Note: All characters in this story are the property of Hasbro Studios. Any other material and references are owned by Disney, Nickelodeon and the like. This is one of the new stories that I'm working on in 2015. Keep in mind this has nothing to do with my Transformers canine series. Thanks to Fourthwallbreaker for beta-reading and editing this chapter.

This story is partially based on a real life trip to San Francisco that I took last summer. Anyway… read on!

Saturday, April 10th, 10:30 AM, Pacific Time.

The weekends were usually a quiet time…for the most part. The only exceptions were the kids who woke up early to watch cartoons with their friends and siblings. Then, there was three of Jasper's other young residents.

"Bulkhead," Miko whined, "c'mon, we're gonna be late!"

There came a spluttering noise from the olive green SUV. "Wha? Where am I? How'd I get here?"

"You fell asleep at the stop light…again."

"Gimme a break, Miko, I only got in four hours…." Said Bulkhead, noting his lack of sleep.

Miko looked out the window for a moment, eyeing the rather sunny spring day. Apart from a few scattered cumulous clouds, the sky seemed to be clear.

Miko gave a sigh. "All right…But I thought you'd want to hear the news the boys and I got at school yesterday."

"Which is?" Bulkhead had a curious tone to his voice. Had he been in full-blown robot mode, he might have made a face to match it.

"I'll explain when we get there." Miko stuck her tongue out in annoyance. "Jack made me promise not to say anything until we were all together. You know how hard it is for me to keep a secret."

The SUV gave a short bark of laughter. "I could write fifteen pages about that!"

It was at this point that the light turned green, and Bulkhead drove off.

A short time later, he and Miko reached Outpost Omega One. After getting out of the passenger side, the foreign exchange student walked up the stairs and sat down on the couch.

"Yes! First one here." Miko grinned in triumph.

"Not quite," spoke up the familiar voice of a twelve-and-a-quarter-year-old.

Miko looked over, then nearly fell over out of surprise when she saw her two friends sitting on the other end of the couch.

"What took you so long?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Got stuck at a traffic light." Miko shrugged it off, but she still felt a bit annoyed that Bulkhead had fallen asleep. "When did you guys get here?"

"About half an hour ago," Raf responded.

"You didn't tell them about the trip, did you?" Miko eyed the two boys with a cynical look on her face. If those two had so much as breathed about it—

"No way," Jack assured her.

"We were waiting for you," Raf added.

Miko relaxed a bit when she heard that.

"Waiting for what, guys?" Smokescreen, the resident rookie of Team Prime, walked over to the platform and looked at the kids with a curious expression.

"Just some news we got a school yesterday," Miko said before either Jack or Raf could say anything.

Smokescreen frowned a bit. It almost looked like he was a bit anxious about something. "What kind of news? It isn't about the ground squirrels found in Vince's car last Tue—"

Jack coughed loudly, cutting Smokescreen off. "No, not that. I don't even know how you pulled that off without being seen!"

"Ground squirrels?" Miko leaned forward a bit, a curious grin coming over her face. "I haven't heard of this."

"You don't wanna know," Jack replied.

"Oh, I think I do." Miko assisted.

"Where is everybody anyway?" Raf asked, quickly changing the subject.

Miko sagged back on the couch and glared at the resident nerd. She'd been hoping to get the story from the two boys.

"Last I saw, Bumblebee and Wheeljack were reorganizing the storage room. Optimus is supervising." Smokescreen jabbed a thumb in the direction of the storage room.

"How's that going?" Bulkhead asked, coming over to the young bot.

Bulkhead hadn't finished asking his question when the five of them heard a loud crash.

"I'm okay!" Wheeljack yelled.

"Oy…Jackie…." Bulkhead groaned, rolling his eyes. "Not again."

Arcee, who happened to be sitting nearby, looked up from the screen of what looked like the Cybertronian version of an iPad. "I'll get the broom." She put down the tablet, then got up and went down the hallway.

There was a bit of a pause after that. Miko was tempted to let out the laughter that was in her, but something told her that it was going to sound really awkward, so she kept it in.

"So, about that news you got at school…." Smokescreen stated to say.

"Actually, Smokescreen, we wanted to wait until everyone was here before we said anything," Jack piped up.

"No problem, then. I'll just go round of Ratchet and everybody else."

"Uh, Smokey, you don't really have to…." Bulkhead trailed off when he saw that the young bot had already left. "Do that."

Meanwhile, Ratchet was typing on his computer. It had been needing some software updates and he had been putting it off all week because he didn't have the time. Now that he did, he could finally get to work on that.

"For once, a Saturday where it's quiet and nobody dropping in to bother me," the medic muttered.

No sooner did he finish saying this, a voice rang out. "Yo, Ratchet!"

"I spoke too soon," he muttered as he looked away from the computer screen. "What is it now, Smokescreen?"

"The kids are here," the other bot replied.

Ratchet sighed, pinching the space between his eyes. "And what else is new?"

"Funny you should mention that. Apparently, they got some big news at school yesterday."

"Was it about those squirrels you stuffed into a student's car?" Ratchet asked dryly, eyeing Smokescreen suspiciously.

"N-no, not that…." Smokescreen frowned a bit. "Why? Who told you?"

"A little bird," Ratchet replied simply.

It took Smokescreen a moment to think about that, but he soon realized who exactly it was that Ratchet was talking about…Arcee.

"Stool pigeon!" Smokescreen muttered, narrowing his eyes a bit. He started to leave, but then he turned and looked back at Ratchet. "You coming or what?"

"I'll be there in a minute," came the irritated reply.

"All right." Smokescreen quickly retreated before Ratchet could get any madder, then went off to get the others.

Moments later, all the Autobots had gathered into the main room, some of them unsure about why they had been called there in the first place.

"All right, you dragged us here," Ratchet stated, giving Smokescreen an irritated look. "Now what?"

"Relax, Ratch," Bulkhead spoke up. "The kids got something they want to tell us."

Miko half smiled. "Exactly."

Jack sent her a look, then shook his head for a moment before looking up at the Autobots. "Anyway, every year our school takes a trip for two weeks."

"Right." Raf nodded. "Last year we went to Seattle."

"And the year before it was Atlanta, Georgia," Jack continued.

"You won't believe where we're going this year," Miko said, grinning hugely. It was obvious that she was having a hard time containing her excitement.

"Chicago?" Bulkhead guessed.

"San Francisco!" the kids responded all at once.

"Get out of town!" exclaimed the green-armored bot.

"I can arrange that," Ratchet offered, a knowing grin coming over his face.

"Lighten up, Ratchet," Arcee responded, giving the medic a look. She glanced back at the kids. "That's great news."

"I've always wanted to visit one of the major cities here," Smokescreen commented. "Sounds like my kind of trip."

Bumblebee raised an eyebrow at this.

"You?" Arcee looked a bit skeptical, too. "In a big city?"

"Well, sure — why not?"

"I don't even want to think about the kind of trouble that you could get into." Arcee's facial expression became a frown.

"Me? C'mon, with a face like this?" Smokescreen smiled innocently. At least…everyone else guessed that he was trying to look innocent.

Arcee sighed and simply shook her head at Smokescreen's antics.

"So…what exactly does this trip have to do with us?" Wheeljack asked, scratching his head.

"You're welcome to come with, if you want." Miko pointed out.

"Two weeks in a big city by the coast…" Bulkhead considered that for a moment. "I kinda like the sound of that."

"Same here," Arcee spoke up, "Considering that the Cons haven't been doing anything recently."

Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

"Great. Send me a postcard when you get there," Ratchet quipped.

"Aw, come on, Ratchet," Miko insisted. "Getting out isn't that bad."

"Miko is right, old friend," Optimus agreed, speaking for the first time since the start of the meeting. "You do see these same walls more than the rest of us."

Ratchet glanced about at the others. "You're not going to leave me alone about this, are you?"

"Uh…" Arcee mock-considered the question. "No."

Ratchet gave a loud sigh; he knew he couldn't get out of it without everyone hounding him to death about it first.

"All right, fine. I'll go." Ratchet wagged a finger at the kids and the other Autobots. "But only because you insist."

"Great, this is gonna be fun." Smokescreen said, grinned widely.

"That's what you said last winter when we went up to Mt. Charleston, and the next thing I know I'm upside down under a pine tree and covered in snow." Arcee pointed out.

Smokescreen's grin faded a bit. "Oh, yeah…I kinda forgot about that."

"It didn't exactly help that Starscream was probably laughing about it for a week." Arcee said, scowling a bit.

Mt. Charleston was located a few miles away from Las Vegas; the only reason Arcee and Smokescreen had gone there was due to a few Decepticons being spotted near the mountain's ski resort.

"So, when's this trip gonna happen?" Bulkhead asked.

"This summer — probably around mid-August," Jack answered.

"Nice!" Smokescreen nodded in approval.

"It'll be great to get out of this boring old town," Wheeljack commented, smiling a bit.

"That's what I said!" Miko grinned hugely.

"Hey, we live here, you know," Jack pointed out, frowning at the two of them.

"Sorry, kid, but when you've traveled around as much as I have, staying in one place for so long takes some getting used to." Wheeljack apologized.

"So, any idea what you'd want to see while we're in San Francisco?" Raf piped up.

"Well, for starters I was thinking about—"

Miko stopped short when an alarm blared overhead.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Bulkhead turned towards the computer as the kids jumped a bit.

Ratchet went over to the computer, his fingers typing on the keyboard as he entered a password to access one of the surveillance cameras. "Looks like there is some sort of vehicle heading this way."

The bots and humans looked at the screen before exchanging glances that said they were all somewhat confused.

"Can't say that I've seen that color on a car before," Bulkhead admitted. He frowned at the emerald-green C7 Stingray Corvette with black tiger stripes painted on the doors that was on-screen. It looked like the sports car was moving rather fast across the Nevada desert. "We should probably go check it out."

"Right behind you," Arcee spoke up.

It wasn't long after she finished saying this that Jack's cell phone rang. The teenager dug it out of his pocket and answered.

"Hello? Hi, Mom." A frown came over the teen's face. "…wait, I thought the battery had been replaced." A sigh soon followed. "Okay, we'll be right there." Jack hung up and looked over at Arcee. "Mom's car battery is dead, so it won't start, and she needs a ride to work."

Arcee exhaled loudly, sounding like a sigh. "All right." She glanced over at Bulkhead. "Sorry, I'll have to take a rain check."

"Hey, it's no problem — Bee and I got this." Bulkhead assured her.

Arcee nodded before she switched to her vehicle mode. She only waited around long enough for Jack to get on before taking off.

"You two had better get going," Ratchet spoke up warningly. "Whatever this thing is, it's moving fast."

"Right, we're on it." Bulkhead and Bumblebee switched to their alt-modes and drove off.

A few minutes later…

The two bots stopped near what looked like a canyon. Apart from some cactus and a few Joshua trees, the landscape was mostly made up of large, red rocks and some sandstone formations.

"That car's gotta be around here somewhere," Bulkhead muttered as they followed the trail of tire tracks.

"You blokes lose somethin'?" a voice suddenly asked.

Both Bulkhead and Bumblebee looked up when they heard the unfamiliar voice.

Standing in front of them was an emerald green-and-silver mech with ice blue eyes. He seemed to be a bit on the tall side and had a slim build, wearing what looked like a trench coat with black tiger stripes on the end. On the mech's forehead was a pair of goggles, with the left lens a turquoise blue, and the right being a cherry red.

"I don't know why a Decepticon would be snooping around here, but you'd better have a good reason." Bulkhead started to approach the other mech, who held both his hands up.

"Whoa! Hold it, pal — I'm one of the good guys!" The mech's accent was thick, and almost sounded like the humans who called themselves Australian.

Bulkhead paused, frowning a bit. "Another Autobot?"

The other mech tilted his head "You two thought I was a 'Con?"

"Sorry, it's just that there really aren't a lot of us around here," Bulkhead explained.

Bumblebee nodded in agreement.

"Noted. The name's Crosshairs; who're you two?" the other bot asked.

"I'm Bulkhead, and this is Bumblebee."

"Bulkhead, eh? Strong name." said Crosshairs .

The new bot's comment surprised Bulkhead a bit. "E-uh, thanks. Nobody's said that about my name before."

"That's probably because you've never met a guy like me before." Crosshairs' smirk turned into more of a grin.

Sometime later, Jack and Arcee were coming back to the outpost. The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation about the trip to San Francisco when they heard their friends talking to someone unfamiliar.

"…And then Grimlock looks at me with his big ol' Dinobot eyes and says, 'That's no snake, that's Grimlock's tail!" Crosshairs finished.

After hearing the end of the story, everyone started laughing, Ratchet included. Optimus simply looked a bit amused — no one had heard him laugh yet, and the Prime wasn't one to show off his emotions like everyone else was.

"Hello?" Arcee called. "Anybody home?"

"Oh, hey, Arcee!" Miko and Bulkhead moved over to Arcee and Jack. "We didn't hear you guys come in."

Arcee waved the girl's statement off. "Don't worry about it. What's going on around here, anyway?"

"Well, it's—"

Bulkhead cut Miko off. "Arcee, you gotta meet this guy. He's the funniest person since…well…Cliffjumper."

Arcee and Jack looked at each other, then back at Miko and Bulkhead. The cobalt blue femme raised an eyebrow, not exactly sure about the whole thing.

"Really?" Arcee sounded skeptical. "Just how can this guy be as funny and smart as….?" Arcee paused when she saw the mech that Bulkhead had been talking about. "Crosshairs?!"

Crosshairs then noticed the femme who said his name. "Arcee?"

The two made eye contact and looked at each other in surprise.

Crosshairs pushed his goggles back up his forehead and smiled. "Long time, no see."

"What are you doing here?" Arcee asked, sounding shocked.

Jack, Miko, and the others stood on the side, watching as Bulkhead walked up to Arcee and Crosshairs.

"You two know each other?" he asked.

"Know each other?" Arcee repeated. She glanced over at Bulkhead before she went over to Crosshairs. "This guys is—"

"An old friend," Crosshairs finished.

A good number of jaws dropped.

"Wow, Arcee…." Smokescreen paused for a moment. "Why didn't you tell us about Crosshairs before?"

"Don't know." Arcee folded her arms in front of her chest. "Must've slipped my mind."

Crosshairs raised an eyebrow at the femme. "How long has it been, anyway? Two years?"

Arcee paused for a brief moment. "Five, Crosshairs …five years, eight months and one…no, two weeks…." She replied. "But who's counting?"

"Is that right?" Crosshairs asked sounded a bit surprised.

"Excuse us, but we're gonna go. Ya look like you've got some issues…" Bulkhead spoke up. He could see that it looked like the two of them had a lot to talk about, and that they were probably not going to have the conversation while everyone else was around. He glanced over at the others, who had either taken the hint from him or saw for themselves, because most of them were leaving…except for one person.

"Miko!" Bulkhead called and started moving, nudging the foreign exchange student with a hand as he went.

"Coming," Miko said. She started jogging a bit in order to keep up with Bulkhead, like everyone else she had several questions.

Whatever it was that was going on, Miko and the others were going to find out about soon enough…

MORE TO COME…

And that's it for chapter one. Part two will probably be up in a week or two. Quotes and other materials used in this chapter are from the following: Pound Puppies episode: 'I never barked for my father' Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco, George Lopez and The Steve Harvey show episode: 'Big Daddy meets the man of Steele'. Never saw the 4th Transformers movie, only know about Crosshairs via clips and previews on YouTube. For those not familiar with Australian or British english, Bloke is a term used for 'man or guy'. The next half of the story will explain a few things not covered in this chapter. Until that's updated, feel free to check out my other Transformers stories, Working Dogs, Remember that Day? Is there a Dog in the House? and Barking up the Wrong Tree.

Aside from that stay tuned for the next update.

Ciao for now!