched his head toward Rosalina. "Are you sure you'll be alright if I leave you alone?"

"Hey, you're talking to the girl who blew up five Insecticons." She winked at him. "And I'm not alone. I'll be fine."

He nodded, turned, and disappeared down the tunnel. Miko watched him leave, waited a few seconds, and the ground bridge activated. She looked back at Rosalina, Lucas, and the airmen.

Rosalina smiled up at her, leaned against the wall, and slipped her arm around Lucas's waist. "Say, if you think I'm out of line for asking personal questions, just say so and I'll drop it--but are you and Bulkhead, um...?"

"No. He's like a big brother." Miko let another brief smile show. "I didn't have any brothers or sisters. Never knew what it was like until I met Bulk."

Rosalina started to say something, but a beep came from the pocket of her lab coat. She pulled a tablet out of it and tapped the screen. She read whatever was on it and smiled.

"Got a message from Groom Lake. A squadron of Vehicons has just radioed for permission to land. It's the 'fifth column' you guys found on the Nemesis. Guess it took 'em a while to get here from the moon."

"I was hoping they survived."

"Yeah. You've been outnumbered for so long, but maybe now things are changing for the better."

"I hope so." Miko turned back to Bulkhead and sighed. Come on, buddy, wake up. She leaned forward to rest her palm on his chest. If our chances really are improving, I want you to be around to see it.

#

Okay, will this one be paydirt or another strike-out? Jack followed Arcee into yet another cavernous chamber. The floor had been twisted in the crash, and began to slant to the right as they walked farther in. Arcee stopped at the nearest console and fiddled with the controls.

The panels and monitor lit up, and overhead lights came on gradually. Arcee smiled.

Optimus turned and gave the room a slow visual sweep. "This is an auxiliary control room."

"Looks a lot less damaged than everything we've seen before." Jack shrugged. "Well, aside from the floor being bent into the shape of a potato chip."

"If we don't find what we're looking for here, we probably won't find it at all." Steve walked over to the adjacent console, and Khalilah stepped up to the one on his left.

"Wanna give me a boost, babe?" Jack pointed at the console in front of Arcee. She smiled and lifted him up to the control panel.

"Thanks." He spared a few seconds to let his gaze caress her chest plate as he took a few steps away to avoid getting in the way of her hands. That's a sight I never get tired of. He grinned and turned to watch her search for intact files.

Less than a minute passed, then Arcee grinned. "Found the flight recorder. Looks like almost everything was backed up before the ship broke in half." She tapped another button and two rows of windows appeared on her screen. "Playing the last entry now."

The top row displayed feeds from cameras mounted on the hull, and the bottom row showed a variety of sensor data. The camera feeds showed several different views of the same metal surface, ranging from direct downshots to a view that looked almost like a planet's horizon.

Jack glanced up at her. "Is that Cybertron?"

"No. If I'm not mistaken, the Harbinger was in the vicinity of the star humans call Gliese 707." Arcee flicked her optics over the sensor data before returning her attention to the camera feeds. "The ship was fighting a battle in an intense gravity well--more than a gas giant is able to exert at the same distance."

On two of the screens, massive energy beams struck the hull and blew it wide open. The Harbinger returned fire, but its weapons had little to no effect on the metal structure. Arcee glanced at the data scrolling past on the bottom row.

"The gravity's strong enough to put a huge strain on the engines." She pointed at the screens. "They've had the mains at full burn since the playback started, and they're barely moving. Their jump engines are damaged; trying to recharge, but taking longer than they should."

The ship was struck again and again, but continued plowing forward and returning fire.

"Okay, they're picking up some speed. Looks like they're finally breaking away." Arcee planted her hands on her hips and continued watching as the Harbinger limped away from whatever the massive structure was.

"Shit!" Steve blurted, and everyone turned to stare at him. He pointed at his console. "I found some records that were transferred from other Decepticon ships, and others taken from Autobot ships. The Harbinger isn't the only one that encountered this...well...see for yourselves."

Arcee paused the playback, picked Jack up again and carried him to Steve's console. She lowered him to the control panel and scowled at the images on the screen. Jack faced the screen and raised an eyebrow. The image was of an enormous, spherical metal structure with a maw-like opening and a long, horn-like structure on either side of the opening.

Huh. I have no idea what that is.

Starscream whimpered and backed away until he bumped into the wall. Arcee fired an annoyed glance at him, and Jack almost burst into laughter. Her smile always lit up the whole room, but her Clint Squint could peel the paint right off the walls.

"Unicron," Starscream moaned. He didn't appear to notice Arcee's expression, keeping his wide optics on the screen.

"That's what I was afraid of," Steve said. "I thought I recognized him, but I wanted to be wrong."

"Unicron?" Arcee turned back to the console and scowled at the image. "That fucker is actually real?"

"So it would appear," Optimus said. "He is...much larger than I expected."

Steve nodded at his console. "According to the scans, that circular opening is large enough to swallow several planets at once."

"Jesus Christ," Jensen muttered. "That'd make him...how big, exactly?"

Steve tapped a few buttons and the image changed to a graphic of a star system, which then shrank rapidly. Beside it appeared a graphic representing Unicron.

Oh, hell. Jack pointed at the image and arched an eyebrow at Steve. "Is that a size comparison?"

"Yes."

A cold sensation rose up in Jack's chest. He turned back to Jensen. "That'd make him about the size of a Dyson sphere."

"Roughly the circumference of Earth's orbit around the Sun, probably." Ashanti took a few steps closer. "Please tell me that thing isn't on course for Earth."

"Let me see if anyone was able to track him." Steve pushed more buttons and a new image appeared, showing a curving line running through a star chart. "It looks like he was headed away from here, though Gliese 707 is frighteningly close to Earth." He fiddled with the controls for a few more seconds and a dotted line sprouted from the end of the solid one. "Assuming he hasn't altered course since whenever this flight path was last updated, he would be headed straight for...oh, no."

Jack glanced at him, then turned and found Arcee's sneer replaced with wide optics and gaping mouth. After staring at the screen for several more seconds, she slowly turned her horrified expression toward him.

"Cybertron."

 

Author's note: Sorry for the long delay on this chapter. I haven't been able to focus on writing much due to an extended real-life crisis that's been going on since around mid-October. It's still not quite over yet, but I'm trying to get back to writing as often as possible. I'll do my best not to let another five months pass before I post the next chapter.

CHAPTER THREE

"Wanna watch the sunset while we eat?" Jack held out a tray.

Arcee jumped slightly and turned toward him. Her thoughts returned to the present, and she accepted the tray with a smile. "Sounds good. I could use something relaxing right now." She held the tray in her right hand and reached out with the other to take Jack's hand.

They walked across the mess hall to the door and Arcee tried not to think about the information they'd found in the Harbinger's computer. Yet she couldn't stop. It seemed silly to her to be so worried about a planet that was already dead--but on the other hand, there was still hope, no matter how faint, that a way could be found to revive Cybertron. If Unicron really did consume planets and was on course for her former homeworld, there would be nothing left to revive.

Hell, it could already have happened. If the data we found is old enough, it could already be too late.

She tried to shake herself out of it. There's nothing we can do about it, so just wait until we have more information. Try to enjoy the sunset, and your time with Jack, and your first meal ever.

Jack let go of Arcee's hand long enough to hold the door open for her, and followed her human-size body outside. They passed between a dozen picnic tables and sat at the outermost one. Arcee placed the tray in front of her and gazed over the wire fence at the wide-open sky, barely beginning to darken as the sun approached the horizon. The desert air was still aside from an occasional, gentle breeze.

"Beautiful." Some of the tension eased out of her body as she stared at the pink-tinted clouds. "This is exactly what I needed."

"Me, too." Jack smiled and slipped his arm around her waist. Without thinking, she leaned over slightly until the side of her head brushed against his. She found herself relaxing a little more. She turned to him and smiled.

He smiled back. After gazing into each other's eyes for a moment, he turned his head to the proper angle and inched closer. She met him halfway and their lips touched.

They parted after a few seconds, smiled, and joined again.

Until two sets of footsteps approached from behind.

Jack sighed and picked up his fork.

"Don't let us interrupt you," June said, a mischievous smile in her voice as she sat at the table to Arcee's right.

"Yeah," Miko added as she took the seat across from June. "Carry on. Like we're not even here."

"Right. Sure." Jack rolled his eyes.

Arcee hesitated, caught off-guard by the sensations and desires that her small, remote-controlled body had given her. Gonna be hard to wait until he's eighteen.

She pulled back a few inches and tried to focus on June.

"We weren't up to anything," she muttered. "Jack's just trying to get my mind off the things we saw on the Harbinger today."

Jack smiled. "She's been wanting to test out some of her Pretender body's functions, so we're starting with food. A nice, quiet dinner with a beautiful sunset. We weren't going to do anything that most teenagers don't already do."

"Except Arcee's an adult."

"Said the woman who got pregnant when she was thirteen." Jack laughed and used his fork to cut off a piece of the enormous burger that covered most of his plate. "Knocked up by a guy who was almost an adult himself."

"Okay, fair point." June chuckled. "You're right. I'm being a bit of a hypocrite."

"All I'm asking is that you trust us." Jack smiled, put his fork down, and turned back to Arcee. "And since you said not to let you interrupt us..."

He kissed Arcee again, much more passionately this time, and slid his hands over the curves of her chest plate. Arcee hesitated, not wanting to provoke his mom any further, but couldn't resist for more than a few seconds. She put her arms around him and lost herself in the moment.

Until Miko piped up. "Awesome. That'll give me an image to keep in mind the next time I masturbate."

The next sound was a sudden coughing and wheezing. Arcee turned her head to find June choking and thumping her plastic tumbler down on the table. Orange juice sloshed over the side.

"You okay, Mom?" Jack reached over to pat her on the back and flicked a scowl at Miko.

"Aggkh..." June held a napkin to her face. "Orange juice is coming out of my nose."

"Sorry, Ms. D." Miko turned back to her tray with a sheepish grin, picked up her Sonoran hotdog, and shrugged. "Dunno why the subject is such a big deal. Everybody does it."

June blushed and stared intently at her food.

"Well, maybe not Raf." Miko took a bite of her hotdog. "Yet."

"I haven't tried it." Arcee shrugged. "Maybe later tonight."

Jack's face turned red, but he grinned and took a bite of his burger. "We'll consider that dessert."

June rubbed her left hand over her face, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Finally, she muttered, "New topic, please."

"Okay, okay." Jack chuckled.

"So...how was the debriefing?" June glanced at Arcee.

In a hangar on the far side of the base, Arcee opened her optics long enough to glance over at Optimus, General Sanchez, Agent Fowler, and nearly a dozen other high-ranking military and civilian officials. She closed her optics and focused her attention on her remote-controlled body at the picnic table.

"Looks like our cover's totally blown. There's no getting around this one. Optimus, the general, and Fowler are trying to work out exactly what to do. Trying to keep us a secret now would be a mistake. Not to mention, it simply wouldn't work at all. We're all over the news and a lot of people are panicking."

"Oh, boy." June sighed.

"Well." Jack patted the back of Arcee's hand. "Maybe this means you guys won't have to hide anymore."

"Maybe. I guess it all depends on whether Optimus and the rest can smooth things over with the public. Once they start talking to the press, I don't see how they can avoid admitting that the government has been covering up an alien invasion. I doubt that's gonna go over well."

"Yeah. Well, we've survived a lot worse. We'll get through this." Jack gave her hand another pat and took another bite of his burger. "Now, eat up before your food gets cold."

Arcee chuckled, picked up her fork, and spent several seconds trying to adjust her grip on it. She'd seen plenty of humans use these things, but this was the first time she'd ever tried it.

Jack grinned again. "And after we're done here, we can move on to dessert."

Arcee laughed and wiggled her brow plates.

June groaned, slumped forward, and braced her forehead on her palm.

Before anyone could speak again, more footsteps approached from behind. Arcee glanced over her shoulder and found Sierra, her parents, and Ashanti approaching. Arcee suppressed a groan and forced her expression to remain neutral.

Great. Sierra. This ought to be...interesting.

#

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Sierra's dad said as they sat at one of the empty tables.

Jack shrugged and tried to keep a pleasant smile on. Oh, no, not at all. Arcee and I just wanted a nice, private dinner that nobody will let us have.

"Not really," Arcee said. "We were just taking in the sunset and chatting idly. I'm sure you've got some questions." She smiled, but Jack knew her well enough to see how forced it was.

"I don't even know where to start, honestly." Sierra's father prodded at his meal with his fork.

Sierra cocked her head and stared at Arcee. "You shrank."

Arcee grinned, and this time it appeared genuine. "This is just a remote-controlled mobile platform. I'm actually in hangar on the other side of the base. I had to start using it while I was recovering from some pretty severe damage, and I've found it too handy to throw away even though I'm back on my feet."

"Ah." Sierra's eyes flicked from Arcee to Jack and back several times.

Jack smirked and put his arm around Arcee's shoulders. She smiled and reached over to stroke his cheek.

Sierra turned away quickly and stared at the sloppy joe on her tray.

"So," June said after the silence stretched out for a few more seconds. "How're you adjusting to all this?"

"It's a lot to take in." Sierra's mother glanced around at everyone. "Really, the whole alien-robots thing is pretty cool, but I've been freaking out a little ever since we found out how much danger we could be in. Those news cameras on the freeway got a clear shot of all of our faces."

"And just being seen with any of the alien robots could make you a target." June nodded. "Jack, Miko, and Raf had to go through the same thing when they got caught up in all this, and so did I, a few months later."

"That's why we had to move out of Jasper," Jack added. "The wrong people found out where we lived."

"We heard there was a shooting in your house," Sierra's dad said. "Around the time you two disappeared."

"Yeah. Two government agents were keeping an eye on the place when those 'wrong people' broke in, looking for us." June shuddered and fixed her eyes on her salad. "After that, we couldn't even go back to pick up our belongings. We had to wait for a team to move our stuff out."

"The rumors have been flying ever since that day." The girl's mom braced her arms on the table and shook her head. "After the shooting, everyone thought you were dead. Then the rumors kept getting more and more out-there as time passed."

"I can imagine." Arcee seemed to remember the food on her tray, and finally stuck her fork into her omelet. After a moment of fumbling with the utensil, she tore off a piece of it, put it into her mouth, and began chewing. Her optics opened wider and she grinned. "Hey, this is good! No wonder you eat so many of these, Jack."

"I told you they were delicious." He smiled, noticed the look on the new arrivals' faces, and grinned.

"A robot that can eat?" Sierra arched an eyebrow.

"Bodies like this one were designed to mimic organic beings." Arcee shrugged and cut off another bite of her omelet. "In my case, though, it's identical to my real body, except it's human-size."

"Eating isn't the only thing it can mimic." Jack winked at Arcee and flicked a glance at Sierra. "She can have sex, too. She's got all the right parts."

"Oh." Sierra looked away again. Her face turned red. She glanced around again and changed the subject abruptly. "Hey, where's Raf?"

"He's in our base, a considerable distance away. He's keeping another new arrival company."

"How's Tomoko holding up, anyway?" Ashanti picked up her can of cola and sipped. "She's seen a hot of horrible stuff today. Is she handling it?"

"Yeah, she's getting through it. Though I don't know if she's actually moving past it or just letting herself be distracted for a while. Raf's got her playing video games with Bee. Every now and then, Bee sends me a photo or video clip from his optics to keep me updated." Arcee smiled and chuckled. "Right now, they're playing one of the Grand Theft Auto games."

June shook her head. "I don't think either of them is old enough for that."

"Maybe, but it's good to see her having some fun. Her life had such a traumatic start, and almost everything she saw today only piled on top of it."

"Yeah, that's a good point. I'm glad she's made at least one friend."

"Has she settled on a color scheme yet?" Miko asked.

"She's still running through a series of them. A while ago she tried pink and white, and didn't like it. Can't blame her for that." Arcee laughed. "Right now she's trying on gold with a bit of hot-rod red."

"Ah, Iron Man colors." Miko finished her hotdog and gave a thumbs-up. "Good choice. Has she picked out a vehicle mode yet?"

"It probably hasn't occurred to her yet. Whenever she gets around to it, there's plenty to choose from here, at least to get her started. Once she's able to avoid detection, she can always go through one of the nearby towns to see if she finds anything she likes."

"Uh, vehicle mode?" Sierra raised her eyebrow again.

"Arcee's people can transform into vehicles," Jack said. "It's a way of disguising themselves. They didn't want to cause the kind of trouble that's happening now that the world knows they're here." He laughed softly. "Remember that day you saw me sitting on my new motorcycle? The first day you said more than two words to me?"

"Yeah, it was right outside the burger place you worked in."

Jack smirked and waved a hand at Arcee. Sierra's eye widened.

"That was her?"

"Yep. That was the day she and I met. Right then, I thought she was just a normal motorcycle." He laughed again and clasped Arcee's hand. "I had no idea what I was about to get into or where it would lead, but I'm glad it happened."

"Ah. Well." Sierra stared at her tray again. "You two certainly seem happy together."

"Oh." Her dad grinned and prodded her shoulder. "Looks like someone has a crush."

"Dad!" She narrowed her eyes at him and her face turned almost as red as her hair.

Her mom swatted his shoulder. He raised his hands.

"What? Embarrassing the kids is part of a parent's job."

Jack burst out laughing and his mom flicked him a narrow-eyed glance of her own. He blushed and shrugged.

"Come on, Mom. Like your parents never embarrassed you in front of your peers. It's all part of the cycle of life, right?"

"Okay, fair point." June sighed and waved her fork at everyone else's trays. "Come on, eat up. Your food's getting cold."

Sierra took a few bites before turning to Jack again. "Hey, uh...well, since my dad let the cat out of the bag...I was kind of interested in you. I mean, just so you understand if I act a little...awkward now."

"Ah. Well." Jack glanced at Arcee and cleared his throat. "There was a time before that when I had a crush on you."

"Really?" She stared at him and blinked several times. "Why didn't you...?"

"Make a move? I tried to start a conversation with you several times, but you barely seemed aware I existed."

"Seriously? When?"

"We had a few classes together. English, History, Chemistry, Applied Economics. Several times, when everybody divided up to work on term projects, I asked you to be my partner."

"You did?" She cocked her head. "We had all those classes together?"

"Exactly. You never really noticed me until you saw my awesome bike."

"Oh. I guess you're right. Uh..." Sierra turned to stare at her sloppy joe again. "Sorry."

"It's in the past." Jack smiled and put his arm around Arcee again. "I'm okay with the way things turned out."

"Ah. Well...good. I'm happy for you." Sierra smiled, but couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds. She sighed. "I feel like an idiot, though. I was so focused on the jocks that I didn't see what was right in front of me."

Arcee aimed an unreadable look at her for several seconds. "Try not to let it get to you. The same thing happened to me, actually. Jack and I...well, it never even occurred to me at first. I didn't realize how I felt about him, even though I felt it pretty strongly. Just couldn't identify what was going on in my own head. I wouldn't have figured it out if it hadn't been for June."

"Not intentionally." June held her hands up and chuckled. "I was just being nosy, trying to find out if there was already something going on between them."

"That conversation helped everything click into place." Arcee smiled. "And for that, I'm forever indebted to you."

"Ah, well, um...you're welcome." June chuckled.

"What amuses me," Miko said, "is the fact that Jack and Arcee were head-over-heels for each other and everyone knew it except them. Well, them and his mom."

"Huh," Jack muttered. "It was really that obvious?"

"It was little things we all noticed. The way you looked at each other, the way your tone and body language changed whenever you were together, stuff like that." Miko grinned. "And since you were already fantasizing about her while jerking off--"

What? Jack's face grew almost unbearably hot and he suddenly wanted to crawl under the table and hide from everyone's shocked stares.

"Jesus Christ, Miko," Ashanti muttered.

Jack gaped at Miko for several more seconds before turning to stare at Arcee. She shook her head and held her hands up.

"I never said a word to her, I swear!"

Miko seemed to realize what she'd just said. She blushed and tugged on her shirt collar. "I...may have...overheard a conversation or two."

Jack slumped forward and buried his face in his hands. Oh, fuck me.

"Um, sorry," Miko mumbled. "I guess I need to work on that whole brain-mouth filter thing."

"Excellent idea." June grimaced and concentrated on eating her salad.

Arcee nudged Jack's shoulder. When he looked up at her, she grinned. "Don't be embarrassed. I don't mind it at all." She wiggled her brow plates.

"Eheh," he mumbled. "Well...thanks."

She chuckled, put her arm around him, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Seriously, dude, I didn't mean to...well, you know." Miko sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one who's had naughty thoughts about a Cybertronian. Know who I think about when I masturbate? Knockout."

"What?" Jack and Arcee blurted at the same time.

Miko held her hands up. "I know, I know. He's a narcissistic asshole, not to mention one of the bad guys--but he's cute! If it were at all possible, I'd totally fuck him. I'd fuck that smugness right out of him."

Everyone simply stared at her. Sierra's face slackened, as if something in her head had derailed. Her parents turned to gape at each other. Miko shrugged and took a swig from her bottle of water, as if nothing had happened.

"The reason stuff like this embarrasses you," she finally said, "is because you let it."

"Uh, sure. Whatever you say." Jack tugged on his collar and stared at his plate.

An awkward silence settled over everyone again, broken a few seconds later by multiple pairs of footsteps approaching from behind Jack. He glanced over his shoulder and found the rest of Ashanti's team and nearly a dozen Pretenders crossing the parking lot and heading directly for the unoccupied picnic tables. One of them had taken the form of one of the Vehicon defectors.

Oh, great. Jack almost rolled his eyes, but then he decided this might help steer the conversation away from its current course. What the hell. The more the merrier, I guess.

#

"Hey, guys," Jensen said as he placed his tray on the nearest empty table. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's been...interesting." June chuckled and hoped he wouldn't ask her to elaborate.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," one of the female Pretenders said. She clapped a male on the shoulder as they sat. "Rob, here, needed some cheering up, so I thought we could take in the sunset and just try to de-stress after recent events."

"Why does he need cheering up? Is there anything we can do?"

"Girlfriend troubles."

Ashanti raised an eyebrow. "Still?"

Rob sighed and stared at the beer bottle in his left hand. "It's been several months, and she still won't even talk to me. Can't say I blame her, though. She hasn't trusted me since she found out what I really am. I mean, I lied to her the whole time we were together."

"Well, you didn't exactly have a choice." Arcee shrugged. "You were just trying to survive, and to do that, you had to stay hidden."

"Give her a little more time." The female patted his shoulder again and picked up a corn dog from her tray. "She might come around yet."

"Easy for you to say."

"I went through the same thing with my guy, but we're finally back together. So your situation could still work out."

"Yeah, but your solution was kinda fucked-up."

Oh, boy. June had to suppress a sigh.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do I wanna know?"

The female laughed and shrugged. "Well, you know how it all started--when one of us outed the rest and Ashanti's team started picking us up, those of us in relationships had a lot of explaining to do. It all worked out for some of them, like Roz and Lucas. Others...well, my boyfriend didn't actually kick me out of our apartment, but he started sleeping on the couch. Actually, I think it was a while before he was able to sleep, because he was afraid of me." She took a bite of the corn dog. "I managed to talk him into taking the bed and I spent the nights on the couch, running diagnostics and going into standby mode to pass the time."

"How'd you solve the problem?"

"I caught something on his laptop screen before he could hide it. Turns out he's into Ahsoka Tano porn, among other things. So, a light bulb appeared over my head. I found a bunch of pictures to use as references, and spent a few days building a model which I then downloaded to my T-cog. Then I transformed into Ahsoka and waited for him to come home." She grinned. "He tried to resist, but couldn't."

June shook her head slowly. What. The. Hell?

"Like I said," Rob muttered. "Fucked-up."

"So..." Ashanti stared at the female. "The reason you're back together is because he had fantasies about banging a sixteen-year-old alien?"

Arcee chuckled. "Well, I'm not judging him, for obvious reasons."

"Thank you." The Pretender grinned again. "Best sex we'd had in a long time, too. Quite the ice-breaker, really."

Ashanti glanced at Rob and nodded. "Yeah, I'm with you on this one--it's pretty fucked-up."

"Come on, is it really that different from humans putting on costumes and doing kinky role-play? It's just a fantasy--and it didn't involve BDSM crap or anything like that. We've started talking again, and we're gradually smoothing things out. I went back to using my human form when we have sex." She winked. "Most of the time."

Well, that was more information than any of us had any business knowing. June finished the last few bites of her salad and sipped her orange juice.

"So, Alice, all I have to do is find out what kind of guy Veronica fantasizes about, and turn myself into a copy of him?" Rob shook his head. "I think I'll pass on that."

"Well, what worked for me might not work for anyone else. The point is, it may not be hopeless. Just keep trying, and pay attention to her. You never know when you'll notice something that'll open the door for you."

He shrugged and continued his silent contemplation of his beer. Finally, he twisted the cap off and took a swig.

"Huh," Sierra finally mumbled. "Relationship advice from alien robots. Now my life is complete."

Arcee chuckled. "Stick around long enough and all this weird shit will seem normal."

"There's something to look forward to." Sierra managed a brief smile.

Arcee laughed before finishing her omelet. She leaned over to the Vehicon-looking Pretender. "Say, which one are you? No offense, but--"

"None taken." The voice was feminine. "We do all look alike. If I'm allowed to continue using this body, I might see if I can design a face for it. Anyway, I'm Khalilah. We're being allowed to try out some of the 'empty' Pretender bodies you have in storage, for brief periods, as long as we don't try to impersonate any humans. I got the first 'shift' in one." She glanced around at everyone. "It certainly puts things into a whole new perspective, being this small. Now that humanity knows we exist, they must be terrified."

"Some Cybertronians are terrifying." Jack glanced at Arcee and grinned. "Others are sexy."

Arcee beamed at him before turning back to Khalilah. "We're hoping Optimus and General Sanchez and the others can iron things out. If they can avoid a public panic, then eventually humans will get used to us. They're pretty resilient, actually."

"That's good to hear." Khalilah turned to watch the sunset for a moment.

"How are the other defectors adjusting?" Arcee said.

"They're still doing Q&A sessions with the local leadership, telling them everything they know about Decepticon resources, strategy, and whatnot." Khalilah shook her head slowly. "Finally figuring out that you've been on the wrong side of the war for twenty thousand years can be one hell of a motivator."

"I bet."

Sierra stared at Khalilah and then turned to Arcee. "Uh...twenty thousand years?"

"It's a long story."

"Yeah, no kidding. Because, y'know, twenty thousand years."

Arcee chuckled. "We'll fill you in on everything sometime."

"I've heard the Vehicons who surrendered to you a few months ago have recently chosen names for themselves," Khalilah said. "They picked names of streets in the city Tyra Case grew up in. The males are Drexel, Bilby, Campbell, Maverick, Broadway, Speedway, Milton, and Craycroft; the females are Valencia, Minorka, Monrovia, Elvira, Catalina, and Sahuarita."

Ashanti smiled. "That's sweet of them."

"They really grew fond of her and wanted to honor her memory. They're hoping they'll be allowed to attend the funeral." Khalilah stared at the table for a moment. "That sort of service for fallen comrades is kind of an alien concept for us. When we fall in battle, the higher-ranking Decepticons don't even care. We're just cannon fodder."

"Autobot funerals are simple and brief because there's always a battle to get back into, but we do take time to honor those who were taken from us." Arcee sighed and stared at her fork while turning it slowly in her hands. "I've participated in too damned many of them in the last few thousand years."

"Well, our defection has thinned the 'Con ranks quite a bit, and adding to that all the troops you've killed in recent battles, the odds may be tipping in your favor. Our favor." Khalilah met Arcee's gaze. "The end of the war could finally be within reach."

"I wonder what that would even be like. No more fighting, no more being damaged or nearly killed, no more watching friends die. After knowing no other kind of life, I can't even imagine what lasting peace would be like."

"Well, I hope we all get to find out. Maybe when--"

A soft bong sound came from Ashanti's pocket. At the same time, Arcee turned her head abruptly.

"Someone texted me," Ashanti muttered. She dug her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Message from Optimus," Arcee said. "Ratchet's ready to try reviving the two survivors we found on the Harbinger. And they've pieced together some more information from the ship's flight recorder."

Jack reached out to hold her hand. "Information about Cybertron?"

"He didn't specify." She stood. "I'm almost afraid to find out."

"Well, let's hope it's good news." Jack smiled and slipped his arm around her waist.

"Yeah. I'm trying."

June stood and picked up her tray, thankful that she'd at least been able to finish eating, this time.

"Okay, then." Arcee turned in the direction of the hangar on the far side of the base. She braced herself and put her arm around Jack's shoulders. "Let's go."

 

CHAPTER FOUR

"No news on Airachnid yet," Arcee muttered as her remote-controlled body held the door open for Jack, his mom, Miko, and Ashanti's team. "Optimus said he's holding off on reviving the two dormant 'Bots until after we view the new records. He didn't say why, but it can't be a good sign. It's probably also something he'd prefer to avoid showing Tomoko."

"Well, maybe he just doesn't want to overwhelm them with too much new information all at once." Jack gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Those two have probably been out of the loop for a long time."

"I hope that's all it is." She smiled, but let it fade as soon as he looked away. She'd seen too much carnage in her life not to assume the worst. Which meant the records probably showed the destruction of Cybertron by the Dyson sphere-size being named Unicron.

Well, even if that's what we're about to see, Cybertron was already uninhabitable. Maybe it could've been revived, or maybe not. Either way, Earth is our home now. We have friends here. Family.

Beyond the hallway through which the group walked, at the far end of the warehouse, Arcee opened her optics and turned her head toward the door as her human-size body emerged, followed by Jack and the rest. Arcee zoomed in on his face and smiled.

However this plays out, our future is here, on Earth.

He smiled back and jogged across the floor to her. She piloted her smaller body over to the nearby wall, sat it down, and disengaged the link. She lowered herself to her hands and knees, leaned over a little farther so he could reach her, and they kissed.

Heh. Probably have to prepare the new guys for this thing with me and Jack, rather than let them walk through a door and catch us making out. Aside from this sort of "interfacing" being a completely alien concept to her people, her impression from the few times she'd met Ultra Magnus was that he was kind of uptight.

"Thanks for dinner," she said when they parted. "I'm looking forward to trying more later on."

"I'm looking forward to dessert." Jack grinned and winked.

June sighed and shook her head as she continued walking past them. She joined Optimus, Fowler, General Sanchez, and the two Vehicon defectors, Steve and Khalilah.

Miko laughed softly and walked after her, then paused long enough to turn around, hold her hand in front of her pants, and make a "flicking the bean" gesture. She followed it with a quick double thumbs-up before turning and walking on over to the others.

Jack's face turned red. "Uh, wow. All of a sudden, that girl's kind of developed an obsession with masturbation."

"Well, I've also developed quite an interest in it, given everything I've heard about what it's like." Arcee shrugged. "I mean, if it feels good, why not, right? I'm looking forward to trying it sometime soon." She chuckled. "Every time I think your face couldn't possibly turn a darker shade of red--"

"It's because you keep putting certain images in my head." He laughed and reached up to run his palms over her chest plate. "Certain...beautiful images."

General Sanchez made an unnecessarily loud throat-clearing sound. Arcee gave Jack one more quick smile before turning to face the others and shifting into all-business mode. Sanchez appeared to be trying to hide a lopsided grin as he faced the huge screen.

"Okay, Optimus," she said. "How bad is this going to be?"

He opened his mouth, hesitated, and nodded at the screen. "The few intact records we've found so far are...unsettling."

I fucking knew it. Arcee braced herself and waited for the playback to begin.

A graphic representing a binary star system appeared on the screen. Fourteen planets, most of them rocky but without an atmosphere, four gas giants, and two in the habitable zone that had atmospheres similar to Earth's, according to the data scrolling up the right side of the screen.

"The date stamp on this file puts the event at around two hundred thousand years ago," Steve said. "If our calculations correcting for stellar orbits around the galaxy are accurate, this would be the star system humans call Gliese 674, currently fifteen light years from Earth. There was an Autobot research station in the system back then, studying a population of primitive organic beings."

"The civil war on Cybertron was at full-throttle by that point," Khalilah added, "but many 'Bots were still trying to keep up with their scientific endeavors."

"How primitive was this organic species?" Jack walked closer to the screen.

"Their technological development had reached a point roughly equal to humanity as you were around a century and a half ago. Telegraphs, steam engines, that sort of stuff."

"Cool." Miko grinned. "Another alien species, practically right next door!"

"Well, about that..."

Arcee raised a brow plate. "You mentioned an 'event.'"

Optimus nodded. "This file was among the information retrieved from a series of emergency buoys launched from the research station. It seems the Harbinger found one of them and copied its files to the ship's memory core."

"Observations made with the HARPS spectrograph a few years ago detected only one planet orbiting Gliese 674, and you could say its orbit is 'unusually eccentric.'" Steve nodded at the screen. "We're about to see why."

On the screen, a new object appeared at the edge of the star system--an enormous one.

"At first," Optimus said, "those aboard the research station thought this was a ship dropping out of hyperspace, but once they scanned it, they saw that it was far bigger than any ship either side had ever built."

Ashanti sighed. "Unicron?"

He nodded and continued staring at the screen.

"The playback is accelerated," Khalilah said. "What we're seeing actually took decades."

Unicron entered the star system, passing near the outermost planet. The planet's orbit changed and it spiraled in toward the two stars, perturbing the orbits of other planets as it crossed their paths. One of the planets ended up in an extreme elliptical orbit, causing it to cross other orbits repeatedly, until it collided with one of the rocky planets. Other planets spiraled in toward the stars, two of them plunging directly into one of them, and four were ejected from the system.

One of the terrestrial planets finally intersected with the inhabited world, obliterating both.

"Jesus," June whispered.

"The research team saved as many of the indigenous population as they could," Optimus said softly as video images of a massive, spherical object appeared on the screen. "All Autobot ships were engaged in operations far away when this began, and most could not reach this system in time. The team had to use shuttles. Their efforts took many years, but still they were only able to save a few hundred, even once they had help from other ships."

"And what would you even tell those people?" Ashanti shook her head. "They probably couldn't understand what was happening, and giant robots suddenly showing up out of nowhere would've only terrified them even more."

"Imagine noticing planets' orbits changing like that, not understanding why, and knowing there isn't a single goddamned thing you can do to stop it." Jack shivered. "The end of the world, and all you can do is watch it happen."

Arcee crouched beside him and reached out to hold his hand.

"I guess that's why Unicron is called 'the Chaos Bringer.' Not even jumping in and taking out the target directly, but letting gravity do all the work. Letting his victims live in fear for several decades before finishing them off." Ashanti turned away from the screen. "When your lifespan is measured in hundreds of thousands--or even millions--of years, a century is just a pit-stop."

Arcee scowled at the images on the screen--vid records of Unicron scooping molten planetary rubble into his maw-like opening, moving slowly, taking his sweet time, simply because he could. He wasn't quite as massive at that point as he was in the file they'd found earlier, but he clearly generated enough of a gravity well to knock entire planets out of their orbits.

Withholding this from Magnus and the other 'Bot, and especially from Tomoko, was definitely the right call.

"That was way too close to Earth," Sanchez said. "Fifteen light years is spitting distance compared to the size of the galaxy."

"Shit." June trudged away from the screen and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, there goes any chance of getting any sleep."

#

"Any change yet?" Miko glanced from Lucas and Rosalina up to Ratchet.

The former shook their heads slowly and the latter turned to stare for a moment at Bulkhead's inert body on the far side of the repair bay. Finally, he turned back to Miko and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Miko. He's stable, but hasn't shown any signs of increased processor activity."

She nodded and walked across the bay without another word.

Damn. She seemed to be feeling better while we were having dinner, but now.... Jack glanced up at Arcee. Well, when you're that close to someone, you can't just forget about them when they're hurt. And if you manage to get your mind off them for a moment, you feel like you shouldn't have.

Miko climbed the stairs beside Bulkhead, hopped over the rail once she was high enough, and walked across his chest until she reached the middle. She sat, took a breath, and let it out slowly.

Optimus stared at both of them, his sorrowful expression indicating a desire to comfort Miko and sit with his old friend, but he turned back to Ratchet with a soft sigh and got back to business.

"What is the status of our new guests?"

"I've managed to repair the damage, which was comparatively minor. They appeared to have shut themselves down sometime after the crash. I suppose they had no way to call for help, and decided to conserve their remaining energon until an Autobot ship passed close enough to detect the Harbinger's wreckage."

"Or," Arcee said, "maybe they sent a distress call, but no one came to help."

"That's another possibility. We won't know for certain until we can speak with them. Which we should be able to do momentarily."

Optimus nodded and turned to watch the two 'Bots stretched out on the floor. "Revive them."

Ratchet picked up his tools and crouched beside the larger 'Bot, the one Optimus had called Ultra Magnus. He waved one of his gadgets over the 'Bot's head and waited.

Magnus opened his optics, blinked several times, and glanced around. His movements became less twitchy as his systems finished rebooting. His optics found Optimus and they stared at each other for several seconds, giving Jack the impression that they were sending wireless signals back and forth. A much more efficient way of getting the new guy up to speed than simply talking, Jack assumed.

Ultra Magnus nodded. "I've connected to the global computer network and downloaded the major languages I found. Am I using the correct one?"

"You are, my friend." Optimus held out his hand and helped Magnus get to his feet. "We found the Harbinger's wreckage. You and this one were the only Cybertronians still intact." He nodded at the blue-and-white Autobot as Ratchet crouched beside him.

"His name is Smokescreen," Magnus said. "He's a rookie. This battle was one of his first." He turned back to Optimus. "No one else survived?"

"The rest of the Autobots, and all of the Decepticons onboard, were dead when we found you. I'm sorry."

Magnus stared at the floor for a long moment. "Unfortunately, sir, they're not the first troops I've lost."

"I understand." Optimus put his hand on Magnus's shoulder. "We did not find any of the Wreckers on the Harbinger. Are they--"

"Gone. All of them. The last few were lost not long before we boarded the Harbinger. Once we found no other survivors after the crash, Smokescreen and I sent a distress call and put ourselves in standby to wait for pickup." Magnus arched a brow plate. "According to my internal chronometer, that was nearly fifteen thousand years ago. Our energon managed to last this long, but now that we're operational again, we'll run out soon."

"We acquired a small supply after a recent battle. You and Smokescreen are more than welcome to replenish yourselves. It's in a storeroom through there." He waved a hand at one of the tunnels branching out from the repair bay.

"Thank you, sir. You found us just in time. We're already running on fumes"

"We did not know the ship was on this planet until this morning.."

"I see. Our signal was never received."

"Well, on the bright side," Arcee said, "at least the 'Cons didn't pick it up and come looking for you, either."

"True enough." Magnus stared at her. "On the bright side, sir."

Really? Seriously? Jack glanced from him to Arcee and caught her trying to suppress her Clint Squint--and not entirely succeeding. He clamped his mouth shut and held his breath to stop a laugh from bursting out.

Ratchet rolled his eyes as he finished reactivating Smokescreen. The young 'Bot snapped his optics open, glanced around frantically, and deployed his arm cannons.

"Stand down," Magnus snapped.

Smokescreen whipped his head around, found Magnus standing over him, and retracted his guns. He appeared distracted for a moment, as if staring at something only he could see. Connecting to the Wi-Fi and finding language files, Jack assumed. Smokescreen's expression cleared and he hopped back to his feet.

"Sorry. I was just startled. Is this the rescue team? Wait--we're not on the Harbinger anymore."

Magnus raised his brow plate again.

"Uh, sir!" Smokescreen snapped to attention.

Arcee finally managed to soften her expression. She waved a hand across the repair bay. "Two of the Wreckers are still around, Bulkhead and Wheeljack."

"Bulkhead is badly damaged, but still alive," Ratchet said. "Wheeljack went off on his own after working with us for a brief time."

"Hmph. Typical." Magnus turned to stare at Bulkhead. "What is that thing on his chest?"

"Uh, that's Miko," Jack said. "She's a member of the team."

Magnus glanced down at him as if noticing him for the first time, and turned back to Optimus. "One of the indigenous life forms?"

"They're called humans." Optimus smiled slightly. "This is their planet."

"You're allying yourselves with such tiny, fragile creatures? The war must not be going well."

Jack held in a sigh. Oh, wow, isn't this guy charming?

"The war's long over," Arcee muttered, "and everyone lost. The 'Cons just refuse to admit it."

"Hmm. And you're counting on these small, soft humans provide the support we need?"

"Do not underestimate them," Optimus said as he began walking toward the tunnel entrance, and the others followed. "Though their technology is far behind ours, they've still found ways to take on our mutual enemy and win."

Arcee nodded over her shoulder at Miko. "After Bulkhead was shot in the back by an Insecticon, she killed the one who did it and four of his buddies."

"And blew a huge, gaping hole in the side of the Nemesis at the same time," Jack added.

Magnus stared down at him with a slight frown before turning back to Optimus. "Is that true, sir?"

"Yes. I will fill you in on everything you've missed while you slept. Jack, once they've finished refueling, perhaps you could show Smokescreen around and introduce him to the rest of the team?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to." Jack faced Smokescreen and smiled. "I'm Jack Darby."

"Hello."

They reached the storeroom and walked over to a stack of glowing blue cubes. Ratchet entered the room behind them, carrying another set of tools. Having seen Arcee using them, Jack knew they were for processing the energon into a non-volatile form and injecting it into Cybertronian bodies.

Magnus stood back and motioned Smokescreen forward. The younger 'Bot stepped up to Ratchet and turned around. Ratchet opened a port in Smokescreen's back and connected a conduit. The process took only a few minutes, but before it was over, Smokescreen had begun shifting anxiously from one foot to the other.

Jack chuckled. "He kinda reminds me of Miko. The only time I've ever seen her sit still for more than a few minutes is when she's eating or sleeping." Or sitting with Bulkhead and hoping he wakes up. Jack kept that one to himself to avoid bringing the group's mood down even further.

"Or masturbating, I assume." Arcee grinned, and Jack snickered.

"Alright, kid, you can stop being so antsy. We're done." Ratchet disconnected the conduit and waved Magnus over.

"Thanks!" Smokescreen stepped aside, stretched, and grinned. "That was exactly what I needed. I feel like I can take on the whole galaxy now!"

Magnus appeared to stifle a sigh as he walked over to Ratchet.

"Well, I guess I'll start the tour." Jack glanced up at Arcee. She nodded at the others.

"I'll help bring Ultra Magnus up to speed, but when you start showing Smokescreen around Groom Lake and introducing him to Ashanti's team, I'll link up with my Mini-Me and join you."

"Sounds like a date." Jack grinned.

Arcee chuckled, glanced over at Magnus, and smirked. She crouched, leaned over until Jack could reach her, winked, and pursed her lips. He laughed and kissed her.

Magnus stared at them with a blank expression. Smokescreen glanced around at everyone and shrugged. When they finally parted, Magnus focused his stare on Arcee.

"What were you doing?"

"It's a local custom. I'll explain it later." Arcee winked at Jack again. "Actually, there are some...educational videos I could show you sometime, just to give you the clearest possible picture."

Oh, damn, girl! Jack imagined Arcee showing Magnus some of the porn videos she "researched" a few days ago, and the resulting look on Magnus's face. The image it brought to mind almost made him burst out laughing.

He took a slow breath, turned to Smokescreen, and waved a hand. "Okay, the rest of Team Prime is in the main hub. Right this way."

#

"Hey, kiddo." June smiled as her son, Arcee's human-size body, and a full-size Autobot walked over to the table where she sat with Sierra, her parents, Ashanti, Jensen, Khalilah's mini-me, and several Pretenders. Everyone else had gone home or resumed their duties.

"Hi, Mom." Jack pointed a thumb over his shoulder as he and Arcee took seats beside her. "This is one of the new guys. His name's Smokescreen."

"Pleased to meet you." June smiled.

"Likewise. Arcee's been telling me all about Jack's performance in recent battles." Smokescreen sat at the end of the table, stretched his legs out, leaned back, and propped himself up on his hands. "It's an honor to meet the one who produced such a formidable warrior."

Jack blushed. "Eh, I think Arcee might've oversold my involvement a bit."

"Okay, I admit I'm kinda biased." Arcee shrugged and grinned. "What can you do, eh?"

Jack chuckled and slipped his arm around her waist. "Of course, we had to explain the whole human reproduction thing to him before he understood what the words 'mother' and 'son' meant."

"I'm still getting my head around the idea, but I think I can grasp it on a basic level." Smokescreen grinned. "From what I've heard about the process, it sure does sound like fun!"

June laughed. "Well, the conception part can be fun, if you're with someone who knows what he's doing." If he's not the kind of guy who only cares about sticking it into a naive girl and then running like hell when he finds out she's pregnant. She kept that thought in her head and reached for her cup of green tea. With a smile, she added, "The pregnancy is not pleasant at all, but it was so worth it."

"I've heard a lot about the act itself in the past few days," Khalilah said, and motioned at herself with one hand. "This mobile platform has some hardware and software that my own body doesn't have, and I'm thinking about trying them out, if I can find a willing partner."

Jensen shrugged. "I'm available."

Ashanti raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged again.

"Eh, why not? It's an opportunity to get laid without any emotional baggage." His smile almost collapsed, but he recovered in an instant. "After recent events, I really need something a little more life-affirming."

"Yeah, I can understand that."

Jensen turned back to Khalilah and smiled. "Whenever you're ready, just let me know."

"There's no time like the present."

"Oh, now?" He arched an eyebrow, shrugged, and picked up his tray. "Okay. Shall we go find someplace private?"

"Okay." Khalilah walked around the table and both of them headed back toward the building containing the mess hall.

"Huh." June stared at them for a few seconds before turning back to the others and shaking her head. "If only dating humans were that easy."

"No shit," Rob grumbled.

Alice chuckled and patted him on the back. The action produced a metallic clicking sound.

Smokescreen cocked his head and stared at Jensen and Khalilah as they stepped through the door. He glanced at the Pretenders and then back to Arcee.

"So, you've really got the Decepticons working with us?"

"Some of them, yeah. I had my suspicions at first, but Rosalina and the other Pretenders have gone out of their way to help us, and Khalilah and several other Vehicons risked their lives for us. That counts for a lot."

"There were other Pretenders who remained loyal to the 'Cons," Rob said as he reached for another beer. "The rest of us were already sick of the war, and when our homeworld died, that was pretty much the last straw. We ran like hell. Found this planet eventually, decided to try to blend in and live in peace. Then the 'Cons brought their war here, and we've been pulled back into it." He managed to smile a little. "But at least we're on the right side, this time."

"I don't know why any of the Vehicons could stay with Megatron's bunch," Alice said. "I've seen the way they were treated. I was on Cybertron just before the end, and saw how badly the Vehicons were treated. None of the higher-ups even blinked when a bunch of 'em got mowed down, and their remains were just left on the battlefield. Megs and the rest didn't even give a shit. Once it occurred to Khalilah and the others that they could change sides, I bet they couldn't wait to do it. They're probably dying for a chance to stick it to the 'Cons."

"Well, the increase in our numbers will give us a much better shot at doing just that." Arcee smiled. "Who knows, maybe we'll finally be able to bring the war to an end."

"I'll drink to that." Rob hoisted his bottle and took a long swig.

Everyone sat in silence for a moment. June glanced at Jack and Arcee and sighed. "Before I forget to mention it, sorry I didn't join you guys for the 'reawakening.' After that video we saw, I just needed a break from all of it."

"I understand, Mom." Jack patted her shoulder. "Luckily, there hasn't been any more bad news. We were giving Smokescreen a tour of the Autobot base and the areas of this one that aren't off-limits. And now we're kind of taking a break from that, and figured we'd come out here and relax for a few minutes."

"Well, you arrived just in time." June motioned at Sierra and her parents. "Carl, Melanie, and Sierra have been filling me in on current events back in Jasper."

"We've been out of the loop, ourselves, being on vacation and all." Carl chuckled. "We've got friends and family there who keep us updated via Facebook and Twitter."

"Been a bit busy lately, so I haven't kept up," Jack said. "Have I missed anything good?"

"Well." Sierra grinned. "My cousin Jade got a job working the customer service desk at Walmart, and has been feeding us a steady stream of horror stories."

"Walmart." Alice snorted. "Fuck me. My boyfriend's brother works in one of those. Our civil war was bad enough, but at least there, we could shoot at our enemies. This poor guy just has to stand there and take whatever abuse the public decides to throw at him."

Sierra nodded. "From what I've heard, the service desk is the worst, especially when they're dealing with returns." She turned to Jack and grinned again. "One of the latest horrors Jade ran into was just a few days ago. Guess who came walking up to the counter?"

June snickered, having heard the story a few minutes ago.

"Weird Walter."

"Oh, wow. What was he on, that time?" Jack chuckled.

"Rum and Percocet." Sierra laughed. "But that's not even the best part. He tried to return a box of condoms."

Jack grimaced. "That puts images in my mind that'll take an acid bath to get rid of."

"No kidding. Wanna know why he was returning them?"

"I'm really not sure."

"He said they didn't fit."

Jack slumped over the table and buried his face in his hands.

Sierra shrugged and picked up her bottle of water. "He probably had several of 'em slip off inside his sister."

"Sierra!" Melanie tried to fix a stern stare on the girl, but a grin kept tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Sierra rolled her eyes. "Mom, you've seen that guy before. You just know that if he ever reproduces, the baby will come out with one eye, three fingers on one hand and seven on the other, and a club foot."

Carl slumped over and howled with laughter. When he caught his breath, he muttered, "I...I feel terrible for laughing at that, but I can't help it!"

Jack's phone beeped, but he couldn't stop laughing long enough to take it out of his pocket.

Arcee turned her head abruptly, which usually meant she was receiving a text message or a comm. She turned back to him, uttered a long gasping sound, and broke into a brilliant smile.

"Got a text from Miko. Bulkhead's awake!" She threw her arms around Jack, kissed him passionately, and sprang from her seat. She'd already reached the door by the time Jack got to his feet.

"That's wonderful!" June smiled and finished her tea. "This one, I definitely want to be in on."

 

CHAPTER FIVE


"How is he?" Jack stopped a few yards from Bulkhead to catch his breath after sprinting through the ground bridge into the Autobot base. June and Arcee's mini-me followed closely, the latter giving Jack a quick hug before walking over to the wall and switching to standby mode. He smiled up at Arcee's full-size body and she grinned back.

The rest of the team had assembled around Bulkhead before they'd arrived, and Miko had already been sitting with him. Ashanti and her team, minus Jensen, jogged out of the still-open bridge vortex, and slowed as they approached. Everyone turned to face Ratchet and waited.

"He's unable to move or speak yet," Ratchet said, "but his condition has finally improved. He can't hear us, either, but he can communicate via text messages and social media." He sighed. "He's back with us, but there is still a lot of damage to repair, if only I knew how. As I am only a field medic, I'm afraid this is beyond my capabilities."

Miko's shoulders slumped, but she forced a smile back onto her face. "Well, it's a start."

Everyone's phones beeped. Ratchet managed a shaky smile.

"That's Bulkhead. Talking with him this way isn't ideal, but for now it's all we've got."

Jack glanced at his phone's screen and smiled. A line of text had appeared beside Bulk's Facebook avatar: Glad to hear the mission was a success. Sorry I wasn't the only casualty, though.

"I filled him in on everything he missed," Miko said.

Jack typed, So are we. But we're glad you pulled through. You really had us worried.

Ashanti walked up to Bulkhead, smiled, and reached up to place her palm on his arm.

DeeDee Washington raised an eyebrow at her phone. "Hold on a second. Bulkhead's username is 'Bulki Bartakomous?'"

Miko snickered. "Apparently his public persona is someone with piss-poor taste in TV shows." She raised her phone and typed, How're you holding up, buddy?

Glad to be alive, he replied. I could really use a good laugh, though.

Miko grinned and typed, OK. Y'know what the next Star Trek movie needs? A Klingon character named K'Unt.

Jack burst out laughing. Behind him, several others did the same. His mom leaned over to him and muttered, "I'm so glad I wasn't drinking anything right then."

You're a bad person and you should feel bad, Bulkhead replied. Also, BAHAHAHA!

Miko grinned and patted his arm. "Welcome back, Bro."

Arcee glanced up at Ratchet. "Any chance of us getting him one of the Pretender bodies?"

"One is being prepped now. It should arrive shortly."

Miko lifted her phone again and typed, They're getting you a mini-me so you can keep on kicking ass.

Bulkhead responded with,  

"What about repairing his own body?" Arcee glanced at Ratchet again. "I know we'll have to wait for the new fabricator to be built, but once we can manufacture the parts..."

"I'm afraid some of our systems are beyond my expertise. The Cybertronian equivalent of the spinal cord, for example." Ratchet hung his head. "And our database doesn't include the information I need, so I can't just download it."

Optimus reached over to put his hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "It's not your fault, old friend."

"There is someone who has the knowledge you need," Steve said from the back of the group. He stepped forward and added, "Knockout, if he's still functional."

"If he can be trusted," Ultra Magnus said.

"Hmm." Arcee raised a brow plate. "We haven't seen or heard about him since we turned Starscream's underground base into an enormous crater. It's possible he was caught in the blast, or if he survived, he may have been executed for joining Screamer's coup attempt."

"Last I heard," Steve said, "a squad of Insecticons tracked him and Breakdown through the subway tunnels in Manhattan, but lost both of them. That was shortly before Khalilah and I defected, so we've been out of the loop since then."

Ashanti glanced around at the others. "If either of them has any brains, they've changed their color scheme at least, if not their vehicle modes. But just in case they haven't, if you could give us some clear images of their primary and alternate modes, we can start checking satellites and traffic cameras."

"I'd concentrate on illegal street races, if you can find any," Arcee said. "That seems to be Knockout's favorite hobby, and there's a good chance his ego won't let him give it up even if he's being hunted by his former cohorts."

"That would be a good start." Optimus motioned at the tunnel leading to the control center in the hub. "We will provide the images you need."

"Thank you, sir. We'll get started right away. In the meantime, at least Bulkhead will be able to link up to a Pretender body and get back into the action."

The 'Bots glanced up suddenly. Arcee smiled.

"Speaking of which, we were just informed that the body's arrived on the helipad. Bulk should be back on his feet in no time."

Ratchet nodded and turned to tunnel leading to the hub. "Alright, then. Let's get to work."

#

The Pretender body opened its eyes, sat up, and glanced around. It turned to stare at Bulkhead, shuddered slightly, and scanned him. When the process was complete, it transformed into a human-size duplicate of him. It glanced down at its hands and arms, and turned back to the others.

"That's better."

Miko beamed and let a long breath rush out. It sure is.

He tilted his head back to stare up at Arcee, Ratchet, Optimus, and the rest.

"Whoa. Now I know what it must be like for humans around us."

"Quite a shift in perspective, isn't it?" Arcee grinned, crouched in front of him, and put her hand awkwardly on his small shoulder.

"You can say that again." He patted the back of her hand and turned to face Miko. She grinned and rushed over to him.

"Great to see you up and around, big fella." She hugged him.

"Yeah," Raf said. "We were all afraid you'd never wake up."

Jack nodded and stepped forward to clap Bulkhead on the shoulder

Tomoko, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Raf, clapped her hands and aimed a brilliant smile at Bulk.

"It's a relief to finally be awake. Back on the Nemesis, when I realized how badly I was damaged, and feeling myself starting to shut down, I was sure it was all over. I thought I'd never see any of you guys again." He shivered and gave Miko another hug. "I think that's the first time in my life I've ever been that scared."

"Same here. Luckily, Ratchet's a better surgeon than he seems to think he is."

"Well, I appreciate the compliment, Miko, but I had some help." Ratchet motioned at Optimus and the two Vehicons. "They assisted me in replacing damaged parts on both you and Arcee."

"Huh." Bulkhead turned to stare up at Steve. "Never thought I'd owe my life to a 'Con. Even partially."

"We didn't expect it, either, but we're relieved it worked out." The former Vehicon stared at the floor and shuffled his feet. "Finally realizing we chose the wrong side so many thousands of years ago is quite the paradigm shift. We welcome every opportunity to undo at least some of the damage we caused."

"Well, that's good to hear. I'd like to see the war end in my lifetime."

"So would we."

Bulkhead nodded and turned back to Miko. "By the way, that was a good job of avenging me you did back on the Nemesis. Wish I could've seen it."

"From what I'm told," Ultra Magnus said, "it was very impressive, indeed. Single Insecticons are hard enough to take out. I've never heard of anyone killing five of them at once."

Miko blushed and shrugged. "Heh. Well, what can I say? I was pissed off."

Bulkhead laughed and clapped her gently on the shoulder. "So--"

A soft moan came from the far corner of the room, and everyone glanced past Steve to Khalilah sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Miko raised an eyebrow and grinned as Khalilah slid her palms slowly over her chest plate.

"Huh." Bulkhead glanced at Ratchet. "That one's not malfunctioning, is she?"

Arcee chuckled. "She's having sex with Major Jensen."

"Uh." Bulkhead stared at her for several seconds before turning back to Khalilah. "Is he invisible?"

Miko laughed and nudged his shoulder. "Dork. She borrowed one of the other Pretender bodies and decided to try out certain, shall we say, software and hardware features. Which seem to be fully functional."

"Huh. Okay." He shrugged.

Khalilah suddenly arched her back and her hips twitched.

"Well, that looks like a malfunction," Bulkhead said.

Ashanti grinned and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's not."

"Should be done in private, though," June muttered.

"Well, I doubt she knew what to expect, never having done this before." Arcee shrugged. "Probably doesn't even realize she's moving or vocalizing here."

Khalilah continued shuddering and crying out softly for several more seconds before finally relaxing.

Ashanti snickered. "Nicely done, Jensen."

"Yeah," Miko said with a wicked grin. "Achievement unlocked."

Jack and Arcee burst out laughing.

She glanced at him and sighed. "Figures a 'Con would get laid before I do."

June cleared her throat and Jack held his hands up.

"We're trying to wait until I'm legal, Mom. It's not easy, but we're trying."

Khalilah turned her head and seemed to notice everyone staring at her. She pushed herself to her feet, walked over to them on wobbly legs, crouched and glanced around at the humans.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced! Why aren't humans having sex all the time?"

"And that doesn't make waiting any easier," Arcee muttered with a wink at Jack.

"Well, a lot of us probably would if we could." Ashanti laughed. "But if we did, we'd never get anything done. And we'd run into other problems, like starving to death."

"Fair enough." Khalilah stretched out on the floor and sighed. "I'll need a few minutes to recover."

"Wow. Jensen really knocked your ass out, huh?" Miko raised a hand and fanned herself.

Khalilah simply gave her a thumbs-up and slumped onto the floor again, letting her head rest on her crossed arms.

Tomoko stared at her, glanced around at everyone else, and turned her blank stare back to Khalilah. From her expression, Miko guessed Tomoko had no idea what the hell everyone was talking about.

A soft chirp came from Ashanti's pocket. She dug her phone out and arched an eyebrow at the screen.

"Well, how about that? Looks like Knockout was spotted by a traffic camera just a few minutes ago. He's still using the same vehicle mode." She shook her head. "Didn't even change the color scheme. He's all scratched up, though."

"Yes!" Miko glanced up at Bulkhead. "Feelin' up to a little roadtrip?"

"If it's a chance to get my real body working again, hell yeah."

Everyone turned to Optimus. He glanced around at them and smiled ever so slightly.

"Gear up and roll out."

#

"I wonder," Miko said from inside Optimus's trailer, where she and Bulkhead's mini-me sat, "if Breakdown's still hanging around Knockout. They seem almost inseparable."

Uh-oh. Jack glanced over at Optimus as the team--minus the newcomers--cruised along the empty country road. He'd known for a while how much Bulkhead and Breakdown hated each other, but hadn't given it any thought until now.

"Well," Bulk said, "that'd just be the icing on the cake."

"Easy, Bulkhead." Jack let out a nervous chuckle. "I doubt we could convince Knockout to help us if we try to kill his best friend first."

"He is right," Optimus said. "We must attempt to resolve this situation peacefully."

"If I weren't in such bad shape, I'd be tempted to disagree." Bulkhead released a grumbling sigh. "But I'll try to keep myself under control."

Everyone rode on in silence for a few minutes. After being caught by the traffic camera, Knockout had been spotted by a surveillance UAV as it scanned the area around the traffic cam. It had pinpointed his location at what appeared to be an abandoned farm out in the middle of nowhere.

Jack glanced at the GPS display on the panel under Arcee's handlebars. Just a few more minutes.

"Hey, Jensen." Arcee's human-size doppelgänger, seated behind Jack, ran its hands suggestively over the chest plate of his armor. "From Khalilah's reaction, I'm guessing you really have a way with the ladies."

Double-D laughed. "Well, with the alien-robot ones, anyway."

"Eh, it was that software protocol Rosalina told us about." There was an audible shrug in Jensen's voice. "Which explains why it happened so quickly."

"Hah. That's not at all emasculating, is it? It wasn't your sexual prowess, it was her internal sensors setting her off when you couldn't hold your wad any longer." DeeDee snickered.

"If anything, it takes away the pressure to perform." Jensen gave a rueful laugh. "It's kind of a nice change of pace, after years and years of disappointing the women I've slept with. It was nice for both of us to, uh, reach our 'moment of apotheosis' at just about the same time."

Hmm. That's a good way to look at it. Jack grinned and raised his left hand to place it over Arcee's. Thinking about it doesn't make waiting any easier, though.

Miko laughed suddenly. "There's a way to talk Knockout into joining us. Hook him up to a Pretender body, then I can fuck him and tell him there's more where that came from if he helps us out."

"Jesus, kid." Ashanti sighed, but sounded like she was suppressing a laugh at the same time. "He's probably fifty thousand years old. You're, what, fifteen?"

"Doesn't make any difference to me. He's hot. Though, now that I think about it, he'll probably scream his own name when he blasts off."

"Miko..." Bulkhead made a sound like he was shuddering with revulsion. "That shit ain't right."

"Says you. Just thinking about it...heh-heh, I'm gonna need some alone time when we get back to the base."

"We're almost there," Optimus said. "Let's stay focused."

Arcee's Pretender body tensed up suddenly. "Guys, I've just detected several Decepticon life signs up ahead."

The familiar, high-pitched sounds of blaster fire came next, followed by a much lower, heavier sound that Jack recognized instantly.

He'd heard the same weapon firing an instant before Bulkhead was almost fatally wounded onboard the Nemesis.

"Oh, shit," he muttered. "The Insecticons must've found Knockout. Probably the same way we did."

"Just means more for me to scrap," Miko said. "It's what they get for hurting my bruddah."

Behind Jack, Arcee tensed even more. "Son of a bitch! I just got a ping from one of the UAVs searching for Airachnid."

"Oh, hell. One of them found her?" Jack glanced over his shoulder and a cold shiver rippled through him at the sight of the rage on her face.

"Arcee," Optimus said, "I've picked up over a dozen Insecticons surrounding Knockout. We won't get another chance at this."

Arcee growled.

"Honey," Jack said softly, "is Airachnid near anyone? Is anyone in immediate danger?"

"No. Airachnid's alone in what looks like a quarry."

"We'll get another shot at her, Arcee."

"I--you're right. I just..." She snarled again. "Fuck!"

"Our destination is around the next curve." Optimus came to a stop, waited for Bulk, Miko, Ashanti's team, June and the medics to exit his trailer, and then he transformed into his primary mode.

"Bulkhead's more important," Arcee said as she stopped to let Jack and her mini-me off. She transformed and turned to face him. "We'll get another shot at her."

Her smaller, remote-operated body plucked the sniper railgun from her back and marched over to join Ashanti's team. She crouched in front of Jack and he took his helmet off long enough to kiss her, then he grabbed his EMP rifle and jogged over to the rest of the humans.

Arcee, Bee, and Optimus took their guns from the storage racks in Optimus's trailer. Optimus motioned with his hand, and everyone burst into action.

Jack sprinted around the grove on the right and slowed when he caught sight of a half-collapsed barn and several nearby buildings in similar condition.

The rest of the barn exploded and Jack's heart pounded suddenly. He glimpsed a red blur tumbling through the debris before a swarm of purple and black shapes dragged his attention away from Knockout.

One of the Insecticons fired his augmented blaster and the one corner of the barn still standing exploded into cinders like a balloon popping.

Knockout flinched and let out a panicked grunt as he tried to drag himself away from them. In addition to the scratches all over his body, he also had dents in his arms and chest.

Bulkhead chuckled and thumped a fist into his palm. "I bet none of that hurts more than the damage to his ego."

"Hey," Chang muttered, "where's Miko?"

"Oh, no," Jack groaned.

"Miko!" Bulkhead glanced around. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"Too late," Miko replied over the radio built into her armor. She disengaged her stealth system and appeared directly in front of the nearest Insecticon. "Hey, you fuckers!"

They stopped, turned toward her, and cocked their heads. Knockout glanced around and continued crawling away.

"Shit!" Arcee launched into a sprint. "Shit!"

"Remember the other day, when five of you got cooked off at once?" Miko planted her hands on her hips and smirked. "That was all me!"

All the Insecticons drew their heads back and released a screech that made Jack's guts turn cold. His heart pounded even harder and for a few seconds he couldn't breathe.

Miko turned and bolted. The enormous, bug-like robots lunged after her, their footsteps shaking the ground hard enough to almost knock the humans off their feet.

"Miko!" Bulkhead stared at her and clutched at the sides of his head. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Whatever I can." She activated her stealth system, rippled, and vanished. "Do what we came here to do."

"Ratchet," Optimus rumbled, "prepare to open the ground-bridge."

"Ready," Ratchet answered over the comm.

"Arcee, you and Jack secure Knockout and transport him back to the base." Optimus pointed at the Insecticons. "Everyone else, engage!"

 

keep it up ! Pretty good story

 

Thanks!   I haven't been getting chapters finished as quickly as I'd like to, but I'll keep chugging away at it.  

 

CHAPTER SIX


"Oh, hell," Raf whispered as he stared wide-eyed at the bank of monitors in front of him and the others. Ratchet stood off to the side, keeping his optics on the screens and his right hand over the ground-bridge controls. Tomoko sat beside Raf, covering her mouth with her hands as she stared at the feeds from the Autobots' optics and their human teammates' helmet cameras. Lucas and Rosalina stood on Raf's other side and gripped each other's hands tightly. Steve and Khalilah stood a few yards away, trying to divide their attention between the monitors and Starscream, leaning against the wall in his usual spot, with his ankles crossed, watching the battle with a smirk and an arched brow-plate.

Khalilah wrung her hands and began pacing again, only to stop a few seconds later and lock her optic on the images and the bio-readouts beneath each of the humans' feeds.

Ultra Magnus kept himself planted in the doorway and scowled steadily at Starscream, while Smokescreen twitched and shifted from one foot to the other and back.

"I should be there," he muttered with a glance at the swirling ground-bridge vortex on the far side of the room.

"That is Optimus Prime's decision, soldier, not yours," Magnus said without taking his gaze off Starscream.

On Arcee's screen, one of the Insecticons uprooted a tree and smashed it into Bumblebee. The sight of him flying through the air and then tumbling across the ground made Raf's heart pound.

Arcee herself had already taken a beating over the last few minutes as she tried to drag Knockout to the ground-bridge opening in the combat zone. Jack and her human-size, remote-controlled body had been trying to provide cover fire, but there was only so much their tiny weapons could do against the Insecticons' heavy armor. Even mini-Arcee's new sniper railgun couldn't do more than punch small holes in their armor unless she nailed a lucky shot through one of their optics and into the brain.

Arcee's full-size body had a scaled-up railgun, but it had been knocked out of her grip several minutes ago, and she hadn't been able to get back to where it lay.

The stream from Bulkhead's mini-me whip-panned to the left and Raf caught a glimpse of two of the 'Cons Arcee had taken out before another disarmed her.

The view from Ashanti's helmet cam showed a half-dozen Insecticons piling on top of Optimus. He collapsed under their weight, but he managed to throw one of them off and shove his arm-mounted blade clean through the neck of another.

Raf glanced at the newly-arrived 'Bots and the two Vehicons who'd defected, and wondered why Optimus hadn't requested backup. Maybe he still wasn't completely sure he could trust Steve and Khalilah, and he could be trying to keep the 'Cons from learning about Magnus and Smokescreen.

That could be true about our Vehicon friends, too. Maybe he just doesn't want to lose the element of surprise.

A rapid, panicked bleeping and honking sound yanked Raf's attention back to the screens. He glanced around and finally spotted Bee slamming into the ground again, sending out a fountain of dirt, gravel, and shredded grass. An Insecticon leaped on top of him, clamped onto his chest plate, and pulled.

Raf's heart pounded and his lungs seized up.

Bee deployed his built-in blaster and shot the Insecticon point-blank in the face. The enormous, bug-like robot twitched, snarled, and wedged its claws into a torn spot in Bee's chest.

"No--" Raf tried to squeeze his eyes shut, but couldn't move.

The 'Con ripped Bee's chest wide open, exposing his wiring, conduits, and possibly his spark chamber.

Optimus gutted one of the other Insecticons, shoved it aside, and caught a glimpse of a huge robot Raf hadn't seen in the fight before.

"Breakdown," Arcee muttered as she limped across Miko's field of view and blasted away with her shotguns. "Just what we need."

"Could be, actually," Jack said. "As long as he attacks the 'Cons and not us, I won't mind his presence so much."

"Fair point." Arcee flip-cocked the shotgun in her right hand and fired while cocking the other. The round drilled into an already-weakened spot on a nearby Insecticon's chest and blew it open. Arcee snarled and fired a second blast straight through the new opening and directly into the 'Con's spark. A column of blue flame erupted from the hole and energy arced into his arms and hands and even another Insecticon standing nearby. Secondary explosions burst his chest open and sent shrapnel tumbling across the field. The Insecticon toppled over and remained motionless. The red glow faded from its optics.

Breakdown roared and charged the Insecticon on top of Bumblebee as he drew his hand back and prepared to ram his claws into the wound he had just torn in Bee's chest. As Breakdown approached, Raf got a better look at his face and realized one of his optics had been gouged out.

Breakdown slammed into the Insecticon and both of them rolled across the ground.

On another screen, Jack swung his EMP rifle around and zapped another Insecticon. It dropped to its knees, shook its head, and grunted.

Mini-Arcee lined up a shot with her railgun and squeezed the trigger. The gun released a miniature sonic boom and the slug shattered the bug's optics and exploded through the back of his head, ripping out bits of hardware and sending a stream of energon spraying out behind him.

"Nice!" Jack grinned as the 'Con collapsed. He turned around and his eyes widened. "Arcee!"

As Bee picked himself up, he spun toward them and they centered in his monitor--just as an Insecticon tackled Arcee from behind, spun her around, and drove his blade into her gut. She doubled over with an eardrum-shattering scream and her shotguns slipped from her hands.

"No!" Tomoko reached out toward the screen, eyes and mouth open wide, her lips quivering.

Jack released an incoherent scream as the 'Con pulled his blade out and Arcee collapsed, curled up, and trembled. He lined up a shot and emped the Insecticon, knocking him off balance. The bug tried to recover, but he zapped it again, and then again.

On Jensen's screen, another Insecticon took a grenade to the face from Bulk's launcher, staggered, and toppled over--straight toward Jensen.

"Oh, fu--"

The 'Con slammed down on top of him. The screen blanked out, his audio cut off, and his readouts flatlined.

"Chad!" Khalilah stared at the screens and her arms hung limp at her sides. She let out a long moan. Even though her face was only an immobile optic strip on an otherwise blank mask, she still managed to look shocked.

On Bee's monitor, Jack grabbed the railgun from mini-Arcee's limp hands and whirled around to aim it at the disoriented Insecticon. He fired a round into the Insecticon's head. The impact knocked him over but didn't pierce his armor. Jack shifted his aim and blasted another slug through the optics. The bug's head snapped back and the vital components inside showered across the ground behind him.

Tomoko stood and turned to stare at Ratchet. "We've got to do something!"

An idea clicked into place and Raf spun toward Tomoko. "Hey, since you're a clone of Airachnid, you have web launchers like hers."

"I--I never thought to check my hardware for that. I'll do it now." Tomoko cocked her head for a split second and then raised her hands and stared at the web emitters seated in her palms. "Oh! So that's what those are!"

"Might be a long shot, but maybe you could at least immobilize the Insecticons. It'd buy everyone else time to get through the ground bridge."

Tomoko's face brightened, but it faded quickly when she turned toward the bridge vortex. She trembled and wrung her hands again.

"I can do this," she whispered, and bounced slightly as if trying to psyche herself up. "I can do this. I can do this." She whimpered and sprinted through the bridge.

"I'm going, too." Khalilah's voice shook as she marched into the vortex and vanished.

Steve glanced at Ratchet, nodded, and followed her.

Smokescreen took a step forward, but Magnus clamped a hand onto his shoulder.

"We'll stay right here." He glanced at Starscream. "Just in case."

Smokescreen grimaced, but stayed put.

"Hold on, everyone," Ratchet said into the comm panel. "Help is on the way."

#

"Arcee!" Jack took a step toward her, but her mini-me grabbed his arm. He spun around and found her shaking her head.

"We've got to stay with Knockout," she grunted, her voice strained and her face twisting in agony. "Maybe Breakdown can drag his dented ass through the bridge. Optimus can help me and Bee if he can get away from the rest of those bugs."

Jack glanced at her full-size body and caught a glimpse of energon gushing from the jagged gash in her belly.

Oh, no. She'll bleed out by then!

"Hold on, everyone," Ratchet's voice came through the comlink. "Help is on the way."

Jack whipped around to face the ground-bridge vortex and found Tomoko, Khalilah, and Steve sprinting across the field, their feet shaking the ground with every pounding step. Jack realized they must've come through a few seconds ago.

Tomoko stopped, turned one way and another, and wrung her hands. She whimpered and her face twisted into a look of wide-eyed, gaping terror.

One of the Insecticons turned toward her and raised his blaster. She cringed and let out a soft sob.

Optimus extracted himself from the last of the Insecticons who'd piled on him. He hauled one of the bugs up and hurled its body at the one getting ready to shoot Tomoko. The body plowed into him and cartwheeled him off to the side.

Steve put his hand on Tomoko's shoulder for a brief moment. "Come on, pull yourself together." He charged into battle and fired several shots from his blasters, distracting the bugs aiming their guns at Ashanti's team.

Miko appeared between another bug's legs, dropped an EMP grenade, reactivated her armor's stealth system and vanished again. The grenade blew with a flare that blinded Jack for a few seconds and dropped the Insecticon to his hands and knees.

"Oh...shit!" Tomoko stuck her left arm out toward the bug, palm outward, and fired a wad of part-organic, part metallic webbing at him. It splattered into the ground beside his right leg. Tomoko let out a shrill squeak, twitched her hand slightly to the right, and launched another.

This one struck his legs and wrapped around them, pulling them together and hardening enough to hold them in place.

She fired another into his torso and arms, then followed up with several more, until the bug was encased in a thick layer of webbing.

Tomoko grinned, turned to point both palms toward another Insecticon, and fired several larger wads of webbing into him.

Optimus turned to Breakdown and pointed at Knockout. "If you and your friend want to survive, take him through the bridge. We will cover you."

Breakdown stared at him, glanced at Knockout, and ran over to him.

"About time you showed up," Knockout said. "Where were you when I was getting all these dents and scratches?"

"Getting my goddamn eye ripped out," Breakdown snarled.

Knockout gave him a slack-jawed stare. "Oh. Right. Um...sorry."

"Let's just get your narcissistic ass out of here, or it was all for nothing." Breakdown scooped him up, slung him over his shoulder, and charged toward the vortex.

Jack glanced around until he found Tomoko scampering around the battlefield. She'd shifted into her half-spider form and continued webbing up the Insecticons. By now, most of the surviving bugs had been cocooned, and Steve continued pestering them with his ineffective blasters, keeping their attention off Tomoko and the others.

She scurried around and sprang through the air while splattering them with her webbing. Many of her shots missed thanks to their combat suites jamming her targeting systems, but she managed to hit enough shots manually to immobilize the rest of them over the next few minutes. Finally, she glanced around, seemed to realize she'd cocooned them all, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Optimus kneeled beside Bumblebee and reached out to pick him up. Bee glanced over at Arcee, shook his head, and pointed at her while bursting out a frantic series of beeps and buzzes. Optimus put a hand on Bee's shoulder and nodded before running over to Arcee, still curled up and shaking.

Steve hurried over, helped Bee get to his feet, and kept a hand on his arm as they rejoined the rest of the team.

Tomoko scurried over to Arcee, returned to her bipedal mode, and kneeled beside her. "I have an idea." She held her hand out and popped a small blob of webbing into the gash in Arcee's metal skin. She spread several more layers on and smiled at Arcee. "That should keep you from losing any more energon."

"Th--thanks." Arcee grimaced, forced her optics open, and reached out to Jack.

He placed his palm in hers and managed a shaky smile. "Let's take you home."

Optimus picked her up and carried her gently to the vortex.

Jack glanced down at the railgun in his hands. The shock and fear began to fade, and anger slowly took its place. He strode over to the nearest Insecticon and lined up a point-blank shot.

"Jack." Arcee's human-size body walked up behind him and touched his shoulder.

"Wait, Jack," Optimus said softly. "They are helpless."

"You think I give a shit?" Jack glared into the bug's optics.

The bug glared back at him and growled.

"If you do this," Optimus said, but Jack cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be just as bad as they are. Right now, I don't care."

"I understand why you want to kill them all. But following through on it is what made the Decepticons what they are now. Do you think Arcee wants you to become that? Do you think your mother does?" Optimus held his gaze for a few seconds before turning back to the ground bridge. "It's your call."

Jack sighed and passed the railgun back to mini-Arcee. "He's right. You're more important." He turned away and she put her arm around his shoulders.

Optimus turned to face the bug. "He spared your life today. Never forget that." He carried Arcee through the vortex and both of them vanished.

"Come on." Mini-Arcee nodded over her shoulder. "Let's make sure everyone else gets home safely."

He followed her over to the dead Insecticon everyone had gathered around. Khalilah lifted the body carefully and shoved it aside, revealing Jensen's body on the caved-in ground.

"No," Ashanti whispered. "Not another one. I can't lose another one."

"What--when did--oh, no!" Jack glanced around at the others. Damn it. First Case and Dawson at the same time, and now this, just a few days later.

Khalilah lowered herself to her knees and leaned over to stroke Jensen's helmet.

Jensen moaned softly and everyone gasped.

"Holy shit!" Ashanti dropped to the ground, popped the latches on his helmet, and eased it off. His face twisted into a grimace, but he forced his eyes open and managed a split-second grin.

"I--I thought you died!" Khalilah slumped forward, closed her fingers gently around his head, and stroked his hair.

"The thought definitely crossed my mind when that thing fell over on me." Jensen grunted and took several gasping breaths. "The impact must've damaged my comm system. Or something with the diagnostic system. Whatever--I'm pretty sure my right leg is broken."

June crouched beside him and glanced at her medical team. "One of you bring a gurney from the base and then we'll have Ratchet bridge us straight to the Groom Lake medical center."

Harris nodded and rushed into the vortex.

Jensen seemed to notice Khalilah's tender touch. He raised an eyebrow, grinned briefly, and reached up to run his palm along her finger. "Sorry if I scared you."

"It...provided motivation." Khalilah raised her other hand and pointed a sharp fingertip at him. "That doesn't mean it's okay for you to do it again."

"I'll try to avoid it." He winked.

Steve chuckled softly and glanced at Bee. "Now will you let me help you get back to the base? You got torn up pretty badly."

Bee nodded, honked and whirred several times. He hobbled off toward the ground bridge with Steve keeping an arm around him to hold him steady.

Arcee grasped Jack's hand. "Come on, babe. Let's go home."

#

"Hey, June." Arcee smiled shakily as Jack's mom walked over to the table and sat. "How's Jensen doing?"

"He'll be okay. He was right about his leg--it's broken in four places. It'll be a while before he's back in action, but at least it wasn't worse. That new armor can really take a beating."

"Yeah, he got lucky." Arcee laughed softly and nudged Jack's shoulder. "Hey, what is it with human males letting 'Cons fall on them and fuck up their legs?"

Jack blushed, but laughed with her. "I dunno. Might be a recessive gene, or something."

June chuckled and took the seat across from Arcee. "How about you and Bee?"

"Well, Bee could've ended up a lot worse off. No internal damage, despite having his chest ripped open. Once the fabricator is up and running, it won't take long to make the parts he needs." Arcee grinned. "He, Raf, and Tomoko are back to playing GTA Online. Tomoko's relieved to have survived the battle, and we're all making sure she doesn't forget how she saved all our asses. After the way her life began, I think it's important that she feels like she's not helpless anymore."

"I'm glad to see her grow from a victim to a hero, too." June smiled, then she raised an eyebrow. "And you? Are you going to be okay?"

Damn. I was hoping I could avoid talking about that. Arcee shrugged and picked up a taco from her tray. She gazed out through the fence surrounding Groom Lake. Thanks to the bright flood lights, the desert beyond the fence appeared to be a black void.

"The damage isn't life-threatening. The blade missed anything critical to keeping me alive, but it did sever my spine." She pointed at her belly, where the blade had gone into her full-size body. "On my real body, I can't feel anything below here, and can't move my legs. But don't worry, we can make the parts I need once the fabricator is finished, and if we can talk Knockout into helping with the repairs, I'll be good as new."

Jack sighed and slipped his arm around her waist. "I hate myself for suggesting it, but it seemed like a good idea to make sure Knockout and Breakdown are repaired first. Y'know, a show of good faith. Well, more like, 'We scratched your back, now you scratch ours.'"

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. It was the right call." Arcee smiled. "Seems like one Optimus would make. And in the meantime, I've got this Pretender body, so I won't be completely useless."

"I'm just glad your life isn't in danger this time." Jack kissed her cheek.

"So am I." She chuckled. Then she wiggled her brow plates. "And y'know what? After the important parts are replaced, I'm gonna have Ratchet install a vagina in my real body. Just in case I don't have access to this mini-me in the future." She winked. "I figure it'd be good to have the option, at least."

Jack's face turned an even darker shade of red. He flicked a glance at his mom, cleared his throat, and stuck a fork into his lasagna.

"Uh, not to make you uncomfortable or anything, June." Arcee held a hand up and laughed. "It just slipped out. I mean, every now and then, the weirdness of this hits me and I start wondering what the hell I'm doing. The whole sex thing is completely alien to my people, so there's a part of me that's still a little grossed-out by the idea. But then Jack kisses me, or puts his arms around me, or slides his hands over my chest--and it feels so good, I find myself wanting more. We're still planning to wait until he's legal, so don't worry about that."

"No, it's okay, actually." Now June blushed. She opened her bottle of grape Sunny D and took a long sip. "After we finished fixing up Jensen's leg, I went back to my quarters and, just on an impulse, I got on Skype and called Mom. I guess I was thinking there's probably been a lot of stuff about a 'giant alien robot invasion' on the news, so I should talk to her about it. Especially since our faces were probably caught on camera when we first met Tomoko."

Jack chuckled. "How's Grandma doing?"

"Fine. Been glued to the TV and Internet, though, keeping up to date on all the alien-invasion news that we haven't had time to even check out. She saw us on that freeway with Tomoko, alright. Took a while to reassure her that we're okay, and I hate keeping most of the details from her, but I did sign a nondisclosure agreement before General Sanchez introduced me to Arcee." June took another drink. "I did let it slip that you're dating someone, Jack. You were always so introverted before you met Arcee, and you know how Mom always nags about you having a normal life."

"Hah. I wouldn't be interested in a normal life anymore, even if I could remember what one felt like." Jack grinned and gave Arcee a kiss. "So, just how specific did you get?"

"Hah. Not very. I did tell her that you found your soulmate." June smiled and stared at her Sunny D. "I, uh, did let a detail or two slip. She kept pumping me for information--you know how she is. Told her that you're dating one of the alien robots. An adult one. That took a while for her to wrap her mind around it."

"I bet." Jack raised an eyebrow. "So, how did she react?"

"She was quiet for a while. Picking her jaw up off the floor, I suspect. Then she asked if you really love each other, and I didn't even hesitate." June glanced up at him and smiled. "You're both ready to give your lives for each other. I've seen that firsthand. If that's not real love, I don't know what is. So I told her, yes, absolutely. I did spare her all the harrowing tales of your many close calls and narrow escapes, though. And I didn't mention the age gap being thousands of years. Anyway Mom finally said, if you love each other that much, then it's all good. And of course, she was quick to remind me that I was thirteen when I got knocked up, so..."

Jack laughed. Arcee smiled.

"So, you're really okay with me and Jack? I know you've said you are, but--"

"I admit, there's still a small part of me that's kind of unsettled by this. But here's what I'm getting at. Mom also told me something I didn't know. About Jack's dad."

Jack stared at her and raised an eyebrow again.

"She wasn't planning to mention it to me, but when I talked about my...reservations about you and Arcee, she dropped a bombshell on me. When your dad and I...well, you know. When it happened, I thought he was seventeen, almost eighteen. Maybe even a little over eighteen."

"And? What did Grandma tell you?"

June took a deep breath. "He was actually twenty-seven."

"What?"

Arcee stared at her with both brow-plates elevated. After several seconds passed, she burst out laughing. "Oh, the plot thickens!" She took a bite of her taco and marveled at the never-before-experienced taste. Wish I'd had access to one of these bodies a long time ago.

"Well, back then, I thought he looked seventeen." June blushed again, and tugged on her shirt collar. "Ish."

"Twenty-seven?" Jack continued gaping at her.

"Twenty-seven." June sighed and took another long swig. "She found out a few years ago. Guess Facebook suggested him as a friend and she checked him out and found out his real age."

"Jesus Christ," Jack muttered. "Wow. You could totally nail him for statutory rape, then."

"Eh, what would be the point? It was sixteen years ago. Besides, I got the best son in the world out of it, so I'd say things worked out for the best." She grinned. "Anyway, once that sank in, I realized I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I kept letting your age gap bug me. So, I'll adjust. Eventually. And if you two...you know...whenever you feel like you're ready, um...yeah. I won't give you any crap about it."

"Thanks, Mom." Jack smiled. "We're not rushing it, but whenever it happens, I'm glad I won't have to feel like it's something I'd be grounded for."

June snorted. "As long as you spare me the details. Need-to-know, right? And I don't." She grinned. "But yeah. Anyway. Mom put the whole thing into perspective. Exact words--'Preventing a horny teenager from fucking is like preventing a fish from swimming.' And she said I should know that better than anyone. So, how can I argue with logic like that?"

"Hah! I'll have to thank her next time I see her."

"Soon, I hope. She said she wants to meet Arcee whenever all this stuff is declassified."

Arcee smiled. "I'd like that."

Everyone fell silent for a few minutes. Arcee finished her taco, picked up a napkin, and gave herself a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet. It was astonishing, how much her life had changed since she and the other Autobots found Earth. Before, her entire life had been nothing but battle after battle, with nothing to look forward to except more of the same. But in a little over three years after that day, she'd discovered there was such a thing as downtime. And beautiful sunsets. And food. And moments like this, when she could take a few seconds to appreciate the simplest things, like a quiet evening with her new family.

Footsteps approached from the door, far behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and found Miko, Sierra, and Bulkhead's mini-me walking toward them, each carrying a try piled with food. Arcee almost chuckled.

And just like that, the magic is gone.

"Hey, guys." Miko and the others took seats at the table to Arcee's right. "I wanted to be the one to introduce Bulkhead to the wonderful world of unhealthy food, so here we are."

Bulkhead chuckled and stared at the burger, fries, and other items on his tray. "Dunno where to start."

Miko grinned and pointed a thumb at Sierra. "And she was just kind of hanging around, so we invited her over."

"Had to get away from the parents for a while." Sierra chuckled. "Having a look around on my own--well, the parts of the base I'm allowed into, at least." She blushed. "And I was kind of hoping Smokescreen might still be around."

"He's back at the Autobot base. I'll let him know you're looking for him, though."

"Cool." Sierra blushed.

"Oh, this is an interesting turn of events." Jack grinned.

Sierra laughed and shrugged. "Well, if you can have a crush on a giant alien robot, so can I." She stuck her tongue out at him, then she giggled.

"Hey, I've got no problem with it." Jack grinned. "So, what's up? Aside from the odds of Smokescreen losing his virginity?"

Sierra blushed again, and burst into laugher. Miko chuckled.

"Well, we've been filling Bulkhead in about Weird Walter."

June's eyes opened wider. She screwed the cap back onto her Sunny D bottle and set it aside. Arcee chuckled.

"Weird Walter? Oh, he's the guy who tried to return a box of rubbers, right?"

"That's him."

"Huh." Bulkhead shrugged. "Can't believe I spent so much time in and around Jasper, and never heard of the guy until now."

"He's kind of a harmless version of Trevor in Grand Theft Auto V. Well, mostly harmless."

"Ah." Arcee glanced at Jack. "I never really noticed the guy back when we were in Jasper. I'm guessing he does stuff like the condom-return thing fairly often?"

"Oh, boy, does he ever."

Miko grinned. "I've always thought his most glorious moment was the day he got high on embalming fluid and tried to fuck a picnic table."

June burst out laughing and slumped over the table. Jack, Sierra, and Arcee joined in. Bulk clamped his hands over his optics.

"Gaaaah! Gonna need a memory wipe to get that image out of my head."

June, still slumped over with her head on her forearm, pointed at the cap on her bottle. "That was a good call."

Sierra snickered. "I bet you anything the ER surgeons have had to extract some interesting objects from that guy's asshole."

June grimaced. "Oh, eww!"

"Hey, I know you've had to deal with stuff like that before, Mom." Jack reached over and nudged her shoulder.

"Yeah, with quite a few people, unfortunately. I just had some serious flashbacks."

Miko flashed a wicked grin at her. "So...?"

"Nope. Can't. Patient confidentiality." June made a zipping-her-lips gesture and stared straight ahead.

Everyone else laughed again. Arcee put her arm around Jack's shoulders and smiled.

Nah, the magic's not gone. After everything we've gone through lately, I think this is just what we needed. She glanced around at the others. Yeah. I could definitely use more evenings like this.

 

Author's note: Well, this one took a while.   Had emergency hernia surgery followed by an unbelievable amount of pain, plus I had to focus on several stories that actually had a chance of bringing in a little money. I'm hoping the next chapter won't take several more months....  


CHAPTER SEVEN


“Huh. What’s going on over there?” Arcee placed her tray on the table and stared at the Pretender sitting at a table on the far end of the row, by the corner of the fence surrounding the Groom Lake base. A half-dozen other Pretenders and an equal number of humans sat or stood around him, patting his shoulders and rubbing his back while he slumped over the table with his face twisted into a grief-stricken expression.

Jack, Lucas, Rosalina, Sierra, and Smokescreen glanced over at him as they took their seats. Smokescreen sat carefully on the ground at the end of the table and still towered over everyone. They’d gathered here for breakfast while waiting for new developments. Knockout and Breakdown were still at the Autobot base, under guard but being given some breathing room to reassure them. Crews had been working night and day to finish the fabricator so the parts they needed could be manufactured. Until then, or until something new happened with the Decepticons or the flight records from the Harbinger, there wasn’t much else to do except wait.

Roz glanced around at Arcee and the rest, and bowed her head. “That’s Alan. His wife died last night.”

“Oh, no. What happened?” Sierra’s shoulders slumped and she turned to watch the distant group.

“Just old age.” Lucas sighed and put his hands around his coffee cup. “They were married seventy years. He’d disguised himself as a human, obviously, and looked around twenty years old when they met. Over the years, he had to alter his appearance to look like he was aging along with her. She never knew until a few months ago, when the Pretenders here on the base were outed.”

“Surprisingly,” Roz said, “she took it pretty well. Freaked out at first, but got over it quickly. Alan told us one day that, after she ended up in the hospital for the last time, she asked to see what he really looked like. So he transformed into his robot mode, and her immediate reaction was, ‘Huh. Fuckin’ awesome.’” She chuckled.

“Sounds like quite a woman.”

“Yeah. She was everything to Alan.” Roz sighed and stared at the table. “I think losing her was the worst thing that could’ve ever happened to him. I doubt he’ll ever recover, at least not completely.”

Lucas reached over and intertwined his flesh fingers between her metal ones.
Arcee stared over at Alan, watching him shake with violent sobs as the others tried to comfort him, and a realization sank in slowly. Nothing new – she’s always been aware of this, on some level, but now it hit her full-force.

That’ll be me in less than a century. Having to say goodbye to Jack, knowing I’ll never see him or hold him in my arms again, having to go on without him because he won’t exist anymore. After losing so many friends during this goddamned civil war …

“Humans have such short lives,” Smokescreen said softly. “It’s really not fair.”

“Arcee?” Jack turned to her and put his hand on top of hers. “Are you –?”

“I’m – I – I need to … uh, wait here. I’ll be right back. I just need to – to …” She stood, turned, and strode across the lot until she reached the base’s outside wall. She continued walking until she reached the corner, darted around it, and kept going until she had the building between her and the picnic tables. Then she slumped against the wall and trembled.

What am I doing? What the hell am I doing?

Footsteps came up behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and found Roz approaching.

“Sorry. I just –”

“I know, Arcee. I know exactly what’s going through your mind. I’ve had the same thing going through mine often enough.” Roz stopped beside her and leaned against the wall. “It’s been going around and around in my head since I heard about Alan’s wife. It’s funny how easy it is to forget about the huge difference in life span between our species. And then something like this reminds us and we wonder whatever possessed us to put ourselves in that position.”

“Smokescreen’s right. It’s not fair. We can live for thousands of years – tens or hundreds of thousands. Humans can’t even make it to a full century.” Arcee shook her head. “Shit. I already knew that, and I still let myself fall in love with one of them.”

“At least you landed him when he’s still pretty young. That’ll give you a few more years together.”

Arcee shrugged and slid down the wall until her ass hit the ground, and then she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “After I lost Tailgate, I swore I’d never let anyone get that close to me again. Then I let myself become friends with Cliffjumper, and then he died. Again, I promised myself I’d keep everyone else distant enough so I couldn’t be hurt like that again. And what the hell did I do after a few years on Earth? I let an alien get closer than my dearest friends, closer than anyone ever has before.”

“You made yourself more emotionally vulnerable than ever before.” Roz nodded.

“Yeah, exactly. Even knowing it’ll end in no time at all. Not even a century. Less, if he’s killed in battle or gets in an accident or gets cancer or some fucking thing. I knew it going in, and I still let it happen.”

“More likely you just couldn’t stop what was inevitable.” Roz sat beside her and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ve been through the same thing several times. This little group of Pretenders found Earth a few hundred years ago. While simply trying to fit in and not be noticed, we gradually went native. Developed friendships, fell in love, ended up with families. The last time I was in love, it was this beautiful woman named Lucille. It wasn’t quite the middle part of the previous century yet, a time when being gay could cost you your friends, family, job, even your life. Well, it still can, in some parts of the world, but it was much worse back in the 1940s. It never occurred to me or any of the other Pretenders to make that sort of distinction between male and female. Humans are kind of fucked-up, that way. Love is love, whatever the race or gender. Anyway, we had to be really careful about our relationship, but it worked out. Lucille was the brightest spot in my life for fifty years.”

Arcee nodded slowly and braced herself for what was coming.

“I was absolutely devastated when she died. I could barely function for years afterward. It was over a decade before I could finally get on with my life. If I hadn’t had the other Pretenders supporting me, I don’t know if I could’ve survived. I promised myself I’d never get that close to anyone again.”

Arcee glanced at her and then at the corner of the building, around which the others sat, out of sight.

“Yep.” Roz laughed softly. “Along came Lucas, and I fell head over heels all over again. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t.” She turned to meet Arcee’s gaze. “When you find your soulmate, you can try to resist it all you want, but in the end, you just can’t. All you can do is take the ride. Be the brightest spot of his life, and let him be yours, for as long as he lives.”

“And afterward? How do you just move on?”

“It was always the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Humans say time heals all wounds – it doesn’t really, but it does make the wounds bearable, eventually. I guess that’s the best we can hope for.” Roz patted Arcee’s hand and managed a shaky smile. “Hey, who knows what kinds of technology will be available by the time Jack and Lucas are old men. The advanced stuff we’ve developed here at the Lake was able to give Alan’s wife ten or fifteen years more than she would’ve had normally – and they were quality years, not her just lingering on. We’ve already been able to replace Jack’s legs after they were crushed. In sixty or seventy years, replacing bodily organs will probably be routine. You never know, we may even be able to replace entire bodies. Imagine building a Pretender body and putting Jack’s brain in it. Then he’d be as resilient as we are, and he could return to the way he looks now, if that’s what you both want.”

Okay, that does ease the dread I’ve been feeling all of a sudden. “Heh. Yeah, I think I’d definitely prefer him to at least look human, now that I’m used to the way he looks and the idea of … well, what we’re planning to do together sooner or later.”

Roz grinned. “Yeah, it’s probably better that way. One thing we Pretenders realized early on is, when one of us has sex with another, it’s not that pleasant if both of them are in their robot forms. You can imagine the sounds and sensations of metal scraping together. It’s much better if at least one of them is in their human disguise. And you might think this is kinky, but Lucas seems to actually prefer my true form, now that he’s accepted who and what I am.”

Arcee smiled. “When I first started using this body, I asked Jack if he’d rather I transformed it into a human, and he said it’d be too much like being with someone else. He wanted me, not some human-looking version of me. And I feel the same way about him. He’s the one I fell in love with. If he suddenly looked like a Cybertronian, it’d just be weird.” Hah. Like this thing with him and me isn’t weird already.

Footsteps approached again, and both of them glanced over at the corner a few seconds before Jack stepped into view.

“Hey, Arcee, is everything okay?”

“It is now, I think.” She smiled and patted Rosalina’s shoulder. “Thanks for the talk. I’m surprised at how much I needed to get this off my chest.”

“Glad I could help. Well, I’ll give you two a moment.” She stood, smiled at Jack and put a hand on his shoulder as she passed, and then stepped around the corner.

“Sorry I ran off like that, Jack.” Arcee stood as he walked over to her. “I just … freaked out, all of a sudden.”

“I know why.” Jack glanced over his shoulder, where the other Pretenders were probably still consoling Alan. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know I’ll just end up hurting you sooner or later, when my old body can’t go on any longer.”

“Well, like Roz just pointed out to me, medical technology could be advanced enough to at least give you a few more decades, maybe even a few hundred years. Who knows? But let’s try not to think about that for now, and make the most of whatever time we have together.” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.

He smiled, slipped his arms around her, and their lips joined again. She embraced him and their kiss became the longest, most passionate one they’d ever shared. Finally, they stepped back and held hands for a moment.

“Wanna finish breakfast before it gets cold?”

“Sure. I’m still new to this whole ‘eating’ thing, and there are so many kinds of food I want to try.” She put her arm around his shoulders as they walked back to their table.

Jack tossed her a saucy grin and slid his hand down until it rested on her ass. “And maybe later on we can try a little … dessert.”

Her spark pulsated a little faster. Heeeey!

#​

“Hey, guys.” Jack waved at Miko, Raf, Bee, and Tomoko as he and Arcee walked into the hub of the Autobot base. The four others sat in their usual off-duty spot on or behind the sofa, staring intently at the video game on the huge TV over in the corner. They glanced up, grinned, and waved.

A folding table had been set up between the sofa and the TV, currently holding plates of chopped beef sticks, crackers, potato chips, salsa, and an enormous cheese wheel that took up half the table’s surface space.

“Wow,” Jack muttered. “That’s a lot of cheese.”

Raf smirked. “I call it the Wheel of Crom.”

“I thought that was called the Wheel of Pain,” Miko said.

“Well, only if you eat too much and get constipated.”

Jack snickered. Nice. I needed a good laugh after the conversation we had over breakfast.

Tomoko pointed across the room. “There’s some messages for you from Groom Lake, and some packages for Arcee.”

“Thanks.” Smiling, Arcee led Jack over to another long folding table placed against the wall a few yards from the entrance. Jack picked up the sheets of paper and glanced over them.

“Nice. They’ve issued an updated version of our armor. It’s covered with a crystalline layer to refract Decepticon beam weapons. Mine is equipped with a built-in EMP generator, Miko’s has an upgraded stealth system, and Raf’s has a suite of hacking tools.”

“That’ll come in handy. Just try not to let any ‘Cons fall on you.” Arcee winked and cocked her head at a large case resting on the table. She popped the latches, lifted the lid, and her optics opened wide. “Well, hello, you sexy thing!”

Jack raised an eyebrow at her as she extracted a huge shotgun with six rotating barrels and a drum magazine from the case. She stared at it with a beatific grin and ran her left hand slowly along its barrels.

“Oh, this is beautiful! It’s a full-auto assault shotgun that fires the same ammo we’ve been using against the ‘Cons.”

“Sweet.” Grinning, Jack glanced over the notes again. “Says here it fires fourteen hundred rounds per minute. And there’s a scaled-up version for your full-size body. So after you’re repaired, you can carry that monster into battle and cut ’em to shreds.”

Arcee’s optics opened even wider as she returned the gun to its case, locked it, and rested her hand on top.

Jack laughed. “Damn, girl. You actually look sexually aroused now.”

“That’s what the other package is for,” Miko said, grinning, without taking her eyes off the screen.

Arcee raised a brow plate and plucked the Post-It note from the top of a smaller box wrapped in brown paper. “It’s from Miko.”

“Uh-oh. Probably a dildo.”

Arcee chuckled and opened the box. “Yep.”

“Seriously?”

Miko’s grin widened. “At first I thought about getting a huge one just to be funny. But then I figured you’d want a more realistic one so you can get an idea of what sex is like without actually doing it. Assuming you two are still planning on waiting.”

Jack’s face heated up.

“Granted, I haven’t seen Jack’s dick, so I have no idea if the one I ordered is too big or not.”

Jack’s blush intensified.

Arcee pondered the box’s contents for a few seconds. “Well, I saw it back when Jack was in the hospital after getting his new legs, and this looks pretty close.”

Jack’s blush grew so intense, he felt as if his face were about to burst into flames. “So glad Mom didn’t walk by right then.”

Arcee laughed.

“There’s one feature I think you’ll really enjoy,” Miko said. “It’s filled with a liquid that has the same consistency as jism. Push the button on the end and it spurts just like a dude blowing his load. I figured you could use it to try out that ‘software protocol’ Rosalina told us about.”

Holy … shit. Jack shook his head.

Arcee aimed a saucy grin at him. “Well, thank you, Miko. I just might need to find a private room here and, uh, perform a little routine maintenance.”

“Hah.” Miko grinned. “When I do it, I just call it masturbating.”

Arcee burst into laughter again.

A voice Jack didn’t recognize came from the speakers on either side of the TV – one of the kids in whatever online game they were playing, Jack guessed.

“Hey, Miko, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever masturbated to?”

Oh, no. Jack buried his face in his hands.

“The new trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Silence fell and stretched out for at least ten seconds before the voice returned.

“I can’t decide what’s more horrifying – your answer, or the fact that you didn’t even hesitate.”

“I’m with ya, bud,” Jack muttered.

“Huh.” Tomoko nudged the levers on her controller, keeping her touch delicate to avoid damaging the device with her huge hands. On the screen, the jet she was flying banked and dived toward a glowing target hovering above a bridge. “I’m confused about something. Well, a lot of things about sex are confusing, but specifically, why is it called ‘coming’? I mean, if you weren’t already there, it wouldn’t be happening in the first place.”

“I’ve actually never thought about that before.” Miko shrugged.

“I just can’t believe you actually admit to … y’know.” Raf blushed.

“What? Masturbating?” Miko shrugged again. “Well, orgasms are awesome.” She grinned. “So I have them.”

“Logical.” Arcee chuckled, closed the box, tucked it under one arm, and grasped the gun case’s handle. “I’ll go store these in my locker.”

“Think I’ll join you,” Jack said. “Just so I don’t hear any more of that conversation.”

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Tomoko giggled. “I’ve got it!”

Jack glanced at the TV in time to catch a glimpse of her jet passing through the target.

Her jet immediately crashed into a Pißwasser truck and exploded. Tomoko’s optics opened wide and her mouth formed an almost perfect O as the target ejected from the wreckage and hovered above it.

“Never mind!” She laughed, put the controller down, and wiggled her fingers. “This is too intense, anyway. I need to take a break.” She stood, stretched, and walked over to join Jack and Arcee. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“How’re you doing?” Arcee smiled up at Tomoko.

“Not bad. I’m feeling pretty good about things, actually. I was so scared during the rescue operation, but not so much anymore, now that I’ve been able to help out and everything turned out okay. Well, except for your injury.”

“Yeah, you did a great job. You made the difference between success and failure.”

“Thanks!” Tomoko grinned and glanced over her shoulder at the others. “Y’know, masturbating sounds like fun. Maybe sometime soon I can link up to a spare Pretender body and try it out.”

Jack almost tripped over his own feet. He recovered his balance, blushed, and tugged on his collar. “Kids grow up too fast, these days.”

Arcee snickered. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m hoping I get the chance soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

Jesus. Jack rubbed his hands over his face again. Christ.

Arcee’s smile faded suddenly. She caught Jack staring at her and nodded at the doorway up ahead. “Optimus has some new info for us. They’re holding the briefing in the repair bay so I can stay in the loop.”

“Not good news, I take it?”

“It’s … unsettling.” She leaned over to give him a kiss. “You can join me in the repair bay while I put these things away.”

He nodded and watched her jog through the doorway and take one of the corridors branching off to the right. He and Tomoko took the branch that led to the repair bay. A few seconds later, Miko and Raf caught up with them and Bumblebee’s clanking footsteps came up behind them.

Jack walked on into the repair bay and found Arcee sitting up and leaning against the wall. Ratchet stood at his console, Optimus stood beside Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bulk’s Pretender body, and their new “guests” sat at the opposite side of the chamber with Steve and Khalilah keeping an eye on them. Knockout and Breakdown, all scratched and dented and miserable, glowered at Starscream. Despite the casual poses the two Vehicon defectors had taken on, Starscream had tried to squeeze himself into a corner and was moving in his usual jittery manner. The fact that the four of them probably still wanted to kick his ass didn’t appear to be lost on him.

Jack walked over to Arcee. She moved her left hand so he could sit beside her, and let it rest gently against his side.

“Ratchet propped me up against the wall a while ago. I got tired of staring at the ceiling.” Arcee chuckled and glanced down at her useless legs. Jack draped his arm over her hand and stroked it slowly.

“So, what’s the unsettling news?”

“Our new guests have been filling us in on recent events aboard the Nemesis,” Optimus said.

Knockout stared forlornly at the scratches and dents on his arms. Breakdown stared at him for a few seconds, glanced at the ceiling, shook his head, and turned to address the new arrivals.

“Things were getting bad on the Nemesis even before Miko blew up a quarter of the ship. That’s the main reason we went along with Starscream’s plan to break away, set up that underground base, and build an army against our leader.” He flicked his good eye from one of them to another. “Megatron … isn’t himself anymore. Hasn’t been, for a long time.”

Starscream spoke up despite his obvious nervousness. “It started when he rammed that shard of dark energon into his own spark. He thought he could use it to control reanimated Cybertronian corpses, but it seemed to have created a link between his mind and Unicron.” His voice shook slightly.

“It’s gotten a lot worse sense then,” Knockout mumbled, as if trying to pull his attention away from his own damage and not quite succeeding. “I think Unicron has been influencing him, and it’s been growing stronger every day.”

“It’s reached the point where Megatron is just gone,” Breakdown continued. “It’s like his body is an empty shell and Unicron is in total control.”

Jack shivered and glanced at Arcee. She hadn’t believed Unicron even existed until they’d seen video and sensor data of him in the Harbinger’s flight recorder. Now, knowing he was real and what he was capable of …

“We’ve seen records of Unicron in action,” Steve said quietly. “He’s half the size of this solar system – or, he was when those scans were taken. He could be even bigger now. We saw records of him destroying entire planets and consuming the molten remains. I’m not sure why he would even bother possessing Megatron and continuing to lead the Decepticons.”

Breakdown glanced over at Optimus. “It’s possible he’s afraid of the last remaining Prime. In the legends I’ve heard, Unicron could only be defeated by a Prime. So, maybe he’s trying to remove the only thing that’s a threat to him.” Breakdown shrugged. “Either that, or he’s just doing this for shits and giggles. Or to relieve boredom.”

Jack shuddered again.

Knockout glanced up at Steve and Khalilah. “You and the other defectors are lucky you got out of there when you did. Any time one of us questioned an order or failed to achieve an objective, Megatron – Unicron, whichever – would straight up kill him and reanimate the corpse. Then he’d have complete control over it.”

“Fuck me,” Miko said under her breath. “From everything I’ve heard about Megatron, he was disturbing enough back when he was normal.”

Khalilah and Steve nodded emphatically. Breakdown sighed and glanced down at Bulkhead.

“I doubt you and I will ever stop hating each other, but things have changed. This has gotten a hell of a lot bigger than our petty squabble.”

Bulk gaped at him, stunned into silence.

Knockout nodded slowly. “If Unicron is anything like the legends, he’ll destroy everything eventually. He eats planets, for fuck’s sake.” He shook his head. “Imagine what will happen if he sets his sights on Earth. I’ve found a lot to like about this little planet over the last few years. Drive-in theaters. Classic car shows. Illegal street races. I’d really hate to lose all of that.”

“There’s more,” Ratchet said. “We’ve just received video from a surveillance drone that’s been observing the location of our most recent battle.” He cleared all the data from the main screen to make room for a large window displaying the video. It showed the torn-up field where the team had rescued Knockout and Breakdown from a squad of Insecticons. Those Insecticons were still where they’d been left, cocooned in the webbing Tomoko has used to immobilize them so everyone could escape.

A new squad of Insecticons walked among them.

The image rotated slowly as the drone circled around and kept its camera pointed at the field.

Megatron stepped into view, his movements almost mechanical, his expression blank. A purple glow seemed to almost ooze from his optics.

“In every other image I’ve seen of him,” Miko said, “his eyes were red.”

Breakdown shook his head. “That’s not him, anymore.”

On the screen, Megatron stopped beside one of the helpless Insecticons and aimed his enormous arm cannon point-blank at his chest.

“Oh, no,” Tomoko whispered.

Megatron fired and the Insecticon released a shriek that tore straight through to Jack’s spine.

It cut off abruptly and the red glow faded from the ‘Con’s optic. Megatron ripped the webbing from the body and placed his palm on the molten hole he’d just blasted through the center of the bug’s chest. A purple glow spread from his hand and into the wound.

The Insecticon’s body convulsed and lurched back to its feet. It stood before him, head lolling to one side, jaw hanging open.

Tomoko covered her mouth with her hands and whimpered.

Megatron walked over to another immobile Insecticon, executed him, and revived the body in the same manner.

Tomoko cried out softly. Arcee reached up to touch her arm.

“Hey. It’s not your fault.” She motioned at the spot on the floor beside her. “Come here. Sit down.”

Tomoko stumbled over, half sat and half fell to the floor, and leaned against the wall. She couldn’t take her optics off the screen.

Megatron walked over to a third Insecticon and blasted a hole clean through his chest.

Optimus turned to Ratchet. “We’ve seen enough.”

Ratchet stopped the playback and the screen blanked out.

“Tomoko, listen to me.” Arcee put one hand on the girl’s shoulder and the other on her cheek. “Look at me. This is not your fault.”

“They couldn’t move,” Tomoko whispered. “They were helpless because I –”

“No. You immobilized them because you didn’t want to take anyone’s life. You made the right choice. You have no control over what that monster did afterward.”

“Arcee’s right,” Steve said. “None of us expected this to happen. There’s no way we could’ve known this would happen. It’s not your fault. It’s Megatron’s. Or Unicron’s. Whichever. He’s the one who pulled the trigger.”

Arcee put her arm around Tomoko’s shoulders and pulled gently. Tomoko leaned over until her head rested on Arcee’s shoulder. Bee crouched beside her and placed his hand on her back. Raf reached up and barely managed to put his hand on Tomoko’s.

Poor girl. Jack sighed. She was finally happy, and now …

“This must be stopped,” Optimus rumbled. “If Unicron does indeed fear me because I am a Prime, and he knows I am on Earth, then Earth is in grave danger.”

“How do we stop something that’s big enough to swallow up a sun and its nearest planets?” Jack shook his head slowly. “I just … what the hell can we do against something like that?”

“First, Megatron – or whatever he has become – must be destroyed.”

All the ‘Bots turned to stare at him. So did Jack. He’d never heard Optimus state an intention to flat-out kill someone before.

This must be even worse than we thought.

“And then … we must find a way to stop Unicron. We need a way to intercept him before he reaches Earth.”

“If only we had a ship that could get us there,” Jack muttered. “I wonder how many years it would take to build one?”

“Hmm.” Optimus raised one brow plate. “I will speak with Agent Fowler and General Sanchez. Perhaps we can figure something out. We must.”

“I hope so.” Jack met Arcee’s gaze and shivered. “If we can’t, we’re all dead.”

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Ah, there you are.” Arcee’s human-size body stood in the doorway and smiled.

“Oh, hey, Arcee.” Jack took a deep breath, moved his head around to work the cramp out of his neck, and waved his tablet at the crate beside the one he sat on. “I was just catching up on some of the schoolwork I’ve been slacking off on. After the things we saw this morning, I needed something completely mundane.”

She walked into the storage room, placed the small box she’d been carrying on a nearby crate, and hopped up on the one beside Jack.

“And now I could use a break from the homework.” Jack chuckled and set the tablet aside. “After seeing how far behind I’ve gotten, it seems almost as daunting as the thought of stopping Unicron.”

“I wasn’t planning on getting in the way of your school stuff, but you do look a little frazzled.”

“Yeah, like I said, I needed a distraction, at least for a few minutes.” He smiled and leaned over to kiss her. “How’re things going out there?”

“Optimus is at Groom Lake, meeting with Fowler and General Sanchez. Before he left, he mentioned a few possibilities to us. The fabricator is almost finished – they’ve been working on it around the clock – and he’s thinking we can use it to make parts for a second fabricator, then use the second to make another while the first starts making the parts Bulkhead, Knockout, Breakdown, and I need. Then, once the second one is assembled, they can use those two to build parts for two more. It’d speed things up a lot if we could get several fabricators built right away. After that, they can be used to build new ‘blank’ Pretender bodies, weapons and other gear, and even parts for a new ship.”

“Ah. Is that one of the possibilities Optimus mentioned? Building a ship so we can go after Unicron?”

“I think that’s one of the long-term plans. Don’t know how else we can find Unicron and stop him. I certainly don’t want to just sit here and wait for him to reach Earth.”

Jack nodded and patted the back of her hand. “Well, whatever they end up doing eventually, I’ll certainly be relieved when you’re able to walk again.” He slipped his arm around her waist and smiled at the sensation of her warm metal skin under his palm. “As much as I like this remote-controlled body of yours, you can kick a lot more ass with your real body.”

“Well, this mini-me is no slouch.” She grinned and nudged his shoulder. “And it’s got a few features my real body doesn’t have yet.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed.”

“Hah. Yeah, I’ve spotted you taking a peek every chance you could get.” She winked.

His face heated up. “Well, uh, yeah. Teenage hormones. Can’t stop myself.”

She grinned again and nodded at the box she’d brought with her. “I was planning to find a private place around here and try out Miko’s ‘present’ before another crisis hits. I’d do it right here, but that might be a bit … distracting.”

His heart pounded suddenly. “Well, like I said, I needed a distraction. Something to get off – uh, I mean, get my mind off, um, recent events.”

Arcee chuckled and glanced at the tablet. “As long as it doesn’t hurt your grades ….”

“The homework will still be there later.” He made a farting sound with his lips. “That’s kind of the problem, actually – it never goes away. But the assignments aren’t due for a while yet, and if I’m late, I can always use saving the world as an excuse to get an extension.”

“In that case …” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. “The only thing that might be problematic is, there’s no door on this room. Imagine the scene if Miko walked in without knocking and caught me going to town on myself with that dildo she bought me?”

Jack burst out laughing. “Yeah, I can imagine that quite easily.” He caught his breath, pondered his next move, and took a few more long breaths to keep his pulse under control. “If you’d like guaranteed privacy you could … uh, you could … stop by my quarters at Groom Lake tonight.”

She cocked her head, nodded, and smiled. “Tell ya what. I don’t want to be the reason your grades slip, so if you’ll catch up on that stuff as much as you can today, then I’ll see you there tonight. Say, nineteen hundred?”

“You’ve got yourself a date.” Jack grinned and gave her another peck on the lips.

“Cool.” She glanced at the box and her smile turned saucy. “We can masturbate together, then.”

He sucked in a quick breath and choked on his own saliva. He managed to regain his composure a moment later.

“Uh, well, um, I – I – I …”

Arcee shrugged, but still had that grin. “I just figured it’d be a logical progression for our relationship. First we can watch. Then we can masturbate each other. Seems like a good way to get comfortable with each other and learn what feels good for each of us. We can take our time and really get to know one another, so when we’re ready to take that last step, it’ll – Jesus Christ, the shades of red a human face can turn never cease to amaze me.”

“W – well, it’s a … I dunno if it’s a human thing or just an American thing. I know there are some cultures here and there that are a lot less uptight about sex, but most of us are taught to be embarrassed about it from childhood on.” He shook his head and sighed suddenly. “Roz was right when she said humans are kind of fucked-up. So many of us can murder each other without giving it a second thought, but somehow sex – something that feels good and can create life – is considered embarrassing or dirty or just wrong.”

“Well, humans aren’t exactly unique when it comes to killing each other. Most Cybertronians didn’t even have a concept of sex until we learned it from humans.” She waved a hand over her body’s below-the-waist area. “None of us even had the necessary parts for it until we started remote-piloting empty Pretender shells. But we’ve been slaughtering each other for so long, hardly any of us can even remember when it started.”

Well, that took a dark turn. He raised his hand to her shoulder. “Maybe it won’t be that way much longer. So many of the Vehicons have come over to our side, we’ve got a bunch of Pretenders who have gone native and are willing to fight alongside us, Knockout and Breakdown are joining us, even Starscream is working with us.” Jack chuckled. “Though we should still keep an eye on the weaselly bastard.”

Arcee laughed. “Yeah. He’s even more nuts than the rest of the ‘Cons, but we’ll take whatever help we can get for however long we can get it.” She glanced at the doorway and smiled. “We’ve got Tomoko, too. Hard to believe a clone of Airachnid could be such a sweet kid.”

“How’s she holding up, anyway? The feed from that surveillance drone traumatized the hell out of her.”

“She’s calmed down, now. I finally managed to convince her that what Unicron did to those Insecticons she immobilized wasn’t her fault.” Arcee grinned. “Right now, Bumblebee, Raf, and Miko are keeping her occupied.”

“Got her playing GTA V again?”

“Yep. And Miko’s thrilling her with descriptions of the wonders of self-administered orgasms.”

Jack snorted. “I always knew Miko was kind of a delinquent, but I had no idea it went this far.”

“Hah. Another thing the fabricator might need to crank out right away is a new Pretender shell so Tomoko can take her own ‘solo flight.’” She glanced at Jack as he tugged on his collar. She chuckled, kissed him one more time, and stood. “I should let you get back to work. I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you then.” His breath caught in his throat as she walked out of the room, her hips swaying the exact right amount.

Whoa. She’s learning fast. He took a few slow breaths and hoped he could concentrate with the anticipation of what awaited him flitting around in his head. He picked up the tablet and opened the next assignment. Better hop to it, before something comes out of nowhere and derails our plans.

***​

“Wow, kiddo.” June pointed her fork at Jack’s tray and grinned. “I hope you left some food for everyone else.”

“A growing boy needs his lunch.” He took his usual seat at the picnic table and Arcee sat across from him.

She glanced around at the others seated nearby – June, Miko, Sierra at the end of the table, with Smokescreen sitting on the ground beside her, and Ashanti at the far end, munching distractedly on a taco and staring at a tablet. The early-afternoon sunshine bathed them and the empty seats around them, and Arcee found herself smiling at the brightness and color of it all. Even after the war back home had started to take its toll on the environment, Cybertron had still retained some of its beauty, but the colors had been provided by sunlight reflecting off endless metal surfaces and a sea of glowing lights on the night side.

She’d been “born” after the war was at full throttle, so she’d never seen Cybertron when it was pristine, except in archive videos and stills. She thought it must have been a hell of a sight, though.

Still, it was nothing compared to what she’d seen in the three years she’d spent on Earth. The sheer variety of colors, textures, the blue sky and fluffy clouds – and everything except the buildings and vehicles were organic.

How could something so completely alien be so beautiful?

Her optics returned to Jack and she wondered if he’d had similar thoughts about her. Having seen how machine life was usually depicted in popular media – either cold and emotionless or instantly hostile to humans – it must’ve been bizarre to suddenly meet “robots” who could feel pain and joy and sorrow and friendship.

And even love. Once I finally figured out what was going on in my own head, at least. The thought made her chuckle. My brain is so advanced it’d make a human-designed quantum computer look like an abacus, and I still couldn’t see what was right in front of me. Had to have a human spell it out to me, and even then it took me a while to get my head around the concept.

“Something on your mind?” Jack smiled and raised an eyebrow.

“Just thinking about all the changes that have happened in such a short time.”

He nodded. “We’re on one hell of a ride, that’s for sure.”

She nodded and glanced at June. “What’s new?” She picked up her spoon, took a bite of her pork fried rice, and marveled at yet another never-before-experienced flavor. I’m starting to wonder if eating might be even more delightful than masturbating. Guess I’ll find out tonight. She grinned as she scooped up another spoonful. It’s kind of a shame none of us tried linking up with Pretender bodies a long time ago. We’ve been missing out on so many things.

June nodded at Ashanti. “The Colonel is going over a list of people to join her team. Temporary replacement for Jensen while his broken leg heals, and permanent ones for Case and Dawson.” Her smile faded a bit. “That second one must be a depressing duty.”

“Yeah. They were so young.” Thoughts of humans’ fragility and all too brief life spans flitted through her mind again and she pushed them away. “Well, the upgraded armor everyone’s getting should offer a lot more protection. And more good news – I’m keeping in touch with Optimus and the others. They set up a secure link in our base so I can be involved in the discussion while still piloting this body here.”

“I hope they’re coming up with something good.”

“After bringing Ultra Magnus up to speed on the situation, they came up with ideas for intensifying the search for Airachnid and taking the fight to Megatron. They’ll both have to be dealt with before we can go after Unicron. Especially if Unicron is possessing Megatron’s body, somehow. For the long term, they’re planning to build a ship, put together a crew, and go after Unicron, but we can’t head off into space while those two are still traipsing around on Earth.”

June froze for a second and stared at Jack. “I’m guessing you’ll want to go, then.”

“Absolutely.” He reached across the table and interlaced his flesh fingers between Arcee’s metal ones. “We’re a team.”

“You’re still a kid, Jack. General Sanchez – or whoever ends up making the decision – might not even allow it.”

“We’re a team.” Jack sighed. “If you felt about someone the way I feel about Arcee, would you be able to stay home and wait years or decades for him to come back without losing your fucking mind?”

June sighed. “I … suppose not. But the ship will need a medical staff, so if you’re signing on, then so am I.”

Arcee smiled. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. We’ve all become a family, and it just wouldn’t feel right if we weren’t all together.”

“I’ve only just stumbled into all this stuff,” Sierra said, nudging her food around on her plate. “There’s no way my parents would let me go with you, so it’d be a long time before I could see any of you again.” She sighed. “I mean, after just meeting most of you ….”

“I’d miss you, too.” Smokescreen smiled at her.

Arcee arched a brow plate and exchanged a glance with Jack. Ah, there they go. “Well, we’re still not sure how long it’ll take to put the mission together and build the ship. After we deal with Airachnid and Megatron, if there are still any Decepticons willing to continue the fight, we’ll have to take care of them first, or we’ll have to worry about attacks on the ship while it’s under construction. By the time everything comes together, you might be over eighteen, then you’d at least have a shot at joining the crew if you still wanted to.”

Sierra smiled and glanced at Smokescreen. “I can hope, at least.”

Arcee chuckled. “And in more amusing news, the higher-ups have decided to let a reporter and a camera crew interview us and follow us around for a while. Since our cover has been blown and we’re public knowledge now, they think the best damage control is to let the public get to know us.”

June raised both eyebrows. “Oh, boy. That should be interesting.”

Sierra spotted something behind Jack and her eyes opened wider. “Don’t look now, but I think that’s one of the camera crews.”

Arcee leaned to the side to glance past Jack and found two guys carrying cameras and a young woman in a blue tank-top and black cargo pants pausing at the door leading out to the picnic area. They took in their surroundings and the woman’s face lit up when she spotted Arcee and the others. They strode straight toward them.

“Oh, here we go,” Miko said with a grin. “Looks like our fifteen minutes of fame is about to begin.”

***​

“So, tell us a bit about yourself,” the reporter, Tenesha Hargrove, said as she followed Jack and Arcee. She’d suggested they take a walk around the base to provide a more dynamic shot, so they had agreed to take her crew on a brief tour around the picnic yard, nearby parking lots, and other parts of the Groom Lake base that weren’t off-limits.

Not the walk on the beach we’ve been wanting for so long, but it’ll have to do. Jack slipped his hand into Arcee’s as she took a few seconds to figure out an answer.

“Well, I’m not sure where to start. Have you already been briefed about our homeworld, the war, and all that?”

“We’ve been given the basics. A whole machine planet, basically, populated by sentient robots, devastated in a civil war that’s been raging for thousands of years.”

“Tens of thousands. Maybe longer. We’re not even sure anymore. A lot of our history was lost in the war when many of our archives were destroyed. We know it started as a revolt against the caste system that was in place back then, but everyone learned too late that the rebellion’s leader had his own agenda. A lot of the details have been lost since then. The war resulted in our planet’s … not destruction, exactly – it became unable to support us and we had to evacuate, but we hope it can be revived someday. Anyway, very few of us were there when the war started. I was activated afterward, so the war was all I knew until a few of us found Earth.” She smiled. “My whole life was just the current battle and then the next, and the next. I had no idea there could be anything else until we landed here.”

“Three years ago, right?”

“Yeah. There was one last battle after we arrived, then our remaining enemies went dark. Didn’t hear a peep from them for three years, so I finally had some extended downtime. Found out what it was like to just sit down for a while. And to cruise around with nothing to do and no worries about being shot at. We still went on patrol and kept our eyes out for enemy activity, but it was pretty mellow for a while.”

“But the peace and quiet didn’t last?”

“Nope. One day, a few months ago, it flared up again. My best friend was killed in action.” Arcee glanced away and her lips quivered for a few seconds. She regained her composure and said, “On the bright side, that was also the day I met Jack.” She poked his shoulder. “The very first thing he did was grope me.”

“I, uh … um, he did?” Tenesha gaped at her and one of the camera guys snickered.

“Well, Arcee’s people are able to disguise themselves as vehicles.” Jack blushed.

“I’m a motorcycle,” Arcee added. “Well, my real body is. This one is just a human-size version that I’m remote-operating.”

“Since I had no idea her people existed, I thought she was just a bike. An exceptionally fine-looking bike, though.” Jack winked at her. “I just couldn’t resist. Had to lay my hands on you. Then I had to climb on for just a moment. Wanted to get an idea of what it’d feel like to ride a motorcycle I’d never be able to afford.”

“Uh-huh.” Tenesha seemed to notice their joined hands and motioned at one of the camera guys. He pointed his camera directly at their hands as Tenesha continued. “So, the first thing he did was feel you up, and the very next – he mounted you?”

The other camera guy laughed. Jack aimed a shit-eating grin directly into the camera.

“You said this is a remote-controlled body?” Tenesha waved a hand at Arcee.

“There was a subset of Decepticons called Pretenders who were built to mimic small organic forms. The loss of our homeworld snapped most of them out of it and they bailed out of the whole war. They found Earth a few hundred years ago, tried to blend in, and just live in peace.” Arcee shrugged. “A few of them kept working for the enemy, though, and were involved in an attack on Groom Lake a few months ago. A few of them refused to be taken alive. This body was one of them – the damage was repaired, the processor and memory core removed and replaced with our own components, wireless links installed, and I was able to use it while my own body was being repaired.”

“Severe damage from a fight with an old enemy,” Jack added. “Arcee almost died, but we managed to get our hands on the parts she needed. In the meantime, she linked up to this body so she could stay in the fight.”

“And then, right after I was repaired, the first thing I did was go out and get damaged again.” She shook her head and pointed at her waist. “Took an armor-piercing blade to the gut. It severed my spine. So now I’m back in our base, just sitting on my ass until my replacement parts can be fabricated and installed. But at least I can still be useful.”

“Having a human-size body has other advantages, too.” Jack grinned.

“Yeah. Makes it easier to fit through doorways.”

“Arcee’s actually about sixteen feet tall. With her Pretender shell, it’s a lot easier to hold hands, hug, and whatever else.”

“So I see.” Tenesha waved at their joined hands. “You two are ‘together,’ then?”

Jack reached over with his free hand, ran his palm slowly across Arcee’s chest plate, and aimed a blank look at the nearer camera. “Huh. What gave it away?”

Arcee laughed and nudged his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her waist and glanced back at the camera as they reached the perimeter fence and stopped.

“Since this body was built to blend in with organic life forms, by the way, it’s anatomically correct and fully functional.” He winked and gave the camera a thumbs-up.

“Don’t worry, though,” Arcee added with a chuckle, “we’re planning to wait until Jack’s eighteen before we have sex. My people don’t actually have the right parts for that, and it’s a completely alien concept for us, so I’m thinking it might take me that long to get comfortable with the idea.”

He nodded. “Yeah, we’re not rushing it. It’ll be the first time for both of us, so we don’t want it to be all awkward.” He grinned. “But in the meantime, there are other things we can do – cuddling, holding hands, kissing … um, the Cybertronian equivalent of a sensual massage.”

“Ahhhh.” Tenesha smirked and arched an eyebrow. “Is that why you smell like car polish?”

Jack blushed and tugged on his collar. “Um. Yeah.”

Arcee grinned again, and reached around to squeeze Jack’s ass.

“So, how did this come about?” Tenesha motioned at one of the camera guys, who turned to take some stock shots of the parking lot and buildings beyond it. “A giant alien robot and a sixteen-year-old human? Seems … odd.”

Jack shrugged. “When we met, things happened so fast, it took a while for all of it to sink in. At the same time, I had to just keep going to school and working my shitty job at KO Burgers like nothing was going on. But after a while I gradually fell head over heels. Couldn’t work up the nerve to say anything about it, though. I assumed Arcee would think it’s gross or just weird, or not even understand at all.”

“Hah. I’d felt something for quite a while, but since I’d never experienced an emotional state quite like it before, I had no idea what it was. And I never really figured it out – someone else had to spell it out to me before I even began to understand. And I’m still in the process of getting my head around it all, but I know one thing for certain – I don’t think I could go on without Jack.”

“I feel the same way about Arcee.” He gazed into her optics and smiled. “My life would be empty without her in it. She’s my soulmate.”

“That’s sweet.” Tenesha smiled.

Jack slipped his arms around Arcee and drew her closer. She chuckled softly, brushed her fingers through his hair, embraced him, and leaned in. Their lips met and Jack’s heartbeat revved up.

Both of them closed their eyes and let the rest of the world fade away for a moment.

“I feel kinda dirty for even thinking this,” one of the camera guys muttered, “but that’s hot.”

Tenesha giggled and then whispered, “Just get a close-up of that and then we’ll wrap for now.”

***​

“That … was … incredible!” Tenesha turned to watch her crew walk out of the ground-bridge vortex behind her, followed by Jack and Arcee’s mini-body.

“Thought you’d get a kick out of that.” Jack grinned. “Also, the Autobot base’s location is classified, so this was the best way to get you here without taking a car or aircraft in.”

Tenesha nodded, turned to her guys, and waved a hand around the room. “Juan, grab some shots of the base, would you?”

“Sure thing.”

“I’m right over there.” Arcee pointed her mini-me’s hand at her full-size body, seated across the room. “I was in the repair bay for a long time, but I finally asked Ratchet to drag my ass out here so I could be more involved in the daily business.”

Over by the main console, Ratchet shut the ground-bridge down, turned, and nodded at the guests. “Ma’am. Gentlemen.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Arcee nodded over to the sofa, coffee table, and huge TV the kids had set up a while back. “And that’s Raf, Miko, Bumblebee, and Tomoko.”

They turned, waved, and returned their attention to their video game. Arcee chuckled.

“Tomoko’s the new kid. She was just activated a couple of days ago. I’m sure Miko’s teaching her how to be a juvenile delinquent.”

“Ha-ha.” Miko smirked. “I’m actually not. However, once the fabricator is built and starts cranking out new Pretender shells, I do intend to hook Tomoko up to one and show her how to masturbate.”

Jack shook his head. Arcee snorted. Ratchet rolled his optics and turned back to the console.

Raf blushed as he glanced over at Tenesha. “That’s our Miko. One of a kind. Fortunately.”

Miko stuck her tongue out at him and nudged one of the buttons on her controller. On the TV, her character pulled a car door open, yanked Raf’s character out, hurled him off to the side, and got into his car.

The other camera guy motioned at the screen. “Hey, kid, your character looks like Carl Sagan.”

“Finally! You’re the first person who’s ever noticed that. It took a lot of work to get him to look right.” Raf grinned as his video-game avatar picked himself up and Miko drove away in his car. Raf opened his weapons menu, selected the rocket launcher, locked on, and fired.

Miko’s car exploded and she let out a yelp. Tomoko giggled.

Raf deepened his voice and managed a passable Sagan impression. “Billions and billions of body parts.”

The camera guy burst into laughter and slumped against the wall.

“Easy there, Eric.” Juan grinned. “Remember to breathe.”

“C … can’t!” He leaned over and braced his hands on his knees.

An urgent beeping came from Ratchet’s console. He tapped a button and stared at several lines of text appearing on the screen.

Arcee glanced up at him. “Another Megatron sighting?”

“No.” Ratchet turned slowly and met her gaze. “Airachnid’s been spotted again.”

The controller slipped from Tomoko’s hands and she whirled to stare with wide eyes at him. She trembled and Raf reached up to put his hand on her leg.

“I’m alerting Optimus,” Ratchet said as he turned back to the console. “You and Jack are not going after her alone. We’ll have all hands on deck this time.”

“Jack …” Arcee stared down at him and he shook his head before she could say another word.

“I’ll go grab my armor.”

Tomoko pushed herself to her feet and stood, wringing her hands as she glanced back and forth from Arcee to Jack. “I’m going with you.”

“You don’t have to –”

“If – if I don’t face her I – I – I’ll never stop being afraid of her.” Tomoko seemed to notice her hand-wringing and clenched her fists. “I’m going.”

“Alright.” Jack glanced up at Arcee. “We could use her help. Her web launchers could make all the difference, like they did in our last fight.”

Tenesha held a hand up. “Okay, so, who’s Airachnid?”

“That old enemy we mentioned. The one who almost killed Arcee recently.”

Tomoko shivered and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “She’s insane.”

“She used to be a Decepticon, but went rogue a long time ago. Now she hunts sentient species and takes their heads as trophies.” Jack managed a brief smirk. “Arcee recently described her as ‘fifty tons of fucked-up in a ten-pound bag,’ and that fits her perfectly.” He turned to one of the tunnels leading out from the hub and glanced over his shoulder at Arcee. “I’ll be geared up before the rest of the team arrives.”

Well, there goes our plans for tonight. But we can’t let this opportunity go. He strode out of the hub. Time to step on a spider.

 

CHAPTER NINE

Author's note: I apologize for the long delay between chapters. Had a lot of RL stuff to deal with, almost all of it horrible, including coming within a hair's width of ending up homeless. While dealing with all that, I've also been focusing my efforts on finishing a novel and getting it into the Kindle Scout program so I might have a shot at the advance. The Scout campaign started Sept. 19. My entry is here, if anyone's interested. If the book gets enough nominations, it'll be published and everyone who voted for it will get a free copy.

#​

“We are almost at the deployment coordinates,” Optimus said through the team’s comms. “Five more minutes.”

Acree glanced around at the others seated in Optimus’s tailer. Jack sat beside her, leaning against the wall, clad in his new armor and holding his helmet on his lap, looking far calmer than he had the last time he’d faced Airachnid. If anything, his expression was a mixture of determination and anger, if she were reading it correctly.

Bulkhead’s human-size body sat across from hers, with Miko to his right, also in her full armor. On the seat to her right was a large backpack. Arcee guessed it was loaded with synthetic energon-enhanced sticky bombs or something similar, based on the girl’s actions in previous battles. Tomoko occupied the front end of the trailer, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, cycling through different color schemes, probably as an attempt to avoid thinking about the coming fight.

At the rear of the trailer sat what was left of Ashanti’s team, DeeDee Washington and Josephine Chang. The latter two had just finished one last systems check on their armor, while Ashanti stared at something on a tablet.

Bumblebee, Ultra Magnus, and Smokescreen were outside, along with Steve and Khalilah, June’s medical team, and a combat support squad. All were approaching Airachnid’s location from different directions. Like the last time they’d tracked down the rogue Decepticon, they’d taken the ground-bridge to coordinates outside of sensor range to prevent her from detecting the energy spikes, and had converged on her position from there. The plan was to stop at the edge of sensor range, deploy the human and Pretender teams, and continue the search on foot.

Double-D tapped a control on her belt and glanced around at the others. Her gaze settled on Tomoko and she smiled.

“That one looks good. It’s a nice shade of red.”

“You think so?” Tomoko smiled and glanced at the black with red trim on her hands and arms. “It’s called sunset red. I think I like it, too. I keep coming back to it when trying out colors.”

“I’ve always liked that combination of colors. All of my vehicles in GTA Online have a similar color scheme.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you played that.”

“When I’m off duty and have a few hours to spare, yeah.” Double-D grinned. “So does General Sanchez, whenever he can find the time for it. His granddaughter got him hooked on it. He’s joined Jensen on a few missions to help keep his morale up while he’s in the infirmary.”

“Nice. We should get together for a Heist sometime.”

Glad she’s assuming she’ll survive today. Arcee smiled. That’s a big step up from when we headed out.

“That’d be interesting.” Ashanti glanced up from her tablet long enough to flick a lopsided grin at Tomoko. “The general likes to troll his subordinates. Not being mean or anything. He just thinks it’s funny. You’ll have to be on the lookout for that.”

“Thanks for warning me. What’s his gamer tag, so I can be on guard when he’s in the same lobby?”

“Full Metal Jackoff.”

Jack burst out laughing and Ashanti chuckled.

“The general’s character is one creepy-looking motherfucker, too. He’s got his face painted up like a clown. There’ve been a few times when I caught a close-up of it on my screen, and it was deeply unsettling.”

“Hmm,” Arcee said. “This sounds intriguing. I should get in on it sometime.”

“Maybe when this is all over and we’ve scrapped Airachnid, we can give it a try as part of the celebration.“ Jack grinned. “Like a victory dance.”

She put her arm around him. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Count me in.” Ashanti glanced at her watch, turned the tablet off, and slipped it into a belt pouch. Arcee motioned at it.

“Still going over replacement candidates?”

“I’ve managed to narrow it down quite a bit, finally. The higher-ups are talking about building an international team now that the whole world knows you exist. Which makes sense. It’s their planet, too, so there’s no reason they shouldn’t fight alongside us to protect it. It just makes the list of candidates exponentially longer.” Ashanti chuckled. “There’s one I’m pretty sure I’ll add to the team, though. Kefira Ben-Ari. She’s ex-Mossad, spent the last few years working as a private contractor, and opted in when the search for new recruits started this morning. Her weapon of choice is a 44-caliber Mateba auto-revolver with an eight-inch barrel. And as a backup, she carries a .454 Casull. She’s been out of commission since she lost both legs to a roadside bomb, but our medical division can fix that.”

Jack winced. “It was traumatic enough for me, but I was able to get my new legs pretty quickly. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to go for weeks or months thinking it was all over.”

Ashanti nodded. “She held herself together remarkably well, which is one of the reasons I’m seriously considering her. She’s a badass. Right after her legs were blown off, she somehow managed to apply an experimental gel to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wounds, dose herself with painkillers, drag herself to the mission objective and take out any enemy troops who got in her way. A few weeks later, when someone asked her how she kept going, she just said, ‘The job wasn’t finished yet.’ So I figure she’d be a good addition to the team.”

Chang nodded, but her face had paled slightly. “She sounds kind of terrifying, actually.”

“Well, she’s got a great service record and according to her colleagues, she’s got a good sense of humor.” Ashanti smiled. “And I’m told she has a TARDIS keychain, so I think she’d fit right in with the rest of us geeks at Groom Lake.”

“I like her already.” DeeDee grinned.

“We have arrived,” Optimus reported in. “Communications are being jammed.”

“That’s Airachnid’s schtick, alright,” Arcee said. “Either the jammer is built into her body, or she’s got a large supply of them that she sets up wherever she builds her lair. We’ve run into it before.”

“Let’s make sure this is the last time.” Jack stood and put his helmet on. “I was worried about your link to your mini-me being jammed as well, but it looks like it’s on a frequency her jammers don’t touch.”

“I was worried about the same thing.” Arcee tried to suppress a shiver. Nothing would’ve been worse than being cut off abruptly, trapped in her crippled body back at the base, unable to know whether Jack and the rest were still alive, and unable to do anything at all to keep them safe. “It’s a huge relief to still be operating this body.”

Ashanti locked her helmet on, plucked her rifle from the clip on her back, and reached out to the door handle.

“Let’s move out.”

#​

“Oh, hi.” Jensen glanced at the door to his hospital room, smiled, and waved at Khalilah. Her human-size, remote-controlled Doppelgänger entered the room, treading lightly to reduce the noise of her metal feet on the floor, and stopped at his bed. She held out the tablet in her hand.

“General Sanchez said you were feeling down, so he sent you a few things to cheer you up.”

“Aw, that was nice of him. I’ll be sure to thank him next time we talk.” He accepted the tablet and held her hand for a moment. “I’m not ‘down,’ exactly. Just a little antsy because my team’s heading out on a major op while I’m stuck here with a leg that’s broken in four places.”

“The whole team is with them, plus me and Steve and a full support unit, and they’re going after a single target. The odds are in their favor.”

“I hope I don’t distract you, though. I want you coming back without a scratch.”

“I’ll do my best. I can keep you updated on the battle’s progress while I’m here.” She leaned over to touch his shoulder. “I’ve had friends before, but while serving the Decepticons, I never had anyone care as much for me as you do.”

“Well, I guess we just ‘clicked.’ You’re a sweet girl.”

“Thank you. I wanted to leave those power-hungry maniacs for so long, but never had anywhere to go until now. The sheer relief of escaping them feels like an enormous pressure has suddenly vanished, and I can finally be myself.” She patted his shoulder and pointed at the tablet. “The general said this is an outtake from one of the interviews conducted by the news team that recently arrived at the base. He found it while vetting their recordings. This one won’t be made public, apparently, but he thought it’d give you a laugh.”

“Can’t wait to see it, then.” Jensen woke the tablet and found the clip already loaded in the media player. He tapped the play button and chuckled at the sight of Miko sitting on a bench beside Bulkhead’s human-size Pretender body. “Oh, this oughta be good.”

The reporter, Tenesha Hargrove, sat on the end of the bench and smiled at them. “So, you two have known each other for only a few months, but you appear to get along quite well.”

“Bulkhead’s like a big brother. I never knew what that was even like until we met. Turns out we have almost the same taste in music, TV shows, movies, and so on.” Miko fired off a wicked grin. “We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, though.”

“Oh, here we go.” Bulkhead chuckled.

“For instance, Bulk is really into Coldplay. Just loves ’em. Me?” Miko grimaced. “Can’t stand ’em.”

“Come on, they’re not that bad, are they?”

“Every Coldplay song I’ve ever heard sounded like my grandparents fingering each other.”

Jensen barked out a laugh as Tenesha’s face twisted up like she’d just bitten into a rotten lemon. Bulkhead snickered and another voice burst into laughter. The guy holding the camera, Jensen guessed.

A light flashed on the console on the far side of the room. Ratchet and Optimus walked over to it as Agent Fowler’s face appeared on the screen. Miko glanced over her shoulder at the image, turned to Bulkhead, and nudged his shoulder.

“Hey, d’ya think Fowler’s ever been, like, just fuckin’ hammered?”

Bulkhead guffawed again and shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen what he’s like when he wakes up after being knocked out for a few hours. I figure it’s probably a lot like that.”

The next words out of Miko’s mouth were apparently so profane that they had to be censored. With a huge grin and an evil glint in her eye, she leaned over to Bulkhead and said, “D’ya think Fowler likes {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP}?”

Bulkhead stared blankly at her. The guy holding the camera emitted an audible gasp. Tenesha’s “I ate a rancid lemon” expression twisted up even further.

Jensen snort-laughed. “Oh, wow!”

In the background, Rosalina walked into the frame, stopped, did a double-take, and stared at Miko with her mouth hanging open. Miko glanced around and shrugged.

"Come on, people in high-pressure jobs like his are probably into some weird shit. I betcha anything Fowler {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP} and dresses up like {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP} with a bunch of {BLEEEEEEEEEEP} and {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEP} twinky little {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP} and, like, {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP} ice cream cones {BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP}.”

Jensen laughed until he couldn’t breathe and tears streamed from his eyes. The image on the tablet jolted around as the camera guy struggled to keep it steady. Behind Miko, Rosalina laughed so hard that she had to brace her hands on her knees.

Just when Jensen managed to regain his composure, Tenesha turned slowly to gape into the camera, which set Jensen off again.

“Yeah,” Tenesha muttered, “we won’t be able to use that.”

The guy behind the camera caught his breath long enough to say, “May … maybe it can be an extra on the Blu-Ray.” He lost it again, and the image whip-panned downward until the blurry floor filled the frame. The clip ended, and Jensen continued chortling for nearly a minute before pulling himself together.

“That kid is somethin’ else.” He grinned at Khalilah. “Thanks for bringing this. Really brightened my day.”

“Glad I could do my part.” She held his hand between both of hers.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well. How much longer until the op starts?”

“We’ve reached the coordinates and are beginning our search.”

He nodded and kept silent, letting her concentrate on the mission, but still wished he could be there for his team.

Get the job done and come home safe, everyone.

#​

“Well, this is thrilling,” Double-D muttered with a forced chuckle. “Almost half an hour and still nothing.”

“She’ll turn up sooner or later.” Jack had spent the past twenty-plus minutes refreshing his memory on his new armor’s features. In addition to the EMP generator, it also had built-in thrusters and upgraded servos to boost the wearer’s speed and strength. There hadn’t been time for any training on them, but he figured he could get the hang of it if he were careful. The speed boost would probably be tricky.

He glanced over at Arcee as they marched through the snow. “How’re you holding up?”

“It’s not cold enough here to shut any of us down, but even so, I’d be pretty uncomfortable if I were here in person.”

“It’s plenty cold enough for me,” Miko said over the comlink. “Even with this armor, I bet my nipples could punch through solid steel right now.”

One of the support team members snickered. “I won’t be able to concentrate on combat with images like that in my head.”

“Christ,” another squad member grumbled, “she’s fifteen.”

“I know.” The guy had an audible shrug in his voice. “I feel so dirty.”

“What makes it even worse,” Miko continued as if she hadn’t noticed the comments, “is that my chest has already been kind of sore for a while. Like, kind of tender.” She paused for a few seconds and drew in a quick breath. “Oh! Y’know what that means? It means I’m finally growing tits!”

Several laughs came over the comms, followed by June’s voice.

“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry to grow up.”

“Come on, most of the girls in my school got their tits when they were thirteen. It’s taken me two extra years. Let me enjoy the moment. I’ve been waiting for it long enough.”

“Okay.” June snorted. “Sorry.”

Jack rolled his eyes and checked his armor’s sensors again. Still no sign of Airachnid even though they were well within range by now. He kept sweeping his gaze over the landscape, taking in the hills and cliffs and snow-covered trees.

The temperature probably drops well below zero at night. Cybertronians can’t handle extreme cold. Airachnid must really be a masochist. A memory flashed through his mind despite his efforts not to think about it – Arcee and Optimus stranded in the Arctic, damn near freezing to death while the base was swarmed with Scraplets a few months ago. He hadn’t even known they were in that much trouble until after the Scraplets were dealt with, but once he’d found out that Arcee had almost died, it was one of the first times he’d realized his feelings for her went far beyond friendship.

At least I don’t have to worry about that now. If her Pretender body is disabled, we can repair it or build a new one once the fabricators are finished.

The voice of a woman on the support squad interrupted his thoughts. “This is what I hate about missions like these. Hours of nothing happening. The tension keeps you sharp for a while, but then boredom sets in and your attention wanders.”

“And with everything around us white,” another guy said, “it’s even easier to lose your focus.”

“Well, let’s see if we can keep everyone awake and alert. Replace one word in a movie title with the word ‘vagina’ – go!”

“The Vagina Strikes Back,” another woman said almost instantly.

“The Vagina Reloaded,” another guy chimed in, and Chang giggled.

“Monty Python and the Holy Vagina.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

“The Vagina Chainsaw Massacre,” Miko said, and Ashanti snorted.

“Kid, you are a disturbing person.”

“Thanks!”

Arcee laughed softly. “I’ve got one. A Fist Full of Vagina.”

Chuckles, a guffaw, and several snort-laughs rippled around the team.

“Dirty Vagina,” Double-D said, and everyone burst into laughter.

Jack grinned. “The Full Vagina.”

Arcee laughed and nudged his shoulder. “That’s what mine will be on your eighteenth birthday.”

Jack nearly stumbled while descending a gentle slope, prompting another laugh from nearby team members. Up ahead, Optimus glanced over his shoulder at them and smirked ever so slightly. Jack wondered if he really understood what they were talking about or if he was just happy that Arcee was able to crack a few jokes while hunting down the one person in the galaxy she hated more than any other.

“At the stroke of midnight,” Arcee added with a wink, and Jack almost tripped over his own feet again.

“Watch it, you two,” June said with a grin in her voice. “I’m monitoring Jack’s vitals, and there are some serious spikes.”

“That’s just all the blood leaving my head, Mom.”

“Easy, tiger.” Arcee smirked at him before taking another slow look around. “As cold as this place is, if you kissed me, your lips would stick to my skin.”

“I can think of worse positions to be stuck in.” Before he could laugh, something off to the right pinged his motion sensors and a chill oozed through his guts. “I’ve got –"

“Contact right,” Double-D said, turning all-business and keeping her tone soft.

“I saw it,” one of the other men said. “The snow shifted about fifteen yards away.”

“Last time we faced Airachnid,” Jack said – and Arcee finished his sentence.

“She had an underground lair. Watch your step, everyone!”

“Something’s tunneling toward us,” another support-squad member said, snapping her rifle up. “Looks like –”

The snow dropped out from under the man behind her, almost as if something had sucked it down. Jack caught a glimpse of him yanking a grenade from his harness before he vanished into the hole in the ground.

“Fire in the hole!”

He launched into the air, propelled by his armor’s thrusters, and arched overhead. He hit the ground, rolled forward, and came up on his feet before the grenade detonated.

Whump!

Chunks of ice and dirt sprayed out of the hole – and then Jack noticed the ground vibrating under his feet. Cracks formed across the hard-packed snow, the ground splitting open all around the team. Arcee’s optics opened wide.

Jack glanced around and realized there was a drop-off only thirty feet to the left. An instant later, the ground fell our from under him.

Ashanti had just enough time to snarl an intensely disgusted, “Oh, shit!” The ground disintegrated under her feet and she tumbled out of sight.

We must’ve been standing on an ice shelf. The thought had barely formed when Jack plowed face-first into the ground. He rolled over and glanced up to find the snow falling away, revealing ice-encased dirt and rock which split off from the mountain and carried him down with it. He gasped.

“Arcee!”

A jagged chunk of ice the size of a car shot out of nowhere and slammed into his chest. A split-second later, he realized he had nothing but air under him. In the corners of his eyes, twisted and bare tree branches whipped upward as he plunged toward the ground far below. He managed to turn over, and almost wished he hadn’t.

Shit, we’re at least a mile up! He gulped down several deep breaths and tried to focus. Wait – the thrusters. He remembered from the specs he’d skimmed that they were controlled by brain impulses through an interface in the helmet. He concentrated on firing them and hoped he could do it correctly.

Ports in his chest and back plates opened and small jets lit up, jolting him as they counteracted his descent. He started to veer off to the left, but fought to keep himself in a straight drop. After he’d regained control, he risked a quick glance to the sides, and found Ashanti and Chang maneuvering as if they were skydiving, moving confidently, firing quick bursts from their thrusters to make course corrections.

He tried to mimic their poses, and found himself slowing a little more. Snow and debris tumbled past him.

Then he spotted Arcee plummeting past him, just out of his reach. Since she had no thrusters, there was nothing to stop her from hitting the ground hard enough to cause serious damage.

Jack twisted toward her and his suit thrusters fired accordingly, nudging him in her direction and accelerating to catch up with her. She seemed to realize what he was doing a fraction of a second before he reached out to her, and shook her head. He boosted his speed a little more and she came within reach. He grabbed her hand with both of his, clamped down as hard as he could, and flipped himself upright. He pushed his thrusters to maximum and hoped it would slow them enough to avoid being pulped on impact.

He caught a glimpse of Ashanti hitting the ground feet-first, throwing herself forward, tucking her shoulder, and rolling. She spun as she came back upright, crouching, glancing around for the rest of her team, and then staring at something above Jack.

The ground slammed into his feet and his legs buckled. He tried to roll, but ended up flopping face-down in the snow. He pushed himself upright and put his hand on Arcee’s shoulder. Before he could speak, movement caught his eye and he glanced upward. Tons of snow, ice, dirt, and rocks slapped him in the face an instant after he spotted them, and suddenly his entire world turned pitch black aside from the soft blue glow from Arcee’s optics.

Then, suddenly … silence.

“Arcee,” he whispered, trying to touch her shoulder, but he couldn’t move.

“I’m okay. You?”

“I’m good, I think. Pretty sure we’ve just been buried under the avalanche.”

“Yeah. It’s too heavy even for me. I can’t even twitch.”

“Great.” He took a slow breath. “Hey … anyone out there? Uh, comm check.”

The silence remained unbroken – until the ground shook, as if something massive had just slammed down.

“I wonder if that was Optimus?” Arcee’s optics trembled as she tried to move.

“Hold on. I’m gonna try my suit thrusters again.”

A scritching, scrabbling sound came from above, and he held his breath. The sound grew louder, accompanied by a muffled voice. After a few seconds, even though he couldn’t make out what it was saying, he recognized the voice and its singsong tone.

“No,” Arcee whispered. “Oh, no!”

The voice grew more distinct over the next few seconds, until Jack noticed faint light coming from above, filtering through the snow as giant metal hands dug it away. A few more seconds passed, and the voice was clear enough for him to understand what its owner was saying.

“Oh, Jack! I know you’re in there!” The digging continued. “I’m coming for you!”

“Shit,” he whispered. “Shit!” His heart pounded hard enough to kick off another avalanche.

The last of the debris vanished, scooped away by an enormous, black and purple hand. Sunlight flooded him and he squinted – then it faded as Airachnid’s grinning face filled his field of vision.

“Jack! So nice to see you again!”

 

CHAPTER 10


“They’ve reached the target area,” Ratchet said with a sigh as the stat displays on each team member cut out. “Whatever Airachnid is using to jam comms and transponders, they’re within its range. We can’t see what’s happening and won’t hear from anyone on the team until they deactivate the jammers or return to the bridge-out coordinates.”

“All we can do now is wait.” Rosalina nodded and reached out to clasp her husband’s hand. “Which will be nerve-wracking.”

“No kidding,” Raf mumbled as he stared intently at the monitors, as if hoping to be looking directly at them when contact resumed. Roz noticed that he had most of his attention focused on Bee’s and Tomoko’s stats and video feeds.

“Arcee and Jack have faced Airachnid before and survived,” Ratchet grumbled, though his tone sounded a bit forced. “And they have a large team with them. The odds are in their favor, for once.”

Tenesha Hargrove stepped over to them with one of her camera guys. “Maybe you could pass the time by doing an interview? Might help take your minds off the mission.”

“I can’t just turn off my concern for our friends.” Roz shrugged and motioned at the sofa the kids usually sat on when hanging out in the Autobot base. “But it’s worth a try, I guess. There’s nothing else we can do at the moment, so we might as well use the time for something productive.”

She and Lucas walked over to the sofa, still holding hands as they sat. Sierra wandered over from the doorway and sank onto the opposite end, flicking a nervous glance over at Smokescreen’s video feed before turning back to the reporter. The camera guy turned around to take a few shots of the hub, lingering for a moment on Ratchet and Raf as they watched the monitors.

“So,” Tenesha began, “how long have you been on Earth?”

“A little over six hundred years,” Rosalina replied. “We wandered through space for many centuries before that, after our homeworld became uninhabitable. The Decepticons and a considerable number of us Pretenders continued fighting the Autobots, but the rest of us realized there was no point anymore, not even for revenge. Our civil war destroyed our home. There was nothing left to fight for. It was a horrible realization that Cybertron’s destruction was the only thing that could snap us out of our insanity.”

“So, you weren’t involved in the war, then? If it took centuries for your people to find Earth …”

“No, I was up to my neck in it, before the end. Cybertronians have very long life spans. Well, unless something ends it prematurely.” Roz glanced away and shook her head. She didn’t want to think about any of that. Didn’t want to remember the kind of person she once was.

“Oh, you’re like the … well, for lack of a better term, ‘normal’ Cybertronians, then? The giant ones?”

“We’re a recent creation of the Decepticons – ‘recent’ in Cybertronian terms, that is. We were built to infiltrate organic species if it should ever become a tactical necessity. We were deployed only on a few occasions, and blended in well enough that we were never noticed, as far as I’m aware. The Autobots didn’t even know we existed until a few months ago.” Roz tried to direct the conversation back to herself and hoped it would move on to more pleasant topics from there. “I’m a little under two thousand years old. We stumbled onto Earth six hundred years ago, changed our appearances to mimic the local population, and just tried not to be noticed. The last thing any of us wanted was to get involved in any more fighting.”

“So you watched our history unfold. That’s amazing.”

“More like, we tried to stay out of the way of your history. Once we learned how superstitious and easily frightened humans were way back then, we did our best to avoid interacting with them. On the few occasions when a human discovered what we really were, they couldn’t understand it, so they assumed we were demons and attacked us. Like I said, the last thing we wanted was more blood on our hands, so we isolated ourselves as much as we could. But as the human population continued spreading all over the world, that became more difficult. Eventually, we couldn’t avoid interacting with them anymore, so we tried to blend in. We had to disappear or pretend to die every few decades to avoid arousing suspicion, move on and start a new life somewhere else.” Rosalina glanced at Lucas and added, “For all intents and purposes, though, we became human – we had to keep our disguises on permanently, get jobs, develop social lives, and I guess it was inevitable that we’d form friendships and fall in love.”

Lucas smiled back at her.

“You might say we went native,” she continued. “We just wanted to live in peace, but now that Earth is our home and we see what’s left of the Decepticons bringing their damned war here, we have to take a stand. I have a family here, and I won’t let the ‘Cons harm them.”

“That’s good to hear.” Tenesha smiled and cocked her head. “What did you do during the war, though?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Lucas said, clasping Rosalina’s hand between both of his. “That’s far in the past. All that matters is who she is now.”

Thank you. Roz smiled, leaned over to give him a quick kiss, and turned back to Tenesha. “I was on the wrong side way back then. I’d been on that side for so long that I didn’t see what the ‘Cons had become. Now, though, I swear I’ll protect my family and friends and this entire world with my life.”

Lucas slipped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned closer to him.

“Sorry if I skirted an uncomfortable topic.” Tenesha aimed an apologetic smile at her before turning to Lucas. “If my understanding is correct, you didn’t know Rosalina was an alien robot until recently?”

“We’ve been married for ten years, but I didn’t know any of this until one of her people outed all the Pretenders in the Groom Lake base.” He raised his free hand. “Before you accuse her of lying to me for all those years, ask yourself what choice she had. She was just trying to survive. Besides, if she’d told me the truth, I would’ve thought she’d gone nuts or was just messing with me.”

“I still feel horrible about it, though.” Roz intertwined her metal fingers between his flesh ones. “At first, the poor guy thought I’d killed his wife and taken her place. When I created this identity, I was careful not to use anyone’s name or appearance. Rosalina Mendoza was a complete fabrication.”

“It took a while to convince me, but I finally realized she was telling the truth all along. Rosalina’s past identity may be fake, but she’s the woman I married ten years ago. She’s the woman I love. Always has been.” Lucas kissed her again and smiled.

Her phone beeped before she could say anything. She took it from her lab coat pocket, read the text message that had just come in, and beamed.

“They’re finally letting me see Bobby!” She threw her arms around Lucas and laughed with joy.

“Bobby’s our son,” Lucas said to Tenesha after holding Roz for a long moment. “We adopted him. He hasn’t seen her since the day she was outed, but I’ve been trying to make it happen for a long time. They’ve finally okayed it.”

“That’s wonderful!” Sierra grinned and reached over to pat Rosalina’s shoulder. “How soon will you be able to see him?”

“They’re bringing him to the base this afternoon.” Roz cupped Lucas’s face in her hands and gave him a long, passionate kiss before hopping off the sofa. “Sorry to cut the interview short, but I need to get ready to meet him.”

“Not a problem.” Tenesha smiled and reached out to shake Rosalina’s hand. “Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions, and I’m happy to hear your good news.”

“Thanks!” She grinned, turned to Lucas, and grasped his hand. “I need to put on something other than this lab coat.”

She and Lucas hurried across the room. Behind her, Tenesha turned her attention on Sierra

“I see you’re concerned about Smokescreen.”

“Yeah. I hope he’s okay.” Sierra took a breath and let it out slowly. “I hope they all are.”

***​

“Miko,” Bulkhead shouted, “don’t do anything stu–”

Ashanti glanced up just in time to watch the girl fling herself off what was left of the ice shelf a mile above.

“Woooo-hooooooo!”

Ashanti caught a glimpse of Miko’s explosive-filled backpack before the girl activated her armor’s stealth system, rippled, and vanished.

“Too late.” Ashanti didn’t waste time sighing or shaking her head. “Everyone, regroup at my position.”

The blips in her HUD indicating all the human and Autobot members of her team changed course and began converging on her. She took a quick glance upward and spotted a half-dozen of the support unit diving toward her, their armor’s built-in thrusters slowing their descent. Past them, Optimus, Steve, Khalilah, Tomoko, and Bumblebee found a sloping piece of ice and compacted snow to slide down to the bottom.

“Contact rear,” Chang snapped from almost directly behind her. Ashanti spun, raising her rifle into firing position, and froze at the sight of Airachnid digging something out of the snow. Like her clone Tomoko, the alien robot was the size of a small house. She stopped digging abruptly and aimed a beatific smile at the hole in the ground.

“Jack! So nice to see you again!”

Ashanti stormed ahead, motioning for Chang and the others to follow as Airachnid shoved her hand into the hole and clamped her fingers around Jack. In Ashanti’s HUD, Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus hit the slope, following the others. Bulkhead’s human-size doppelgänger joined them a few seconds later.

“Jack’s too close,” Steve said over her comlink. “Can’t get a clear shot.”

Come on, kid, remember the EMP generator in your armor. One zap and he could get away from Airachnid, assuming he wasn’t panicking too much to think straight.

Airachnid glanced over her shoulder, sneered at everyone else, and shifted into her half-spider mode. She clenched her fingers tighter around Jack, raised her other hand, and pointed its palm-mounted blaster at the charging humans.

Oh, hell. The team’s new armor was covered with a crystalline layer that would refract her beam weapons, but the memory of Dawson being boiled alive on the Nemesis after taking three direct hits was still too fresh in Ashanti’s mind.

“No, you don’t!” Snow erupted from the ground to Airachnid’s right and Arcee’s human-size body burst through the cloud. She pulled the full-auto shotgun from her back and aimed it straight at Airachnid’s left optic. Airachnid snarled and raised her hand, lifting Jack directly into Arcee’s line of fire. Arcee’s mouth and optics opened wide and she snapped the gun down as she fell back toward the ground. She landed, sending up a white puff, and glared up at her old enemy.

“Hold your fire,” Optimus said over the comms. Ashanti checked her HUD and found his blip approaching Airachnid’s position from behind her. “We must get Jack away from her first.”

“Well, I see you’ve gotten your hands on a Pretender body.” Airachnid smirked and reached out to grab Arcee. “I believe I’ll help myself to it. Once I disconnect you and link up to it, oh, the things I’ll be able to do with my Jack.”

Before Arcee could react, a cylindrical device the size of a human forearm thumped into the snow directly under Airachnid.

“Arcee,” Miko called out, “flashbang!”

“Ten seconds,” Arcee said before closing her optics, crouching, and becoming inert. Shutting her mini-me down to protect it from the anti-Cybertronian flashbang, Ashanti guessed.

“Keep your distance, ‘Bots,” Ashanti said an instant before the flashbang detonated in a burst of light and a sensor-scrambling pulse. Airachnid cried out and collapsed, her arm slapping to the ground and dislodging Jack from her grip. He scrambled away from her as Miko reappeared between him and the giant spider-bot.

Grinning, Miko pulled a sticky bomb from her backpack and tossed it onto Airachnid’s forehead. She followed up with the rest of the bombs, slapping them in place all over Airachnid’s chest and back. Ashanti smirked. The bombs had been enhanced with synthetic energon and should be enough to ruin Airachnid’s shit.

Arcee’s body reactivated in precisely ten seconds, glanced around, and rushed over to Jack as he picked himself up.

Airachnid grunted, twitched, and jerked as her systems recovered from the flashbang.

Far behind her, Optimus leaped off a cliff and landed in a crouch with an earth-shaking thud. Everyone spun toward him, including Airachnid. She started to snarl at him, but then she seemed to notice the bombs stuck to her torso. She reached up to pluck the one on her forehead.

Miko flashed a feral grin and held up a detonator. Airachnid’s face twisted into a shocked expression as she realized what was coming. Miko sucked in a deep breath as her thumb descended on the button. “Fuck her right in the pussy!”

Airachnid aimed a suddenly confused scowl at her. “Wh … what?”

The bombs detonated at the same time and Airachnid briefly disappeared inside multiple green-tinted explosions, her scream almost drowned out by the thunderous boom.

Everyone advanced on her before the flashes faded out. When the smoke cleared, Ashanti found her sprawled on the ground, twitching, numerous pieces of her armored “skin” torn off and strewn around her. The bombs attached to her back had blown two of her spider legs clean off.

“Approach with caution,” Optimus said.

Ashanti glanced at Tomoko. “Probably be a good idea to immobilize her.”

Tomoko nodded and aimed both palm-mounted web launchers at Airachnid.

Airachnid jerked upright and snarled. Tomoko let out a startled grunt and jumped backward. Airachnid surged forward and lashed out, scooping up four members of the support unit before anyone could adjust their aim. She gripped all four in her left hand and held them directly in front of her, preventing anyone from getting a clear shot.

Optimus crept up behind her, pointing his enormous rotary cannon at her but keeping his finger off the trigger.

“Ah-ah.” Without even looking over her shoulder, Airachnid lifted one of her spider legs and pointed directly at him. “Drop the gun and get out of my way.”

“We cannot allow you to escape.” He lowered the gun, but didn’t drop it. “You’re outnumbered. It’s over.”

“I still have the advantage.” Sneering, Airachnid held up the struggling humans and moved her hand over to clamp her fingers around a man’s head.

He moaned softly, but remained composed otherwise.

“No,” the woman beside him whispered. “Don’t do it. Don’t do it. D–”

Airachnid twisted his head off as if opening a beer bottle. Everyone stared in disbelief and Ashanti’s heart pounded. Her hands shook and she just barely stopped herself from pulling the trigger.

The woman screamed and tried even harder to wriggle out of Airachnid’s grip. “You fucking bitch! I’ll fucking kill you! You hear me, you cunt? I’ll–”

“Drop your gun now.” Airachnid smirked at Optimus. “Or I’ll kill another one.”

Ashanti sucked in deep breaths through clenched teeth as he tossed the cannon aside and backed away. She glanced around to find Miko, but the girl had disappeared again. Even her blip had vanished from Ashanti’s HUD.

“Pitiful.” Airachnid released a sinister chuckle. “You actually care about these tiny, fragile creatures. That’s why I’ll win every time.” She turned abruptly and pointed at Tomoko. “You’re coming with me. Thanks to your friends, I’m going to need some spare parts again.”

***​

Tomoko stared at her, trembled, and whimpered. She shook her head and wrung her hands. “N–no, please …”

Airachnid clamped her fingers around the woman’s head and Tomoko thrust her hands up.

“Stop! Alright, alright! Just don’t hurt anyone else!” Tomoko shuffled toward her, still whimpering and shaking even harder.

No. Arcee held Jack’s hand and watched Tomoko approach. No, don’t hurt her, you bitch!

“I knew you’d see reason.” Airachnid aimed a smug grin at her young clone. “You’re me, after all.”

Tomoko gaped at her for a few seconds before her expression shifted into a murderous glare.

Airachnid lowered her free hand to the ground in front of Jack and Arcee. “Climb aboard.” She seemed to think of something and nodded at the dead man’s head. “Pick that up first.”

Jack sounded as if he’d just stifled the urge to vomit. “What?”

“Since you blew up my lair the last time we met, I’ve been forced to start rebuilding my trophy collection.”

“Christ,” Chang groaned softly.

Oh, hell, how long has she been at it? How many people has she killed since our last fight? This can’t continue. One of us has to take her out. Arcee glanced at Tomoko and almost took a step back upon seeing how much her glare had intensified.

“No,” Tomoko whispered. “No more.”

“What?” Airachnid snapped her hand back to her captive’s head. “Do what I tell you or–”

“You can’t be allowed to keep murdering people.” Tomoko raised her arms and launched a glob of webbing straight into Airachnid’s face. Airachnid grunted and stumbled backward. One of her spider legs buckled and she toppled over, sending up a huge puff of snow on impact. Her three captives and the body tumbled from her hand as she pushed herself back up. She shifted into her bipedal mode and staggered around blindly, tearing at the webbing.

Tomoko fired more webbing at her, missed the next several shots, but finally splattered one around Airachnid’s legs just as the alien psycho finished ripping the gunk off her face. The webbing wrapped around her ankles and she let out a startled grunt and fell over again. Tomoko fired another half-dozen times, pinning Airachnid to the ground and immobilizing her arms and legs. Airachnid continued struggling for a few more seconds, but stopped moving when Tomoko glanced around, stomped over to Bumblebee, and yanked the gun from his hands.

“Uh.” Arcee stepped in front of Jack and watched her march back to Airachnid. Tomoko pointed the upscaled FN-P90 right between Airachnid’s eyes. Airachnid stared back at her, then her smirk returned.

“When you kill me, make it hurt. I’d do the same for you.”

Arcee shook her head and sneered. Wow. That’s fucked-up, even for her.

Tomoko’s hands shook and she backed away with a shocked expression. She lowered the gun, stared for a few more seconds, and finally turned away.

“I am not you.” She trudged back to Bee and handed the gun over. Bee reached up to put his hand on her shoulder and emitted a sequence of soft beeps and honks. Tomoko shrugged, crossed her arms over her chest as if hugging herself, and kept shivering.

Arcee turned to contemplate Airachnid. Her enemy gazed back with a smug smile and arched a brow plate. Arcee glanced at Jack in time to see some of the color drain from his face as he realized what was about to happen. He took a slow breath and pulled himself together.

“She’s too dangerous to keep around. I understand that.” He shrugged. “Hell, the last time we fought her, I told her that I was gonna kill her, and I meant it.”

Arcee nodded.

Optimus stepped closer. “Arcee … she is helpless.”

“Yep. Just like most of her victims.” Arcee glanced around. “Anybody got a grenade?”

“My pleasure.” Ashanti hurried over and plucked a grenade from her belt. Like Miko’s sticky bombs, it was enhanced with a few ounces of synthetic energon – enough to take Airachnid’s head clean off.

Jack turned to meet Optimus’s gaze and said, “Sometimes you’ve got to put the rabid dog down.”

“Well, how about that.” Airachnid sneered at Arcee. “Why not let your pet human do it? If he has the bearings for it.”

Arcee took the grenade and strode over to Airachnid’s head. “Fall back, everyone.”

“I’d ask the same of you that I asked of her.” Airachnid nodded at Tomoko. “You know I’d take my sweet time with you.”

“You’re not worth another microsecond of my time.” Arcee shoved the grenade into Airachnid’s mouth, pulled the pin, and grasped Jack’s arm. They joined everyone else retreating from the blast radius. She turned back and caught a glimpse of Airachnid struggling against the webbing enveloping her, suddenly panicking now that she knew she was about to die.

She released a muffled, “Nooooooooooo–”

Whump!

The shockwave slammed into Arcee and she staggered back a few steps before regaining her balance. She watched the shrapnel that was once her enemy’s head arching through the air and plopping into the snow all around the limp body.

“It’s finally over.” Jack sighed.

“One more.” Arcee held her hand out to Ashanti and waited for her to give her another grenade. To Jack, she said, “Just want to be sure. Someone wanna give me a boost?” She motioned at Airachnid’s torso.

Tomoko nodded and trudged back to her. She picked Arcee and Jack up, one in each hand, and placed them gently on the rogue ‘Con’s chest. Arcee smiled up at her and noticed Miko sitting on her shoulder.

Ah, so that’s where she went when she disappeared. Probably planned to ride along and be our ace in the hole again if Airachnid got us to leave with her.

“We’ll need to get her chest plate off.”

“I’ve got it.” Smokescreen hurried over and, after pulling for nearly thirty seconds, managed to tear through the webbing and rip the armored plate off Airachnid’s chest, exposing a glowing sphere encased in an intricate mechanism. It had a metal framework with transparent sections, and inside was what appeared to be a swirling, pulsating red mass of energy. Its pattern was interrupted periodically by violent twitching and lashing around. Its activity lessened gradually over the next few seconds as they contemplated it.

“Huh,” Jack muttered. “So that’s what a ‘spark’ looks like.”

“Most of them aren’t that color. And the weird, jerky motion of the energy inside indicates something was seriously wrong with her, just as I always suspected. If it’s left intact, someone insane enough could rebuild her body and she’d be right back at her sick, twisted shit, even if she couldn’t remember recent events.” Arcee glanced up at Smokescreen and Tomoko. “One of you get ready to grab us and run like hell.”

Tomoko nodded and held her hands out. Arcee pulled the pin and dropped the grenade into Airachnid’s spark chamber. Tomoko scooped them up and sprinted away. The blast breached the spark and the secondary explosion ripped most of Airachnid’s body apart and knocked Arcee and most of the humans off their feet. Streams and tendrils of red energy poured from the remains, whipped through the air, and dissipated.

Arcee got back to her feet, took Jack’s hand, and helped him up. “Now it’s over.”

He nodded, took his helmet off, and put his arms around her. She smiled, held him for a long moment, and then kissed him. When they parted, she caught a glimpse of Ultra Magnus in the corner of her eye, walking over to Optimus.

“It had to be done, sir.”

“I understand. While it does not feel like the ‘right’ thing to do, it was without question the correct thing to do. If I had been more willing to take decisive action, the war might not have dragged on as long as it has.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Optimus,” Arcee said. “There’s definitely a line that shouldn’t be crossed. I’ve come close to crossing it a few times, back when the war was at full throttle.”

Soft sobbing caught her attention and she turned to find one of the support-unit members kneeling beside the man Airachnid had killed. June stood behind her, leaning over to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Tomoko walked over and gently picked up the body. “I’ll bring him home.”

“Thanks,” the woman whispered. She stood and walked away slowly, and several others gathered around her.

Tomoko glanced around, walked over to the man’s head, and picked it up with a nauseated grimace.

June walked over to Jack and gave him a long hug. She stepped back and embraced Arcee.

“As a nurse, I know I shouldn’t feel this way,” June muttered, “but I’m glad that bitch is dead.”

“Heh. Me, too.”

“Once we’re out of jamming range,” Ashanti said, “I’ll request a cleanup crew to get rid of Airachnid’s remains and search for her lair.” She sighed. “We’ll have to find any other ‘trophies’ she collected since the last time we ran into her, track down their families, and try to give them whatever closure we can.”

“I’ll be happy to let someone else handle that,” June said. “I think I’ve seen enough.”

“Me, too.” Jack put his arm around Arcee’s waist. “Let’s go home.”

“We’ve got movement,” Chang said suddenly.

“I see it,” Ashanti said, pivoting and glancing around.

Jack put his helmet back on and locked the seals. “Now what?”

“That tunneling thing,” Miko said. “The thing that almost sucked Terwilliger into the ground, before he set off the avalanche.”

“I thought that was Airachnid,” Khalilah muttered.

“Probably something she found on the Harbinger,” Steve said. “Maybe an automated defense system or an autonomous weapon.”

“I’m seeing more than one.” Jack sucked in a quick breath and glanced at Arcee. “Over a dozen.”

“Twenty,” she replied once she’d confirmed what her own sensors had picked up. She ran back to where she’d dropped her shotgun, grabbed it, and snarled, “Argh, fuck me!”

“Everyone, find cover.” Optimus pointed at the cliffs. “And prepare for battle.”

 

CHAPTER 11


Oh, hell! Jensen almost lurched forward, but forced himself to lay back in his hospital bed and keep his grip on Khalilah’s hand gentle. She’d been giving him a running commentary on the battle as she fought alongside Team Prime thousands of miles away. She’d used this remote-controlled, human-sized body to visit him before the hunt for Airachnid began, and had stayed with him through its duration. Arcee was keeping Ratchet and the others in the Autobot base up to speed the same way. Airachnid’s jammers had cut off their radio and comlink communications, but fortunately the links between Arcee, Bulkhead, and Khalilah and their Pretender bodies was on a frequency that the jammers couldn’t affect.

He’d almost cheered when Airachnid had finally been taken down, but had remained silent so he wouldn’t distract Khalilah. He’d been relieved that it was finally over, but then she’d told him about those things burrowing under the snow toward the team.

Damn this broken leg. I should be with them. Sitting on the sidelines had been hard enough, but when Khalilah told him about Airachnid’s murder of one of her hostages, it was all he could do to stop himself from leaping out of bed and demanding a ride to the base so he could suit up and join the fight.

“Definitely Decepticon technology,” Khalilah muttered. “I’ve never seen these things before, but they have that ‘look’ about them. Giant metal worms about ten meters long and wide enough to swallow a human whole. The business end reminds me of Scraplet mouths – row upon row of razor-sharp teeth arranged in concentric circles. Probably a weapon left over from the war on Cybertron, maybe an automated defense system built into the Harbinger. Airachnid seemed crazy enough to try to adapt them to her own purposes.”

And Khalilah said our friends are facing twenty of those things. Shit. Jensen nodded and kept quiet, letting her concentrate on the fight.

A few more seconds passed, then she turned to look straight at him. Even though her face was a blank mask except for a single red, glowing optic strip, her body language told him that the good guys had just scored a point. She thrust her fist into the air and then cupped her metal hand around his flesh one.

“Colonel McKenna just took one of them out with an energon-enhanced grenade. It wasn’t enough to blow the thing up, but the blast gutted it. The rest of the team are trying to take the others out the same way. It’s not easy, the way the things thrash around and burrow underground and attack from beneath, but if they can keep pulling it off, the rest of the weapons can be destroyed before much longer.”

“Glad to hear that.” Jensen placed his other hand over hers and smiled.

“Optimus just ripped one apart with his rotary cannon.” She made a quick gasping sound and then relaxed. “One of them almost got its teeth into Terwilliger, but Washington and Chang distracted it. Bumblebee and Smokescreen are moving in for the kill. Hah! Bee just sent a hail of bullets straight down its throat. It hasn’t quite been neutralized, but it’s badly damaged.”

“That’s a huge relief. Looks like the tide is turning.”

“Miko just stunned one of them with a flashbang. Ultra Magnus chucked a grenade into its mouth. A Cybertronian-sized one, I mean. That should be enough to – whoa!” She jerked back suddenly. “Heh. That one was big enough to tear the thing apart, but the shockwave almost knocked me on my ass.”

“It’d be a damn shame to dent such a lovely ass.” Jensen grinned and Khalilah let out a quick laugh.

“Well, thank you. I’ll do my best to avoid any dents and scratches.” She stepped closer and grasped his hand again. “Steve and I just finished off the one Bee damaged.”

“Three down, then. So far, so good.” Maybe the team had a chance, after all. I hope the immediate future is uneventful, once this is over. At least until I’m healed and able to get back into it. He glanced at Khalilah and smiled. He’d been surprised as all hell at the recent turn of events with him and Khalilah, but he wasn’t about to complain. He wanted to spend more time with her that didn’t involve one potentially fatal confrontation with giant, evil alien robots after another.

Same goes for the rest of the team. They all deserve some serious downtime after the past couple of weeks. Part of that downtime would involve services for the teammates they’d already lost in battle, but he’d been trying not to dwell on that. A ray of light piercing the darkness would be welcome right about now.

Suddenly, Khalilah jerked upright and raised a hand to her head. “Oh, no!”

“What?” Jensen’s heart pounded. Was she hurt? Oh, shit, did I distract her and –

“Miko,” she said softly. She turned to meet his gaze and her hand fell slowly back to the rail on his bedside. “Miko’s down!”

***​

“What the hell?” Jack winced at the sudden, ear-splitting scream that had come over his helmet speakers. He glanced around, spotted Arcee in the corner of his eye, and then flicked his eyes over the blips in his HUD representing each teammate. He found his mom’s blip darting across the landscape. He glanced ahead of her general direction and found Miko’s blip flashing red.

Oh, no. A cold sensation surged through his chest. One of those giant metal worm-things must have gotten its teeth into her. Heart pounding, he charged in Miko’s direction. Footsteps caught his attention and he glanced over his left shoulder to find Arcee racing along beside him, her optics wide and her mouth hanging open in shock.

“Miko!” Off to the right, Bulkhead’s human-sized body scrambled across the snow-covered battlefield toward her. “Miko! No, no, no – don’t – just hang on, Miko!”

Jack’s mom reached her first and dropped to her knees. “I’ve linked up to her armor. Getting medical info now. Pulse is rapid but steady. Oh, shit!”

Jack spotted the blood all over the ground as he crossed the last few yards between him and Miko. Blood, pieces of her armor … and chunks of flesh and bone. He and Arcee stopped a few feet away to give his mom enough room to do her job.

Arcee nudged his shoulder and he glanced at her. She pointed at something behind him and he turned to see what it was. He found one of the robotic worms thrashing around with Khalilah clinging to it. More of Miko’s blood had sprayed its surface near its maw, and he almost gagged at the sight of a gloved hand dislodging from between its teeth and tumbling to the ground.

“Khalilah must have tackled it to get it away from Miko,” Arcee muttered, her tone almost numb.

Miko screamed again, and Jack spun toward her just as Bulkhead crouched beside her and caught her remaining hand between both of his.

“Hang on, Miko! Stay with me!”

“I saw it happen,” Terwilliger’s voice came from somewhere behind Jack. “Christ. It got hold of her right arm, a few inches below the shoulder, and …”

The worm bucked Khalilah off and sent her spinning through the air to crash into the ground a hundred feet away, sending up an enormous burst of snow on impact. She pushed herself up to her hands and knees, shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs out, and got back to her feet.

“Its teeth spun,” Terwilliger continued, his voice quivering. “It cut right through her armor. It sawed her arm off!”

“Her armor automatically applied a coagulant to stop the bleeding,” Jack’s mom said. “It’s injecting painkillers and meds to keep her stable, but we need to get her back to the base now.”

“No …”

Jack glanced up at the deep, rumbling voice, and found Optimus staring at Miko. His normally stoic expression twisted with sudden fury and he charged the worm. Each footstep shook the ground hard enough to make Jack stagger. Optimus slammed into the giant worm just as it was rearing back like a cobra preparing to strike. His momentum carried the thrashing monstrosity several dozen yards before he stumbled and fell on top of it. He cocked his fist back and drove it into the worm’s side, again and again, first denting its armor all over, then finally punching through. He grasped the edge of the wound, braced his foot against the worm’s side, and ripped it wide open with a primal roar.

Everyone took a step back and that cold sensation spread through Jack again. He’d never seen Optimus completely lose it like that. Even the other worms paused to stare at him as if paralyzed with fear.

Miko grunted and Jack turned back to her. She pulled on Bulkhead’s hand, hauling herself upright, and fumbled with the seals on her helmet. She managed to pop the latches and Bulk helped her take it off. Most of the color had drained from her face and her mouth was pressed shut as if to clamp down on more screams – but the look in her eyes chilled Jack’s blood. That wasn’t pain or fear in those eyes. That was murderous rage.

She tried to brace her feet under herself and Bulkhead put his hand on her shoulder.

“Miko, calm down.”

“Gimme a grenade,” she snarled between gasping breaths. “Or a bomb. Or something. Something big.”

“Miko,” Jack’s mom said, “you’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to save your strength.”

“No!” She heaved herself up. Her legs wobbled, but she remained upright. “I’m finishing this, June.”

“No, you’re not! Damn, your armor should’ve sedated you instead.”

“I’ve notified Ratchet,” Arcee said. “He’s trying to work out a way to lock on to us through the jammers and open a ground-bridge. General Sanchez has authorized the Vehicon defectors and the ones we captured to fly in as soon as Ratchet is able to get them near our position. Heh, they’ve been begging to help us out, so I guess it’s about time to see how serious they are.”

Miko nodded, then she glanced around. Her gaze landed on Bulkhead and she lunged at him. She grabbed the grenade launcher hanging on his back, hit the release on the electromagnets that held it in place, and yanked it off him. His optics opened wide and he tried to grab it back, but she lurched away from him and stumbled toward the worm Optimus had just finished ripping apart.

“Holy shit,” Khalilah muttered as she made her way back to the others.

The rest of the worms turned toward Optimus and surged forward, all of them converging on him.

“Optimus! Look out!” Miko fell to her knees and barely managed to get back up as he turned to her and then glanced around.

Tomoko skittered in from the right on her spider legs and fired several bursts of her webbing into the nearest worm’s mouth, gumming up its teeth and sealing its maw shut. She jumped sideways and disabled another, but three more whipped past her and a fourth plowed straight into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her rolling across the ground.

Smokescreen and Khalilah bolted toward her and tried to pull it off her.

The other three had almost reached Optimus. Struggling to remain on her feet, Miko lifted the grenade launcher and popped one off. It soared over the worms and exploded in the air, causing no damage but distracting them for a moment. They turned toward the blast, then swung around as if scanning for the grenade’s point of origin.

They locked onto Miko and she fired another round. The grenade glanced off the nearest worm’s teeth and ricocheted deeper into its gullet. A feral grin spread across Miko’s face before she staggered and had to brace her forearm on her knee.

“Eat that, motherfucker!”

The worm convulsed and green-tinted flames erupted from its maw, along with some of its innards. Secondary explosions tore more of its guts apart and it flopped over. It twitched a few times and stopped moving. Smoke billowed from its mouth and energon spewed onto the ground.

Optimus leaped in front of the next worm, shoved his cannon into its mouth, and pulled the trigger. A hail of armor-piercing rounds ripped it apart from the inside out, tearing through its back and sending flames and chunks of vital components spraying out behind it.

Miko tried to stand up straight, but stumbled and swayed and finally toppled over.

“Shit,” she mumbled, and tried to sit up, but she was finally too weak to move. She flopped onto her back with a frustrated growl. “Goddamn it!”

A grenade arched in from the left and bounced off the rim of the third worm’s maw. Ashanti rushed over to Miko as it landed on the ground and blew a whole in the snow, and crouched beside her.

“That was my last one.”

Bulkhead rushed over to Miko, retrieved his grenade launcher from her limp hand, and turned to aim at the worm as it charged them. He fired four rounds down its throat and leaned over to shield Miko with his body. Everyone else planted themselves between them and the onrushing worm.

The grenades gutted the worm and blasted holes through its sides. What was left of it crashed down a few years away and sprayed everyone with a fountain of snow.

“Nice shot,” Miko whispered.

“We gotta get her out of here!” Bulkhead slid his arms under her and lifted her gently. “Airachnid’s finished, Miko. Mission accomplished. These other things … it’s just a mop-up operation. They’re below your pay grade, kid.”

“I need to stay in … in the …” Her eyes fluttered and she forced them to remain open. “Aw, hell …”

“You.” Ultra Magnus charged over to take a position beside Optimus and pointed at Khalilah. “Your alt-mode is a jet, correct?”

“Yeah. I can take Miko out of the jammers’ range and Ratchet can bridge us in.”

“Do it. We’ll deal with the rest of these weapons.”

Khalilah nodded, jogged over to an open spot, and transformed into her jet mode.

“Won’t you need … a runway?” Miko mumbled.

“Nope. The purple VTOL in a game I saw you playing caught my eye, so I created a model and programmed it into my T-cog. I can lift you straight into the air and fly you to safety.”

“And don’t argue,” June snapped as Optimus picked Miko up and carried her to Khalilah. Magnus followed along, turning to keep the remaining worms in his sights.

Jack glanced around at the worms and arched an eyebrow. Huh. They’re not coming any closer. Maybe they’re analyzing the situation and trying to come up with a new strategy. He shook his head. Terrific.

Arcee glanced away for a second and then looked around at the others. “Ratchet just bridged the Vehicons to our last known location.”

“I’ll fly in that direction, then, and give them your GPS coordinates when I meet them.”

“Good. Optimus, the Vehicons are planning to bomb the hell out of these worms from the air. We should clear the area immediately.”

“I don’t …” Miko groaned as Optimus lowered her gently into Khalilah’s cockpit.

Arcee turned to June. “You should go with her.”

“My back seat’s available,” Khalilah said.

June shook her head. “I can’t leave Jack ….”

“I’ll be fine, Mom. We’re leaving, remember?” He gave her a quick hug. “Go. Take care of our friend.”

June glanced from him to Miko and back, and finally sighed. “Alright. But you guys get the hell out of here immediately, okay?”

“We will.” Optimus smiled and lowered his hands to the ground. June stepped onto his palm and he cupped his other hand over her before lifting her up to the seat behind Miko.

Ultra Magnus stepped forward and kneeled in front of Miko. “Your friends were right about you, soldier. You’re practically a Wrecker.”

Miko grinned and managed to lift her hand long enough to give him a thumbs-up.

“Stand clear, everyone,” Khalilah said. Once everyone had backed away, she rose off the ground and retracted her landing gear. Once she was high enough, she hit her afterburners and soared across the sky.

Jack turned back to the worms and noticed them circling slowly around, approaching with more caution than before.

“They’re learning,” he said with a shiver. Arcee reached out to hold his hand.

“Our new friends will be here to glass this whole area in a few minutes,” Ashanti said, waving her arm in the direction Khalilah had flown. “Haul ass, everybody!”

***​

“Hey!” Raf jumped to his feet and pointed at the monitors. They’d suddenly come to life, showing stats and video feeds from each member of the team. And each feed showed the same image – a wall of flame rushing forward like a tsunami. “Oh, crap.”

“Huh,” Ratchet muttered as he shut the ground-bridge down. The vortex dissipated and Khalilah rolled slowly forward, then she began to rotate. “It appears our new allies have delivered on their promise. Airachnid’s jammers must’ve been destroyed along with the weapons Arcee told us about.”

“Looks like quite a blast.” He glanced at Bee’s monitor, then Tomoko’s, and let out a relived sigh when he saw that their stats were normal. He turned to Khalilah as Ratchet reset the ground-bridge for the Groom Lake base. “How’s Miko doing?”

“She’s unconscious, but she’s hanging on,” June said. “The sooner we can get her to the base …”

“On it,” Ratchet said. “Activating the bridge now. A medical team is waiting for you.” He pushed the lever forward and the vortex filled the tunnel just as Khalilah finished turning around.

“On our way,” Khalilah said. “See you guys soon.” She eased into the tunnel and vanished.

Ratchet shut the bridge down and entered new coordinates. “Optimus, can you hear me?”

“I can, old friend. Mission accomplished, thanks to some help from the Vehicons. We’ve scanned the area and all enemy targets have been neutralized.”

“That’s good to hear, Optimus. Now that we’re no longer being jammed, I can open a bridge near your location. Stand by.”

“Thank you. We’ll see you soon.”

Ratchet reactivated the bridge and turned to watch the vortex. Raf hurried down the stairs and across the floor, and Sierra joined him. Team Prime, Ashanti’s squad, and their support unit came through first, followed by the Vehicons. Each of the latter had taken on a different color scheme to make them easier to identify.

“Welcome back, everyone.” Ratchet walked over to put his hand on Optimus’s shoulder.

“Raf!” Tomoko grinned, waved, and walked over to him. Bumblebee followed her, and both of them crouched in front of him. Bee fired off a string of beeps and honks.

“Glad to see you, too.” He grinned up at his friend, then turned to smile at Tomoko. She leaned closer and held her hand out. He reached up to place his hand in her palm. “Glad you’re okay.”

“So am I. I was terrified, but the only way to get through it was to keep fighting.”

Sierra grinned and rushed forward suddenly. Raf glanced over at the vortex and found Smokescreen following Ultra Magnus into the base. Smokescreen spotted her, smiled, moved out of everyone else’s way, and crouched. She held her hand up to him and motioned for him to lean closer. A confused look crossed his face as he did so. She ran her hand along his cheek and then took a deep breath.

“Aw, what the hell, you only live once.” She threw herself forward, stood on tiptoe, and pressed her lips against his. He froze and his face turned blank. Sierra stepped back, panted, and grinned up at him.

“Huh. I have no idea what that was.” He smirked. “But I like it! Again?”

She laughed. “Yeah.”

He moved even closer and they kissed once more.

Oh. Raf grinned. Oh, wow. He glanced around and almost snort-laughed when he spotted one of Tenesha Hargrove’s camera guys pointing his camera straight at them.

Soft sobbing caught his attention and he glanced over at the support team just as one of them rushed out of the room, wiping tears from her face. Tomoko glanced at her and her smile faded.

“She’s a friend of the guy Airachnid killed.” She winced. “We were in such a rush to get away from that place, I forgot to retrieve his body. Luckily, Steve remembered and carried it back here. He’ll take it back to Groom Lake as soon as Ratchet can bridge us over there.”

“Losing a friend is rough,” Arcee said as Jack took his helmet off. “I’ve been through that too many times, myself.” She glanced at the doorway and sighed. “From what the others told me, those two grew up together. They were like siblings. Inseparable. And now she’ll never see him again.”

Jack put his arms around her. She hugged him back and they held each other for a long moment. When they finally stepped back, he stroked her cheek and then kissed her.

Raf and Tomoko beamed and Bee gave them a double thumbs-up. Raf chuckled and turned back to the rest of the team.

“Thank you all for your help,” Optimus said to the Vehicons. “Without your assistance, the battle would have dragged on and we would have suffered more casualties.”

“We’re thankful for a chance to help Tyra’s friends,” the blue one said. “She was kind to us even though we were your prisoners. She helped us realize we’d been on the wrong side all along. Breakdown was a good supervising officer, but no one else on our side cared whether we survived the next battle. We’ve seen how different things are with you, and we hope to be a part of that.”

“Welcome to the team.” Optimus smiled and shook his hand.

Arcee smiled, slipped her arm around Jack’s waist, and waited for them to finish their conversation. When Optimus turned toward her, she said, “If you don’t mind, we’d like to head off to Groom Lake. We’d like to be there when Miko gets out of surgery.”

“Me, too,” Raf said. Bee nodded and Tomoko said, “So would I.”

“Of course.” Optimus smiled and turned to Ratchet.

“I’m on it.” Ratchet hurried back to the ground-bridge console and input new coordinates. He pushed the lever and a new vortex crackled into existence. Jack and Arcee clasped hands and walked into the tunnel. Bee and Tomoko followed, and Raf hurried to catch up.

I sure hope she’s gonna be okay.

***​

“I’m so nervous!” Rosalina ran her hands over the front of her shirt as if to smooth out any wrinkles, even though it was just one of her favorite T-shirts rather than something fancy. She’d chosen it because it was familiar to Bobby and she wanted to do whatever she could think of to put him at ease. She’d put her human disguise back on as well, in case seeing her true form would freak him out.

Laughing softly, Lucas held her hands. “I’ve already explained all this to him. I’ve even shown him a few pictures of what you really look like, plus a few of us hugging and holding hands. He’s had time to adjust.”

“I hope so.”

A beep came from Lucas’s phone and he glanced at it. “They’re about to bring him out.”

“Okay. Wow, my spark is just racing!” She tugged on her shirt again and glanced down at her cargo pants, as if making sure the zipper wasn’t open.

Lucas grinned, kissed her, and took her hand. They walked out the door and across the lot to the picnic area where she’d shared a few meals with her new human and Autobot friends. She found Bobby and an airman waiting at one of the tables near the fence. It was a bit after noon, the sky was mostly blue with a few puffy clouds here and there, and a gentle breeze ruffled Lucas’s hair.

It’s a perfect day. She waved as the airman pointed at her and Bobby turned around. He grinned, held his arms up, and ran over to her.

“Mommy!”

She pulled him into an embrace, closed her eyes, and smiled. “Hey, kiddo! I’m so glad to see you!”

“I’m glad to see you, too! Finally!” He held on to her for a full minute before he let her go and looked her over slowly. “Daddy said you’re really a robot.”

“Yeah, I am. An alien one. Pretty cool, huh?” She waved a hand at her face. “This is a disguise I wear so I can fit in.”

“You don’ need it. I know you’re my mommy.”

Aww! She beamed and stood slowly. “Okay. Wanna see the real me?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, then.” She transformed back into her robot mode. Bobby stared up at her with wide eyes and then grinned and thrust his fists into the air.

“Awesome!”

“Told ya,” Lucas said, and put his arm around her. “You got yourself all worked up over nothing.”

Grinning from ear to ear, the airman took his phone out and said, “When you’re ready for lunch, just let me know. I’ll text your order in and they’ll bring it right out to you.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Roz smiled at him. “And thanks for bringing our son.”

“Anytime, ma’am. I’ll be waiting right over there if you need me for anything.” He pointed over his shoulder at another table and walked away.

“You’re not gonna go away again, are you, Mommy?”

“No, never again.” She kneeled and put her arms around him again, wondering how to explain the past few months to him. “I’ll always be here for you.”

“I love you, Mommy!”

“I love you, too.” She smiled, closed her optics, and just held him. Even if another crisis happened later, nothing could take this moment away from her.

Yeah. A perfect day.

***​

“Hey, she’s awake!” Jack walked over to Miko’s bed as she blinked and rubbed her hand over her face. Arcee, Bulkhead, Raf, Tomoko, Bee, and June crowded around her bed. “How’re you feeling?”

A confused expression flickered over her face, then she seemed to remember what had happened. She glanced at the bandaged stump under her right shoulder and sighed. Her lips quivered, but she clamped down on it quickly and forced a lopsided grin.

“Well, shit. Guess I’ll have to learn how to masturbate with my left hand.”

June snorted and Bulkhead guffawed. Jack shook his head and grinned.

“Yep, Miko’s back, alright.”

“Well, I’m not gonna let a bunch of giant alien killbots keep me down.” She glanced around. “Wait a minute. How’re all you guys fitting in here? I mean, Bulk and Arcee I can understand, but Bee and Tomoko? Oh. You’ve got Pretender bodies now?”

Tomoko nodded. “Just got mine this morning. I thought this would be a good way to try it out. Bumblebee had the same idea.”

“Great, but that means …” Miko raised an eyebrow. “How long was I out? I mean, I remember kind of fading in and out a few times, but …”

“Five days,” Arcee said.

“Holy shit!” Miko’s jaw dropped and she took a few seconds to pull herself together.

“They got the first fabricator built,” Arcee continued, “cranked out the parts for another, followed by parts for a few of these human-size bodies, and then started making the parts Bulk, Breakdown, Knockout, and I need while they’re putting the second fabricator together.”

“Hey, that’s fantastic news!” Miko reached over to clasp Bulkhead’s hand.

“The thing that surprised me was Breakdown insisting that I be repaired first.” He shook his head slowly.

“Huh. Guess he thought you needed it more than anyone.”

“He wouldn’t be wrong,” Arcee said. “Even with my spine severed, it wasn’t life-threatening. Bulkhead has far more internal damage.”

“Ratchet and Knockout are doing the repairs in stages,” Bulk said. “Replacing all the damaged components at once might be too traumatic, so they’re easing me through it. Another week or two and I’ll be whole. Arcee’s repairs are already finished. So are Breakdown’s and Knockout’s; they were fixed up in between operations on me. I’ll probably have to learn how to walk all over again, but I’ll get there sooner or later.” He shrugged. “Breakdown and I have hated each other for a long time, but now he put off his own repairs for me. He even harangued Knockout into getting started on me before he fixed all of his own dents and scratches.”

“Huh.” Miko arched an eyebrow again. “Maybe everything we found out about Unicron scared him.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Yeah,” Arcee added, “even Knockout’s been acting subdued ever since we rescued him and Breakdown. Looks like it really shook both of them up.” She motioned at June and put a smile back on. “But we didn’t come here to fill you with dread. June’s got a bit of good news for you, and Jack and I have something else that oughta brighten your day. June, how about you go first?”

“Okay. Miko, they’re going to be giving you a new arm. It’ll work a lot like Jack’s new legs.”

“Yes! I was hoping to hear that.”

“Carla will drop by later and show you a few of the state-of-the-art models, assuming you don’t go for a normal-looking one that matches your skin tone.”

“Oh, a robot arm that actually looks like a robot arm? That would be so badass! Can’t wait to see what they’ve got.”

“I thought you’d like that.” June grinned and glanced at Arcee and Jack. “Okay, your turn.”

“I’m still keeping up on current events back in Jasper,” Arcee said with a shit-eating grin. “Just heard that Weird Walter’s been arrested again.”

“Hah! Was he trying to hump something again?”

“As a matter of fact …”

Miko burst out laughing, winced, and rubbed her arm. She put the smile back on and said, “Well? I need details!”

“This time, he went into the women’s room in the Walmart, peeked under one of the stalls, and asked an elderly woman to have sex with him.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Miko laughed again, grimaced at another pain, and took a slow breath. “That poor woman.”

“And I’ve got his mugshot.” Jack dug his phone out of his pocket, loaded a photo, and held it out to Miko. She glanced at it and shook her head.

“Yeah, he always did look like the kind of guy who’d jerk off into a bag and mail it to you.”

Jack burst into laughter and had to lean on Arcee to hold himself up. Arcee chuckled, put her arm around him, and then flashed a goofy grin at Miko.

“Yeah, just imagine sitting on the toilet and seeing that peek under your stall and say, ‘Hi! Wanna fuck?’”

Miko dissolved into a fit of giggles and Jack slumped over the bed rail. Once he’d caught his breath, he said, “If you think that’s hideous, you should see his dad.”

“Oh, I’ve seen his dad before. He looks like Abe Vigoda fucked the Crypt Keeper and their baby miscarried.”

Jack laughed so hard that the room started to fade out. Somewhere in the distance, everyone else burst out laughing, as well.

“I feel horrible for laughing at that, but I can’t help it,” his mom said before busting up again.

“Well,” Bulk said, “I’ve heard it’s the best medicine.”

“It definitely helps,” Miko said. “Ah, Jasper, Nevada … don’t ever change.”

Jack finally regained his composure and sucked in several deep breaths. “Oh, wow … I’m seeing spots!”

Miko grinned and handed his phone back. Arcee leaned over to pat Miko’s shoulder.

“Good to have you back.”

 

CHAPTER 12


"Hey, Miko." Arcee's human-sized, remote-controlled doppelgänger knocked on the door. "Packed and ready to go yet?"

"Oh, am I ever. Come on in, guys."

Arcee held the door open for Jack and Bulkhead. Bulk entered first, then Jack stepped through the door into Miko's hospital room. He found his young friend slinging a duffel bag over her shoulder and wiggling the fingers on her new, gunmetal-colored arm.

"Is that still working okay?" Jack cocked his head. "You're looking a little flushed."

"Just finished testing out the 'vibrate' function I wanted them to include." She grinned, flexed her arm, and headed for the door.

"Again?" Bulkhead laughed and rolled his optics.

"Well, I wanna be sure it keeps working. So far, so good." Miko darted into the hallway and took a slow breath. "The host parents are still getting used to it."

Jack and Arcee raised a brow at the same time, and Miko snorted.

"My new arm, I mean. I don't rub one off in front of them. I have a little self-control, y'know." She grinned and hurried to the elevator at the end of the hall. "I assume my host parents are waiting outside?"

"They're in the mess hall, actually." Bulkhead laughed again. "Smokescreen offered to give them a lift, but they weren't exactly comfortable with the idea. Colonel McKenna's here to give us a ride."

"I guess all of this is a lot to take in." Miko waited for them to join her in the elevator, then she tapped the button for the first floor. "The mess hall sounds good, actually."

"Eager for some real food?" Jack grinned and slipped his arm around Arcee's waist.

"The food here's not bad." Miko grimaced and rubbed her belly. "Something I ate yesterday's been making me fart almost constantly, but aside from that, I've got no complaints."

Jack snickered. "Just clench those cheeks until we're out of the elevator, okay?"

"I'll do my best." Chuckling, Miko opened and closed her metal fingers a few times. The elevator came to a stop and the doors parted.

"Your new arm's really working out okay?" Bulkhead put his hand on her shoulder. "Your body isn't trying to reject it?"

"Nope, it seems to be doing alright. The doctor said I'll have to keep taking the pain meds for a while longer, but everything else is coming along nicely." She led the others through the lobby and out the front door, where Arcee waited near the curb, crouching but still towering over the humans. Miko waved at Ashanti McKenna before continuing. "I'm still working on my motor control, but I've gotten to the point where I can pick up an egg without cracking it open. After lunch, I'm hoping for a chance to hop on GTA Online for a while and see how my new arm handles the controller. Haven't been able to play while I was in the hospital, so I'm itching to get back to it."

"We're planning a get-together this afternoon to celebrate our recent victory, like we discussed before our fight with Airachnid." Arcee grinned, transformed into her motorcycle mode, and waited for Jack and her mini-me to climb on. "Major Jensen got out of the hospital yesterday, so he's eager to join in."

"General Sanchez was able to set aside some time to get in on it, too." Jack laughed softly as he picked up his helmet. "That oughta be interesting."

"Hah! Can't wait." Miko walked over to Ashanti's Humvee, hesitated, and then took a few steps away. "Oh, hold on a sec." She contorted her face and ripped ass. Ashanti jumped slightly and then snickered. Miko let a long breath whoosh out. "Sorry. Just didn't want to fire that one off inside the car."

"Much appreciated." Ashanti shook her head slowly. "You're gonna punch a new hole in the ozone layer if you keep that up."

"Blame the hospital food. Not sure what it was, exactly, but goddamn." Miko opened the Humvee's back door, waited for Bulkhead to squeeze in, and then hopped in after him. "I just hope my host parents don't give me any more crap about all this stuff I've gotten caught up in."

"I’ll be there to give you all the moral support you need," Bulk said.

"Thanks, dude." Miko smiled and fastened her seatbelt.

"Mind if I catch up with you later?" Arcee nodded over her shoulder, in the general direction of the base personnel's quarters. "There's someone I'd like to talk to first."

***​

"Sure thing. See you later." Miko waved as Ashanti took the driver's seat and started the engine. Arcee reached out to hold Jack's hand.

"Wanna go with them or tag along with me? I'll just be checking on Loreli one more time before she leaves."

"Guess I'll tag along. What she went through was horrible. I'd like to be sure she'll be okay, too."

Arcee smiled, waited for him to climb on and put on his helmet, and got on behind him. Huh. I'm riding myself. A psychologist would have a field day with that. She slipped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder as they rode across the base. When she reached the housing section, she parked in front of Loreli's building and got off.

"I'll wait out here," Jack said. "I imagine she isn't feeling up to having more than one visitor at once, and I wouldn't really know what to say, anyway."

"I have a pretty good idea of what she's going through, but I don't know what to say, either." She gave him a kiss, sent her human-sized body into the building, and searched for an empty parking spot while walking to the stairs at the end of the hallway. On the second floor, she stopped at Loreli Madigan's door and knocked. "It's Arcee. Got a moment?"

The door unlocked with a click and then opened. Loreli stepped back and waved her inside.

"Sure. What's up?" Loreli closed the door after Arcee entered, and sat on the sofa under the window overlooking the parking lot.

"How, uh … how are you holding up?" Arcee hesitated and then lowered herself carefully onto the other end of the sofa.

"As well as can be expected." Loreli sniffed and pressed her lips together. She looked like she'd been crying again.

Outside, Arcee eased into a vacant parking space and sighed. "Poor girl. She's barely stopped crying ever since Airachnid killed Jared."

"I'm not surprised. Losing your best friend would be bad enough, but it happened right beside her and there was nothing she could do to prevent it." He grimaced. "Airachnid just ripped his head off before any of us could even twitch."

Yeah. Nothing she could do. But she's blaming herself anyway. In the apartment, Arcee reached out to rest her hand on Loreli's shoulder. That sounds familiar.

"You sure you want to leave?"

"I can't stay. Every moment I'm here reminds me of Jared and … and what happened to him." Tears ran down Loreli's cheeks and she wiped them away. "Even if I switched to a non-combat post …" She shook her head. "I just can't deal with it. I need to get completely away from all of it."

"I'm sorry. The people here are doing good work. This place is the reason Jack can still walk normally after losing his legs, and Miko has a new arm that works as well as the one she lost." Arcee tried to grin, but couldn't hold it. "Even better, since the new one doubles as a vibrator."

Loreli managed a quick laugh. "I'm gonna miss her. I'll miss everyone here, but … yeah, Miko's something special." She took a long breath and let it out slowly. "Jared and I were inseparable since we were five years old. He signed up at the same time I did, just so we could keep hanging out together. I wanted to be posted here because of the research being done. If you've ever seen Eureka, I always thought of Groom Lake as a lot like that, except militarized. And with a lot less rain. I thought it would be a cool place to work. Jared wanted to stay with me. And now he's dead."

"Hey, it's not your fault. I know what you're going through." Arcee hesitated again. She didn't want to think about this, but maybe it would help Loreli to know she wasn't alone. "Way back before my homeworld died, I lost my best friend, and Airachnid's the one who killed him. Right in front of me, too. I was restrained. Could barely move. She'd already tortured him, he was barely holding together, and she threatened to finish him off if I didn't give her the information she wanted. I didn't have it, but of course she didn't believe me. All I could do was beg her not to hurt him anymore, and then watch helplessly as she murdered him."

Loreli squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth with her hand. She pulled herself back together a few seconds later and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago. At least a thousand years. Maybe two or three thousand. Or even more. I stopped keeping track at some point." Arcee shrugged. "That doesn't make it hurt any less. But I do know how you must feel right now."

"Thank you." Loreli wiped more tears from her eyes and took several slow breaths. "I kind of hate myself for saying this, but I'm glad that fucking cunt is dead. I'm just sorry I wasn't the one who took her out."

"I wish I could say I felt any satisfaction, after wanting her dead for so many centuries. I always expected to feel like justice was finally served." She shook her head slowly. "I'm relieved it's finally done and Airachnid will never take another life, but aside from that … I don't know. It didn't bring Tailgate back, so it just felt kind of empty. Just more blood spilled, to use a human phrase."

"Well, you said it yourself, she'll never hurt anyone again. That gives it all the meaning it needs." A soft chime came from one of Loreli's cargo pockets and she dug her phone out and tapped the screen to silence the alarm. "Sorry. My ride's almost here."

"I won't keep you any longer, then. I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Not yet, but maybe eventually. Thanks." She seemed to remember something. "Oh! I've got something I was hoping to give to Tomoko, but I didn't have time. If you wouldn't mind passing it along …?"

"I'd be happy to."

Loreli opened one of the drawers under her bed and pulled out a large plushie. Arcee stared at it and cocked her head. It was light blue and looked like a smiling feline with ladybug wings on its back. She captured an image from her optics and sent it to Jack's phone. Out in the parking lot, he opened the file and arched an eyebrow.

"Hey, Jack, what the hell is this thing?"

"That's Catbug." He laughed softly, leaned against her, and rested his right hand on her handlebars while returning the phone to his pocket. "I haven't watched the show, but I've seen a few clips on YouTube."

"Ah. Loreli bought this for Tomoko."

"Oh, yeah, I've seen her watching the show a couple of times. She said Catbug is the cutest thing she's ever seen."

"I noticed Tomoko fawning over this character on a TV show she was watching a few days ago," Loreli said to Arcee's smaller body. "I found this on Amazon while looking for something else, just trying to distract myself from … anyway, I ordered it on an impulse. It arrived yesterday."

"It's kind of adorable. I'm sure she'll love it." Arcee accepted the stuffed toy and held it gently in her left hand. "I'll take it to her right away."

"Thanks." Loreli managed to smile fleetingly as Arcee returned to the door.

"Whatever you end up doing from here on, good luck." Arcee shook her hand. "And remember, you've got a lot of friends here. If you ever need to talk again, we're here for you."

"Thank you." Loreli smiled again, and this time it didn't falter.

***​

"Hey, Jensen, welcome back." Miko waved at him as he sat at the picnic table and slid his crutches under the bench. Khalilah's Pretender body sat beside him and clasped his hand. She took a quick look around, noting that the dining area outside the mess hall was unusually crowded. Most of the support unit that had accompanied Team Prime on the hunt for Airachnid occupied the tables, along with Jack, Miko, June, Sierra, Raf, and Arcee's, Bulkhead's, and Tomoko's Pretender bodies. Tomoko and Raf sat side by side, chatting, while Tomoko grinned and hugged an odd-looking yet adorable stuffed toy.

In an open area off to the right, Smokescreen spoke animatedly with several of the Vehicon ex-prisoners who'd helped rescue the team from those giant robot-worms. They'd retained their black color scheme, but had taken on different trim colors to make them easier to identify. Craycroft, the group's leader, was now blue; Monrovia, gold; Campbell, green; Milton, pink; Sahuarita, red; Minorka, fuchsia.

"Thanks, kid," Jensen replied. "Glad to be here. It'll be a while before I'm back in the field, but it's nice to finally get out of the infirmary. I had lunch already, but I wanted to hang out with you guys for a while. Then Khalilah and I are going to head back to my quarters and, uh, catch up on a few things we've been missing out on."

Jack chuckled and exchanged a glance with Arcee. Miko put on a shit-eating grin and made the "docking" gesture with her hands. Khalilah gave her a double thumbs-up.

"Precisely."

Miko reached over to nudge Sierra's shoulder. "Speaking of which, I bet you can't wait for Smokescreen to get a human-size body."

Sierra's face turned bright red and she suddenly devoted her full attention to the cheeseburger on her tray.

Several pairs of footsteps approached from behind and Khalilah glanced over her shoulder to find Sierra's parents and two other humans – Miko's host parents, Khalilah assumed – carrying food trays over to a nearby table. Sierra waved at them and Miko appeared to stifle a sigh.

"As soon as we're finished with lunch," the unfamiliar female said in a soft yet angry tone, "we're taking you home."

Miko appeared to almost roll her eyes, but caught herself and motioned at the two humans. "Everybody, these are my host parents, Roderick and Camille Porter." She introduced each of her friends to them and added, "By the way, I am home."

"We're not going over this again," Camille snapped. "You should've told us what was going on a long time ago and you should've stayed out of –"

"Like you would've believed me if I had." Miko picked up her plastic fork and stuck it into the enormous chimichanga on her plate.

"In all fairness," June said, "once Jack, Miko, and Raf got caught up in all this craziness, they couldn't exactly come to any of us and say, 'Guess what happened today.' I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't have believed it without seeing it with my own eyes. Not only that, but the Autobots' existence was classified until some of them accidentally got on the evening news."

"You have no fucking right to defend this." Camille turned, jabbed a finger at her, and then motioned at the three young humans. "You're letting your son put himself in mortal danger! They're kids! They shouldn't even be here! What kind of mother are you?"

June winced and Jack glared at Camille. "Wait just a damned minute!"

At the same moment, Arcee narrowed her optics and growled, "Back off."

Roderick leaned over to Camille and muttered, "Honey, can we not do this here?"

She flicked a scowl at him and he fell silent with a weary sigh. She turned back to Miko. "I barely managed to calm your real parents down. They were about to get on the first plane to Vegas and then rent a car and drive straight through to Jasper, but I convinced them to wait until you got out of the hospital. Now that you've been discharged, you're going home." Camille faced forward and crossed her arms over her chest. "Back to Tokyo, I mean. End of discussion."

Oh, no. Khalilah exchanged a glance with Jensen.

Miko leaned toward her and spoke in a near-whisper. "Wrong."

"What did you say, young lady?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I can make a difference here." Miko took a slow breath. "Besides, these are my friends. I'm not leaving them."

"You've got to be kidding. You're fifteen! You've got no business being involved in any of this."

"Maybe, but here I am. The moment the 'Cons saw me with the 'Bots, it was too late. I was in danger ever since – and so are my real parents. And so are you." She glared right back at Camille. "I'm doing this to protect you as well as my parents and my friends."

"If the Decepticons win this war, we're all dead anyway." Jack sighed and clasped Arcee's hand. "We have a chance to stop them."

"And how many times have you already been nearly killed? You're sixteen and Raf is ten, for Christ's sake!"

"Excuse me," Raf said, arching an eyebrow. "I'm twelve. Almost thirteen."

"Oh, pardon me, that makes all the difference in the fucking world." Camille shifted her glare to Jack and then back to Miko. "You lost both legs a few months ago. And you –"

"I know." Miko held up her cybernetic arm. "I was there when it happened. But take it easy, I got a new one." She extended its middle finger. "And look, it works perfectly!"

Jensen snickered.

Camille glowered at him and then turned back to June. "You never answered my question. What the hell kind of mother are you? You just let your kid fight in a war against giant alien robots?"

"I … I realized I couldn't stop him." June sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I tried, believe me, but he was already so deep in it before I even found out, there was no turning back. Even if I could've talked him out of it, there are certain things he couldn't have just walked away from. You've already been told about Airachnid. With her, it was personal. She tracked him down and was never going to leave him alone. There's no way Jack could've stayed out of it even if he wanted to."

"Uh-huh. So instead of doing the right thing, you joined him."

"I was hardly ever there for Jack when he was growing up. All those long hours working in the hospital in Jasper. Once he and the others let me in on what they've been doing, and I realized I couldn't keep him out of it, I decided to be there for him as much as possible. I'm doing everything I can to keep him safe."

Camille rolled her eyes. Bulkhead flicked his optics back and forth between her and Miko. Several seconds passed before he finally spoke.

"At first, all of us underestimated the kids because they appeared to be so small and frail, but they've all proven that they've got what it takes. And then some." He rested his hand on Miko's shoulder. "When she saw me get shot in the back, she went nuclear. If I ever saw anything like that happen to her, I think I'd just break down. I wouldn't even be able to function anymore. But not Miko. She took out the 'Con who nearly killed me and four of his buddies."

"And she blasted an enormous hole in the ship at the same time," Khalilah added. "Without proper repair facilities, it'll probably take them years to fix all the damage."

"So you've turned her into a killer."

"Camille …" Roderick sighed and shook his head.

"No," Miko snapped. "The Decepticons did that. They almost killed my best friend. They paid for it."

"Jesus," Camille said under her breath.

"Fuck this. Obviously, nothing is gonna get through to you." Miko stood and picked up her tray.

"Miko, wait." Roderick held a hand up. "Please, just … look, can you understand why we're so freaked out over this?"

She sighed and returned to her seat. "Of course."

"Your parents trusted us to keep you safe, and look what's happened." He slumped over the table and rubbed his hands over his face. "You could've been killed."

"I'm aware of that. I just can't let it stop me."

"Why? Why do you think you have something to prove?"

"Because maybe I do." Miko took a bite of her chimichanga. "Anyway, like Jack said, if the bad guys aren't stopped, we're all screwed. We've done a pretty good job of kicking their asses, so far, and we need to keep going until it's over."

Camille opened her mouth again, but Roderick leaned over and whispered, "Please! Can we just … have lunch? We can fight about this later. Right now, let's just give the poor kid a break. Okay?"

Camille threw her left hand up and heaved a sharp sigh. "Fine."

Whew. Khalilah realized she'd been tensed up for the past several minutes, and tried to relax. I was starting to think a whole new war was about to break out. She glanced over at Smokescreen and the Vehicons and found them still talking. Craycroft and Minorka laughed at something and Smokescreen grinned and clapped Craycroft on the shoulder.

Ah, that's better. Good to see that most of us are capable of being reasonable. Khalilah slipped her arm around Jensen's shoulders.

A series of musical notes interrupted the awkward silence among her new friends and she turned to see what was up. Sierra took her phone from a pocket, glanced at the screen, and burst into laughter.

"Well, the timing couldn't be better. We're in desperate need of some laughs." She motioned at the phone. "Just got a text from my cousin Jade." With a glance at the Porters, she added, "Jade works the customer service desk at the Walmart in Jasper."

"Oh, boy." Jensen snort-laughed. "Brace yourselves, everybody."

"Weird Walter again?" Jack grinned.

"No, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of his relatives." Sierra took another bite of her burger. "She was talking to one of the guys in Electronics while they were on their morning break. He caught a really old dude at one of the photo kiosks printing pictures of him doin' it with his nineteen-year-old girlfriend."

"Eww." Jack grimaced. "That's one job I'm never applying for."

Another text came through to Sierra's phone. She stared at the screen and twisted her face up. "Oh, hell, she sent a copy of one of the photos!"

"I'm not looking at that." Sierra's mother turned away and held a hand up to block the phone from sight.

"I wish I hadn't. It's a picture of the girl sucking his dick."

Jensen burst out laughing and both Miko's and Sierra's parents contorted their faces in disgust.

"His face is in the background, too. He looks around eighty or ninety."

"Lemme see." Miko reached for the phone and Sierra handed it over. Miko contemplated it with an arched eyebrow and handed it back. "How'd she do that without puking?"

"Maybe he's got a lot of money." Sierra sighed and stared at her cheeseburger, as if unsure whether she could continue eating it. "Maybe he put her in his will or something."

"I dunno, it'd take a lot of money. Well, for me, at least." Miko shook her head and took another bite of her lunch. "Just going by his looks, I bet you anything that he tastes like somebody came on a sandalwood shoehorn."

Someone choked and sputtered. Khalilah glanced over and found Camille slamming a bottle of water down, slumping over the table, and coughing. Everyone else either laughed or looked nauseated.

Another text came in. Sierra read it and put the burger back on her plate. "That's it, I'm out. She said some of the pictures featured a speculum." She typed a frantic message, muttering, "Jade, do not send any more pictures!"

"Probably a good idea." Miko grinned. "Glad to see things getting back to normal."

***

"What's going on?" Tenesha Hargrove walked over with one of her camera guys in tow. Jack glanced over his shoulder, waved, and faced forward again.

"Miko's been having a hell of an argument with her host parents about being neck-deep in combat situations over the past few months." He motioned at the section of the parking lot surrounded by his friends and a couple dozen base personnel, then leaned casually against Arcee's ankle. She'd joined him a few minutes ago and piloted her Pretender body off somewhere to pack up some camping supplies. General Sanchez had granted the team a few days of downtime and Jack's mom, of all people, had suggested that he and Arcee spend the weekend together someplace where they wouldn't be attacked by enemy troops.

"She's been issued a new set of armor and wanted to test it out," he continued. "I think she also wanted to prove a point." He glanced around, spotted the Porters weaving through the crowd, and nodded toward them. Tenesha glanced at them and back to the roughly circular open area in the center.

"I don't know why she thinks this is going to change my mind," Camille grumbled at Roderick. "It's not going to prove anything. Whoever she's fighting is just going to go easy on her to make it look like she's winning."

"Come on, the poor kid's been through enough. Just let her feel like she's made a good case." He sighed as both of them made their way to the inner edge of the crowd.

Bulkhead appeared on Arcee's right and leaned around her leg to speak to the Porters. "From what I understand about the new armor, it's got the standard augmented-reality equipment plus some experimental software to analyze what the helmet cameras see and assist with defensive and offensive movements."

"It's also got a crystalline layer on the outside to refract Decepticon beam weapons," Arcee added, "plus a layer of synthetic spider silk and a layer of non-Newtonian fluid under that. There's also a new shock-absorption system to lessen impacts."

Camille rolled her eyes again.

Asshole. Jack sighed. She's got a point about us being in this mess, but she's still being a twat about it. And like Miko said, we've been in it for a while, so it's too late to back out now.

Several people nearby took their phones out and started recording video. At the same moment, Arcee leaned down to nudge his shoulder.

"It's starting."

He faced forward as Miko walked into sight.

Ashanti emerged from the crowd, wearing her armor but carrying her helmet under her left arm. "You sure you want to do this?"

"Yep. Don't pull your punches, either."

"Come on, Miko, I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't." Miko raised her hands into a defensive posture and waited. "I'm serious. Don't hold anything back. I can handle it."

Ashanti sighed, put her helmet on, and sealed it. She walked over to Miko and mirrored her stance.

"That armor looks heavy," Roderick muttered.

"A bit," Arcee said. "It's made with experimental alloys and composite materials, so it's not as heavy as it would normally be, plus it's got built-in servos that help support it."

Ashanti launched a halfhearted punch and Miko deflected it with a lightning-quick swing of her left arm. She followed up with a jab to Ashanti's visor. The colonel snapped to the left and Miko's fist barely grazed her helmet. Miko shot her left arm out like a piston and drove it into Ashanti's chest plate, knocking her backward several steps. The woman let out a startled grunt as she regained her balance – but Miko leaped forward, boosted by her armor's built-in thrusters, and Ashanti sucked in a quick breath and backpedaled again.

"The servos also boost the wearer's speed and reflexes," Arcee said as the girl landed a punch to the side of Ashanti's helmet with her left hand, fired another set of thrusters that spun her in midair, and hurricane-kicked her opponent in the same spot. "Oh, and micro-thrusters built into the armor. They're controlled through sensors in the helmet that monitor brain impulses. Didn't expect to see them used quite this way, though."

"Neither did Ashanti, looks like." Bulkhead pumped his fist into the air. "Yeah! That's my little Wrecker!"

"Shit," Ashanti muttered as she took a few steps away from Miko and regained her composure. "You could hold a little something back, y'know."

"Not my style." Miko charged again and cocked her right arm back. Ashanti snapped her arms up to block it – and Miko fired a quick burst from her thrusters, launching herself up and to the left. Ashanti spun and kicked her left leg out, catching Miko in the side and knocking her out of the air. Her jets fired again, guiding her gently back to the ground. She circled around Ashanti, searching for an opening.

"Damn," Arcee said. "Where'd she learn to fight like that?"

"Beats me." Bulkhead shrugged. "You know her, though. She's probably just making it up as she goes."

"Huh." Roderick gaped at Miko. "Okay, I admit it, I'm impressed."

"Okay, sure," Camille grumbled. "She's pretty good. That still doesn't change anything."

Ashanti fired her rockets and shot straight toward Miko. She cocked her fist back and threw a punch. Miko blocked it and Ashanti popped off a rapid-fire flurry of punches, jabs, and kicks. Miko blocked or dodged most of them, but a solid hit finally landed upside her head and she staggered off to the left. Ashanti jumped her from behind, clamped her left arm around the girl's neck, and locked it in place with her right arm.

"Not bad, Miko, but I think this is enough for one day."

Miko's jets came to life again and she rotated upside-down, twisting out of Ashanti's grip. Another set of rockets fired, spinning her around, and she drove a foot into Ashanti's chest, sending her reeling backward.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Ashanti snarled as she regained her balance. "Okay, if that's how you wanna play it." The jets on her back flared at full power, rocketing her at the girl. She slammed several solid blows into Miko's chest and helmet before Miko pulled herself together enough to start deflecting them. She slapped the next four punches aside, blocked a kick with her left elbow, and jabbed her fingertips into Ashanti's throat.

"Oh!" Jack winced as the colonel stumbled away, clutching at her neck. "Someone might need to step in."

Coughing and choking, Ashanti held her left hand up while taking her helmet off with the other. Miko had started advancing on her again, but stopped abruptly. She took her own helmet off and aimed a wide-eyed stare at Ashanti.

"Oh, shit! I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"What the fuck, Miko?" Ashanti twisted her face up and rubbed her throat.

"I guess I got carried away."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Ashanti took another moment to catch her breath, then she lowered her hands to her sides and bowed. "Good fight. I think you've made your point."

"Sorry." Miko bowed and then approached her slowly, holding a hand out. "You gonna be okay?"

"Well, I should go get my throat checked out, just in case. Don't want to go into the next battle with a fractured larynx without knowing it." She smiled, but it was tense. "I'm planning to be there for your little GTA party later on."

"Looking for revenge?" Miko let out a nervous chuckle.

"Damn right. I'm gonna kick your ass all over Los Santos." She winked before turning and trudging off across the parking lot.

"The armor must not be that good," Camille said, "if someone can be downed with a jab to the throat."

"The material is softer around the neck and joints because it needs to be flexible." Miko glanced at her as she walked over to Bulkhead. "I just took advantage of it. Hope I didn't hurt her too badly."

Ashanti's voice came through her helmet speakers. "Naw, I've had worse. I'm totally working out a training plan to incorporate the thrusters into our combat techniques from now on, though."

Miko's face turned red. "Well … heh … glad I could help."

***​

"Hey, June, welcome to the victory dance." Bulkhead motioned at a vacant seat at one of the long tables that had been set up near the wall in the Autobot base's central hub. Already seated were Raf, Miko, Jensen, Khalilah, Tomoko, Bumblebee, Sierra, Ashanti, DeeDee Washington, and Josephine Chang. In front of each sat a laptop, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4. The chairs sat between the wall and the tables, so each player could have a clear view of the huge screen on the main console, which was cycling through views from each player's monitor.

"Hey, I didn't know you played," Double-D said after glancing over her shoulder.

"I used to play the occasional game with Jack when he was growing up, just so I could be doing something with him when we both happened to be home at the same time. I was never sure if he was honestly having fun or was just tolerating me." June took the seat, put the headset on, and logged in to her account. "Like, one day I tried playing one of the Call of Duty games with him, and ended up running around pointing my gun straight up. Never did get the hang of it."

General Sanchez's laugh came through her earphones. "That reminds me of the first time I played this game with my granddaughter. I was what's known as 'the load.'"

"You've improved a lot since then, Gramps," a girl's voice said.

"And that's her. Since this whole thing is a 'cordial and unofficial' function, and I hardly ever get to spend time with her thanks to my job, when she wanted to join in, there's no way I'd say no."

"Hey, everybody. I'm Olivia. Well, my gamertag is Titty Sprinkles."

June burst out laughing. When she regained control of herself, she said, "I'm June Darby. Also known as Caduceus. This is my first time playing GTA Online, so try to go easy on me, okay?"

"No promises, haha!"

"Hey, Mom!"

"Jack, hi!"

"Sorry I'm not there. Arcee and I are in my quarters at the Lake. I figured I could get in on this for a few hours, but then I'll need to hit the sack so we can get an early start on our camping trip."

"No worries. I'm just glad to be doing something with you that doesn't involve imminent horrible death."

"Me, too."

"I'm only level one, so I haven't unlocked any of the really good weapons. Try not to lose count of the number of times I get wasted."

"I'll do what I can to keep you safe." Jack laughed.

"So," Olivia said, "are any of the alien robots I've heard so much about playing tonight?"

"I'm one of 'em," Bumblebee said. "We've got a couple others here, Tomoko and Khalilah."

Each of them greeted the other players. June noticed Tomoko had her Catbug plushie perched beside her monitor.

"Since these game controllers were designed for human hands," Khalilah said, "and human hands have two more digits than mine, this may be a little awkward. Try not to be too rough on me."

"We'll have to stick close together, then," June said with a grin. "Maybe we can turn that awkwardness and my incompetence into a strength."

Miko laughed suddenly. "Hey, Olivia, June's son is dating one of the alien robots."

"Really? So, the aliens have only recently arrived and he's already landed one of them? Is he, like, a mini-Captain Kirk?"

"Actually," Raf said, "if you think about it, Chekov was always more of a womanizer than Kirk."

June chuckled and glanced up at the big screen in time to catch a glimpse of a character with his face painted like a clown pulling the driver out of a Pißwasser truck and driving away.

"Uh-oh," Ashanti said. "Hey, Jensen, just a heads-up. The general is nearby."

"Oh, hell."

June glanced back at the big screen as it switched to Ashanti's POV. The Pißwasser truck passed by with the gamertag "Full Metal Jackoff" hovering above it. The view switched to a point above the truck and Sanchez's arm stuck out the window, holding a sticky bomb. Off to the right, a character labeled "Gonad the Barbarian" tried to climb over a chain link fence.

"Oh, no!"

Sanchez lobbed the bomb and stuck it directly to Jensen's back.

"You bastard," Jensen moaned a split-second before the explosion blew him through the fence. He and Sanchez both burst into laughter. "Motherfucker, fuck you!"

Sanchez laughed even harder.

"Interesting," a faint, familiar voice in the background said. June realized it was Ultra Magnus. He and Optimus must have been in a meeting before Sanchez joined the game. "Do you allow that kind of insubordination often?"

"Eh, like I said, this isn't official business, so I'm not really his CO at the moment. I'm just another gamer." The general took a deep breath and continued laughing. "Besides, I had it coming."

"Ah. I … see."

"I shall avenge you, Chad!" Khalilah laughed and fumbled with her controller. On the big screen, a Cargobob swooped in out of nowhere, hooked the Pißwasser truck, and lifted it into the air.

"What the hell just happened?" A few second passed and Sanchez added, "Oh, okay. I'm going for a ride."

"You sure are, sir." The Cargobob took the truck straight upward. It continued rising until it became a dot in the sky.

"Hey," Sanchez said, "I can see my house from here!"

June giggled. We need to do this more often. Especially after what I found out a few hours ago. She tried not to think about it, and just enjoy the moment.

"Seriously, are you taking me into orbit?"

"I just wanted to be sure this worked. I think this is high enough. Releasing you now."

"Okay, here I go. Wheeeeeeeee!"

"Crap," Raf blurted as his Carl Sagan-lookalike dropped dead. Miko snickered. June glanced over at her screen and saw her running toward a car with a sniper rifle. Raf respawned a few hundred feet ahead of Miko as she jumped into the car. Miko grinned.

"Time for street-pizza!" She accelerated straight toward him.

Raf produced a huge rotary cannon, lined up a shot, and fired a single bullet. Miko's character slumped over the steering wheel and the car veered off and crashed into a fire hydrant.

"Whoa," Jensen said. "Did you just snipe her with a minigun?"

Raf lowered his voice into a passable impression of Sagan. "Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception."

"Uh, General, sir, the twelve-year-old is scaring me."

Olivia went into a fit of uncontrollable giggling.

Miko respawned and June shook her head at the gamertag above her character. Squirt Machine. Of course.

"So," Chang said, "have you hit the ground yet?"

"Nope," Sanchez said with a snicker. "I'm still falling."

On June's screen, a vehicle that looked like a sports car had a baby with an off-road vehicle rumbled up beside her.

"Hey, Mom, need a lift?"

"Interesting car, Jack."

"It's the Coil Brawler. It's one of my favorite cars in the game. Come on, hop in."

June walked toward the car and then slid across the hood. "Uh …"

"Nice move. You're getting the hang of this."

"Actually, that was a total accident. I have no idea how I did it." Chuckling, June got into the passenger seat. She noticed a movement up in the sky and stared at it. She realized it was the Pißwasser truck plunging upside-down toward certain, fiery doom.

"Okay," Sanchez said, "almost there. Just gotta ride it out a few more seconds." He took a deep breath. "It's a good day to die!"

Kaboom!

Everyone burst out laughing.

Once Miko caught her breath, she muted her microphone and leaned closer to June. "Hey, about the camping trip Jack and Arcee are taking. You know they're totally gonna hump it out, right?"

June shook her head and muted her own mic. "I thought it was a possibility. I don't need to think about it happening, but I'm okay with it. I mean, I was even younger when I was pregnant with Jack, so I'd be a hypocrite if I tried to interfere." She shrugged. "I trust them. And … well, after all the close calls they've had, I think they deserve to take that next step, if they want to." Especially when they may not have another chance.

June turned her mic back on and hoped Miko would get the hint. She didn't want to discuss what she'd learned where so many people could overhear it, and didn't want to let on that anything was wrong.

Damn. She'd just happened to be there when the notification came in. Two different things, both unsettling. One was something several astronomers had noticed, but it was far away and a very long time ago. The other was much more immediate – a ship had been spotted appearing in the solar system, probably by dropping out of hyperspace. On closer examination, it had been identified as Decepticon.

And it was heading straight for Earth.

June put a smile back on and hoped no one had noticed it slip. Neither Ashanti's team nor the kids had been told yet. Optimus and Sanchez and the rest were waiting for more information to come to light. And if it turned out to be as bad as she'd assumed, it wouldn't hurt to let them go on as if nothing was wrong.

We can fill Jack and Arcee in when they get back. They should have their quiet weekend together. She held in a sigh. While they still can.

 

"Oh, that is beautiful." Jack stared at the sunrise and smiled as Arcee cut her engine and coasted down the gently sloping road. The clouds had started to light up a few minutes ago, and by now they'd turned fiery red. The ocean stretching into infinity ahead of them glowed with rippling streaks of gold from the sun peeking over the horizon.

"It sure is." Her human-size body slipped its arms around him and rested its chin on his shoulder. "Like I've said before, Cybertron was beautiful in its own way, before the war destroyed it, but it was nothing like this. Sunrises there just reflected light off metal that was varying shades of gray, so it all kind of looked the same everywhere. Still pretty, but not much variation. At night, though, it was a sea of lights and holographic displays. I guess you could think of it as Las Vegas dialed up to eleven." She paused a few seconds before adding, "It hasn't looked like that in a long time."

The subtle shift in her tone made him reach up to put a hand over hers. She'd never talked much about it, and he'd never pressed her on the matter. He wasn't about to start now that they were finally getting the romantic walk on the beach they'd been wanting.

She rushed on, as if trying to push thoughts of her dead homeworld out of her mind. "This, though … I'd never even imagined the variety of shapes and colors and textures. We didn't have anything equivalent to a beach there. Everything was metal." She put her hands on his shoulders as they reached the end of the road and coasted to a stop. "Sand, water, birds flying overhead – even after living on Earth for three years, this is the first chance I've had to see anything like this up close. Not without being in the middle of a battle at the same time, at least."

"We'll have to make a habit of it, then." He waited for her doppelgänger to dismount before following her a few steps away, giving her room to transform back into her primary mode. Once she'd changed into her sixteen-foot-tall self, she glanced down to be sure he wasn't underfoot, then walked on down to the edge of the beach.

"I'd like that." She closed her optics and smiled. "It's so quiet here. Well, aside from the waves hitting the rocks over there, but even that is kind of soothing, compared to all the gunfire and shit blowing up that we're usually hearing."

"Yeah. I haven't been to a place like this since I was a little kid, one of the very few times Mom got enough time off work to go on a trip." Jack caught up with her, glanced around, and spotted the crate of supplies and equipment someone from Groom Lake had left for them. "I wonder how General Sanchez arranged for us to have this whole beach to ourselves. I hope it wasn't too extreme, like concocting a story about a biohazard or radiation leak or something."

"I didn't think to ask." Arcee's smaller body walked with him toward the crate while she remained where she stood, gazing out at the brightening sky and smiling. "He guaranteed we'd have total privacy, so that's good enough for me."

"Fair enough." He grinned, opened the crate, and glanced over its contents. Pre-packaged food, a small gas stove, a variety of beverages in a cooler, a folding table and chairs, and an inflatable tent, among other things. "Looks like everything we need."

"Nice. We can set up the tent later." She slipped her hand into his. "For now, I'd like to try this 'walk on the beach' thing we've been planning."

"Perfect place to start." He leaned over to give her a peck on the lips before walking with her over the sand and rocks. They continued in silence for a few minutes, Jack smiling at the sounds of the ocean and seagulls overhead and sea lions somewhere behind them, then grinning when he noticed Arcee's enthralled expression.

Nice to know that she can still encounter new things, even after living for thousands of years. He slipped his arm around her waist and she put hers around his shoulders. Her optics flicked upward to track a pair of seagulls soaring overhead, then she motioned at the rocky cliffs to the right.

"The waves are getting bigger. When we unpack the tent and other stuff, we should do it up there."

"Good idea. It'd be just our luck to have a giant wave come out of nowhere and sweep all our stuff out to sea." He laughed, then he picked up on another subtle shift in her face. "Something wrong?"

"No, I …" She glanced at him and shrugged. "Sorry. I don't want to put a damper on our little vacation, but I also don't want to hide anything from you. It was just something I noticed last night, something in your mom's voice when you guys were chatting while playing GTA."

"I caught that, too. Plus the worried look on her face before you and I headed back to my room at the base. Something was bothering her, but she was trying not to let it show." He sighed. "Ever since then, I've had a feeling that something bad is about to happen, but she didn't want to ruin our weekend with it."

"Well, like you said, it's the way our luck works." She shrugged abruptly. "But if she wanted us to have one weekend without any worries, let's try to accept it. I figure we've both earned a couple of days to ourselves, anyway. If there really is something wrong, we'll find out what it is when we get back. If it can't wait, Optimus will send me a recall signal."

"You're right." He gave her another kiss and tried to push his worries aside.

"So … what do you think was the high point of the festivities last night?" From her tone, Jack wondered if she was trying to distract him or herself from more unpleasant thoughts. He decided to dive right in and see if he could make it work for both of them.

"Aside from cuddling with you the whole time?" He grinned.

"Hah, yeah. Nothing can beat that, so what's the runner-up?"

"Hard to pick just one. The feud between Miko and Ashanti was hilarious. Both of them wandering away from everyone else and laying waste to Los Santos with their endless cycle of revenge, and once they were out of sight, I kept seeing notifications of one of 'em killing the other popping up on my screen for the next hour."

"Yeah, that was good. Then there was Miko's intestinal issues from the hospital food."

"Makes me glad we weren't there for that. Apparently, her farts almost ran everyone out of there. When Jensen got up to take a bathroom break, he said he had to lean into it to move forward."

Both of them laughed until they ended up clinging to each other to stay on their feet. Once Jack caught his breath, he continued thinking it over.

"I think the best thing of all was when Sierra had a connection problem, got kicked into a public lobby, and ran into Vince."

"Oh, hell yeah." Arcee shook her head slowly and an awestruck look crossed her face. "And I thought I was vindictive toward Airachnid. Wow. I had no idea that girl was so vicious."

"Same here. I didn't even know she played GTA until last night, let alone what a badass she is in the game." Jack grinned at the memory of Miko walking over to watch Sierra's screen and giving a running commentary on her repeated virtual murders of the asshole who used to bully Jack constantly back when he still lived in Jasper. "I'm still trying to decide which kill was the best."

"The one I wish I could've seen was when she put a proximity mine in the doorway of the Ammu-Nation Vince was in, and when he tried to leave, the blast left his corpse draped over the open door."

Jack pictured it happening and snort-laughed. "Luckily, everyone was recording their gameplay and Raf is planning to edit together a supercut of the best moments, so we'll each have a copy to enjoy watching over and over."

"Can't wait to see it." Arcee shook her head again. "I have to admit, I was wrong about Sierra. I'd get pissed off whenever she gave you any attention, even before I had the slightest inkling of how I feel about you. Said some pretty nasty things about her. But when she went after Vince and said it was because of him making you miserable all through middle school and high school, my opinion of her skyrocketed."

"Same here. At first, I wrote her off because she seemed to only hang around the jocks and popular kids, and didn't even notice me until she saw me on a cool motorcycle." He let out a slow breath. "But when Vince finally got sick of it and asked why she was griefing him, and she snarled, 'Now you know how it feels,' well, now I've got a lot of respect for her."

"Me, too." Arcee nudged his shoulder and winked. "It's good to see her and Smokescreen bonding, too, so I don't have to worry about her stealing you away from me."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that, anyway." He stopped walking, faced her, and put both arms around her. "You're the one for me."

She beamed, stroked his cheek, and leaned forward slowly. He met her halfway and their mouths joined for a long moment. When they finally stepped back, they held each other's gaze for a few seconds before Arcee glanced over her shoulder at the waves crashing against the rocks.

"The wind's really picking up." She pointed in the general direction of her full-size body. "I'm carrying the crate up to the clifftop. Let's see if we can find a path up there and set up the tent and the stove when we reach, uh, me."

"Sounds good. Hopefully there's a nice spot to have breakfast somewhere up there." He clasped her hand and they headed for the base of the cliff at a leisurely pace.

***​

"No changes." Ashanti turned to face the others and slipped her phone back into her pocket. General Sanchez had just texted her an update while meeting with Optimus. The rest of Team Prime had been waiting in the Autobot base for an update. "It's still on course for Earth."

The humans and 'Bots in front of her exchanged a flurry of concerned glances. Miko sighed, June ran a shaking hand through her hair, and Raf crossed his arms over his chest and shivered. Beside him, Tomoko hugged her Catbug plushie.

Ashanti turned to the kids and held in a sigh. "Well, since everything we can do has already been done, I should give you guys a ride home. You should be with your families, at least over the weekend."

"I'm staying right here," Miko said softly. "If I go home with my host parents, I'll just end up fighting with them again. And if my real parents try to force me onto a plane back to Japan, it … won't end well." She glanced at her cybernetic arm and flexed its fingers.

"I already know arguing with you is a road to nowhere." Ashanti tossed off a lopsided grin and rubbed at her still-sore throat. "I learned that the hard way."

"Sorry about that. I really didn't mean to hurt you."

"No worries." Ashanti held her hand out. "I'm willing to call it a fair fight if you are."

"Thanks." Miko shook the colonel's hand and turned to Raf. "How about you? Going home or staying here?"

"My family hasn't signed an NDA yet. They're coming to the base tomorrow morning to take care of that. I'll fill them in on everything then, and just hope for the best."

"Well, maybe they'll at least notice you now." Miko grinned and nudged his shoulder. He flicked a brief smile at her and shrugged. "Try not to worry, Raf. We've been through plenty of shit already, and we've survived. We'll get through this, too, and you'll be able to spend the holidays with your family."

"I hope so."

"Speaking of which, have they made plans for Thanksgiving yet? I was thinking it'd be cool if all our friends and family could get together here or at Groom Lake."

"I don't think they have any plans locked down, but Mom's already talking about cooking turducken again."

Miko snorted. "Sorry, but I could never eat anything that has the word 'turd' in its name."

Raf burst out laughing. Miko grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

"That's much better."

A chime came from Ashanti's phone, indicating an incoming text. She glanced at its screen and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, she's early."

"Who's early?"

"The new squad member I told you about when we were starting our hunt for Airachnid. I was expecting her this afternoon." Ashanti turned and walked over to the elevator doors. "She should be on her way down from the helipad now."

She waited for the doors to open. When they parted, a woman in a wheelchair squeezed through the gap before they'd finished sliding aside. She stopped in front of Ashanti, grinned, and stuck her hand out.

"Ah, Colonel McKenna, I was hoping to find you here. I'm Kefira Ben-Ari."

"Glad to meet you. Welcome to the team. Have you been briefed on our situation here?" Ashanti smiled and shook Kefira's hand.

"I was told the basics when recruitment was opened up worldwide, but I doubt it even scratched the surface." She took a slow look around at the alien robots and their human allies. "It's a lot to take in."

"Sure is. I'll be happy to fill in the blanks as soon as you're settled in."

"I've already left my bags in my quarters and my surgery is scheduled for Tuesday." Kefira motioned at the stumps at the ends of both thighs. "My flight had some issues, but luckily they bumped me to an earlier one rather than later."

"Ah, good. That'll give you a little more time to get to know the rest of us."

"Looking forward to it." Kefira glanced around again. "I heard a few things on the way over here. No specifics, but it sounds like something big is going on."

Ashanti took a long breath. "A Decepticon ship was detected in the solar system yesterday, and is on a course for Earth. General Sanchez and the Autobot leader are working out a defense strategy, but –" Ashanti glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice to be sure the kids couldn't overhear. "We don't have anything that could intercept it."

"Huh. Is it like the one you've encountered a few times before? The, uh, what was it called?"

"The Nemesis. No, this one's smaller, but almost as well-armed. Fortunately, the Nemesis is damaged too severely to be much of a threat at present."

"I heard about that." Kefira glanced over at Miko and smirked.

Ashanti nodded. "If the 'Cons didn't believe we could hurt them before, they sure as hell do now."

"What's the new ship's ETA?"

"Monday afternoon, if it sticks to its current course and speed." Ashanti turned to watch the kids for a moment. Miko glanced at her phone, rolled her eyes, and headed for the door off to the right. Ashanti turned and found Miko's host parents waiting there.

Oh, boy.

She turned back in time to see Raf reach up to put his hand on Tomoko's shoulder. He said something and Tomoko nodded and tried to smile. They walked over to the couch where the kids spent a lot of their off-duty time playing video games.

"Hmm." Kefira pointed at her legs and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we should reschedule my surgery. Instead of waiting, have it done immediately, I mean."

Ashanti nodded and pointed at one of the tunnels leading out of the hub. "Good idea. My car's right this way."

***​

"Ah, canned air." Arcee grinned and walked from the crate to the huge tent they'd just finished putting up. She sat beside Jack's rolled-up sleeping bag and began spraying sand out of the crevices in her ankle and knee joints. "Looks like they thought of everything."

"They sure did." Jack smirked and held up a bottle of car polish.

"Oh." Arcee's spark thrummed a little faster at the thoughts suddenly zapping through her mind. Then she laughed and shook her head. "This still seems so weird. Something like this never even occurred to me at first, even after we realized how we feel about each other. Like I've said before, it doesn't work that way for us. But then I linked up to this Pretender body and discovered its 'additional equipment.' I haven't been able to decide whether it's influencing me, somehow, or if I'm just naturally starting to want … certain things … now that it's possible for me to experience them."

"Everybody telling you how good it feels probably has something to do with it. Especially the way Miko's been egging you on." He winked.

"Hah, could be. The idea of 'interfacing' in that way is such an alien concept that it still kind of grosses me out. So does the thought of fluid from your body squirting into mine, since the only time our fluids end up outside our bodies is when we're badly damaged."

"Well, since that's just a mobile platform you're remote-controlling, it wouldn't really be your body."

"It could be, sooner or later." She motioned at the spot where she was actually standing outside the tent. "One night when Miko was still in the hospital, I asked Ratchet to install a vagina in my real body, just in case I don't have access to this platform in the future. I was saving it for a surprise, but, well …" She shrugged.

"Oh, really?" Jack's face turned a few shades redder, but his grin practically split his face in half. "I'm already thinking of the possibilities."

She laughed. "I bet." She glanced away. "It's still almost too weird for me. Also, I've always been a little bit unsettled by how obsessed with sex humans are, and now here I am, devoting a considerable amount of processing power to it, myself."

He grinned, leaned over, and propped himself up on one elbow. "We're not all completely sex-crazy. I mean, sure, I've had my share of 'issues' caused by raging teenage hormones, but I've been lucky enough not to be overwhelmed by them."

"Yeah, I noticed right away that you've always been pretty level-headed. More than a few adults I've met, even."

"Not that I didn't notice how beautiful you are the first time I saw you. I mean, the shape of your body, your paint job … your whole design looks like an athletic woman wearing a bikini. I'd have to be totally clueless not to notice that." He tossed off a lopsided grin and shrugged. "But I fell in love with you despite the fact that we couldn't have sex, back then. I already knew you didn't have the right body parts for it, and I didn't even know the Pretenders existed, so I had no reason to think it could ever happen. But I couldn't help falling for you anyway, because of who you are."

Arcee nodded slowly. "It never occurred to me to find a human attractive until recently, but yeah, we did form a pretty strong emotional and intellectual bond. Before we met, after losing my two closest friends in that damned war … well, it's not that I really wanted to die. It's more like … I didn't care that much about surviving, as long as the mission objective was completed. But now …"

He leaned over to place his hand over hers. "I noticed right away how fearless you were, when I saw you fighting. It was one of the things I loved about you, but finding out why … well, it scared me. Whenever you went off to fight the 'Cons, I was afraid I'd never see you again. I mean, I was always confident in your skills, but all it takes is one lucky shot from an enemy weapon and it's all over."

"Well, now I've got plenty of reason to be careful, and to actually want to get through each battle intact." She leaned closer, smiled, stroked his cheek, and then kissed him. When they parted, she found her palm running slowly over his chest. "I, uh … heh, this is so strange, finding this kind of contact so off-putting but at the same time liking it so much."

"It's a bit less off-putting on my end. A lot less. Well, not at all, actually." He smiled and let out a nervous laugh, tried to make eye contact but couldn't quite manage it. "Y'know, we, uh … don't … um … have to wait until I'm eighteen."

Oh, boy. Her spark practically vibrated and her hands trembled. Even though she didn't need to breathe except to assist her cooling system and clear dust out of her inner workings, she still had a sudden urge to suck in a deep breath to regain control of herself.

"I know we both promised my mom that we'd wait, just to avoid making her even more uncomfortable with … well, with us than she was already. But she did say it was okay if we both thought we were ready to, uh, take that next step."

Am I ready, though? Even if we waited another year and a half, would I be ready then? Or ever? She returned her hand to his chest and found his heart pounding. Maybe he's not ready for it, either. But then, if we waited, would he still be as nervous as he is now? Would reaching some arbitrary age make him ready, like a switch being flipped? I'm pretty sure humans don't work that way.

And then there was the uneasy feeling they'd both had about his mother's behavior last night. Like she knew something bad was on the horizon, but kept it to herself so she wouldn't ruin their time together.

Would we regret it more if we dived right in and it didn't work out the way we hoped, or if we waited and got caught up in whatever's ahead and never had another chance at this? She closed her optics and nudged her forehead against his for a moment. Hell, if we waited Jack's entire lifespan, we might still be just as scared as we are now. And if we hold off and then one of us doesn't survive the next crisis … or both of us …

She stared at her trembling hand and laughed suddenly. "Y'know what else is weird? I lost track of the number of battles I've been in a long time ago, the number of times I've nearly been killed, and hardly ever felt any fear. But this." She kissed him once more. "This is what scares me? Seriously?"

"I guess it's natural to be nervous when you're trying something you've never done before, especially when the very idea of it is so new to you. Or, I dunno, maybe we're making a much bigger deal of it than it really should be. Humans in general do that, now that I think about it." He shrugged, sat up, and put his hands on her chest plate. "Really, though, it's just something people do when they love each other."

"Since you put it that way, I guess there's really no reason not to." She grinned at the sense of relief that suddenly washed over her. "I'm still don't really know what I'm doing, even after the 'research' I did a while back."

"Since I've never done this before, I'm in the same boat. I guess we can … uh, set sail and see where the wind takes us." He pulled his shirt off and fumbled with his belt buckle.

"Sounds like a plan." She waited for him to take the rest of his clothes off and stretch out on the tent floor, then she leaned over to brush her lips over his again. He put his arms around her, pulled her closer, and she closed her optics, smiled, and just let it happen.

***​

"Good morning."

June glanced up from her phone and found Rosalina, Lucas, and a human child approaching her table. She'd just finished breakfast and was enjoying the rest of her cup of coffee while trying not to think about the still-approaching ship. She smiled back at the new arrivals and decided not to bring it up in front of the kid.

"I hope things are going well," Rosalina continued as they reached her table. "Despite … well, the news we heard recently."

"Yes. Jack's been texting me every few hours to let me know that he's okay." More approaching footsteps caught her attention and she glanced over her shoulder to find Miko, her host parents, and another pair – her real parents, here from Japan, June guessed – walking over to the table on the left. June faced forward and closed her eyes for a moment, smiling at the sensation of the morning sunshine on her face. "He's left a few voicemails, too. He sounded happier and more relaxed than he has in a long time. Their little weekend getaway seems to have done him a world of good."

"Glad to hear that." Roz and her husband sat across from her, with their son between them. "The last few months have been pretty rough on them both. It's good to know they've finally caught a break."

"It sure is. They've only been there for a day, but it's made a huge difference. They probably won't want to come home tomorrow night." June smiled down at the kid and said, "So, guys, is this Bobby?"

"Yep." Lucas grinned and ruffled Bobby's hair before cutting off a piece of his waffle.

"Hi there, Bobby. I'm June."

"Hi!" He waved and then reached up to straighten his hair.

"He seems to be adjusting to the 'big reveal.'" June took a long sip of her coffee while Roz nodded and picked up a slice of toast from her tray.

"It was such a relief. I expected that finding out his mother is really an alien robot would terrify him, or that he'd be angry or resentful about being lied to all these years, but he took it pretty well."

"He thinks it's awesome." Lucas grinned.

"Yeah!" Bobby thrust his fist into the air.

"It's probably from being raised on a steady flow of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who. He's been prepared to meet aliens and robots all his life. For him, this is kind of a twofer."

"Well, that just means you're raising him right," Miko said. She motioned at the new couple and added, "Oh, my parents just arrived and I'm giving them a tour of the parts of the base that aren't off-limits. This is my dad, Daisuke, and my mom, Natsumi."

Her mother smiled and said, "Hello." Her father kept his expression neutral and merely nodded.

"Mom, Dad, this is June Darby. Her son's the one I've been telling you about. And that's Lucas Conrad, Rosalina Mendoza, and their son, Bobby."

Both of her parents repeated the same greeting they'd given June.

"Son," Miko's host-mother said under her breath. She poked at the food on her tray and shook her head, while Miko's host-father winced and let out a quiet sigh.

"Yes," Lucas said, staring at her with an obviously forced smile. "Son."

Roz stared down at the toast in her left hand. Bobby glanced up at her and his dad, then shrugged.

"I'm adopted."

Miko's host mother arched an eyebrow. "You told your kid he's adopted?"

"They couldn't have a baby the normal way." Bobby shrugged again. "They wanted one real bad, so they picked me."

The woman shook her head and Miko's host father leaned over to whisper to her.

"Camille, please, don't make a scene."

"Again," Miko muttered, and Camille shot a sharp glance at her.

"The boy's happy," her host father said. "They're all happy. That's what matters."

Miko's phone released a quick belching sound and everyone turned to stare at her. She shrugged and picked it up.

"Text message." She raised an eyebrow, hurriedly held it up and pointed at the photo on its screen, as if desperate for a distraction. "Huh. Is it just me, or do Donald Trump's eyes look like pussies?"

Natsumi giggled and Daisuke's mouth curved upward ever so slightly. Camille sucked in a deep breath and choked.

A voice behind June groaned, "I'm never going to not see that now."

She glanced over her shoulder and found Jensen hobbling over on his crutches, with Khalilah's human-size body beside him, carrying a tray with a pile of egg-sausage-and-cheese biscuits on it. Since Cybertronians didn't need to eat, and Khalilah didn't even have a mouth, she hadn't picked out a meal for herself.

"Sorry." Miko tossed off a lopsided grin. "Still haven't gotten my brain-mouth filter to work."

"His eyes … look like cats?" Bobby cocked his head and frowned.

"Uh … no, something else entirely. Your parents will explain it when you're older." Miko cleared her throat and bit into her cheeseburger.

Roz snickered and rolled her optics. "Gee, thanks for that."

Awkward, but it's better than Camille starting another argument in front of everyone. June looked past Jensen and Khalilah, and found several more Pretenders heading for a nearby table. She recognized Alice, Rob, and Alan, but didn't know the others well enough to identify them yet. Alan trudged over to the nearest empty bench with a numb expression, and the others remained close to him. Rob kept a hand on Alan's shoulder, and Alice rested one hand on his.

"He looks so sad," Natsumi said softly. "What's wrong?"

"His wife died the other day," Miko said. "They were together for a long time. It's been really rough on him."

"Oh." Camille arched an eyebrow again. "Was she killed by one of these giant robots?"

"Just old age." Lucas scowled at her, shook his head, and focused on his breakfast.

"It's something my people have to live with," Roz said. "Our life spans are so much longer than yours. When one of us falls in love with a human, sooner or later, that inevitable day comes, and it's … not easy to deal with." She hunched forward and braced her arms on the table, and Lucas put his arm around her shoulders. "Some of us have had to go through it more than once."

Camille opened her mouth, but Miko cleared her throat loudly and shook her head, as if to say, "Just lay off, for once." Camille sighed and turned away.

June turned to Jensen. "So, is there any more news about the ship?"

"Nothing we haven't already been told, as far as I'm aware." He glanced at Bobby and kept quiet, though his expression said what he couldn't voice in front of the kid.

Yep, the whole world could be in serious trouble. June nodded.

"I still can't believe you're okay with your son being neck-deep in all this," Camille grumbled. "Especially given what might be coming."

"Heh, I can barely believe it, myself, now that I think about it. I was right where you are, just a few months ago." June sighed. "But what's coming is coming regardless, and all of us are in danger. Jack and Arcee, and the others, have convinced me that they can help stop it."

"They're just kids, and you're okay with them trying to be soldiers."

"They've already proven they've got what it takes. I still worry about Jack, but he and Arcee have each other's backs. I've seen that with my own eyes."

"You actually trust one of them to keep your son safe?"

"They love each other. I'd say she's got a pretty strong motivation."

"That's disgusting." Camille sneered and shook her head. "He's a kid and she's an adult – not to mention an alien. You're seriously okay with that?"

"I was just as freaked out at first." And here I am, defending it. What a twisted world we live in. "Both of them have changed my mind."

Camille snorted and June glared at her.

Suddenly I'm hoping they go right ahead and start having sex, just to spite this bitch. June grimaced. And that's a thought I don't want in my head. She noticed her coffee was almost gone. She chugged it and stood.

"I should check in at the hospital." It was partly an excuse to get away from Camille, but given what was going to show up on Earth's doorstep tomorrow … "They could be needing all the help they can get soon."

***​

"Wow." Jack flopped onto his back and gasped for breath. Once he regained his composure, he slid his hand over the beach blanket beneath him and Arcee, found her hand, and intertwined his fingers between hers. He turned to face her and almost laughed at her dazed expression. "I'm really glad we didn't wait any longer."

"So am I." She closed her optics and smiled. "It still seems really weird to me, but I guess you can't go wrong with something that feels so good."

"I guess Rosalina wasn't kidding about your body's internal sensors and that software protocol."

"Hah, yeah, she said it would be mind-blowing, but even that doesn't begin to describe it." Arcee aimed a dopey grin at him. "Now I'm kind of kicking myself for not wanting to try it sooner, but I guess the wait made it even better."

"Well, I'm not sure we were ready for it before yesterday." Jack grinned back at her, slipped his free hand behind his head, and stared up at the stars shining through the darkening sky. I wonder if one of those is Cybertron. He kept quiet about it, since it would probably just bring up bad memories for her. Better for them to keep focusing on much more pleasant things.

They lay there for a few more minutes, watching the rest of the sunset fade away, and then Arcee slid closer and snuggled against him, propping herself up on her arms to keep the weight of her metal body off him, barely brushing against his skin. They cuddled for a few more minutes before she kissed him and sat up.

"Probably should pack up and head back to the base. I'm sure another crisis will be waiting for us when we get back."

"Glad you're keeping up that positive attitude." He laughed, stood, and stretched. "Well, we shouldn't force the general to keep this beach cordoned off much longer, anyway. Sooner or later, it'll be hard to maintain whatever cover he set up for us." He put his clothes back on and they spent the next few minutes packing and making sure the camp fire was out. Once everything was back in the crate, Arcee smiled and walked over to where her real body waited. She'd spent most of the weekend in her motorcycle mode in case any stray aircraft or UAVs passed overhead.

"I just signaled the base," Arcee said as he climbed onto her and her mini-me got on behind him. "They'll send someone to pick up the crate, and Ratchet's firing up the ground bridge."

"Cool. This was wonderful, but it'll be nice to sleep in an actual bed again." He turned his head to give her a peck on the lips. "Especially if you join me."

"Hah. Don't know how much sleeping you'll be doing, but yeah, I'll be right there with you."

"Perfect." Smiling, he waited for the ground-bridge's vortex to appear in the air, and they headed home. After the flash of light faded and they rode out of the far end of the bridge, he found the whole team crowded in the Autobot base's hub, plus Ashanti's squad, Khalilah and Steve and several of the Vehicon defectors, Knockout, Breakdown, and even Starscream. "Oh, hell, it looks like you might be right."

June and Miko rushed over, followed closely by Raf and Tomoko.

"Welcome back." His mom gave him a hug as soon as he dismounted, then she hugged Arcee's human-size doppelgänger. "I hope you had a pleasant time."

"We did." Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I can't even remember the last time I felt this relaxed. This was exactly what we needed."

"So," Miko said with a wicked grin, "I assume that means you 'got busy'?"

"Hold on." June stuck her fingers into her ears and closed her eyes. "Okay, now you can answer her."

"We … used our time wisely." Jack smirked.

Arcee laughed, leaned closer to Miko, and whispered, "Jack totally fucked me silly. Multiple times."

"Nice!" Miko giggled and high-fived her while Jack blushed. Miko turned to June and gave her a thumbs-up. "All clear."

"Whew." June unplugged her ears and let out a relieved sigh.

"So," Jack said, motioning at the crowd gathered around the huge monitor above the main console, "what have we missed?"

"A couple of things. One is a weird astronomical thing they think might be Unicron, but it's really far away and happened a long time ago. The other is a Decepticon warship heading straight for Earth." Miko nudged Jack's shoulder. "Also, you smell like car polish, which I think is interesting."

"Uh – hold on, there's a 'Con ship approaching?" Arcee gaped at her and June. "Not the Nemesis?"

"Nope. This is a new one."

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"We didn't want to ruin your weekend," June said. "You've been through so much, and we kind of assumed you'd want to … well, you know … and since there was nothing we could do about it in the meantime, we all decided it could wait."

"How long before it gets here?" Behind Jack and her Pretender body, Arcee transformed back into her bipedal mode and strode farther into the hub.

"That's the thing," Ratchet muttered. He stared at something on one of the smaller screens before continuing. "Its ETA was tomorrow, but it's accelerated. It entered orbit just a few minutes ago."

Jack's heart pounded suddenly. Oh, shit! Everything was going so well, and now …

"We've also been receiving a signal for the past few hours, but it's been garbled," Optimus said.

"They're attempting to communicate with us?" Arcee raised a brow plate and made her way through the crowd to the main console. Jack and her smaller body followed, the latter reaching out to clasp his hand.

"Probably snarling at us to surrender or be wiped off the face of the planet," Ratchet muttered as he continued fiddling with controls. "They must be having equipment malfunctions. The signal is directed at us, but it's little more than bursts of static and electronic noises."

Off to the right, Bumblebee crouched beside Raf, nudged his shoulder gently, and nodded at Tomoko and her human-size body. Jack glanced over at them and found both trembling and staring at the monitors with wide eyes. Bee motioned at her. Raf nodded, moved closer to her mini-me, and put his hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him, shifted her Catbug plushie over to her right hand, and put her left arm around him. He looked startled for a few seconds, but then both of them appeared to calm down a bit.

Jack smiled and returned his gaze to the central monitor. Ratchet kept adjusting controls for another minute or two before glancing over at Optimus.

"We're receiving an Autobot security passcode. It's valid."

More static burst from the speakers, followed by a voice – a somewhat deep voice with a tough-guy mannerism. It was choppy for a few more seconds, then finally cleared up enough for Jack to understand the words.

"Is this damn thing finally working? We've been trying to –"

"We are receiving you," Optimus intoned.

"I've heard that voice before," Jack whispered, and Arcee nodded.

"Sounds like Wheeljack."

Bulkhead's mini-me rushed forward and burst into laughter. "Jackie!"

"Oh, finally! We've only been trying to get this piece-of-shit communications system working for the past several days. That's Decepticon technology for ya, I guess. Hey, Bulkhead, good to hear your voice again."

"Same here, buddy. The team's been sending you messages, trying to contact you for a while, now."

"Sorry about that. My ship got scrapped a couple months back, and I've been out of the loop since then."

"Sounds like we've both got some catching up to do, then. A lot's happened here since the last time we worked together."

"I could say the same. Well, you've probably noticed I'm in a Decepticon ship."

"We're a little curious about that, yeah." Arcee crossed her arms over her chest.

"Long story. For now, I'll just say the original crew didn't need it anymore, so here we are. I've got a few passengers, by the way."

"Fellow Autobots, or 'Con prisoners?"

"They're 'Bots. I believe some of you have met 'em before." Wheeljack's voice faded back as he turned to speak with someone else. "Hey, come on up here and say hi."

Clanking footsteps, metal feet on a metal floor, grew louder as someone approached. Then a female voice came from the speakers.

"Optimus, Ratchet, I'm relieved to hear your voices."

Optimus stared at the console, his normally stoic expression slipping ever so slightly, his optics widening and his mouth parting.

"Elita? I thought you were dead."

"I thought the same about you. I'm glad to be wrong."

"As am I. Is your team intact?"

"Not all of them, but yes, a small number of survivors are on this ship."

Wheeljack spoke again. "We can have a proper reunion once we land, Boss. I assume we're visible to whatever passes for sensors on this planet?"

"Yes, much of the world has been watching your approach."

Jack glanced up at Arcee. "Huh. That's something we haven't kept track of – how the world's been reacting to your presence. Well, that and the big, scary alien ship."

"Guess we've had a lot on our minds. It never occurred to me to check up on how the news about us has been going over with the public."

Optimus gestured at Ratchet, who tapped several buttons on the console.

"We are sending landing coordinates, old friend. We will be there to greet you."

"Glad to hear that. We'll see you in a few."

"Could be a setup," Ratchet grumbled after the link was disconnected.

"There's not much we can do about it if it is," Jack said. "All we can do is try to be ready for anything."

Arcee nodded and he turned to the door leading to the room where the team's armor was stored.

"Okay, then. Let's gear up."

 

CHAPTER 14

Author's note: I have to apologize once again for taking so long with this. Everyday life pretty much went completely to shit during the past few months, and one of my bouts of depression kept me from getting off my ass and getting back to work on my books and whatnot.

About the following chapter, specifically: This is the final chapter of Harbinger, because the focus of the story will be shifting again. The next story in the series will pick up where this one ends. And regarding certain characters who show up here ... yes, one of them was never in TFP, but I liked her enough to include her here and see what develops (and, to be brutally honest, she was the only thing I liked about Robots in Disguise, which I had to stop watching four episodes in because it was so terrible that watching it actually made me angry). The other new characters aren't any specific version (as in, lifted from other iterations of the franchise), but I had a few ideas I thought I'd try out. And with certain villains the characters spend some time talking about, it came out of some ideas I got after a friend gave me some detailed information on them. I decided to see if I could put my own spin on them and, hopefully, make a good story out of it. We'll see how it goes ....

***​

"Just a few more minutes." Arcee pointed into the sky and Jack kept his eyes aimed in that general direction. After a few seconds, he noticed a formation of distant lights approaching against the darkening sky. He glanced to the left as Optimus took a step forward.

The entire team, plus the Decepticons who'd defected and most of the Pretenders who'd gone native over the centuries, as well as Colonel McKenna's human team, had gathered with them at one of the Groom Lake Air Base's landing strips.

"They're keeping their approach slow to avoid spooking the humans," Arcee continued. "Wheeljack probably doesn't have the patience for it, but Optimus convinced him to keep it low-key."

"Good," Jack said with a nervous chuckle. "I still haven't had time to check the news and see how the world's reacting now that they know you're here, but I assume plenty of people are ready to panic at the slightest wrong move. If Wheeljack came in with the engines at full burn, someone might think it's an attack and go off half-cocked."

"Exactly." Arcee smiled, but kept her optics locked on to the confiscated enemy ship as its lights grew larger.

An incoming message popped up in Jack's HUD. He glanced at it and smirked. "Raf just copied a few clips of Sierra's antics in the GTA Online party we had a few nights ago, spliced them together, and sent them over."

"I got the same message." Arcee grinned. "I'm guessing they're from around the time Sierra ended up in a public lobby and ran into Vince."

"A few of 'em, yeah." Jack decided to take a quick look at the video while waiting for the ship to land. Vince had bullied him so mercilessly throughout junior high and high school, back in Jasper, it was impossible to resist a peek at the bastard getting some of his own medicine. He opened the file and the video appeared in a small window in his helmet's visor.

"Crap," Sierra grumbled. "Lost the connection and ended up in a public lobby. Can somebody invite me back in?"

"That sounds like Sierra," Vince muttered as Sierra spun her "camera" around to get her bearings.

"Vince," she snarled, and a list of players in the session appeared. Sierra selected Vince's gamertag and highlighted his blip on her mini-map. She then pulled up another menu, went into passive mode to avoid being taken out by some nearby rando, and finally directed her mechanic to deliver one of her cars. Jack whistled softly at the speed with which she zipped through the menus and selected options.

"Like I said when we were on our little camping trip, I didn't even know she played that game, but she must've been at it for a while. It still takes me a few seconds to remember where the menu options are."

"She's got a sweet ride, too," Arcee said as Sierra ran toward the car that had just appeared.

"Ah, yeah, that's the Grotti X80 Proto. It's one of the cars that were added to the game not too long ago. I've been thinking about buying a Megalodon Card just so I can have enough GTA Dollars to get one and upgrade it."

In his HUD, Sierra got into the car, zoomed off toward Vince, and took herself out of passive mode. Jack laughed softly and glanced at the approaching ship. It was still moving slowly, but a set of spotlights had been aimed at it and it was now close enough to guess its size. If the Nemesis was the Decepticon equivalent of a dreadnaught, then the ship Wheeljack had stolen might be considered a frigate. Small in comparison to other Cybertronian ships, but since its smallest occupant was at least twelve to fifteen feet tall, it still dwarfed anything ever built by humans

He returned his attention to the video just in time to catch Sierra driving into Vince's character as he sprayed another player with a machine gun. The high-speed impact sent him spinning into the air and Vince let out a startled yelp. Sierra whipped her car around as he picked himself up, and ran over him again, this time killing him.

"Hey! What the hell?"

"Eat shit, Vince," Sierra growled. "Eat fuckin' shit!"

Jack snickered as the video cut to another segment of Sierra's gameplay footage, showing her tossing a Molotov cocktail from her car as she roared past Vince, nailing him in the back of the head and firing off a gleeful laugh as he burst into flames. He spewed a stream of profanity and tried to run away from her. She spun around and accelerated toward him. He made the mistake of running past a propane tank, and Sierra selected a machine pistol from her weapons menu. She cooked off the tank before Vince got out of range and the explosion launched his flaming corpse into a group of NPCs.

"Wow." Arcee chuckled.

The next clip showed Sierra driving a Trashmaster to the top of a parking garage. On her mini-map, Vince's blip was directly ahead, but down on the street.

"Where are you, Sierra? I can see you on my map! What the hell are you up to, now?"

Sierra remained silent as she parked, got out, and planted five sticky bombs on the side of the garbage truck. She got back in, drove up a ramp and off the parking garage's top floor. She jumped out and popped her chute as the Trashmaster plunged straight down. She turned to get a clear view of the huge truck as it landed grill-first on his head.

"Goddamn it!" He shrieked in frustration as his character remained pinned under the truck.

Then she triggered the sticky bombs and finished him off. He screamed a long stream of profanity.

Sierra giggled, drifted around to another building, and cut the chute as she passed over its roof. She landed, rolled, and whipped out a combat MG. She crouched at the edge of the roof and waited for Vince to respawn. His blip reappeared on her map and approached slowly.

"Sierra, you bitch!" He appeared in the distance, sprinting toward the garbage truck's remains. Sierra switched to a single-shot Marksman Pistol and continued waiting. Vince took cover behind the Trashmaster and peeked out, glancing all around and trying to find Sierra -- and never thinking to look up.

She popped out of cover for a split second, drilled him through the head, and ducked back out of sight. The sharp boom of the pistol sounded more like a cannon and was so loud that Jack swore he'd felt it rattle his bones. Meanwhile, Vince's only response was a long, incoherent scream of rage.

The next clip lasted just long enough to show Sierra playing chicken with Vince on a bridge. Her X80 slid under his car tires and Vince ramped off, launched into the air, and tumbled off to the left. She turned around just in time to glimpse his car spinning off the bridge into a ravine.

"NOOOOOOOO!" He landed upside-down and exploded. "My caaaaaaaarrrrrr!"

"Bwahahahaha!"

"What the fuck, Sierra? Why're you doing this?"

"Now you know how it feels, you sonofabitch!"

"Bam!" Jack grinned.

In the next clip, Sierra brought up her phone, called Lester Crest, and paid him to remove her blip from other players' maps. She peeked around a corner, spotted Vince and several of his online buddies exchanging fire with a street gang, and crept toward him.

"Damn it," he muttered, "I'm almost out of armor."

Sierra whipped out a battle axe and burst into a sprint. "Viiiiiiiiiiiiince!"

He spun around, saw her charging him, and bellowed, "OH GOD, NO!" He turned and bolted. She switched to a proximity mine and threw it directly into his path. He ran across it before he could change course, and the blast rocketed his lifeless body into the air. He let out another enraged scream. "Fuck meeeeeeeeeeee!"

Giggling and snorting, Sierra switched back to the axe and hacked one of his friends to death before the rest gunned her down. She burst into laughter. "Worth it!"

"Goddamn it, Sierra, stop it! Just leave me alone!"

"Oh, no. It's payback for you bullying my friends at school!" Sierra took a breath and snarled, "I've tattooed your name on my knuckles, you sonofabitch! I've just getting started!"

The video ended, and probably just as well. Jack had to clamp his mouth shut and hold his breath to avoid bursting out laughing. This wasn't the time or place for it. He took a few slow breaths to be sure he could control himself, and grinned up at Arcee.

"I'll have to thank Raf for this. I'll treasure it always."

"So will I." Arcee smirked and turned back to the approaching ship as it finally arrived and set down. "Okay. Time to meet a few more survivors."

***​

"Here we go," Arcee muttered as she followed Optimus toward the ramp lowering from under the ship's command section. Jack and the rest of the team kept up with them. She didn't like all of them clumping together like this, just in case it turned out to be a trap. Everyone else had agreed it was important for the new arrivals to see everyone together so they'd understand that all were on the same side. Elita-1 and the others had been out of the loop for a long time, and the sight of Decepticons among the Autobots would probably spook them.

The first to appear at the top of the ramp was Elita-1 herself. She still had the same old pink color scheme, but had dents and scratches all over her body. No time to stop anywhere for repairs, Arcee guessed, or maybe there was just nowhere to go that was still intact. The huge cannon hung on her back was new, probably something she'd picked up on the battlefield.

Elita swept her glowing optics over the 'Bots and their allies, raised a brow-plate when her gaze passed over Starscream and the other former 'Cons, and smiled when it landed on Optimus. She walked toward him, her footsteps shaking the ground, and put her arms around him. He embraced her and they held each other for a long moment.

"Okay," Jack muttered, "I didn't expect that."

"They were 'together' a long time ago. Like you and me." Arcee chuckled. "Well, not exactly, since they never had the 'extra parts' I've recently had installed. They couldn't …" She made the "docking" gesture with her hands and Jack snickered. "Aside from that, though, yeah, they were a couple. Then they got separated in the confusion of a battle and never saw each other again until now. Each thought the other had been killed."

"Interesting group you've got here," Elita said after they parted. She nodded at the 'Cons. "Prisoners or allies?"

"They've defected from the Decepticons and have assisted us in recent battles."

"Good to hear. We can use all the help we can get, the way things have been going."

Behind Arcee, someone made a sound like a sharp gasp. She glanced over her shoulder and found Starscream staring at Elita.

"What are you looking at?" Elita said suddenly, without even glancing in his direction. He twitched, his optics opened wider, and he finally pointed at the cannon on her back.

"Is that … is that Dreadwing's weapon?"

"It was." She turned to meet his gaze. "Now it's mine."

"Oh." He took a few steps back and muttered something that sounded like, "Eheh …"

Elita smirked and then touched the side of her head, indicating that she'd activated her comlink. "It's safe out here. Come on out."

"About time," Wheeljack grumbled. He strode down the ramp and glanced around. Arcee noticed he had a few more dents and scars than he had the last time they'd met. "Hey, where's Bulkhead?"

"Down here." Bulkhead's human-size body waved up at him.

"Uh. Okay. What the hell happened to you?"

"Got shot in the back while boarding the Nemesis. Severed my spine and severely damaged some of my primary systems, so I'm remote-piloting this Pretender body until I'm back on my feet." Bulkhead clapped Miko on the shoulder and added, "The Insecticon who shot me paid for it, though. Miko took him and four of his buddies out, and crippled the Nemesis with the explosion at the same time."

"Huh. We heard bits and pieces about that in enemy radio chatter we've picked up here and there. Wish I could've seen it."

"Oh, me too, Jackie."

"Nice job, kid." Wheeljack grinned down at Miko. She shrugged.

"Well, they hurt my best friend. No way was I gonna let that slide."

"Glad you were with him, then, since I couldn't be."

"We'll have to catch up later." Bulk turned to the ship. "Who else have you got onboard?"

"Elita's surviving squad members, plus two others we picked up a while back." Wheeljack turned back to the ship as more clanking, earthshaking footsteps pounded across the ground. Each of them had an athletic and obviously feminine design like Arcee, except the two at the rear, who were far thicker and sturdier, yet were still clearly female at first glance.

Elita motioned at the one with the blue-and-chrome color scheme. "This is my second in command, Chromia." While Chromia nodded a greeting to everyone, Elita held a hand toward the 'Bot whose color scheme was a mix of bronze, gold, and gunmetal, and introduced her as Firestar. Another, green and silver, was Greenlight, followed by Lancer, the purple and gold one.

The smallest of the team, with a cyan-and-chrome paint job, took a few steps forward, tripped over her own feet, let out a quick squeak, and then regained her balance. She turned her head this way and that, grinning and clasping her hands together. "So many colors and textures! So much life! I never thought I'd see a planet so alive!"

"Throttle back a bit, Moonracer." Greenlight laughed softly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's find out what the situation is before we get too excited."

"Okay!" Moonracer rejoined the others, but continued beaming at everything around her.

Optimus glanced over at the ramp. "No one else is onboard?"

Elita shook her head. "This is it."

He turned to Chromia. "Ironhide …?"

She shook her head. Optimus closed his optics and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry."

Chromia nodded, but said nothing. Probably didn't want to reopen the wound, Arcee assumed.

Damn. I always expect to hear about more casualties, but that never makes it any easier.

The remaining two moved to the front of the group and Arcee looked them over. The smaller one had a blue, white, and black color scheme, and Arcee had never seen her before. The other, taller even than Optimus, was tan all over with black detailing and … her face was quite familiar.

That's Strika. Arcee suddenly couldn't decide whether to take a step away from her or lunge at her. Strika was one of the Decepticons' most notorious generals, a tactical genius who was every bit as formidable in one-on-one combat as she was directing an entire army from a command center.

What the hell was she doing here? Prisoner of war? Defector seemed unlikely. Could Elita's team be working with her?

Acree noticed something as she continued staring at Strika. Something about her expression. Arcee had always expected her to be cold and aloof, and there was plenty of that in the general's face. But there was a hint of something else. Regret? Or maybe just weariness.

Maybe anyone can grow tired of war, even someone who's always loved it and lived for it.

Arcee glanced at Elita and arched a brow plate. "Interesting crew you have. Prisoner or ally?"

"Ally," Elita said. She motioned at the other new arrival and added, "She surrendered herself into Cadet Strongarm's custody before the rest of us met either of them, and since then she's proven herself a valuable asset."

"Huh. Why would she surrender to anyone, let alone a cadet?"

"I was the only one there," Strongarm said, and then stood at attention. "The rest of my team was taken out, and all I could do was escape and try to meet up with reinforcements or survivors. I tried to hide on a barren moon, and detected a 'Con life sign. I investigated, figuring it was better than waiting for the enemy to come find me, and the life sign turned out to be Strika. I decided to capture her, and expected to end up dead, but she just surrendered. I found her in a cave, just sitting there. When I asked her why she wouldn't fight back, she said, 'What would be the point? Our home is gone.'" Strongarm winced and looked away, as if the memory of her homeworld's death had slapped her in the face. She pulled herself together and added, "We hid there until we were sure the 'Cons who'd taken out my team had left the system, then we lifted off. Later, we encountered Elita's team and she let us join them."

"Sorry about your team. I know what it's like to lose friends in battle." Arcee clapped the cadet's shoulder gently. "What happened to them?"

"That's one of the things we need to speak with you about," Elita said. "It was the Decepticon Justice Division."

Arcee gasped. "What?"

Jack glanced up at her. "Who?"

"No." Knockout glanced around frantically, his optics wide, and stumbled backward. "Oh, n--"

Breakdown lunged forward and grabbed his arm. At the same time, two of the Vehicons braced their hands on his back to prevent him from toppling over. Breakdown pointed at several scattering humans behind him.

"Dumbass! You could've squashed them!"

"But … but … the … DJD." Knockout leaned forward and braced his trembling hands on his shaking knees like someone getting ready to vomit. Breakdown kept a hand on his friend's shoulder and glanced over at Elita.

"How long have you been running from them? Did they follow you here?"

"It's possible. We'd already been running from them for years, and another four months after we encountered Wheeljack."

"They're the ones who blew up my ship," Wheeljack added. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "We hijacked one of theirs and its IFF let us slip away before they locked it out."

"We're dead," Knockout moaned. "We're all dead!"

"No," Khalilah whispered, and Arcee glanced over at her. The Vehicon defector took a quick look at the ground to be sure none of the humans or Pretenders were in her path, and then she stumbled into the distance, whispering, "No," over and over.

"Khalilah?" Jensen stared at her, gaping and shaking his head slowly. "Wait!" He turned back to the others. "Who the hell are the Decepticon Justice Division?" He glanced back at Khalilah and shook his head. "Never mind, fill me in later." He grabbed his crutches and followed her, hobbling as quickly as his broken leg allowed.

Jack stared at them, shook his head, and glanced up at Arcee. "What the hell just happened?"

Optimus waved a hand toward the nearest hangar, the only building nearby that they could fit into. "It seems we have much to discuss."

***​

Come on, Khalilah, slow down, already! Jensen gasped and wheezed as he swung the crutches forward, came down on his good leg, and repeated the process again and again. His heart pounded, and not just from the exertion. Like the other Vehicons, Khalilah was a good thirty or forty feet tall, and if he hadn't known her as well as he did by now, her blank face with that single, red optic would've been intimidating enough to chill his blood. Seeing her so completely terrified by something he'd never heard of was one of the most unsettling things he'd ever experienced.

And that included one of the even larger Insecticons falling on him and breaking his leg in four places.

He stopped to catch his breath and glanced over his shoulder. Shit. Looks like I've hobbled at least a mile, already. He faced forward again and stared into the distance. She was far enough away to appear about the size of his thumb held at arm's length. She hadn't been running, just sort of stumbling forward, but her far longer stride had left him in the dust.

His leg ached.

Doesn't matter. She's scared out of her mind. He took a few more ragged breaths and launched after her again, swinging the crutches and taking a step and repeating. Swing, step, swing, step, swing, step ….

After another half-mile, he realized she'd stopped. She glanced around as if confused, then she braced a hand against a nearby cliff and slumped over. She raised her other hand to her face, whimpered, and turned to lean back against the cliff. She slid slowly to the ground, pulled her knees up to her chest, and put her arms around them.

Sweat dripped into Jensen's eyes. He gritted his teeth, tried to ignore it, and pushed onward. Shit. Just a broken leg and a few days in the hospital, and I'm all out of shape. Granted, he was used to sprinting on two good legs, and crutches weren't built for full-speed-ahead.

When he finally reached her, she was rocking slightly and moaning.

"Hey," he rasped, and paused to take a few more gulping breaths. She glanced suddenly at him, startled, and then stared back at the base.

"I … oh, no, Chad, you limped all the way out here? I'm so sorry."

"You're worth it. What's wrong? Who are the Decepticon Justice Division?"

"They're a fucking nightmare." She shook her head and let out a quiet sob.

"Take it easy." He hobbled up beside her and reached up to rest his palm on her leg. "Whoever they are, we'll deal with them if they show up here."

"They can't be stopped."

"Khalilah, we're planning to take on Unicron, and he's the size of a Dyson sphere, if not bigger. How could these goons be any worse?"

"I thought they were a myth," she mumbled. "An urban legend, I think humans call it. We heard rumors about them for thousands of years, but most of us had started to think it was all propaganda whipped up by Megatron and his ilk to keep the low-level troops like us in line. They were set up to punish deserters and traitors, and according to the stories, they started going after 'Cons for more and more insignificant transgressions, to the point where the slightest misstep could land one of us on the List. I wouldn't have been surprised if, sooner or later, they came up with an excuse to go after Megatron himself, if he hadn't already been possessed by Unicron."

Jensen shivered. It sounded like something right out of an Orwellian future or alternate reality in any number of books, movies, TV shows, and video games he had even a passing familiarity with.

Khalilah turned to stare down at him, but remained huddled up. "Even after we started losing faith in our cause, we didn't break away because we were afraid. Eventually, there was nowhere else we could go, anyway, until you and your friends gave us the opening we needed. Some of us were desperate enough by then to risk deserting. We'd started to doubt the rumors enough to think we could get away with it. And now it turns out they're real, and we may have led them to your planet. We may have endangered your entire species."

"No, you didn't. If we're in danger, it's all on them, not you. Either Megatron would've called them here for one reason or another, or they would've shown up to investigate why they lost contact with him." He held his hand out to her. Moving carefully, she lowered her arm to her side and he leaned over to rest his palm in hers. "Are they really that dangerous?"

"They don't just execute their targets. They torture them to death. According to the stories I've heard, back when Cybertron was still habitable, they'd often torture one of their victims within an inch of death, and then lower them into one of our Smelting Pits. Slowly."

Smelting Pits. Jesus Christ. Jensen didn't ask. What those were, and what they were used for, was already perfectly clear.

Khalilah raised her free hand to her forehead and sobbed again. "And they would laugh as their victims screamed in agony while being melted down."

"Fucking hell," Jensen whispered. "No wonder you were all so afraid of them."

She nodded. "Some of them had torture devices built into their bodies. Others had alternate modes that turned them into torture devices when they transformed. Once they target someone, there's no escape. They've never failed to run down someone on their List. It'd be better to commit suicide than let them execute us."

A chill surged through his chest. She's … she can't be thinking about killing herself just to …

"The problem is," Khalilah continued, "by the time you find out you're on the List, it's already too late. The DJD tracking you down is how you discover they're coming for you. If you're lucky, you have a few minutes left, by that point."

"Khalilah, listen to me. We won't let them hurt you. I won't let them."

"They can't be stopped."

"How many of them are there?"

"If all the core members are still intact, six or seven. But they might have recruited a few others."

"Well, here, they're outnumbered and outgunned. Trust me, if they show up on our planet, we'll tear 'em apart." He leaned over to kiss the back of her hand. "You know we've got the firepower to take 'em out. You've seen it for yourself."

"Maybe." She stared off at the distant base. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. I didn't think about that. I just panicked." She leaned back against the cliff and shook her head. "I feel like an idiot for reacting the way I did."

"Happens to the best of us." He fired a sheepish grin up at her. "Don't tell anyone, but when I saw that dead Insecticon toppling over straight toward me, and realized it was gonna flatten me, I shat my goddamn pants."

She managed a brief chuckle. "Thank you."

"Any time. Now, the others are probably coming up with a plan to deal with those assholes. We're missing all the fun."

"We should head back, then." She pushed herself slowly to her feet.

"Mind giving me a lift?" He grinned.

"Sure thing." She leaned over, cupped her hands together, and waited for him to climb into her palm. Then she lifted him carefully to her chest and walked back to the base.

***​

"Sounds like a nasty bunch," General Sanchez said, his voice echoing around the empty hangar everyone had gathered in.

Ashanti nodded. "Sounds like a bunch of sadists. They get off on torturing their victims."

"Even for Decepticons," Arcee said, "they're insane."

"Well, if they find their way here, they'll be a half-dozen plus some cannon fodder against all of us and Earth's combined militaries. At worst, this might be just what the world needs to finally unite."

"Let's not get overconfident," Sanchez said. "They're dangerous enough to terrify people who are just as big and durable as they are, and we're like ants compared to them."

"A swarm of wasps can bring down the largest and deadliest of animals," Optimus said.

"Well, since this could be a more immediate threat than Unicron, it should get things rolling a lot faster." Sanchez raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Elita. "If they manage to track you to Earth."

"We used every trick we knew to evade their ships," Elita said. "We're pretty sure we lost them a few dozen light-years from here, but we can't be completely certain. And that's really not far enough away, anyhow."

"The good news," Strika added, speaking for some reason in an accent that sounded Russian, "is that most of their operations are still centered on and around the planet Messatine, so if we do run into them in Earth's vicinity, it'll probably be a few small patrol ships trying to zero in on us. If we detect any near this planet, we'll need to take them out before they can report back to their leaders."

Ashanti winced and flicked a worried glanced around at her team. Strika seemed to notice.

"There is a problem, Colonel McKenna?"

"Just a small one. We don't have any ships that can intercept them. We built a set of fabricators from plans Bumblebee stole when we raided the Nemesis, and we're using them to crank out parts for a ship, but we've barely gotten started."

"I see." Strika's expression didn't change, though her optics flicked away for a split-second. "You will need at least a small fleet to challenge the DJD's minions."

Elita nodded and turned back to Sanchez and Optimus. "We'll assist you in any way we can. The ship Wheeljack stole doesn't have the firepower to take on more than a few of their ships, so we should pitch in wherever possible to speed up construction."

"Oh!" Moonracer grinned. "We get to build a ship! It'll be fun!"

Behind her, Tomoko's deeply unsettled expression broke into a smile.

Elita nodded, chuckled softly, and patted Moonracer's shoulder. She turned back to Optimus and arched a brow plate. "So, has life here been as boring as it's been for us?"

"We have another reason to finish construction on our new ship as quickly as possible." He nodded at Ashanti, and she walked over to the projector a pair of airmen had set up while everyone waited for the new arrivals to land.

"We recently discovered the wreckage of a Decepticon ship, the Harbinger." Arcee turned to face the wall as Ashanti switched the projector on and loaded the first file. She motioned at Tomoko and added, "That's where one of our new friends was 'born,' by the way. Airachnid found a batch of protoforms inside and used them to make multiple clones of herself." Arcee sneered. "For spare parts. Tomoko booted up before Airachnid could start taking her apart, and she ran like hell."

Tomoko nodded, then she shuddered and her Pretender body hugged her Catbug plushie a little tighter. Raf stepped closer and reached out to hold her hand.

"Interesting." Strika glanced at the projector and turned back to Optimus. "What else did you find onboard?"

"An Autobot boarding party had been fighting the crew before the Harbinger crashed." He motioned at two of the newer additions to the team. "Only Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen survived. We also found backup copies of the ship's log. Many of the entries were lost due to physical damage, but some could be salvaged."

"That's how we learned about some of Unicron's recent activities." Ashanti scowled up at the images showing Unicron's size compared to a solar system, his gravity well disrupting the orbits of all the planets in another system, and the Harbinger's near-fatal encounter with him.

"Unicron," Wheeljack muttered. "Well, shit."

"A few days ago, something troubling came to our attention." Optimus held a hand out toward the newest image, which showed a a view of the night sky. A small white circle appeared around one of the stars. "This is an archival image recorded by an orbital telescope. The star within the circle is known to humans as Lambda Scorpii, at a distance of five hundred seventy light-years from Earth."

"Five hundred seventy," Elita muttered as her optics opened wider. "That's the same distance as … oh, no."

"This is the star Cybertron orbits."

The photo vanished and was replaced by a nearly identical one. In this one, however, Lambda Scorpii and the stars and galaxies beyond it had been distorted, twisted into curving shapes that formed a circular pattern.

Everyone in the room gaped at the image.

"That must've been the other thing Mom was so worried about," Jack muttered with another glance up at Arcee.

"Huh," Raf said softly. "That looks like gravitational lensing."

"This image was recorded three months ago. An enormous mass between this planet and Lambda Scorpii distorted the light from those stars and galaxies. It was at first thought to be a black hole, but none of the typical characteristics of such an object were detected."

"The radiation emissions were all wrong," Sanchez added. "Also, there were no jets erupting from the north and south poles, and no accretion disk. No signs of a supernova, either."

A third photo appeared. The lensing effect had vanished and the stars were back to normal … with one exception.

"It's gone," Arcee whispered, staring wide-eyed at the image.

"So." General Sanchez let out a slow breath. "This is either a natural phenomenon we've never seen before, or …"

"Unicron." Breakdown shook his head and snarled. "This just keeps getting better."

"It sure does." Sanchez glanced at the photo again. "Given its distance from Earth, what we see here happened a little under six hundred years ago. So whatever happened …"

"It's too late to do anything about it." Arcee glanced around frantically, as if searching for something to grab onto. Finally, she lowered herself into a crouch and then leaned forward, bracing a hand on the floor. Jack walked over to her and reached up to put his hand on her cheek.

"Well, we picked the perfect time to come back," Jensen said, and Ashanti glanced over her shoulder to find Khalilah lowering him to the floor and then staring at the image.

Optimus turned toward them and said, "Khalilah, are you alright?"

"I was." She motioned at the photo. "Not so much, now."

"There's something I'm not clear on," another voice said, and Ashanti glanced around until she spotted the reporter, Tenesha Hargrove, stepping forward with one of her camera guys beside her.

Forgot she was even here. Ashanti shrugged it off and said, "What is it?"

"While interviewing several of our new friends, they all said their homeworld was already dead."

"It's uninhabitable," Elita said, her voice quavering. "Completely shut down. All power sources depleted. But we were still hoping to find a way to revive it someday. Can't do that if it and its star have been destroyed, though."

Strika pondered the photo for a few seconds more. "Once we've dealt with the DJD, we should investigate Lambda Scorpii and determine what has happened. If nothing else, it could lead us to Unicron."

Optimus stared at the image for a long moment. His stoic expression once again slipped ever so slightly, almost turning into a grimace. He closed his optics, regained his composure, and turned back to the others.

"That will be our first destination, once our new ship is completed. There may be something left, some clue that will indicate where Unicron went after leaving the system, if he was responsible for the star's disappearance."

"Those of you who need sleep," Sanchez said, "should get to it soon. We'll be off to an early start tomorrow. We'll have crews working on construction around the clock. Even if it's too late for Cybertron, we may still need to deal with the DJD. With any luck, we'll be able to work out a strategy before they come knocking on our door." He glanced around, making eye contact with everyone. "Dismissed."

Ashanti sighed and walked over to her team, wondering if any of them would be able to sleep after what they'd just been told.

"Pretty intense stuff, huh?" Jensen reached up to rest his hand on Khalilah's face.

"Yeah. Better try to get some rest." Ashanti's heart began to pound at the enormity of what they'd be getting into very soon. "We've got a lot of work to do."